With corporate sponsor Ralph Lauren designing the duds, the job of making the red, white and blue uniforms falls to its apparel contractors in China, the New York Daily News reports. Every item in the uniforms that the U.S. athletes will wear at the opening ceremony in London will carry an overseas label.
The company, in a statement, said the outfits aim to embody "the spirit of American athleticism and sportsmanship."
But fashion designer Nanette Lepore said she was shocked that none of the uniforms had been made stateside, telling ABC News that it was "absolutely" possible that the Olympians could have been fitted in U.S.-made clothing for the opening ceremony.
Ralph Lauren also is dressing the Olympic and Paralympic teams for the closing ceremony and is providing casual clothes to be worn around the Olympic Village. Nike, meanwhile, has created many of the competition uniforms for the U.S. and outfits for the medal stand.
Prices for the apparel range from $55 for a beret to $795 for the men's blazer. ChiComs probably charged $3 for the beret and $29.95 for the blazer.
#1
When Kilo Bravo and I Marshaled at the US Open we were wearing official Ralph Lauren US Open uniforms. The hats, wind breakers, pins, and water bottles were all ChiCom. At least the shirts were made in Peru!
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A man was killed by tigers at a zoo on Wednesday after he scaled a fence and crossed a moat to get into their enclosure in the Danish capital Copenhagen, police said. The man, in his early 20s, was savaged by three tigers after he broke into Copenhagen Zoo in the early hours. He was dead when staff arrived for work.
Human .. it's what's for dinner...
"We received an emergency call at about 7:30 a.m. that a person had been found lying in the tiger pen and that three tigers were surrounding that person," police Superintendent Lars Borg told Reuters.
"The tigers attacked him and killed him. It is likely that a bite to the throat was the primary reason for his death," Borg said.
That'd do it...
Police said the man, who had not yet been identified, may have entered the enclosure as a way of committing suicide.
Or he just wanted to pet the tigers...
They said he was not Danish but his nationality was not yet known.
I'm not entirely sure it matters...
He had a Denmark resident's permit.
Psychologists have been called to the zoo to talk to staff who found the body, the zoo's chief executive Steffen Straede said.
Okay, so what do you say to someone who's found a body mauled by a tiger?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/12/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The kidnapping of two Libyan journalists as they covered elections in the town of Bani Walid, a last bastion of Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... 's regime, has raised tensions in the North African nation.
The country's interim authorities have called for their release but so far without any result.
"We urge their immediate release and handover to state authorities," said Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur late Tuesday.
The two journalists, Yussef Badi and Abdelqader Fasuk, were cooled for a few years I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in Bani Walid while they were covering Saturday's historic elections for the Misrata-based Tobacts television channel.
The incident, warned Abushagur, serves only "those who want to sow discord and spoil the joy of the Libyans celebrating successful elections and the first step towards building a new Libya."
It has exacerbated tensions between Misrata, a city on the Mediterranean which suffered a brutal siege in the 2011 conflict that toppled Qadaffy and now boasts significant military might, and Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
Former rebels from Misrata have threatened to attack Bani Walid if the two journalists are not set free.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2012 00:00 ||
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(CNN) -- Egypt's newly elected President Mohamed Morsy "will respect" the Higher Constitutional Court's ruling that halted Morsy's decision to call the nation's parliament back into session, the president's office said Wednesday.
President Morsy arrived in Jeddah, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , on Wednesday evening where he will meet with the Saudi King. Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz greeted the Egyptian president at the airport, state-run media reports said.
The court decision "affirmed its rule to dissolve parliament and considers it invalid," said Aly Hassan, a judicial consultant affiliated with Egypt's Justice Ministry.
The ruling is the latest move in a power struggle between Morsy and the country's military rulers, who dissolved the legislature last month.
"If yesterday's constitutional court ruling bans parliament from implementing its responsibilities then we will respect that because we are a state of the law that respects the judges and the court system," the president's statement said. "We will continue to meet with various political groups and the higher judicial council to reach a solution to the current crisis."
The parliament, recalled by Morsy, convened for less than an hour Tuesday. The session was the first since the nation's highest court said parliamentary elections were unconstitutional, prompting the military to disband the body.
"The aim of convening parliament yesterday was to discuss how to execute the court's decision," the president's statement said.
Morsey, who took office June 30, opted to override the edict of the military, which has run the country since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
After the brief session, several hundred demonstrators amassed outside the administrative court in Cairo, which was to address 25 cases filed by individuals protesting Morsy's decision to reinstate parliament. The crowd, which supports Morsy's decision, chanted and hurled water bottles as they stared down more than 100 armor-clad riot police.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2012 00:00 ||
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[Saudi Gazette] Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court froze Tuesday a presidential decree reinstating the Islamist-led parliament, hours after the lower house convened in defiance of the judiciary and military.
The top court's decision is expected to heighten a crisis that has raged since President Mohamed Morsy, a former member of the powerful Moslem Brüderbund, issued the decree Sunday just eight days after taking office.
"The court ordered the freeze of the president's decree," a judicial source said, adding that it "ordered that its previous ruling be implemented."
Last month, the court ruled that certain articles in the law governing parliamentary elections were invalid, annulling the People's Assembly, or lower house.
The powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled after Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was ousted in last year's popular uprising, then dissolved the house. But on Sunday Morsy ordered the lower house to reconvene, highlighting the power struggle between the president, the top court and the SCAF.
Taking its cue from Morsy the People's Assembly convened Tuesday. "We are gathered today to review the court rulings, the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court," Speaker Saad Al-Katatni said.
"I want to stress, we are not contradicting the ruling, but looking at a mechanism for the implementation of the ruling of the respected court. There is no other agenda today," he added.
Lawyers representing Morsy criticized the court's latest decision and said Tuesday's ruling was a political move that would further complicate the crisis.
"This ruling is null and void," lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsud told news hounds while another member of the team, Mamduh Ismail, called it a "political decision."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Most members of Yemen's parliament withdrew from a Wednesday session after Mohammad Al-Shaif, a representative and tribal leader, insulted Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindwa and threatened the Finance Minister Sakhr Al-Wajih with beating.
Al-Shaif who is among the most loyal leaders to the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... said Basindwa is not a Yemeni, dubbing him as a Somali and threatening Al-Wejih with beating after the latter objected to the insults against Basindwa and the government.
Some members of the General People Congress demanded Al-Shaif to apologize, but he refused, saying that he does not recognize the Yemeni government and described its members as toys.
Al-Wajih had carried out reforms inside the Finance Ministry that outraged a large number of Saleh's aides, particularly tribal leaders who Saleh used to allocate them billions of rials annually.
Members of parliament expressed sorrow about insults used by Al-Shaif, pointing out that some sides seek to break down reconciliation reached by Yemenis and ignite conflicts.
Mohammmad Al-Hazmi, a politician, said the Yemeni government and the Finance Minister are attacked as it took courageous decisions to keep public money.
A Yemeni analyst said the insults of Al-Shaif came after the government suspended financial appropriations for tribal leaders, affirming that the suspension pushed Al-Shaif to continuously attacks Basindwa and its government.
While tribal leaders in Yemen are accused of committing violations, abusing people, breaching laws, imposing tributes and looting lands, they receive monthly salaries and other privileges from the government and even from foreign countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
... tribal leader, insulted Prime Minister ...
I dunno but the idea of tribes and parliments sounds oxymoronic to me.
[Bangla Daily Star] Criticising the World Bank's cancellation of the Padma bridge loan over corruption allegations, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide... yesterday said her government would not take any blame for something it had not done.
"I am confident that we did nothing wrong. We will not accept any calumny. Why should we take the blame for an offence we had never committed?"
The prime minister was speaking at the national council of Awami Swechhasebak League at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
"How could corruption take place when the World Bank did not disburse any money? For whose interest have they cheated the people of Bangladesh by cancelling the loan agreement all of a sudden?" asked Hasina, president of the ruling Awami League.
She mentioned the government had so far spent Tk 1,500 crore on land acquisition and rehabilitation. And no corruption allegations had been raised, not even by the WB, over it, said Hasina.
"We have more than $10 billion in foreign-exchange reserves and it is not a big deal to spend $1 billion from it. Inshallah, we will be able to start the bridge's construction in time.
"We have to be bold to take the project forward. I know they [the WB] are very powerful but we want to say that Bangladesh won't bow to anyone."
"The people of this country fought a war against powerful Pakistain occupation forces at the call of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and defeated them. We are a triumphant nation. We will be able to build the bridge on our own."
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[NY Times] MADRID -- Struggling to meet euro zone financial targets, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain introduced his latest package of tough austerity measures Wednesday, including a rise in the sales tax, reversing his previous stance.
The package, Mr. Rajoy's fourth set of budget measures in seven months, is intended to reduce the budget deficit by 65 billion, or $80 billion, over two and a half years. It follows a decision by European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... finance ministers Tuesday to relax Spain's deficit target for this year to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product, rather than the 5.3 percent target that was set only four months ago. But the finance ministers also said they expected Madrid to continue showing progress on its deficit cutting.
The new austerity plan came as Finland's prime minister, Jyrki Katainen, issued a warning Wednesday that the euro's predicament was as perilous as at any time in the past two years. "This situation is dangerous, very dangerous," he said in an interview with Finland's biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat
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#1
The new austerity plan came as Finland's prime minister, Jyrki Katainen, issued a warning Wednesday that the euro's predicament was as perilous as at any time in the past two years. "This situation is dangerous, very dangerous,"
And it will remain the Perpetual Crisis, just pulling enough hands of Three Card Monty to kick the can down the road for another 6 months, then another 6 months, then another 6 months...
A 1,000-year-old hoard of gold coins has been unearthed at a famous Crusader battleground where Christian and Muslim forces once fought for control of the Holy Land, Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday.
The treasure was dug up from the ruins of a castle in Arsuf, a strategic stronghold during the religious conflict waged in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The 108 coins -- one of the biggest collections of ancient coins discovered in Israel -- were found hidden in a ceramic jug beneath a tile floor at the cliff-top coastal ruins, 15 kms (9 miles) from Tel Aviv.
"It is a rare find. We don't have a lot of gold that had been circulated by the Crusaders," said Oren Tal, a professor at Tel Aviv University who leads the dig.
Arsuf, which overlooks the Mediterranean sea, was the site of a famous 12th century victory for England's King Richard I - known as Lionheart - over Muslim leader Saladin.
About 80 years later, in 1265, the Muslim army returned under a different general, and lay siege to the city for 40 days. When the outer walls fell, the knights retreated to the castle, which was eventually destroyed.
The stash, Tal believes, belonged to the Knights Hospitaller who inhabited the castle. It may have been payment they were due to pay for leasing the land, or perhaps profits from industrial activities, he said.
The gold coins weigh about 400 grams (14 ounces) in total. Some were minted two centuries earlier in Egypt, and they will be studied over the next six months, Tal said.
"The study of these coins will contribute to our understanding of how large-scale economic interactions were made at the time," he said.
#1
The 108 coins -- one of the biggest collections of ancient coins discovered in Israel -- were found hidden in a ceramic jug beneath a tile floor at the cliff-top coastal ruins, 15 kms (9 miles) from Tel Aviv.
Ceramic jubs, Mason jars....all the same. Appears the Knights Hospitaller [religious and military order] also had a distrust for the banking industry. Interesting choice of military shield symbology as well.
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.
With corporate sponsor Ralph Lauren designing the duds, the job of making the red, white and blue uniforms falls to its apparel contractors in China, the New York Daily News reports. Every item in the uniforms that the U.S. athletes will wear at the opening ceremony in London will carry an overseas label.
The kidnapping of two Libyan journalists as they covered elections in the town of Bani Walid, a last bastion of 
(CNN) -- Egypt's newly elected President Mohamed Morsy "will respect" the Higher Constitutional Court's ruling that halted Morsy's decision to call the nation's parliament back into session, the president's office said Wednesday.
Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court froze Tuesday a presidential decree reinstating the Islamist-led parliament, hours after the lower house convened in defiance of the judiciary and military.
[Yemen Post] Most members of Yemen's parliament withdrew from a Wednesday session after Mohammad Al-Shaif, a representative and tribal leader, insulted Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindwa and threatened the Finance Minister Sakhr Al-Wajih with beating.
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...
[NY Times] MADRID -- Struggling to meet euro zone financial targets, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain introduced his latest package of tough austerity measures Wednesday, including a rise in the sales tax, reversing his previous stance.
A 1,000-year-old hoard of gold coins has been unearthed at a famous Crusader battleground where Christian and Muslim forces once fought for control of the Holy Land, Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday.
