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Large Hospital Payment for Beautiful Hollywood Actress Traced to Kerry's Credit Card Government investigators tracked down John F. Kerry through a hospital in Los Angeles where he had taken Natasha Henstridge following an auto accident in which Kerry hit Henstridge with his red Mustang convertible. And thanks to the indefatigable efforts of TND Reader Gary Krasner, TND now has the entire incident on tape.

TOKYO -- Japan's Kyodo News, citing numerous diplomatic sources in Vienna, reported Saturday that the force of April 22's train explosion at the North's Ryonchon Station was about that of an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, which would have required about 800 tons of TNT -- about eight times that officially announced by North Korea. The sources referred to earthquake figures gotten by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. The North's official Korean Central News Agency had previously reported that the destructive power of the blast was that of 100 tons of dynamite, and explained that the accident...

  ISRAEL’S Chief Rabbi has pleaded with Pope John Paul II to denounce Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ as being anti-Semitic. But His Holiness has already given his imprimatur thereto: “It is as it has always been.” Yet even as there are va­rious critiques on the matter, some of them condemnations of the extremely violent and gory cinematic scenes, some on the issue on Deicide, some on the gruesome tortures inflicted by both Roman and Jewish peoples, there are miracles happening all over the world as a result of the movie. Murderers are now voluntarily surrendering to...

Passion film sparks bombers confession-29/3/04 A wave of repentance triggered by Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" has caused a Norwegian neo-Nazi to confess to two bombings. Johnny Olsen, 41, has gone to police admitting he was behind the attacks which happened nearly 10 years ago. The bombings, which up to now had remained unsolved, were against anarchist squatters in Oslo and were part of an ongoing wave of street fights between neo-Nazis and anarchists. Nobody died in the attacks, and Olsen has since been charged with arson. His lawyer said: "The trigger that made him go to police...

Jewish brothers seek French ban on The Passion  PARIS (Reuters) - Three Jewish brothers urged a Paris court on Friday to ban Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" from French cinemas as anti-Semitic only days before the U.S. box office hit is due to open in France. The brothers -- Patrick, Jean-Marc and Gerard Benlolo -- said at a hastily-arranged hearing that they as Jews felt insulted by the film, which they had not seen, and were sure it would provoke anti-Semitic violence. Jewish critics in the United States, where the movie opened last month, have charged the film...

The Passion of the Christ, which has sparked controversy across the globe, opened in UK cinemas on Friday. Some filmgoers leaving a west London cinema after the first screening were too stunned to talk. But the general response to Mel Gibson's depiction of the final hours of Jesus' life was overwhelmingly positive. Seamus Melinn, 34, from Hammersmith, west London, said the violence was "amazing, but within context". "I think some people will like it, I think some people won't because it is very disturbing in parts," he told BBC News Online. I feel shattered now, totally exhausted, but the...

Agreeing with both Bush and Kerry in support of "under God" are majorities in both houses of Congress and attorneys general of all 50 states. From the liberal National Education Association and American Jewish Congress to the conservative American Legion and the Knights of Columbus (which sponsored this addition 50 years ago), under-God-ers have weighed in with briefs. Opposing are the Atheist Law Center, the A.C.L.U., A.D.L. and assorted iconoclasts.

By Charles Masters PARIS (Hollywood Reporter) - The distributor who will release Mel Gibson's controversial movie "The Passion of the Christ" in France next week defended the film on Tuesday after a leading French exhibitor dubbed it "fascist propaganda." "This is not a fascist movie -- on the contrary," Franco-Tunisian producer Tarak Ben Ammar said in an interview. "Fifty million people have seen the film so far, I don't think they're all fascists. It's a very serious allegation. A man's work of that magnitude cannot just be dismissed as fascist." Marin Karmitz, president of independent cinema group MK2, has refused...

By Charles MastersPARIS -- One of France's leading independent cinema groups, MK2, has refused to program Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which the company's president, Marin Karmitz, has branded "fascist propaganda." "I refused to program the film in my network of theaters," Karmitz said in a written statement forwarded to The Hollywood Reporter. "I have always fought against fascism, notably through my exhibition activity. For me, 'Passion' is a film of fascist propaganda." Karmitz's MK2, which also is involved in film distribution, runs one of Paris' leading art house circuits with 58 screens across 10 cinemas. "Passion" is...

The smash-hit movie about the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life is set to stir up passions when it hits silver screens in the UAE on March 31. The Ministry of Information and Culture reportedly gave the green light for the screening of The Passion of the Christ nationwide, sources told Gulf News. An official from Al Massa Cinema said they are preparing for the premiere of the controversial movie. Critics have scorned Mel Gibson's film as a reckless display of gore while some Jewish leaders branded it anti-Semitic and historically inaccurate. But people asked by Gulf News welcomed...

19 March 2004HAMBURG - Mel Gibson's hotly discussed "The Passion Of The Christ" opened across Germany to disappointing box office revenues, according to cinema owners Friday. At the Cinemaxx movie chain, only 8,500 tickets were sold nationwide for opening day showings Thursday at 350 screens with 90,000 seats, a chain spokesman said. "That's a very disappointing turnout," said Cinemaxx spokesman Arne Schmidt. By comparison, the opening of "Lord Of The Rings - Return Of The King" saw over 50,000 tickets sold at Cinemaxx multiplexes, he said.

The controversial biblical film epic The Passion of the Christ opens in Germany this week. Debate has already begun raging on its violence and message even before the first showing on Thursday.Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ", the U.S. actor-director's blood-soaked account of the last hours of Jesus Christ, opens in Germany on March 18 to audiences above the age of 16. While the German censors have approved the movie for young adults, the content of the film is already beginning to create controversy similar to that generated elsewhere.The usual suspects have taken up their places on...

class='article_content_top'> 15 March 2004 DUSSELDORF - The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany has denounced Mel Gibson's controversial blockbuster "The Passion of Christ", calling it dangerously anti-Semitic. Emerging from a screening of the movie in Germany, where it has not yet been released, Jewish Council head Paul Spiegel said, "Unfortunately, the film perpetuates anti-Jewish clichés to the effect that the Jews murdered Jesus." He told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, "I had hoped that these clichés would have dissipated after decades of ecumenical discussion." The film is set for release in Germany 18 March. "I fear that persons disposed...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a promotional move billed as the first of its kind, cable television's USA Network said on Monday it will air the first 10 minutes of horror film "Dawn of the Dead" on TV before the movie hits theaters. USA said it would air the uncut clip on March 15 between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., ahead of the film's March 19 opening. Both USA and the film's distributor, Universal Pictures, are units of Vivendi Universal Entertainment. The R-rated movie, which tells the story of a group of plague survivors defending themselves from a zombie onslaught,...

Princeton’s PassionA campus event. By Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky That Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ should spark debate at Princeton University, as it has throughout the country, is no surprise. At a university-sponsored panel, "Princeton discusses the Passion," the film achieved much more than that, exposing the cultural gulf dividing many of America's academic elite from their students on questions of faith. Seemingly unbeknownst to many of the faculty, a religious revival is taking place at one of America's top-ranked universities. Introduced to an audience of nearly 500 as an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the themes raised...

Evergreen Couple Portrayed As Anti-Semites Keeps $10 Million Judgment Quigleys Sue Anti-Defamation League After Fight With Their Jewish NeighborsPOSTED: 6:23 am MST March 2, 2004UPDATED: 9:51 am MST March 2, 2004DENVER -- A jury award of more than $10 million to a former Evergreen couple portrayed as anti-Semites by the Anti-Defamation League will stand, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it.The decision on Monday means "this is the end of the case," said Bruce DeBoskey, director of the ADL's Mountain States Region.The victors in the case are William and Dorothy "Dee" Quigley, whose lawyer, Jay Horowitz, described them...

One of Israel’s two chief rabbis today urged the pope to reiterate in public that Jews are not to blame for the death of Jesus, saying he fears Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ could revive such beliefs. Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he is sending a letter to Pope John Paul with the request. Metzger said he wants the pope to reiterate a key church decision from the 1960s that reversed the centuries-old doctrine that Jews were behind the crucifixion. “The Vatican and the Pope must explain today ... that the Jewish nation, the Jewish people...

It was shocking enough when Gerald W. McEntee, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, publicly withdrew his endorsement of Howard Dean while the candidate was still planning a last stand in Wisconsin. Then, after Dr. Dean lost Wisconsin and gracefully left the race on Wednesday, Mr. McEntee sent his version of condolences the next day. In lieu of flowers, he offered a public testimonial to Dr. Dean: "I think he's nuts."

There are between 1,000 and 3,000 women in Israel who are subjected to sex slavery, and there is an intensive commerce in women in the country, say editors of the most recent survey conducted by the Knesset's Center for Research and Information examining the public's attitude toward trafficking in women. "Nobody knows exactly how many there are, but I would add another 0 to that number. The figure is probably more like 30,000," argues Annette Collins, founder of the women's self-help group Anachnu Shavot ("We Are Worthy") and one of the organizers of this week's international conference on the sex...

GERALD WARNER DUBYA has a fight on his hands: he is now about to experience an election, instead of a coronation. Well, he has been there before and, pace the hanging-chad lynch mob, he came out the winner. Complacency would be fatal to his hopes, but that should not blind us to the pedestrian realities behind the phenomenon of John Forbes Kerry. The fact that a consensus candidate seems to have emerged in the Democratic camp months earlier than expected - and that it is not Howard Dean - has given a spurious air of impetus to the American...