Monday, January 07, 2008

Newspapers. Cruise and piggies. Real Life Scheherazade. (IStori's recommendations, part I)

Nadira Allieva, a certain Uzbek lap-dancer. (See The Guardian link, at the end.)



Newspapers in the web.

Nowadays my absolute favourite one is The Independent. Can't start the day without checking what's new.

Today there were two interesting stories – but these were not as serious as the main articles most often tend to be. (Recently on Pakistan, Darfour, Climate change, gobal poverty...) But interesting, anyway. The main article today was on Bush beginning the Middle East tour. I wonder if there are any security guards around?)

But back to these two interesting ones, of 7 Jan. Edit: Is Tom Cruise a prisoner in his own life? You can read this that way, too. Be aware, and be scared...

"Cruise is second most powerful Scientologist, Morton book claims
By David Langton
Published: 07 January 2008

Tom Cruise has been promoted to second in command of the Church of Scientology, according to an extraordinary new book by Princess Diana's biographer, Andrew Morton.

The Hollywood star is now allegedly consulted by Scientology leader David Miscavige on "every aspect of planning and policy", claims Morton.

The unauthorised Cruise biography makes a number of surprising claims about the actor and his growing interest in the movement.

Among the more outrageous are suggestions that his daughter, Suri, was conceived using frozen sperm from the movement's dead founder L Ron Hubbard and that Scientology leaders ended his marriage with Nicole Kidman because of her devotion to Catholicism.

Morton claims Scientology has all but taken over the 45-year-old actor's life, with its officials allegedly selecting many of the staff at his Hollywood mansion." ...

(Please see the article as a whole in here.)

*****

... And this one is equally interesting, and even far more important to the mankind (yes, really :-) than the first one!


"What are we eating?
Published: 07 January 2008

So you only eat free-range eggs, and spend the extra on organic sausages. But what's life really like for the animals that end up on your plate? And how can you be sure that the meat in your shopping bag is cruelty-free? Rob Sharp investigates.

Pigs


Many a poultry farmer will tell you that "a battery chicken's a happy chicken", a view based on their not altogether erroneous view that relatively unintelligent birds are well suited to intensive conditions.

The same argument can most definitely not be applied to pigs, though. As the most intelligent British farm animal, the porker is also the most abused, in order to satisfy our demand for cheap bacon.

'If we think of it in human terms, in the terms of intelligence that we value, pigs do have high levels of intelligence," says Julia Wrathall, head of the RSPCA Science Group's farm animals department. "They out-do dogs in many intelligence tests. To realise that a pig can be just as clever in the same way that dogs are is a very interesting thing.'" ...

Please see the article as a whole in here.)

*****

The rest of the top 5? Probably, at the moment, at least,

* Le monde diplomatique , and also IN FINNISH!

* The Guardian. Check out the story on Uzbek lap-dancer. Mamma mia. But a beautiful story on today's Real Life Scheherazade.

* Novaya Gazeta. Telling what's going on in Russia; 'nuff said.

* Kommersant. If you read Novaya, you must read this one, too.

*****

Suri Cruise (on the right) with Brooklyn Beckham. (The both of them look so much like their mothers, by the way.)

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