People: Obamas slide away from crowd in China
Just one day after taking issue with China’s “Great Firewall” of media restrictions, Michelle Obama on Sunday pulled a fast one on photographers hoping to capture something more than the predictable shot of her strolling with daughters along the Great Wall of China.
With daughters Malia and Sasha in tow, Obama and her handlers managed to distract U.S. and Chinese journalists while she and her daughters exited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall via the touristy toboggan that races visitors from the wall’s heights. No news photographers memorialized the moment.
It was a brilliant fake-out by a publicity-weary presidential spouse, who seems to yearn for fun moments that won’t be accompanied by hundreds of camera clicks. Reporters thought she would descend on a gondola from the Great Wall, the same way she’d gone up and the journalists had gone down. Instead, the journalists were left waiting in a parking lot until learning about her final descent from White House officials.
Stolen Hulk Hogan shoe returned
Police in Florida say a Michigan tourist has returned a wrestling shoe autographed by Hulk Hogan that she took from a store in Clearwater.
Authorities say the woman called the professional wrestling icon’s Clearwater Beach store Thursday, saying she wanted to return the shoe.
A security camera captured images of the Sunday evening theft but it wasn’t until Tuesday that employees realized the shoe – valued at $5,500 – was missing. Employees watched the security film and called police.
According to Clearwater police, the woman said she “had done a stupid thing.” Though she had returned to Michigan, she had left the shoe behind and arranged for three people she met while in Clearwater to return it to the store.
No charges have been filed, but an investigation continues.
The birthday bunch
Singer Nick Lowe is 65. Comedian Louie Anderson is 61. Actor Robert Carradine is 60. Actress Kelly LeBrock is 54. TV personality Star Jones is 52. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 44. Actor Jim Parsons is 41. Actress Alyson Hannigan is 40. Actress Jessica Chastain is 37.