Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party on Saturday pushed for an independent probe of the car crash that killed his wife and injured him, as an official said a US aid truck was involved.
Tsvangirai and his wife Susan, 50, were travelling from Harare to Buhera, their rural hometown where the new prime minister was due to speak at a rally on Saturday. His wife died at the scene of the crash. Police on Friday said Tsvangirai's car collided with a truck which crossed into the oncoming lane and side-swiped the prime minister's vehicle, causing it to roll several times.
More details of the truck emerged on Saturday, with a US embassy official in Harare saying it belonged to a US aid agency "partner" for AIDS drug delivery.
ABC News in the United States cited unnamed US officials as saying the truck belonged to a contractor working for the US and British governments. The truck, which had a USAID insignia on it, was purchased by US government funds and its driver was hired by a British development agency, the report said.
#1
So USAID and the Brits are now hiring "War Veterans"?
Posted by: ed ||
03/08/2009 10:27 Comments ||
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#2
Bitch cut me off...
Posted by: Drivin B. Hard ||
03/08/2009 13:35 Comments ||
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#3
So basically the fact that the US funds NGO's (which are basically on the side of the tranzi aristocracy) is going to be used to blame the crime on the US by the usual conspiracy theorists?
A security personnel of civil aviation was shot dead allegedly by his friends early yesterday at Kawla in the capital. I can't recall any of my friends ever taking a shot at me.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I believe that there was an article yesterday about a suitcase with a woman's body in it found at this airport. Not related according to the story BUT....
#2
Fred, there was that one time, at Rantapalooza II, but you were in no condition to notice and we patched the wall pretty good with some toothpaste and White-Out so really, just let bygones be bygones...
#6
Fred, there was that one time, at Rantapalooza II, but you were in no condition to notice and we patched the wall pretty good with some toothpaste and White-Out so really, just let bygones be bygones...
Nearly three times as many foreign IT workers entered the UK last year than during the dot-com boom, new figures reveal.
Despite the economic downturn, 35,430 UK work permits were issued to non-EU IT workers in 2008, compared to 12,726 in 2000 when the UK was gripped by a massive IT skills shortage.
The huge intake from abroad is leading to thousands of UK IT workers being laid off, according to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies.
It said the figures show that the severity of the economic downturn and 'tougher new immigration system introduced last year had 'barely dented' the influx of non-EU IT workers coming to the UK.
Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, said: 'It seems crazy that with the economy in a severe downturn and thousands of IT workers having already lost their jobs, we are still bringing three times as many foreign IT workers to the UK than during the dot-com boom when we had a chronic skills shortage.
'The economic slowdown and supposedly 'tougher' new points based immigration system seem to have had very little effect on slowing the influx of foreign IT staff into the UK.
'A few years ago this may have been overlooked, but with IT jobs much scarcer, this is now a contentious issue.'
The vast majority of non-EU IT workers coming to the UK - 80 per cent - are classed as intra-company transfers, which is where companies relocate IT staff between offices in different countries.
There is currently no requirement for companies to advertise vacancies in the UK before bringing workers in on intra-company transfers.
In light of the significant increase in unemployment in the IT sector in the UK, APSCo said the Government should review this rule and consider making companies tap into the UK labour market first.
Most of the foreign IT workers are software engineers and systems analysts.
'They are not coming here to answer phones on help desks, but are taking highly skilled and well paid jobs,' said the association.
According to APSCo, 'offshoring' IT jobs to low-cost overseas locations, which is likely to accelerate during the downturn as organisations look to cut their budgets, is eroding the IT skills base in the UK.
This was making it easier for organisations to justify importing IT skills from abroad, it said.
'Offshoring has eaten away at the bottom rungs of the skills ladder, making it much harder to get the experience needed for the mid-level jobs which foreign companies are bringing workers into the UK to fill,' said Miss Swain.
'If anything we are going to see more entry-level IT jobs sent offshore in 2009 as recession bites.
'Is it any wonder that seven per cent fewer students leave British universities with IT
qualifications than five years ago when so many jobs are going offshore?'
The data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Home Office, revealed that the number of foreign IT workers coming to the UK last year fell by eight per cent from its high point of 38,450 in 2007.
PARIS, MARCH 6 - The pret-a-porter season in Paris has begun, but the crisis is being felt. First of all, the Chambre syndacale is already regretting its decision to hold 9 days of catwalks, which the organisers are now saying are too many: "the French labels had really insisted on keeping the calendar to the same length, but next season it will not be possible, we will have to reduce it to seven days". The directors of the chambre announce that the number of journalists and buyers in attendance has halved. Paris is attempting to maintain a high level of show, but also reducing the costs: "there will be less champagne, fewer parties, less of everything. The crisis is hitting hard", the organisers of the show comment.
#2
And we're supposed to give a rat's patootie because...?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/08/2009 1:52 Comments ||
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#3
I'm too sexy for the catwalk...
Posted by: Right Said Fred ||
03/08/2009 9:17 Comments ||
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#4
They would never dream of putting on a fashion show that would appeal to heterosexual men, however. It would be far too hard to find women with curves willing to don revealing costumes while men ogled and leered at them.
#8
It would be far too hard to find women with curves
Don't be silly, Anonymoose. Lots of curves in French butter sauce country. Generally the curves develop extra curves as the years pass, but there are quite enough men who prefer women to be extra womanly.
#11
Thanks, ed. Your comment about soleless shoe enabled me to coin a new definition of an atheist as some who has soles on his feet, but none in his heart. Sorry to all those who cringed upon reading this. I can't help myself. But it's all ed's fault. He fed me the idea for the line.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/08/2009 21:09 Comments ||
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NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf offered prayers at the historic Jama Masjid here on Sunday evening as hundreds of worshippers gathered there to get a glimpse of him, resulting in a stampede-like situation.
Musharraf drove to the 17th century architectural marvel around 6:40pm(local time) to offer the 'Magrib' namaz amidst heavy security.
Around 5,000 people were in the mosque when Musharraf came there. He waved at the people who went berserk and almost created a stampede-like situation. His security staff escorted him out of the complex as people scrambled each other to have a close look at him.
This was his second visit to the Jama Masjid. He last came here on an official visit in April 2005. Musharraf was born in Neharwali Haveli, a kilometre away from the Masjid, in Chandni Chowk on August 1943. After partition, his family had migrated to Pakistan.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/08/2009 12:39 ||
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#1
How ironic that these 5000 muslims are safer offering prayers in this Delhi mosque than they would be in a Pakistani one
Posted by: john frum ||
03/08/2009 12:45 Comments ||
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The objective of women's empowerment lies at the heart of the government's efforts for national development, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Saturday.
In her message on International Women's Day on March 8, Sherry said it was important to stretch our commitment to gender justice beyond celebrations on a single day.
"Women's Day is a reminder that as citizens, we share serious obligations to bridge the gaps in gender development that exist in our societies despite the progress we have made towards women's empowerment over the last few decades." Sherry said it was important that the context of all policy actions by the government prioritise women's development and stress on equal rights.
"The promotion of human rights in any society is, to a great extent, dependent on the commitment of its political forces and public representatives to fundamental entitlements of the citizens. For the Pakistan People's Party government, politics and human rights are closely linked to each other. The PPP set an example when it made human rights the basis of Pakistan's 1973 Constitution, which remains the sole guarantor of fundamental freedoms and rights enjoyed by the Pakistani people."
Fundamental principle: Sherry said the PPP worked on the fundamental principle that linked women's rights to human rights.
"It is this commitment that led the party to introduce special provisions for women related to non-discrimination on the basis of sex in Pakistan's constitution. A strong sense of responsibility drove Benazir Bhutto to aggressively pursue a pro-women agenda - both while in the government and in the opposition -- in the face of an extremely resistant right-wing establishment. During her two terms in office, and in the course of her political life, Benazir established fundamental structures in Pakistan's state apparatus to ensure that women's rights become central to all future policy actions of the government and political entities of the country. In 1993, Benazir's government subscribed to the Vienna Declaration, which recognised women's rights as human rights. This policy action served as the most important move towards enabling the state to deliver on its obligation for women's empowerment."
The information minister said the PPP government was determined to carry forward the mantle of gender equality, social justice, and political and economic empowerment. She said legislation related to workplace harassment and domestic violence, initiated by the government is key to the efforts to address issues of safety and security for women. She said the Information Ministry was working with the media to enable them to serve women effectively by enhancing their participation and representation on important forums. The information minister said the president and the prime minister were committed to building further on the party's pro-women legacy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
empowered to listen to Bob Dylan sing "everybody must get stoned."
Pagara said lawyers' duty was to argue cases, not conduct protests.
Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief Pir Pagara on Saturday said the country would see a revolution instead of martial law if the current conditions did not improve. He was talking to reporters after meeting former state minister Muhammed Ali Durrani. Pagara said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had a dark future, while his brother, former Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif had an obscure future. He advised sacked chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to defend people's cases in the Supreme Court instead of aspiring for the chief justice slot. Pagara said lawyers' duty was to argue cases, not conduct protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Information Minister Sherry Rehman has said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif is trying to destabilise the Pakistan People's Party government, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. That doesn't take much effort, does it?
According to the channel, Sherry told reporters in Islamabad that politics of confrontation would not benefit anyone and the PML-N should avoid a campaign to derail democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of workers have been on strike in Jordan for the past 10 days - but not for a pay rise or improving work conditions, local media reported Sunday.
Instead the employees, mostly from Sri Lanka and India, believe that their factories are haunted by evil spirits and are demanding that the demons are expelled by exorcism, according to local trade unionists.
'A total of 367 workers belonging to the Sri Lankan and Indian nationalities have been on strike at the industrial zone in Sihab, 20 kilometres east of Amman, alleging that their plants were dwelt by devils,' head of the Textile Industry Workers Union Fathallah Imrani told the daily newspaper al-Rai.
'This type of strike is unprecedented in the history of industry,' he added.
Imrani said that about 200 of the workers have agreed to return to work after the business owners brought Muslim preachers who read Koranic verses at the plants, a traditional method for evicting devils.
But the rest of striking workers 'insisted on changing the place where they work or be sent home,' he added.
'South East Asian peoples usually believe in demons, but this feeling gathered momentum with these workers after one of them died of a brain illness and two women workers were deported to their countries because they suffered epilepsy,' he said.
Read more: "Workers in Jordan strike to demand exorcism" - http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1463419.php/Workers_in_Jordan_strike_to_demand_exorcism_#ixzz09D4Rx0Lf
The World Bank predicts the global economy will shrink this year for the first time since World War II, and sees trade at its lowest point in 80 years.
The World Bank also said Sunday the growing global financial crisis will create a multibillion-dollar financing shortfall for poor and developing nations.
A group of 129 countries face a shortfall of $270 to $700 billion this year, the World Bank says. It warns international financial institutions will not be able to cover even the low end of that estimate.
The bank said only one-quarter of the vulnerable countries will be able to ease the impact of the economic downturn through job creation or "safety net" programs.
When smart young foreigners leave these shores, they take with them the seeds of tomorrow's innovation. Almost 25 percent of all international patent applications filed from the United States in 2006 named foreign nationals as inventors. Immigrants founded a quarter of all U.S. engineering and technology companies started between 1995 and 2005, including half of those in Silicon Valley. In 2005 alone, immigrants' businesses generated $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers.
Yet rather than welcome these entrepreneurs, the U.S. government is confining many of them to a painful purgatory. As of Sept. 30, 2006, more than a million people were waiting for the 120,000 permanent-resident visas granted each year to skilled workers and their family members. No nation may claim more than 7 percent, so years may pass before immigrants from populous countries such as India and China are even considered.
Why does all this matter? Because just as the United States has relied on foreigners to underwrite its deficit, it has also depended on smart immigrants to staff its laboratories, engineering design studios and tech firms. An analysis of the 2000 Census showed that although immigrants accounted for only 12 percent of the U.S. workforce, they made up 47 percent of all scientists and engineers with doctorates. What's more, 67 percent of all those who entered the fields of science and engineering between 1995 and 2006 were immigrants. What will happen to America's competitive edge when these people go home?
Immigrants who leave the United States will launch companies, file patents and fill the intellectual coffers of other countries. Their talents will benefit nations such as India, China and Canada, not the United States. America's loss will be the world's gain. luddites
#1
And guess what happens when such intelligent, entrepreneurial types go home to discover a stifling bureaucracy, and an ignorant and superstitious government filled with socialists eager to redistribute their wealth?
#4
As of Sept. 30, 2006, more than a million people were waiting for the 120,000 permanent-resident visas granted each year to skilled workers and their family members.
You'll have to take that issue up with Nancy and Harry who are more interested in TEN million who didn't even bother to go through the entire process, but who they want to vote by the next election. The Nancy and Harry Show is not interested in people who won't be dependent upon them for their existence like good serfs.
#5
WaPo gets one right. Just as our lesser lights don't want illegals from Mexico coming in and taking their jobs by working for less (or even just by working at all), our brighter lights don't want competition for the more elite jobs. They skate through school and get C's in (at most) Civil Engineering and expect to be paid to design the next generation of stealth aircraft or nuclear power plants. So they put up roadblocks to those who actually learned partial differential equations (mostly Asians).
#6
So, Glenmore, why should an American get a PhD in a difficult discipline, when at any moment:
a) He could be replaced by an Indian with an H1B visa, or
b) His job could be outsourced to a team of programmers in India or China, or
c) If he does succeed here in America, the government will tax and/or regulate his company to death?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/08/2009 14:47 Comments ||
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#7
Because a PhD in an 'easy' discipline does not prepare one for productive work at all, whereas if you have learned something productive you at least have a chance to compete with the foreigners who have learned it. In general, for equally qualified and compensated workers in this country, the corporations will take the citizens over the H1B visa. Any job can be outsourced, but your odds are better (still not good, but better) if you are good at your job. I wish I had an argument for your third point - it does appear we have already outsourced our government.
#8
And in the end, we as a country are better off if bright young Indians and Chinese come here and join us and add to our economy than if they go home/stay home and take their contributions to our economy with them. (Our livestyle and freedoms have tended to be addictive to immigrants over the decades - all my engineering profs were Russians or European Jews who fled Hitler and/or Stalin.) Outsourcing everything is even worse than outsourcing almost everything.
#9
In general, for equally qualified and compensated workers in this country, the corporations will take the citizens over the H1B visa.
In your dreams. An America who has the 'go' will seek, just like the business, a better deal for himself. The H1-B loses their ticket if they jump ship. It's just as much about control as it is about ability. Businesses are loath to issue binding contracts to American workers because they count such items as liabilities not as assets [just look at Detroit] since they obligate the corp for financial compensation they could otherwise address by simple termination.
#10
Glenmore, I wouldn't try selling that to 3dc if I were you.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/08/2009 17:18 Comments ||
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#11
They skate through school and get C's in (at most) Civil Engineering
Hey! I was living in the fraternity house at the time! C's were like gold, man
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2009 18:12 Comments ||
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#12
CNN NEWS this AM > Guest Pert - proclaims US GOP IS NOW A HEAVILY FRACTURED, WEAK MINORITY PARTY. US DEMS = DEMOLEFT could score points vee RUSH LIMBAUGH by potraying the GOP-Right as dedicated or manic followers of LIMBAUGH = the MAHARUSHIE???
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.
