Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien said on Sunday the pieces and other Houston items became available after the singer’s unexpected death on February 11 and will be included among a long-planned sale of Hollywood memorabilia such as Charlie Chaplin’s cane, Clark Gable’s jacket from Gone With the Wind and Charlton Heston’s staff from The Ten Commandments.

But could it be too soon to profit from Houston’s passing? She was just buried on Saturday.

"It’s a celebration of her life," Julien said. "If you hide these things in fear that you’re going to offend someone — her life is to be celebrated. She’s lived a life and had a career that nobody else has ever had."

The singer’s floor-length black dress is valued at $1,000 (Dh3,673) but likely to collect much more. Same goes for the vest she wore in The Bodyguard, listed at $400, and the faux-pearl earrings that start at $600.

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Iraqi-Born Islamist Cleric in Norway Terror TrialBjoern H. Amland ("Associated Press," February 15, 2012)

Oslo, Norway – An Iraqi-born cleric pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of making death threats against politicians and encouraging suicide bombings.

Prosecutors said Mullah Krekar, a 55-year-old Islamist who came to Norway as a refugee in 1991, faces several years in prison if found guilty by Oslo District Court.

Since his arrival, Krekar has made frequent trips to Iraq where in 2001 he founded the Kurdish Ansar al-Islam, a group suspected of organizing suicide bombings against coalition forces in Iraq, and listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and other nations.

In 2005, a Norwegian court declared Krekar a national security threat and ordered him deported, but later postponed the move because of concerns he could face execution or torture in Iraq.

In June 2010, Krekar said at a news conference organized by the foreign press club in Oslo that if he were deported to Iraq and killed, Norwegian officials would “pay with their lives,” according to a transcript included in the indictment presented in court.

“If I die it will be the beginning of killings,” he said, according to the transcript.

Prosecutor Marit Bakkevig said Krekar had violated Norwegian terror laws by “threatening to commit murder for the purpose of creating fear in the society,” which carries a maximum 12-year sentence. “The statements appear as persistent threats,” she told the court.

Krekar is also charged with trying to force a reversal of the deportation order by threatening officials, or obstructing the government from performing its duties, with a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

In addition, he has allegedly threatened several people on various websites, including three Kurds living in Norway, the prosecution said.

In 2009, on NBC’s news program “The Wanted,” Krekar said that America had deserved the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and condoned suicide bombings against Americans in Iraq. Because the interviews were conducted in Norway, he is being tried in the Scandinavian country for these statements.

By condoning suicide bombings, he was charged with “publicly encouraging illegal actions,” which has a maximum eight-year sentence.

The prosecution told the court that Norwegian security police initiated the investigation of Krekar after the NBC interviews.

During the proceedings, court officials were shown several TV clips of Krekar, including the NBC program, causing the bearded cleric to occasionally smile and at times shake his head. The clips were not visible to the public.

Krekar has said that he stands by the statements he made to the journalists. But his lawyer, Brynjar Meling, said he is discussing with Bakkevig about modifying how Krekar’s alleged threats are described in the transcripts. “Some of the translations are absolutely wrong,” Meling told The Associated Press.

Meling insists Krekar has not broken the law.

“It should not be looked upon as threats,” Meling said.

Meling said this is “a test case” for drawing the line between Norwegian terror laws and freedom of speech.

The gray-robed Krekar appeared calm, making notes during the first day of the trial, expected to last three weeks.

Krekar, who told the court he lives at a secret address and has no job, has denied links to al-Qaida and says he no longer leads Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked group, which has vowed to set up a conservative Islamic state in northern Iraq. Its members have trained in Afghanistan and provided safe haven to al-Qaida members fleeing the U.S. invasion there.

Sharjah More than 7,000 visitors are expected to attend this year’s National Career Exhibition in Sharjah, said Jamal Al Jasmi, organiser and general manager of the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies.

The event kicks off at 10am today at the Expo Centre Sharjah where almost 100 exhibitors will be recruiting.

Al Jasmi said 33 banks, 12 insurance companies, seven large exchange houses, two finance companies, Sharjah government departments, universities, the UAE armed forces, air force and navy will be among the exhibitors.

Also among the highlights of the event is the Human Resource Development Award where organisations will be recognised for their Emiratisation efforts. Women in the banking sector will also be recognised at the event — more than 150 women bankers in the UAE will take part.

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InSession’s Jean Casarez and Mayra Cuevas contributed to this report.

Story By: by Frank James

Rep. Ron Paul’s message during the contest for the Republican presidential nomination has been consistently that he’s the true fiscal conservative while all the other contenders are fake.

So at one time or another, he has run negative ads against his fellow Texas, Gov. Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney when each was a frontrunner.

Now Paul has Santorum in his sights, labeling him a “fake” fiscal conservative, indeed humorously using that icon of phoniness, Sasquatch, to drive home the point in a new ad running in Michigan. The ad could have some appeal in the Pacific Northwest, too, when the Republican caucuses rolls around in Washington State, the land of the legendary Bigfoot.

Bahraini police were out in force on Tuesday to prevent large numbers of people marking the first anniversary of pro-democracy protests. The tactics employed against demonstrators have been heavily criticised, but commanders have promised reforms will safeguard human rights, reports the BBC's Bill Law.

But in Shia villages outside Manama another narrative was unfolding.

But on another night we were on the other side of the lines in Sitra, when police fired repeated rounds of tear gas at chanting protesters, most of them young women armed with nothing more than placards and flags.

The tear gas drifted into a flat we were using as a vantage point. Inside was a mother with four young children.

"The tear gas comes every night. We can't get away from it. What can we do?" she asked.

She was carrying an infant in her arms, his eyes streaming with tears.

International human rights organisations have condemned the way that police are using teargas in Shia villages, but the island's recently appointed police chief, Maj-Gen Tariq Hassan, insists his officers are using proportionate force.

"We use an escalation of power, an escalation of force. We have a systematic approach," he says.

On Thursday night, after I returned from Bahrain, I spoke to one of the leading activists via Skype.

With him was a young man who had, he said, been picked up, taken to an unknown place and tortured with a utility knife. He showed me the cuts, dozens of them, on his torso.

According to Gen Hassan, the police force has "zero tolerance for such incidents".

"We would never cover it up. We have nothing to hide."

He says there is a hotline that people could call and plans to create a police ombudsman are a top priority.

However, a Shia businessman, when told of those initiatives, says: "The police will do nothing with those complaints."

"If I go to a police station what do you think will happen to me? Maybe I will be beaten. Maybe I will be arrested."

It is that level of suspicion, and the apparent inability of the police to prevent human rights abuses, that is ratcheting up the tension in Bahrain.

Pro-democracy activists continue to insist that their protests are peaceful. It is the police, they say, who are responsible for most of the violence.

For their part the police say they are committed to the rule of law. Gen Hassan says the aim is "to rebuild bridges".

But there is no real sign of that happening.

The security forces are now using armoured personal carriers to try and contain protests.

"This is a war," one activist told me.

And as the two sides escalate their responses, the situation is dangerously close to slipping out of the control of both police and peaceful pro-democracy activists.