NEWBURYPORT -- Police in Massachusetts are investigating whether an antique store owner accused of breaking into homes in New Hampshire was selling items he allegedly stole at his boutique.
Richard Morrell was held on $10,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty to a charge of receiving stolen property at his arraignment Thursday. He was arrested at gunpoint Wednesday.
Morrell and his wife run a store called Vintage Diva in downtown Newburyport that describes itself as a seller of antiques, vintage clothing and home decor.
Authorities tell the Daily News of Newburyport that Morrell is suspected of breaking into homes in the New Hampshire communities of Lebanon, Enfield and Grantham.
Investigators are checking items seized from the store with items reported stolen.
Police say Morrell has prior burglary convictions in New York, Vermont and Florida.
Source: bostonherald.com
'Dead' Berlusconi artwork with hand down own trousers unveiled - in.news.yahoo.com
London, May 30 (ANI): A new controversial artwork, which shows Silvio Berlusconi lying in a casket on a velvet carpet and gives the impression that he is dead, pokes fun at the beleaguered former Italian premier and hints at his sins.
The very realistic waxwork, entitled Il Sogno degli Italiani' or 'The Dream of the Italians', has been created by artists Antonio Garullo and Mario Ottocento, the first ever married gay couple who tied the knot in Amsterdam in 2002.
The name of the installation refers to what Berlusconi apparently called himself on the phone to one of his girlfriends, according to Italian media.
The former prime minister, who is still very much alive at 75, is seen smiling as he lies in a glass coffin with his eyes closed.
Bizarrely he is wearing giant Mickey Mouse slippers as he lies on a satin pillow in a double-breasted blue jacket.
There is also one hand inside his unzipped trousers while the other hand rests on the History of Italy.
Positioned in a shrine at the Ferrajoli Palace, the shocking installation is available for all Italians to see and is just yards from Berlusconi's former stomping ground, the Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of Italian prime ministers.
"We put Berlusconi's body into a glass case to emphasise the personality cult that he has been creating for all these years and which will possibly remain for years to come," the Daily Mail quoted Garullo and Ottocento as saying.
"At the same time we put a screen between the contingent reality and historical judgment.
"If Italians are ultimately "a people of saints, poets, seafarers" then the arch-Italian Silvio is a worthy simulacrum of this people," they said.
Berlusconi stepped down as premier last November after failing to come up with convincing reforms to help Italy exit from the sovereign debt crisis.
The last part of his term in office was marred with a constant stream of lurid revelations about his private life.
The sleazy politician is currently embroiled in a high-profile court case after being accused of paying for sex with underage minor Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby the Heartbreaker, in February 2010 when she was just 17-years-old. (ANI)
Source: in.news.yahoo.com
Fun and Games: Air passengers greeted with image of champion athlete at Heathrow - Daily Mail
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We all like to spot a friendly face at the airport after a long flight.
But air passengers flying into Britain's Heathrow for the London 2012 Games won't have to wait until the arrival gates to do just that.
Travellers will be able to see a 53m by 75m image of champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis painted onto a field from the window of their plane, declaring 'Welcome to our turf'.
Welcome to Britain: An image of Jessica Ennis greets air passengers on their way into London
The Sheffield star's likeness - bigger than 15 tennis courts and 193 London buses - appears in Thornbury Playing Fields, about three miles from Heathrow, the creation of British Airways, a London 2012 sponsor.
The carrier said it created the artwork to welcome home Team GB and ParalympicsGB supporters and remind athletes from overseas that only one country has home advantage.
The painting also has the Twitter hashtag #HomeAdvantage.
Britain's pride: The artwork is bigger than 15 tennis courts and 193 London buses
Ms Ennis, one of the favourites in a tight race for heptathlon gold at the Olympics, said: 'I'm thrilled to be the first face that people will see arriving into the UK for the London 2012 Games.
'I hope it brings excitement to homecoming Brits, and reminds international athletes that we're ready and prepared.'
The real thing: Heptathlete Jessica will be competing in four events during the Olympic trials next month
She added: 'We have the most dedicated fans in the world, who will get behind us every step of the way to give us a home advantage.'
It took two days and more than 600 litres of red, white and blue weatherproof paint for workers to complete the project.
It will be on show for five weeks until July 17 and retouched at intervals to keep it fresh.
U.S. rower Kate Johnson, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist in the women's eight, said: 'As an athlete at the Athens Games in 2004, one of my strongest memories was seeing the city for the first time as we flew in, because that's when the reality kicked in.
'It's an exciting and anxious moment for athletes, and I expect they will be amused and a perhaps a little unsettled to see such a bold message as they arrive to the UK.'
The quirky stunt is not the first time visitors to the UK have been greeted with a giant piece of patriotic artwork.
Heathrow unveiled a giant Union Jack flag with an image of Her Majesty the Queen to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
Ten metres taller than Buckingham Palace, the flag gave air passengers a right royal welcome to the UK.
Heathrow will be the main flight hub for the Games with millions of passengers set to stop off there.
Airports owner BAA estimate that 80 per cent of all Olympics visitors will pass through the airport on its busiest days.
Getting ahead: Heathrow created this flag adorned with the Queen's head on it for travellers
These include July 16 as the peak day for athlete arrivals and July 26, peak day for arrival of sponsors and media.
It is gearing up for a 45 per cent increase in passenger numbers of up to 138,000 at this time.
British Airways estimates that it will fly 50,000 expats back to the UK this summer.
The airline has also launched a Flying Britain Home campaign offering a quarter of a million pounds worth of flights to Brits that live abroad to fly back for the Games.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Oz retailer taxes online sales via 'antique' Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 - Times of India
Customers who use IE7 will now have to pay an extra surcharge on online purchases made through the firm's site.
Chief executive of the retail firm, Ruslan Kogan said he wanted to recoup the time and costs involved in "rendering the website into an antique browser".
The charge is set to 6.8 per cent - 0.1 per cent for every month since the IE7 launch, while every month the surcharge will rise by 0.1 per cent.
According to Kogan, the idea was born when the company started working on a site relaunch.
Kogan said that even though only three percent of his customers used the old version of the browser, his IT team had become pre-occupied with making adaptations to make pages display properly on IE 7.
"I was constantly on the line to my web team. The amount of work and effort involved in making our website look normal on IE7 equalled the combined time of designing for Chrome, Safari and Firefox," the BBC quoted Kogan, as saying.
Kogan said it was unlikely that anyone would actually pay the charges, and his goal is mainly encourage users to download a more up-to-date version of Internet Explorer or a different browser.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Stockholm Art Heist Botched Because Getaway Car Is Too Small - Huffington Post
When two bumbling art thieves in Sweden recently decided to get creative with their getaway car, their art heist scheme took a hilarious turn. Note to self: when choosing a getaway car for your art heist, go with the traditional white van.
Yesterday Aftonbladet reported that two men broke into a man's house in a suburban town in Stockholm and stole three paintings, one of which was the beloved Swedish artistCarl Larsson's 1877 work, "Clair-Obscur." Yet their plans were foiled when they tried to stick the 4 by 3-foot painting into their getaway car, a small red Ford.
An unnamed witness reported to Sweden's The Local: "They tried to get the painting in the car, but it was too big. They threw it aside when we came." The men then zoomed away, almost running over the painting in the process. The two other stolen paintings were found in a nearby dumpster. Police are currently searching for the offenders, but we're guessing it won't take them too long to find these incompetent would-be thieves.
The hefty 1877 artwork, titled "Clair-Obscur," is worth between $428,000 and $713,000. The artist, who died in 1919, is a Swedish painter who represented the Arts and Crafts movement, an anti-industrial school dedicated to reviving classical tradition and technique along with ornament and romantic design. The other two paintings were also by Swedish artists, but their provenance is still unknown.
These have not been the greatest few weeks for art heists. Late last month, the Daily Herald reports a pair of bronze statues went missing from Waukegan Public Library, a small city north of Chicago. The stolen works, worth around $15,000, were then sold to a scrap metal business for a mere $270. In a truly tragic finale the sculptures, depicting a young boy and girl reading, were melted down by the time police investigated the theft.
Waukegan's police chief called the crime "despicable," saying "even amongst thieves, there are lines that should not be crossed." One of the alleged thieves is currently being held in jail on $50,000 bail.
We suppose we can find some solace in knowing those dim enough to try to steal art are often too dim to get away with it, right?
Also on HuffPost:
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Antique Farm Days perfect for Fathers Day - WDBJ7.com
The Ninth Annual Southwest Virginia Antique Farm Days will be held in Rocky Mount June 15th through the 17th, at the Franklin County Recreation Park.
The Antique Farm Days Club says this show is dedicated to restoring and preserving farm machinery and implements that were used in the agriculture based society of early Southwest Virginia and the role they played in shaping life in Franklin County and surrounding areas.
The three day event will feature everything from a quilting demonstration and container gardening seminars to working demonstrations of sawmilling, operating antique deisel engines, tractor pulls, corn meal grinding, threshing, baling and blacksmithing.
There will be a chainsaw and cross-cut competition and a daily tractor parade.
On Saturday, there will also be children's games and a watermelon eating contest.
For more information on the event click here.
Source: www.wdbj7.com
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