Australian Prime Minister: No Debris from Missing Jet Found; Medvedev visits Crimea, drawing ire of Ukrainian Government; Anti-Immigrant Candidates Win Big in France; Masterpiece Stolen from Poland During WWII Being Returned Today; "Noah" opens in USA, gaining huge box office take, with a review of the movie; Sports: Legia Warsawa Clinches First Place Tie; Shakhtar Donetsk and Dnipro both prevail, Nascimento scores twice

BALTIMORE, Maryland March 31, 2014 - Australian Prime Minister: Recovered debris not from Missing Jet; Search Will Continue Until Plane is Found: None of the debris pulled from the Indian Ocean in recent days was from the missing Malaysian Airlines Jumbo Jet that disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board. That was the word from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who made a statement to start a Monday Morning press conference at a base in western Australia. Abbot also promised that the search will last as long as necessary to find the jet and its occupants. Costs will be apportioned later among the nations participating in the search, the Prime Minister said.

Not long after the new conference ended, numerous media outlets reported that the four orange objects recovered Sunday were not from the missing plane, but were, instead, fishing equipment.

Medvedev Visits Crimea, Promises Economic Help In a trip blasted by the Ukrainian Government in Kiev, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Simferopol in Crimea on Sunday and promised to make it a special economic zone and the target of increased spending by Moscow. He said one aim will be to attract foreign investments, possibly in the area of tourism. Roads and other public infrastructure will be improved, he added. He was the highest Russian official to visit Crimea since the Russian Military invaded the Ukrainian province in early March. The Ukrainian Government in Kiev blasted Medvedev's trip, calling it a violation of international law.

Anti-Immigrant Candidates Big Winners in French Elections The anti-immigration candidates of the National Front Party of Marine Le Penn were apparently the big winners in local elections across France on Sunday, and the Government of President Francois Hollande may be forced into making Cabinet Minister changes as early as this week, reported Euronews.

The Guardian says Le Penn's party will win eleven of France's bigger cities, easily surpassing their record victories in 1990 when they won four mayors' races. Provisional results from Sunday's voting showed the protectionist, anti-EU Front National party of Marine Le Pen set to take control of 11 towns across the country, easily surpassing a past record in the 1990s when it ruled in four towns. A stunning 140 other towns swung from the left to the right as voters reacted to the failure of Hollande's government to turn around the French economy and it moribund unemployment situation. French unemployment has hovered near ten percent for many months.

About the only bright spot for Socialists was the election of the first female Mayor in the history of Paris. Anne Hidalgo appeared to be the winner. In a victory speech said noted, "I am the first woman mayor of Paris. I am aware of the challenge."

Guardi Masterpiece Stolen from National Museum in Warsaw during World War II Returning to Poland The masterpiece painting by Venetian Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (1712 - 1793), stolen from the National Museum in Warsaw during World War II, will be restored to Poland today when German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier hands it to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski during a ceremony today in Berlin. It had been looted by members of the Nazi Government during the war. Entitled "Palace Stairs," a print of it may be viewed at the Polish Radio One Web Site at this address: http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/166913,Looted-Guardi-painting-returns-to-Poland

According to Polish Radio One, Poland issued a request that the Painting be returned. It was among those works listed by Polish Authorities in 1950 when a catalogue of stolen art and cultural works was prepared. It had been purchased by the National Museum in 1925 from a private collector. It was on display in the museum when World War II appeared to be a certainty. For Poland, the start of the War was an invasion by Germany months before the Nazi's steamrolled France and nearly forced the combined British and French armies into the sea at Dunkirk. But those two forces escaped in the so-called "Miracle at Dunkirk," when British Sailors in all manner of boats and ships raced across the English channel time and again, filled with soldiers.

Polish One provides this history of the Work as the war appeared imminent: At the end of 1939 it was transferred to the warehouses of the Special Agent for Securing and Safeguarding of Art and Cultural Treasures located at the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków and several years later it was moved to Governor Hans Frank's headquarters at the Wawel Castle. In 1944, during the evacuation of Frank’s office, it was transported, alongside other works of art, including Leonardo’s ‘Lady with an Ermine’, to Count Manfred von Richthofen's castle in Sichow, Lower Silesia. On the basis of the recently discovered documents, it was established that in December, 1945 the painting was moved to an arts warehouse in Wiesbaden, and subsequently to the Central Collecting Point in Munich from which it was supposed to be returned to its previous owner. In view of the fact that neither American authorities nor the German administration were able to establish the painting’s ownership, it was deposited at the University of Heidelberg and, later on, at the Kurpfalzische Museum in Heidelberg and the National Art Gallery in Stuttgart, where it remained until today. Polish One reports that a database of Polish war-time art losses contains almost 63,000 items, including close on 7,000 works by Polish painters Aleksander Gierymski, Jan Matejko, Jacek Malczewski, and Stanisław Wyspiański, among others, and 7,500 canvasses by foreign artists, including Raphael’s ‘Portrait of a Young Man’, which was looted by the Germans from the Czartoryski collection in Kraków. Currently, Radio One reports, The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is currently making efforts to secure the return of 46 works of art stolen from Polish collections during World War Two.
- See more at: http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/166913,Looted-Guardi-painting-returns-to-Poland#sthash.vd8YVlVI.dpuf

Noah opens to good and bad reviews, large crowds, and this positive review The movie Noah opened in the United States this weekend after getting a mixed bag of reviews. USA earnings this weekend have been put at $44 million, and to date it has earned some $95 million when overseas receipts are added in. Those who reviewed the movie as a movie tended to like it. Those who reviewed it and factored in how closely it retold the Biblical Epic tended not to like it. Where I attended the movie it played to large crowds. I stood in line at an AMC venue in White Marsh, Maryland and the showing was neither in 3D or the curved surround screen. Overall I thought the movie was amazing, I'd love to see it again, maybe two or three more times. The makers of the movie made it clear that it was not a total and mere retelling of the epic. I believe an accurate retelling would stand on its own as well, but that isn't what Darren Aronofsky chose to do. A lot of the story was extremely close and some wasn't close at all. Some of the criticism came from Aronofsky's envisioning of the Watchers. The Bible recounts that some angels joined with Lucifer in a rebellion against God, and were therefore thrown out of Heaven. Aronofsky has these "bad" angels do something that didn't seem quite so bad: according to one of them, they disobeyed God's order not to become in anyway involved with his creation on Earth. But they wanted to help mankind and went as a group to the planet surface where they were immediately discovered by the Lord. He encased their bodies of light in a shell of rock and condemned them to live among men as such. They came to hate mankind for all of his evil machinations and by the time Noah came along, they were staying to themselves nnd were extremely bitter. One of them, however, recognized Noah as a righteous man and helped him on his journey to the home of his grandfather, Methuselah. When the other Watchers come to get the one Watcher who joined in league with Noah, and begin to drag him away, the Lord at that moment revealed his intentions for mankind and the making of the ark. I won't go anymore into the plot of the movie, except to say generally that most of the out-and-out parting of the movie and the Bible Epic comes when Noah misinterprets God's intentions for mankind after the flood. Until he understands that he got it wrong, he was on the wrong side of the story, and very much against the rest of his family. As a movie I loved the event, save for about an hour when all are aboard the ark and the family division is played out. The rest of the movie was an enlightened and, indeed, brilliant imagining of the Biblical Epic. Some of Aronofsky's story, especially the degree of depravity and debauchery the morally bankrupt human race fell into, the urge of the humans to find their place in the debauched society rather than rebel against it, and, especially, the absolute magnificence of the animal kingdom as they arrived at the ark was beyond anything I expected and actually brilliant in the way it was presented. Ray Winstone was the human king who was determined to destroy Noah despite the clarity with which it became apparent to him that God was leading Noah to do what it was he was doing. Only Hollywood would make it believable that a human - shown clearly that God wanted things done differently, would still disobey him and try to do things not only differently. but in a far more evil and depraved manner. Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connely, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Watson give gritty, realistic performances. Crowe controls a screen with the emotion and power he brings to every character he plays. Noah is no exception. He follows God to the T, except when he believed God wanted him to slay two children. He would not go that far, giving even God the idea that his creation has a side that is far from evil and even willing to do what is right and just when God orders otherwise. The cinematography was spectacular, and like the ideas behind many of the scenes, you saw that shear brilliance was on display. The imagining of what an angel appeared to be both at creation and later was a stroke of pure genius. Aronofsky has said he is an atheist. He lies.

Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein (Book based upon "Mein Weltbild" edited by Cal Seelig and other sources; New translations and revisions by Sonja Bargmann; Three Rivers Press, New York, first copyright 1954)

Marie Curie In Memorium Statement for the Curie Memorial Celebration, Roerich Museum, New York, November 23, 1935. Publised in Out of My Later Years, New York Philosohical Library, 1950.

At a time when a towering personality like Mme. Curie has come to the end of her life, let us not merely rest content with recalling what she has given to mankind in the fruits of her work. It is the moral qualities of its leading personalities that are perhaps of even great significance for a generation and for the course of history than purely intellectual accomplishments. Even these latter are, to a far greater degree than is commonly credited, dependent on the stature of character.

It was my good fortune to be linked with Mme. Curie through twenty years of sublime and unclouded friendship. I came to admire her human grandeur to an ever growing degree. Her strength, her purity of will, her austerity towards herself, her objectivity, her incorruptible judgment - all of these were of a kind seldom found joined in a single individual. She felt herself at every moment to be a servant of society, and her profound modesty never left any room for complacency. She was oppressed by an abiding sense for the asperities and inequities of society. This is what gave her that severe outward aspect, so easily misinterpreted by those who were not close to her - a curious severity unrelieved by any artistic strain. Once she had recognized a certain way as the right one, she pursued it without compromise and with extreme tenacity.

The great scientific deed of her life - proving the existence of radioactive elements and isolating them - owes its accomplishment not merely to bold intuition but to a devotion and tenacity in execution under the most extreme hardships imaginable, such as the history of experimental science has not often witnessed.

If but a small part of Mme. Curie's strength of character and devotion were alive in Europe's intellectuals, Europe would face a brighter future.

The Second Letter of Peter, Chapter 2, Verses 4 through and including 10

Chapter 2: Verse 4. For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether glooms to be kept until the judgment; Verse 5. if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; Verse 6. if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who would be ungodly; Verse 7. and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked Verse 8. (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), Verse 9. then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, Verse 10. and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and defile authority.

Legia Warszawa Goes Ten Points Clear in Top Polish Soccer League While Legia Warszawa was defeating Lech Poznan, 1-0, on Saturday, it was also clinching no worse than a tie for first place in Ekstraklasa Polish One. The defeat of Lech Poznan left the losers ten points down with three games left. Only third place Wisla Krakow has a chance, however slim, to catch the leaders. To do that, it must win all four of its remaining games, beginning tonight when it travels to struggling Zaglebie Lubin. If that unlikely chain of events does occur, the two teams would be tied. Any win or tie by Legia Warszawa or loss by Wisla Krakow clinches first place in the regular season for Legia. In other scores from the weekend, Korona Kielce and Pogon Szczecin played to a 2-2 draw; visiting Podbeskidzie upended Ruch Chorzow, 1-0; Cracovia Krakow and Widzew Lodz played to a 1-1 draw; Lechia Gdansk scored three second half goals to defeat Piast Gliwice, 3-1; Zawisza Bydgoszcz beat back Slask Wroclaw, 1-0; and Jagiellonia battled back from a 3-1 halftime deficit to draw with Gornik Zabrze, 3-3. This is the table, up to the minute:


1. Legia Warszawa: 57 points, 18 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses
2. Lech Poznan: 47 points, 13 wins, 8 draws, 7 losses
3. Wisla Krakow: 45 points, 12 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses
4. Ruch Chorzow 44 points, 12 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses
5. Pogon Szczecin: 43 points, 10 wins, 13 draws, 5 losses
6. Gornik Zabrze: 41 points, 11 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses
7. Zawisza Bydgoszcz: 39 points, 10 wins, 9 draws, 8 losses
8. Jagiellonia: 37 points, 10 wins, 7 draws, 10 losses
9. Lechia Gdansk: 37 points, 9 wins, 10 draws, 9 losses
10. Cracovia Krakow: 36 points, 10 wins, 6 draws, 12 losses
11. Korona Kielce: 34 points, 8 wins, 10 draws, 10 losses
12. Piast Gliwice: 32 points, 8 wins, 8 draws, 12 losses
13. Slask Wroclaw: 30 points, 6 wins, 12 draws, 9 losses
14. Podbeskidzie: 27 points, 5 wins, 12 draws, 11 losses
15. Zaglebie Lubin: 26 points, 6 wins, 8 draws, 13 losses
16. Widzew Lodz: 19 points, 4 wins, 7 draws, 17 losses

In Ukraine Premier League, Shakhtar and Dnipro both win; Shakhtar Stays 3 Points Clear In the Ukraine Premier League, both first place Shakhtar and second place Dnipro both scored important wins over tough opponents. With those results, the Donetsk team stays three points clear of Dnipro, but Dnipro has a game in hand. Shakhtar had to come storming from behind to defeat Metalist. Metalist broke on top, 2-0, getting an own goal by Shakhtar's Oleksandr Kucher and a penalty kick goal by Marlos at the 32 minute mark. After the penalty kick, Shakhtar went to work. Douglas Costa got the home team on the board at the 36 minute mark. Eduardo tied the score at the 38 minute mark, and the captain, Darijo Sma gave Shakhtar a halftime advantage when he tallied at time. Shakhtar got an insurance score by Luiz Adriano in the 72nd minute. In the Dnipro match against Dynamo Kyiv, Matheus Nascimento scored in the second minute of first half injury time, and again at the 58 minute mark, to pace Dnipro to the home victory. Giuliano assisted on the first score. In other games, Metalurh Zapor defeated struggling Tavriya, 1-0; Volyn defeated Metalurh Donetsk, 3-1; Karpaty beat back Sevastopol, 2-0; Vorskla downed Hoverla, 3-1; and on Sunday, Illichivets beat Chornomorets, 3-1. This is the way the Ukraine Premier looks at this minute:

1. Shakhtar Donetsk: 44 points, 14 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses (20 games played)
2. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk: 41 points, 12 wins, 5 draws, 2 losses (19 games played)
3. Dynamo Kyiv: 39 points, 12 wins, 3 draws, 5 losses (20 games played)
4. Metalist Kharkiv: 34 points, 9 wins, 7 draws, 2 losses (18 games played)
5. Chornomorets: 33 points, 9 wins, 6 draws, 4 losses (19 games played)
6. Vorskla: 30 points, 7 wins, 9 draws, 4 losses (20 games played)
7. Metalurh Donetsk: 27 points, 7 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses (20 games played)
8. Volyn: 27 points, 7 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses (20 games played)
9. Zorya: 25 points, 6 wins, 7 draws, 6 losses (19 games played)
10. Karpaty: 22 points, 5 wins, 7 draws, 7 losses (19 games played)
11. Illichivets': 21 points, 6 wins, 3 draws, 10 losses (19 games played)
12. Sevastopol: 19 points, 5 wins, 4 draws, 10 losses (19 games played)
13. Hoverla: 18 points, 5 wins, 3 draws, 12 losses (20 games played)
14. Metalurh Zapor.: 11 points, 2 wins, 5 draws, 13 losses (20 games played)
15. Tavriya: 9 points, 2 wins, 3 draws, 15 losses (20 games played)