VILNIUS, Lithuania: A lonely baboon in a private Lithuanian zoo has adopted a chicken he saved from certain death last month and the two have formed a fast friendship, the zoo's director said yesterday. The chicken was intended as food for other animals in the zoo, but escaped and was sheltered by Mitis, a six-year-old Hamadryas Baboon, said Edvardas Legeckas, who runs the zoo near the port city Klaipeda in western Lithuania.
Mitis has been fed chicken meat before, but this time he fell in love with his food, Legeckas said. "He plays with the chicken, cleans its feathers, sleeps with it, and takes care as if it was his own baby child," the zoo director said.
A Panama-flagged freighter sank in the Black Sea with 36 people aboard, private NTV television reported Friday. A coastguard boat launched to rescue the people from the site off the Turkish coast returned because of bad weather, private CNNTurk TV said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
For less than 1000 USD and a trip to the Panamanian Consulate in London, you too can fly the Panamanian flag. These are the most suspect of all vessels on the high seas.
#3
No need to go to London. One can go to Houston as well.
The $1000 is for transferring an already-registered vessel to new ownership, or changing the vessel name. New registration runs from $500 to $3000, with annual fees of $1200 -$3000.
There's a reason why it and Liberia are called 'flags of convenience'. But they aren't alone.
We've come across a Korean ship where everyone on board was dead-drunk,
nearly collided with an Egyptian ship that was on Iron Mike (autopilot) with no one visible and no one responding to radio calls, and a disabled Greek vessel that was still drifting two weeks after we first came across it.
I won't even mention the Iraqi ship with the case of mass... intestinal distress...
President Hosni Mubarak has said freedom of press should be responsible, and it was wrong that some people practice their rights and freedom without taking into consideration obligations vis-a-vis the rest of the society. Mubarak, in remarks to Al-Usboo' (Week) weekly newspaper to be published Saturday, said he was very keen on maintaining freedom of opinion and press, and there was no way back from that quest.
Mubarak's remarks came after a court sent to jail four chief editors of local newspapers for writing inaccurate reports about the health conditions of the President.
Mubarak said journalists should be responsible for committing to the press code of ethics. "My belief in the freedom of press is unshaken, and increasing space of this freedom will not be affected by some violations that contradicted with journalistic and professional values, as well as the press code of ethics," said the president.
Despite the growing violations, said Mubarak, "my believe in the freedom of press is through the protection of this freedom and rejection of interference in affairs of journalists." Mubarak said he was not against the objective criticism, which is different than offensives. He warned against spread of rumors in press because it would destabilize the country.
He called on all journalists to confront all attempts aimed at undermining my regime the security, economic and political stability of Egypt.
SAUDI Arabia has seen many rapid changes in the past decades. One that is becoming more obvious is that of Saudi women who are increasingly opting to marry foreigners. Recent statistics issued by the Interior Ministry showed that 20,000 marriages have been registered between Saudi women and foreign men in the past five years.
Saudi women are prohibited from marrying non-Saudis, except with special permission from higher authorities. Permission is also required before a Saudi woman is able to marry an Arab, who is not a citizen of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
According to Majed Al-Sharif from Riyadhs Marriage Court, the year 2007 has seen, in comparison to previous years, a higher number of cross-nationality marriages.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"why most Saudi women, who are married to Westerners, reside abroad"
Didja ever think they may marry foreign men so they could get out of the Saudi "paradise"?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/15/2007 0:51 Comments ||
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#2
Another fine example of Islamic theocracy at work and why it must go.
A mother who had her bag snatched was told by police it was not a crime - because she chased after the thief and won her property back.
Sam McAlister was queueing in a coffee shop with her ten-month-old son when a woman grabbed the bag from the back of the pushchair as an accomplice distracted her. Miss McAlister, 34, left her child with staff at the Starbucks cafe, whom she knew well, and set off in pursuit of the woman. She confronted the thief in a nearby shop and was eventually reunited with her bag after a struggle.
But when she went to a police station to report the crime, she was told by an officer behind the desk that it was not a crime because she had got the bag back. It was only when the former criminal barrister used her knowledge of the law that the case was passed on to a senior officer who decided to investigate.
Miss McAlister, now a radio producer, said: "The woman was dressed in a way that made her very easy to spot.
"I spotted her about four shops away with a backpack, and I thought 'I'm not having this'.
"She was about 6ft tall, but I thought it was worth a try, so I ran over to her.
"I grabbed her backpack and shouted at her 'You've got my bag'. We were struggling and grappling, I was yelling 'Give me my bag' for dear life."
Eventually, the woman threw Miss McAlister's handbag at her as members of the public became involved. Miss McAlister added: "I picked up the bag and as soon as I learnt someone had caught her I went back to my son."
A police community-support officer went to the scene at the Hammersmith shopping centre in West London on Thursday afternoon and took Miss McAlister to the local police station. She said: "The female police officer behind the desk asked me the barest of details and she said that if I have got the bag back then obviously that's not a crime. I was dumbfounded."
Miss McAlister, who lives nearby, explained that it was indeed a crime and left her details, demanding to speak to a superior officer. "The woman called me an hour later to say it was a crime but it was an attempted theft," she said. "I knew that wasn't right either. It was theft at the very least." Miss McAlister eventually received a call from a senior officer who, she said, took her 'very seriously'.
But the incident has left her angry and concerned. "It is only because I know the law that I had the confidence to argue," she said. "Otherwise handbag thieves would all be coming to Hammersmith because handbag theft is obviously not a crime here."
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the woman officer had initially denied a crime had been committed, but later reflected on the incident and "completed a crime report within an hour of the offence taking place". He added: "Words of advice will be given to the member of staff involved."
The spokesman said the suspect had managed to get away. I'm surprised the victim wasn't arrested for "interfering with a criminal".
I can only hope Ms. McAlister left a few lumps on the perp's head, 'cause that's all the punishment the perp is going to get.
#2
So if some yutz was to beat somebody, would it not be a crime if they claimed they were trying to kill them and didn't succeed?
I wonder if 21st century Europe is what people imagined it would be back in 1991 when the Soviets left the east. Ah, well, they best not think about things like that. There's Americans and GW Bush to nag and insult.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
09/15/2007 11:13 Comments ||
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#3
George Orwell would be so proud. Welcome to the world of "uncrime". This will certainly make the police perfromance statistics look a lot better.
#5
Nah, hope she didn't raise a few lumps on the deserving perp....because then the perp would probably charge her with assault. The same dumb broad who denied the original report would probably agree with the perp.
China hopes to have 12 million tons of strategic oil reserves by the end of 2010 from the current level of 2-3 million tons, said an official from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, state press reported Thursday.
Speaking at the 8th US-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, Chen Deming, deputy director of the NDRC, also suggested planned oil reserves in 2010 will equal one month of China's net import of crude oil, and that number will be raised further, to an equivalent of three months of imports, by 2020, according to the China Daily.
China is the world's second-largest oil consumer after the US.
World crude oil futures prices Wednesday topped USD 79 per barrel, indicating this moment is definitely not a good opportunity to raise national oil reserve levels.
The national strategic oil reserve plan was launched in 2003, and China planned to construct four oil reserve bases along the coastal areas, of which two are already in use. The construction of a third base, with a reserve capacity of three million cubic meters, will be completed by the end of this year and it will start operation next year, the daily said.
Referring to the Sino-US cooperation in terms of oil and gas assets, Chen said he hoped the US would outline clear policy regarding Chinese energy enterprises' procurement of American oil and gas assets. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the third biggest oil company in China, tried in 2005 to buy US oil company Unocal Corp for access to its Asian gas reserves, but dropped the bid after US politicians interfered. Later that year, Chevron Corp, another American oil giant, with a far lower bid than CNOOC, ultimately acquired Unocal.
All available resources of the district government will be utilised for the rehabilitation of all the people affected by the October 8, 2005 earthquake, said Mansehra District Nazim Sardar Muhammad Yousaf.
2005 was... ummm... divide by 11, carry the three... square root of 14... two years ago. What've they been doing in the meantime?... Oh, yes. I remember. It wasn't that.
He said this while addressing a ceremony held here on Friday under the banner of the Women Employment Programme (WEP) organised by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Under the WEP, the quake-affected women of Kashmir and Mansehra are being given multiple vocational training, including embroidery, at the IRC centres so that they could respectably earn livelihoods for their families and contribute in the rehabilitation process in the affected areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2007 00:00 ||
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... little progress was made in putting these facilities to practical use because crude oil prices were stuck below USD 40 a barrel, but with crude surging above USD 70 a barrel, the technology has gained renewed momentum
Asia's biggest power equipment manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will jointly develop coal liquefication facilities, which are used to produce gasoline and other petroleum products, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., a leading financial paper here reported Thursday.
For years, little progress was made in putting these facilities to practical use because crude oil prices were stuck below USD 40 a barrel, but with crude surging above USD 70 a barrel, the technology has gained renewed momentum, especially considering that coal reserves quadruple that of crude oil, the Nikkei Shimbun said.
Consequently, some estimate that demand for coal liquefication plants may reach JPY 10 trillion (USD 88 billion) by 2020.
Against this backdrop, Shell and Exxon Mobil each aim to introduce such facilities beginning in 2010, and have embarked on projects to develop large-scale commercial plants capable of processing around 100,000 barrels of oil each day, the daily said. They both requested Mitsubishi Heavy's participation.
Mitsubishi Heavy will be responsible for developing a special compressor, which compresses the oxygen and hydrogen produced when coal is thermally broken down.
The Tokyo-based heavy machinery maker will develop the world's largest compressor for coal liquefication. Shell and Exxon Mobil are also expected to purchase steam turbines, which operate the compressors, the report said, adding that each facility is likely to cost around JPY 15 billion (USD 131 million).
#2
The $70 dollar a barrel price is on the crude spot market. Most contract offers for oil purchases are rarely over 30 dollars still. And for domestic production I remember it wasn't until 2-3 years ago that if your costs weren't under 10 bucks per barrel you were making a loss per barrel of oil if you tried to sell oil domestically.
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.
A Panama-flagged freighter sank in the Black Sea with 36 people aboard, private NTV television reported Friday. A coastguard boat launched to rescue the people from the site off the Turkish coast returned because of bad weather, private CNNTurk TV said.
SAUDI Arabia has seen many rapid changes in the past decades. One that is becoming more obvious is that of Saudi women who are increasingly opting to marry foreigners. Recent statistics issued by the Interior Ministry showed that 20,000 marriages have been registered between Saudi women and foreign men in the past five years.
