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If 2007 was shaped by anything, it was the scuffle to pay for information about Anna Nicole Smith. Before her death on Feb. 8, 2007, I had rarely, if ever, thought about Smith. I certainly had not written much about her. The birth of her baby the previous September was not that interesting. The death of her grown son was, but not that much. He wasn’t a celebrity. She was a Grade D personality, a buffoonish comic strip, a Marilyn Monroe pretender.

Anna Politkovskaya arrests add to Russia row By Duncan Gardham and Helen Womack in Moscow Last Updated: 11:03pm BST 27/08/2007 Russian authorities have hinted that Boris Berezovsky, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin who lives in London, was behind the murder of an investigative journalist in Moscow. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered October last year Anna Politkovskaya, who was investigating human rights abuses by the Russians in Chechnya, was shot in the lift of her apartment block on Oct 7 last year. Her death - the 13th murder of a journalist in Russia under Mr Putin's rule - provoked...

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The two judges who oversaw the Anna Nicole Smith cases in Florida's Broward Circuit Court are swapping jobs -- at least temporarily. Chief Judge Dale Ross ordered the moves Tuesday in the wake of complaints and a newspaper editorial that Circuit Judge Lawrence Korda should be moved out of family court until his misdemeanor drug charge is resolved. Korda, who briefly oversaw the paternity dispute involving Smith's baby daughter, was cited on March 18 for possession of one marijuana cigarette weighing less than 0.1 gram. Police said they caught him smoking pot in a Hollywood, Fla., park. Circuit Judge Larry...

No evidence of illegal drugs. Nothing unusual on video. Nothing to indicate foul play. Accidental overdose with no criminal evidence present.

Joining us now is Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward County medical examiner. Doctor, good evening to you. Thank you for being with us tonight. DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER: You're welcome. MACCALLUM: Was your report ready to go? Were you ready to release the results? PERPER: Yes, I was. And the reason why I decided not to do so is because I was informed that there was some additional evidence, which I want to review before I have my final report. And that's the reason why my press conference is going to be delayed by a week or two.

"Be careful to exercise responsibility and restraint in discussing local affairs [and] ensuring that we are competently and accurately addressing the issues," Mr. Moree stated. "The information we are disseminating must be correct. This does not mean we cannot engage in robust debate and even criticism of our local institutions or public officials, but the manner of that debate or criticism should be appropriate for an international forum. We must realize that what we say reflects on the Bahamas' impression [to the world]".

You know what really Grrrs me about the whole Anna Nicole Smith death, child custody battle and funeral coverage?How about the number of TV anchors who vocalize their displeasure with covering the story, and then go on to cover it anyway? Over the weekend, I heard one anchor say something like “everyone knows I don’t care for the coverage, but tell me about the funeral.” Huh? Dude, just read the teleprompter. Anyway, Smith got what she deserved on Friday — a tacky, sideshow-style funeral that, like her life, was full of hangers-on, enablers and out-of-the-woodwork relatives wanting handouts. Is it...

Per Fox News

Judge's Wife: People Say He Should Have His Own TV Show Anna Nicole Judge's Wife Tells ABC News: 'I Find Him to Be Brilliant' Feb. 22, 2007 — Not since Judge Ito has a black robe so thoroughly failed to mask the colorful personality of the man beneath it. For more than a week, Florida circuit court Judge Larry Seidlin has run the Anna Nicole Smith court hearing with a jarring combination of comic wisecracks, stunningly personal commentary and naked emotion.

It may still be news to some people, but, indeed, bishops read the news, and watch it, and digest it as much as -- if not more than -- the rest of us do. And for anyone whose daily diet involves even a pinch of CNN, FOX, MSNBC or practically any newspaper here in the States, it's been near-impossible to get away from the news-channels' latest free-for-all: the death at 39 of the model/reality TV star/former Playmate Anna Nicole Smith two weeks back. You shouldn't be shocked to hear that the Anna Nicole story's being watched with more interest by...

On February 19, 2007, Judge Larry Seidlin of the Broward County Circuit Court appointed attorney Richard C. Milstein guardian ad litem to Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, the five-month-old baby of the late Vickie Lynn Marshall, a.k.a. Anna Nicole Smith. See: http://www.akerman.com/documents/res.asp?id=399 Three days later, while sobbing, the same judge, Larry Seidlin, gave the guardian he appointed, attorney Richard C. Milstein, custody of Anna Nicole's body. See: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/22/D8NF0DQ81.html The guardian, attorney Richard C. Milstein, is a known gay activist in the Miami area. See: http://www.aegis.com/news/mh/2005/MH051011.html

Did anyone who was watching the hearing today, see Larry Birkhead snag Howard K. Stern's styrofoam cup which he had been drinking out of? Stern had been drinking from water from a cup and left it on the witness stand. Birkhead immediately took the stand and grabbed a new cup from the stack, his attorney went over and poured some bottled water into the cup at which time he placed his cup inside of Stern's used cup and when he left the stand took both of them with him.

In a stunning development in court, Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper telephoned the court to tell the judge that the body of Anna Nicole Smith is deteriorating faster than normal, according to people who did the embalming on Saturday. As such, the body needs to be examined this week, rather than within the two weeks that had been stipulated before. Sitting on the stand, Howard K. Stern started to sob loudly when he heard the news

While the principals involved in the battle for Anna Nicole Smith's body duke it out in a Florida court, a stunning new video has surfaced showing a barely functional Anna Nicole Smith, stammering and stuttering, as Howard K. Stern rhapsodizes about how much money the clip will be worth. The tape, which aired Monday night on Greta Van Susteren's show on FOX News Channel, shows an eight-months pregnant Smith, her face painted like a clown, and clearly stoned out of her mind. As she talks to a doll in a baby carriage as if it's real, Stern repeatedly says,...

Charlize Theron was yesterday tipped to play Anna Nicole Smith in the inevitable Hollywood version of the Playboy Playmate’s tumultuous life, as a legal battle raged over her body.The South African actress emerged as the favourite to be cast in the role of Smith, who died last week. Theron won an Oscar in 2004 for her portrayal of a serial killer in Monster. The race to make a film of Smith’s life began yesterday as a judge gave the go-ahead for Smith’s surgically enhanced 42-26-38 body to be embalmed for a possible open-casket funeral, after her lawyer revealed that she...

Zsa Zsa's Husband: I Might Be Baby's Dad LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor said Friday that he had a decade- long affair with Anna Nicole Smith and may be her infant daughter's father. The claim by Prince Frederick von Anhalt comes amid a paternity suit over Smith's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn. The birth certificate lists Dannielynn's father as attorney Howard K. Stern, but former Smith boyfriend Larry Birkhead is waging a legal challenge, saying he is the father. "If you go back from September, she wasn't with one of those guys, she was with me,"...

Footage of the final moments of Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith's life sold for more than $500,000 Thursday after a media bidding war, according to Splash News & Picture Agency, the paparazzi outlet that sold the rights to the tape. The video shows paramedics working on the unresponsive reality star as she was wheeled from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Splash News screened the videotape to potential media buyers at their Los Angeles headquarters just hours after Smith's death Thursday afternoon. Emergency responders appear to administer CPR on two separate occasions as the TrimSpa spokeswoman...