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A demolition man stripping a fireplace from the former home of “The Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien stumbled across a postcard to the writer dated 1968, and hopes to sell it for a small fortune.
Stephen Malton, who runs Prodem Demolition in Bournemouth on the south English coast, was working in the house in the nearby town of Poole before it was bulldozed to make way for a new construction project.
“Before we demolish a house we do an internal strip out,” Malton said Tuesday.
“One of the main features was a fireplace, and upon removing that we came across three postcards. The third one was a postcard dated 1968 and addressed to J.R.R. Tolkien.”
Malton said research on the Internet suggested that the carved wooden fireplace with marble inlay, a feature of the house when Tolkien lived there from 1968 to 1972, was already worth up to $250,000.
“To tie in both […]

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mcmannes wrote an interesting post today on
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SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AFP) — One of three US defense contractors nationals held by Colombia’s FARC rebels for more than five years said Monday the guerillas were not revolutionaries but “terrorists,” using a crusade for the poor as a front for crime.
“They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists. Terrorists with a capital T,” Marc Gonsalves told a televised press conference from Texas, in his first public comments since the Colombian army rescued him and 14 others from captivity Wednesday.
“They say that they want equality. They say that they just want to make Colombia a better place. But that’s all a lie. It’s a cover story, and they hide behind it,” he said.
“And they use it to justify their criminal activity…. Their interests lie in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping. They refuse to acknowledge all human rights. And they reject democracy.”
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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PARIS (AP) — Freedom tastes sweet and Ingrid Betancourt is lapping it up with the same drive and determination that kept her alive in the Colombian jungle for six years, sometimes chained to a tree.
Five days after being rescued along with three Americans and 11 Colombians and three days after coming to France, Betancourt, who has dual nationality, is ebullient, and tireless.
She is meeting with officials, a former professor, clinching a deal to write a play and giving interviews nonstop.
The 46-year-old, who was a cause celebre in France as a captive, is a hero today, portrayed as an icon of courage and an inspiration.
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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Al-Qaeda elements who fought against the US troops in Iraq are heading to Sudan and Somalia, a security source told the Gulf News.
Osama bin Laden Due to the intensity of latest military strikes launched against the terror organization by the US and Iraqi troops they escaped through the borders with Syria and Iran to Sudan and Somalia, the daily reported.
A source at Iraqi Ministry of National Security said that documents and letters found in hideouts of “some elements of Al Qaida” during search operations in Sunni suburbs in Baghdad, which were previously under the control of Al Qaida, “prove these elements left Iraq for Somalia and Sudan”.
The information could not be confirmed by independent sources.
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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al-Qaeda has been defeated in Iraq and Lebanon. They failed to make a serious presence in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They and their Taliban cousins have been expunged from 75% of Afghanistan. al-Qaeda has been pushed into its final, small sanctuary inside the tribal areas of Pakistan where it is surrounded by 100,000 Pakistani troops to the south and 100,000 US-NATO and Afghan forces to the north.
And today we learn al-Qaeda is surrendering its efforts in Libya after 13 years of trying to overthrow that OPEC nation:
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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The maiden speech of Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, in the house of Lords confirmed what many of her former colleagues had been saying privately - that she did not supoport the Government over its legislation to detain terror suspects for 42 days.
This is a pretty big blow to Gordon Brown. The detention provision in the Counter-Terrorism Bill was going to be defeated in any case in the House of Lords which means that later this year the Government will try get it reinstated in the Commons.
Mr Brown won a narrow victory last month over 42 days, relying on the nine votes of Democratic Unionists to avoid a humiliating defeat. But can the same trick be pulled off again, now that it is clear that a former head of the security service opposed the new law, calling it unworkable?
Lady Manningham-Buller said: “I have weighed up the balance between […]

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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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The murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was definitely organised by the Kremlin, MI5 is convinced.
British secret service officers also believe the FSB, the Russian internal security service, has targeted other critics of Moscow in Britain.
Officers at MI5 believe they thwarted an attempt last summer to kill Mr Berezovsky, an outspoken opponent of former Russian president Vladimir Putin.
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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Yes, it’s been twenty years, so Ibrahim Fatayer Abdelatif, now 43, has been released from an Italian jail.
A cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, was hijacked by four armed thugs, and to prove they were mean and meant their threats, they killed a defenseless elderly man in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, dumping his body over the side of the ship.
Yes, kidnapping and murder will get you 25 years, but Fatayer got time off for “good behavior” and apparantly didn’t bomb anything when he was loose on parole for three years. And the poor dear is now probably going to be helped by “human rights” groups, because no one wants him, and Italy says he is not allowed to stay.
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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The Norwegian government Tuesday strongly condemned a terrorist attack outside the Indian embassy in Kabul, according to reports reaching here from the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
“There is no excuse for such terrorist actions,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.
“This brutal terrorist attack was carried out with the sole purpose of sabotaging the ongoing work to stabilize Afghanistan and the international efforts to build a foundation for peaceful development in the country,” the minister said.
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pbtt wrote an interesting post today on
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Manama, Bahrain (AHN) The elder brother of the last Bahraini detainee to return from Guantanamo Bay,apprehended by Saudi Arabia in 2003 on terrorism charges, is missing and his family is afraid he could be dead.
According to his family, Abdulrahim al-Murbati was arrested on terror-related charges and is missing from Al Hair prison in Riyadh.
The suspect is the older brother of Isa al-Murbati, the last Bahraini detainee to return from Guantanamo Bay. The family met Abdulrahim at the Riyadh prison in June and said he was in good condition.
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