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UAE gives $80 million to Palestinians
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Police to say Woolmer died of natural causes
Jamaican police are to announce next week that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered as they had initially stated, Britain's Daily Mail said on Saturday. Citing a source close to the inquiry, the newspaper says Jamaican authorities will say they are no longer treating the death suspiciously and that the 58-year-old died of heart failure brought on by ill health and possibly diabetes.

Woolmer was found dead on the floor of his Kingston hotel bedroom on March 18 after Pakistan had been beaten by minnows Ireland in the World Cup, hastening their premature exit from the competition. An initial post-mortem said the former England Test batsmen had died of asphyxiation but, after a review by London's Metropolitan Police, Jamaican officers now privately agree no third party was involved in his death, the paper said. "Mr Woolmer was not a well man. It is now accepted that he died of natural causes," the source was quoted as saying.

The paper also quoted a colleague of investigating officer Mark Shields, Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner of Police, criticising his conduct. "With hindsight, he should have ensured a second post-mortem was carried out. Instead of saying the death was suspicious, he rushed out a statement saying it was murder. He is going to be a laughing stock," the colleague is quoted as saying. The paper said a news conference would be held in Kingston next week.
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How much Saudi Oil bought that answer?
Posted by: 3dc || 06/03/2007 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  In other news, whitewash sales went through the roof yesterday, officials are puzzled at the sudden demand.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 12:18 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd be looking for Apache dancers and Iocaine dealers.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/03/2007 16:56 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Sharon Stone starts run for White House at biennale
Just when you thought the United States presidential race was crowded enough, Sharon Stone has decided to run for the White House. The Hollywood star has ditched her Democrat sympathies and hired George Bush's former ad guru for her Republican campaign. She has also convinced her friend, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, to stand for the Democrats. But to witness this battle of tinseltown politico v Parisian charmer you will have to attend the world's most important arts festival, the Venice Biennale, which opens next week.

In one of the most talked-about works of the Biennale, the Italian video installation artist Francesco Vezzoli has created two 2008 White House campaigns, Democrazy. Amazingly, some of Washington's top political advisers rushed to take part. Stone's campaign ad has been produced by Mark McKinnon, Bush's top advertising strategist in 2004, who is senior adviser to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign. Meanwhile, Levy, known as "BHL", was managed and directed by Bill Clinton's advertising gurus from 1996.

BHL initially kept quiet about his part in the project, only confiding in his friend Ségolène Royal, who ran for the French presidency last month. A fan of the US but harbouring reservations about the Iraq war, he rewrote the White House party political broadcast that was prepared for him adding his own comments on gun laws, the health service, the death penalty and Guantánamo. His advisers conceded, but insisted he wore a tie. In France, where BHL's chest is an institution and his navel-grazing open white shirts regularly prompt "how low can he go" debates, this fashion departure made it onto news bulletins.

The French philosopher was once hailed by Vanity Fair as "Superman and prophet: we have no equivalent in the United States". But even though the House of Representatives has long returned "French" fries to their canteen menu, he faces a hard task to convince as his fake persona, "Patrick Hill". Stone poses as rival "Patricia Hill" in a power-suit and helmet hair in front of a "Make America Strong" logo. The Washington advisers mocked-up positive campaign ads as well as adverts designed to undermine the opponent.

Vezzoli is known for his Hollywood spoofs such as a fake cinema trailer for a steamy Caligula remake starring Helen Mirren.
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well we could at least say we had the hottest POTUS.
Posted by: anymouse || 06/03/2007 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Err, what was that Sharon? What party? What, It is your Basic Instinct to run for something?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/03/2007 10:49 Comments || Top||

#3  hope she wears panties, because Hillary will try to get to her left on that issue and no only will she not wear em, she'll shave too....

*cringes*
Posted by: Frank G || 06/03/2007 11:26 Comments || Top||

#4 
#3 hope she wears panties, because Hillary will try to get to her left on that issue and no only will she not wear em, she'll shave too....

Hellary + flashing her beaver...

ewwww beleve me don't even.. ---->puKe

Frank, Go to your room
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 06/03/2007 13:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Sharon Who? Oh yeah - that fading actress from the 90's ...or was it the 80's? I guess this is just another way to get people to notice you when you are an insignificant actress.
Posted by: Angaiger Tojo1904 || 06/03/2007 17:44 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
More oil workers seized in Nigeria
Gunmen disguised as riot police have abducted four foreign workers from the residential compound of oil-services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria's oil city Port Harcourt, authorities said on Saturday.

Kidnapping has become an almost daily occurrence in the anarchic Niger Delta, home to Africa's largest oil industry, and about 30 foreigners are now being held by various armed groups in the vast wetlands region.

"Some expats were kidnapped from the club of Schlumberger Anadrill in a residential area last night [Friday]," said Rivers state police commissioner Felix Ogbaudu, adding that the abductors were dressed as riot police.

Schlumberger Anadrill is a private subsidiary of United States-listed Schlumberger, the world's largest oil-services company.

A security source with an oil company in the area said the four hostages were citizens of Britain, France, The Netherlands and Pakistan.

Attacks on oil facilities and kidnappings have forced thousands of foreign workers to flee, and reduced oil output from the world's eighth-largest exporter by almost a million barrels a day, or one third of Nigeria's capacity.

Some armed groups say they are fighting for more autonomy for the impoverished oil province of southern Nigeria, but the line between militancy and crime is blurred and most abductions are by groups seeking ransom.
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The just released (presumably for ransom) four others last week, so I guess this is just a refill.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/03/2007 9:16 Comments || Top||

#2  It's just FIFO, as in inventory. First In, First Out.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/03/2007 14:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Had a mean orange tabby tomcat named LIFO.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/03/2007 17:07 Comments || Top||


Zimbabwe targets 25% inflation by year-end
Zimbabwe's government has promised to reduce monthly inflation to below 25% from the current 100% by year-end after signing a price and wage protocol with business and labour to halt a deep recession.

The Southern African country is battling its worst economic crisis that has pushed inflation to the world's highest at over 3700% as prices double every month in an economy where unemployment is above 80 percent and poverty levels rising.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has advocated for a social contract to halt rapid price increases, saying this is the only way to stabilise an economy the World Bank says is shrinking faster than any on earth.

On Saturday the official Herald newspaper published three protocols which had been agreed by labour, business and President Robert Mugabe's government. The protocols, which will initially run for a year, were signed on Friday. "Government [will] reduce monthly inflation to below 25% by the end of 2007," according to the incomes and prices protocol, adding that the budget deficit would this year fall to below 10% from 43% in 2006.

Under the agreement, business committed itself to exercise restraint in increasing prices and only resort to job cuts as a last measure while labour groups should advocate for reasonable salaries for workers and limit strikes.

According to the other two protocols, the government is required to reduce price distortions, including that of foreign currency where the local unit fetches Z$250 on the official market but Z$55 000 on a thriving parallel black market.

Economic analysts say Mugabe's government should restore property rights, ensure productivity on farms, liberalise the foreign exchange market and implement bold political reforms and end a crackdown on opponents as measures to revive the economy.

Mugabe's government has been shunned by international donors over its controversial policies, such as the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle blacks, which critics say has decimated the main agriculture sector and stoked food shortages.
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's 25% per month. And with 80% unemployment, too. Enough to make Jimmy Carter proud!
Posted by: Bobby || 06/03/2007 7:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Sustainable Development. They can sustain at least 3000% for some time to come.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 06/03/2007 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that 25%, or 25% of 3700% ? My head hurts...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/03/2007 12:54 Comments || Top||

#4  I think we should dip into our strategic WIN button stockpile for them.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/03/2007 17:06 Comments || Top||


Zim health care system collapses
Zimbabwe's health delivery system has collapsed amid worsening shortages of nursing staff and a doctors strike, a local doctors group said on Friday. Inadequate remuneration and unacceptable working conditions for health workers across the country have resulted in a crisis that has left the country's major referral hospitals unable to function, the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said in a statement. The emptying of central and other hospitals of staff, and therefore of patients, means the health service has collapsed, it said.

Some junior doctors at Harare's two major hospitals began a strike late last month. Nurses too are reported to be staying away because they cannot afford to pay bus fares to work. Independent reports said on Thursday that around 200 doctors at major hospitals in Harare had decided to join in the strike action to press for higher pay, car loans and better working conditions.

The loss of life and increased morbidity resulting from the absence of health workers at their places of work, whether resulting from inability to pay for transport or from actual strike action, remains the responsibility of the government, ZADHR said. Junior doctors are reported to be earning a basic salary minus allowances of just Z$252 000 per month, less than one US dollar a day at black market rates. The cost of living is spiralling upwards on a daily basis in crisis-riddled Zimbabwe, where the annual rate of inflation has reached 3714%
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Comrade Bob has discovered the solution to the high cost of health care, and is drastically cutting the high cost of old age pensions in Zimbabwe for decades to come. All hail Comrade Bob!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/03/2007 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Now all that's left is for Zim-Bob to have a heart attack or stroke and desperately need a hospital.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  No worries, Jim, he'll fly in a Spanish doctor just like Fidel did.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/03/2007 12:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually, he'd prolly be flown to Cape Town or Johannesburg. I tghink they still have doctors there. For now.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/03/2007 13:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Things could be worse - they could have enacted Hillary's health care plan.
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723 || 06/03/2007 17:52 Comments || Top||

#6  The idea is that once out of country, he'll have a hard time returning, or when he flies out the gold weighs so much the plane crashes, either way.....
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 22:28 Comments || Top||


Taylor trial draws West African media
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will answer for his alleged role in the bloody decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone before a court in The Netherlands on Monday. Taylor has been indicted on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international law by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, an independent United Nations-backed process.

For security reasons, his trial, conducted under the statute of the special court, takes place at the premises of the International Criminal Court. But, despite the distance between the West African country that was the scene of some of the worst brutality in recent years and the court room in The Hague, the population of Sierra Leone will not be cut off from the process.

Groups of West African journalists and civil servants will be attending the trial from Monday on a rotation basis. "The special court for Sierra Leone is making great efforts to bridge the distance between Holland and West Africa," Lisa Keppler of Human Rights Watch (HRW) explained in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

From the very beginning, says Keppler, the court set up special programmes that enabled the people of Sierra Leone and West Africa to follow the court proceedings. Several suspected perpetrators in the conflict have appeared before its Freetown court since 2004. "Audio and video recordings are made of all sessions and distributed throughout the region. This time, the court is inviting journalists and civil society representatives to attend the court hearings by rotation," she said.

All court expenses, including those for the special programmes, have been paid by Western donor countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and The Netherlands. In West Africa, Nigeria also made its contribution, by sitting on the management committee of interested states.

Keppler calls the Special Court "a milestone for justice in Africa" and says: "It sends a very strong signal that no one is above the law, not even a president."

Taylor is the first African head of state to be indicted on serious crimes under international law by the International Criminal Court. "Taylor will be tried under the statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which basically means that the law that will be used is a mixture of Sierra Leonean and international humanitarian law.

The court itself has a similar national-international character, as it is staffed by Sierra Leonean and international judges and staff."

He has been charged on the basis of his alleged role as an alleged major backer of the Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and his close association with a second warring faction, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

On Monday, a prosecutor will read out the charges against Taylor, Liberia's elected president from 1997 to 2003. The charges include the murder and mutilation of civilians, using women and girls as sex slaves and the abduction of adults and children who were forced into labour or to become fighters.

Asked whether HRW had faith in the special court to conduct a fair trial, Keppler said "we have seen great progress. We have had our doubts in the past, particularly when it concerned access to resources. But many of the problem issues have been tackled. We think Taylor will receive a fair trial."
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ICC? I guess uncle Chuck will die of old age awaiting trial.

Why isn't this judge going after Bushitler or Rummy? Or maybe some PFC in Iraq? Isn't that the top of the ICC list?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 06/03/2007 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Taylor's cell-time is starting to cost 'em money. So they start the trial, he dies of a 'heart attack' some months later. Everyone is happy - the accountants, HRW, the ICC. Well, maybe not Taylor...

Notice how Human Rights Watch is playing spokesman? Tells you how much control the NGOs have.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/03/2007 10:45 Comments || Top||


'Aids cure' in Zambia found to be pesticide
The Zambian government announced on Friday that a much-trumpeted Aids cure that a local businessman claimed to have discovered has been found to be a pesticide used to clean swimming pools.
Honest to Gawd, we don't make this stuff up...
Tetrasil, a drug which is being promoted by a newspaper proprietor, is a pesticide that was used as a disinfectant, said Albert Mwango, a government specialist in Aids drugs. "This chemical has not been proven by any scientific means that it cures Aids," Mwango was quoted by a state-run newspaper as having told Parliament. "But what has been proven is that it is a pesticide, which was used to disinfect swimming pools," Mwango was further quoted by the Zambia Daily Mail.

Edgar Ngoma, owner of the Weekly Angels newspaper, has been running a series of stories claiming he and his partner in the United States had found the cure for Aids.

"We have a duty to protect lives of our citizens. For a drug to be ingested it has to be certified by the Pharmaceuticals Regulatory Authority," said Simon Miti, a Ministry of Health secretary. Miti, who was also summoned to Parliament to explain the proclaimed Aids cure, said his government had written to Ngoma to follow procedures before he could start administering Tetrasil to HIV carriers.
This article starring:
Albert Mwango, a government specialist in Aids drugs
Edgar Ngoma, owner of the Weekly Angels newspaper
Simon Miti, a Ministry of Health secretary
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Guess he didn't pay the $200 filing fee.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/03/2007 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  "Guess he didn't pay the $200 filing fee necessary bribes."

There - fixed that for ya', Jim.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/03/2007 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  I hate to have to ask.
"Does it work?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 12:27 Comments || Top||

#4  It's not like his patients are going to complain if it doesn't work, after all. Don't most pesticides act like nerve gasses on the insects?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/03/2007 14:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Redneck Jim---If you take enough of the pesticide, it will cure AIDS and everything else you have, gah-rhon-teeeeed! WooooooooWeeeee!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/03/2007 14:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Seriously, all medicines are poisions, the trick is to poison the germs and not the patient, I realise the odds of a cure derived from insect poison is highly unlikely, but I'd check all the "Patirnts" treated just to be sure.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 22:37 Comments || Top||

#7  gah-rhon-teeeeed!

Alaska Paul, heh best virtual cajun accent yet! lol

the pesticide pool cleaner probably haz Chlorine in it..

way hard on dem bugs!
Posted by: RD || 06/03/2007 22:46 Comments || Top||


Britain
10,000 join G-8 demonstration in London
An estimated 10,000 people joined a peaceful demonstration in London on Saturday urging G-8 leaders to keep their promises on combating poverty. Demonstrators lined the Thames and bridges near the Houses of Parliament, capping their event by making three minutes of noise with whistles, mobile phones and other devices. "It's a pretty sad message that we're here saying the same things we said two years ago, and 20 years ago with Band Aid," said anti-poverty campaigner Midge Ure. "This is a gentle reminder to the powers that be that we're still watching," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Three minutes of noise with mobile phones? *shudder*
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/03/2007 9:43 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Thousands march in support Chavez's TV decision
Thousands of red-clad supporters of President Hugo Chavez strode through the Venezuelan capital Saturday seeking to counter a national outcry over the government's removal of an opposition TV station from the air. The march was in response to a week of large, sometimes violent protests by students who warned that freedom of expression is threatened by Chavez's refusal to renew Radio Caracas Television's broadcast license, which forced it off the air May 27.

Information Minister Willian Lara said the march would "demonstrate before the world that the non-renewal of (RCTV's license) ... is a democratic conquest," claiming the private media has been "held ransom by a small economic group." Chavez accuses RCTV of inciting a failed coup in 2002 and violating various broadcast laws.
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Thousands march in support Chavez..."

How much did he have to pay them?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/03/2007 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  There are plenty of Perfect Latin American Idiots who support him.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 06/03/2007 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh. They're Red Shirts. I'd been wondering which colour Presidente Chavez had chosen for them. Black and brown are so last century, after all.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/03/2007 9:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Red shirts? Sounds like a job for the Star Trek monster of the week!
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/03/2007 9:31 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't think they'll get to use that extra year of eligibility.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/03/2007 10:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Line of cops with batons "March Dammit" and they "march".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 12:22 Comments || Top||

#7  interview yesterday on fox: they were forced to attend and bussed in
Posted by: Frank G || 06/03/2007 12:27 Comments || Top||


Europe
100 German police hurt in anti-G8 rally
ROSTOCK, Germany - More than 100 police officers suffered injuries in the violence that erupted during an anti-globalization rally in the northern German city of Rostock on Saturday ahead of this week’s G8 summit. A police spokesman said some of the injuries were serious.

There were no confirmed reports of injuries among the demonstrators, although eyewitnesses said some had been hurt.
Let's hope so.
After a peaceful start to marches through the port, masked protestors clashed repeatedly with police, hurling stones and petrol bombs and overturning cars. The organizers accused the police of provoking the violence.
The press believes them, of course.
According to police estimates, only 20,000 protestors turned out for the march and subsequent rally near the harbour, while the organizers claimed up to 80,000 had marched along two routes through the ancient Hanseatic city. The demonstrators were protesting at the gathering of G8 leaders taking place in the nearby resort of Heiligendamm on Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where the hell were the water cannon?

They used to use water cannon on these clowns.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/03/2007 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Where the hell were the water cannons MG42s?
Posted by: JFM || 06/03/2007 5:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Now, now, JFM - we don't do that anymore. Collateral damage to the adjoining buildings, you know.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/03/2007 7:08 Comments || Top||

#4  There's still a use for cavalry, it seems...
Posted by: Ulaving McCoy2990 || 06/03/2007 14:06 Comments || Top||

#5  It's a symbiotic relationship between the radical protesters and the even more extreme masked faction. The violent ones provoke the police, then run away. The police respond, and the whole group complains about peaceful protesters being beaten up undeservedly. These are the tropes of leftist protest.
Posted by: gromky || 06/03/2007 14:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I find deep irony in an anti-globilazation protest going on in a Hansa town.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/03/2007 17:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Dems Renege, Renew Porcine Policies
After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year. Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify "earmarks" — lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.
Their own "new rules" lasted less than six months! I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., says those requests for dams, community grants and research contracts for favored universities or hospitals will be added to spending measures in the fall. That is when House and Senate negotiators assemble final bills. Such requests total billions of dollars. As a result, most lawmakers will not get a chance to oppose specific projects as wasteful or questionable when the spending bills for various agencies get their first votes in the full House in June.

The House-Senate compromise bills due for final action in September cannot be amended and are subject to only one hour of debate, precluding challenges to individual projects.

Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the 36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee. What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/03/2007 07:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When they get the Second Republic on line, I hope they include in that Constitution term limits for every senior public official and the right of every voter to cast their vote for 'none of the above' in every race.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/03/2007 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Those of you who voted for the Dem to "send a message" to the Trunks: that soft, moist substance on your face? Egg.
Posted by: Mike || 06/03/2007 8:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Pro2k,

What is this second Republic of which you speak? Sounds interesting.
Posted by: jds || 06/03/2007 10:04 Comments || Top||


Hillary Re-invents Herself - Again
ALSO front-page "news" in the Sunday Washington Post.
For years, when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton talked about her family, it was usually her famous husband or their well-known daughter. Who? But Clinton has recently been discussing a more elusive figure in her life: her mother.

"She didn't have a very easy time of it as a young child," Clinton (D-N.Y.) said during an address to Democratic Party activists in California, describing the journey Dorothy Howell Rodham made in search of a home after her teenage parents divorced in 1920 and sent her away.

Drawing attention to her low-profile mother -- who is in her late 80s and lives with the Clintons on Whitehaven Street in Washington -- is one of several ways Clinton is seeking to give voters a new perspective on her biography. Armed with extensive polling data and an image road map tested in Upstate New York, the Clinton campaign has embarked on an ambitious effort to present the candidate the way they want her to be seen: as a pragmatic Midwesterner with a compelling life story of her own, rather than just the famous, and sometimes polarizing, senator and former first lady most of the country already knows she is.

Clinton tells crowds at the opening of virtually every speech that she was "born into a middle-class family in the middle of America, in the middle of the last century." One of the least-known facts about her, according to campaign operatives, is that she is a native of suburban Chicago, not Arkansas or New York.
Park Ridge, Illinois, I believe, on Northwest Highway at Touhy Avenue, on the C&NW Northwest suburban railroad line. But I was always into "least-known" facts. I briefly dated a Hillary from Park Ridge, almost forty years ago. Fortunately, there were at least two of them in Park Ridge. More at link, but this was enough for me.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/03/2007 06:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That picture is right out of a B horror movie. Perfect.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 06/03/2007 7:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Hillary Re-invents Herself - Again

More like damage control, with those two books about her & all that.

BrerRabbit - took the words right out of my mouth!
Posted by: Raj || 06/03/2007 8:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that cross in the picture the one she proposes to carry?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/03/2007 10:30 Comments || Top||

#4  No. That'd be the Cross of Gold.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/03/2007 10:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Will the real Hillary please stand up? I know this is difficult because there is not a "real" Hillary. This babe has more personalities than Eve or Sybil.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/03/2007 10:59 Comments || Top||

#6  She's used up all the close relatives, and now has to go farther afield to find gullable help, sounds like a home avon or magazine sales business, what do you do when you run out of relatives?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 12:15 Comments || Top||

#7  This would be the prescient Mom who named her after Sir Edmund Hillary, years before he conquered Everest?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/03/2007 12:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Will the real Hillary please stand up?

You'll have to wait for the next full moon.
Posted by: DMFD || 06/03/2007 14:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Buncha damn meanies.

I mean she's a huma, hahahahahahahahaha!
Posted by: Shipman || 06/03/2007 17:42 Comments || Top||

#10  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/03/2007 19:19 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US-India nuclear deal talks fail
The US and India have failed to resolve differences over a proposed landmark deal on nuclear co-operation after three days of negotiations in Delhi.

Indian Foreign Minister Shiv Shankar Menon said the two sides had made considerable progress, but that there were still gaps to be covered. Under the deal, India would get access to US civilian nuclear technology if it opens its facilities to inspection. Critics say the accord will encourage India to develop its nuclear arsenal. They also say it sends the wrong message to countries like Iran, whose nuclear ambitions Washington opposes. India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

After the intensive talks with US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, Mr Menon said the two sides had made "considerable progress" towards completing the proposed deal.

NUCLEAR POWER IN INDIA
India has 14 reactors in commercial operation and nine under construction. Nuclear power supplies about 3% of India's electricity. By 2050, nuclear power is expected to provide 25% of the country's electricity. India has limited coal and uranium reserves. Its huge thorium reserves - about 25% of the world's total - are expected to fuel its nuclear power programme long-term
Source: Uranium Information Center

"There are still issues where there are gaps," he said, but refused to give any specific details. "We are optimistic that we will make the deal." Mr Burns said the representatives had "useful discussions". "While there has been good co-operation, more work remains to be done," he said. "We look forward to a final agreement as it is indisputably in the interest of both governments."

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says the key sticking points were the issue of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and carrying out more nuclear tests. Washington is opposed to allowing India to undertake either, but the Indian government has said any restriction would be an infringement on its sovereignty.

India also wants the United States to guarantee its supply of nuclear fuel, our correspondent says. The leaders of both countries are under considerable domestic pressure not to compromise, and with the US election approaching and the Indian government in the second half of its five-year term, time is running out for both administrations, our correspondent adds.

It is not clear when the next meeting will be held, although the leaders of both countries will have an opportunity to discuss the issue at next week's G8 summit.
Posted by: John Frum || 06/03/2007 15:20 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistan School Shut, Blasphemy Alleged
A nursing school was shut down and its Christian principal and four Christian students suspended after Muslim pupils accused unknown people of desecrating verses from the Quran, officials said Saturday.

The action by the management of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science - the main hospital in Islamabad - came two weeks after Muslim nurses protested that verses from Islam's holy book regarding proper manners in drinking water had been erased from a wall. It was not known which specific verses of the Quran, Islam's holy book, had allegedly been erased.

Altaf Pervez, an area police chief, confirmed the incident, but said he didn't know who was to blame. No spokesman for the hospital, which runs the school, which had a total of 178 students enrolled, was immediately available.

Principal Stella Hidayat said she was in shock after being suspended. "I was on leave when this incident happened. I don't know why they punished me," she told The Associated Press. A doctor at the hospital, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the suspensions have been imposed to "defuse tensions."

The doctor said dozens of female students from a notoriously Islamic fundamentalist seminary _ Jamia Hafsa, in Islamabad _ had demanded action against those they said had committed blasphemy.

Shahbaz Bhatti, who heads the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, which groups together Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis _ asked the government to reinstate Hidayat and the suspended students. "The extremism has now reached our teaching hospitals," he said, adding the government should act against whoever was responsible for making the suspensions without evidence.

It was not known why the four Christian students were suspended. But Christian right groups complain that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are often misused to implicate members of minority communities.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/03/2007 10:04 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pakistan School Shut, Blasphemy Alleged

file: Shit-Stan begets shit hatch.
Posted by: RD || 06/03/2007 13:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Which reminds me, I forgot to desecrate a koran this week. Oh well, will have to make time to desecrate two this week.
Posted by: Excalibur || 06/03/2007 13:09 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
The usual anarchist temper tantrum afflicts G-8 summit
Protesters clashed with police, throwing stones and flagpoles Saturday during a demonstration attended by tens of thousands against the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Germany, a police official said. "There are massive assaults on police officers at the city's harbor right now," police spokeswoman Cordula Feichtinger said. "The situation is currently very chaotic and we have to get it under control before I can tell you how many people have been arrested." Feichtinger said one police officer was injured slightly but remained on duty.

The officially permitted march in the northern town of Rostock comes four days before world leaders gather at nearby Heiligendamm for the G-8 summit. The march began without violence, and most of the demonstrators remained peaceful. But some taunted members of the 13,000-strong police detachment from around Germany, and several hundred wore the bandanas across their faces with sweat shirt hoods pulled down low to obscure their identities.

The protesters from around Europe and the rest of the world gathered at two locations early in the day for rallies, then marched in two groups along 4-kilometer (3 mile) routes to converge on the harbor for the main demonstration - the biggest so far against the June 6-8 summit in the northern resort town of Heiligendamm. Police put the size of the demonstration at 20,000, organizers said it was 50,000. Police with body armor and riot helmets lined the path, and helicopters swirled overhead.

The protest was organized by several dozen groups under the motto "another world is possible."

"The world shaped by the dominance of the G-8 is a world of war, hunger, social divisions, environmental destruction and barriers against migrants and refugees," organizers said in leaflets handed out on the streets. "We want to protest against this and show the alternatives."
Posted by: Fred || 06/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How about holding the next summit in Singapore?

The last IMF/WB conference there was incident free.

The Singapore Justice Minister quite matter of factly informed the malcontents that they could protest peacefully in the designated zone but would not be allowed to disrupt the proceedings, destroy property or attack the police.

Any offenders would be jailed and caned.

The IMF had their meeting. The protestos protested.
Not a stone was thrown. Not a window broken.
Posted by: John Frum || 06/03/2007 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2  resommend: head shots - that molotov will finish him and a few around him
Posted by: Frank G || 06/03/2007 15:48 Comments || Top||

#3  If the police would take the line that attacking the police via stones, molotovs or other weapons is as the law says, an attack with a deadly weapon, then it would end very quickly. Each time a 'protester' throws a stone or whatnot, he gets pegged with a very real bullet from a police sharpshooter, these sorts of things would stop happening.

My preferred method is to arm the police with flamethrowers though and torch them all. Course, I reserve mercy and compassion for acknowledged members of the human race.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/03/2007 15:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Not head shots, shotgun the hand, let him burn to death as he planned to burn the cops.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/03/2007 22:45 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-06-03
  UAE gives $80 million to Palestinians
Sat 2007-06-02
  Report: Feds arrest 3 in alleged JFK airport plot
Fri 2007-06-01
  Leb army attempts to seize Fateh al-Islam positions inside camp
Thu 2007-05-31
  UNSC approves Hariri court
Wed 2007-05-30
  Maliki is conducting "reconciliation" talks with Izzat Ibrahim
Tue 2007-05-29
  Iraqi Kurdistan to take charge of own security
Mon 2007-05-28
  14 Arrested in Spain on Terror Charges
Sun 2007-05-27
  U.S. Military Rescues 41 Iraqis From Al Qaeda Prison
Sat 2007-05-26
  Nangahar big turban snagged
Fri 2007-05-25
  Dems blink: House Approves War-Funding Bill
Thu 2007-05-24
  Israel seizes Hamas leaders in West Bank
Wed 2007-05-23
  PLO backs army entry into Nahr al-Bared
Tue 2007-05-22
  Hamas threatens new wave of suicide attacks
Mon 2007-05-21
  Leb army lays siege to camp as fight continues
Sun 2007-05-20
  Leb army takes on Fatah al-Islam at Paleo camp


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