#3
That's one reason I posted it. But the bigger reason is that this is the classic (American style) immigrant entrepreneur working his butt off to make a better life ... vs. the Nordic welfare/tax state. I wonder how many Swedes he'll inspire?
(SomaliNet) A local security official said a British national working for an oil company operating in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia was on Wednesday freed hours after being hijacked by two of his bodyguards.
One of the kidnappers was killed and the other was severely wounded by local security forces who managed to free the hostage, Amin Haji, head of the company security staff, told Xinhua by phone from Bosasso, the commercial capital of Puntland, where the oil company is based.
The British national, Carl Fletcher, was working for Africa Oil Company which has lately been carrying out oil explorations in the region, local Shabelle radio quoted Hassan Osman Mohamoud, regional Minister for Oil and Mineral resources as saying. Fletcher was taken to an area called Ufeyn, 150 km east of Bossaso by his captors and were reportedly pursued by local security forces who engaged in gun fight before free the hostage who is now said to be "fine and healthy".
"He was abducted by two men from his bodyguards who mutinied. "They took him to an area in Ufeyn," the minister said.
It is not yet clear the motive behind this latest attempted hijacking but the northeastern regions had lately been the scene of a number of abductions of foreign nationals for ransom and rampant piracy in the coastline of Puntland.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
As many as 100 migrants from Somalia were missing and feared drowned off the coast of Yemen after smugglers forced them overboard in the treacherous Gulf of Aden waters. Thirty bodies were found washed up on shore yesterday and were buried immediately as a search operation continued at sea.
"Vorga!"
The smugglers' boat left Somalia on Monday with 150 people on board, a UN refugee agency spokesman said. Later, when their vessel was about three miles offshore, the smugglers forced all but 12 of the migrants overboard. The 12 were put in a smaller boat while the rest tried to swim to shore, but only 47 made it and alerted authorities.
A Yemeni official said the boat was bound for Yemen's Shabwa province, some 300 miles south of San'a on the Gulf of Aden coast. He believed that between 100 and 118 migrants could have drowned.
The 30 bodies found so far were buried on Friday in Shabwa, in keeping with Islamic customs of quick burial, the official said. In a sign of how frequent such drownings are, he cautioned that it was not certain whether all 30 came from the boat, as bodies often float in on the Shabwa shores. During the first half of September some 165 bodies were found on the shore and buried, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
JEDDAH Three drug smugglers were killed and a policeman was wounded in a shootout with Saudi police in the southern province of Asir, according to an official spokesman of the Drug Combating Department.
Maj. Ibrahim Abu Hulayel said on Thursday that one of the smugglers killed in the shooting was the gang leader. He said the incident took place on Wednesday after police surrounded a house in Asir province where suspected smugglers were hiding. He said that police confiscated 71 kg of hashish that remained after the smugglers set fire to their stash. The smugglers were trying to escape from police after setting fire to the drugs, Abu Hulayel said, and added that a police officer sustained deep wounds to his chest and hand.
Police have arrested three African members of the gang. Two of them received slight wounds during the gun battle and have been taken to hospital for treatment, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Roman Abramovich has lost £12billion on the Russian stock exchange, it was revealed today.
The Chelsea FC owner has seen his fortune shrink as Russia's Micex Index has gone into freefall. The decline in value of two of his companies on the Moscow-based index, steel maker Evraz and mining company Highland Gold, has left the 41-year-old tycoon £11.9billion worse off.
It comes just four days after details emerged of the £200million super-yacht Abramovich is having built - set to be the largest private yacht ever constructed.
The massive bill for the boat amounts to just a 60th of today's gargantuan losses for the Russian oligarch.
Abramovich's woes come on a disastrous financial day for London's Premiership football clubs, with the owners of Arsenal and West Ham also suffering from the effects of instability in the markets. Arsenal's part-owner Alisher Usmanov has lost £7billion on the Micex index, which has declined 61 per cent since its peak in May.
West Ham's Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson also said he may sell the club after losing £230million.
Abramovich's losses will set alarm bells ringing in the football world and the City. It comes after Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, suggested this week that the club could sell players to survive.
#4
Just as an aside, Tony Ryan, the founder of Ryanair was my mums first cousin. Wish I had invested in his ventures back then, but I along with everyone else, never expected the company to do so well. it always seemed to be in crisis.
#5
Throw sexist rocks at me if you will but this man has a good handle on his business.
One of the reasons Asian airlines are doing so well is they haven't forgotten that customer service is a very important part of their business. They have smiling, helpful young women as stewardesses and customer agents and they do their best to make things pleasant.
The U.S. airlines like United and Northwest/Delta, by contrast, have old battleaxes who look and act like Nurse Ratched 25 years after. They're old and ugly, with sour looks, attitudes to match, and couldn't give a flying about customer service. Correction: they're not all old battleaxes; some of them are gay men. Same attitude toward customer service, though.
Flying these days is as bad or worse than doing an overnight stint in jail. Hell, even in jail you've got more freedom of movement. Putting some pretty girls out there can't do anything but improve the situation since it's got noplace to go but up.
Ryan wants to push young crumpet forward for his adverts and personnel, good on him. He's got a winning formula.
JASPER, Ind. (AP) Two challengers for an Indiana congressional seat have agreed to be hooked up to lie detectors during a debate, but an official with the incumbent's party dismisses the idea as "bizarre."
Ninth District Republican Party Chairman Larry Shickles on Wednesday proposed the political polygraphs for Democratic Rep. Baron Hill, GOP challenger Mike Sodrel and Libertarian candidate Eric Schansberg. The three are scheduled to debate Oct. 21, but an official with a debate co-sponsor said lie detectors won't be included.
"Our planning committee worked up the format and rules, and we are not inviting negotiations from the candidates," Alan Johnson, dean of Vincennes University's Jasper Campus, told The Herald of Jasper.
Shickles, in a letter sent Tuesday to 9th District Democratic Chairman Mike Jones, suggested that the candidates be hooked up to lie detecting machines at the Oct. 21 event or a separate debate.
"While this format may be unusual, I feel strongly that voters need to be able to make a clear decision without all the usual spin," Shickles wrote.
Sodrel's campaign said he would agree to the proposal, and Schansberg said he also would agree to wear a lie detector. Hill declined to comment.
Jones said having a lie detector debate "just seems pretty bizarre."
"Polygraphs have their use in law enforcement, but I don't see them fitting in a political debate," Jones said. "There are plenty of avenues for finding out each candidate's true position. The votes of both Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel are on record with Congress."
The race pits Hill and Sodrel against each other for the fourth time. Sodrel unseated Hill in 2004, but Hill won the seat back in 2006
While they have their backs turned, fighting wars in Asia and the Middle East, it seems that US troops have allowed a counter-invasion of their country by marauding legions.
An infestation of the Turkistan cockroach, which can carry diseases such as typhoid and dysentery, can be blamed on a handful of the insects hitching a ride with soldiers returning from the war zone, experts say. Now the fast-breeding cockroaches, which are adept at dodging pesticides, have spread from California to New Mexico, threatening mayhem further afield as they seek new territory.
"It started with soldiers and equipment coming back from the first Gulf war in the early 1990s, but it's still happening and they're spreading to other areas," said Philip Koehler, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Experts say that the Turkistan cockroach, native to many countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, is particularly troublesome. Its natural habitat is the desert, of which there are large areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It breeds quickly at room temperature and, according to Koehler, is not timid. "They like to live around the outside of houses, but also to invade them," he said.
While the spread of the Turkistan is his biggest worry, Koehler warned that warmer areas of the US were also under threat from other newly imported species such as the Madagascar hissing roach, the lobster roach and the orange spotted roach. "We have 69 species of cockroaches in the US and 29 of them were brought in from other countries," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Commie Cockroaches or Islamic?
:(
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
10/11/2008 2:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Won't stand a damn chance against the Deutsch locals.
BTW still looking for Blue Velvet. Missing now 6 years. Best racing roach ever.
#5
Still I get weepy. Sucker would roll over and pretend to be dead for a little dollop of grease and a kind word. Used to hang out in the bathroom, freaked out a few guests. Good times, good times.
The fastest recorded speed measured for the American cockroach is nearly 2.0 miles per hour, or nearly 75 centimeters per second! In the absolute sense, this is a much slower speed than many vertebrates are able to attain. In relation to body size, however, it is remarkably fast. If speed were increased proportionally, an American cockroach the size of a lion could run about 50 miles per hour.
Cockroach excrement and body parts are major allergens in house dust.
The German cockroach is not really German. In fact, the Germans call it the Prussian cockroach. It is thought to have originated in Southern Asia.
Most cock roaches are unlike the majority of insects in that their exoskeleton is coated not with a waxy layer but a greasy one. Among other things, this characteristic enables cockroaches to slide into narrow cracks and crevices where even the human foot cannot reach them.
The Madagascar hissing cockroach has become a popular pest on some parts of the U.S.
Cockroaches are known assassins of their roommate, the bedbug.
In some parts of the world, roaches are profitably raised for chicken feed.
Among all the attributes of the city of Dallas, Texas, is the Cockroach Hall of Fame.
The worlds largest roach (which lives in South America) is four inches long with a seven-inch wingspan.
A cockroach that has just shed its skeleton is white with black eyes. After eight hours, it has regained its regular coloring. Cockroaches spend 75% of their time just resting.
Nearly 10,000 Dalits embraced Buddhism at a Baudh Diksha ceremony in Pukhranya village near Kanpur in the presence of former Himachal Pradesh governor Mata Prasad, Acharya Swami Sandesh Bhalekar.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Even after nearly seven weeks of violence, communal attacks continue against Christians in Orissa. And Raphael Cheenath, archbishop of Orissa, primarily blames the state government for its inability to stop the orgy of killings, loot and arson. "There is an understanding between the state government and the Sangh parivar in not taking any serious action (against the rioters). During the violence, the local police was absolutely inactive. They will not be able to show one case where they have defended the Christians or protected their property," alleged Cheenath. Orissa is ruled by a BJD-BJP coalition. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik belongs to BJD.
At least 36 people have been killed, scores of churches burned and thousands pushed to relief camps in the eastern state. The violence began after the August 23 killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
Several hundred rioters have been arrested over the past week. But according to Cheenath, the real question is: who have been arrested? "If they have arrested ordinary villagers, then what's the use? The miscreants who are instigating people to commit crime should be arrested first. The real culprits are scot-free. They can go anywhere. Which is why the riots are not stopping," he said.
The archbishop, who spoke to TOI at Gandhi Smriti on Friday, wants a CBI inquiry into the killings. "We have also filed a petition in Supreme Court. We want immediate stopping of violence and security of Christians. We are expecting a Supreme Court hearing next week," he said.
Responding to the Hindu rightwing allegation that the church had a hand in the killing of the VHP leader, he said, "That is why we are asking for a CBI probe. Let the truth be out. Whoever are involved, let them be punished." A senior Naxalite leader has admitted to Maoist hand in Saraswati's killing.
The archbishop said that the ground situation improved after the deployment of CRPF and the Rapid Action Force. "But the presence of paramilitary forces is restricted to the main roads and to protecting the institutions around them. Most of the crimes are being committed in the villages. Since the CRPF did not know the geography of the area, the local police should have helped them. But they didn't," he alleged.
The archbishiop also alleged that the Sangh parivar is using the plank of forced conversion to stir up trouble. He said, "According to Freedom of Religion Act, any forced conversion is illegal. We agree. But the same Act also says that one can convert by free choice. The Minorities Commission requested the state government for cases of forced conversion. But they couldn't provide them any. The Sangh parivar is just following the maxim: First give the dog a bad name, then kill it."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
A clash between Hindus and Christians during Durga Puja celebrations has left 12 people injured in Orissa's southernmost Maoist-hit Malkangiri district.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon were quoted Friday as saying they were "kidnapped" by their taxi driver and taken into Syria, where they were held in custody for a week before being released. The two--Taylor Luck, 23, and Holli Chmela, 27--spoke to their newspaper Jordan Times upon returning to Jordan early Friday. They were released on Thursday in Damascus, where authorities said they had crossed the border illegally with the help of smugglers.
In the report, Luck said the two had hired a taxi driver to take them from Lebanon to Syria. But instead of driving to an official border crossing where they expected to get an entry visa for Syria, the driver went off the main road, then "locked the doors" and demanded their money. Luck, of Oak Park, Illinois, said they refused to give the cab driver anything.
As they drove on, a military car showed up and pulled the taxi over, then moved the Americans and their luggage into their vehicle, Luck recounted. "We did not know we were in Syria until we saw a sign for Al Hosn Castle after 20 minutes of driving."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon"
Doesn't add up is right.
Who the hell goes to Hizzie-LandLebanon for vacation?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/11/2008 0:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
See P.J O'Rourke's Holidays in Hell.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/11/2008 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
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.
(SomaliNet) A local security official said a British national working for an oil company operating in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia was on Wednesday freed hours after being hijacked by two of his bodyguards. 
As many as 100 migrants from Somalia were missing and feared drowned off the coast of Yemen after smugglers forced them overboard in the treacherous Gulf of Aden waters. Thirty bodies were found washed up on shore yesterday and were buried immediately as a search operation continued at sea.
JEDDAH Three drug smugglers were killed and a policeman was wounded in a shootout with Saudi police in the southern province of Asir, according to an official spokesman of the Drug Combating Department.
Roman Abramovich has lost £12billion on the Russian stock exchange, it was revealed today.
