A fisherman fills his cupped palms with water from the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 16, 2009. The country has invested 51 billion yuan towards the construction of 2,712 projects for the treatment of eight rivers and lakes including Huaihe River, Haihe River, Liaohe River, Chaohu Lake, Dianchi Lake, Songhua River, the Three Gorges region of the Yangtze River and its upstream area, Xinhua News Agency reported.
REUTERS/Stringer
Mexican naval officers stand guard after cutting open more than 20 shark carcasses filled with slabs of cocaine after checking a container ship in a container port in the southern Mexico state of Yucatan June 16, 2009. Mexico's navy seized more than a tonne of cocaine stuffed inside frozen sharks, as drug gangs under military pressure go to greater lengths to conceal narcotics bound for the United States.
REUTERS/Argely Salaza
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian teenager has told police how she emerged from a tattoo parlor with 56 stars over one side of her face, rather than the three she had asked for, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
"I said this part, the top, is ok, but not the rest," Kimberley Vlaeminck from the city of Kortrijk, 90 km (56 miles) northwest of Brussels, told Belgian broadcaster VRT.
The 18-year-old said she fell asleep during the procedure, and woke up in pain when her nose was being tattooed.
A spokesman for Kortrijk prosecutors' office said police were investigating after a complaint from the teenager.
The tattoo artist said Vlaeminck had agreed to 56 stars.
"She agreed, but when her father saw it, the trouble started," Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws quoted the man as saying.
Vlaeminck said she wanted to keep the tattoos on her forehead but would have the rest removed.
(Reporting by Antonia van de Velde)
Creator Byron Casebier, at Gizmodo: Here is my weak (and slightly unfinished) Atari iPod Dock. I thought sharing may create interest for someone that can do this better. As far as specs, I gutted a broken, iPod clock radio and put it all inside the Atari.
See a gallery o'er the Giz: The Atari 2600 iPod Dock
LONDON (Reuters) - An ancient burial pit containing 45 severed skulls, that could be a mass war grave dating back to Roman times, has been found under a road being built for the 2012 British Olympics.
Archaeologists, who have only just begun excavating the site, say they do not yet know who the bones might belong to.
"We think that these dismembered bodies are likely to be native Iron Age Britons. The question is -- how did they die and who killed them," said dig head, David Score, of Oxford Archaeology.
"Were they fighting amongst themselves? Were they executed by the Romans? Did they die in a battle with the Romans?
"The exciting scenario for us possibly is that there were skirmishes with the invading Romans and that's how they ended up chopped up in a pit," he told Reuters.
When the main Roman invasion force landed in Britain in AD 43, Claudius' legions moved swiftly through western England to subdue fierce Celtic tribes.
The skulls and other bones were unearthed at a place called Ridgeway Hill, on the construction site of a new major relief road to Weymouth, on the Dorset coast in southwest England.
The seaside town -- in the heart of Thomas Hardy country -- is to host sailing events for the London Olympics.
The grave site is close to Maiden Castle -- Europe's largest Iron Age hill fort where local tribes are said to have staged a last stand against the Roman legions after the invasion.
Some historians believe the Romans sacked the site, butchering its population including women and children, before burning it to the ground.
Score said they had counted 45 skulls so far in the 6-meter wide pit, together with a tangle of torsos, arms and legs, More could be found in the coming weeks.
Most of the skulls were those of young men, supporting the theory they could have been killed in battle or executed en masse.
"One of the things that we will be looking for is do they have sword cut marks on the bones, and how were the heads dismembered: prior to or after death in an act of victory," Score said.
Archaeologists say they could also be Roman citizens or indigenous people who had died through disease or disaster.
Few artifacts have so far been found with the bones, though pottery shards dating to the late Iron Age and early Roman period have been found scattered around the pit."It is rare to find a burial site like this one," Score said. "There are lots of different types of burial where skeletons may be aligned along a compass axis or in a crouched position, but to find something like this is just incredible."
(Editing by Steve Addison)
Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:37am EDT
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban fighters beat musicians, shaved their heads and left them tied to trees overnight because they performed at an Afghan wedding, a village tribal chief said Monday, a sign of the fighters' growing influence.
While in power from 1996-2001, the Taliban banned music as un-Islamic.
The militants have returned to areas in the east and south of the country, where violence has sharply spiked in recent years. They attack government officials, Afghan police, foreign troops and schools that teach girls, another practice they forbid.
"A party was going on when a group of Taliban grabbed five musicians and started beating them and smashing their musical instruments," said Rahmatullah Khan, a head of Merke Khel village in the east of the country.
"The musicians were tied up with rope to trees last night and villagers found them in the morning when going out for prayers," Khan said.
Khan said Taliban fighters shaved the heads of the musicians and made them take oaths in the presence of villagers that they would not sing or play music at weddings again.
Afghan weddings and engagement parties in rural areas are traditionally celebrated with hundreds of guests, music and singing that often continues until late at night.
(Reporting by Rafiq Sherzad; Writing by Hamid Shalizi)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job-seekers are using unusual gimmicks to grab the attention of potential employers, such as in one case sending a shoe along with a resume to get a "foot in the door," said a survey released on Wednesday.
Almost a fifth of hiring managers report seeing more unconventional tactics this year, compared with 12 percent who said so last year, according to the study by CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site.
Faced with the highest unemployment in 25 years, candidates are trying a variety of tricks, including:
* handing out resumes at stoplights
* washing cars in a company parking lot
* staging a sit-in in a company lobby to demand a meeting with a director
* sending a cake designed as a business card with the candidate's picture
* handing out personalized coffee cups
* going to the same barber as the company chairman to have the barber speak on his behalf
One job-seeker attached a shoe to a resume as "a way to get my foot in the door," a respondent told the survey.
"The search for employment is taking longer and is more competitive than it has been in past years," said Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder, in a statement. "To compensate, some candidates have turned to extreme tactics."
But he cautioned: "While unusual job search antics may attract the attention of hiring managers, they need to be done with care and professionalism so that candidates are remembered for the right reasons."
The online survey was conducted for CareerBuilder by Harris Interactive among 2,543 full-time hiring managers and human resource professionals between February 20 and March 11, 2009. The overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.94 percentage points.
CareerBuilder is owned by Gannett Co Inc, Tribune Co, McClatchy Co and Microsoft.
(Editing by Alan Elsner and Michelle Nichols)
How many conservatives have claimed that permitting gay marriage constitutes some sort of "slippery slope" that will extend rights to perversions such as bestiality and pedophilia?
This past week, conservative evangelist Pat Robertson made the slippery slope argument:
On the Christian Broadcasting Network today, Pat Robertson responded by claiming that the "ultimate conclusion" of legalizing same-sex marriage would be the legalization of polygamy, bestiality, child molestation and pedophilia. "You mark my words, this is just the beginning in a long downward slide in relation to all the things that we consider to be abhorrent," said Robertson.
And who can forget former Republican Senator Rick Santorum's comments in 2003 on gay marriage:
In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.
In supporting a Texas law against sodomy, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote:
State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers’ validation of laws based on moral choices.
Mike Huckabee in 2008:
Well, I don't think that's a radical view to say we're going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we're going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal. Again, once we change the definition, the door is open to change it again. I think the radical position is to make a change in what's been historic.
These are only a few in a long string of arguments absurdly asserting that gay marriage will somehow lead to the legalization of such degenerate acts as bestiality and pedophilia.
What is marriage? Marriage is a legal contract, entered into by consent of two people. Let's address some of their arguments.
Bestiality:
Can dogs, horses, goats, or any other animal enter into a legal contract in the United States? No.
Pedophilia:
Can children enter into legal contracts of their own accord? No. Can pre-adolescent children get married even with parental consent? No.
There is, therefore, no reason to think that marriage between two consenting adults equates with marriage between one consenting adult and a non-consenting animal or child.
Polygamy:
Marriage equality implies a legal right for two adults of any sex (two men, two women, one man/one woman)to elect to enter into a legally binding contract that confers certain rights and obligations. If the law does not permit more than two people to enjoin into this contract, gay marriage will never lead to legalized polygamous marriage. People with polygamous inclinations retain the option everyone individual has--to marry one person of their choosing.
Incest:
The law prohibits people of certain genetic relationships from entering into a marriage contract, regardless of gender. Gay marriage does not nullify this legal provision. What if an adult brother and sister want to marry one another? Can the law refuse or does that deny them marriage equality? Prohibiting incestuous marriages does not violate marriage equality, because the incestuous person is not prevented from marrying someone--of either gender--but only from marrying family members.
If gay marriage is legalized, a brother cannot marry his brother nor can a sister marry her sister, and so on. Even gay incestuous people will not be able to marry. This is marriage equality.
There is no evidence to suggest incestuous people are only able to form relationships with the small number of people in their family. For example, if the incestuous person's family died suddenly or was not receptive to his/her advances, it is doubtful that person would remain celibate lifelong, unable to partner with anyone else. It is not that he/she is only able to have incestuous relationships but that they have developed an intense attraction to one specific person. A mental state of only being able to be attracted to one person, no matter what (if they died, rejected you, etc), by nature indicates a mental health problem. Gay people do not have that problem.
The Dominos Collapse:
Any argument that legalizing gay marriage means legalizing every type of union between consenting adults is inherently flawed. The only way this argument has validity is to operate from the perspective that homosexuality is a willful deviancy. Of course, the conservatives above and those making these arguments have adopted that view.
Most of us who know gay people, however, know they are not deviants and that homosexuality and gay marriage is about more than sex. Homosexual relationships do not consist of one person forcing him/herself on someone/something incapable of consent or being psychologically restricted to forming a relationship with only one other person, ever.
Who knows whether there is an inherent "right" to marry. Contracts, after all, do not exist in nature. If the US government, in its wisdom, has decided to legalize contracted unions between two people, however, everyone in the US should have the opportunity to enter into these contracts for a (theoretically) lifelong partnership.
While the government can set conditions on who can enter into a marriage contract, the decision to force homosexuals to choose a partner from among the opposite sex denies them the opportunity to select someone with whom they could potentially build a lifelong relationship and is therefore discriminatory.
Civil Unions:
Calling marriage between gays something else (civil unions) is silly. If one person who gets breast implants calls it a boob job and another person calls it breast augmentation, does it somehow mean they had different procedures? It is an artificial distinction and therefore unnecessary.
Conservatives love false distinctions. Calling torture "enhanced interrogation" does not make it any less torture. And giving gays all the rights of marriage but calling it Civil Union does not make it any less a marriage. The reason the distinction is objectionable is that it is unnecessary and has its roots in bigotry.
Applying the label "Civil Union" is nothing more than an effort to signal homosexuals out as somehow less than "real" Americans and so that bigoted heterosexual people can assure themselves that their marriages mean more than those deviant "civil unions."
True Equality:
Telling gay people they cannot fornicate with animals or children, they cannot marry more than one person at a time, and they cannot marry a close relative is not discriminatory. These rules hold true for all Americans, gay and straight.
Letting gays marry does not force us to abandon all moral justifications for objecting to things that cause others or society harm. So far, the only individuals who seem to be harmed by the existence of homosexuality in our society are homosexuals, thanks to the bigotry of some heterosexuals.
**UPDATE**
A lot of people seem to have difficulty with the argument I have made on polygamous marriage, so I want to clarify.
Britain's Home Office said it decided to exclude the 22 in the last several months. The decision follows measures introduced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith last year against people "who have engaged in spreading hate," the Home Office said.
The Home Office named only 16 of those on the list; it said it was not in the public interest to disclose the names of the other six. A spokeswoman declined to elaborate on why the Home Office would not publicly identify six of the 22.
One of the most recognized names on the list may be U.S. radio talk show host Michael Savage, who is listed under his real name, Michael Alan Wiener. The conservative's daily show can be heard nationwide in the United States.
Savage is on the list for "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence."
Savage lashed out at Smith on his Web site, calling her a "witch" and asking how she knew of his show when it isn't syndicated in England.
He also questioned why six names on the list weren't released and why North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez didn't make the list.
In an audio clip on his Web site, Savage said he had seven attorneys working on a defamation lawsuit against Smith and encouraged his listeners to call off any travel plans to England and boycott all British products.
"She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people," he said. "How could they put Michael Savage in the same league as mass murderers when I have never avowed violence?"
Outspoken Kansas Rev. Fred Phelps and his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, are also listed for "engaging in unacceptable behavior and fostering hatred."
Phelps and his followers at Westboro Baptist Church oppose homosexuality. They picket the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, saying their deaths are God's way of punishing the United States for supporting homosexuals.
They have expressed similar views about the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
The church's slogan is "God Hates Fags."
Phelps did not issue a response on his Web site. However, he linked to a British news story on the ban and wrote his own headline, calling Smith a "neo-Nazi dyke" and "filthy God-hater."
Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Don Black, who has said he despises U.S. President Barack Obama, is also on the list. Black established the white supremacist Web site Stormfront, which the Home Office called one of the oldest and largest hate group sites.
Eric Gliebe, chairman of the National Alliance, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the United States, is on the list for "justifying terrorist violence, provoking others to commit serious crime and fostering racial hatred."
The Home Office cited Gliebe's "Web-radio broadcasts in which he vilifies certain ethnic groups and encourages the download and distribution of provocative racist leaflets and posters."
Several Islamic clerics are also on the list, including Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Amir Siddique, Yunis Al Astal and Safwat Hijazi. Prolific speaker and writer Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim is also listed.
The list includes Mike Guzofsky, the leader of a militant Jewish group. He has ties to Kahane Chai, a group that the U.S. State Department lists as a foreign terrorist organization.
Russian skinheads Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky are also on the list. The Home Office says they are "leaders of a violent gang that beat migrants and posted films of their attacks on the Internet."
Samir al Quntar, a Lebanese man who spent three decades in prison for killing four Israeli soldiers and a 4-year-old girl in 1979, is also on the list. In an exchange with the militant group Hezbollah, Israel freed al Quntar last year for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.
Al Quntar is "engaging in unacceptable behavior by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence" in order to provoke terrorist acts, the Home Office said.
Nasr Javed and Abdul Ali Musa round out the 16 names made public.
"Coming to the UK is a privilege, and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life," Smith said. "Therefore, I do not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views, as I want them to know that they are not welcome here.
"The government opposes extremism in all its forms and I am determined to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country," she said. "This is the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behavior."May 7th, 2009
Twenty metros where Americans have a hard time meeting expenses.Vexed by gang wars and rising real estate prices, late rapper Tupac Shakur mused in 1996 that the overall cost of living in Los Angeles was so high that he would almost rather "live life in the pen[itentiary]."
Though East Coast-West Coast gang violence has since subsided, life in the City of Angels remains far from affordable. Thanks to bloated housing prices, lofty living costs and unemployment rates among the highest in the nation, the Los Angeles metro area tops our list of America's Most Overpriced Cities.
At least residents of Los Angeles and the third-ranked Miami metro get to enjoy balmy evenings and sunny days at the beach. Residents of the second-most overpriced metro area, Chicago, get sweltering summers and near-Siberian winters on top of a 9.4% metro area unemployment rate and a cost of living trailing only Los Angeles and New York.
The Big Apple ranks fourth on our list; it's weighed down by high costs and an 8.8% unemployment rate. Those factors overwhelmed the considerable earning power of New Yorkers with bachelor's degrees--$69,200 per year, on average, according to PayScale.com--a figure rivaled only by those in Washington, D.C., and Bay Area locales, including San Francisco. Still, it's not enough to bridge the price gap.
"For the average professional, New York's premium is not as high as you'd expect, given the cost of living," says Al Lee, director of Quantitative Analysis at PayScale. "The premium for a software developer in New York is actually less than it is in Seattle, and about the same as it is in Atlanta."
Even those in less-sprawling cities have it tough. Along with fifth-ranked Providence, R.I., Cleveland(No. 8) is one of the smallest metro areas among the 10 most overpriced cities. Though both boast low home prices and living expenses, they're dragged down by high unemployment and relatively stingy salaries of $56,000, on average.
Behind the Numbers
To compile our list, we looked at earnings potential and living expenses in the 50 largest continental U.S. metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.
We ranked these metros using four measures: average salary for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher, with data from PayScale.com; annual unemployment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; cost of living, according to Moody's Economy.com; and the Housing Opportunity Index from the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo, which measures the number of homes sold in a given area that would be affordable to a family earning the local median income, based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria.
Far from Heaven
Los Angeles' troubles can be tied to many of the systemic problems currently plaguing the nation. With a whopping unemployment rate of 10.3%, the City of Angels and nearby Riverside, Calif., are among five of the country's 50 largest metro areas with double-digit unemployment.
Both have suffered as a result of the housing bust. Though neither ranks among America's emptiest cities, L.A. and Riverside have seen new residential building permit rates plummet 82% and 80%, respectively, over the last two years. The national unemployment rate for construction workers is now 21.1%, up from 12% a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"The unemployment [in Southern California] is definitely driven by the housing bust," says Lee. "Prices are collapsing, but if you're looking at buying a house, it's still expensive."
Indeed, though the median home price in the Los Angeles metro area has dipped from $525,000 to $319,000 over the last two years, Angelinos still face one of the least affordable housing markets in the country. According to the NAHB/Wells Fargo's Housing Opportunity Index, only New York, Long Island, N.Y., and San Francisco are more expensive.
Of course, living well in Los Angeles isn't impossible, as long as you have the funds. The aforementioned Shakur probably wouldn't have any trouble making ends meet in L.A., or anywhere else, for that matter. The rapper makes about $15 million per year in residuals--despite the fact he's been dead for 12 years.
