The S-Train

Steve Jobs Unveils New iPad – Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs is on medical leave, but that didn’t stop him from making a surprise public appearance to unveil the iPad 2, an upgraded tablet computer that could help the company fend off a slew of rivals in the burgeoning market. “We’ve been working on this product for a while and I just didn’t want to miss the day,” Jobs said shortly after receiving a standing ovation Wednesday. [sfgate]

Sheen Loses Kids After Threatening To Decapitate His Estranged Wife – When Charlie Sheen threatened and maligned his bosses over “Two and a Half Men,” it was business and, to some people at least, bizarrely comic. When his estranged wife alleged that she and their twin toddlers were in peril from the TV star, the saga turned ugly.. Sheen’s 23-month-old sons were removed from his home Tuesday night after Brooke Mueller Sheen claimed that he threatened her with decapitation, adding a nasty custody battle to the actor’s bitter war with the studio and producers who shut down his hit CBS show. [msnbc]

Gaddafi Warns Of Bloody War – Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi warned the West on Wednesday against intervening to support the rebellion against him, saying that would unleash a “very bloody war” in which “thousands of Libyans would die”. Speaking live on state television, Gaddafi again blamed al-Qaeda for the challenge to his 41-year iron-fisted rule, saying the objective was to control Libya’s land and oil, and promised to fight to the last man and woman. Good times. [news24]

Official Royal Wedding Website Launched – Start clicking: Prince William and fiancée Kate Middleton are set to reveal details of the bride-to-be’s wedding dress on their newly launched Web site officialroyalwedding2011.org, which aims to celebrate all aspects of their upcoming nuptials. The palace has also added a news site to its roster of social media – there are royal-couple Facebook, Twitter (@ClarenceHouse) and Flickr accounts, as well as the Royal Channel on YouTube – says this will be the first place for fans to learn details of Kate’s eagerly anticipated dress. Also planned for the site: a video stream of the April 29 wedding! [people]

News Corp Ditching SKY News – The News Corporation has proposed spinning off the Sky News unit, in an effort to finally win government approval of its takeover of British Sky Broadcasting, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The plan — in which the Sky News channel would formally be separated from BSkyB to head off concerns that the News Corporation would gain too much control over British news media — could be announced Thursday, said this person, who would not speak for attribution because the matter was confidential. [newyorktimes]

Anne Hathaway And James Franco Can’t Stand Each Other – A source has told Us Weekly that Anne Hathaway, 28, and James Franco grew to “hate each other” as they rehearsed to host the Oscars Feb. 27. “She had to provide all the energy — he was just phoning it in,” says a second insider. (“James seemed in his own little world,” during the Oscar telecast, says another source. “Producers were pissed.”). After the awards, Franco, 32, skipped his own party at L.A.’s The Writer’s Room. “He went immediately back to NYC because he was pissed about how the show went,” adds a third source. Blind. [usmagazine]

Colombian Soccer Owl Dies – A Colombian soccer team’s mascot owl died after being controversially kicked (video here) by a rival player, Radio Santa Fe reported today. The bird landed on the field with an apparent broken wing during Sunday’s game between Barranquilla’s Atletico Junior and Deportivo Pereira. The visitors’ Panamanian striker Luis Moreno kicked the owl off the field, provoking a furious reaction from the Baranquilla crowd, who considered the bird to be a good luck charm. [heraldsun]

Saif Gaddafi Plagiarised His Degree Thesis – The London School of Economics (LSE) has launched an investigation into claims that Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Saif, plagiarised his PhD thesis. The 38-year-old graduated from LSE with a Master’s degree in philosophy, policy and social value in 2003 and gained a PhD in philosophy in 2008. It is alleged that he used a ghost writer and copied sections of his thesis, The Role of Civil Society in the Democratisation of Global Governance Institutions, which was examined by Lord Desai, the Labour peer. [independent]

More On Saif Gaddafi, Muammar’s Son – Before he joined Libya’s slaughter, Gaddafi’s son Saif was celebrated by Westerners as a liberal reformer. He was so smooth in his Brioni suits and cashmere zip-up sweaters. His English was fluent, his manner easy. He spoke of civil society and democracy, the subject of his doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics. Through American consultants, he promoted openness at home, counterterrorism abroad, and headed a major charity. He dabbled in art, painting a little himself and displaying the work of others. But now we see how he used money to fool the West. [dailybeast]

Julian Assange ‘Jewish Conspiracy’ Comments Spark Row – Julian Assange has blamed a number of journalists for a “Jewish” conspiracy against his whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks, according to the editor of Private Eye, Ian Hislop. In the latest issue of the satirical magazine, Hislop writes that Assange called him on 16 February to complain about an article on Israel Shamir, a WikiLeaks associate in Russia who has denied the Holocaust and has published a string of antisemitic articles. “He said that I and Private Eye should be ashamed of ourselves for joining in the international conspiracy to smear WikiLeaks,” Hislop writes. [guardian]

Mugabe Threatens Takeover Of Foreign Firms – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday threatened to boycott Western products before seizing companies from countries that have imposed sanctions against him and his allies. “We can’t keep hosting more than 400 British firms including mines. Now it’s time we took measures,” Mugabe told a rally launch of a petition to call for the lifting of sanctions by the United States and the European Union. [timeslive]

Michael Jackson ‘Chemically Castrated’ As A Child – Michael Jackson may have been more prince than king of pop, a French doctor says in a new book alleging his wide-ranging voice resulted from a childhood chemical castration to fight acne. “When he died, I realised that he was an unusual phenomenon,” Alain Branchereau, an opera buff and professor of vascular surgery at Timone University Hospital in France’s Mediterranean port of Marseille, told AFP. “I said, ‘That’s the voice of a castrato!’.” [afp]

Zapiro vows to fight Zuma’s R5m lawsuit – Jonathan Shapiro, the cartoonist behind Zapiro, has remained defiant, stating that President Jacob Zuma’s R5 million defamation lawsuit against him and Avusa Media, the publisher of Sunday Times and division of JSE-listed Avusa, had no basis. Shapiro faces another R2 million lawsuit lodged by Zuma over three cartoons published during the president’s rape trial during 2006. [businesslive]

Hollywood Sex Symbol Jane Russell Dies At 89 – Controversial Hollywood sex symbol and actress Jane Russell has died in California at the age of 89. The star of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes died of respiratory problems at her home in Santa Maria, central California. “Jane Russell passed away peacefully today at home surrounded by her children at her bedside,” son Buck Waterfield said in a statement. Russell was one of the leading actresses of the 40s and 50s, getting her start in Howard Hughes-produced smash hit The Outlaw. [abcnews]

John Galliano To Stand Trial – Disgraced fashion designer John Galliano, will face trial over an incident at a Paris café during which he allegedly hurled anti-Semitic and racist abuse at Géraldine Bloch, 35, and her companion Philippe Virgiti, 41. The proceedings could take place in the second quarter of this year, and Galliano could face up to six months in prison, and up to €22,500 in fines, if convicted. [telegraph]

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