The Ovi magazine today

Noam Chomsky on the Politics of the Essence of the Human Mind by Emanuel L. Paparella

Noam Chomsky is considered one of the pivotal linguists of our time. He follows a long heritage on the nature of language which begins with the ancient Greeks and continues with Giambattista Vico in the 18th century.

Whither Democracy in America? Part 3: Myths and Lessons of Athenian Democracy by Dr. Habib Siddiqui
The word democracy derives from the ancient Greek dēmokratia (literally, rule by the people) formed from the roots dēmos "people," "the mob, the many" and kratos "rule" or "power."

"Charles Darwin and a pool party" by Alexander Mikhaylov
"Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind." - Thomas Babington Macaulay

"I wish" by Bohdan Yuri
"Poets are mysterious, but a poet when all is said is not much more mysterious than a banker." - Allen Tate

'Killing Fields' journalist dies

A Cambodian-born US journalist whose enslavement and escape from the Khmer Rouge became the subject of the famous film, The Killing Fields, has died.

Dith Pran died at a hospital in New Jersey from pancreatic cancer at the age of 65, according to his former New York Times colleague, Sydney Schanberg.

They were in Cambodia in 1975 to report the fall of Phnom Penh to Khmer forces.

Mr. Dith was not allowed to leave, and had to endure four years of torture and starvation before escaping to Thailand.

In 1980, Mr. Schanberg described his colleague's ordeal in a magazine article, and later a book, called "The Death and Life of Dith Pran". It became the basis for the Oscar-winning Hollywood film, The Killing Fields.

Pran was a true reporter, a fighter for the truth and for his people!

Don’t forget, summer time

Don’t forget, summer time at 3 AM Sunday morning when the clock is shifted one hour forward. The shift to summer time will bring some interruptions in banking services and affect rail travel.

The annual switch to summer, or daylight saving time is established practice within the European Union and takes place on the same day and at the same stroke of the clock in all member countries.

Blade runner composer’s birthday

Vangelis Papathanasiou, born March 29, 1943 and he is mostly known through just his first name, has made a remarkable career in music composition.

The musical talents of Vangelis first became obvious at a very early age. His parents tried to encourage him to study with a professional teacher, but he did not respond well to formal education, as he was generally unwilling to follow instructions. At the end of his school years, he and some friends formed a band called "Formynx", which became popular. In 1968 Vangelis moved to Paris.

Together with Demis Rousos and Lucas Sideras, he formed "Aphrodite's Child". This group scored an immediate world wide hit with their first release, "Rain and Tears". Later on, the band split and he continued solo in Paris writing music for movies.

His career launched and Vangelis received an array of awards, among them an Oscar in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film "Chariots of Fire". The music of Vangelis is too diverse to be described as pop, rock, classical, jazz, or new age.

Explaining his music, Vangelis says, "All I try to do is let people know what I think through my music. I just bring the music to you and it is up to you to do what you want with it".

Apologies for the …ghost

A hospital has apologized to a patient after a nurse claiming to be a medium said she had seen a ghost on a ward.

Gillian Davies, who was recovering from surgery, complained about the incident and the level of care she received at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Denbighshire. An independent review ruled that the hospital "skirted over" the ghost incident, and the nursing care given to Mrs. Davies fell below standard.

Mrs. Davies, 48, of Mostyn, Flintshire, said she wanted lessons to be learned. She was convalescing following an operation to remove one of her breasts when a nurse who claimed to be a medium said she had just seen a ghost.

Let’s hope that the treatment in that hospital and the therapeutic methods are not …ghosted too!

Tower's royal lions

Two lion skulls found during excavations at the Tower of London originated in north-west Africa, genetic research suggests.

The big cats, which were kept by royals during medieval times, have the same genetic make-up as the north African Barbary lion, a DNA study shows. Experts believe the animals were gifts to English monarchs in the 13th and 14th centuries. At the time, the Barbary lion roamed across much of Africa.

The two well-preserved lion skulls were recovered during excavations of the moat at the Tower of London in 1937. They have been radiocarbon dated to AD 1280-1385 and AD 1420-1480.

Researchers at the University of Oxford extracted DNA from the skulls, and found that it matched that of the north African Barbary lion.

Before putting them on the shield, they had them …alive!

Gallery piece 'owned by Hitler'

A painting owned by The National Gallery was once in the possession of Adolf Hitler, an expert has claimed.

Dr Birgit Schwartz, who is researching Hitler's art collection, says Cupid Complaining To Venus once hung in the Nazi leader's private gallery. She made the discovery while studying photographs from his personal library. A gallery spokesman said they had "no reason to doubt the claim" and appealed for anyone with information about the Lucas Cranach painting to come forward.

The gallery bought the painting in 1963 from New York dealers E&A Silbermann. It shows Cupid holding a honeycomb and telling Venus that he has been stung by bees. The National Gallery said it had only recently learned that the portrait was acquired in 1945 by Mrs Patricia Lochridge Hartwell, an American war correspondent in Nazi Germany.

Japan, WWII and a …Nobel

Japanese judges have thrown out a libel case against Nobel prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, who was accused of lying about the country's war time past.

Mr Oe's book Okinawa Notes claims that the Japanese military ordered hundreds of civilians to commit suicide as US troops advanced during World War II. A retired army officer and another man said the military never gave the order, but the court dismissed their claim.

Analysts say the ruling vindicates Mr Oe's views on Okinawa's history.

Ups …he did it again!

And again and again and again! This man turns to be the hero of this blog! In Europe politicians have girlfriends, mistresses, boyfriends, Nicolas has Carla and …so what? Nothing really maters. From the other side of the ocean …here is all the excitement, all the spice!

Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been identified as a long-standing client of a second high-priced call-girl ring, The Post has learned.

The ex-governor regularly …patronized Wicked Models, the Manhattan-based operation taken down Tuesday, according to financial documents and other evidence unearthed in a yearlong prostitution investigation, law-enforcement sources said.

The revelation comes three weeks after Spitzer was outed as "Client-9" in a separate federal hooker probe involving the New Jersey-based Emperors Club VIP.

Cuba on mobile phones

Cubans are to be allowed unrestricted access to mobile phones for the first time, in the latest reform announced under new President Raul Castro.

In a statement in official newspaper Granma, state telecom monopoly ETECSA said it would offer mobile services to the public in the next few days. Some Cubans already own mobile phones, but they have had to acquire them via a third party, often foreigners.

Cuba's rate of cell phone usage remains among the lowest in Latin America. Now Cubans will be able to subscribe to pre-paid mobile services under their own names, instead of going through foreigners or in some cases their work places. However, the new service must be paid for in foreign currency, which will restrict access to wealthier Cubans.

That was the reason George W. Bush could not speak with Fidel, but now …problem solved!

Flexible silicon chips

Normally fragile and brittle silicon chips have been made to bend and fold, paving the way for a new generation of flexible electronic devices.

The stretchy circuits could be used to build advanced brain implants, health monitors or smart clothing.

The complex devices consist of concertina-like folds of ultra-thin silicon bonded to sheets of rubber. Writing in the journal Science, the US researchers say the chip's performance is similar to conventional electronics.

"Silicon microelectronics has been a spectacularly successful technology that has touched virtually every part of our lives," said Professor John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the authors of the paper. But, he said, the rigid and fragile nature of silicon made it very unattractive for many applications, such as biomedical implants.

"In many cases you'd like to integrate electronics conformably in a variety of ways in the human body - but the human body does not have the shape of a silicon wafer."

Turner paintings head for Moscow

An exhibition of the works of J.M.W. Turner is to go ahead at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow later this year. Tate Britain is lending over 100 of the artist's works for the show which will run from November until February.

The Pushkin exhibition, which is being sponsored by billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov, will feature over 100 of Turner's works. It marks the first time any of Turner's paintings have been seen in Moscow since the 1970s.

"The generations have changed since Turner was last in Moscow and it's important that the young see him," said Ainaida Bonami, the Pushkin's deputy director. The paintings on loan will include Norham Castle, Sunrise, one of Turner's most popular works, and a self-portrait.

Sorry for Tupac claim

The Los Angeles Times has apologized for claiming rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was involved in a 1994 shooting of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur.

The apology follows a claim that the newspaper was conned by a prisoner who doctored the documents used. "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used," said editor Russ Stanton. Combs has already called the report "completely untrue" and "a lie". Writer Chuck Philips said he "got duped". Two years after the attack in New York, Shakur died in a separate shooting incident in Las Vegas.

The LA Times, which published the original story on its website, initially said its claims were based on FBI records, witness accounts and other unnamed sources. Mr. Stanton launched an investigation following claims published earlier this week on The Smoking Gun website.

"We apologies to both our readers and to those referenced in the documents and in the story," he said. The Smoking Gun claimed the documents used were fabricated by a prison inmate with a history of exaggerating his place on the rap music scene.

The newspaper said its story, published on 17 March, was based on FBI records, interviews with people at the scene of the shooting, and statements to the FBI by an informant. None of the sources were named. Mr. Philips, who wrote the story, said a former FBI agent examined the documents in question on his behalf and said they appeared to be legitimate.

But he said he now wished he had done more to investigate their authenticity. And if he did would he find anybody’s involvement? This is very tricky answer and still leaves suspicions in the air!

Check-in Heathrow

All luggage check-in has been suspended at Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5, after cancelled flights and baggage delays blighted its opening day.

British Airways, which has sole use of the terminal, cancelled 34 flights due to "teething problems" and was later forced to stop luggage check-in. Technical difficulties have also led to baggage delays of up to four hours.

BA blamed the glitches on problems with "staff familiarisation", which had a knock-on effect on bags and flights. In a day of problems at the new terminal, airport operator BAA said a baggage belt had stopped working, meaning a halt to check-in for passengers with bags.

Not a good day for flying to Heathrow but then which is ever a good day and how much this new terminal has helped?

Atkinson will be … Fagin

Rowan Atkinson is to star as Fagin in the forthcoming West End stage production of Oliver! The cast will also include the winners of the BBC show I'd Do Anything - one actress will play Nancy and three boys will take turns to play the lead role.

Blackadder star Atkinson, 53, said the role was a long-held ambition. "In the 1980s I enjoyed doing a lot of West End theatre and since then have been distracted very much by Mr Bean and film-making," he said.

"I had been thinking for some time about returning to the stage and the idea of the role of Fagin, which has long intrigued me. "Some time ago I even played the role in a school production so it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss."

Endeavour in Florida

The US space shuttle Endeavour has landed successfully in Florida after the longest mission of its kind to the International Space Station.

Endeavour's descent was slightly delayed by poor weather at the Kennedy Space Center. During their 16-day mission, the space shuttle's crew installed the first part of a Japanese research laboratory and assembled a Canadian robot.

The robot will carry out maintenance on the exterior of the space station.

just …guess who

A man says ...he’s …pregnant!

An Oregon man is five months pregnant, according to a US magazine. Thomas Beatie, who used to be a woman, appeared in the most recent issue of The Advocate, a magazine for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers.

Beatie wrote the article and it included a picture of him while he was 22 weeks pregnant. According to the story, he went through a sex change, but decided only to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy.

Beatie was able to keep the reproductive organs he was born with. The article said he stopped getting the injections and was able to get pregnant!!!

Well a man …not exactly man!!!

Dolphins woo for sex

A South American river dolphin uses branches, weeds and lumps of clay to woo the opposite sex and frighten off rivals, scientists have discovered.

Researchers observed adult male botos carrying these objects while surrounded by females, and thrashing them on the water surface aggressively. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, they say such behaviour has never before been seen in any marine mammal.

The boto lives in only two rivers, and numbers are thought to be declining. A group of British and Brazilian researchers studied the dolphin's unique courtship behaviour over three years in the Mamiraua Reserve, a flooded rainforest area on the Amazon.

The beauty of the nature!

Breast MRI scans might wrong

Lumps detected in women at a high risk of breast cancer using hi-tech MRI scans overwhelmingly turn out to be false alarms, a Dutch study suggests.

But while researchers found five out of six scans which suggested a problem were wrong, they were nonetheless very effective at spotting invasive cancers. And while false-positives caused anxiety, the study did not find women were rashly opting for mastectomies.

The findings were published in the Annals of Oncology. Women with certain genes have as much as an 85% risk of breast cancer.

In the UK, NHS guidelines say that a woman with a family history of the disease may be offered yearly MRI scans if her doctors think it is appropriate, in addition to the recommended mammogram.

MRI scans - which use magnetic resonance imaging - are more sensitive than standard mammograms, and as such are seen as particularly effective in picking up early breast cancers in younger women with denser breast tissue.

Bed-in for peace

During the Vietnam War, in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held 2, week-long Bed-Ins for Peace, in Amsterdam and Montreal, which were their non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace.

Knowing their March 20, 1969 marriage would be a huge press event, John and Yoko decided to use the publicity to promote world peace. They spent their honeymoon in Room 702 at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel for a week between March 26 and 31, inviting the world's press into their hotel room every day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

After their other stunts, such as the nude cover of the Two Virgins album, the press were expecting them to be having sex, but instead the couple were sitting in bed—in John's words "like Angels"—talking about peace with signs over their bed reading "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace". After seven days, they flew to Vienna, Austria, where they held a Bagism press conference.

Remembering that let’s …give peace a chance!

Obama presses Clinton

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has published seven years of tax returns on his website and urged his rival, Hillary Clinton, to do the same.

Mr. Obama's spokesman said he hoped the release of tax returns would encourage her to let people "see her finances" before the key primary in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Clinton said she hoped to release her tax returns "within the next week". Earlier, Mrs. Clinton was forced to explain how she came to misrepresent a visit she made to Bosnia in the 1990s.

She said last week that she and her daughter, Chelsea, "ran with our heads down" to avoid sniper fire when she arrived at Tuzla airport in 1996. But television footage broadcast on Monday showed her smiling as they are greeted by a Bosnian government welcoming committee.

Mr. Obama's aides said the admission was proof that Mrs. Clinton had overstated her foreign policy experience.

The closer we get to the electoral day the worst the fight turns, actually it has already turn into a dirty war and I’m not sure if that’s working for them and not for McCain who continues clean and away from all these!

Finn held over Easter Island ear

The authorities on Easter Island have detained a Finnish tourist on suspicion of trying to steal an earlobe of one of the world-famous moai stone statues.

Police on the Pacific island, which is an overseas territory of Chile, said a woman had seen him rip off the earlobe, which then fell and broke into pieces. Marko Kulju could face seven years in prison and a fine if convicted under laws protecting national monuments.

The statues of Polynesian ancestors are believed to be up to 1,000 years old.

The man wanted a souvenir for …Santa Claus!!!

Athens 1896

Athens 1896, the first Olympic Games and the first poster for the Olympic games!

Vista update

Microsoft has released a service update for all versions of its Windows Vista operating system. The computer giant claims that the update improves the stability, security and performance of the software. The update, or service pack, includes some fixes released before now and adds many new ones as well. Microsoft has warned that the update could clash with some security software and other programs customers may have installed on their machine.

Those using Vista can download the update directly from Microsoft or wait for it to be automatically installed on their machine in mid-April. On the Windows Vista blog, Nick White, Microsoft's product manager for the software, said those installing Service Pack One (SP1) may have to download and install some other "prerequisites" before the update can be applied.

The pre-requisites are generally updates to other programs or components of Vista to ease the passage of SP1. Mr. White also warned that some device drivers may also have to be refreshed before SP1 can be installed. Old drivers from RealTek AC, Intel and Symantec are known to stop SP1 being installed.

Sarkozy the first to talk about boycott

We are definitely going to live again days of the Moscow Olympics! French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he has not ruled out boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in China over the situation in Tibet.

His aides said France was still opposed to a full boycott but that it might pull out of the opening ceremony in Beijing on 8 August. The recent unrest in Tibet has sparked worldwide concern.

Olympics chief Jacques Rogge said last week he was "heartened" that no major government had backed a boycott. On Tuesday, the White House said US President George W Bush still planned to attend the opening of the Games, while the UK said Prime Minister Gordon Brown would still be going to the closing ceremony.

It seems in the end the Athens Olympics will be the last real Olympics to remember despite the fact of all the negativity before they started.

Cloning treats mouse Parkinson's

These are very exciting news for many who suffer from Parkinson.

Therapeutic cloning has been successfully used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice, US researchers say. The study in Nature Medicine provides the best evidence so far that the controversial technique could one day help people with the condition. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre team says it is the first time animals have been successfully treated with their own cloned cells.

Experts said the work was promising and exciting development.

The Dark Side of the Moon

One of the best Rock albums in the history of music released on March 24, 1973! Its use of Musique concrète with philosophical lyrics, something that would eventually become a trademark of Pink Floyd's music, is also present.

The album was a huge landmark in rock music, as it featured the use of synthesizers in a way never heard before, exceptional sound quality (even by present day standards), and radio-friendly songs such as "Money", "Time", "Us and Them", and "Brain Damage/Eclipse". Some music critics use the album as a point of reference in determining between "classic" blues-rock and the then-new genre of electronic music. The Dark Side of the Moon is probably Pink Floyd's best work and it is all thanks to Roger Waters.

The Dark Side of the Moon spent 741 consecutive weeks (14 years) on the USA-based Billboard 200 album chart, the longest duration in history. It is also the sixth highest selling album globally of all time, selling more than forty million records.

Sergeant Elvis Aaron Presley

Like today, 24th of March, Elvis Aaron Presley joined the US army.

Elvis Presley was drafted and served in the HQ Co.1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armored Regiment from 24 March1958 to 5 March 1960. His Army serial number was US 53310761. He earned a sharpshooter badge for the .45 pistol and M1 rifle and a marksman badge for the M2 carbine. He received a Good Conduct Medal and a 3d Armored Division Certificate of Achievement (for faithful and efficient performance of duty).

He was twenty-three years old when he was drafted as a recruit and age twenty-five when he left as a sergeant E-5.

International day of tuberculosis

World Tuberculosis Day is designed to build public awareness about the disease. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis. His discovery opened the way toward diagnosing and curing tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) kills about two million people each year, making it one of the world’s leading infectious causes of death among young people and adults. One-third of the world’s population is infected with TB.

Rowling 'had suicidal thoughts'

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has admitted she had "suicidal thoughts" while suffering from depression after her first marriage broke down. She said her love for her daughter had made her seek help for the depression she suffered in her mid-20s.

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable'," she told an Edinburgh University student magazine. Rowling, 42, said she had found counseling "absolutely invaluable".

And I’m really sorry for my …cynics, but for how much she sold this story? Was it hand-written?

Olympic torch aflame …China

The Olympic torch has been lit at a ceremony being held in Greece amid heavy security. About 1,000 police officers are patrolling ancient Olympia, fearing protests by pro-Tibet demonstrators.

One person briefly disrupted proceedings as China's representative spoke but was removed by security.

Delay biofuels

The UK's chief environment scientist has called for a delay to a policy demanding inclusion of biofuels into fuel at pumps across the UK. Professor Robert Watson said ministers should await the results of their inquiry into biofuels' sustainability.

Some scientists think biofuels' carbon benefits may be currently outweighed by negative effects from their production. The Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) is to introduce 2.5% biofuels at the pumps from 1 April.

Professor Robert Watson warned that it would be insane if the RTFO had the opposite effects of the ones intended. He said biofuels policy in the EU and the UK may have run ahead of the science.

Everything has to do with the overconsuming and overproduction. To create biofuels companies will destroy whole areas of nature and then we will end up with a new problem!

Olympic ceremony

A ceremony is due to be held in Greece to light the torch that will be carried to Beijing for the Olympic Games. Hundreds of police will be on patrol around ancient Olympia, where the games originated almost 3,000 years ago.

Security is tight to prevent disruption by activists, who have vowed to protest over the violence in and around Tibet. The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended the decision to hold the Games in China saying there was "no momentum" for a boycott.

"The major political leaders don't want a boycott," said IOC president Jacques Rogge said ahead of Monday's ceremony. The torch is to travel through 20 countries - and scale Mount Everest - before the Beijing Games open on 8 August.

He’s running out of excuses as well, what does it mean the major political leaders don't want a boycott? If I remember well from the past USA was a major power but boycotted Moscow Olympics and the Russians did the same in Los Angeles, the thing now is who’s going to be the first, the rest will just follow!

World Meteorological Day

Each year, on 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization, its 188 Members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day. This Day commemorates the entry into force, on that date in 1950, of the WMO Convention creating the Organization. Subsequently, in 1951, WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations System.

This year, celebrations at the Secretariat will take place on 25 March.

Address patients formally

Hospital staff is being urged to stop addressing patients by their first names. The head of the British Medical Association said that too many nurses and doctors were making elderly patients feel uncomfortable by using first names, when many preferred to be addressed more formally.

Dr Hamish Meldrum said: "I have noticed it especially in residential homes, where you will get a wee young girl addressing a man of 90 by his first name, not realizing that he is clearly uncomfortable with that."

"Mr. Smith, I've come to shave your willy." Please feel mercy!!! You can call me anything you want as long you are careful with those razors!

Humpback Whale calves communicating

Researchers say they have shown for the first time that humpback whale calves make sounds. The nonprofit Cetos Research Organization, which studied humpbacks off the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Kauai, say the grunts and squeals emitted by the young whales are messages for their mothers.

The sounds are not as complex as the continuous, repetitive, and highly structured phrases and themes of older males, the researchers found. The calves instead produced a limited number of sounds that were short and simple in structure, according to the study. The noises included repetitive grunts that increased in strength and were sometimes accompanied by bubble streams and seemed to function as an alarm call to the mother, the researchers found.

They say the sounds were produced more frequently during calmer periods when the mother was resting or during slow travel. "This tells us that calves do in fact communicate, and it tells us they are communicating to their mothers," Zoidis said.

Calling mother!

Kimi Raikkonen won the Malaysian Grand Prix

World champion Kimi Raikkonen kicked his title defence into life with victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Finn passed his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa thanks to a stunning lap before his first pit stop, after which he dominated the race. Massa spun out of second place, gifting it to BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, with Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren third.

Raikkonen said: "I got alongside Felipe after I got a bit better start but I thought we don't want to risk between the team-mates in the first corner, and I decided to stay behind and try my move on the first stop and it worked out perfectly. "We were pretty similar speed-wise, but once he went in my car went better and I was able to go much quicker on my in-lap and pass him.

"After that the car was handling perfectly and I was able to go away. "It was a pretty easy race from that first pitstop really. "We had quite a difficult weekend in Australia and we were not 100% sure it was going to be any different here. "But everything worked perfectly. This is a good start to the season for us and we're in a pretty good position."

Easter walk on space

Astronauts from space shuttle Endeavour have stored a 50ft (15m) inspection pole at the International Space Station (ISS) for use by the next shuttle. The astronauts attached the pole during a fifth and final spacewalk before they return to earth on Wednesday.

Discovery, which is due to fly to the space station in May, will not have space to carry its own pole alongside the Kibo laboratory. The laser-tipped pole is used to inspect the ship for damage.

Its use has become standard procedure since the Columbia accident in 2003. Endeavour astronauts Michael Foreman and Robert Behnken spent six hours on Saturday's walk. After fixing the pole, the astronauts inspected a jammed rotating joint and hung a science experiment to Europe's Colombus lab.

The Endeavour astronauts have already tested a heat-shield tile-repair kit and installed the new Japanese Logistics Module - a storage facility for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory.

Apple, let the Beatles …be!

A legal attempt has begun to block the release of early Beatles recordings. Lawyers for the group's surviving members have claimed the eight tracks, apparently played in Hamburg in 1962, were taped without permission.

The songs include Paul McCartney performing Lovesick Blues by Hank Williams, and McCartney and Lennon singing together on Ask Me Why. But the Miami company trying to sell the music, Fuego Entertainment, has insisted the recordings were legal. The firm's president, Hugo Cancio, told the Associated Press he planned to release the songs as an album entitled Jammin' with The Beatles and Friends, Star Club, Hamburg, 1962. "It's unfair to millions of Beatles fans not to allow this recording to be put out. The world deserves to hear these tracks."

Apple, let it be!

Oprah sued over a …seat

A woman has sued the company behind Oprah Winfrey's TV chat show, claiming she was injured when audience members rushed to find seats at a recording. Orit Greenberg has demanded $50,000 (£25,100) in damages after allegedly being pushed down a flight of stairs.

She said this caused her "severe and permanent injuries" and claimed the crowd in the studio was not properly controlled by Harpo Studios staff. The production company declined to comment on her allegations.

Some people definitely do anything they can to get their 10 minutes of fame!!!

Wishes from the Ovi magazine

US air strike kills 'Iraq allies'

If you have …allies like this you definitely don’t need …enemies!!!

Six people have been killed in a US air strike near the Iraqi town of Samarra, with some reports suggesting they were US-allied anti-al-Qaeda Sunni fighters. The US denied claims by a police source and a militia member that those killed at the checkpoint were members of an Awakening Council. The US-funded groups are credited with helping to curb the level of violence.

It came as four more US soldiers were killed in Iraq, bringing the death toll since the 2003 invasion close to 4,000. Three soldiers died when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near Baghdad on Saturday, the US military said. Another US soldier died after a rocket or mortar attack on Friday, bringing estimated US fatalities to 3,996.

Whoever takes over after George W. Bush has a lot of cleaning and explanation to do especially to …allies!

Darfur rape charges

For years everybody rapes this country, there are so many stories that can fill libraries not only books. But here we go again …the Sudanese army has criticized a recent UN report accusing it of raping women and girls, and looting towns during attacks in western Darfur.

The UN said raids by aircraft and ground forces on three towns in February left at least 115 people dead. A Sudanese military spokesman said the army was doing its job of protecting civilians by forcing rebels out. The United Nations says more than 200,000 people have died in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003. Two million people have been displaced and now live in camps.

Brig Gen Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash blamed rebels in Darfur for attacks on civilians in the area and the looting of their property. "The army, discharging its duty... regarding the prevalence of security and protection of civilian lives, would go after rebels and bandit groups all over the country," he is quoted as saying by Sudan's official news agency Suna.

They are amazing when it comes to blames and excuses but the sometime more people are raped and killed and please remember when it comes to crime there is full equality they rape without looking gender!

Water is life!

Dick to Saudis

The American oil man in his natural place! Vice-President Dick Cheney has met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to discuss ways of stabilizing the oil market. US officials said there was "a lot of commonality" in the talks in Riyadh on the way to move forward in the global energy market.

Of course there is, Dick is an expert! Oil prices have risen about 16% this year, but the oil producers' cartel, Opec, has declined to raise output. The big question is if Dick remembered that his travel to the emirates was not paid from an oil company!

Winehouse and jailhouse

Blake Fielder-Civil begged his wife Amy Winehouse to secretly buy him or fund his drug habit behind bars. Fielder-Civil, 25, told fellow lags he had asked the singer to make payments into the bank account of another con — that would then pass him heroin.

And a prison source revealed: “Blake’s addiction is just as bad as ever and he’s bragging about how he’s been asking Amy to help him get a fix. He showed us the bank details of a known dealer inside Pentonville and said he’d asked Amy to make regular wire transfers to this guy in exchange for heroin. “Apparently he wanted each transfer to end in a single pound, so the dealer would know who the money came from.”

The asking price for each “wrap” is said to be £100 — four times its street value. And the source said: “Blake doesn’t care as long as he gets his hit. He’s prepared to put his wife at risk. It shows how desperate he’s become.”

I’m not going to judge Mr. Fielder and his habits, I’m not going to judge Ms. Winehouse even though I feel really sorry because she’s wasting one of the greatest jazz voices of all time and she’s so young; what I cannot understand is what’s going on in the British prisons. Has anybody realized that Blake is in prison and he just asking money from his wife to find his drugs …inside the prison?

Mars is covered in …table salt

I was ready to start joking now about it, but then I remembered how many books I have read in my youth with life on Mars – not to mention Bowie’s song – and I think it is so weird. After going on for so many years, over a century, that there is no life on Mars now we are coming out with oceans, table salt and who knows what else in the next few years.

Oddly most of these science fiction books were talking about a doomed civilization in its edges. But always a glorious civilization, an artistic civilization avoiding the mistakes we are doing on earth. Most likely in the end scientists will find some microbes or minor organisms but is always fascinating the aspect of life in another planet, especially when this planet is the red planet!