At first glance Shawbo Ali Rauf appears to be slumbering on the grass, her pale brown curls framing her face, her summer skirt spread about her. But the awkward position of her limbs and the splattered blood reveal the true horror of the scene.
The 19-year-old Iraqi was, according to her father, murdered by her own in-laws, who took her to a picnic area in Dokan and shot her seven times. Her crime was to have an unknown number on her mobile phone. Her "honor killing" is just one in a grotesque series emerging from Iraq, where activists speak of a "genocide" against women in the name of religion.
In the latest such case, it was reported yesterday that a 17-year-old girl, Rand Abdel-Qader, was stabbed to death last month by her father for becoming infatuated with a British soldier serving in southern Iraq.
In Basra alone, police acknowledge that 15 women a month are murdered for breaching Islamic dress codes. Campaigners insist it is a conservative figure. More...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Born a woman in Afghanistan...
Trafficked across the border from Pakistan with her 3-year-old son, Rukhma was handed to an Afghan who raped and abused her, then beat the toddler to death as she watched helplessly.
He was jailed for 20 years for murder, but Rukhma ended up in prison too.
Rukhma, who doesn't know her age but looks younger than 20, had put up with her mistreatment for three months last summer before seeking protection and justice from authorities. Instead she was given a four-year sentence on Dec. 5 for adultery and "escaping her house" in Pakistan, even though she says she was kidnapped and raped.
The fall of the Taliban six years ago heralded new rights for Afghan women: to go to school or get a job, and be protected under the law. Women's rights are now enshrined in the constitution.
Yet except for a small urban elite, a woman fleeing domestic violence or accusing a man of rape herself often ends up the guilty party in the eyes of judges and prosecutors. More...
See also: Saudi women and eternal childhood...
He was jailed for 20 years for murder, but Rukhma ended up in prison too.
Rukhma, who doesn't know her age but looks younger than 20, had put up with her mistreatment for three months last summer before seeking protection and justice from authorities. Instead she was given a four-year sentence on Dec. 5 for adultery and "escaping her house" in Pakistan, even though she says she was kidnapped and raped.
The fall of the Taliban six years ago heralded new rights for Afghan women: to go to school or get a job, and be protected under the law. Women's rights are now enshrined in the constitution.
Yet except for a small urban elite, a woman fleeing domestic violence or accusing a man of rape herself often ends up the guilty party in the eyes of judges and prosecutors. More...
See also: Saudi women and eternal childhood...
Josef Fritzl, the monster of Amstetten, having fun in Thailand...
Le monstre d’Amstetten, Josef Fritzl, s’amuse en Thaïlande…
Rice tells India and China to eat less!!!
If you thought only developing and underdeveloped countries are staring at a possible famine like situation, think again. Even a name that has a staple diet in it from a country that has never faced shortages is concerned and it is none other than Condoleezza ‘Rice.’
And she has blamed the "growing Indian and Chinese appetite in contributing to the global food crisis". The US Secretary of State is technically correct since both the countries dominate the world food consumption. But analysts feel she is morally and socially wrong.
But her remarks are now making headlines in India as various political parties say they felt offended. CNN-IBN quotes Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Alhuwalia disagreeing to the remark emphasizing that the food production in India and China have actually increased
On the contrary, India has blamed a poorly managed international financial system and the Fed reserve for spiraling food and energy prices at home. Many analysts blame US for its increasing bio-fuel consumption from food grains, as one of the many reasons.
Source: Commodity Online
See also: Is India facing a food crisis?
And this: Soaring Food Prices Spark Unrest...
And she has blamed the "growing Indian and Chinese appetite in contributing to the global food crisis". The US Secretary of State is technically correct since both the countries dominate the world food consumption. But analysts feel she is morally and socially wrong.
But her remarks are now making headlines in India as various political parties say they felt offended. CNN-IBN quotes Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Alhuwalia disagreeing to the remark emphasizing that the food production in India and China have actually increased
On the contrary, India has blamed a poorly managed international financial system and the Fed reserve for spiraling food and energy prices at home. Many analysts blame US for its increasing bio-fuel consumption from food grains, as one of the many reasons.
Source: Commodity Online
See also: Is India facing a food crisis?
And this: Soaring Food Prices Spark Unrest...
Folks, meet Mr.Speivak, the man who re-grew his finger...
In every town in every part of this sprawling country you can find a faceless sprawling strip mall in which to do the shopping.
Rarely though do would you expect to find a medical miracle working behind the counter of the mall's hobby shop.
That however is what Lee Spievak considers himself to be.
"I put my finger in," Mr Spievak says, pointing towards the propeller of a model airplane, "and that's when I sliced my finger off."
It took the end right off, down to the bone, about half an inch.
"We don't know where the piece went."
Today though, you wouldn't know it. Mr Spievak, who is 69 years old, shows off his finger, and it's all there, tissue, nerves, nail, skin, even his finger print. More...
Rarely though do would you expect to find a medical miracle working behind the counter of the mall's hobby shop.
That however is what Lee Spievak considers himself to be.
"I put my finger in," Mr Spievak says, pointing towards the propeller of a model airplane, "and that's when I sliced my finger off."
It took the end right off, down to the bone, about half an inch.
"We don't know where the piece went."
Today though, you wouldn't know it. Mr Spievak, who is 69 years old, shows off his finger, and it's all there, tissue, nerves, nail, skin, even his finger print. More...
Comme Elisabeth Fritzl à Amstetten, voici Lydia Gouardo en France...
Lydia a eu six enfants de son père - Le Parisien
Coulommes (Seine-et-Marne). Entre 1971 et 1999, Lydia a été abusée par son père. Un premier enfant est né en 1982, quand la jeune femme avait 20 ans. Cinq autres ont suivi, toujours de son père. La jeune femme a accouché à Paris, à l'hôpital Rotschild et à la Pitié-Salpêtrière. «On me demandait qui était le père, je le montrais en disant c'est lui le père. Ca passait comme ça», témoigne cette femme, aujourd'hui âgée de 45 ans. Jamais scolarisée, gardée à l'intérieur de la maison ou sous bonne garde, Lydia ignorait que ce que faisait son père était anormal. Des chevilles au cou, son corps garde les traces des sévices que lui infligeaient ses parents, la brûlant à l'eau bouillante et à l'acide chlorydrique ou la battant violemment. Raymond, père incestueux, est mort en 1999, quelques mois avant que sa fille ne rencontre l'homme qui l'a aidée à comprendre ce dont elle était victime. En mars dernier, en appel, Lucienne, la mère, a été reconnue coupable de non-empêchement de crime et d'agression sexuelle sur l'un de ses petits-fils. Elle a été condamnée à quatre années de prison avec sursis. Lydia s'est pourvue en cassation.
Coulommes (Seine-et-Marne). Entre 1971 et 1999, Lydia a été abusée par son père. Un premier enfant est né en 1982, quand la jeune femme avait 20 ans. Cinq autres ont suivi, toujours de son père. La jeune femme a accouché à Paris, à l'hôpital Rotschild et à la Pitié-Salpêtrière. «On me demandait qui était le père, je le montrais en disant c'est lui le père. Ca passait comme ça», témoigne cette femme, aujourd'hui âgée de 45 ans. Jamais scolarisée, gardée à l'intérieur de la maison ou sous bonne garde, Lydia ignorait que ce que faisait son père était anormal. Des chevilles au cou, son corps garde les traces des sévices que lui infligeaient ses parents, la brûlant à l'eau bouillante et à l'acide chlorydrique ou la battant violemment. Raymond, père incestueux, est mort en 1999, quelques mois avant que sa fille ne rencontre l'homme qui l'a aidée à comprendre ce dont elle était victime. En mars dernier, en appel, Lucienne, la mère, a été reconnue coupable de non-empêchement de crime et d'agression sexuelle sur l'un de ses petits-fils. Elle a été condamnée à quatre années de prison avec sursis. Lydia s'est pourvue en cassation.
Wow! Police officer diverts traffic so that a family of ducks can safely cross the road! Well done, sir!
Un agent de police aide une famille de canards à traverser la route ! Chapeau, monsieur !
Thrown into fire for being low-caste...
A man, incensed that a six-year-old girl chose to walk through a path reserved for upper caste villagers, pushed her into burning embers, police in north India said Wednesday. She was seriously burned.
The girl is a Dalit, or an "untouchable," according to India's traditional caste system.
India's constitution outlaws caste-based discrimination, and barriers have broken down in large cities. Prejudice, however, persists in some rural areas of the country.
The girl was walking with her mother down a path in the city of Mathura when she was accosted by a man in his late teens, said police superintendent R.K. Chaturvedi.
"He scolded them both and pushed her," Chaturvedi said. The girl fell about three to four feet into pile of burning embers by the side of the road.
The girl remained in critical condition Wednesday.
The man confessed to the crime and was charged with attempted murder, Chaturvedi said. More...
See also: India: 3 young men beat mother to death in exorcism ritual...
And this: WTF! Infants thrown off roofs to thank God!!! WTF!!
The girl is a Dalit, or an "untouchable," according to India's traditional caste system.
India's constitution outlaws caste-based discrimination, and barriers have broken down in large cities. Prejudice, however, persists in some rural areas of the country.
The girl was walking with her mother down a path in the city of Mathura when she was accosted by a man in his late teens, said police superintendent R.K. Chaturvedi.
"He scolded them both and pushed her," Chaturvedi said. The girl fell about three to four feet into pile of burning embers by the side of the road.
The girl remained in critical condition Wednesday.
The man confessed to the crime and was charged with attempted murder, Chaturvedi said. More...
See also: India: 3 young men beat mother to death in exorcism ritual...
And this: WTF! Infants thrown off roofs to thank God!!! WTF!!
Windows XP Service Pack 3 is now available....
As per the unofficial timeline, Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) has been uploaded to Microsoft's servers. Currently, the final build is only available on the download.windowsupdate domain in the following languages: Chinese (Hong Kong), Czech, English, French, German (Deutsch), Hebrew, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Simplified (Chinese), Spanish, and Traditional Chinese. According to Microsoft TechNet, the 300MB+ x86 standalone installer (build 5512) will not be available today on the Microsoft Download Center nor on Windows Update.
There will be no x64 version of SP3 released; Windows XP x64 will be updated at the same time Windows Server 2003 is updated, since it is derived from the codebase of the latter. Although Microsoft has still to confirm the date, SP3 should be rolled out via Automatic Updates on June 10, 2008. More...
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Champions League: an all-English final! Wow!!
Paul Scholes' spectacular strike sent Manchester United into their first Champions League final for nine years on a night of Old Trafford tension.
Scholes rifled in a spectacular 25-yard effort after 14 minutes to beat Barcelona and set up an all-English clash with Chelsea or Liverpool.
Barcelona dominated possession for long periods, with Deco twice close and Thierry Henry wasting a late chance.
But United mounted a rearguard action to seal a date in Moscow on 21 May. More...
See also: Soccer: teams with red jerseys do better!!!
And this: The Giants of the North, Brazil's dwarf soccer team...
En Inde on jette les bébés depuis les toits !!!
Une coutume bien étrange est pratiquée en inde, ou les bébés sont jetés depuis les toits, histoire de remercier Dieu !! Les pratiquants de cette tradition prétendent qu’aucun bébé n’a jamais été tué or blessé pendant ce rituel, qui est vénéré comme un véritable signe de la bonté de Dieu aussi bien par les hindous que par les musulmans. La vidéo est en anglais mais nul besoin de connaitre la langue de Shakespeare pour suivre le déroulement de l’événement !! Cliquez ici pour visionner le film.
Oh boy! Oh boy! They actually checked up on National Orgasms!!!
The Chinese might be top global performers when it comes to business, but during sex they appear to be struggling to reach their peak.
Couples from China and Hong Kong are the least likely to reach orgasm during sex, while the Italians and Spanish claim to have no problems climaxing, a global sex survey showed on Tuesday.
Less than a quarter -- 24 percent -- of those surveyed from China and Hong Kong were able to achieve an orgasm every time they had sex.
Italy, Spain and Mexico tied for top place, achieving orgasms 66 percent of the time, said the Durex Sexual Wellbeing survey, which polled 26,000 people in 26 countries.
The French, famous for their romantic overtures, came in at a middling 48 percent of the time -- the global average, the survey said.
Other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore ranked poorly with those polled saying they only reached orgasm 27 percent and 36 percent of the time respectively.
Of those who manage to climax, the Japanese were the least satisfied with the intensity of the orgasm while Mexicans and Brazilians said they were the most satisfied.
Women climaxed less than men, with 32 percent saying they reached the peak every time they had sex, compared with 63 percent of men.
Factors that enhanced an orgasm included delaying climax, longer foreplay time and having a strong emotional relationship, the survey said.
The survey also found that while men preferred to orgasm with a partner, women achieved an orgasm more easily through masturbation.
"If you want to have an orgasm, it's important that you allow yourself to surrender to the good feelings you are experiencing," said Kevan Wylie, a sexual health expert, in a statement.
Source: Reuters
See also: Oh boy! 10 ways to last longer in bed!!!
And this: 93 years old, and still feeling horny!!! Hilarious!
Couples from China and Hong Kong are the least likely to reach orgasm during sex, while the Italians and Spanish claim to have no problems climaxing, a global sex survey showed on Tuesday.
Less than a quarter -- 24 percent -- of those surveyed from China and Hong Kong were able to achieve an orgasm every time they had sex.
Italy, Spain and Mexico tied for top place, achieving orgasms 66 percent of the time, said the Durex Sexual Wellbeing survey, which polled 26,000 people in 26 countries.
The French, famous for their romantic overtures, came in at a middling 48 percent of the time -- the global average, the survey said.
Other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore ranked poorly with those polled saying they only reached orgasm 27 percent and 36 percent of the time respectively.
Of those who manage to climax, the Japanese were the least satisfied with the intensity of the orgasm while Mexicans and Brazilians said they were the most satisfied.
Women climaxed less than men, with 32 percent saying they reached the peak every time they had sex, compared with 63 percent of men.
Factors that enhanced an orgasm included delaying climax, longer foreplay time and having a strong emotional relationship, the survey said.
The survey also found that while men preferred to orgasm with a partner, women achieved an orgasm more easily through masturbation.
"If you want to have an orgasm, it's important that you allow yourself to surrender to the good feelings you are experiencing," said Kevan Wylie, a sexual health expert, in a statement.
Source: Reuters
See also: Oh boy! 10 ways to last longer in bed!!!
And this: 93 years old, and still feeling horny!!! Hilarious!
Singapore students learn about the birds and the bees!!!
It was like a college mixer, a classroom full of young men and women seeking a recipe for romance.
They had assembled for the first class of "Love Relations for Life: A Journey of Romance, Love and Sexuality."
There was giggling and banter among the students, but that was all part of the course as their teacher, Suki Tong, led them into the basics of dating, falling in love and staying together.
The course, in its second year at two polytechnic institutes, is the latest of many, mostly futile, campaigns by Singapore's government to get its citizens to mate and multiply. Its popularity last year has led to talk of its expansion through the higher education system.
"We want to tell students, 'Don't wait until you have built up your career,' " said Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, the minister of state for community development, youth and sports, at a news conference in March. "Sometimes, it is too late, especially for girls."
The courses are an extension of government matchmaking programs that try to address the twin challenges embodied in a falling birthrate: too few people are having babies, and too few of those who are belong to what Singapore considers the genetically desirable educated elite. More...
See also: Catherine Lim: Singapore materially rich, spiritually poor...
And this: OMG! Singapore to give Lessons in Love!!
The Fritzl horror in Amstetten: How could this go undetected for 24 years?
Neighbours have told police they heard nothing but many are incredulous that they could have failed to spot anything unusual, not least because over the years Fritzl had built extension after extension to his cellar.
"The community of Amstetten should drown in shame ... The neighbours are turning a blind eye," the Oesterreich newspaper wrote in an editorial.
Meanwhile, residents refuse to believe Fritzl could have acted alone, while others cannot believe that the "normal" family were hiding such a horrendous secret.
Anita Fabian, a teacher in the town, said: "How is it possible that no one knew anything for years? This was not possible without accomplices." More...
Monday, April 28, 2008
Firefox makes big gains in Europe and Oceania...
European web metrics company Xiti has published browser market share statistics for March. The data indicates that the open-source Firefox web browser has climbed to almost 29 percent market share in Europe, where it is still steadily increasing in popularity. This is no small accomplishment.
Firefox share up over 20% in Europe, mostly at expense of IE
Firefox and Thunderbird get updates
Safari market share grew to 4.03 percent in November
Web 2-point-Yoda: Ended these browser wars have?
The European country that saw the most growth was Andorra, where Firefox marketshare rose from 22.7 percent in February to 24.8 percent in March. The three countries with the highest Firefox market share are Finland, Poland, and Slovenia, which all have between 43 and 46 percent. Notably, the study saw the average market share exceed 30 percent during weekends, likely because of people who are using Internet Explorer at work and Firefox at home, by choice.
According to Xiti, Internet Explorer has lost 2.5 percentage points during the past six months. Opera and Safari have also seen slight gains during that time period to 3.3 and 2.3 percent, respectively. Xiti does not provide statistics for iPhone browser marketshare and the report does not specify whether or not iPhone browsing is counted as part of the Safari statistics. More...
See also: Browser War: Firefox3 and Safari against IE...
And this: Apple launches browser war with Safari...
Firefox share up over 20% in Europe, mostly at expense of IE
Firefox and Thunderbird get updates
Safari market share grew to 4.03 percent in November
Web 2-point-Yoda: Ended these browser wars have?
The European country that saw the most growth was Andorra, where Firefox marketshare rose from 22.7 percent in February to 24.8 percent in March. The three countries with the highest Firefox market share are Finland, Poland, and Slovenia, which all have between 43 and 46 percent. Notably, the study saw the average market share exceed 30 percent during weekends, likely because of people who are using Internet Explorer at work and Firefox at home, by choice.
According to Xiti, Internet Explorer has lost 2.5 percentage points during the past six months. Opera and Safari have also seen slight gains during that time period to 3.3 and 2.3 percent, respectively. Xiti does not provide statistics for iPhone browser marketshare and the report does not specify whether or not iPhone browsing is counted as part of the Safari statistics. More...
See also: Browser War: Firefox3 and Safari against IE...
And this: Apple launches browser war with Safari...
"Free Tibet" flags made in ... China!!!! Hilarious!
Police in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing Free Tibet flags, media reports say.
The factory in Guangdong had been completing overseas orders for the flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning.
But then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper. More...
Atlas Shrugged, the Movie...coming soon?
Scott Holleran at Box Office Mojo is all over the Atlas Shrugged movie project. A few days ago he talked to Michael Burns, vice chairman of Lionsgate, the studio that is planning to make the film. He confirmed that Angelina Jolie will star as Dagny Taggart. Burns says John Galt should not be played by a movie star but by an actor with “an incredibly remarkable face, a face that just pops out at you,” to which his Randian interviewer responds, “A face with no fear, no pain, no guilt?”
Burns, who attended Ayn Rand’s memorial service as a young Wall Streeter in 1982, describes the movie’s theme this way:
Think about it: the world’s great minds and great contributors to society—which really are the entrepreneurs—are being taken advantage of—and they are; if you make money, you’re giving up pretty close to half of your income, though the United States is still the greatest country in the world, and Ayn Rand would have said that as well—so, what would happen if these great minds went on strike? Would society move forward? It’s a great [dramatic] scenario, like that P.D. James novel, Children of Men, which is about [what would happen] if, all of sudden, everyone is sterile. Atlas Shrugged is as pertinent today as it’s ever been. More...
See also: Who is afraid of Ayn Rand?
Burns, who attended Ayn Rand’s memorial service as a young Wall Streeter in 1982, describes the movie’s theme this way:
Think about it: the world’s great minds and great contributors to society—which really are the entrepreneurs—are being taken advantage of—and they are; if you make money, you’re giving up pretty close to half of your income, though the United States is still the greatest country in the world, and Ayn Rand would have said that as well—so, what would happen if these great minds went on strike? Would society move forward? It’s a great [dramatic] scenario, like that P.D. James novel, Children of Men, which is about [what would happen] if, all of sudden, everyone is sterile. Atlas Shrugged is as pertinent today as it’s ever been. More...
See also: Who is afraid of Ayn Rand?
One Israeli shell ... and a Palestinian family is virtually wiped out.
Une bombe israélienne … et une famille palestinienne de 4 enfants décimée…
Dear God, please lower the price of gas; we have no one else to turn to...
Rocky Twyman has a radical solution for surging gasoline prices: prayer.
Twyman - a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs - staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.
Yes, it's come to that.
"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring." More...
See also: Two-wheeler boom in Asia...
Twyman - a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs - staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.
Yes, it's come to that.
"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring." More...
See also: Two-wheeler boom in Asia...
Cubans take to blogging with gusto...
Only a month has passed since ordinary Cubans won the right to own computers, and the government still keeps a rigid grip on Internet access.
But that hasn't stopped thousands from finding their way into cyberspace. And a daring few post candid blogs about life in the communist-run country that have garnered international audiences.
Yoani Sanchez writes the "Generacion Y" blog and gets more than a million hits a month, mostly from abroad — though she has begun to strike a chord in Cuba. On her site and others, anonymous Cubans offer stinging criticisms of their government.
But it isn't simple. To post her blog, Sanchez dresses like a tourist and slips into Havana hotels with Web access for foreigners. It costs about $6 an hour and she can't afford to stay long given the price and the possibility someone might catch her connecting without permission. More...
See also: "Love China" netizens send a message to the world...
But that hasn't stopped thousands from finding their way into cyberspace. And a daring few post candid blogs about life in the communist-run country that have garnered international audiences.
Yoani Sanchez writes the "Generacion Y" blog and gets more than a million hits a month, mostly from abroad — though she has begun to strike a chord in Cuba. On her site and others, anonymous Cubans offer stinging criticisms of their government.
But it isn't simple. To post her blog, Sanchez dresses like a tourist and slips into Havana hotels with Web access for foreigners. It costs about $6 an hour and she can't afford to stay long given the price and the possibility someone might catch her connecting without permission. More...
See also: "Love China" netizens send a message to the world...
India: 3 young men beat mother to death in exorcism ritual...
In a grotesque incident, three educated sons of a UP Power Corporation engineer, along with a cousin, punched, kicked and beat their mother to death with a rod late on Saturday night believing that she had been possessed by the spirit of a dead relative.
The bizarre violence didn't end there. The foursome then tried to "sacrifice" a sister-in-law in an attempt to bring their dead mother back to life. They also beat up and injured their sister, her husband, the husband's father and two sisters, when they tried to intervene. All except their brother-in-law, Rohit Kumar, had to be hospitalized. The gruesome drama lasted from 9pm to 10.30pm. More...
See also: WTF! Infants thrown off roofs to thank God!!! WTF!!
The bizarre violence didn't end there. The foursome then tried to "sacrifice" a sister-in-law in an attempt to bring their dead mother back to life. They also beat up and injured their sister, her husband, the husband's father and two sisters, when they tried to intervene. All except their brother-in-law, Rohit Kumar, had to be hospitalized. The gruesome drama lasted from 9pm to 10.30pm. More...
See also: WTF! Infants thrown off roofs to thank God!!! WTF!!
Raped ... on the telephone!!!???!!!
A Tunisian family alleges their daughter was raped during a telephone conversation with a man, a lawyer for the family said.
The 30-year-old man said he never touched the young woman. But he acknowledged he heard her scream while they were "totally into" an erotic telephone conversation -- and that she reported bleeding, Al Arabiya reported.
Maha al-Metebaa, a lawyer representing the family, told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabs the case needs careful investigation because of its unprecedented allegations. He said a medical examination had determined that the woman, 20, was no longer a virgin.
"The intercourse did take place with all its details but verbally only," he said. "The sexual act did not really happen because the physical proximity factor is not there, yet it happened because there is a direct physical impact – the loss of virginity."
Source: UPI
The 30-year-old man said he never touched the young woman. But he acknowledged he heard her scream while they were "totally into" an erotic telephone conversation -- and that she reported bleeding, Al Arabiya reported.
Maha al-Metebaa, a lawyer representing the family, told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabs the case needs careful investigation because of its unprecedented allegations. He said a medical examination had determined that the woman, 20, was no longer a virgin.
"The intercourse did take place with all its details but verbally only," he said. "The sexual act did not really happen because the physical proximity factor is not there, yet it happened because there is a direct physical impact – the loss of virginity."
Source: UPI
India launches 10 satellites at one go...
An Indian rocket blasted off and successfully launched a cluster of 10 satellites in a single mission on Monday, marking a milestone for the country’s 45-year-old space programme.
The PSLV rocket lifted off at 9:20 am (0350 GMT) from the Sriharikota space station in southern India in clear weather, leaving behind a massive trail of orange and white smoke, on its 13th flight.
“The mission was perfect,” G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said after the launch telecast live by the public broadcaster Doordarshan. “Team ISRO has done it again.” More...
WTF! Infants thrown off roofs to thank God!!! WTF!!
Religious traditions are diverse and sometimes as bizarre as they can get. A village in Solapur, Maharashtra, has a dangerous tradition of throwing newborns from a height of 50 feet onto a sheet, which is held by devotees.
The infants are thrown off the roof of the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb Dargah in Musti village in Solapur. This is an age-old tradition practiced by couples who are blessed with a child after taking a vow at the dargah. The devotees also believe that this ritual is good for the health of the child.
“People have been following this tradition for almost 500 years now. They believe that if they throw the child from the roof then it does good to him or her,” deputy sarpanch of Musti village, Ravikiran Mehta said.
While the practice may seem dangerous and superstitious to others, the devotees strongly believe that the fall will not harm the infants. The reason given is that there has been no recorded evidence of any physical disability to the infants. More...
Watch the video here...
The infants are thrown off the roof of the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb Dargah in Musti village in Solapur. This is an age-old tradition practiced by couples who are blessed with a child after taking a vow at the dargah. The devotees also believe that this ritual is good for the health of the child.
“People have been following this tradition for almost 500 years now. They believe that if they throw the child from the roof then it does good to him or her,” deputy sarpanch of Musti village, Ravikiran Mehta said.
While the practice may seem dangerous and superstitious to others, the devotees strongly believe that the fall will not harm the infants. The reason given is that there has been no recorded evidence of any physical disability to the infants. More...
Watch the video here...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Quel chic, les Françaises !
Les Françaises « sont enviées dans le monde entier ». Le compliment est
d'autant plus savoureux que c'est une Anglaise qui l'écrit dans un best-seller, qui révèle les secrets de la « french touch ».
LE LIVRE s'est déjà vendu comme des petits pains en Angleterre, aux Etats-Unis, en Australie... et il devrait sacrément doper le moral des Françaises alors qu'il débarque dans l'Hexagone. Baptisé « So chic ! », ce petit traité plein d'humour est présenté comme « une enquête irrésistible sur les femmes françaises et leurs petits secrets ».
Ah ? Parce qu'on est vraiment si chics et si différentes des autres ? « Vous ne vous imaginez même pas », sourit sans flagornerie son auteur, Helena Frith Powell, une Anglaise exilée sur le continent depuis sept ans. « Je pensais en arrivant ici que votre réputation était un peu usurpée, confesse cette correspondante du Sunday Times. Mais non, ce n'est pas un cliché ! Vous êtes beaucoup plus élégantes, sexy et féminines que les Anglaises. Et je me suis métamorphosée à votre contact ! » Suite...
Voir aussi: French actresses in the flesh! Delicious! (En anglais)...
d'autant plus savoureux que c'est une Anglaise qui l'écrit dans un best-seller, qui révèle les secrets de la « french touch ».
LE LIVRE s'est déjà vendu comme des petits pains en Angleterre, aux Etats-Unis, en Australie... et il devrait sacrément doper le moral des Françaises alors qu'il débarque dans l'Hexagone. Baptisé « So chic ! », ce petit traité plein d'humour est présenté comme « une enquête irrésistible sur les femmes françaises et leurs petits secrets ».
Ah ? Parce qu'on est vraiment si chics et si différentes des autres ? « Vous ne vous imaginez même pas », sourit sans flagornerie son auteur, Helena Frith Powell, une Anglaise exilée sur le continent depuis sept ans. « Je pensais en arrivant ici que votre réputation était un peu usurpée, confesse cette correspondante du Sunday Times. Mais non, ce n'est pas un cliché ! Vous êtes beaucoup plus élégantes, sexy et féminines que les Anglaises. Et je me suis métamorphosée à votre contact ! » Suite...
Voir aussi: French actresses in the flesh! Delicious! (En anglais)...
OMG! I have always wanted to watch a female-dominating-a-male porn movie...
Nom de D… ! J’ai toujours voulu regarder un film X ou la gonzesse domine le mec ! Et voilà, c’est chose faite !!!
The Experiences of a black man in Japan...
So, I'm standing by a train station in a very small town in Japan, minding my own business waiting for the train, as you do. A couple of girls walk into the station, then walk out again, and then sloooowly make their way towards me and then...
the short one stands right close to me, picks up my hand and starts to stroke it! No word of a lie. I gently move away and she just follows me, and then I ask "ちょっと、何しているか” (excuse me, but what the hell are you doing?), to which she replied "すごい なあ！” (so cool!). She continued to stroke my hand for a while, as I tried to figure out what was going on.
The two girls turned out to be high school students of one of my JET friends, who were very curious about black people and I assume, wanted to know what their skin felt like. We talked for a while until the train came, and then we parted.
Strangely enough, this wasn't the first time a Japanese lady felt the urge to stroke my skin. More...
See also: Japan: Oshiya or train pusher: this is crazy!
And this: Meet Hatch-chan, Japan's blogging cat...
Elisabeth Fritzl, cloistered and abused by her father for 24 years...
A 73-year-old Austrian is under arrest on suspicion of hiding his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, police say.
The existence of the woman, believed missing since 1984 and now 42, emerged apparently after a teenage child fell ill and had to be taken to hospital.
Both the alleged abduction victim and her alleged daughter, who is 19, are now receiving medical treatment.
A police investigation in Amstetten, Lower Austria Province, is continuing.
The suspect, named only as Josef F, was arrested on suspicion of incest and keeping his daughter in captivity. More...
See also: The Deaves: it's all in the family...
The existence of the woman, believed missing since 1984 and now 42, emerged apparently after a teenage child fell ill and had to be taken to hospital.
Both the alleged abduction victim and her alleged daughter, who is 19, are now receiving medical treatment.
A police investigation in Amstetten, Lower Austria Province, is continuing.
The suspect, named only as Josef F, was arrested on suspicion of incest and keeping his daughter in captivity. More...
See also: The Deaves: it's all in the family...
McDonald's and Customer Service ... in Russia!
While visiting the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (in Moscow) yesterday, President Andrew Sommers told our group a wonderful story that really captures the old Soviet-era mentality towards customer service.
When McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union in 1990 near Moscow's Pushkin Square (pictured above, still the largest McDonald's in the world, with 27 cash registers and seating capacity of 700), it went through an extensive training program for the new workers. Of course, customer service, which was a brand new concept for the Soviets, was extensively emphasized for the new McDonald's employees. More...
See also: Hungry Planet: what the world eats...
When McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union in 1990 near Moscow's Pushkin Square (pictured above, still the largest McDonald's in the world, with 27 cash registers and seating capacity of 700), it went through an extensive training program for the new workers. Of course, customer service, which was a brand new concept for the Soviets, was extensively emphasized for the new McDonald's employees. More...
See also: Hungry Planet: what the world eats...
The Year 2012: Should we be afraid?
The Year 2012. On Dec. 21st, 2012, Something Big is going to happen. Or, at least, that’s what they are saying. The Mayans, the Bible, and all manner of prophets. Are they right? Should we be afraid? Is it the end of the world? Or the birth of a New World Order? Or is it all just another one of those bull-shit stories to scare us into being docile slaves? (This is a five-part video presentation.)
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Les prostituées en suisse baissent leurs tarifs...
Les prix sur le marché du sexe payant en Suisse sont en chute libre. Ceci pour une raison simple: l'offre est nettement supérieure à la demande. Du coup, le client n'hésite pas à négocier les prestations... à la baisse. On ne parle pas ici des escorts de luxe qui se font généralement de gros salaires.
«Le marché est sursaturé», confirme Michel Venturelli, criminologue tessinois qui a auditionné des centaines de professionnelles du sexe au Tessin dans le cadre d'une étude réalisée en collaboration avec le Centre interdisciplinaire pour la recherche en sexologie de Gênes (Italie). «Le gros problème, c'est qu'on casse les prix. Avant, les filles donnaient tout pour 300 francs; maintenant, elles le font pour trois fois moins cher! Quand une sodomie peut se faire pour moins de 100 francs, il y a un sérieux problème.» Suite...
«Le marché est sursaturé», confirme Michel Venturelli, criminologue tessinois qui a auditionné des centaines de professionnelles du sexe au Tessin dans le cadre d'une étude réalisée en collaboration avec le Centre interdisciplinaire pour la recherche en sexologie de Gênes (Italie). «Le gros problème, c'est qu'on casse les prix. Avant, les filles donnaient tout pour 300 francs; maintenant, elles le font pour trois fois moins cher! Quand une sodomie peut se faire pour moins de 100 francs, il y a un sérieux problème.» Suite...
Saudi Blogger Farhan Freed From Prison
The wife of Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan confirmed yesterday that her husband, who has been detained for nearly five months without charges for comments made on his website, has been released from Jeddah’s Dahban Prison.
“He was released around 5:30 in the morning,” said Al-Farhan’s wife who asked that her name not be published in the newspaper. “He is all right, Alhamdulillah.”
Al-Farhan was unavailable for comment because he had gone out to “enjoy his freedom,” she added.
A Saudi blogger close to Al-Farhan, who didn’t want to be named, said he spoke to the blogger yesterday.
“It was a very emotional conversation,” said the friend. “I just wanted to make sure he is all right. We did not speak in detail.” More...
See also: Saudi bloggers support jailed counterpart..
Ignorance is NOT bliss...
High school students in Umeå were unable to name Finland's capital city in a recent survey which showed an alarming ignorance of basic geography.
Students from Umeå University in the north of Sweden interviewed 200 high school students aged 17-19-years-old on their geography skills.
More than 68 percent responded that they do no know where the European Union has its headquarters, 75 percent could not place Teheran in Iran and 96 percent could not name two Swedish national parks.
"This is the level of knowledge on which they will then make their decisions," said a dismayed Christian Lund to Västerbottens-Kuriren.
Lund wonders how the students will later be able to develop their opinions in democratic and societal issues such as the environment, sustainable development and politics without some basic knowledge of geography.
The results of the study will be sent to schools minister, Jan Björklund.
Source: The Local
See also: 56% of this audience in the French version...
And this: Is this supposed to be a surprise?
Students from Umeå University in the north of Sweden interviewed 200 high school students aged 17-19-years-old on their geography skills.
More than 68 percent responded that they do no know where the European Union has its headquarters, 75 percent could not place Teheran in Iran and 96 percent could not name two Swedish national parks.
"This is the level of knowledge on which they will then make their decisions," said a dismayed Christian Lund to Västerbottens-Kuriren.
Lund wonders how the students will later be able to develop their opinions in democratic and societal issues such as the environment, sustainable development and politics without some basic knowledge of geography.
The results of the study will be sent to schools minister, Jan Björklund.
Source: The Local
See also: 56% of this audience in the French version...
And this: Is this supposed to be a surprise?
Occupied Paris: when life was "normal..."
A new photography exhibition in Paris shows a milder side of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, visitors say.
Visitors to "The Parisians Under the Occupation" exhibit by photographer Andre Zucca said the captured images offer a rare take on the brutal forced occupation, one that is without the misery typically associated with the war, the International Herald Tribune reported Friday.
"You can't really feel that it's the occupation," tourist Serge Thilloux said of the exhibit. "You have the impression that people can walk about freely, while today there are plaques around Paris indicating where this or that person was shot."
"It shows how frighteningly normal life was," exhibit visitor Robert Schenker told the Tribune. "With the exception of the Germans in uniform, you can hardly see any difference from daily life now."
Zucca took the photographs while working for the Nazi propaganda magazine Signal and are being presented at a Paris Historical Library annex without any historical information, the newspaper said.
Source: UPI
See some of the images and an article in French here...
Visitors to "The Parisians Under the Occupation" exhibit by photographer Andre Zucca said the captured images offer a rare take on the brutal forced occupation, one that is without the misery typically associated with the war, the International Herald Tribune reported Friday.
"You can't really feel that it's the occupation," tourist Serge Thilloux said of the exhibit. "You have the impression that people can walk about freely, while today there are plaques around Paris indicating where this or that person was shot."
"It shows how frighteningly normal life was," exhibit visitor Robert Schenker told the Tribune. "With the exception of the Germans in uniform, you can hardly see any difference from daily life now."
Zucca took the photographs while working for the Nazi propaganda magazine Signal and are being presented at a Paris Historical Library annex without any historical information, the newspaper said.
Source: UPI
See some of the images and an article in French here...
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden...
On April 22 2008, 450 Western practitioners of the Deity Dorje Shugden – including 100 Tibetan practitioners resident in the West – protested outside the Dalai Lama’s visit to Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.
Watch this video in 3 parts to get a better grasp of the conflict between the Dalai Lama and the followers of Dorje Shugden.
Part 2Part 3
Watch this video in 3 parts to get a better grasp of the conflict between the Dalai Lama and the followers of Dorje Shugden.
Part 2Part 3
Tanya Andersen, the woman that's going after the RIAA...
When Tanya Andersen opens the door to her modest apartment in suburban Portland, Ore., her Maltese-terrier mix, Tazz, runs over and wags his tail in a friendly hello. The 45-year-old single mother doesn't seem like much of a fighter. She spends most of her days sitting on an overstuffed sofa with a heating pad behind her back to ease chronic pain and migraines that have kept her on disability for nearly five years. Her voice is soft and halting. Yet this woman is behind a fierce assault on the music industry and its tactics for combating music piracy on the Internet. "I've just got to keep doing what I believe is right," she says, with Tazz curled up next to her on the couch. "And that's fighting and letting people know what's happening." More...
See also: Music piracy: RIAA screws the artists...
And this: WTF! Can you believe this?
Dubai's Palm Jumeirah: wonder or blunder?
Dubai's sheikhs have claimed it is "the eighth wonder of the world", and seen from space the tree-shaped sand and rock formation of the Palm Jumeirah looks exactly that.
But after the hype about David Beckham buying a mansion here and the novelty of living four miles out to sea has faded, that claim is starting to look shaky. It seems there is a little trouble in paradise.
Four thousand "Palm pioneers" have moved in and are getting to grips with life in the sweltering Arabian Gulf. This week, when the Guardian visited, the gripes were as common as the plaudits among the Brits who are in the vanguard of this new community.
Multimillion-pound villas have been squeezed together "like Coronation Street", air-conditioning bills are hitting £800 a month and persistent snags have led some to joke it is more "eighth blunder" than "eighth wonder".
The villas were developed by the government-owned Nakheel Properties, and many residents believe the company's slogan, "Our vision inspires humanity", which flutters on flags around the place, is beginning to look over-egged. More...
See also: You can be arrested in Dubai for "a speck of dirt"...
And this: The dark side of Dubai...
International Laughter Training Conference!!!!!
Conférence Internationale pour l’Entrainement du Rire!!!
Mahathir wants Bush, Blair and Howard to be tried for war crimes...
Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq, a spokesman for the organisers said.
In a speech at Imperial College, London, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W. Bush plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which set up the event.
Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq told AFP that Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wants to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq.
"It was a opportunity for students to put a range of questions about war crimes and the international situation.
"He said that people have to stop killing each other and use arbitration, negotiation and discussion as an alternative to violence, war and killing."
On the war in Iraq, Mahathir spoke about "the thousands dying, the economic war, the power of oil and how we could utilise some of these tools to have a leverage against the people who commit countries to war," Shafiq said.
He purposely did not speak about or answer questions from students on the political situation in Malaysia, said Shafiq.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is facing growing demands to quit, following an unprecedented electoral setback in March.
More than 450 people attended the speech and about 200 more had to be turned away.
Mahathir was in Cuba earlier this week to take part in the first International Conference of the Cuban Centre for Studies on Defence Information.
The Ramadhan Foundation is a leading British Muslim youth organisation working for peaceful co-existence and dialogue between communities.
Source: AFP
In a speech at Imperial College, London, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W. Bush plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which set up the event.
Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq told AFP that Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wants to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq.
"It was a opportunity for students to put a range of questions about war crimes and the international situation.
"He said that people have to stop killing each other and use arbitration, negotiation and discussion as an alternative to violence, war and killing."
On the war in Iraq, Mahathir spoke about "the thousands dying, the economic war, the power of oil and how we could utilise some of these tools to have a leverage against the people who commit countries to war," Shafiq said.
He purposely did not speak about or answer questions from students on the political situation in Malaysia, said Shafiq.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is facing growing demands to quit, following an unprecedented electoral setback in March.
More than 450 people attended the speech and about 200 more had to be turned away.
Mahathir was in Cuba earlier this week to take part in the first International Conference of the Cuban Centre for Studies on Defence Information.
The Ramadhan Foundation is a leading British Muslim youth organisation working for peaceful co-existence and dialogue between communities.
Source: AFP
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Rolling Stones and Back Street Girl...
I don't want you to be high
I don't want you to be down
Don't want to tell you no lie
Just want you to be around
Please come right up to my ears
You will be able to hear what I say
Don't want you out in my world
Just you be my backstreet girl
Please don't be part of my life
Please keep yourself to yourself
Please don't you bother my wife
That way you won't get no help
Don't try to ride on my horse
You're rather common and coarse anyway
Don't want you out in my world
Just you be my backstreet girl
Please don't you call me at home
Please don't come knocking at night
Please never ring on the phone
Your manners are never quite right
Please take the favors I grant
Curtsy and look nonchalant, just for me
Don't want you part of my world
Just you be my backstreet girl
And the world's happiest country is ... Denmark!!!
Denmark has recently emerged as the world's happiest country, beating out Bhutan, the long-time favorite of anthropologists everywhere.
The birthplace of LEGO -- a contraction of leg godt or "play well" -- offers even the first time visitor an incredible sense of hygglige: amiable cosiness.
"I remember you mentioned in your book," my Danish editor said over lunch in Copenhagen two weeks ago, "that you had a big head." I do have a huge head. I took a bite of delicious Esrom cheese and nodded for her to continue, keeping one eye on the wienerbrød.
"But you don't have a huge head. You just have a healthy, normal-sized Danish head." I smiled -- home at last.
Even if you don't have a Danish bloodline like I do, there are some good reasons to visit Copenhagen, the capital of the world's happiest country. More...
See also: A Map of Global Happiness and Well-Being?
The Children of Iraq...
This portfolio contains some awesome and awful photos about the war in Iraq and the toll it has taken on its weakest victims, children. DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH AND ARE EASILY UPSET BY REALITY…
LES ENFANTS DE L'IRAK
Ce portfolio contient des images terribles et troublantes de la guerre en Irak and le bilan de ses victimes les plus faibles, les enfants. NE CLICQUEZ PAS SUR CE LIEN SI VOUS ETES FACILEMENT DERANGE PAR LA REALITE…
Le Pen: les chambres à gaz nazies:un "détail"
Le président du FN Jean-Marie Le Pen répète dans une interview à un magazine régional à paraître vendredi qu'il lui paraît "évident" que "les chambres à gaz étaient un détail de l'histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale".
"J'ai dit que les chambres à gaz étaient un détail de l'histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale : ça me paraît tellement évident", déclare-t-il dans une interview au mensuel généraliste "Bretons", diffusé en Bretagne et en région parisienne.
Dans la suite des échanges avec le journaliste, M. Le Pen rappelle le nombre de morts total de la seconde guerre mondiale, en avançant le chiffre de "50 millions de morts".
Mais le journaliste l'interrompt, lui disant que "le problème n'est pas de savoir le nombre (de morts) mais la manière dont ils ont été tués", et que l'on a "déporté des gens pour les amener dans des camps juste pour les faire tuer".
"Mais ça, c'est parce que vous croyez à ça. Je ne me sens pas obligé d'adhérer à cette vision-là. Je constate qu'à Auschwitz il y avait l'usine IG Farben, qu'il y avait 80 000 ouvriers qui y travaillaient. À ma connaissance, ceux-là n'ont pas été gazés en tout cas. Ni brûlés", répond M. Le Pen.
Source: Le Figaro
Voir aussi: Sophie Marceau et Jean Marie Le Pen...
"J'ai dit que les chambres à gaz étaient un détail de l'histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale : ça me paraît tellement évident", déclare-t-il dans une interview au mensuel généraliste "Bretons", diffusé en Bretagne et en région parisienne.
Dans la suite des échanges avec le journaliste, M. Le Pen rappelle le nombre de morts total de la seconde guerre mondiale, en avançant le chiffre de "50 millions de morts".
Mais le journaliste l'interrompt, lui disant que "le problème n'est pas de savoir le nombre (de morts) mais la manière dont ils ont été tués", et que l'on a "déporté des gens pour les amener dans des camps juste pour les faire tuer".
"Mais ça, c'est parce que vous croyez à ça. Je ne me sens pas obligé d'adhérer à cette vision-là. Je constate qu'à Auschwitz il y avait l'usine IG Farben, qu'il y avait 80 000 ouvriers qui y travaillaient. À ma connaissance, ceux-là n'ont pas été gazés en tout cas. Ni brûlés", répond M. Le Pen.
Source: Le Figaro
Voir aussi: Sophie Marceau et Jean Marie Le Pen...
Snipes: three years for not filing tax returns...
A US federal judge on Thursday sentenced Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes to three years in prison Thursday for failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2004.
Judge William Terrell Hodges laid down the harshest possible sentence against Snipes, after the star of such movies as "Demolition Man" and the "Blade" trilogy of vampire movies was found guilty by a jury in February on three misdemeanor charges.
According to US Attorney Scotland Morris, who argued the government's case, Snipes currently owes more than 20 million dollars in back taxes and penalties.
The actor made a five million dollar payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday, but Morris dismissed it as "a fraction of what he owes." More...
Judge William Terrell Hodges laid down the harshest possible sentence against Snipes, after the star of such movies as "Demolition Man" and the "Blade" trilogy of vampire movies was found guilty by a jury in February on three misdemeanor charges.
According to US Attorney Scotland Morris, who argued the government's case, Snipes currently owes more than 20 million dollars in back taxes and penalties.
The actor made a five million dollar payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday, but Morris dismissed it as "a fraction of what he owes." More...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Los Angeles a Third World city?
Los Angeles is becoming a "Third World city" with immigrants making up half its workforce, says a new study.
A third of immigrants have not graduated from high school and 60 per cent do not speak English fluently, the Migration Policy Institute found.
It said this left immigrants ill-equipped to fill California's fastest-growing occupations, such as computer software engineering and nursing. The organisation added that as the so-called baby boomers reach retirement age, a similar pattern will spread across the US.
Ernesto Cortes Jr, of the Industrial Areas Foundation, a think-tank that specialises on social change, claimed Los Angeles was at a crossroads.
"The question is are we going to be a 21st century city with shared prosperity, or a Third World city with an elite group on top and most on near poverty wages?" he said.
The US Census Bureau last year predicted that by 2050, minorities will account for half of all residents across America.
It registered the largest numerical increases in minority residents in metropolitan Los Angeles, Riverside, in California, Dallas, Houston and New York.
In 2000, according to the Census Bureau, whites were in a minority in 262 US counties, up from 183 in 1990.
Nationally, the number of minorities topped 100 million for the first time in 2006, to make up about one third of the population.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
A third of immigrants have not graduated from high school and 60 per cent do not speak English fluently, the Migration Policy Institute found.
It said this left immigrants ill-equipped to fill California's fastest-growing occupations, such as computer software engineering and nursing. The organisation added that as the so-called baby boomers reach retirement age, a similar pattern will spread across the US.
Ernesto Cortes Jr, of the Industrial Areas Foundation, a think-tank that specialises on social change, claimed Los Angeles was at a crossroads.
"The question is are we going to be a 21st century city with shared prosperity, or a Third World city with an elite group on top and most on near poverty wages?" he said.
The US Census Bureau last year predicted that by 2050, minorities will account for half of all residents across America.
It registered the largest numerical increases in minority residents in metropolitan Los Angeles, Riverside, in California, Dallas, Houston and New York.
In 2000, according to the Census Bureau, whites were in a minority in 262 US counties, up from 183 in 1990.
Nationally, the number of minorities topped 100 million for the first time in 2006, to make up about one third of the population.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Karan Singh: The world's tallest baby?
Amazing! Army wife's husband and ALL three sons are fighting in Iraq!!!
It is the astonishing story of one family's determination to serve Queen and country.
And while most families would say having a single son serve in Iraq would be enough, one mother faces the heartache of watching three of her boys deployed to the war-torn nation.
Not only that, Wendy Mackness also has to wave off husband Danny who is poised to depart on his tour of duty.
Major Mackness, 45, and his sons Adam, 24, Mark, 22, and Shane, 21, are believed to be the biggest family group in a battle zone since World War Two.
But despite watching her boys depart for the Gulf, Wendy remains upbeat. More...
See also: Happy photos of a sad war...
Hillary's wish to "obliterate Iran" shocks the world...
Presidential contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's vow to "obliterate" Iran, presumably with nuclear weapons, if it attacked Israel on her watch was duly noted in the U.S.
Jaded American insiders shrugged off the remark as typical campaign season bluster, filed away with myriad other exaggerations and gaffes.
But it prompted shock overseas as well as headlines from Bulgaria to New Zealand. More...
See also: Hillary Clinton "mis-spoke" about Bosnia...
And this: Clinton's lie infuriates Bosnians...
The forgotten Armenian genocide...
World War One gave the Young Turk government the cover and the excuse to carry out their plan. The plan was simple and its goal was clear. On April 24th 1915, commemorated worldwide by Armenians as Genocide Memorial Day, hundreds of Armenian leaders were murdered in Istanbul after being summoned and gathered. The now leaderless Armenian people were to follow. Across the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Constantinople, presumably due to a large foreign presence), the same events transpired from village to village, from province to province.
Somewhat surprisingly to many, Armenians and Turks used to live in relative harmony in the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Armenians were known as the “loyal millet”. Although, during these times, Armenians were not equal and had to put up with certain special hardships, taxes and second class citizenship. Full story...
Somewhat surprisingly to many, Armenians and Turks used to live in relative harmony in the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Armenians were known as the “loyal millet”. Although, during these times, Armenians were not equal and had to put up with certain special hardships, taxes and second class citizenship. Full story...
Indebted Americans get calls to pay up … from India !!!
In a glass tower on the outskirts of New Delhi, dozens of young Indians are on the telephone, calling out-of-work, forgetful and debt-stricken Americans to ask for cash.
"Are you sure that's all you can afford?" one operator in a row of cubicles inquires politely.
"Well, how do you take care of your everyday expenses?" presses another.
Americans are used to receiving calls from India for insurance claims and credit card sales. But debt collection represents a growing business for outsourcing companies, especially as the U.S. economy slows and its consumers struggle to pay for their purchases. More...
See also: India's Telemarketers. This is hilarious!
"Are you sure that's all you can afford?" one operator in a row of cubicles inquires politely.
"Well, how do you take care of your everyday expenses?" presses another.
Americans are used to receiving calls from India for insurance claims and credit card sales. But debt collection represents a growing business for outsourcing companies, especially as the U.S. economy slows and its consumers struggle to pay for their purchases. More...
See also: India's Telemarketers. This is hilarious!
Singapore TV station fined for "positive" gay show...
A Singapore television station has been fined for airing a show that depicted a gay couple and their baby in a way that "promotes a gay lifestyle," the city-state's media regulator said Thursday.
The Media Development Authority fined MediaCorp TV Channel 5 $11,000, it said in a statement on its Web site.
The station aired an episode of a home and decor series called "Find and Design" that featured a gay couple wanting to transform their game room into a new nursery for their adopted baby.
The authority said the episode contained scenes of the gay couple with their baby and the presenter's congratulations and acknowledgment of them as a family unit "in a way which normalizes their gay lifestyle and unconventional family setup."
The episode was in breach of rules on free-to-air television programming, which disallows content that promotes, justifies or glamorizes gay lifestyles, the statement said.
Earlier this month, the authority fined a Singapore cable television operator, StarHub Cable Vision $7,200 for airing a commercial that showed two lesbians kissing.
Under Singapore law, gay sex is deemed "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail.
Despite the official ban on gay sex, there have been few prosecutions. Authorities have banned gay festivals and censored gay films, saying homosexuality should not be advocated as a lifestyle choice.
Source: newsvine.com
The Media Development Authority fined MediaCorp TV Channel 5 $11,000, it said in a statement on its Web site.
The station aired an episode of a home and decor series called "Find and Design" that featured a gay couple wanting to transform their game room into a new nursery for their adopted baby.
The authority said the episode contained scenes of the gay couple with their baby and the presenter's congratulations and acknowledgment of them as a family unit "in a way which normalizes their gay lifestyle and unconventional family setup."
The episode was in breach of rules on free-to-air television programming, which disallows content that promotes, justifies or glamorizes gay lifestyles, the statement said.
Earlier this month, the authority fined a Singapore cable television operator, StarHub Cable Vision $7,200 for airing a commercial that showed two lesbians kissing.
Under Singapore law, gay sex is deemed "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail.
Despite the official ban on gay sex, there have been few prosecutions. Authorities have banned gay festivals and censored gay films, saying homosexuality should not be advocated as a lifestyle choice.
Source: newsvine.com
Gregor Schneider, the artist who is looking for "a dying man..."
PRIZE-winning German artist Gregor Schneider has caused an uproar by launching a search for a volunteer willing to die for art.
The enfant terrible of the German cultural scene is looking for someone whose dying hours will be spent in an art gallery with the public admiring the way the light plays on the flesh of a person gasping for the last breath.
The 39-year-old artist has been concerned with death for much of his career. He gained critical acclaim for a sculpture, Hannelore Reuen, of a dead woman.
He has been hatching his latest idea since 1996, and now has a pathologist and art collector to help to find a candidate who wants to become a work of art in the final days of his or her life.
"The dying person would determine everything in advance, he would be the absolute centre of attention," said Mr Schneider. More...
See also: When cruelty is transformed into a show and the director becomes an "artist..."
And this: Guillermo Habacuc Vargas and the starving dog...
The enfant terrible of the German cultural scene is looking for someone whose dying hours will be spent in an art gallery with the public admiring the way the light plays on the flesh of a person gasping for the last breath.
The 39-year-old artist has been concerned with death for much of his career. He gained critical acclaim for a sculpture, Hannelore Reuen, of a dead woman.
He has been hatching his latest idea since 1996, and now has a pathologist and art collector to help to find a candidate who wants to become a work of art in the final days of his or her life.
"The dying person would determine everything in advance, he would be the absolute centre of attention," said Mr Schneider. More...
See also: When cruelty is transformed into a show and the director becomes an "artist..."
And this: Guillermo Habacuc Vargas and the starving dog...
Like the UBS, the Credit Suisse suffers heavy losses...
Credit Suisse Group has posted a greater-than-expected SFr2.1 billion ($2.1 billion) net loss for the first quarter.
Switzerland's second-largest bank says it also has net writedowns of SFr5.3 billion for the first three months of the year.
It was the bank's first quarterly loss in five years and almost three times what analysts had expected. Credit Suisse said in March it was unlikely to post a profit in the first quarter because of rocky markets and a deliberate mispricing of credit assets by a group of traders.
"Our first-quarter results are clearly unsatisfactory," chief executive Brady Dougan said on Thursday, but he said other operations of the bank did well. More...
See also: What the UBS's $37 billion loss could have bought...
And this: Swiss bank UBS in crisis...
Switzerland's second-largest bank says it also has net writedowns of SFr5.3 billion for the first three months of the year.
It was the bank's first quarterly loss in five years and almost three times what analysts had expected. Credit Suisse said in March it was unlikely to post a profit in the first quarter because of rocky markets and a deliberate mispricing of credit assets by a group of traders.
"Our first-quarter results are clearly unsatisfactory," chief executive Brady Dougan said on Thursday, but he said other operations of the bank did well. More...
See also: What the UBS's $37 billion loss could have bought...
And this: Swiss bank UBS in crisis...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Lai Thi Dao: Hope comes from Miami...
A Vietnamese girl with a 16-pound facial tumor is in Miami awaiting surgery to restore her ability to eat and speak.
Fifteen-year-old Lai Thi Dao suffers from a Schwannoma tumor that has been growing since she was 3. The tumor has severely disfigured her face and kept her from ever attending school.
Doctors at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center say the tumor threatens to suffocate Lai. They will remove it in a 10-hour surgery on April 29.
Schwannoma tumors are usually benign. Lai's doctors say the size of her tumor is extremely rare and that it likely won't return once it's removed.
The International Kids Fund is seeking donations to fund Lai's surgery.
Source: Victoria Advocate.com
See the video of Lai: Lai Thi Dao, the girl with a 16-pound tumour...
Fifteen-year-old Lai Thi Dao suffers from a Schwannoma tumor that has been growing since she was 3. The tumor has severely disfigured her face and kept her from ever attending school.
Doctors at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center say the tumor threatens to suffocate Lai. They will remove it in a 10-hour surgery on April 29.
Schwannoma tumors are usually benign. Lai's doctors say the size of her tumor is extremely rare and that it likely won't return once it's removed.
The International Kids Fund is seeking donations to fund Lai's surgery.
Source: Victoria Advocate.com
See the video of Lai: Lai Thi Dao, the girl with a 16-pound tumour...
Singapore Airlines Suite ... a class beyond first...
The country is in shambles and they're building an ... amusement park?
Llewellyn Werner, a California investor, admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with. Such as insurgent attacks and looting.
But when the amusement park you’re building lies in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.
Mr Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing The Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the same firm that developed Disneyland.
“The people of Iraq need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact,” Mr Werner said. More...
See also: Iraqi woman and her son
And this: Iraq, 5 years later...
But when the amusement park you’re building lies in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.
Mr Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing The Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the same firm that developed Disneyland.
“The people of Iraq need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact,” Mr Werner said. More...
See also: Iraqi woman and her son
And this: Iraq, 5 years later...
Turning China into a whipping boy (excellent stuff)
Last week, the London-based Frontline club, a self-styled bastion of journalistic integrity, held a panel discussion entitled ‘Boycotting China’. According to the accompanying blurb this was to be a debate over whether we in the West should boycott China, be it a refusal to take part in the Beijing Olympics, leaving anything ‘made in China’ on the shelves, or, vainer still - the politicians’ favourite - spurning the Olympics opening ceremony.
That at least was what was advertised. Yet when the chair, journalist and broadcaster Isabel Hilton, received a unanimous ‘no’ from all the participants on the question of a boycott, this allowed a fortuitous change of focus. What now seemed to be at stake was the justification of current Western attitudes to China. Or, as Hilton, echoing a CN Daily headline, put it, ‘does the West love to hate China?’
On the one side then, advocating and, occasionally, hailing the recent explosion of animosity towards China – the Olympic torch protests were ‘heartening’, announced one of them – we had the London director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Porteous, the Guardian’s Simon Tisdall, and the chair herself, Isabel Hilton. And on the other side sat the recipient of their barely repressed wrath: Liu Weimin, a representative of the Chinese Embassy. As Communist Party apparatchiks go, this was one disarmingly charming man. More...
See also: Human Rights: China tells the U.S. to STFU...
And this: China and Tibet: The Empire strikes back...
That at least was what was advertised. Yet when the chair, journalist and broadcaster Isabel Hilton, received a unanimous ‘no’ from all the participants on the question of a boycott, this allowed a fortuitous change of focus. What now seemed to be at stake was the justification of current Western attitudes to China. Or, as Hilton, echoing a CN Daily headline, put it, ‘does the West love to hate China?’
On the one side then, advocating and, occasionally, hailing the recent explosion of animosity towards China – the Olympic torch protests were ‘heartening’, announced one of them – we had the London director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Porteous, the Guardian’s Simon Tisdall, and the chair herself, Isabel Hilton. And on the other side sat the recipient of their barely repressed wrath: Liu Weimin, a representative of the Chinese Embassy. As Communist Party apparatchiks go, this was one disarmingly charming man. More...
See also: Human Rights: China tells the U.S. to STFU...
And this: China and Tibet: The Empire strikes back...
Deux morts et trois arrestations pour avoir mis les points sur les “i”
Les vies d’Emine, 20 ans, et de son mari, Ramazan Çalçoban, 24 ans ressemblaient à toute autre vie de personnes en procédure de divorce. Après leur décision de se séparer, ils ont continué à s’envoyer des textos plus ou moins imagés, jusqu’au jour où Ramazan a eu la mauvaise idée de vouloir écrire: “tu changes de sujet à chaque fois que tu es à court d’arguments.”
Ce jour-là, le logiciel de localisation du téléphone a buggé, ne mettant pas à disposition de l’envoyeur la terrible lettre “ı” (un “i” sans point) de l’alphabet turc...
Apparemment, à l’endroit où se trouvait Ramazan, la lettre n’a pas pu être fournie dans l’alphabet du téléphone et il a écrit “sikisince” au lieu de “sıkısınca”, ce qui, une fois la phrase reconstituée, donne grossièrement: “tu changes de sujet à chaque fois qu’ils te baisent” au lieu de “tu changes de sujet à chaque fois que tu es à court d’arguments” (sıkışınca konuyu değiştiriyorsun).
L’Emine dépitée a montré le message à son père qui, fou de rage, a appelé Ramazan, l’accusant de traîter sa fille de prostituée. Ramazan s’est alors rendu au domicile de la famille pour présenter ses excuses, où l’attendaient les deux sœurs et une collection de couteaux bien aiguisés.
Blessé mais vivant, Ramazan a trouvé Emine et un autre couteau avec lequel il l’a tuée avant de se donner lui-même la mort en prison.
Et ce n’est pas le premier incident du genre à cause de cette lettre “ı”. La presse locale précise qu’à cause de ces erreurs de géolocalisation certaines situations délicates peuvent tourner au drame dès que l’on touche à l’honneur d’une fille dans un pays sensible au sujet.
D’où l’importance de bien mettre les points sur les “i”. Ou pas.
Source: Gizmodo
Ce jour-là, le logiciel de localisation du téléphone a buggé, ne mettant pas à disposition de l’envoyeur la terrible lettre “ı” (un “i” sans point) de l’alphabet turc...
Apparemment, à l’endroit où se trouvait Ramazan, la lettre n’a pas pu être fournie dans l’alphabet du téléphone et il a écrit “sikisince” au lieu de “sıkısınca”, ce qui, une fois la phrase reconstituée, donne grossièrement: “tu changes de sujet à chaque fois qu’ils te baisent” au lieu de “tu changes de sujet à chaque fois que tu es à court d’arguments” (sıkışınca konuyu değiştiriyorsun).
L’Emine dépitée a montré le message à son père qui, fou de rage, a appelé Ramazan, l’accusant de traîter sa fille de prostituée. Ramazan s’est alors rendu au domicile de la famille pour présenter ses excuses, où l’attendaient les deux sœurs et une collection de couteaux bien aiguisés.
Blessé mais vivant, Ramazan a trouvé Emine et un autre couteau avec lequel il l’a tuée avant de se donner lui-même la mort en prison.
Et ce n’est pas le premier incident du genre à cause de cette lettre “ı”. La presse locale précise qu’à cause de ces erreurs de géolocalisation certaines situations délicates peuvent tourner au drame dès que l’on touche à l’honneur d’une fille dans un pays sensible au sujet.
D’où l’importance de bien mettre les points sur les “i”. Ou pas.
Source: Gizmodo
The missing dot in the "i" leads to two murders...
The life of 20-year-old Emine, and her 24-year-old husband Ramazan Çalçoban was pretty much the normal life of any couple in a separation process. After deciding to split up, the two kept having bitter arguments over the cellphone, sending text messages to each other until one day Ramazan wrote "you change the topic every time you run out of arguments." That day, the lack of a single dot over a letter—product of a faulty localization of the cellphone's typing system—caused a chain of events that ended in a violent blood bath (Warning: offensive language ahead.)
The surreal mistake happened because Ramazan's sent a message and Emine's cellphone didn't have an specific character from the Turkish alphabet: the letter "ı" or closed i. While "i" is available in all phones in Turkey—where this happened—the closed i apparently doesn't exist in most of the terminals in that country.
The use of "i" resulted in an SMS with a completely twisted meaning: instead of writing the word "sıkısınca" it looked like he wrote "sikisince." Ramazan wanted to write "You change the topic every time you run out of arguments" (sounds familiar enough) but what Emine read was, "You change the topic every time they are fucking you" (sounds familiar too.) More...
The surreal mistake happened because Ramazan's sent a message and Emine's cellphone didn't have an specific character from the Turkish alphabet: the letter "ı" or closed i. While "i" is available in all phones in Turkey—where this happened—the closed i apparently doesn't exist in most of the terminals in that country.
The use of "i" resulted in an SMS with a completely twisted meaning: instead of writing the word "sıkısınca" it looked like he wrote "sikisince." Ramazan wanted to write "You change the topic every time you run out of arguments" (sounds familiar enough) but what Emine read was, "You change the topic every time they are fucking you" (sounds familiar too.) More...
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Gilbert O'Sullivan: Nothing Rhymed...
If I give up the seat I've been saving
To some elderly lady or man
Am I being a good boy
Am I your pride and joy
Mother please if your pleased say I am
And if while in the course of my duty
I perform an unfortunate take
Would you punish me so, unbelievably so
Never again will I make that mistake
This feeling inside me could never deny me
The right to be wrong if I choose
And this pleasure I get
From say winning a bet
Is to lose
When I'm drinking my Bonaparte Shandy
Eating more than enough apple pies
Will I glance at my screen and see real human beings
Starve to death -
Right in front of my eyes
Nothing old, nothing new, nothing ventured
Nothing gained, nothing still-born or lost
Nothing further than proof nothing wilder than youth
Nothing older than time nothing sweeter than wine
Nothing physically, recklessly, hopelessly blind
Nothing I couldn't say
Nothing why 'cos today
Nothing rhymed
The world's healthiest countries...
There are lots of reasons to envy residents of Northern Europe. Each day they get to take in raw, dramatic landscapes, stunning architecture and world-class shopping.
But, more important, they know a thing or two about health and wellness.
Forbes.com has found that the region is home to some of the world's healthiest countries, including top-ranking Iceland, Sweden and Finland.
Others that fared well include Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Austria and the Netherlands. More...
See also: The CIA's Current Account Balance ...
Has someone stolen your penis? Oh boy! Oh boy!
Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.
Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.
Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings. More...
See also: Pissed on food creates uproar in S.Africa...
And this: If you're an albino in Tanzania, run for your life...
Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.
Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings. More...
See also: Pissed on food creates uproar in S.Africa...
And this: If you're an albino in Tanzania, run for your life...
China: more internet users than anywhere else...
China, already the world leader in cellphone use, has surpassed the USA as the No. 1 nation in Internet users.
The number of Chinese on the Internet hit more than 220 million as of February, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics by the Beijing-based research group BDA China. The government is likely to confirm the leap at its half-yearly report in July.
The longtime Internet leader, the USA, which founded and developed the network of computers, had 216 million users at the end of 2007, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
The percentage of American users — 71% — still exceeds China's 17%. China has 1.3 billion people, compared with nearly 304 million in the USA. More...
See also: China's Youth and the Internet
The number of Chinese on the Internet hit more than 220 million as of February, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics by the Beijing-based research group BDA China. The government is likely to confirm the leap at its half-yearly report in July.
The longtime Internet leader, the USA, which founded and developed the network of computers, had 216 million users at the end of 2007, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
The percentage of American users — 71% — still exceeds China's 17%. China has 1.3 billion people, compared with nearly 304 million in the USA. More...
See also: China's Youth and the Internet
Iran, shunned by the West, looks to the East...
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said here on Sunday that “India and Iran have civilisational and economic ties.” India’s sizeable Shia population gave a certain vantage point to engage with Iran.
“Iran is a big country and you need to deal with them diplomatically and with erudition.” As a neighbour and with a large Shia population, “any mishandling will impact negatively on us,” he said.
He was speaking at the IISS-Citi India Global Forum here.According to Iranian diplomatic sources, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to India on April 29 will spend seven hours in New Delhi.
During his visit to Sri Lanka, he will lay the foundation stone for a 100-MW hydropower project to be built with Tehran’s financial assistance. Prior to arriving in Colombo, the Iranian President will visit Islamabad for talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani. More...
See also: China and Iran: waking sleeping giants...
And this: Iran: from the Shah to Khomeiny...
“Iran is a big country and you need to deal with them diplomatically and with erudition.” As a neighbour and with a large Shia population, “any mishandling will impact negatively on us,” he said.
He was speaking at the IISS-Citi India Global Forum here.According to Iranian diplomatic sources, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to India on April 29 will spend seven hours in New Delhi.
During his visit to Sri Lanka, he will lay the foundation stone for a 100-MW hydropower project to be built with Tehran’s financial assistance. Prior to arriving in Colombo, the Iranian President will visit Islamabad for talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani. More...
See also: China and Iran: waking sleeping giants...
And this: Iran: from the Shah to Khomeiny...
The fall and fall of JKRowling...
Last week’s JK Rowling/Warner Brothers versus RDR Books trial made me very uncomfortable. On one hand, I completely support an author’s right to protect copyright. It’s time this nation (world, really) learned serious lessons about copyright — what it is, how it’s applied, fair use (yes, kids, fair use is part of copyright). But there’s something, well, chilling about how this case has played out.
And, as a fan, I’m particularly bothered by this case because, well, there has to be a better way to deal with your readers than suing them. Especially after you’ve blessed the website and admittedly used it as a resource. It’s really absurd to belittle the efforts of said fan while tacitly admitting that you — the author — don’t have the same level of information readily available. More...
See also: Rowling: best-selling authour or cry baby?
OMG! American cheer-leaders for Indian cricket!!!
Squeezing through the gates of a sold-out 55,000-seat cricket stadium in steamy evening heat, Hashim Kerala made no attempt to hide his reason for coming to the season's opening match: Cheerleaders. Washington Redskins cheerleaders, to be specific.
In white go-go boots, yellow spangled short shorts and bikini tops, they pompomed their way onto the field, bursting right through local notions of modesty. The result was something that few in this cricket-obsessed nation thought possible: tens of thousands of male cricket fans finding it hard to keep their eyes on the game. More...
Watch the video here: Redskins Cheerleaders Shooting Video in India
In white go-go boots, yellow spangled short shorts and bikini tops, they pompomed their way onto the field, bursting right through local notions of modesty. The result was something that few in this cricket-obsessed nation thought possible: tens of thousands of male cricket fans finding it hard to keep their eyes on the game. More...
Watch the video here: Redskins Cheerleaders Shooting Video in India
Monday, April 21, 2008
WTF! Five year-old kids kick-boxing Thai style...
A blonde-haired girl with her hands strapped into boxing gloves sobs at the side of the ring.
In another image her twin brother takes a direct hit to the face from a sparring partner.
Miah and Kian Flanagan are just five years old.
But already they are seasoned fighters, taking part in an alarmingly fast-growing 'sport' that pits children against other children in the terrifying public arena of the boxing ring. More...
See also: Slavery dead? Let's not kid ourselves...
And this: How shameful!! Today's modern slaves...
Saudi women and eternal childhood...
Saudi women are being kept in perpetual childhood so male relatives can exercise "guardianship" over them, the Human Rights Watch group has said.
The New York-based group says Saudi women have to obtain permission from male relatives to work, travel, study, marry or even receive health care.
Their access to justice is also severely constrained, it says.
The group says the Saudi establishment sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. More...
See also: Olympics: free Saudi Arabia!!!!
And this: Saudi father kills Facebook daughter...
The New York-based group says Saudi women have to obtain permission from male relatives to work, travel, study, marry or even receive health care.
Their access to justice is also severely constrained, it says.
The group says the Saudi establishment sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. More...
See also: Olympics: free Saudi Arabia!!!!
And this: Saudi father kills Facebook daughter...
When the State starts to snoop into your rubbish...
Police chiefs ordered binmen to act as spies by sifting through rubbish to look for pamphlets produced by Islamic terror groups.
Town halls responsible for areas with large Muslim populations were summoned to London and told to get their refuse collectors to search bins for discarded documents or material that might identify and incriminate Islamic extremists.
The Mail on Sunday understands that the instruction was issued at a secretive summit hosted by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), attended by Ministers and Andy Hayman, who at the time was Britain's top anti-terror policeman and an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. More...
See also: A child meets the State...
And this: Can we/Should we depend on the State?
Town halls responsible for areas with large Muslim populations were summoned to London and told to get their refuse collectors to search bins for discarded documents or material that might identify and incriminate Islamic extremists.
The Mail on Sunday understands that the instruction was issued at a secretive summit hosted by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), attended by Ministers and Andy Hayman, who at the time was Britain's top anti-terror policeman and an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. More...
See also: A child meets the State...
And this: Can we/Should we depend on the State?
McCartney and Global Warming: Become vegetarians? Bad advice...
Former Beatle Paul McCartney is urging the world to go vegetarian in a bid to fight global warming and is surprised more green groups don't promote it.
In an interview with the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), McCartney said the global meat industry was a major contributor to global warming. A transcript of the PETA interview was given to Reuters.
"The biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian," McCartney, a longtime vegetarian and advocate of vegetarianism, said. "I would urge everyone to think about taking this simple step to help our precious environment and save it for the children of the future."
McCartney says the amount of land and water used to maintain the meat industry makes it a major contributor to climate change and complains that most environmental groups do not list vegetarianism as one of their top priorities.
"It's very surprising that most major environmental organizations are leaving the option of going vegetarian off their lists of top ways to curtail global warming," he said.
A 2006 United Nations report found that cattle-rearing generated more greenhouse gases than transportation.
Source: Reuters
In an interview with the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), McCartney said the global meat industry was a major contributor to global warming. A transcript of the PETA interview was given to Reuters.
"The biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian," McCartney, a longtime vegetarian and advocate of vegetarianism, said. "I would urge everyone to think about taking this simple step to help our precious environment and save it for the children of the future."
McCartney says the amount of land and water used to maintain the meat industry makes it a major contributor to climate change and complains that most environmental groups do not list vegetarianism as one of their top priorities.
"It's very surprising that most major environmental organizations are leaving the option of going vegetarian off their lists of top ways to curtail global warming," he said.
A 2006 United Nations report found that cattle-rearing generated more greenhouse gases than transportation.
Source: Reuters
Sunday, April 20, 2008
China and Tibet: The Empire strikes back...
Armed with her laptop and her indignation, Zhu Xiaomeng sits in her dorm room here, stoking a popular backlash against Western support for Tibet that has unnerved foreign investors and Western diplomats and, increasingly, the ruling Communist Party.
Chinese police officers and paramilitary guards blocked the road leading to the French Embassy in Beijing on Saturday.
Over the last week, Ms. Zhu and her classmates have been channeling anger over anti-China protests during the tumultuous Olympic torch relay into a boycott campaign against French companies, blamed for their country’s support of pro-Tibetan agitators. Some have also called for a boycott against American chains like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken. More...
See also: China and Tibet: let's stop the hypocrisy now...
And this: China to boycott French goods?
Chinese police officers and paramilitary guards blocked the road leading to the French Embassy in Beijing on Saturday.
Over the last week, Ms. Zhu and her classmates have been channeling anger over anti-China protests during the tumultuous Olympic torch relay into a boycott campaign against French companies, blamed for their country’s support of pro-Tibetan agitators. Some have also called for a boycott against American chains like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken. More...
See also: China and Tibet: let's stop the hypocrisy now...
And this: China to boycott French goods?
Don McLean singing about Vincent...
Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.
Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...
CNN apologises to China's "goons and thugs..."
CNN was forced to apologise today after a news commentator called the Chinese as a “bunch of goons and thugs”.
Jack Cafferty made the comments on April 9 on CNN’s political programme, The Situation Room, in which he also described Chinese products as "junk".
In a statement, CNN said: “It was not Mr. Cafferty’s nor CNN’s intent to cause offence to the Chinese people, and we would apologise to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way.
Cafferty was offering his “strongly held” opinion of the Chinese Government, not China’s people, the company said. More...
See also: Jack Cafferty: The Chinese are goons and thugs...
Jack Cafferty made the comments on April 9 on CNN’s political programme, The Situation Room, in which he also described Chinese products as "junk".
In a statement, CNN said: “It was not Mr. Cafferty’s nor CNN’s intent to cause offence to the Chinese people, and we would apologise to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way.
Cafferty was offering his “strongly held” opinion of the Chinese Government, not China’s people, the company said. More...
See also: Jack Cafferty: The Chinese are goons and thugs...
Kollywood horse stunt! Hilarious!
OMG! Swiss cheese is a scam!! Hilarious!
I was at the supermarket yesterday and was dumbfounded that Swiss Cheese is expensive as hell. A pack of American singles goes for about $2.50 at the local supermarket while a pack of Swiss goes for over 4 bucks! I didn't go to a fancy college, or any college at all for that matter, but isn't it obvious that Swiss cheese should be the cheapest kind of cheese? Just think of all those holes, it's less cheese per piece.
Think about it. One piece of swiss cheeese proably has only 3/4 the amount of cheese as any other kind of cheese. It's an outrage, and I'm pissed off about it. People always talk about how the Swiss are so great, how their chocolate is so tasty and how they're a neutral nation that doesn't take any side during a war. Well of course not! They're too busy living it up on all of their cheese profits that they scam out of the rest of the world to actually take time out of their day to pick up a rifle and head to battle. More...
See also: The Swiss love their cars...
And this: Switzerland: nothing but cuckoo clocks?
Think about it. One piece of swiss cheeese proably has only 3/4 the amount of cheese as any other kind of cheese. It's an outrage, and I'm pissed off about it. People always talk about how the Swiss are so great, how their chocolate is so tasty and how they're a neutral nation that doesn't take any side during a war. Well of course not! They're too busy living it up on all of their cheese profits that they scam out of the rest of the world to actually take time out of their day to pick up a rifle and head to battle. More...
See also: The Swiss love their cars...
And this: Switzerland: nothing but cuckoo clocks?
Wang Qianyuan: A "traitor" speaks to the mob that is lynching her...
I study languages -- Italian, French and German. And this summer -- now that it looks as though I won't be able to go home to China -- I'll take up Arabic. My goal is to master 10 languages, in addition to Chinese and English, by the time I'm 30.
I want to do this because I believe that language is the bridge to understanding. Take China and Tibet. If more Chinese learned the Tibetan language, and if Tibetans learned more about China, I'm convinced that our two peoples would understand one another better and we could overcome the current crisis between us peacefully. I feel that even more strongly after what happened here at Duke University a little more than a week ago. More...
See also: Wang Qianyuan: it used to be tars and feathers, but the mob can now lynch you on-line...
I want to do this because I believe that language is the bridge to understanding. Take China and Tibet. If more Chinese learned the Tibetan language, and if Tibetans learned more about China, I'm convinced that our two peoples would understand one another better and we could overcome the current crisis between us peacefully. I feel that even more strongly after what happened here at Duke University a little more than a week ago. More...
See also: Wang Qianyuan: it used to be tars and feathers, but the mob can now lynch you on-line...
Wang Qianyuan: it used to be tars and feathers, but the mob can now lynch you on-line...
Wang Qianyuan did not realize she would cause such a frenzy last week when she ran into a group of American students, Tibetan flags tied over their shoulders, getting ready for a vigil at Duke University to support human rights.
She used blue body paint to write "Save Tibet" slogans on the bare back of one of the organizers but did not join their demonstration.
Wang, a Chinese national, knew she was treading on sensitive territory. "But human rights are above everything," she said later in a telephone interview. Even national pride.
Before long, a video of the 20-year-old freshman, seen standing between pro-Tibet activists and Chinese counterprotesters, was posted on the Internet. Within hours, an angry mob gathered online, calling her a "traitor" who should be punished. More...
See also: Flash mobs, frozen, Anonymous and Rickmobs!
And this: "Love China" netizens send a message to the world...
She used blue body paint to write "Save Tibet" slogans on the bare back of one of the organizers but did not join their demonstration.
Wang, a Chinese national, knew she was treading on sensitive territory. "But human rights are above everything," she said later in a telephone interview. Even national pride.
Before long, a video of the 20-year-old freshman, seen standing between pro-Tibet activists and Chinese counterprotesters, was posted on the Internet. Within hours, an angry mob gathered online, calling her a "traitor" who should be punished. More...
See also: Flash mobs, frozen, Anonymous and Rickmobs!
And this: "Love China" netizens send a message to the world...
La version ultime de Big Brother est planifiée pour 2010!
Jamais tranquille. Non content de nous obliger à tirer des têtes d'enterrement sur les photos passeport (sourire altère les traits du visage...), voici que le Ministère américain de la sécurité intérieure envisage de dissimuler des capteurs dans les aéroports afin de scanner les micro-expressions du visage.
Vous attendez de montrer vos papiers, vous faites la queue en chaussettes devant le portique à bagages: clic-clac! Des centaines de microcaméras auscultent les moindres de vos ridules, le plus petit frémissement musculaire, le tic nerveux le plus anodin, la plus infime dilatation de l'iris. En comparaison, les Stones sous les 17 caméras loupes de Scorsese, c'est de la séance polaroïd pour vacanciers asthmatiques. Suite...
Voir aussi: Big Brother chez Lidl...
Vous attendez de montrer vos papiers, vous faites la queue en chaussettes devant le portique à bagages: clic-clac! Des centaines de microcaméras auscultent les moindres de vos ridules, le plus petit frémissement musculaire, le tic nerveux le plus anodin, la plus infime dilatation de l'iris. En comparaison, les Stones sous les 17 caméras loupes de Scorsese, c'est de la séance polaroïd pour vacanciers asthmatiques. Suite...
Voir aussi: Big Brother chez Lidl...
Portable: on nous tond!
Les derniers chiffres font mal: les Suisses continuent de payer 60% plus cher la téléphonie mobile que leurs voisins européens.
C'est devenu un rituel. Chaque année, au printemps, la Commission européenne publie son rapport sur le marché des télécoms avec l'annonce de baisses de prix et des comparatifs qui font pâlir les consommateurs suisses. Le treizième rapport européen vient donc de sortir et il y a effectivement de quoi déprimer. En moyenne, les tarifs au sein de l'UE ont une nouvelle fois reculé, de 5 à 10% entre 2006 et 2007. Et en Suisse? L'Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM) est encore en train de rédiger le complément suisse au rapport européen. Economiste à l'OFCOM, René Dönni confirme toutefois que «les tarifs sont restés stables chez les principaux opérateurs suisses, à l'exception d'une légère baisse chez Orange». Résultat: les consommateurs suisses payent des factures 62% plus élevées que la moyenne européenne, selon les derniers chiffres que «Le Matin Dimanche» a pu consulter. Suite...
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Long live Banksy!!!
Banksy pulled off an audacious stunt to produce what is believed to be his biggest work yet in central London.
The secretive graffiti artist managed to erect three storeys of scaffolding behind a security fence despite being watched by a CCTV camera.
Then, during darkness and hidden behind a sheet of polythene, he painted this comment on 'Big Brother' society. More...
See also: Rejoice folks! Big Brother is interested in your underwear...
What are Chinese troops doing in Zimbabwe?
Chinese troops have been seen on the streets of Zimbabwe's third largest city, Mutare, according to local witnesses. They were seen patrolling with Zimbabwean soldiers before and during Tuesday's ill-fated general strike called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Earlier, 10 Chinese soldiers armed with pistols checked in at the city's Holiday Inn along with 70 Zimbabwean troops.
One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "We've never seen Chinese soldiers in full regalia on our streets before. The entire delegation took 80 rooms from the hotel, 10 for the Chinese and 70 for Zimbabwean soldiers." More...
See also: The Coltan War
Earlier, 10 Chinese soldiers armed with pistols checked in at the city's Holiday Inn along with 70 Zimbabwean troops.
One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "We've never seen Chinese soldiers in full regalia on our streets before. The entire delegation took 80 rooms from the hotel, 10 for the Chinese and 70 for Zimbabwean soldiers." More...
See also: The Coltan War
Catherine Lim: Singapore materially rich, spiritually poor...
Singapore is materially rich but spiritually poor -- and the government is partly to blame, one of the city-state's most prominent authors says.
Catherine Lim, also a political commentator, is one of a very few to publicly criticise the government in Southeast Asia's most economically advanced society.
Lim said that while Singapore is consistently ranked high in various surveys on material measures, such as business friendliness and economic achievement, the standings are reversed when other factors are considered.
"Press freedom, happiness and even love life and romance and so on, Singapore is ranked very low," Lim said in an interview with AFP.
"Maybe it leads to some questions. Are we achieving all this material prosperity at the cost of something? Soul, spirit, heart, senses, whatever you want to call it?"
She said the government's tight political control is partly to blame for a lack of happiness among the city-state's 4.6 million people.
"If there were less of a climate of fear... we would be a happier society," she said.
Singapore is one of the most politically stable countries in the region and has become the base for thousands of foreign firms.
The country's leaders say its tough laws against dissent and other political activity are necessary to ensure such stability which has helped it achieve economic success.
It is illegal, for example, to hold a public gathering of five or more people in Singapore without a permit, meaning demonstrations seldom occur.
Singapore's leaders maintain that Western-style liberal democracy is not suitable for the tiny, multi-racial nation which has been ruled by the People's Action Party since 1959.
Lim said the government is doing much better than others in helping to deal with "material issues", including rising global food prices.
"This is a very pro-active government... a very pragmatic, problem-solving leadership," the Malaysian-born Lim, 66, said.
"The problem is in the other areas, political and social liberties that we don't hear much of here in Singapore."
Lim, who has lived in the city-state since 1967, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of a conference on The New Science of Happiness and Well-being, where she was invited to speak, and which ended Thursday.
Paris based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranked the city-state at 146 out of 168 nations, lower than Zimbabwe at 140, on a global index of press freedom released last year.
Singapore has also placed at the lower end in global surveys of sex frequency and satisfaction.
A recent poll by advertising firm Grey Group found that nine in 10 people living in Singapore said they were stressed.
Singaporeans are not "unhappy in the real sense of the word as in poverty-stricken countries", Lim said, but they seem to feel something is missing to complete their happiness.
"We need more time to relax. Singaporeans are always talking about pressure. We make money, but hey, we don't have the leisure to spend our money."
Lim has written more than nine collections of short stories, five novels and a book on poems. Her works have been published internationally.
Last year she also turned to the Internet, after the pro-government Straits Times refused to publish one of her commentaries, her website says.
The newspaper had, for 13 years, published her commentaries even though they were critical of the government, she wrote on the website.
But in September it rejected one on "the need for a political opening up", the website says. The Today daily also refused to publish it, forcing her to go online, she says on the website.
Direct criticism of the government is rare in Singapore's mainstream media, forcing dissatisfied Singaporeans to resort to the web to express their views.
Source: AFP
See also: Mas Selamat and Singapore bloggers...
And this: Grasshoppers and Grandmothers (1)
And this: Grasshoppers and Grandmothers (2)
JO: les chinois boudent la France...
Des centaines de Chinois, voire des milliers, ont défilé samedi à Wuhan (centre), notamment devant des magasins Carrefour, pour protester contre l'attitude de la France sur le Tibet et les jeux Olympiques, selon la police et des témoins.
Les manifestants se sont d'abord rassemblés devant un premier magasin pour appeler au boycott des produits de l'enseigne française, avant de se diriger vers d'autres quartiers, a-t-on ajouté de même source.
«Il y avait plusieurs centaines de manifestants, calmes, en majorité des jeunes, ils ne sont pas restés longtemps, ils brandissaient des drapeaux chinois», a raconté au téléphone un autre témoin.
Selon la police, ils étaient 300 au début puis le cortège s'est étoffé.
Une source informée, citant la police, a indiqué que le cortège vers midi (04H00 GMT) avait rassemblé jusqu'à 10.000 personnes, nombre que l'AFP n'a pu confirmer de manière indépendante. Suite...
Voir aussi: La Chine menace de boycotter les produits français...
Et ceci: La télé chinoise et la flamme olympique à Paris...
Les manifestants se sont d'abord rassemblés devant un premier magasin pour appeler au boycott des produits de l'enseigne française, avant de se diriger vers d'autres quartiers, a-t-on ajouté de même source.
«Il y avait plusieurs centaines de manifestants, calmes, en majorité des jeunes, ils ne sont pas restés longtemps, ils brandissaient des drapeaux chinois», a raconté au téléphone un autre témoin.
Selon la police, ils étaient 300 au début puis le cortège s'est étoffé.
Une source informée, citant la police, a indiqué que le cortège vers midi (04H00 GMT) avait rassemblé jusqu'à 10.000 personnes, nombre que l'AFP n'a pu confirmer de manière indépendante. Suite...
Voir aussi: La Chine menace de boycotter les produits français...
Et ceci: La télé chinoise et la flamme olympique à Paris...
Bakchich gagne contre le Goliath David Douillet!
Le jeudi 17 avril, le tribunal de grande instance de Nanterre a mis hors de cause notre site, dans le procès en diffamation que nous a intenté le judoka David Douillet. Celui-ci nous reprochait d’avoir écrit qu’il possédait un compte au Liechtenstein. Le judoka avait réclamé 110 000 euros de dommages et intérêts à « Bakchich ». Le tribunal l’a condamné à nous verser 1 000 euros… Une décision susceptible d’appel.
Dans un papier sur David Douillet, Michel Houellebecq et François-Marie Banier, « Touristes fiscaux au Liechtenstein », nous avions écrit, le 15 mars 2008, que le nom du célèbre sportif figurait sur les listings de comptes au Liechtenstein communiqués par les Allemands au ministère français de l’Économie et des Finances. Notre bonne foi, avons-nous plaidé le 10 avril face au tribunal de Nanterre, était réelle. Deux sources connues de longue date, l’une à la Direction générale des impôts et l’autre à Bercy, nous avaient en effet donné cette information. Depuis la publication de ce papier, une troisième source nous a d’ailleurs confirmé l’existence d’un tel compte. « Mais, a ajouté notre informateur, le dossier de Douillet est aujourd’hui prescrit », une hypothèse que nous avions prise en compte dans notre article du 15 mars. Suite...
Voir aussi: Olivier Martinez 1 vs Blogs français (Fuzz) 0
Et ceci: Les blogs dans la tourmente...
Dans un papier sur David Douillet, Michel Houellebecq et François-Marie Banier, « Touristes fiscaux au Liechtenstein », nous avions écrit, le 15 mars 2008, que le nom du célèbre sportif figurait sur les listings de comptes au Liechtenstein communiqués par les Allemands au ministère français de l’Économie et des Finances. Notre bonne foi, avons-nous plaidé le 10 avril face au tribunal de Nanterre, était réelle. Deux sources connues de longue date, l’une à la Direction générale des impôts et l’autre à Bercy, nous avaient en effet donné cette information. Depuis la publication de ce papier, une troisième source nous a d’ailleurs confirmé l’existence d’un tel compte. « Mais, a ajouté notre informateur, le dossier de Douillet est aujourd’hui prescrit », une hypothèse que nous avions prise en compte dans notre article du 15 mars. Suite...
Voir aussi: Olivier Martinez 1 vs Blogs français (Fuzz) 0
Et ceci: Les blogs dans la tourmente...
A town called Fucking!! Hilarious!
Are the residents called Fuckers?
What are the mothers called?
What would you be learning at the Fucking High School?
Does the Fucking Hospital help you with anything else?
If your friend came from this town, he would be known as your Fucking friend.
The village is known to have existed as “Fucking” since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the called Focko. “-ing” is an old Germanic suffix indicating the people of the root word to which it is attached; thus Fucking means “(place of) Focko’s people.” The village has a population of 93. More...
See also: Voronin: Britain a cultural backwater...
And this: The first person on the moon was ... Churchill!!!
What are the mothers called?
What would you be learning at the Fucking High School?
Does the Fucking Hospital help you with anything else?
If your friend came from this town, he would be known as your Fucking friend.
The village is known to have existed as “Fucking” since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the called Focko. “-ing” is an old Germanic suffix indicating the people of the root word to which it is attached; thus Fucking means “(place of) Focko’s people.” The village has a population of 93. More...
See also: Voronin: Britain a cultural backwater...
And this: The first person on the moon was ... Churchill!!!
Mosley scandal "has disgraced F1..."
Formula One driver Mark Webber has accused Max Mosley of bringing the sport into disrepute following allegations about his private life.
Mosley, the president of governing body the FIA, was accused by a newspaper of taking part in a "Nazi-style orgy". He denies his deeds had Nazi connotations.
Webber said: "The current scandal has brought the sport into disrepute.
"Whether we like it or not, all of us in F1 are role models, and F1 simply cannot have scandals of this type." More...
See also: Mosley:when the thin line between private and public is just a hidden camera...
And this: Max Mosley and the Nazi orgy...
Mosley, the president of governing body the FIA, was accused by a newspaper of taking part in a "Nazi-style orgy". He denies his deeds had Nazi connotations.
Webber said: "The current scandal has brought the sport into disrepute.
"Whether we like it or not, all of us in F1 are role models, and F1 simply cannot have scandals of this type." More...
See also: Mosley:when the thin line between private and public is just a hidden camera...
And this: Max Mosley and the Nazi orgy...
Friday, April 18, 2008
Tibet : cessons la désinformation contre-productive !
Après les charniers de Timisoara en 1989, après la justification de la guerre en Irak en 2003, les événements se déroulant à Lhassa, capitale du Tibet, depuis mars 2008 font l’objet de nombreuses désinformations provenant de tous les camps (pro et anti-chinois), quelques mois avant les jeux Olympiques de Pékin.
J’ai reçu hier par un email, qui était déjà cinq ou six fois transféré et dont la provenance est difficilement identifiable, une photographie qui est désormais célèbre et accompagnée de ces quelques mots (dont j’ai corrigé ici les fautes) :
« Ils sont encore pire que ce qu’on pensait. Et, pourtant, on a de l’imagination. Comme la Chine fait de la désinformation... Photo des militaires chinois s’apprêtant à revêtir des robes de bonzes... Photo prise le 20 mars par l’Agence de communication de Grande-Bretagne. Introduction : les moines de Lhassa ont dit qu’ils étaient enfermés et n’étaient pour rien dans les manifs. Certains le savaient depuis le 20 mars grâce à cette photo. La photo est passée par l’Italie et revient vers nous. Nous espérons qu’elle franchira toutes les frontières et sera vue dans le monde entier. Il faut faire vite ! » Suite...
Voir aussi: Le Dalaï Lama est ni ange ni dieu…
Et ceci: Tibet : éviter la dérive émotionnelle...
Et ceci: Tibet: Est-ce que les médias occidentaux sont en train de nous embobiner ?
J’ai reçu hier par un email, qui était déjà cinq ou six fois transféré et dont la provenance est difficilement identifiable, une photographie qui est désormais célèbre et accompagnée de ces quelques mots (dont j’ai corrigé ici les fautes) :
« Ils sont encore pire que ce qu’on pensait. Et, pourtant, on a de l’imagination. Comme la Chine fait de la désinformation... Photo des militaires chinois s’apprêtant à revêtir des robes de bonzes... Photo prise le 20 mars par l’Agence de communication de Grande-Bretagne. Introduction : les moines de Lhassa ont dit qu’ils étaient enfermés et n’étaient pour rien dans les manifs. Certains le savaient depuis le 20 mars grâce à cette photo. La photo est passée par l’Italie et revient vers nous. Nous espérons qu’elle franchira toutes les frontières et sera vue dans le monde entier. Il faut faire vite ! » Suite...
Voir aussi: Le Dalaï Lama est ni ange ni dieu…
Et ceci: Tibet : éviter la dérive émotionnelle...
Et ceci: Tibet: Est-ce que les médias occidentaux sont en train de nous embobiner ?
Soaring Food Prices Spark Unrest...
A list of countries facing civil unrest, and sometimes violent riots because of rising food prices:
Egypt – Two days of riots, resulting in one death, over escalating food prices.
Mexico – The rising price of tortillas has caused protests in the nation’s capital.
Haiti – At least five people have died in protests.
Bolivia – Ceased exporting soy oil to neighboring Chile in an effort to hoard its food.
Ivory Coast – Demonstrators were broken up with tear gas; one was killed.
Burkina Faso – 180 people were arrested after price protests turned violent.
Cameroon – Protests calling for government action in reducing food prices were violently repressed, killing 40.
Senegal – The prices of powdered milk and rice rose 50 percent and 30 percent respectively in a few months, leading to riots.
Mauritania – Protesters gather against high fuel and food costs.
Mozambique – Hundreds have demonstrated.
Yemen – The average family spends 25 percent of its money on bread.
Uzbekistan – Rioting due to the cost of rice.
Bangladesh – “Soaring food prices have become a serious threat for the survival of the present caretaker government. … There could now be serious discontent, violence and food riots due to the soaring food price spikes,” said one official.
Indonesia – With prices of staples rising more than 30 percent, one expert said, “I see nothing but social unrest.”
Philippines – Armed soldiers oversee the distribution of rice.
Full story...
See also: The food crisis in photos...
And this: Egypt:bread shortage kills ten people...
Are You Paying For Corporate Fat Cats?
As you file your tax return this week, you may think you’re paying off the tax obligations for just your household. But you’re also footing the bill for American companies that are dodging billions of dollars in taxes. “Most major corporations have a tax department not just to comply with the tax code but also as a profit center,” says Charles Cray of the Center for Corporate Policy, a nonprofit watchdog group.
A 2004 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that 61% of American corporations, including 39% of large companies, paid no corporate income taxes between 1996 and 2000. Last year, corporations shouldered just 14.4% of the total U.S. tax burden, compared with about 50% in 1940.
While companies are getting off easy, thanks to loopholes, ordinary wage earners are getting stuck with the tab. The tax burden on individuals is expected to climb from $1.16 trillion in 2007 to $1.21 trillion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), while corporate tax receipts are expected to decline from $370 billion to $364 billion. By 2013, the CBO estimates, ordinary taxpayers’ bills may climb to $1.86 trillion while corporate tax bills drop to $327 billion. More...
A 2004 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that 61% of American corporations, including 39% of large companies, paid no corporate income taxes between 1996 and 2000. Last year, corporations shouldered just 14.4% of the total U.S. tax burden, compared with about 50% in 1940.
While companies are getting off easy, thanks to loopholes, ordinary wage earners are getting stuck with the tab. The tax burden on individuals is expected to climb from $1.16 trillion in 2007 to $1.21 trillion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), while corporate tax receipts are expected to decline from $370 billion to $364 billion. By 2013, the CBO estimates, ordinary taxpayers’ bills may climb to $1.86 trillion while corporate tax bills drop to $327 billion. More...
Putin: Me remarry with Alina Kabaeva? It's all lies, lies,lies...
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denied media reports he was about to marry Russian Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva.
News media and Internet sites had reported that Putin had secretly divorced his wife, Lyudmila, and planned to marry the 24-year-old Olympic gymnast.
"In what you said, there is not one word of truth," Putin said when asked about the reports by a journalist at a news briefing with Italy's Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi.
Putin, 55, has cultivated a tough-guy, manly image during his eight years in the Kremlin, posing for photos aboard fighter jets, firing weapons, fighting black-belt judo and fishing bare-chested in the Siberian wilderness.
Source: www.iol.co.za
See also: Putin to remarry a younger woman?
News media and Internet sites had reported that Putin had secretly divorced his wife, Lyudmila, and planned to marry the 24-year-old Olympic gymnast.
"In what you said, there is not one word of truth," Putin said when asked about the reports by a journalist at a news briefing with Italy's Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi.
Putin, 55, has cultivated a tough-guy, manly image during his eight years in the Kremlin, posing for photos aboard fighter jets, firing weapons, fighting black-belt judo and fishing bare-chested in the Siberian wilderness.
Source: www.iol.co.za
See also: Putin to remarry a younger woman?
How to use a toilet in India!!!
If anyone has been to India, undoubtedly this is a question that we have all found ourselves asking. Luckily, while visiting a bar in Kovalum, Kerala, they had the decency to explain this for us layfolk. Now, I have been to India three times and this is still something of a mystery for me (note: I admittedly cruised around with a nice wad of toilet paper in my pocket or day pack). I hope that this happy little illustration can clarify the matter. Enjoy. (Also keep in mind that this is comparatively speaking a very nice bathroom compared to most that you encounter while backpacking around India…) More...
See also: From pissed up walls to pissed up mirrors!
And this: Crazy traffic in India!!!
Nigerian scam: Spanish police strike back...
Spanish police have arrested 87 Nigerians suspected of defrauding at least 1,500 people in a postal and internet lottery scam.
The arrests were made in and around Madrid in an operation co-ordinated with the FBI.
Police said millions of euros were taken from the victims, most of them in the United States and European Union.
Those targeted were wrongly told they had won a lottery and asked to send a payment before prize money could sent. More...
See also: The Great Del Taco Scam...
And this: Help the family? Nice try, dudes!
The arrests were made in and around Madrid in an operation co-ordinated with the FBI.
Police said millions of euros were taken from the victims, most of them in the United States and European Union.
Those targeted were wrongly told they had won a lottery and asked to send a payment before prize money could sent. More...
See also: The Great Del Taco Scam...
And this: Help the family? Nice try, dudes!
The Swiss love their cars...
Three out of four Swiss cannot live without their cars, despite having access to one of the world's best public transport networks.
However, the survey published on Thursday by the gfs.bern research institute also found that 80 per cent of the population realised cars had a negative impact on the environment – a nine per cent increase on a similar poll in 2005.
Two-thirds of those questioned said they could imagine buying a less-polluting car in future, and 88 per cent favoured financial incentives to encourage purchases of green vehicles.
A large majority said they thought the automobile industry was not doing enough to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The poll found that every second person sits behind the wheel of his or her car at least once a day and 60 per cent drive more than 100 kilometres a week. Both of these figures were down slightly compared to the 2005 survey.
Also on Thursday, a study was released with recommendations on how to reduce the chronic traffic jams around Zurich.
The document, commissioned by the bank, Zurich Kantonalbank, said the traffic problems were expected to increase as more jobs were created attracting more people to the region.
The cost to the local economy in time lost on roads would double from between SFr80 – SFr140 million ($79.5 million - $139 million) today to between SF$180 million and SFr300 million by 2025.
The study suggested that in order to ease the congestion the current road network would have to be expanded, and fees or a "road pricing" system introduced to make drivers think twice before taking their car to work.
Source: swissinfo.ch
See also: The world's latest financer of terrorism? Switzerland!!!
And this: Switzerland: nothing but cuckoo clocks?
However, the survey published on Thursday by the gfs.bern research institute also found that 80 per cent of the population realised cars had a negative impact on the environment – a nine per cent increase on a similar poll in 2005.
Two-thirds of those questioned said they could imagine buying a less-polluting car in future, and 88 per cent favoured financial incentives to encourage purchases of green vehicles.
A large majority said they thought the automobile industry was not doing enough to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The poll found that every second person sits behind the wheel of his or her car at least once a day and 60 per cent drive more than 100 kilometres a week. Both of these figures were down slightly compared to the 2005 survey.
Also on Thursday, a study was released with recommendations on how to reduce the chronic traffic jams around Zurich.
The document, commissioned by the bank, Zurich Kantonalbank, said the traffic problems were expected to increase as more jobs were created attracting more people to the region.
The cost to the local economy in time lost on roads would double from between SFr80 – SFr140 million ($79.5 million - $139 million) today to between SF$180 million and SFr300 million by 2025.
The study suggested that in order to ease the congestion the current road network would have to be expanded, and fees or a "road pricing" system introduced to make drivers think twice before taking their car to work.
Source: swissinfo.ch
See also: The world's latest financer of terrorism? Switzerland!!!
And this: Switzerland: nothing but cuckoo clocks?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Strange creature found in Russia...
This creature was found by Russian soldiers on Sakhalin shoreline. Sakhalin area is situated near to Japan, it’s the most eastern part of Russia, almost 5000 miles to East from Moscow (Russia is huge). People don’t know who is it. According to the bones and teeth - it is not a fish. According to its skeleton - it’s not a crocodile or alligator. It has a skin with hair or fur. It has been said that it was taken by Russian special services for in-depth studies, and we are lucky that people who encountered it first made those photos before it was brought away. Full story...
See also: Honey Badger, the most fearless animal in the world?
And this: Want to cuddle a tiger? You can ... at the Tiger Temple!
The Oprah Winfrey cult?
Oprah Winfrey may have gone too far in exploiting and distributing the teachings of a questionable New Age writer.
On Monday night, Winfrey conducted her weekly Web "event" seminar with New Age writer Eckhart Tolle. His message: "Life is the dancer and you are the dance."
Got that?
The seminar was No. 7 in a series of 10. On the first 90-minute Webcast with Tolle, Oprah extolled the author’s virtues, calling his best-selling "New Earth" book "one of the most important books of our time," the seminars one of "the most exciting things I’ve ever done." More...
See also: The Church of Oprah??? WTF!
Viroqua Middle School students do some interesting experiments...
Luke Kleiber’s project was the talk Wednesday of the annual Science and Math Expo at the La Crosse Center.
The 13-year-old Viroqua Middle School eighth-grader wanted to see whether Chinese water torture — steadily dripping water onto a person’s forehead — worked. He had seen a television
657 middle school students from 16 area schools and 107 volunteer judges participate in the 2008 Science and Math Expo 2008 Wednesday at the La Crosse Center.
He didn’t really want to torture anybody, Kleiber explained, and his four subjects knew they would not be tortured.
But what he found was their bodies responded as if they were being tortured, Kleiber said. More...
See also: Obama and students in a Bronx high school...
And this: Why are Finnish students smarter than the others?
The 13-year-old Viroqua Middle School eighth-grader wanted to see whether Chinese water torture — steadily dripping water onto a person’s forehead — worked. He had seen a television
657 middle school students from 16 area schools and 107 volunteer judges participate in the 2008 Science and Math Expo 2008 Wednesday at the La Crosse Center.
He didn’t really want to torture anybody, Kleiber explained, and his four subjects knew they would not be tortured.
But what he found was their bodies responded as if they were being tortured, Kleiber said. More...
See also: Obama and students in a Bronx high school...
And this: Why are Finnish students smarter than the others?
Comme Sarkozy, Vladimir Poutine va se remarier avec une jeune femme...
Divorcé depuis seulement deux mois, le président russe Vladimir Poutine serait sur le point de se remarier avec une jeune starlette de 31 ans sa cadette, apprend-on jeudi 17 avril.
La jeune femme, âgée de 25 ans, est bien connue en Russie: il s'agit d'Alina Kabaeva, une ancienne championne olympique de gymnastique rythmique et sportive.
Selon le quotidien Le Correspondant de Moscou, le mariage entre Vladimir Poutine et son égérie serait fixée au 15 juin. Les noces auraient lieu à Saint-Pétersbourg, la ville natale du président. Mais le Kremlin n'a pas confirmé l'information. Suite...
Voir aussi: F...ing for Medvedev!!!
"Love China" netizens send a message to the world...
Like Wang Jianshuo and Eric Hu, we were pretty surprised to see that this is what our MSN messenger looks like at the moment. Says Eric:
Over half of my Chinese-Chinese friends on MSN have put the badge on their contact names, in defiance of all the anti-China bullying that they’re undoubtedly reading about in the Chinese newspapers, watching on the Chinese news, and scouring over on the hundreds of blogs and BBS’s peppering China’s cyberscape and devoted to propping up this country’s national pride. Does anyone actually think a battle this mindless and solipsistic is going to have a clear winner, or even less likely, a clear compromise? More...
See also: Free Tibet? Fine, but how much do you know about Tibet, or Chinese history?
And this: China and Tibet: let's stop the hypocrisy now...
Over half of my Chinese-Chinese friends on MSN have put the badge on their contact names, in defiance of all the anti-China bullying that they’re undoubtedly reading about in the Chinese newspapers, watching on the Chinese news, and scouring over on the hundreds of blogs and BBS’s peppering China’s cyberscape and devoted to propping up this country’s national pride. Does anyone actually think a battle this mindless and solipsistic is going to have a clear winner, or even less likely, a clear compromise? More...
See also: Free Tibet? Fine, but how much do you know about Tibet, or Chinese history?
And this: China and Tibet: let's stop the hypocrisy now...
The world's most expensive apartment rents...
Hong Kong has the world's priciest apartment rents, with the lease for a three-bedroom unit costing more than 9,700 US dollars on average a month, a survey released Wednesday said.
Singapore, which positions itself as a Southeast Asian business hub, saw Asia's biggest year-on-year rental increase of more than 30 percent last year, the survey by human resources firm ECA International showed.
The survey covered 2007 and is based on lease prices for a three-bedroom apartment in popular expatriate areas, ECA International said.
Asian cities, led by Hong Kong, accounted for six out of the top 10 locations that have the world's most expensive rentals for three-bedroom apartments, it said.
Other Asian cities in the top 10 global list are Mumbai which ranked sixth, Seoul seventh, Singapore ninth, and Ho Chi Minh City 10th. More...
See also: New Delhi to become "world-class city".
And this: Face-lift a city, and the poor get screwed...
Singapore, which positions itself as a Southeast Asian business hub, saw Asia's biggest year-on-year rental increase of more than 30 percent last year, the survey by human resources firm ECA International showed.
The survey covered 2007 and is based on lease prices for a three-bedroom apartment in popular expatriate areas, ECA International said.
Asian cities, led by Hong Kong, accounted for six out of the top 10 locations that have the world's most expensive rentals for three-bedroom apartments, it said.
Other Asian cities in the top 10 global list are Mumbai which ranked sixth, Seoul seventh, Singapore ninth, and Ho Chi Minh City 10th. More...
See also: New Delhi to become "world-class city".
And this: Face-lift a city, and the poor get screwed...
I'm a bitter man, and here's why...
I am a bitter man. I admit it. I'm neither proud or happy about it. But it's not my fault, either.
Eight years ago I was annoyed, but I wasn't bitter. Being annoyed with government is the natural state of the governed. It's the catalyst that keeps politicians paranoid about what we're up to out here while they, hopefully, try to do enough things right to get our vote next time around, even if resentfully.
But bitter is a different kind of catalyst. It's the emotion that freed these former colonies from Britain. It's the emotion that motivated American blacks to come together in the 1960s and demand an end to segregation, once and for all. At the turn of the century in Russia bitterness caused the Russian people to put an end to careless, self-indulgent, wasteful monarchy. Before that, in France, bitterness among the peasantry caused a whole lot folks to loose their heads -- literally.
More...
See also: The Real Meaning of 4,000 Dead
And this: The Iraq Quagmire:will it ever end?
Eight years ago I was annoyed, but I wasn't bitter. Being annoyed with government is the natural state of the governed. It's the catalyst that keeps politicians paranoid about what we're up to out here while they, hopefully, try to do enough things right to get our vote next time around, even if resentfully.
But bitter is a different kind of catalyst. It's the emotion that freed these former colonies from Britain. It's the emotion that motivated American blacks to come together in the 1960s and demand an end to segregation, once and for all. At the turn of the century in Russia bitterness caused the Russian people to put an end to careless, self-indulgent, wasteful monarchy. Before that, in France, bitterness among the peasantry caused a whole lot folks to loose their heads -- literally.
More...
See also: The Real Meaning of 4,000 Dead
And this: The Iraq Quagmire:will it ever end?
Free Tibet? Hell, let's free America first...
Iknow I know I know — we don't exactly have huge platoons of nasty jackbooted soldiers storming through the streets in riot gear and gas masks and large sticks bashing down on the shiny heads of peaceful monks.
We don't exactly have smashed and burning vehicles and dead bodies in the streets and vicious martial law, ethnic cleansings and curfews and media lockouts and blocked Internet access and all sorts of nefarious, disturbing reports of brutality and beatings and death. Well, except for parts of Oakland. And L.A. And Chicago. But never mind that now.
Overall, even under the deformed and wretched Bush regime and despite how much Dick Cheney's dead raisin of a heart leaps with excitement when he sees the videos of those bloodied and dead Tibetan protesters ("Damn hippies had it coming"), America is still far from the brutality and inhumanity happening right now in Lhasa and beyond. More...
See also: Hello America, this is Britain...
And this: U.S.Soldiers having "fun" ....
We don't exactly have smashed and burning vehicles and dead bodies in the streets and vicious martial law, ethnic cleansings and curfews and media lockouts and blocked Internet access and all sorts of nefarious, disturbing reports of brutality and beatings and death. Well, except for parts of Oakland. And L.A. And Chicago. But never mind that now.
Overall, even under the deformed and wretched Bush regime and despite how much Dick Cheney's dead raisin of a heart leaps with excitement when he sees the videos of those bloodied and dead Tibetan protesters ("Damn hippies had it coming"), America is still far from the brutality and inhumanity happening right now in Lhasa and beyond. More...
See also: Hello America, this is Britain...
And this: U.S.Soldiers having "fun" ....
A Map of Global Happiness and Well-Being?
This world map on happiness was distributed through a Globe and Mail article by Sheryl Ubelacker (28/07/06). It is an interesting perspective, but primarily focused on the social side of well being. It provides a strong visualization but lacks the substance to become a strategic or policy significant map. This map was prepared by Adrian White, University of Leicester. More...
See also: The Quality of Life Index 2008
TF1 attaque YouTube...
Quatre mois après Dailymotion c'est au tour de YouTube, filiale du moteur de recherche Google, d'être attaqué en justice par la chaîne de télévision TF1. " Nous avons reçu cette plainte il y a quelques jours en Californie mais le jugement aura lieu devant le tribunal de grande instance de Paris ", confirme un porte-parole de YouTube interrogé par "Les Echos ".
TF1 avait annoncé en décembre dernier vouloir saisir la justice pour contrefaçon, concurrence déloyale et parasitisme envers YouTube et Dailymotion. Les deux sites proposent des vidéos diffusées par des chaînes de télévision sans accord préalable avec les ayants-droits. Les deux plaintes sont désormais déposées. TF1 demande 39,7 millions d'euros de dommages et intérêts à Dailymotion dans une plainte au tribunal de commerce de Paris reçue le 17 décembre dernier.
Dans le cas de YouTube, le montant des dommages demandés par la Une s'élève à 100 millions d'euros, soit dix fois plus que le chiffre d'affaires 2006 de la filiale de Google qui atteignait 10,6 millions de dollars.
Contacté le groupe TF1 n'a pas souhaité faire de commentaires. " La procédure a pris beaucoup plus de temps que prévu car il a fallu adresser la plainte directement aux Etats-Unis ", indique un proche du dossier.
YouTube doit déjà faire face à une plainte du groupe de médias Viacom. La société américaine propriétaire notamment des studios Paramout et des chaînes MTV, reproche au site d'avoir diffusé illégalement près de 160.000 clips, visionnés 1,5 milliard de fois. Le groupe demande 1 milliard de dollars de dommages et intérêts devant le tribunal du district sud de New-York. Mais Viacom a été débouté par le juge Louis L. Stanton d'une partie de sa demande le 7 mars dernier concernant les " dommages punitifs ".
Source: Les echos.fr
Voir aussi: Qui a peur de YouTube?
TF1 avait annoncé en décembre dernier vouloir saisir la justice pour contrefaçon, concurrence déloyale et parasitisme envers YouTube et Dailymotion. Les deux sites proposent des vidéos diffusées par des chaînes de télévision sans accord préalable avec les ayants-droits. Les deux plaintes sont désormais déposées. TF1 demande 39,7 millions d'euros de dommages et intérêts à Dailymotion dans une plainte au tribunal de commerce de Paris reçue le 17 décembre dernier.
Dans le cas de YouTube, le montant des dommages demandés par la Une s'élève à 100 millions d'euros, soit dix fois plus que le chiffre d'affaires 2006 de la filiale de Google qui atteignait 10,6 millions de dollars.
Contacté le groupe TF1 n'a pas souhaité faire de commentaires. " La procédure a pris beaucoup plus de temps que prévu car il a fallu adresser la plainte directement aux Etats-Unis ", indique un proche du dossier.
YouTube doit déjà faire face à une plainte du groupe de médias Viacom. La société américaine propriétaire notamment des studios Paramout et des chaînes MTV, reproche au site d'avoir diffusé illégalement près de 160.000 clips, visionnés 1,5 milliard de fois. Le groupe demande 1 milliard de dollars de dommages et intérêts devant le tribunal du district sud de New-York. Mais Viacom a été débouté par le juge Louis L. Stanton d'une partie de sa demande le 7 mars dernier concernant les " dommages punitifs ".
Source: Les echos.fr
Voir aussi: Qui a peur de YouTube?
L'Apocalypse 2012: faut-il avoir peur?
Depuis des millénaires, l’homme spécule avec plus ou moins de fantaisie sur la date probable de l’extinction de son espèce. Mais, en ce qui concerne 2012, les croyances et la science convergent singulièrement. De l’avis de tous, 2012 sera une année charnière, qu’elle sonne le glas de notre civilisation, qu’elle marque l’avènement d’une ère nouvelle ou qu’elle génère des troubles sans précédent.
Poverty and baby brides: this is terribly sad.
In northern Afghanistan it appears some parents are being driven by poverty and hunger to marry off their daughters at an early age. Jenny Cuffe investigates for Radio 4's Seven Days.
In Wandian's market place, farmers complain they have little to sell
Farida (not her real name) was paid 40,000 Afghani (£400) last summer for marrying her 13-year-old daughter to her father's 20-year-old cousin.
The child, her freckled face half hidden behind a blue veil, says she does not like her husband, and begins to cry.
"I didn't want to marry, it was my parents' decision," she said. "I dreamed I would be able to finish my education. I had no choice."
Asked why she is making her daughter unhappy, Farida replies simply: "It is her life, it is her fate." More...
See also: She is 8 ... and she wants a divorce! A very brave girl!
And this: I'm 14, a virgin and I'm for sale: do you want to buy me?
YouTube fame at any price?
Peoria police said two teens are lucky to be alive after a would-be YouTube stunt went wrong on Saturday.
The teens were attempting to get their 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse airborne while driving through the intersection at 91st Avenue and Beardsley Road.
"It was all being done as a stunt for YouTube," said Peoria Police Public Information Officer Mike Tellef. "He was hoping that they would be able to get the video of his car going airborne through the intersection and then his intentions were to post that video on YouTube."
Authorities said the car did go airborne, but the 16-year-old driver lost control of his car, drove off the road and hit several trees before rolling the vehicle.
The driver was ejected and is in critical condition.
His 17-year-old female passenger was pulled from the car by friends who witnessed the incident. She was treated at a hospital and released.
Police said the driver's friends were too scared to record the video with their cell phone camera due to high speeds, estimated at 70 to 85 miles-per-hour.
Tellef said following the YouTube beating of a Florida girl and the YouTube video of a Prescott Valley girl hit with a chair by a classmate, parents need to talk to their children about the website.
"They think these stunts are cute and funny and everything else, but they have very, very tragic consequences," he said.
The incident remains under investigation.
Source:KTar.com
China and Tibet: let's stop the hypocrisy now...
We hear that Tibetans suffer “demographic aggression” and “cultural genocide”. But we do not hear those terms applied to Spanish and French policies toward the Basque minority. We do not hear those terms applied to the US annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1898. And Diego Garcia? In 1973, not so long ago, the UK forcibly deported the entire native Chagossian population from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. People were allowed one suitcase of clothing. Nothing else. Family pets were gassed, then cremated. Complete ethnic cleansing. Complete cultural destruction. Why? In order to build a big US air base. It has been used to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq, and soon maybe to bomb Iran and Pakistan. Diego Garcia, with nobody there but Brits and Americans, is also a perfect place for rendition, torture and other illegal actions.
When the Olympics come to London in 2012, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu will certainly lead the demonstrators protesting the “demographic aggression” and “cultural genocide” in Diego Garcia. The UN Secretary General, the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the new US President and the entire US Congress will certainly boycott the opening ceremonies.
The height of hypocrisy is this moral posturing about 100 dead in race riots in Lhasa, while the USA, UK and more than 40 nations in the Coalition of the Willing wage a war of aggression against Iraq. This is not “demographic aggression” but raw shock-and-awe aggression. A war crime. A war on civilians, including the intentional destruction of the water and sewage systems, and the electrical grid. More than one million Iraqis are now dead; five million made into refugees. The Western invaders may not be doing “cultural genocide” but they are doing cultural destruction on an immense scale, in the very cradle of Western Civilization. Why is the news filled with demonstrators about Tibet but not about Iraq? More...
See also: Free Tibet? Or free Nepal?
And this: Tibet: let's stop all this China-bashing...
And this: Olympics: free Saudi Arabia!!!!
When the Olympics come to London in 2012, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu will certainly lead the demonstrators protesting the “demographic aggression” and “cultural genocide” in Diego Garcia. The UN Secretary General, the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the new US President and the entire US Congress will certainly boycott the opening ceremonies.
The height of hypocrisy is this moral posturing about 100 dead in race riots in Lhasa, while the USA, UK and more than 40 nations in the Coalition of the Willing wage a war of aggression against Iraq. This is not “demographic aggression” but raw shock-and-awe aggression. A war crime. A war on civilians, including the intentional destruction of the water and sewage systems, and the electrical grid. More than one million Iraqis are now dead; five million made into refugees. The Western invaders may not be doing “cultural genocide” but they are doing cultural destruction on an immense scale, in the very cradle of Western Civilization. Why is the news filled with demonstrators about Tibet but not about Iraq? More...
See also: Free Tibet? Or free Nepal?
And this: Tibet: let's stop all this China-bashing...
And this: Olympics: free Saudi Arabia!!!!
Black and White twins!!!
Des jumeaux noir et blanc!!!
A mixed-race British mom, Kylie Hodgson, gave birth in 2005 to twins, one of each. No, not a boy and a girl. Two girls — one black, the other white. The odds of such a birth are about a million to one, experts said. Although occurrences of this nature sometimes occur when a woman conceives twins fathered by two different men, this was a much rarer case in which a single pairing produced twins with distinctly different physical attributes (e.g., skin tone, hair color, eye color) rather than a blending of their parents' characteristics. More...
French TV to sue YouTube for 100,000,000 Euros...
France's largest commercial broadcaster, TF1, has filed a lawsuit against the video-sharing site YouTube and is seeking damages of 100 million euros ($158.3 million), the website of French business daily Les Echos said on Wednesday.
A YouTube spokesman quoted by the newspaper said the suit had been received a few days ago in California but would be judged in Paris.
A TF1 spokesman declined to comment on the report.
YouTube, acquired by Internet giant Google in 2006, is facing a $1 billion copyright infringement suit from entertainment group Viacom that accuses it of profiting from clips from Viacom shows illegally uploaded by YouTube users.
Source: Reuters
See also: YouTube, a force to be reckoned with?
A YouTube spokesman quoted by the newspaper said the suit had been received a few days ago in California but would be judged in Paris.
A TF1 spokesman declined to comment on the report.
YouTube, acquired by Internet giant Google in 2006, is facing a $1 billion copyright infringement suit from entertainment group Viacom that accuses it of profiting from clips from Viacom shows illegally uploaded by YouTube users.
Source: Reuters
See also: YouTube, a force to be reckoned with?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Britain's Got Talent and Donald Bell-Gam! Hilarious!
Le jeune britannique Donald Bell-Gam! Mort de rire!
Putin to remarry a younger woman?
He apparently divorced his wife and plans to marry the 25-year-old Alina Kabaeva.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy seems to have started a trend among heads of state around the world. After he divorced his wife of 11 years and married a younger model, now Russian president Vladimir Putin seems set to make a similar move. Russian press speculates that he already divorced his wife Liudmila Putina some two months ago and now the plan is set for a June wedding with former gymnast and current member of the State Duma, Alina Kabaeva. More...
See also: F...ing for Medvedev!!!
And this: Russia and its leaders...
La Chine menace de boycotter les produits français...
«SI L'ON AJOUTE le soutien des Français aux séparatistes tibétains durant le passage de la flamme olympique à Paris, il n'y a vraiment aucune raison de donner de l'argent aux Français en achetant leurs marchandises. » Voilà ce qu'on peut lire sur un appel au boycott mis en ligne sur le portail Internet Chinaren.
La réponse au fiasco du parcours de la flamme ne s'est pas fait attendre longtemps.
Une semaine après la traversée parisienne chaotique de la torche olympique, les réactions nationalistes chinoises se sont multipliées sur les grands portails chinois ; des pétitions circulent sur les boîtes mail, via les messageries instantanées et via les SMS.
Sur les forums de discussion, l'enseigne Carrefour, success-story française en Chine avec son logo bleu, blanc, rouge, est nommément citée. Les internautes l'accusent, ainsi que d'autres marques faisant partie du groupe LVMH, de soutenir financièrement le dalaï-lama. Un site Internet baptisé Anti-jialefu.Cn, nom local de Carrefour, appelle les Chinois à cesser de pousser leurs chariots dans l'hyper à partir du 1er mai.
Interrogé sur l'appel au boycott de Carrefour, le gouvernement chinois a dit croire à des réactions populaires spontanées. « Je crois que certains citoyens chinois ont exprimé récemment leurs opinions et leurs émotions personnelles », a ainsi déclaré Jiang Yu, porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères, lors d'une conférence de presse. « Nous espérons que la partie française est en mesure d'écouter les voix du peuple chinois en ce qui concerne les problèmes récents et d'adopter une position objective », a-t-il néanmoins poursuivi.
Les vins et fromages français seront-ils bannis de Chine ? L'ambassade et les missions économiques françaises sont, en tout cas, très mobilisées dans l'empire du Milieu. Un Français installé à Shanghai a indiqué que le consulat de cette ville interrogeait consciencieusement ses nationaux sur l'impact de ce potentiel boycott pour l'instant peu sensible. Une source qui veut conserver l'anonymat a rapporté qu'une entreprise française avait reçu des menaces sérieuses d'attentats contre son site de production à Pékin.
Source: leParisian.fr
Voir aussi: La télé chinoise et la flamme olympique à Paris...
Et ceci: Presse chinoise: "La police Française est incompétente !"
La réponse au fiasco du parcours de la flamme ne s'est pas fait attendre longtemps.
Une semaine après la traversée parisienne chaotique de la torche olympique, les réactions nationalistes chinoises se sont multipliées sur les grands portails chinois ; des pétitions circulent sur les boîtes mail, via les messageries instantanées et via les SMS.
Sur les forums de discussion, l'enseigne Carrefour, success-story française en Chine avec son logo bleu, blanc, rouge, est nommément citée. Les internautes l'accusent, ainsi que d'autres marques faisant partie du groupe LVMH, de soutenir financièrement le dalaï-lama. Un site Internet baptisé Anti-jialefu.Cn, nom local de Carrefour, appelle les Chinois à cesser de pousser leurs chariots dans l'hyper à partir du 1er mai.
Interrogé sur l'appel au boycott de Carrefour, le gouvernement chinois a dit croire à des réactions populaires spontanées. « Je crois que certains citoyens chinois ont exprimé récemment leurs opinions et leurs émotions personnelles », a ainsi déclaré Jiang Yu, porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères, lors d'une conférence de presse. « Nous espérons que la partie française est en mesure d'écouter les voix du peuple chinois en ce qui concerne les problèmes récents et d'adopter une position objective », a-t-il néanmoins poursuivi.
Les vins et fromages français seront-ils bannis de Chine ? L'ambassade et les missions économiques françaises sont, en tout cas, très mobilisées dans l'empire du Milieu. Un Français installé à Shanghai a indiqué que le consulat de cette ville interrogeait consciencieusement ses nationaux sur l'impact de ce potentiel boycott pour l'instant peu sensible. Une source qui veut conserver l'anonymat a rapporté qu'une entreprise française avait reçu des menaces sérieuses d'attentats contre son site de production à Pékin.
Source: leParisian.fr
Voir aussi: La télé chinoise et la flamme olympique à Paris...
Et ceci: Presse chinoise: "La police Française est incompétente !"
Olympics: free Saudi Arabia!!!!
Saudi Arabia follows a strict version of Islam that bans men and women from mingling and does not allow women to drive or travel without a male guardian's permission. Powerful religious clerics also ban sports for girls in public schools, deeming it un-Islamic, and recently canceled two rare all-women's events, a soccer match and a marathon. Gyms for women were closed in the early 1990s and have been allowed to reopen, but only when affiliated with hospitals.
Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries competing in the Olympics without a female delegation. Though the kingdom has come under increasing pressure from the International Olympic Committee to include women on its team, many in this deeply patriarchal and traditional society agree with the restrictions, believing that allowing female athletes could lead to Western-style independence for women and an erosion of established culture. Full story...
See also: Saudi father kills Facebook daughter...
And this: Afghanstar, the Afghan version of American Idol!!
And this: As always, women are the pariahs of religion...
Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries competing in the Olympics without a female delegation. Though the kingdom has come under increasing pressure from the International Olympic Committee to include women on its team, many in this deeply patriarchal and traditional society agree with the restrictions, believing that allowing female athletes could lead to Western-style independence for women and an erosion of established culture. Full story...
See also: Saudi father kills Facebook daughter...
And this: Afghanstar, the Afghan version of American Idol!!
And this: As always, women are the pariahs of religion...
Free Tibet? Or free Nepal?
Stephen Hadley, Bush’s National Security Advisor, in an interview on ABC television, keeps saying « Nepal » instead of « Tibet ». And this, I think, is the crux of a very interesting problem. How many of those now protesting against China and calling for a “free Tibet” can locate the roof of the world on a map? Or, for that matter, how many really know anything about Tibet or China? And what kind of confidence can we have in politicians when a top security officer to the most powerful country in the world keeps confusing Tibet with Nepal?
See also: 56% of this audience in the French version of Who wants to be a millionaire...
See also: 56% of this audience in the French version of Who wants to be a millionaire...
Dede Koswara, the Tree-Man, can use his hands again!!
L'homme-arbre, Dede Koswara, a retrouvé l'utilité de ses mains!!!
The "Tree Man of Java" is now able to send text messages and eat from his hands after operations to remove the bark-like tissue sprouting from his limbs.
The images, taken in an Indonesian hospital, show him using a mobile phone and eating and drinking unaided. Around 4lbs of warty horns have been removed from his limbs, allowing him to use his hands and walk without pain for the first time in 20 years.
Dede, 37, now hopes to find a bride after two more operations to graft undamaged skin onto his hands, feet and face. Story and pictures...
See also:The Tree-Man of Java, Dede Koswara, is getting better...
I'm 14, a virgin and I'm for sale: do you want to buy me?
Thirty miles west of the Taj Mahal, on the road to the pink city of Jaipur, tourists on buses pass a sight that the guide books rarely mention.
A mile beyond the town of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, where the highway is being widened to four lanes, traffic slows down for roadworks. But the workmen who lounge by their bulldozers have their eyes on something else - a cluster of makeshift shelters where girls, several under 18 and at least two younger than 15, can be seen strolling or sitting, in view of the dusty carriageway.
Tonight, one girl in particular is attracting attention as she sits on a stool by a fire so that she can be seen by passing vehicles. Her heavily made-up, striking face and beautiful pink sari make her look as if she were on her way to a party. But the truth is different. Suli, 14, is a virgin and a bidding war is being held for the right to be the first to sleep with her.
The collection of shelters where she lives houses 59 families, all members of the Bedia tribe, which has a long tradition of caste-based prostitution. Girls born here become prostitutes in a rite of passage into "adulthood" as routine as marriage is to the rest of Indian society. More...
See also: What the f... marriages...
Want to cuddle a tiger? You can ... at the Tiger Temple!
Vous aimeriez faire des calins aux tigres? C'est posssible, au Temple des Tigres! Cliquez ici...
When petting a tiger, you wouldn’t get out in one piece. Luckily, there’s one place where you can do just that without getting harmed. Thailand’s Tiger Temple is the place where you can meet some friendly tigers, shake hands, pet them or rub their bellies. 2 hours drive from Bangkok in the Kanchanaburi province, the Tiger Temple has been taking care of tigers singe 1999. Monks are taken care of the animals rescued from poachers, having around 17 fully grown tigers and cubs housed within the temple grounds. Click here...
See also:
Il brûle son chien! Quel cinglé!
Un homme de 28 ans a été condamné mardi à quatre mois de prison avec sursis et mise à l'épreuve pendant deux ans par le tribunal correctionnel de Mulhouse pour avoir incendié vivant l'un de ses chiens. Le prévenu, absent à l'audience, a en outre été condamné à une interdiction définitive de détenir un animal, et son chien a été confié à la SPA.
Poursuivi pour "sévices graves ou actes de cruauté envers un animal domestique", l'homme est soupçonné d'avoir attaché à un poteau et volontairement aspergé d'essence puis enflammé un berger croisé à poil long, le 17 février dernier à Mulhouse, à proximité d'un canal. Il était également soupçonné par les enquêteurs d'avoir tué deux autres de ses chiens mais ces charges n'ont pas été retenues par la justice.
"Effarant"
"Les faits sont abjects et insupportables. La veille, il a demandé deux fois à la SPA d'euthanasier le chien" qui a été "attaché à un poteau et brûlé", s'est indignée la représentante du ministère public, Perside Dianzinga. Interpellé quelques jours plus tard, il avait nié les faits lors de sa garde à vue. "Il est effarant que l'on puisse mettre le feu à un animal vivant", s'est indigné le représentant de la SPA nationale, Me David Patry, tandis que pour Me Bernard Burner, conseil de la SPA de Mulhouse, "la lâcheté côtoie l'ignoble" dans ce dossier. "Il n'y a pas d'aveux mais de fortes présomptions", a souligné Me Xavier Bacquet, l'avocat de la Fondation 30 millions d'amis qui a obtenu satisfaction en réclamant "l'interdiction définitive de détenir un animal".
Le ministère public avait requis mardi matin une peine de trois mois de prison ferme ainsi qu'une interdiction définitive de détenir un chien contre cet homme qui réside dans un foyer à Mulhouse. Les SPA de Mulhouse et Paris ont chacune reçu 400 euros de dommages et intérêts.
Source:LCI.fr
Poursuivi pour "sévices graves ou actes de cruauté envers un animal domestique", l'homme est soupçonné d'avoir attaché à un poteau et volontairement aspergé d'essence puis enflammé un berger croisé à poil long, le 17 février dernier à Mulhouse, à proximité d'un canal. Il était également soupçonné par les enquêteurs d'avoir tué deux autres de ses chiens mais ces charges n'ont pas été retenues par la justice.
"Effarant"
"Les faits sont abjects et insupportables. La veille, il a demandé deux fois à la SPA d'euthanasier le chien" qui a été "attaché à un poteau et brûlé", s'est indignée la représentante du ministère public, Perside Dianzinga. Interpellé quelques jours plus tard, il avait nié les faits lors de sa garde à vue. "Il est effarant que l'on puisse mettre le feu à un animal vivant", s'est indigné le représentant de la SPA nationale, Me David Patry, tandis que pour Me Bernard Burner, conseil de la SPA de Mulhouse, "la lâcheté côtoie l'ignoble" dans ce dossier. "Il n'y a pas d'aveux mais de fortes présomptions", a souligné Me Xavier Bacquet, l'avocat de la Fondation 30 millions d'amis qui a obtenu satisfaction en réclamant "l'interdiction définitive de détenir un animal".
Le ministère public avait requis mardi matin une peine de trois mois de prison ferme ainsi qu'une interdiction définitive de détenir un chien contre cet homme qui réside dans un foyer à Mulhouse. Les SPA de Mulhouse et Paris ont chacune reçu 400 euros de dommages et intérêts.
Source:LCI.fr
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
No love lost between Bardot and Muslims...
French prosecutors Tuesday called for a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine of 15,000 euros ($22,500) against Brigitte Bardot for inciting racial hatred toward the Muslim community.
The Paris court heard that the actress-turned-animal rights campaigner had written a letter in December 2006 to President Nicolas Sarkozy, then interior minister, in protest of the method of slaying sheep during the Muslim festival of Aid El-Kebir. Bardot called for the sheep to be stunned before they are bled to death, which is the traditional method.
More problematic was what Bardot followed that up with.
"We're fed up with being led around by this whole population which is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts," she wrote.
The letter was published in a magazine and distributed to supporters of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. Several anti-racism groups in France filed complaints about the letter, accusing Bardot of provoking discrimination and racial hatred toward Muslims.
Prosecutor Anne de Fontette said she was "a bit tired" of pursuing the former starlet for the same offense. Bardot has been convicted of similar offenses on four previous occasions since 1997 and fined $2,250-$7,500.
The court will deliver its verdict June 3.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Le "hit-parade" des exécutions en 2007...
"Au cours de 2007, au moins 1252 personnes ont été exécutées dans 24 pays. Au moins 3347 personnes ont été condamnées à mort dans 51 pays. Ces chiffres ne sont que des minima; les chiffres réels sont certainement supérieurs", a indiqué l'organisation dans un communiqué. Entre 18'311 et 27'562 personnes dans le monde attendraient leur exécution, a-t-elle indiqué.
En 2006, au moins 1591 personnes avaient été exécutées dans 25 pays. De plus, au moins 3861 avaient été condamnées à mort dans 55 pays. Mais selon Amnesty, la véritable étendue de l'utilisation de la peine capitale dans le monde reste inconnue car dans de nombreux pays, les exécutions se font sous le sceau du secret. Suite...
Et les champions d'Europe de l'Internet sont...
L'Islande et les pays scandinaves sont de loin les pays d'Europe où l'utilisation de l'internet est la plus répandue au sein de la population, selon une étude publiée lundi par l'institut GfK à Vienne. L'Islande compte 88% d'internautes, suivie par la Finlande (81%), la Norvège (76%), le Danemark (76%) et la Suède (73%), selon cette enquête menée par téléphone auprès d'habitants âgés d'au moins 14 ans.
Parmi les pays d'Europe occidentale, Malte vient en queue de peloton avec 25% d'internautes, précédée de l'Espagne (35%), du Portugal (43%) et de l'Irlande (45%). La lanterne rouge en Europe revient à l'Albanie, qui ne compte que 1% d'internautes.
L'Autriche (67%), la Grande-Bretagne (63%), l'Allemagne (61%), la France (56%) et l'Italie (53%) se situent dans le milieu du tableau, lequel établit qu'à l'exception de la Slovénie (61%) et de l'Estonie (60%), moins d'une personne sur deux utilise la Toile dans les pays de l'ex-bloc soviétique.
Source: L'expansion.com
Voir aussi: Internet : ces inégalités qui dérangent
Et ici: Les lycéens français se servent des blogs pour attaquer l'Etat...
Parmi les pays d'Europe occidentale, Malte vient en queue de peloton avec 25% d'internautes, précédée de l'Espagne (35%), du Portugal (43%) et de l'Irlande (45%). La lanterne rouge en Europe revient à l'Albanie, qui ne compte que 1% d'internautes.
L'Autriche (67%), la Grande-Bretagne (63%), l'Allemagne (61%), la France (56%) et l'Italie (53%) se situent dans le milieu du tableau, lequel établit qu'à l'exception de la Slovénie (61%) et de l'Estonie (60%), moins d'une personne sur deux utilise la Toile dans les pays de l'ex-bloc soviétique.
Source: L'expansion.com
Voir aussi: Internet : ces inégalités qui dérangent
Et ici: Les lycéens français se servent des blogs pour attaquer l'Etat...
Unfaithful husband? No problems, just cut off his dick!!
A housewife cut off her husband's penis while he was sleeping in their house in the Philippine capital to ensure his fidelity, a police officer said. Police officer Rolly Lipata said 37-year-old Lenly Bayabado had long suspected that her younger husband was having illicit affairs, prompting her to cut off his organ while he was asleep.
Lipata said neighbors rushed the screaming victim, 32-year-old Joelito, to a nearby hospital in the Manila suburban city of Pasig, after the attack.
Bayabado underwent several hours of operation so his organ can be re-attached, but hospital sources said there was no assurance he would still be able perform sexually.
Source: The China Post
See also: China's penis restaurant!!
Lipata said neighbors rushed the screaming victim, 32-year-old Joelito, to a nearby hospital in the Manila suburban city of Pasig, after the attack.
Bayabado underwent several hours of operation so his organ can be re-attached, but hospital sources said there was no assurance he would still be able perform sexually.
Source: The China Post
See also: China's penis restaurant!!
"Ashamed" Pope vows no more pedophile priests...
Pope Benedict said on Tuesday he was "deeply ashamed" over sexual abuse by clergy in the United States and vowed to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood, as he began his first U.S. trip as pontiff.
His comments directly addressed one of the toughest issues facing him on the first visit to the United States by a pope since a wave of sex abuse scandals began in 2002 and forced the country's Roman Catholic dioceses to pay more than $2 billion in settlements.
Polls say three-quarters of U.S. Catholics have a favorable impression of the German-born pontiff, but just as many say they disapprove of the defensive way the Church initially responded.
"We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry," he told reporters on his flight to Washington. More...
See also: St.Peter not first pope? Never went to Rome?
And this: Priest Off clergy repellent!! Hilarious!
Kaja Bordevich Ballo: suicide after Scientology personality test...
A little over two weeks ago Kaja Bordevich Ballo (20) committed suicide - a few hours after she'd recieved a devastating result on a personality test administrated by the Church of Scientology.
The police in the southern French town of Nice - where Kaja studied at the university of Nice Sophia Antipolis - are investigating the controversial church's connection to the event.
Kajas father is the noted politician Olav Gunnar Ballo (SV), a member of parliament for years, vice president of Odelstinget and fearless healthcare spokesperson for his party. Maried to Ballo and mother of Kaja is Heidi Sørensen (SV). Sørensen has previously been the leader of Naturvernforbundet and a member of parliament, she is now a undersecretary of state at Miljøverndepartementet.
The news VG publishes today, are printed after agreement with Ballo himself, and the rest of Kaja's family.
- The information about the Scientology test has been made public through the priest's speech at the memorial service. I can confirm that. Due to the recency of her death, I don't wish to elaborate on or comment on other matters now, Olav Gunnar Ballo told VG.
Kaja died on March 28, and was buried at Grefsen church last friday. A large group of friends followed her to the grave. Many were also in support during a memorial held in the Stortinget the same afternoon.
Personality test
According to information VG has received, the connection to the Scientologists was made after the family found a completed personality test and the Church of Scientology's analysis of what they contend is her personality, in Kaja's 17 sqm student room after her death.
The test had been timestamped and dated: It had been taken the same day as her death. The Church of Scientology have their premises only a few meters from the student home where Kaja lived.
Henrik Møinichen (19), a fellow student of Kaja, tells VG that he walked with Kaja to the university and class at nine o'clock on friday the 28 of March.
- In my opinion she was as usual. She participated in class as usual, talked and was happy, Møinichen told VG.
After the class in French for foreigners was over at 11 o'clock, Henrik left for the Nice airport to meet his father. Henrik lives in the neigboring room to Kaja. The last he heard of her, was that she was walking around her room at three-four o'clock in the afternoon. He was out of his room the rest of the day with his father.
As far as VG has been able to discern no friends or acquaintances had been in contact with the 20-year-old between the timestamp of the test, and the time at which she was found dead.
Vulnerable spot
- The test was found at her place by the family. After she was finished at school I've heard she went to buy clothes for someone. This is how she supposedly came in contact with the Church of Scientology, Møinichen says.
From what VG has been told Kaja received an extremely bad result on the test.
- I have a feeling that something must have happened suddenly, that they hit a vulnerable spot. Personally I believe that Kaja had been alive today if she hadn't been in contact with the scientologists. I had the impression that she enjoyed Nice. She often spoke of the the future and her plans at the university, said Møinichen.
Original source: SV-toppen Olav Gunnar Ballos datter Kaja ble bare 20 år.
See also: Jason Beghe: Scientology is a rip-off...
Tehran Police Chief: Was it a house or a brothel...
On the 11th. of March, the Iran Press Service came out with this headline:The Police General Likes Women Praying Nude for this article.
And then today, Haaretz.com has this: Tehran police chief caught nude with 6 women in underground brothel with this article.
Now, I'm assuming that both newspapers are relating the same incident, a Police Chief with 6 chicks, but why the different details that make such a big difference? Surely, a house is not a brothel and
6 prostitutes is not the same as 6 women praying, is it?
Talk about information being manipulated...
And then today, Haaretz.com has this: Tehran police chief caught nude with 6 women in underground brothel with this article.
Now, I'm assuming that both newspapers are relating the same incident, a Police Chief with 6 chicks, but why the different details that make such a big difference? Surely, a house is not a brothel and
6 prostitutes is not the same as 6 women praying, is it?
Talk about information being manipulated...
China to boycott French goods?
Chinese citizens have organized an online campaign to boycott French luxury goods in retaliation for Beijing Olympic Torch tour protest in Paris.
According to the Washington Post, there are rising calls among the Chinese to boycott the French supermarket giant, Carrefour, and products made by Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.
The Chinese people also are furious at the French President Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to boycott the Olympics' opening ceremony,
One of the phone messages read: "May ...
According to the Washington Post, there are rising calls among the Chinese to boycott the French supermarket giant, Carrefour, and products made by Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.
The Chinese people also are furious at the French President Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to boycott the Olympics' opening ceremony,
One of the phone messages read: "May ...