Daily Archives: June 1, 2013

‘I don’t feel sorry for them’: George Bush risks wrath of injured veterans saying they volunteered their service

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bu3He was the most powerful man on the planet for eight years. Now former US president George W Bush has spoken frankly about the  perils of leadership, saying holding on to power for too long can be ‘corrosive’.

Mr Bush, who served two terms in the White House, said he thought being in charge could ‘dim your vision’ because you get carried away with fame.

He admitted that while he was president he came to understand how ‘fame can become very addictive’.

It is unclear whether the comments will help to rehabilitate his image.  A poll last year found he is the most unpopular living president, with 54 per cent saying they had an unfavourable view of him.

After he came into office in 2001, Mr Bush embarked on two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have resulted in the deaths of 6,471 American troops. Some 32,000 US soldiers were injured in Iraq and 18,000 in Afghanistan.

Mr Bush was speaking to The Huffington Post during the third annual Warrior 100K challenge, a three-day mountain bike ride hosted at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The 75 riders who took part included 13 veterans who have been physically or psychologically wounded during their service in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Asked if he felt responsible for their injuries, Mr Bush said: ‘Well, to a certain extent you can’t help it, because had I not made decisions I made, they wouldn’t have been in combat.

‘On the other hand, every one of these men were volunteers. None of them are angry. They don’t blame anybody. And so I believe strongly that the decisions I made were the right decisions.’

He added: ‘I don’t feel sorry for them, because they don’t feel sorry for themselves.’

 

US defence chief accuses Beijing of cyber-spying

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3ԱՄՆ-ի անվտանգության ղեկավարը մեղադրում է Պեկինին կիբեռ-լրտեսության ÕUS Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel accused Beijing of involvement in cyber espionage in a

speech at a Singapore security forum attended by Chinese military officials.
Stepping up US pressure on China over electronic espionage ahead of a summit between their leaders next week, Hagel pointedly blamed the Chinese government and military for repeated intrusions into sensitive US information systems.
“The United States has expressed our concerns about the growing threat of cyber intrusions, some of which appear to be tied to the Chinese government and military,” Hagel said in prepared remarks delivered at an annual Singapore conference known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
“As the world’s two largest economies, the US and China have many areas of common interest and concern, and the establishment of a cyber working group is a positive step in fostering US-China dialogue on cyber,” the Pentagon chief said.

Over 1,000 people killed in May Iraq violence: UN

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2Մայիսյան խռովությունների հետևանքով Իրաքում մահացել է 1,000 մարդ. ՄԱԿA wave of violence in Iraq that has raised fears of a return to all-out sectarian strife killed more than 1,000 people in May, the United Nations said.

Over the course of the month, 1,045 people were killed and 2,397 wounded in unrest across the country, it said.
Although the violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak during the sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007, when well over 1,000 people sometimes died per month, the death toll has begun to rise again.
The country has seen a heightened level of violence since the start of the year, coinciding with rising discontent among Iraqi Sunnis that erupted into protests in late December.
Members of the Sunni minority, which ruled the country from its establishment after World War I until Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by US-led forces in 2003, accuse the Shiite-led government in Baghdad of marginalising and targeting their community.
The government has made some concessions aimed at placating protesters and Sunnis in general, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sunni anti-Al-Qaeda fighters, but underlying issues have yet to be addressed.

Top Muslim cleric urges Sunnis to join Syria war

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1Մուսուլման հոգևոր առաջնորդը կոչ է անում սունիներին միանալ Սիրիայի պÕInfluential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called on Sunni Muslims to join the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, as he lashed out at Shiite group Hezbollah for sending its men to fight the mostly-Sunni insurgents in Syria.

Qaradawi, a controversial figure in the West but who has millions of supporters, mostly from the Muslim Brotherhood, also hit out at Iran for backing the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
“Every Muslim trained to fight and capable of doing that (must) make himself available” to support the Syrian rebels, the cleric said at a rally in Doha late Friday.
“Iran is pushing forward arms and men (to back the Syrian regime), so why do we stand idle?” he said, branding Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which means the party of God in Arabic, as the “party of Satan”.

World’s loneliest schoolboy Bacho attends classes by himself in remote Georgian village of only 30 people

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b9Bacho Tsiklauri, nine, is the only pupil at the primary school in the remote mountain gorge village of Makarta, Georgia, 62 miles north of the capital Tbilisi.

He is one of only four children in the village, which is home to about 30 people. The older children, including his brother Dato, attend a high school in a nearby village two miles away.

Reuters photographer David Mdzinarishvili travelled along 12 miles of dirt track through the Gudamakari gorge, which separates Makarta from the rest of Georgia, to meet Bacho.

The journey through the gorge took as long as it did to cover on the main road.

Bacho knows it is time for lessons when he sees 47-year-old Ms Tsiklauri, who teaches Georgian and mathematics, walking past his house at about 10am each day.

‘Lia began the lesson by taking the register, but then she laughed and with this the tension disappeared.

‘They soon forgot about my presence, and the class went as usual: checking homework, going over previous lessons, being called to the board, and learning new material.

At break time, Bacho kicked a half-flat football around the courtyard by himself and did a few laps, Mr Mdzinarishvili said. Then the boy’s other teacher, 40-year-old Inga Chokheli, arrived for his English lesson.

Both the teachers were full of praise for their only student. They just had one disappointment: when he goes to high school, the primary school in Makarta will close.

 

Mass grave uncovered containing dozens of Palestinians killed in 1948 war that founded Israel

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i3Six mass graves features the remains of dozens of Palestinians killed during the Israeli-Arab war of 1948, when the Jewish state was founded have been uncovered in the Jaffa district of Tel Aviv.

An official at the Muslim cemetery there told AFP that the grisly find happened on Wednesday when ground subsided as builders carried out renovation work.

In 1948 Jaffa was a Palestinian town but there was an exodus of most of its Arab population when it fell to the fledgling Israeli army and right-wing Jewish militias.

Researcher and historian Mahmoud Obeid, a Jaffa resident, told As-Safri newspaper: ‘We discovered six mass graves, two of which we dug up. Our estimate is that they contain around 200 bodies, with an unknown additional number in the other graves.

He’s such a considerate lava: Drive-thru sex bays set up next to Italian volcano… as the gases it emits work like VIAGRA

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v2The raised levels of customer satisfaction at this drive-in site near Naples have nothing to do with spectacular views or luxury amenities.

This is the site of a set of unique ‘sex bays’- where visitors can book a parking bay and become intimate with the great outdoors.

The bays’ location promises to excite and arouse users who want to experience the effects of ‘natural viagra’.

They are beside the Solfatara volcano near Naples. The volcano emits hydrogen sulfide- a gas that is proven to help men with erectile problems.

Hydrogen sulfide is known as the ‘devil’s stink’ because it smells like rotten eggs. The gas can also be toxic in large quantities.

However, in smaller doses, scientists say the chemical plays an important part in a male erection.

As well as increasing blood flow, the chemical relaxes nerves in muscles that control an erection.

Experts say hydrogen sulfide could be as effective as Viagra in treating erectile dysfunction if a new product was properly developed.

However, the levels of concentration at which the chemical is safe to use remains unknown.

 

Acrylic NAIL worn by Lady Gaga is auctioned off for more than $12,000 after crew member finds it onstage

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An acrylic nail worn by Lady Gaga during one of her concerts was retrieved by a crew member, and then sold for more than $12,000 on an auction website.

The black nail, which is decorated with tiny gold beads, was apparently worn by the singer at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, in September 2012.

Accompanying the tiny keepsake was a photo of Lady Gaga performing on stage, which apparently shows that one of her fingernails was indeed missing.

To further prove its authenticity, the crew member also included an Aviva Stadium staff handbook, an event wristband and a grey T-shirt worn by the crew

during the Lady Gaga Born This Way Ball tour.

And the nail came with another photo of the singer at an earlier event in New York, where she is clearly wearing the same acrylic designs.

The consignor also added a letter stating how he obtained the nail – which was filed in the website under ‘unique memorabilia and autographs’.

‘I noticed an object on the floor of the stage, which at first I thought was a guitar plectrum,’ it reads. ‘When I picked it up, I saw it was an acrylic nail.’
The nail and its accompanying paraphernalia were auctioned off on a Boston, Massacusetts-based website, but were ultimately purchased by an unidentified Lady Gaga fan in the UK on Friday.

 

Football: First woman elected to FIFA ExCo

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2Առաջին անգամ FIFA -ի գործադիր հանձնաժողով է ընդունվել կինBurundi’s Lydia Nsekera made history on Friday when she became the first woman to be elected to the Executive Committee of football’s world governing body FIFA for a full term.
Nsekera was voted on for a full four-year term at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius, while two other women, Moya Dodd of Australia and Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands, were coopted on for one year.
Now there will be three women on the ExCo, compared to none two years ago. It is another step towards gender equality within FIFA, although there is still work to be done, with the ExCo comprising a total of 24 members.
“One woman was co-opted on to the Executive Committee last year for one year, and now a woman has been officially elected on to the executive committee, with two others co-opted. It has taken us 109 years to get this far,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Lebanon MPs put off election as Syria war rages

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1Լիբանանի ընտրությունները կհետաձգվենLebanon’s parliament on Friday voted to extend its mandate and delay elections after failing to adopt a new electoral law at a time of deep divisions over the war in neighbouring Syria.
The motion for a 17-month extension, submitted by independent Christian MP Nicolas Fattouche, was passed unanimously by 98 members of the 128-seat house who attended, with rival camps blaming each other for the delay.
“The term of the mandate of the legislature will be modified on an exceptional basis to end on November 20, 2014,” rather than June 20 as scheduled, it reads.
The motion to extend the normal four-year term between elections was due to “the security situation in several Lebanese regions that gives rise to political escalation and division which often take on confessional forms”.
“Security and political tensions prevent the holding of an election campaign,” it said.
Fuad Siniora, the opposition head in parliament, explained: “We were forced to vote on this bad project to avoid a vacuum and after unrest in several regions and the serious negative development” of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syria conflict.

‘I’m going to breastfeed my son until he goes to college!’: Shakira on her new role as a mother

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sh2The Voice coach Shakira is reveling in her new role as a mother.

The 36-year-old singer and her footballer boyfriend Gerard Pique welcomed their first child, Milan, four months ago and Shakira is loving every aspect of it including nursing.

She told Us Weekly: ‘Breastfeeding has been one of the best experiences of my life. I love it! I can’t stop! I think I’m going to breastfeed him until he goes to college! I’m hooked!’

Shakira also credits breastfeeding with helping her to get back in shape quickly following Milan’s birth.

She is surprised by how laid back she is with her son, because she imagined she would be controlling.

She explained: ‘I thought I was going to be super-controlling because I am like that with my songs, my career and everything I do professionally – I like to be in charge.

‘But with him, I’m so relaxed. It’s so surprising because everybody thought I was going to be one of those hysterical mothers, like smothering mothers, and I feel that I’m not as nervous. I’m relaxed.’