China will tax disposable wooden chopsticks and luxury items such as yachts, the government says, citing a need to protect the environment and redress the gap between rich and poor. The Finance Ministry announced the change in policy, which takes effect April 1, on Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Buyers of yachts, golf balls and golf clubs will face a 10 percent tax, while luxury watches will be taxed at a rate of 20 percent, it said. The change reflects the communist leadership's goals of countering the widening gap between rich and poor and of protecting the environment, which has been ravaged by more than two decades of industrialization. ... http://www.cbsnews.com censor News |
Editor - 08:22:00 03-22-06 |
NKorea weapons 'could not hit US'. Praise the Lord our Chicken Hawks are safe |
North Korea does not yet have an operational missile that could hit the continental US, a US report says. But its weapons could target South Korea and Japan, and it is working on a longer-range solid-fuel missile. Missile exports were a significant source of foreign exchange for the country, the report by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies also said. Concerns over North Korea's weapons programme rose this month when it test-fired two short-range missiles. A US military official told a government committee that the missiles represented a "leap forward" for Pyongyang's programme in terms of reliability and accuracy. The report by the California-based NGO said that North Korea did not currently have "an operational missile" to strike the US. The longer-range Taepodong-X missile could theoretically reach Alaska, Hawaii and parts of the coastal US, US officials believe, and an untested third version, Taepodong 2, could potentially strike further into the country. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4832466.stm
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Editor - 08:15:00 03-22-06 |
U.S., Iraqi forces capture 50 insurgents |
Insurgents attacked a police station Wednesday for a second day in a row, but U.S. and Iraqi forces captured 50 of them after a two-hour gunbattle. About 60 gunmen attacked the police station in Madain, south of Baghdad, with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, said police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammadawi. U.S. troops and a special Iraqi police unit responded, catching the insurgents in crossfire, he said. Four police were killed, including the commander of the special unit, and five were wounded, al-Mohammadawi said. None of the attackers died, and among the captives was a Syrian. On Tuesday, about 100 masked gunmen stormed a jail in Muqdadiyah near the Iranian border and freed more than 30 prisoners, most of them fellow insurgents. ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-22-iraq_x.htm
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Editor - 08:08:00 03-22-06 |
Flight instructor recalls training of 9/11 hijackers at Moussaoui trial |
Two of the pilot-hijackers from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks abandoned a small airplane on a taxiway of Miami International Airport during their flight training, but their actions didn't attract serious scrutiny from federal officials. A flight instructor at the school where Sept. 11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi received commercial pilot training testified Wednesday at confessed al-Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui's death-penalty trial. Instructor Daniel Pursell testified that instructors at the school breathed "a collective sigh of relief" when Atta and al-Shehhi completed their training and left the school. Pursell said that the Dec. 26, 2000, incident at the Miami airport was one of several problems the school had with the pair. ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-22-moussaoui_x.htm
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Editor - 08:04:00 03-22-06 |
North Korea: We Can Nuke U S. OK so when do we invade them? |
North Korea suggested Tue it had the ability to launch a pre-emptive attack on the U S, according to the North's official news agency. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U S nuclear threat. "As we declared, our strong revolutionary might put in place all measures to counter possible U S pre-emptive strike," the spokesman said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the U S." The U S urged North Korea to return to international nuclear negotiations instead of making inflammatory statements. State Dept spokesman Sean McCormack said the U S has no plans to invade or attack North Korea. Hmmm our Chicken Hawks “talk” to those with Nukes? Do our Fearless Leaders only attack defenseless countries? News Flash: from “Government Mouth Piece News” Solid Secret Proof, Grenada has Assault Daisy BB guns, Bomber Piper Cubs and a Canoe, rally around the flag boys, and call out the Reserves... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/21/world/main1428490.shtml
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Editor - 21:57:00 03-21-06 |
Purple pain for Prince's landlord |
Warning for landlords: beware of diminutive tenants wearing purple jumpsuits, you never know what they're going to do to your property.American basketball player Carlos Boozer should really have had his wits about him when he let his $11.9m (£6.8m) Hollywood home to a 47-year-old Minneapolis man with no surname.Last May, Boozer, a star with the Utah Jazz basketball team, rented out his home for $70,000 a month to the pop star Prince. But despite an agreement that the tenant would make no alterations, Boozer soon noticed the appearance of his property had changed. According to a lawsuit filed with the Los Angeles superior court, Prince painted the outside of the house in purple stripes, had his personalised hieroglyph painted on the house, as well as the number 3121. Far from being a helpful guide to the postman, the number is the title of the resurgent singer's latest album.Inside, the singer ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1736496,00.html
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Editor - 21:06:00 03-21-06 |
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