A man was bitten on the face by a crocodile when he accidentally collided with the reptile after diving through a wave at a surf beach in northeastern Australia, a newspaper reported Friday.
Camper Matt Martin, 35, received more than 40 sutures to gashes around his left eye and cheek after the mishap on Tuesday last week off the remote tropical northeast coast, The Cairns Post newspaper reported.
Martin said he was in waist-deep water when he dived through a wave and into the crocodile. "I thought I was dead," the construction worker from Newcastle in New South Wales state told the newspaper. "It was sort of like when you hit rocks but the rocks had give and movement in them," he added.
Martin, who is on a driving vacation across northern Australia, said his face was snapped before he hastily retreated to the beach.
Martin said the crocodile did not mean him serious harm. "He wasn't serious. He had all the cards and he played it soft," Martin said.
The report did not mention the size of the crocodile. Martin could not be immediately contacted Friday.
I'm guessing he was either in church or getting drunk. Or maybe getting drunk in church.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Sharks only bite humans on rare occasions; "Salties" attack 100% of people who get close to them.
It's a little dangerous to be a radio journalist in Somalia these days.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - The manager of a radio station critical of both the Somali government and the Islamic militants who have been trying to topple it was killed outside his home in the Somali capital, the eighth journalist slain in the country this year. Radio Shabelle's Bashir Nor Gedi, who was also a well-known businessman, was returning home from work late Friday when gunmen shot him three times in the head and chest, his younger brother, Abdinasir Nor Gedi, said Saturday. "We heard three gunshots and someone crying out for help. When we came out we saw it was my brother in a pool of blood," the brother told The Associated Press.
The group said Gedi was the eighth journalist killed this year.
Radio Shabelle's acting director, Ga'far Mohamed Kukay, said more than a dozen staff members remained inside the station's headquarters, scared to return to their homes. "It was a very shocking act of revolting savagery," said Kukay. He said the station halted normal programming so staff could mourn their colleague.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Radio Garowe in Puntland, northeastern Somalia has been closed with three of its journalists being arrested. According to journalists in Garowe and Garoweonline, heavily armed security forces of Puntland Regional State stormed the premises of Radio Garowe, and ordered the management to shutdown the radio around 17 hours local time.
The security forces also arrested three journalists of the radio whose names and titles are: Abdi Farah Jama Mire, Director of the Radio; Isse Abdullahi Mohammed, Editor of the Radio; and Mohammed Dahir Yusuf, a Producer.
The motive behind the closure is not known, but Puntland journalists told NUSOJ that it is all about news report of a member of National Security Agency of Somalia who escaped from the agency and afterwards spoke to the media by criticising the behaviour of security agency in Mogadishu, which Radio Garowe reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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(UPI) -- Medical staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they are caught between rebel forces and a government that is blocking crucial supplies.
The humanitarian crisis in the eastern Kivu region is worsening as rebel leader Laurent Nkunda refuses to follow President Joseph Kabila's orders to disarm, the BBC reported Saturday. Nkunda dismissed claims by Kabila's office that as many as 1,000 rebels surrendered after heavy fighting with government troops, the BBC reported. Medical staff in Kichanga, the rebels' stronghold, said the government is blocking supplies to help them treat starving children and wounded rebels. Upward of 370,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in the Kivu region since the start of the year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
help me here. Which Congo. The one that had the pan-african war or the other one.
#2
This is the one with the first african World war and its 3 millions deaths at least, not the one with the short-lived but bloody civil war and the systematic rape of wimmen in the capital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 13:18 Comments ||
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#4
This one is the former Belgian Congo, which has been at war with someone, usually internally, since well before it was granted independence in 1961.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/21/2007 23:51 Comments ||
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GOMA, DR Congo - Fierce fighting broke out Saturday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between local militias and rebels loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda, forcing thousands to flee, the UN and the Congolese army said. Very violent attacks were reported early Saturday, army commander Colonel Delphin Kahimbi told AFP, adding that the fighting is between Mai Mai from Kasereka (local militia) and Nkundas insurgents.
He said the army was not involved in the fighting around Bunagana, a town around 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Goma, capital of DR Congos Nord-Kivu province. The area has been under Nkundas control for two months.
Thousands of people are fleeing to Rutshuru (around 25 kilometres to the north west), terrified and completely destitute, Sylvie van den Wildenberg of the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUC) told AFP by phone from the town. We have seen three women who gave birth during their flight.
The latest reports came as Congolese President Joseph Kabila returned to Kinshasa late Saturday, after a stopover in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi, airport officials said. The Congolese leader has ruled out negotiating with Nkunda and ordered his troops to prepare to disarm some 5,000 fighters loyal to the rebel leader.
The arrivals said they had fled fighting between supporters of Nkunda, Mai Mai militia and the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), said Van den Wildenberg. The suffering of the civilians is unacceptable. We appeal to all the militias, all the armed groups, to immediately stop all fighting, she said, adding that MONUC peacekeepers had sent a patrol to Bunagana earlier Saturday.
A spokesman for Nkundas forces claimed they had killed 18 FDLR rebels after being attacked. Our positions were attacked by FDLR troops, Mai Mai and FARDC (DR Congo forces), Major Seraphin Mirindi told AFP.
But the FDLR, whose members are accused of having taken part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in neighbouring Rwanda, denied being involved in any fighting with Nkundas forces. No members of the FDLR have been killed in recent days. The FDLR is not involved in this fighting, neither on the side of the Mai Mai nor on the side of the Congolese army nor on anybodys side, FDLR official Callixte Mbarushimana told AFP by phone from Paris.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Multiculturalism promotes segregation, stifles free speech and threatens liberal democracy, Britain's top Jewish official warned in extracts from his book published Saturday.
Jonathan Sacks, Britain's chief rabbi, defined multiculturalism as an attempt to affirm Britain's diverse communities and make ethnic and religious minorities more appreciated and respected. But in his book, "The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society," he said the movement had run its course. "Multiculturalism has led not to integration but to segregation," Sacks wrote in his book, an extract of which was published in the Times of London. "Liberal democracy is in danger," Sacks said, adding later: "The politics of freedom risks descending into the politics of fear."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
I've always thought that the essence of multiculturalism was that all cultures are equal. Since that is preposterous on its face, multiculturalism has seemed to to me at least, to be the product of fuzzy thinking. I think that a healthy skepticism of the multiculties is good for liberal democracy.
#4
Multiculturalism is the social aspect of transnational progressivism (pdf), itself a post-democratic version of sovereignty, in which it is not wielded by the Nation (and thus the people) anymore, but by groups & communities, based on their victimhood.
#5
Give every hund his due. I arrived in Germany a week ago to begin an assignment. I've not spent anytime here since the mid-90's. Times have changed and it appears the Germans are taking very seriously the immigration and foreign import issues which our Washington "leadership" back in the States conveniently continue to totally ignore. I admire the work permit schemes which they enforce. I was also impressed with the numerous "Made in Germany" or "Made in Austria" lables and stamps on goods in the shops and stores. Refreshing to pick something up and NOT see "Made in China" on it.
He's very smart but he is self brainwashed in liberal ideology (e.g., he believee in 'dialogue' as an important answer to ethnic hatred, he believed Islamic terrorism in Britain is from non-citizens).
Perhaps, being mugged by reality, he is coming around but I don't think he will ever post on Rantburg.
#9
Suicide on the installment plan. Just say FU No.
Posted by: ed ||
10/21/2007 11:33 Comments ||
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mhw: Maybe we could work on finding a way to contact him and let him know about the 'burg. Having been mugged by reality, maybe he's more "open" to us Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy members.
Posted by: BA ||
10/21/2007 12:30 Comments ||
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#11
You're slipping, Barbara.
Britain's chief rabbi: Multiculturalism threatenshates liberal democracy
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Castro makes a valid point. In Cuba voter fraud is impossible because voter intent is never in question. If the chad hangs a little, no one cares if the vote counter gives it a little help. There's only one hole anyway. Also overspending on campaigns is totally elliminated. When there is only one candidate, campaign spending is unnecessary. That's probably why the book of Genesis says nothing about Adam buying Eve a corsage or taking her out to dinner.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/21/2007 1:23 Comments ||
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As long as it didn't take a freakin' six hour speech to laud the 'election'...
Roman Catholic church leaders and rights groups in Venezuela on Friday denounced sweeping constitutional reforms pushed by President Hugo Chavez as a threat to civil liberties that hand too much power to the state.
The country's bishops said the proposed changes to the constitution "limit the liberty of Venezuelans, excessively increase the power of the state, eliminate decentralization and allow the government to regulate a large degree of a citizen's life."
The parliament has already approved changes to 33 articles in the 1999 constitution, and lawmakers are now considering amendments to an additional 25 articles.
Monsignor Diego Padron, archbishop of Cumana, 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Caracas, read from a statement from the Venezuelan bishops' conference that said the changes "emphasize the concentration of power in the hands of the president" and "favor authoritarianism."
One pro-government party, Podemos, has broken ranks with Chavez and denounced the reforms as "unconstitutional," objecting to a provision that would suspend due process and the right to information during a state of emergency. Padron said the proposed declaration of a "socialist state" contradicted the democratic principles of the constitution. Such an amendment "implies the end of pluralism and political freedom," he said.
Rights activists also criticized the reforms, particularly the proposal to suspend legal due process. That provision violates the international American Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits the suspension of such judicial guarantees, said Hector Fagundez, director of the Center for Human Rights Studies at Central University.
Several other rights groups offered similar criticism and abroad, New York-based Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders in Paris also have expressed concern at the reforms.
Chavez's proposed amendments include removing presidential term limits; lowering the voting age to 16; boosting the state role in the economy; and allowing private property while also defining a new concept of social property. The changes would also extend the presidential term to seven years -- after it was expanded from five to six years in the 1999 constitution that Chavez pushed through during his first term. The reforms would end autonomy for the country's central bank and put its international reserves under the president's control, and tighten presidential control over regional governments.
Money is power. It doesn't matter if it's your money, as long as it's your power.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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So much for those people. Chavez will make short work of them.
First Muslim Cosmonaut survives encounter with Russian technology
A Soyuz craft veered off its designated landing course Sunday, coming down more than 200 miles short of its original destination on the steppes of Kazakhstan. It arrived safely, bringing two Russian cosmonauts and Malaysia's first space traveler back to Earth, officials said.
A computer glitch caused the landing capsule carrying Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov and Malaysian Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to end up about 210 miles west of the designated site near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, Russia's Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. The spacecraft's descent was unusually steep apparently due to the computer glitch, and the crew was subjected to a higher than normal gravity load, Lyndin said.
Yurchikhin and Kotov were returning home after a six-month stint at the international space station. Sheikh had been at the orbital outpost since Oct. 12. Russian Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said space officials and experts "experienced a few tense moments," but added that the crew was in good condition. "All crew members have been recovered and they are feeling quite well," Perminov said at a news conference at Mission Control.
Alexei Krasnov, the head of the Russian space agency's manned space programs, said an official commission was formed to investigate the glitch. "It's difficult to immediately name a specific reason behind the problem. We need to do an in-depth analysis," he said.
A similar problem occurred in May 2003 when the crew Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and American astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit also experienced a steep, off-course landing. It then took salvage crews several hours to locate the spacecraft because of communications problems.
Taipei - Taiwan is to develop a non-lethal graphite bomb to paralyze the power supply system of rival China in the event of a cross-strait war between the two rival sides of the Taiwan Strait, local news media reported Sunday.
'The parliament's defence committee is to review next week a budget proposed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology in developing the non-lethal graphite weapon whose major function is to paralyze the enemy's major cities,' cable news network TVBS said.
Quoting unnamed military sources, TVBS said the so-called 'blackout' bomb, used by the United States during the war with Iraq in 2003, can effectively disable 85 per cent of power supply of a major city.
The local United Daily News said the development of the bomb development project, to cost about 22 million dollars, would start in 2008. The daily also said the military planned to use its recently developed Hsiung Feng 2E crucial missile, which has a range of at least 600 kilometres, to carry the bomb.
The defence ministry declined to comment on both reports. Taiwan and China have remained at loggerheads since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
#2
Excellent strategy. Paralyze your enemy without killing enough people to create outrage or lethal opposition. Pop off a couple of these suckers over the right Chinese cities and you could almost start a civil war. The world's lack of support for Taiwan is totally damning evidence of its complacency with respect to communism.
#3
The best way to win a war is to convince your militarily superior enemy not to start one. It shouldn't be terribly hard for Taiwan to infiltrate the top echelons of the Chinese communist party, their military commands, their internal security apparatus, etc.
The purpose of the infiltrators is not direct action, but to identify and derail militarists who try to push their country into war. To provide rationales for not going to war. To cast doubts and provide alternatives.
Since war is diplomacy by other means, wars usually come about when diplomacy has seized up. By keeping the diplomatic machine humming, wars can usually be averted.
#4
Both Russia's + China's anti-US "LOCAL/WAR ZONE" strategeeery emphasize IMMEDIATE NUCLEAR ESCALATION, including by extens REGIONAL-GLOBAL MILPOL ESCALATION INVOL MUTILPLE TERTIARY NATIONS. Anti-US/Western Commies = Islamists-JIhadists [Radical Mullahs] > ALL ELSE FAILS, GLOBAL ANARCHY-CHAOS + MUTUAL DESTRUCTION IS TO THEIR -ISM'S'AGENDA'S ADVANTAGE. TAIWAN must consider this as part of their contingency planning.
BEIJING (AP) - China's politically powerful vice president stepped down Sunday amid a reshuffling of the Communist Party leadership, removing from office a rival to President Hu Jintao. Closing out a weeklong party congress, delegates selected a new Central Committee, a body that approves leadership positions and sets broad policy goals, with Vice President Zeng Qinghong not among those selected, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Zeng's absence means he cannot be in the Politburo or its Standing Committee, the powerful body that runs China, whose members the Central Committee will approve on Monday.
Aside from Zeng, Xinhua said two other Standing Committee members also stepped aside, Wu Guanzheng, who has run the party's internal corruption watchdog, and Luo Gan, who oversees law enforcement. No reason was given but all three were either over or near the party's preferred but not mandatory retirement age.
Their departure from the leadership, especially that of Zeng, appears to be a boost for Hu, who was reappointed to the Central Committee and is all but certain to be given a second five-year term as party leader. Yet it also raises questions about what deals Hu and his allies had to strike to win Zeng's retirement and whether those arrangements may constrain Hu.
Of all leadership members, only Zeng had rivaled Hu in terms of political influence. A skilled political insider, Zeng rose to power as an aide to Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, helping him shove aside rivals. Though Zeng has also helped Hu do the same, he was also seen as a leading protector of Jiang's legacy and influence within the party.
In a sign of Jiang's continued political clout, another of his allies, Jia Qinglin, was reappointed to the Central Committee on Sunday and will thus likely retain his Politburo seat, despite being tainted by his association with a major smuggling and corruption scandal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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China's Vice President Steps Down - I thought this was another AlGore story
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2007 7:19 Comments ||
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ROUGH! ROUGH! ROUGH!
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
10/21/2007 9:21 Comments ||
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#3
In China, the CEO would be shot for selling an AAA rated bond that only got 63c on the dollar. They at least SEEM to be dealing harshly with corruption, whereas Hank Paulson seems to be trying to bail them out.
#4
BP: In China, the CEO would be shot for selling an AAA rated bond that only got 63c on the dollar.
Actually, in China, the CEO (and his company) would be quietly bailed out. China is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Its economy is progressing quickly not because it has honest government, but because it is one of the poorest countries in East Asia. The China price always sets the benchmark low because China has the lowest wages around.
#6
TAIPEITIMES > COntroversy erupted between KMT + DPP Parties over claims that Taiwan's DPP Govt wants to CONSIDER DEV NUKE WEAPONS/BOMBS, as both deterrence agz China, plus bargaining chip wid America.
ALso, WAFF.com > PRESSTV > IRGC Commander claims Iran can fire 11,000 missles. Claims Iran is very capable of keeping up sustained fire, plus reiterates that Iran's forces will receive training in defensive asymmetric warfare = be ready for any kind of confrontation. WAFF THREAD Poster > claims IRAN WANTS TO MAKE THINGS ACROSS-THE-BOARD VERY COSTLY FOR THE USA, BE IT OFFENSE OR DEFENSE OR BOTH.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain endorsed Tony Blair on Friday to be the first to fill a re-created European Union presidency, even as critics questioned how a leader from a nation deeply skeptical of the European Union could serve in the role.
European leaders agreed early on Friday to a new treaty for the 27-member bloc that creates the post of European Union president to represent Europe internationally on issues like climate change, bilateral relations and development. The post, with a 30-month term that can be extended to five years, is to replace a cumbersome system by which European Union leaders and nations rotate holding the presidency every six months.
The new office would come into effect in January 2009 and could finally make it clear whom Washington should call when it "wants to speak to Europe," as Henry Kissinger once put it.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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"The new office would come into effect in January 2009 and could finally make it clear whom Washington should call when it 'wants to speak to Europe,' as Henry Kissinger once put it."
ABC News' Raelyn Johnson Reports: After an article in Friday's "Los Angeles Times" revealed that Clinton received large donations from poor residents living in New York City's Chinatown, the Edwards campaign pounced on the opportunity to bring more attention to the questionable contributions.
"This morning we all read in L.A. Times that many Clinton campaign contributions are raising eyebrows again. Many of their donors are not even registered to vote, and at least one denied even making any contribution at all," Edwards Campaign Manager David Bonior said in a statement on Friday.
"Senator Clinton has said public financing is the answer. Senator Edwards has opted to take public financing, but Senator Clinton has not. Senator Clinton should explain why she doesn't mean what she says...The bottom line is we need a nominee who can do two things: campaign in all 50 states and challenge our broken system in Washington. With every day the growing question has to be can Hillary Clinton do either?"
Last Sunday while campaigning in New Hampshire, Edwards sought to bring Clinton down a notch by pointing to a story "The New York Times" that explained the New York Senator's vote to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
"There was a story in today's New York Times about this issue and about her vote on this issue. And some of her advisers said that she voted yes because she was moving from primary mode to general election mode. I may be wrong, and you'll have to tell me, have we already decided who's going to win the New Hampshire primary," said Edwards during a town hall meeting in Dover last week.
Seeking further distinction he added, "instead of primary mode versus general election mode, instead of saying one thing in the primary and something different for the general election, how about if we do tell the truth mode all the time. How about if we say exactly what we believe and stand by that position."
#2
"'have we already decided who's going to win the New Hampshire primary,' said Edwards"
I think we've pretty much already decided who ain't gonna win the NH primary, John-baby.
And that "who" would be you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/21/2007 14:48 Comments ||
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#3
Oh, John, just STFU already, would ya? Hillary's going to be the Democrat nominee and there's not a damn thing you or anybody else is gonna do about it.
People expect a Clinton to be corrupt; it simply doesn't matter what Hillary does or what you say about it. She could pop somebody right in full view on the Capitol steps, and the only reaction you'd hear out of her millions of pallid, drooling, shuffling acolytes is "GO, HILLARY!!"
So give it a friggin' break, Breck Boy.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/21/2007 16:23 Comments ||
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#4
I, for one, encourage Johnny to continue whining, even though Hillary will still end up with Elizabeth's testicles in a jar on the mantle at the end. He's drawing attention to their corrupt past, present, and no doubt, future. I think a lot of people will get tired of it, and in the general election, remember all teh lies, BS, drama, of the Clinton co-presidency...perhaps enough will say "do I want to go through that shit again?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2007 16:42 Comments ||
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#5
You know what gets me? People who think Hillary's "reputation of ruthlessness" will help make the trains run on time, when she not only wasn't even able to keep her husband from being a serial adulterer, but actually wound up getting sucked into enabling the behavior herself.
EL PASO United States border agents have stepped up scrutiny of Americans returning home from Mexico, slowing commerce and creating delays at border crossings not seen since the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The increased enforcement is in part a dress rehearsal for new rules, scheduled to take effect in January, that will require Americans to show a passport or other proof of citizenship to enter the United States. The requirements were approved by Congress as part of antiterrorism legislation in 2004.
Border officials said agents along the southern border were asking more returning United States citizens to show a photo identity document. At the same time, agents are increasing the frequency of what they call queries, where they check a travelers information against law enforcement, immigration and antiterror databases.
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#1
I always remember having to carry a birth certificate and a driver's license to cross the border. Apparently, that's still enough to make the crossing according to the article. They're just asking a few more people some questions. Big freakin' deal.
Get there earlier, bring a snack, and deal with it, guys. It's not like they are doing body cavity searches.
#2
It is very ironic that they are insisting on passports that take months to get, which is an awful way to gain entry instead of biometrics.
The passport has zero advantages over biometrics, because it is still valid even if your RFID chip doesn't work. But if your RFID *does* work, it can be easily copied from a distance with a scanner and put in a fake passport.
It is circular inefficiency.
And typically, well over 2M Americans visit Mexico and return every year. Which is more than doubled by Mexicans who visit the US and return every year, some of each several times a day.
Creating a terrible logjam should never be confused with improved security. More likely it is indicative of a completely screwed up system.
Mumbai (PTI): Five of the 17 nuclear power plants in the country had been shut down and the remaining are operating at an average of less than 50 per cent capacity for want of fuel, a top official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said.
Two units at Narora atomic power plant in Uttar Pradesh are shut down for annual maintenance work while the newly commissioned Kaiga unit 3 in Karnataka and one unit of Kalpakkam atomic power plant near Chennai are facing closure for want of fuel, Chairman and Managing Director of NPCIL S K Jain said.
Two units of Rajasthan Atomic Power plants are shut down as feeder pipe replacement is taking place, Jain said, adding all these may get started immediately as there was a mismatch of uranium fuel in the country.
Rest of the 12 plants which had an established 95 per cent capacity are now running between 50-70 per cent making the average capacity of nuclear power production in the country less than 50 per cent, he said.
The Nuclear Fuel Complex Chief Executive R N Jairaj said his company was able to make use of only 30 per cent of the total capacity and is being under-utilised due to the "mismatch" of fuel.
The fuel "mismatch" situation has started affecting the performance of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
Currently operating nuclear power stations with a capacity of around 4,000 MWe, NPCIL has been forced to slash power production levels.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/21/2007 13:15 ||
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Of course, if Manmohan Singh, in a previous job as Finance Minister, had not closed a producing Uranium mine and prevented new ones from opening, this fuel "mismatch" would not be present.
It will take a few years for the new Indian mines to begin production (if the opposition by the environmentalists can be overcome).
Singh could be buying Australian Uranium right now but his allies in government (the communists) are dead against the Indo-US nuclear deal and won't allow him to negotiate with the IAEA.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/21/2007 13:24 Comments ||
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#2
The communists are against everything that is progress in India unless it leads directly to glorious peoples' republic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 14:56 Comments ||
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#4
Meanwhile, India is building huge coal fired plants...
India banks on its ultra mega power projects
With electricity shortage threatening to slow down India's robust economic growth, the government is banking on ultra mega power projects which experts say can dramatically improve the situation if implemented properly.
Some 10 such projects with a capacity of around 4,000 megawatts each are in the pipeline, of which Anil Ambani's Reliance Power has secured one at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Tata Power has bagged one at Mundra in Gujarat.
'The future of ultra-mega power projects is great,' said former power secretary R.V. Shahi, who was instrumental in launching the scheme, adding these projects would also help in lowering electricity tariffs in the country.
'The average level tariff of Rs. 1.19 per unit of electricity that includes both fixed and variable cost components quoted for the Sasan project would not have been possible to achieve without the new scheme,' Shahi told IANS.
'At least six projects totalling 24,000 MW must be implemented to maintain the momentum.'
Power ministry officials said among other similar ultra-mega power projects, the bidding process has started for one at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and another at Tilaiya in Jharkhand.
Preparations are in full swing for allocating the remaining projects at Akaltara in Chhattisgarh, Tadri in Karnataka, Girye in Maharashtra, Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu and Ib Valley in Orissa.
The Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the nodal agency for supervising preparations for the implementation of these projects, expects to complete the process for handing over the projects to successful bidders by July 2008.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/21/2007 16:33 Comments ||
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#5
does Al Gore know about that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2007 16:53 Comments ||
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The Recording Industry Ass. of America has now attacked a company that provides access to internet newsgroups. Last Friday, RIAA lawyers chucked a federal lawsuit at Usenet.com, claiming that the Fargo, North Dakota newsgroup service "enables and encourages" people to swap copyrighted music.
The organization that represents the country's big-name record labels is convinced that Usenet.com infringes copyrights in ways that extend well beyond peer-to-peer file-sharing services.
"[Usenet.com] provides essentially the same functionality that P2P services such as Napster, Aimster, Grokster, and Kazaa did (prior to being enjoined by the federal courts) - knowingly providing the site and facilities for users to upload and download copyrighted works - except that [it] goes further than even the P2P services to facilitate and encourage copyright infringement by users," the complaint reads.
Usenet.com offers web mavens anonymous access to over 120,000 usenet newsgroups, those bulletin-board-like server networks that have facilitated online data swapping since the 80s. Some of these are ASCII-based groups that serve up text-based info, but as Usenet.com points out, others are binary groups that serve up files, including MP3s. "Todays hottest way of sharing MP3 files over the Internet is Usenet; forget about all the peer-to-peer software applications, which quickly become outdated," reads the Usenet.com site. "Usenet allows everyone around the world to share their files on a worldwide network of peer servers and make them available to any member of this worldwide network."
According to Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital watchdog, the RIAA has long fought behind the scenes to shutdown access to binary newsgroups. "I know just from talking to lawyers from recording industry lawyers that they've had their eye on usenet groups for a quite awhile," von Lohmann told The Reg. "My impression is that most commercial ISPs have given up on binary newsgroups under pressure from the entertainment industry."
But this is the first time the RIAA has actually filed suit against a newsgroup service, following in the footsteps of anti-piracy crusaders in the movie business. With its suit, the RIAA claims that Usenet.com is guilty of just about every form of copyright infringement, from "direct" to "vicarious" - with a stop at "contributory" in between. "They're accusing Usenet.com of direct copyright infringement, alleging that the service distributes and reproduces content without authorization," Julie Jennings, a copyright attorney with the St. Louis firm Senniger Powers, told us. "But they're also saying that the company induces others to infringe."
According to the suit, the North Dakota company is actually hosting copyrighted content, something pure peer-to-peer services don't do. "Unlike P2P services, which rely on individual users to store copyright content on their personal computers, [Usenet.com] stores the copyrighted sound recordings on its own high-quality commercial servers," the complaint reads.
And it claims that Usenet.com is actively urging users to swap copyrighted songs, citing several public statements from the company - including the one we quote three paragraphs back. "The argument here is that the site is telling people how to infringe and encouraging them to do so," explained Ethan Horwitz, an intellectual property lawyer with the international firm King & Spalding.
This is the same sort of legal argument that the Supreme Court used to shut Grokster in the summer of 2005. But unlike Grokster, Usenet.com may be shielded by the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. "In the Grokster case, we were talking about free-standing software, and that's not covered by the DMCA safe harbors," von Lohmann explained. "The DMCA protects services that are hosting material on behalf of users or linking to material - and this could apply to Usenet.com."
Usenet.com didn't respond to our request for comment, but the company's website insists that the service does not infringe copyrights. "Usenet.coms terms and conditions prohibit the posting, distribution, or reproduction in any way any copyrighted material, trademarks, or other proprietary information without obtaining the prior written consent of the owner of such proprietary rights," the site reads. And it claims that the company will remove copyrighted content on request.
If the suit actually goes to court, von Lohmann is sure that Usenet.com will stand behind the DMCA. "The DMCA provides safe harbors against all forms of copyright infringement liability, including inducement," he said. "They will argue that they are simply hosting material and that if someone sends them a take-down notice, they are more than happy to oblige." I am truly surprised that it took this long for either the RIAA or MPAA to attack USENET, "The other half of the Internet."
#1
USENET is relatively unknown to the general Internet community. I was amazed how relatively few people actively use it. And yet it delivers binary traffic far faster and at higher volume than is typical for P2P. A compressed avi video will often download as fast as it takes to play, so someone can download six or eight good quality movies a day. Even if the content is not so hot.
#3
I don't think the RIAA realizes how much this pisses normal people off. They really keep wanting to lose money because people stop paying for their recycled and talentless crap, don't they?
#4
Demand the repeal of the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act and a return to the original founding fathers 30 year copyright [and then automatic public domain - tough cheese Mickey]. If they can't make their money in thirty years, they're in the wrong business.
#6
MORE BIZN FOR YOUTUBE AND THE LIKE. Looks like the RIAA wants to work hard to make itself + the music industry into an "also ran", self-imploded declining sport-entity like professional boxing did wid cable. D ***NG IT, WE DEMAND TO DESTROY OUR CORE AUDIENCE/CONSUMER GROUP.
COLOMBO - Sri Lankan troops killed at least 17 Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes on Saturday, the military said, with the north of the island becoming the focus of a new chapter in a two decade civil war. Troops fought two separate artillery battles with the rebels along a border that separates rebel from government territory in the northwestern district of Mannar and neighbouring northern district of Vavuniya.
In Mannar, troops fired artillery killing eight Tamil rebels and many were wounded, said a spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security, declining to be named. He said in Vavuniya, the rebels fired artillery at us and we retaliated with the same. We confirmed another eight Tigers were killed. Four soldiers were wounded.
A rebel was killed in another incident in the far northern Jaffna peninsula when a group of Tigers tried to infiltrate forward defence lines, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner began his visit to Beirut at the weekend by crashing a wedding party and dancing the dabke, the traditional Lebanese dance, with the bridal couple.
Kouchner was dining at a fish restaurant in the Lebanese capital with friends and decided to pay a visit late Friday to the bridal party next door where he stayed for about 20 minutes. He was pictured on the front-page of a Lebanese paper on Saturday clapping and smiling from ear-to-ear as the bride belly-danced before about 500 guests. "He is a bon-vivant and he was very happy to spend a little time at the wedding," Kamel Mohanna, a close friend of Kouchner's who was dining with the minister and knew the bridal couple, said.
"Be happy, be healthy, long life. It takes a wedding to make us say, let's live another day, drink l'chaim, to life!"
Kouchner on Saturday also raised eyebrows as he mused about birds during a press conference with his Italian and Spanish counterparts at the UN headquarters in Naqura, southern Lebanon. "Well we were talking about the birds there, the birds looking for asylum, searching for asylum and we didn't know whether they were storks or pelicans or something else but it was a very good signal, sort of a very symbolic signal," he said.
This article starring:
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2007 16:24 ||
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#1
Actually, Stossel is a centrist. He supports gay marriage, and rejects state interference in most moral issues. He is is close to the Libertarians on government regulation, but isn't opposed to reasonable constraints where public health and safety is at issue. On the whole, Stossel's views don't have general support. However, when he says that banning synthetic fertilizers in favor of organics would cause widespread starvation and unnecessary expansion of farmland, people would do well to take the saintly veneer off so-called "natural farmers." They are as menacing as the e-coli tainted product that they sell.
#2
Think of all those organic farmers in Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, etc. You notice a pattern? Let the rich pay for their 'natural' foods that when the next blight hits, they can come over an eat cheap like the rest of us.
#3
My brother was an ag major in college. Once a lefty-earthy-crunchy type asked one of his profs in class why the whole world couldn't just convert to organic.
"Because half the world would starve", was the answer.
Organic food is a way for rich folks to avoid carcinogens while simultaneously stroking their egos and pretending to themselves that they are benificent. Without a certain minimum of fertilizers and pesticides, 6 billion is unsustainable.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/21/2007 18:46 Comments ||
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#4
When you stop adding pesticides to the outside, plants make them themselves on the inside.
#5
Someone proposed a "republican" pill. If you take it, you can eat anything you want and still stay slender, healthy and have toned muscles. However, it has a side effect that democrats would die horribly, in agony, from republicans having pleasure without pain.
Democrats wouldn't actually need to take the pill themselves for this side effect to happen. It would be caused by the anguish of not being able to make others as miserable and full of rage and hate as they themselves are.
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 man was bitten on the face by a crocodile when he accidentally collided with the reptile after diving through a wave at a surf beach in northeastern Australia, a newspaper reported Friday. 
(SomaliNet) Radio Garowe in Puntland, northeastern Somalia has been closed with three of its journalists being arrested. According to journalists in Garowe and Garoweonline, heavily armed security forces of Puntland Regional State stormed the premises of Radio Garowe, and ordered the management to shutdown the radio around 17 hours local time. 
(UPI) -- Medical staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they are caught between rebel forces and a government that is blocking crucial supplies.
GOMA, DR Congo - Fierce fighting broke out Saturday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between local militias and rebels loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda, forcing thousands to flee, the UN and the Congolese army said. Very violent attacks were reported early Saturday, army commander Colonel Delphin Kahimbi told AFP, adding that the fighting is between Mai Mai from Kasereka (local militia) and Nkundas insurgents.
Multiculturalism promotes segregation, stifles free speech and threatens liberal democracy, Britain's top Jewish official warned in extracts from his book published Saturday. 
Roman Catholic church leaders and rights groups in Venezuela on Friday denounced sweeping constitutional reforms pushed by President Hugo Chavez as a threat to civil liberties that hand too much power to the state.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain endorsed Tony Blair on Friday to be the first to fill a re-created European Union presidency, even as critics questioned how a leader from a nation deeply skeptical of the European Union could serve in the role.
ABC News' Raelyn Johnson Reports: After an article in Friday's "Los Angeles Times" revealed that Clinton received large donations from poor residents living in New York City's Chinatown, the Edwards campaign pounced on the opportunity to bring more attention to the questionable contributions. 
"This morning we all read in L.A. Times that many Clinton campaign contributions are raising eyebrows again. Many of their donors are not even registered to vote, and at least one denied even making any contribution at all," Edwards Campaign Manager David Bonior said in a statement on Friday. 
EL PASO United States border agents have stepped up scrutiny of Americans returning home from Mexico, slowing commerce and creating delays at border crossings not seen since the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. 
