The wierd world of body building

Where is Rain when you need him! This makes me want to throw up my dinner!

US advertises on Google to snare surfers

If you are searching the internet for information on terrorism in theMiddle East, you might come across the US state department.
Thedepartment is using Google's AdWords service to draw in internetsurfers searching for particular words - such as 'terrorism' - andredirect them to its own website.
In recent months, the USadministration has quietly been running the advert-isements for itsAmerica.gov site, which is intended to give foreign audiences theWashington take on US -foreign policy, culture and society.
Otherwords and phrases that trigger the adverts include 'Middle East peace','human rights', 'press freedom', 'renewable energy', 'food aid' and -apparently the most popular search the administration has paid for -'US elections'.
As is customary with Google's service, theadvertisements are geared to particular regions of the world. A searchfor terrorism on Google's sites in the UK, the United Arab Emirates andCanada yields the same advertisement for 'peace and security: creatingsecurity through improved relations and co-operation' and a link to theAmerica.gov page.
But similar searches on the Google sites in Israel, Egypt, China and France do not yield the same result.
'Weneed a very strong presence on the web; that's communications today,'says Jonathan Margolis at the Bureau of International InformationPrograms, the state department agency responsible for both taking outthe advertisements and the America.gov site.
'We are trying toengage, inform and influence foreign audiences. Before you can doeither of the last two you have got to find some way to engage them . .. We found that when you launch a website and if you want to attract atarget audience, Google ads are a very effective way of drawing peopleto the site.'
He says the state department is spending $25,000 to$30,000 (€19,000, £15,00 a month on the adverts, based on the numberof users who click on them, as well as about $15,000 a month foradverts for longer-standing US government Arabic and Farsi-languagesites.
He adds that the adverts for the Arabic and Farsi siteshave generated 300,000 views a month and that the US looks at theregions of the world in which to run the advertisements from month tomonth.
One focus is countries or regions with large expatriate populations.
However,as the US approaches the end of George W. Bush's time in the WhiteHouse, it has its public relations work cut out for it. Some 47 percent of people worldwide say the US has a negative influence, comparedwith 35 per cent who see it as positive, according to a poll of 17,500people in 34 countries released last month and commissioned by the BBC.

ZIZEK! is both an unforgettable lesson in philosophy and a compelling portrait of an intellectual maverick. Possessing the capacity to appeal to the uninitiated in a way no other philosopher before him could, Slavoj Zizek’s combination of high and low culture will fascinate even those who once believed philosophy to be a bore.
http://www.istanbulmodern.org/images/newsletter/sinema/nisan2007/14-22/14-22.html

Alien Foetus
caption of the images say:
A German teenager who left a Halloween joke alien in a glass jar on the counter of an ice cream vendor was surprised at the uproar his prank caused when he heard reports on local radio. Police took the plastic alien to pathologists for checking. Initially the experts said the object could be a human foetus showing signs of deformity, but a forensic expert, on taking a scalpel to it, revealed it to be made of plastic.

Rabbit becomes mother to kittens has the ahhhhhh factor! Being a lover of all things fluffy, I could not resist posting this, even though it is an old story! This lovely little pet rabbit has become the adopted mother to 6 tiny kittens. Only animal lovers need look

Clinton now closer to endgame

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0508/p01s03-uspo.html

Al-Jazeera Cameraman Freed from Guantanamo Bay

An Al-Jaze­era cameraman released from U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay re­turned home to Sudan early Friday after six years of imprisonment that drew worldwide protests.

Sami al-Haj, along with two other Sudanese released from Guan­tanamo prison in Cuba Thursday, arrived at the airport in Sudan's capital Khartoum on a U.S. military plane.

Al-Haj was detained in December 2001 by Pakistani authorities as he tried to enter Afghanistan to cover the U.S.-led invasion. He was turned over to the U.S. military and taken in January 2002 to Guantanamo Bay, where the United States holds some 275 men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban, most of them without charges.

Reprieve, the British human rights group that represents 35 Guan­tanamo prisoners including al-Haj, said Pakistani forces apparently seized al-Haj at the behest of the U.S. authorities who suspected he had interviewed Osama bin Laden, said.

But that "supposed intelligence" turned out to be false, Reprieve said in a news release.

"This is wonderful news, and long overdue," said Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's Director who has represented al-Haj since 2005. "The U.S. administration has never had any reason for holding Mr. Al Haj, and has, instead, spent six years shamelessly attempting to turn him against his employers at Al-Jazeera." The U.S. military says it goes to great lengths to respect the religion of detainees, issuing them Qurans, enforcing quiet among guard staff during prayer calls throughout the day. All cells in Guantanamo have an arrow that points toward the holy city of Mecca.

Al-Haj was the only journalist from a major international news organization held at Guantanamo and many of his supporters saw his detention as punishment for a network whose broadcasts angered U.S. officials.

Al-Haj said he believed he was arrested because of U.S. hostility toward Al-Jazeera and because the media was reporting on U.S. rights violations in Afghanistan.

The military alleged he was a courier for a militant Muslim organization, an allegation his lawyers denied.

By Mohamed Osman

The Associated Press
| Moscow News,№17-18 2008
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2008/05/journalist_rele.html