Family demands Swiss foundation to return Claude Monet’s Poppy Field near Vetheuil painting back to them

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01 Nov 2012

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A Jewish family has demanded a Swiss foundation to return the famous Claude Monet’s masterpiece “Poppy Field near Vetheuil” painting returned to them because the family was forced sell the art-work for a fraction of its cost as they fled Europe during the World War II.

Below is the unedited version of the article that appeared on Swiss edition of The Local.
The grandson of a wealthy Jewish businessman is demanding that a Swiss foundation return a Monet masterpiece that the family was forced to sell for a fraction of its value as they fled Europe during the Second World War, a Swiss newspaper says.
Juan Carlos Emden, the Chilean grandson of Max Emden who bought French master Claude Monet’s “Poppy Field near Vetheuil” in the 1920s, is seeking to recover the painting from the Swiss Bühlre collection, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on Wednesday.
Max Emden was forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1933 for Ticino in Switzerland, where he built the Villa Emden to house his large art collection, including “Poppy Field near Vetheuil”, one of Monet’s most famous paintings.
After his death in 1940, his only son Hans Erich Emden was forced to sell his father’s art collection in haste to finance his trip fleeing Europe for South America.
He sold the Monet for just 30,000 francs to a Jewish German merchant, who in turn sold it to Swiss citizen Emil Bührle for 35,000 francs.
According to NZZ, the painting is today valued at around 25 million francs ($27 million).
Juan Carlos Emden, who has reportedly been fighting for years to regain ownership of his grandfather’s painting, is planning to travel to Zurich to discuss with his lawyers how to recover the masterpiece, the paper said.
The Bührle foundation, which houses a renowned collection that also includes other works by Monet, as well works by Manet, Renoir and Van Gogh among others, could not be immediately reached for comment.
“Poppy Field near Vetheuil” was stolen during a spectacular heist at the Bührle museum in Zurich in 2008 with three other works of art, but it was found several days later in the boot of a car in a Zurich parking lot

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Astronauts venture outside Space Station to Isolate Ammonia leak

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01 Nov 2012

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Two spacewalking astronauts isolated an ammonia leak in the International Space Station’s cooling system today (Nov. 1), accomplishing the chief objective of their marathon excursion outside the orbiting lab, the Space reported


NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide ventured outside the space station at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT) today. A little more than five hours later, they had reconfigured some coolant lines and deployed a spare radiator, effectively isolating the leak.
“Suni and Aki, heartfelt congratulations to you,” NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who helped walk the astronauts through their tasks from mission control at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said at 1:41 p.m. EDT (1741 GMT). “We accomplished just about everything we set out to do today.”
“A big, huge congratulations to you guys on the ground for putting this together,” Williams responded. [Gallery: Building the International Space Station]
Today’s spacewalk was slated to last about 6 1/2 hours, and it proceeded pretty much on schedule. By 2:58 p.m. EDT (1958 GMT), both astronauts had re-entered the space station through its airlock.
Each of the space station’s eight huge solar panels has its own associated power system, and circulating ammonia helps cool this gear down. The leak, which NASA and its space station partners first noticed in 2007, has the potential to affect one of these power channels if it’s not fixed.
Today’s spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), is a crucial step in that process.
At the start of the spacewalk, Williams — commander of the station’s current Expedition 33 — and Hoshide made their way over to the port side of the station’s backbone-like truss. They rejiggered some lines in the affected coolant system and installed a spare radiator.
NASA officials hope this stops the leak, which they suspect may be coming from the old (swapped-out) radiator.
“We’re real suspicious of the radiator,” spacewalk flight director Mike Lammers, of Johnson Space Center, told reporters last Friday (Oct. 26) during a pre-spacewalk press conference. “It kind of stretches out there and is susceptible to micrometeorite impacts.”
Because the leak is so slow, it will likely be several weeks before it’s known if the fix works, officials have said.
If ammonia continues to escape, the station’s operators will eventually have to try something else. For example, astronauts may need to swap out some of the coolant system’s pump gear on another spacewalk. But there likely won’t be an urgent need for a new fix, since the spare radiator should provide enough ammonia to keep the coolant system operating until next October or so, officials said.
It should come as no surprise that Williams and Hoshide ticked off their tasks efficiently today, for the two are seasoned spacewalkers. In late August and early September, they replaced a vital power unit on the station over the course of two spacewalks, defeating an unexpectedly stubborn stuck bolt in the process.
Today’s EVA was the seventh for Williams, the third for Hoshide and the 138th to depart from the station overall.

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Norwegian domestic flight turns around to avoid overtime pay to crew members

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01 Nov 2012

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A Norwegian domestic flight with 40 passengers on board turned around and returned to its original destination-just so the crew would not have to be paid over time.

The plane when started to descend was informed by the flight-controllers to return back to Trondheim after flying approximately 170 miles. The last minute decision was made due to Norwegian government’s bizarre working time regulations.
Company Widerøe, a regional carrier owned by Scandinavian airline SAS, said that the last-minute decision was based on Norway’s strict working time regulations.
“Unfortunately, the plane took off with a crew that was about to clock out. We have strict working hours that are imposed by the authorities, which we cannot exceed,” a spokesman for the company, Richard Kongsteien, told the paper.
“If the airplane had landed, it would have had to stay in Mosjøn since we didn’t have a back-up crew there, and the schedule for the rest of the evening would have had to be cancelled,” he said, adding that this would have affected more than 200 passengers.

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Rihanna plans to give-away diamond studded microphones to VIPs at “unapologetic” tour

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01 Nov 2012

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The California King Bed singer Rihanna is reportedly going to hand-over Diamond bracelets to Very Important Persons (VIPs) at her “unapologetic” tour next year.

Apparently she is paying from her own pocket because the tour promoters have refused to pay for the stones, according to the British newspaper, The Sun.
An unnamed source has told the newspaper “Rihanna is doing this because she wan

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Vote for Bible-Vote Republican-strange Texas election code

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01 Nov 2012

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A woman wearing a T-shirt with letters printed “Vote for Bible” was told to cover-up or get-out by election officials manning a polling booth because its deemed offensive and implicitly suggests to “vote Republican” in Texas.

Now a Christian group is threatening to a file motion against the officials.
The Texas election code states that “a person may not electioneer for or against any candidate, measure, or political party in or within 100 feet” of polling place.
However, the President of the Texas Values President Jonathan Saenz in a complaint to the Williamson Country Election Administrator has said that Alva Kay Hill was told that her T-shirt is offensive because it suggested to vote for Republican.
Hill was later able to vote after an official gave her a jacket.
Saenz is demanding the election officials to offer public apology and says the woman was humiliated, and intimidated.  But Williamson County Public Affairs Director Connie Watson told KTBC that poll workers were simply following Texas election law.
“The shirt did say vote so it did have to do with voting,” she explained. “Electioneering or loitering within 100 feet of the entrance to the polling place or inside the polling place is not allowed. Electioneering would cover wearing a hat, a pen, a T-shirt or a sign that would indicate a position for a political party, candidate or a proposition.”
Raw Story (http://s.tt/1rxat)

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Mother watched children being swept away after neighbors refused to help

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01 Nov 2012

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The mother whose children were plucked violently by hurricane Sandy from her arms stood 12 hours on the streets of Staten Island watching helplessly her children being swept-away, details have emerged.

Glenda Moore, 39, knocked on her neighbor’s door for calling for help, but the neighbors have refused to help by stating that “they didn’t know her”, the heart breaking story was reported in British newspaper, the Daily Mail.
Glenda Moore battled all she had, but was unable to stop the ravaging waters sweeping her children, Connor, four, and Brandon, two, from her arms.
She lost her children when her Sports’ Utility Vehicle was swept by torrential rains near her Staten Island home.
The Mail reported that when she knocked on the door of her neighbor pleading desperately she was told “I don’t know you and I am not going to help you”. When she tried another neighbor the lights were switched off and no one had answered the door-bell.
Moore, a nurse by profession stood in the midst of floods for an estimated 12 hours without food or drink. When the dawn broke she was able to flag down a police car to raise the alarm.
The children have been missing for the past three days without any sign of hope. Her cousin Nancy Jean has told the newspaper that waiting for children is excruciating pain and killing her.
“She would like to have a closure”, Jean has stated.

Wedding Day: Glenda in the center

On Thursday rescue workers with the assistance of volunteers launched a search for the missing children in the marshy land on the eastern part of the Island. Police also dispatched helicopters with heat-seeking equipment to find the missing boys.
The tragic story unfolded on Monday when Moore with her two children was rushing to see her mother in Brooklyn. Her SUV, a Ford Explorer got stuck at Father Capodanno Boulevard in South Beach. When the waters were rising at alarming level, she had freed the boys from their seat belt and when trying to reach a higher ground, a massive wave has pounced on them sweeping the children away.
Her bravery made a sharp contrast to the uncaring neighbors’ who refused to assist, Miss Jean said.
Fighting back the tears, she went on: ‘I can’t believe the way she was treated by the people she went to for help.
‘The first person she knocked on, she begged them and said: “Please call 911″. They told her: “I don’t know you” and closed the door. She tried another door but they turned the lights off.
‘I can’t imagine what she was thinking then. She sat down for 12 hours and was just screaming. She was out of it. When it got to morning she went and found a police car and told him what happened.’
Miss Moore’s aunt, who declined to give her name, also told the New York Daily News: ‘They answered the door and said, “I don’t know you. I’m not going to help you”.
‘My sister’s like 5ft 3in, 130 pounds. She looks like a little girl. She’s going to come to you and you’re going to slam the door in her face and say, “I don’t know you, I can’t help you”?’
‘I saw them on Monday morning because I watch them when their mother goes to work.
‘They were really happy and I know Glenda had bought them some Halloween costumes and was going to take them out on Halloween.’
The aunt added: ‘They’re the most beautiful children ever. One’s a redhead, the other a dirty blonde.’

She was holding on to them, and the waves just kept coming and crashing and they were under. It went over their heads… She had them in her arms, and a wave came and swept them out of her arms. Then the wave just took the car and flipped it over. She was knocked down.
About 20 police officers from the NYPD Scuba Unit fanned out across the Staten Island marsh on the Boulevard in search of the boys.
So far, police have confirmed 14 storm-related fatalities on Staten Island, including a 13-year-old girl found in Tottenville, a father and son in South Beach, and a 28-year-old off-duty police officer.
Reached at her home in Brooklyn, New York, Glenda’s Sister Sophia, 42, said: ‘I’m sorry, I have no comment’.
Ms Moore told police her car stalled and she became stranded in the marsh when the left her home in search of higher ground as the storm worsened.

Around two dozen officers have been using canoes and police dogs, and scuba divers have been enlisted to search the area and have drained the marsh.
Officers from the NYPD Scuba Unit fanned out across the Staten Island marsh on the Boulevard in search of the boys. ‘Cops were in there hip deep trying to get them,’ a witness said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226332/Superstorm-Sandy-Mother-boys-swept-arms-left-screaming-street-12-hours.html#ixzz2AzcEd5nL

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Conservative India to open its first Playboy Club in Goa 0

Conservative India to open its first Playboy Club in Goa

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01 Nov 2012

by admin

India plans to open its first “Playboy’s club” in the holiday state of Goa next month, despite wide-spread criticism from conservative religious leaders and a nationwide ban on adult magazines.

It would be the first of 120 clubs, hotels, fashion  cafes and shops planed for the next 10 years, French News Agency AFP reported.
PB Lifestyle, the Indian firm with the rights said that no nudity would be allowed, but the famous bunny costume of skimpy corset with a fluffy rabbit tail and ears would be adapted.
“Bunnies are an integral part of Playboy clubs,” Sanjay Gupta, the chief executive officer told AFP. “For the obvious reasons of Indian morality and sensibilities, we can’t follow the traditional costumes that Playboy bunnies are associated with.”
The club built on 22,000 square foot will be located in the popular tourist resort, the Candolim beach in North Goa.
Nudity and obscene language magazines are not permitted in India.
Sherlyn Chopra, described as Bollywood Bombshell, who posed naked for Playboy magazine this year said she is “super excited” with the news. This year she caused a major stir in India when she decorated the cover pages of the Playboy magazine.

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