2/10 newspurge: it's a barnum & bailey world

9/11 updates:
surprise! taliban & al-qaeda are worlds apart:
'separating the taliban from al-qaeda: the core of success in afghanistan'*
flashback: bush rejects taliban offer to hand bin laden over*
video: napolitano warns terror threat 'most heightened' since 9/11*

biowars/envirohealth:
climate scientist sues climate change skeptic for libel*
study: 25% of antidepressants prescribed for no legitimate reason*

drugwar:
pharmacies besieged by addicted thieves*
why can't US legalize drugs? hillary admits there's "too much money in it"*

econocrash:
deutsche boerse, nyse & merger talk frenzy*
jet loaded with millions in gold & cash seized by congolese authorities linked to texas philanthropist david disiere*
communities exposing wal-mart's deceptive practices*
why did obama choose outsourcing champ immelt as jobs advisor?*
audio satire: US takes out debt-consolidation loan*

history/mystery:
hitler aide bormann 'escaped to latin america'*
confirmed: fbi warned day before okc bombing*
the octopus conspiracy: one woman's search for her father's killer*
man says ex-cia agent posada gave him explosives for hotel bombing*

media/memes:
the criminally-infested stupor bowl*
under-age sex trade booming at stupor bowl*
christina aguilera fumbles anthem at stupor bowl*
video: chrysler's $9m stupor bowl ad w/ eminem longest, most expensive ever made*
chinese tv shows 'top gun' as military drill*
disney looks to the cradle to expand business*
video: aol & huffington team up to provide that perfect blend of sanitized news & gossip* [#huffpuff]
with huffpo sold to aol, naturalnews invites health authors to join truly independent news network*
jd salinger, enigmatic 'catcher in the rye' author, 91*
tura satana, 'faster, pussycat! kill! kill!' actress, 72*
kidnap victim john paul getty iii dies at 54*
gary moore, thin lizzy guitarist, dies aged 58*
red, white & blue: the white stripes break up*


murder/mayhem:
teen pleads guilty in fatal beating of william bennett*
1st guilty plea in attack that killed loudoun man, injured wife*
flashback: the death of william bennett: cia, contract killers, kosovo & questions*
twilight language: giffords wants 'toast'*
john skilling, son of ex-enron boss jeffrey skilling, found dead at 20*
video: court appearance for suspects in ohio fraternity shooting delayed*
semen in yogurt linked to albuquerque grocery store worker*
video: safeway pharmacy mistakenly gives pregnant woman abortion pill*
video: ny tv executive convicted of beheading wife*

oregon oddities:
fritz springmeier writes from prison*
central oregon airspace considered for drone testing, but private pilots worried*

wv worry:
wv residents win 1st round in chemical case:
judge says bayer can't produce toxic chemical in wv*
gop takes aim at 'obama agenda' backers for 2012*
strange odor reported by wv/md officials along state border*
investigating reports of several dead horses at greenbrier farm*

'catcher in the rye' novelist jd salinger dies aged 91

from wikinews: American novelist J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, has died of natural causes at the age of 91. His son confirms that he died in his New Hampshire home yesterday. Salinger was born in New York City in 1919.

The author had famously remained a recluse since 1953, shortly after the publication of The Catcher in the Rye, his most famous work. He very rarely entered the public eye after that date, emerging only for infrequent interviews and lawsuits. He never responded to fan mail.

His magnum opus was published in 1951, and tells the story of Holden Caulfield, an alienated, rebellious seventeen year-old and his expulsion from an exclusive prep school, but is now known as one of the most influential books of the 20th century. Featuring on Time's top 150 books of all time, it has been translated into many languages, and sold more than 65 million copies worldwide. It was also carried by Mark David Chapman, when he gunned down John Lennon in 1980.

Apart from The Catcher in the Rye, he has published a few other books, none of which have enjoyed such success. These include 9 Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.

Salinger's last work, the novella Hapworth 16, was published in The New Yorker in 1965.