China and Russia plan Mars mission
China announced Wednesday it will launch a joint mission with Russia to Mars in 2009, marking “an important milestone” in space cooperation between the two countries.
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Mercury in energy-saving bulbs worries scientists
There’s an old joke about the number of people it takes to change a light bulb. But because the newer energy-efficient kinds contain tiny amounts of mercury, the hard part is getting rid of them when they burn out. Mercury is poisonous, but it’s also a necessary part of most compact fluorescent bulbs, the kind that environmentalists and some governments are pushing as a way to cut energy use.
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Paper or plastic? No thanks
by Catherine Elsworth
Plastic Bag Consumption
- Estimated number of all types of plastic bags used each year, world-wide: 4,000,000,000,000
- Number of plastic shopping bags used each year, in the US alone: 14,000,000,000
- Percentage of plastic bags returned for recycling: 1%
- Annual cost to US retailers for giving away “free” bags: $4,000,000,000
- Barrels of oil required for US annual plastic bag consumption: 12,000,000
- Number of marine animals killed each year due to plastic bags: 100,000
- Average number of pieces of plastic in each square mile of ocean: 46,000
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One of our dictators is missing
He has is famous for being Europe’s last dictator, and a man whose iron-fisted grip is rarely far away from the levers of power. But Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, was at the centre of a mystery yesterday after allegedly going missing for 17 days.
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To Russia with Realism
by Anatol Lieven
In other words, the U.S. needs to develop a strategy toward Russia tailored to real American interests and real American strength. Surely the country that produced George Marshall, Dean Acheson, and Dwight Eisenhower must still be capable, somewhere in its being, of this kind of strategic wisdom?
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Oil, Guns, and Iran
It’s been a dizzying week for the oil markets. Crude prices at the New York Mercantile Exchange have been on an accelerated rise since Iran captured 15 British sailors and marines last week, fueling fears of a disruption in supply from the Middle East. After settling just shy of $64 on Mar. 27, crude futures shot up more than $5 that night to trade above $68 a barrel in electronic trading after rumors of an attack by Iran on U.S. warships. The U.S. military quickly denied the speculation, slicing a few dollars off prices.
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Fighting over the war
SOMETIMES politicians’ language really does indicate how they feel. There were strong words in the Senate on Tuesday March 27th as Republicans tried to amend a spending bill, proposing to strike language from it that would tie the president’s hands by “imposing an arbitrary timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq”, thus weakening the armed forces and jeopardising the (ahem) “successful conclusion of Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Or as Republican, John McCain, said, “This bill should be named the Date Certain for Surrender Act.”
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‘Mörder und Falschspieler’
by Vedrana Rudan
Severina je pjevačica zabavne glazbe, što znaju mnogi, talentirana glumica, to znaju oni koji su gledali Glembajeve, i žena koja se na filmu koji smo svi gledali tucala s oženjenim muškarcem. Onaj Krleža bi rekao, sie ist “eine Dirne“. I sve bi u Hrvatskoj bilo krasno da je ta gospodična nakon zločina popila solnu kiselinu. Ali nije. Zvijer hoda hrvatskim ulicama kao da se nije pojebala, drži za ruku mladog gospodina koji javno izjavljuje kako je voli. Ej?! Alo?! Vremena se mijenjaju, tako i oružje. Krleža je svoju junakinju dokrajčio škarama, hrvatski mužjaci u hrvatskim medijima Severinu kolju opakim jezičinama.
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