NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A man who claims to be the "Godfather of Spam" has been sentenced to 51 months in prison by a federal judge in Detroit for his lead role in an e-mail stock scam scheme, according to court documents.
Alan Ralsky, 64, also faces five years probation and will have to forfeit $250,000 that was seized by the government in 2007.
U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani also sentenced three others Monday for their involvement in the scheme, including Ralsky's son-in-law Scott Bradley, 48, who received 40 months in prison and five years probation.
Ralsky and Bradley were charged for conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud and violating the CAN-SPAM Act, which criminalizes large, commercial e-mail messages sent using an unauthorized computer or with the intent to hide the e-mail's original source, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. They were also charged with committing wire fraud and engaging in money laundering.
Ralsky and Bradley, both of West Bloomfield, Mich., pleaded guilty to the charges in June.
Ralsky's history as a prolific spammer dates back to 1997. Before the Bush administration passed a law to crack down on e-mail marketers in 2003, Ralsky reportedly sent 70 million messages a day from fake names.
In the operation that began in January 2004, the team sent billions of illegal e-mail advertisements to inflate the price of Chinese penny stocks and then reaped the profit, according to the prosecutor's office. They raked in nearly $3 million during the summer of 2005.
A Vietnamese man dug up his wife's corpse and slept beside it for five years because he wanted to hug her in bed, an online newspaper says. Also, she nags less than she used to.
The 55-year-old man from a small town in the central province of Quang Nam opened up his wife's grave in 2004, moulded clay around the remains to give the figure of a woman, put clothes on her and then placed her in his bed, Vietnamnet.vn said.
The man, Le Van, told the website that after his wife died in 2003 he slept ontop of her grave, but about 20 months later he worried about rain, wind and cold, so he decided to dig a tunnel into the grave "to sleep with her".
His children found out, though, and prevented him from going to the grave. So one night in November 2004 he dug up his wife's remains and took them home, Vietnamnet reported.
Children. Always meddling in the affairs of their elders.
The website carried a photo of Van with the figure of his wife, which is still in his home.
The father of seven said neighbours did not dare visit the house for several years. Wonder why?
"I'm a person that does things differently. I'm not like normal people," he was quoted as saying. Hands down understatement of the year
It was an extraordinary scene. British mercenary Simon Mann was deep in conversation with his chief prosecutor, the Attorney General of Equatorial Guinea, the man who had brought him to justice for plotting to overthrow the West African country's government.
They sat close together, discussing large sums of money and poring over paperwork. Then, like the celebrity prisoner he had become, Mann reached over and borrowed the Attorney-General's mobile phone to call his home in England.
For the next 50 minutes, Mann berated his wife Amanda for failing to produce the funds he needed to buy his way out of prison. What was holding up the bank transfer, he demanded to know. When would the money reach West Africa? Did she realise how urgent this was?
Looking on in astonishment were four of his fellow prisoners. Unlike him, they were shackled by chains on their wrists and feet and wore uniforms of grey and white stripes.
Also unlike him, they had no vast reserves of money to call up in order to buy freedom. They had been summoned to one of their occasional meetings with the Attorney-General in a ground-floor room at Black Beach prison and had come face-to-face with Mann for the first time since they were all arrested in March 2004.
For Nick du Toit, Mann's chief co-conspirator, it was a traumatic moment. 'He seemed so relaxed, almost unaware of us,' he said. 'Then he wanted to shake my hand and was only slightly embarrassed that I was shuffling over to him in chains. He asked how I was and I said I was fine. It was unreal.'
Now back home in Pretoria, du Toit has given The Mail on Sunday the first authentic account of the moment of their release on November 3. He also revealed details of the special treatment afforded to Mann during his time in Black Beach - which included hotel food and an exercise treadmill.
Mann, 57, was released after 14 months of his 34-year sentence, boasting to du Toit that it cost him nearly half-a-million pounds. "Dog of War" Whahahaha. He's a lucky one. Too bad about the good men and former soldiers he and Sir Mark buggered.
Police in Kiambu have arrested a girl with police uniform reported to have been stolen.
During a routine check at Kiambu Bus Park on Friday, wananchi tipped officers of the girl and a young man who looked suspicious. The officers pursued the suspects and caught up with the girl carrying a bag. They found a jungle jacket, a beret, shirt, and a pair of trousers.
Kiambu DC Albert Kimathi said the uniform was reported stolen from a policeman in Nairobi on September 24. It is also believed it was being used for hire in Kiambu for Sh5,000.
"The uniform is believed to be the one used by gangsters to break into peoples homes. Residents say they are robbed because they open their doors thinking the gangsters are policemen," said Mr Kimathi. He commended the public for volunteering information on criminal activities and asked them to be vigilant and help the police.
Two men in Bangladesh have been jailed for severely beating a pregnant crocodile at an Islamic shrine. The crocodile, named Pipil, was badly injured and lost one eye after the men hit her with bamboo sticks. The attack took place in April at Khan Jahan Ali shrine, in Bagerhat district, 135km (85 miles) southwest of the capital Dhaka.
On Tuesday, a court convicted the men of torture and sentenced them to two years in jail with hard labour. The Khan Jahan Ali shrine has about two dozen crocodiles living in a big pond where pilgrims can feed and watch them. The two men convicted were among a group of people who collect money from visitors by exhibiting the crocodiles.
The group is known to beat the crocodiles if they do not respond to their calls, Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper reported. According to local authorities, five crocodiles have died in the last 10 years because of mistreatment by the group, it said. Crocodiles are protected under Bangladesh law, and offenders face up to five years in jail for torturing or killing them.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Feed the miscreants to the crocks and we will call it even.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/27/2009 0:23 Comments ||
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#2
It's all fun and games til someone the croc loses an eye
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2009 7:16 Comments ||
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#3
Still looking for someone to put a Salty in Lake Alice (pls, hurry, it's Tebows last year)
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/27/2009 15:30 Comments ||
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#4
Don't act vile toward the crocodile...
Posted by: Mike ||
11/27/2009 18:42 Comments ||
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#5
She sailed away on a sunny summer day
On the back of a crocodile
"You see," said she, "he's as tame as tame can be, I'll ride him down the Nile."
The croc winked his eye as she bade them all goodbye Wearing a happy smile
At the end of the ride, the lady was inside,
And the smile was on the crocodile!
#7
ION TIMES OF INDIA > STUDIES: PILGRIMAGE CENTRES TURNING INTO SEX HOTSPOTS, espec for extensive local adult protitution + "fake" marriages + foreign-led pedophilic activities [illegal underage-child sex ala foreign tourists]???
#1
They really think they're grand enough that we want them,
(Loud Fart Noise) we DON"T.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/27/2009 15:14 Comments ||
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#2
Watched a short clip on the news last evening. Saw a lad jump from his trench and crank off a few rounds with his bolt action Mauser. Got to wonder if his battalion commander showed up a bit later in his 1953 Chevy Bel Air staff car.
#3
And yet every single boat goes in the opposite direction.
Posted by: ed ||
11/27/2009 15:19 Comments ||
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#4
When I read the headline I thought they were planning to invade us. That made me think about what parts of the country Obamanation would let them have besides Fox & Texas.
Amnesty International expressed fears Friday of excessive use of force during post-coup elections in Honduras as international support grew for the polls that have divided the Americas.
Might happen, the Zelaya supporters include a lot of thugs -- oh, Amnesty isn't worried about them ...
Backers of ousted President Manuel Zelaya called for citizens to stay at home during Sunday's vote to promote a boycott and avoid government repression.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a mediator in the five-month crisis, meanwhile joined the United States in backing the polls, which many in Latin America have rejected, saying the vote will legitimize the June 28 military-backed coup.
An Amnesty International delegation in Tegucigalpa said it had learned that the de facto regime had stockpiled 10,000 tear gas cans and other crowd control equipment, and was concerned about the risk of a heavy-handed crackdown during the elections. Rights groups have already expressed concern after several deaths and dozens of arrests in a heavy-handed crackdown since the coup, including on pro-Zelaya media.
"The past misuse of tear gas and other crowd control equipment, together with the lack of guarantees that the purchased equipment will not be used to attack demonstrators... paints an extremely worrying picture of what might happen over the next few days," said Javier Zuniga, head of Amnesty's Honduras delegation.
He decried what he called "an environment of fear and intimidation" in the impoverished Central American nation.
The rights group denounced the interim regime's increased threats and intimidation against activists and journalists criticizing the government.
Around 30,000 soldiers and police have been deployed to distribute electoral material and oversee the polls.
The pro-Zelaya resistance movement called for a "popular curfew" from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm on Sunday (1200 to 0000 GMT). "If there are bombs or other attacks, it will be the army or the police because people from the resistance movement will be in their houses," coordinator Juan Barahona told AFP.
Conflict mediator Arias, who oversaw an accord that called for Zelaya's reinstatement prior to the vote, backed the polls as a possible exit to the five-month crisis. "Why should we punish them... by not recognizing the new government, isolating them, ending cooperation?" Arias said on CNN.
"If everything goes well, normally" on election day, "the large majority of countries must recognize" the results, the Nobel Peace laureate said.
Brazil has led regional opposition, particularly from leftist governments, to the elections. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said the regional Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) would not recognize the polls, although member Peru has backed them.
The European Union, a key donor to Honduras, has not yet stated its position.
Five months ago, the judicial order coup set off a wave of international condemnation and millions of dollars in aid freezes.
Some 4.6 million Hondurans are eligible to vote Sunday, with conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo, who lost to Zelaya in 2005 elections, the frontrunner.
The United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) regional bloc have declined to send election monitors, while Cuban exiles in Miami and right-wing US political groups are among the few to plan to dispatch observers. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti has temporarily stepped down to focus attention on the polls.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has slammed the US for supporting Sunday's presidential elections, saying that the US is supporting a coup-perpetrating regime.
"The United States is not just supporting the elections but it is supporting the de facto regime, it is supporting the dictatorship, it is supporting the coup-perpetrating regime," Zelaya said in a telephone interview published on Thursday by the Brazilian website UOL.
Zelaya was ousted by a military coup on June 28 and has been sheltered in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa for over two months, since his clandestine return to the Central American country.
Zelaya says that the election is "null and void" and insisted that "We are going to formally question that election."
"Latin America already experienced about 80 coups, but they led to a new constitution, a social pact towards a new constitution, and not to an illegitimate call to elections under the leadership of a dictatorship, without international observers, without the OAS (Organization of American States), without the United Nations," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Posted by: Oscar Phung6775 ||
11/27/2009 9:08 Comments ||
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The presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus reached a deal Friday to create a customs union among their three ex-Soviet states from July 1 next year.
"This is a very significant and long-awaited decision, resulting from difficult negotiations," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, quoted by Russian news agencies in the Belarussian capital.
"The switch to a joint economic zone is a completely new economic format," he said, adding that the customs bloc would be open to other members in the future.
"From July 1, the single customs union will start to function on the territory of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan," Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
He added the three leaders will meet next in the Kazakh city of Almaty on December 18 to hammer out a timeline for setting in place common tariffs and launching the customs union.
Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the accord marked the start of difficult talks, which would result in the three states relinquishing decision-making power to a "supranational body".
For his part, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev estimated that the creation of the new trade bloc would push up by 15 percent the gross domestic product of each of the three countries by 2015.
Kazakhstan's Central Asian neighbors Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have already announced their intention to accede to the union, he added.
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in June shocked the World Trade Organization (WTO) by saying that Russia would apply to join the trade organization as a single customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Moscow has since adopted a more nuanced approach, suggesting that each country would pursue membership with the WTO separately, despite an effort to coordinate the timeline of their accession talks.
But Shuvalov, speaking after Friday's signing, reiterated that Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus would strive to join the WTO "on the same terms and at the same time".
Russia is the sole remaining major economy not to be integrated in the WTO system. Tortuous talks on joining started in 1993, but the United States called Russia's accession into question after its war with Georgia in August 2008.
China has launched the serial production of J-10, J-11 and FC-1 fighter jets, which are rip-offs of Russias Su-27/30 and MiG-29 aircraft. The nation intends to build and sell not less than 1,200 planes at the prices which will be much lower than those of the Russian planes.
The report is not the news for the Russian defense industry. In 2003, China refused to prolong the license for the production of Su-27CK planes and started working on the construction of its own jet a copy of the Russian analogue. China will put competitive pressure on Russia on the market of spare parts too.
Beijing plans to challenge Russia on its traditional defense industry markets and become the maker of inexpensive and efficient air materiel. Malaysian military officials have already expressed their readiness to cooperate with China at this point. A senior official of Malaysias Air Force said that his nation was going to purchase a batch of spare parts to Russian fighter jets from China.
Malaysia s Royal Air Force has 18 Russian-made Su-30MKM aircraft. Their technical servicing is the corner stone of Russias entire arms export. There were a number of serious incidents when Russian manufacturers could not execute their contracts with delivering spare parts to Malaysia. Malaysia had to refuse from the exploitation of MiG-29 planes. The promised technical center in India was never materialized either.
Russia has delivered 76 Su-27 fighter jets to China since 1992. In 1995 Moscow granted a license to Beijing to assemble 200 more of those planes. As a result, Russias renowned Su-27 fighter jet was cloned in China as J-11. Russia was originally delivering spare parts to China, but Beijing refused to prolong the license in 2003. By 2008, China had designed its only analogues of the Russian engine, radar and other equipment.
Chain started the licensed and non-licensed production of analogues of Soviet planes a long time ago. The nations J-6 and J-7 fighters were created on the base of MiG-10 and MiG-21. H-6 bombers were copied from Tu-16; Y-5, Y-7 and Y-8 are rip-offs of Russias An-2, An-24 and An-12.
The military cooperation between Russia and China has had a 62-percent reduction since 2007. There are practically no new contracts between the two countries.
The Pentagon traditionally evaluated Chinas defense technologies in its recent report about the level of the nations defense power. US officials believe that Chinas level of technological development in the defense industry was much lower than that of the United States. Nevertheless, the Pentagon acknowledged that Chinas defense budget was growing faster than the nations economy.
China is going to start the production of large vessels and develop a new generation of arms and military hardware for its navy. Priority will be paid to the construction of superships, a new type of submarines, supersonic jets, missiles and other arms.
After 2020, Beijing plans to build two nuclear-powered aircraft-carriers in addition to two other conventional vessels which are going to be launched in 2015. When it happens, China will establish control over the entire western part of the Pacific Ocean. Well, maybe not.
#3
Given the Chinese history of manufacturing dangerously faulty and poisonous things, I have to think that those foolish enough to buy Chinese replacement airplane deserve the outcome.
The nation's Maritime Self-Defence Force is reportedly planning to construct a new 284 metre long destroyer capable of transporting 14 helicopters, 4,000 people and 50 trucks. ..as well as transform itself into a giant robot
The purchase is part of a wider military build up in which the Defence Ministry has sought funds to purchase around 40 F-35 fighter jets which will become the future mainstay of the nation's air force, according to Kyodo News.
The new destroyer, which will become the largest in the nation's fleet of 52 vessels in the class, will also provide fuel to other carriers, transport servicemen and assist with emergencies and international peace keeping missiles.
"Helicopters are needed to seek out and keep an eye on submarines as well as to patrol surface ships from as far away as possible outside the range of enemy missiles," a defence ministry official told the Asahi Shimbun. "For those reasons, a large destroyer that can carry many helicopters is necessary."
Its primary function will be to patrol seas contested by China. Japan's neighbour has strengthened its naval capabilities and advanced destroyers armed with cruise missiles have been spotted near gas fields in the East China Sea.
Japan's defence expansion is also believed to be fuelled in part by growing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and refusal to rejoin multi-party disarmament talks.
Context: A Wasp-class ship is 257 meters, according to Galrahn. So this is one big, um, 'destroyer'. I think that with their restrictive constitution Japan has to call every ship a destroyer, even if it's a helicopter carrier or heavy amphibious assault ship.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/27/2009 00:20 ||
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#1
Could it be that the nation's in that region don't trust the US under Obama to come to the rescue or support them over China (our banker)?
#6
Another reason to respect the Japanese. That opening line in the article could be rewritten as:
The nation's Maritime "Self-Defense" Force is reportedly planning to construct a new 284 metre long "destroyer" capable of "transporting" 14 helicopters, 4,000 "people" and 50 "trucks."
I don't know, they don't seem to get too many birds off of these modern flattops. You could fit a hundred prop planes on something the size of these new "helicopter destroyers" back in the era of Midway. As for transporting trucks... sounds more like an expeditionary platform than a true carrier.
Now that I look closer at it, this thing is supposed to play ASW nursemaid, CAP mommy, serve as a tanker, equipment freighter, and carry the better part of an expeditionary brigade. Presumably not all at the same time. Is this a warship or a design platform for an entire series of warship classes?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/27/2009 13:50 Comments ||
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Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/27/2009 15:23 Comments ||
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#10
I think in the end it's a heavy amphibious assault ship -- it can bring an army/marine expeditionary unit to a given location with its equipment, transport it all to shore, and then provide at least some air support.
Now why the Japanese think they need to carry expeditionary units around is something I don't quite get -- they don't have any claims to the small oil-bearing islands in the South China sea, and it would be easier to air-lift an expeditionary unit to South Korea if the need ever arose.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/27/2009 16:46 Comments ||
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#11
"Retake the Kurils!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2009 16:55 Comments ||
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#12
..the Japanese are dependent upon foreign trade and imported oil. You need to protect those shipping lanes. If you perceive the big guy isn't going to be around to carry the load for free much longer, you'd better be prepared to do it yourself or in concert with others who will.
#13
Speaking of #11's "RETAKE THE KURILS", WMF >
RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY [RCP Vice-Chair Victor Illyushin]:CLAIMS OF SOVEREIGNTY BY JAPAN OVER KURILES IS A "DECLARATION OF WAR" AGZ THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION [Russia].
Response to MSM-NET Repors that TOKYO = JAPAN'S GOVT. intends to adopt legislation formally reasserting Nippon sovereignty oer Kuriles taken by the USSR = Stalin at the end of WW2.
#15
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > TEN REASONS NOT TO FEAR CHINA'S [future]SIX AIRCRAFT CARRIERS.
* OTOH WMF > seems CHINA = PLAN, + CPC's CMC etc., still are intent on having at least FOUR CV's by 2020 [2 conventional, 2 nukulaar exclud improv ex-Russ VARYAG which wil be used by PLAN as a training CVT].
#16
Yee hawwww!! I actual got feedback from the Joebot! Once in 8 years!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2009 22:25 Comments ||
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#17
The Japanese saw how useful US carriers were in typhoon cleanup and sure would love to have a peace of that good PR for their Navy. Also historically destroyers and destroyer escorts were anti-sub (frigates in the US are anti-air). Anti-sub appears robe the primary mission. If you aren't gonna call it a helicopter carrier you might as well go with destroyer.
#2
The Persian Gulf countries are famous for being in the wave to pick up gold. Wonder if they've resigned themselves to the fact oil demand isn't going to get much higher and the group behavior will only undercut any subgroup that tries to withhold too much, particularly with the Iraq crude in the mix now too. All that in consideration, you'd think someone might create another financial crisis to jack up further the price of gold before they unload it at an amazing profit.
#5
#1 even here in GUAM, despite their impor role in dev Guam's milbases durng WW2 and post-WW2 island-wide development vee the construction industry, many Filipino + LT Chinese-Korean workers are now deemed overly "expensive" by local Contractors in comparison to non-Filipino, etc. ASIAN H-2 workers + Micronesians, the latter of whom are viewed or treated as "temporary/transient" per the US-FSM COMPACT OF FREE ASSOCIATION.
1990's - 2007 > It used to be CHIN sneaking into Guam [e.g. from CNMI] by crashing their boats oer local reefs - now I'm seeing more INDIAN + BANGLA + OTHER SOUTH/SE ASIAN emigres walking around???
LONDON (AP) - European stock markets rebounded Friday after Wall Street didn't fall as much as feared on the news that Dubai is having trouble handling its debt. Because U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, they are only reacting now to the fears that Dubai's debt problems may affect the wider financial system.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 51.60 points, or 1 percent, at 5,245.73 while Germany's DAX rose 71.44 points, or 1.3 percent, at 5,685.61. The CAC-40 in France ended 42.22 points, or 1.2 percent, higher at 3,721.45.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 137.40 points, or 1.3 percent, at 10,327 around midday New York time while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 15.64 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,094.99. Futures markets had earlier been pricing in 2 percent plus declines on the two indexes.
Though hefty, the losses in the U.S. paled in comparison to those posted earlier in Asia, when indexes in Hong Kong and South Korea tumbled 5 percent in response to the previous day's Dubai-related losses in Europe.
"The story for most of today has been one of continued recovery, clawing back a portion of the losses seen on Thursday...a fairly orderly opening to U.S. markets has also helped calm nerves," said Anthony Grech, market strategist at IG Index.
"So far the recovery has been an encouraging one and shows that even after eight months of strongly rising stock markets, the appetite still seems to be out there to buy into the dips," Grech added.
Confidence about the world economy was hit hard by the news that Dubai World, a government investment company with around $60 billion worth of debt, has asked creditors if it can postpone forthcoming payments until May. Investors are wondering whether the current uncertainty surrounding the emirate has brought the eight-month equities bull run to an end.
Analysts said more clarity about the long-term impact of Dubai's troubles would likely emerge next week, when Wall Street is back to normal trading hours following the Thanksgiving Day holiday. U.S. markets are only open for half the day Friday.
"It is likely to take at least a few days before the implications of the impact of a possible default from Dubai are properly digested but for the present it seems that the market is seeing this negative news as a blow to the global recovery but not one that will push it off course," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com.
Investors were also keeping a close eye on associated developments in the currency markets after the dollar slid to a new 14-year low of 84.81 yen.
However, the dollar climbed back off its lows to 86.87 yen amid mounting expectations that the Bank of Japan may intervene in the markets by buying dollars or selling yen after Japan's finance minister Hirohisa Fujii said he was "extremely nervous" about the movements in the yen and that the "market had moved too far in one direction."
On Thursday, the Swiss National Bank reportedly intervened to buy dollars to prevent the export-sapping appreciation of the Swiss franc. That seems to have worked--for now, at least--as the dollar has moved back above parity, trading 0.9 percent higher at 1.0118 Swiss francs.
The British pound has also been battered amid fears about the exposure of Britain's banks to the region. The pound was down nearly one percent earlier but recovered some ground alongside the better than expected performance in stock markets to be trading only 0.1 percent lower at $1.6495.
Another currency that has been struggling since the Dubai news broke is the euro, which was down a further 0.4 percent to $1.4963--in times of uncertainty the dollar is considered to be more of a safe haven currency. Investors are also concerned about the exposure of European banks to Dubai.
Earlier, Asian stocks were particularly badly hit as they played catch-up following the big losses in Europe in the previous session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 1,075.91 points, or 4.8 percent, lower at 21,134.50, while South Korea's benchmark plummeted 4.7 percent to 1,524.50.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average fell 3.2 percent to 9,081.52 while Australia's index dropped 2.9 percent. China's main Shanghai stock measure was off 2.4 percent.
Indexes in emerging markets avoided a second day of losses, with Russia and Brazil up about 1 percent.
Oil, meanwhile, tracked developments in stock markets and benchmark crude for January delivery fell $2.21 to $75.75 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
#3
in times of uncertainty the dollar is considered to be more of a safe haven currency.
Funny, if one were to take a word of different financial experts in the last year or so, one would tend to think the buck is dedder than ded.
And that is despite the mighty try by 0baMaists to kill the economy and the buck with it.
On Sunday Swiss voters will have their say on a controversial proposal to impose a constitutional ban on the building of minarets. The proposal is backed by conservative Christian groups and by the biggest party in Switzerland's parliament, the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), which says allowing minarets would lead to the Islamisation of the country.
There are an estimated 400,000 Muslims in Switzerland, most from the former Yugoslavia or Turkey. Islam is the country's most widespread religion after Christianity, but although there are Muslim prayer rooms, proper mosques with minarets are few and far between. There are just four across Switzerland, and in recent years, all applications to build minarets have been turned down.
Although there is little evidence of Islamic extremism in Switzerland, supporters of a ban say the presence of minarets would represent the growth of an ideology and a legal system that are incompatible with Swiss democracy.
"The minaret is not an innocent building. It has been used in history to mark territory, to mark the progression of Islamic law in foreign countries," said member of parliament Oskar Freysinger. "Islamic people say it's only decorative. I don't agree. If Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey says 'the minarets are our bayonets' that means something to me. I don't want his bayonets to be planted here in Switzerland."
At public meetings to discuss a ban, this argument has clearly found favour with some voters. "I'm not against Islam as a religion, I'm just against the minaret as a symbol of their power, taking over, conquering," said one woman.
"I'm a believer, I'm a Christian and I'm not against the Muslims," insisted one man. "But I'm not for the power, that they put their rights, the Sharia, over the rights that we have here in Switzerland, the law."
These arguments have caused a great deal of frustration among Switzerland's Muslim community, who insist that all they want is a recognisable mosque. Earlier this month, Muslim prayer rooms across Switzerland opened their doors to the public, in the hope of reassuring voters that they had nothing to fear from minarets.
"We view the minaret as a symbol of religious freedom," said Mahmoud El Guindi, of Zurich's Islamic Centre. "There is sometimes some fear in society, of Islam or the Muslims, based on various political events... and when they come here and they talk to the people and put their questions, they can see that Islam is a peaceful religion like other religions."
But a highly visible campaign in favour of a ban paints a very different picture of Islam. Posters have appeared in many Swiss cities showing a dark, almost menacing figure of a woman, shrouded from head to foot in a black burka. Behind her is the Swiss flag, shaped like a map of the country, with black minarets shooting up out of it like missiles.
There is also an online game, which has proved very popular, in which players can shoot down minarets as they rise up on the skylines of Switzerland's major cities.
And although few in Switzerland would question the country's system of direct democracy, in which the people vote on all major decisions, many Swiss are very uncomfortable with the tone this particular campaign has taken.
Elham Manea, a Swiss citizen and a Muslim, believes an opportunity to have a meaningful debate about Islam and its integration in Switzerland has been missed. Instead, she says, it has become a vehicle to express prejudice. "In this debate, the very fact that you belong to a certain religion turns you into something bad," she says. "They are bringing all these issues; integration problems, political Islam, fear of social change and social demographics, throwing them into one basket, calling it Islam and Muslims are bad.
"That is scary, because we have history to warn us when it comes to discrimination and discriminating against certain groups."
Outside Switzerland, observers are watching the minaret debate with concern. Amnesty International this week called on Swiss voters to reject a ban, warning that forbidding minarets would be a violation of Switzerland's obligations to uphold freedom of religious expression.
And there are hints that some Muslim countries, with whom Switzerland traditionally enjoys good relations, may even boycott the country if a ban is approved. They are particularly angry that Islam has been singled out, since Sikh temples and Serbian Orthodox churches have recently been built in Switzerland, while synagogues have been present for more than a century.
Switzerland's coalition government is urging voters to say no to a ban, fearing a yes vote could harm the country's image abroad and cause anger among its many different ethnic groups. But at the moment opinion polls predict a close result, and many in Switzerland fear that whichever way the final vote goes, the very fact that this referendum was held at all - and the tone of the campaign - will leave a legacy of bitterness among Swiss Muslims.
#1
From the outset, the women have complained they were never consulted before Vatican officials announced the investigation and there is no transparency in the process. Some have called the effort demeaning and intrusive.
It's not a democracy. You can always join the Head Druid's church. If you want to protest, it's call Protestantism.
#7
"Intrusive" > subjectively speaking, I could be wrong but I'm a'guessin the Vatican's new questionaire is related to "DON'T ASK DON'T TELL", as given the formal recent legal backruptcy of certain US Parishes oer abuse claims???
This has always been the chief concern about H1N1 - the possibility that it would merge its human-human transmissibility with H5N1's 70% lethality rate. If it does, China is a good candidate for ground zero.
#3
Despite their traditional arrogance, the Chinese are actually shaking in their boots about influenza. And for its part, influenza is doing everything possible to scare the undivided poop out of the Chinese. They are nonsensically vulnerable, and know it.
Annually, 150 million migrant farm workers travel across China. Their major cities are choked with rural laborers looking for work.
European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot plasma formed during re-entry of returning spacecraft. They plan to test the new technology by attaching a test module to a missile and using a Russian submarine to fire it into space.
The Volan and its magnetic heat shield would be launched into a suborbital trajectory from a Russian submarine at sea. The missile, a modified ballistic missile called Volna, would re-enter the Earth's atmospher at Mach 21 and come back to Earth in the Kamchatka peninsula, a remote region of the Russian Far East.
#7
Interesting method for spacecraft weight reduction. Of course, if something goes wrong (like cooling loss) then you're F'ed.
Posted by: ed ||
11/27/2009 13:40 Comments ||
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#8
Ala PAKISTANI DEFENCE EOFURM > CHINA'S dev = got the ANTI-GRAVITY MACHINE.
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, THE SIMPSONS > HIS NAME IS "SCORPIO", HE HAS THE "DOOMSDAY DEVICE", + HE'LL REALLY R-E-E-L-L-Y APPRECIATE IT IFF HOMER CAN KILL STORMIN' NORMAN + SOME SOLDIERS ON HIS WAY OUT FROM THE OFFICE!?
SUB-D *** Ng IT, SCORPIO > DAT BRIDGE DID NOT COLLAPSE ON ITS OWN!
Researchers have demonstrated a prototype device that can rid hands, feet, or even underarms of bacteria, including the hospital superbug MRSA.
The device works by creating something called a plasma, which produces a cocktail of chemicals in air that kill bacteria but are harmless to skin. A related approach could see the use of plasmas to speed the healing of wounds.
Writing in the New Journal of Physics, the authors say plasmas could help solve gum disease or even body odour.
Plasmas are known as the fourth state of matter, after solid, liquid, and gas. They are a soup of atoms that have had their electrons stripped off by, for example, a high voltage. But the new research focuses on so-called cold atmospheric plasmas.
Rather than turning a whole group of atoms into plasma, a more delicate approach strips the electrons off just a few, sending them flying. Collisions with nearby, unchanged atoms slows down the electrons and charged atoms or ions they leave behind.
It has been known for some time that the resulting plasma is harmful to bacteria, viruses, and fungi - the approach is already used to disinfect surgical tools.
The plasma produces a series of over 200 chemical reactions that involve the oxygen and nitrogen in air plus water vapour - there is a whole concotion of chemical species that can be lethal to bacteria
To produce plasmas efficiently at low cost so you can really mass produce these things for hospitals, that's the big breakthrough of the last year," Professor Morfill said.
The team says that an exposure to the plasma of only about 12 seconds reduces the incidence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi on hands by a factor of a million - a number that stands in sharp contrast to the several minutes hospital staff can take to wash using traditional soap and water.
#2
They don't need this high-tech crap, there is an alcohol gel that works just fine for cleaning hands. They had it in Europe forever before it finally got imported to America.
#4
gromky: oddly enough, a system like this was proposed many years ago in science fiction, to be used as a surgical and post surgical apparatus. That is, some surgeries are very prone to infection, and these type devices would be used during the surgery itself, to drastically reduce the amount of pathogen at the site.
Also, one of the problems with UV light sterilization is that pathogens can hide behind anything that casts a shadow. But plasma behaves more like a liquid, getting into little spaces where bacteria can hide.
Another use would be to integrate one of these devices inside air ducts, to prevent the recycling of contaminated air. A big problem in commercial aircraft.
#5
Plasma sterilizer rays on automated robots patroling hospitals 24/7 ! Awesome, maybe i can did out my old Big Trak and make a home version !
Main concern for me is the faecal-oral route of infections in hospitals. Door handles, tissue dispensers et al need to be kept clean . As this plasama method is already used to sterilise surgical tools , then adapting to clean any enviroment in hospitals shouldnt be a problem really. Someeone more clinically sound could point out if these infections/bacterias could develop resistance/mutate ?
Still , washing hands with soap and water feels good ! (ok i need to get out more but healthy body=healthy mind and visa versa)
Posted by: Oscar ||
11/27/2009 5:56 Comments ||
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#10
We could have the equivalent of a Roomba sterilizer robot wandering about in the hospital. Give everybody something to talk about. Then, with the proper remote sensing, it could hone in and assault clean up the germs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/27/2009 11:32 Comments ||
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#12
Yeah... just how much testing has been done on animals with this crap? "[W]hole concotion of chemical species that can be lethal to bacteria" just screams potential for poisonings, allergens, carcinogens, and assorted shocks to the system of vulnerable individuals, esp. during surgery.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/27/2009 13:56 Comments ||
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#13
We could have the equivalent of a Roomba sterilizer robot wandering about in the hospital. Give everybody something to talk about.
Indeed. So they would be at least many and small. I like it.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/27/2009 15:39 Comments ||
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#14
We could have the equivalent of a Roomba sterilizer robot wandering about in the hospital. Give everybody something to talk about.
But what would the nurses name it? That's critical -- Roombas are too cute to wander around unnamed.
SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines (AP) - Undeterred by the deadly attack that killed 57 in a campaign convoy, Ismael Mangudadatu filed to run for governor of Maguindanao province Friday, heavily guarded by police and soldiers.
His candidacy poses an unprecedented challenge to the Ampatuan clan, which was implicated in Monday's massacre. "Only death can stop me from running," he said. He might want to rephrase that last bit.
A day after burying his wife, sisters and many other relatives, Mangudadatu traveled past the spot where they were killed along with supporters and journalists who were stopped and gunned down on their way to file election papers on his behalf. Many of the dead were dumped in mass graves.
"This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation," he said, holding up his certificate of candidacy in front of reporters and hundreds of cheering followers.
His 50-vehicle caravan was escorted by soldiers, a police commander, a senior army general and hundreds of supporters. Mangudadatu was not part of Monday's convoy because of threats on his life. He sent female relatives in the belief that women would be spared. That worked, well, almost worked.
Prosecutors, delayed by a two-day holiday, said they will file multiple murder charges Tuesday against Andal Ampatuan Jr., heir of the clan that has ruled Maguindanao for years.
Several witnesses came forward, including one of the gunmen who claimed he saw Ampatuan order the killings and fire his weapon, said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.
Ampatuan told reporters from his detention cell in Manila that at the time of the massacre he was at the municipal hall in Datu Unsay township, where he's the mayor. He denied any role.
He turned himself in Thursday under threat of military attack on his family's compound.
The clan's patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and six other family members, including the governor of the autonomous Muslim region, are considered suspects and are not allowed to leave the country, Devanadera said. They were implicated in witnesses' statements, she said, refusing to elaborate.
Police said six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township's police station and nearly 400 militiamen were in custody. Not all were considered suspects. That's a nice little private army.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Punourity said he would seek the replacement of the entire provincial political structure.
Faced with domestic and international outrage over the killingsthe bloodiest in recent historyPresident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo authorized a crackdown on the clan that helped her and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.
Arroyo's ruling party expelled Ampatuan from their ranks, along with his father and a brother, while the president repeatedly vowed justice for the victims.
Devanadera said more than 20 women were among the slain, and the pants of some female victims were unzipped and lowered. Police said, however, that autopsies were not finished and reports of rape were not substantiated.
At least 22 journalists working for newspapers, TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao region were among the dead. It was the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.
Troops and police poured into the rural, impoverished province. Checkpoints were set up along highways and tanks deployed in the provincial capital.
Many hope that the fallout from Monday's massacre will lead to the end of the Ampatuan's violent grip on Maguindanao's politics.
"Our people were like strangled with a rope for a long time," said Arnold Fernandez, administrator of Buluan town, which is led by a Mangudadatu. "We seem to be moving to a new era."
Iran will face severe water shortages in half a century, director of Irans Desert Studies Center warned here on Tuesday.
Large swathes of the country will be on track for severe water shortage in 50 years, Parviz Kardovani said. The Central Plateau of Iran will face up to water crisis within a half century, he explained, blaming excessive increase in water consumption for such a shortage.
He elaborated human activities, lifestyles, poor management of water resources, and urban development as the main causes of the crisis. Referring to the limitation of Irans water resources, he called for concerted efforts to manage urban development and consumption of water resources in a bid to tackle drinking water shortage
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.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A man who claims to be the "Godfather of Spam" has been sentenced to 51 months in prison by a federal judge in Detroit for his lead role in an e-mail stock scam scheme, according to court documents. 
Amnesty International expressed fears Friday of excessive use of force during post-coup elections in Honduras as international support grew for the polls that have divided the Americas. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has slammed the US for supporting Sunday's presidential elections, saying that the US is supporting a coup-perpetrating regime. 
The presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus reached a deal Friday to create a customs union among their three ex-Soviet states from July 1 next year. 
LONDON (AP) - European stock markets rebounded Friday after Wall Street didn't fall as much as feared on the news that Dubai is having trouble handling its debt. Because U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, they are only reacting now to the fears that Dubai's debt problems may affect the wider financial system. 
SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines (AP) - Undeterred by the deadly attack that killed 57 in a campaign convoy, Ismael Mangudadatu filed to run for governor of Maguindanao province Friday, heavily guarded by police and soldiers. 
