INTERNATIONAL CHINA DAILY FRIDAY MARCH 2, 20079

WORLDSCENE New York city council bans N-word UNITED STATES councillor who proposed the reso- ment right to free speech, Richards come to be seen by many as the most ‘Old Man’ of mafi a’s guilty plea Black screenwriters and rappers urged lution, has called on the academy said, pointing to the supreme court’s offensive racial slur in English. A 96-year-old gangster who oversaw which runs the Grammy awards decision to uphold the right to burn Roy Miller, a lawyer from Atlanta, robberies, money laundering, bank to rein back use of racist term following to withhold nominations from acts the American fl ag, and its ruling that Georgia, was invited to speak to a fraud and other crimes for one of using it. At the awards last month, a man resisting military conscription committee of the New York council the largest mafi a families in the councillors unanimous vote for crackdown artists such as Ludacris and Chamil- had the right to wear a jacket in court when it debated the resolution on US pleaded guilty yesterday, but lionaire were honored for songs which saying “fuck the draft”. Monday. The civil rights committee because of his age will probably be ew York banned the word mon use of the word, especially in contained the term. Marcia Williams, of the campaign- voted by fi ve to none to pass the reso- sentenced to house arrest. nigger yesterday in a the black community, where it has ing website Ban the N-word, said that lution imposing a moratorium. Albert “The Old Man” Facchiano symbolic crackdown on morphed into a slang word similar hough the moratorium is it was a shame New York had to resort Mr Miller campaigned success- pleaded guilty to a charge in Florida the widespread use of the to “buddy”. purely symbolic, it has raised to a moratorium, because it showed fully in 1994 for the removal of the of racketeering conspiracy and a term in hip-hop songs, The issue rose to the top of public Tthe hackles of champions of the the city’s education system had failed word from a popular US dictionary New York charge of conspiracy to Nfi lms, and on the city’s streets. debate in November when former fi rst amendment, who oppose any at- to teach children about historical published by Funk & Wagnalls. tamper with a witness. From 1994 The city council voted unani- Seinfeld actor Michael Richards, tempt to involve the government in background. “This is a word that is “At its worst, the N-word is the ulti- to 2006, he supervised associates mously 49-0 in favour of a motion who is white, hurled the term at regulating speech. rooted in hatred,” she said. mate form of disrespect against black of the Genovese crime family who to encourage New Yorkers to stop black members of the audience at Robert Richards, of the Pennsylva- The etymology of the word lies people. It is a dangerous snake which committed robberies, money laun- using the word and to learn its racist a comedy club in Los Angeles, later nia Centre for the First Amendment, with the Latin “niger”, Spanish is liable to bite,” he said. dering and bank fraud. provenance. apologising profusely. There has also said it “seemed a waste of government “negro”, and middle French “negre” He added that black entertainers The charges carry a maximum The resolution carries no sanctions been a chorus from African-American resources to pass resolutions that have meaning black. were drawn to using it for money, sentence of 30 years in prison and and is designed to lead by example politicians for black artists to rein no impact. It’s just a feel-good move for One of the earliest uses of the writ- “but no amount of money will make $500,000 in fi nes. But in a plea rather than through penalties; it back on the frequent use of the word the New York city council.” ten word was in 1786 by slave masters up for the damage it causes”. agreement, prosecutors recommend- is the latest move in an argument in screenplays and rap lyrics. Finding something offensive was not to label their Africans. It is through ed he serve house arrest. raging across the US over the com- Leroy Comrie, a New York city enough to overcome the fi rst amend- its application in slavery that it has Guardian ITALY

Potatoes with a bang A 74-year-old Italian grandmother After Departed who bought a sack of potatoes at the her local market found a live grenade among them. Hollywood to “I found a bomb in the potatoes,” Olga Mauriello told reporters. remake 2nd “I went to the market to buy some potatoes and that’s where the bomb Chinese fi lm was. But this bomb was covered in dirt, and I put it in water and got UNITED STATES all dirt off. And then I realized it’s a bomb!” Warner Bros remade the Police said the pine cone-shaped crime thriller into the grenade, which had no pin and Oscar-winning movie . was still active, was the same type Now it’s hoping to produce another used by US soldiers in Europe in hit by buying the rights to another mov- World War II. Authorities believe ie made by the creative team behind the mix-up happened at a farm in Infernal Affairs and hiring Departed France, where the grenade was star Leonardo DiCaprio’s company to plucked from the ground along with shoot the Hollywood version. potatoes. Warner Bros spokeswoman Andrea Marozas and spokeswoman Emily Teacher cuts pupil’s tongue Wong for Hong Kong’s Media Asia A Milan teacher cut an unruly 7- fi lm company confi rmed the deal for year-old pupil’s tongue with scissors the rights to 2006 movie Confession to silence him, according to police of Pain. and school offi cials. , starring The child, of North African origin, Cannes best actor winner Tony needed to go to hospital for fi ve Leung and Taiwanese-Japanese stitches to close the wound. heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro, is The boy’s family has fi led a law suit about a Hong Kong police officer against the teacher, who has been who avenges the murder of his suspended after the incident. family after marrying the killer’s Police are trying to fi nd out whether daughter and earning his trust. the injury was infl icted intention- Like Infernal Affairs, Confession ally or was a joke gone wrong, a of Pain was directed by police source said. and and written by Felix “We are carrying out a full inquiry Chong. to fi nd out what really happened,” Hollywood producer said said Anna Maria Dominici, in Warner Bros has hired him and DiC- charge of schools in the Lombardy aprio’s production company to shoot region. the Confession of Pain remake. Orphans become unlikely playmates It isn’t yet known if DiCaprio, once A pair of Sumatran tiger cubs have become playmates with a set of young orangutans. The friendship between baby primates Nia and Irma, and cubs Dema INDIA the biggest actor in Hollywood for and Manis, has blossomed at Indonesia’s Taman Safari zoo. Abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth, the four now play and sleep together. AP his role in record-grossing love story Gown to pay for schools meets disaster fl ick Titanic, will also About $800,000 in proceeds from star in the fi lm. the auction of an evening gown Lee said , who worn by Hollywood actress Audrey won an Oscar for the screenplay for Historians shocked as Kremlin razes Red Square buildings Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s The Departed, will also write the will be donated to build 15 schools remake of Confession of Pain. RUSSIA at 5 Red Square were part of a court- “This is a tragedy,” said David and said it was “complete rubbish” to for destitute Indian children. He said the producers haven’t yet yard next to the colorfully domed 16th Sarkiyasan, the head of the Schusev suggest they had been knocked down The black Italian silk dress which decided on a director. It is home to St Basil’s Cathedral, century cathedral. They were alleg- state museum of architecture in in the dead of night. Hepburn, who was also a UNICEF The Departed, which also featured the GUM department store and the edly knocked down in the middle of Moscow. “It shows our laws are not “This is a direct violation of the goodwill ambassador, wore in the Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon, waxy remains of Vladimir Lenin. the night, with the rubble taken off working.” law. The whole complex is a cultural Academy-award-winning fi lm in won best picture and best director But Red Square is now at the center in army trucks. But a spokesman for the presiden- monument. You can’t just destroy part 1961, was auctioned at Christie’s in for at the Oscars of a row after the Kremlin secretly In their place the Kremlin intends tial logistics directorate, which owns of it,” said Alexei Klimenko, a member London last December for 410,000 on Sunday. demolished fi ve of its 19th century to build a luxury hotel and exclusive the buildings, dismissed the criti- of Moscow’s architectural council. pounds ($800,000), around seven buildings. apartments as part of a $300 million cism. Viktor Khrekov said the build- times its pre-sale estimate. Agencies The ornate neo-classical buildings makeover. ings had “no architectural value” Guardian The proceeds were given to author and philanthropist Dominique Lapierre’s City of Joy Foundation, which supports charitable work in the eastern state of West Bengal. Wives stand by their men in bloody turf war KENYA Williams unexpectedly admitted while drinking in a bar Australians have been fascinated 29th birthday. He lived, but mayhem Unlikely friendship deepens in court to murdering her husband, about a year later. by the sordid gangland drama which ensued as the rival gangs swapped A giant tortoise and an orphaned All the principal players are either , and her son Jason. Watched by his blonde girlfriend, has played out for almost 10 years like brutal payback hits. baby hippo who forged an unusual dead or behind bars but an Austral- “I think I’d like to be the hangman the baby-faced 36-year-old Williams a real-life version of the hit US televi- “Judy should get facts right and friendship after the 2004 tsunami ian underworld war simmered yester- and I’d like to pull the lever,” she said. pleaded guilty in the Victorian Su- sion series The Sopranos. help publish the truth instead of in Southeast Asia are the stars of day as the matriarchs of rival families Even though she is divorcing him, preme Court on Wednesday to the It began in 1998 when self-styled getting on air and in papers and a new Web site so fans can follow traded insults over talk radio. Williams’ wife Roberta rang the murders of Lewis and . “Godfather” , 40, magazines and whatever and telling their progress. The women stood by their men same radio station to refute Moran’s said she had met Carl was shot dead in his laundry, spark- the public lies,” Roberta Williams told Mzee, a 130-year-old Aldabran despite signs Melbourne’s gangland accusations. Williams once, near a Melbourne court ing a slew of tit-for-tat killings. the radio show. tortoise, became a surrogate parent war, which has claimed 28 lives, Jason Moran and his bodyguard in 2003. “I walked up behind him and I With Gangitano’s turf up for grabs in Asked about the killings to which and inseparable friend to hippo might be near an end. Pasquale Barbaro were gunned down dug my nails in the back of his shoulder the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, drug her husband admitted, she said: Owen who was washed out to sea off Judy Moran told Southern Cross as they sat in a car outside a children’s and he turned around,” she said. dealer Williams rose to prominence. “I have no comment at all to make the coast of Kenya, rescued by vil- Broadcasting radio that she wanted soccer clinic with Moran’s 6-year-old “I said, ‘Tell them the truth, Carl. In October 1999, drug-runners Ja- because I have no idea at all”. lagers and taken to a wildlife park the death penalty reinstated in Aus- twins in the back seat. Tell them how much you paid to have son and shot Williams in where the tortoise lived. tralia, a day after crime boss Carl Lewis Moran, 58, was shot dead my family murdered’.” the stomach while they celebrated his Agencies “They have created sounds unique to hippo or to tortoise and use gentle nods and pushes to communicate with one another,” said a spokes- woman from US publisher Scholas- NEWSMAKERS tic which has just released Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship. Kennedy insider a kind of energy and drive which Princess Lalla Salma, in March 2002 most people don’t have, and it kept and Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, JAPAN Schlesinger dies him going, all the way through his heir to the throne, was born in May final hours,” his son Stephen said 2003. Toilet cleaning craze In his 89 years, Arthur M. Schlesin- early yesterday morning. “He never Cleanliness has long been next to ger Jr was a Pulitzer Prize-winning stopped having his views about poli- godliness for the hygiene-conscious historian, a Kennedy insider, and an tics and his love of this nation.” Wagner — a passion Japanese, but fortune-tellers are infl uential thinker who helped de- Schlesinger was among the most for women’s clothes now advising those who want to fi ne mainstream liberalism during respected historians of his time. He succeed in life to start by scrubbing the Cold War. was a confidant of the Kennedys, A letter by Richard Wagner to a the smallest room. “(He had) enormous stamina and and served in President Kennedy’s Milanese couturier offers the intriguing Cleaning the toilet to attract luck administration. possibility that the great composer was, published this month is the latest in in fact, a cross-dresser. a series of books advising readers In the letter, published for the fi rst puffed fl ounces — of the same satin on how to attract good fortune using 2nd child born to al Highness Lalla Khadija, are both in time today, the composer of Der Ring material — no basque at the front but a a brush and an array of cleaning King Mohammed good health, said the spokesman. des Nibelungen details the cut of an out- rich bustle with a bow at the back.” fl uids. A 21-gun salute echoed across the fi t, ostensibly intended for his wife. According to historian Barry Mil- “Don’t just wipe the fl oor, polish it,” King Mohammed of Morocco’s wife, capital Rabat late on Wednesday when Requesting “something graceful for lington, the letter “adds weight to the the book instructs. “It’s important Princess Lalla Salma, has given birth the birth was announced. evenings at home” he continues: “The theory that the composer exhibited to maintain a positive mood while to a girl, the couple’s second child, a Mohammed married Salma Ben- bodice will have a high collar, with a the tendencies of a cross-dresser”. cleaning.” palace spokesman said yesterday. nani, daughter of a college lecturer lace jabot and ribbons; close-fi tting The princess and her baby, Her Roy- from the city of Fez, who became sleeves; the dress trimmed with Guardian/Agencies Guardian/Agencies