Muslim offense level raised?
Ghana's World Cup team apologised after defender John Pantsil waved an Israeli flag to celebrate his team's goals. Pantsil, who plays for Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, celebrated both goals in Ghana's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Cologne on Saturday by pulling an Israeli flag out of his sock and waving it at the cameras.
Ghana team spokesman Randy Abbey said at the team's training base: "It was a thank you to his fans in the Israeli league. It was naive, he was not aware of the consequences of his actions. We apologise to everyone who felt offended by this. It was not an official message from the Ghanaian team. We do not represent Israeli politics or the politics of any other country. We are just here to play football."
Pantsil's action sparked a barrage of insults and furious reactions in newspapers in Egypt on Monday. "The ignorant and stupid Pantsil, who spent 20 days in Egypt during the last African Nations Cup, plays for Hapoel," sports commentator Alaa Sadek wrote in the daily Al-Akhbar, explaining Pantsil's link to Israel. "Egyptians supported the Ghanaian team all the way until the 82nd minute, and regretted it after the Israeli flag (waving)," screamed a bold red headline in the independent daily Al-Masry al-Yom.
The live commentator on the Arab satellite channel broadcasting all World Cup matches in the region abruptly cut short his trademark "goooaaaaaaal" when Pantsil brought out the flag. "What are you doing, man?" the bewildered commentator said.
Some papers described 25-year-old Pantsil as a "Mossad agent", others said "an Israeli had paid him to do it" but the most elaborate theory was offered by the top-selling state-owned daily Al-Ahram. Sports analyst Hassan el-Mestekawi said in the paper that many Ghanaian players attend football training camps set up by an Israeli coach who "discovered the treasure of African talent, and abused the poverty of the continent's children" with the ultimate goal of selling them off to European clubs. LOL!
Football's governing body FIFA said they had taken note of the flag-waving and that although there was nothing in the rules to prevent it, they hoped not to see a repetition. Egyptian football fans were equally rattled when the player produced the Israeli flag. "We were totally supporting Ghana and we were so excited by how well they were doing," Ashraf al-Berri told AFP. "We were screaming with joy, but the whole room went quiet when Pantsil took out the flag. We didn't really know how to react," he said. Another fan, Osama Mohy, told AFP: "As an Egyptian I am very sensitive when it comes to Israel." "And pretty much everything else too."
African champions Egypt failed to qualify for the World Cup finals. Suckers.
#3
Let's see. Why is Israel not in the World Cup finals? They're in the European region? Why? Because the other Middle Eastern countries won't play them. Is FIFA happy about that? Of course it is.
At least France is one game away from not making it out of the preliminary round again.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/19/2006 23:52 Comments ||
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The depth of popular dissatisfaction in France has been underscored by a Harris opinion poll showing that 85 per cent of respondents think their country is heading in the wrong direction. Only 9 per cent think France is on the right track as the country enters the final months of President Jacques Chirac's 12-year presidency.
France's gloominess may surprise the 75m tourists who flock to the country each year attracted by its beautiful countryside, fine food, and cultural treasures. But over the past year France has been shaken by a series of political and social convulsions, including urban riots and mass protests against a new youth labour law. Voters' malaise has fuelled support for extremist political parties and prompted calls for radical change following next year's presidential elections.
Much of the popular anger in France has focused on the leadership provided by Mr Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, his prime minister. In a separate Ifop opinion poll published in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper yesterday, 73 per cent of respondents said they were dissatisfied by Mr de Villepin, prompting further speculation that Mr Chirac might fire his prime minister before the president's national address on July 14.
Continued on Page 49
#1
The depth of popular dissatisfaction in France has been underscored by a Harris opinion poll showing that 85 per cent of respondents think their country is heading in the wrong direction.
Yeah, and if I had a serious choice other than the Dems to replace the border surrendering, earmark porkchompers, useful idiots of multi-billion dollar industries, Reps, I'd be far more happy than I am today too.
Posted on the off-chance that Europe still matters.
BARCELONA, Spain - Voters in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia have voted to seize key powers of self-government in a historic referendum on greater autonomy from Madrid.
With nearly all of Saturdays ballots counted, 73.9 percent of voters backed the new statute, while 20.8 percent voted no, with voter turnout at about 49 percent, official results released by the regional government showed.
The referendum asked the wealthy northeast region, which includes the city of Barcelona, to decide on a text giving it greater control over raising taxes and judicial affairs. The autonomy text also promotes a wider usage of the Catalan language and gives the region increased say on foreign affairs and control over non-strategic airports and ports.
Conservative opponents of increased autonomy for Catalonia fear it will lead to a violent breakup of Spain. They seized on the 49 percent turnout figure to point out that more than half of the regions 5.2 million voters had therefore not voted for more autonomy.
But Spains Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero hailed the large support shown by voters for the text. Catalonians have spoken clearly and in a very large majority in favour of greater autonomy, he said late Sunday. The autonomy charter would bring greater recognition of the identity of the region, he added.
The referendum was seen as a crucial test for Zapatero as he seeks to rally support for peace talks with separatists demanding self-rule for the Basque region of Spain.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2006 02:32 ||
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Just step right up here. Surrender obedience to Madrid for obedience to Brussels. Heh.
Actually, considering Gore's track record, this may be the best thing to happen to Lieberman....
Interviewed on Bloomberg TV, Al Gore refused to endorse his former vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman (C-CT), in his re-election race.
Said Gore: "I am not involved. I typically do not get involved in Democratic primaries. Joe is my close friend, Joe and Hadassah are close to Tipper and me and it would be very difficult for me to ever oppose him. But I don't get involved in primaries typically. He's a great guy and he's right on a lot of other issues."
Of course, Gore did get involved in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries and backed Howard Dean over Lieberman.
Update: Political Wire has learned that former Connecticut Democratic party chairman George Jepsen is endorsing Lieberman's primary challenger, Ned Lamont, in a press conference this afternoon.
NEW DELHI, June 19 (UPI) -- A former Indian intelligence official estimates that under the U.S.-India nuclear agreement, Delhi could manufacture up to 50 nuclear warheads a year.
Former Research and Analyses Wing Additional Secretary J. K. Sinha said: "Under the deal, India shall retain six unsafeguarded reactors and shall have the capability of producing nearly 50 nuclear warheads per year."
The Pakistani Newspaper reported on June 18 that Sinha wrote in the Indian Defense Review that a U.S. supply of nuclear fuel combined with material from India's Nuclear Suppliers Group would free India's existing capacity to produce up to 286 pounds annually of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for its nuclear weapons program.
Sinha wrote that the agreement placed India's entire Fast Breeder Reactor program out of safeguards, noting: "The potential of the FBR technology is huge for India's nuclear weapons program and for power generation."
The nuclear agreement, finalized during U.S. President George W. Bush's March trip to India but still awaiting passage through U.S. Congress, has been harshly condemned internationally because it is viewed as allowing India to evade a number of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards.
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 16:22 ||
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His math is wrong.
The 100 MW NRX type reactor "Dhruva" at Bombay alone produces 30 kg of plutonium a year.
Six 220 MW CANDU reactors, Dhruva and the replacement for the 30 MW CIRUS NRX reactor (an even bigger NRX reactor - perhaps 200 MW) plus the 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor (which would breed Plutonium 239 and Uranium 233 in its breeder blankets) would produce significantly more plutonium than 130 kg a year. The core of the Indian Fast Breeder uses two tons (2000 kg) of plutonium. (The pit of an implosion weapon requires 5 kg of weapons grade or 7 kg of reactor grade plutonium).
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 18:39 Comments ||
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Fact is, these reactors are being kept off the safeguard list, not to make bombs, but to keep ElBaradei's inspectors away. The Indian nuclear scientists don't really trust the IAEA.
Just a small proportion of the plutonium output is enough to satisfy India's weapons grade plutonium needs. India will do as it has always done, siphon off a little material for its military program from the much larger civilian program.
It did this with the missile program. The civilian space program is quite sophisticated. The core solid booster of the PSLV for instance is one of the largest solid rocket motors in the world.
A small amount of this technology ends up in the military missile program.
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 19:18 Comments ||
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NEW DELHI: The third unit of the Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP-3), which will increase the country's nuclear power generation by one-sixth, is expected to be "declared commercial" six months ahead of schedule, said official sources. The 540 mega-watt electrical (MWe) unit was synchronised with the grid earlier this month. The time taken between criticality and synchronisation was one-fourth of that taken by its predecessor, Unit-4, which has given nuclear scientists the confidence of compressing the time schedule for generating commercial power from TAPP-3.
Mandatory tests are being conducted on the unit and it will supply electricity to the grid known as "infirm power". During this period, the power of the unit will need to be varied and the unit may even be required to be shut down. The power of the unit will subsequently be increased to full power based on test results and authorisation by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
Once the station is declared commercial, it will produce electricity in a consistent manner and supply it to the grid. "TAPP-3 is expected to be declared commercial in July this year, six months ahead of schedule," added the officials. The two units of TAPP 3 and 4, of 540 MWe each, are the country's largest and most advanced nuclear power units. They are fully indigenous and have been designed and constructed by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a public sector undertaking under the Department of Energy.
TAPP 3 and 4 belong to the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor family, which uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator and coolant. The gestation period between building and commissioning is comparable to international benchmarks.
The experience gained from these two units would be utilised to build units of size of 700 MWe. Four such units, two each at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan and Kakrapar in Gujarat are proposed to be built.
The NPCIL operates 15 nuclear plants with an aggregate capacity of 3360 MWe and this will increase to 3900 MWe once the 16th unit - TAPP-3 - is declared commercial. The Government plans to achieve an installed nuclear power capacity of 20,000 MWe by 2020 based on indigenous and imported fuels.
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 12:27 ||
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Greenpeace protestors outside the gate in 4, 3, 2, 1..
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 12:31 Comments ||
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Nucular energy, ma favorite.
Posted by: W ||
06/19/2006 13:01 Comments ||
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Looks like West Bengal is getting reactors too
Centre approves N-power station in WB
Kolkata, June 19: The centre has approved the setting up of a nuclear power station at Egra in West Bengal's East Midnapore District, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said here today.
"The centre has agreed in principle to the setting up of a nuclear power station in the state and we have asked the Consulting Engineering Services (India) Private Ltd (CES) for feasibility study on the ambitious project," Bhattacharjee said inaugurating the first phase of the CES centre at Salt Lake.
Bhattacharjee said it would be set up in the Egra area but site selection was yet to be made and it would be done in accordance with the feasibility report of the project.
The approval of a nuclear power station in West Bengal came nearly a decade after the centre refused to okay a state government plan for one in the Sunderbans primarily because of strategic problems.
A few years ago, a nuclear power station was commissioned at Nagoma in Japan with the consultancy of the CES, the Chief Minister said.
CES sources said the company was making a feasibility study of various other mega projects in the state, including a Greenfield airport, a deep sea port along with ports at Kulpi and Sagar, an elevated light rapid transport system and eastern highway link connecting Barasat with Kulpi and Raichak.
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 15:19 Comments ||
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Interesting Indian design.. it breeds U233 from Thorium
MIRANSHAH: Taliban on Sunday warned male doctors against carrying out ultrasound tests on female patients. In a pamphlet from the "North Waziristan Mujahideen", they demanded that female doctors be appointed to carry out the procedure. "We will award punishment in accordance with Islamic laws if any male doctor is found to be carrying out ultrasound tests on female patients," read the pamphlet pasted on the main streets of Miranshah.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Well that means they need to educate and train more women doctors and medical staff.
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2006 1:57 Comments ||
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HHHMMMM, so the need more female doctors. nurses, and other medic specialists whom are not allowed to become same??? Taliban > forgot that no female schools or schooling allowed, defeerred, or not a priority, remember!?
#10
Notice how Islamic males are pathetic little creatures unable to control any impulses that pop into their pointy little heads? Evolutionary regression at work. I blame inbreeding and Allan
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2006 20:51 Comments ||
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The UN Human Rights Council must mark a "clean break", UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the opening session.
He called on the 47 member states not to become "caught up in political point-scoring or petty manoeuvre".
The council replaces the discredited Human Rights Commission, which had been widely accused of protecting countries with poor human rights records.
Members now have to be elected by the UN General Assembly and can be suspended if they commit violations.
"This council represents a great new chance for the United Nations and for humanity, to renew the struggle for human rights," Mr Annan said.
"I implore you not to let the opportunity be squandered.
"The eyes of the world - especially the eyes of those whose human rights are denied, threatened or infringed - are turned towards this chamber and this council."
Difficult negotiations
The hope is that the new council will be more democratic, less politicised and, above all, more effective in upholding human rights, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says.
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
African group: 13 seats, including Ghana, South Africa and Algeria
Asian group: 13 seats, including India, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
Western European and Other States group: 7 seats, including Germany, France and the UK
Latin America and the Caribbean group: 8 seats, including Brazil, Cuba and Uruguay
Eastern European States group: 6 seats, including Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic
It has taken months of difficult negotiations to create the new council.
Human rights groups believe it has the potential to be much more effective than the old 53-member commission, which had members whose own rights record were suspect.
Some former commission members like Sudan and Zimbabwe decided not to risk the hurdle of winning election at the General Assembly, and are not on the new council.
Iran tried for election and failed, but China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia succeeded despite their poor human rights records.
The US did not stand, although it has not ruled out joining in the future. It was against the council's creation, arguing it did not go far enough to prevent countries with bad rights records from winning seats.
The issues remain divisive, our correspondent says, and the new council members' willingness to let go of narrow political interests in favour of universal human rights is being seen as a key test.
This first meeting of the new council runs until 30 June and will aim to set out its operating procedures, including how it should carry out its human rights reviews of the 191 UN member states, and how often.
The council is also expected to adopt a resolution against forced disappearances and a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
#4
The hope is that the new council will be more democratic, less politicised and, above all, more effective in upholding human rights, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says.
Meaning the HRNGOs are hoping for more influence. Considering who's on the Council, they'll get more of the 'right' cases.
#5
The hope is that the new council will be more democratic, less politicised and, above all, more effective in upholding human rights, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says.
Translation: They expect the new council to be more vocal in condemning the US.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/19/2006 20:37 Comments ||
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time for Tough Love for the UN membership. Close the wallet
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2006 20:52 Comments ||
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LAHORE: Pakistan is currently short-listing its candidates for the post of United Nations secretary general and President Pervez Musharraf will take the final decision on the issue, the Asian Age reported on Saturday. The Indian newspaper telephoned Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri in Islamabad, who denied that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was likely to be a candidate for the post.
Meeee too! Meeee too!
The newspaper said that Kasuri did not any details, but did mention that a decision on the issue would be taken "at the highest level". The Asian Age claimed that India's decision to field Shashi Tharoor for the UN's top post "is being read in Islamabad as a direct 'invitation' for Pakistan to enter the race".
All make way for UN SecGen A.Q. Khan. Huzzah!
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Sheesh! Khan'd probably make a better SecGen or replacement for al Baradei than the ones we got now.
I could fisk every sentence of this story and then fisk my own fisking. Miss Lester does not realize how close she was to a lifetime of indentured servitude to this high school dropout and loyal son of Allan. I hope she will understand in the fullness of time.
The Palestinian man who befriended a 16-year-old Michigan girl through the MySpace.com Web site and invited her to join him in Jericho said he is heartbroken by U.S. authorities' decision to send her back home. Abdullah Jimzawi, 20, told The Associated Press that his love for Katherine Lester, of Gilford, Mich., was pure and they planned to marry. The music buff, who spends at least 10 hours a day on the Internet, decried attempts to portray him as an Internet predator. "We love the same things, the same songs and we have similar dreams. I fell in love with her because she is innocent and goodhearted. We found ourselves as soul mates," he told the AP on Sunday at his family's comfortable house.
Jericho, a town of 17,000, is largely immune from the violence and mayhem plaguing the rest of the West Bank.
Jimzawi, a high school dropout with close-cropped hair, a two-day beard and large, dark eyes, said Katherine was willing to convert to Islam and that the pair remain in close contact, speaking to each other at least five hours a day via Internet phone calls. Jimzawi works in his father's business delivering goods to minimarkets and has never gotten into trouble. Earlier this month, Katherine boarded a flight to Israel after slipping out of her mother's house. At a stopover in Amman, Jordan, U.S. authorities seized her passport and sent her back home.
Had Katherine made it to Jericho, Jimzawi said, she would have slept in his sister's bedroom, not his. He said he would have walked with her through the tree-lined streets of Jericho, and his family would have celebrated her 17th birthday together on June 21. "When I realized she wasn't coming I felt my whole world collapse," he said. "My tears didn't stop and I couldn't sleep for three days."
Jerusalem, June 19 (PTI): Israel is likely to launch its 18.2 million USD-worth TauvexII scientific telescope for astronomical research of the galaxies aboard India's GSAT-4 satellite by mid next year.
"A delegation from ISRO recently visited Israel to review the progress in the project, including a short visit by its Chairman, and found that the progress is smooth and the telescope is close to integration stage", Director of Israel Space Agency (ISA), Zvi Kaplan said.
"A crew from El-op, which is supplying the camera and scientists from the Tel Aviv University will meet next month to start the process of integration and to check other technical aspects in the context of the whole system", Kaplan said.
The telescope was designed to be launched aboard a Russian launcher at a cost of 15 million USD and another 3.2 million USD is being spent to adopt it to the Indian launcher, sources at the ISA said.
The launch is a part of the agreement signed between ISA and ISRO for scientific cooperation between the two countries in the field of astronomy in the Ultra-Violet spectrum in December 2003 during the visit of then Science and Technology minister Eliezer Sandberg to India.
The TAUVEX II electro-optical space camera is for scientific exploration and comprises three telescopes for observation in the "ultra-violet" spectrum for astronomical research of the galaxies.
Research activities based on imagery received from the camera will be performed jointly by academic institutions in both India and Israel.
About Tauvex
TAUVEX is an Indo-Israeli Ultraviolet Imaging Experiment that will image large parts of the sky in the wavelength region between 1400 and 3200 Å. The instrument consists of three co-aligned 20-cm UV imaging telescopes with a choice of filters for each telescope. Each telescope has a field of view of about 54' and a spatial resolution of about 6" to 10", depending on the wavelength. TAUVEX will be launched into a geostationary orbit as part of ISRO's GSAT-4 mission in 2006. The hardware is being built at El-Op (Israel) while the software is being developed at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. The scientific data will be shared equally by the two countries.
Posted by: john ||
06/19/2006 09:29 ||
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Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2006 11:16 Comments ||
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It's amazing how good they are at flying under the radar. As much publicity as India's achievements have been getting lately, it seems there is plenty more achievements that few outside of india know about. Wonder how long it will be before the full impact of India will be realized by the world.
British fertility specialists have developed a powerful new way to test embryos for inherited diseases, offering hundreds of couples their first realistic chance of having healthy children. The procedure has been hailed as a big advance, boosting the number of diseases clinics can test for from about 200 to nearly 6,000.
It will allow doctors to test for the first time a vast array of inherited diseases for which the specific genetic mutation is not known, such as Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD) and some forms of cystic fibrosis. Using the technique, doctors can examine every embryo created for a couple through IVF, and determine whether each is healthy and unaffected, a carrier of the disease, or destined to develop the full-blown medical condition.
Such detailed knowledge of the genetic make-up of embryos will lead to a radical shift in the way couples at risk of passing on certain diseases are treated.
Continued on Page 49
I send greetings to all Americans celebrating Juneteenth.
Major General Gordon Granger led Union soldiers into Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, bringing the news that the Civil War had ended and that the Emancipation Proclamation, signed over 2 years earlier, had declared all slaves to be free persons. This historic day is celebrated to remember the end of slavery. Emancipation demonstrated our country's belief in liberty and equality for every citizen, and was a profound recognition that each and every American has rights, dignity, and matchless value.
One hundred forty years later, the Juneteenth observance continues to remind us of our country's founding principles of liberty and justice for all. As we mark the anniversary of the end of servitude, we also recognize the many contributions of African Americans to our culture. African Americans have helped shape our country's character, enhanced the diversity that makes America strong, and contributed to the vitality, success, and prosperity of our Nation. Juneteenth is a day that stands for the dignity and equality of all citizens, regardless of race, so that all may share the blessings of freedom that America provides.
Laura and I send our best wishes on this special occasion. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.
GEORGE W. BUSH
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2006 09:10 ||
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Rep. Murthas office is presently drafting a statement saying the Presidents recognition is premature and that Gen. Grangers forces should be removed in 6 months. His forces should never had been deployed and the whole war was a mistake.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
MIRANSHAH: Taliban on Sunday warned male doctors against carrying out ultrasound tests on female patients. In a pamphlet from the "North Waziristan Mujahideen", they demanded that female doctors be appointed to carry out the procedure. "We will award punishment in accordance with Islamic laws if any male doctor is found to be carrying out ultrasound tests on female patients," read the pamphlet pasted on the main streets of Miranshah.
The 'un-China' could be world's next economic superpower
The Palestinian man who befriended a 16-year-old Michigan girl through the MySpace.com Web site and invited her to join him in Jericho said he is heartbroken by U.S. authorities' decision to send her back home. Abdullah Jimzawi, 20, told The Associated Press that his love for Katherine Lester, of Gilford, Mich., was pure and they planned to marry. The music buff, who spends at least 10 hours a day on the Internet, decried attempts to portray him as an Internet predator. "We love the same things, the same songs and we have similar dreams. I fell in love with her because she is innocent and goodhearted. We found ourselves as soul mates," he told the AP on Sunday at his family's comfortable house. 
