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More Dutch Soliders Take One For The Team. We Salute You.

Posted by InchDeep on Friday, April 18, 2008 11:44:05 AM
dutch_flag_minbuza


Son of Dutch military chief killed in Afghanistan

Published: Friday 18 April 2008 09:53 UTC
Last updated: Friday 18 April 2008 13:11 UTC
The Hague - Another two Dutch soldiers have been killed in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. The soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb went off while they were on patrol close to Camp Holland. Two others were injured, one of them seriously. The dead soldiers have been named as 22-year-old Corporal Marc Schouwink and 23-year-old Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm. He is the son of General Peter van Uhm, who took over as commander-in-chief of the Dutch Armed Forces on Thursday.

In a statement, Acting Commander-In-Chief of the Dutch Armed Forces General Freek Meulman said that the patrol was part of a larger operation currently underway in the area around Camp Holland. General Meulman emphasised that there is absolutely no evidence that General van Uhm's son was specifically targeted.

The latest deaths bring the total number of Dutch soldiers killed since the start of the Uruzgan mission in August 2006 to 16.
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New Tax Cuts For Business And The Common Folks. Don't Get Excited. It's Only In Spain.

Posted by InchDeep on Friday, April 18, 2008 11:36:46 AM
 New Spanish government kick-starts economy

Published: Friday 18 April 2008 15:22 UTC
Last updated: Friday 18 April 2008 15:22 UTC
Madrid - The new socialist government in Spain has announced a plan to kick-start the economy. The plan will cost 18 billion euros, ten billion this year and the rest next year.

Growth in the Spanish economy is at its lowest in more than ten years as a result of the worldwide credit crisis and high interest rates. Recently re-elected Prime Minister José Luís Rodriguez Zapatero has introduced the measures to support small and medium-sized businesses. He also wants to stimulate consumer demand by lowering income tax for every Spaniard by 400 euros.
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Disgrace of the Flag, at UMF

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 4:32:41 PM
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Better Now.

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 3:12:56 PM
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Oops: NATO 'drops ammo into wrong hands'

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 2:14:55 PM

NATO has admitted that a helicopter mistakenly dropped military supplies in the wrong place in southern Afghanistan and that they had subsequently disappeared.

Afghan media said the ammunition including rocket-propelled grenades as well as food and water was seized by Taliban militants, but NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not say who took the supplies.

An ISAF statement says: "On March 25, a private helicopter company was contracted, on behalf of an ISAF unit, to resupply an Afghan National Police (ANP) outpost located in a remote mountain area [of Zabul provine]."

"Unfortunately, due to a human error in transcribing the latitude and longitude of the location, the load was dropped in another remote area."

The "forces sent aircraft for a visual reconnaissance, however, the missing cargo could not be found," the statement says, without elaborating on who might have seized the load.

Afghan media citing local officials and a parliamentarian from the troubled province, a hotbed of insurgent activity, have reported that the weapons were taken by the Taliban.

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It's Unconsitutional For Japan To Fight Terrorists In Iraq, But They Are Going To Do It Anyway.

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 1:53:47 PM
"Court rules Japan''s air force mission to Iraq unconstitutional."

TOKYO, April 17 (KUNA) -- A court in central Japan ruled Thursday that Japan's dispatch of the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) to Iraq is unconstitutional, saying the ASDF's mission to airlift US-led multinational troops between Kuwait and Baghdad violates the nation's pacifist constitution. The Nagoya High Court, however, rejected the demand filed by more than 1, 100 people, including a former Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon, to suspend troop dispatch and to pay compensation. The plaintiffs have decided not to appeal the court ruling, therefore, the case was dismissed. The ruling was the first to declare troops mission unconstitutional.

Nagoya High Court Presiding Judge Kunio Aoyama said that the Iraqi capital is a combat zone as defined under the 2003 special law on supporting Iraqi reconstruction. "The ASDF's airlifting activities to and from Iraq run counter to the war-renouncing Article 9 and to the special law allowing Tokyo to send troops to Iraq for humanitarian mission. "The ASDF's mission since July 2006 to airlift armed troops from multinational forces to Baghdad plays a part in the use of force by other countries and can be considered that Japan is itself using force," Judge Aoyama said.
Article 9 stipulates "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said that the government was not convinced by the High Court's decision. "We cannot accept such a ruling. It won't affect the ASDF's activities in Iraq and that the mission will continue, " Machimura told a news conference.

Using three C-130 cargo planes, the air force began transport flights in 2004 between Ali Al-Salem Air Base in western Kuwait and the southern Iraqi destinations, mainly delivered supplies to Japan's non-combat ground troops involved in a reconstruction mission in Samawah. After the ground troops pulled out from Iraq in July 2006, the air force expanded its airlift support in transporting UN personnel and supplies to airports such as Baghdad and Arbil, further north of the Iraqi capital. As of April 16, Japanese forces have conducted 690 flights since 2004. (end) mk.bz.
KUNA 171755 Apr 08NNNN
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Life In Afghanistan Is Returning To Normal? "Afghan parliament committee drafts Taliban-style law"

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 1:19:39 PM
From The Gulf Times.
Published: Thursday, 17 April, 2008, 02:04 AM Doha Time

KABUL: An Afghan legislative committee has drafted a bill seeking to introduce Taliban-style Islamic morality codes banning women from wearing make-up in public and forbidding young boys from wearing female fashions.
The draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, needs approval by both chambers of the Islamist-dominated parliament and President Hamid Karzai signature to become a law.

"Women and girls are obliged to not wear make-up, wear suitable dresses and observe hijab (veil) while at work or classrooms," said one article of the draft.
It also aims to ban women dancers performing during concerts and other public events as well as on television.
"The mass media including television and cable networks must avoid broadcasting programmes against Islamic morals," it said without giving details.

In a similar move the parliament, which is dominated by former anti-Soviet Islamist warlords, called earlier this month for a ban on dancing and Indian soap dramas on private television networks.
Men and young boys must avoid wearing bracelets, necklaces, "feminist dresses," and hair-bands, the draft reads.
The proposals also demand an end to dog and bird-fighting, pigeon-flying, billiards and video games, all past times favoured by many Afghans.
It demands separate halls for men and women during wedding parties, while loud music is banned at such gatherings. Afghans hold big and costly get-togethers for weddings, usually in a public hall with music.
If the proposals are passed, violators could be fined 500 Afghanis to 5,000, according to the draft. - AFP
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Delusions Of Grandeur: Ahmadinejad: Iran 'most powerful'

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:53:17 PM
iran
Yep when I think of "most powerful" and "independent" I think Iran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has proclaimed that his country is the "most powerful and independent nation" on earth, at a military parade marking Army Day.
 
Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, however, was quick to contradict Ahmadinejad's comments made on Thursday, saying "Iran will never become a nuclear power".
    
"I can say that, to my knowledge, and on the basis of what I know and read, I believe the efforts of the international community will succeed, and that Iran will not become a nuclear power," Olmert told the Maariv daily.
    
"There is an enormous effort on the part of the international community to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear country. Israel plays an important part in those efforts, without leading them," he said.
 
War of words
 
Last week Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli infrastructure minister, warned that any Iranian attack against Israel "would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation".
 
That prompted a response from Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, the deputy commander of Iran's army.
 
"All the branches of the armed forces would react forcefully in response to any attack against Iran," he stressed, saying "that no one would dare to launch a strike on the country".
 
The United States and Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, accused Iran of using its civilian nuclear power programme as a cover for attempting to develop an atomic bomb.

Tehran vehemently denies that the technology used for producing fuel for nuclear power is being used to enrich the uranium to a much higher level to produce a nuclear explosion.
 
However, until Iran's peaceful intentions can be fully established, it has had three sets of United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed over its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
 
The military might on display at Thursday's parade looked impressive, but the aircraft were, in aviation terms, ancient.
 
They were US made F4s and F5s bought during the 1960s and 1970s before the revolution.


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More From The Religion Of Peace, No ex-Muslims Allowed: "Councillor shuts down committee for ex-Muslims."

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:43:02 PM
THE NETHERLANDS - Dutch politician Ehsan Jami is closing down his Central Committee for Ex-Muslims. He claims people are scared to join the organisation because of threats from Muslims.

Jami sits on the municipal council in Voorburg, formerly for the Labour Party, now as an independent. He presented plans for a committee for former Muslims last year. He was subsequently assaulted in the street and was provided with police protection.

Jami was planning to make a cartoon animation on the Prophet Muhammad, which was to feature explicit sexual scenes, but recently agreed to give up the idea in response to an appeal from Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin.

Jami is currently holding discussions with a political party on the possibility of his standing for a seat in parliament in the next election. However, he is not prepared to reveal which political party is involved.

[Radio Netherlands / ANP / Expatica]
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I Say We Cut It Down And Count The Rings: "The world's oldest tree."

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 11:31:16 AM
After that they could make me a new desk.

Stockholm - The world's oldest living tree on record is a nearly 10 000 year-old spruce that has been discovered in central Sweden, Umeaa University said on Thursday.

Researchers had discovered a spruce with genetic material dating back 9 550 years in the Fulu mountain in Dalarna, according to Leif Kullmann, a professor of Physical Geography at the university in northwestern Sweden.

That would mean it had taken root in roughly the year 7 542 BC.

"It was a big surprise because we thought until (now) that this kind of spruce grew much later in those regions," he said.

Scientists had previously believed the world's oldest trees were 4 000 to 5 000 year-old pine trees found in North America.

The new record-breaking tree was discovered in Dalarna in 2004 when Swedish researchers were carrying out a census of tree species in the region, Kullman said.

The tree's genetic material age had been calculated using carbon dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida.

Spruces, which according to Kullmann offer rich insight into climate change, had long been regarded as relatively newcomers in the Swedish mountain region.

The discovery of the ancient tree had therefore led to "a big change in our way of thinking", he said. - Sapa-AFP

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To Heck With Big Oil Profits. How About Investigating These Guys.

Posted by InchDeep on Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:09:39 AM
soros
 They won't. Why? Because one is a major contributor to, no puppeteer of, the Democrat party. That's why. This is from The Australian.

LEADING hedge fund managers in the City of London pocketed at least $US2 billion last year as their star dealers made profits from the US sub-prime meltdown.

Alpha, a hedge fund magazine that yesterday published a list of the 50 best-paid managers worldwide for 2007, said John Paulson of the US had topped the global list.

In doing so, Paulson pushed hedge-fund legend and philanthropist George Soros to the No 2 spot, among fund managers who made the most profits in the year.

Top of Britain’s list of mega-earners for the year were Noam Gottesman and Pierre LaGrange, the two co-founders of GLG Partners, the $US24 billion ($25.6 billion) London-based hedge fund.

Gottesman and LaGrange were paid $US350 million each.

The paydays for the two executives only marginally overshadowed the $US300 million in management and performance fees collected by Greg Coffey, GLG’s emerging markets specialist.

GLG is locked in a battle to hold on to Coffey, who runs about $US7 billion of its funds and generated about 60 per cent of its performance fees last year.

New York-listed shares of GLG fell as much as 10 per cent yesterday as investors prepared for Coffey’s departure to set up his own firm.

Alan Howard, manager at Brevan Howard Asset Management, is the fourth-highest London-based hedge fund earner, collecting $US245 million last year, Alpha reported.

David Harding, the former futures trader who sold the AHL fund he founded to Man Group, is next on the City’s hedge fund rich list. He was paid $US225 million thanks to his performance at Winton Capital Management.

Three fellow City hedge fund heavyweights were each paid $US220 million last year. They are Michael Platt, of BlueCrest Capital Management, and George Robinson and Hugh Sloane, of Sloane Robinson Investment Services.

Prominent among Alpha’s hedge fund super-rich is David Slager, who runs the European fund, Atticus Capital, which famously took out a $US1 billion stake in Barclays and vowed to fight its planned mega-merger with Dutch bank ABN Amro.

Slager, based in New York, collected $US450 million in performance and management fees last year, Alpha stated, which rated him 13th in its top 50.

Paulson, the manager who topped the global list to beat billionaire Soros, received $US3.7 billion.
Soros earned $US2.9 billion, Alpha said.

Paulson’s firm, Paulson & Co, made a fortune from shorting US sub-prime mortgage markets last year.

The crisis in sub-prime led to a seizure in the international banking market.

Alpha set an entry level of $US210 million for those hoping to appear on the list of top “hedgies” for last year.

The bar was lower than last year’s $US220 million, but the magazine had to double the list because of the high number of qualifiers.

Details of the extraordinary pay on offer to hedge-fund star dealers came as latest research from HedgeFund Intelligence, a publisher, calculated that global hedge-fund assets stood at $US2.65 trillion at the beginning of the year.

That is 27 per cent higher than the previous year and defies prophecies that the alternative asset management industry would be holed by the sub-prime rout.

The Times
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Well The Eight Year Old Got Her Divorce:

Posted by InchDeep on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 4:34:14 PM
8 year old marriage

Note how no where in the story did anyone go to jail for this. Don't miss the part where the eight year old consents to be married.

A Yemeni court on Tuesday granted a divorce to an eight-year-old girl on the grounds that she had not yet reached puberty after her unemployed father forced her into an arranged marriage this year.

The girl's lawyer and human rights activist Shatha Nasser said the minor had filed a suit in April asking for a divorce and told the court that her husband had been physically abusing her and forcing her to have "sex with him after hitting her".

"I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school," the young Nojud Mohammed Ali said, after a public hearing in Sanaa's court of first instance.

Her former husband, 28-year-old Faez Ali Thameur, said he married the child "with her consent and that of her parents" but that he did not object to her divorce petition.

In response to a question from Judge Mohammed al-Qadhi, he acknowledged that the "marriage was consummated, but I did not beat her."

Nojud was a second grader in primary school when the marriage took place two and a half months ago.

"They asked me to sign the marriage contract and remain in my father's house until I was 18. But a week after signing, my father and my mother forced me to go live with him," Nojud said.

Nojud's father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal, said he had felt obliged to marry off his daughter, an act he claims she consented to.

Dressed in traditional black, Nojud said she would now go to live in the home of her maternal uncle and did not want to see her father.

Nasser said Nojud's case was not unique. "I believe there are thousands of similar cases," she said, adding that civil society groups are pressing parliament to set the minimum age for marriage at 18.

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And Now From The "We Don't Really Care What The World Thinks" Category, We Have This. The "Dear American Voter" Website. Youtube For Village Idiots Around The World.

Posted by InchDeep on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 3:31:32 PM
davlogocorner

The upcoming U.S. election will affect people all over the world, but only Americans will get the chance to vote. Would you like to send American voters a message? Make a video that tells how you would vote, and why. Even better, don't just tell them, show them: How have U.S. policies already changed the place where you live? What about the lives of your friends and family? You may not have your say in the ballot box, but you can still be heard!

Here is my answer.

CB055846
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How did they not see this coming: "Full monty mums in a bind"

Posted by InchDeep on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:02:34 PM
From IOL.

By Daniel Woolls

Madrid, Spain - Seven middle-aged Spanish moms who posed for a tongue-in-cheek erotic calendar - a fundraiser for their children's tiny, rural school - are now saddled with debt and 5 000 unwanted copies.

One of the photos shows the mothers with Christmas tinsel as their only garb - no private parts on view. Other goofy poses include a shotgun-toting mom wearing only a fox pelt kneeling on a table, and another with a mother covering her body with a red umbrella on a picnic table.

The photos came out as calendars in November and at first proved to be a big hit. But the plan backfired.
The women acknowledge being rank amateurs in publishing and advertising, and because of a miscue with a distributor they missed out on the Christmas shopping rush.

Now, sales of the $8 calendar have dried up and they owe a printer nearly $16 000.

"The sad part for us is figuring out what to do with them because it is not something you can recycle," said Rosa Garin, 36, one of the models in Serradilla del Arroyo, a village of 400 people in northern Salamanca province.

The hamlet is a snapshot of rural Spain: quaint but graying, with retirees accounting for 75 percent of the population.

The arrival of a new family with small kids is greeted like manna from heaven. Funding for services is scant.

Its elementary school has one classroom and one teacher who handles its seven pupils, spanning four grades, and ranging in age from 7 to 11. But it is so cramped, the village matrons came up with the idea of building a recreation centre for their kids.

Their goal was to offset what they call government neglect of rural communities.

"Nobody remembers the villages. Everybody comes and says, 'Wow, this is so pretty, what lovely countryside, you live so well here,' but then they don't help you at all. They give you absolutely nothing," Itziar Zamarreno, a 40-year-old town councilor who posed for the calendar, said in an interview on Tuesday.

Among other pictures, she appears as Miss October, covered only with fox fur and holding a borrowed shotgun.

This reflects a desire to depict typical scenes in an area where hunting is popular.

"I do not like to hunt. I do not like to kill things. But we had to do something representative," she said.

The plight of the mothers of Serradilla del Arroyo resurfaced recently because the distributor filed a complaint alleging they were behind on payments and local media picked up the story. - Sapa-AP
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Free Range Mcgriddle

Posted by InchDeep on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:52:10 PM
free-range-chickens
Free the chickens I tells ya.
From Radio Netherlands.

McDonalds and Unilever give up battery eggs in EU

Published: Wednesday 16 April 2008 15:21 UTC
Last updated: Wednesday 16 April 2008 15:23 UTC
Brussels - McDonald's and Unilever are to stop using battery eggs in Europe. From 2012 the companies will only use eggs laid by hens that are able to move around freely. The multinationals made the promise in Brussels to the animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming. In return, CIWF presented them with a "Good Egg Award".

McDonalds uses 117 eggs a year in the European Union, while Unilever gets through nearly half a billion eggs to make its European products. It takes 2 million hens to produce all the eggs the two companies need. CIWF says that of the 300 million egg-laying hens in Europe, three quarters are kept in traditional batteries.
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