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-- Weekly news in 20minutes

Posted by Lilith on Jan-28-2007 09:59:

Weekly news in 20minutes

Well the interesting bits anway, bleh, takes longer to format than it did to read

Bush's popularity hits new low
A hefty 71 per cent of those surveyed said Bush would not have enough support over the next two years to "make a difference" in carrying out his decisions, compared with just 21 per cent who said he did.
Link

Back in 2002-2003 it was virtually the opposite, guess it goes to say that spin only gets you so far before you actually have to pony up some results. The breaking news of the protests across the US where also heartening that there are some conciencious objecters who bothered to get off their arses.

23 dead in Palestinian unrest
Fresh clashes between rival Palestinian factions have erupted in the Gaza Strip, where fighting has killed 23 people since Thursday evening.
Witnesses say three Palestinians died overnight, as militants from the ruling Hamas movement clashed with Fatah gunmen loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
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Something I've been watching out of the corner of my eye, quite sad really that its come down to this, you'd think with the current circumstances that they'd have better things to put their energy into. More or less confirms that the doubters where right about Arafat holding the show together.

China confirms anti-satellite missile test
China today broke its silence over reports it had tested an anti-satellite weapon, confirming it had done so but insisting it opposed any arms race in space.
Beijing had formally notified the US, Japan and other countries about the test, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference.
"What needs to be stressed is that China has always advocated the peaceful use of space, opposes the proliferation of weapons in space and an arms race in space," Mr Liu said.
Link

China always has the best spin and having proved time and time again that they can do an about-face on demand. Course the real worry is that if they do it again then theres going to be a couple more clouds of debris floating around up there and make life a bit more difficult for space exploration.

NATO agrees to increase aid to Afghanistan
NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have agreed to step up military and civilian assistance to Afghanistan.

The United States has already pledged an extra $14 billion and the announcement of the new US aid package on the eve of this meeting was clearly intended to challenge Europe's NATO members to do more as well.
Link

Well at least someone remembered that these poor bastards still exist, would be sort of embarrassing if say French troops or someone else that objected to the war drags old Osama Bin Hiding out of a spider hole in a few months. Actually my $ if I was a betting animal would be on the Canadians finding him

Russia to build nuclear power plants in India
Russia can build up to ten reactors for nuclear power plants in India, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said.
He is accompanying President Vladimir Putin during his visit to India.
�We have agreed about the construction of four power units at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, and the talks is about new sites,� Zhukov told reporters on Friday
Link

Another golden oppertunity really for the US to make some inroads into the worlds biggest democratic nation and one of the most influential nations in the region, pissed away selling weapons to the Pakistani's. Russia makes a big $ out of this and it will in turn make India a lot stronger overall.

Russia unwilling to hand over Litvinenko suspect to Yard
Russia said yesterday it was not willing to hand over to Britain the businessman suspected by Scotland Yard of poisoning the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.
Russian prosecutors said there was virtually no prospect they would agree to any future British request for Andrei Lugovoi to be extradited to the UK to stand trial.
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I'll be very suprised now if anything comes of the assassination.

Ethiopia to withdraw third of Somalia troops by Sunday
A third of Ethiopia's troops in Somalia are expected to have withdraw by Sunday, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
"We are reducing troop numbers by about a third ... that process should be completed today or tomorrow," Meles told Reuters in an interview on Saturday.
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One of the largest invasions in recent years which has practically no coverage in the western press. It will be interesting to see what the long term goals of the Ethiopians are and the politics behind the invasion. Very little data on it and aside from Somalia being a wreck for the last 20 years they basically did in about 2 weeks what the UN forces couldnt do in a few years.

Bangladesh tightens grip on political activities
Bangladesh has formalised strict control over the media and politics by unveiling regulations that ban rallies, strikes and "provocative" anti-Government reporting.
The interim Government says the curbs aim to make the run-up to elections free and peaceful. A date for the polls has still to be fixed.
The Government has warned that anyone who breaks the new restrictions, imposed under emergency rule, faces two to five years' jail.
Link

If you ever had reason to bitch and cry over free speech, nows your chance to vent it at a real example.