October 2009

Smear trial tarnishes French political elite

Posted Tue, 10/27/2009 - 04:25 by admin

PARIS (Reuters) –
The trial pitting former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin against President Nicolas Sarkozy winds up this week after a courtroom epic that has badly tarnished France's political elite.

Villepin, an aristocratic ex-diplomat and a bitter rival to Sarkozy when they were ministers in the government of former President Jacques Chirac, is accused of taking part in a failed plot to destroy Sarkozy's bid for power in 2007.

Prosecutors have tried to show Villepin arranged for faked documents apparently implicating Sarkozy and dozens of others from the business and political elite to be sent to a judge investigating kickbacks on an arms deal dating from the 1990s.

They have asked for an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros ($67,370) for him and jail terms for the two men accused of being behind the alleged maneuver.

Villepin has rejected the charge and says he is himself the victim of the president's vindictiveness.

"I am here because of the decision of one man and the obsession of one man -- Nicolas Sarkozy," he declared on the opening day of the trial last month.

The bitterness has been underlined by the contrast behind the silver-haired Villepin, a suave product of France's elite educational system and Sarkozy, the brash outsider who came to power pledging to sweep aside the old order.

The case will go quiet for some months as judges consider their verdict but for both men, the political stakes are high.

A guilty verdict would almost certainly kill off any lingering political ambitions Villepin may have but, if he is cleared, it would be a slap in the face to Sarkozy and could provide a focus for rumbling discontent in his own camp.

"NAUSEATING"

The details of the affair, centered on a falsified list of "secret accounts" purportedly held at Luxembourg financial institution Clearstream and supposedly linked to bribery and corruption, are complex and much disputed.

But they have shone a stark light on the toxic climate of rivalry and sheer hatred that reigned when Villepin and Sarkozy were angling to succeed the aging Chirac in 2007.

Jean-Louis Debre, president of the Constitutional Council and a former speaker of the National Assembly, said the affair, which has dominated national news bulletins and front pages, gave a "desperately sad" image of French political life.

"France is going through so many difficulties today, so many people are suffering, that spending our days listening to this gives me a nauseating feeling," he said this week.

The prosecutor accused two men of mounting the plot, Jean-Louis Gergorin, a former executive of aerospace group EADS with ties to the intelligence services, and computer specialist Imad Lahoud, who is accused of falsifying the lists.

He said Villepin tried to exploit the lists to damage Sarkozy by having Gergorin hand them over to the judge.

Villepin says he held one meeting about the documents when they were brought to his attention in 2004 but had nothing to do with the events after that.

His lawyers argued that Sarkozy, interior minister at the time, knew the documents were circulating but chose to do nothing in the hope that Villepin would be drawn into the plot.

Whatever the outcome of the case, politicians and commentators from across the spectrum say it has strengthened the image of an out-of-touch and self-obsessed elite.

"It is politics that is making itself ridiculous," the conservative daily Le Figaro declared when the trial started.

(Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

Garden Chairs

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 17:12 by admin

Often benches are simply called after the place they are used, regardless whether this implies a specific design Garden benches are very similar to public park benches set outdoors, but the former offer usually only two or three -, the latter mostly up to five persons sitting places. Picnic tables, or catering buffet tables have long benches as well as a table. These tables may have table legs which are collapsible, in order to expedite transport and storage. Church pews inside places of worship are equipped with an additional kneeling bench.

Various types of benches are specifically designed for and/or named after specific uses, such as a Bench (weight training) is used for fitness exercises, such as the bench press which is named after its use of a bench a Communion bench is not used as a seat Piano benches offer usually one person seating and are height adjustable. a spanking bench, such as a caning bench, is specifically designed for a spankee to lie upon, possibly strapped down, while submitting to paining of the posterior Swing seats are independently movable, suspended benches, used for play or as a relaxing porch swing. a courting bench (or kissing bench, or tête-à-tête): a two-seater with the seats pointing in opposite directions, thus almost facing each other. A friendship bench in a school playground is where a child can go when they want someone to talk to. The bench in a courtroom, behind which the judge is seated.

Garden Chairs

High-Speed 'Other' Internet Goes Global (LiveScience.com)

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 15:22 by admin

A super high-speed global Internet devoted solely to science and
education has just expanded to include half the countries of the world,
and yes, you at home can be jealous.

The Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now
connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring
Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global
infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing U.S. network links
with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.

The combined GLORIAD-Taj fiber-optic network is aimed at helping scientists collaborate,
and to improve education in schools and universities. The network
offers large-bandwidth connections for scientists and educators who
seek to avoid the often bogged-down Internet the rest of us are stuck with.

Your child may have used the setup at school, but there are no plans to make it available for home use.

"Scientists deal with lots and lots of high-intensity data, and this
dedicated other system enables transfer of huge amounts of data quickly
and efficiently," explained NSF spokesperson Lisa-Joy Zgorski. She
added, however, that it's not an elitist network.

"This is not aimed to only connect the scientific elite, but to
bring science to the world through schools and universities," Zgorski
told LiveScience.

GLORIAD started as a 1997 NSF-funded project that created MIRNET,
connecting scientists in the United States and Russia. In 2004, it was
expanded to China, Korea, Canada and five Nordic countries. The
cyber-network now reaches half the countries on the planet and 10
million IP addresses for an estimated 30 million or more users. A new
exchange point in Alexandria, Egypt, allows ties throughout the Middle
East, Africa and Central Asia and the Caucasus regions.

Among other uses, the network is employed to remotely operate
telescopes and microscopes. It's particularly useful for data-intensive
visualizations. Researchers can carve out portions of the network for
specific, uninterrupted long-distance collaborations that might include
a lot of video conferencing and other intensive data exchange.

"Science is increasingly data-driven and collaborative, and does not
respect national borders," said Ed Seidel, acting assistant director of
NSF's Math and the Physical Sciences Directorate. "High-speed optical
networks are critical to both national and international scientific
efforts."

Some data for geeks: The upgrade beefed up U.S.-China network service by a factor of 4, from 2.5 Gbps to 10 Gbps.

GLORIAD's Taj Network is not the same as "Internet 2," a domestic project aimed at connecting U.S. scientists with one another.

10 Profound Innovations Ahead
Internet Groupthink Throttles Creativity
Fuzzy Future for the Internet 'Cloud'
Original Story: High-Speed 'Other' Internet Goes GlobalLiveScience.com chronicles the daily advances and innovations made in science and technology. We take on the misconceptions that often pop up around scientific discoveries and deliver short, provocative explanations with a certain wit and style. Check out our science videos, Trivia & Quizzes and Top 10s. Join our community to debate hot-button issues like stem cells, climate change and evolution. You can also sign up for free newsletters, register for RSS feeds and get cool gadgets at the LiveScience Store.

EU officials warn of disappearing cod

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 12:02 by admin

BRUSSELS – Cod is slipping closer to disappearing from key European fishing grounds, officials warned Friday, saying that only steep catch cuts will prevent the disappearance of a species prized for centuries for its flaky white flesh.
The European Union's executive body called for sharp cuts in the amount of cod fisherman can catch next year — up to 25 percent in some areas. The European Commission said recent studies showed cod catches in some areas are far outstripping the rate of reproduction of a fish that fed coastal communities for centuries.
Scientists estimated that there were more than 250,000 tons of cod in important fishing grounds in the North Sea, eastern British Channel and Scandinavia's Skagerrak strait in the 1970s but stocks have dropped to 50,000 tons in recent years.
"We are not that far away from a situation of complete collapse," said Jose Rodriguez, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana.
The European Commission said it will seek to cut the catch in some fishing grounds around Britain, France, Spain and much of Scandinavia from 5,700 tons this to 4,250 tons in 2010.
Rodriguez and other environmentalists said political pressure from the fishing industry meant quotas were too high to sustain a viable population of cod in the waters around Europe. Lack of enforcement meant illegal fishing made the problem far worse.
In the Mediterranean, the bluefin tuna has been overfished for years to satisfy the world's increasing demand for sushi and sashimi. Its population is a fraction of stocks of what it was a few decades ago but the EU's Mediterranean nations refused last month to back even a temporary ban on catching bluefish tuna.
Oceana estimated that illegal fishing doubled the amount of tuna caught.
Cod is consumed by the ton as salt cod and fish-and-chips, and once sustained vibrant fishing communities from Portugal to Britain to Canada.
"People don't ask for fish and chips, they ask for cod and chips," said Mike Guo, 26, a manager at Great Fish and Chips in Essex, England. "It's a traditional dish."
The depletion of the species has caused the decay and disappearance of hundreds of fishing villages on both sides of the Atlantic.
Overfishing off Canada's maritime provinces exhausted the world's richest cod grounds and forced the government to impose a fishing moratorium. The collapse wiped out more than 42,000 jobs, and 18 years later the fish have still not returned. Some Canadian scientists believe the collapse of cod stocks off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia changed the marine ecosystem so dramatically that it may be impossible for cod to recover.
The harvest and biomass of Atlantic cod off New England have fallen sharply over the decades, but there are signs of recovery after years of conservation efforts.
In the 15 nations that were part of the EU in 1995, the fleet has declined from 104,000 vessels to 81,000 in 2006. In Britain, employment in the sector sank from 21,600 in 1990 to 16,100 in 2006.
The EU Commission's demand for cod cuts will be discussed by the bloc's 27-member states in a Dec. 14-15 meeting, when the fishing quotas for 2010 will be finalized.
"The scientific prognosis for most stocks is not encouraging, with many in a worse state than last year," Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Friday. "This, combined with the difficult economic climate, will mean that the negotiations will be even more challenging this time around."
Keeping fishermen in port with excessive quotas will add to their economic woes, said Bertie Armstrong of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation.
Norway and the EU jointly oversee cod stocks in North Sea, with each party regulating the stocks in its waters.

Norway and the EU will begin annual negotiations on cod stock management in November, and Ann Kristin Westberg, deputy director-general of Norway's Fishery Ministry, who will serve as Norway's chief negotiator in those talks, said her country was unlikely to accept a 25 percent quota.

"We probably want to have it lower," she said. "We would like to point out that stock the EU are involved in managing are in terrible shape."

The cod harvest from the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine fishing grounds, the two primary New England fishing grounds, in 2007 totaled 3,868 metric tons, the biggest catch since 2003 but far under the landings of the 1980s when fishermen often caught more than 20,000 tons annually.

"The Gulf of Maine stock is responding to the recovery plan, and the Georges Bank stock is recovering but not as much," said Teri Frady of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass.

Scott Cantin, a spokesman for Canada's Fisheries and Oceans Department, said that after many years of effort and commitment, international regulators have reopened some areas off Canada for limited fishing.

Some fishing zones that have a healthy cod fishery, but in most areas the stock is so low the government doesn't permit fishing, he said.

_____

Associated Press writers Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine, Rob Gillies in Toronto, Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Rachel Leamon and Maresa Patience in London contributed to this report.

Menopause Treatment

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 09:43 by admin

HRT is available in various forms. It generally provides low dosages of one or more estrogens, and often also provides either progesterone or a chemical analogue, called a progestin. Testosterone may also be included. In women who have had a hysterectomy, an estrogen compound is usually given without any progesterone, a therapy referred to as "unopposed estrogen therapy". HRT may be delivered to the body via patches, tablets, creams, troches, IUDs, vaginal rings, gels or, more rarely, by injection. Dosage is often varied cyclically, with estrogens taken daily and progesterone or progestins taken for about two weeks every month or two; a method called "sequentially combined HRT" or scHRT. An alternate method, a constant dosage with both types of hormones taken daily, is called "continuous combined HRT" or ccHRT, and is a more recent innovation. Sometimes an androgen, generally testosterone, is added to treat reduced sexual desire/(libido). It may also treat reduced energy and help reduce osteoporosis after menopause.

Attitudes towards HRT changed in 2002 following the announcement by the Women's Health Initiative of the National Institutes of Health that those receiving the treatment (Prempro) in the main part of their study had a larger incidence of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes. The WHI findings were reconfirmed in a larger national study done in the UK, known as the the Million Women Study. As a result of these findings, the number of women taking hormone treatment dropped by almost half. The Journal of the American Medical Association and elsewhere based on these findings warn that women with normal rather than surgical menopause should take prescribed HRT treatment at the lowest feasible dose, for the shortest possible time. For health problems associated with menopause such as osteoporosis (a small percentage of postmenopausal women are at risk of severe bone loss), other life-style changes and/or medications are now recommended.

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Tsvangirai suspends cooperation with Mugabe party

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 05:01 by admin

HARARE (AFP) –
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday he was suspending cooperation with President Robert Mugabe's "dishonest and unreliable" ZANU-PF party but will not quit the unity government.

"It is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner," Tsvangirai told journalists after the revoked bail of his top aide Roy Bennett sparked fresh doubt over the fragile eight-month unity pact with Mugabe.

"In this regard, whilst being in government we shall forthwith disengage from ZANU-PF and in particular from cabinet and the council of ministers until such time as confidence and respect is restored amongst us," he said.

Tsvangirai said the arrest and detention of Bennett, his pick as deputy agriculture minister, had shown "the fiction of the credibility and integrity" of the power-sharing arrangement with Mugabe.

"It has brought home the reality that as a movement we have an unreliable and unrepentant partner in the transitional government," he said.

Tsvangirai scrapped a ministerial meeting on Thursday after a magistrate's court revoked Bennett's bail and ordered him to stand trial for terrorism next Monday, in a move which drew sharp criticism from Western powers.

The feisty white former coffee farmer, whose land was expropriated under Mugabe's land reforms, was originally arrested an hour ahead of the swearing in of the new government on February 13.

His case has become a symbol of the unresolved challenges facing the partnership amid claims of a crackdown against Tsvangirai's supporters and disputes over key posts.

While suspending relations with ZANU-PF, the Movement for Democratic Change leader said his party will remain in government as it was the "only one with the mandate to remain".

"For that reason this party for now will not renege on the people's mandate, however it is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner," he said.

Tsvangirai and his long-term rival agreed to the unity government nearly a year after disputed polls, which saw Mugabe handed the presidency in a one-man run-off, plunged the country into deeper economic and political crisis.

4 Americans die in Afghanistan blast

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 04:34 by admin

KABUL – A U.N.-backed panel has completed most of its investigation into whether the level of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election will require a runoff, a spokeswoman said Friday as the U.S. military announced the deaths of four more American troops.
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States says he expects a second round vote will be required.
The four U.S. service members were hit by a bomb blast Thursday, with two killed instantly and two later dying of their wounds, the U.S. said in a statement. No further details were released.
The deaths bring to 25 the number of American service members killed in Afghanistan this month, according to an Associated Press count.
Rising death tolls and the political crisis brought on by a fraud-marred election have prompted President Barack Obama's administration to review its entire Afghanistan strategy. The White House is considering various options, including a sharp increase in the number of U.S. troops here or shifting the focus to missile strikes and special operations raids against al-Qaida members hiding in neighboring Pakistan.
Obama is not expected to decide until after the Afghans determine whether they must hold a runoff election between President Hamid Karzai and his top challenger, Abdullah Adbullah.
Preliminary results from the Aug. 20 poll had put Karzai in the lead with 54.6 percent of the vote compared to about 28 percent for Abdullah. The fraud rulings could eliminate enough Karzai votes to push him below the 50 percent threshold to force a second round.
A spokeswoman for the Electoral Complaints Commission said the panel has completed the bulk of its investigation but commissioners are still analyzing complaints and calculating figures before deciding on a runoff.
Investigators late Thursday completed an audit of 3,377 polling stations that returned unlikely results showing 100 percent turnout or a single candidate receiving 95 percent of the vote, said Nellika Little, a commission spokeswoman.
But the panel is still investigating individual fraud complaints. "We are still working on the numbers," Little told The Associated Press. "We haven't figured out a percentage."
An announcement could come at any time, possibly as early as Friday night. Once the country's Independent Election Commission confirms the new tallies, a runoff is supposed to be held within two weeks. But many fear winter snows and insecurity could make the vote difficult or impossible.
In Washington, Karzai's ambassador to the United States Said Tayeb Jawad said Thursday a runoff vote was very likely. He was the first official from Karzai's government to predict publicly that the challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, will have enough support to force a runoff.
Jawad said all sides should work hard to hold the runoff vote swiftly — ideally within a month.
A two-week deadline mandated in the country's constitution is "impossible," Jawad said. He worried that if the deadline slipped far into November, the weather will be too cold in parts of the country. Voters in Afghanistan, a country of great distances and few roads, often must travel long distances and spend significant time outdoors.
Jawad spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and afterward with The Associated Press.
Citing anonymous sources it said were familiar with the results, The Washington Post reported Friday that Karzai's share of the vote had dropped to 47 percent. Little disputed that report, saying the commission's decisions have not been released.
Uncertainty over the election outcome has eaten away at Karzai's legitimacy, leaving Afghanistan in limbo as the Taliban-led insurgency in the countryside deepens and the Obama administration debates its strategy in a war that has become increasingly unpopular in the U.S.

Dash Covers

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 04:19 by admin

This kind of seats prevent forward movement of the occupant in case of collision. It is a safety feature, important for front seats over rear seats.

In suitably equipped cars, seats and mirrors can be adjusted using electric controls. Some vehicles let the driver(s) save the adjustments in memory for later recall, with the push of a button. Most systems allow users to store more than one set of adjustments. This allows multiple drivers to store their comfort settings, or a single driver to store several different occupant positions. Some vehicles associate memorized settings with a specifically numbered, remotely operated key fob, resetting a seat to the position associated with that fob when the vehicle is unlocked (e.g. key fob #1 sets seats to memory position #1, #2 to #2, etc.)

Dash Covers

Personalized Pens

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 04:07 by admin

Personalized Pens

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Statistics on writing instruments (including pencils) from WIMA (the U.S. Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association) show that in 2005, retractable ball point pens were by far the most popular in the United States (26%), followed by standard ball points (14%). Other categories represented very small fractions (3% or less). There is however also a thriving industry in luxury pens, often fountain pens, sometimes priced at $1000 or more.

Suicide bomb kills at least 49 in Pakistan market

Posted Fri, 10/09/2009 - 07:51 by admin

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) –
A massive suicide car bomb ripped through a packed market in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least 49 people and injuring over 100 in a region beset by Taliban attacks.

The blast, which hit around midday, left charred corpses strewn in a shopping area in the city's main Khyber Bazaar, with cars reduced to burning wreckage and a colourful city bus destroyed and flung on its side. Eyewitness account

Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed the Taliban and said the attack could force the military to bring forward a planned operation to wipe out Islamist militant strongholds in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

"They are compelling us to launch the operation in South Waziristan early. We will take a decision on the operation against terrorists over the next few days," he told reporters in Islamabad.

It was the sixth bombing in Peshawar in four months and comes as the Pakistani Taliban have vowed to increase attacks to avenge the killing of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August.

"We have 49 dead bodies brought to the hospital. Three of them are women and seven are children," said Doctor Zafar Iqbal, the registrar of Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital. All of the dead were civilians, he added.

Senior provincial minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour confirmed the death toll, saying that more than 100 people were injured in the blast. About 50 people remain in serious condition, doctors said.

At the scene, the blackened bodies of victims lay on the street as injured shoppers in torn and blood-soaked clothing were helped from the rubble.

At least 12 shops were completely destroyed in the blast, while passers-by desperately tried to free survivors from a city bus flung onto its side.

Bomb disposal squad chief Shafqat Malik told reporters that police evidence suggested the suicide bomber had rammed a car -- with explosives and ammunition packed into its side panels -- into the crowded bus.

"There was blood and pieces of human body everywhere. People were crying in pain for help," said Miskeen Khan, who received shrapnel wounds to his face.

Ghulam Nabbi, a shopkeeper at the Khyber Bazaar, told AFP: "It was like somebody threw me out of my shop. For some time my mind stopped working, but then I started running to a safe place."

Police official Mohammad Karim estimated the size of the bomb at about 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds).

"The target was civilians. The Taliban want to pressure government by such attacks, but we will never bow down to them. Operations will continue until the last militant is eliminated," provincial minister Bilour told AFP.

Pakistan's military is wrapping up a fierce offensive against Taliban rebels in the northwestern Swat valley launched in April, and are poised to start a new operation in the semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border.

The offensives, coupled with an increase in drone attacks by US aircraft targeting Islamists in the northwest, have provoked a furious reaction from the Taliban militia based in the tribal belt. Related article: US Afghan strategy

Despite reports of fierce infighting among the militants after the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban appear to have regrouped, analysts say, with new commander Hakimullah Mehsud keen to show his strength.

"Increasing militant attacks now reflect that they have found space to regroup and launch fresh attacks," said Ishtiaq Ahmed, an international relations professor at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University.

Peshawar is the main city in the northwest and has been a frequent target of militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Pakistan, on the frontline of the United States' war on Al-Qaeda, has been hit by a wave of bombings that have killed nearly 2,200 people across the nuclear-armed country over the past two years. Chrono of major attacks

Friday's blast is the deadliest in Pakistan since March this year, when a suicide bomber attacked a packed mosque in the northwestern town of Jamrud at prayer time, killing around 50 people.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Monday on a UN office in Islamabad that killed five aid workers.