| The Birth of Kosovo
The proliferation of small states since the fall of communism has made Europe more stable and democratic, from Estonia to Macedonia. A sovereign Kosovo, which follows the entry of even tinier Montenegro into the club of nations, can be a force for good in the region and in the wider Europe. Though lawyers may quibble, Kosovo differs in no way from the other stand-alone parts of Yugoslavia that won their freedom after 1991, and are now better off for it. Serbian lobbyists portray the Kosovars as Muslim terrorists, but that strains credulity, given their moderate and secular practice of Islam (and Christianity) and their stated commitment to democracy. Kosovar leaders say they want their country to join the European Union and NATO, which would open their borders to free trade and bring them into European security structures.
Cox: Leafs don't know who they are (Oct. 17)
A city's scorn, whether trumpeted in newspaper headlines or bellowed from the stands, may not always pierce the steely poise of the athlete being derided, says an NHL sports psychology consultant. Calgary's Kimberley Amirault, who worked four years with the New York Rangers, said all athletes make mistakes but the most successful ones can block out distractions. "What I often do with my clients is remind them that if you pay too much attention to the people sitting in the stands, pretty soon you'll be sitting there beside them,'' said Amirault, now with the Columbus Blue Jackets. "If you look at a common trait of top performers, it's their ability to stay focused under extreme challenges or stress." Amirault, who was watching the Toronto-Buffalo game Monday when Leaf defenceman Bryan McCabe swatted the winning overtime goal into his own net, said she was struck by the reaction from other Leafs.
Block parties will challenge neighbors to reduce energy use
The woman, whose identity has not been released, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for treatment. She sustained non-life threatening injuries to her lower torso, according to a Police Department news release. The officers involved have been placed on standard administrat Full Article .
snake oil sales folks
The reality is that the internet has taken its place alongside other media, and its growth has certainly coming at the expense of those more established media. But the internet is not going to kill magazines or radio or the local daily newspaper. In so many ways, they are thriving now, despite all the grim talk, and they will continue to thrive alongside the internet even as this sorting out process continues. If anything, the internet serves to enhance what they do well. None of these media is as vulnerable as the doomsters would have us believe. People still listen to the radio while driving, even if some drive time is spent on the phone. Newspapers are taking a huge hit in ad revenue, for sure, and readership is declining, but they still have huge local impact, and they still show yearly profits in the double digits.
Charities attack proposals to make council house tenants look for work
In her first speech since her appointment, Ms Flint said that there was an urgent need to break the link between social housing and unemployment. The proportion of council estate residents who are out of work has risen from one in five in 1983 to one in two today. "The link between social housing and worklessness is stark," Ms Flint told the Fabian Society. "I am concerned about what has been called a collapse in the number of people in council housing in work over the past 25 years. Council housing was originally somewhere which brought together people from different backgrounds and professions but this has declined. We need to think radically and start a national debate about whether we can reverse this trend and have strong, diverse estates with a mix of people." Ms Flint proposed that all new council tenants should have to sign a "commitment contract" to seek extra help with finding work, including access to mentors and skills training.
Arizona Honda reaches settlement with Attorney General
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has reached a $19,500 settlement between his office and D.W. Phillips LLC, doing business as Arizona Honda for what he said were deceptive practices to help some customers get financing when they didn't qualify. .
Kerry's served with bankruptcy letter over her £1m debts
They warned her insolvency proceedings were going aheadand secured her two properties so they can be sold off to pay creditors. The big spending ex-Atomic Kitten singer and her husband, former drug dealer Mark Croft, have hired a team of insolvency advisors to help sort out their main debts. These comprise 700,000 claimed by the taxmanincluding an immediate 200,000 instalmentand 60,000 in loans and credit card bills. A close friend of the 27-year-old Iceland advert star said: "She was told she needed to pay 200,000 in tax by Christmas. She could lose everything." Yet last month Mark got a new 127,000 Ferraridespite having a Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche 911 and Mercedes in the garage of their 1.2million home in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now the property, where Kerry lives with Mark and her three daughters, could be sold to meet her debts.
Congressman: Rules dangerous for inshore fishermen
Congressman: Rules dangerous for inshore fishermen By Douglas A. Moser The Gloucester Daily Times
Gloucester, Mass.— New fishing regulations that will take effect next month underscore the need to change the national law that determines how new rules and restrictions are made, Congressman Barney Frank said.The new rules, called Framework 42, would count each day at sea in Massachusetts Bay and along the New Hampshire coast as two days and each trip between three and 71/2 hours as 15 hours. Frank said the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which controls how the nations fisheries are governed, should be modified significantly before it is renewed.If you get the right kind of Magnuson reauthorization bill, it would provide better science more flexibility to take into account the economic effects and conservation of the threatened species, said Peter Kovar, a spokesman for Frank.In particular, Frank said the double counting will be dangerous for fishermen in small boats who venture out of the patch of ocean where that clock is in effect to make more money.The overall reductions will make it even more difficult for our fishermen to make a living, and the differential counting will be especially harmful to the inshore fishing fleet because it will tend to increase safety risks for smaller vessels that may attempt to fish in more dangerous, offshore areas to avoid double counting, he said in a statement.Frank, whose district includes New Bedford, said the New England Fishery Management Council should have considered several proposals introduced by fishing industry advocates and local mayors, including Mayor John Bell and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, that would have set catch limits for threatened species without the 2-for-1 days at sea clock.I am disappointed that alternative proposals, put forward by people active in the industry that could have given much needed flexibility to this framework, were not formally considered, or else excluded from the final rules, Frank said.He and Congressman John Tierney, D-Mass., introduced a fishing reform bill in March that calls for more flexibility in the time lines given to rebuild weakened fish stocks and greater focus on the economic impact of fishery management plans on fishing communities.
US-Peru Trade Deal Adds Insult to NAFTA’s Injury
Late last year, in especially untimely action, the U.S. Senate (with Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe voting yes) ratified the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Just as its predecessor, the North American "Free" Trade Agreement, has been coming under increasing scrutiny and criticism even from some of its former advocates, Congress has now extended NAFTA's concepts to one more South American nation. Like NAFTA before it, this deal risks further damage to the economic interests of working-class citizens not only in Maine and the U.S. but in Latin America as well. It is a violation of truth in advertising to call NAFTA or the current deal free trade. Classic free trade agreements of the sort celebrated in the economics courses of my generation, such as Paul Samuelson's, talked about the efficiency and win-win gains to two nations when tariffs (taxes on imports) were removed.
Jamey Heary
Migrating from one firewall vendor to another can be a huge undertaking requiring hours of tedious access and NAT rule rewriting. Wouldn't it be nice if someone came up with a FREE tool that converted one vendor's firewall configuration files into another vendor's format? Think of the tens or hundreds of man hours that it could save you. Well you're in luck. That is exactly what Cisco has created with its free SCT tool. The bummer is it only works for converting Check Point firewall configs to Cisco ASA, PIX or FWSM configs. It currently works with Check Point 4.x, NG, UTM, and NGX. It won't work with any other vendors yet. But if you're doing a Check Point to Cisco firewall conversion, the SCT tool is a godsend. Read more .
Friday 6th October
We have a strong organisation, committed people and a track record that we intend to build on. I am thoroughly looking forward to the challenges." Richards had become the frontrunner despite doubts among the many commercial companies Ofcom will regulate about his lack of private sector experience and his close political ties.
Back to top Sirius gaining on XM
US subscription radio satcaster Sirius Satellite said it added 441,101 net new subscribers in the third quarter, up 23 per cent from the same period a year ago, helping it narrow the gap with its larger rival XM Satellite Radio. Sirius said it now had about 5.1 million total subscribers.
XM Satellite, with nearly 7.2 million subscribers, said it added 285,000 new net subscribers during the third quarter, less than half the number of subscribers it added this time last year.
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