Here is a news article: Mystery at sea: Shipwreck off Galveston probed in satellite salvage adventure

 GALVESTON, Texas — A shipwreck undetected in the briny deep of the Gulf of Mexico for two centuries has been discovered off the coast of Texas, where archeologists using robotic submarines have launched a high-tech salvage operation.

 Inside a control room on the campus of Texas A&M Galveston, a team of nautical archeologists and biologists are coordinating the exploration of the wreckage discovered by a Shell Oil survey crew about 150 miles off the coast. Satellite video and audio signals keep them in communication with the crew staffing a vessel stationed above the debris field, which sits about 3000 feet below the surface of the water.

 Images beamed back from the floor of the gulf show muskets, cannon, clothing, plates and platters that went down with the ship. One especially striking artifact retrieved by the robotic arms: A sealed bottle filled with bright yellow ginger, which was used as a treatment for seasickness.

 “We have a lead plate,” said Tom Oertling, a nautical archeologist with Texas A&M Galveston. “And sitting on top of the lead plate is the galley stove, which has fallen back over on its back. The lead plate, we think, was to protect the ship from embers that fell out of the stove.”

 The discovery has brought a team of scientists and explorers together for an expedition broadcast live to an audience watching on theNautilus Live website. Texas A&M Galveston, renowned for its oceanographic expertise, is working with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration using a vessel borrowed from Bob Ballard, the famed underwater explorer who found the wreckage of the Titanic.

 With the discovery comes a mystery: Where did the doomed vessel come from and how did it she and her crew go down in the gulf?

 The artifacts apparently date from the early 1800s, a time when Galveston infamously became the operations base for the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte. Some of the debris apparently came from Spain and Mexico, but the guns appear to be British.

 Sprawled across a conference table in the control room is a large drawing of the debris field showing a rough outline of the ship. Anything found at the site is marked on the drawing, which brings a sense of organization to the stuff scattered around the floor of the gulf.

 “It’s really a mystery being put together,” said Dr.William Kiene, associate science coordinator for NOAA’s Office of Marine Sanctuaries, who compared the salvage operation to “a CSI adventure.”

 Beyond the archeological treasures, the shipwreck is also a biological phenomenon that’s attracted its own colonies of sea life. Everything from crabs to colorful anemones have made homes around the wreckage.

 “Shipwrecks actually create life,” said Steve Gittings, the science coordinator for NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program. “They come back to life after whatever goes down with them goes down. So this ship has 200 years of life on it.”

 What’s especially remarkable to the experts involved is their unique ability to stay on land and actively participate in a salvage operation happening at sea. Satellite links allow them to watch the underwater robot vehicles pluck away at the artifacts, pulling them out of the debris and placing them in boxes that carry them to the surface. By radio, they can relay instructions to the ship’s crew controlling the salvage robot.

 “This is an amazing opportunity for the scientist to stay at home,” Oertling said. “So we don’t have to go there. We can go home at night and have dinner and sleep in our own beds, which is great. But it’s as though we are right there.”

 University officials hope this operation sets a precedent that will make the Galveston campus a base for future remote salvage operations.

 “Instead of having ten or twenty researchers out on a ship, you can have 100 or 200 or a couple of thousand all over the world,” said Gilbert Rowe, regents professor at Texas A&M Galveston. “That’s what makes this a really unique thing.”

 The ship bearing the artifacts retrieved from the site is expected to arrive in Galveston on Thursday. Among the tantalizing items retrieved from the site: A leather-bound book that somehow survived for two centuries on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

 The nautical archeologists working on this salvage operation hope it will offer clues to solving the mystery behind the shipwreck. ||||| Page 1 of 1

 While most of the ship's wood has long since disintegrated, copper that sheathed its hull beneath the waterline remains. The copper, green from a century on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, retains the vessel's form.

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (Texas A&M photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 NOAA's Seirios Camera Platform, operating above the Little Hercules ROV, images the ROV and an anchor inside the hull of a copper-sheathed shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico. The wood has nearly all disintegrated after more than a century on the seafloor. (Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.)

 Underwater "rivers" and ponds of liquid brine were discovered during the expedition. When enough pressure is applied to buried salt by overlying seafloor sediments, the salt flows up near the seafloor where it mixes with seawater and dissolves into brine, which is then brought to the seafloor by buoyant gas and oil. Because brine is denser than seawater, it flows along the seafloor as rivers and streams, often collecting in massive pools to form brine lakes. Note the corals and numerous sea anemones on the banks of this brine river. (Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.)

 While most of the ship's wood has long since disintegrated, copper that sheathed the hull beneath the waterline as a protection against marine-boring organisms remains, leaving a copper shell retaining the form of the ship. The copper has turned green due to oxidation and chemical processes over more than a century on the seafloor. Oxidized copper sheathing and possible draft marks are visible on the bow of the ship. (Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.)

 A variety of artifacts inside the ship's hull relates either to daily life on board or to the ship’s cargo. Artifacts include ceramic plates, platters, and bowls; and glass liquor, wine, medicine, and food storage bottles of many shapes and colors (some with the contents still sealed inside).(Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.)

 An anemone lives on top of a musket that lies across a whole group of muskets at the site of the shipwreck. (Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.)

 An octocoral, as evidenced by the eight tentacles seen on its polyps, is observed during the NOAA mission to the wreck. (Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.)

 Items and sea life found in a Gulf shipwreck being explored by Texas A&M University at Galveston research scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts. (NOAA photo)

 A 200-year-old shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico is divulging secrets about a bygone era but it still holds mysteries, researchers say.

 Scientists, archaeologists and students from Texas A&M University at Galveston have joined National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts investigating the wreck, which lies 4,300 deep about 150 miles from Galveston.

 The site was discovered by a Shell oil and gas survey crew in 2011.

 Researchers from The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University in San Marcos are also helping with the excavation, school officials said.

 The most recent exploration of the wreck ended Wednesday, when a research team on the agency vessel Nautilus finished recovering artifacts.

 Below the surface: See the shipwreck off the coast of Galveston

 Items found on the ship included anchors, navigational instruments, muskets, pistols, swords, cannons, glass bottles, ceramic plates and clothing, according to the agency and the universities.

 The Nautilus is scheduled to return to Galveston on Thursday, and the artifacts will be taken to A&M's Cultural Resources Laboratory at the Riverside Campus in College Station, a university spokeswoman said.

 To help with the 24-hour recovery expedition, Texas A&M built an exploration command center on campus so agency and university scientists could monitor and help guide the expedition in real time, the university said in a news release Wednesday.

 The shore-based station worked with the technicians onboard the Nautilus to advise and help direct the recovery of artifacts, the release said. Communications included live audio and high-definition video.

 Researchers still haven't identified what type of ship it was or where it came from, but they date the artifacts to between 1800 and 1830. Evidence retrieved so far suggests the vessel was a warship transporting arms and soldiers, possibly to support either Spain or Mexico in their war with each other.

 Besides Spanish and Mexican artifacts, cannons believed to be British were found. ||||| Researchers say a shipwreck has been discovered 150 miles off the coast of Galveston that could yield insight into Texas' fight for independence.

 Officials with Texas A&M University at Galveston and Texas State University say the recovery expedition of the two-masted ship concluded Wednesday. It may have sunk in the Gulf of Mexico 200 years ago.

 The ship was some 4,300 feet below the surface. Items discovered aboard the vessel include muskets, swords, cannons and clothing.

 Scientists say it may have been a warship or a vessel transporting arms and soldiers. It may have supported the Mexican army during the fight for Texas independence or been sailing to provide arms to the Texans.

 A Shell oil and gas survey crew first detected the wreck in 2011. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Insights into Texas' War for Independence may have just bubbled up from 4,300 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. A mystery shipwreck 150 miles off the coast of Galveston—found carrying muskets, swords, and cannons—may have been transporting weapons and soldiers to help in the battle, the AP reports. But while most artifacts from the 200-year-old wreck are from Spain and Mexico, some look British, and scientists aren't sure what type of ship it is and where exactly it came from, the Houston Chronicle reports. "It's really a mystery being put together," one of the salvagers told KHOU, calling the expedition, "a CSI adventure." Ceramic plates, anchors, clothing, glass bottles—including one sealed, full of yellow ginger—and even an intact leather-bound book were also recovered in the expedition by Texas A&M scientists using robot submarines. While it's also a mystery what sent the ship down, KHOU offers a clue: It hit the depths around the time that notorious pirate Jean Lafitte called Galveston home port.


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By turns warmly sentimental, serial-killer sinister and science-fiction fantastical, "The Lovely Bones" was an unlikely book to achieve worldwide success. In the film version, those mismatched elements come back to haunt the story, so to speak, making the final product more hit-and-miss than unblemished triumph.It wasn't only the bestselling nature of Alice Sebold's novel that made "Bones" one of the most anticipated films of the year. It was the participation of director Peter Jackson and his regular screenwriting collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the team that had a considerable triumph with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.And Jackson is successful re-creating parts of this story told by a 14-year-old girl who is savagely murdered in 1973 and then watches for years from a kind of in-between state that she calls "the blue horizon between heaven and earth" as her friends, her family and her killer go on about their lives.His best move by far was casting young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan , Oscar-nominated for her compelling role in " Atonement," as the murdered Susie Salmon. An enormously gifted performer, Ronan is the only element of the film that is exactly as it should be, bringing naturalness, honesty and radiance to the part of a young woman just on the cusp of life.Other elements, including "The Lovely Bones' " imaginative notion of what Susie's afterlife looks like, are strong, but everything that's good is undermined by an overemphasis on one part of the story that is essential but has been allowed to overflow its boundaries.That would be the film's decision to foreground its weirdest, creepiest, most shocking elements, starting with the decision to give a much more prominent role to murderer George Harvey. Expertly played by Stanley Tucci, so transformed by makeup as to be almost unrecognizable, Harvey is such an unsettling, toxic individual that the actor says he came close to turning down the role.It's not only Harvey that we see in sometimes grotesque detail, it's the bizarre decorations of the underground murder site that we watch him ever so carefully plan and build, as well as the realistic bodies of his previous victims. And there is of course the chilling time the family spends trying to solve Susie's murder.Though it's unfortunate, this focus will not be a shock to those who know Jackson's films. The director (visible in an amusing cameo examining a movie camera in a shopping mall) began his career with a fondness for splatter-type material with titles like "Bad Taste" and "Braindead." It may even be that the chance to fool around with this kind of stuff on a more high-tone level was one thing that drew the filmmaker to the novel in the first place.But though it can be argued that these things, or versions of them, are key points in the novel, seeing them on the screen plays differently, disturbing the story's balance. If Sebold's ultimately soothing novel had focused this much on its off-putting aspects, it never would have found the huge audience it did.Because the book was such a major success, "The Lovely Bones" pretty much had its choice of actors for key roles, and in selecting two strong performers, Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, as Susie's father, Jack, and mother, Abigail, both devastated in their own ways by their daughter's death, the film undeniably chose well.But though both actors have their moments, the film's erratic mixture of emotional tones, its decision to go back and forth from missing-Susie sadness to serial-killer sadism, undercuts their ability to give resonant performances.Also hamstrung, but for a different reason, is Susan Sarandon as Grandma Lynn, who's been encouraged to be too over the top for anyone's good.One element of the film that is consistently involving is the dreamscape look of the in-between world where Susie spends her time watching her murderer scheme, her sister Lindsey (Rose McIver) grow up and her parents fall apart. A field of barley that changes into a rolling ocean, huge versions of the ships-in-a-bottle that were her father's hobby, roses blooming under frozen lakes, they all speak to a world, created by New Zealand's Weta Digital and beautifully shot by cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, that is particular to Susie but special to us all.Though "The Lovely Bones" never overcomes its tendency to push things too hard, there are moments, almost invariably involving star Ronan, that resonate with the book's comforting notion of a sentient afterlife. To hear Susie speak the novel's signature lines about "the lovely bones that had grown around my absence" as she comes to terms with "the world without me in it" is to feel what we've been wanting to feel for a long time. It's also to wish that the entire film were as effective as these best moments, but that was not to be. ||||| Matt Mueller

 Directed by Peter Jackson

 With Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz

 Opens Dec. 11

 Jack Salmon (Mark Wahlberg) is a family man and a hobbyist; he adores his wife and kids, especially Susie (Saoirse Ronan), his eldest; he also loves to build miniature ships and deftly slip them into bottles. "If you start something," he tells Susie as he's completing one model, "you don't give up till you've finished it." He glances up, seemingly referring to the ship but staring right at Susie, and adds, "That is a thing of beauty."

 At that sweet moment, Jack doesn't realize he won't have much longer to stare proudly at her. Across the pleasant suburban street in Norristown, Pa., another man, George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), is busy with his own hobbies. He has constructed a dollhouse, pristine and perfectly appointed but untenanted. And in a nearby cornfield, he's created an underground rec room, filled with comic books and figurines and Cokes  a kind of clubhouse where he'd like to bring the local kids. One kid. Susie. (See the top 10 fiction books of 2009.)

 "I was 14 years old when I was murdered, on Dec. 6, 1973," Susie narrates in this creepy, dreamy film of Alice Sebold's best seller, directed and co-written by The Lord of the Rings' Peter Jackson. The girl, who vanished late one afternoon and is presumed to have been kidnapped or killed, speaks to us from the in-between  a mostly Edenic halfway house for the recently deceased, a bridge between life and a hoped-for heaven. It's a fantasyland of penguin topiary and gigantic ice-sculpture ships, where fields turn into soggy marshes and autumn becomes winter in a flash of fallen leaves. This engrossing, nearly enthralling movie straddles multiple worlds as well: Susie's bright innocence, Mr. Harvey's meticulous depravity and Jack's ferocious determination to sleuth his daughter's fate.

 Like Susie's father and her murderer, Jackson builds models  the foam-rubber puppets of his early Meet the Feebles, the exponentially more complicated imaginary realms of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong  and invites children of all ages to share his obsessions. A director wants to trap life on film, and the prime visual motif of The Lovely Bones is things in artificial enclosures: a penguin in a snow globe, a ship in a bottle, the furniture in a dollhouse, a girl underground, a dead girl in between, some lovely bones in a heavy safe. (See the top 10 movies of 2009.)

 But a director's true gift is to animate these figures, bring them to life. Jackson goes further: he keeps Susie alive after she's died. He's not going for gross-out effects here. He shows Susie's attempt to escape from Mr. Harvey's bunker but not her death. And though the film follows Mr. Harvey as he disposes of Susie's remains, it concentrates on the victim and her loved ones: Jack, his wife Abigail (Rachel Weisz) and their surviving daughter Lindsey (the appealing Rose McIver, who plays Summer Landsdown on the ABC kids' series Power Rangers RPM). She could be Mr. Harvey's unmasker  or his next victim.

 The New Zealand director began his career with horror movies. His well-named debut feature Bad Taste had aliens seeking human flesh for their outer-space fast-food chain, and Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive) was a Sumatran-rat-plague movie about mother love gone spectacularly wrong. The Lovely Bones has elements of some of those mulchy horror films, and another, classic one  this could be Psycho as told by the murdered Janet Leigh character. (Norman Bates had a hobby too: taxidermy.) Jackson also allows a strong echo of his 1994 Heavenly Creatures, a terrific, fact-based study of a girlhood crush that blossoms into murder, which pulled precocious performances from two teen beguilers, Melanie Lynskey and the pre-Titanic Kate Winslet. But essentially, the new film is a story of loving and mourning and loving some more. As Susie says of Mr. Harvey, "He didn't understand how much a father could love his child." (See the top 10 movie performances of 2009.)

 The plot has a few pitfalls. Jack, who fingers dozens of Norristown men as Susie's potential abductor, takes ages to notice the strange guy across the street. Abigail, who departs and reappears with little organic reason, is irrelevant to the central daddy-daughter bond. Abigail's mother Lynn (Susan Sarandon) is around only as blowsy comic relief. But she does have one great line: to Abigail, who refuses to change anything in Susie's bedroom, Lynn says, "You have a tomb in the middle of your house!" In a way, that's true of all the Salmons. With Susie gone, they have a tumor in their collective heart.

 The movie is packed with privileged moments. A few are grimly comic, like the interior decoration of Mr. Harvey's subterranean playroom; his choices of teen artifacts are both pathetically out of date and a window into a life of outsider lunacy. And some moments have the most poignant tang. From the in-between, Susie has a glimpse of Lindsey's first kiss  an ecstasy Susie was so close to experiencing before she entered Mr. Harvey's lair, that she hopes she can feel for real before she goes to heaven. (Read a book review of The Lovely Bones.)

 Tucci plays the killer not with a madman's sneers and cackles but with a quiet malevolence; he's never more ice-shivery than when he's pretending to be normal. Such a performance could have upset the movie's balance if Wahlberg hadn't provided the solid foundation of parental devotion. The center, of course, is Ronan, the Irish teen best remembered as the girl whose lie set lives tumbling in Atonement. As the dead girl hovering over her family like a guardian angel, Ronan makes Susie seem an ordinary child whom catastrophe has made otherworldly-wise. Through Jackson's art and Ronan's magic, the obscenity of child murder has been invested with immense gravity and grace. Like the story of Susie's life after death, that's a miracle.

 This is an expanded version of the review that ran in the Dec. 7 issue of TIME magazine.

 See the latest news about movies at Techland.com.

 See pictures of crime in Middle America.

 Next Invictus ||||| A dead 14-year-old girl named Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), murdered on her way home from school in 1973, tells her story from heaven in The Lovely Bones. In doing so, Susie follows the narrative path set for her in the striking 2002 novel by Alice Sebold on which this much-awaited adaptation by Peter Jackson is based. But as directed by the lord of The Lord of the Rings from a screenplay by Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, his bleached Bones bears little resemblance to the book in either tone or complexity. Readers will be frustrated; newcomers to the story may wonder why what is now essentially a serial-killer thriller includes so many scenes of a heaven that looks like a gumdrop-colored hobbit shire, a magical place of fanciful special effects.

 In Jackson's simplified, sweetened, and CGI-besotted telling, The Lovely Bones is a sad-but-hopeful, dramatic-but-gentle fairy tale intentionally made less upsetting for teens. (There's no indication that Susie gets raped, as she does in the novel, and her murder occurs off screen.) Atonement's terrific Ronan, with her astonishing glacier-blue eyes, watches from a scenic afterlife as her father (Mark Wahlberg), mother (Rachel Weisz), younger siblings, and selected friends simultaneously heal from their loss and search for her killer. For comic relief, the family's boozy granny (Susan Sarandon) arrives, swathed in mink. Apparently participating in a burlesque movie, Sarandon camps it up, demonstrating terrible housekeeping skills and wreaking grande-dame havoc.

 As for the killer, he's in plain sight from the beginning  a creepy neighbor (Stanley Tucci) with the hopeless comb-over and furtive mustache of an easy-to-spot perv. Tucci is jolting in the role, honestly unsettling as he maintains an exterior of mildness that masks a grotesque interior. Electrifying danger accompanies his every scene. But this in itself becomes a problem, as that same energy leaves the screen when he does. Jackson reduces his Lovely Bones, in the end, to the dramatic contrast between the menace of a hateful killer (will he be caught?) and the grief of a loving father (can he avenge his daughter's death?). Sebold's Lovely Bones, on the other hand, is fleshed out with the perilous, irresistible power of sex  the author acknowledges a real world of extramarital sex and sex between young lovers in addition to the heinous rape from which moviegoers are shielded. The filmmaker handled the sexual power of girls beautifully in 1994's Heavenly Creatures. But here he shies from the challenge, shortchanging a story that isn't only about the lightness of souls in heaven but also about the urges of bodies on earth. Jackson forfeits depth for safe, surface loveliness. C+

 See all of this week's reviews ||||| A typical teen: Until Susie (Saoirse Ronan) is killed by her neighbor and left watching her family from the "in-between."

 ABOUT THE MOVIE ABOUT THE MOVIE The Lovely Bones

 * * (out of four)

 Stars: Saoirse Ronan , Stanley Tucci , Mark Wahlberg , Susan Sarandon , Rachel Weisz

 Director: Peter Jackson

 Distributor: Paramount Pictures

 Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language

 Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

 Opens Friday nationwide Some books are not meant to be adapted to the big screen. TRAILER: Get a taste of Peter Jackson's adaptation of the bestselling book Alice Sebold's best-selling The Lovely Bones falls into that category. The novel, told from the perspective of a murdered 14-year-old girl, is chilling and poetic. It can't have been easy to adapt because of its reliance on the musings of a dead, omniscient narrator. But a device that works on the page comes off artificial and emotionless on-screen. The movie strikes clashing tones, veering from lightheartedness to heavy-handedness. It's hard not to have high expectations of director Peter Jackson after TheLord of the Rings. And given his haunting Heavenly Creatures (1994), about teenagers and murder, he would seem the right filmmaker to adapt this book. But the scenes that take place in an alternate universe — a way station between heaven and Earth — are jarring. Depicting heaven has long stymied directors, and Jackson's cheesy computer-generated world breaks no ground. Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) is well-cast as the wide-eyed Susie Salmon, who has a passion for photography, loving parents (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz) and a crush on a high school senior (Reese Ritchie). Walking home from school, Susie is lured into an underground lair by the nebbishy George Harvey (Stanley Tucci). Tucci gives a nightmare-inducing performance as the neighbor whose pleasantries are almost as scary as his violent predilections. Jackson gets the thriller scenes right. He sets up a tense sequence in which a detective (Michael Imperioli) and Harvey eye each other through the windows of a dollhouse. Susie's sister, Lindsey (Rose McIver), is suspicious and sneaks into Harvey's house to find evidence in a suspenseful episode. But the conceit of Susie trapped in a DayGlo world between the one she left and her final resting place, imparting lessons on coping with death, feels preachy. It's more moving when she utters simply: "I was here for a moment, and then I was gone." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more |||||

– Peter Jackson's crafts a fantastic vision of the afterlife in The Lovely Bones, say critics, but some feel it came at the expense of the human side of the story of a murdered teen, adapted from the book by Alice Sebold. "By turns warmly sentimental, serial-killer sinister, and science-fiction fantastical, The Lovely Bones was an unlikely book to achieve worldwide success," Kenneth Turan writes in the Los Angeles Times. "Those mismatched elements come back to haunt" the film version, "making the final product more hit-and-miss than unblemished triumph." "Sebold's Lovely Bones is fleshed out with the perilous, irresistible power of sex—a real world of extramarital sex and sex between young lovers in addition to the heinous rape from which moviegoers are shielded." But Jackson "shies from the challenge, shortchanging a story that isn't only about the lightness of souls in heaven but also about the urges of bodies on earth," writes Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly. "Through Jackson's art" and the magic of star Saoirse Rogan, Richard Corliss writes at Time, "the obscenity of child murder has been invested with immense gravity and grace." "Some books are not meant to be adapted to the big screen," and The Lovely Bones is one of them, writes Claudia Puig at USA Today. What works in the book, she writes, comes off as "artificial and emotionless on-screen."


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See more of Cassie Young on Facebook ||||| Some people still don't seem to understand that all body types are worthy of love.

 A woman named Cassie Young saw this first hand recently after she was approached on Twitter by a personal trainer who offered to help her lose weight before her wedding day. But when she explained that she was already happy with how she looked, the conversation took an odd turn.

 The unnamed trainer began to shame her for not trying to "look her best" in her wedding photos. Ugh.

 Luckily, his misguided comments did not bring the bride-to-be down. She schooled him, and when she posted the screenshots on Facebook last week, she added an important message: your appearance does not define your self worth.

 Cassie ends the post by stating, "Life is waiting for you. It's too short to be spent worrying about a belly roll. Go be happy and live it to your fullest."

 SEE ALSO: Nude blogger thanks Instagram for suspending her account and proving her point about censorship

 After the post went viral, other Facebook users were disgusted by the trainer's tactic of getting a new client and completely supported Cassie's body-positivity in the comments.

 Hell yeah. Further proof there's no such thing as the right or wrong size. ||||| Part of the exchange a woman received from a fitness trainer, who body-shamed her. (Photo: Cassie Young via Facebook)

 A personal trainer who tried to body-shame a woman for declining his services received a humbling dress-down on social media.

 Cassie Young, 31, is a digital director at the nationally syndicated radio show “The Bert Show,” where she regularly shares her past struggles with body acceptance. Last week, after getting engaged to her boyfriend of nine years, Young received a message from a personal trainer (whose identity she doesn’t reveal), offering to help her “shape up” for the big day. When Young politely declined his offer, things got… weird.

 On Thursday, Young posted screenshots of the exchange to her Facebook page. “Congratulations on your engagement,” wrote the man. “Hire me to help you get in shape for your wedding.”

 Young replied, “I am in shape! Thank you so much for the offer, though.”

 You might think the conversation ended there — but wait.

 “I know you want to look your best on your wedding day,” the man pressed. “If you don’t hire me, hire someone. Those pictures last centuries. Your children’s children’s children will still have those pictures.”

 Cassie Young. (Photo: Sarah Witherington/OWN Boudoir) More

 Young wrote in part, “I know it’s probably hard for you to understand this, but it’s taken me a long time to love my body. I’m constantly shamed or reminded that I’m heavy and I should be embarrassed — or people are embarrassed for me — or just straight up rude, calling me ‘disgusting.’ I’ve battled past all that and like myself and how I look.”

 The man countered, “You can accept how you look but you can’t be happy with the way you look. You can’t lie to yourself… I just wish the whole big body acceptance people would accept the fact that they are not happy with their bodies.”

 Young replied, “I’m sad for you that your self-worth is wrapped up in your appearance. You clearly place a lot of stock in looks but fail to understand that not everyone wants to be chained to that insecurity.” She also added: “You are perpetuating the problem and I refuse to play that game. I reject your notion of operating on superficiality and looks, and I embrace my inner health goals.”

 Still, the man would not let up. Read the entire exchange here.

 “I saw his messages while lying in bed at 9:30 p.m. and initially I wasn’t offended because he was just offering his services,” Young tells Yahoo Beauty. “Then I started to think about his position of power and any women he may be exploiting by preying on their insecurities.”

 Young would know — after a fifth-grade classmate embarrassed her for wearing size 5 jeans, she spent years counting calories and embarking on yo-yo diets. “I would sit in my closet and cry because I wore sweatpants to work every day for two weeks because no other pair fit,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “But last year I decided to invest in clothes that fit and have modeling photos taken — I’m tired of telling myself I’m not pretty because I have fat rolls.”

 She added, “This guy tried to undo the work I’ve done and plant a seed of doubt in my head during my engagement.”

 Despite the trainer’s comments, Young refuses to publicly name him. “I want this to be a learning opportunity,” she tells Yahoo Beauty, adding that putting him on blast would deter that from happening. “No one should be vilified because they’re ignorant.”

 Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

 Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more |||||

– Cassie Young is used to strangers reaching out to her on social media. The 31-year-old is a digital director at the nationally syndicated radio program The Bert Show in Chicago, and she's got more than 14,000 followers on Twitter alone. But when a personal trainer offered to whip her into shape after she announced her engagement to her boyfriend of nearly a decade, he became so persistent—and their chat so emotional—that she posted their exchange on Facebook, where it went viral. "If you think of life as a 'game' with being skinny as how you 'win,' this guy is offering to play by the rules and get you there," she writes. "I'm telling you the game is BOGUS. You don't need the game. I reject the game. I REFUSE TO PLAY." Young tells Yahoo that, since she was first teased about her size in 5th grade, it's taken years and many yo-yo diets to love the body she has. But the trainer—whom she won't name, saying that "no one should be vilified because they're ignorant"—told her that if she didn't hire him she should hire someone else because "those pictures last centuries" and her children's children would see what she looks like, per Mashable. "This guy tried to undo the work I’ve done and plant a seed of doubt in my head during my engagement," she says. She replied to him, "I'll look my best because I'll be so happy I get to marry the man I love." She says the positive comments she's received from readers mean a lot, and that life is "too short to be spent worrying about a belly roll." (People recently tweeted memories of the first time they were body-shamed.)


Write a summary based on this article:

Tom Colicchio has changed the name of his hot Beekman Hotel restaurant Fowler & Wells to Temple Court after realizing the first moniker has a racially charged past.

 The chef said in a statement: “In the mid-1800s, the building where the Beekman . . . now stands housed the offices of Fowler & Wells, a pair of publishers and phrenologists.”

 Phrenology is the study of skull size and structure to determine mental abilities, and was often used as a justification for discrimination and slavery.

 After picking the name, Colicchio and his team “dove more deeply into the works of Fowler & Wells” and “discovered facts about their beliefs that go against everything we stand for.” ||||| Phrenology really was used to justify slavery, as portrayed in Django Unchained. But it was also used to justify abolition

 "Why don't they kill us?" asks Calvin Candie, the southern slave owner in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. He wants to know why the African slaves he brutalises do not rise up and take revenge. Before long, he has the skull of a recently deceased slave on the dinner table. "The science of phrenology," he announces, "is crucial to understanding the separation of our two species." He hacks away at the back of the skull with a saw, removing a section of the cranium and pointing to an allegedly enlarged area. In African slaves, Candie claims, this bump is found in the region of the brain associated with "submissiveness".

 For Candie, phrenology not only explained slavery, it justified it.

 Needless to say, phrenology has now been thoroughly debunked: the idea that the shape of the skull can be used to infer mental characteristics is just plain wrong. But it was extremely popular all over the world during the 19th century, finding converts among reform-minded Bengalis in Kolkata, India, and colonial settlers in Australia. As part of my research into the global history of phrenology, I came across the real-life Calvin Candie.

 He was called Charles Caldwell, a doctor from Kentucky who revelled in both phrenology and slave ownership. As in the film, Caldwell was a Europhile, travelling to Paris in the 1820s where he picked up the latest medical craze. He later returned to France in the 1840s in order to hobnob with Pierre Marie Dumoutier, a phrenologist just back from a three-year round-the-world voyage.

 Slave owner and phrenologist Charles Caldwell. Photograph: Public domain

 At the time, Dumoutier's immense collection of skulls and casts could be found at the Musée de Phrénologie in Paris. There Caldwell could practise phrenology, feeling for bumps on the heads of Tahitians and Marquesas Islanders. No doubt he was considered very à la mode back in Kentucky. In fact, Caldwell even boasted of being one of the earliest experts in phrenology in the United States.

 Caldwell deployed phrenology in almost exactly the same manner as the fictional Candie. In 1837 he wrote to a friend claiming that "tameableness" explained the apparent ease with which Africans could be enslaved. This was a standard phrenological argument. Areas located towards the top and back of the skull, such as "Veneration" and "Cautiousness", were routinely claimed to be large in Africans. His correspondent concurred, writing: "They are slaves because they are tameable." Clearly enjoying himself, Caldwell replied: "Depend upon it my good friend, the Africans must have a master."

 Areas for 'veneration' and 'Cautiousness' were said to be large in Africans. Photograph: Alamy

 It's worth emphasising that these words are not from a Tarantino script, crafted for Hollywood shock value. They were written by a slave owner desperate to preserve his brutal way of life. And, while the physical violence of slavery is masked in Caldwell's letters, they betray his warped sense of morality. In a letter written on Christmas Eve 1838, Caldwell made the outrageous claim: "My slaves live much more comfortably than I do."

 The fact that phrenology was used to justify slavery is perhaps unsurprising. What would one expect from such an overtly racist science? But it wasn't just the slavers. My research revealed that some of the most vocal anti-slavery campaigners of the 19th century were also advocates of phrenology, and used it to justify their stance.

 Lucretia Mott, a particularly uncompromising American abolitionist, sent her children to phrenological lectures and spoke of the "truth of phrenology" in letters to friends. When she visited Britain she stayed with the renowned Scottish phrenologist George Combe, himself an anti-slavery campaigner. Horace Mann, another major figure in abolitionist politics, was so keen on phrenology that he subscribed to the official journal. After becoming president of Antioch College in Ohio, he even boasted in the same sentence that the professors he employed were both "anti-slavery men" and "avowed phrenologists".

 Photograph: public domain

 These are not isolated examples. If anything, the majority of phrenologists were against slavery.

 How can this be? George Combe, a man whose phrenological books sold more copies during the 19th century than Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, explained his reasoning: "The qualities which make them submit to slavery are a guarantee that, if emancipated and justly dealt with, they would not shed blood."

 For abolitionists, the apparent weakness and timidity of the Africans served two purposes. It countered fears that they would take revenge on their masters if set free. It also provided a moral argument: if Africans were innately weak, society should help them, not enslave them.

 In the 19th century, scientific racism and abolition were by no means mutually exclusive. |||||

– A celebrity chef has spent tens of thousands of dollars to quietly change the name of his Manhattan restaurant after he discovered its meaning had racial undertones. Per the New York Times, Tom Colicchio, the lead judge on Bravo's Top Chef, originally called his eatery in the New York City's financial district Fowler & Wells, named after publishers Samuel Wells and brothers Lorenzo and Orson Fowler, whose building rested on the same site as Colicchio's restaurant in the mid-1800s. However, a little digging by Colicchio's team after they'd already named the restaurant revealed "facts about [the Fowlers' and Wells'] beliefs that go against everything we stand for," per a statement cited by Page Six. More specifically, the Fowlers and Wells were advocates of phrenology, the study of the shape and size of the skull, which many in the 19th century believed to be an indicator of one's mental abilities—and which was often used to "prove" African-Americans were mentally inferior and to justify slavery (at least one of the Fowler brothers had eyebrow-raising thoughts on this). Colicchio, who's an outspoken liberal on social media, said that although his team incorporated the concept of phrenology into the restaurant's theme (including on the bar's menu), they didn't initially realize quite how bad the practice's roots could be. Once they made this discovery, they went about coming up with a new name and reworking logos, signage, business cards, and menus to match. The restaurant's new name: Temple Court, named after the building it's housed in.


Find Booze:

 Guinness has some vegan options

 Products by Guinness:

 From the FAQ (https://www.guinness.com/en-us/frequently-asked-questions/, retrieved January 2018)

 "Yes, our new state-of-the-art filtration process has removed the use of isinglass as a means of filtration and vegans can now enjoy a pint of Guinness Draught, whether from the keg, bottle or from a can... Guinness Original, Guinness Extra Stout and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout are now suitable for vegans thanks to our new filtration system."

 Company email (January 2018)

 "All Guinness draught and Original XX produced in St. James’s Gate Brewery for bottle, can and keg format is now brewed without using isinglass to filter the beer and vegans can now enjoy a pint of Guinness."

 If you're worried about getting an older version of the product:

 "You would have to locate the lot number on the cans or bottle. On the can the lot code would be printed with black ink on the dome. For the bottles, this number would be edged on or printed on the exposed(not covered by labels) parts of the glass bottle. Typically around the shoulder or lower back side of the bottle. This number can be a little difficult to find. Please call us in if you ever need help finding the lot code on any of our products. The lot code you would look for is any date after L7300. The lot code will be listed as a number starting with L followed by four numbers, such as L7300, with additional digits. This would be the 27th of October, of 2017. In this example the first 7 is 2017, and the 300 is the 27th of October using the Julian date calendar in which each day is sequentially numbered, i.e. January 1st is one, the 2nd is two, and so on.

 "Just as an FYI our beers have an optimal taste period of 9 to 12 months. We do not recommend consuming any product after its best by date. "

 Company email (January 2018) re Hop House 13

 "All Guinness Hop House 13 produced in St. James’s Gate Brewery for bottle, can and keg format is brewed without using isinglass to filter the beer and vegans can now enjoy a pint of Guinness Hop House."

 The FAQ (https://www.guinness.com/en-ie/frequently-asked-questions/ retrieved April 28 2017) now states that Guinness draught in kegs is isinglass-free and vegan friendly. Bottles and cans are still in progress, estimated end of 2017.

 Note: Guinness is planning a new facility that will no longer use isinglass. According to them as of March 7 2017, "We are continuing to work through the installation and commissioning of a new filtration system at St. James’s Gate that will remove isinglass from the Guinness brewing process. We are making good progress on the installation and the project remains fully on track. Like a great pint of Guinness, good things come to those who wait and we will provide a further update as soon as we are able to do so."

 Company email (September 2016):

 "Isinglass has been used widely within the brewing industry as a means of filtration for decades. However, because of its use we could not label Guinness as suitable for vegetarians and have been looking for an alternative solution for some time. We are now pleased to have identified a new process through investment in a state-of-the-art filtration system at St James's Gate which, once in place, will remove the use of isinglass in the brewing process.

 We hope to have the new system up and running by late 2016 with the liquid on the shelves for consumers to buy soon after, however this timescale is by no means set in stone.

 "Once this is complete, we will eventually implement this new system in the brewing of all our products. However, in response to your query, isinglass is used in the filtration system of all our beers at present, and we do not certify any of our products a s vegan friendly."

 Company email (March 2016):

 "In response to your inquiry, the Guinness Blonde is 100% Isinglass free."

 Company email (December 2015):

 "In answer to your query, we do use isinglass, a by-product of the fishing industry, for fining all beers. Isinglass is used widely in the brewing industry although it is extensively refined before use. Its sole purpose is as a fining agent to help remove yeast from our beer, while we accept that some minor traces of isinglass may subsequently remain in the finished product.

 We are very happy with the technical performance of isinglass in removing yeast although we are conscious that its use may represent a barrier to consumption of our products to some.

 Isinglass has been used widely within the brewing industry as a means of filtration for decades. However, because of its use we could not label Guinness as suitable for vegetarians and have been looking for an alternative solution for some time.

 We are now pleased to have identified a new process through investment in a state-of-the-art filtration system at St James’s Gate which, once in place, will remove the use of isinglass in the brewing process.

 We hope to have the new system up and running by late 2016 and available for purchase in stores soon after."

 Company email (November 2015):

 "Please be advised that Guinness made in Dublin only contains Isinglass (a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish) this is not used in Guinness brewed in Australia.

 "It is used in the brewing process in Dublin as a fining agent to help remove yeast from the beer. Therefore, while the brewing process removes the vast majority of all of the Isinglass, we accept that some minor traces of Isinglass may remain in the finished product. For that reason, we do not claim that Guinness is either a vegetarian or vegan product when brewed in Dublin.

 "However Guinness brewed in Australia does not contain Isinglass. Therefore, Guinness brewed in Australia is a vegetarian and vegan product."

 Company email (April 2015):

 "Our Canadian Guinness is the same recipe as the one in Ireland, therefore would not be vegan."

 Company email (January 2015): (UK)

 "In answer to your query however, we do use isinglass, a by product of the fishing industry, for fining all Guinness brewed beers. Isinglass is used widely in the brewing industry although it is extensively refined before use. Its sole purpose is as a fining agent to help remove yeast from our beer, while we accept that some minor traces of isinglass may subsequently remain in the finished product.

 We are happy with the technical performance of isinglass in removing yeast although we are conscious that its use may represent a barrier to consumption of our products to some. As part of our ongoing efforts to further improve the way we make our products, we are seeking alternatives to isinglass. To date, we have not found any alternative that is as effective and as environmentally friendly as isinglass."

 Company email (August 2014):

 "Please be advised that Guinness Draught imported from Dublin, may contain trace amounts of isinglass as this is used during the clarification process of this product. Almost all of the Isinglass is removed from the product, but we can't guarantee that 100% is removed. However, Guinness Extra Stout brewed in Canada, does not use isinglass during the clarification process."

 Company email (May 2013): [regarding Harp Lager]

 "Isinglass, which is a by-product of the fishing industry, is used as a fining agent in Harp- i.e. used during processing to clarify beer. There should be little residue in the finished beer. Findings are removed (by sedimentation and centrifugation) so vegetarians may consider that Harp is suitable for them.

 Production processes in Ireland and the UK are subject to strict EU legislation and at present isinglass is the only fining agent suitable for stout, which has been approved that is suitable for our needs. Any new

 fining agent, especially synthetic substitutes, would not be approved for food without rigorous testing both in Europe and by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. As yet there are no suitable

 alternatives available."

 Note from Jessica (April 2013):

 "According to the email I received, there is no Veg friendly product in their lineup nor are there any current plans to have one."

 Company email (March 2013):

 [Note from Matt: "Well, here's the official word I guess, unfortunately."] "Isinglass is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast in the production of any Guinness variant."

 [Editor's note: In light of the most recent info received we are changing Guinness Extra Stout - North America brewed and bottled to Not Vegan-Friendly, until further notice. Thank you, Matt!]

 New note from Matt (March 2013):

 "Stop the presses Sarah.

 The Labatt's rep Linda A quoted below responded to me. I asked them very specifically about Guinness Extra Stout in the bottle and even sent them pictures of the back label with product codes on it. Even though the rep on the phone said that it was vegan friendly, the rep via email says they dont brew in New Brunswick and that they are not responsible for this beer.

 They instructed me to contact DIAGEO. when i contacted DIAGEO (the proper distributor for this beer according to the label), they gave me the generic response that GUINNESS uses isinglass in their beer. I replied to them for more specific info about the exact product i was speaking about and also sent the the pictures of the label with product info. They have not gotten back to me yet.

 Very confusing info from Labatt's, but now i have in writing that they deny ownership of this specific product, even though the rep on the phone contradicted this information... annoying.

 Hopefully DIAGEO responds with more info."

 Note from Matt (March 2013):

 "The main confusion for me here is the fact that none of the packaging for Guinness in NA say Labbatt's brewing anywhere on it (also the Moosehead info which confuses things, cant even tell if they actually brew Guinness anymore), so i wanted to confirm what version of Extra Stout was brewed where.

 as follows:

 I specifically asked Labatt's in the email about Guinness Extra stout in the bottle brewed by Guinness Brewing Company, New Brunswick, Canada (this is what's printed on the bottle label, there is no mention of Labatt's on the packaging at all, although they are the manufacturers).

 I received this email in response [see below] but it sounded very formulaic and didn't mention Guinness specifically. I called Labatt's to speak with a rep and at first they gave me the generic answer that they do in fact use isinglass in the process. Then I asked very clearly and specifically about bottled Extra Stout brewed and bottled in New Brunswick. After checking for me the rep was able to very clearly confirm that this product, brewed in New Brunswick, didn't not use isinglass in it's production and was in fact suitable for vegans. whew!"

 Company email (March 2013):

 "You will be pleased to hear that we do not use any animal products in our beer or the production of it.

 The fine beers we brew (and import) are brewed with these all-natural ingredients: water, barley malt, hops, yeast, and cereal grains.

 The water we use is drawn from the municipal drinking supply and carbon filtered for astounding purity. Our brewing water must free of any taste, color, or aroma before brewing.

 Barley malt is the “soul” of beer. Our beers are brewed with pale two or six row barley malt. Roasted barley gives the color to our beers – lightly roasted barley makes pale golden beers like Labatt Blue or Budweiser. For Keith’s Red we use barley roasted a little longer, until the sugars start to caramelize. Roast them yet more? Keith’s Dark.

 Hops are the female flower bud of a perennial climbing vine, and are known as the “spice” of beer. Hops are added in different stages of the brew kettle’s boil to give the beer aroma, bitterness, and to balance the flavor.

 Yeast is the life of the brewing process. We use our own pure-cultured yeast strains for fermentation – the yeast breaks down sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Our lagers use a bottom-fermenting yeast for a crisper, cleaner flavor. Ales use a top-fermenting yeast for a more fruity, floral, lingering notes.

 Most of our beers are also brewed with a cereal grain, also known as an adjunct. Some are brewed with corn for a sweeter taste. Some use rice for a crisp, clean finish.

 Beyond this, some beers use special flavorings or spices for a truly unique flavor – like the essence of lime found in Bud Light Lime, or the coriander and citrus peel found in Keith’s White."

 Company email (October 2012):

 [from Labatt who brews Guiness Extra Stout in Canada] "You will be pleased to hear that we do not use any animal products in our beer or the production of it."

 Company email (Feb 2012)

 I am writing to you in response to your recent email regarding whether Guinness and it's suitability for Vegans.

 In answer to your query however, we do use isinglass, a by product of the fishing industry, for fining all Guinness brewed beers. Isinglass is used widely in the brewing industry although it is extensively refined before use. Its sole purpose is as a fining agent to help remove yeast from our beer, while we accept that some minor traces of isinglass may subsequently remain in the finished product.

 We are very happy with the technical performance of isinglass in removing yeast although we are conscious that its use may represent a barrier to consumption of our products to some. As part of our ongoing efforts to further improve the way we make our products, we are seeking alternatives to isinglass. To date, we have not found any alternative that is as effective and as environmentally friendly as isinglass for our product.

 Company email (November 2011)

 "In response to your inquiry, we would like to let you know that at this time, Guinness Black Lager is not suitable for vegetarians. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

 Note from William: March 2011

 "I know you have received conflicting information regarding the brewing of Guinness, and your level of exasperation is obvious from the Guinness entry. Nonetheless, I tried to follow a logical thread that has been apparent from the beginning, when Guinness original explained that a certain product (Guinness Extra Stout for export to the U.S.) didn't use Isinglass as a fining agent and was vegan. How could that be, I asked myself. Well, I noticed that the Guinness Extra Stout was brewed in Canada. So, I did some research and found that many of the online commentators at beer sites were wrong. Moosehead, not Labatt's, brewed it for the U.S.

 Thus, I contacted the actual brewers of Guinness Extra Stout that exported here, and their response follows: consumerinquiries@moosehead.ca

 "Hello William,

 Thank you for your inquiry. We do in fact brew delicious Guinness Extra Stout for export to the States right here in Canada’s most Irish city, Saint John. We do not make use of isinglass in any of our brewing processes, export or domestic.

 Consumer Affairs Coordinator

 Moosehead Breweries Ltd."

 Company email: (pamela.daly@diageo.com) March 2011

 "All Guinness brands are free from animal matter. However, isinglass, which is a by-product of the fishing industry is used as a fining agent - i.e. used during processing to clarify beer. There should be little residue in the finished beer. Findings are removed by sedimentation and centrifugation. Therefore it would not be suitable for vegans.

 Production processes in the UK are subject to strict UK/EU legislation and at present isinglass is the only fining agent suitable for stout, which has been approved in the UK. Any new fining agent, especially synthetic substitutes, would not be approved for food without rigorous testing both in Europe and by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. As yet there are no suitable alternatives available."

 Company Email (diageona@consumer-care.net) : January 2011

 "In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be considered an animal product and therefore unsuitable.

 We can inform you that Guinness does not contain eggs, dairy or honey. In regards to Kaliber, unfortunately we are unable to confirm this for you.

 Company Email (diageona@consumer-care.net): January 2011

 "In regard to your inquiry, please be advised that Guinness does not currently offer any vegan products. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

 Company Email (diageona@consumer-care.net): January 2011

 " We are more than happy to assist you with your inquiry. The North American Guinness Extra Stout does not contain isinglass, nor are any animal products used in its manufacture."

 Company Email (diageoNA@consumer-care.net): May 2009

 "In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be considered an animal product and therefore unsuitable. "

 Company Email (guinness@consumer-care.net) : May 2009

 "In reference to your inquiry, we do not have confirmation of Guinness 250th Anniversary stout Edition to be considered Vegan. Isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be considered an animal product and therefore unsuitable for Guinness products. Since this applies to Guinness products, it is more likely that this also applies to the Guinness 250th Anniversary stout Edition."

 MORE FROM THE BARNIVORE ARCHIVES:

 ....Jan 2009

 "In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be an

 animal product and unsuitable. I hope this helps. Once again, thank you for contacting

 us."

 ....Jan 2009

 I showed them your web page and they explained (below is a small part of the email in case you want to quote it) that the extra stout is vegan and the draught is not, which explained the discrepancy. Hope that helps. James

 "In regards to your inquiry, Guinness Extra Stout does not contain isinglass. Guinness Draught does contain isinglass in both bottles and the draught."

 .....Aug 2006:

 Our Consumer Relations department has informed us that the Guinness Extra Stout product that you will find in the North American market does not contain isinglass. I hope this is the answer you were looking for. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

 ...But then we got this one in November:

 In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be an animal product and unsuitable.

 Did they not know about the Extra Stout? Does this cancel out the previous message? Who knows?

 ...And then there's the standard reply:

 Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in Guinness Draught nutritional information. In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be an animal product and unsuitable. I hope this helps. Once again, thank you for contacting us. ||||| Guinness is set to become vegan friendly for the first time in its 256-year history, as the company announced its plan to stop using fish bladders in its filters.

 A spokesman for Guinness told The Times that the firm would now look at using a new filtration plant that would be vegan-friendly, having previously used isinglass - a by-product of the fishing industry used to help the yeast settle faster.

 The new system is due to be installed sometime in 2016.

 “Whilst isinglass is a very effective means of clarification, and has been used for many years, we expect to stop using it as the new filtration asset is introduced,” the spokesman told The Times.

 The use of isinglass has been used since the 19th Century, and while large quantities of the agent are filtered out during the brewing process, there are still traces of fish bladders in the finished product.

 The news follows a longstanding campaign and several online petitions from beer-loving vegans, with many highlighting the fact Guinness and other breweries are not required to state the use of isinglass on the bottle. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– After pressure from beer-chugging vegans who were behind a long-running campaign and several online petitions, Guinness has elected to change its 256-year-old recipe and remove isinglass—a gelatinous byproduct of fish bladders that helps filter yeast particles—from its brewing process, reports CNN Money. Guinness now says it will use a new filtration plant to be installed at its flagship brewery in Ireland at some point in 2016, reports the Independent, while it doesn't yet plan to change its other breweries scattered across 49 countries. The company had previously responded to requests to remove isinglass by saying it provides a "very effective means of clarification," and as recently as January said in a company email to Barnivore, which tracks animal ingredients in adult beverages, that it had yet to find a replacement "as effective and as environmentally friendly." No word yet on what it's come up with. Parent company Diageo has said that competition from microbreweries flattened its sales in 2015. Meanwhile, many popular beers, including Anheuser-Busch, Heineken, and Miller, are deemed vegan-friendly by Barnivore. (Guinness lovers may want to check out one of Starbucks' latest latte flavors.)


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 With the bromance between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump over, the mogul turned GOP front-runner has begun trash talking the senator from Texas. “He’s a nasty guy,” Trump recently huffed. “Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him.” For members of the politerati, this was no revelation. As Cruz has quickly climbed the political ladder, he has left a long line of associates who complain, without much prompting, that he is an insufferable schmuck.

 A prominent aide to George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign could barely contain himself when we asked him to discuss Cruz, who worked in the campaign’s policy shop. This person described Cruz as hyper-arrogant and widely despised, and he emphasized—over and over—that the pervasive dislike of Cruz within the Bush ranks had nothing to do with ideology. (Cruz, he noted, never objected to Bush’s call for compassionate conservatism, immigration reform, and national education standards, and no one on the campaign regarded him as an ideologue.) The problem was simple: his personality.

 “That’s exactly what he was: a big asshole,” says a campaign veteran who worked with Cruz.

 “Ted thought he was an expert on everything,” says this campaign veteran, who asked not to be named. “He was a smart and talented guy, but completely taken with himself and his own ideas. He would offer up opinions on everything, even matters outside his portfolio. He was a policy guy, but he would push his ideas on campaign strategy. He would send memos on everything to everyone. He would come to meetings where he wasn’t invited—and wasn’t wanted.” In fact, this Bush alum recalls, “the quickest way for a meeting to end would be for Ted to come in. People would want out of that meeting. People wouldn’t go to a meeting if they knew he would be there. It was his inability to be part of the team. That’s exactly what he was: a big asshole.”

 The Bush vet goes on: “I don’t know anyone who had a decent relationship with Cruz.” And when Bush became president, his top campaign aides agreed Cruz should not be offered a job in the White House. “No one wanted to work with him,” this source remembers. “George W. Bush couldn’t stand the guy.” This person adds, “It’s a real quandary for Bush campaign people: Trump versus Cruz, who to vote for? And it would be a big quandary even if it’s Cruz versus Hillary Clinton. That’s how much they cannot stand him.”

 It may be easy for someone to lob anonymous shots at Cruz. But there are plenty of others, including prominent Republicans, who have not been shy about sharing their feelings about Cruz on the record. Here is a quick guide to Cruz’s loudest detractors:

 Bob Dole

 Fighting words: The 1996 Republican presidential nominee and former senator from Kansas told the New York Times last week that Cruz would be an ineffective president because “nobody likes him.” He explained: “He doesn’t have any friends in Congress. He called the leader of the Republicans [Mitch McConnell] a liar on the Senate floor. If you want to call somebody a liar in the Senate, you go to their office—you don’t go on the Senate floor and make it public.”

 The beef: Last fall, Cruz mocked the failed candidacies of Dole, Mitt Romney, and John McCain, citing their efforts as evidence of the electoral impotence of mainline Republicans. But the feud with Dole began in 2014, when Cruz led a last-minute push to defeat the UN Treaty on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. He claimed the accord threatened American sovereignty. Dole, who suffered a disabling injury while serving in World War II, had come to the Senate floor in his wheelchair to lobby for passage of the treaty.

 Bob Dole likes every GOP candidate in the field—except for the one he whispers at the end of this video: https://t.co/i7XGzyWdJW — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 12, 2015

 Sen. John McCain

 Fighting words: McCain called Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, and Rep. Justin Amash “wacko birds” in 2013. Last spring, McCain derided Cruz after Cruz boasted he had been leaning on McCain to loosen restrictions regarding guns on military bases. “It came as a complete surprise to me that he had been pressing me; maybe it was some medium that I’m not familiar with,” McCain told Politico. “Maybe it was through, you know, hand telegraph; maybe sign language. Ask him how he communicated with me because I’d be very interested.” In January, McCain suggested that Cruz might not be eligible for the presidency because he was born in Canada. “He fucking hates Cruz,” a McCain adviser told GQ. “He’s just offended by his style.”

 The beef: McCain considered Cruz’s treatment of Dole unforgivable. “It was the most embarrassing day in my time in the Senate, to force Bob Dole to watch that,” he told the New Yorker. And he certainly holds no warm feelings for Cruz, who once said he was “embarrassed” to have supported McCain in 2008. But McCain’s hatred of Cruz is not just personal. It has a policy component: The two have clashed on drones, NSA data collection, and the nomination of McCain’s friend Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense.

 George W. Bush

 Fighting words: “I just don’t like the guy,” the former president said in October.

 The beef: Cruz worked as a policy adviser for Bush’s 2000 campaign. But while most of Cruz’s colleagues on the campaign got White House jobs, Cruz ended up at the Federal Trade Commission—an indication he had alienated his campaign comrades. Explaining W’s dislike of Cruz, a Jeb Bush donor told Politico that “he sort of looks at this like Cruz is doing it all for his own personal gain, and that’s juxtaposed against a family that’s been all about public service and doing it for the right reasons. He’s frustrated to have watched Cruz basically hijack the Republican Party of Texas and the Republican Party in Washington.” Bush consigliere Karl Rove told Fox News that Dubya was particularly upset that Cruz had questioned Bush’s nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts—whom Cruz himself had once praised.

 John Boehner

 Fighting words: The former speaker of House has called Cruz “that jackass” and a “false prophet.”

 The beef: Where to start? Cruz has served as a cheerleader for the House Freedom Caucus, the band of arch-conservatives who made Boehner’s job all but impossible. He trod so heavily on Boehner’s turf that he earned the nickname “Speaker Cruz.” Cruz pushed for a government shutdown over defunding Planned Parenthood, and then he accused Boehner of selling out conservatives to cut a deal with Nancy Pelosi. When Boehner resigned, Cruz took a victory lap.

 Rep. Peter King

 Fighting words: When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked the Long Island Republican if he would support Cruz as the nominee, King replied, “I hope that day never comes; I will jump off that bridge when we come to it.” He has called Cruz a “carnival barker,” a “counterfeit” with “no qualifications” who appeals “to the lowest common denominator,” and “just a guy with a big mouth and no results.”

 The beef: King was one of the House Republicans most upset with Cruz’s push for a government shutdown in 2013, which he considered disastrous for the party. “If you come up with a strategy that’s going to shutdown the government of the United States, and you have no way of winning, you’re either a fraud or you’re totally incompetent,” King told CNN.

 Sen. Lindsey Graham

 Fighting words: “He is an opportunist, he’s a libertarian when it is hot,” the senator from South Carolina told RealClearPolitics, adding that Cruz “has done more to allow ISIL to gain a foothold in Syria than any senator other than Rand Paul.” Last week, Graham said picking between Trump and Cruz was like having to choose “death by being shot or poisoning,” and he said the party would be better off if it picked “somebody out of the phone book.”

 The beef: Graham thinks Cruz has blocked national security measures for personal gain, and he rebuked the Texan for suggesting Hagel had received money from the North Korean government.

 Everyone on the 2000 campaign

 Fighting words: (See above.)

 The beef: Per GQ:

 He was infamous for firing off mundane work e-mails in the middle of the night—it happened so often that some in the Bush campaign suspected him of writing them ahead of time and programming his computer to send while he was asleep. He was also known for dispatching regular updates on his accomplishments that one recipient likened to “the cards people send about their families at Christmas, except Ted’s were only about him and were more frequent.”

 Supreme Court clerks

 Fighting words: Former clerks who had worked at the Supreme Court when Cruz was clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist dissed his “dime store novel” write-ups of death penalty cases.

 The beef: The New York Times reported that Cruz’s fellow clerks believed he was “obsessed” with capital punishment and noted that clerks took offense at the airy tone with which he discussed executions when the court received last-minute appeals for a stay.

 Harvard Law School classmates

 Fighting words: “A pompous asshole.”

 The beef: GQ reported that Cruz started a study group during his first year in Cambridge, but he announced that “he didn’t want anybody from ‘minor Ivies’ like Penn or Brown.” In an interview with the Boston Globe, another student recalled what happened when she agreed to carpool with Cruz: “We hadn’t left Manhattan before he asked my IQ.”

 His Princeton roommate

 Fighting words: “I would rather have anybody else be the president of the United States,” screenwriter Craig Mazin told the Daily Beast in 2013. “Anyone. I would rather pick somebody from the phone book.” On Twitter, Mazin—who has called Cruz “a nightmare of a human being”—recalled that when he was a freshman sharing a dorm room with Cruz, he would get invited to parties hosted by seniors because the upperclassmen pitied him. Cruz, he notes, “was that widely loathed. It’s his superpower.”

 Getting emails blaming me for not smothering Ted Cruz in his sleep in 1988. What kind of monster do you think I am? A really prescient one? — Craig Mazin (@clmazin) January 15, 2016

 When I met Ted in 1988, I had no word to describe him, but only because I didn’t speak German. Thank you, Germans, for “Backpfeifengesicht.” — Craig Mazin (@clmazin) January 20, 2016

 (Backpfeifengesicht, by the way, translates to “face that should be slapped.”)

 The beef: It’s personal. “I have plenty of problems with his politics, but truthfully his personality is so awful that 99 percent of why I hate him is just his personality,” he said on the Scriptnotes podcast. According to Mazin, Cruz would hit snooze on his alarm clock over and over again, and he refused to stop doing this when Mazin asked. Also, Mazin says, Cruz was just weird. “I remember very specifically that he had a book in Spanish and the title was Was Karl Marx a Satanist?,” Mazin told the Daily Beast. “And I thought, who is this person?”

 Everyone else at Princeton

 Fighting words: Per the Daily Beast, “Several fellow classmates who asked that their names not be used described the young Cruz with words like ‘abrasive,’ ‘intense,’ ‘strident,’ ‘crank,’ and ‘arrogant.’ Four independently offered the word ‘creepy.'”

 People might think Craig is exaggerating. He’s not. I met Ted freshman week and loathed him within the hour. https://t.co/2ZrbTdjHJh — Geoff (@gacohen) January 20, 2016

 The beef: It’s tough to pinpoint any one cause, but Cruz made female students uncomfortable by frequently walking to their end of the floor in his freshman dorm, wearing only a paisley bathrobe. When he announced his bid for president of the school’s debate society, the other members had a secret meeting to pick an anyone-but-Cruz candidate. The eventual winner later acknowledged that “my one qualification for the office was that I was not Ted Cruz.”

 Ted Cruz

 Fighting words: “If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy,” Cruz said at a Republican debate in October.

 The beef: Being well liked is not everything. At least that seemed to be the point Cruz was making about himself. He added, “But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home.” ||||| An 18-year-old Ted Cruz answers questions about his aspirations in a video posted to YouTube. | Screenshot Teen Ted Cruz joked of goals: ‘World domination, you know, rule everything’

 A new video of a teenaged Ted Cruz, posted Saturday on YouTube, shows a lankier and younger version of the future Republican presidential candidate sarcastically talking about his life’s goals —and they’re far more ambitious than the mere presidency. "Take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything. Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff,” Cruz says

 The new clip was posted on YouTube under the name “Young Ted Cruz.” The operator of the account told POLITICO the video had been provided by a high school classmate of Cruz’s who wished to remain anonymous. The video comes less than 10 days before the Iowa caucuses, where polls show Cruz at or near the lead.

 Story Continued Below

 Off camera, the teenager identified as an 18-year old Cruz is asked about his life’s aspirations.

 “Aspirations? Is that like sweat on my butt?” a sardonic Cruz says at the start of the 30-second clip, wearing jeans and a tucked in shirt. "No no, oh I see, what you want me to do, what I want to do in life."

 Cruz squints his eyes tilts his head to the sky. "Well my aspiration is to, uh, oh I don’t know, be in a teen tit film like that guy who played Horatio. You know he was in Malibu Bikini Beach Shop,” he says. The reference appears to be to a 1986 movie, The Malibu Bikini Shop, which came out two years before the video was filmed.

 "Well, other than that,” Cruz continued, "take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything. Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff.”

 Asked about the new video, Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler replied, "Good to see he’s always had a great sense of humor." |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Ever wondered what a young Ted Cruz looked and sounded like (and no worries, no Princess Bride impersonations)? A circulating YouTube video, which Politico says was apparently provided by a high school classmate, purports to show the 18-year-old GOP candidate mulling his future. "Aspirations? Is that like sweat on my butt?" Cruz ponders in the video—which Raw Story says was shot for his Baptist high school in Houston in 1988—before offering up his first goal to "be in a teen tit film." Upon further reflection, however, Cruz realizes he should set the bar higher. "Well, other than that, uh, take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything," he notes. "Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff." Although some reviews of the video aren't terribly flattering—Raw Story labels young Ted Cruz "irritating and horrible," while Gawker calls his less-mature self an "insufferable twerp"—Cruz's campaign spokesman tells Politico: "Good to see he's always had a great sense of humor." (Mother Jones documents Cruz's various beefs with people to see if he's really an "awful, terrible jerk.")


Image copyright Getty Images

 The trial of Samsung's de facto head Lee Jae-Yong on a string of corruption charges including bribery and embezzlement has begun in South Korea.

 Mr Lee was not present at the preliminary hearing, but his lawyer denied all charges on his behalf.

 The case is linked to a massive scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's President Park Geun-hye.

 Four other Samsung executives who are also facing trial have also denied wrongdoing.

 The trial is expected to go on for several months.

 The case against Lee

 Mr Lee, also known as Jay Y Lee, is currently vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics. But since his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014, he is considered de facto boss of the entire Samsung Group conglomerate.

 He is accused of giving donations worth 41bn won ($36m;£29m) non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park.

 Prosecutors have alleged this was done to win government support for a big restructuring of Samsung that would help a smooth leadership transition in favour of Mr Lee.

 In a December parliamentary hearing, Samsung admitted giving a total of 20.4bn won to two foundations, but denied seeking favours in return.

 Mr Lee also confirmed the firm gave a horse and money to help the equestrian career of Ms Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, something he said he now regrets.

 Lee Jae-yong Samsung's heir apparent - Grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, son of current chairman Lee Kun-hee.

 - Also known as Jay Y Lee, the 48-year-old has spent his entire career in the company.

 - Is vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and was nominated to join the firm's board in October 2016.

 - Despite his arrest, still widely expected to take overall control of Samsung.

 - Critics say his rise through Samsung has been due to his birth, not his business experience. Getty Images

 Ms Park's position began to unravel in October last year when details of her friendship with Ms Choi emerged.

 They included revelations that the president had allowed her old friend - who holds no government role - to edit political speeches.

 Politicians voted in December last year to impeach her over the scandal. South Korea's constitutional court is expected to rule shortly on whether that decision will be upheld.

 Until then, Ms Park remains formally president but stripped of her powers.

 Ms Choi is on trial for charges including corruption and coercion.

 Ms Park denies wrongdoing but has apologised for the way she managed her relationship with Ms Choi, who also denies committing criminal offences. ||||| Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong denied bribery and other criminal charges filed by special prosecutors in the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye at his first court hearing in Seoul on Thursday.

 The vice chairman of Samsung Electronics claimed innocence through his lawyers at the hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court.

 Lee didn't show up at the hearing, as the inaugural session mostly dealt with trial proceedings and other procedural issues.

 Lee was indicted on Feb. 28 on a string of charges, including bribery and embezzlement. He has been in custody since last month.

 Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong (Yonhap)

 The special probe team suspects that Lee gave or promised 43.3 billion won ($38.3 million) in kickbacks to Park's friend Choi Soon-sil in return for the government's backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.The business merger was seen as critical to the smooth management succession of the group from ailing Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee to his only son Jae-yong.Special prosecutors viewed Samsung's donation of 20.4 billion won in 2015 to two sports and culture foundations controlled by Choi as bribes.Lee has consistently insisted that Samsung's donations to Mir and K Sport foundations were made customarily in compliance with government requests, while its financial support for Choi and her family was forced by the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.His lawyers repeated the same claims of innocence throughout the opening hearing.The lawyers said Lee's instructions to group executives following his one-on-one meetings in 2015 and 2016 with President Park remained unclear. They urged special prosecutors from resorting to presumptions in handling Lee's case.Lee's lawyers also raised questions over the participation of former prosecutor members of the special counsel team in the court hearing, saying the tenure of the special prosecutors already expired at the end of last month.The first hearing was finished after one hour amid fierce confrontation between lawyers and prosecutors.The Seoul district court is expected to give its ruling in late May. (Yonhap) ||||| The trial of Samsung Electronics Co. vice chairman Jay Y. Lee began Thursday, as prosecutors try to prove the billionaire conspired to funnel millions of dollars to a confidante of President Park Geun-hye to help secure control of the world’s largest smartphone maker.

 Lee is the highest-profile business figure indicted in a sprawling corruption investigation that’s also led to Park’s impeachment and spurred outrage over “chronic corruption” in ties between government and family-run conglomerates. Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo has called the legal contest surrounding Lee South Korea’s “trial of the century,” given his global profile and the amounts of money involved.

 South Korea’s Family-Run Conglomerates

 Hearings at Seoul’s Central District Court are set to last up to three months, during which Lee will fight charges from bribery to embezzlement. The biggest point of contention will be whether Samsung’s donations to entities led by Park’s friend, Choi Soon-sil, were intended to win government backing for a controversial 2015 merger that made it easier for Lee to control the Samsung Group chaebol. The 48-year-old executive has denied wrongdoing.

 “Proving there was an exchange of money for favors is going to be challenging,” said Hong Jung-seok, a lawyer who worked for the special prosecution until the end of last month. “The trial will draw attention from around the world, not just for the defendant’s fame abroad, but also for the size of the alleged bribe.”

 The preliminary hearing Thursday lasted about an hour with Lee’s lawyers and prosecutors appearing before presiding judge Lee Yeong-hun. It’s clear every step will be contentious. Lee’s lawyers tried to show a PowerPoint presentation, but prosecutors objected the hearing was supposed to cover only the basics of the trial and the 47-year-old judge agreed.

 Defense lawyers then disputed the legitimacy of their opponents because the special prosecutor was helped during the hearing by regular state prosecutors. An elderly woman interrupted proceedings twice and then was physically removed by guards as she screamed.

 What’s Behind the Samsung Bribery Allegations: QuickTake Q&A

 These are strange days in Seoul with some of the country’s most powerful figures under scrutiny several miles apart. A constitutional court will decide at 11 a.m. Friday whether to uphold Park’s impeachment and remove her from office, a ruling almost certain to provoke protests whatever the outcome. The scandal has already engulfed the streets of Korea’s capital for months, as protests spring up regularly under the watch of police in riot gear.

 In trying to prove the case against Lee, prosecutors will probe the complex web of ties through which the chaebol that control Korea’s economy allegedly trade money for political favors. Park’s investigation has already led to about 30 indictments and ensnared establishment figures from the president of a prestigious university to the head of the country’s horseback-riding association, who’ve been accused of easing Choi’s daughter’s college admission and equestrian lessons.

 Lee now faces five years to life in prison if convicted. Under South Korea’s three-tier judiciary system, Lee can turn to an appellate court and then the Supreme Court if he loses, with each court taking up to two months to deliberate. His own father avoided jail time despite two previous criminal convictions, thanks to government pardons.

 Lee’s predicament casts uncertainty over the succession at Samsung, which has been in transition since his father suffered a crippling heart attack in 2014. The prolonged absence of its de-facto head may delay major decisions at Samsung Electronics, which is set to unveil the latest version of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, this month. Still, Samsung has said it has a strong management team in place to run the business, and the company’s shares have risen 11.5 percent this year, more than three times the gain in the benchmark KOSPI index.

 Detained outside Seoul since February, Lee must win the trial to resume guiding a $240 billion corporation trying to bounce back from last year’s botched debut of the Note 7, which showed a tendency to burst into flame.

 Lee was indicted last month along with four other Samsung executives, but was the only one to have been detained. The prosecutor accuses him of conspiring to transfer 29.8 billion won ($26 million) to Choi’s organizations in return for favors. Those allegedly included currying support from the government-backed National Pension Service for a 2015 merger of Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. That deal -- which cemented Lee’s control -- was narrowly approved over the opposition of activist investor Paul Elliott Singer.

 Other charges against Lee include hiding assets overseas, perjury and hiding criminal profits. Samsung said Monday it disagrees with Park’s findings. “Samsung has not paid bribes nor made improper requests seeking favors. Future court proceedings will reveal the truth,” it said in a statement.

 The special prosecution’s investigation moved much faster than it would have in jurisdictions such as the U.S.: even initial investigations into then-President Bill Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky took the better part of a year. Park had sought, but failed to get, a one-month extension to a 90-day investigation deadline he was given. Wrapping up his investigation, the prosecutor on Monday partly blamed the timeframe for rendering his probe “half complete.”

 Lee was absent from Thursday’s hearing, which is designed to hammer out procedures that govern the trial. He’s hired Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, one of the country’s biggest law firms, for his defense, after having been represented during the investigation by a former judge who specialized in criminal cases and tax lawsuits. Lee’s lawyers declined to speak to reporters after the hearing.

 Exclusive insights on technology around the world. Get Fully Charged, from Bloomberg Technology.

 If South Korea’s constitutional court approves the president’s impeachment, Park will lose her immunity and an election will follow within two months. The president has so far refused to be questioned by prosecutors over suspicions that she asked Lee to support Choi financially. She’s even barred investigators from entering the Blue House, the palatial Korean seat of power. A lawyer for Park on Monday reiterated her denial of the allegations.

 Read more: A Guide to the Major Legal Cases in Korea’s Presidential Scandal

 While a typical trial could take up to 18 months, Lee’s will be fast-tracked under a special prosecution law. Regardless of the final verdict, the public hearings risk tarnishing Samsung’s brand just as it begins to put the Note 7 debacle behind it.

 “It’s an international embarrassment,” Eric Schiffer, chairman of Irvine-based Reputation Management Consultants, said by email. “But it’s not going to be reputation carnage for Samsung. Nor will it materially affect sales because Samsung is bigger than Lee.” |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– The "trial of the century" has begun in South Korea, where a vice chairman at Samsung Electronics faces bribery and embezzlement charges after allegedly giving $36 million to President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Soon-sil in order to win government support for a 2015 merger. Lee Jae-Yong, also identified as Jay Y. Lee, faces five years to life in prison if convicted and is expected to learn his fate within three months, though years of appeals could follow. The latest: Samsung has admitted donating about $17.5 million to foundations controlled by Choi, but Lee says it was forced to do so by Park, per Yonhap News. However, Lee says he provided money and a horse to help the equestrian career of Choi's daughter, per the BBC. A prosecutor has described this as the "trial of the century" and a lawyer previously involved with the case explains why: It "will draw attention from around the world, not just for the defendant's fame abroad, but also for the size of the alleged bribe," he says. "Every step will be contentious," reports Bloomberg. In the first court hearing Thursday, Lee's lawyers attempted to show a PowerPoint presentation, only to have prosecutors fiercely object. Defense lawyers then complained about a special prosecutor's involvement in the hearing. In some ways, Park is also on trial. A constitutional court is set to decide whether to uphold her impeachment on Friday, a decision that could lead to an election within two months. Bloomberg reports any decision is "almost certain to provoke protests." It won't be anything new. People have been protesting in Seoul for months, many outraged over what they view as "chronic corruption" in dealings between the government and family-run conglomerates. What does this all mean for Samsung's business? The company has said its strong management team will ensure all runs smoothly. But without Lee at its head, major decisions for the company could be delayed.