Thursday September 30, 2010

Some folks have not finished the lead analysis. They are due by the close of class; otherwise 10 points off per day.

For those of you who have finished, there are 10 articles below from several news sources, none of which have headlines. That's your job! Read the articles and on the blog list 10 potential headlines. I would suggest that you note them on a separate sheet of paper and then post them when you are done. This assignment is due at the end of class on Friday. I'll post the "right" headlines on Monday. Have fun.

1. AN EARLY 18TH-CENTURY VILLA WITH PANORAMIC OCEAN VIEWS OF THE AMALFI COAST


Perched on the Amalfi Coast6 MILLION EUROS ($8.1 MILLION)

This six-bedroom four-bath villa, sold furnished, is perched above the town of Positano on the Amalfi Coast. The exterior is pink-and-white stucco. On the main floor, a terrace runs the width of the house. Arched doorways lead into the foyer, the formal dining room and the living room. Toward the back of the house are two bedrooms, one of them currently occupied by the property’s caretaker. The bathroom on this floor is accessible only from the terrace.

On the second level are four more bedrooms and three baths, two with bidets. Original frescoes adorn the bedroom ceilings.

In addition to the 3,600 square feet of living space, the property has 5,000 square feet of terraces and gardens, including mature fruit and nut trees. A small olive grove provides a privacy screen between the house and the road that passes below it. A parking space comes with the property; it is about 200 yards below the house.

A staircase leads down to the beach. Local residents and visitors can rent beach chairs for the day.

The nearest airport is in Naples, an hour and a half away, but many visitors to Positano arrive by private jet at the Salerno airport, an hour away, or via the heliport in Ravello. The island of Capri is 20 minutes from Positano by boat.

2. PARIS — Al Qaeda and related groups are plotting new attacks on Western European capitals, European officials said on Wednesday, but they had no actionable intelligence suggesting either the timing or specific locations.

French and German officials on Wednesday played down reports of a significant new threat from the main Qaeda group hiding in Pakistan, saying that any plot appeared to be in the planning stages. One Western official familiar with the intelligence said that this plot involved small teams of gunmen equipped with small arms who hoped to mount commando-style raids in Western European capitals, which are considered softer targets than the United States.

In Britain, security officials noted that the terrorist threat alert remained “severe,” as it has been for months, indicating that an attack is considered “highly likely.”

But a senior French official said that France was on high alert because of another threat: from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is linked to, but operates separately from, Al Qaeda itself.

3. Barbie's boyfriend Ken isn't going to be happy about this: Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber is set to be immortalized in plastic with a range of collectible dolls.

Billboard magazine reports that the dolls, created by Bravado and Bridge Direct Inc., are set for release around Dec. 4 and will be available in two varieties.

The Justin Bieber Music Video Collection Singing Figures, which retail for $27.99, feature Biebs in the hoodies and skinny jeans he wore in videos like "Baby" and "One Less Lonely Girl." Then there's The JB Style Collection, selling for $17.99, which showcase Bieber in "street style," "awards style," and "red carpet style" ensembles.


Both sets of dolls, of course, have the 16-year-old singer sporting his swoon-worthy signature shag.

In addition, the Canada native will take over Toys R Us with microphones that play 30-second clips of his hits as well as plush bears decked out in hoodies, caps, and "Team Bieber" tees – perfect wedding gifts for the future Mrs. Barbie Bieber.

4. It’s not enough that they suck our blood and put us on edge every time we stay in a hotel room. Now, bedbugs are mucking up our love lives.

According to a new survey by the Facebook dating app, AreYouInterested.com, 45 percent of singles polled said they would cancel a date if someone admitted to a bedbug infestation.

“I consider bedbugs to be in the same category as murderers or drug addicts,” says Karen Tom, a thirtysomething writer from Manhattan. “That’s an undesirable category, something that would endanger my welfare, my personal well-being. I don’t want anyone at my house with bedbugs.”

Could you actually pick up bedbugs from someone you’re dating?

Yes and no, says Dr. Richard Zack, associate professor of the department of entomology at Washington State University.“These are not like head lice or pubic lice – those live on people,” he says. “Bedbugs are very different from that. If you had a date and went out to a bar and had a drink with someone and then they dropped you off at your place with a good night kiss, you would not catch bedbugs from them.”

If things went particularly well, however, you might be both smitten – and bitten.



5. Newly formed Tropical Storm Nicole soaked parts of Florida's eastern coast as well as central Cuba on Wednesday as the system pushed northeast toward the Bahamas. At least one death was recorded due to flooding in Jamaica.

The storm had sustained winds of 40 mph and it was not expected to grow much further as it passes over the ocean east of Florida on a track that could carry it over parts of the Bahamas by evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

6.Search crews are hunting for two American balloonists last detected piloting their craft over the Adriatic Sea in rough weather, officials said Wednesday.

Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis were participating in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race, an annual race in which teams of balloonists try to see who can fly the farthest from a set point on a maximum of about 35,300 cubic feet of gas.

Abruzzo is the son of Ben Abruzzo, who was part of the first team to cross the Pacific Ocean by balloon, in 1981, and was killed in a small airplane crash in 1985.

Italian officials said a search was under way for the balloon, one of 20 that set off Saturday from the English coastal city of Bristol. Coast guard spokesman Lt. Massimo Maccheroni, said the last signal received from the balloon's GPS was at 8 a.m. local time Wednesday. The signal showed the craft was 13 miles off the Gargano coast in the Adriatic Sea.

He said helicopters, military aircraft and three boats were taking part in the search. A ground search on the coast was also under way.

Conditions in the area were reported to be poor, with rough seas and thunderstorms.

7. They are arguably the most famous lovers in history. Marcus Antonius of Rome stood at the pinnacle of power, fighting to be the most powerful man in the known world; and Cleopatra VII Philopator was the queen of one ancient civilization, Egypt, and heir to the unmatched cultural achievements of another, Greece.

Their love affair, their war together, their defeat and, finally, their suicides have been told and retold for centuries. But most of those retellings have been far from accurate, according to author and historian Adrian Goldsworthy.

Goldsworthy, author of Antony and Cleopatra, describes the couple's true story and why so much of what we know about them is wrong.

8. The Florida Panthers have found their replacement in Rochester for injured center Mark Cullen, thanks to the Washington Capitals.

Center Michael Nylander has been loaned to the Panthers/Amerks.


Michael Nylander’s goal for the Bruins against Jose Theodore and the Canadiens in the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, as captured by The Associated Press.

It’s a significant move, given Nylander’s talent level. I still need to clairify who’s paying his $3 million salary. I initially understood it to be the Panthers (I may have misheard or misinterpretted); I’m told it will still be coming from the Caps’ bank account.

Nylander, 38, is ultimately hoping to prove he’s still NHL worthy. A native of Stockholm, Sweden, he has played 18 pro seasons in North America.

“He’s coming here to help our young guys,” Panthers assistant general manager Mike Santos said. “He’s not coming here grumbling. He wants to resurrect his career for one more shot.”

A year ago the Capitals decided they didn’t need Nylander and he was loaned to Jokerit-Helsinki in the Finnish League 3-4-7 in 14 games) and also played for the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL (2-16-18 in 24 games) on Washington’s dime.

In 2008-09, his last NHL season, he scored 9-24-33 in 72 games for the Capitals. For his career, he has 209-470-679 in 920 NHL games for the Whales, Flames, Lightning, Blackhawks, Capitals, Bruins and Rangers, as well as 12-22-34 in 47 Stanley Cup playoff games.

“He’s a quality person and a proven player,” said Mike Santos, assistant general manager of the Panthers. “I don’t know him personally but I know him from watching him score against my teams.

“I need a guy who can play in that No. 1 center role. He’s the best guy out there.”

9. You never thought you'd see the day, but ivory is back in fashion – mammoth ivory, that is. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, mammoth-mining is big business in Russia. Tusks from the long-gone species are being reclaimed from their mass graveyard in the Siberian tundra, and each year 60 tonnes are exported to China, home to the world's largest ivory market.

Aside from being worth significantly more than elephant tusks, mammoth ivory is being touted as an ethical alternative to the illegal poaching trade, which persists in threatening the conservation of the living species. Michelle Obama is one fan, and has been seen wearing Monique Péan necklaces sculpted from mammoth tusks.

But are they really an ethical alternative? With an estimated 150m corpses under the permafrost, stocks are unlikely to run out soon, and thanks to global warming (every cloud . . .) they are becoming increasingly easy to reach. Meanwhile, a report in the Pachyderm journal offers the ringing endorsement that mammoth ivory could "reduce demand for elephant ivory from Africa. Probably."

On the other hand, experts are warning that illegal products are getting mixed up with the pre-historic stuff. You could go by colour, but poachers have apparently been colouring elephant's tusks to make them look like mammoth's. So other than a prominent label on your jewellery, perhaps the only way is to make sure there are still traces of mammoth wool clinging to it. Call it exhumation chic.

Luckily ivory lends well to inscriptions, and it seems apt to go for something eco-conscious. Why not this recent slogan from Save the Elephants? "All ivory, even if legally sourced, fuels the ivory trade."

10. When fashion turns its spotlight on one particular look, an opposing one inevitably gets left in the dark. Most will know the feeling: if skirts are your thing and yet the shops are filled with rails of trousers, often there is little else to do but wait for fashion to swing back towards your comfort zone again. For the past couple of seasons, Milan fashion week has suffered a similar fate. Minimalism has been the defining catwalk trend over recent months, but this pared-back look sits unhappily in a city where sex appeal and snakeskin are routinely considered the two pillars of chic. As a result Milanese style had been floundering, the city's influence shaky.

This season Milan clearly decided that sitting it out was not an option. It had lost patience with minimalism: it was time for something else. Two of the city's most lauded designers, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons of Jil Sander, both admitted as much. Backstage at her show Prada explained that she wanted to do something "between minimalism and baroque" and Simons took this a step further saying that he wanted to go "maximal". It may not be an actual word but it was most definitely a look.

It would be a little too neat to say that Milan fashion week killed off minimalism completely. It wasn't as if rows of boring camel coats were being lined up and shot; there was no burning pile of tailored navy trousers. But there was an undercurrent of change as bold colour, exaggerated shapes and bananas (more on those later) became the most memorable symbols of Milan.

The Jil Sander show was the best of the week. It featured the most shockingly bright selection of neon brights: orange, pink, emerald, magenta and Yves Klein blues. It would have been a simple development from modern minimalism had it not been for the extraordinary shapes that recalled 1960s couture dresses. Long silk voluminous skirts were paired with simple white T-shirts, as were elephantine emerald green trousers. A navy parka was worn over a giant teardrop-shaped strapless evening dress, and an intense floral print covered a couture-inspired dress. The audience undoubtedly left as "maximal" converts.