Der Spiegel: “Ikea has been described as the ‘Teflon multinationa’ because of its unshakably positive image. But a new book by a former top executive paints a damning picture of corporate practices at the Swedish furniture giant. The author claims…

Sure, you can read Lynn Hirschberg’s long profile of Megan Fox in this week’s New York Times Magazine. And you should! Even though the lead is “Megan Fox is a fox,” you’ll still learn some stuff. But if you’re pressed for time, we’ve condensed the whole thing down to a…

This, people, is ENGLAND. Some British chick with the awesomely cattywampus name of Kelly Askew got pinched by Mancunian cops for trying to smuggle over £627,000 worth of cocaine in a green plastic bag in the passenger side of her Mercedes. While she is pleading…

“This is a primer on how to set up a gold mine on a pristine mountaintop in, say, Peru.” If you, like me, love deforestation and the poisoning of ground water and the capitalist enslavement of various indigenous peoples, you also will be on the next flight to Jorge Chávez International Airport! See you there.

Isn’t that anticlimactic? The Goldman Foundation is one of the ten largest corporate foundations in the U.S., in terms of assets, according to the Times. But they don’t even make the top 50 list in…

Awl correspondent Natasha Vargas-Cooper publishes a very human-to-human conversation with Kari Ferrell today, who explains, among other things, what it’s like in jail:

As with most of society, I assumed that the only people…

· “A raging expletive-filled shouting match between Time’s Joe Klein and The New Republic’s Jamie Kirchick, written up by the Washington Post, has been gripping the blogosphere.”

Earlier this year, stand-out coke-rappers the Clipse had their bona fides verified when manager Anthony Gonzales pleaded guilty to running a multimillion dollar drug ring. With the video to the new single “Doorman,” from the forthcoming album Til The Casket Drops, the…

For Forgetful Parents

In case you forget how to parent, you can always get reminders printed on your baby’s clothes.

Well, that’s a kind of retirement: “The wrestler André ‘the giant’ Roussimoff has not retired from films, as we said. He died in 1993.”

The lawyer for Richard and Mayumi Heene, parents of the “Balloon Boy”, has said that the couple will plead guilty to various charges tomorrow (Mom cops to a misdemeanor while Dad takes a class 4 felony). The two are expected to get probation, although there should probably…

Good news and bad news in the world of seabirds. Let’s start with the bad: the Texas-sized patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that’s been in the news lately is killing the majestic and poetically…

Has Silvio Berlusconi seen the error of his ways? “The era of fast-tracked careers for pretty faces in Prime Minister’s Silvio Berlusconi’s TV empire, which led to rumours of a casting couch, could be at an end. Young starlets wanting jobs on the Premier’s Mediaset programmes must demonstrate appropriate…

Silly Bears Think They’re Birds

A family of bears has spent at least three weeks living atop a cottonwood tree in northwestern…

Your Sarah Palin update: She had a super-fun time on Oprah, and, with regards to that whole “In God We Trust” thing, she didn’t mean what you think she meant and she can’t understand why anyone would try to make a controversy out of it. She was, as the kids say, “just sayin’.” Okay!

The Charleston County GOP organization has censured South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham for “weakening the Republican brand” by working too closely with Democrats on climate change legislation; a similar motion is expected to the put to a statewide GOP convention in 2010.

“Thank you Fleshbot, for giving me this opportunity, and make sure you all go and get the next issue of Playgirl.” -Levi Johnston, last night, who is apparently not even aware that Playgirl folded last year.

The results of a study of 515 patients diagnosed with brain tumors or multiple sclerosis from 2001 through 2006 show that men are dicks.