Anna Chapman

Financial District Woman Accused of Being a Russian Spy

Anna Chapman, a 28-year-old Financial District resident, was allegedly working in the Manhattan as a Russian spy.

A redheaded Financial District beauty was among 11 people accused of being a Russian spy Monday after she allegedly passed information to her handlers at locations around Manhattan.

Anna Chapman, 28, lived in a luxury Financial District apartment and ostensibly ran a $2 million online real-estate business. However, authorities charged that the divorced woman's real goal was to infiltrate political circles and funnel information back to Moscow, according to a complaint obtained by the Daily News and the New York Post.



Chapman allegedly engaged in clandestine communication tactics fit for a Cold War era spy flick. She was one of 10 people arrested as part of a Russian spy ring on Monday. Another alleged spy is still on the loose.

On one occasion, Chapman is accused of sharing computer files from the Barnes & Noble on Greenwich and Warren Streets in TriBeCa. She allegedly transmitted the data over a secret wireless network to another spy who was parked in a van outside, according to the complaint.

A similar incident allegedly took place at a Starbucks on 47th Street and Eighth Avenue, the Post reported. The contents of the communications were not revealed in the complaint.

Chapman's life as a spy began to unravel last week when an undercover FBI agent enlisted her to deliver a fake passport to another agent, according to the complaint.

Chapman initially agreed to the plan, but apparently became suspicious. The redheaded beauty sprinted to a Brooklyn Verizon store, where she bought a cell phone under the name Irine Kustov of 99 Fake Street, the News reported.

The FBI figured out she was on to them and immediately began rounding up the ring of suspected Russian spies, who they'd been tracking for more than a decade, according to the News.

Chapman could face up to five years in prison if convicted of acting as unregistered foreign agent.

Although Chapman appeared demure in court on Monday, prosecutors were adamant about her espionage role, the News reported.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz singled out the curvaceous divorcé, saying "This is a Russian agent!"

chris brown bet awards 2010

2010 BET Awards Belong To Chris Brown.

Chris Brown, Alicia Keys and Eminem shined the brightest among the star-filled Shrine Auditorium on Sunday night (June 27th), wowing the audience at the 2010 BET Awards in Los Angeles.

Chris Brown put out a sizzling tribute to Michael Jackson, just days after the one-year anniversary of the pop icon’s death, with a medley that included “Remember the Time” and “Billie Jean.” The embattled R&B star’s take on “Man in the Mirror” was measured and emotional, tugging at the hearts of many as Brown broke down during the song’s refrain.

Fabricio Werdum

Shamrock announces retirement from MMA

Lost in the shuffle of Fedor Emelianenko's loss to Fabricio Werdum on Saturday was Frank Shamrock's announcement that he is retiring from mixed martial arts.

Shamrock came to the cage inside HP Pavilion, long considered Strikeforce's home arena, with his family and announced he is done fighting.

Shamrock, backed up one of his many nicknames (The Man Who Brought MMA To San Jose) by consistently drawing in his home city at HP Pavilion. Shamrock's fight with Cesar Gracie in 2006 set a then-North American record of 18,265. His fight with Phil Baroni is considered by many to have one of the most electric atmospheres for a fight in the sport's history. His fight with Cung Le drew 16,326 and a gate in excess of $1 million. His final fight, both at HP Pavilion and in his career, drew 15,211 fans when he fought Nick Diaz in April 2009.

The 37-year old Shamrock will wrap up his career with a 23-10-2 record, a record that includes retiring (the first time) as the unbeaten UFC middleweight champion.

Ana Claudia Michels Pictures

Ana Claudia Michels Pictures

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Amy Lee Pictures

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America Ferrera Pictures

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Amsterdam Arena Pictures

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Amber Valletta Pictures

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Amber Tamblyn Pictures

Amber Benson Pictures

Amber Benson Pictures

Asian Carp

Invasive Asian Carp caught near Lake Michigan

The nightmare scenario of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes through Chicago waterways is closer to reality as the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee announced today they have captured an invasive bighead carp in Lake Calumet, 6 miles away from Lake Michigan.

The fish’s capture Tuesday bolsters repeated environmental DNA tests which have shown that the carp have evaded an electrical barrier intended to prevent their movement out of canals artificially connecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system.

Scientists and government regulators agree that the invasive fish pose a dire threat to the Lakes because of their size and voracious appetites.

Environmental groups throughout the Great Lakes have been advocating for quick action to impede the carp’s headlong swim towards Lake Michigan, even as federal officials and business interests have questioned the validity of cutting edge science that pointed to the invasive species’ presence.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not immediately shut down shipping locks near Chicago that link the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes, denying a request by Michigan that was aimed at keeping away invasive Asian carp.

Today’s news brings a renewed call for more agile efforts to prevent the carp’s movement. Many organizations have called for hydrologic separation of the two systems to ensure the movement of the carp and other invasive species is stopped. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently said that a study of this solution will take five to seven years.

"A year of DNA testing has shown the Asian carp are in the Chicago waterways, and now we know they're a hop, skip and jump from Lake Michigan," said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. "Invaders will stop at nothing short of bricks and mortar, and time is running short to get that protection in place."

memphis beat

TV Tonight: Memphis Beat

The Judging TNT's new cop drama Memphis Beat is less a critical question than a philosophical one. In brief, the series, starring Jason Lee, is mostly a standard-issue summertime basic cable cop procedural, somewhat distinguished by less frantic pacing, a touch more attention to character beats, and a smidgen of local color. So the question is: do you give the show credit for slightly changing up the formula it works with, or do you mark it down for doing far less with the setting and cast than it could have?

You can probably guess from how I phrased that where I come down. I don't believe in grading TV on a curve, because I don't watch TV on a curve. So while I like how Lee's laid-back style translates to a police drama, there's not enough here to separate the show from the umpteen other slightly-quirky-guy-solves-crimes cable dramas.

The first sign of trouble: Elvis. I'm not saying this to slight the King, but when you set a show in Memphis and rely for most of your early cultural and musical references on the one artist that 99% of your audience will think of when thinking of your city—here, Elvis songs, Elvis covers, Elvis impersonators—it's not a good sign of your show's imagination. Unlike regional dramas Treme, or Justified, or Friday Night Lights, this is not a show that's trying to get inside its city and make us see it with new eyes; it's just committed to delivering What We Think About When We Think About Memphis.

Here, we're introduced to Memphis detective Dwight (Lee) onstage in a bar, performing, of course, an Elvis cover. As we follow him to work, we find that he's got the same encumbrances as most TV cops, especially a tough new boss (Alfre Woodard) who, of course, is making the old boys in the department uncomfortable by implementing a new set of rules. The first case he picks up ties into Memphis' music heritage by involving an elderly woman who was an early figure in the local music scene, allowing for a further connection to the city's culture. Of course, that means more Elvis references. (The title of the episode? "That's Alright, Mama.")

One possible problem is that the show was largely shot not in Memphis but outside New Orleans, giving the locations a more generic Southernness rather than the documentary-like feel of a show like Treme. And it's a shame, because one thing Memphis Beat does have is a good cast, including, in a supporting cop role, DJ Qualls—whose appearance, however, only recalls the much more vital and distinctive Memphis of the movie "Hustle and Flow."

It's too bad. Memphis Beat had at its disposal the rich culture of a city that hasn't been portrayed to death on TV. But this show needs to find its soul.

edith shain

Edith Shain, WWII nurse in iconic Times Square kissing photo, dies at age 91

A nurse famously photographed being kissed by an American sailor in the New York's Times Square in 1945 to celebrate the end of World War Two has died at the age of 91, her family said on Tuesday.

The V-J Day picture of the white-clad Edith Shain by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured an epic moment in U.S. history and became an iconic image marking the end of the war after being published in Life magazine.

The identity of the nurse in the photograph was not known until the late 1970s when Shain wrote to the photographer saying that she was the woman in the picture taken on August 14 at a time when she had been working at Doctor's Hospital in New York City.

The identity of the sailor remains disputed and unresolved.

From then on the photograph also made its mark on Shain's life as the fame she garnered led to invites to war related events such a wreath layings, parades and other memorial events.

"My mom was always willing take on new challenges and caring for the World War II veterans energized her to take another chance to make a difference," her son Justin Decker said in a statement.

Shain, who died at her home in Los Angeles on Sunday, leaves behind three sons, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Amanda Seyfried Pictures

Amanda Seyfried Pictures

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Amanda Righetti Pictures

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Amanda Crew Pictures

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Germany Pictures Photo