By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES |
Tue May 22, 2012 12:40am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Ronald Reagan’s foundation expressed outrage on Monday at a British company’s auction of what it says is a vial of the late U.S. president’s blood taken at the hospital where he was treated after a 1981 assassination attempt.

PFC Auctions, a company based in Guernsey in the United Kingdom, announced on Sunday that it would sell the vial of blood in an online auction set to end on Thursday.

The vial was taken at George Washington University Hospital on March 30, 1981, after Reagan was wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., PFC Auctions said on its website. It is said to have come from a person whose late mother had worked at a medical lab.

“If indeed this story is true, it’s a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase,” John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said in a statement.

The website for PFC Auctions said the latest online bid for the vial stood at 6,270 British pounds ($9,910). A PFC Auctions representative could not be reached for comment.

The website for PFC Auctions showed a picture of the blood-filled vial with a label stuck to it showing the president’s name.

Reagan suffered a punctured lung and internal bleeding when he was shot by Hinckley outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Hinckley was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. He is allowed to visit his family away from the psychiatric hospital where he is being treated.

Heubusch said his foundation had spoken to the hospital where Reagan was treated and was assured an investigation was under way into “how something like this could possibly happen.” A spokesman for the hospital declined to comment.

Also posted on the PFC site was an image of a form from Bio-Science Laboratories that lists George Washington Hospital as the source of the vial, along with a statement from an unnamed person offering the vial for sale.

The seller wrote that the vial came from his or her late mother, who took it from her workplace at Maryland-based Bio-Science Laboratories, where blood work and testing were done for George Washington Hospital.

The seller said he or she had contacted the California-based Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, which is run by the late president’s foundation, months ago and had been told that Reagan’s family would like to have the vial given to them.

“I told him that I didn’t think that was something that I was going to consider … and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that President Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it,” the statement said.

A spokeswoman for the foundation declined to comment on the seller’s claim to have spoken to the library.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bill Trott)

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By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK |
Tue May 22, 2012 5:53pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lawyers for the hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault added another claim to her civil lawsuit against him Tuesday, taking advantage of a little-used New York City law that applies to “gender-motivated violence.”

In the amended lawsuit, Nafissatou Diallo claims the former International Monetary Fund chief targeted her out of misogyny under a local law known as the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act.

The “defendant committed a ‘crime of violence’ against Plaintiff because she is a woman and, at least in part, because he has an animus towards women,” according to the revised complaint, which was filed in the Bronx section of New York, where Diallo lives.

The new claim could make it easier to introduce evidence of Strauss-Kahn’s sexual past, which can sometimes be ruled inadmissible and irrelevant if it does not reflect directly on the defendant’s intent.

“Given that one of the elements of proving this claim is showing the intent of the assault was based on gender, it will be much easier for us to introduce other non-consensual sexual acts that show Strauss-Kahn committed them against women because of their gender,” said Douglas Wigdor, one of Diallo’s lawyers.

Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn did not respond to a request for comment.

Diallo accused Strauss-Kahn of attacking her in his hotel suite in May 2011 and forcing her to perform oral sex. His resulting arrest and resignation from the IMF put an end to any plans he might have had to run for president of France.

A criminal case against Strauss-Kahn was eventually dropped by prosecutors, who said Diallo had lied to them about her past and offered differing accounts of her actions following the encounter with Strauss-Kahn.

Last week, Strauss-Kahn filed a countersuit against Diallo, asserting that the incident was consensual and claiming she had defamed him.

That, legal experts have said, could open the door to additional evidence of Strauss-Kahn’s sexual history, including allegations of past indiscretions, since one defense to the defamation claim would be to show that his reputation had already been damaged by other charges.

Coupled with the new gender-motivated claim, Wigdor said, he is confident that he will be free to explore Strauss-Kahn’s past.

The New York law in question took effect in 2000 but does not appear to have been invoked often. It grants victims of gender-motivated crime enhanced civil claims, including the right to sue for attorneys’ fees as well as compensatory and punitive damages in an effort to make it easier for impoverished victims to file lawsuits.

Strauss-Kahn currently faces an investigation for his possible connection to a prostitution that French prosecutors say sent call girls to sex parties that Strauss-Kahn attended in Washington, Paris and the northern French city of Lille. Authorities also have opened an inquiry into allegations that Strauss-Kahn participated in the group rape of a prostitute.

Strauss-Kahn’s French lawyer has denied any wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of going after Strauss-Kahn for his “libertine” lifestyle.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Bill Trott)

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By Michael Hirtzer

CHICAGO |
Sun May 20, 2012 10:26pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Michelle Obama showed off her neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago to some NATO visitors on Sunday, taking five other first ladies to a youth center for lunch and for a musical performance by the children.

The women toured the Gary Komer Youth Center, which features a gymnasium, dance studio and a theater. The center provides tutoring, college preparation, training in culinary arts and horticulture for young people in the community, 90 percent of whom come from low-income households.

Obama, whose childhood home was about 1 mile from the center, led a tour that included Albanian first lady Liri Berisha, Croatian first lady Sanja Music Milanovic and Norwegian first lady Ingrid Schulerud.

“I brought them here because I am so proud of where I grew up, and I wanted to show everyone some of the wonderful things that are happening here on the South Side,” Obama said before the South Shore Drill Team performed a routine to Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town.”

Obama and Anne-Mette Rasmussen, wife of NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, clapped and danced to the gospel singing of the Soul Children of Chicago and also sampled a strawberry basil vinaigrette salad dressing made at the center.

Valerie Trierweiler, the domestic partner of French President Francois Hollande, and Turkish first lady Hayrunnisa Gul spoke with children on a rooftop garden about the heirloom tomatoes and cimmarron lettuce they were growing.

The center provides state-of-the-art facilities for children growing up in the neighborhood.

“I grew up just like you,” Obama said to a group of black children. “Same background. My family didn’t have a lot of money growing up. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to college, and most of the folks in my neighborhood didn’t get a chance to go, either.”

Before she married Barack Obama, Michelle Robinson was such an excellent student that she was given a chance to attend the first “magnet” school for gifted teenagers in Chicago. She later graduated from Princeton with a sociology degree and from Harvard Law School.

The center visited by the first ladies was established in 2006 by the late Gary Comer, who helped found the clothing company Lands’ End.

Comer’s son, Guy, said on Sunday that 94 percent of the children helped there go on to graduate high school and gain acceptance to a four-year college or university.

The Obamas’ home in Chicago is located roughly 3 miles north of the center.

(Reporting by Michael Hirtzer; Editing by Greg McCune and Eric Beech)

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By Li-mei Hoang

LONDON |
Mon May 21, 2012 2:34pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) – Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, who with brothers Barry and Maurice helped define the disco era with their falsetto harmonies and funky beats on hits like “Stayin’ Alive” and “Jive Talkin’”, died on Sunday after a long fight with cancer. He was 62.

The singer had colon and liver cancer and, despite brief improvements in his health in recent months, passed away on Sunday evening.

Gibb died at the London Clinic surrounded by his second wife Dwina, sons Spencer and Robin-John and daughter Melissa.

Barry, now the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, had been in Britain in recent weeks to see his ailing brother, but was in the United States when he died.

Funeral arrangements are expected to be announced later this week, a spokesman said.

“The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time,” read a statement on Gibb’s website.

Fans, fellow musicians and politicians paid tribute to the musician, and at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas late on Sunday the show stopped for a moment of silence to honor him.

Actor John Travolta, who played the white-suited dance king Tony Manero in “Saturday Night Fever,” which featured music by the Bee Gees, paid tribute to Gibb.

“I thought Robin was one of the most wonderful people- gifted, generous, and a real friend to everyone he knew. And we’ll miss him,” Travolta said in a statement.

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams was among the stars who took to Twitter to say farewell.

“Robin Gibb RIP. Very sad to hear about yet another great singer dying too young,” he wrote, referring to the death on Thursday of another giant of the disco era, Donna Summer. She was 63.

In Britain, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a friend, called Gibb “a highly intelligent, interested and committed human being.

“He was a great friend with a wonderful open and fertile mind and a student of history and politics. I will miss him very much,” he said in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers are with Dwina and all the family.”

Gibb spent much of a career spanning six decades pursuing solo projects. But it was his part in one of pop’s most successful brother acts, the Bee Gees, that earned him fame and fortune.

Born in 1949 on the Isle of Man, located between England and Ireland, Robin and his family moved to Manchester where the brothers performed in local cinemas.

They went to live in Australia where the Bee Gees as a group was officially born, and in 1963 released the first single “The Battle Of The Blue And The Grey.”

Believing their future lay in Europe, the Gibb brothers travelled to England to pursue a career in music and had their first British number one with “Massachusetts” in 1967.

TRAIN CRASH

The same year, Robin and wife-to-be Molly survived the Hither Green rail crash in south London that claimed around 50 lives. He later recalled that they probably would have been killed had they not been sitting in a first class carriage.

Rather than build on the early successes, the Bee Gees almost threw away the promising career they had worked so hard to achieve.

After recording the double-LP set “Odessa,” the siblings fell out over which track should be the single and Robin walked out. Two years later the Gibbs were back together, and the 1970s was to belong to them.

Early in the decade they released the ballads “Lonely Days” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” which topped the U.S. charts in 1971.

They struggled to maintain the momentum and critics felt the brothers had become stale until, in 1975, the Bee Gees changed course with an emphasis on dance-friendly tunes featuring high harmonies on their 13th album “Main Course.”

It produced the catchy chart-topper “Jive Talkin’,” which then led to an invitation to contribute to the soundtrack for the upcoming movie “Saturday Night Fever.”

The Bee Gees’ contributions would prove the pinnacle of their fame – “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Night Fever” and “More Than a Woman” are all among their most recognizable songs, featuring the band’s distinctive high vocals and harmonies, disco beats and slower romantic ballads.

LONG BATTLE WITH ILLNESS

The Bee Gees achieved superstardom with album sales estimated today at up to 200 million, putting them in the same league as the likes of the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.

Explaining their success, Bruce Elder of the All Music Guide wrote: “The group … managed to meld every influence they’d ever embraced, from the Mills Brothers and the Beatles and early-’70s soul, into something of their own that was virtually irresistible.”

The magic did not last, however, and with the disco era waning Robin and his brothers faded quickly into obscurity, concentrating in the 1980s on producing and writing for other acts including Diana Ross.

A 1987 comeback album “E.S.P.” was moderately successful and included the hit “You Win Again,” although in the 1980s Robin was actively pursuing his solo career.

In 1988 Andy Gibb, the youngest brother who was also a pop star and teen idol, died aged 30. Maurice passed away in January 2003, at 53, of complications from a twisted intestine, a condition that plagued Robin towards the end of his life.

According to online reports, in 2010, Robin had surgery for a blocked intestine and suffered further stomach pains last year forcing him to cancel a series of shows in Brazil.

During surgery a tumor was discovered and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and, subsequently, the liver. In February he spoke of a “spectacular” recovery and later that month performed on stage for the last time in a charity concert in London.

But he fell ill again and was unable to attend the world premiere of “The Titanic Requiem,” his first classical work written with son Robin-John.

Robin-John told Reuters at the event that his father had contributed much of the requiem to the famous shipping disaster while in hospital.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, Piya Sinha-Roy, Bob Tourtellotte, Stephen Addison and Li-mei Hoang; writing by Mike Collett-White; editing by Paul Casciato)

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LOS ANGELES |
Sun May 20, 2012 4:16pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Terminator 3″ actor Nick Stahl, who had been missing for more than a week, has checked himself into rehab, his estranged wife told media outlets on Sunday.

Stahl’s wife Rose Murphy told E! Online celebrity news website that the actor, who has a history of substance abuse problems, was “really working hard” at sobriety.

The 32-year-old American actor had been reported missing to police earlier this month. He sent an email to friends and family on Friday saying he wanted to check into rehab for 30 days, according to TMZ.com.

Stahl had been spotted in the skid row area of Los Angeles last week, and his wife had said she believed drugs may have played a part in his disappearance.

A Los Angeles police spokesman was not immediately available to comment on whether the missing person case had been closed.

Best known for his roles in “Sin City” and as John Conner in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” Stahl has been married to Murphy since 2009, but the pair recently separated. The couple has one daughter.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Paul Simao)

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