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Strategies & Market Trends : World Outlook -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (5869)	2/13/2006 2:12:58 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 48680

Iraq beatings caught on video Sunday, February 12, 2006 Amateur video released Sunday by a London-based newspaper shows eight British soldiers dragging what appear to be three Iraqi youths behind a wall, where they apparently kick and hit them with batons and fists. The News of the World said the soldiers' attack, which followed a scene showing youths throwing stones at the soldiers, was videotaped in southern Iraq in early 2004. The newspaper said the scenes, which lasted about two minutes, were videotaped by a corporal "for fun," apparently from a nearby rooftop. On the tape, the youths' pleas for mercy are ignored. The beatings include what appears to be a British soldier kicking one of the youths, shown pinned to the ground by other soldiers, in the genitals. In another case, a soldier puts a boy in a headlock, then releases him only to butt his head against the boy's, then strike his fist on the boy's head. The youth's cries can be heard on the tape. The tape includes what sounds like a running commentary of approval from the cameraman. "Oh yes! Oh yes! You're gonna get it. Yes, naughty little boys!" the narrator can be heard saying as the blows land. "Die! Ha, ha!" ...The paper quoted an informant as saying, "These Iraqis were just kids. Most haven't even got shoes on. edition.cnn.com

To: Les H who wrote (5869)	2/13/2006 5:53:05 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 48680

Mexican threat to prosecute U.S. hotel over Cuba embargo displays dilemma businessmen face By Julie Watson ASSOCIATED PRESS 1:20 p.m. February 8, 2006 MEXICO CITY – Mexico's vow to prosecute an American-owned hotel for adhering to the U.S. embargo of Cuba puts American businesses in a dilemma: Whose laws do they obey – those of their homeland or those of their host? No matter what they do, they could face legal action. Mexico issued a complaint Tuesday against Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton in Mexico City after it complied with a U.S. government request to expel a group of Cuban officials meeting with U.S. energy executives. <snip> www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20060208-1320-mexico-us-cuba.html

To: Les H who wrote (5869)	2/13/2006 6:15:51 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 48680

CIA chief sacked for opposing torture timesonline.co.uk [This is odd, I thought we denied using torture - Mish] Sarah Baxter and Michael Smith, Washington The CIA’s top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as “water boarding”, intelligence sources have claimed. Robert Grenier, head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, was relieved of his post after a year in the job. One intelligence official said he was “not quite as aggressive as he might have been” in pursuing Al-Qaeda leaders and networks. Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counter-terrorism at the agency, said: “It is not that Grenier wasn’t aggressive enough, it is that he wasn’t ‘with the programme’. He expressed misgivings about the secret prisons in Europe and the rendition of terrorists.” Grenier also opposed “excessive” interrogation, such as strapping suspects to boards and dunking them in water, according to Cannistraro. Porter Goss, who was appointed head of the CIA in August 2004 with a mission to “clean house”, has been angered by a series of leaks from CIA insiders, including revelations about “black sites” in Europe where top Al-Qaeda detainees were said to have been held. In last Friday’s New York Times, Goss wrote that leakers within the CIA were damaging the agency’s ability to fight terrorism and causing foreign intelligence organisations to lose confidence. “Too many of my counterparts from other countries have told me, ‘You Americans can’t keep a secret’.” Goss is believed to have blamed Grenier for allowing leaks to occur on his watch. Since the appointment of Goss, the CIA has lost almost all its high-level directors amid considerable turmoil. AB “Buzzy” Krongard, a former executive director of the CIA who resigned shortly after Goss’s arrival, said the leaks were unlikely to stop soon, despite proposals to subject officers to more lie detector tests. Krongard said it was up to President George Bush to stop the rot. “The agency has only one client: the president of the United States,” he said. “The reorganisation is the way this president wanted it. If he is unwilling to reform it, the agency will go on as it is.” “History will judge how good an idea it was to destroy the teams and the programmes that were in place.”

To: Les H who wrote (5869)	2/14/2006 2:35:46 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 48680

SA solar research eclipses rest of the world int.iol.co.za In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun. This means high electricity bills and frequent power failures could soon be a thing of the past. The unique South African-developed solar panels will make it possible for houses to become completely self-sufficient for energy supplies. The panels are able to generate enough energy to run stoves, geysers, lights, TVs, fridges, computers - in short all the mod-cons of the modern house. Nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the SA invention The new technology should be available in South Africa within a year and through a special converter, energy can be fed directly into the wiring of existing houses. New powerful storage units will allow energy storage to meet demands even in winter. The panels are so efficient they can operate through a Cape Town winter. while direct sunlight is ideal for high-energy generation, other daytime light also generates energy via the panels. A team of scientists led by University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University) scientist Professor Vivian Alberts achieved the breakthrough after 10 years of research. The South African technology has now been patented across the world. One of the world leaders in solar energy, German company IFE Solar Systems, has invested more than R500-million in the South African invention and is set to manufacture 500 000 of the panels before the end of the year at a new plant in Germany. Production will start next month and the factory will run 24 hours a day, producing more than 1 000 panels a day to meet expected demand. Another large German solar company is negotiating with the South African inventors for rights to the technology, while a South African consortium of businesses are keen to build local factories. The new, highly efficient and cheap alloy solar panel is much more efficient than the costly old silicone solar panels. International experts have admitted that nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the South African invention. The South African solar panels consist of a thin layer of a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on virtually all flexible surfaces, which means it could in future find a host of other applications. Alberts said the new panels are approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick) while the older silicon panels are 350 microns thick. the cost of the South African technology is a fraction of the less effective silicone solar panels. Alberts said in Switzerland it was already compulsory for all new houses to include solar technology to lessen energy demands on national grids. "And that was the older, less effective technology. With our hours of sunlight, we will on average generate twice as much energy than, for instance, European countries." While South African scientists developed and patented the new, super-effective alloy solar panels, other companies have developed new, super-efficient storage batteries and special converters to change the energy into the power source of a particular country (220 volts in South Africa). # Eskom spokesperson Carin de Villiers said any new power supply that lessened the load on Eskom was to be welcomed. She said Eskom was also doing its own research on solar energy. "In fact, we are currently investigating building what will probably be the largest solar power plant, in the Northern Cape - a 100-megawatt facility." She added that Eskom was also researching wind and fuel-cell technology as alternative energy sources.