Women's Restroom
One night a man was getting very drunk in a pub. He staggered back to take a piss, whipping his prick out as he went in the door. However, he had wandered into the ladies room by mistake, surprising a woman sitting on the can, "This is for ladies!" she screamed. The drunk waved his dick at her and said "So is this!"
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
WikiLeaks: Iran 'obtains North Korea missiles which can strike Europe'
Iran has obtained ballistic missiles from North Korea that could be used to strike Western Europe, the leaked files suggest.
Secret American intelligence assessments conclude that Iran has obtained a stock of 19 advanced missiles, based on a Russian design.
The missiles could give Iran the capacity to strike at capitals in Western Europe as close as Berlin, or Moscow.
They could also use the missile technology to develop even more powerful inter-continental ballistic missiles, the cable warns.
While Iran is believed to be developing nuclear weapons, intelligence experts do not believe the country has yet developed a warhead that could be fitted to a missile.
However there has been speculation that North Korea may have sold Iran components for missiles based on a Russian design called the R-27, once used by Soviet submarines to carry nuclear warheads.
In fact, a cable dated February 24 this year, makes clear that US intelligence believe the North Korea have shipped complete versions of their more powerful BM-25, based on the Russian design.
The cable, reported by the New York Times, gives details of a meeting between senior Russian officials and an American delegation led by Vann Van Diepen, an official with the State Department’s nonproliferation division, in which the Americans outline their concerns.
The range of the Russian R-27, when launched from a submarine, was said to be up to 1,500 miles but experts say the BM-25 is longer and heavier, and carries more fuel, giving it a range of up to 2,000 miles.
The cables reveal a rising sense of concern about Iran’s plans across the Middle East.
In late May 2009, Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, told a Congressional delegation that the world had 6 to 18 months “in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons” and after that “any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage.”
Such warnings were not unusual from Israel, however, six months later the King of Bahrain told the Americans that the Iranian nuclear program “must be stopped” and “the danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it.”
His concerns were shared by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who repeatedly implored Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.
Crown Prince bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi reportedly said: “Any culture that is patient and focused enough to spend years working on a single carpet is capable of waiting years and even decades to achieve even greater goals.”
His greatest worry, he said, “is not how much we know about Iran, but how much we don’t.”
In one cable, a senior Omani military officer was said to be unable to decide which was worse, “a strike against Iran’s nuclear capability and the resulting turmoil it would cause in the Gulf, or inaction and having to live with a nuclear-capable Iran.”
The Americans themselves seem far from settled on an attack on Iran.
A cable from February 12 this year described a meeting in Paris between Hervé Morin, then the French defense minister, and Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defence in which Mr Morin asked whether
Israel could strike Iran without American support.
Mr Gates told him “that he didn’t know if they would be successful, but that Israel could carry out the operation.”
He added that any strike “would only delay Iranian plans by one to three years, while unifying the Iranian people to be forever embittered against the attacker.”
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Secret American intelligence assessments conclude that Iran has obtained a stock of 19 advanced missiles, based on a Russian design.
The missiles could give Iran the capacity to strike at capitals in Western Europe as close as Berlin, or Moscow.
They could also use the missile technology to develop even more powerful inter-continental ballistic missiles, the cable warns.
While Iran is believed to be developing nuclear weapons, intelligence experts do not believe the country has yet developed a warhead that could be fitted to a missile.
However there has been speculation that North Korea may have sold Iran components for missiles based on a Russian design called the R-27, once used by Soviet submarines to carry nuclear warheads.
In fact, a cable dated February 24 this year, makes clear that US intelligence believe the North Korea have shipped complete versions of their more powerful BM-25, based on the Russian design.
The cable, reported by the New York Times, gives details of a meeting between senior Russian officials and an American delegation led by Vann Van Diepen, an official with the State Department’s nonproliferation division, in which the Americans outline their concerns.
The range of the Russian R-27, when launched from a submarine, was said to be up to 1,500 miles but experts say the BM-25 is longer and heavier, and carries more fuel, giving it a range of up to 2,000 miles.
The cables reveal a rising sense of concern about Iran’s plans across the Middle East.
In late May 2009, Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, told a Congressional delegation that the world had 6 to 18 months “in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons” and after that “any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage.”
Such warnings were not unusual from Israel, however, six months later the King of Bahrain told the Americans that the Iranian nuclear program “must be stopped” and “the danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it.”
His concerns were shared by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who repeatedly implored Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.
Crown Prince bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi reportedly said: “Any culture that is patient and focused enough to spend years working on a single carpet is capable of waiting years and even decades to achieve even greater goals.”
His greatest worry, he said, “is not how much we know about Iran, but how much we don’t.”
In one cable, a senior Omani military officer was said to be unable to decide which was worse, “a strike against Iran’s nuclear capability and the resulting turmoil it would cause in the Gulf, or inaction and having to live with a nuclear-capable Iran.”
The Americans themselves seem far from settled on an attack on Iran.
A cable from February 12 this year described a meeting in Paris between Hervé Morin, then the French defense minister, and Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defence in which Mr Morin asked whether
Israel could strike Iran without American support.
Mr Gates told him “that he didn’t know if they would be successful, but that Israel could carry out the operation.”
He added that any strike “would only delay Iranian plans by one to three years, while unifying the Iranian people to be forever embittered against the attacker.”
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Police take control of Brazil slum from drug gangs
RIO DE JANEIRO — In a quick and decisive military sweep, Brazilian security forces seized control of this city's most notorious slum Sunday, claiming victory in a weeklong battle against drug gangs that has taken dozens of lives.
By early afternoon, the military police had raised the flags of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro atop a building on the highest hill in the Alemao shantytown complex, providing a rare moment of celebration in a decades-long battle to rid this city's violent slums of drug gangs.
An air of calm and relief swept through the neighborhood, as residents opened their windows and began walking the streets. Dozens of children ran from their houses to plunge into a swimming pool that had belonged to a gang leader, even as the police searched for drugs one floor below.
"We knew about this, but we were never allowed to come in," said one child, who identified himself as Alan, age 3.
Residents congregated around televisions in bars and restaurants, cheering on the police as they would their favorite soccer teams, even as occasional gunfire peppered the sunny skies.
Drug gangs have stained the reputation of this seaside city and contributed heavily to giving it one of the highest murder rates in the world.
For the past two years, the government has carried out an ambitious campaign to pacify the most violent slums and regain control of the city in advance of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
The police have since wrested more than three dozen communities from criminal gangs, installing special community police forces there.
As those areas were cleared, some gang members fled to Alemao, a sprawling slum complex with about 100,000 residents that the city's police chief, Jose Mariano Beltrame, called "the heart of evil."
On Nov. 21, the drug gangs unleashed a wave of attacks on city streets that authorities said was in retaliation for the pacification campaign.
Since then, more than 42 people have been killed in urban fighting between drug gangs and security forces.
The police have not said whether any officers have died.
source: http://www.statesman.com
By early afternoon, the military police had raised the flags of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro atop a building on the highest hill in the Alemao shantytown complex, providing a rare moment of celebration in a decades-long battle to rid this city's violent slums of drug gangs.
An air of calm and relief swept through the neighborhood, as residents opened their windows and began walking the streets. Dozens of children ran from their houses to plunge into a swimming pool that had belonged to a gang leader, even as the police searched for drugs one floor below.
"We knew about this, but we were never allowed to come in," said one child, who identified himself as Alan, age 3.
Residents congregated around televisions in bars and restaurants, cheering on the police as they would their favorite soccer teams, even as occasional gunfire peppered the sunny skies.
Drug gangs have stained the reputation of this seaside city and contributed heavily to giving it one of the highest murder rates in the world.
For the past two years, the government has carried out an ambitious campaign to pacify the most violent slums and regain control of the city in advance of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
The police have since wrested more than three dozen communities from criminal gangs, installing special community police forces there.
As those areas were cleared, some gang members fled to Alemao, a sprawling slum complex with about 100,000 residents that the city's police chief, Jose Mariano Beltrame, called "the heart of evil."
On Nov. 21, the drug gangs unleashed a wave of attacks on city streets that authorities said was in retaliation for the pacification campaign.
Since then, more than 42 people have been killed in urban fighting between drug gangs and security forces.
The police have not said whether any officers have died.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Cambodia PM says no one responsible for stampede
Cambodia's prime minister says no one will be punished over a festival stampede in which 351 people died.
"The incident that happened was the responsibility of the government," said Hun Sen, describing it as "a historical lesson that we must remember".
The country's worst tragedy in decades happened last Monday when revellers at the annual water festival panicked on an overcrowded bridge.
Some people were crushed, while others fell into the river and drowned.
The majority of victims were women, and questions have been raised over who is to blame for the disaster.
Hun Sen said that no state officials were responsible, and described calls for senior government figures to step down as politically motivated.
But he admitted that the government was at fault.
"The incident happened because of carelessness and we didn't expect this thing to happen," he said during the opening of a new government building in the capital.
"The biggest mistake was that we had not fully understood the situation."
Officials say a full report on the incident will be issued in the coming days.
A preliminary investigation has found that the swaying of the Diamond Gate bridge near Phnom Penh triggered a panic.
Between 7,000 and 8,000 people are thought to have been on the narrow bridge at the time.
A committee set up to investigate the disaster found that many of those on the suspension bridge were from the countryside and were unaware that such structures often swayed, local media reported.
Hun Sen has described the stampede as the country's biggest tragedy since the Khmer Rouge era in the 1970s, which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead.
source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
"The incident that happened was the responsibility of the government," said Hun Sen, describing it as "a historical lesson that we must remember".
The country's worst tragedy in decades happened last Monday when revellers at the annual water festival panicked on an overcrowded bridge.
Some people were crushed, while others fell into the river and drowned.
The majority of victims were women, and questions have been raised over who is to blame for the disaster.
Hun Sen said that no state officials were responsible, and described calls for senior government figures to step down as politically motivated.
But he admitted that the government was at fault.
"The incident happened because of carelessness and we didn't expect this thing to happen," he said during the opening of a new government building in the capital.
"The biggest mistake was that we had not fully understood the situation."
Officials say a full report on the incident will be issued in the coming days.
A preliminary investigation has found that the swaying of the Diamond Gate bridge near Phnom Penh triggered a panic.
Between 7,000 and 8,000 people are thought to have been on the narrow bridge at the time.
A committee set up to investigate the disaster found that many of those on the suspension bridge were from the countryside and were unaware that such structures often swayed, local media reported.
Hun Sen has described the stampede as the country's biggest tragedy since the Khmer Rouge era in the 1970s, which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead.
source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
Arrested Juarez gang leader confesses to ordering killings
MEXICO CITY — A notorious drug gang leader has been captured and has confessed to ordering most of the killings in the battle-scarred border city of Juárez since August 2009, including the drive-by shootings of a U.S. consular employee and her husband, federal police said Sunday.
Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, 32, leader of the gang Los Aztecas, was arrested along with two other gang leaders in a Juárez neighborhood Saturday, said Luis Cardenas Palomino, chief of the regional security division of the federal police.
Cardenas said Gallegos claimed to have ordered 80 percent of the killings in the past 15 months.
"He is in charge of the whole organization of Los Aztecas in Ciudad Juárez," Cardenas told reporters at a news conference in Juárez. "All the instructions for the murders committed in Ciudad Juárez pass through him."
The arrest was a public relations victory for the Mexican government as it takes aim at the top leaders of brutal drug cartels, but it offered no guarantee to weary Juárez residents that the violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the city this year would diminish.
Los Aztecas are a cross-border gang that carries out enforcement activities for the Juárez drug cartel, which has been fighting the Sinaloa cartel for control of the city, according to Mexican officials.
Gallegos claimed responsibility for several of the most notorious killings in Juárez this year, including the shooting death of Lesley Enriquez, a worker at the U.S. Consulate in Juárez who was pregnant, and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, an officer at the El Paso County Jail.
The couple were leaving a children's birthday party in Juárez on March 14 to return home to El Paso when gunmen fired on their SUV.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, 32, leader of the gang Los Aztecas, was arrested along with two other gang leaders in a Juárez neighborhood Saturday, said Luis Cardenas Palomino, chief of the regional security division of the federal police.
Cardenas said Gallegos claimed to have ordered 80 percent of the killings in the past 15 months.
"He is in charge of the whole organization of Los Aztecas in Ciudad Juárez," Cardenas told reporters at a news conference in Juárez. "All the instructions for the murders committed in Ciudad Juárez pass through him."
The arrest was a public relations victory for the Mexican government as it takes aim at the top leaders of brutal drug cartels, but it offered no guarantee to weary Juárez residents that the violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the city this year would diminish.
Los Aztecas are a cross-border gang that carries out enforcement activities for the Juárez drug cartel, which has been fighting the Sinaloa cartel for control of the city, according to Mexican officials.
Gallegos claimed responsibility for several of the most notorious killings in Juárez this year, including the shooting death of Lesley Enriquez, a worker at the U.S. Consulate in Juárez who was pregnant, and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, an officer at the El Paso County Jail.
The couple were leaving a children's birthday party in Juárez on March 14 to return home to El Paso when gunmen fired on their SUV.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Harvard scientists reverse the ageing process in mice – now for humans
Scientists claim to be a step closer to reversing the ageing process after rejuvenating worn out organs in elderly mice. The experimental treatment developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School turned weak and feeble old mice into healthy animals by regenerating their aged bodies.
The surprise recovery of the animals has raised hopes among scientists that it may be possible to achieve a similar feat in humans – or at least to slow down the ageing process.
An anti-ageing therapy could have a dramatic impact on public health by reducing the burden of age-related health problems, such as dementia, stroke and heart disease, and prolonging the quality of life for an increasingly aged population.
more
Swiss vote for deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes
Significant victory for the nationalist party that pushed the proposal against the will of the government
Swiss voters today approved a plan for automatic deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes or benefit fraud, in what was a significant victory for the nationalist party that pushed the proposal against the will of the government.
Some 52.9% of voters backed the proposal from the nationalist Swiss People's party (SVP). It was opposed by 47.1% of voters. A government-backed counterproposal failed – it would have required a case-by-case review by a judge before an individual was deported.
"I'm totally for it," said Emma Link, 86, after voting in Geneva. She blamed foreigners for what she said was rising crime, adding that she had recently been robbed on her way home from a nearby shop.
The SVP plan drew fire before today's referendum from legal experts who said it could breach offenders' human rights. Marcelo Kohen, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, said people who had lived all their life in Switzerland, married Swiss citizens and had children but never obtained Swiss passports, would be unusually hard hit by expulsion.
Under Switzerland's political system, any group wanting to change the law can collect 100,000 signatures to force a referendum. Last year the country drew international condemnation after voters defied a government recommendation by approving a law to ban the construction of minarets.
The government will now have to draft a law requiring automatic expulsion of foreigners found guilty of crimes such as murder, rape, drug dealing or benefit fraud. Kohen predicted such a law would be challenged before the European court of human rights.
Likewise, the European Union – with which Switzerland has signed a bilateral treaty guaranteeing freedom of movement – would probably object to its citizens being automatically deported without the chance of judicial review, he said.
During the run-up to the vote, anti-racism groups bemoaned that the SVP's posters showed white sheep kicking black sheep off a Swiss flag, saying it played on stereotypical images of foreigners as criminals.
Virginie Studemann voted against the plan. "I think it's sad for our country," she said outside a polling station in the center of Geneva. "It's part of a concerted attack against foreigners."
Voters also rejected a proposal to revise the country's tax system today. The Swiss news agency SDA reported that 58% of voters opposed the plan, while 42% backed a proposal by the Social Democrat party to introduce a minimum tax in all Switzerland's 26 cantons, or states.
The Polling group gfs.bern saidearlier this month that initial enthusiasm for the plan evaporated after heavy campaigning by business groups, who warned it could harm the Swiss economy. Several prominent billionaires also spoke out against the proposal and threatened to move abroad if it were accepted.
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Swiss voters today approved a plan for automatic deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes or benefit fraud, in what was a significant victory for the nationalist party that pushed the proposal against the will of the government.
Some 52.9% of voters backed the proposal from the nationalist Swiss People's party (SVP). It was opposed by 47.1% of voters. A government-backed counterproposal failed – it would have required a case-by-case review by a judge before an individual was deported.
"I'm totally for it," said Emma Link, 86, after voting in Geneva. She blamed foreigners for what she said was rising crime, adding that she had recently been robbed on her way home from a nearby shop.
The SVP plan drew fire before today's referendum from legal experts who said it could breach offenders' human rights. Marcelo Kohen, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, said people who had lived all their life in Switzerland, married Swiss citizens and had children but never obtained Swiss passports, would be unusually hard hit by expulsion.
Under Switzerland's political system, any group wanting to change the law can collect 100,000 signatures to force a referendum. Last year the country drew international condemnation after voters defied a government recommendation by approving a law to ban the construction of minarets.
The government will now have to draft a law requiring automatic expulsion of foreigners found guilty of crimes such as murder, rape, drug dealing or benefit fraud. Kohen predicted such a law would be challenged before the European court of human rights.
Likewise, the European Union – with which Switzerland has signed a bilateral treaty guaranteeing freedom of movement – would probably object to its citizens being automatically deported without the chance of judicial review, he said.
During the run-up to the vote, anti-racism groups bemoaned that the SVP's posters showed white sheep kicking black sheep off a Swiss flag, saying it played on stereotypical images of foreigners as criminals.
Virginie Studemann voted against the plan. "I think it's sad for our country," she said outside a polling station in the center of Geneva. "It's part of a concerted attack against foreigners."
Voters also rejected a proposal to revise the country's tax system today. The Swiss news agency SDA reported that 58% of voters opposed the plan, while 42% backed a proposal by the Social Democrat party to introduce a minimum tax in all Switzerland's 26 cantons, or states.
The Polling group gfs.bern saidearlier this month that initial enthusiasm for the plan evaporated after heavy campaigning by business groups, who warned it could harm the Swiss economy. Several prominent billionaires also spoke out against the proposal and threatened to move abroad if it were accepted.
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
U.S. Expands Role of Diplomats in Spying
by Mark Mazzetti
WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded the role of American diplomats in collecting intelligence overseas and at the United Nations, ordering State Department personnel to gather the credit card and frequent-flier numbers, work schedules and other personal information of foreign dignitaries.
Revealed in classified State Department cables, the directives, going back to 2008, appear to blur the traditional boundaries between statesmen and spies.
The cables give a laundry list of instructions for how State Department employees can fulfill the demands of a “National Humint Collection Directive.” (“Humint” is spy-world jargon for human intelligence collection.) One cable asks officers overseas to gather information about “office and organizational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cellphones, pagers and faxes,” as well as “internet and intranet ‘handles’, internet e-mail addresses, web site identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent-flier account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information.”
more
WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded the role of American diplomats in collecting intelligence overseas and at the United Nations, ordering State Department personnel to gather the credit card and frequent-flier numbers, work schedules and other personal information of foreign dignitaries.
Revealed in classified State Department cables, the directives, going back to 2008, appear to blur the traditional boundaries between statesmen and spies.
The cables give a laundry list of instructions for how State Department employees can fulfill the demands of a “National Humint Collection Directive.” (“Humint” is spy-world jargon for human intelligence collection.) One cable asks officers overseas to gather information about “office and organizational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cellphones, pagers and faxes,” as well as “internet and intranet ‘handles’, internet e-mail addresses, web site identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent-flier account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information.”
more
Factbox: WikiLeaks cables offer inside peek at global crises
The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks released thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables on Sunday that include candid views of foreign leaders and blunt assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables made available to a handful of newspapers around the world provide an inside peek at U.S. diplomatic views and actions in North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and elsewhere.
The U.S. government condemned the release, saying it could compromise private discussions with foreign leaders and endanger the lives of named individuals living "under oppressive regimes."
Here is a look at some of the main substantive revelations in the cables, published by the New York Times:
-- China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the U.S. Embassy in January, as part of a computer sabotage campaign carried out by government operatives, private experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into U.S. government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
-- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program and is reported to have advised Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time.
-- U.S. and South Korean officials discussed the prospects for a unified Korea should the North's economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans considered commercial inducements to China to "help salve" Chinese concerns about living with a reunified Korea that is in a "benign alliance" with Washington, according to the American ambassador to Seoul.
-- Since 2007, the United States has mounted a secret and so far unsuccessful effort to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor out of fear it could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.
-- Iran has obtained sophisticated missiles from North Korea capable of hitting western Europe, and the United States is concerned Iran is using those rockets as "building blocks" to build longer-range missiles. The advanced missiles are much more powerful than anything U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged Iran has in its arsenal.
-- When Afghanistan's vice president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered he was carrying $52 million in cash that a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul said he "was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money's origin or destination." He denied taking the money out of Afghanistan.
-- American diplomats have bargained with other countries to help empty the Guantanamo Bay prison by resettling detainees. Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Barack Obama, and Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees. In another case, accepting more prisoners was described as "a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe," a cable said.
-- Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar was the "worst in the region" in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December. Qatar's security service was "hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals," the cable said.
-- The United States has failed to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has amassed a huge stockpile since its 2006 war with Israel, the cables said. One week after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised a top State Department official he would not send "new" arms to Hezbollah, the United States complained it had information that Syria was giving the group increasingly sophisticated weapons.
-- Yemen has helped cover up the American role in missile strikes against the local branch of Al Qaeda. According to a cable, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in January told General David H. Petraeus, then the American commander in the Middle East: "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours." This prompted Yemen's deputy prime minister to joke that he had just "lied" by telling Parliament that Yemeni forces had carried out the strikes.
source: http://www.reuters.com
Some of the cables made available to a handful of newspapers around the world provide an inside peek at U.S. diplomatic views and actions in North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and elsewhere.
The U.S. government condemned the release, saying it could compromise private discussions with foreign leaders and endanger the lives of named individuals living "under oppressive regimes."
Here is a look at some of the main substantive revelations in the cables, published by the New York Times:
-- China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the U.S. Embassy in January, as part of a computer sabotage campaign carried out by government operatives, private experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into U.S. government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
-- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program and is reported to have advised Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time.
-- U.S. and South Korean officials discussed the prospects for a unified Korea should the North's economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans considered commercial inducements to China to "help salve" Chinese concerns about living with a reunified Korea that is in a "benign alliance" with Washington, according to the American ambassador to Seoul.
-- Since 2007, the United States has mounted a secret and so far unsuccessful effort to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor out of fear it could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.
-- Iran has obtained sophisticated missiles from North Korea capable of hitting western Europe, and the United States is concerned Iran is using those rockets as "building blocks" to build longer-range missiles. The advanced missiles are much more powerful than anything U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged Iran has in its arsenal.
-- When Afghanistan's vice president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered he was carrying $52 million in cash that a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul said he "was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money's origin or destination." He denied taking the money out of Afghanistan.
-- American diplomats have bargained with other countries to help empty the Guantanamo Bay prison by resettling detainees. Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Barack Obama, and Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees. In another case, accepting more prisoners was described as "a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe," a cable said.
-- Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar was the "worst in the region" in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December. Qatar's security service was "hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals," the cable said.
-- The United States has failed to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has amassed a huge stockpile since its 2006 war with Israel, the cables said. One week after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised a top State Department official he would not send "new" arms to Hezbollah, the United States complained it had information that Syria was giving the group increasingly sophisticated weapons.
-- Yemen has helped cover up the American role in missile strikes against the local branch of Al Qaeda. According to a cable, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in January told General David H. Petraeus, then the American commander in the Middle East: "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours." This prompted Yemen's deputy prime minister to joke that he had just "lied" by telling Parliament that Yemeni forces had carried out the strikes.
source: http://www.reuters.com
Vast Leak Discloses Diplomatic Secrets
By JAY SOLOMON,ADAM ENTOUS And JULIAN E. BARNES
The publication of a quarter-million sensitive diplomatic cables Sunday exposed years of U.S. foreign-policy maneuvering that could prove embarrassing to the U.S. and its allies, especially in the Islamic world.
Among activities detailed in the documents was the extensive, and increasingly successful, push by the U.S. for an international consensus to confront Iran's nuclear program. Five newspapers obtained early access to the documents, which had been gathered by the website WikiLeaks.
The cables showed how some Arab leaders were largely in sync with Israel to support greater financial penalties, if not military operations, against Iran unless it abandons its nuclear ambitions. Regarding Iran, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah was portrayed in an April 2008 memo as having told the U.S. "to cut off the head of the snake."
The cables showed the Obama administration working to get skeptical European states to back more-biting sanctions against Tehran, and also working to forestall United Nations vetoes of the effort by China and Russia.
more
The publication of a quarter-million sensitive diplomatic cables Sunday exposed years of U.S. foreign-policy maneuvering that could prove embarrassing to the U.S. and its allies, especially in the Islamic world.
Among activities detailed in the documents was the extensive, and increasingly successful, push by the U.S. for an international consensus to confront Iran's nuclear program. Five newspapers obtained early access to the documents, which had been gathered by the website WikiLeaks.
The cables showed how some Arab leaders were largely in sync with Israel to support greater financial penalties, if not military operations, against Iran unless it abandons its nuclear ambitions. Regarding Iran, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah was portrayed in an April 2008 memo as having told the U.S. "to cut off the head of the snake."
The cables showed the Obama administration working to get skeptical European states to back more-biting sanctions against Tehran, and also working to forestall United Nations vetoes of the effort by China and Russia.
more
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Joke
Devil Joke
Three guys die and go to hell.
When they arrive the devil informs them that he is going to remove their penises.
"Oh, how are you going to do it", asks one of the guys.
"Whatever your fathers jobs were, that's how I'll remove them" says the devil.
So he calls over the first guy "Your father was a lumberjack... So I'll cut it off with a saw"
To the second guy he says "Your father was a blacksmith... So I'm going to burn it off"
As he calls the third guy over he notices he's smiling.
"Why are you smiling, you just watched me remove your friends penises" says the devil.
"I know" replies the man "but my father was a popsicle maker"
Three guys die and go to hell.
When they arrive the devil informs them that he is going to remove their penises.
"Oh, how are you going to do it", asks one of the guys.
"Whatever your fathers jobs were, that's how I'll remove them" says the devil.
So he calls over the first guy "Your father was a lumberjack... So I'll cut it off with a saw"
To the second guy he says "Your father was a blacksmith... So I'm going to burn it off"
As he calls the third guy over he notices he's smiling.
"Why are you smiling, you just watched me remove your friends penises" says the devil.
"I know" replies the man "but my father was a popsicle maker"
1965
Kidnapped politician freed in Mexico - report
He is "safe and sound" at home after being freed on Friday night, Mexican daily paper El Universal said, quoting family members.
Mr Fernandez de Cevallos, 69, was seized in May.
However doubt has been cast on his reported release by some government figures and another newspaper.
Reuters news agency said officials at the Attorney General's office could not immediately confirm the Universal report and another paper, Mileno, dismissed the report as wrong.
Earlier, a family member told El Universal: "Everything is fine, he is OK and everything came out well."
The newspaper reported that the family had paid a ransom of around $20m, although they did not confirm this.
Mr Fernandez de Cevallos served as a senator and congressman while also pursuing a successful career as a lawyer, winning some of the country's biggest court judgements, often in suits against government agencies.
He was the 1994 presidential candidate of the governing National Action Party, finishing second to Ernesto Zedillo.
Correspondents say kidnapping is rife in Mexico, which is in the grip of a battle between the security forces and drug cartels.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in drug-related violence since the election of President Felipe Calderon in 2006.
source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
The Way We Live Now
by Judith Warner
Earlier this month, Sarah Palin showed up in Bucks County, Pa., with “dozens and dozens” of cookies, suggesting that the state’s schoolchildren risked losing the right to the occasional classroom treat because of a high-minded anti-sugar edict from the board of education. Pretty much everything about the setup was wrong. Pennsylvania wasn’t, as Palin tweeted, in the midst of a “school cookie ban” debate. And the school she turned into a photo op wouldn’t have been subject to such a ban had one existed; it wasn’t a public school but a private Christian academy. And while Palin might have been seizing an opportunity to “intro kids 2 beauty of laissez-faire,” she wasn’t just visiting with schoolchildren but was delivering a paid speech at a fund-raiser.
more
Earlier this month, Sarah Palin showed up in Bucks County, Pa., with “dozens and dozens” of cookies, suggesting that the state’s schoolchildren risked losing the right to the occasional classroom treat because of a high-minded anti-sugar edict from the board of education. Pretty much everything about the setup was wrong. Pennsylvania wasn’t, as Palin tweeted, in the midst of a “school cookie ban” debate. And the school she turned into a photo op wouldn’t have been subject to such a ban had one existed; it wasn’t a public school but a private Christian academy. And while Palin might have been seizing an opportunity to “intro kids 2 beauty of laissez-faire,” she wasn’t just visiting with schoolchildren but was delivering a paid speech at a fund-raiser.
more
Afghan official blames British in ruse by fake Taliban
Aide to Afghanistan's president says Britain's secret service brought impostor to top-level peace talks.
LONDON — A senior Afghan official has blamed the British secret service for bringing a Taliban impostor to take part in top-level peace talks with the Afghan government, according to reports Friday.
The reports in U.S. and British newspapers follow the revelation that a man leading the Taliban side of peace talks with the Afghan government was impersonating former Taliban Cabinet minister Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
The Washington Post quoted Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff, as saying that British authorities brought the man to meet with Karzai in July or August. Karzai has denied meeting with Mansour.
British Prime Minister David Cameron's office and Britain's Foreign Office declined comment on the reports Friday.
Daudzai was quoted as saying that an Afghan who participated in the meetings knew the man wasn't Mansour. Afghan intelligence later found that the impostor was a shopkeeper from the Pakistani city of Quetta, he said.
"International partners should not get excited so quickly with those kinds of things," Daudzai was quoted as saying, adding that the incident shows that the Afghan peace talks should be "Afghan-led and fully Afghanized."
source: http://www.statesman.com
LONDON — A senior Afghan official has blamed the British secret service for bringing a Taliban impostor to take part in top-level peace talks with the Afghan government, according to reports Friday.
The reports in U.S. and British newspapers follow the revelation that a man leading the Taliban side of peace talks with the Afghan government was impersonating former Taliban Cabinet minister Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
The Washington Post quoted Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff, as saying that British authorities brought the man to meet with Karzai in July or August. Karzai has denied meeting with Mansour.
British Prime Minister David Cameron's office and Britain's Foreign Office declined comment on the reports Friday.
Daudzai was quoted as saying that an Afghan who participated in the meetings knew the man wasn't Mansour. Afghan intelligence later found that the impostor was a shopkeeper from the Pakistani city of Quetta, he said.
"International partners should not get excited so quickly with those kinds of things," Daudzai was quoted as saying, adding that the incident shows that the Afghan peace talks should be "Afghan-led and fully Afghanized."
source: http://www.statesman.com
The World Digest: 37 percent of men in South African poll admitted to rape; Juárez schoolteachers targeted by extortion notes.
SOUTH AFRICA
Survey: 37 percent of men admitted to rape
JOHANNESBURG — More than 1 in 3 South African men in a poll admitted to rape. In the survey by the Medical Research Foundation of 487 men in Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, more than 37 percent said they had raped a woman. A quarter of the 511 women interviewed said they had been raped.
MEXICO
Extortion notes posted outside Juárez schools
Authorities in Juárez investigated extortion threats posted outside five schools demanding money from teachers. But messages at two of the schools were determined to be hoaxes, probably posted by students as jokes, a state official said.
TAIWAN
Shooting at election rally kills 1, injures 1
TAIPEI — A gunman opened fire at a campaign rally on the eve of local elections, killing a man and critically injuring the 40-year-old son of former Vice President Lien Chan. Police said the assailant rushed the stage at an elementary school in Yung Ho. A city council candidate was apparently the intended target. A suspected gang member was arrested.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Survey: 37 percent of men admitted to rape
JOHANNESBURG — More than 1 in 3 South African men in a poll admitted to rape. In the survey by the Medical Research Foundation of 487 men in Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, more than 37 percent said they had raped a woman. A quarter of the 511 women interviewed said they had been raped.
MEXICO
Extortion notes posted outside Juárez schools
Authorities in Juárez investigated extortion threats posted outside five schools demanding money from teachers. But messages at two of the schools were determined to be hoaxes, probably posted by students as jokes, a state official said.
TAIWAN
Shooting at election rally kills 1, injures 1
TAIPEI — A gunman opened fire at a campaign rally on the eve of local elections, killing a man and critically injuring the 40-year-old son of former Vice President Lien Chan. Police said the assailant rushed the stage at an elementary school in Yung Ho. A city council candidate was apparently the intended target. A suspected gang member was arrested.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Irish to protest over austerity plan
An Irish protester waves a tricolour flag outside Government Buildings in Dublin during midweek protests against the austerity plans. Photograph: Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of Dublin today to protest against Ireland's austerity plan.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) organised the march, saying the four-year plan of spending cuts and tax rises, intended to save the country €15bn (£12.7bn), "will do irreparable damage".
The ICTU general secretary, David Begg. said the protest would be good-humoured and well organised, although there were some clashes between demonstrators and police on a march earlier this week.
The protest comes after the government's majority fell to just two yesterday following a crucial byelection defeat.
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty took the Donegal South West seat, saying the vote sent a message to the taoiseach, Brian Cowen, to "get out of office".
He said the win reflected increasing public opposition to the austerity budget and the €85bn bailout planned for Ireland by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, which the coalition government is expected to agree to this weekend.
Ahead of the march the ICTU said in a statement: "If they go ahead with their plans, they will do irreparable damage and turn this country into a social and economic wasteland."
The four-year plan will take €6bn out of the economy next year and aims to reduce Ireland's proportion of debt to 3% of gross domestic product. It includes major cuts in social welfare and funding for voluntary and community organisations, public-sector job cuts and rises in property tax and VAT.
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Juncker Sees No Parallels Between Ireland, Portugal After Budget Overhaul
By Stephanie Bodoni
Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers, said Portugal’s situation is different from that of Ireland, which last week sought international aid, Belgian newspaper L’Echo reported.
“There are no parallels whatsoever between Ireland and Portugal,” Juncker said in an interview to be published in today’s edition. “The budgetary reform plan Portugal put on the table is quite consistent. And the banking sector shows signs of robustness.”
Portuguese bonds have dropped as the government struggles to convince investors it can avoid the fate of Ireland and Greece, which have asked for European Union bailouts this year. Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said yesterday that governments can’t impose a bailout on his country after the Financial Times Deutschland reported that it’s being forced to seek aid
On the question of extending the European Financial Stability Facility, Juncker said that “even if some could see it as wise to prolong the existence of this mechanism, some member nations see that differently.” He said that he favours the creation of a permanent crisis mechanism.
Juncker also told the newspaper “it’s not correct to say” that bank stress tests conducted earlier this year on Europe’s financial institutions were “unconvincing.”
“What happened in Ireland is that the banks are not able anymore to manage the consequences of the bursting of the property bubble, which wasn’t a working hypothesis” in the last tests, said Juncker in the interview.
source: http://www.bloomberg.com
Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers, said Portugal’s situation is different from that of Ireland, which last week sought international aid, Belgian newspaper L’Echo reported.
“There are no parallels whatsoever between Ireland and Portugal,” Juncker said in an interview to be published in today’s edition. “The budgetary reform plan Portugal put on the table is quite consistent. And the banking sector shows signs of robustness.”
Portuguese bonds have dropped as the government struggles to convince investors it can avoid the fate of Ireland and Greece, which have asked for European Union bailouts this year. Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said yesterday that governments can’t impose a bailout on his country after the Financial Times Deutschland reported that it’s being forced to seek aid
On the question of extending the European Financial Stability Facility, Juncker said that “even if some could see it as wise to prolong the existence of this mechanism, some member nations see that differently.” He said that he favours the creation of a permanent crisis mechanism.
Juncker also told the newspaper “it’s not correct to say” that bank stress tests conducted earlier this year on Europe’s financial institutions were “unconvincing.”
“What happened in Ireland is that the banks are not able anymore to manage the consequences of the bursting of the property bubble, which wasn’t a working hypothesis” in the last tests, said Juncker in the interview.
source: http://www.bloomberg.com
Cooperation with Iran indispensable for Lebanon, says Hariri
Tehran - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Friday that cooperation with Iran was indispensable for Lebanon, the Iranian agency IRNA reported.
'We consider cooperation (with Iran) as indispensable for the threats endangering both countries,' Hariri told official news agency IRNA in Beirut agead if his visit to Tehran.
Hariri is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on Saturday afternoon and meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and probably also Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Lebanese prime minister said that security among the Arab states in the Middle East was also important for Iran and therefore Tehran would do its best for realizing this security, including in Lebanon.
'The visit by President Ahmadinejad (last month) to Beirut was an opportunity for strengthening bilateral ties and God willing, this aim will be further materialized by my visit to Tehran,' Hariri said in the exclusive interview with IRNA.
Iran supports the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which however is leading the opposition against Hariri's Western-backed government.
The rift between the two factions has deepened after reports said that the United Nations-backed tribunal investigating the killing of Hariri's father was ready to indict Hezbollah members for the murder.
source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com
'We consider cooperation (with Iran) as indispensable for the threats endangering both countries,' Hariri told official news agency IRNA in Beirut agead if his visit to Tehran.
Hariri is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on Saturday afternoon and meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and probably also Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Lebanese prime minister said that security among the Arab states in the Middle East was also important for Iran and therefore Tehran would do its best for realizing this security, including in Lebanon.
'The visit by President Ahmadinejad (last month) to Beirut was an opportunity for strengthening bilateral ties and God willing, this aim will be further materialized by my visit to Tehran,' Hariri said in the exclusive interview with IRNA.
Iran supports the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which however is leading the opposition against Hariri's Western-backed government.
The rift between the two factions has deepened after reports said that the United Nations-backed tribunal investigating the killing of Hariri's father was ready to indict Hezbollah members for the murder.
source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Taiwan pro-China party holds edge in mayoral races
By Ralph Jennings
(Reuters) - Taiwan's China-friendly ruling party held onto most of the island's mayoral posts up for grabs in tense elections Saturday seen as a test of the party's popularity ahead of the 2012 presidential race.
Wins in three of five mayoral seats gave the Nationalist Party, or KMT, a clear shot at retaining the presidency, which will calm Beijing as it has worked closely with the party on landmark trade deals after decades of political hostilities.
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan for six decades but since 2008 has discussed economic issues with President Ma Ying-jeou's government. Beijing hopes those talks will lead eventually to political unification.
"Of course China doesn't want to see any change in the status quo, particularly in the three cities that the KMT has held for a long time," said Shane Lee, political scientist at Chang Jung University in Taiwan.
more
(Reuters) - Taiwan's China-friendly ruling party held onto most of the island's mayoral posts up for grabs in tense elections Saturday seen as a test of the party's popularity ahead of the 2012 presidential race.
Wins in three of five mayoral seats gave the Nationalist Party, or KMT, a clear shot at retaining the presidency, which will calm Beijing as it has worked closely with the party on landmark trade deals after decades of political hostilities.
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan for six decades but since 2008 has discussed economic issues with President Ma Ying-jeou's government. Beijing hopes those talks will lead eventually to political unification.
"Of course China doesn't want to see any change in the status quo, particularly in the three cities that the KMT has held for a long time," said Shane Lee, political scientist at Chang Jung University in Taiwan.
more
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Joke
Pudding Surprise
Some not too smart gangsters decide to rob a bank. After several days of planning they agree on the best plan. The next day they get to work and are able to get into the bank relatively easy thanks to their planning. Once inside the main vault they discover one wall is full of safety deposit boxes and start to work on them immediately. They drill and pry open the first box only to find a small container of vanilla pudding inside.
The Head Gangster says, "Okay, well, at least we can eat it." So they eat the pudding. They drill and pry open up the second safety deposit box and there sits another pudding. They decide to devour it too.
Determined to find the goods, the process continues for the rest of the night until all the safety deposit boxes have been opened. They didn't find any money or jewelry in any of the boxes. Disappointed the head gangster said, "Well, at least they left something for us to eat."
The next day, while listening to the news they hear:"Yesterday the largest SPERM bank in the USA was robbed by an unknown group of people....."
Some not too smart gangsters decide to rob a bank. After several days of planning they agree on the best plan. The next day they get to work and are able to get into the bank relatively easy thanks to their planning. Once inside the main vault they discover one wall is full of safety deposit boxes and start to work on them immediately. They drill and pry open the first box only to find a small container of vanilla pudding inside.
The Head Gangster says, "Okay, well, at least we can eat it." So they eat the pudding. They drill and pry open up the second safety deposit box and there sits another pudding. They decide to devour it too.
Determined to find the goods, the process continues for the rest of the night until all the safety deposit boxes have been opened. They didn't find any money or jewelry in any of the boxes. Disappointed the head gangster said, "Well, at least they left something for us to eat."
The next day, while listening to the news they hear:"Yesterday the largest SPERM bank in the USA was robbed by an unknown group of people....."
3 Teens Rescued in South Pacific
SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Three teenage boys who spent 50 days adrift in a tiny boat in the South Pacific walked ashore on shaky legs Friday after their chance rescue — celebrated on their home island hundreds of miles (kilometers) away as a miracle that brought them back from the dead.
The trio — Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14 — told rescuers they survived on rainwater they collected, a handful of coconuts, raw fish and a seagull that landed on their 12-foot- (3.5-meter-) long aluminum boat.
The boys set off Oct. 5 from their home island to one nearby. It's not known how they went missing, but the outboard motor may have broken down at sea.
Worried family members reported them missing and the New Zealand air force launched a sea search. No sign of the tiny boat was found, and the village of 500 people held memorial services, expecting never to see the boys again.
They were picked up Wednesday by a fishing trawler, undernourished, severely dehydrated and badly sunburned, but otherwise well. The ship's first mate said the area they were in is way off any normal commercial shipping routes.
They drifted 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from where they set out — Tokelau, a bucolic collection of coral atolls north of Samoa that is New Zealand's territory.
A Fiji navy patrol boat met the trawler Friday and escorted it into the harbor of its capital, Suva. The teens were met by New Zealand consular officials and taken directly to a hospital for medical checks. Looking thin, the three walked off the boat without speaking to reporters.
Tai Fredricsen, first mate aboard the tuna boat San Nikuna, said a crew member spotted a small vessel bobbing in the open sea northeast of Fiji on Wednesday. "We knew it was a little weird," he said.
As it edged closer to investigate, the crew saw three people aboard waving frantically and asked them if they needed help.
"All they could say was 'thank you very much for stopping,'" Fredricsen told New Zealand's National Radio. "In a physical sense, they look very physically depleted, but mentally — very high."
After the rescue, one of the boys managed to reach his grandmother by phone from the fishing boat. As news of their survival spread, the village erupted in joy.
"It's a miracle, it's a miracle," said Tanu Filo, the father of Filo Filo. "The whole village, they were so excited and cried and they sang songs and were hugging each other in the road. Everybody was yelling and shouting the good news," he told Radio New Zealand International.
Fredricsen said the boys reported having just two coconuts with them when they set out. During their ordeal, they drank rainwater that collected in the boat and ate fish they had caught. Once, they managed to grab a bird that landed on the boat and they devoured that, Fredricsen said.
The rescue came not a moment too soon: Fredricsen said they had begun to drink sea water because it hadn't rained in the past few nights.
He said the tuna boat's crew had given the boys small portions of fruit and fluids.
Cmdr. Francis Kean, Fiji's naval commander who was among those who met the teens, said they had been unable to keep down solid food. The boys would be fed fluids and carefully watched by doctors at a military hospital.
"They were surviving on rainwater, sea water, bird meat and flying fish, so that's kept them alive," Kean told reporters. "They suffered from severe dehydration, as you notice when they got off some of them were still weak on their legs."
Kean said the teens would not be available to speak to the media until they were healthier.
Fredricsen said the waters where the teenagers were spotted are isolated and commercial vessels rarely pass through. The San Nikuna was there trying to shorten its return journey to New Zealand.
The boys come from the atoll of Atafu, one of three that comprises the tiny Tokelau island group where 1,500 people live.
source: http://www.nytimes.com
The trio — Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14 — told rescuers they survived on rainwater they collected, a handful of coconuts, raw fish and a seagull that landed on their 12-foot- (3.5-meter-) long aluminum boat.
The boys set off Oct. 5 from their home island to one nearby. It's not known how they went missing, but the outboard motor may have broken down at sea.
Worried family members reported them missing and the New Zealand air force launched a sea search. No sign of the tiny boat was found, and the village of 500 people held memorial services, expecting never to see the boys again.
They were picked up Wednesday by a fishing trawler, undernourished, severely dehydrated and badly sunburned, but otherwise well. The ship's first mate said the area they were in is way off any normal commercial shipping routes.
They drifted 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from where they set out — Tokelau, a bucolic collection of coral atolls north of Samoa that is New Zealand's territory.
A Fiji navy patrol boat met the trawler Friday and escorted it into the harbor of its capital, Suva. The teens were met by New Zealand consular officials and taken directly to a hospital for medical checks. Looking thin, the three walked off the boat without speaking to reporters.
Tai Fredricsen, first mate aboard the tuna boat San Nikuna, said a crew member spotted a small vessel bobbing in the open sea northeast of Fiji on Wednesday. "We knew it was a little weird," he said.
As it edged closer to investigate, the crew saw three people aboard waving frantically and asked them if they needed help.
"All they could say was 'thank you very much for stopping,'" Fredricsen told New Zealand's National Radio. "In a physical sense, they look very physically depleted, but mentally — very high."
After the rescue, one of the boys managed to reach his grandmother by phone from the fishing boat. As news of their survival spread, the village erupted in joy.
"It's a miracle, it's a miracle," said Tanu Filo, the father of Filo Filo. "The whole village, they were so excited and cried and they sang songs and were hugging each other in the road. Everybody was yelling and shouting the good news," he told Radio New Zealand International.
Fredricsen said the boys reported having just two coconuts with them when they set out. During their ordeal, they drank rainwater that collected in the boat and ate fish they had caught. Once, they managed to grab a bird that landed on the boat and they devoured that, Fredricsen said.
The rescue came not a moment too soon: Fredricsen said they had begun to drink sea water because it hadn't rained in the past few nights.
He said the tuna boat's crew had given the boys small portions of fruit and fluids.
Cmdr. Francis Kean, Fiji's naval commander who was among those who met the teens, said they had been unable to keep down solid food. The boys would be fed fluids and carefully watched by doctors at a military hospital.
"They were surviving on rainwater, sea water, bird meat and flying fish, so that's kept them alive," Kean told reporters. "They suffered from severe dehydration, as you notice when they got off some of them were still weak on their legs."
Kean said the teens would not be available to speak to the media until they were healthier.
Fredricsen said the waters where the teenagers were spotted are isolated and commercial vessels rarely pass through. The San Nikuna was there trying to shorten its return journey to New Zealand.
The boys come from the atoll of Atafu, one of three that comprises the tiny Tokelau island group where 1,500 people live.
source: http://www.nytimes.com
South Korea reassess defenses after deadly barrage
By Martin Fackler and Mark McDonald
SEOUL, South Korea — Responding to growing public criticism after a deadly North Korean attack, President Lee Myung-bak accepted the resignation Thursday of his defense minister and changed his military's rules of engagement to make it easier for South Korea to strike back with greater force, especially if civilians are threatened.
The government also announced plans to increase the number of troops and heavy weapons on Yeonpyeong Island, where two marines and two civilians died Tuesday in an artillery fusillade from North Korea.
Despite warnings from North Korea that any new provocation would be met with more attacks, Washington and Seoul pushed ahead with plans for military drills starting Sunday involving a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier in waters south of this week's skirmish.
But Lee, who came to office two years ago vowing to get tough with North Korea, has little maneuvering room in formulating a response. Although the attack appears to have pushed anti-North Korean sentiment to its highest level in years, there is little public support for taking military action against North Korea that might lead to an escalation of hostilities.
"North Korea has nothing to lose, while we have everything to lose," said Kang Won-taek, a Seoul National University politics professor. "Lee Myung-bak has no choice but to soften his tone to keep this country peaceful. It is not an appealing choice, but it is the only realistic choice."
South Korea's powerful eastern neighbor is also counseling restraint. China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said Thursday that Beijing opposed any provocative military behavior by either side on the Korean Peninsula, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
North Korea warned Thursday through its official news agency of further retaliation if provoked by South Korea, saying its military would "launch second and third strong physical retaliations without hesitation if South Korean warmongers carry out reckless military provocations."
In response, Lee said only, "We should not drop our guard in preparation for the possibility of another provocation by North Korea," according to his chief spokesman, Hong Sang-pyo. "A provocation like this can recur anytime."
Lee's changes in the rules of engagement were similarly restrained. South Korean defenses on five coastal islands in the Yellow Sea had been set up primarily to guard against possible amphibious landings by North Korean troops. Critics said Thursday that the military hadn't anticipated the possibility of an attack by North Korean artillery batteries, which are reportedly in caves along the North's coastline.
"Now an artillery battle has become the new threat, so we're reassessing the need to strengthen defenses," Lee told lawmakers. The new measures he outlined include doubling the number of howitzers and upgrading other weaponry.
The new rules of engagement will be based on whether military or civilian sites are the targets, said Hong. Previously, South Korean forces were allowed to respond only in kind — if North Korea fired artillery, the South Korean military could answer only with artillery — to contain any dispute. Now, officials said, the military would be allowed to respond with greater force.
The aftermath of this week's artillery attack was not the first time Lee has come under criticism after a deadly provocation by North Korea. Two years ago, when a South Korean tourist was shot by a sentry at a North Korean mountain resort, his government's response amounted to a slap on the wrist: suspending tours to the resort and barring South Korean civic groups from visiting the North.
More recently was Lee's response in March to the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, killing 46 sailors. Lee at first seemed to stall by waiting for the results of an international investigation, which took two months to conclude that the ship had been sunk by a North Korean torpedo. When he responded, it was with relatively mild measures such as reducing South Korea's already minuscule trade with North Korea, resuming the South's cold-war-era propaganda speakers along the demilitarized zone and demanding an apology. But the speakers have yet to be turned on after North Korea threatened to shoot at them, and Lee dropped the apology demand as a precondition for talks.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Lee was widely blamed in South Korea for having provoked the Cheonan episode by ending unconditional aid to North Korea at the start of his presidency.
Iraqi prime minister gets 30 days to form new government
Epic political battle over, Nouri al-Maliki now must cobble together a government from competing factions that remain deeply divided.
By Steven Lee Myers
BAGHDAD — Iraq's president formally nominated Nouri al-Maliki for a second term as prime minister Thursday, giving him 30 days to cobble together a government from competing factions that remain deeply divided and suspicious of him.
President Jalal Talabani had nominated Maliki when Iraq's new parliament met in a stormy session two weeks ago. But he delayed the formal designation until Thursday to give Maliki more time to negotiate with competing parliamentary blocs.
Talabani announced the nomination in a televised ceremony. He was joined by leaders of all the major parties except Maliki's main rival, Ayad Allawi, a Shiite whose secular coalition was backed by most of Iraq's Sunnis.
Talabani called on Maliki to form "a new government that we hope will be a government of national partnership and will not exclude anyone."
The elections were March 7, but legal challenges and political squabbling delayed first the results and then the convening of the parliament.
Even if Maliki meets the 30-day deadline in late December — which isn't a certainty, given the chronic disregard for legal deadlines in Iraqi politics — the country will have spent more than nine months under a caretaker government without a functioning legislature. Many of Iraq's most critical needs, including basic services, have gone unaddressed during the impasse.
Maliki, 60, a Shiite first elected as prime minister in 2006, appealed Thursday for unity. He urged political leaders "to overcome the disputes from the past, to put them behind us and to open a new page of cooperation in building the country."
As he prepared to lead Iraq through a pivotal four-year period marked by the planned withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, Maliki emphasized the need to support Iraqi security forces "in their difficult mission" against insurgents. He didn't mention the U.S. or its role assisting those forces.
Maliki's formal nomination begins what is expected to be a period of jockeying for control of agencies.
Under the compromise that returned Maliki to power, parliamentary leaders assigned points to each party based on the number of seats each won, as well as points for each position in the new government.
The more senior posts in what are known as the "sovereign ministries" — overseeing foreign affairs, finance, oil and defense, for example — are worth more points than the service ministries, such as health and agriculture.
Iraqi officials and political analysts describe the process as a bazaar, with power, influence and control of budgets being bartered over.
"If the government allocates $7 billion to the Ministry of Culture today, tomorrow it will become a sovereign ministry," said Ibrahim al-Sumadaie, an unsuccessful candidate for parliament. "Everybody is after the money. Nobody cares about the ministry itself."
source: http://www.statesman.com/
By Steven Lee Myers
BAGHDAD — Iraq's president formally nominated Nouri al-Maliki for a second term as prime minister Thursday, giving him 30 days to cobble together a government from competing factions that remain deeply divided and suspicious of him.
President Jalal Talabani had nominated Maliki when Iraq's new parliament met in a stormy session two weeks ago. But he delayed the formal designation until Thursday to give Maliki more time to negotiate with competing parliamentary blocs.
Talabani announced the nomination in a televised ceremony. He was joined by leaders of all the major parties except Maliki's main rival, Ayad Allawi, a Shiite whose secular coalition was backed by most of Iraq's Sunnis.
Talabani called on Maliki to form "a new government that we hope will be a government of national partnership and will not exclude anyone."
The elections were March 7, but legal challenges and political squabbling delayed first the results and then the convening of the parliament.
Even if Maliki meets the 30-day deadline in late December — which isn't a certainty, given the chronic disregard for legal deadlines in Iraqi politics — the country will have spent more than nine months under a caretaker government without a functioning legislature. Many of Iraq's most critical needs, including basic services, have gone unaddressed during the impasse.
Maliki, 60, a Shiite first elected as prime minister in 2006, appealed Thursday for unity. He urged political leaders "to overcome the disputes from the past, to put them behind us and to open a new page of cooperation in building the country."
As he prepared to lead Iraq through a pivotal four-year period marked by the planned withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, Maliki emphasized the need to support Iraqi security forces "in their difficult mission" against insurgents. He didn't mention the U.S. or its role assisting those forces.
Maliki's formal nomination begins what is expected to be a period of jockeying for control of agencies.
Under the compromise that returned Maliki to power, parliamentary leaders assigned points to each party based on the number of seats each won, as well as points for each position in the new government.
The more senior posts in what are known as the "sovereign ministries" — overseeing foreign affairs, finance, oil and defense, for example — are worth more points than the service ministries, such as health and agriculture.
Iraqi officials and political analysts describe the process as a bazaar, with power, influence and control of budgets being bartered over.
"If the government allocates $7 billion to the Ministry of Culture today, tomorrow it will become a sovereign ministry," said Ibrahim al-Sumadaie, an unsuccessful candidate for parliament. "Everybody is after the money. Nobody cares about the ministry itself."
source: http://www.statesman.com/
Study: More than 600,000 people killed yearly by secondhand smoke
About 1% of all the world's deaths annually blamed on others' smoking, researchers estimate.
Secondhand smoke kills more than 600,000 people worldwide every year, according to a new study.
In the first look at the global effect of secondhand smoking, researchers analyzed data from 2004 for 192 countries. They found 40 percent of children and more than 30 percent of nonsmoking men and women regularly breathe in secondhand smoke.
Scientists then estimated that passive smoking causes about 379,000 deaths from heart disease, 165,000 deaths from lower respiratory disease, 36,900 deaths from asthma and 21,400 deaths from lung cancer a year. Altogether, those account for about 1 percent of the world's deaths, according to the study published today in the British medical journal Lancet.
"This helps us understand the real toll of tobacco," said Armando Peruga, a program manager at the World Health Organization's Tobacco-Free Initiative, who led the study. He said 603,000 deaths from secondhand smoking should be added to the 5.1 million deaths that smoking itself causes every year.
Peruga and colleagues found the highest numbers of people exposed to secondhand smoke are in Europe and Asia. The lowest rates of exposure were in the Americas, the eastern Mediterranean and Africa.
source: http://www.statesman.com
Secondhand smoke kills more than 600,000 people worldwide every year, according to a new study.
In the first look at the global effect of secondhand smoking, researchers analyzed data from 2004 for 192 countries. They found 40 percent of children and more than 30 percent of nonsmoking men and women regularly breathe in secondhand smoke.
Scientists then estimated that passive smoking causes about 379,000 deaths from heart disease, 165,000 deaths from lower respiratory disease, 36,900 deaths from asthma and 21,400 deaths from lung cancer a year. Altogether, those account for about 1 percent of the world's deaths, according to the study published today in the British medical journal Lancet.
"This helps us understand the real toll of tobacco," said Armando Peruga, a program manager at the World Health Organization's Tobacco-Free Initiative, who led the study. He said 603,000 deaths from secondhand smoking should be added to the 5.1 million deaths that smoking itself causes every year.
Peruga and colleagues found the highest numbers of people exposed to secondhand smoke are in Europe and Asia. The lowest rates of exposure were in the Americas, the eastern Mediterranean and Africa.
source: http://www.statesman.com
North Korean shelling heard near Yeonpyeong
Artillery fire appears to be routine training, says South Korea, but North warns region is being pushed to the brink of war
South Korea reported sounds of artillery fire emanating from North Korea today, but said it appeared to be routine training. The news came hours after Pyongyang warned that the South's joint drill with the US was pushing the peninsula to the brink of war.
Seoul-based broadcaster YTN said the shells appeared to have landed within the North, away from the disputed maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea.
The firing came days after four people on a nearby island were killed in a Northern artillery attack. Pyongyang said that was a response to shelling by the South, which was conducting a live-fire drill exercise.
Seoul said its troops did not fire towards the North. But Pyongyang's foreign ministry said yesterday that shells were "bound to drop inside [the North's] territorial waters". It does not accept the Yellow Sea border, drawn unilaterally by the US at the end of the Korean war.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the few dozen residents who remain on Yeonpyeong fled to emergency shelters as they heard the distant explosions this afternoon.
Earlier the North had threatened "a shower of fire" in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency, warning: "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage again war exercises targeted against the [North]."
It added that it was "ready to annihilate enemies' stronghold" and said its forces "precisely targeted and struck" South Korean artillery units on Tuesday.
Pyongyang often issues bellicose warnings when military manoeuvres are due in the area.
The US has dispatched an aircraft carrier group led by the USS George Washington to take part in training with the South Korean navy from Sunday. The exercises were planned before this week's attack but had been postponed with the US citing scheduling conflicts.
Beijing has expressed concern about the exercises in the Yellow Sea, which lies between Korea and China. But its protests were far more muted than the complaints which saw off plans for drills there earlier this year.
The US is pressing China to restrain its ally and a White House official said Barack Obama is likely to discuss the Korean situation with President Hu Jintao within days.
Domestic criticism of Seoul's response to the bombardment has continued despite the defence minister's resignation yesterday.
Hundreds of South Korean veterans demonstrated in the border town of Paju today, accusing the government of being too weak.
"The lazy government's policies towards North Korea are too soft," said Kim Byeong-su, the president of the association of ex-marines.
"It needs to take revenge on a bunch of mad dogs. We need to show them South Korea is not to be played with."
VIDEO HERE
South Korea reported sounds of artillery fire emanating from North Korea today, but said it appeared to be routine training. The news came hours after Pyongyang warned that the South's joint drill with the US was pushing the peninsula to the brink of war.
Seoul-based broadcaster YTN said the shells appeared to have landed within the North, away from the disputed maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea.
The firing came days after four people on a nearby island were killed in a Northern artillery attack. Pyongyang said that was a response to shelling by the South, which was conducting a live-fire drill exercise.
Seoul said its troops did not fire towards the North. But Pyongyang's foreign ministry said yesterday that shells were "bound to drop inside [the North's] territorial waters". It does not accept the Yellow Sea border, drawn unilaterally by the US at the end of the Korean war.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the few dozen residents who remain on Yeonpyeong fled to emergency shelters as they heard the distant explosions this afternoon.
Earlier the North had threatened "a shower of fire" in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency, warning: "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage again war exercises targeted against the [North]."
It added that it was "ready to annihilate enemies' stronghold" and said its forces "precisely targeted and struck" South Korean artillery units on Tuesday.
Pyongyang often issues bellicose warnings when military manoeuvres are due in the area.
The US has dispatched an aircraft carrier group led by the USS George Washington to take part in training with the South Korean navy from Sunday. The exercises were planned before this week's attack but had been postponed with the US citing scheduling conflicts.
Beijing has expressed concern about the exercises in the Yellow Sea, which lies between Korea and China. But its protests were far more muted than the complaints which saw off plans for drills there earlier this year.
The US is pressing China to restrain its ally and a White House official said Barack Obama is likely to discuss the Korean situation with President Hu Jintao within days.
Domestic criticism of Seoul's response to the bombardment has continued despite the defence minister's resignation yesterday.
Hundreds of South Korean veterans demonstrated in the border town of Paju today, accusing the government of being too weak.
"The lazy government's policies towards North Korea are too soft," said Kim Byeong-su, the president of the association of ex-marines.
"It needs to take revenge on a bunch of mad dogs. We need to show them South Korea is not to be played with."
VIDEO HERE
Rio police carry out operation to arrest drug gangs
A total of 350 policemen, as well as 30 marines, are participating in the raid. Four police armored vehicles, nine Navy M113 armored personnel carriers and a helicopter are providing support to the officers. A local TV station managed to film dozens of criminals trying to escape the shantytown through a back entrance.
The crime wave started on Sunday. Since then, at least 55 vehicles, including buses and trucks, were set on fire. The criminals also shot at several police cabins. The attacks left the city in complete chaos, the bus lines stopped circulating and schools and shops were closed in several neighborhoods.
According to the police, the attacks show the despair of the criminals, who have been losing territory with the establishment of permanent police units in several shantytowns in the past year. The criminals want to incite panic in the population, the police stated.
Since Sunday, at least 23 people died in the several police operations in Rio's shantytowns. At least 176 people were arrested, and over 30 weapons were seized, including rifles and grenades.
more
Karzai's aide: UK 'to blame' for Taliban impostor
LONDON -- A senior Afghan official has reportedly blamed the British secret service for bringing a Taliban impostor to take part in top-level peace talks with the Afghan government.
Friday's reports in U.S. and British media follow the revelation that a man leading the Taliban side of peace talks with the Afghan government was impersonating former Taliban Cabinet minister Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
The Washington Post quotes Mohammad Omar Daudzai, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff, as saying Thursday that British authorities brought the man to meet with Karzai in July or August. Karzai has denied meeting with Mansour.
Prime Minister David Cameron's office and Britain's Foreign Office both declined to comment on the reports.
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com
Friday's reports in U.S. and British media follow the revelation that a man leading the Taliban side of peace talks with the Afghan government was impersonating former Taliban Cabinet minister Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
The Washington Post quotes Mohammad Omar Daudzai, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff, as saying Thursday that British authorities brought the man to meet with Karzai in July or August. Karzai has denied meeting with Mansour.
Prime Minister David Cameron's office and Britain's Foreign Office both declined to comment on the reports.
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com
Secret Service: Ex-cop threatened to kill Obama
SPARTANBURG, South Carolina — A former police officer has been arrested and accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama.
NBC station WYFF reported that a sworn statement from the Secret Service says that 78-year-old Michael Stephen Bowden was arrested earlier this month.
The Secret Service says Bowden told a nurse at a Veterans Affairs clinic in northwestern South Carolina that he was "was thinking of traveling to Washington, D.C., to shoot the president because he was not doing enough to help African Americans."
He made the remark after he was asked by a mental health nurse if he was suicidal, WYFF said. Bowden later tested positive for suicidal tendencies.
Agents allege that they found three handguns and a rifle under Bowden's bed, and a dozen other guns in the house.
According to WYFF, Bowden was in the Navy for four years and was a former New York City police officer and fire captain.
'Two bypass surgeries'
The agents alleged Bowden did not deny making the threatening statements.
"If I had the opportunity to get Obama against the wall and shoot him, I would," the affidavit quoted Bowden as saying.
His son, Kerry Bowden, said the family didn't know his father had suicidal tendencies in April until the agents arrived Nov. 16.
"He was acting out," the suspect's son told WYFF. "He did not have the intent. Let's face it — he's a 78-year-old man that's gone through two bypass surgeries.
"If he lifts anything over 20 pounds, he has to pop a nitro because of his chest pain. If he walks up the hill or too far, he has to stop and pop a nitro because of his chest pain. Is this man really a threat?" he added.
A spokesman for the Secret Service told WYFF that Bowden has already made his initial court appearance and would be undergoing a mental evaluation in the federal prison system.
source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com
NBC station WYFF reported that a sworn statement from the Secret Service says that 78-year-old Michael Stephen Bowden was arrested earlier this month.
The Secret Service says Bowden told a nurse at a Veterans Affairs clinic in northwestern South Carolina that he was "was thinking of traveling to Washington, D.C., to shoot the president because he was not doing enough to help African Americans."
He made the remark after he was asked by a mental health nurse if he was suicidal, WYFF said. Bowden later tested positive for suicidal tendencies.
Agents allege that they found three handguns and a rifle under Bowden's bed, and a dozen other guns in the house.
According to WYFF, Bowden was in the Navy for four years and was a former New York City police officer and fire captain.
'Two bypass surgeries'
The agents alleged Bowden did not deny making the threatening statements.
"If I had the opportunity to get Obama against the wall and shoot him, I would," the affidavit quoted Bowden as saying.
His son, Kerry Bowden, said the family didn't know his father had suicidal tendencies in April until the agents arrived Nov. 16.
"He was acting out," the suspect's son told WYFF. "He did not have the intent. Let's face it — he's a 78-year-old man that's gone through two bypass surgeries.
"If he lifts anything over 20 pounds, he has to pop a nitro because of his chest pain. If he walks up the hill or too far, he has to stop and pop a nitro because of his chest pain. Is this man really a threat?" he added.
A spokesman for the Secret Service told WYFF that Bowden has already made his initial court appearance and would be undergoing a mental evaluation in the federal prison system.
source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com
‘Turkey won’t be silent if Israel attacks Lebanon, Gaza’
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
"In Beirut, Erdogan says Israel cannot "enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children."
Turkey will not stay silent in the event of an Israeli attack on Lebanon or the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Beirut on Thursday, according to an AFP report.
"Does (Israel) think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?" Erdogan asked on the final day of a two-day visit to Lebanon.
"Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and cluster bombs to kill children in Gaza and then expect us to remain silent? We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us," he added.
During the course of his trip, Erdogan met with officials and visited the north and south of the country.
On Thursday in Beirut, hundreds of Lebanese of Armenian descent clashed with army troops during a protest over the Turkish prime minister's visit.
He was inaugurating a hospital in the southern port city of Sidon as hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital's Martyrs' Square.
When demonstrators tore up a large poster of Erdogan and pelted troops with rocks, security responded by beating up a number of them.
There were no reports of major injuries.
Lebanon has 150,000 Armenians, or nearly 4 percent of its population, which harbors deep animosity toward Turks over the 1915 killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians.
On Wednesday, Erdogan attempted to ease tensions in Lebanon over the soon to be released findings of the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Erdogan, during a speech in northern Lebanon, said that if Hizbullah were found guilty of the Hariri assassination, it would impact the entire region.
He suggested that the tribunal delay releasing its findings for another year.
source: http://www.jpost.com
"In Beirut, Erdogan says Israel cannot "enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children."
Turkey will not stay silent in the event of an Israeli attack on Lebanon or the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Beirut on Thursday, according to an AFP report.
"Does (Israel) think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?" Erdogan asked on the final day of a two-day visit to Lebanon.
"Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and cluster bombs to kill children in Gaza and then expect us to remain silent? We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us," he added.
During the course of his trip, Erdogan met with officials and visited the north and south of the country.
On Thursday in Beirut, hundreds of Lebanese of Armenian descent clashed with army troops during a protest over the Turkish prime minister's visit.
He was inaugurating a hospital in the southern port city of Sidon as hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital's Martyrs' Square.
When demonstrators tore up a large poster of Erdogan and pelted troops with rocks, security responded by beating up a number of them.
There were no reports of major injuries.
Lebanon has 150,000 Armenians, or nearly 4 percent of its population, which harbors deep animosity toward Turks over the 1915 killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians.
On Wednesday, Erdogan attempted to ease tensions in Lebanon over the soon to be released findings of the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Erdogan, during a speech in northern Lebanon, said that if Hizbullah were found guilty of the Hariri assassination, it would impact the entire region.
He suggested that the tribunal delay releasing its findings for another year.
source: http://www.jpost.com
Friday, November 26, 2010
Joke
Why I Love Her
A guy is sitting in a bar with his friends bitching about going home to his wife.
His friends ask him why he doesn't want to go home to such a fine looking woman and he replies...
"Well, the problem is that she has Gonnorrhea"
So what say the friends, flip her over.
"Well, she also has diarrhea" the guy says.
"Yuck, but what about her mouth." The friends chime in.
"Halitosis" the man says.
"Damn, Why would you stay with her?" The friends say.
"Well," the guy replies "She also has worms, and you guys know how I like to fish."
A guy is sitting in a bar with his friends bitching about going home to his wife.
His friends ask him why he doesn't want to go home to such a fine looking woman and he replies...
"Well, the problem is that she has Gonnorrhea"
So what say the friends, flip her over.
"Well, she also has diarrhea" the guy says.
"Yuck, but what about her mouth." The friends chime in.
"Halitosis" the man says.
"Damn, Why would you stay with her?" The friends say.
"Well," the guy replies "She also has worms, and you guys know how I like to fish."
1910
Postcard. On the back it says: “This is a picture that M had taken in November. I thought I [would] send it along it might help some.”
India tests nuclear-capable Agni-I missile
New Delhi - India successfully tested its nuclear-capable Agni-I short-range ballistic missile off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa Thursday.
The missile, named after the Hindu god of fire, can carry payloads of 1 ton up to 700 kilometres and was introduced into the Indian Army in 2004. Regular trials have been carried out since.
'The trial of Agni-I was smooth and the test flight was fully successful,' test range director SP Dash was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency.
The user trial was aimed at gauging the military's preparedness for handling the missile system.
The missile, 15 metres in length and weighing 12 tons, is part of India's deterrent programme largely aimed at Pakistan and China.
Agni-II, which has a range of more than 1,500 kilometres, was first tested in 1999.
Since 2007, India has also successfully tested Agni-III, which can cover distances up to 3,500 kilometres.
source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com
The missile, named after the Hindu god of fire, can carry payloads of 1 ton up to 700 kilometres and was introduced into the Indian Army in 2004. Regular trials have been carried out since.
'The trial of Agni-I was smooth and the test flight was fully successful,' test range director SP Dash was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency.
The user trial was aimed at gauging the military's preparedness for handling the missile system.
The missile, 15 metres in length and weighing 12 tons, is part of India's deterrent programme largely aimed at Pakistan and China.
Agni-II, which has a range of more than 1,500 kilometres, was first tested in 1999.
Since 2007, India has also successfully tested Agni-III, which can cover distances up to 3,500 kilometres.
source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com
No risk of euro zone breakup in Irish crisis: EU
(Reuters) - Senior euro zone officials dismissed any risk of the single currency area breaking up after financial markets, alarmed by Ireland's debt crisis, forced the borrowing costs of Portugal and Spain to record highs.
"There is zero danger," Klaus Regling, chief of the euro's financial safety net, European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), told German daily Bild in an interview published on Thursday when asked if the euro zone could break apart.
"It is inconceivable that the euro fails," he said.
Some economists and commentators, mostly in Britain and the United States, have suggested the 16-nation common currency launched in 1999 could split because of peripheral members' high debts and deficits, and a loss of competitiveness with Germany.
But Regling said: "No country will give up the euro of its own will: for weaker countries that would be economic suicide, likewise for the stronger countries. And politically Europe would only have half the value without the euro."
more
Afghanistan arrests 2 election workers
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan attorney general's office has arrested two employees of the nation's electoral commission and two people working in the money transfer business on allegations of fraud in the September parliamentary elections, the deputy attorney general said Thursday.
The arrests are the latest problem to overshadow the vote, which has been seen as a test of President Hamid Karzai's commitment to curb corruption in his government since last year's fraud-ridden presidential election.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission have the authority to investigate complaints of election misconduct and certify results, but the attorney general can probe criminal activity. He announced on Wednesday that he would investigate allegations of fraudulent vote counting and ballot manipulation.
The investigation by the nation's top prosecutor, who was appointed by Karzai, has raised speculation among Western diplomats that the president or his advisers are upset with the election results and are pushing the attorney general to probe election fraud and throw the victories of certain candidates into doubt. Not all western diplomats agree, saying they have seen no evidence that Karzai is behind the investigation.
Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari denied allegations that Karzai had ordered the attorney general to investigate. He said that after the investigation was completed — hopefully within a month — the results would be handed to the Supreme Court. A western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate political issue, said the court's rulings on any cases could change the outcome of certain races.
more
The arrests are the latest problem to overshadow the vote, which has been seen as a test of President Hamid Karzai's commitment to curb corruption in his government since last year's fraud-ridden presidential election.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission have the authority to investigate complaints of election misconduct and certify results, but the attorney general can probe criminal activity. He announced on Wednesday that he would investigate allegations of fraudulent vote counting and ballot manipulation.
The investigation by the nation's top prosecutor, who was appointed by Karzai, has raised speculation among Western diplomats that the president or his advisers are upset with the election results and are pushing the attorney general to probe election fraud and throw the victories of certain candidates into doubt. Not all western diplomats agree, saying they have seen no evidence that Karzai is behind the investigation.
Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari denied allegations that Karzai had ordered the attorney general to investigate. He said that after the investigation was completed — hopefully within a month — the results would be handed to the Supreme Court. A western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate political issue, said the court's rulings on any cases could change the outcome of certain races.
more
A Whole New World (of Warcraft) #3: A Survivor's Guide to the Cataclysm
World of Warcraft's long-awaited Cataclysm expansion is scheduled for release on December 7, and virtually every zone in the game will feel the wrath of the psychotic dragon Deathwing, the expansion's primary antagonist. Familiar vistas and zones will be destroyed or altered, two new races are now available for play, a new secondary profession is available, and all talent trees and abilities have been reworked. Instead of providing yet another listing of all these changes on the eve of release, GameSpy columnist and WoW-head Jeremiah Leif Johnson has covered the changes from a tongue-in-cheek perspective written as a chronicler in Dalaran, the neutral city of mages.
more
The Kennedy Assassination’s Accidental Victim
A photograph, signed for a fan, shows Tague standing beneath the underpass near the grassy knoll minutes before the bullets fired.
People of a certain age remember exactly where they were on November 22, 1963, when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. James Tague remembers the day better than most. At the moment of the shooting, Tague was standing in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza, and was struck on the right cheek by fragments from a ricocheting bullet meant for Kennedy. Tague suffered only a superficial wound that day, but in a way, the injury is still fresh, 47 years later.
“I can’t forget November 22nd,” Tague says. “Everybody reminds me of it. I’ve probably told the story two or three hundred times. And the closer it gets to November 22nd, the more people ask me to tell it.”
These days, Tague, now 74 and retired from a career as a car salesman and dealer, lives outside Bonham, Texas, not far from the Oklahoma border. The JFK assassination is still part of Tague’s daily life, in part because he runs a store on eBay that’s stocked with hundreds of books about Kennedy’s killing.
“It started out as a hobby and turned into a little ol’ business,” says Tague in his honey-thick Texas drawl. “What happened is when I wrote Truth Withheld (his 2003 book about the Kennedy assassination), a couple months later someone says, ‘You know, your book’s bringing $60 on eBay. And I said, ‘What’s eBay?’”
As soon as Tague figured out the online auction business, he started doing a brisk trade in JFK assassination books, some drawn from his vast personal collection. The store features rarities like a $400 first edition of Forgive My Grief IV by Penn Jones Jr., the assassination researcher who brought to light the now discredited notion that witnesses to the assassination were being knocked off by a shadowy murder squad. Other books in the 500-plus item store include The Killing of a President by Robert J. Groden, which contains shocking autopsy photos of JFK, the original 1964 Warren Commission Report, the director’s cut of Oliver Stone’s film JFK, and Tague’s own Truth Withheld, signed by the author. Tague’s eBay store is, if nothing else, a testament to the remarkable life of JFK’s death.
“The main thing is keeping those books available to the younger generation,” Tague says. “What fascinates me is that not a day goes by that I don’t get one or two requests for autographs. I hit a record about three months ago with 19 requests in one day. It’s usually young kids, high school or college age. It blows my mind.”
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Can you disappear in surveillance Britain?
David Bond wanted to see if it’s possible to vanish so one day he packed his bag, got into his car and kissed his wife goodbye
Back in January last year, David Bond packed a rucksack, kissed his pregnant wife Katie and toddler Ivy, climbed into his Toyota Prius and drove away from home. Nobody knew where he was going – he didn’t even know himself. One thing he was sure about was this: “I’m going to leave my life behind and disappear,” he said.
A 38-year-old Oxford graduate with a solid if unspectacular career in media, Bond wasn’t your typical runaway. But then, you might have said the same about Will Smith in Enemy of the State, or Robert Donat in The 39 Steps – two of Bond’s favourite films. For Katie, left alone with a toddler, his disappearance could not have come at a worse time. “I had to juggle the childcare and work,” she says, “and I was seven and a half months pregnant.”
Bond might never have thought of running away if he’d not received a letter, some months earlier, informing him that his daughter was among 25 million Britons whose records had been lost by the Child Benefit Office, along with bank details and other private information.
He “became obsessed”, Katie remembers, about the amount of information on him and his family that was already out there. As he looked into it, he found that the UK, once a bastion of freedom and civil liberties, is now one of the most advanced surveillance societies in the world, ranked third after Russia and China. The average UK adult is now registered on more than 700 databases and is caught many times each day by nearly five million CCTV cameras. Increasingly monitored, citizens are being turned into suspects. Within 100 yards of Bond’s home, he discovered, there were no fewer than 200 cameras.
more
Back in January last year, David Bond packed a rucksack, kissed his pregnant wife Katie and toddler Ivy, climbed into his Toyota Prius and drove away from home. Nobody knew where he was going – he didn’t even know himself. One thing he was sure about was this: “I’m going to leave my life behind and disappear,” he said.
A 38-year-old Oxford graduate with a solid if unspectacular career in media, Bond wasn’t your typical runaway. But then, you might have said the same about Will Smith in Enemy of the State, or Robert Donat in The 39 Steps – two of Bond’s favourite films. For Katie, left alone with a toddler, his disappearance could not have come at a worse time. “I had to juggle the childcare and work,” she says, “and I was seven and a half months pregnant.”
Bond might never have thought of running away if he’d not received a letter, some months earlier, informing him that his daughter was among 25 million Britons whose records had been lost by the Child Benefit Office, along with bank details and other private information.
He “became obsessed”, Katie remembers, about the amount of information on him and his family that was already out there. As he looked into it, he found that the UK, once a bastion of freedom and civil liberties, is now one of the most advanced surveillance societies in the world, ranked third after Russia and China. The average UK adult is now registered on more than 700 databases and is caught many times each day by nearly five million CCTV cameras. Increasingly monitored, citizens are being turned into suspects. Within 100 yards of Bond’s home, he discovered, there were no fewer than 200 cameras.
more
North Korea's well-rehearsed performance
OSAKA, Japan — A day after North Korea unleashed a deadly artillery barrage against South Korea [2], the region is again playing the parlor game of crafting a response to the regime’s idiosyncratic brand of brinksmanship.
Predictably, Tuesday’s attacks on the island of Yeonpyeong, in which two South Korean marines and at least two civilians were killed, have drawn words of condemnation from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington. China, the North’s ally and main benefactor, has so far confined itself to calling for “restraint” on both sides.
South Korean troops have been put on their highest state of non-wartime alert, and global markets have been badly shaken. The United States has promised unwavering support to Seoul, and today the USS George Washington left Tokyo to take part in a joint military exercise — albeit one that was planned before the outbreak of hostilities — with the South in waters not far from the scene of the attack.
While the clash was one of the most serious since the two Koreas settled on an uneasy truce at the end of their 1950-1953 war, there is little reason to believe that the artillery exchanges across the Yellow Sea border were the opening salvoes in a potentially catastrophic war.
Consider the timing. North Korean shells rained on dozens of homes just as Washington’s top envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, was midway through visits to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing designed to revive six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
And the attack came as the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama was digesting startling revelations about a hitherto secret uranium enrichment complex in the North, as witnessed by a leading U.S. scientist during a recent visit.
The regime has sought to justify its attack as a measured response to provocation from its neighbor, which it accused of firing into its territory during a recent military drill.
Diplomatic precedent suggests, however, that North Korea had a more considered aim in mind when it took the gamble of launching a direct attack on its neighbor.
It will come as no consolation to the victims and their families, or to the residents forced to flee their homes, but many analysts interpret the attack as a well-rehearsed performance, put on by the North Koreans for the benefit of both international and domestic audiences.
The Korean Central News Agency, a mouthpiece for the regime, couched the attack as an act of self-defense, accusing the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, of “treacherous” and “intolerable” moves to destroy the prospects of reunification of the peninsula. Lee, the agency said, had “driven the situation to the brink of war, against the will of all Koreans.”
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7 Ways the Mafia Made the U.S. a Better Place: 'Renegade History'
by Thaddeus Russell
Imagine an America without jazz. Imagine an America in which alcohol is still illegal. Imagine an America without Broadway, Las Vegas, or Hollywood. Imagine an America with no racial integration or freedom to be gay in public. In my new book, A Renegade History of the United States, I show that all you have to do is imagine American history without organized crime ... Here are 7 ways that gangsters made America a better place:
By the end of the 19th century some 300 Sicilian mafiosi controlled substantial portions of the New Orleans economy, most significantly the many brothels, saloons, and nightclubs that defined New Orleans as the pleasure capital of the South. When respectable Americans shunned the new music called "jass" as black and criminal jungle music but many others demonstrated a willingness to pay to hear and dance to it, New Orleans gangsters happily made it their business. The first buildings in which the music eventually renamed "jazz" was played professionally – brothels in the Storyville district near the French Quarter – were owned by Sicilian mobsters. In 1917, a teenaged Louis Armstrong received his first wages for playing the trumpet at a tavern owned by Henry Matranga, leader of the Matranga family and arguably the most powerful criminal in the early 20th-century United States. Armstrong and the other black inventors of jazz such as Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, and Joe Oliver also received their first pay from George Delsa, manager of Anderson's Rampart Street café, one of the first clubs to feature jazz, who used his Mafia connections to protect the club and the prostitutes who worked there from the police.
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Imagine an America without jazz. Imagine an America in which alcohol is still illegal. Imagine an America without Broadway, Las Vegas, or Hollywood. Imagine an America with no racial integration or freedom to be gay in public. In my new book, A Renegade History of the United States, I show that all you have to do is imagine American history without organized crime ... Here are 7 ways that gangsters made America a better place:
By the end of the 19th century some 300 Sicilian mafiosi controlled substantial portions of the New Orleans economy, most significantly the many brothels, saloons, and nightclubs that defined New Orleans as the pleasure capital of the South. When respectable Americans shunned the new music called "jass" as black and criminal jungle music but many others demonstrated a willingness to pay to hear and dance to it, New Orleans gangsters happily made it their business. The first buildings in which the music eventually renamed "jazz" was played professionally – brothels in the Storyville district near the French Quarter – were owned by Sicilian mobsters. In 1917, a teenaged Louis Armstrong received his first wages for playing the trumpet at a tavern owned by Henry Matranga, leader of the Matranga family and arguably the most powerful criminal in the early 20th-century United States. Armstrong and the other black inventors of jazz such as Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, and Joe Oliver also received their first pay from George Delsa, manager of Anderson's Rampart Street café, one of the first clubs to feature jazz, who used his Mafia connections to protect the club and the prostitutes who worked there from the police.
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Thursday, November 25, 2010
Joke
Lettuce and Tomato
One night a man and woman went to his house to have sex when he stopped her to say "I still live with my parents and me and my brother share bunk beds so if you want to change positions say "lettuce" and if you want to go faster say "tomatos"
So they were getting it on and she was screaming "lettuce, lettuce, tomatos, lettuce, tomatos, tomatos"
Suddenly the younger brother (on the bottom bunk) said
"Could you stop making sandwiches your getting mayonase on me"!
One night a man and woman went to his house to have sex when he stopped her to say "I still live with my parents and me and my brother share bunk beds so if you want to change positions say "lettuce" and if you want to go faster say "tomatos"
So they were getting it on and she was screaming "lettuce, lettuce, tomatos, lettuce, tomatos, tomatos"
Suddenly the younger brother (on the bottom bunk) said
"Could you stop making sandwiches your getting mayonase on me"!
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