SINGAPORE – President Barack Obama said Sunday the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders.
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SINGAPORE – President Barack Obama said Sunday the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders. FACT: The Obama administration has failed miserably in handling the H1N1 outbreak.
The messages have been all over the map.
"It's an emergency. You must get vaccinated."
"Sorry, no vaccine is available."
"Be patient. The vaccine is coming."
"Don't hold your breath."
"Blame the eggs, not Obama."
The only consistent message: Sneeze into your sleeze.
ATLANTA -- Federal health officials now say that 4,000 or more Americans likely have died from swine flu — about four times the estimate they've been using.
The new, higher figure was first reported by The New York Times. It includes deaths caused by complications related to swine flu, including pneumonia and bacterial infections. Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had conservatively put the U.S. swine flu death count at more than 1,000. Officials said this week they're working on an even more accurate calculation.
The CDC says "many millions" of Americans have caught the pandemic flu virus since it first appeared in April.
What is going on?
Why put out this enormous jump in the number of deaths now?
Is the administration incompetent? Yes.
Does the administration lack transparency? Yes.
Here's a must-read letter by William Piercey Sr. to the Editor of the Southeast Missourian:
The new era of government control over our lives and freedoms has begun. This week, it got personal, and I felt helpless.
The doctor overseeing my health care advised me to get an H1N1 flu shot. I've been under a six-year treatment program for a chronic infection, plus I have heart and lung problems. Therefore, I am considered a high risk. Fortunately, my doctor had three shots available, but I would have to get approval from my county health department. Much to my surprise, the woman at the health department apologized and told me that even though I was a senior citizen at high risk, the health department had been instructed to approve shots only for children and pregnant mothers. I asked when a shot for my situation might be available. "We really don't know. Check back with us sometime in December."
What? The terrorist detainees in Gitmo are getting shots this month. Why not a high-risk senior citizen?
Mr. Obama, this is what we call health care rationing, which you claim won't happen under a government-run health care program.
If George W. Bush was considered the Barney Fife of executive power, then welcome to the Chicago-style politics of the new Vito Corleone family. The president himself, like a strong-armed enforcer, said in a nationally televised speech, "If you misrepresent anything in this plan, I will call you out." This administration has turned the once dignified and esteemed Oval Office into a war room for its liberal propaganda.
On his first day in office, the president signed the Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel executive order. During the campaign he vowed to keep lobbyists out of the administration. But in Section 3 of this order is a waiver clause. The director of the Office of Management and Budget "may grant" a written waiver of any restrictions. Former lobbyists were given waivers and now hold key positions in government. Mr. Obama, you lied.
At the same time lobbyists were coming in the front door, dozens of new unvetted, hand-picked ideologues were being shuttled in the back door. Many of these people were placed in key policymaking positions. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was worried about 18 of these unvetted czars, 10 of whom worked in the White House. An amendment to force these appointees to testify in oversight hearings was shot down by the Democratic leadership. Collins was especially concerned about Carol Browner, who negotiated fuel-economy standards with the auto industry. She even sent a letter to Obama, and one of his counsels replied that no one would be made available. This administration fears no one, especially a senator who dares to enforce something as minor as checks and balances. Obama promised transparency. He lied.
On the topic of transparency, the $787 billion stimulus bill was a progressive Trojan horse. It's loaded with political favors and programs that set up the infrastructure for education, health care and climate change. It was passed and signed in a matter of weeks. This was not a bill to put Americans back to work. Obama said it would produce 3.5 million jobs in two years. Over the past year the administration has changed its story daily but finally settled on the "create or save" propaganda. Obama also said the bill would keep unemployment under 8 percent. The rate has climbed to over 10 percent. Either his economic advisers are incompetent and need to be fired, or, once again, Mr. President, you lied.
Mr. President, you said you didn't want to run our car companies and banks, but you do. With the $350 billion in TARP funds left by President Bush, Obama's people continued the surge of bailouts. Americans might be shocked to know the recipients of bailout money now total 727 institutions. This government control in the private sector is unprecedented.
Government-run health care, card check, cap-and-trade, net neutrality, control of radio stations and possible newspaper bailouts are just part of this administration's agenda.
It's time for Americans to get in this government's face and call it out. This coup d'etat can be defeated. We have the numbers, the votes and the will power to turn back this assault on our individual freedoms.
With 15 million unemployed Americans, I'm sure we can find a few willing patriots to fill all those upcoming vacant seats in Washington, especially with an annual salary of $170,000, office, staff, insurance, expense account and, best of all, a three-day workweek. The only requirements for this job are honesty, integrity and a love of country.
I agree with Mr. Piercey. It's time for Americans to call Obama out.
He has mismanaged the Swine Flu emergency. He's responsible for the man-made disaster of the pandemic.
I want the H1N1 vaccine. I want my family vaccinated.
I wish I lived at Gitmo. Some doses of vaccine have arrived there.
I wish I worked for a big Wall Street firm. No shortages of vaccine there.
"No Luck Finding an H1N1 Flu Shot? You're Not Alone"
If you've been frustrated in trying to get your kids vaccinated against H1N1 flu, you're not alone: Two thirds of parents who have sought vaccine for their children have failed to find it, according to a Harvard School of Public Health survey out today. That's no small deal, because 41 percent of the parents polled said they have tried to get their children vaccinated against swine flu. Hearing that big Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup got H1N1 vaccine doesn't do much to reassure worried parents that the system is directing vaccine to the kids who need it the most. Although almost 36 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been distributed, many parents are still anxiously waiting.
...Half of people trying to find out where and when they could get H1N1 vaccine weren't able to, according to the Harvard survey. Puh-leez, public health folks! You've been training for pandemic vaccine distribution for years. The least you can do is let us know, in real time, where the vaccine is and how we can get it.
Rush Limbaugh sums up the situation very well:
There's a lot of anger and there's a lot of fear in the hinterlands, the heartland of this country about this duping that we've had on this swine flu vaccine. The White House stopped feeding the Drive-Bys their hysteria e-mail of the day and so they stopped covering the story. You know, every TV and radio newscast for months, it led, and now they've been found out to be the incompetent jerks we knew they were so the spin is silent and the Drive-Bys are too stupid to figure out that they have a real good story here: Government screwing up royally in vaccinating people against a declared emergency, a government declared emergency. Health department to get approval for a vaccine?
It pisses me off that the lib media aren't holding Obama accountable for this debacle.
His daughters have received vaccine. I guess he has no worries.
I'd like to see Obama attend a funeral for an H1N1 victim.
That's a photo-op Obama will avoid like the plague, or the Swine Flu.
Penahanan terhadap unsur pimpinan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (nonaktif), Bibit Samad Rianto dan Chandra Hamzah, terungkap sebagai komitmen Kabareskrim Mabes Polri Komjen Susno Duadji kepada Anggodo Widjojo, adik Direktur PT Masaro Radiokom Anggoro Widjojo yang merupakan buronan KPK.Demikian terungkap dalam percakapan antara Anggodo dengan seorang lelaki yang tidak diketahui identitasnya. Rekaman pembicaraan tersebut diputar dalam sidang lanjutan uji materi Undang-Undang Nomor 30 Tahun 2002 tentang KPK, di Gedung Mahkamah Konstitusi, Jakarta, Selasa (3/11).
Anggodo tidak menyebut secara gamblang nama Susno Duadji. Ia hanya berkata Truno 3. Dalam terminologi polisi, Kabareskrim acap juga disebut Trunojoyo 3. Trunojoyo adalah nama jalan di mana Mabes Polri berada. Trunojoyo 1 merujuk pada Kapolri, sementara Trunojoyo 2 mengacu pada Wakapolri.
Dalam percakapan itu, Anggodo juga menyatakan secara jelas niatnya untuk membunuh Chandra Hamzah jika Chandra dimasukkan dalam tahanan.
Berikut petikan percakapan tersebut:
Anggodo : Ternyata Truno 3 komitmennya tinggi sama saya.
Lelaki : O, gitu bos yo.
Anggodo : Lho, kan wis mlebu bos (Lho, kan sudah masuk bos).
Lelaki : Iyo toh.
Anggodo : Gak dilebokno tapi wis TSK, saiki nonaktif. Tapi gak gathuk koncone kene situk. (Enggak dimasukkan, tapi sudah jadi tersangka. Sekarang nonaktif. Tapi, teman kita satu kena).
Lelaki : OC.
Anggodo : Dudu, Bibit. (Bukan, Bibit).
Lelaki : O, iku ternyata kene. (O, itu ternyata (teman) kita).
Anggodo : Lek iku kan jek kancane kene bos, tapi nek situk Chandra sesuk dilebokno malah tak pateni neng njero. (Lha, itu kan sebenernya temen kita sendiri Bos, tapi kalau besok Chandra yang dimasukin malah saya bunuh di dalam).
Are Microsoft and Google hoping to get into Twitter's treasure trove of real-time information? Yes, says Kara Swisher of AllThingsD, citing sources who indicate that the two companies are separately in talks with Twitter about data licensing deals. This would involve the exchange of several million dollars plus a revenue-share to "compensate Twitter for its huge and potentially valuable trove of real-time and content-sharing information, generated from the data stream of billions of tweets of its 54 million monthly users," Swisher wrote.
What's unclear is whether either deal will actually come to fruition. More concrete is the likelihood that Twitter won't strike any exclusive deals, considering the company is (according to Swisher) "seeking to create a large open platform, which many could plug into, from search engines to marketers to publishers to developers."
Twitter, which just raised about $100 million at a valuation somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion, doesn't have a significant revenue stream in place yet. It's slated to launch a premium services package later this year, but big search-data deals with the likes of Microsoft and Google could be a significant additional source of cash.
Something that could be complicated for Microsoft, should it choose to pursue this opportunity with Twitter: It has a stake in Facebook, which has been making moves to make its own stash of real-time information--potentially far richer than Twitter's, with 300 million active users posting links, photos, status messages, and what-have-you--more searchable and open. Facebook has gone a long way from keeping all its content behind a log-in wall, but Twitter still wins in the openness category.
A recent minor product launch from Facebook, the "Gross National Happiness" app, illustrates this by using keywords in status message content to track how "happy" the Facebook population is on a given day.
Rizka Diputra - Okezone
JAKARTA - Rekaman dugaan rekayasa dalam kasus kriminalisasi pejabat Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi yang beredar di masyarakat, menyeret sejumlah petinggi Kejaksaan Agung (Kejagung). Atas hal ini Persatuan Jaksa Indonesia hari ini akan menyatakan sikap.
Hal tersebut diungkapkan Kapuspenkum Kejagung Didik Darmanto kepada wartawan di Gedung Kejagung, Jalan HR Rasuna Said, Jakarta, Rabu (28/10/2009).
"(Besok) direncanakan besok pagi ada pernyataan sikap dari Persatuan Jaksa Indonesia (terkait rekaman), tetapi saya tidak bisa memastikan waktunya," kata Didik.
Sebelumnya, beredar transkrip rekaman yang berisi dugaan upaya rekayasa penetapan dua pimpinan KPK sebagai tersangka kasus penyalahgunaan wewenang dan suap. Transkrip pembicaraan tersebut melibatkan Anggodo Widjaja, adik Direktur PT Masaro Radiokom, Anggoro Widjaja, dan beberapa petinggi Kejaksaan Agung.
Dalam transkrip itu disebut-sebut keterlibatan petinggi KejaksaanAgung berinisial AHR dan WS dalam kasus yang menjerat Bibit dan Chandra. Dalam rekaman pembicaraan yang beredar di publik, Anggodo bersama pejabat dan mantan pejabat penegak hukum itu diduga mengatur rekayasa suap pimpinan KPK. (kem)
Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan on her first visit since becoming US secretary of state.
She will meet senior officials on Wednesday as part of a three-day visit accompanied by Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Clinton's trip comes as the Pakistani military is involved in a nearly two-week long battle against members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan.
A number of issues will be discussed, including US drone strikes inside Pakistani territory, and an aid package that would give the country $7.5bn of US aid each year.
Last week, John Kerry, a US Democratic senator, held talks in the capital, Islamabad, in an attempt to counter protests over the aid package some officials said would “violate the country’s sovereignty".
Although the government defended the package, the military establishment expressed concerns about conditions that hinge some aid on efforts to battle suspected Taliban fighters.
The bill prevents the funding from being used for nuclear proliferation, to support fighters or to attack neighbouring countries, and calls for a cancellation of aid if efforts to crack down on pro-Taliban groups fail.
Anti-US sentiment
According to diplomatic sources, Clinton’s trip to Pakistan, billed by the Obama administration as one of her most important trips after assuming office, will concentrate on determining the causes of growing anti-Americanism in the country.
The government’s approval ratings are low, and analysts believe this is attributed to its relationship with the US.
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Independent verification is all but impossible because the military has blocked access for journalists and humanitarian workers.
Since the assault began, the military claims to have killed at least 231 fighters, and lost 29 soldiers.
It has given no figures for civilian casualties, but those fleeing say many people caught in the middle were killed.
'Summary executions'
US military handling of the conflict in the region has also come under scrutiny, prompting the United Nations to call on it to demonstrate it is not randomly killing people during its pilotless drone attacks inside Pakistan.
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| The UN says more than 125,000 people have been displaced by the fighting [Reuters] |
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, told a news conference in New York on Tuesday that drone strikes against suspected fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions.
"The problem with the United States is that it is making an increased use of drones/Predators [which are] particularly prominently used now in relation to Pakistan and Afghanistan," Alston said.
International law 'violated'
"My concern is that drones/Predators are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law."
US strikes with remote-controlled aircraft against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan have often resulted in civilian deaths and drawn criticism from local populations.
"The onus is really on the United States government to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," Alston added.
He also urged the US to be more transparent about how and when it uses drone aircraft.
"We need the United States to be more up front and say, 'OK, we're willing to discuss some aspects of this programme,' otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a programme that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international
laws," Alston said.
Since August 2008, around 70 strikes by unmanned aircraft have killed at least 600 people in northwestern Pakistan.
Ten people, including six United Nations staff members, were killed when gunmen attacked a UN guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan, officials say. The deaths occurred as gunfire erupted at the guest house Wednesday after dawn in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police.
UN spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed that six UN employees were killed and nine others were injured. Twenty UN staff were known to be registered at the guest house, Edwards said, but he was unsure whether all were there at the time of the attack.
He did not know the workers' nationalities, but said they were non-Afghans.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was related to the upcoming runoff in the Afghanistan election. Mujahid told The Associated Press that three militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine-guns carried out the assault.
Mujahid said the Taliban had issued a statement days ago threatening anyone working on the Nov. 7 runoff election between President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.
"This is our first attack," he said.
After the attack, a rocket slammed into the grounds of the luxury Serena Hotel. The device did not explode but filled the lobby with smoke, forcing guests and employees to flee to the basement, according to an Afghan witness.
Afghans vote Nov. 7 in a second-round election after UN-backed auditors threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes from the Aug. 20 election after finding widespread fraud.
By Republika NewsroomBEIRUT--Organisasi Pariwisata Dunia PBB (UNWTO/United Nations World Tourism Organization) menyampaikan Barometer Pariwisata Dunia di mana Lebanon tercatat sebagai jumlah kunjungan turis asing tertinggi di dunia, suratkabar Daily Star melaporkan, Selasa. Barometer yang dipublikasikan oleh "Audi Bank's Weekly Monitor" mengatakan dalam tahun 2009 ini jumlah turis asing ke Lebanon meningkat 46,3 persen pada bulan pertama tahun ini dibanding periode sama tahun silam, angka tertinggi di antara 165 negara.
Kendati secara sporadis terjadi tembakan senjata api dan ledakan bom, situasi Lebanon kini lebih aman sejak perang 34 hari antara Israel dan Hizbullah pada 2006. Kementerian Pariwisata Lebanon mengatakan hingga akhir Agustus lebih dari 1,28 juta turis asing berkunjung ke Lebanon, dan jumlah itu diperkirakan akan meningkat mencapai dua juta turis asing.
Sementara itu, Kenya menempati urutan kedua, yang memperlihatkan peningkatan sekitar 43 persen selama delapan bulan pada 2009. Adapun urutan ketiga ditempati Korea Selatan dengan kenaikan jumlah turis asing tercatat 15 persen hingga Agustus dibanding tahun sebelumnya.
Studi PBB itu menunjukkan bahwa dunia saat ini menghadapi resesi ekonomi global yang berdampak serius pada sektor pariwisata, dan banyak negara merasakan dampak berkurangnya kunjungan turis asing. Akibat resesi ekonomi global tersebut, tercatat hanya 15 negara yang menunjukkan tren positif bagi kunjungan turis asing. ant/xinhu-OANA/kpo
By JIM SCIUTTO, LUIS MARTINEZ and AMMU KANNAMPILLY
Fourteen Americans died this morning after two helicopters collided and a third chopper crashed in Afghanistan on the deadliest day in years for U.S. troops in the country.
Seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians died in the single-helicopter crash, which injured 11 U.S. service members, one U.S. civilian and 14 Afghans.
The helicopter was carrying U.S. special forces troops and Afghan soldiers away from a raid on a drug operation in Badghis province in northwestern Afghanistan which resulted in a firefight that left 12 enemy fighters dead, Defense Department officials said.
The helicopter crashed in the dark about about 4 a.m. It wasn't immediately known how far from the firefight the chopper traveled before going down.
The Taliban claimed to have shot down the helicopter. Military officials said they did not know what caused the crash, but did not believe it was brought down by enemy fire.
The dead service members were part of U.S. Special Operations forces, a U.S. defense official said.
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -
In its latest bid to become a bigger player in telecommunications, the Internet search leader is giving people a chance to send calls to their cell phones into a free voice mail service unveiled earlier this year. The new choice is being introduced Tuesday.
The voice mail feature is part of Google Voice, a fledging service striving to become a hub for phone calls to people's mobile, home and office numbers.
Taking advantage of all of its tools requires getting a new number from Google Voice, a leap that many people aren't ready to make.
So Google has come up with a way to tie existing mobile phone numbers to its voice mail service. The process requires a few steps outlined at http://www.google.com/voice.
"We see this as a perfect step for getting familiar with Google Voice without a lot of change," said Vincent Paquet, a senior product manager.
The caveat: People choosing to stick with their existing phone numbers won't be able to take advantage of all Google Voice features, such as directing calls to a home or office number.
But the voice mail option will provide more bells and whistles than what most major mobile phone carriers offer in their standard packages.
Among other things, Google's voice mail service automatically transcribes messages and lets users customize greetings for frequent callers.
As part of its expansion efforts, Google developed a voice application for the iPhone that didn't get approved by Apple Inc. The snub triggered a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into whether Apple and the iPhone's U.S. carrier, AT&T Inc., might have been trying to stifle a potential competitor.
TOKYO – A Japanese navy destroyer has collided with a commercial vessel off southern Japan, starting fires on both ships and injuring one crew member, defense officials said Tuesday.
The destroyer JS Kurama collided with a South Korean container ship Carina Star on Tuesday night in the Kanmon Strait near the southern main island of Kyushu and both were engulfed in flames, a defense ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.
One Kurama crew member was slightly injured, the official said.
Public broadcaster NHK said none of the South Korean ship's crew members were injured. It also said the Japanese ship's bow was damaged.
TV footage showed orange flames rising up from the vessels in the dark. The collision site is about 530 miles (850 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.
The Kurama was on its way to its home port of Sasebo on Kyushu after serving as the flagship for the country's triennial fleet review Sunday at the port of Yokosuka.
Last year, a collision between a destroyer and a tuna trawler off the coast of Chiba, near Tokyo, left two fishermen dead. That accident triggered an uproar in Japan, where many people harbor pacifist sentiments and remain sensitive to anything related to the military.
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