Report: Mafia blamed for 70 million litres of tainted Italian wine

Italy produced and sold at least 70 million litres of cheap wine containing acid, manure and fertiliser, Italian weekly L’Espresso said on Friday, largely blaming organised crime in the south.

UPDATE: ABSOLUT to pull ad after calls for boycott; ABSOLUT runs ads celebrating American Southwest belonging to Mexico…

The latest advertising campaign in Mexico from Swedish vodka maker Absolut promises to push all the right buttons south of the U.S. border, but it could ruffle a few feathers in El Norte.

The billboard and press campaign, created by advertising agency Teran\TBWA  and now running in Mexico, is a colorful map depicting what the Americas might look like in an “Absolut” — i.e., perfect — world.

The U.S.-Mexico border lies where it was before the Mexican-American war of 1848 when California, as we now know it, was Mexican territory and known as Alta California.

Following the war, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo saw the Mexican territories of Alta California and Santa Fé de Nuevo México ceded to the United States to become modern-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. (Texas actually split from Mexico several years earlier to form a breakaway republic, and was voluntarily annexed by the United States in 1846.)

A DUTCH ANTAGONIST OF ISLAM WAITS FOR HIS PREMIERE

GEERT WILDERS’S bleached-blond hair goes to the root of his character.

For more than two decades, Mr. Wilders, the controversial anti-Islam member of the Dutch Parliament, has dyed his hair a provocative — some say extreme — platinum blond.

‘Stuff White People Like’ blog stirs controversy…

Asian women, fancy coffee, farmers markets, dinner parties and gay friends — these are just a sampling of life’s pleasures — if you’re white.

‘MAD MONEY’ CRAMER ON MARCH 11: ‘No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble… Don’t move your money from Bear.’

Hopefully your financial portfolio didn’t include stock in Bear Stearns, but it might have if you had listened to CNBC’s Jim Cramer.

Lord of War? Russian Arms Dealer known as “Merchant of Death” nabbed…

The U.S. is seeking the extradition of a suspected Russian arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death,” but for now he will remain in Thailand, where authorities are investigating if he used the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists, officials said Friday.

Race controversy as actor Robert Downey Jr ‘blacks up’ for new film…

Actor Robert Downey Jr has in the past been applauded for his edgy roles.

California MCDONALD’S Tries to Boost Sales With Feng Shui Theme…

HACIENDA HEIGHTS, Calif. (AP) — The only familiar signs at the McDonald’s in this large Asian community are the golden arches, the drive-through and the menu. Gone are the plastic furniture, Ronald McDonald and the red and yellow palette that has defined the world’s largest hamburger chain.

Man Robbed Of $100K In Midtown Manhattan Attack…

The victim, a man in his 50s, was hospitalized in stable condition after the attack, which happened just after 2 p.m. three blocks south of the park near Sixth Avenue and 56th Street. The New York Police Department said…

London theaters ban “Rambo”…

Odeon, the U.K.’s biggest exhib chain, will not show Sony’s new release “Rambo” at its theaters this weekend, citing undisclosed “commercial reasons.”