 The US-led "war on terror" has bolstered Iran's power and influence in the Middle East, especially over its neighbour and former enemy Iraq, a thinktank said today.A report published by Chatham House said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had removed Iran's main rival regimes in the region.Israel's conflict with the Palestinians and its invasion of Lebanon had also put Iran "in a position of considerable strength" in the Middle East, said the thinktank. Unless stability could be restored to the region, Iran's power will continue to grow, according to the report published by Chatham HouseThe study said Iran had been swift to fill the political vacuum created by the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The Islamic republic now has a level of influence in the region that could not be ignored....
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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Editor - 09:14:00 08-23-06
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 CHINA'S ART FACTORIES Van Gogh From the Sweatshop |
Southern China is the world's leading center for mass-produced works of art. One village of artists exports about five million paintings every year -- most of them copies of famous masterpieces. The fastest workers can paint up to 30 paintings a day. A giant hand raises an impressive paintbrush into the sky at the entrance to the art village. The bronze sculpture outside the gates of Dafen in southern China leaves no visitor in doubt as to what the people do here. The "village" is in fact a modern suburb of Shenzhen, a city with 10 million inhabitants northeast of Hong Kong, and it has achieved unexpected fame and relative prosperity. But the city's ostentatiously advertized success has little to do with creativity: It's based on the reproduction of famous artworks on an industrial scale. In just a few years, Dafen has become the leading production center for cheap oil paintings...
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,433134,00.html
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Editor - 09:01:00 08-23-06
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| Research shows first impressions really count |
It takes only one tenth of a second for us to make up our minds about people, according to research published today.Only long experience can dislodge our initial preconceptions, psychologists at Princeton University, in the US, said.They found that people made judgements about the attractiveness, likeability, trustworthiness, competence and aggressiveness of other people after looking at their faces for 100 milliseconds.Rather than correcting initial judgements, longer glances at the same faces caused people to become more convinced of their initial opinions, the scientists found. "The link between facial features and character may be tenuous at best, but that doesn't stop our minds from sizing other people up at a glance," Alex Todorov, an assistant professor of psychology, said....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1856627,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 08:45:00 08-23-06
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| Despite Losing Primary, Alaska Governor Vows to Press Ahead With Gas Pipeline Deal |
Gov. Frank Murkowski vowed Wednesday to continue to push a contract for a natural gas pipeline to Canada even though he lost the Republican primary and will soon be out of office. "It's the only game in town," the Republican governor said of his deal with BP PLC, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. The $25 billion gas pipeline proposal has been a focus of the campaign season, and Murkowski has met resistance. Critics say his deal with the companies cedes too much in incentives without firm commitments to get it built. The pipeline would stretch at least 2,100 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Alberta, Canada, and perhaps another 1,500 miles to Chicago. It would carry about 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day and could supply about 10 percent of future U.S. natural gas demand. In June, Vice President Dick Cheney urged Alaska legislators to pass bills that would advance the pipeline. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2347000
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Editor - 08:42:00 08-23-06
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| Chile student rally turns violent |
More than 200 people have been arrested and dozens injured in Chile after high school students clashed with police during protests over education reforms. Some 2,000 students marched in the capital Santiago and other parts of the country over the government's perceived lack of progress on the reforms. Police used tear gas and water cannon, and protesters threw stones at the security forces. Chile has seen massive student protests in the last few months. A series of strikes and street rallies involving about 700,000 students were called off in June after the government agreed to a number of their demands. President Michelle Bachelet ordered the creation of a reform commission and pledged extra funding to repair run-down school facilities and help poorer students. But some of the students have become frustrated at the pace of progress. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5277190.stm
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Editor - 08:40:00 08-23-06
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| Sudan armies abuse children - UN |
Government and rebel forces in Sudan are guilty of abusing children, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said. In a report to the Security Council, Mr Annan condemned the practice of recruiting child soldiers. His report said this continued despite peace deals in southern Sudan and the western Darfur region. It also said sexual and other violence against children by army and militia groups persisted in southern and western Sudan. Mr Annan's report implicates the Sudanese Armed Forces - the government army - in child recruitment in southern Sudan and in Khartoum, in the killing of children in southern Sudan, and in child abduction and sexual violence in Darfur. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5277608.stm
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Editor - 08:35:00 08-23-06
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