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Two clowns shot dead at Colombian circus
Reuters | Thursday, 22 February 2007

BOGOTA: Two clowns were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during their performance at a travelling circus in the eastern Colombian town of Cucuta, police said.


The gunman burst into the Circo del Sol de Cali on Monday night and shot the clowns in front of an audience of 20 to 50 people, local police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Reuters. One of the clowns was killed instantly and the second died the next day in hospital.

"The killings had nothing to do with the show the victims were performing at the time of the incident," Henao said in a telephone interview. "We are investigating the motive."

With an entrance fee of under 50 US cents, Circo del Sol de Cali attracts mostly poor Colombians. It pitched it tents in Cucuta, near the border with Venezuela, earlier this month.

"The clowns came out to give their show and then this guy came out shooting them," one audience member told local television. "It was terrible."

Britney quits rehab after 24 hours - report
Reuters | Thursday, 22 February 2007

CLEAN SHAVE: Britney Spears has quit rehab after 24 hours - the second time in a week, according to reports.

LOS ANGELES: Troubled pop star Britney Spears was reported to have left a Malibu rehabilitation centre less than 24 hours after checking in.
READ FEEDBACK ... VIEW VIDEO


Celebrity websites TMZ.com and ETonline.com, citing unidentified sources, said the 25-year-old singer left the residential centre early on Wednesday morning.

Spears' manager Larry Rudolph confirmed on Tuesday the singer had voluntarily checked in to a facility and asked for privacy. Rudolph could not immediately be contacted on Wednesday.

Spears made world headlines during the weekend after shaving her own head at a Los Angeles-area salon following weeks of partying at clubs in Hollywood, Las Vegas and New York since filing for divorce from husband Kevin Federline in November.

The hair-shaving incident raised concern about her mental state and followed reports that the former child star had entered rehab on the Caribbean island of Antigua last week, only to drop out 24 hours later

Is Britney on the verge of a breakdown?
Bang! Showbiz | Tuesday, 20 February 2007


CLEAN SHAVE: Britney Spears shaved her head in a salon.

Britney Spears has sparked fears she is on the verge of a breakdown after shaving her head and getting a new tattoo.
BRITNEY GOES BALD IN STUNNING MAKEOVER ... READ FEEDBACK ... VIEW VIDEO


The 25-year-old singer - who is said to be terrified of losing her children in a custody battle with estranged husband Kevin Federline - was seen crying in her limousine before entering Esther's Haircutting Salon in Tarazana, California, on Friday.

After hairdressers refused to shave her head, Britney grabbed a pair of clippers and sheared off her locks herself.

Salon owner Esther Tognozzi said: "I tried to talk her out of it, but she said, 'No, I absolutely want it shaved off now'.

"Afterwards she looked in the mirror and said with tears in her eyes, 'Oh, my God, I shaved it all off. My mum is going to be so upset with me.'

"I asked her if the buzz cut was a symbol of a new beginning and she said, 'Yeah, something like that'."

An hour later Britney went to the Body and Soul Tattoo parlour and had pink lips etched onto her wrist and a black, pink and white cross on her lower hip.

One onlooker revealed: "She said she was tired of having things plugged into her. She seemed distraught and disturbed, like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

Later that night, troubled Britney was seen at Beverly Hills' Cedars Sinai Medical Center wearing a dark wig.

She went into a private room and was seen by medical staff before leaving an hour later. Britney checked into Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre in Antigua rehab clinic last Thursday following a four-day drinking binge in New York.

But she stayed less than 24 hours before visiting her two sons, Sean Preston, one and five-month-old Jayden James in Malibu.

Last week, Britney's former personal assistant Felicia Culotta revealed family and friends want her to get help.

Felicia posted a letter on website Thatotherblog.com: "There's only so much you can do to help. I cannot convince her to love herself. I cannot save her from herself, nor can I commit her to treatment program against her wishes.

I am throwing my hands up and realising I am helpless."

Less than 24 hours after shaving her head, Britney was seen wearing a short blonde wig and chain-smoking at West Hollywood's Mondrian hotel.

Her mother Lynne, who reportedly begged Britney to enter rehab over fears she might lose custody of her sons, has now rushed to Los Angeles to see her daughter.

Britney's locks are for sale on internet auction website eBay. Bidding had reached a staggering $US1.1 million last night.

Bush has moles removed from forehead
Reuters | Saturday, 17 February 2007

WASHINGTON: A doctor removed two moles from President George W Bush's left temple on Friday and they were believed to be benign, a White House spokesman said.

The five-minute procedure took place in the White House doctor's office and was performed by Steve Krivda, a specialist at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Tests will be performed to determine if the moles were cancerous. Results should be back by the middle of next week.

"The doctors expect that both moles are benign," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

The procedure will leave Bush with a one-inch scab for a week to 10 days, he said.

Bush has suffered the effects of sun exposure in the past. He has had non-cancerous growths removed before, the last time occurring in December 2004.

I hate trade shows. I like Barcelona. I hate tradeshows though. I want to go home now.

...well, think about it. We do decide.

...then is it offensive. I mean what is behind the black boxes? Is it offensive to Islam? Is there anything? Did I take the piss? Maybe there is just two black balloons on a black background. But hang on, maybe I drew something really really rude and then self censored it to be a clever bugger. Who wants to decide? Where is the line drawn?

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France cartoons lawsuit to begin

"Charlie Hebdo must be veiled!" says the cover of the magazine
Two French Muslim organisations are suing the magazine Charlie Hebdo for printing cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.
The Muslim groups charge the magazine with "insulting a group of people on the basis of religion".

Charlie Hebdo reprinted Danish cartoons that provoked a violent backlash in the Muslim world a year ago.

Supporters of the magazine, including some French Muslims, say the trial is a test case for free speech.

The decision of Charlie Hebdo to publish the cartoons "was part of a considered plan of provocation aimed against the Islamic community in its most intimate faith," say the Union of French Islamic Organisations and the Paris Grand Mosque.

It was "born out of a simplistic Islamophobia as well as purely commercial interests".

Global controversy

The illustrations originally appeared in the best-selling Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 to accompany an editorial criticising self-censorship in the Danish media.


The trial is seen as a test of the boundaries of free speech in France
One image shows the Prophet Muhammad carrying a lit bomb in the shape of a turban on his head decorated with the Islamic creed.

Over the next few months they were reprinted in a number of French publications and elsewhere in Europe and around the world.

Reaction in the Muslim world built up in January and February of 2006 culminating in sometimes violent protests.

The two-day trial, opening on Wednesday, is being seen as a test of the boundaries of free speech and religious sensitivities in France.

A group of French academics, including some Muslims, published an open letter in the magazine Liberation on Monday.

"Democrats the world over and especially Muslims hope to see in Europe, and above all in France, a secular haven where their words are not blocked by dictators or fundamentalists.

"If Charlie Hebdo were to be convicted ... we would all lose this shared space of resistance and liberty," the letter said.

I have no idea what this means. I had a migraine when I drew it.

Come to Serbia - home to few people and Kazakh music
Reuters | Friday, 2 February 2007

BELGRADE: A commercial promoting Serbia as a tourist destination appears to be jinxed after CNN used the soundtrack for a Kazakh tourism ad as backing music by mistake.


The "Serbia – Moments to Remember" commercial was widely pilloried at home as being boring and misleading for showing Serbia as a land of rolling hills, churches and nature reserves full of wildlife, but apparently devoid of people.

Serb viewers also spotted that one medieval church featured prominently in the ad was not in fact Serbian but Romanian, on the wrong side of the Danube river on Serbia's eastern border.

The campaign is the first major effort to change the world's view of Serbia since the end of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Officials said they will edit the commercial to highlight the fun side of Serbia, including the vibrant cafe culture and nightlife of the capital Belgrade.

They said CNN had agreed to extend the life of the ad to make up for their mistake with the Kazakh folk music.