Marilyn Chambers, the Ivory Snow Porn Star, Dead at 56

People in the ’70s knew two things about Marilyn Chambers: that she had appeared as a model on an Ivory Snow box, fondly holding an infant under the corporate slogan “99 and 44/100% Pure”; and that she starred in Behind the Green Door, one of the first, weirdest and most popular hard-core movies in that brief period of the ’70s known as Porno Chic. These two factettes, with their colliding irony, made the blond, willowy Chambers the pin-up princess of XXX cinema, a notoriety she parlayed into a career in soft- and hard-core sex films that lasted from 1972 until..

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Quake survivors: What about our future?

Many survivors from the earthquake which has devastated central Italy have found themselves homeless, terrified — and wondering what the future now holds. Aftershocks have continued to strike following Monday’s 6.3-magnitude quake, in the mountainous Abruzzo region surrounding the city of L’Aquila. The most severe, a 5.6 magnitude tremor that struck the area Tuesday night, according to the U.S.

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Criminal probe call over G-20 protest death

Video appearing to show police hitting a man who later died in protests over last week’s G-20 summit in London sparked anger Wednesday and calls for an immediate criminal investigation. One opposition politician described the “unprovoked attack” on Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper vendor who was not taking part in the protest, as “sickening” and urged the officer to come forward

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Video: Police at G-20 protest shoved man who later died

A man who collapsed and died near last week’s protests at the G-20 summit was shoved to the ground by police shortly before the collapse, according to a video of the incident posted on the Web site of the British daily The Guardian. A spokeswoman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is already investigating any contact Ian Tomlinson had with police before his death, said she is certain the man in the video is Tomlinson, 47, who was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital after his collapse on April 1. “However, that is not the question,” the spokeswoman said.

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At least 150 killed in Italian earthquake, officials say

Rescuers worked into the early morning hours Tuesday in hopes of finding survivors of a powerful earthquake that ripped through Italy’s mountainous Abruzzo region, killing scores of people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Tearful survivors, many of them clad in pajamas and blankets, watched as bodies were pulled from the rubble in the medieval city of L’Aquila, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Rome. The quake killed more than 150 people, L’Aquila’s fire department said late Monday.

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