BP's Russian oil joint venture
TNK-BP will sign its first deal with Venezuela after months of dispute
between BP and its Russian partners over its expansion abroad.
BP and its partners in TNK-BP,
four Russian-connected billionaires, have been locked in a dispute over
strategy and management tactics, with the Russian side accusing BP of
limiting TNK-BP's expansion abroad, including in Venezuela.
BP argues the projects proposed by its partners were not economically attractive.
The Kremlin source said TNK-BP, alongside oil major LUKOIL and gas giant Gazprom, will sign new energy deals with Venezuela during President Hugo Chavez's visit to Moscow........
Researchers at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands
today unveiled a small, remote-controlled aircraft weighing just 0.11
ounces (three grams) and with a four-inch (10-centimeter)
wingspan--just large enough to accommodate an onboard camera........
NEW YORK: Moving quickly to put an end to the
constant spill of red ink, Wachovia, the banking giant, booked an $8.9
billion loss and slashed its dividend in its first quarter under new
leadership.
Wachovia said it would also eliminate about 10,750 jobs, including
about 6,350 positions, largely in its mortgage business, and another
4,400 contractors and other positions across the bank.........
BEIJING: Beijing will permit
public protests inside three designated city parks during next month's
Olympic Games, but demonstrators must first obtain permits from the
local police and also abide by Chinese laws that usually make it nearly
impossible to legally picket over politically charged issues.
The arrangement announced Wednesday marks a break from normal
practice in China's authoritarian political system and seems loosely
modeled after protest zones created at previous Games and at many
recent international political gatherings that have attracted large
numbers of protesters.........
At least two petitioners are thought to have died as Beijing
authorities intensify their campaign to “clean up” the capital for the
Olympics, with busloads of people taken away each evening.
Petitioners contacted by telephone told The Epoch Times that on the
evening of July 13, five busloads of people were seized and taken away,
with another busload taken the following evening.
“Every evening they are seizing people,” Mr Zhao Jianping, told The
Epoch Times by phone. “The people living under bridges are becoming
fewer and fewer.” Mr Zhao has been appealing in Beijing for more than
four years..........
Though the trial the man, dubbed “Osama bin Laden’s driver”, is
primarily functioning as a show piece for the Bush administration’s
“war on terror”, some interesting information emerged from the
Guantanamo Bay naval base yesterday in the form of a direct admission
from a US prosecutor that the fourth plane was “shot down”.
The revelation came during assertions from representatives for the
prosecution that Salim Hamdan had detailed knowledge of the intended
target of the fourth hijacked plane on 9/11........
Travelers, be aware: Your full-blown image — private parts and all —
could soon be visible to a security officer, on-screen, at an airport
near you.
Miami International Airport is one of a dozen airports nationwide
that have begun pilot-testing whole-body imaging machines, which reveal
weapons and explosives concealed under layers of clothing.
"It allows us to detect threat objects that are not metallic and
that cannot be detected by metal detectors, and items that are
sometimes missed even in a physical pat-down, in a nonintrusive
manner," said Mark Hatfield, federal security director for the
Transportation Security Administration at MIA
As passengers step inside the machine, they extend their arms and
legs for several seconds, as millimeter wave technology creates an
image. About 25 feet away, in a covered booth, a security officer in
radio contact, views the ghostly silhouette -- with the face blurred --
on a screen.........
SURGING fuel prices will create a new world order in
aviation with a few giant global airlines, Qantas chief executive Geoff
Dixon predicts.
Mr Dixon warned a business lunch in Sydney that the industry faced a
permanent transformation, driven by globalisation and high fuel prices.
Qantas would survive, provided it continued to change, improve, innovate and streamline its business, he said.
"Over the next 12 years, many more airlines will vanish, unable to
cope with high fuel prices, or they will be swallowed up in takeovers
or mergers," he told the Community for Economic Development of
Australia lunch.........
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez on Tuesday that he hopes military ties between the countries
will strengthen.
Chavez, who is currently on an official visit to Russia, discussed
political, economic and defense cooperation with the premier at Putin's
residence near Moscow........
Russia would cross "a redline for the United States
of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top
US air force officer warned on Tuesday.
"If they did I think we should stand strong and
indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line
for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz,
nominated to be the air force's chief of staff.
He was referring to a Russian news report that said
the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a
regular basis.......
After 40 hours of labor, Thomas Beatie—better known as the pregnant man—is thrilled to have his little girl by his side.
“She’s so precious, I just can’t stop staring at her,” Thomas told People magazine in his first interview since he and wife Nancy welcomed baby Susan Juliette. “Just holding her is the best feeling in the world.”
Born on June 29 at 8:55 p.m., Beatie, 34, told the magazine, “When Susan finally came out, it was like in slow motion. I was full of wonder.” Nancy agreed, “There were tears of joy.”
daughter’s personality: “She’s easygoing and mellow and ...
TEHRAN (Reuters) -
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on
Wednesday praised U.S. participation in last week's talks with
Tehran on its disputed nuclear program as "a positive step" and
said its arch foe had shown respect........
For the second time in three weeks, an Arab bulldozer driver from east
Jerusalem rammed his construction vehicle into a city bus and several
cars on a central thoroughfare in the capital on Tuesday, wounding 15
people before being shot dead by a Druse border police officer and a
civilian passerby.
The early afternoon attack on King David Street was seen as a failed
copy of July 2's lethal bulldozer rampage on Jaffa Road in which Husam
Taysir Dwayat killed three people and wounded dozens before he was
killed.........
HOUSTON -- A Continental Airlines flight carrying seven members of
Congress from Houston to Washington was forced to make an emergency
landing after it lost cabin pressure and took a major nosedive Tuesday
afternoon.......
I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the
Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the
carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance
with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.
FullCAM models carbon flows in plants, mulch, debris, soils and
agricultural products, using inputs such as climate data, plant
physiology and satellite data. I've been following the global warming
debate closely for years.........
Wachovia Corp. has posted a second-quarter loss of $8.9 billion,
slashed its dividend and will cut 10,750 jobs as part of a turnaround
plan.
The job cuts are part of an expense initiative launched in June. The
bank will eliminate 6,350 active jobs and 4,400 open positions and
contractors as it works to find $1.5 billion in cost savings by 2009.
About 40 percent of that will come from personnel.
Wachovia has some 20 financial centers in the San Antonio area.
The net loss of $4.20 per share includes a $6.1 billion noncash
goodwill impairment charge reflecting declining market valuations and
asset values.........
Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER........
HOUSTON (AP) -- Halliburton Co. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit
fell about 67 percent from a year ago, when the company recorded a
nearly $1 billion gain from the separation of former subsidiary KBR
Inc., but the oilfield services provider announced record revenues.
Income from continuing operations met Wall Street forecasts, and the company said it continued to expand its business globally.
Halliburton, which has corporate offices in Houston and Dubai, said
earnings for the April-June period were $507 million, or 55 cents a
share. That compares with year-ago profit of $1.53 billion, or $1.62 a
share, which included a $933 million gain from the KBR separation.........
A New Jersey man who once claimed insanity was convicted Monday of a hate crime for accosting Nazi death camp survivor and scholar Elie Wiesel in a hotel elevator.
Eric Hunt, 24, was convicted in San Francisco Superior Court
of one felony charge of false imprisonment with a hate crime
allegation. Hunt was also convicted of two misdemeanor counts - one for
battery and one for elder abuse.........
Oil prices tumbled more than $3 a barrel Tuesday as Tropical Storm
Dolly grew increasingly unlikely to threaten supply, knocking out one
more reason traders had to prop up prices.
The sell-off was a throwback to last week's sharp declines, and dragged
crude to its lowest level since early June. A stronger dollar helped
keep prices in check.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $3.09 to settle at $127.95
a barrel in its last trading day on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Earlier the contract, which will be replaced by September crude
Wednesday, dropped as low as $125.63. It was crude's fourth decline in
the last five sessions..........
WASHINGTON — Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama’s
Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major
world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions,
accompanied by suggested answers, that the candidate is likely to be
asked about international relations during the day.........
In the end, Citadel Broadcasting, which inherited top Talk
personality Sean Hannity when it bought ABC Radio, could only hold
onto Hannity through an unusual deal with Clear Channel's
programming powerhouse, Premiere Radio Networks.
Hannity's new syndication contract, announced Monday (July 21),
calls for his afternoon Talk program to be syndicated via ABC Radio
Networks (owned by Citadel) through the end of the year. But in
December, Premiere will take over syndication of the three-hour
program to all non-Citadel-owned stations and lead the advertising
sales.........
BEIJING -- Explosions this morning in the
southern Chinese city of Kunming killed at least three people and
injured 13 in what appears to have been a coordinated terrorist attack.
One explosion at 7:05 a.m. on a commuter bus was followed by another an hour later on a bus downtown.
Chinese police have not yet given any explanation other than to
say that the attacks were "sabotage," according to the New China News
Agency.........
The man who delivered an historic "No" vote in Ireland against the
EU's Lisbon Treaty has revealed far-reaching plans to give voters
throughout Europe a peoples' referendum on the handover of power to
Brussels.
Declan Ganley is planning to field more than 400 candidates in next
June's European Parliament elections, in the 26 countries – including
Britain – where voters have had no direct say on the treaty.
The energy and rhetoric of Mr Ganley, a multimillionaire
businessman, was widely credited with persuading the Irish to reject
the treaty, even though every leading Irish political party apart from
Sinn Fein was urging voters to say "Yes".........
Russia's steel elite, with cash to burn from record profits, has
accumulated almost 10 percent of U.S. steelmaking capacity as it bets
big that demand in the world's largest economy will ride out a global
credit crunch.
Billionaires who built their fortune on
Soviet-era steel giants have spent nearly $9 billion in the last few
years acquiring U.S. mills to expand their global presence. At today's
knockdown prices, investors believe it's a gamble worth taking........
Blackwater Worldwide is building up its own Air Force.
Airmen
might soon find Blackwater blimps patrolling Iraq and Afghanistan skies
in addition to its helicopter and light transport aircraft already
flying thousands of missions in theater.
According
to Blackwater Worldwide CEO Erik Prince, eight Blackwater CASA 212
light transport aircraft flew 11,000 sorties in Afghanistan last year
supporting 38 combat outposts over 19,000 square miles. Its aircraft
transported more than 40,000 personnel and 9.5 million pounds of
supplies last year.........
Firefighters are asking for offensive billboards in the Orlando
area, that promote a web site selling a CD, to be taken down. The
billboards blame the 9/11 attacks on Democrats while the inane song advertised doesn’t even mention the attacks. Instead, you get little bon mots like this:
Mike Meehan himself — this explains a lot.
The Democrat secular progressive move,
political correctness is killing us too........
First it was Citibank. Now it's Barclay's and New York City's
Chrysler Building skyscraper. Muslim Arabs are buying out collapsing
Western banks and businesses and gaining growing international power,
but some Arab investors are worried their investments may go down the
drain with the American economy.
The current financial crisis in the United States has spread to
other countries because of a massive debt that was not backed by enough
real and liquid collateral. Banks and businesses gasping for financial
breath are up for sale at basement prices, but no one is certain if the
basement is the bottom.........
WARREN, Michigan (AP) -- When Coke-bottle glasses just won't cut it for safe driving, a futuristic windshield might do the trick.
General
Motors Corp. researchers are working on a windshield that combines
lasers, infrared sensors and a camera to take what's happening on the
road and enhance it, so aging drivers with vision problems are able to
see a little more clearly.
Though it's only in the research stage now, the technology soon will be more useful than ever.
The
65 and older population in the U.S. will nearly double in about 20
years, meaning more people will be struggling to see the road like they
used to.........
"Mr. Peterson, co-founder of the Blackstone Group and a secretary of
commerce under President Richard M. Nixon, will spend $1 billion in an
effort to get the public’s attention. The money, which comes from the
windfall Mr. Peterson received when Blackstone went public last year,
will finance a media blitz, starting with a documentary, “I.O.U.S.A.”
“You can buy a lot of airtime” with $1 billion, Mr. Peterson said. “People are going to hear from us.”
The
move will solidify the Israeli firm's dominance of the generic drug
market and expand its presence in U.S. and European markets.
TRENTON, N.J. -- Teva Pharmaceutical said Friday that it would buy
rival generic drug maker Barr Pharmaceuticals for nearly $7.5 billion
in a move that will boost Teva's dominance as the world's biggest
generic drug maker.
The deal continues consolidation of the generic-drug sector, driven by
growth prospects as governments and other payers turn to the
lower-priced medications and by the impending expiration of brand-name
drug patents worth billions of dollars a year.
Israel-based
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said acquiring Montvale, N.J.-based
Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., the world's No. 4 generic drug maker, will
also expand its presence in U.S. and other key markets, from Russia to
Eastern and Central Europe.........
Barack Obama began Monday his first on-the-ground inspection of Iraq
since launching his bid for the White House, with U.S. commanders ready
to brief him on progress in a war he long opposed and Iraqi leaders
wanting more details of his proposals for troop withdrawals.
His stops in Baghdad — and other areas of the country — marked the
second major leg of a war zone tour that opened in Afghanistan. The
contrasts in tone and message were distinct.........
The popular online hangout Facebook is sporting a new look to
reflect changes in how its members communicate with each other and how
they share photos and updates about their lives.
Central to the redesign, to be unveiled Monday, is an expanded Wall,
the section of a member's personal profile page where friends can leave
comments and photos. People will now be able to add items more easily,
and the Wall will incorporate reports on a user's activities previously
found on a user's "Mini-Feed."
The development comes as Facebook and rival MySpace from News Corp.
vie to become the central hub of online communications. Both sites are
reorganizing their layouts this summer to reduce clutter and make
information easier to find.........
Emerging Killer Virus Starts Like a Cold, But Kills Many
NATURAL NEWS by David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) A newly discovered and highly lethal virus strain begins
with symptoms similar to that of a cold but can quickly lead to severe
respiratory crisis.
"This virus has the capability of causing severe respiratory illness in
people of all ages, regardless of their medical condition," said John
Su, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The virus was discovered by infectious-disease expert David N. Gilbert,
who noticed that otherwise healthy patients were being stricken by
pneumonia so severe that they would die without oxygen treatment. The
dangerous symptoms developed within only one or two days of initial
cough and fever symptoms.
Since Gilbert's discovery of the virus in Portland, Oregon, outbreaks
have been identified at military bases in Washington, Texas and South
Carolina........
What are these CHEMTRAIL Jets Spraying? - ORLANDO, FL - JULY 18, 2008
Video was taken in Orlando Florida on 7/18/08; between the early afternoon hours of 1pm to 2pm.
People throughout the world are being sprayed on purpose by jets such as the ones seen in this video. There is no doubt at all that this is happening.
The following links provide some information concerning the purposes and the ingredients of the chemtrail spray..........
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has figured prominently in recent political news
for his attempts to begin impeachment hearings against President George
W. Bush, today announced that the congressional subcommittee he chairs
will look into reports of peace groups being surveilled by police and
private investigators........
Zimbabwe's troubled central bank
introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease
the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.
The bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.
As high as they are, though, the bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges.
The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar........
WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama said yesterday that as president he
would send at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan, where US
soldiers face rising violence and endured their deadliest single attack
in three years on Sunday.
The proposed increase of about 7,000 troops is part of Obama's plan to
pull combat troops out of Iraq and focus on the growing threat from a
resurgent Al Qaeda in Afghanistan........
TEHRAN - The presidents of Iran and Russia have
expressed hope for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis on the
eve of key talks aiming to break the deadlock, media reported on
Saturday.........
Under this nice feminine firstname, Edwige, lies a brutal and ugly political reality : a police database of a scope and nature unseen since Petain's regime.
Using the drowsiness of summer, without any
public debate nor legislative discussion, the French government is
adopting the use of a police database aiming at a retrieving
information on all kinds of activists involved in politics, unions,
NGOs, religious groups, ... since the age of 13 (!) and without any
limitations in the range of information collected, nor any time limit
in keeping the datas..........
Source: Reuters - Laura MacInnis and Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA - Developing countries and food exporters from rich and poor
nations called on Sunday for the United States and European Union to
open up their farm markets and eliminate trade-distorting subsidies.
Global trade in farm products was at the centre of discussions as
ministers from three dozen trading powers met in negotiating alliances
to prepare for next week's make-or-break talks on a new world trade
pact......
Researchers at 
![[sean_hannity_007.jpg]](http://bp3.blogger.com/_M6te6dyl2V8/RfHlk2spXaI/AAAAAAAAABE/uSZhwwIcf_w/s1600/sean_hannity_007.jpg)
Mike Meehan himself — this explains a lot.
