Posts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10263325.stm
China says a North Korean border guard shot and killed three people near the countries' border last week.
A fourth person was reportedly injured in the incident near the north-eastern border town of Dandong.
China has made a formal complaint to North Korea, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said.
The two countries are considered to be close allies and Beijing rarely makes any public criticism of its isolated neighbour.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference in Beijing that the four residents of Dandong, in Liaoning province, had been shot "on suspicion of crossing the border for trade activities".
"China attaches great importance to that and has immediately raised a solemn representation with the DPRK," he said, using North Korea's full name (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).
Close ally
Mr Qin said the case was being investigated, but gave no further details. Pyongyang has not commented on the accusations.
Illegal traders regularly cross the border between North Korea and China, taking black market goods into the impoverished country.
China is North Korea's main trading partner and the country perceived to have the most influence on the state.
Map
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high since the sinking of a South Korean warship in March with the loss of 46 lives.
An international investigation blamed North Korea for the sinking, but China has resisted pressure to condemn its ally. Instead, it has urged both the Koreas to show restraint.
Last month, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, was reported to have visited China to seek economic and political support.
China is crucial to North Korea's fight for economic survival, providing Pyongyang with food, fuel and much-needed investment.
Beijing is also a participant in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme. The talks have been going on since 2003 without much progress.
In 2009, North Korea detained two US journalists on the border with China, accusing them of entering North Korea illegally.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who said they were detained on the Chinese side, were sentenced to 12 years' hard labour but were freed in August after four months in captivity, as part of a diplomatic mission spearheaded by former US President Bill Clinton.
A US man, Robert Park, was also arrested in December last year, after walking into North Korea across a frozen river. He was released in February.
Super Drink
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10237314.stm
North Korea has developed a "super drink" that, it says, can multiply brain cells and stop skin ageing.
The secretive state's official news agency, KCNA, says the drink contains 60 kinds of "microelements" extracted from more than 30 species of plants.
It attracted "much interest from Chinese, German and other businessmen" at a trade fair in Pyongyang last month, the agency reports.
It was developed by a joint venture fruit juice company.
'No side-effect'
KCNA says: "It, with effects of both preventive and curative treatment, helps improve mental and retentive faculties by multiplying brain cells.
"It also protects skin from wrinkles and black spots and prevents such geriatric diseases as cerebral haemorrhage, myocardium and brain infarction by removing acid effete matters in time.
"It, much higher than quality cosmetics in anti-oxidation capacity, is efficacious for different skin diseases, including allergic dermatitis. It also makes skin fair.
"The drink has no side-effect."
The agency quotes a company manager, Jong Song Ho, as saying the drink has "proved efficacious among workers of such industrial establishments as thermal power station and smeltery and at medical institutions".
Nuclear Fusion
From Slashdot: "North Korea claims to have achieved nuclear fusion by building what it describes as a 'unique thermo-nuclear reaction device.' This announcement was met by skepticism on just about every news website this side of Saturn. Pyongyang claims its latest scientific breakthrough coincides with the birthday of the country's founder and eternal president Kim Il-sung. This is not the first time it seems that the laws of nature have been bent in his honor. According to official biographies, when his son, Kim Jong-il, was born, a new star appeared in the sky."
By John Sudworth
BBC News, Seoul
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (C) waving from a train while leaving Chinese capital of Beijing ending his five-day visit to China, May 2010
A new star appeared in the sky when Kim Jong-il was born, biographers say
North Korea has announced that it has made significant progress towards the development of thermo-nuclear power.
It is a claim that is likely to be met with some scepticism.
Despite hopes that the technology can produce large quantities of cheap, clean energy, no country has so far succeeded in making it work.
North Korea is one of the world's poorest countries and struggles to generate enough electricity for lighting and other basic needs.
The statement, carried by North Korea's official state media, said the country's scientists had succeeded in carrying out nuclear fusion.
Laboratory demonstrations of the process, known to release large amounts of energy, are nothing new.
But the North Koreans appear to be claiming to have gone much further, by building what they describe as a "unique thermo-nuclear reaction device".
'Highly unlikely'
The dream of overcoming the huge technical challenges to make nuclear fusion commercially viable has so far eluded scientists in Europe, America and China, but they continue to try because the prize is so great: a cheap and abundant source of energy with little environmental impact.
North Korea's claim that it has completed the fundamental research, putting the technology within its grasp, will be dismissed as highly unlikely unless concrete evidence is produced.
Pyongyang says its latest scientific breakthrough coincides with the birthday of the country's founder, and eternal president Kim Il-sung - not the first time it seems that the laws of nature have been bent in his honour.
According to official biographies, when his son, the current leader Kim Jong-il was born, a new star appeared in the sky.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Guido Daniele - Body painting
Each gallery contains numeric navigation links at the top for more - easy to overlook.
AT&T Gallery:
http://www.guidodaniele.com/en_mani02.htm
Main gallery:
http://www.guidodaniele.com
AT&T Gallery:
http://www.guidodaniele.com/en_mani02.htm
Main gallery:
http://www.guidodaniele.com
Gaza blockade: Iran offers escort to next aid convoy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/gaza-blockade-iran-aid-convoy
• Aide threatens use of Revolutionary Guard
• Netanyahu warns of Jerusalem missile danger
Ali Shirazi, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks under a picture of the supreme leader in Tehran Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, an aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pledged Tehran would send Revolutionary Guard units to escort Gaza aid convoys. Photograph: Reuters
Iran has warned that it could send Revolutionary Guard naval units to escort humanitarian aid convoys seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza – a move that would certainly be challenged by Israel.
Any such Iranian involvement, raised today by an aide to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would constitute a serious escalation of already high tensions with Israel, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon and of backing Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.
"Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces are prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys that carry humanitarian assistance for the defenceless and oppressed people of Gaza with all their strength," pledged Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's personal representative to the guards corps.
The threat came as the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, dismissed a UN proposal for an international commission to investigate last week's commando assault on aid ships, in which nine people died. Another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, carrying Irish and other peace activists, was boarded peacefully by Israeli forces on Saturday, escorted to the port of Ashdod, and its passengers deported.
Netanyahu has defended Israel's right to maintain the blockade by arguing that without it Gaza would become an "Iranian port" and Hamas missiles would strike Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel's undeclared aim is to weaken or bring down the Hamas government.
Iran continued to exploit the "freedom flotilla" affair to lambast Israel. Its foreign minister, Manuchehr Mottaki, told the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Jeddah on Sunday that Israel's crime was "another instance of the Zionist regime's brazen and merciless treatment of Muslims, especially the oppressed Palestinian people."
Mottaki also called for a UN resolution condemning Israel. The security council is discussing imposing new sanctions on Iran because of its failure to meet international demands over its nuclear programme.
Iran and Israel have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 revolution and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regularly predicts the disappearance of the Jewish state as well as denying the Holocaust.
Shirazi said Iran should encourage international efforts to break the blockade. "We should expose our enemies to spontaneous global action and not let them achieve their heinous goals," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which have a command structure separate from the regular armed forces, are fiercely loyal to the supreme leader. Khamenei has attacked the raid as a "mistake" that "showed how barbaric the Zionists are".
Israel's determination to strike at links between Iran and Hamas was dramatically demonstrated in January when presumed Mossad agents in Dubai assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was described as the Hamas official in charge of smuggling Iranian weapons into Gaza.
Israel's no-compromise attitude to aid convoys could be tested again after two Lebanese organisations pledged to send boats to Gaza in the next few days. Reporters Without Borders is attempting to assemble 25 European activists and 50 journalists for a boat leaving Beirut. The Free Palestine Movement is planning a similar attempt.
George Galloway, the founder of Viva Palestina, announced in London that two simultaneous convoys "one by land via Egypt and the other by sea" would set out in September to break the Gaza blockade. The sea convoy of up to 60 ships will travel around the Mediterranean gathering ships, cargo and volunteers.
• Aide threatens use of Revolutionary Guard
• Netanyahu warns of Jerusalem missile danger
Ali Shirazi, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks under a picture of the supreme leader in Tehran Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, an aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pledged Tehran would send Revolutionary Guard units to escort Gaza aid convoys. Photograph: Reuters
Iran has warned that it could send Revolutionary Guard naval units to escort humanitarian aid convoys seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza – a move that would certainly be challenged by Israel.
Any such Iranian involvement, raised today by an aide to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would constitute a serious escalation of already high tensions with Israel, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon and of backing Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.
"Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces are prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys that carry humanitarian assistance for the defenceless and oppressed people of Gaza with all their strength," pledged Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's personal representative to the guards corps.
The threat came as the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, dismissed a UN proposal for an international commission to investigate last week's commando assault on aid ships, in which nine people died. Another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, carrying Irish and other peace activists, was boarded peacefully by Israeli forces on Saturday, escorted to the port of Ashdod, and its passengers deported.
Netanyahu has defended Israel's right to maintain the blockade by arguing that without it Gaza would become an "Iranian port" and Hamas missiles would strike Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel's undeclared aim is to weaken or bring down the Hamas government.
Iran continued to exploit the "freedom flotilla" affair to lambast Israel. Its foreign minister, Manuchehr Mottaki, told the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Jeddah on Sunday that Israel's crime was "another instance of the Zionist regime's brazen and merciless treatment of Muslims, especially the oppressed Palestinian people."
Mottaki also called for a UN resolution condemning Israel. The security council is discussing imposing new sanctions on Iran because of its failure to meet international demands over its nuclear programme.
Iran and Israel have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 revolution and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regularly predicts the disappearance of the Jewish state as well as denying the Holocaust.
Shirazi said Iran should encourage international efforts to break the blockade. "We should expose our enemies to spontaneous global action and not let them achieve their heinous goals," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which have a command structure separate from the regular armed forces, are fiercely loyal to the supreme leader. Khamenei has attacked the raid as a "mistake" that "showed how barbaric the Zionists are".
Israel's determination to strike at links between Iran and Hamas was dramatically demonstrated in January when presumed Mossad agents in Dubai assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was described as the Hamas official in charge of smuggling Iranian weapons into Gaza.
Israel's no-compromise attitude to aid convoys could be tested again after two Lebanese organisations pledged to send boats to Gaza in the next few days. Reporters Without Borders is attempting to assemble 25 European activists and 50 journalists for a boat leaving Beirut. The Free Palestine Movement is planning a similar attempt.
George Galloway, the founder of Viva Palestina, announced in London that two simultaneous convoys "one by land via Egypt and the other by sea" would set out in September to break the Gaza blockade. The sea convoy of up to 60 ships will travel around the Mediterranean gathering ships, cargo and volunteers.
North Korea in leadership reshuffle
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10252477.stm
North Korea has reshuffled its top leadership at a rare second session of its parliament, state media says.
Top leader Kim Jong-il attended the session, KCNA news agency said, after missing the previous one on 9 April.
Choe Yong-rim replaced Kim Yong-il as premier - the official responsible for the communist state's economic policy.
State media also said that Mr Kim's brother-in-law, Chang Song-taek, was promoted to a powerful military post on the National Defence Commission.
Mr Chang is thought to be a backer of a hereditary succession involving Mr Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Succession hint?
The 687-member parliament - known as the Supreme People's Assembly - usually meets just once a year.
The special session of parliament, announced on 18 May, was called to discuss "organisational matters", KCNA said.
Choe Yong-rim, the Pyongyang party chief, was reportedly proposed as premier by the political bureau of the party's Central Committee.
Continue reading the main story Undated image of Chang Song-taek, released by North Korean state media on 18 January 2009 Profile: Chang Song-taek Profile: Kim Jong-un
Some reports linked the replacement of the premier to last year's failed currency revaluation.
Mr Chang's promotion came "at the proposal of Kim Jong-il", the agency said.
The NDC is North Korea's highest military body and Mr Chang - already a member - now becomes a vice-chairman.
Mr Chang has been described as one of Mr Kim's most trusted allies. Some reports said he had overseen affairs while Mr Kim was incapacitated after a stroke in 2008.
His promotion will be seen by some as a sign that Mr Kim is putting key personnel in place to ensure a smooth transition of power to his son.
Three ministers - of light industry, foodstuffs and physical culture - were replaced, and six new vice-premiers appointed.
The reshuffle comes with inter-Korean ties in tatters, following the sinking of a South Korean warship.
Forty-six sailors were killed when the Cheonan went down on 26 March near the disputed inter-Korean border.
International investigators say a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank the ship - something Pyongyang rejects.
It has called Seoul's decision to refer the issue to the UN Security Council "intolerable".
North Korea has reshuffled its top leadership at a rare second session of its parliament, state media says.
Top leader Kim Jong-il attended the session, KCNA news agency said, after missing the previous one on 9 April.
Choe Yong-rim replaced Kim Yong-il as premier - the official responsible for the communist state's economic policy.
State media also said that Mr Kim's brother-in-law, Chang Song-taek, was promoted to a powerful military post on the National Defence Commission.
Mr Chang is thought to be a backer of a hereditary succession involving Mr Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Succession hint?
The 687-member parliament - known as the Supreme People's Assembly - usually meets just once a year.
The special session of parliament, announced on 18 May, was called to discuss "organisational matters", KCNA said.
Choe Yong-rim, the Pyongyang party chief, was reportedly proposed as premier by the political bureau of the party's Central Committee.
Continue reading the main story Undated image of Chang Song-taek, released by North Korean state media on 18 January 2009 Profile: Chang Song-taek Profile: Kim Jong-un
Some reports linked the replacement of the premier to last year's failed currency revaluation.
Mr Chang's promotion came "at the proposal of Kim Jong-il", the agency said.
The NDC is North Korea's highest military body and Mr Chang - already a member - now becomes a vice-chairman.
Mr Chang has been described as one of Mr Kim's most trusted allies. Some reports said he had overseen affairs while Mr Kim was incapacitated after a stroke in 2008.
His promotion will be seen by some as a sign that Mr Kim is putting key personnel in place to ensure a smooth transition of power to his son.
Three ministers - of light industry, foodstuffs and physical culture - were replaced, and six new vice-premiers appointed.
The reshuffle comes with inter-Korean ties in tatters, following the sinking of a South Korean warship.
Forty-six sailors were killed when the Cheonan went down on 26 March near the disputed inter-Korean border.
International investigators say a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank the ship - something Pyongyang rejects.
It has called Seoul's decision to refer the issue to the UN Security Council "intolerable".
The provincial lawyer who is helping plot an emirate coup
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/peter-cathcart-prince-coup
eter Cathcart works for ousted prince of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates to co-ordinate a plot to return him to power.
Peter Cathcart Solicitor Peter Cathcart leaving his office in Uxbridge. Photograph: Sam Frost
A bloodless coup to take control of an Arab Gulf state is being plotted by an unlikely alliance that includes a powerful firm of US lobbyists and a provincial English high-street solicitor.
Peter Cathcart, a 59-year-old lawyer from Farnham, has been hired by the ousted crown prince of Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) in the United Arab Emirates to co-ordinate the plot aimed at returning him to power after seven years in exile.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that Cathcart has acted as a paid agent for Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi in a multimillion-pound campaign to "undermine the current regime's standing" and to force the leadership of the UAE in Abu Dhabi, which has powerful influence over the emirate, to "make a change".
RAK is a strategically important part of the UAE, 50 miles from Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil are shipped each day. Sheikh Khalid, 66, was ousted by his father and brother as de facto leader in 2003.
The campaign alleges the regime presents an international security threat because the kingdom has become "a rogue state and gateway for Iran", allowing the shipment of weapons, including nuclear weapons parts, drugs and blood diamonds as well as military personnel and terrorists from al-Qaida and other networks.
Cathcart, a miniature steam train enthusiast and chairman of his local parish council who operates from modest offices in the outer London suburbs, cuts an unlikely figure in the plot, which involves highly paid US PR consultants, Washington lobbyists and former US-special forces strategists hired at a cost of at least $3.7m (£2.6m). They include BSKH, the lobbying firm which helped Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who opposed Saddam Hussein and was widely blamed for providing unsubstantiated evidence about weapons of mass destruction used as justification for an invasion of Iraq.
It is not suggested that Cathcart's involvement is unlawful.
The plotters have claimed the RAK regime is implicated in an alleged terror plot to blow up the world's tallest building in Dubai, and a possible Iranian attack on US participants in the America's Cup yachting race, due to take place in the emirate but later cancelled.
The campaign to return Sheikh Khalid to power comes amid international concern about Iran's nuclear programme, and the deposed sheikh's focus on links between RAK and Iran appears calculated to turn international opinion, particularly in Washington, against the family who rejected him.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is among the US politicians including more than a dozen congressmen from whom Sheikh Khalid has sought support. In February, he made a speech in Washington in which he stated: "I am troubled that the current regime has allowed RAK to devolve into a rogue state and strategic gateway for Iran. Published reports in the Gulf region have repeatedly indicated that Iran has taken advantage of our free trade zones, using them as a transfer point to smuggle cargo, including arms, electronics, weapons parts, drugs and even humans to Africa, Europe and Asia."
His US communications team insists the claims are "well sourced", but they were rejected by the UAE embassy in London. The UAE also denied the Sheikh's claim that RAK has links to Iran's nuclear programme and that a port in RAK has in effect become an Iranian base, allowing Tehran to avoid international sanctions.
"These appear to be old, scurrilous rumours which Sheik Khalid has made on numerous occasions," a spokesman for the UAE said in a statement. "His claims are baseless and without foundation and should be seen in the context of his long-standing dispute with his family. We are surprised that these old allegations are now being rehashed once again."
Sources close to the plot believe it is now entering its endgame. Sheikh Khalid is understood to have returned to the UAE from exile in London last month and has been in Abu Dhabi meeting officials from the UAE federal government, they said.
The ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, is the UAE president and ratifies changes to the leadership of the emirates.
The plot has been under way since at least 2008, according to the documents seen by the Guardian. They show that Cathcart has overseen the disbursement of several million dollars to fund the plot and acted as an intermediary between PR consultants, lobbyists and Sheikh Khalid. Cathcart has also met congressmen in Washington DC on behalf of the sheikh and oversaw requests for new appointments to the team. On one occasion he was asked to approve win-bonuses for would-be US advisers of $250,000 per person if the sheikh returns to power.
Cathcart declined repeated requests by the Guardian to comment on his role.
Asked by the Guardian if "regime change" was a legitimate goal, the sheikh's communications team replied: "If you believe in the peace, prosperity and security of the region and in protecting US national security interests, of course. If you are pro-Iranian or believe that the questionable activities in RAK should be allowed to move forward without any concern, then you would probably not approve of our activities."
eter Cathcart works for ousted prince of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates to co-ordinate a plot to return him to power.
Peter Cathcart Solicitor Peter Cathcart leaving his office in Uxbridge. Photograph: Sam Frost
A bloodless coup to take control of an Arab Gulf state is being plotted by an unlikely alliance that includes a powerful firm of US lobbyists and a provincial English high-street solicitor.
Peter Cathcart, a 59-year-old lawyer from Farnham, has been hired by the ousted crown prince of Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) in the United Arab Emirates to co-ordinate the plot aimed at returning him to power after seven years in exile.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that Cathcart has acted as a paid agent for Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi in a multimillion-pound campaign to "undermine the current regime's standing" and to force the leadership of the UAE in Abu Dhabi, which has powerful influence over the emirate, to "make a change".
RAK is a strategically important part of the UAE, 50 miles from Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil are shipped each day. Sheikh Khalid, 66, was ousted by his father and brother as de facto leader in 2003.
The campaign alleges the regime presents an international security threat because the kingdom has become "a rogue state and gateway for Iran", allowing the shipment of weapons, including nuclear weapons parts, drugs and blood diamonds as well as military personnel and terrorists from al-Qaida and other networks.
Cathcart, a miniature steam train enthusiast and chairman of his local parish council who operates from modest offices in the outer London suburbs, cuts an unlikely figure in the plot, which involves highly paid US PR consultants, Washington lobbyists and former US-special forces strategists hired at a cost of at least $3.7m (£2.6m). They include BSKH, the lobbying firm which helped Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who opposed Saddam Hussein and was widely blamed for providing unsubstantiated evidence about weapons of mass destruction used as justification for an invasion of Iraq.
It is not suggested that Cathcart's involvement is unlawful.
The plotters have claimed the RAK regime is implicated in an alleged terror plot to blow up the world's tallest building in Dubai, and a possible Iranian attack on US participants in the America's Cup yachting race, due to take place in the emirate but later cancelled.
The campaign to return Sheikh Khalid to power comes amid international concern about Iran's nuclear programme, and the deposed sheikh's focus on links between RAK and Iran appears calculated to turn international opinion, particularly in Washington, against the family who rejected him.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is among the US politicians including more than a dozen congressmen from whom Sheikh Khalid has sought support. In February, he made a speech in Washington in which he stated: "I am troubled that the current regime has allowed RAK to devolve into a rogue state and strategic gateway for Iran. Published reports in the Gulf region have repeatedly indicated that Iran has taken advantage of our free trade zones, using them as a transfer point to smuggle cargo, including arms, electronics, weapons parts, drugs and even humans to Africa, Europe and Asia."
His US communications team insists the claims are "well sourced", but they were rejected by the UAE embassy in London. The UAE also denied the Sheikh's claim that RAK has links to Iran's nuclear programme and that a port in RAK has in effect become an Iranian base, allowing Tehran to avoid international sanctions.
"These appear to be old, scurrilous rumours which Sheik Khalid has made on numerous occasions," a spokesman for the UAE said in a statement. "His claims are baseless and without foundation and should be seen in the context of his long-standing dispute with his family. We are surprised that these old allegations are now being rehashed once again."
Sources close to the plot believe it is now entering its endgame. Sheikh Khalid is understood to have returned to the UAE from exile in London last month and has been in Abu Dhabi meeting officials from the UAE federal government, they said.
The ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, is the UAE president and ratifies changes to the leadership of the emirates.
The plot has been under way since at least 2008, according to the documents seen by the Guardian. They show that Cathcart has overseen the disbursement of several million dollars to fund the plot and acted as an intermediary between PR consultants, lobbyists and Sheikh Khalid. Cathcart has also met congressmen in Washington DC on behalf of the sheikh and oversaw requests for new appointments to the team. On one occasion he was asked to approve win-bonuses for would-be US advisers of $250,000 per person if the sheikh returns to power.
Cathcart declined repeated requests by the Guardian to comment on his role.
Asked by the Guardian if "regime change" was a legitimate goal, the sheikh's communications team replied: "If you believe in the peace, prosperity and security of the region and in protecting US national security interests, of course. If you are pro-Iranian or believe that the questionable activities in RAK should be allowed to move forward without any concern, then you would probably not approve of our activities."
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Apple Broadcast Network
http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2010/apple-broadcast-network.html
The Apple Broadcast Network on Saturday June 05, @07:30PM
(Posted on Slashdot)
Posted by timothy on Saturday June 05, @07:30PM
from the interesting-future-ahead dept.
advertising
Hodejo1 writes "In 1959 5,749,000 television sets were sold in the US, bringing the cumulative total of sets sold since 1950 to 63,542,128 units. This number supported, through advertising, three national television networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS (a fourth, Dumont, folded in 1956) and numerous local independent stations. Now here are another set of numbers. As of April this year Apple sold 75 million iPhone and iPod touch units, devices capable of delivering video via Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. Add to that figure 2 million iPads and counting. By the end of the year Apple should have about 90 million smart mobile devices in the wild. That makes a proprietary amalgam greater than what the TV networks had in 1959 and one that easily serves as a foundation for a pending broadcast network that will be delivered not through tall radio towers, but through small wireless hubs and the Internet. Call it the Apple Broadcast Network. iAd is how Apple plans to pay for it."
The Apple Broadcast Network on Saturday June 05, @07:30PM
(Posted on Slashdot)
Posted by timothy on Saturday June 05, @07:30PM
from the interesting-future-ahead dept.
advertising
Hodejo1 writes "In 1959 5,749,000 television sets were sold in the US, bringing the cumulative total of sets sold since 1950 to 63,542,128 units. This number supported, through advertising, three national television networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS (a fourth, Dumont, folded in 1956) and numerous local independent stations. Now here are another set of numbers. As of April this year Apple sold 75 million iPhone and iPod touch units, devices capable of delivering video via Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. Add to that figure 2 million iPads and counting. By the end of the year Apple should have about 90 million smart mobile devices in the wild. That makes a proprietary amalgam greater than what the TV networks had in 1959 and one that easily serves as a foundation for a pending broadcast network that will be delivered not through tall radio towers, but through small wireless hubs and the Internet. Call it the Apple Broadcast Network. iAd is how Apple plans to pay for it."
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