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July 2009

Natural Baby Cream

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 06:42 — admin

Newborns can respond to different tastes, including sweet, sour, bitter, and salty substances, with a preference toward sweets.

Practitioners of these techniques assert that babies can control their bodily functions at the age of six months and that they are aware when they are urinating at an even earlier age. Babies can learn to signal to the parents when it is time to urinate or defecate by turning or making noises. Parents have to pay attention to the baby's actions so they can learn the signals.

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Six dead, 10 missing in Japan mudslide (AFP)

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 06:09 — admin

TOKYO (AFP) –
Hundreds of troops joined the search in western Japan Wednesday for 10 people missing a day after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that killed at least six people, officials said.

Emergency services staff were digging through mud and the debris of broken furniture inside a mud-filled nursing home in Hofu, Yamaguchi prefecture, 750 kilometres (470 miles) west of Tokyo, television images showed.

"We started the search for the people still missing at 7:00 am (2200 GMT) with at least 280 rescue officers," a prefectural police spokesman told AFP.

The Ground Self Defence Force dispatched 220 troops to the rescue effort, which was hampered by muddy water still flowing down a hillside and into the nursing home where three people died and four people were listed as missing.

Two more people were killed elsewhere in Yamaguchi, one in a landslide and another in a swollen river, while six remained missing, police officials said.

In the neighbouring prefecture of Tottori, one person drowned in a flooded river, another police spokesman said.

Some 370 people were evacuated to emergency shelters while the water supply was cut to some 30,000 households in Yamaguchi, public broadcaster NHK said, adding that more than 1,270 houses had been flooded.

Prime Minister Taro Aso had ordered thorough measures to tackle the disaster, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference in Tokyo.

"First, we have to do our best to rescue people as there are a number of people still missing," the top government spokesman said.

Mumbai gunman says he's ready for gallows (AP)

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 05:18 — admin

MUMBAI, India – The lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks said Wednesday that he is ready to go to the gallows and wants no mercy from the court for his role in one of India's worst terrorist acts, which left 166 people dead.
"Whatever I have done, I have done in this world. It would be better to be punished in this world. It would be better than God's punishment. That's why I have pleaded guilty," Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani, told the court.
Kasab unexpectedly confessed Monday to taking part in the three-day attack that began Nov. 26, leaving a trail of carnage across downtown Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital.
"If I am hanged for this, I am not bothered. I don't want any mercy from the court. I understand the implications of my accepting the crime," he said.
Kasab, 21, was responding to accusations by Chief Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that the Pakistani national was trying to minimize his role in the attack to avoid the death penalty and protect his alleged co-conspirators in Pakistan. Nikam told the court that parts of his confession were inconsistent with evidence.
Judge M.L. Tahiliyani has yet to accept the confession, which has complicated the already onerous task of defending a man whose photograph showing him striding through Mumbai's main train station with a gun has become an emblem of the terrifying three days.
The hearing will resume Thursday.
The confession, which describes in detail his links with a shadowy but well-organized group in Pakistan, also bolsters Indian accusations that Islamabad is not doing enough to clamp down on terrorist groups.
Kasab said he was not tortured or coerced into making the confession. "If somebody thinks that I have confessed the crime to escape the death penalty, he should take it out of his mind," he said.
In his confession, Kasab spoke of the killings by some of the other gunmen who came with him from Pakistan on a boat and the role their handlers played in instigating them to carry out the attack with provocative videos.
After landing in Mumbai, the 10 gunmen split up into pairs and fanned out to carry out the killings at the railway station, a hospital, a Jewish center, a restaurant packed with foreigners and two five-star hotels.
Kasab's confession goes into detail about the shootings by his partner, Abu Ismail, at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, where more than 50 people were killed, and at the Cama hospital.
The pair later hijacked a Skoda car, which was stopped by police. In the resulting shootout, Kasab was injured and captured while Abu Ismail was killed. The other eight gunmen were also killed during the course of the siege.
Nikam urged the court not to rush to issue a judgment based only on Kasab's confession, saying only parts of it that are consistent with the prosecution's evidence should be accepted.
"The rest of the things that he has said are so many total lies," he told reporters later.
Nikam said the court should also allow the prosecution to finish presenting its case so it can expose inconsistencies in Kasab's confession. He said he will also reveal why Mumbai and foreigners were targeted.
But defense lawyer Abbas Kazmi said there was no point in prolonging the trial.
He said the court should accept Kasab's admission of guilt and hand out a sentence. But if the judge doesn't want to accept the guilty plea, he should also reject Kasab's confessional statement.

"If it is inconsistent, it should be thrown out," he said.

The Mumbai siege severely strained relations between India and Pakistan and slowed a peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan is trying five alleged members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group India says masterminded the attack. The five have denied allegations that they played a role in the Mumbai attack.

In his confession, Kasab said one of those men — Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi — saw him and the other attackers off on their suicide mission.

Kasab initially pleaded not guilty to 86 charges including murder and waging war against India, which is punishable by death. He said he made the abrupt about-face because the Pakistani government acknowledged he was Pakistani and began legal proceedings against the alleged masterminds of the Mumbai attack.

Two Indians, Fahim Ansari and Ahmed Sabauddin, also are on trial for allegedly providing maps that helped in the attack.

___

Associated Press writer Rajesh Shah contributed to this report.

Senate to vote on concealed weapons measure (AP)

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 03:42 — admin

WASHINGTON – Gun control and gun rights advocates are heading for another clash with a Senate vote on a measure that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry those hidden weapons into other states.
Backers, led by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., say truckers and others with concealed weapons permits should be able to protect themselves when they cross into other states. Opponents say the measure would force states with strict procedures for getting permits to accept permits from states with more lax laws.
The Senate has scheduled a vote Wednesday on the measure, which Thune offered as an amendment to a major defense policy bill. Under an agreement reached among Senate leaders, 60 votes will be needed to approve the amendment.
The vote comes a day after the Senate completed what is probably the most controversial issue connected to the defense bill, voting 58-40 to eliminate $1.75 billion in the $680 billion bill that had been set aside for building more F-22 fighters. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates campaigned hard for removing the money, saying the Pentagon had enough F-22s and the money could be spent on more pressing defense needs.
The gun proposal would make concealed weapons permits from one state valid in other states as long as the person obeys the laws of other states, such as weapons bans in certain localities. It does not establish national standards for concealed weapons permits and would not allow those with permits to carry weapons into Wisconsin and Illinois, the two states that do not have concealed weapons laws.
"Law-abiding South Dakotans should be able to exercise the right to bear arms in states with similar regulations on concealed firearms," Thune said. "My legislation enables citizens to protect themselves while respecting individual state firearms laws."
National Rifle Association chief lobbyist Chris W. Cox said the last two decades have shown a strong shift toward gun rights laws. "We believe it's time for Congress to acknowledge these changes and respect the right of self-defense, and the right of self-defense does not stop at state lines," he said.
Gun control groups were strongly in opposition.
Concealed handgun permit holders killed at least seven police officers and 44 private citizens during a two-year period ending in April, according to a study by the Violence Policy Center. "It is beyond irrational for Congress to vote to expand the reach of these deadly laws," said the center's legislative director, Kristen Rand.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the bill would "incite a dangerous race to the bottom in our nation's gun laws." He said his own state, which has strict gun control laws, would have to accept concealed weapons permits from states such as Arizona, which issues permits to people with drinking problems, or Alaska, where people with violent misdemeanor convictions can get permits.
"Folks in Minot, N.D., and New York are going to have different conceptions about what's right for their locality," said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist think tank that supports gun rights. "In some states you have to show a real need" to get a permit, he said. "In other states you have to show that you can stand on two feet."
So far this year gun rights advocates have had the clear advantage in Congress. They managed to attach a provision to a credit card bill signed into law that restores the right to carry loaded firearms in national parks, and coupled a Senate vote giving the District of Columbia a vote in the House with a provision effectively ending the district's tough gun control laws.
House Democratic leaders, unable to detach the two issues without losing the support of pro-gun Democrats, abandoned attempts to pass the D.C. vote bill.
___
On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

Saudi rights abuses increased since 9/11: Amnesty (AFP)

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 02:18 — admin

LONDON (AFP) –
Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia have soared as a result of counter-terrorism measures introduced since the 2001 attacks in the United States, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based rights organisation warned in a new report that under the guise of national security, thousands of people had been arrested and detained in virtual secrecy and others had been killed in "uncertain circumstances".

There have long been human rights problems in the kingdom but Amnesty said the number of people being held arbitrarily, including both Saudi nationals and foreigners, "has risen from hundreds to thousands since 2001".

"These unjust anti-terrorism measures have made an already dire human rights situation worse," said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme.

Amnesty noted that in June 2007, the Saudi interior ministry reported that 9,000 security suspects had been detained between 2003 and 2007 and that 3,106 of these were still being held.

Some of those held are prisoners of conscience, targeted for their criticism of government policies, the report said.

The majority are suspected of supporting Islamist groups that are opposed to Saudi Arabia's close links to the United States and have carried out a number of attacks targeting Westerners and others.

Amnesty said trials of people suspected of terrorism offences are carried out in secret, despite sentences ranging from fines to the death penalty. The names of those involved or the charges against them are not disclosed.

"Detainees are held with no idea of what is going to happen to them," Smart said. "Most are held incommunicado for years without trial, and are denied access to lawyers and the courts to challenge the legality of their detention."

The Saudi authorities were not immediately available for comment, but the country's top human rights official told AFP last month that suspected militants being tried in special courts were allowed lawyers to help their defence.

"They can choose a lawyer... or the ministry of justice will provide one," said Bandar al-Aiban, president of the official Saudi Human Rights Commission.

He said he regretted that the trials were being kept secret but said the government was worried some defendants would use a public trial as a soapbox to preach radical ideology. "We have to be mindful of other dangers," he said.

Amnesty accused the international community of failing to hold the Saudi government to account over the alleged violations, saying the kingdom "has used its powerful international clout to get away with it".

The group also reported that many people were thought to have been tortured "in order to extract confessions or as punishment after conviction".

Methods include severe beatings by sticks, suspension from the ceiling and the use of electric shocks and sleep deprivation, while "flogging is also imposed as a legal punishment by itself or in addition to imprisonment".

Defense may rest in evangelist's sex-crimes trial (AP)

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 01:45 — admin

TEXARKANA, Ark. – Lawyers for evangelist Tony Alamo on Wednesday will likely wrap up their defense in his federal sex-crimes trial.
Lawyer Phillip Kuhn says Alamo's defense team plans to call only two more witnesses to the stand. That means jurors could receive the case as soon as early Wednesday afternoon.
The only remaining wild card remains Alamo himself. The evangelist told reporters on the way to court Tuesday that he planned to take the stand, despite his lawyers' advice against it. But when leaving Tuesday afternoon, Alamo said his defense team had "won the case already without me having to take the stand."
The 74-year-old evangelist faces a 10-count federal indictment accusing him of taking underage girls across state lines for sex.

Wallets

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 00:50 — admin

Billfolds were developed after the introduction of paper currency to the West in the 1600s. (The first paper currency was introduced in the New World by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690.) Prior to the introduction of paper currency, purses (usually simple drawstring leather pouches) were used for storing coins. Early wallets were made primarily of cow or horse leather and included a small pouch for printed calling cards.

A wallet generally has one or more currency pockets; in some cases, there may also be a money clip. Wallets usually have one or more pockets for storing credit card or identification cards, which may be oriented vertically or horizontally.

Wallets

Senate to vote on concealed weapons measure (AP)

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 00:38 — admin

WASHINGTON – Gun control and gun rights advocates are heading for another clash with a Senate vote on a measure that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry those hidden weapons into other states.
Backers, led by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., say truckers and others with concealed weapons permits should be able to protect themselves when they cross into other states. Opponents say the measure would force states with strict procedures for getting permits to accept permits from states with more lax laws.
The Senate has scheduled a vote Wednesday on the measure, which Thune offered as an amendment to a major defense policy bill. Under an agreement reached among Senate leaders, 60 votes will be needed to approve the amendment.
The vote comes a day after the Senate completed what is probably the most controversial issue connected to the defense bill, voting 58-40 to eliminate $1.75 billion in the $680 billion bill that had been set aside for building more F-22 fighters. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates campaigned hard for removing the money, saying the Pentagon had enough F-22s and the money could be spent on more pressing defense needs.
The gun proposal would make concealed weapons permits from one state valid in other states as long as the person obeys the laws of other states, such as weapons bans in certain localities. It does not establish national standards for concealed weapons permits and would not allow those with permits to carry weapons into Wisconsin and Illinois, the two states that do not have concealed weapons laws.
"Law-abiding South Dakotans should be able to exercise the right to bear arms in states with similar regulations on concealed firearms," Thune said. "My legislation enables citizens to protect themselves while respecting individual state firearms laws."
National Rifle Association chief lobbyist Chris W. Cox said the last two decades have shown a strong shift toward gun rights laws. "We believe it's time for Congress to acknowledge these changes and respect the right of self-defense, and the right of self-defense does not stop at state lines," he said.
Gun control groups were strongly in opposition.
Concealed handgun permit holders killed at least seven police officers and 44 private citizens during a two-year period ending in April, according to a study by the Violence Policy Center. "It is beyond irrational for Congress to vote to expand the reach of these deadly laws," said the center's legislative director, Kristen Rand.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the bill would "incite a dangerous race to the bottom in our nation's gun laws." He said his own state, which has strict gun control laws, would have to accept concealed weapons permits from states such as Arizona, which issues permits to people with drinking problems, or Alaska, where people with violent misdemeanor convictions can get permits.
"Folks in Minot, N.D., and New York are going to have different conceptions about what's right for their locality," said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist think tank that supports gun rights. "In some states you have to show a real need" to get a permit, he said. "In other states you have to show that you can stand on two feet."
So far this year gun rights advocates have had the clear advantage in Congress. They managed to attach a provision to a credit card bill signed into law that restores the right to carry loaded firearms in national parks, and coupled a Senate vote giving the District of Columbia a vote in the House with a provision effectively ending the district's tough gun control laws.
House Democratic leaders, unable to detach the two issues without losing the support of pro-gun Democrats, abandoned attempts to pass the D.C. vote bill.
___
On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

Pet Tags

Tue, 07/21/2009 - 23:23 — admin

A pet can be acquired from an animal shelter, a breeder, and from private transactions, typically due to the giving away of extra newborns after the birth of a litter. See also pet adoption. Because of environmental and public safety concerns, some pets are illegal in many jurisdictions.

In veterinary medicine, dogs and cats are often considered "household" pets, while all other animals are grouped into either "farm animals" (such as horses, cows, or sheep) or "exotics" (including pocket pets, birds, and reptiles).

Pet Tags

Maliki to meet Obama, seek support for investment (Reuters)

Tue, 07/21/2009 - 23:20 — admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meets President Barack Obama on Wednesday in a visit aimed at asserting Iraq's newfound sovereignty and encouraging foreign investors to return to the war-ravaged country.

Three weeks after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi towns and cities, paving the way for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011, both Washington and Baghdad are eager to show their relationship has moved into a new phase, one that will see more emphasis placed on non-military cooperation.

Maliki will also hold talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and attend an investment conference, U.S. officials said.

"The visit will highlight the non-security ties and lay the groundwork for future economic cooperation and trade," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Maliki's Shi'ite Muslim-led government is aggressively courting foreign investors as it struggles to resurrect an economy calcified by decades of sanctions, neglect and war.

During his trip to the United States this week, Maliki will tout Iraq's improved security after six years of conflict that saw tens of thousands of people killed in insurgent and sectarian violence and millions more forced from their homes.

More than 4,300 American soldiers have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. There are still 130,000 U.S. troops in the country.

But investors remain unsure whether Iraq's legal and regulatory framework will offer them sufficient protection, and while violence has dipped sharply, major bomb attacks are not uncommon. Iraq is also riven by deep divisions among majority Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.

The Obama administration remains concerned about the pace of political reconciliation in Iraq but, unlike the Bush administration, there are no plans to set political benchmarks for Maliki's government to meet.

"We are not going to be dictating to the Iraqis what they need to do," the U.S. official said. "The main focus will be to stress the importance of a comprehensive long-term partnership that goes beyond security."

The official said he did not know whether Obama planned to raise the issue of political reconciliation at his White House meeting with Maliki.

Both Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, have used trips to Iraq this year to call on Iraq's government to reach a political accommodation with opponents on disputes ranging from sharing oil revenues to resolving internal boundary issues.

LIFTING CHAPTER 7 STATUS

There are also concerns over growing tensions between Iraq's semi-autonomous territory of Kurdistan and Baghdad that analysts fear could trigger renewed conflict just as the country recovers from years of sectarian bloodletting.

Kurds want to fold the disputed city of Kirkuk, which U.S. officials say could hold as much as 4 percent of world oil reserves, into their northern region, but Maliki's government strongly opposes the move.

"Maliki will ask the U.S. to increase pressure on the Kurdish government. Finding a solution for this issue is vital and cannot be postponed any longer," said Saad al-Hadithi, a political analyst at Baghdad University.

Maliki, whose nationalist stance has helped him outmaneuver political rivals, is also determined to change the perception that Iraq is a client state of the United States and not in control of its own affairs.

"This trip is considered very important because it takes place in the search for a framework for a relationship that is not military but civilian, including diplomatic, political and cultural ties," said Maliki's spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh.

Dabbagh said Maliki in meetings with Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would also press for the lifting of Iraq's Chapter 7 status under a 1991 U.N. Security Council resolution that requires it to pay 5 percent of its oil revenues as war reparations for the 1991 Gulf War.

Dabbagh said the Chapter 7 status had "handcuffed Iraq, restricted its sovereignty and burdened it with the crimes of the former regime," a reference to Saddam and his ill-fated invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Saddam was executed in December 2006.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York, and Waleed Ibrahim, Missy Ryan and Mohammed Abbas in Baghdad; Editing by Peter Cooney)



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