Wrestling star Hulk Hogan didn't learn of his impending divorce from his soon-to-be ex wife Linda -- but rather from a reporter in Florida. As TMZ first reported, Linda filed the papers on Tuesday. But when called for comment by a St. Petersburg Times reporter, Hulk simply said, "Thank you for the great information," and hung up.
"Yo, honey! Some guy just called me and said... Oh... You did?... Me?... How much?... Right. See ya, I guess."
The Hulkster called the paper back five minutes later and said, "I'm kind of shocked ... You caught me off-guard. Holy smokes. Wow, you just knocked the bottom out of me."
"Shucks. We were always so close."
The couple went through problems on their VH1 reality show, but eventually reconciled.
For awhile. We all knew they'd never make it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stayed a High Court (HC) order granting bail to former premier Sheikh Hasina in a Tk 3 crore graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin also stayed the HC ruling that halted the case proceedings. It directed the parties involved to have the HC rule in this regard disposed of. The SC orders came in response to an appeal by the anti-graft body. Earlier on November 4, an HC bench granted bail to Hasina and stayed proceedings of the case. It also issued a rule on the government and the ACC, asking them to explain within eight weeks why bringing the case under the ambit of emergency rules should not be adjudged illegal.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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A semblance of order returned to Sucre Monday after four people died in a weekend of violent protests over the constitutional reforms sought by leftist President Evo Morales. Residents removed barricades erected during the weekend clashes that sent the regional governor and the police force fleeing the colonial city of 350,000.
In the absence of a police presence, citizens groups patroled the streets of Sucre, while in New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for calm.
And 70 of 120 prisoners who had fled from a Sucre prison returned voluntarily, according to prison services director Daysy Aguilar. With officers out of town, inmates were running the prison, said Aguilar.
Authorities said security forces pulled out of the city over the weekend in a bid to contain the violence.
Regional Governor David Sanchez said protesters had looted his house and set fire to his belongings on Sunday. The Chuquisaca department governor is "recovering from shock," his spokesman said on Monday. A member of the governing Movement Toward Socialism, Sanchez has come under sharp criticism for staying away from the city during the unrest.
One protester died early Monday after being injured in clashes with police, local officials said. The protests took a violent turn late Saturday when a 29-year-old protester died of a gunshot wound. Another demonstrator and a police officer also were killed in the violence.
In New York, the UN chief urged all sides to refrain from violence. "In order to strengthen democracy and respect for human rights in Bolivia, the secretary general urges all political and social actors to remain calm, to abstain from using violence and to seek a consensus on the pressing issues affecting the Bolivian people," his press office said in a statement.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US government deplored the violence and urged the Morales administration and the opposition "to show restraint and tolerance during this critical period. "An environment that encourages inclusion and open debate is vital to the success of any democratic reform process," the spokesman said.
The protests came as some 150 pro-government delegates to a Constituent Assembly on Saturday approved the outlines of a new draft constitution the opposition rejects.
Opposition lawmakers have boycotted the assembly, accusing Morales of trying to grab more power.
Once again, if you boycott the proceedings, the other side gets what they want without trying.
Former Bolivian president Jorge Quiroga, a key opposition figure, claimed the proposed constitution was "drafted in a barracks, written with rifles and bayonets, and stained with the blood of the people of Sucre."
The protesters also want the legislative and executive branches to be moved from La Paz to Sucre. Sucre was the symbolic center for the independence movement against Spain in 1809 and lost its central role as the sole capital in the 19th century to La Paz after a civil war.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, claims the protests were orchestrated by wealthy capitalists. Like the constitutional changes sought by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- often seen as Morales's mentor -- the reforms would allow the president to seek reelection as often as he wishes.
Morales has said he would put the draft constitution to a referendum, but did not set a date for the vote.
#1
In a sidenote, the Russian MOD said that they knew they were F-22's cuz they couldn't see 'em.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
11/27/2007 0:46 Comments ||
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#2
Under the F-22 tag link on this article:
Under engagement rules, "red air" fighters were required to exit the area and "regenerate" before re-entering the fight. The adversary [F-15] jet did just that; an F-22 pilot apparently thought his opponent was still "dead" and paid for that mistake.
Looks like the F-22 pilots' challenge is to decide what not to kill!
One of the photographs taken during the intercept reportedly shows the F-22's shadow falling across the fuselage of the Bear H.
Couldn't have said it better. That Bear crew had to have been VERY nervous.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/27/2007 9:00 Comments ||
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#5
A few observations:
1. Are we sure they were Tu-95 Bomber configurations instead of the Tu-95 Sub Hunter config.
2. Did they seem to carry ordinance - like Nukes?
3. In the September intercept we used F-15's - I wonder if this was a test to see the F-22 intercept capability?
4. Did we make any counter-threat passes at them to judge speed and approach tactics while they were there like sitting ducks?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/27/2007 9:29 Comments ||
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#6
Some random guesses until someone who actually knows stuff pipes up:
1) external pods and other sensor thingies
2) that stuff being carried internally, who knows? Guessing is just part of the fun!
3) F-22s are what was deployed nearby
4) It is considered mean to harass aircraft in international airspace. Dangerous too. Remember China vs P3 incident?
#7
"that stuff being carried internally, who knows? Guessing is just part of the fun!
"
IIRC during the Cold War, part of the protocol was for the bombers to open the bomb bay doors so the fighter pilots could inspect it.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/27/2007 10:46 Comments ||
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#8
Did we make any counter-threat passes at them to judge speed and approach tactics while they were there like sitting ducks?
During Cold War there were mutually agreed rules aimed at avoiding shooting incidents between aircrafts of both sides. Like the bomber never pointing her defensive armament towards the fighter and the latter never illuminating the bomber with her fire-control radar. My guess is that making the kind of passes you suggest would have been another big No-No.
#10
If they were in US airspace they should have been shot down without warning.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
11/27/2007 15:32 Comments ||
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#11
Jack, if I had a photograph, I could probably tell you. Without it, who knows?
These aircraft never actually ENTERED US airspace, but probably did enter the the FIR (fighter intercept region) or ADIZ (air defense identification zone). The BEAR H can carry two 1500-mile-range standoff attack missiles, plus at least two internal weapons. They have specific radar and electronic signatures that can be picked up by ground stations. I doubt they were mis-identified.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/27/2007 15:34 Comments ||
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#12
This was an interesting quote from the article, "which were detected at long range by radar and intelligence systems".
Particularly the part about intelligence systems. I wonder if that refers to the Bear's pilot or co-pilot?
#13
ION. NOSI.org > THE NAVY'S NEW FLAT-EARTH STRATEGY + FOURTH GENERATION WARFARE - UNHERALDED SUCCESSES + GEOPOLITICS/INDIA: NEW US STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP/OPPORTUNITY WITH INDIA.
CHINESE MIL FORUM Poster > USA BACK IN THE PHILIPINES WID CHINA CONTAINMENT STRATEGY, vv ASIA TIMES > HOW THE US GOT ITS PHILIPINES BASES BACK artikle.
A prominent regional figure and his wife were found shot dead in their home in the violence-plagued Dagestan province Monday, police said. The deaths of Nariman Aliyev and his wife came after an opposition candidate in Russia's Dec. 2 parliamentary elections was fatally shot in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. Aliyev, who long headed a state farm and was prominent in the winemaking business, was a former lawmaker and a member of Dagestan's Public Chamber, a body that consults with the government on policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
I'm no sub expert, but that doesn't look too hydrodynamic.
Posted by: Tibor ||
11/27/2007 20:10 Comments ||
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#3
WAFF has several good articles > e.g. BOEING annonces first successful UNMANNED UNDERSEA RECOVERY by UV submersible; + DARPA SETS BALL ROLLING ON BALLISTIC MISSLE LAUNCHED "RAPID EYE" UAV PROGRAM. UAV units to be launched from CONUS, etc. via LR Missle, arrive on station in less than two Earth orbits, and linger for aproxi 7 hours over trouble spots. *Also from WAFF/LA TIMES > US Navy in successful testing of CARRIER-BASED/RECOVERED UAV Bomber [X-47B] + JDAM Munition SUCCESSFULLY + ACCURATELY dropped from [manned]Bomber flying at Mach 2 supersonic speed, i.e. "SHOOT-AND-SCOOT", "BOMB/DROP-AND-RUN", etc. before enemy even notices or can respond.
ION, DEBKA > IRAN reportedly expanding SUB-BASED MISSLE RANGES [SIZZLER/KLUB CM] to be able to strike Tel Aviv and US targets in Mediterranean-Persian Gulf regions. Iran also reportedly planning TWO KINDS OF SUBMARINE FLEETS - one composed of MINI-SUBS [Suicide?], while the other built around KILO-class Subs = KILO designs!?
THE GOOD NEWS FOR RUSSIA > REDDIT > WEIRD WORLD -THE SCHEDULE/PLAN FOR THE END OF THE WORLD IN NEAR FUTURE. Year 2018 > Iff Russ-Chin anti-US "WAR NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED" for OWG-SWO/Commie NWO doesn't finally kill the USA + World, THE ASTEROID [among other]IS STILL INCOMING. E.g. Space Rock #2002 NT7. amongst other > Anti-US/Democ Commies-Govtists will get help from DEEP SPACE.
#4
Only twelve missile tubes, and it looks a lot like a Chinese visualization of an old Russian "Delta" class. It's going to be a bit noisy, and easy for the US "Los Angeles" Class hunter-killers to follow...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/27/2007 20:58 Comments ||
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#5
my thoughts exactly how could those extruded tube lid hinges possibly be quiet?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2007 21:01 Comments ||
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BEIJING - Chinese officials in charge of the massive Three Gorges Dam denied on Tuesday it is responsible geological abnormalities, a week after a landslide in the area killed more than 30 people. A statement from the Three Gorges project construction committee office said a geological hazard repair programme in the dam area was proceeding smoothly.
There have been no abnormalities seen in the geological environment, the statement said. Since the water level rose to 156 metres (515 feet), there have not been any major geological disasters in the Three Gorges Dam area that have led to major loss of life or injuries.
"Yet."
Last week, a bus was crushed under a landslide at Badong County in Hubei, near a tributary to the dam, killing 31 people. A worker on a nearby railway construction site was also killed and two were missing. Landslides across the dam area in the summer killed at least 13 people, according to local news reports and the dam environmental agency.
Since the 2,309-metre-long dam was finished in 2003, the water level has risen in stages. It reached 156 metres last year and if all goes to plan, it will reach its maximum of 175 metres next year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
How high has the watertable risen in the surrounding hills?
#3
Geologically sound, huh? And water is dry, sky orange. This project is gonna blow up in China's face and might be the thing which brings the communist government down.
Memo to China: We aren't the ones who need reassuring. That is, unless anyone in America has been idiotic enough to invest in property or equipment downstream of the dam's flood plain.
Australias prime minister elect Kevin Rudd on Monday pledged his government would make an early groveling formal apology to Aborigines for the stolen generation of indigenous children snatched from their parents. Rudd, 50, who came to power in a general election landslide Saturday, said his would become the first federal administration ever to apologise for the policy. It will be early in the parliamentary term, Rudd told reporters in Brisbane after receiving a rock star welcome from screaming school children elated by the centre-left Labor Party leaders election. We will frame it in a consultative fashion with communities and that may take some time, he said two days after sweeping conservative Prime Minister John Howard from power. Howard, like previous Australian leaders, had refused to say sorry to the Aboriginal community for the policy in which children were removed from their families in a bid to force ethnic assimilation between the 1930s and 1970s.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Paul Keating did the apology thing in his Redfern speech, and that was world class grovelling.
Once is never enough.
#2
Aborigines sure were mistreated, but I'm fed up with that constant apologizing we westerners are supposed to HAVE to make to everybody else. This really p*sses me off.
Just for the record, the aboriginal culture is not spotless either, and I don't mean faults induced by a supposed western exploitation, I mean plain old despisable sides, like rampant, traditional, child abuse : Bad Dreaming Aboriginal Men's Violence Against Women and Children
#3
Australias prime minister elect Kevin Rudd on Monday pledged his government would make an early groveling formal apology to Aborigines for the stolen generation of indigenous children snatched from their parents.
It would be too much to expect Aborigines to promptly offer a heart-felt "thank you" for raising them out of the stone age and offering them thousands of years of civilization including, to name a few things, the wheel, agriculture, written language, a standard medium of exchange, dentistry, physics, geometry, etc., etc. not to mention Plato, Shakespeare, Mozart, etc. etc.
But after I sign Kyoto, remove our troops from Iraq, give the Austrailian Islamic Council a special sharia dispensation and release all illegal immigrants held in Australian facilities.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/27/2007 9:48 Comments ||
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BEIJING (AP)The head of the European Commission warned Tuesday there is the risk that Europeans will view China's economic growth as a threat if it does not take action to reduce its huge trade surplus with the rest of the world.
Jose Manuel Barroso said the current trade imbalance is "unsustainable" and is becoming an increasingly important political issue in Europe, adding to people's anxieties about globalization and economic competition from overseas. Barroso's comments came on the eve of a China-EU leaders summit to be held in Beijing on Wednesday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy also voiced concerns about Europe's trade deficit with China on Monday after holding talks in Beijing with senior Chinese leaders.
European leaders argue that China is keeping the value of the yuan artificially low, giving its manufacturers and exporters a huge advantage over foreign competitors. They also argue that European firms are given only limited access to some Chinese markets. China's trade surplus with the European Union was 128 billion euros ($190 billion) in 2006 and that increased by 50 percent in the first half of this year.
Barroso said in a speech given at a Communist Party officials training school in Beijing, "There is a risk that the economic emergence of China is seen by Europeans as a threat. That is why we need to deal with this question responsibly to avoid protectionist pressures which would be very difficult to contain."
"We need to keep public opinion on both sides favorable to the further deepening of our cooperation," he added.
Another senior EU official in Beijing for the summit, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, said in a speech at a business summit Tuesday that Europe is becoming frustrated by what it sees as a lack of progress by China in some economic areas, such as the trade surplus, access to Chinese markets and protection of intellectual property rights. "Sometimes people in Europe say to me, 'If China grows any more and fills our markets, our jobs are going to be finished.' I understand the concern and we need reciprocal openness to meet that concern," he said. "China needs to do its bit to sustain that openness by opening more to Europe's goods and service and to our investment."
Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, indicated Monday that China is unlikely to change its stance currency reform, despite the pleas from Europe. "We will continue to increase the flexibility of our exchange rate in a step-by-step manner, but any reform will be gradual and will be dictated by the market," he said.
Liu added that the Chinese currency has steadily increased in value against other major currencies since China scrapped the peg with the dollar two years ago and allowed the yuan to float on currency markets within a restricted band.
The government has previously said it is taking a series of measures to increase economic demand within China, which will stimulate the purchase of overseas goods and reduce the trade imbalance. It also argues that a rapid appreciation in the value of the yuan could cause instability in the Chinese economy.
China's total trade surplus with the rest of the world had reached $212.36 billion as of the end of October, an increase of 59 percent from the same period in 2006.
The European Union is China's second largest trade partner behind the United States, with an overall trade volume of 255 billion euros last year.
In a reversal of fortune, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is barnstorming Iowa with a front-runner's swagger while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., scrambles like a whippedcornered an underdog. In ways big and small over the weekend, the two campaigns exuded a sense of switched identities a dynamic driven by poll-driven perceptions that Clinton's sense of inevitability is slipping and Obama is riding a bit of a wave amid the Midwestern seas of grain.
The mood and stump styles of the two campaigns reflect this new reality: An ebullient
Obama coatless, tieless, tireless conveys a sense that at least he thinks he could be on his way to being the next president. Clinton, mixing her traditional caution with a new toughness, is clearly set on knocking Obama off his game.
Obama coatless, tieless, tireless conveys a sense that at least he thinks he could be on his way to being the next president. Clinton, mixing her traditional caution with a new toughness, is clearly set on knocking Obama off his game.
Clinton, like all the Democratic contenders, is now devoting the bulk of her time to Iowa. Either she or former President Bill Clinton plans to be in the state nearly every day through the Jan. 3 caucuses, with a break for Christmas.
In another acknowledgment of the tight race, Clinton has abandoned any pretense of remaining above the fray and has engaged Obama nearly every day along the campaign trail. "There is a big difference with Sen. Obama's health care plan: I have a health care plan that covers every single American," she said on an Iowa campaign swing during the weekend. "He, by his own admission, leaves out at least 15 million Americans. So I am going to draw issue distinctions, then when we finally choose a nominee, which I expect to be, we will close ranks, run against the Republicans and win."
This article starring:
Barack Obama
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama is riding a bit of a wave amid the Midwestern seas of grain.
Trent Lott, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, on Monday announced he will retire this year, five years before his term expires and ending the conservative's 34-year career in Congress. "I am announcing today that I will be retiring from the Senate by the end of the year," Lott said in his hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi. "Let me make it clear, there are no (health) problems. I feel fine. I may look my 66 years, but I honestly feel good."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is expected to pick a fellow Republican to take the seat until the next congressional and presidential election in November 2008, when Barbour said he would call a special election. The conservative state's other senator, Thad Cochran, is also a Republican and is running for re-election next year.
This article starring:
Trent Lott
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Good riddance. What a disappointment these Yellow Dog Democrats turned Republican have been. We may have turned the South as Red States but their Republican legacy in Washington has been nothing more than what they did as Democrats: Pork, Pork and Pork.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/27/2007 9:51 Comments ||
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#3
I hope Barbour nominates a caretaker so he can run in the fall. He's done a great job as Mississippi governor as well as Chmn of the RNC, and should be in the next round of trunk presidential hopefuls.
#4
I trust Barbour will pick a great legislator for the job. I'm sure he knows many honest men and women with high IQs who would make perfect Senators. One of the few requirements of a great senator is that he stick to his core convictions.
Unfortunately, Lott did just that and now we're glad to see him go.
#5
Ol' Helmet-hair forgot who he represented, and loved the Senatorial camaraderie of porkfeasting more than his constituents. Good riddance. Barbour is an impressive smart guy - here's hoping he does it right
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2007 11:51 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- An Iranian air force F-4 Phantom jet has crashed into the Oman Sea near the Iranian southeastern port city of Konarak, IRNA reported on Monday. The agency added that the jet crashed at 12:45 local time today during a maneuver near Konarak city. The agency gave no more details or whether there were casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Darn, I was hoping it was one of their F-14s. Those are irreplacable - the Iranians use them as AWACS because of the big radar.
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.
The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stayed a High Court (HC) order granting bail to former premier Sheikh Hasina in a Tk 3 crore graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
A prominent regional figure and his wife were found shot dead in their home in the violence-plagued Dagestan province Monday, police said. The deaths of Nariman Aliyev and his wife came after an opposition candidate in Russia's Dec. 2 parliamentary elections was fatally shot in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. Aliyev, who long headed a state farm and was prominent in the winemaking business, was a former lawmaker and a member of Dagestan's Public Chamber, a body that consults with the government on policy.
BEIJING - Chinese officials in charge of the massive Three Gorges Dam denied on Tuesday it is responsible geological abnormalities, a week after a landslide in the area killed more than 30 people. A statement from the Three Gorges project construction committee office said a geological hazard repair programme in the dam area was proceeding smoothly.
In a reversal of fortune, Sen. 
(KUNA) -- An Iranian air force F-4 Phantom jet has crashed into the Oman Sea near the Iranian southeastern port city of Konarak, IRNA reported on Monday. The agency added that the jet crashed at 12:45 local time today during a maneuver near Konarak city. The agency gave no more details or whether there were casualties.
