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Milan poor to get caviar

Milan poor to get seized caviar

Beluga caviar seized by Italian customs officers is to be distributed to poor people in Milan as a Christmas gift.

About 40kg (88lb) of caviar was confiscated in November after two couriers travelling from Poland were stopped with the hidden cargo.

Newspaper Corriere Della Serra says the caviar had an estimated value of $550,000 (£370,000).

Tests showed the caviar to be edible, so it is to be given to canteens, hospices and shelters for the poor.

Beluga caviar is the most expensive variety of the delicacy.

Countries have tried to crack down on illegal trading of caviar after more than 600 tonnes of it were traded in the EU between 1998 and 2004.

[Boxing] Holyfield Vs Valuev

Holyfield Vs Valuev

Anyone expect a funeral after the fight is over?

Holyfield is not only much lighter, much shorter, he is also old. 46.

Evander Holyfield will concede a remarkable 43 kg (96lb) to Nikolay Valuev when they meet in their world heavyweight title bout on Saturday.

Holyfield, 46, is 11 years older and nearly 30 cm (12in) shorter than the Russian, who is the sport's heaviest and tallest heavyweight champion.


BBC News

The heavy weight rank has gone to pits when this is the "biggest fight"!

When you have more money than sense...

... you buy Man city!

Or you build a refrigerated beach.

Chill out, you beautiful people, the Versace beach is refrigerated

Versace, the renowned fashion house, is to create the world’s first refrigerated beach so that hotel guests can walk comfortably across the sand on scorching days.

The beach will be next to the the new Palazzo Versace hotel which is being built in Dubai where summer temperatures average 40C and can reach 50C.

The beach will have a network of pipes beneath the sand containing a coolant that will absorb heat from the surface.

The swimming pool will be refrigerated and there are also proposals to install giant blowers to waft a gentle breeze over the beach.

Renewed trouble in Gaza?

Gaza groups will not renew truce

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza say they are not expecting a six-month ceasefire with Israel which expires on Friday to be renewed.

The Egyptian-brokered deal began on 19 June but has been tested regularly by Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli operations in Gaza.

Israel has said it is in favour of renewing the truce.

The Islamist militant group Hamas says Israel failed to ease its blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials insist they never made a commitment to do so.

Both sides have accused the other or regularly infringing the truce.

Read More @ BBC News.

Dick Cheney - International Man of Misery.

Title is stolen from The Daily Show... but the guy does match his first name.

Exclusive: Cheney Holds Hard-Line Stance

In an exclusive interview Monday with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney issued an unapologetic defense of the Bush administration's anti-terror policies, including the use of waterboarding, and said the prison at Guantanamo Bay should remain open as long as there's a war on terror.

In his first exit interview and first television interview since the November election, Cheney held fast to his views on coercing information out of alleged terrorists, saying waterboarding was an appropriate means of getting information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Halaal money

Salaams people.

We all know that "interest"/riba is haraam.

But what we do not know/take into account or know how to take into account is that most modern currencies are based in interest.

They are a form of debt. Every pound in your pocket is a sort of promise to pay it back along with some interest on top.

We get paid debt, we spend debt. The system works using interest.

Does all that worry you? Worry no more, we have a new probably-halaal currency - The American Dollar!

US rates slashed to nearly zero

The US Federal Reserve has slashed its key interest rate from 1% to a range of between zero and 0.25% as it battles the country's recession.

Banks hit worldwide by US fraud

Banks hit worldwide by US fraud

Some of the world's biggest banks have revealed that they are victims of a fraud which has lost $50bn (£33bn).

Bernard Madoff has been charged with fraud in what is being described as one of the biggest-ever such cases.

Among the banks which have been hit are Britain's HSBC and RBS, Spain's Santander and France's BNP Paribas.

One of the City's best-known fund managers has criticised US financial regulators for failing to detect the alleged fraud.

Meanwhile the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has called on workers, former staff and shareholders to come forward with evidence of any corporate wrongdoing in the wake of the credit crunch...

Education Vs brainwashing (Tis the season to be jolly...)

I came across this article when eating my brekky:

(relevant bit is in bold and underlined)

'We still believe in Christmas'

STAFF at a borough primary school had to go into crisis mode to try and restore the magic of the season – after a supply teacher told stunned youngsters that there is no such person as Father Christmas.

The teacher is reported to have desperately upset the class of six and seven year-olds at Blackshaw Lane Primary, Royton, leaving many of their parents furious.

One angry parent, whose daughter was in the class, told the Advertiser: "I wasn’t very happy and a lot of the mums were quite upset. I can’t remember when I found out about Santa myself but it’s something I firmly believe should be left to the parents.

The age of 'celebrity terrorism'

The age of 'celebrity terrorism'

Quite apart from the scores murdered and the hundreds injured, what the Mumbai terrorists really wanted was an exaggerated - and preferably extreme - reaction on the part of governments, the media and public opinion.

In these terms, the attackers received as much attention as they could possibly have hoped for, and the Mumbai outrage can only be described as a very significant terrorist success.

The attack received saturation coverage in the world's media from the outset.

...

Unanswered questions

So the speculative - and often tendentious - questioning began.

Terror in Mumbai.

Mumbai rocked by deadly attacks

Gunmen have opened fire at a number of sites in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing at least 80 people and injuring about 200 more.

Police said shooting was continuing and that the incidents were co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Gunmen have taken hostages at two hotels and a hospital.

At least seven sites have been targeted across India's financial capital.

A fire is sweeping through the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai's most famous hotel which is now ringed by troops. ...

Read More...

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