Mr Wicharn told reporters in Bangkok that the Ekawat Nava 5 had been headed from Oman to Yemen last Tuesday to deliver fishing equipment when it was approached by Somali pirates in two speed boats in the Gulf of Aden. The pirates were in the process of boarding the vessel and seizing control when the Indian navy frigate, the INS Tabar, sailed into view and demanded it stop for investigation, he added.
"The sunken ship which the Indian navy claimed was a 'mother ship' of pirates was not the 'mother ship' at all," he said.
That's what he's saying now ...
Mr Wicharn said he had learnt the fate of his trawler from a Cambodian crew member who had survived the INS Tabar's bombardment and had been rescued by a passing ship after six days adrift in the Indian Ocean. The sailor was now recovering in a hospital in Yemen, he said.
Later, an Indian navy spokesman insisted that the Tabar had fired only upon a pirate "mother ship" which had threatened it. "We fired in self-defence and in response to firing upon our vessel. It was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was aggressive," Commodore Nirad Sinha told CNN. As much as I would like to see some modern naval forces go "old school" against the pirates, I guess this incident highlights the risks involved in misidentifying brigands
#2
I'll trust the Indian Navy's account until it's proven to be wrong.
It is not uncommon for pirates to hire on as crewmen to help in taking a boat. It is not uncommon for people that screw up (such as allowing your boat to be captured) to lie. It is also, oddly enough, not uncommon for people to claim they were crewmen when they were actually someplace else. Who knows at this point.
#3
Highlights the problem I talked about earlier. You can't go around sinking ships that might be pirate vessels without boarding them first to verify. Boarding a pirate vessel is extremely hazardous and likely to get your people killed.
#5
Well, they could have hove to and surrendered. Instead a couple of blokes shot at the Indians, and the Indians defended themselves. End of story. Watch where you sail, Mr. Wicharn. There are nasty folks mucking about the Horn of Africa.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/26/2008 1:30 Comments ||
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Apparently this company has had boats confiscated for illegal fishing in the past. This claim of 'hijack in progress' seems aimed at insurance or compensation claim.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/26/2008 5:31 Comments ||
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#9
You can't go around sinking ships that might be pirate vessels without boarding them first to verify.
The Tabar ordered them to stop for boarding. There were pirates on deck, armed with AK-47s and RPG7s. They refused to stop and fired on the Tabar.
What do you call a large trawler full of pirates with smaller pirate speedboats in tow ?
Posted by: john frum ||
11/26/2008 5:57 Comments ||
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#10
Hey, these so called pirates own Citigroup now.
#11
India acted where others merely whinned. Set up a round for the Indian maties. Hip, hip, hooray! Investigations may show the need for adjustments in procedures, but the direction is correct.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/26/2008 8:07 Comments ||
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#12
What do you call a large trawler full of pirates with smaller pirate speedboats in tow ?
#14
After the USS Cole, no warship will allow a suspect vessel that is firing on it to approach. The Tabar's 30 mm Gatling guns spun up a full five minutes after the pirates first fired at them. At no time did the pirates announce that they had hostages.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/26/2008 9:13 Comments ||
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#15
delivering 'fishing equipment'
boats confiscated for illegal fishing in the past
secondary explosions
Coulda been some of that redneck fishing equipment. If so, then at least the Greenies should be on our side here.
#16
I believe the Indian navy. All the secondaries prove there was something that shouldn't have been on a normal commercial vessel. Now the ship could have been hijacked and the crew members abandoned by the pirates.
#17
Any bets on crew members claiming they were 'impressed', shanghaied, or 'forced' to do the dirty deeds when the 18th Century Royal Navy caught up with pirates in the real Caribbean. "Honest gov'nor, me's was just a victim of circumstances. Don't be too hasty with that rope."
#18
"to Yemen last Tuesday to deliver fishing equipment"
Give a Yemeni a fish and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a Yemeni to fish and he'll import explosives forever.
#24
We deeply condole the loss of lives. But it has to be kept in mind that the trawler was under the command of pirates. As per international law and practice, the vessel is sunk if the pirates do not surrender. It [the firing] is perfectly within our rights and as per international law, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told newspersons here.
In the prolonged conversation between INS Tabar and the pirate mother ship, which took place on open frequencies and during which the Indian Navy repeatedly asked the ship to open itself for inspection, the pirates threatened to blow up the naval vessel as well as their ship if the Tabar did not move away to a distance of at least 20 km. Then, the pirates opened fire on the Tabar forcing the Navy personnel to retaliate.
This threat to blow up the naval ship appears strange if they had hostages aboard as is being claimed from Thailand. All their operations have involved hostages as human shields. Why did they not say they had hostages? the sources wanted to know, adding that in that case the naval vessel would have certainly backed off.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/26/2008 19:21 Comments ||
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The Kuwaiti government has handed in its resignation to avert a questioning of the prime minister in parliament but it was unclear whether it had been accepted by the ruler, two members of parliament said on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Inappropriate displays of affection, mixing between unmarried men and women and offensive writing are a few of the crimes the Saudi religious police are tasked with monitoring, and they appear to be on the rise if recent arrest rates are anything to go by
A report issued by the Saudi religious police indicated a remarkable increase in the number of arrests as well as in the type of cases it dealt with over the past year, local press reported Tuesday, with 19 percent more arrests this year than last.
The annual report of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice indicated that only 27 percent of the 434,000 people who were arrested were Saudi.
Eighty-five percent of Saudi cases resulted in the defendants writing pledges not to commit the offnense again while 17,000 were referred to the relevant authorities, the Saudi edition of the London-based newspaper al-Hayat reported Tuesday.
The rest of the arrests were foreign residents, of which 92 percent ended in pledges while eight percent were referred to the relevant authorities.
The reasons for the arrests varied, but most cases were related to religion, public decency, and drugs. Possession of pornographic material and blackmail also figured among the cases. Most cases that were not referred to the authorities were closed in compliance with the principle of satr, or concealment, an Islamic concept that advises not disgracing sinners if possible.
Mecca ranked first in the report with 114,844 arrests, followed by Riyadh with 105,085.
The commission presidency called in the report for hiring more security personnel in all the headquarters, especially since some stations have no security at all. The report also recommended increasing the budget and paying an extra 20 percent to the commission's field officers and providing them with wireless communication.
Among the requests in the report was the creation of a television programs dedicated to highlighting the commission's achievements. The commission said it wanted right to defend itself before the media and respond to all unjustified criticisms.
The religious police have been the target of criticism over the past year for exceeding its authority, unlawfully arresting and detaining suspects and causing car crashes during suspect chases. Earlier this month the commission announced a new council tasked with monitoring its activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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KUWAIT - Kuwait's ruler decided to put on hold the resignation of the OPEC country's cabinet on Tuesday, leaving his options open for intervention to end a crippling crisis between the government and parliament.
The cabinet tendered its resignation as parliament was about to look into a request by three legislators to question the prime minister, a member of the royal family, over the visit of an Iranian Shi'ite cleric accused of offending Sunni Muslims. But the three deputies had also wanted to question Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah over a wide range of accusations including alleged corruption and mismanagement in the world's seventh-largest oil exporter.
The impasse jeopardises crucial economic reforms such as a plan to set up a markets regulator and recent measures to tackle the impact of the global financial crisis by pumping cash into the Arab world's second-largest bourse hit by a slide.
State news agency KUNA said the Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah ordered ministers to continue to carry out their duties pending a decision. After meeting with the emir earlier on Tuesday, Parliament Speaker Jassim al-Kharafi said Sheikh Sabah will not dissolve the house -- an elected legislature dominated by Islamist and tribal politicians with a history of challenging the cabinet. 'I can confirm there will be no dissolution, constitutional or unconstitutional,' Jassim al-Kharafi told reporters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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British officials announced a $30 billion economic stimulus package Monday that they said was needed to jump-start the British economy in the face of a looming recession. Opposition politicians, however, called it an "unexploded tax bombshell."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Spitting into the ocean, in hopes of turning it sweet.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/26/2008 10:58 Comments ||
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#6
Two ships constitutes an "armada" these days? I guess standards for everything really have been lowered. But at least they didn't call them "battleships"...
Venezuela's opposition has been energized by Sunday's regional elections, in which its candidates won five states and important urban centers in the country's most economically vital and populous regions. Opposition leaders on Monday characterized the victories as a product of the frustrations urban Venezuelans feel with mounting crime and other social ills.
"I'm convinced that people manifested the desire for change across Venezuela," said Leopoldo López, an opposition politician who campaigned for Antonio Ledezma, elected mayor of greater Caracas.
The government of President Hugo Chavez stressed that most voters supported the president's United Socialist Party in balloting for 22 governorships and more than 320 mayoral posts. The president's allies won 17 states, including Barinas, where Chavez grew up and where one of his brothers, Adan, faced a stiff challenge. Government candidates also turned back dissident politicians who had broken with Chavez.
"Without a doubt, we are on the right path," Adan Chavez said on state television Monday night.
But leading Chavez associates, some from the most radical fringe of the president's movement, lost key races here in the bustling capital and elsewhere as the opposition increased the number of states it controls from two to five. About 40 percent of Venezuela's population lives in the electoral corridor the opposition now controls.
The government candidates who went down in defeat include two longtime Chavez allies, Diosdado Cabello, the incumbent governor here in Miranda state, and Aristóbulo Istúriz, who was running for the mayor's post in greater Caracas. Mario Silva, a television talk show host who specializes in deriding opposition leaders, lost in the industrial state of Carabobo.
The president had vigorously campaigned for his candidates, because an overwhelming victory would have given him more political leverage to reform the constitution and run for office when his term ends in 2013.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Do I hear a recount coming on?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/26/2008 8:14 Comments ||
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#2
"...an overwhelming victory would have given him more political leverage to reform the constitution and run for office when his term ends in 2013."
WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday cooled its support for a formal path to help Georgia and Ukraine join NATO, amid opposition not just from Russia but also from Germany and France.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting next week in Brussels, senior US diplomat Daniel Fried sounded conciliatory notes about how the two former Soviet republics should join the transatlantic alliance.
The issue of an alliance membership action plan (MAP) for Georgia and Ukraine had taken "on a life of its own" since a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Bucharest in April, he said.
Don't expect Bambi to push this forward. The Georgians are going to be on their own ...
In April, the 26-member NATO postponed any decision on offering the two nations a MAP until the December foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
Fried stressed that the controversy was over the MAP -- which is only a "way station" and "mechanism" to achieving full membership -- rather than over the long-term goal of having the two join. "MAP is not the only way to get there," he said. "I cannot tell you where foreign ministers will come out in this debate," said Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs who will travel to Brussels with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"But we think, rather than have a huge debate on MAP, ... we ought to concentrate on the areas where the alliance is already agreed, which is that these countries will join NATO but they have a lot of work to do," he added.
With nine former Soviet bloc countries already NATO members, Russia is fiercely opposed to more Soviet-era Warsaw Pact neighbors like Georgia and the Ukraine even starting the process of joining the western military alliance. NATO set up the MAP program in 1999 to support prospective members of the military alliance while they carry out the economic, legal, military and political reforms needed to join.
"Let's not debate theology. Let's help Georgia build up much stronger institutions, consolidate its democracy....," he said. "I think it's fair to predict there would be no NATO membership offer for some years to come -- just taking a look at these countries (Georgia and Ukraine) realistically," Fried said.
In October President George W. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said that there was "no reason" why Georgia and Ukraine should not be given a MAP. Perino also said Washington had seen "growing support for Georgia and Ukraine given what happened this summer when Russia invaded Georgia," referring to the armed conflict between the neighbors over Georgia's breakaway regions.
NATO members are divided, however, because they see that while membership could stabilize Georgia and Ukraine, it may also raise tensions with Moscow, which considers the move a threat to its own security.
And the Rooskies could turn off the natural gas ...
France and Germany are opposed, arguing that the early August conflict between Russia and Georgia shows how the move could exacerbate tensions in the Caucasus region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Not the Ukraine, unless that sellout takes over.
#2
Yes. The franks and krauts are worried that the conflict in Georgia shows that they could potentially have to actually fight the Russians.
I can't say I don't see their concern, but I can say they're bullshitting me, you and themselves by trying to hide behind words like 'rising tensions'.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/26/2008 1:33 Comments ||
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#3
The franks and krauts are worried that the conflict in Georgia shows that they could potentially have to actually fight the Russians
#5
Once again, we prepare to screw over potentially valuable friends. But all this talk of Franks and Krauts is making me hungry. Do you have any potato pancakes to go with that? It would be very nice.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/26/2008 8:12 Comments ||
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#6
The franks and krauts are worried that the conflict in Georgia shows that they could potentially have to actually fight the Russians
With what?
Actually the Russian Army could not even deal with either the German or French Army without resorting to nukes. Yes it has fallen this low.
The People's Bank of China cut interest rates by more than 1pc point as the economy crumbles and millions of jobs are predicted to go ahead of Christmas.
The move came just one day after the World Bank predicted that China would grow by 7.5pc next year. The level of growth may appear robust by Western standards, but it would represent the slowest economic expansion in China for the last two decades.
It is also perilously close to the 7pc minimum level of growth that Chinese economists believe is necessary in order to create enough jobs for the 6m university graduates who will enter the jobs market next year.
It is the fourth interest rate cut from the Chinese central bank in the last ten weeks as the government desperately battles an evident economic collapse. "China is out to save itself here," said Patrick Bennett, an analyst with Societe Generale in Hong Kong.
The PBOC reduced its main borrowing rate by 1.08pc points to 5.58pc, the biggest one-off cut since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.
In recent weeks, a series of riots across central and southern China have flowered as disgruntled employees aired their grievances at the downturn.
Today, around 500 protesters rioted at the Kai Da toy factory in Dongguan in the Pearl River delta, flipping over a police car and trashing computers in a dispute over payoffs to 80 fired workers. Tens of thousands of factories across the region have already shut their gates.
Yin Weimin, China's Social Security minister, has revealed that employment is the Communist Party's number one concern in the downturn and said the "situation is critical". Unemployment is expected to rise from 4pc to 4.5pc by the end of the year and anecdotal reports have suggested that 3m people have already been fired in the industrial province of Zhejiang alone.
Two major provinces, Shandong and Hubei, have already responded by banning companies from firing staff without permission from the government.
The Chinese government has also announced a £373bn bailout to stimulate domestic growth by investing in infrastructure. However, only a fifth of the money is likely to come from central government coffers, with the rest coming from a mix of private enterprise and local government funds.
"We're seeing a government that steps in, that is trying to do everything it can to keep growth at a decent rate, and has the financial means and the administrative capacity to make that happen," said Louis Kuijs, the head of the World Bank's China economics analysis.
"All my colleagues were shocked by such a big easing. It signals the government may believe the economic situation is really serious for it to call for such a drastic move," said Liu Dongliang, a currency analyst at China Merchants Bank in Shenzhen.
The reserve requirements of Chinese banks were also cut by 1pc point, and 2pc points for smaller banks, freeing up around 360 billion rmb (£34bn) for lending.
#2
No doubt. But I'm not sure how much is due the economic meltdown and how much is due to completing Christmas buildup orders. September's US-China trade deficit was almost $28 billion, the largest on record. November's trade deficit numbers will be the first to show any effects from the financial meltdown.
Posted by: ed ||
11/26/2008 20:14 Comments ||
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Oh-oh. Mo will be...unpleased.
Five Iraqi Muslims whose religion forbids them from contact with pork were caught trying to sneak illegally into Britain - in a lorryload of ham. Ha! They'll never look in here! Heeheehee heeheehee...
UK Border Agency officers searched the truck and found the gang hiding inside among tons of the meat. The Polish-registered lorry, bound for Haverhill in Suffolk, was stopped at the French port of Calais. The five were detained and handed to the French immigration authorities. Hey, Mahmoud. Ya smells like...filthy infidel ham!
The attempt, last Wednesday, was all the more bizarre because Muslims are banned from eating or touching ham. Well..maybe they didn't know?
A UK Border Agency spokeswoman said: "We use heartbeat and breath detectors, sniffer dogs and visual searches to find illegal immigrants. A million lorries were searched last year" Tell em to come out. Or we're sending in the mustard.
Cuban President Raul Castro is open to meeting U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on neutral ground to try to resolve the island's four-decade-old feud with Washington, according to an interview with a U.S. magazine.
The interview for The Nation was conducted by U.S. actor Sean Penn, who traveled to Havana after meeting Cuban ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and before Obama won the U.S. presidential election on November 4.
"You asked if I would accept to meet with (Obama) in Washington. I would have to think about it. I would discuss it with all my comrades in the leadership," Castro tells Penn in the interview for a December 15 issue published on its website.
"Personally, I think it would not be fair that I be the first to visit, because it is always the Latin American presidents who go to the United States first. But it would also be unfair to expect the president of the United States to come to Cuba. We should meet in a neutral place."
Obama has said he will reverse the Bush administration's policies that restricted Cuban Americans visiting Cuba and sending cash to their families there. He is willing to talk to Castro but would keep the 46-year-old trade embargo as leverage to influence democratic changes in the one-party state.
"Perhaps we could meet at Guantanamo," Castro says, referring to the bay where the U.S. maintains a naval base, which Cuba considers a violation of its sovereignty.
"We must meet and begin to solve our problems, and at the end of the meeting, we could give the president a gift ... we could send him home with the American flag that waves over Guantanamo Bay."
#1
I think Hollywood should start paying Spicoli in Cuban pesos and carbon credits instead of evil US greenbacks. Either that, or beat him with a shovel...
The chiefs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have declined to participate in a major U.N. conference next week on the financing of development assistance for poor countries, upsetting an effort to secure high-level attendance at a meeting aimed at goading the beleaguered financial giants into stepping up aid.
World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn confirmed Monday that they will not lead their agencies' delegation at a four-day conference in Doha, Qatar, beginning Saturday. But they will send senior advisers and remain committed to the goals of the conference, which will be attended by all of the 192 U.N. members, said officials from the two financial institutions.
Some top U.N. officials were visibly infuriated by what they viewed as a snub of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. One official accused Zoellick of trying to ensure that the major decisions on the financial crisis would be made by the less unwieldy Group of 20 nations, which met in Washington on Nov. 15 to try to coordinate international response to the meltdown. "It's fair to say that the secretary general was very disappointed and doesn't understand completely" why they will not be attending, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Even Chiefs of World Bank and International Monetary Fund had enough of UN?
The U.N.'s Palace of Nations is falling apart. The Palais des Nations is the U.N.'s European headquarters, flanked by the Swiss Alps to the west and Lake Geneva to the east. Peacocks roam freely on the grounds of the pristine, 111-acre Ariana Park that surrounds it.
But on the inside, the onetime home to the League of Nations is plagued by 70-year-old wiring, fire hazards and miles of rusty pipes that have flooded the archives repeatedly. Asbestos lines some of the walls, and the roof is in danger of caving in. The palace is in need of a major facelift. The tab: one billion dollars, says Director General Sergei Ordzhonikidze, who heads the U.N. Office at Geneva.
Or this...
The U.N. Human Rights Council, frequently accused of coddling some of the world's most repressive governments, threw itself a party in Geneva Tuesday that featured the unveiling of a $23 million mural paid for in part with foreign aid funds.
In a ceremony attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo told the press that his 16,000-square-foot ceiling artwork reminded him of "an image of the world dripping toward the sky" but it reminded critics of money slipping out of relief coffers.
"In Spain there's a controversy because they took money out of the foreign aid budget took money from starving children in Africa and spent it on colorful stalactites," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch.
Or maybe this...
U.N. Renovation Costs Balloon
Meanwhile, the six-year renovation project began with much fanfare in May. Originally projected to cost $1.8 billion, it now is more than $200 million beyond its expected costs, and the overruns are likely to get much worse.
Recently, the U.N. was hit with an unanticipated bill "exceeding $10 million," says one U.N. veteran.
Ah, yes. Ye Olde "Unanticipated Bill". NYC contractors musta had to carry drool buckets around when they first heard about this job.
The contractor, Skanska USA, was forced to install fireproof doors temporarily throughout U.N. headquarters during renovation work. The New York Fire Department reportedly insisted on the measure as a precaution during the reconstruction.
The U.N. thought the bill would be no more than $2 million, but the final tab was more than five times greater, a U.N. official said.
Grease a fire inspector with a coupla grand and that one coulda "went away".
Flying chairs and punches thrown by women students at a Gaza university [I'm assuming it is Al Alzhar because Hamas controls the other Universities in the Gaza pretty tightly] this week may seem a rather minor manifestation of the factional fighting that has riven Palestinian society over the past year or so....
The Thai government insisted yesterday it was "fully functional" but refused to disclose where officials were working to avoid provoking more protests with anti-government activists who have vowed to bring the administration to a standstill.
If you're in hiding to escape the mob then you're not 'fully functional'.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan troops pushed further into rebel-held territory, fighting through monsoon rains to capture a village on a key northern highway, the Defense Ministry said. Soldiers gained control late yesterday of Olumadu, southeast of the coastal town of Mullaitivu that is controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.
President Mahinda Rajapaksas government has pledged to capture the LTTEs headquarters in Kilinochchi by the end of this year as it seeks to end the 25-year civil war. The military said in October its forces had advanced to within 2 kilometers of the town, though has since revised their positions to about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.
The army said last week soldiers broke through the Tamil Tigers northern defense line on the Jaffna peninsula and that troops are now advancing on Kilinochchi from the north, south and west.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
I guess we won't be hearing much about "corporate welfare" anymore, eh?
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
11/26/2008 10:36 Comments ||
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#5
"Easing the crisis" is the best result we can hope for. There is a huge bill yet to be paid for the Kredit Kool Aid party of 1998-2008. Please keep in mind that debts which cannot be paid shrink the money supply, and that no one knows how many debts have gone under, and how many will go under.
#6
1 Trillion divided by 300 million (America's population) gives $333,333,333.33
Think of it as three hundred,thirty three million per person, every single Man Woman and Child.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/26/2008 14:03 Comments ||
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#7
1 Trillion/300 Million is about $3300
Posted by: Chris in Fort Worth ||
11/26/2008 15:08 Comments ||
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#8
RJ ran out of fingers and toes.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/26/2008 19:33 Comments ||
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#9
*snort*
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2008 19:36 Comments ||
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#10
And whose ass do they propose to pull the $800 billion from?
Posted by: ed ||
11/26/2008 19:44 Comments ||
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#11
1040 Supplement
Line 1: Got your $2400 yet?
Line 2: Good, send it back to us
Line 3: No? We don't believe you
Line 4: Send penalty and interest
#12
Dumping capital into the markets is NOT a solution. It is a temporary bandaid. Once that capital is burned through, they will just need more unless something is done that creates VALUE.
Home equity was the dominant driver in the markets with things like mortgage-backed securities being purchased by banks around the globe and people using home equity loans as an ATM card for "durable goods" purchases, vacations, and tuition. Simply dumping capital into the markets won't do anything long term unless something is done to increase the value of some other investment.
Maybe something like eliminating capital gains tax altogether would spur investment and raise the value of corporate equity.
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.
Inappropriate displays of affection, mixing between unmarried men and women and offensive writing are a few of the crimes the Saudi religious police are tasked with monitoring, and they appear to be on the rise if recent arrest rates are anything to go by 
Venezuela's opposition has been energized by Sunday's regional elections, in which its candidates won five states and important urban centers in the country's most economically vital and populous regions. Opposition leaders on Monday characterized the victories as a product of the frustrations urban Venezuelans feel with mounting crime and other social ills. 
Today, around 500 protesters rioted at the Kai Da toy factory in Dongguan in the Pearl River delta, flipping over a police car and trashing computers in a dispute over payoffs to 80 fired workers. Tens of thousands of factories across the region have already shut their gates. 
The chiefs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have declined to participate in a major U.N. conference next week on the financing of development assistance for poor countries, upsetting an effort to secure high-level attendance at a meeting aimed at goading the beleaguered financial giants into stepping up aid. 
