News Stories

[Mystique]

Grow up single, looking for the special someone.
Find them, get on with them.
Eventually are together to the point of getting married.
Go on honeymoon and then have your lives taken away before you could start more of your future together.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7539346.stm

Personally i was saying perhaps it's better the groom also passed away in the last few days, the 'til death do us part' most likely would have been way too soon to cope with had he survived
Rest in peace together for the newlyweds

[Xellos-_^]

Public Funded Health Care in Action

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...-donation.html

A woman with kidney cancer who was denied life-prolonging drugs by the NHS has been gifted funding for the treatment by an anonymous donor.
Jean Murphy, 62, became a 'postcode lottery' victim when her local Primary Care Trust refused to grant her Sunitinib despite experts saying it might give her an extra year.....

I am not a big fan of private health care but people who think public funded health care is going to solve all the problems are going to be in a big surprise.



public funded health care has just as many problems are private ones do just different ones.

[WanderingKnight]

public funded health care has just as many problems are private ones do just different ones.

Not to turn this into a healthcare debate, but I believe this should be obvious to any minimally intelligent person. The thing is, exactly which are the problems surrounding each of the approaches, and which ones are more the product of human error than of some sort of conceptual mistake.

For the record, I believe an all-private healthcare policy is one of the biggest conceptual mistakes a country can make when it comes to the well-being of its citizens

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Public Funded Health Care in Action

I am not a big fan of private health care but people who think public funded health care is going to solve all the problems are going to be in a big surprise.

public funded health care has just as many problems are private ones do just different ones.

we are all well aware of the pitfalls of the NHS system, but man am I glad it exists.

Since I've got a joke of an immune system, the amount i've had to depend on it as a child all though until i graduated from university (free healthcare for full time students here) and even when i was on part time work, i can get discounts.
I've had to wear glasses for 14 years with constant lens updates, the amount it costs for lenses, eye tests and frames are ridiculously expsensive and for low income families it's a Godsend.
When I was ill, i book an appointment, get checked out. If I needed a certain kind of cream, pill or salve, it's free, i can get better faster. Have never had to worry about money in that sense ever.

There is a hole in the system, the government have poured billions and billions into improving it and it never quite reaches the nurses and those who need it (corruption somewhere along the line)

but when i hear of so many americans goin 'i don't have insurance, i cannot go to the docs, i can't get checked out'
I kinda wonder, who's running the biggest risk here? :\
The postcode lottery does suck and the waiting lists are long for operations, it's free medical care so we know the downside to it, but if there's any tax that i have no qualms about paying, it's definitely for the NHS system.

It's no real surprise of those kinda stories to be honest, at least not over here.

[Zoned87]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0080806a1.html

KASHGAR, China (Kyodo) A reporter and photographer from two Japanese news organizations were detained and beaten by paramilitary police late Monday as they tried to cover a deadly attack on police in northwest China's Xinjiang region earlier in the day, the media firms said.

Masami Kawakita, a photographer with Chunichi Shimbun's Tokyo headquarters, and Shinji Katsuta, a reporter for Nippon Television Network Corp.'s China General Bureau, both suffered minor injuries, the two organizations said separately Tuesday.




Japan will lodge a strong protest with China if it is confirmed the two journalists were beaten by police, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.

"We believe it was a fact. We plan to protest strongly," Machimura told reporters.

China had not yet responded to Japan's inquiry into the facts, he said.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will visit China to attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony Friday and hold talks with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Kawakita, 38, and Katsuta, 37, arrived in Kashgar late Monday. The two were stopped by force when covering the attack near a police base, in which 16 officers were killed and 16 wounded.

The two were taken to a room in a nearby hotel where police were based and beaten before they were released two hours later, according to sources.

Kawakita had his face pushed to the floor at one point, and his camera flash unit was destroyed, the sources said.

"While (the photographer) was released, we protest strongly the violent detention against just journalistic activities," the Chunichi Shimbun's Tokyo headquarters said.

"It is extremely regrettable that violence was used on a reporter who had been working following proper procedures," NTV said.

The local authorities have admitted fault and promised to apologize, the sources said.

The two were among several dozen journalists who arrived in Kashgar late Monday to cover the attack.

According to the Chunichi Shimbun's Tokyo office, Kawakita apparently was not aware police were ordering him to stop and continued running toward the attack site. Officers may have thus mistakenly believed he was fleeing when they pinioned him.

Once he was taken to the police facility, he was given a bottle of water and there was no further physical contact, the paper said. Kawakita was given his camera back and is continuing to report, it added.

On Tuesday, the vice commander of the local police force and two other local authorities went to see Kawakita, Katsuta and the other journalists, who were from Hong Kong, and made a formal apology, the daily said.

The vice commander said he was sorry about what happened, but his men were upset about losing many colleagues in the bombing and were nervous, adding that police will cover any medical fees and pay for the broken flash unit, according to the paper.

The official Xinhua news agency said two Uighur men, aged 28 and 33, were captured after driving a truck into the group of police officers, hurling explosives and assaulting them with knives in what local police suspect was a terrorist attack, only a few days ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Xinhua reported Tuesday that an investigation has determined one of the men is a driver and the other a vegetable seller.

The news agency also said nine homemade bombs and a gun that were found were similar to items seized during a raid in January on a training camp run by a Muslim separatist group.

Police also found material calling for a "holy war," the Xinhua report said.

Foreign reporters were once again obstructed when they arrived at the scene of the attack Tuesday morning. Around 10 police officers in white helmets checked their identification and asked them to leave.

As part of its Olympic pledge, China promised to give international media complete freedom during the games.

It introduced temporary media rules that lifted travel restrictions on foreign correspondents from January 2007 to this October. Under the rules, foreign reporters can also interview anyone who has given consent.

This isn't going to look good for their international image.

[james0246]

Vexx already posted this article in the Olympics 2008, Beijing thread. Since it directly concerns the Olympic events, and the possibly shenanigans (or worse) of said events, the article should probably be discussed there.

[Vexx]

The headline and the thread title are designed to incite and mislead. Only if you read more than half the article does the context of the event get provided.

[Zoned87]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Grow up single, looking for the special someone.
Find them, get on with them.
Eventually are together to the point of getting married.
Go on honeymoon and then have your lives taken away before you could start more of your future together.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7539346.stm

Personally i was saying perhaps it's better the groom also passed away in the last few days, the 'til death do us part' most likely would have been way too soon to cope with had he survived
Rest in peace together for the newlyweds

Hmm yeah, that is pretty sad.

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoom

The first word that came to my mind was "wat", that's insane, I feel so bad for that 6 year old child.

Are you kidding me?? Who cares abut the six year old? They weren't even harmed! What about Tim? He was sleeping. Never even talked to his killer. Was completely random! Getting stabbed 30 times or more having your head sliced off, face mutilated and partly chewed on? Yeah poor six year old.... Give me a break!!!!

Bunch of church protesters from amercia saying it is an act of "God". Give me a fucking break! Can't a family have a funeral without a bunch of protestors? How can a random act of violence from some crazed bastard be justified in that way?

Everyone here (I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is pretty shocked. A few people at work knew Vinnce Li (the killer) saying he as normal. Nobody knows what mental problems he has. He asked at his court hearing for someone to kill him. His only words he has spoken since. He is actually from China and moved to Edmonton, somehow making his way here. Send him back and kill him please!!!

[Un1234l]

Pretty old, but significant article. It PROBABLY has been posted before, especially because it is related to what this forum discusses, but I don't want to go check 30 pages to make sure...

Manga Murder

[mg1942]

The plot against Obama...

And I'm not surprised.....


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7581611.stm

[stubby42]

when police searched his rented truck, they found two high-powered rifles, including one with a telescopic sight, a bulletproof vest, camouflage clothing, boxes of ammunition, walkie-talkie radios, licenses in the names of other people and methamphetamine.

A few hours later, authorities went to a hotel in Denver where an associate of Gartrell, Nathan Johnson, 32, was held. A third man, Shawn Robert Adolf, was located at a hotel in Aurora but jumped out of a sixth floor hotel window, breaking his ankle. He was found a few blocks away and subsequently arrested.

Adolf was reportedly wearing a ring with a swastika and is thought to have ties to white supremacist organisations. A woman, believed to be the girlfriend of one of the men, is also being held.

According to local television reports, one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative." It was also claimed one of the suspects told authorities they were going to "shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a....rifle sighted at 750 yards".

Its times like these I'm glad I live in the UK, the british national party wouldnt have the stones to try to assainate someone.

[Anh_Minh]

Lone nuts exist everywhere.

[stubby42]

True, we've been arresting people threatening to kill gordon brown (the PM)

[solomon]

Sigh, I really wanted to give my country more benefit of the doubt but I guess somethings never change.

Interesting crack about the BNP not having any balls to assasinate someone. (Im a yank, so I can't speak with the same weight as a brit who really knows British Politics, it's not my forte. But I do think at their heart they are rascist after reading their website.)

One thing you gotta understand is the fact that this hasn't been INFLATED all over the media like normal just yet. That in itself is gonna be a huge circus.

But with historical context, if Barack Obama was assasinated, it would be the 1960 american races riots on steriods in the short term, a possible regression to pre 1950s race relations in the long term.

[stubby42]

Well because the BNP is trying to be a real political party they have to pretend not to be racist so really all that happens is they do what brits are best at, complaining.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by stubby42

Its times like these I'm glad I live in the UK, the british national party wouldnt have the stones to try to assainate someone.

No but they are threatening us ethnic minorities in a different way, as it was mentioned, they are trying to be a "real" political party.
The local elections that we just had back in may have proven how much power they've gained in the last 4 years, when at those days, we'd mock them for their shortsightedness.

However what with the increasing muslim immigration and opening of the EU, at least in london, it is feeling crowded and the pick and mix of culture is bubbling over. For white english (not scottish or welsh) they feel lost or afraid and that's what the BNP have very very cleverly used to gain votes.

I was royally pissed when i saw them gain a seat in parliament for london this year for the first time in their history, they obviously had enough people who weren't gonna use their vote on a red vs blue situation, and went independent.

There's no such thing as a wasted vote.
But as for assassination, nah, we kinda leave that to the rest of the world
(brits complain and write letters and kick our leaders off or force them to resign, but we do not kill them)

[solomon]

Originally Posted by Mystique

No but they are threatening us ethnic minorities in a different way, as it was mentioned, they are trying to be a "real" political party.
The local elections that we just had back in may have proven how much power they've gained in the last 4 years, when at those days, we'd mock them for their shortsightedness.

However what with the increasing muslim immigration and opening of the EU, at least in london, it is feeling crowded and the pick and mix of culture is bubbling over. For white english (not scottish or welsh) they feel lost or afraid and that's what the BNP have very very cleverly used to gain votes.

I was royally pissed when i saw them gain a seat for london this year for the first time in their history, they obviously had enough people who weren't gonna use their vote on a red vs blue situation, and went independent.

There's no such thing as a wasted vote.
But as for assassination, nah, we kinda leave that to the rest of the world
(brits complain and write letters and kick our leaders off or force them to resign, but we do not kill them)

I heard that the BNP was white, christian party and that they thought that any other group not fitting in that category was subject to skepticism if not outright rejected for acceptance in UK society. Do they really have beefs with scottish too (irish i can understand more in the historical context).

[Mystique]

Not beefs with them per se.
But the scots and welsh and irish have more of their native culture still alive today than the english.
We all celebrate St Patricks day, but how many celebrate St George's (etc)
What the BNP used this year as their part of their propaganda was how ethnic minorities have stripped away British culture (but then they use english/christian holidays as examples) -.-
their points are correct to a point, but it is spin.
They say they can restore original english cutlure back to England and stop muslims from building more mosques and stop immigration (and other BS that i won't get into cause it pisses me off) -.-

I may add more, but will edit later , gotta afk~

[stubby42]

Oh I fully agree that its bad that they are gaining ground but they'll never be in goverment, if the lib dems cant do it then why would a very small party be able to?

As for the comment about white english being affraid I'm kind of offended by that (I'm white english) and I'm sure most of my friends would be as well but having said that we do live in the northwest so there might be a difference (though I'd hope not).