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Free trade is our only way forward
June 7, 2008
Peter Mandelson/The Telegraph
These are not comfortable times for those committed to free trade.
In both Europe and the United States, there is increasing rhetoric about the need to protect people from change, some of it sincere but much of it populist and self-serving.

Peter Mandelson is the
EU commissioner for trade

In recent days there have been strong statements about the Doha round of World Trade Organisation negotiations. Those negotiations, which will come to a head at a ministerial meeting in the coming weeks, will decide whether the world enters a new era of freer trade, with fewer barriers between countries.
I believe that like Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy recognises that our economies are beset by global problems. I want President Sarkozy and other world leaders to accept that securing trade is an important part of the solution.
In Europe we have much to gain from a further […]

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(I don’t need spy-ware, I’ll kill any virus with my own liver-spotted hands)
Technology is hard or at least US Senator John McCain seems to think so. According to the United States Republican presidential hopeful, “I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon.” That’s right, the man who hopes to be the ruler of the Free World has yet to master how to “get online.” I would think then that McCain also has problems with other aspects of the modern world like Tivo, cell phones, microwaves, and the flush toilet. However, I’ve heard he’s an expert on the electric typewriter. And he now regrets telling his former BFF Thomas Edison that inventing the electric typewriter was “an absolute waste of time.” John McCain has always much preferred his beloved ink well and feather pen, but now realizes the need for “documents to be printed electronically.”
Don’t […]

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News has just broken 3 minutes ago of water on Mars. We can finally leave this dying planet to Wall-E and the like. Via The Press Association:

3 minutes ago: The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time. The robot heated up soil in one of its instruments earlier this week. Scientists say the chemical test confirms the presence of ice near the Martian north pole. Until now, the evidence for ice has been circumstantial. It was based on photos Phoenix took of a hard splotchy area near its landing site and changes it saw in a trench.Phoenix landed in the Martian arctic on May 25 on a three-month digging mission. Nasa said it was extending the mission an additional two months.

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Here’s the link to NASA TV…Presser just started…
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

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MANPOWER shortages in key military trades, such as submariners, aircrew, mechanics and medical staff, are threatening the operational capability of Britain’s armed forces, a hard-hitting MPs’ report has warned.
The House of Commons defence committee blamed the strain of simultaneous deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the erosion of breaks between tours of duty, for an increase in numbers of personnel quitting the services. The committee urged ADVERTISEMENT the Ministry of Defence to drop its blanket opposition to unions for rank-and-file troops, recommending that it should “constructively consider” proposals for an independent Army Forces Federation to voice complaints.
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BAGHDAD: The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and several of his top lieutenants have recently left Iraq for Afghanistan, according to its leaders and Iraqi intelligence officials, a possible sign of what Iraqi and United States officials call growing disarray and weakness in the organisation.
US officials say there are indications that al-Qaeda is diverting recruits from going to Iraq, where its fighters have suffered dramatic setbacks, to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they appear to be making gains.
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WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration is threatening to fine airlines up to $25,000 when they erroneously tell passengers they are on a terrorist watch list.
TSA officials, frustrated that carriers have not taken steps to eliminate the hassle that occurs when a passenger has a name similar to someone on a terrorist watch list, plan to meet with airlines this week to “make sure they aren’t alarming people and telling them they’re on a watch list when they aren’t,” said agency spokeswoman Ellen Howe.
Airlines compare passenger names to government watch lists before a flight. When airlines find an apparent match, passengers cannot print a boarding pass at home or at airport kiosks and must go to an airline check-in counter with ID to show they are not a suspected terrorist.
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THIRTY-THREE-year-old Libe Aguirre Mazaga, a known member of the Basque terrorist group, ETA, has been arrested by Guardia Civil in Fuengirola, in an operation which also resulted in the arrest of nine key members of what is considered to be one of the most active and dangerous terrorist commandos in Spain. The commando, Vizcaya, is believed to have been responsible for most of the attacks committed since August last year, including a bomb attack on the Guardia Civil barracks in Legutiano (Alava), which was responsible for the death of officer, Juan Manuel Piñuel, originally from Melilla, but who lived in Malaga with his family. Aguirre, originally from Elorrio (Vizcaya) has been taken to Madrid, where he will now face trial at the National Courtroom, before Baltasar Garzon, for terrorist acts.
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July 29 (Bloomberg) — India’s probe into 23 blasts that tore through hospitals, markets and bus stations in two cities last week will be hampered by a shortage of personnel and poor training, a former intelligence officer said.
“Most of the time the police don’t know where to start,” Vikram Sood, former director of Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence agency, said in a telephone interview from New Delhi. “There are no familiar faces, no suspects and no local evidence.”
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SURAT: Pawan Kumar, a dealer of polished and rough diamonds and owner of a brokerage firm Aura NV in Antwerp, Belgium, is apprehensive about visiting India to buy polished diamonds after the serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and recovery of live bombs in Surat. “I will lose good business when the season has started but looking at the current situation, I cannot risk my life. I will come after August 15 now.” ( Watch )
Like Pawan, many buyers of polished diamonds who fly down to Surat and Mumbai before Christmas to purchase polished diamonds, have actually cancelled their visit to India following the terrorist attacks.
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