Antiquarian books worth more than £2m have been stolen by a gang who avoided a security system by abseiling into a west London warehouse.  The three thieves made off with more than 160 publications after raiding the storage facility near Heathrow in what has been labelled a Mission:  Impossible-style break-in.  The gang are reported to have climbed on to the building’s roof and bored holes through the reinforced glass-fibre skylights before rappelling down 40ft of rope while avoiding motion-sensor alarms.  Scotland Yard confirmed that “a number of valuable books”, many from the 15th and 16th centuries, were stolen during the burglary in Feltham between 29 and 30 January. 2017.  Experts said the most valuable item in the stolen haul was a 1566 copy of Nicolaus Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, worth about £215,000.  Among the other books stolen were early works by Galileo, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci and a 1569 edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy.  George Sandeman  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/12/thieves-steal-2m-of-rare-books-by-abseiling-into-warehouse

Conspiracy is a kind of religion, bringing solace to people in dark places, lending significance to their losses.  Red on Red, a novel by Edward Conlon

cede  verb (used with object)  to yield or formally surrender to another:  to cede territory.  origin:  Latin cēdere to go, yield  http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cede

Thirteen regional U.S. legal newspapers are among a group of newspapers that have been acquired by SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese multi-national that also owns Sprint and that is known for its investments in the technology industry.  SoftBank has purchased GateHouse Media, a company that owns over 500 weekly and daily newspapers, the Boston Business Journal reports.  GateHouse owns BridgeTower Media, the subsidiary it formed in August 2016 after it acquired The Dolan Company, a publisher of legal and business newspapers all across the U.S., in December 2015.  BridgeTower’s legal newspapers include all of the Lawyers Weekly newspapers—which includes papers in Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia—as well as Minnesota Lawyer, The Daily Record in Maryland, The Daily Record in New York, The Journal Record in Oklahoma, The Mecklenburg Times in North Carolina and the Wisconsin Law Journal.  Robert Ambrogi  http://www.lawsitesblog.com/2017/02/many-u-s-legal-newspapers-among-group-acquired-japanese-company-softbank.html

The European Union:  Questions and Answers by Kristin Archick Specialist in European Affairs February 21, 2017   Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RS21372   The European Union (EU) is a political and economic partnership that represents a unique form of cooperation among sovereign countries.  The EU is the latest stage in a process of integration begun after World War II, initially by six Western European countries, to foster interdependence and make another war in Europe unthinkable.  The EU currently consists of 28 member states, including most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and has helped to promote peace, stability, and economic prosperity throughout the European continent.  Read 19-page document at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21372.pdf

EPA website prior to January 20, 2017  https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/  You may link to current EPA website from the snapshot.

February 27, 2017  A French Holocaust historian traveling to speak at a symposium at Texas A&M University was detained by immigration officials in Houston and nearly deported, according to The Eagle, a newspaper covering the College Station, Tex., area.  The Washington Post and The Guardian also reported on the case.  Henry Rousso, an Egyptian-born French citizen, is a senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research.  Richard Golsan, the director of the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M, reported at the symposium that Rousso had been “mistakenly detained” upon arriving Wednesday evening.  “When he called me with this news two nights ago, he was waiting for customs officials to send him back to Paris as an illegal alien on the first flight out,” The Eagle reported Golsan as saying.  Golsan reported that Rousso was subsequently released after the intervention of a Texas A&M law professor and director of the university's Immigrant Rights Clinic.  Fatma Marouf, the director of the clinic, told The Guardian that Rousso entered the U.S. on a tourist visa.  Generally, those entering on tourist visas cannot work or receive compensation, but there are exceptions for foreign nationals giving academic lectures or speeches.  "My best guess is that it was his honorarium.  I don’t think the officer who decided to detain him really understood the visa requirement and the technicalities on getting an honorarium, which are permitted under his visa," Marouf told The Guardian.  Elizabeth Redden  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/27/visiting-scholar-detained-and-nearly-deported

The son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained for hours by immigration officials earlier this month at a Florida airport, according to a family friend.  Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini.  Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo and wasn't as lucky.  Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, "Where did you get your name from?" and "Are you Muslim?"  When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born.  Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport.  Reached for comment via email Friday, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote, "Due to the restrictions of the Privacy Act, U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot discuss individual travelers; however, all international travelers arriving in the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection."  Danielle Lerner  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/24/muhammad-ali-jr-detained-immigration-officials-fla-airport/98379082/

The Academy Awards, or "Oscars", is a group of artistic and technical honors given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements in the United States film industry as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.  The first Oscars, in 1929, lasted 15 minutes.  At the other end of the spectrum, the 2000 ceremony lasted four hours and four minutes.  In 2010, the organizers of the Academy Awards announced that winners' acceptance speeches must not run past 45 seconds.  This, according to organizer Bill Mechanic, was to ensure the elimination of what he termed "the single most hated thing on the show"--overly long and embarrassing displays of emotion.  In 2016, in a further effort to streamline speeches, winners' dedications were displayed on an on-screen ticker.  The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette.  The origin of the name is disputed.  Made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34.3 cm) tall, the award weighs 8.5 lb (3.856 kg) and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes.  The five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy:  Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians.  Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awards

The coming-of-age drama “Moonlight” won the Academy Award for best picture after the ceremony was plunged into chaos when “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner.  Shock and chaos spread through the Dolby Theatre when producers of “La La Land” were stopped in the middle of their acceptance speeches to be informed about the mistake.  “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz returned to the microphone and said it was “Moonlight” that had actually won best picture.  Host Jimmy Kimmel came forward to inform the cast that “Moonlight” had indeed won.  Horwitz then graciously passed his statue to the “Moonlight” producers.  Apparently, presenter Warren Beatty had been handed the wrong envelope.  Instead of best picture, he had been given a duplicate envelope for best actress in a leading role.  Beatty said he paused so long before the name was read because the envelope said Emma Stone, “La La Land.”  Actress Faye Dunaway read the name “La La Land” after chiding Beatty for taking so long to read the winner.  http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/02/27/after-botched-announcement-moonlight-awarded-best-picture-in-89th-annual-academy-awards/

Full list of 2017 Academy Award winners:  http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/02/26/2017-academy-awards-and-the-winners-are/

           

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1698  February 27, 2017  On this date in 425, the University of Constantinople was founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.  On this date in 1801, pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.  On this date in 1922, a challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, was rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.