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Shahzad Afzal
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/
News Round the world National, International, specially news from Pakistan India and USA
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Ten suspected thieves have been beaten to death by villagers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, police said.
They said the killings took place in Chikaballapur, 55km (34 miles) from the state capital, Bangalore, late on Tuesday. One man was injured.
More than 70 people have been arrested in connection with the lynchings.
Police say the villagers prevented them from intervening. Correspondents say the incident highlights the widespread problem of "mob justice" in India.
The victims - all young men thought to come from the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh - were pulled out of a van by more than 2,000 villagers and beaten to death with stones and wooden clubs, police said.
Preliminary investigations suggested that villagers suspected they belonged to a gang that sold fake jewellery, police said.
"I have never seen anything more brutal in my life. Huge stones were used to beat the victims," senior police official Malini Krishnamurthy told the BBC.
JULY 14, 2011 | ISSUE 47•28
-- BEIJING—In what it's describing as a magnanimous gesture toward an economy in decline, the Chinese government announced Monday it would forgive a portion of the staggering U.S. debt if Americans agreed to dress up in costumes and perform silly dances for their amusement.
With his nation holding $1.16 trillion in federal bonds and the U.S. showing no signs of ending its dependence on foreign credit, President Hu Jintao told reporters that allowing Americans to ease their fiscal burden in proportion to the number and quality of colorful dance numbers they perform is a mutually beneficial arrangement for both countries.
"Our great nation has generously agreed to decrease the considerable financial obligations of the United States," said Hu, standing before an enormous rack containing elaborate dance attire such as sequined vests and metallic lamé pants. "All we ask in return is that Americans put on outfits such as these and amuse us with buffoonish little kicks and twirls, preferably while slapping their big fat tummies. The U.S. will receive much needed debt relief, and China will enjoy watching the graceless flailing of decadent capitalists."
Addressing Americans directly, Hu continued: "In the seconds it will take you to object, your nation will slip hundreds of thousands of dollars further into our debt. That will mean 50 more of your countrymen having to put on a George Washington costume with a skirt and prance around with big smiles and heavily rouged cheeks while we pelt them with bits of your worthless currency from the windows of the Chinese embassy."
While Hu offered few specific rules to govern the debt-reduction scheme, he did provide a number of guidelines that he said would affect the amount deducted. Large, ambitious routines—the entire population of Ohio dressed in bright green leotards doing a high-stepping jig with Big Macs stuffed in their mouths, for example—could shave $20 billion from the debt in a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, smaller groups of Americans and even individuals could do their part by dressing up as cancan dancers and performing a kick line in front of the Vietnam Memorial, or by painting the Mandarin character for 'gorilla' on their faces and jumping up and down on their desks at work like "great big immoral apes."
Hu added that the dollar value of all dances could be increased by incorporating chants such as "I have no work ethic," "Look at what our pathetic democracy has done to us," and "I am so fat I must drive an SUV to go purchase a prostitute" into the routine. Conversely, acts may be disqualified entirely if professional dancers are employed or if participants do not seem suitably engaged in their performance.
Hu later confirmed that wearing brightly colored hats with bells on them could only help.
"All dancers will be required to demonstrate an exceptional level of commitment," said Hu, adding that, should a very large American dress up in a form-fitting outfit with his stomach hanging visibly over his waistband, and then pass out from physical exertion while his overweight children dance around him, an extra $12 million would be instantly knocked off the tab. "It will be insufficient to go through the motions. Any dancer who hand jives without proper rehearsal and a big smile is wasting his time."
"That is especially important," Hu added. "We want nice, big smiles from America."
Although any U.S. citizen is eligible to participate in the program, dances performed by members of the armed forces or practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism will be considered more valuable. Persons holding high office in the federal government stand to make the largest financial impact, especially, Hu said, if all 535 members of Congress perform a Yiddish bottle dance during his next state visit.
"I do not savor what I am going to do this evening," said a solemn President Obama, sitting at his Oval Office desk in the tiger-striped scoop neck he will wear for a salsa performance expected to cut the American debt by a whopping $30 billion. "I know that my partner, Speaker Boehner, shares my reluctance, but that we will both do what we must for the financial well-being of our country."
"But let me be clear," added a defiant Obama, the beads on his lacy sleeve jiggling as he emphatically pointed at the camera. "The United States will never dance for any nation on earth more than once. There will be no encore."
US spy drone shot down by Iran | ||
| Updated at: 1245 PST, Wednesday, July 20, 2011 | ||
Member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari said on Tuesday that the unmanned spy plane was flying near the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province when the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Air Defense units brought it down. The official stated that the US drone was on a mission to identify the location of the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant and gather information about the nuclear facility for the CIA, Dafsari stated. Earlier this year, a senior Iranian military official had confirmed reports on the shooting down of several enemy drones over the Persian Gulf, and said Iran has targeted a large number of these pilotless planes during the last 7 years. "We have experienced similar incidents many times in the past and there have even been drones belonging to the occupying Zionist regime (Israel), the United States and Britain which have been shot down in the Persian Gulf during the past 7 years," the senior military official told FNA in January. Also in January 2007, the Iranian military troops shot down a spy plane of the US army when trying to cross Iran-Iraq borders in the Southwestern city of Dasht-e-Azadegan, Khuzestan province. |
Half-Life of Uranium-238 = 4.468 Billion Years
Uploaded with Comments by MsMilkytheclown
July 12, 2011
Half-life of some radioactive elements:
* Cesium-134 ~ 2 years
* Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
* Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
* Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years
* Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
* Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
* Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found
in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]
* Uranium-234 ~ 246,000 years
* Uranium-235 ~ 703.8 million years
* Uranium-238 ~ 4.468 billion years
NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.
NOTE: Single radiation dose of 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) and above causes serious illness.
*Did you know this about Libya?*
Some other facts (that mainstream media will never disclose) about Gaddafi and Libya
- Loans to Libyan citizens are given with NO interest.
- Students would get paid the average salary for the profession they are studying for.
- If you are unable to get employment the state would pay the full salary as if you were employed until you find employment.
- When you get married the couple gets an apartment or house for free from the Government.
- You could go to college anywhere in the world. The state pays 2,500 euros plus accommodation and car allowance.
- The cars are sold at factory cost.
- *Libya does not owe money, (not a cent) to anyone. No creditors.
- Free education and health care for all citizens.
- 25% of the population with a university degree.
- No beggars on the streets and nobody is homeless (until the recent bombing).
- Bread costs only $0.15 per loaf.
No wonder the US and other capitalist countries do not like Libya. Gaddafi would not consent to taking loans from IMF or World Bank at high interest rates. In other words Libya was INDEPENDENT! That is the real reason for the war in Libya! He may be a dictator, but that is not the US problem. Also Gaddafi called on all Oil producing countries NOT to accept payment for oil in USD or Euros. He recommended that oil get paid for in GOLD and that would have bankrupted just about every
Western Country as most of them do not have gold reserves to match the rate at which they print their useless currencies.
Remember the last time someone had the “NERVE†to make a similar statement was when Saddam Hoosein advised all Opec countries not to accept payment for oil in US Dollars. Well, we all know what happened to him . Yes, they HUNG HIM.
Today, Afghanistan's natural resources are estimated to be worth billions of dollars. The resources in the neighboring Central Asian states are thought to be worth even more - the cake is huge and as yet largely untouched.
While the US and China want an especially large slice of it, neighboring states Iran, Pakistan, India and Russia all have their eyes on it as well. Most experts agree that a battle for natural resources is underway, alongside the war against terrorism.
Not enough has been done to define who has access to the natural resources, says Thomas Greven, a political scientist who teaches at Berlin's Free University.
"If conflict arises, in the worst-case scenario, it will not be sufficient to have contracts on exploiting natural resources. The access has to be secured via military bases, as well as political and security cooperation," says Greven.
Setting the tone
New roads built by the US and used by ChinaThe US and China have been competing for the world's natural resources for at least a decade now. Both countries know that direct access to energy resources will determine who can maintain their wealth. Greven points out that the new Great Game in Central Asia will thus decide whether the 21st century ends up being Chinese or American.
"The US is not indifferent to the fact that there are natural deposits in Afghanistan," says Greven, adding that Washington would not be thrilled to see China take control of the war-torn state's natural resources without taking part in the fight against international terrorism.
The Chinese government has been conducting an offensive "shopping spree" in Afghanistan and other Central Asian states for some time now. To Washington's displeasure, Beijing was able to secure the exploitation rights for the region's biggest copper mine, by shelling out three billion dollars. Now, fully-laden trucks head from the mine in eastern Afghanistan to China on roads built by the Americans.
Officially, Beijing insists it does not have any great ambitions in Afghanistan and the region. But many observers think China at least wants to set the tone.
For Jürgen Stetten, the head of Asia at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the truth lies "somewhere in the middle."
"Even if it wanted to, China could not afford not to be a player in the geo-strategic game, including in Afghanistan," he says.
Avoiding direct confrontation
Until now, China has deliberately avoided direct confrontation with the US. The emerging superpower feels threatened by the 100,000 US soldiers in its direct vicinity. Stetten says Beijing is also concerned about the US' plans to maintain a presence in Afghanistan after 2014.
"Obviously China has no interest in being surrounded by US military bases," he says, adding however, that the situation does not look likely to change in the immediate future. This is why he thinks China is looking more at cooperating closely with Pakistan.
Beijing sees in Islamabad a loyal ally against India - its biggest rival in the region - and also thinks that with Pakistan's help it will better be able to consolidate its interests in Afghanistan, particularly after the US withdraws.
Stetten says that it is difficult to predict the outcome of the new Great Game in Afghanistan, but he believes it could very likely be catastrophic for Afghanistan. "A return of the Taliban, or proxy wars between the region's big rivals, China or India, or the US, could land the country in a conflict that it will not get out of for some time."
Author: Ratbil Shamel (act)
Editor: Sarah Berning