Organizers plan Cuba's first gay-pride parade

Upcoming

Working with Florida's Unity Coalition, activists in Cuba have organized the island's first gay-pride parade today in Havana's Don Quixote park for a march to the Ministry of Justice. Marchers want the government to apologize for its past repression and, in some cases, incarceration of openly gay citizens, and the inhumane treatment of prisoners with AIDS, according to Unity. Mariela Castro, Raul Castro's daughter and head of the island's National Center for Sex Education, led a public rally in May against homophobia, and earlier this month, Cuban officials announced they were allowing free sex-change operations for transsexuals. But activists say people are still passed over for jobs, prevented from gathering in certain places and, in some cases, jailed because of their sexual orientation.

Sold!

Millions for Monet

Claude Monet's painting "Le Bassin aux Nympheas," or "Water Lily Pond," sold to an anonymous collector at auction Tuesday for $80,451,178, breaking the auction record for the French impressionist artist, Christie's London said. The previous record for a Monet work was set in May when "Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil" sold for $41.4 million. The painting was purchased in a 1971 New York auction for $320,000. Tuesday's auction begins a week of major modern-art sales at Christie's and its rival Sotheby's, as the international market continues to set records despite global economic troubles.

Media Notes

Hold that mayo

Heinz Co. said viewer complaints prompted it to pull a British television advertisement for mayonnaise that showed two men kissing. The ad for Heinz Deli Mayo depicted a kitchen scene involving two children, a father and a male deli cook with a New York accent, whom the children addressed as "Mum." At the end of the ad, the cook kisses the father as he leaves for work. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly complained about the advertisement on Friday during his show.

People

Hathaway's ex arrested

Raffaello Follieri, 29, an Italian businessman who until recently dated actress Anne Hathaway, was arrested Tuesday in New York on charges he posed as a representative of the Vatican to fleece wealthy investors in a real-estate company that sought to buy and redevelop Roman Catholic Church property. Prosecutors allege that Follieri improperly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars obtained from investors on a lavish lifestyle, including privately chartered jet travel with his girlfriend and others, expensive meals and clothing and a posh Manhattan apartment. The girlfriend was not identified but it has been widely reported that Hathaway, the star of films including "The Devil Wears Prada" and "The Princess Diaries," had until recently dated Follieri.

Today in History

1788: The state of Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution.

1906: Architect Stanford White was shot to death atop New York's Madison Square Garden, which he had designed, by millionaire Harry Thaw, the jealous husband of Evelyn Nesbit (Thaw was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity).

1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted.

1950: War broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South.

Today's Birthdays

Director Sidney Lumet, 84. Singer Carly Simon, 63. Actor Michael Sabatino, 53. Actor-writer-director Ricky Gervais, 47. Rock singer George Michael, 45. Basketball player Dikembe Mutombo, 42. Rapper-producer Richie Rich, 41. Actress Angela Kinsey, 37. Actress Linda Cardellini, 33. Actress Busy Philipps, 29.

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