Mystery No More: Scholar Finds Clue to van Gogh's Ear

The mystery behind the most famous mutilation in art history may finally have been solved, the Times of London reported.

A scholar has found evidence that a distraught Vincent van Gogh slashed his ear after learning that his brother, Theo, on whom he depended financially and emotionally, was about to get married.

Martin Bailey, who has written a book on van Gogh and curated two exhibitions of his work, devised his theory after meticulous detective work on a letter in a painting that the artist completed soon after he injured himself.

Bailey concludes that this letter was written by Theo from Paris in December 1888 and contained news of his engagement. This, he believes, tipped Vincent, who was already psychologically disturbed, into self-harm.

“Vincent was fearful that he might lose his brother’s emotional and financial support,” writes Bailey in the January edition of The Art Newspaper.

For years disputes have raged over what really happened to van Gogh’s ear just before Christmas 1888. Some have blamed his mental illness, others have said he was driven mad by lead in his paints. The breakdown of his friendship with Paul Gauguin, his fellow artist, has also been cited, although it is claimed that Gauguin made up this story himself.

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Feds Pay Virginia $500K for Providing Obama Inauguration Buses

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia is getting reimbursed the nearly half-million dollars it spent to provide free bus service in Northern Virginia to President Obama's inauguration.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation says the federal government reimbursed the state $421,708 for its Inauguration Day transit costs

For the event, the state agreed to pay eight Northern Virginia public-transit agencies to run 300 buses to help avoid massive traffic jams. The state says the service an estimated 4 percent of those attending the inauguration.

The federal government reimbursed $2.8 million of the $5.7 million that 51 Virginia state and local agencies spent helping with security for the inauguration.



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Stealing Mom's Millions Brooke Astor's Son Sentenced to 1-3 Years

NEW YORK — The 85-year-old son of philanthropist Brooke Astor was sentenced Monday to as many as three years in prison for exploiting her mental frailty to plunder her millions, but the legal saga surrounding the society doyenne's fortune will persist with planned appeals.

Anthony Marshall showed little emotion as state Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley sentenced him to one to three years in prison — the minimum term his conviction required — for looting the fortune of his mother, who gave away nearly $200 million to institutions and charities before she died at age 105 in 2007.

Marshall will remain free for at least the next month as his defense lawyers try to persuade an appeals court to let Marshall remain free on bail while his planned appeal plays out.

The judge noted Marshall's World War II service and the possibility that the late Astor herself would have been aghast to see her son imprisoned, but he added that the law left him no choice but to impose a prison term.

"It is a paradox to me that such abundance has led to such incredible sadness," Bartley said. He gave Marshall until Jan. 19 to provide his medical information to prison officials and otherwise prepare for life behind bars.

Marshall declined to speak at his sentencing, where prosecutors described him as an unrepentant thief who deserved punishment, while his lawyers strove to portray him as a dutiful son and patriot who believed his mother wanted him to have the money and items he was convicted of stealing.

Before leaving court, the stooped, unsteady Marshall sat for a minute on a bench in the courtroom audience, his tearful wife's arm around his shoulders. He nearly stumbled over a pile of snow as he and his wife, Charlene, walked to a waiting car.

Co-defendant Francis X. Morrissey Jr., 67, an estates lawyer convicted of helping Marshall steal his mother's money, was due to be sentenced later Monday. His conviction doesn't require prison time, but he could get as many as seven years behind bars.

Marshall faced as many as 25 years in prison after being convicted of 14 counts, including grand larceny and scheming to defraud, for looting his mother's nearly $200 million fortune. She was suffering from Alzheimer's disease when she died.

In the final year of her life, the nasty family feud over her care was splashed all over the city's tabloids — including allegations that she was forced to sleep in a torn nightgown on a couch that smelled of urine while subsisting on a diet of pureed peas and oatmeal. Those allegations were never substantiated.

Defense lawyers have said Marshall's myriad illnesses would make any prison term a virtual death sentence. They tried unsuccessfully to persuade the judge to throw out the one count in his conviction that required prison time.

Marshall's Oct. 8 conviction followed a five-month trial in which Manhattan prosecutors painted him as an impatient heir who schemed to get his hands on his disoriented mother's money, though she had already provided for him generously.

Prosecutors, who brought in such prominent Astor friends as Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger to help make their case, say Marshall manipulated Astor into changing her will and even helped himself to artwork from her walls, largely to provide for a Lady MacBeth-like wife his mother despised.

"The defendant's economic and social standing shouldn't put him above the herd," Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said. "He shouldn't be treated as anything other than a common thief."

Defense lawyers say Marshall had the legal power to give himself gifts with his mother's money, and she was lucid when she changed her will to benefit her only child. He consulted with attorneys throughout, they noted.

"I think the fairest way to think about it is that there is a man who, maybe, felt entitled — and in hindsight felt too entitled — but he's not somebody who simply stuck his hand in the cookie jar when no one was looking," defense lawyer John R. Cuti said as he argued for leniency for Marshall.

Marshall didn't testify or call any witnesses at his trial. After his conviction, he aired details of his life — from childhood sorrows to his current health problems — and lined up some celebrity supporters of his own in a bid to stay free.

Al Roker, a fellow parishioner at Marshall's church, praised the decorated World War II veteran as a "good son, father and patriot." Neighbor Whoopi Goldberg told the judge in a letter that jailing him "would only amount to an unnecessary cruelty that would serve no real purpose."

Prosecutors dismissed the letters as belated and irrelevant.

"When you steal millions from your mother, it isn't enough to say you're nice to Whoopi Goldberg," Seidemann said.

Under Marshall's sentence, he generally would have to serve at least a year in prison before being eligible for parole. But he might be able to request parole earlier for medical reasons.

Meanwhile, a fight over Astor's estate continues in civil court, pitting Marshall against several charities. It was on hold during the criminal case.

Citing the will fight, Bartley turned down prosecutors' request to force Marshall to pay more than $12 million as restitution.

Astor was seen as the queen of New York society and a power in the city's philanthropic scene, supporting such grand institutions as Carnegie Hall and such humble needs as a new boiler for a youth center. Her efforts won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1998.

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Al Franken Insults Joe Lieberman

Thursday on the Senate floor, Mr. Lieberman was speaking about the health care bill and politely asked for an extension to wrap up his remarks. The senator didn't even wait for verbal approval since it's almost always given. Almost always, but not Thursday. That's because Franken, who was in a rotation presiding over the Senate, objected to Lieberman continuing his remarks in a stunning display of disrespect. Take a look at the interruption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, I-CONN.: We'll provide an opportunity for broad savings in health care and health insurance for pretty much everybody in our country.

SEN. AL FRANKEN, D-MINN.: Senator, you have spoken for — I'm sorry, the senator has spoken for 10 minutes.

LIEBERMAN: I wonder if I can ask unanimous consent for just an additional moment.

FRAKEN: Um, in my capacity as senator from Minnesota, I object.

LIEBERMAN: Really? OK. Don't take it personally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

But many others did take it personally, including John McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: I've been around here 20-some years. First time I have ever seen a member denied the — an extra minute or two to finish his remarks. And I must say that I don't know what's happening here in this body, but I think it's wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now, the Franken deal shouldn't surprise anyone. The man's a hater, always has been.

But it illuminates why the far left is despised by most Americans. That kind of behavior is uncalled for. There's no reason on Earth why Sen. Lieberman, an honest man, should not have been given another moment or two to finish his remarks. Franken's actions were mean, petty and disrespectful.

Americans, generally speaking, don't approve of that kind of behavior. But that's what we often get from the far left. Just look at their Web sites. Just look at the savages spewing venom on cable television.

Yes, it's true the right does some of that kind of stuff as well, but not nearly as much as the far left. I see the transcripts, ladies and gentlemen. I know who's saying what.

In the end, Franken's behavior is, of course, self-defeating. It's incredible the man is even sitting in the Senate. And now he's alienated most of the country.

Does the far left really think it's going to get the support of most Americans using tactics like that? Unbelievable.

And that's "The Memo."

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FBI Probes Hacks at Citibank and Gov't Agency

Russian cyber gang is suspected of stealing tens of millions of dollars; bank denies breach

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a computer-security breach targeting Citigroup Inc. that resulted in a theft of tens of millions of dollars by computer hackers who appear linked to a Russian cyber gang, according to government officials.

The attack took aim at Citigroup's Citibank subsidiary, which includes its North American retail bank and other businesses. It couldn't be learned whether the thieves gained access to Citibank's systems directly or through third parties.

The attack underscores the blurring of lines between criminal and national-security threats in cyber space. Hackers also assaulted two other entities, at least one of them a U.S. government agency, said people familiar with the attack on Citibank.

The Citibank attack was detected over the summer, but investigators are looking into the possibility the attack may have occurred months or even a year earlier. The FBI and the National Security Agency, along with the Department of Homeland Security and Citigroup, swapped information to counter the attack, according to a person familiar with the case. Press offices of the federal agencies declined to comment.

Joe Petro, managing director of Citigroup's Security and Investigative services, said, "We had no breach of the system and there were no losses, no customer losses, no bank losses." He added later: "Any allegation that the FBI is working a case at Citigroup involving tens of millions of losses is just not true."

Citigroup is currently 27%-owned by the federal government.

The threat was initially detected by U.S. investigators who saw suspicious traffic coming from Internet addresses that had been used by the Russian Business Network, a Russian gang that has sold hacking tools and software for accessing U.S. government systems. The group went silent two years ago, but security experts say its alumni have re-emerged in smaller attack groups.

Security officials worry that, beyond stealing money, hackers could try to manipulate or destroy data, wreaking havoc on the banking system. When intruders get into one bank, officials say, they may be able to blaze a trail into others.

source:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/fbi-probes-hacks-citibank-govt-agency/

Ex-Virginia Tech Student Accused of Decapitating Another Student Pleads Guilty to Murder

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. — A former Virginia Tech graduate student pleaded guilty Monday to decapitating a classmate who had rejected his romantic advances, prosecutors said as they revealed a motive for the first time in the campus cafe killing.

Haiyang Zhu had fallen in love with Xin Yang, but she told him she had a boyfriend that she planned to marry, prosecutors said.

Zhu faces up to life in prison. He did not say why he killed the woman during the plea hearing.

Prosecutor Brad Finch said on the morning of the killing Jan. 21, Zhu bought the 8-inch butcher knife used in the murder, two other knives and a claw hammer. He also called the 22-year-old woman a dozen times after buying the weapons.

Finch cited a letter Zhu wrote while in jail, which said Yang's rejection "forced him to kill her" because "he loved her too much."

"Xin broke his heart on the morning of January 20th when she told him that she had a boyfriend and that they planned to get married," the letter said, according to Finch.

The killing stunned a campus that still had vivid memories of the mass slayings in April 2007, when a student gunman shot 32 people and then took his own life. The stabbing was the first slaying on campus since then.

Before the killing, Zhu penned what Finch termed a love letter that was found in her dorm room. The letter was written shortly after Zhu first met her and indicated he had "fallen deeply in love."

"She makes him happy and fulfilled, that she is beautiful and that he will treasure her forever," Finch said. "The defendant asked Xin to be his girlfriend."

Finch also described the attack in detail, noting that Yang suffered numerous defensive wounds to her hands and arms as she tried to fend off Zhu. She eventually fell and he severed her head. He was holding it when police arrived.

About seven other people who were in the shop at the time told police the two hadn't been arguing before the attack.

It appeared Yang, who was from Beijing, had met Zhu of Ningbo, China, only recently, Kim Beisecker, the director of Cranwell International Center, has said. Zhu, a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics, had been assisting her in adjusting to life at Tech, something the 500 Chinese students often do for new members in their community.

Montgomery Circuit Judge Robert Turk said Zhu will be sentenced on April 19.

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Drone Breach Stirs Calls to Fill Cyber Post

Lawmakers express frustration that no action was taken on the vulnerability of U.S. drones until this year, even though the problem of the video feeds had been known since the 1990s.


U.S. lawmakers called on the White House to quickly fill vacant cybersecurity posts in the wake of revelations that Iraqi insurgents have learned to intercept video feeds from unmanned military drones.

Lawmakers also expressed frustration that no action was taken until this year, even though the vulnerability of the video feeds had been known since the 1990s. The story was first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.

"It outrages me that this vulnerability was known since the 1990s, and they never fixed the problem," said Rep. James Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat and a member of the intelligence and armed services committees. "It makes them look like a bunch of Keystone Kops. Who else had access to these video feeds?"

Rep. Langevin said he would press for answers when Congress returns in the New Year: "They're going to get both barrels when I return to D.C."

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that insurgents in Iraq had intercepted Predator drone feeds. He told reporters the breach hadn't caused significant military damage, and the signals have since been secured. He gave no further details.

The news cast a spotlight on the vacancy for a cyberchief at the White House, a position announced by President Obama six months ago.



source:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/18/drone-breach-stirs-calls-cyber-post/?test=latestnews

Update: Twitter Hacked by 'Iranian Cyber Army'

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, was hacked early Friday morning by a group calling itself the "Iranian Cyber Army."

Users hoping to find their latest tweets were instead greeted by a black screen with a green flag.

Above the flag, in Arabic, read: "Hezbollah is victorious."

On the flag, in red Arabic writing: "Yassin" (an Arabic name written in bold) then in smaller Arabic print "the feast of peace."

Below the flag was more written in Farsi.

In English, the hackers wrote:

"This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army. U.S.A think they controlling [sic] and managing internet by their access, but they don't, we control and manage internet by our power so do not try to stimulation (sic) Iranian People To.....

Now Which Country is embargo list? Iran? Usa?

We push them in embargo list ; )

Take care."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week was quoted by a senior official as saying, "Using the Internet and Twitter against the Iranian regime is something extraordinary that the U.S. can do."

There is no evidence at this time that Iran or Hezbollah is behind the attack.

source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/12/18/twitter-hacked-iranian-cyber-army/?test=latestnews