Police in Thailand have enlisted the help of a television game show winner to help track down the suspected killer of two Russian women, whose dead bodies were found on a Thai beach over the weekend, police said Wednesday.
The contestant from "The Real Fan," a show that quizzes experts in a variety of areas, won in 2002 on the subject of motorcycles and police have asked him to identify the suspected getaway vehicle captured by security cameras, said police Col. Itthipol Apirakphinyo, an investigator in the case.
The bodies of Tatiana Tsimfer, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, were found Saturday morning slumped in lounge chairs on a beach in Pattaya, a resort town about 110 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of Bangkok known for its beaches, thriving sex industry and high crime rate.
Witnesses reported hearing gunfire about 5 a.m. and saw a man, believed to be Thai, running from the beach and then speeding off on a motorcycle. Security cameras captured fuzzy images of the motorcycle, which game show winner Sommart Srisamacharn was able to identify as a Honda Wave scooter, said Itthipol.
"Computer experts are now helping to make the footage more clear and the motorcycle expert will help police again when the footage comes back from the lab," Itthipol said, adding that with more information police hoped to determine if the scooter was rented.
Police said there were dozens of calls to the victims' mobile phones shortly before the murders and investigators were trying to track down the callers, believed to be Russian. Itthipol said it remained unclear if the gunman had any link to the callers.
A FLORIDA appeals court has suspended a lower court ruling that would have allowed the burial of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas, as the battle over her baby shifted to the Bahamian capital. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach granted an emergency petition by Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, to stop a court-appointed guardian for Smith's five-month-old daughter from taking the body to the islands, where Smith lived the final months of her life.
The legal manoeuvring further delayed a funeral for Smith, the buxom tabloid star who died suddenly at age 39 on February 8 at a Florida casino hotel. Her decomposing body remains at a medical examiner's office in Dania Beach, Florida. Ms Arthur wants Smith buried in her native Texas.
Ms Arthur's appeal seeks to overturn a ruling by Broward County Judge Larry Seidlin last week following an emotional week-long hearing to determine who had the right to bury the former topless dancer and billionaire's widow. Smith's death touched off a legal firestorm over the body and custody of her baby, Dannielynn. The appellate court's ruling halted the transfer of the body temporarily and asked lawyers in the case to respond by tomorrow afternoon to Ms Arthur's appeal.
Judge Seidlin ruled that Smith's daughter was her legal next of kin and ordered her remains turned over to Miami lawyer Richard Milstein, who was appointed as Dannielynn's guardian to protect the rights of the baby during legal proceedings. Mr Milstein said he was arranging to bury Smith beside her son Daniel, who died last year, in the Bahamas. In Nassau, lawyers for Ms Arthur and Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead, who says he is the baby's biological father, went to court for a procedural hearing in a custody fight over the child.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Virgie Arthur is the ONLY known adult blood relative of AN Smith. She deserves control of her Estate.
CAIRO - A prominent Egyptian independent newspaper editor had his one-year jail sentence for insulting the president quashed on Tuesday but was fined 22,000 pounds (nearly 4,000 dollars). There was nothing illegal in what was written in Al Destour, and this verdict is still against the freedom of journalism and expression in Egypt, Ibrahim Eissa told AFP.
He had originally been sentenced to one year in prison for carrying a story about a court case against President Hosni Mubarak him in his weekly Destour newspaper. The judge in Tuesdays appeal threw out the jail term but maintained the fine.
There is a state of madness against freedom of expression and opinion in Egypt, Eissa said shortly before the court case, charging that the government, often through third party law suits, hounded journalists in the country.
The original suit against Eissa was filed by a private citizen on behalf of the president and, in contrast to the notoriously relaxed pace of Egyptian justice, that case was concluded almost immediately. The case went in front of the court on a Monday and two weeks later I was sentenced to a year in prison, recalled Eissa. It was maybe one of the fastest court cases ever witnessed in Egypt.
That pretty much happens everywhere that's run by a dictator. Sucks, huh?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Well, over here, if you smear the President, your record sales may drop. That's pretty much morally the same thing.
(SomaliNet) Some two Italians kidnapped last week have been freed by Militants in Nigeria, Italys foreign ministry has said. The two Italians, who work with a construction company, Imreglio, were kidnapped by gunmen near Nigerias main oil city of Port Harcourt on Friday.
Meanwhile, over the last 12 months, more than 100 foreign workers have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta, Africa's largest oil-producing region. According to experts, the incidents have s led to oil exports from the area falling by 20%.
An Italian foreign ministry spokesman told journalists that the men, Lucio Moro and Luciano Passarin, "were released a short time ago." They were kidnapped when gunmen stormed the Impreglio offices, about 40km (25 miles) from Port Harcourt and took them away. A source close to the Italian ministry says the incident resulted in the Italian foreign ministry calling on all Italian companies operating in the Niger Delta to withdraw expatriate staff from the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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MONROVIA - Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf accepted the resignation of her Chief of Staff Willie Knuckles after he was photographed having sex with two women, tarnishing a government campaign for moral probity. Johnson-Sirleaf, a long-time campaigner for womens rights, said Knuckles had not broken the law but the scandal threatened to derail efforts to combat sexual abuse and raise standards in Liberias public life after a brutal 1989-2003 civil war.
"I did not have sex with that woman! I had sex with these two ..."
Knuckles, who is also minister of state for presidential affairs and is married with children, has accused opposition lawmakers of trying to use the photographs to blackmail him.
Worked, didn't it?
The behaviour of Minister Knuckles, while not illegal, is improper and inappropriate for a public servant, Johnson-Sirleaf said in a televised address late on Monday. I accepted his resignation ... Those who sought to use this unfortunate situation for blackmail should probably review their own moral probity, she said.
So she rapped his knuckles, did she? She pro'ly wanted to hit him elsewhere ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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"Willie Knuckles" sounds like the guy that breaks your kneecaps if you miss a payment to the loan shark.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2007 8:28 Comments ||
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NIGERIAN senators have accused Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who wants to run for president in elections in April, of diverting $US145 million ($183.02 million) of public funds towards private companies, a Senate report showed overnight. The report backs up some of the accusations made against Mr Abubakar by the anti-corruption squad last September, which have been used by President Olusegun Obasanjo to try to disqualify his estranged deputy from the race to succeed him.
A spokesman for the Action Congress, Mr Abubakar's party, denied the accusation and said no money was missing from the accounts of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), which used to be under the vice president's supervision. Mr Obasanjo and Mr Abubakar have accused each other of using the PTDF as a slush fund in a vitriolic row that has raged since September and spawned a raft of lawsuits. The Senate report criticised both men but was more scathing about Mr Abubakar.
The report is the latest twist in a convoluted political and legal battle between Mr Obasanjo and Mr Abubakar and it is unlikely to clarify the situation. The president is doing everything he can to exclude the vice president from April's elections and it remains unclear whether Mr Abubakar will be able to participate. The electoral body has not made any clear pronouncements about the issue and several of the lawsuits are pending.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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I wonder if that was the same fellow who sent me all the spam asking me for my bank account information so I could help him transfer funds to America... hmmm
The British capital set out on Tuesday to become the greenest city in the world with a radical climate action plan to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent within 20 years in the battle against global warming. The plan aims to slash carbon output by reducing demand and wastage across the whole spectrum from individuals to households, businesses and local governments."This will make London the first city in the world to have a really comprehensive plan to cut its carbon emissions," Mark Watts, climate change adviser to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, told Reuters in an interview."Londoners don't have to reduce their quality of life but they do have to change the way they live," he said. "And the bottom line is that it will save them money into the bargain."
The plan is far more ambitious than the draft Climate Change Bill the British government will publish on March 12 setting in law a commitment to cut national emissions of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by 60 percent by 2050. London's 7.5 million people will be urged to turn off televisions and lights and switch to low energy lightbulbs, while householders will be offered big subsidies to insulate their homes, which account for 40 percent of carbon emissions.
More depressing details at the link. Unfortunately, banning the Goracle and his globe-hopping entourage isn't on the list...
The Prince of Wales told a nutritionist in Abu Dhabi Tuesday that the key to people eating healthily was to ban McDonalds fast food restaurants. Prince Charles was attending the launch of a public health awareness campaign aimed at fighting diabetes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He visited the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre and watched as a group of children chose from a selection of good and bad snacks for their school packed lunches. Talking to Nadine Tayara, a nutritionist from the centre who had put the children through their paces, he asked her: Have you got anywhere with McDonalds? Have you tried getting it banned? Thats the key.
A McDonalds spokeswoman said that Charless remark was disappointing. Other members of his family had visited the fast-food chain, she said, and have probably got a more up-to-date picture of us. The spokeswoman added: This appears to be an off-the-cuff remark, in our opinion. It does not reflect our menu or where we are as a business.
Charles was clearly unaware of some of the moves the company has made, she said, such as improved labelling, supporting sustainable agriculture and nutritional changes with choice and variety. She said that their food would fit into any balanced diet.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#4
What about all those locally owned fish and chips emporia? A good serving of the usual fare has enough calories to jump-start a nuclear submarine.
Tastes like greasy cardboard, too. I think the great men of the British past explored and conquered a large part of the world just because they were looking for something decent to eat.
#5
Very simple: change the McaDonald name to mOdonald and he will recommend, no he will order the British to eat at it. It doesn't evne require to change the "golden arches" symbol.
#8
No worries! He and CPB can dine on tin meat (Bully beef) and biscuits. I'll take his portion of Big Mac's. Bloody "good" and "bad" whahahhaa, what would he and horse face know about that?
#9
Big Mac's in this country are revolting , perhaps the standard over in the USA is fine , but over here it aint . I would rather eat a bowl of gravel and rainwater. The 'food' is usually served by some little 'chav' with less IQ than the average garden snail .
That being said , Charlie , STFU .
IMHO, Charlie is fit to be king only if he does the following:
-Divests himself of all stock in Muslim controlled or collaborationist companies.
-Publicly repudiates his Islamophilic statements,
-Publicly burns his Arab costumes, and agrees to dress like a civilized Englishman rather than a Mohammedan cutthroat.
-Agrees to substitute "bloodthirsty saracen" for "Muslim" in all public statements.
-Performs due penance by personally carrying a cross from London to Bladon while dressed in sackcloth, covered in ashes, and flagellating himself with a cat-o'-nine-tails; there to lie prostrate before the grave of Winston Churchill for three days and three nights.
-Gets Camilla's teeth fixed and issues a public apology for letting her wear a weed in her hair at their wedding.
Failing that, there is Republic of Britain a mass movement that seeks to abolish the monarchy. According to them, "much of the population views the succession of Prince Charles with little enthusiasm, including many monarchists."
That is an understatement. Elizabeth II cannot live forever, though her mum (of sainted memory) gave it a good shot, and there are dark forebodings about the succession. Republic's website says that "Now is the time." They could be right.
#16
Isn't there some way to pass over this twit for succession to the throne? Seriously, Queen Elizabeth II may very well be that LAST queen of England at this rate.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2007 8:50 Comments ||
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The Last Queen?! Burger Orf.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/28/2007 9:05 Comments ||
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Posted by: The Ghost of Dave Thomas ||
02/28/2007 9:43 Comments ||
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#20
Britons, your input please. My mom is convinced that the Queen made a deal with Charles before he married Camilla: he could do it, on the condition that he renounces/abdicates in favor of Wills upon her death. I'm not so sure, given all his noise about changing his title to "Defender of Faiths," etc.
So, whaddya think -- any hope of such a behind-the-scenes deal?
#21
Heard the same theory many times - Chuck's lost popularity due to the Diana fiasco and the conversations with plants - the boys really are well liked by the populace as far as I can tell... and going to fight should boost this further.
Posted by: A Royal Subject ||
02/28/2007 10:33 Comments ||
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If there's one thing that mitigates the annoyance of having to witness the antics of the current wave of hair-shirt prophets, it's the hours of harmless fun that their hypocrisy never fails to provide. Only recently, we've had Gore's house to condemn, Feinstein's jets to gawp at, and now, delightfully, we have Prince Charle's pies to savor:
Via the London Evening Standard, we learn that the prince who would ban McDonald's has a few guilty secrets of his own. It turns out that a Big Mac "contains fewer calories, fats and salt than some products in [Charles'] own organic Duchy Originals food range". The horror!
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2007 12:26 Comments ||
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"Chuck" would seem to be a particularly ill-favored name for a king of the Brits.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 13:08 Comments ||
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Dear Chucky,
Which is the cause of more deaths around the world, Micky Ds or Islam?
Inbred Dhimmi. Now where the hell did I put my McChicken?
#26
Back in 2004 there was a staff member of the royal household who wanted to know what she needed to do to get a promotion. Charles' response:
What is wrong with people nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far above their capabilities? . . . This is all to do with the learning culture in schools. It is a consequence of a child-centered education system which tells people they can become pop stars, high court judges or brilliant TV presenters . . .
This guy is the poster child for "didn't earn a damn thing in his entire life." He doesn't even understand the concept of "earning" -- whether one earns tangible acqusitions or a reputation. That you actually have to do something to be considered worthy. I am so curious to know what goes on in his head. Does he actually think he's qualified to sit in judgement of anything? Does he think his opinion matters more than others about things like the environment, art, architecture, nutrition, culture, etc -- all the things he's spoken out about?
This, Britain's next king. What a state the monarchy has gotten to. I do love Britain and hate to see his being such a laughing stock. He really needs a good bitch-slapping.
#28
This, Britain's next king. What a state the monarchy has gotten to.
Oh, they've had their fair share of oddballs and worse in the past: George III, Richard III, and John come to mind. At least Chuck won't be able to wield any real power if he reigns.
#31
Has anyone ever eaten a "Wimpy Burger", the Brit's answer to McDonalds? I did - once. Even cow patties can't taste THAT bad. As for fish-n-chips, there was a great little place in the small village I lived in (Raunds, in Northhamptonshire) that had GREAT fish and chips. The best place to eat was the oriental restaurant run by a family from Hong Kong. Great food, and not terribly bad prices. Most British food, in my experience, is bland, tasteless, overcooked and not worth feeding to a starving Doberman. The only good restaurants I visited all served non-British food, and had non-British owners and cooks. Charles needs to get out more.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/28/2007 18:02 Comments ||
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Right. The best approach to nutrition is simply to ignore every single pronouncement on it by 'experts'. One minute they're twatting on about the health-giving properties of fish oils, then a few years later they change their mind and try to sell us some other crap instead. These people need to try getting jobs instead of telling others what to do all the time.
#1
Sounds like a wise plan. Are 2500 US troops still in Bosnia? Pull the US brigade out too.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2007 17:10 Comments ||
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#2
Let's apologize to the Serbs before we leave and tell them to carry on with what they were doing before we so rudely interrupted them.
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 18:49 Comments ||
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I'd like to hear Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-HerHusband'sViciousDefender) take on this. She might want to address the "Quagmire" and "Recalling Our Troops" aspects?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 20:25 Comments ||
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First Iraq and now Bosnia? The Brits have finally realized that these illegal occupations will never succeed. If only Chimpy McBushitler would come to the same conclusion. It will be a cold day in Helliburton before that happens, however.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/28/2007 22:22 Comments ||
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Sarajevo, 28 Feb. (AKI) Bosnias majority Muslims have stepped up their drive for the abolition of the Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS). Created under the 1995 Dayton accord that ended Bosnia's civil war, the RS has been called a "genocidal creature" by Muslim member of Bosnia's three-man rotating state presidency, Haris Silajdzic. Due to the unstable situation in the country, the mandate of the high representative of the international community in Bosnia (OHR) was on Tuesday extended by a year. But the European Union has meanwhile decided to reduce its forces in Bosnia (EUFOR) - from the present 6,000 to 2,500 by the end of the year.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Sarajevo on Tuesday against a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the Bosnian Serb army committed genocide in the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995, but that Serbia didnt participate in the massacre of up to 7,000 Muslims. The court ruled, however, that Serbia did nothing to prevent genocide and punish the culprits.
Demonstrators and war victims's families on Tuesday demanded the RS be scrapped, claiming that the ICJ's Monday ruling had proven the RS was a "direct result of genocide and other crimes against humanity." They echoed calls by Muslim member of the three-man rotating state presidency, Haris Silajdzic, and other Muslim leaders for constitutional reform and abolition of RS.
The Dayton accord divided the country into two entities, the RS and the Muslim-Croat federation, but the international community, which safeguards peace in Bosnia, has been gradually reducing the entities powers to strengthen the central government.
Muslims insist on a unified police force on a country level, while Serbs want to retain their own police in their entity, Republika Srpska (RS), which would be coordinated at the federal level. RS prime minister Milorad Dodik has said he would "never renounce RS police, as a part of the police structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina."
In a response to majority Muslim calls for the abolition of the RS, Bosnian Serbs have threatened to hold a referendum on independence and to secede from Bosnia.
Sarajevo demonstrators carried signs saying "Abolish RS", "Justice is unreachable" and complained that ICJ decision was "unjust" and "politically motivated." The Peace implementation council for Bosnia, an international body composed of leading western power, decided on Tuesday to extend the OHR's mandate by 12 months until June 2003.
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, has stated that the security situation in Bosnia is now "much more relaxed" but a decision on the reduction EUFOR personnel could be reversed "if the situation worsened."
Airbus said it will cut 10,000 jobs over four years as part of a restructuring plan aimed at helping the planemaker overcome costly delays to its A380 superjumbo and the effects of a weaker U.S. dollar.
The European aircraft maker said it planned to offer to investors its Meaulte plant in France, Nordenham in Germany and Filton in Britain. It said it had already received bids. Three other sites -- Saint-Nazaire-Ville in France and Varel and Laupheim in Germany -- are to be sold or closed, Airbus said.
Toulouse, France-based Airbus will shed a total of 4,300 jobs in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in Britain and 400 in Spain, Chief Executive Officer Louis Gallois told a news conference. Half of the cuts will come from within the 56,000-strong Airbus work force and the rest from subcontractors, he said.
Airbus parent company EADS said in a separate statement that it will take a charge of 680 million euros ($900 million) in the first quarter, reflecting Airbus restructuring costs.
Airbus has been badly hit by the weakness of the U.S. dollar -- the currency in which its planes are priced -- and is expected to shift more of its supplier costs and contract work to dollar-linked economies as part of the restructuring effort.
Final assembly of the A350 will be based exclusively in France, Gallois said, instead of being split between Germany and France as programs traditionally have been.
In return, an additional A320 final assembly line will be opened in Germany and a future revamp of the single-aisle plane will be assembled in Hamburg.
In Germany, the IG Metall Union called the Laupheim decision the "wrong one" and planned a series of protests Thursday to show its displeasure. "We won't stand idly by, watching as our site is sold off piecemeal," IG Metall delegate Michael Braun told reporters.
Gallois was forced to postpone the restructuring announcement, originally scheduled last week, and propose changes to the plan after the main EADS shareholders failed to agree on the distribution of job cuts and new technologies between France and Germany at a Feb. 18 board meeting.
#1
What kind of corporate culture did you expect to foster when you put your headquarters in a city called "Too Loose"?
I don't know if the vulture image is appropriate here because this cluster is not going to go away as long as it's government-subsidized. I vote for popcorn though because it's damn entertaining!
Posted by: Dar ||
02/28/2007 14:31 Comments ||
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#2
Too little too late. remember the water tight hatches on the Titanic only reached the 5th deck and look at what a success that was......
'Course the dollar was stronger in 1912 too..
#4
"Airbus has been badly hit by the weakness of the U.S. dollar -- the currency in which its planes are priced"
Whaaa?? If not for the biggest ticket items produced by the common market, what's the farkin point of the perfectly engineered, centrally planned, diversely uniform notdollar euro, then? The EU taxes, regulates, and subsidizes the shit out of everything -- skimming rather heavily off the top in the process -- and then price it in dollars. Duh!
TALLAHASSEE -- A state legislator whose district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants wants to ban the term "illegal alien" from the state's official documents. "I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."
alien 1. Owing political allegiance to another country or government; foreign: alien residents.
2. An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen
. She has introduced a bill providing that: "A state agency or official may not use the term 'illegal alien' in an official document of the state." There would be no penalty for using the words. In Miami-Dade County, Wilson said, "we don't say 'alien,' we say 'voter' 'immigrant.'"
She said she encountered the situation when trying to pass a bill allowing children of foreigners to get in-state tuition at colleges and universities. Wilson, who directs a dropout prevention and education program in Miami, said she politely asks witnesses at public hearings on such issues not to use the term. "There are students in our schools whose parents are trying to become citizens and we shouldn't label them," she said. "They are immigrants, through no fault of their own, not aliens."
Wilson said the first word isn't as bad as the second. "'Illegal,' I can live with, but I like 'undocumented' better," she said. Asked if her bill (SB 2154) might run afoul of Gov. Charlie Crist's "plain speaking" mandate for government agencies, Wilson said, "I think getting rid of 'alien' would be plain speaking." How about getting rid of stupid state legislators?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/28/2007 11:07 ||
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bet she takes offense at the word "stupid" too.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 12:00 Comments ||
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The US Department of State, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and all other Federal agencies assign the appropriate term of Illegal alien to a person with an unknown citizenship status who has entered the country by means other then the official legal process. The term Immigrant refers to a person with an official citizenship status. But just so nobody feels offended perhaps they can start to refer to those individuals as Unannounced Guests.
#6
Note that she proposes legislation to cover documents only (at least for now), but openly admits to "politely asking" citizens to not use the words in public meetings. Somehow, mesees one of those 'slippery slope' thingys in effect.
Posted by: BA ||
02/28/2007 14:45 Comments ||
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#8
So, Fredrica, if your ignorance of the English language causes you to flinch at the term "illegal alien", how about a more accurate term -- "invader" (n. One who invades; an assailant; an encroacher; an intruder). There also some verbs to more acurately describe the situation she's defending:
1. To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage (e.g freeloading on the public treasury).
2. To encroach or intrude on; violate:
3. To overrun as if by invading; infest:
4. To enter and permeate, especially harmfully.
#9
How about we call ms. Frederica Wilson, "idiot" and nominate her for "Idiot of the Week". We will continue to call those people who reside in this country unlawfully "targets", and treat them accordingly.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/28/2007 18:48 Comments ||
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#10
What Silentbrick said.
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 18:52 Comments ||
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At least 110,000 "Lost Canadians," who risk being stripped of their citizenship under an arcane law, are the children of soldiers and diplomats who served overseas, a parliamentary committee heard Monday. Between 1947 and 1977, Canada's Citizenship Act said children born out of wedlock or to a father who took a second citizenship would be disqualified as Canadians. Those two scenarios are the ones that apply most often.
The issue has left many Canadians, including four MPs, scrambling to find out if they or their children are citizens.
Chapman wants the current law changed to restore citizenship to those who had it revoked, and to protect those born between 1947 and 1977. He estimates that 700,000 Canadians have either lost their citizenship or are at risk of having it stripped.
Christine Eden, chair of a special Air Force committee on Lost Canadians in the military, said 110,000 is a conservative estimate for the number of military and diplomat kids affected. "It's a big problem because if we're not Canadian, then we're citizens of the country of our birth - and I'm already hearing about some men who have been served draft notices by those countries," Eden said. Eden added that at least two active soldiers have lost their citizenship.
Immigration Minister Diane Finley said the government has had just 881 calls on potential loss of citizenship. "I am treating these cases as a priority," she said in a statement. "I have directed the department to resolve these questions as quickly as possible.
"I think it's also important to keep the scale of the issue in perspective."
But Chapman, Eden and many MPs agreed that's not a reliable number because many people either don't know they're Lost Canadians or they don't want to come forward in case they have their citizenship stripped.
Committee members shook their heads as they listened to testimony from Lost Canadians, including Joe Taylor, the son of a survivor of the Normandy invasion of 1944. "To our soldiers, and their descendants, whenever I hear your story, I have to apologize," said Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi. "This is terrible and I feel awfully bad for each and every one of you."
Eden said the government's failure to tell military staff about changing citizenship rules constitutes a definite lack of respect for the families of those willing to die for their country.
#1
Canada's Citizenship Act said children born out of wedlock or to a father who took a second citizenship would be disqualified as Canadians.
Trailing daughter #2 was born in Germany, in a German hospital (an interesting experience, at least for me -- she wasn't paying close attention at the time). If her children are not born on American territory, they will not automatically acquire American citizenship as her children. This is a longstanding rule, to ensure that citizenship is not passed on to those with no real ties to the US... sort of reverse anchor babies thingy. Children born out of wedlock should not inherit their father's citizenship, in my opinion, nor should those born of one who took on another citizenship. I do find it odd, though, that this only applies to the father's children, although perhaps it's because the caffein hasn't yet kicked in.
#2
My daughter was born in a US military hospital in Japan, and her birth had to be registered with the US Consulate. She is quite definatly a US citizen, since children born to US service-people stationed abroad are US citizens. There is a small wrangle of late as to wether such children can run as a presidential candidate, since the numbers of US citizens stationed abroad, and having their children born overseas only became substantial in the last fifty years or so.
She has gotten a great deal of amusement over the years, as a tall, strapping blue-eyed blond, telling people that she was born in Japan and having them say "B-b-but you don't look Japanese!"
#3
My daughter was born in Virginia, I've had much fun teasing her over the years as "Not Quite Southern,
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/28/2007 10:21 Comments ||
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#4
lol, RJ! Pushin' for snark o' the week, are we?
Posted by: BA ||
02/28/2007 11:04 Comments ||
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#5
I was delivered in Selma, Alabama. I don't know where I was assembled. I am, however, an American of southern Descent.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/28/2007 12:17 Comments ||
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#6
Sgt. Mom, I was told that US military hospitals count as US soil for such purposes. However, I couldn't vouch for the legal expertise of whoever it was that told me.
#7
More or less right, TW... generally the patients at military hospitals overseas are members of the military and their officially recognized dependents... ergo, a child born in a military hospital overseas is therefore officially an American. Even if actually born in a civilian hospital off-post (which does happen!) there is really no question about citizenship.
Except for the stipulation about a presidential candidate being a native-born American... which is where the rather interesting grey area comes in. Such children are American citizens, but are they strictly speaking, native-born? It has come up once or twice, IIRC most recently because a potential candidate a couple of election cycles ago was born in China, where his parents were missionaries.
Just an interesting sidelight.
For the life of me though, I can't figure out how the Canadian bureaucrats have managed pass a rule which looks like it imperils the citizenship rights of overseas-born military and diplomatic dependents.
#10
Military dependents born overseas in a military hospital count as native born citizens. How else could Panama Canal Zone-born John McCain be a Presidential candidate?
The phrase born again is taking on a whole new meaning in a scandal now brewing at a little-known but important United Nations agency based in Switzerland, where an auditor has discovered that the director general, Kamil Idris, has for almost 24 years been using two different birthdates, nine years apart. In recently amending the discrepancy, Idris has changed his current age in U.N. records from 61 to 52.
That would be bizarre in any context, but it is an alarming discovery at the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, a U.N. agency with an annual budget of more than $200 million that is supposed to be one of the worlds great bastions of accurate record-keeping. Based in Geneva, WIPOs mandate is to promote the global protection of intellectual property rights. Launched as a U.N. agency in 1974 and rooted in more than a century of international treaties, WIPO serves as a registry, database guardian and guide for international copyrights, patents, trademarks and intellectual property law.
Nor is this the only scandal to entangle WIPO and Kamil Idris, a citizen of Sudan who has run WIPO since 1997. Idris is only the second man to serve as WIPOs director general since it became a U.N. agency, and he has earned a reputation for ruling in a vice-regal style. Plans for a lavish, $50 million renovation of WIPOs headquarters in Geneva led to concerns about possible bribery. The Swiss criminal investigation launched in 2004 unearthed payments of $3 million to $4 million from WIPO contractors to a Ghanaian businessman, Michael Wilson, who in turn had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Swiss account held by a WIPO assistant director, Khamis Suedi. Wilson, whose case is still open, could not be reached for comment. Suedi, who has denied any wrongdoing, left Switzerland in 2005.
A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change.
In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease.
The report was issued three weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and caused in large part by human activity. But unlike the IPCC report, this latest document makes policy recommendations.
Panel member John Holdren of Harvard University says the world must be mobilized immediately to avoid catastrophe. "Climate change is real, it's already happening, it's already causing harm, it's accelerating and we need to do something about it, and we need to do something about it seriously, starting now. Our specific conclusions are that if the world were to go past the point of an increase above pre-industrial temperatures greater than 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius, we would be in a regime where the danger of intolerable and unmanageable impacts on well-being would rise very rapidly," he said.
The panel's recommendations include a series of steps to cut the rate at which temperatures are rising. Chief among them are a global agreement on an acceptable ceiling for temperature rise and finding ways of adapting to cope with the damage already done.
Holdren, however, says even these measure will achieve very little unless they are accompanied by a global tax on greenhouse gas emissions. "We don't think ultimately society will get it right in terms of the full range and scope of activities needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, until there is an additional incentive in the form of a price on greenhouse gas emissions, either through a carbon tax or a cap and trade approach," he said.
The United States is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, but is not a party to the cap and trade system contained in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration has set a target of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2012, and is spending $3 billion a year on climate change research.
Peter Raven, the head of the Sigma Xi Scientific society and co-author of the latest report, says success in limiting the effects of global warming will require private sector leadership, and a combined effort by the U.S. and the international community. "The private sector is doing a very good job, and kind of leadership we're calling for from the United Nations and international organizations and the kind of leadership the United States is moving towards will both be key ingredients in that," he said.
A U.N. spokesman says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is considering calling a summit meeting on climate change later this year. Environmental activists are calling on Mr. Ban to play a leading role in the process of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto agreement, which expires in 2012.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/28/2007 06:17 ||
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John P. Holdren is Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School, as well as Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. Trained in aeronautics/astronautics and plasma physics at MIT and Stanford, he previously cofounded and was coleader of (for 23 years) the campus-wide interdisciplinary graduate degree program in energy and resources at the University of California, Berkeley. His work has focused on causes and consequences of global environmental change, analysis of energy technologies and policies, ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, and the interaction of content and process in science and technology policy.
John Holdren welcomes media inquiries on the following subjects. Additional experts may be found by clicking on each subject listed. You may contact faculty directly or if you need assistance contact the Communications Office at 617-495-1115.
Arms Control
Defense
Environment
International
Nuclear Weapons
Science/Environment
This article's been up for 5 hours now, and no Gloom/Doom road sign graphic yet?
Posted by: BA ||
02/28/2007 11:06 Comments ||
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#10
I'm accumulating the requisite assets as we speak to pay my fair share in taxes to whatever entity feels itself sufficiently empowered to collect a carbon tax.
I would promise to reduce the energy I use commuting by about 100%. Indeed I would also have all the alcohol delivered to the house thus saving that energy as well. I would also agree to have prostitutes visit the house but the family might object.
Sub title:Speaking at Virginia Tech, the son of a 1960s Democratic icon said the nation is living a "science-fiction nightmare."
Excerpt: And while he said he loathed partisanship and said the worst thing that could happen to environmentalism would be for it to become the province of one political party, Kennedy fired a few more zingers at the Republicans. The one that drew the most laughter was in reference to a study done by the University of Maryland after the 2004 presidential election showing how misinformation affected the way people voted.
"Eighty percent of DemocratsRepublicans are just RepublicansDemocrats who don't know what's going on," he said.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2007 19:56 Comments ||
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#2
Wonder what the view is from his eyeballs, after his alleged alcohol and drug issues? Wonder how many kilowatt load his little humble abode uses, eh? Inquiring minds (not hosed out with too many drugs) want to know, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2007 20:15 Comments ||
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#3
proof positive that genes can fade, even without repeated washing/drying cycles. Dad had his serious flaws. Jr. went for the full monty
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 20:59 Comments ||
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#4
...the nation is living a "science-fiction nightmare."
Really?
His old man and his uncle must be spinning in their graves seeing what that family's become.
Some Seattle school children are being told to be skeptical of private property rights. This lesson is being taught by banning Legos. A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil.
According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership."
According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation." The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive." They claimed as their role shaping the children's "social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity ... from a perspective of social justice."
So they first explored with the children the issue of ownership. Not all of the students shared the teachers' anathema to private property ownership. "If I buy it, I own it," one child is quoted saying. The teachers then explored with the students concepts of fairness, equity, power, and other issues over a period of several months.
At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." The teachers quote the children:
"A house is good because it is a community house."
"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."
"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building."
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."
Given some recent history in Washington state with respect to private property protections, perhaps this should not come as a surprise. Municipal officials in Washington have long known how to condemn one person's private property and sell it to another for the "public use" of private economic development. Even prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut, which sanctioned such a use of eminent domain, Washington state officials acting under their state constitution were already proceeding full speed ahead with such transactions.
Officials in Bremerton, for example, condemned a house where a widow had lived for 55 years so her property could be used for a car lot, according to the Institute for Justice. And Seattle successfully condemned nine properties and turned them over to a private developer for retail shops and hotel parking, IJ reports. Attempts to do the same thing in Vancouver (for mixed use development) and Lakewood (for an amusement park) failed for reasons unrelated to property confiscation issues.
The court's ruling in Kelo, however, whetted municipal condemnation appetites even further. The Institute for Justice reports 272 takings for private use are pending or threatened in the state as of last summer. It's unclear if Legos will be targeted. But given what's being taught in some schools, perhaps it's just a matter of time.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2007 13:11 ||
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#1
I wonder if those teachers would mind if I were to take their cars. Or their clothes, or anything else they own. I wonder if they would use force, directly or indirectly (by calling the police) to stop me.
And why are they teaching at a private school anyway? Isn't that school private property?
#2
Or maybe their parents could decide not to pay the $1185 a month tuition at Hilltop Children's?
Education should be a right open to all. There shouldn't be a pricetag put on it. I propose in that spirit that the teachers volunteer to work for nothing but the sheer joy of the profession. It would be a valuable "life lesson" for the children...
#4
#3 Just try walking in off the street to use the bathroom at Hilltop Children's Center.
Posted by: eLarson
Just call it a "donation to the teacher's fund"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 16:06 Comments ||
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#5
"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."
Except for those animals that are more equal than others, of course.
"A house is good because it is a community house."
How about a Central Community House for the Committee of Communal Security, with little lego guillotines in the basement for renegades, contra-communitaires and public enemies?
#8
D *** ng it, when will the California SSR start contrux on State Dachas for CPUS- CCUS/CCAC Party members alongst Lake Placid? LEST WE FERGIT, ala PRAVDA, GOOD AMERIKANSKI SOVIETS DEMAND TO BE PERMANENTLY POOR [or DEAD?] BUT D ***ng it OPTIMISTIC - AMERS COMRADES ARE NOT LIVING IFF WE AREN'T STARVING/DYING!
#1
We seem to be doing all right on this side of the pond. Drudge is tracking both the Dow Jones Industrials and the NASDAQ, for those who are feeling obsessive. And the Secretary of the Treasury apparently expects the US economy to continue growing, all perhaps not quite so quickly as it's been. The Asian markets supposedly were due for a correction, so perhaps this is it. Of course, I'm not really good at things financial, so please draw your own conclusions.
The restaurant industry is promoting "extreme eating" with high-calorie, salt-stuffed food, putting Canadians' health serious risk, a consumer advocacy group says. The Center for Science in the Public Interest says restaurants in Canada and the U.S. are contributing to an obesity problem by serving high-fat foods to consumers. "When you go shopping, you see those handy nutrition fact labels on the sides of packages but when you're going to a restaurant, there's no such information, you're buying blind," Michael Jacobson, the centre's executive director, told CBC News on Tuesday.
The CSPI on Monday criticized a series of U.S. chain restaurants, including Ruby Tuesdays, Uno Chicago and the Cheesecake Factory, for their high-calorie fare. But Jacobson noted that many restaurants north of the border are also guilty of marketing fattening food products.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure Mr. Jacobson only frequents restaurants which leave you wondering how you could pay so much for so little. Slowly but surely our ability to make our own choices in life will be eroded away if we don't fight back.
#3
Who the f*ck are you to tell people what they can or can't eat?
The "little people" too dumb to make their own choices? SuperNGO to the rescue! With moral authority far beyond that of mortal men...
This really pisses me off. Shut the f*ck up!
#4
Time to gather all the loud mouth socialist health freaks and ship their asses to Darfur and Somalia to get to know what 4,000 year of real human history has been about, food shortages and poverty. No quick visit. They get to go native for a couple years. Then we'll see how much they have to say about the 'problem' of the abundance of food.
#5
Some of the highlights from their dossier on Activist Cash...
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is the undisputed leader among Americas food police. CSPI was founded in 1971 by current executive director Michael Jacobson, and two of his co-workers at Ralph Naders Center for the Study of Responsive Law. Since then, CSPIs joyless eating club has issued hundreds of high-profileand highly questionablereports condemning soft drinks, fat substitutes, irradiated meat, biotech food crops, French fries, and just about anything that tastes good.
CSPIs self-anointed experts also encourage a whole lot of lawsuits against fast-food restaurants (the group says it is looking at tobacco as a model), mostly because they see legal action as leverage to enact all the restrictions on food they have long supported.
CSPI co-founder Michael Jacobson considers caffeine such a blight on civilization that he complains about people socializing over coffee. Unsurprisingly, he suggests that Americans patronize a carrot juice house instead. CSPIs in-house food policies are so strict that Jacobson once reportedly intended to get rid of the office coffee machineuntil one-third of his 60 employees threatened to quit.
CSPI also has a bias against meat and dairy. Jacobson, himself a vegetarian, wrote in an issue of CSPIs Nutrition Action Healthletter that proper nutrition means eating a more plant-based diet It means getting your fats from plants (vegetable oils and nuts) and fish, not animals (meats, milk cheese, and ice cream). In keeping with his personal vegetarianism, Jacobson quietly sits on the advisory board of the Great American Meatout, an annual event operated by the animal rights zealots at the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM). Alcohol, even when consumed in moderation, is perhaps CSPIs most hated product. The groups Healthletter has asserted that the last thing the world needs is more drinkers, even moderate ones. CSPI wants hefty increases in beer taxes, increased restrictions on adult-beverage marketing, and even poster-sized warning labels placed in restaurants. George Hacker, who leads CSPIs anti-alcohol effort, has accused winemakers of hawking Americas costliest and most devastating drug.
The thousands of readily available and relatively inexpensive food offerings we enjoy today are for CSPI something to lament. People tend to eat most healthily during hard times, Jacobson has argued. Heart disease plummeted in Holland and Denmark during the most severe food shortages of World War II. Records of English manors in the 1600s reveal that the peasantry feasted on perhaps a pound of bread, a spud, and a couple of carrots per day. And that, to Jacobson is basically a wonderfully healthy diet. Yum.
Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, argues that CSPIs obsession with a low-fat diet reflects a paternalistic idea that the public is not smart enough to distinguish between types of fat. Food critic Robert Shoffner puts it more directly when he describes CSPIs approach this way: People are children and have to be protected by Big Brother or Big Nanny from the awful free-market predators ... Thats what drives these peoplea desire for control of other peoples lives.
CSPIs nightmare, of course, is Halloween. The group advises that instead of giving children treats, you could always hand out low-fat granola barsand toothbrushes.
#6
CSPIs nightmare, of course, is Halloween. The group advises that instead of giving children treats, you could always hand out low-fat granola barsand toothbrushes.
Yeah, right, and get my housle rolled and egged.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/28/2007 12:21 Comments ||
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#7
" eat...fish, not animals ..."
Oh yeah, this guy's got all his marbles...NOT!
Do you think someone should clue him in to the fact that plants don't swim?
#8
AlanC, Or the fact that fish ARE animals.
Most of the fast food restaurant chains have their nutrition facts easily available - they're not on the wrapper for the Big Mac, but a lot of places have them in a holder nearby the counter, and they're usually available at the restaurant's web site. If anybody cares, that is.
#9
the peasantry feasted on perhaps a pound of bread, a spud, and a couple of carrots per day
And died at age of twenty because a large meat-eating barbarian twice their size decided tp kill thelm fun and the small and weak peasants wre no match for him.
#13
Heart disease plummeted in Holland and Denmark during the most severe food shortages of World War II
That's what not reading history results in, boys and girls. Heart disease plummetted in Holland, at least, because the most susceptible died of starvation after the Germans emptied the country of everything movable. I've seen photos of the bodies lying in the streets, while others not quite so starved literally tore apart abandoned buildings for firewood.
LONDON: U.S. stocks plummeted Tuesday as concerns that the Chinese and American economies were cooling and fears that shares were overvalued sparked a global market decline. At one point the Dow industrial average was down more than 546 points, or 4.3 percent, at 12,086, but it recovered some ground in the last 90 minutes of trading to close at 12,216.24, down 416.02 points, or 3.3 percent, the worst drop since Sept. 17, 2001. The Dow rose last week to both a closing and an intraday record.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 50.33 points, or 3.5 percent, to close at 1,399.04, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 96.65, or 3.9 percent, to finish at 2,407.87.
A 9 percent slide in Chinese stocks coming one day after investors sent the Shanghai benchmark index to a record close set the tone for U.S. trading. Major West European indexes were down by between 2 percent and 3 percent.
Investors said negative news on the U.S. economy had exacerbated the stock declines in America and Europe. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that durable goods orders at American factories fell 7.8 percent in January, more than double what analysts had expected, on average. The disappointing numbers also came a day after Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was quoted as saying there were signs the economy could be heading for a recession.
"It looks more and more like the economy is a slow-growth economy," Michael Strauss, chief economist at Commonfund, told The Associated Press, noting that investors were expecting the government on Wednesday to revise its estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth down to an annual rate of about 2.3 percent from an initial 3.5 percent. But some analysts said it remained unclear whether the global sell-off constituted a correction or a broader collapse.
"We believe this is just short-term and more of a challenge for those who are not yet in equities," said Thomas Körfgen, head of equities at SEB in Frankfurt. "I do not see a threat yet to the global market, as the fundamentals are positive."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
We need our American government to show better fiscal discipline in the near future by cutting spending to eliminate deficits, eventually leading to reductions in the National Debt. This would help to maintain the strength of the US dollar and reduce our vulnerabilities to negative foreign economic developments somewhat.
Think of it as a form of economic nationalism which has no downside.
We also need a national energy plan (probably emphasizing significantly greater reliance on nuclear power) with added utilization of clean coal, hydroelectric, solar, wind turbines etc.
This would help to keep energy prices low (and also eventually help in defunding terror-funding petrol states, but that's another matter.)
#2
The US government deficit has been falling dramatically, despite having that silly war thingy to pay for, and may well fall to zero before the next president is sworn in. Separately, I heard on NPR this morning that the Chinese stock market regained 50% of yesterday's losses... although the other Asian bourses are still shaky. Did y'all realize that China's stock market valuation increased by 100% last year? If only it didn't involve money, I'd be on top of such things!
#3
TW, your husband is a lucky man. I've been a bit torqued this morning. I needed a laugh and ingenuously downplaying the WoT as "that silly war thingy" provided a much-welcomed one. Thanks!
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 9:34 Comments ||
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#4
The Chinese stock market.
I'm sure Mao must be spinning in his grave.
#5
I've got a good chunk in Janus Overseas, and it cost me yesterday - about $8000. Hopefully this will turn around. The Asian markets are off again (their Wednesday), but the Dow is up 30 as I write this and Bernanke's gonna speak the $ wisdom.... possibly a good time to buy
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 9:49 Comments ||
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#6
a good time to buy Airbus stock, Frank? (/sarcasm)
Posted by: BA ||
02/28/2007 10:52 Comments ||
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#7
errrr.....no
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 11:54 Comments ||
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#8
There was also the small matter of the US Vice President almost getting assassinated yesterday. The lefties scoffed, and mostly cheered, but the markets pay attention to these things.
#9
Glad to be of service, mac dear. Separately, Smart Money magazine has an article on the situation that y'all may find interesting. As of 12:43pm Eastern Time, China and Shanghai both rebounded, although apparently investors are taking the opportunity to unwind from their Japanese yen-based positions -- so Tokyo isn't doing well. I hope your investment recovers, Frank. It takes stronger nerves than mine to play in such waters.
#10
can't panic, TW - longterm, Janus (JAOSX) has returned 19.93 last year, 13.32 over 5 years, and 8.88 since inception
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 15:28 Comments ||
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#11
Old adage but very true: no matter how bad the market, if your company doesn't go completely under, you haven't lost anything until you sell.
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 18:54 Comments ||
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#12
If a weak dollar is hurting airbust I think its time for America to start thinking about the good of France an Germany. Plundering both of their gold reserves should strengthen the dollar enough to help out airbust.
They have been such goods friends, its the least we can do.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
02/28/2007 20:02 Comments ||
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#13
Wrong article. Its official, I'm a moron.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
02/28/2007 20:05 Comments ||
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#14
actually, Mike, it's not official til Fred & the Mods vote on it in RB Imperial Council. Trust me - voice of experience :-(
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 21:02 Comments ||
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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 FLORIDA appeals court has suspended a lower court ruling that would have allowed the burial of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas, as the battle over her baby shifted to the Bahamian capital. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach granted an emergency petition by Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, to stop a court-appointed guardian for Smith's five-month-old daughter from taking the body to the islands, where Smith lived the final months of her life. 
(SomaliNet) Some two Italians kidnapped last week have been freed by Militants in Nigeria, Italys foreign ministry has said. The two Italians, who work with a construction company, Imreglio, were kidnapped by gunmen near Nigerias main oil city of Port Harcourt on Friday. 
MONROVIA - Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf accepted the resignation of her Chief of Staff Willie Knuckles after he was photographed having sex with two women, tarnishing a government campaign for moral probity. Johnson-Sirleaf, a long-time campaigner for womens rights, said Knuckles had not broken the law but the scandal threatened to derail efforts to combat sexual abuse and raise standards in Liberias public life after a brutal 1989-2003 civil war.
NIGERIAN senators have accused Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who wants to run for president in elections in April, of diverting $US145 million ($183.02 million) of public funds towards private companies, a Senate report showed overnight. The report backs up some of the accusations made against Mr Abubakar by the anti-corruption squad last September, which have been used by President Olusegun Obasanjo to try to disqualify his estranged deputy from the race to succeed him.
The Prince of Wales told a nutritionist in Abu Dhabi Tuesday that the key to people eating healthily was to ban McDonalds fast food restaurants. Prince Charles was attending the launch of a public health awareness campaign aimed at fighting diabetes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He visited the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre and watched as a group of children chose from a selection of good and bad snacks for their school packed lunches. Talking to Nadine Tayara, a nutritionist from the centre who had put the children through their paces, he asked her: Have you got anywhere with McDonalds? Have you tried getting it banned? Thats the key.
Airbus said it will cut 10,000 jobs over four years as part of a restructuring plan aimed at helping the planemaker overcome costly delays to its A380 superjumbo and the effects of a weaker U.S. dollar. 
TALLAHASSEE -- A state legislator whose district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants wants to ban the term "illegal alien" from the state's official documents. "I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."
LONDON: U.S. stocks plummeted Tuesday as concerns that the Chinese and American economies were cooling and fears that shares were overvalued sparked a global market decline. At one point the Dow industrial average was down more than 546 points, or 4.3 percent, at 12,086, but it recovered some ground in the last 90 minutes of trading to close at 12,216.24, down 416.02 points, or 3.3 percent, the worst drop since Sept. 17, 2001. The Dow rose last week to both a closing and an intraday record.
