Paul Krugman: Do You Know Who I Am? (New York Times)
One of the odd things about the debates we've been having over economic policy since the financial crisis is how many people on one side of these debates - the side I'm not on, as it happens - believe that they can win arguments by pulling rank.
Paul Krugman: They Have No Idea (New York Times)
Am I saying, then, that Democrats are the party of new ideas? No, not at all. Democrats are for progressive taxation, a stronger safety net, more effective financial regulation, and more environmental protection - none of it stuff that would have seemed strange or new to someone who somehow missed the past few decades.
Peter Weber: Why Republicans are losing this budget showdown so badly (The Week)
Obama is leading a unified caucus that's sticking to its guns while nobody believes John Boehner is in charge of his House caucus. One of the reasons the GOP is losing, in fact, is probably that nobody knows who is driving the Republican Party right now, and that in itself is pretty unsettling.
Matthew Yglesias: The One Piece of Debt Ceiling Investment Advice You Need (Slate)
Lots of people, naturally, are wondering how they should play this week's debt ceiling crisis as a matter of investments. Sell everything? Buy everything? Buy something? Credit default swaps maybe? The advice you need to know comes from today's Nobel Prize winners Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller. And the advice is: Don't do anything.
Banksy Art Sale: Work Worth $30,000 on Sale for $60 (YouTube)
"(For anyone who is wondering why this video is trending). That art on sale is actually very expensive (some of it is easily 30 thousand plus dollars). However, it was only on sale for around $60 a piece. Even if you don't like art, you could have bought those and resold them for a decent profit. The point of the video is that people only give value to art based on who the painter is, not necessarily the quality of it. Kind of like how people listen to mainstream music, but not the underground." - Fredo Santana
Nathan J. Ringroos: 7 Wanted Criminals Who Made Mocking Police Into an Art Form (Cracked)
Despite what the media would have you believe, most of us do in fact know that Grand Theft Auto is just make-believe. You don't commit outlandish crimes in plain view and then brazenly escape the cops. In the real world, crooks get caught unless they hole up somewhere and disappear.
"It's a Jungle Out There" is a song written by Randy Newman, the theme song for the TV series Monk starting in its second season. In 2004, it won an Emmy Award for best theme song.
The lyrics allude to Monk's plethora of fears and warn that some degree of cautiousness and attention is necessary to stay alive, given everyday life's many dangers.
Snoop Dogg covered this song for the season 6 episode "Mr. Monk and the Rapper," in which he also played a guest role as a rapper accused of murder.
Source
Charlie was first, and correct, with:
Monk
Alan J said:
Monk
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
Monk
Adam answered:
Monk.
Marian responded:
Monk
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norfalcali, replied:
It's A Jungle Out There is a song written by Randy Newman, the theme song for the TV series Monk starting in its second season. In 2004, it won an Emmy Award for best theme song. I liked the show until Bitty Schram left. My Sharona. It was nice that they did bring her back at the end of the series to complete her storyline.
Sally said:
"It's A Jungle Out There" is the theme song for the TV series, "Monk."
I watch reruns of the show on week-ends, but I have to admit the his OCD annoys me to no end...
PS: I am really worried about both our election for state senator in Jersey (today), and the race for the mayor of NYC next month. While the Republican candidates have been ruthless and insulting towards the opposition in their ads, the Democratic candidates have not - they barely mention their opponents at all. Of course, I really want to hear them tear into the Repubs - but that is probably why I'm not running for any office...
The Repub here in Jersey actually brought in SARAH PALIN to support him! How low can you go???
And, Joe S answered:
There's no way I could miss this one. I watch several episodes every weekend, It's Monk! I just love that show and I was sorry to see it end, thankfully there are reruns. I like the older shows with Sharona best.
ION Television usually has between 4 and 14 episodes of Monk on Saturdays. This Saturday it's scheduled to fill 13 hours - from 2pm until 3am.
Didn't really want to do this but sometimes in life you have to do things that are not pleasant. Yes, I know there are more distasteful things to experience but it still qualifies for the "I'd rather be doing anything but this" list. I went here two times in the past and really thought I had closed the book on this topic and but bam they actually went out and brought in another one to their sorta news posse. Yep, one more friggin blonde lady telling tall tales about the news each day on the "Fair & Balanced" news channel elephant people turn to get the "real" story of life in America. Just when you thought they would never add another one, after cornering the market by already having a fairly stacked lineup of multiple blondes they go out and add Elisabeth Hasselbeck to Fox & friends. Makes sense I guess if the other options were Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears and this was VH1 and not Red America's News Source. This move by head honcho Roger Ailes may yet turn out to have been the long overdue tipping point where even "low information" viewers/voters get a little pissed about having their news dumbed down one level too many. Can you say Duh?
So Gretchen Carlson, Dana Perino, Martha Maccallum, Ainsley Earhardt, Heather Childers, Shannon Bream, Heather Nauert and of course Megyn Kelly was not a strong enough commitment to an almost complete Aryan female news staff? No? So what's one more? Though all or most of these ladies have extensive experience in baton twirling from the talent segment in their local beauty pageant days, none had actually spent time on an Island trying to make it on her wits alone. Yes, Elisabeth Hasselbeck is a survivor and she has now found her true home at the Fox News channel. It is a marriage that makes sense if one had ever taken the time to sit through her resistance to logic babble on The View. She gets major props for never deviating from the basic talking points concocted for the obedient voters who make up the base of today's Republican Party. From denying man caused global climate change to conveniently forgetting that ACA or Obama care was originally a conservative concept to selling the yarn that real oversight over the banks was not in the best interests of citizens, the script was followed in total by this spunky former reality show star. There can be no doubt she is a loyal soldier who passed her audition with flying colors going against Barbara Walters liberal gang 5 days a week. I'm pretty sure this durability helped seal the deal and assured Roger Ailes that she would be a worthy signing to yes, an already overcrowded blonde roster. His game plan is clear, one can never have enough of them and maybe he's right. I know if I turn the sound off as a man they are quite pleasant to glance at as I surf on by to slightly less empty calorie options on the tube.
I do continue to be amazed at how these blonde bombshells choose to dress while in front of the camera at Fox News as 100 % of the time I feel under dressed while peeking at them from my couch. For the regular Fox News viewers at home how can they too not feel they are experiencing one of those dreams where you find yourself at a party dressed in your scuzziest pair of ratty sweat pants and a torn free t-shirt from Best Buy while everyone else is wearing flashy duds from some full of himself fancy designer? Overdressed would be understating it as these ladies are dolled up not to just kill but obliterate anyone standing in their way. No cocktail party or runway show would be special enough to warrant this display of gala wear. It seems the arms race of fashion among the ladies of Fox News is now one that could someday lead to a very unsettling ending that could include hair pulling and sorta face slaps. I personally gain hope by remembering what happened to hair metal bands in the 90's as quite possibly this legion of blondes could soon be seen shopping at a mid-town Value Village for their next on air costume so keep the faith. Ok, Megyn Kelly may not go all flannel on us but maybe a simple Penny's dress or a pant suit from Macy's might be a realistic possibility. Less is more will never be the credo of the Fox Nation but even these cartoon journalists probably don't feel totally comfortable being so far out of the fashion mainstream that they won't tack back a bit. I mean off the job they still have to go to the grocery store and back to school night if they have kids so you know they must have some clothes to pull out when they need to just fade into the crowd. As I have said previously, these ladies must secretly wish that someone out there would come to their rescue and grant them at least a casual Friday that meant something more than transitioning from pearls to a chocolate diamond necklace.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is I am sure a nice lady who does not get out of bed committed to annoying the non-believers of the Fox world view. If God had placed her on maybe Wipeout on ABC or Duck Dynasty on A & E I would never have wasted all of our time with this column. I firmly believe even vapid blonde spokes model types deserve equal opportunity for employment but this move just stepped over the line. What is Roger Ailes next move? Maybe bring Loni Anderson out of retirement to sit in with the panel on The Five or possibly a hologram of Marilyn Monroe hosting The Bulls & Bears? You know he's not done on this front so we all will sit and wait to see his next move. Anyone care to guess what his "type" is when he drops by the local Manhattan madam who happens to carter to clientele like him? There must be a backstory somewhere in his life where one can connect the dots and know when this obsession first began. Maybe a delivery room nurse or an affectionate pre-school teacher who gave him something he could not get elsewhere. Who the hell knows for sure but one thing is absolutely clear, the dude digs blondes. Later.
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Big Bang Theory', followed by a FRESH'The Millers', then a FRESH'The Crazy One', followed by a FRESH'2½ Men', then a FRESH'Elementary'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Selena Gomez and Donald Trump (R-Blowhard).
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Allison Janney and Ben Schwartz.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'Parks & Recreation', followed by a FRESH'Welcome To The Family', then a FRESH'Sean Saves The World', followed by a FRESH'The Michael J. Fox Show', then a FRESH'Parenthood'.
On a RERUNLeno (from 9/25/13) are Dana Carvey, Cee-Lo Green, Goodie Mob.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 9/26/13) are Tina Fey and Goldfrapp.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 5/20/13) are Matthew Cooke, Johnny Tergo, Grape St.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Once Upon A Time In Wonderland', followed by a FRESH'Grey's Anatomy', then a FRESH'Scandal'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Kerry Washington, "Science Bob" Pflugfelder, and Sleigh Bells.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Vampire Diaries', followed by the SERIES PREMIERE'Reign'.
Scheduled on a FRESHArsenio Hall are Andrew Dice Clay, Wayne Brady, and Amber Riley & Derek Hough.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'MLB Playoffs', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY recycles an old 'House', followed by another old 'House'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'The First 48', then a FRESH'Beyond Scared Straight'.
AMC offers the movie 'Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday', followed by the movie 'Jason X'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] BBC WORLD NEWS
[7:00AM] BBC WORLD NEWS
[8:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - Season 2 - Ep 3 - School Reunion
[9:00AM] MERLIN - Season 2 - Ep 4 - Lancelot and Guinevere
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 21 - Hollow Pursuits
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 22 - The Most Toys
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 23 - Sarek
[1:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES REVISITED UK - Season 3 - Ep 2 - Revisited: The Fenwick Arms
[2:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 3 - Ep 8 - Lido Di Manhattan Beach
[3:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES UK - Season 4 - Ep 3 - The Priory
[4:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 2 - Episode 9
[5:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 2 - Episode 10
[6:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES UK - Season 2 - Ep 5 - Sandgate
[7:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 5 - Ep 2 - Leone's
[8:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 1 - Ep 5 - The Mixing Bowl
[9:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 2 - Ep 4 - Black Pearl
[10:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 3 - Ep 11 - Fleming
[11:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 1 - Ep 5 - The Mixing Bowl
[12:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 2 - Ep 4 - Black Pearl
[1:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 3 - Ep 11 - Fleming
[2:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 5 - Ep 2 - Leone's
[3:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES REVISITED UK - Season 3 - Ep 2 - Revisited: The Fenwick Arms
[4:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 3 - Ep 8 - Lido Di Manhattan Beach
[5:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES UK - Season 4 - Ep 3 - The Priory (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of NJ', 'Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles', followed by the movie 'The Fast & The Furious'.
Comedy Central has an old 'Colbert Report', an old 'Jon Stewart', 'Chappelle's Show', another 'Chappelle's Show', 'It's Always Sunny In Philly', another 'It's Always Sunny In Philly', 'Tosh.0', and 'South Park'.
On a RERUNJon Stewart (from 10/8/13) are Malala Yousafzai.
On a RERUNColbert Report (from 10/9/13) are Tom Hanks.
FX has '2½ Men', another '2½ Men', followed by the movie 'The Proposal', then the movie 'The Proposal', again.
History has 3 hours of old 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Pawn Stars', then another FRESH'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Aziz Ansari Wears a Charcoal Blazer
[6:30AM] You Kill Me
[8:30AM] Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
[11:30AM] The Matador
[1:30PM] You Kill Me
[3:30PM] Shanghai Noon
[6:00PM] Meatballs
[8:00PM] Van Wilder: Freshman Year
[10:00PM] Wild Things
[12:15AM] Wild Things
[2:30AM] Van Wilder: Freshman Year
[4:30AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Aziz Ansari Wears a Charcoal Blazer
[5:00AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Anna Kendrick Wears a Patterned Blouse & Burgundy Pants
[5:30AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-David Cross Wears a Red Polo Shirt and Brown Shoes with Red Laces (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] The Lady and the Reaper
[6:15AM] Gallipoli
[8:45AM] Cliffhanger
[11:15AM] Ran
[2:45PM] Gallipoli
[5:15PM] Cliffhanger
[7:45PM] Kiss of Death
[10:00PM] Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
[12:15AM] Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
[2:30AM] Wall Street
[5:15AM] The Lady and the Reaper
[5:30AM] The Writers' Room-American Horror Story (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Piranhaconda', followed by the movie 'Arachnoquake'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Jared Leto, Kaitlin Olson, and Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby.
Actor and cat owner Angela Kinsey announces Grumpy Cat as the recipient of the "Lifetime Achievement Award" during "The Friskies" Award Show, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in New York. Friskies awarded $25,000 in cash prizes for the best internet cat videos of the year and 330,000 total cans of Friskies to 20 cat charity organizations nationwide.
Photo by John Minchillo
Nirvana, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, and The Replacements are among first-time nominees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The hall of fame announced its annual list of nominees Wednesday morning and half the field of 16 were first-time nominees. YES, Link Wray and The Zombies also received their first nominations.
More than 600 voters will determine the class of 2014. Inductees will be announced in December and a ceremony will be held next April in New York. The induction will be aired on HBO in May.
Ronstadt receives her first nomination not long after she shared news that she has Parkinson's disease. Fans have long questioned her absence from the hall's roster of stars. Similarly, long-denied YES joins the list after Rush finally struck a blow for prog rock with its induction earlier this year.
Repeat nominees are KISS, LL Cool J, N.W.A., Cat Stevens, Deep Purple, The Meters, The Paul Butterfield Blues Bandand Chic. It's the eighth nomination for Chic since 2003, but comes as co-founder Nile Rodgers is enjoying widespread attention after his collaboration with Daft Punk earlier this year.
Actor Will Ferrell laughs before the start of Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles.
Photo by David J. Phillip
Elton John honored Hillary Rodham Clinton for her work to help those affected by HIV and AIDS at an annual event for his foundation.
Clinton was excited as she accepted the first founders award from the Elton John AIDS Foundation on Tuesday night in New York. The former secretary of state told the crowd at Cipriani's restaurant that "we still have so far to go" when it comes to helping those affected by HIV and AIDS.
"There are so many challenges in front of us," Clinton said. The former U.S. senator added that she wants to see an "AIDS-free generation" and that accomplishing that must be "our North Star."
Billy Joel, Alec Baldwin, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Lisa Marie Presley and Courtney Love also attended John's "An Enduring Vision: A Benefit for the Elton John AIDS Foundation" event, which raised $3.45 million. Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Heart performed a dozen songs, including the hits "What About Love" and "Alone."
A book deal, tabloid attention and now a new television show - it's a busy time in the public eye for 25-year-old Ronan Farrow.
MSNBC announced Wednesday that it had hired Mia Farrow's son, a human rights activist and former Rhodes scholar, to host a weekday program on the left-leaning cable television network starting sometime next year.
Farrow, a Yale Law School graduate, founded the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Youth Issues during President Barack Obama's first term. On Tuesday, the Penguin Press announced that it would publish a book by Farrow, "Pandora's Box: How American Military Aid Creates America's Enemies," in 2015.
Farrow also made headlines recently when his mother suggested in an interview with Vanity Fair that he could be the son of Frank Sinatra, not Woody Allen, as was long assumed. Allen has called the claim absurd.
Singer Beyonce performs on her "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour 2013," on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand.
Photo by Rob Hoffman
A new exhibition on caricaturist Al Hirschfeld begins with a video of Whoopi Goldberg talking about his wicked sense of humour.
Goldberg tells how Hirschfeld embedded the word "NINA" 40 times into a poster of her 1984 one-woman Broadway show after she complained of not being able to find the signature trademark he began inserting into his line drawings after the birth of his daughter Nina in 1945.
"The Line King's Library" opens at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center on Thursday. The exhibition, on the 10th anniversary of Hirschfeld's death and 110 years since his birth, was compiled from the library's extensive collection of Hirschfeld material.
Hirschfeld, who died in 2003 at the age of 99, was celebrated for his linear calligraphic caricatures of theatre, dance and film personalities. The drawings appeared on album covers, film posters, magazines and in The New York Times for 75 years.
Being "Hirschfelded" was "akin to getting a Tony award," said David Leopold, the show's guest curator and Hirschfeld's archivist for the last 13 years of the artist's life. "It meant you had arrived."
Nothing much interferes with "South Park" lampooning its targets, but Comedy Central says an ill-timed power outage shut the show down Tuesday night, preventing completion of this week's scheduled episode.
Comedy Central said Wednesday that all the computers at South Park Studios were down for hours, from animation to editing to sound. The planned episode, "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers," couldn't be finished.
A repeat, "Scott Tenorman Must Die," was scheduled Wednesday night instead.
"South Park" co-creator Trey Parker says he regrets missing an air date but acknowledges. But he says after years of tempting fate by delivering the show on a last-minute basis, "I guess it was bound to happen."
Actor Alec Baldwin (L) and his wife Hilaria Baldwin arrive at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 12th Annual "An Enduring Vision" benefit gala at Cipriani in New York October 15, 2013.
Photo by Eduardo Munoz
Kim Kardashian may be a Hollywood star in Kanye West's mind, but the Hollywood Walk of Fame disagrees. During his now infamous Oct. 9 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the rapper argued that his reality star girlfriend and baby mama should receive a star on the legendary sidewalk. Ana Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Walk and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, however, has now issued a response to explain why that won't be happening.
"We don't have reality stars on the Walk of Fame," she tells Yahoo's omg!. "We don't have a category for it. We're happy to consider reality stars once they get nominated for, or win, an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar." Martinez added, "We'll consider them when they're legitimate actors or singers."
"I know he loves her, and it's all very sweet," Martinez told omg! of the remarks. "But she doesn't qualify."
In order to receive a star on the Walk of Fame, celebrities have to be nominated first before they can be considered. "I hate to say it, but a lot of people just don't like her," Martinez said of the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star. "No one has ever nominated her."
Singer Lisa Marie Presley arrives at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 12th Annual "An Enduring Vision" benefit gala at Cipriani in New York, October 15, 2013.
Photo by Eduardo Munoz
A Bolshoi dancer accused of organising a horrific acid attack against the famed Moscow ballet company's artistic director went on trial Wednesday, with hearings expected to shed more light on infighting inside the troupe.
Soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko faces up to 12 years in prison after being charged with planning a January assault against his former boss Sergei Filin.
He is being held in detention along with Yury Zarutsky -- accused of flinging a mix of sulfuric acid and urine in Filin's face -- and a driver who drove the assailant to the scene named Andrei Lipatov.
Wednesday's preliminary hearing was held behind closed doors and dealt with procedural issues rather than the essence of the case.
English actress Dame Judi Dench poses with Philomena Lee on the red carpet of the American Express Gala Screening of "Philomena" at the Odeon West End during the 57th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express® on Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013, in London.
Photo by Jon Furniss
Look up a female scientist or technologist on Wikipedia, and you might not find what you're looking for. Many don't have detailed pages or any page at all on the free online encyclopedia created by contributors, the vast majority of them men.
It's a symptom of a larger problem for women in so-called STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - where men far outnumber women. Even women who have done pioneering work in these fields don't always get recognition. Since 2009, no woman has won a Nobel Prize in science.
A Brown University biology professor and an alumna hope to help chip away at the problem with a Wikipedia "edit-a-thon," one of many that's been held in recent years to help increase the representation of women on Wikipedia.
They gathered dozens of students and some faculty members this week at Brown to train them on how to add and edit pages. They also provided lists of suggestions for women to add, entries to clean up or those who needed more detail, along with links to source material.
Among those listed was Ingeborg Hochmair, who does not have a page even though last month she won the prestigious Lasker Award for medical research for her work developing the modern cochlear implant. By contrast, her husband, Erwin Hochmair, an accomplished engineer who helped develop the device but did not win a Lasker prize, has his own page.
Nancy Wilson of the band Heart performs during the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 12th Annual "An Enduring Vision" benefit gala in New York, October 15, 2013.
Photo by Eduardo Munoz
The sardines off the western coast of Canada have completely disappeared.
No one knows exactly what has happened to the $32 million commercial fishery, but what we do know is stunning: The region's sardine fishermen returned to port empty-handed after failing to catch a single fish according to a report Monday.
Poof! Vanished. Gone.
Sardines, along with anchovy and menhaden, form the base of the food chain for species that range from bluefin tuna to humpback whales to sea birds and dolphins. Forage fish are critically important to the aquaculture industry as well, where they're ground up, turned into fishmeal, and fed to popular species like farmed salmon.
Geoff Shester, a scientist with conservation group Oceana says they've been concerned about the Pacific sardine fishery for some time and warns that effects from a collapse could last for decades.
Henna tattoos are pictured on the hands of a Muslim woman attending a mass prayer for Eid al-Adha in Lahore October 16, 2013. Muslims across the world celebrate the annual festival of Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage, by slaughtering goats, sheep, cows and camels in commemoration of the Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to Allah.
Photo by Mohsin Raza
France's top appeals court on Wednesday upheld a fraud conviction and hundreds of thousands of euros in fines against the Church of Scientology for taking advantage of vulnerable followers.
The Cour de Cassation rejected the organisation's request that a 2009 conviction for "organised fraud" be overturned on the grounds it violated religious freedoms.
The conviction saw Scientology's Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, ordered to pay 600,000 euros ($812,000) in fines for preying financially on several followers in the 1990s.
The original ruling, while stopping short of banning the group from operating in France, dealt a blow to the secretive movement best known for its Hollywood followers such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
France regards Scientology as a cult, not a religion, and had prosecuted individual Scientologists before, but the 2009 trial marked the first time the organisation as a whole had been convicted.
Chinese designer Guo Pei (2nd L) acknowledges the audience after "The Arabian 1002th Night" show during Fashion Week in Singapore October 16, 2013.
Photo by Edgar Su
Kenya will place microchips in the horn of every rhino in the country in a bid to stamp out a surge in poaching the threatened animals, wildlife officials said Wednesday.
Kenya has just over 1,000 rhino, and the tiny chips will be inserted and hidden in the horn, which is made of keratin, the same material as fingernails or hardened hair.
The World Wildlife Fund donated the chips as well as five scanners at a cost of $15,000 (11,000 euros), although tracking the rhino to dart them and fit the device will cost considerably more.
However, it will boost the ability of police to prosecute poachers or traffickers, allowing for all animals to be traced and providing potential vital information on poaching and smuggling chains.
A sub-adult southern pale chanting goshawk in a cage at the FreeMe Center for the rehabilitation of indigenous wildlife in the north of Johannesburg, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013.
Photo by Denis Farrell
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