Mid Day International News |
- Mystery shrouds over Charlie Chaplin's nationality
- NY Times correspondent Shadid dies in Syria
- Iran's nuclear claim is 'hype': US
- Kate sent WillIam underpants for V-day
- Australia's richest pens 'worst poem'
- Mumbai civic polls: Area-wise voter turnout
| Mystery shrouds over Charlie Chaplin's nationality Posted: Mystery shrouds over Charlie Chaplin's nationality, more than 34 years after the death of the legendary silent comedy film star believed to have been born in Britain in 1889.  Charlie Chaplin British spy agency MI5 has found no record of Chaplin's birth in north London when they investigated him over links to the Communist Party, de-classified documents have revealed. In fact, the mystery emerged when the US asked MI5 to look into his background after he left America in 1952 under a cloud of suspicion over his alleged communist links in the erstwhile Soviet Union, the 'Daily Mail' reported. Despite checking under his supposed alias, Israel Thornstein, investigators found no documents confirming that Chaplin was born in Walworth, south London, on April 16, 1889. So, after scouring the files at Somerset House in London for his birth certificate, MI5 concluded: "It would seem that Chaplin was either not born in this country or that his name at birth was other than those mentioned." Scotland Yard's Special Branch added to the intrigue by passing on a tip from a source who claimed the actor was born near Fontainebleau, just south of Paris, according to the MI5 files released by The National Archives. A police memo to MI5 noted: "There may or may not be some truth in this, but in view of the fact that no documentary proof has been obtained that Chaplin was born in the United Kingdom, it may well be that he was in fact born in France." However, one possibility raised by the files was that Chaplin, who died in 1977, could even be of Russian origin, based on claims that he had said of "going back to Russia". British officials wrote: "This might refer to paying another visit, or it might denote his origin as Russia. Towards the end of the last century large numbers of Jews fled westward from Russian pogroms. If Chaplin is a Jew, he might thus have been a member of a refugee family." However, John Marriott, then head of MI5's counter- subversion branch, was not convinced that the absence of a birth certificate was a matter of concern. He wrote: "It is curious that we can find no record of Chaplin's birth, but I scarcely think that this is of any security significance."
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| NY Times correspondent Shadid dies in Syria Posted: New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who strove to capture untold stories in Middle East conflicts from Libya to Iraq, has died in eastern Syria after slipping into the country to report on the uprising against its president. Shadid, shot in the West Bank in 2002 and kidnapped for six days in Libya last year, apparently died of an asthma attack yesterday, the Times said. Times photographer Tyler Hicks was with him and carried his body to Turkey, the newspaper said. "Anthony was one of our generation's finest reporters," Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger said in a statement. "He was also an exceptionally kind and generous human being. He brought to his readers an up-close look at the globe's many war-torn regions, often at great personal risk. We were fortunate to have Anthony as a colleague, and we mourn his death." Shadid's father, Buddy Shadid, said his son had asthma all his life and had medication with him. "(But) he was walking to the border because it was too dangerous to ride in the car," the father said. "He was walking behind some horses - he's more allergic to those than anything else - and he had an asthma attack." Shadid, a 43-year-old American of Lebanese descent, had a wife, Nada Bakri, and a son and a daughter. He had worked previously for The Associated Press, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He won Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting in 2004 and 2010 for his Iraq coverage. In 2004, the Pulitzer Board praised "his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended." Shadid joined the AP in Milwaukee in 1990, worked on the International Desk in New York and served as the AP's news editor in Los Angeles. He was transferred to Cairo in 1995, covering stories in several countries. AP Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski, who worked with Shadid in Baghdad during the US invasion in 2003, called him "a brilliant colleague who stood out both for his elegant writing and for his deep and nuanced understanding of the region." "He was calm under fire and quietly daring, the most admired of his generation of foreign correspondents," Daniszewski said. Shadid had been reporting in Syria for a week, gathering information on the resistance to the Syrian government and calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, the Times said. The exact circumstances and location of his death were unclear, it said.
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| Iran's nuclear claim is 'hype': US Posted: The US played down Iran's claim of a "major" nuclear breakthrough as an exaggeration to bolster nationalism amid tighter sanctions rather than a step toward developing an atomic weapon. "Our view on this is that it's not terribly new and it's not terribly impressive," said State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. The announcement was "hyped" for a domestic audience, she said. The assessments came as the EU received a letter from Iran about resuming negotiations.
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| Kate sent WillIam underpants for V-day Posted: Prince William reportedly received a pair of underpants from Kate Middleton for his Valentine's Day gift. Queen's permission to marry
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| Australia's richest pens 'worst poem' Posted: Gina Rinehart, a mining magnate, has been ridiculed for writing an anti-government poem that rhymes 'rampant tax' with 'political hacks' A Perth-based creative writing expert slammed Gina Rinehart's attempts at poetry and suggests she checks her punctuation and grammar before setting her prose in stone again.  Stick to the day job: A creative writing lecturer asked Gina Rinehart to get her grammar and punctuation right before becoming a poet. File pic The poem penned by the mining magnate is titled 'Our Future' and takes a swipe at the Australian Government for not supporting the resource industry and 'unleashing rampant tax'. The poem has been engraved on a plaque fixed to a 30-tonne iron ore boulder as part of a new outdoor artwork in the billionaire's home state of Western Australia. The poem, which consists of eight rhyming couplets, proclaims the benefits of the resources industry and lampoons the government. But its aesthetic quality has come under question, with one critic describing it on Wikipedia as 'the universe's worst poem, although many still dispute if it qualifies to be classified as poetry'. An Australian poet and satirist, Geoff Lemon, said Rinehart had achieved "almost functional iambic heptameter" but that the poem soon went off the rails. "[It] attempts a noble challenge: the rendering of economic theory and politico-economic ideology into stirring verse," he said on a website. "Some call it impossible to include phrases such as 'special economic zones' in a fluid and aesthetically pleasing poem. Those people are right. But Rinehart doesn't let that stop her." A creative writing lecturer at the University of Western Australia, Professor Dennis Haskell, praised Rinehart for effort but noted her use of grammar and punctuation -- particularly full stops -- was poor. "As a poet she's about as good as I am at mining," he said. "It's not written with artistic merit in mind. It's a polemical poem and we do have a tradition of those in Western Australia and I think good on her for having a go." He predicted that Rinehart should consider sticking to her day job. "She won't make as much money out of poetry, that's for sure," he said. Our Future Excerpts from the poem: The globe is sadly groaning with debt, poverty and strife And billions now are pleading to enjoy a better life Their hope lies with resources buried deep within the earth And the enterprise and capital which give each project worth Is our future threatened with massive debts run up by political hacks Who dig themselves out by unleashing rampant tax The end result is sending Australian investment, growth and jobs offshore This type of direction is harmful to our core Some envious unthinking people have been conned To think prosperity is created by waving a magic wand Through such unfortunate ignorance, too much abuse is hurled
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| Mumbai civic polls: Area-wise voter turnout Posted: Mumbaikars failed to turn up in numbers to vote in the ongoing BMC elections in the city. A low voter turnout of 46 per cent was witnessed till 5.30 pm, Thursday. Here's a look at area-wise voter turnout across the city Borivali However, due to work commitments and other reasons, family members might not be present all at one time. This has caused confusion and fights at a polling booth for a brief while. Central Mumbai Large number of police personnel is manning the entire stretch, which looks like a police camp. There were some reports of disturbances in the Dagdi Chawl area, however, the security forces rubbished the report as rumours when contacted by this reporter. Mainly people from the age group of 40-50 years turned out to vote, however, the officials are expecting increase in numbers after 2 pm. Four Bungalows, Lokhandwala, DN Nagar, JVPD
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