Tuesday Morning Spice

17 May 2011

IMF Chief Jailed Alone At Rikers Island – Denied $1 Million Bail - Haggard and unshaven after a weekend in jail, the chief of the International Monetary Fund was denied release on bail Monday on charges of trying to rape a hotel maid as allegations of other, similar attacks by Dominique Strauss-Kahn began to spill out. [cbs]

Strauss-Kahn’s ‘Open Secret’ - Less than three weeks ago, Dominique Strauss-Kahn sat down in a Paris restaurant for an off-the-record lunch with two journalists from the daily Libération. The IMF chief outlined the three biggest personal hurdles in his relentless campaign to become president of France: “Money, women and being a Jew.” [guardian]

Mandela Allowed Special Vote At Home - South Africa’s aged ex-president Nelson Mandela voted at his home Monday for this week’s local elections, in a special arrangement for the infirm. The iconic 92-year-old anti-apartheid hero, is under home-based care after being hospitalised for two days in January for an acute respiratory infection. [afp]

Man ‘Cured’ Of AIDS After Bone Marrow Transplant - Timothy Ray Brown, 45, claims to be the first person in history to be completely cured of AIDs. Last December, Mr Brown – often known as ‘The Berlin Patient’ because he formerly lived in that city – had his case published in the peer-reviewed journal ‘Blood’. The researchers wrote that tests ‘strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved’. [dailymail]

Couple Names Kid After Facebook ‘Like’ – Parents Lior and Vardit Adler have named their newborn daughter “Like” after Facebook’s “like” button, reports Galgalatz, an Israeli news outlet. According to a translation of the Galgalatz article, the parents were looking for a unique name for their baby girl and liked the sound of the word “Like.”  [huffpo]

Queen’s Visit To Ireland ‘Extraordinary Moment In History’ - More than 100 armed British police will take to the streets of Dublin on Tuesday to help protect the Queen as she touches down for her four-day state tour. It is the first time a British monarch has visited Ireland since 1911 and the city centre will be turned into a car free zone to prevent terrorist car bombs. [telegraph]

Space Shuttle Endeavour’s Final Lift-Off - After a two week delay caused by problems with a heating unit, the space shuttle Endeavour made its final historic launch Monday morning. ”3-2-1, shuttle endeavor leaves Kennedy Space Center on its final mission,” announced mission control during liftoff. [kwqc]

Steve Tyler Tried Gay Sex - Steven Tyler “tried” gay sex, “but just didn’t dig it,” he says in his memoir. “Gay sex just doesn’t do it for me.” He also cops to shooting heroin in his butt and carrying a concealed firearm because he thought the CIA was out to get him. Touring with Aerosmith, he used to require all green rooms to be outfitted with a 6-foot full-length mirror so he could do cocaine off of it. [gawker]

Space Shuttle Twitpic Launches Woman To Tweeting Fame - When Stefanie Gordon boarded her plane in New York City to visit her parents in Palm Beach, the captain noted there was a chance passengers would witness the space shuttle Endeavour’s last launch during the flight. But she never expected to play a role in documenting it. [mashable]

SA’s ‘Youngest Billionaire’ In Court - The court case of a man claiming to be South Africa’s “youngest billionaire” was postponed in the Orlando Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Lamba was arrested last Tuesday at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, on 15 charges, including theft, fraud and culpable homicide. Nice. [news24]

All Data Recovered From Air France Crash - French investigators said Monday they have recovered all the flight data and cockpit voice recordings from the recorders of an Air France jet found in the Atlantic depths nearly two years after it crashed. The recorders were located by underwater robots and hoisted up from depths of nearly 4,000 meters earlier this month. [time]

‘Dougie’ Rapper M-Bone Slain In California Drive-By - M-Bone of the rap group Cali Swag District, which scored a hit last year with the song “Teach Me How to Dougie,” was killed in a weekend drive-by shooting as he sat in a car outside a liquor store. The 22-year-old Inglewood man, whose real name is Mante Ray Talbert, was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car shortly after 10:30 p.m. Sunday. [associated]

Madoff Wine Collection To Be Auctioned Online - Pair your next filet mignon with a red wine from disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s exclusive cellar. U.S. Marshals announced Monday that Madoff’s wine and spirit collection will be auctioned online. Proceeds of the sales are to go to his victims. The auction is scheduled for Wednesday. [sacbee]

Winklevoss Whingers Lose Bid To Reopen Facebook Case – Twin brothers who accused Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for the social networking website lost their bid to have a federal appeals court void a settlement of their claims. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss had sought to reopen the cash-and-stock settlement, which has been valued at $65 million. [msnbc]