News Stories

[Thingle]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

Asean is still too young. Her member nations are still struggling with ideas which Europe has more or less settled in the 20th century.

I don't agree. It's not the youth of an organization that determines its effectiveness. , which has been there 40 years are more than enough to jell-in.

[yezhanquan]

Read the back sentence. It's the members that are too young. We haven't worked out how to adapt ideas of the French Revolution to our region.

[Thingle]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

assure you: the moment those troops move

... Iraq 1991 and 2003 scenario all over again. An overrated military loses in a humiliating fashion.

[yezhanquan]

It's not so much an overrated power: it's a war which will transform the area into a crucible. Win or lose, you will have hell first.

Iraq and Afghanistan are still highly tribal in nature, and what do tribes hate the most? Foreigners. Without them, the locals fight among themselves. With outsiders, they do some kicking out before resuming the in-fighting.

[Thingle]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

It's not so much an overrated power: it's a war which will transform the area into a crucible. Win or lose, you will have hell first.

Well, that's unfortunate. Think of it a "price to pay" for the paving of their democratic institutions which they will thank us fifty, or a hundred years from now.

[yezhanquan]

As Sun Zi said: War is a big affair for the nation. It is a matter of life and death, of survival or destruction. It cannot be undertaken lightly.

I think Ike says it better: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

John Yettaw's wife made a rather humorous (in a sad way) remark in response to the news of his release:


Yettaw's Wikpedia entry is rather interesting... it sounds like he has a mental disorder of some sort. Wouldn't be surprised if it was schizophrenia. Hopefully those around him will recognize that he probably needs treatment of some sort and will get it to him when he returns.

i wonde how much of that info was added recently, it sounds like how the kid form britian was dignose wih aspearging syndrom after he was caught havking into us military computer after 9/11.

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'm almost sorry to hear that... his stupidity gave the junta the key they needed to keep her under lock and key for another couple of years.

they should have left him there.

[LynnieS]

Chicago (IL) city government to be closed on Monday, 17 August

The City of Chicago will basically be closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay, according to a release from the Office of Budget and Management. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most city offices will be closed.

This is due to budget concerns to relieve a shortfall? Any other major city doing something similar, BTW?

White House may remove the "public option" from its health care overhaul

The White House indicated it could jettison the contentious public option and settle on insurance cooperatives as an acceptable alternative, a move embraced by some Republicans lawmakers who have strongly opposed the administration's approach so far.

In the end of the day, IMHO, a politician is primarily loyal to his constituency - in order to be re-elected - regardless of his political party. Just call me cynical...

[TinyRedLeaf]

Bolt breaks own record to win 100m gold

Berlin (Aug 16): Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt set a new world record as he stormed to a stunning victory in the 100m at the World Championships in Berlin. The 22-year-old Jamaican recorded a time of 9.58 seconds to shave 0.11 off the mark he set last year when winning gold at the Beijing Olympics.

American Tyson Gay was second in a time of 9.71 sec, with Jamaica's Asafa Powell claiming bronze in 9.84.

Bolt, who set three world records when winning his Olympic golds in Beijing last summer, served up another superlative display to enhance his reputation as the best sprinter of all time.

In the final, he powered out of the blocks at the first time of asking and took control of the race within the first 30m, the crowd going wild as he streaked across the line. Bolt's time represents the biggest increase in the record since electronic timing was introduced in 1968.

"I was ready, I was feeling good after the semi-finals," Bolt told BBC Sport. "I knew it was going to be a great race and I came out and executed it. It's a great time. I did well and I feel good in myself."

Gay, who went into the final as the reigning world champion, has been troubled by a nagging groin pain and had to cut practice on his start. "I ran the best I could but it was not enough," he said. "I believe I put in a championship performance and I am very pleased with the national record. I'm happy he ran 9.5 because I knew he could do it. I'm happy for him."

Said retired American sprinter Michael Johnson: "You know, I'm honestly feeling bad for the other guys who've run this race... Tyson Gay's among the best. (He did) 9.71, a new American record, the fastest he's ever run before, and he's beaten by 2m. Usain Bolt is unbelievable. We've never seen anything like him. I don't know that we ever will see anything like him, ever again."

- BBC SPORT

[Saleh]

Complex devoted to Japanese pop culture opens in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (Kyodo) New People, possibly the first commercial complex dedicated to J-pop in the United States, opened Saturday in Japan Town, San Francisco, drawing a long line of young people crazy about Japanese music, fashion and animation.

A three-story facility houses a store selling books, toys, DVDs and other merchandise related to Japanese pop culture, clothing stores including the first U.S. flagship store of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright (the ultimate "Lolita" fashion brand as it is known among J-pop fans), a movie theater and an art gallery.

Jennifer Filo, 22, and Saru Bell, 18, said they started to line up at 4 a.m. Saturday to enter the building ahead of its grand opening at 11 a.m.

Clad in black Gothic and Lolita fashion, the two said they had been looking forward to the opening of New People, taking pictures together every Friday since spring in front of the facility while it was under construction.

"We are so happy," Filo said. "We can come any day now."

The day's opening featured commemorative event J-pop Summit, showcasing Tokyo's latest Gothic and Lolita wear at an outdoor fashion show, drawing more than 1,000 spectators including "cosplayers" wearing costumes of Japanese manga and anime characters.

Seiji Horibuchi, president of VIZ Pictures Inc., who is among the key individuals who worked to realize the New People project, said during the event, "Let's make the 15th of August a J-pop Day around the world," and was cheered by the spectators.

Horibuchi has been involved with the distribution of Japanese films and DVDs as well as the English translated versions of Japanese comics in North America.

Child leukaemia 'genes' revealed

Genetic flaws that increase the risk of the most common form of childhood leukaemia have been uncovered by British scientists.

The three variants each raise the risk by between 30% and 60%, said the Institute of Cancer Research team.

But they stressed that other things, such as childhood infections, may also play a role.

Leukaemia Research said the clues offered by the research, in the journal Nature Genetics, may improve care.

Leukaemia is the most common childhood cancer, with approximately 500 new cases each year in the UK, and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) accounts for roughly 85% of these.

Scientists believe that there is likely to be no single reason why a child develops the disease, but a combination of factors, perhaps including an inherited genetic ingredient in some cases.

Previous research has suggested that both a blood cell change that happens in the womb and other mutations. possibly triggered by common childhood infections. could be involved.

The latest research used technology which allows the entire DNA of leukaemia patients to be scanned for common features not present in apparently healthy children.
...

Japan's economy leaves recession

[SeijiSensei]

In one of the greatest upsets in professional golf history, 37 year-old Y.E. Yang of South Korea won the PGA Championship, one of the four so-called "major" golf tournaments. (The others are the Masters and the US and British Opens.) This marks the first time an Asian player has won any of golf's four major championships.



Paired with American Tiger Woods in the final group on Sunday, Yang started the day two shots back of the world's number-one player. Yang caught up with Woods midway through the round, then broke the tie with an electrifying chip-in eagle from off the green on the fourteenth hole. Woods's own birdie on that hole left him one back with four holes to play. Woods had a chance to catch Yang on the par-three 17th after Yang bogied, but Woods also failed to make par and remained one shot back as they came to the closing hole. On 18, Yang hit a remarkable second shot over a tree to within eight feet of the hole that guaranteed his win.

Unlike Woods, who demonstrated his early golf prowess on American television at age three, Yang did not take up the game until age nineteen. After having success on the South Korean tour, he decided to try and compete on the American PGA Tour. He won his card at last year's qualifying tournament and won the Tour's Honda Classic earlier this season. At the time of his victory Yang was ranked 110th in the world according to the World Golf rankings. Woods, of course, is ranked first.

Korea's female golfers have become a major force on America's Ladies PGA Tour, but before yesterday Asian males had not had much impact on the PGA Tour. The best-known male Korean golfer, K. J. Choi, has won five times on the PGA Tour and amassed close to $20 million in his career. Yang took home $1.35 million from his victory yesterday raising his life-time earnings to slightly over $3 million.

[Vexx]

That over-the-tree shot Yang made will probably become one of the standard 'great shots of all time' staples of golf retrospectives.

[Shadow Kira01]

Japan opposition head seeks economic ties with US

Hatoyama's party is expected to make big gains. If it does, he could become Japan's next prime minister.

In the debate, he promised to stick to the country's pacifist principles and said he would end a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. If not extended, the mission will end in January.

"Japan's relations with the U.S. have been heavily biased toward defense," Hatoyama said. "Now it's time to shift our focus to economic ties. We will strengthen our economic ties and promote free trade while protecting our national interests."

Hatoyama said he supports President Barack Obama's commitment to a nuclear free world. He added more effort should be put into diplomacy than arms.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Spoiler for saving space:

In one of the greatest upsets in professional golf history, 37 year-old Y.E. Yang of South Korea won the PGA Championship, one of the four so-called "major" golf tournaments. (The others are the Masters and the US and British Opens.) This marks the first time an Asian player has won any of golf's four major championships.



Paired with American Tiger Woods in the final group on Sunday, Yang started the day two shots back of the world's number-one player. Yang caught up with Woods midway through the round, then broke the tie with an electrifying chip-in eagle from off the green on the fourteenth hole. Woods's own birdie on that hole left him one back with four holes to play. Woods had a chance to catch Yang on the par-three 17th after Yang bogied, but Woods also failed to make par and remained one shot back as they came to the closing hole. On 18, Yang hit a remarkable second shot over a tree to within eight feet of the hole that guaranteed his win.
Unlike Woods, who demonstrated his early golf prowess on American television at age three, Yang did not take up the game until age nineteen. After having success on the South Korean tour, he decided to try and compete on the American PGA Tour. He won his card at last year's qualifying tournament and won the Tour's Honda Classic earlier this season. At the time of his victory Yang was ranked 110th in the world according to the World Golf rankings. Woods, of course, is ranked first.

Korea's female golfers have become a major force on America's Ladies PGA Tour, but before yesterday Asian males had not had much impact on the PGA Tour. The best-known male Korean golfer, K. J. Choi, has won five times on the PGA Tour and amassed close to $20 million in his career. Yang took home $1.35 million from his victory yesterday raising his life-time earnings to slightly over $3 million.

Ah shit now every kid in Korea will play golf instead of other sports . On serious note his story is very inspiring for many, self learned golfer and from a family that was rather poor (or so I heard).

[ZeBird0]

Hacker steals $130 Mil

He steals $130M... while he was already being convicted. What was he thinking?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Ex-president Kim Dae Jung dies

Seoul (Aug 18): Former President Kim Dae Jung, who spent years as a dissident under South Korea's military dictatorship and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for seeking reconciliation with communist North Korea, has died. He was 85.

Mr Kim, who had been hospitalised with pneumonia since last month, died shortly after 1:40pm (0440 GMT) today, said Mr Park Chang Il, chief of Severance Hospital in Seoul. He said Mr Kim suffered respiratory distress, a pulmonary embolism and multiple organ failure.

The Nobel laureate's wife, three sons and former aides were at his side, according to lawmaker Park Jie Won, Mr Kim's former presidential chief of staff.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cocaine traces found in 90% of US banknotes

Washington (Aug 18): America's paper currency is roughed up and often soiled in circulation, but a study has found that some 90 per cent of greenbacks contain traces of cocaine, giving new meaning to the term "dirty money".

That is a more than 20 per cent jump over a similar study conducted two years earlier where 67 per cent of dollar bills were shown to contain cocaine traces, according to researchers who presented the study on Sunday at the annual National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The startling discovery points to the continuing widespread use of cocaine in the United States, one of the world's biggest consumers of the drug. The capital Washington topped US cities, with 95 per cent of banknotes from there found to contain minute amounts of cocaine.

Money is known to get contaminated with cocaine when drug dealers make a transaction or when users snort the drug using a rolled bill. But the study said the large-scale contamination takes place when the notes are whisked into currency-counting machines.

Evidence of the drug were more common in large cities like Baltimore, Boston and Detroit, while the cleanest bills were collected from Salt Lake City, Utah, the country's Mormon hub.

Cocaine is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world. In the US, some six million people consume cocaine on a regular basis each year, for a whopping total of 259 to 447 tonnes worth US$35 billion to US$70 billion.

- AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Cocaine traces found in 90% of US banknotes

It is a sign that the American economy has become very bad and that many people are getting stressed out over death panels and also their financial status. Speaking of death panels, it seems that American citizens isn't just getting angried at Obama and his Democrats but the Republicans are also getting grilled.

[Tiberium Wolf]

Originally Posted by ZeBird0

Hacker steals $130 Mil

He steals $130M... while he was already being convicted. What was he thinking?

It's not money that he stole. He stole data of 130 million credit cards.

[ZeBird0]

My bad. I just skimmed over it kinda

As for all Americans here, we gotta swine flu vaccine problem
Swine Flu Vaccine Lacking

[james0246]

Well...Robert Novak is dead...

Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak dead at 78.

WASHINGTON — Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, one of the nation's most influential journalists, who relished his "Prince of Darkness" public persona, died at home here early Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer.

"He was someone who loved being a journalist, loved journalism and loved his country and loved his family," Novak's wife Geraldine told the Chicago Sun-Times.
...
Novak's remarkable and long-running career made him a powerful presence in newspaper columns, newsletters, books and on television. His was a conservative voice -- but he was hardly a foot soldier of the Republican Party, having been, for instance, a major critic of President Bush's invasion of Iraq.

On May 15, 1963, Novak teamed with Rowland Evans Jr. to create the "Inside Report" political column, which became a must-read syndicated column. Evans tapped Novak, then a 31-year old correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, to help with the workload of a six-day-a-week column.
...
One of the most controversial chapters in Novak's career was triggered by a 2003 Chicago Sun-Times column he did disclosing the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. At the time, outing Plame was seen as an attempt to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who'd written an opinion piece disputing the Bush White House's claim that Iraq had bought "uranium yellowcake" from Niger.

The leaking of Plame's name led to an investigation headed by Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago. It resulted in the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, on charges of lying to a federal grand jury.

Despite his almost 50 years of Journalism, Novak will always be remembered for his awful outing of Valerie Plame.