China will invest 100 billion yuan ($12.9 billion) in projects in Tibet, including an extension of its first railway, state media reported, as Beijing seeks to boost its image in the remote region through development. The money will be spent on 180 projects in the years up to 2010, including upgrading an airport; extending availability of drinking water, electricity and telephone lines to herding communities; and building a railway from regional capital Lhasa to Xigaze, the region's second-largest city, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Monday. To critics, the railway connecting Lhasa to other parts of China that opened in July last year has become a symbol of Beijing's efforts to subdue discontent among Tibetans by offering development and modernity. The vice chairman of the regional government, Hao Peng, said the new wave of infrastructure investment would be tilted toward herding regions "so farmers and herders and the grassroots population will ... http://abcnews.go.com censor News |
Editor - 19:09:00 03-26-07 |
Can you dig it? Oregon may name state soil And which soil, derived from weathered basalt, might get the title? Jory! |
No matter how many pressing matters are at hand, legislators always find time to debate the merits of a new state icon. Oregon has a state bird, flower, insect and gemstone. In 2005, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill that made the metasequoia the state fossil. And this week, legislators are expected to hear whether the reddish earth found in the Willamette Valley foothills, known as Jory, should be the state soil. "We are trying to highlight the importance of soil to our state," said Scott Burns, a Portland State geology professor who has lobbied for a decade to make Jory a state symbol. Well at least they weren’t passing more laws. Maybe they can spend their time doing this crap and keep away from passing so many laws... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17793388/
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Editor - 19:06:00 03-26-07 |
Streaker Sentenced to Help at Wyoming County Fair Under Plea Agreement |
A man arrested for streaking during the Teton County Fair's annual demolition derby must volunteer 40 hours of service to this year's fair, under a plea agreement a judge approved. Seamus McKinney, 25, also will be placed on a year of supervised probation. The demolition derby is always the last event at the fair. A rash of streaking at the derby over the last couple of years has led to arrests and warnings from police that anyone caught streaking would face severe penalties. In 2005, a sheriff's deputy used a Taser to subdue a man who was running naked through the arena with a fire extinguisher. In 2006, the same deputy repeatedly punched a streaking man after the man lowered his shoulder and ran into the officer. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2983763
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Editor - 18:55:00 03-26-07 |
Smugglers force migrants into sea; 31 killed Up to 90 missing after Africans told to go overboard to enable getaway |
Smugglers taking illegal migrants from Somalia to Yemen forced hundreds of Africans overboard in stormy seas in an effort to make a fast getaway from security forces, officials said Monday. Thirty-one bodies have been found and nearly 90 people remained missing.Passengers who resisted the smugglers were stabbed or beaten with wooden and steel clubs, then thrown into the water where some were attacked by sharks, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said, citing survivors."Several recovered bodies showed signs of severe mutilation," UNHCR said. "Survivors also reported that several Ethiopian women and at least one Somali were raped and abused by the smugglers during the voyage from Bosaso in Somalia's Puntland region. Survivors also alleged that some Yemeni security forces confiscated their money once they reached shore."... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17801579/
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Editor - 18:53:00 03-26-07 |
Maryland Becomes Second State to Issue an Apology for Slavery. Ok all you who owned Slaves and still alive will get 100 lashes. |
Maryland lawmakers approved an apology Monday for the state's role in the slave trade, expressing "profound regret" that it once "trafficked in human flesh." Maryland follows Virginia in issuing a formal apology. The vote in the House of Delegates makes the apology official, because a resolution doesn't require the governor's signature. The state Senate already approved it. The resolution notes that slavery "fostered a climate of oppression not only for slaves and their descendants but also for people of color who moved to Maryland subsequent to slavery's abolition." Co-sponsor Sen. Nathaniel Exum, a Democrat, said he was exhilarated that Maryland lawmakers decided to finally recognize the painful role the state played in slavery.... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2983736
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Editor - 18:52:00 03-26-07 |
Australian pleads guilty at Guantanamo |
Australian David Hicks, the first prisoner to face a new U.S. war crimes tribunal, unexpectedly pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of helping al Qaeda fight American troops during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. Hicks entered his plea following the first day of hearings in the military tribunals created by Congress after the Supreme Court struck down an earlier version that President George W. Bush authorized to try foreign captives on terrorism charges. Hicks, a 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for more than five years, earlier said he would defer entering a plea.His military lawyer Marine Maj. Michael Mori later told the court that Hicks had changed his mind. Hicks answered "yes, sir," when the judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, asked him to confirm the guilty plea.... http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKN2637070520070327
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Editor - 18:46:00 03-26-07 |
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