Russian MPs are considering banning the word dollar from official speech in a crude attempt to boost confidence in the rouble.The move could signal the end of a love affair with the greenback since the break-up of the Soviet Union.Parliament's lower house, the Duma, will debate whether to introduce fines for bureaucrats who describe sums of money in dollars or euros."It is time to start respecting our own money," said Yevgeny Velikhov, chairman of the Public Chamber, which wrote to parliament demanding the move. Boris Gryzlov, the Duma speaker, said yesterday that it "made sense" to discuss the chamber's proposal....
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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Editor - 12:39:00 04-14-06
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 U.S. Buys Back Stolen Data by Afghan Base |
American investigators armed with a ``box full'' of cash have paid thousands of dollars to buy back stolen computer drives - many of which contain sensitive military data, shopkeepers outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan said Friday. But dozens are still on sale, including memory sticks with information ranging from U.S. troop resumes to photographs of Air Force One during President Bush's visit last month. The surfacing of the stolen computer devices has sparked an urgent probe to discover how security could have been breached at the heavily guarded Bagram base, which coordinates the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants and includes one of the military's main detention facilities for suspected terrorists. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody said he could not comment because an investigation was ongoing. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5756075,00.html
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Editor - 12:36:00 04-14-06
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| US blacklists Indonesia militants |
The US Treasury says it has blacklisted the alleged spiritual leader of Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and three other members. Radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is in jail for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings but is to be freed in June. The US Treasury said the members had "been trained, funded and directed by al-Qaeda to pursue a like-minded terrorist agenda". The move freezes assets and bans US citizens from transacting with the men. Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed for a series of bombings in the region, most notably that in Bali in October 2002, in which 202 people died. Ba'asyir was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy over the attack. The US banned the group shortly after the Bali bombings, but it is not banned in Indonesia. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4908958.stm
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Editor - 12:30:00 04-14-06
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| Military slow to spend money to train Iraqis Report by congressional researchers runs counter to Rumsfeld’s take |
The U.S. military has spent just 40 percent of the $7 billion appropriated in 2005 for the training of Iraqi and Afghanistan security forces, a top Pentagon priority that is lynchpin for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. The slow pace of spending was outlined in a congressional report that also raised questions about whether the Pentagon needs the full $5.9 billion it has requested for training this year in an emergency spending bill that is pending in Congress. The report comes as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration have complained about cuts in the funding for Iraqi forces that is included in the House-passed version of the bill. In a report obtained by The Associated Press, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said the Pentagon is spending at a slower rate than Defense Department officials initially expected. As of Jan. 1, the report said, the Pentagon had allocated $2.1 billion, or just 37 percent, of the $5.7 billion in Iraqi ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12317121/from/RSS/
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Editor - 12:17:00 04-14-06
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| No deal in Japan-US troop talks |
Japan and the United States have failed to reach agreement over the details of their plans to redeploy some of the 50,000 US troops on Japanese soil. Last year the two countries agreed in principle a number of measures including moving several thousand US troops off the island of Okinawa. It is part of a worldwide realignment of US forces. But arguments remain over who should foot the bill and the latest round of negotiations has ended in failure. Washington's chief negotiator, Richard Lawless, told reporters that two days of talks had finished with several points of contention still to be worked out. Earlier, Japanese officials had said there were no major disagreements with the Americans. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4909074.stm
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Editor - 12:13:00 04-14-06
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| Iran president: "Zionist regime" a threat |
Iran's president said on Friday that the existence of the "Zionist regime," Iran's term for Israel, was a threat to the Islamic world, days after declaring Iran had become a nuclear power by enriching uranium. But the tone of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech to a conference on the Palestinian issue was slightly more moderate than fiery rhetoric last year, when Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted him as telling a conference: "Israel must be wiped off the map.""The existence of the Zionist regime is tantamount to an imposition of an unending and unrestrained threat so that none of the nations and Islamic countries of the region and beyond can feel secure from its threat," Ahmadinejad said on Friday.He said it was up to all "genuine Palestinians" - whether, Muslim, Christian or Jew residing in Palestine or the diaspora -- to hold a referendum and decide on a political system....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060414/ts_nm/iran_israel_dc
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Editor - 12:10:00 04-14-06
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