News from Poland and elsewhere

21.04.06, 13:32
Poland
International rugby in Warsaw - April 29 - see www.frogsco.pl
Irish private investors buying up flats in Warsaw - fuelling the property boom
Kwasniewski has been invited to run for mayor of Warsaw (I wouldn't if I were
him)
UK
Govt admits in the Commons that the only reason they are doing public-private
partnerships is because it makes the govt's books - and the man in charge of
them - look better.
Tony Blair is pretending to be friendly with his deadliest enemy - Finance
Minister dour Scot Gordon Brown. Meanwhile, the Brunnis keep giving the
Blairites bad press.
The govt has arrears of GBP 3bn towards English (not British) farmers. Farms
Minster Lord Bach is unconcerned at the bankruptcies caused and the
consultants in charge of the project - Accenture (ha!) - has received a major
new contract - privatisation of the NHS pathology labs.
British tax law has been successfully challenged in Europe - the govt was
found to be unfairly discriminating against UK firms (in favour of EU ones)
and will have to pay out around EUR 7bn.
Sinead O' Connor is mad, and has an unhealthy interest in Irish journalists.
Gardener's World magazine put a brain teaser in the back of their latest
issue - make as many words as you can using these letters D Y F A T C U N T
The EU complained about China destroying competiton by using subsidies ...
The latest UK Budget contains a multi-million pound tax break for proprty
companies (REITS). Kevin McGrath made a completely unconnected GBP 56k
donation to the Labour Party. He also happens to be a partner in REIT Asset
management.
GBP 800m - now this could have gone to:
(A) fund military operations in Iraq/Afghanistan, or
(B) cover the entire expected health service budget shortfall...
The UK now has animal welfare legislation in force. The results:
1995 - 87% sufficient in foodstuffs which could be produced in the UK - 70%now
e.g. then 789k pigs - now 468k
chicken imports: then 1k tons a year, now 70k
Fortunately, dairy farmers are going bust - milk's bad for you (triggers
osteporosis, prostate cancer and loose stools!)
Tourism Australia's TV ad "So where the bloody hell are you?" was pulled from
UK screens for obscenity. Tourism Oz claimed Brits had no sense of humour.
Then Downwind Media produced a spoof ad portraying the Cronulla riots,
entitled "So where the fucking hell are you?" Tourism Oz has threatened
legal action - no sense of humour, you see ...
2 EU directives aimed at the hazards of discarded electrical goods on public
dumps have inadvertently banned all church organs. The UK is implementing
the ban with respect to all maintenance work. Get out your guitar, Cliff!
Quote of the week:
(Brendan Foster) "You won't win silver medals at teh Olympics uless you're
teh very, very best."
    • asdf401 Re: News from Poland and elsewhere 21.04.06, 18:31
      Iran announced that it had successfully produced low-grade enriched uranium; to
      celebrate, men in traditional dress danced with uranium samples.[Reuters via
      Yahoo! News] The Iranian government also promised to give $50 million to the
      Palestinian Authority, now controlled by Hamas, which let it be known that it
      would recognize Israel's right to exist if the Jewish state were to withdraw
      from the entire West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. [CNN.com][Democracy Now!]
      A suicide bomber killed nine people at a falafel restaurant in Tel Aviv,[The New
      York Times] and in Sri Lanka bomb attacks by Tamil rebels killed 16 people.[BBC
      News] At least five U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, and a car bombing in
      Baquba killed 27 people.[The New York Times][Xinhua.net] Some Iraqis were
      changing their names to avoid being identified as either Sunni or Shiite. “[I]
      don't want my children to die,” said the Shiite father of Ali, Hassan, and
      Fatima, “just because of their names.”[Reuters via Yahoo! News] Close to 65,000
      Iraqis had fled their homes to avoid sectarian violence,[BBC News] and six
      former U.S. generals called for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to
      resign.[The Age] It was reported that Rumsfeld was “personally involved” in the
      torture of Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamed al-Qahtani, who was made to perform
      “dog tricks”; Rumsfeld was allegedly briefed on the progress of al-Qahtani's
      interrogations by phone.[The Age] Vice President Dick Cheney, who will receive
      a $1.9 million refund on his 2005 taxes, was booed at a Washington Nationals
      baseball game, where he threw out the first pitch. “I have never, ever,” said
      one fan, “heard anyone get booed like that man.”[The Washington Times][The
      Mercury News] Peace activist William Sloane Coffin [The Seattle Times] and
      author Muriel Spark died,[The Herald] and Tiger Woods apologized for calling
      himself a spaz.[Reuters via Yahoo! News]

      Officials in Afghanistan said that 41 Taliban and six police officers had been
      killed in fighting in the Helmand province; a Taliban spokesman claimed 15
      Afghan police and one Taliban were killed.[Al Jazeera] It was revealed that the
      U.S. military had mounted a propaganda campaign, targeting Iraq and the United
      States, intended to make Abu Muab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader (or possibly
      former leader) of Al Qaeda in Iraq, appear more powerful than he is. One
      document describing the campaign was called “Villainize Zarqawi/leverage
      xenophobia response.”[The Washington Post] A poll found that 63 percent of
      Americans were “absolutely certain” of the physical resurrection of Jesus
      Christ.[The Washington Post] Other polls found: that 55 percent of Americans
      want a Massachusetts-style health care law;[ABC News] that 52 percent of
      Americans would give up some tax deductions for a simpler tax code;[Asbury Park
      Press] that 51 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage (the same percentage
      that thinks illegal immigrants mostly contribute to American
      society);[HoustonVoice.com][Times-Herald] and that 46 percent of Americans use
      profanity more than twice a week.[TMCNet] Further polls found that 90 percent of
      Americans believe their peers are too fat, but only 40 percent believe they are
      too fat themselves,[The Sydney Morning Herald] and that nearly three quarters of
      10- to 13-year-old Americans like quesadillas.[SFGate.com] Sixty-two percent of
      Mexicans polled agreed that the United States is wealthy because it exploits
      others.[El Universal Online]

      An audit found that FEMA misspent at least $1 billion in the aftermath of
      Hurricane Katrina,[Democracy Now!] and theater programs for the deaf, operating
      on a shoestring, were trying to figure out who in Congress cut their $2 million
      in federal funding in December 2004.[The New York Times] In Italy, Bernardo
      Provenzano, also called The Tractor, the alleged head of the Italian mafia, was
      arrested near Corleone in Sicily.[BBC News] Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
      refused to admit that he had lost his seat to Romano Prodi; Prodi urged
      Berlusconi to admit defeat.[BBC News] Roger Toussaint, the head of the Transport
      Workers Union in New York City, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for leading a
      transit strike in December 2005.[Newsday] In Athens, Georgia, several agents
      from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms briefly detained a University
      of Georgia student who was dressed as a ninja. “Seeing someone with something
      across the face,” said a special agent, “from a federal standpoint—that's not
      right.” The student said he was leaving a pirate vs. ninja
      event.[RedAndBlack.com] In London, a woman's skeletal remains were found two
      years after her death, propped in front of a still-on TV. “I did notice a kind
      of rotten smell,” said a neighbor, “but the bins downstairs are strong and the
      stairwells smell with junkies.” [BBC News] Former Illinois Governor George Ryan
      was convicted of racketeering,[] and in Purcell, Oklahoma, a man named Kevin Ray
      Underwood was arrested for killing a 10-year-old girl named Jamie Rose Bolin. “I
      chopped her up,” he told police. “Regarding a potential motive,” said a police
      chief, “this appears to have been part of a plan to kidnap a person, rape them,
      torture them, kill them, cut off their head, drain the body of blood, rape the
      corpse, eat the corpse, then dispose of the organs and bones.” The police also
      announced that they had removed skewers and a meat tenderizer from Underwood's
      apartment.[Winston-Salem Journal] Researchers in Africa discovered a catfish
      that stretches out of the water to eat land animals,[Nature] Prince Albert of
      Monaco reached the North Pole,[BBC News] and scientists in Britain found that
      human fetuses cannot feel pain.
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