"Looking gaunt and scared and with a cut on his face, Bowe Bergdahl appears in a newly released Taliban video, a sign that the captive Army soldier is still alive, but that his nearly 18-month ordeal has taken a toll.
In the Line of Fire
The 44-minute video, which was widely distributed on the web, shows a clean-shaven Bergdahl standing with the senior Taliban commander responsible for his capture near the Pakistani border in June 2009. Bergdahl is on-screen for about 15 seconds just over halfway through the video. Some of the footage of Bergdahl is recycled fromer earlier videos."
Friday, December 10, 2010
Hanoi Happy Birthday
"HA NOI — Spending for the 10-day celebration of Thang Long-Ha Noi's 1,000th anniversary hit VND265 billion (US$13.25 million), VND85 billion ($4.25 million) less than the amount expected by authorities.
The figures were released by Hoang Manh Hien, deputy chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee in the 22nd meeting of the municipal People's Council on Wednesday.
Hien said that during the preparations for the ceremony, the city had been determined to fight waste, save costs and avoid wrongdoing.
The money was mainly spent on the welcoming ceremony, gifts for guests, communication program-mes and cultural activities, he said."
The figures were released by Hoang Manh Hien, deputy chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee in the 22nd meeting of the municipal People's Council on Wednesday.
Hien said that during the preparations for the ceremony, the city had been determined to fight waste, save costs and avoid wrongdoing.
The money was mainly spent on the welcoming ceremony, gifts for guests, communication program-mes and cultural activities, he said."
click on the link to read more:http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Social-Isssues/206531/Happy-birthday-present-for-Ha-Noi.html
Estonia passes 2011 budget
"TALLINN - Estonia's parliament has passed a budget for next year that will see a 2 percent increase in revenue.
The Riigikogu passed it with a vote of 55-32. the budget increases spending by 5 percent to 6 billion euros while increasing evenue to to 5.7 billion euros - a modest deficit of 1.6 percent."
The Riigikogu passed it with a vote of 55-32. the budget increases spending by 5 percent to 6 billion euros while increasing evenue to to 5.7 billion euros - a modest deficit of 1.6 percent."
Israel draws global rebuke
"RAMALLAH, West Bank: The European Union, the United Nations and the Arab League have rebuked Israel after its refusal to halt settlement construction forced Washington to drop efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday stuck to his position that he won't negotiate without a freeze of Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — lands captured by Israel and sought by the Palestinians for their state. He spoke after meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. 'Without halt of settlements, there will be no talks,' Abbas said.
With the path to direct talks effectively blocked, it is not clear what the Obama administration will do next.
Israeli and Palestinian envoys were summoned to Washington for separate meetings with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She saw Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho on Thursday, to be followed by talks with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Friday. Molcho also met Obama envoy George Mitchell for three hours, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday stuck to his position that he won't negotiate without a freeze of Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — lands captured by Israel and sought by the Palestinians for their state. He spoke after meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. 'Without halt of settlements, there will be no talks,' Abbas said.
With the path to direct talks effectively blocked, it is not clear what the Obama administration will do next.
Israeli and Palestinian envoys were summoned to Washington for separate meetings with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She saw Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho on Thursday, to be followed by talks with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Friday. Molcho also met Obama envoy George Mitchell for three hours, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said."
Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Palin warns of new 'death panels'
"Death Panels" could be back, Sarah Palin says. But this time they are not the creation of the Obama administration. No, these are the handiwork of the bipartisan debt commission.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, the former Alaska governor takes aim at several of the controversial commission's recommendations, saying the cuts it proposes "implicitly endorses the use of 'death panel'-like rationing."
Palin highlights the commission's proposal for an Independent Payments Advisory Board, a committee, she says, that will make "bureaucrats, not medical professionals, the ultimate arbiters of what types of treatment will (and especially will not) be reimbursed under Medicare."Obama predicts success for tax deal - CNN.com
"Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Friday he's confident that Congress will pass a compromise tax package despite the objections of House Democrats.
'Nobody -- Democrat or Republican -- wants to see people's paychecks smaller on Jan. 1 because Congress didn't act,' Obama said in an interview with National Public Radio.
'And I think that the framework that we've put forward, which says not only that people's taxes don't go up on Jan. 1, but also that we extend unemployment insurance for a year, that we make sure that key provisions like the college tax credit, the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit are included -- that that framework is going to serve as the basis for compromise.'"
'Nobody -- Democrat or Republican -- wants to see people's paychecks smaller on Jan. 1 because Congress didn't act,' Obama said in an interview with National Public Radio.
'And I think that the framework that we've put forward, which says not only that people's taxes don't go up on Jan. 1, but also that we extend unemployment insurance for a year, that we make sure that key provisions like the college tax credit, the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit are included -- that that framework is going to serve as the basis for compromise.'"
Falcon 9 Takeoff
(CNN) -- Call it one small step for a cheese, one giant leap fromage-kind.
A wheel of Le Brouere cheese was the secret cargo aboard the SpaceX Dragon, the first commercial spacecraft to be recovered from Earth orbit, the company revealed Thursday. SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk hinted at the cargo after the capsule's successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday afternoon, suggesting it had something to do with the British comedy troupe Monty Python.
The block of fermented curd was a nod to one of the group's best-known sketches, "Cheese Shop." The wheel, described only as "very big," was being towed back to California aboard a barge along with the spacecraft and "basking in the glow of being the first cheese to travel to orbit on a commercial spacecraft," company spokeswoman Kirstin Brost told CNN.
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