Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
http://www.bytrade.com one of the largest international trade marketplace for importers and exporters, factory buy sell trade marketplace , now FREE of charge
2012年4月26日星期四
Alert asymptomatic high blood pressure
Export tax rebates to follow
Last known photo of missing Fort Bragg soldier released
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
North Carolina authorities released the last known picture of the missing Fort Bragg soldier Kelli Bordeaux Thursday and say it was the outfit she wore to the night she went missing.
Bordeaux, a 23-year-old combat medic with the 44th Medical Brigade, disappeared April 14 after leaving the bar in Fayetteville at around 1:20 a.m. Fort Bragg officials reported her missing two days later after she failed to report to duty. Authorities have searched woods and a pond in the area and have not reported any significant leads.
Nicholas Holbert, 25, who has been questioned twice in Bordeaux's disappearance, was taken into police custody for failing to register as a sex offender at his new address in Cumberland County, N.C., according to WRAL-TV.
The station also reported that the owner of the Froggy Bottoms bar -- where Bordeaux was last seen -- was arrested Monday on outstanding warrants unrelated to the soldier's disappearance.
Holbert, who has not been named a person of interest in the case, admitted to driving Bordeaux home the night she was last seen. He has reportedly denied any involvement in the woman's disappearance, telling WTVD-TV that he dropped Bordeaux off at the entrance of her neighborhood at her request.
"As soon as you drive into the entrance to Meadowbrook, she said stop right here," Holbert told the station. “So I stopped and she said, ‘I’ll walk home.’ I said, ‘Are you sure?’ She said, ‘Yeah.’ I said I figured she didn’t want me to know where she lived, or somebody was there and she didn’t want to be seen together."
Holbert, who was convicted in 2003 of indecent liberties with a 5-year-old child, told the station he was being unfairly targeted because of his criminal record.
On Monday, police also arrested 49-year-old Steven Cantrell, the owner of the Froggy Bottoms bar, for failing to appear in a Cumberland County courtroom on a driving while impaired charge in 2001.
FBI agents also had warrants for Cantrell's arrest in Boston for failing to pay $400,000 in child support payments to three different women, sheriff's officials told WRAL.
Bordeaux, who has blond hair and brown eyes, was last seen wearing a pink tank top and black shorts, police said. She is described as 5 feet, 1 inch tall, weighing 102 pounds.
Meanwhile, her husband says he's grateful for the community's effort to find his wife.
Mike Bordeaux said in an interview Thursday there have been no new leads in the search for his 23-year-old wife, Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux of St. Cloud, Fla.
Mike Bordeaux says investigators have questioned his whereabouts when she was reported missing. He was in Florida visiting his parents. Mike Bordeaux says there were no problems in their marriage and the couple had never visited that bar.
Analysts say North Korea's new missiles displayed at parade are fakes
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
A half dozen ominous new North Korean missiles showcased at a lavish military parade were clumsy fakes, analysts say, casting more doubt on the country's claims of military prowess after its recent rocket launch failure.
The weapons displayed April 15 appear to be a mishmash of liquid-fuel and solid-fuel components that could never fly together. Undulating casings on the missiles suggest the metal is too thin to withstand flight. Each missile was slightly different from the others, even though all were supposedly the same make. They don't even fit the launchers they were carried on.
"There is no doubt that these missiles were mock-ups," Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker, of Germany's Schmucker Technologie, wrote in a paper posted recently on the website Armscontrolwonk.com that listed those discrepancies. "It remains unknown if they were designed this way to confuse foreign analysts, or if the designers simply did some sloppy work."
The missiles, called KN-08s, were loaded onto the largest mobile launch vehicles North Korea has ever unveiled. Pyongyang gave them special prominence by presenting them at the end of the parade, which capped weeks of celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung.
The unveiling created an international stir. The missiles appeared to be new, and designed for long-range attacks.
That's a big concern because, along with developing nuclear weapons, North Korea has long been suspected of trying to field an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, capable of reaching the United States. Washington contends that North Korea's failed April 13 rocket launch was an attempt to test missile technology rather than the scientific mission Pyongyang claims.
But after pouring over close-up photos of the missiles, Schiller and Schmucker, whose company has advised NATO on missile issues, argue the mock-ups indicate North Korea is a long way from having a credible ICBM.
"There is still no evidence that North Korea actually has a functional ICBM," they concluded, adding that the display was a "dog and pony show" and suggesting North Korea may not be making serious progress toward its nuclear-tipped ICBM dreams.
North Korea has a particularly bad track record with ICBM-style rockets. Its four launches since 1998 -- three of which it claimed carried satellites -- have all ended in failure.
North Korea also frequently overstates its military capabilities.
On Wednesday, one of its top military leaders, Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho, claimed his country is armed with powerful modern weapons capable of defeating the United States "at a single blow." North Korea made another unusual claim Monday, promising "special actions" that would reduce Seoul's government to ashes within minutes.
Even so, the missiles displayed this month could foreshadow weapons that North Korea is still working on.
David Wright, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists who has written extensively about North Korea's missile program, said he believes the KN-08s could be "somewhat clumsy representations of a missile that is being developed."
Wright noted that the first signs the outside world got of North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 missile -- upon which the recent failed rocket was based -- was from mock-ups seen in 1994, 12 years before it was actually tested on the launch pad.
"To understand whether there is a real missile development program in place, we are trying to understand whether the mock-ups make sense as the design for a real missile," he said. "It is not clear that it has a long enough range to make sense for North Korea to invest a lot of effort in."
Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former scientific adviser to the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, said the Taepodong-2 design remains the more real future threat -- though even that remains at least a decade away -- and the KN-08 is simply a smoke screen.
"I believe that these missiles are not only mock-ups, but they are very unlikely to be actual mock-ups of any missiles in design," he said. "Fabricating a missile like the KN-08 would require a gigantic indigenous technical effort. ... The only way North Korea could develop such a missile with its pitiful economy would be if someone gave it to them."
He noted that a comparable U.S. missile, the Minuteman III, required "decades of expertise in rocket motors, and vast sums of intellectual, technological and financial capital."
Much attention, meanwhile, has been given to the 16-wheel mobile launchers that carried the missiles during the parade, which experts believe may have included a chassis built in China. That raises questions of whether China has violated U.N. sanctions against selling missile-related technology to Pyongyang.
Some missile experts say the launchers were designed to carry a larger missile than the 18-meter-long KN-08, and argue that North Korea would not have spent millions of dollars on them unless it has, or intends to have, a big missile to put on them.
But Wright said the launchers, like the missiles they carried, could also have been more for show than anything else.
"Given the international attention it has gotten from parading these missiles you could argue that the cost of buying the large trucks -- which add a lot of credibility to the images of the missiles -- was money well spent in terms of projecting an image of power," he said
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme
Global B2B buy sell marketplace: http://www.bytrade.com
By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry, then in the early stages of his short-lived quest for the Republican presidential nomination, referred to Social Security as "a Ponzi scheme," he was excoriated by the press, left and right, and by his fellow Republicans, as well. Earlier this week, government actuaries revealed that Perry was correct.
That revelation, which was greeted with a ho-hum by the media, basically announced that by 2033, 21 years from now, the so-called "Social Security trust fund" will be empty.
The only reason this was even announced is because we are approaching a presidential election campaign, and in response to Perry's much-derided claim, the government's actuaries, who originally told the Obama administration and the public that the fund would be solvent until 2036, re-examined their numbers and concluded that it will be in the red three years earlier than they thought.
This revelation should come as no surprise to those who monitor the government and its deceptive ways. When he first introduced Social Security, President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that under Social Security the federal government would be holding your money for you. He deceptively fostered the idea that Social Security would be a savings account, into which employees and employers would make contributions and out of which guaranteed monies would be paid to those who reached the age of 65. Essentially, he claimed that you'd get your money back.
The politicians believed him, but the actuaries and the judiciary understood that the government would never hold anyone's money for him — as if it were the custodian of a bank account. In the first of several challenges to the constitutionality of Social Security, the Supreme Court found that the Social Security fund did not consist of your money. It was merely tax revenue.
Did you know that?
It also held that since Congress' law-making authority is limited to the 16 discrete delegated powers granted to it in the Constitution (a truism few in Congress accept as binding) but its spending authority is open-ended (a conclusion that must torment James Madison's ghost), Congress could collect funds, claim it was holding the funds in a savings account and then spend those funds as it saw fit — for those in need after age 65 or for any other purpose.
Did you know that?
And, in a curious yet revealing one-liner in the Supreme Court opinion upholding the constitutionality of Social Security, even the court recognized that there would be no trust fund in the traditional sense when it found that the tax dollars collected and supposedly designated for Social Security were "not earmarked in any way."
Did you know that?
Eventually, the government would acknowledge that what it first called a savings account and then called old-age insurance and then said would be fortified by a trust fund did not even establish a contractual obligation to those who have paid the Social Security tax — which would be all of us.
Thus, the Feds have conceded and the courts have agreed that the money you have involuntarily contributed to the so-called trust fund is not yours and can be spent by the government as it pleases, just like any other revenue that the Feds collect.
Did you know that?
The trust fund is not money that the government "holds" for you, as FDR promised.
It is not money to which you have a lawful claim, as he claimed.
It is not a guarantee for you, as he led the public to believe.
The so-called "trust fund" is merely the difference between what is collected and what is paid out. And the Feds just acknowledged that in 21 years, they are likely to pay out more than they will collect.
Perry did not succeed this time in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination. But he did succeed in articulating a hard truth: The same federal government that prosecutes people like Bernie Madoff for paying out more than they collect does the very same thing under the color of law.
Is a Ponzi scheme — which is basically theft by deception — lawful just because the government runs it? The Supreme Court has said yes. Perry has said no.
Governor Perry is correct.
‘Fake dentist’ arrested, allegedly treated patients at home
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
A man has been arrested for practicing dentistry out of his Long Island, N.Y., home without any formal medical or dental training, the Long Island Press reported Thursday.
Police arrested Manuel Carranza, 46, on Wednesday after they received a tip about the alleged unlicensed dental practice. The home office reportedly contained dental equipment as well as a number of prescription medications and two stun guns.
According to the Long Island Press, Carranza also possessed a forged New York State identification card.
Carranza was charged with unauthorized practice of a crime, possession of a forged instrument, possession of a dangerous weapon and criminal diversion of a prescription.
what symptom High blood fat have
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
Secrets of the Ford Mustang
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
By Rob Sass
The Ford Mustang is an April baby, debuting at the New York World’s Fair in April 1964. It’s become one of America’s best-loved automotive nameplates. But there are a few things about the legendary Mustang that most people don’t know. Here are five of them:
- Ford had used the Mustang name before on a car: The Mustang I of 1962 was a mid-engine concept car with a strange little V-4 engine. It shared almost nothing with the car that eventually became famous other than the soon-to-be famous name.
- Ford couldn't call it the Mustang in Germany: A scooter company of all things held the rights to the name “Mustang” in Germany and Ford declined to purchase the rights for a reputedly paltry $10,000, Thus, the Mustang was known as the Ford T5 in Germany.
- It was named after a WWII fighter plane, not a wild horse: It is generally believed that the Mustang acquired its name from the wild unbroken North American horse known as a Mustang. In truth, the car was named for the famous air war-winning North American P-51 Mustang, the WWII mount of famed test pilot and ace Chuck Yeager.
- Toyota copied it: At the 1971 Tokyo Motor Show, more than a few eyebrows were raised when Toyota raised the curtain on its new Celica liftback. Several observers commented that it was essentially a 2/3 scale replica of the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback.
- Ford nearly killed it off: In the late 1980s, Ford toyed with the notion of killing off the Mustang in favor of the Mazda-based sporty car the Ford Probe. Mustang fans became incensed at the notion of a Japanese-engineered front wheel-drive car with no V-8 option replacing their beloved Mustang. Fortunately for all of us who worship the 2005 redesign of the Mustang and all of the wonderful variants that it has spawned, it didn’t happen.
Boost Credit Score With Help From a Friend
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
Dear Credit Card Adviser,
I've read that if someone who has excellent credit puts you on their credit card as an authorized user, it can help raise your credit score. If this is true, how does this work?
- Edward
Dear Edward,
Being an authorized user on someone else's credit card account may raise your credit score. It depends on how the account is handled, your overall credit history and which scoring model is used to calculate your credit rating.
What you'll see on your credit report is the payment history for the shared account. You won't see other accounts from the main cardholder's credit report on yours unless your name is on those accounts as well. In addition, your credit score won't merge with the other person's credit score because of the shared account. Your credit score only considers information from your individual credit file.
If the primary account holder has paid the credit card account on time and continues to do so while maintaining reasonable monthly balances, the account could have a beneficial effect on your credit score. If the main account holder starts to miss payments or maxes out the card, both of your credit scores could suffer.
However, credit reporting agency Experian only reports positive payment history for authorized user accounts. "If the account becomes negative, we automatically remove it from the authorized user's credit history," spokesman Rod Griffin said in an email.
If you are concerned about the credit score impact of the account, ask the credit card issuer to take you off the account as an authorized user. Since you are not responsible for payments as an authorized user, the issuer will likely honor your request. You also can ask the credit reporting agencies to remove the account from your credit file.
That said, not every credit score formula considers authorized user accounts in scoring. The most widely used credit score, known as the FICO score, does include them in scoring. But it has a methodology in place to minimize score inflation as a result of the controversial practice of "piggybacking" as an authorized user on the credit card account of a stranger with great credit. VantageScore, a rival credit score developed jointly by the three major credit reporting agencies -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- did not include authorized user accounts in scoring in its original version. VantageScore 2.0 does count authorized user accounts.
Because authorized user accounts are not always factored into the credit score of the authorized user, it's a good idea to have some credit accounts in your own name.
If someone else makes you an authorized user on a credit card account, monitor the account to make sure it is not harming your credit score. One way to do that is by checking your credit report periodically. Under federal law, you're entitled to request a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com.
2012年4月25日星期三
Syria violence rages, France tells U.N. to hurry
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces shot dead four civilians on a bus on Wednesday and fighting raged near Damascus, dissidents said, as international pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad to honor U.N.-backed ceasefire pledges to order his troops back to barracks.
In the city of Hama, an anti-Assad hotbed, an explosion ripped through a building, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Another activist group, the grassroots Local Coordination Committee, said the blast was caused by a rocket launched into the building and put the death toll much higher at 54, including several children.
A third activist source said the explosion may have come from inside the building. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the varying accounts.
There was no comment from Syria's government, which says it is committed to U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan's April 12 ceasefire accord, but reserves the right to respond to what it says are continued attacks by "terrorist groups".
Hama has been hosting a small team of United Nations observers, who are preparing the way for a larger U.N. mission which will arrive to monitor the ceasefire pact.
In defiance of the truce accord, shelling was relentless in Douma, east of the capital, residents said, giving further ammunition to Western states such as France that want broad United Nations sanctions to try to end more than a year of fighting in which 9,000 people have been killed.
As well as urging faster deployment of U.N. monitors, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris would push for a so-called "Chapter 7" resolution, which would mean punitive sanctions, next month if Assad's forces did not pull back.
"This cannot continue indefinitely. We want to see observers in sufficient numbers, at least 300 ... deployed as quickly as possible," Juppe said.
"If that does not work, we cannot allow the regime to defy us. We would have to move to a new stage with a Chapter 7 resolution at the United Nations to take a new step to stop this tragedy."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed when security forces opened fire on a bus at a checkpoint on the main road from Aleppo to Damascus.
An elderly man was also killed, it added, in heavy fighting in the southern city of Deraa, crucible of the anti-Assad revolt that flared 13 months ago after uprisings against autocratic leaders in North Africa and the Middle East.
A woman who visited Douma on Tuesday night said the town had been under constant shelling and was without water, power or mobile phone signal. Pro-government gunmen were wandering the streets, she added, preventing people from leaving their homes.
"There was bombardment all night. Artillery and tanks. We didn't sleep at all. Not for a moment," the woman told Reuters in neighboring Lebanon. "Most residents have gone down to live on the ground floor because most of the second and third floors have been hit."
U.N. LAMPOONED
There was no mention of the bus shooting or bombardment in Syria's rigidly controlled media or comment from the authorities in Damascus, which has barred most foreign journalists since the revolt started.
Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general, told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had failed to withdraw weapons from population centers in violation of the terms of the April 12 truce he engineered.
"Everything we have seen suggests that the Syrians are wanting to play for time and they haven't any real intention to start a political process and a transition. But we need to call their bluff, as it were, and test that," a senior Western diplomat told reporters in New York on condition of anonymity.
The latest violence comes two days after 31 people were killed in Hama immediately after U.N. monitors left the area and may prompt more outside pressure on Assad.
Damascus says 2,600 of its security personnel have been killed by the rebel armed groups that operate in parts of the country of 23 million.
"The situation in Syria continues to be unacceptable," Annan told the 15-nation Security Council. "The Syria authorities must implement their commitments in full and a cessation of violation in all its forms must be respected by all parties."
He stressed the need to get "eyes and ears on the ground", but peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said it would take a month to deploy the first 100 monitors of the UNSMIS mission - a time frame that drew derision from ordinary Syrians.
"It takes them a month to arrive? Are they coming on horses?" asked a resident of Homs, a city which has endured constant army shelling. He declined to give his real name.
The reasons for the slow deployment were not clear, although diplomats said Norwegian General Robert Mood, who led a U.N. negotiating team to Syria this month, had been made its head.
So far, there are only 15 unarmed monitors in Syria out of a planned final team of 300, a frustratingly thin presence for the opposition activists who say they have noted some decline in the daily death toll.
In a display of Syrian black humor, some activists have mocked the monitors, appearing on video in spoof blue uniforms and with blacked-out glasses and tissue paper stuffed into their ears - pretending neither to see nor hear anything untoward.
"After one month we will have maybe 1,000 or 2,000 people killed - it's ridiculous. How can the international community watch without moving quickly?" asked Mousab al-Hamadi, an opposition resident in Hama province, a hotbed of the revolt.
RUSSIAN DOUBTS
Annan said Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem had written to him saying that "the withdrawal of massed troops and heavy weapons from in and around population centers is now complete and military operations have ceased".
However, Annan's team cited satellite imagery as evidence that tanks are lurking out of sight on the outskirts of cities. Even Syria's ally Russia voiced concern.
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said it would be worrying if Damascus had failed to withdraw troops and weapons.
"If this is the case, if the promise in the letter has not really been carried out, that would mean it is a breach of the promise they made on Saturday," Churkin said. "I'm certainly going to bring it to the attention of Moscow."
Throughout the conflict, Russia has been one of Assad's few friends, providing protection at the United Nations from any Security Council measures.
For all the rhetoric, France and other Western powers have few tools to dislodge Assad, who succeeded his long-ruling father Hafez al-Assad in 2000 and who has brushed aside all calls to hand over power.
They are particularly wary of military intervention similar to NATO's Libya air campaign that helped topple Muammar Gaddafi for fear it could draw in powerful Assad allies such as Iran and Hezbollah militants and further destabilize the Middle East.
Wen: never sacrifice for the people's health on economic growth
arriving on April 25, (reporter ZhangShuo) China's prime minister wen jiabao 25 attend "Stockholm + 40 sustainable development partners BBS" minister dialogue and speech.
Dershowitz: Prosecutor in Trayvon Martin case overreached with murder charge
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
By Greg Wilson
Legal legend Alan Dershowitz blasted the special prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case, accusing her of hiding evidence favorable to defendant George Zimmerman and committing perjury.
“If I were this prosecutor, I’d be hiring a lawyer at this point,” Dershowitz said of Angela Cory, the Florida state attorney and special prosecutor who Gov. Rick Scott appointed to handle the case.
Dershowitz leveled his bombshell charges in an interview Wednesday with Fox News' Megyn Kelly. The Harvard law professor, noted for winning an acquittal of Claus Von Bulow in the case that inspired the film “Reversal of Fortune,” said Cory overreached by charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder. And he said the affidavit she filed in support of the charges was illegal because it did not include evidence favorable to Zimmerman.
“This affidavit submitted by the prosecutor in the Florida case is a crime,” Dershowitz said. “It’s a crime.”
Zimmerman, 28, is a neighborhood watch captain who admits shooting the unarmed 17-year-old Martin on Feb. 26 after a confrontation in the gated community where he lives, but Zimmerman claims he acted in self-defense.
ABC News recently aired a photo purportedly taken minutes after the shooting that shows a bloody wound on the back of Zimmerman’s head. That photo appears to support Zimmerman’s contention that he was being beaten by the teen when he shot him.
But Cory made no mention of Zimmerman’s wounds or photos that might substantiate them when announcing the charge on April 11. Dershowitz said she was obligated to include any and all pertinent evidence.
“If she in fact knew about ABC News’ pictures of the bloody head of Zimmerman and failed to include that in the affidavit, this affidavit is not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” Dershowitz said. “It’s a perjurious affidavit.”
Even worse, Dershowitz warned that by overcharging Zimmerman, Cory may have planted the seed for riots if he is acquitted, as Dershowitz predicted will happen.
“If there are riots, it will be the prosecutor’s fault because she overcharged, raised expectations,” Dershowitz said. “This prosecutor not only may have suborned perjury, she may be responsible, if there are going to be riots here, for raising expectations to unreasonable levels.”
He said it is quite possible Zimmerman was guilty of a lesser charge, but the affidavit does not support a second-degree murder charge.
“There’s nothing in this affidavit that suggests second-degree murder. The elements of second-degree murder aren’t here."
Dershowitz is not the first legal expert to question the second-degree murder charge. The Florida statute requires proof that the defendant acted in a manner that was “evincing a depraved mind.” Prominent Miami criminal defense attorney John Priovolos told The Associated Press the charge was a “huge overreach” and said Corey will be hard-pressed to show Zimmerman had the “ill will, spite, malice or hatred” needed to prove a “depraved mind.”
If convicted of the second-degree charge, Zimmerman could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Cory could still add charges, and a jury could eventually convict him of a “lesser included” charge, such as reckless manslaughter.
When announcing the charge, Cory expressed confidence in her team’s case.
"We have to have a reasonable certainty of conviction before filing charges," Cory said.
But Dershowitz said Cory is the one who should be facing charges, arguing that her prosecution of the case has already taken a political turn.
“She was appointed to get Zimmerman,” Dershowitz said.
North Korea claims to have 'mobile weapons' capable of striking US
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
North Korea is armed with "powerful modern weapons" capable of defeating the United States, a top military chief in Pyongyang said Wednesday amid increased speculation abroad about the nation's missile arsenal and nuclear ambitions.
Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho emphasized the importance of strengthening the military to defend North Korea against threats it sees from the United States and South Korea. He called his nation a nuclear and military power and praised new leader Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, as a "military strategist" who has been giving the army guidance for years.
"The Korean People's Army is armed with powerful modern weapons ... that can defeat the (U.S.) imperialists at a single blow," he told party and military officials, using familiar descriptions of the country's rivals.
The meeting, attended by Kim Jong Un, was held to mark the 80th anniversary of the army's founding. The Associated Press was among foreign news agencies based in Pyongyang allowed to observe the closed meeting at the April 25 House of Culture.
Ri, who is chief of the army's General Staff, did not provide further details about North Korea's weapons, but his call to arms comes as the United States, Britain and others warn the nation against a provocation that would further heighten tensions. The Korean peninsula officially remains at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
North Korea is believed to have some nuclear weapons but not the technology to put them on long-range missiles.
Earlier this month, North Korea launched a long-range rocket in what its officials called a failed attempt to put a satellite into space. The launch was decried internationally as a banned test of missile technology that also could be used to send an intercontinental ballistic missile topped with a nuclear warhead.
The rocket broke into pieces shortly after liftoff. But the U.N. Security Council later condemned the launch as a violation of resolutions prohibiting North Korea from engaging in nuclear and missile activity, and Washington halted a plan to provide Pyongyang with much-needed food aid in exchange for a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.
On Monday, North Korea responded to U.S. and South Korean criticism with threats to reduce South Korean targets "to ashes" within minutes in a particularly sharp warning that followed days of protest rallies held nationwide.
There also are worries that North Korea may conduct a nuclear test, as it did after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009. South Korean intelligence officials say recent satellite images show the North has been digging a new tunnel in what could be preparation for a third atomic test.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned North Korea not to engage in any further provocation.
He told reporters in Brazil that he had no knowledge of any specific actions being planned by North Korea but said he would "strongly urge" the North to avoid any destabilizing acts.
Could Spain’s reign over dire economy subject world to greater downfall?
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
By Wayne Allyn Root
Write this down -- soon you will tune into the news and it will be “all Spain, all the time.” By this summer (and maybe sooner) Spain will be on everyone’s lips. You will wish you never heard of Spain. Spain could take us all down.
We just celebrated the anniversary this month of the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic.
Spain is the new Titanic. It’s already hit the iceberg and is sinking fast.
Only 1,500 died when the original Titanic sunk. Spain's sinking could kill entire economies, destroy millions of jobs, affect billions of lives, drown us all in debt.
Americans are perhaps the hardest working people on earth. We work so hard many of us pay no attention to “little things” happening in our own town, or in our own country, let alone half a world away. This time we better pay attention. This time “the little stuff” will become big stuff very quickly, and it is very bad.
Spain is about to become a gigantic problem for the entire world. Unlike Greece, Spain is too big to fail, but also too big to bailout. The economic news out of Spain is very, very, very bad news for all of us. With emphasis on the “very.”
The reason Spain is so important is because size matters.
Greece is a tiny country, yet its default threatened to destabilize and destroy the entire EU economy. To prevent that default the geniuses who run the EU “saved” Greece by loaning her another $170 billion to paper over her existing $100 billion in debt.
What a “miracle.” -- You owe $100 billion, someone gives you $170 billion. Now you are buried in almost twice as much debt, even though you couldn’t pay the original debt. With friends like this, who needs enemies?
But Greece is a tiny country. Spain is a big country. In fact, Spain boasts the twelveth biggest economy in the world. There isn’t enough money in all the EU to save Spain.
The real question is…is there enough money in all the world to save Spain?
Will U.S. taxpayers agree to mortgage our children’s and grandchildren’s future (already buried in our own debt) to try to save Spain?
Spain is in horrible shape.
The country's economy is hanging by a thread off a cliff the height of the Grand Canyon. And the thread is fraying.
Spain's unemployment is fast approaching 25%. It currently stands at 22.85 percent. That’s reported unemployment. Which means if we used real numbers, not manipulated numbers provided by government (just like the ones we use in the U.S.), it might well be closer to 40 percent.
Even worse, unemployment among young adults (25 and under) is 51%. And, this is all before their real estate falls off a cliff. Spanish real estate hasn’t even fallen as far as U.S. real estate- yet.
Are you getting the picture? Disaster looms. All the money in the world can’t save Humpty Dumpy.
But we haven’t even gotten to the real problem yet. Debt is the big issue. Not just government debt, but private debt, corporate debt and bank debt. While government debt is reported as 60% of GDP, when you count "off the books" obligations the real number is closer to 100%.
Many thanks to my favorite economist, John Mauldin, for pointing out the raw truth. As bad as government debt appears to be, private debt is the earthquake that should frighten every reader.
Spanish private debt is 220% of GDP -- meaning that for every dollar produced in the entire Spanish economy, there is $2.20 in private debt.
This is unprecedented. This is cataclysmic. This is unfathomable.
Get the picture?
Earlier this week the proverbial "you-know-what” hit the fan. The investment community caught wind of last month’s banking numbers -- Spain’s banks are in big trouble. Their borrowing from the EU Central Bank DOUBLED last month.
What does this mean? Spain’s banks are crippled. Walking corpses. They are bankrupt. Insolvent. Surviving only on emergency funds from the EU welfare fund. And since we’ve already established this is no small country like Greece, who has the money to bail out Spain and her big banks?
The answer is NO ONE.
The choices are sad, frightening and tragic.
Does the EU choose to let Spain default in order to save the rest of the EU? Or does the EU bail out Spain’s banks by taking massive risks with more taxpayer money?
Does Spain bail out her own banks? If so, who bails out Spain?
Is Spain the proverbial “canary in the coal mine?” Who will be the next to go? Portugal? Italy? France? Can Europe be saved?
If the EU goes down, can America survive? Lots of questions; unfortunately few answers.
There is one lesson in this mess. Spain is a financial train wreck because of the exact same agenda that President Obama is trying to stuff down America’s throat.
Spain went from prosperous to a disaster because of big government, big spending, big taxes, big entitlements, big unions, big pensions, free health care, billions wasted on green energy, and, don’t forget, billions more on high speed rail.
Size matters. And bigger isn't always better.
The golden lining in this entire mess is that we now have a model to save America. It’s simple. Do the exact opposite of everything Spain is doing. And, again, remember that size matters. Bigger isn't better -- not when it comes to the size, scope and power of government.
The question is, is it too late? Have Obama and his progressive cronies already won?
If not, another four years of Obama rule will surely sink America in a Titanic disaster unlike any the world has ever seen.
Beat Bad Financial Habits to Boost Savings
Break Bad Habits: The Science of Habit Change
Does it really take just 21 days to change a habit? Experts say it's not that simple.
"Breaking bad habits successfully depends on your readiness to act," says Heidi Beckman, clinical health psychologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and speaker on financial behavior change.
John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com, agrees. "If it was easy, we'd all have big savings accounts, and none of us would have credit card debt," he says.
Beckman says habits change more quickly when you're in the action stage versus the ambivalence or preparation stages that come before. To catapult yourself into action, she recommends using this three-step approach daily.
- Create a positive picture in your mind of the result you want, and act as if the bad habit is gone. Use a negative picture of the current stressful result of the bad habit to push yourself further toward action.
- Identify and focus on your positive financial habits, as proof you can do things the right way.
- Create simple rules to fall back on when tempted, such as: "Don't browse shopping websites until all my bills are paid this month.
Break Bad Habits: Resist Impulse Buying
"We're wired for instant gratification," says Ulzheimer. "But if you can't afford to pay cash and whip out a credit card without thinking, then you're on a downward spiral into debt and money mismanagement."
Using credit cards to spend more than the cash you have while making only the minimum payments on the cards can build up their balances faster than you can pay them, he says. And if you pay late, penalty fees just add to the total. "You forgo the many benefits of the proper use of plastic, such as for reimbursable business traveling, establishing a good debt utilization percentage on your credit report ... and for earning easy cash-back rewards," says Ulzheimer.
Practice telling yourself "no" when tempted to spend, and try these tactics.
- Distract yourself by making a phone call or unwrapping a stick of gum until the "buy" urge passes.
- Make a rule to only charge for reimbursable business expenses or rewards and only when you have the cash to pay for it during the grace period before the date interest is charged. Double-check dates.
- If you must take drastic measures to curb spending, have your credit card company lower your limit and opt out of over-limit and overdraft spending so your card gets declined
Break Bad Habits: Automate Finances
Counting on willpower alone is not enough. "When you rely on willpower to meet your expenses, important financial obligations such as timely payments and depositing to an emergency cash or retirement fund are left up to your personal choice and can easily be mismanaged," says David Bach, author of "The Automatic Millionaire."
Ulzheimer warns that some use the excuse of not being organized or not having enough money, but paying late just means you pay more because many companies tack on a late fee (typically $39) and many also charge you interest on the unpaid balance as well.
Says Bach: "Make your important payments automatic so bills get paid on time, and important savings deposits that protect you and your family don't get missed."
Make payments automatic to avoid late fees.
- Set up shadow payment dates by subtracting seven days from the real due date.
- Make payments automatic using your bank's or the payee's online bill pay.
Break Bad Habits: Pay More Than the Minimum
Paying just the minimum is a good way to stretch out your debts for as long as you can.
"When you only pay the minimum amount due on a credit card, you're effectively rolling over approximately 97% of the balance and adding the interest applied," says Ulzheimer. This is very profitable for mortgage factories and card issuers, but not you. "The only way to reduce your balance quickly is to pay more than the minimum, avoid fees and stop adding to balances," advises Ulzheimer.
Pay more than the minimum with every payment.
- Set up automatic timely payments of a higher amount than the minimum.
- For fastest results, create a "debt snowball," in which you pay as much as you can toward the lowest-balance card until it is paid off. Then you apply that same payment amount plus the new payment amount to the card with the next-smallest balance.
- Consider taking advantage of the automatic biweekly mortgage payment plan your lender may offer. For the one-time fee, the quicker pay-down is worth many thousands of dollars over the life of the loan
Break Bad Habits: Don't Depend Solely on a 401(k)
"Because the 401(k) is such a widely known retirement savings vehicle, many take it for granted that making tax-free deposits and being taxed later is the best and only way to save," says "Coach Pete" D'Arruda, president of Capital Financial Advisory Group in Cary, N.C.
D'Arruda suggests investing additional monies in a Roth IRA in which you make deposits with money that already has been taxed, but then the money grows and is withdrawn later tax-free. "Would you rather be taxed on the tiny seed (initial deposit) or the much larger harvest (the resulting retirement balance) later?" says D'Arruda, who is an author and nationally syndicated radio show host of "Financial Safari." He advises learning about many savings vehicles and cautions that you should be aware of the fine print and different fees they charge.
Get to know the pros and cons of your 401(k) plan.
- In August, companies will be required to give their employees a breakdown of fees.In the meantime, ask the 401(k) plan administrator in your human resources department if you can read the plan documents for your specific 401(k) to look for fee information.
- Learn about and consider adding other investment vehicles to your retirement mix.
Break Bad Habits: Save Small Rather Than Not at All
Avoiding retirement planning in favor of spending on the here and now is a costly mistake.
"People think it's an all-or-nothing program and they don't have enough to put toward retirement, so they do nothing. But you can start small, as long as you start," says D'Arruda.
Begin the plan for your retirement.
- Replace excuses with the affirmation, "I may want to stop working someday, but I will need money forever."
- Meet with a financial planner who offers a free initial consultation to discuss all of your retirement savings options.
- Set up automatic deposits, no matter how small, to retirement and cash emergency savings accounts. Build your plans over time
Break Bad Habits: Do Sweat the Small Stuff
Some people believe small expenditures don't matter. Bach calls this your "latte factor."
Look seriously at your daily spending of small dollar amounts for such things as coffee, cigarettes or eating out. "You may tell yourself you can't save $10 per day, but you're already spending it. If you saved it, you'd have a healthy cash emergency fund or hundreds of thousands of retirement dollars over 40 years."
Save your money instead of spending it.
- Identify one wasteful daily spending habit and stop it.
- Determine the monthly amount you will be saving, no matter how small, and pay yourself first through an automatic deposit from your paycheck to a savings or retirement account.
D'Arruda advises writing down your exact plan to break your bad financial habits so you will be more likely to stick with new positive habits.
"Use a family meeting to determine exactly how each member will contribute to changing the family's finances for the better," suggests Beckman
How to deal with mammary gland hyperplasia
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
Myrtle Beach safari lets you get your close up with celebrity animals
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
By Mary Quinn O'Connor
If you’ve ever wondered where the animals you see on TV and movies live when they're not on set, or even how they learn to “act”, look no further than Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This tourist destination, known mainly for its sunny weather and crowded beaches, is also home to Tigers Preservation Station and Safari (T.I.G.E.R.S) a safari for celebrity animals.
“Watching the film and television process happen gave me an idea that recreating that for our guests gave them the chance to see animals up close and in action doing things like their favorite television moments,” said T.I.G.E.R.S. founder and safari director Dr. Bhagavan Antle.
“Doc” created a safari for visitors from around the world to come and see these highly trained animals in their natural habitat. You may recognize these animals from films such as "Ace Ventura", "Doctor Doolittle", "Jungle Book", and "Mighty Joe Young".
“We act as agents for the animals,” said Antle. “Producers from movie and television call us up and say ‘We need a tiger who will just go up and lay down with an actress,’" said Antle.
The trainers at T.I.G.E.R.S make that request a reality. Through hundreds of hours of training a week, these animals become accustomed to working with humans.
“That gives the animals an edge in working the movie and television business because they are already so acclimated to the human lifestyle,” said Antle.
Thirty years ago, Antle created this unique safari experience where guests could come and interact (sit with them, play with them, and feed them) with these wild, endangered, and even famous animals like nowhere else in the world.
“It’s not going to the zoo, it something all together different,” said one safari guest.
Visitors pay around $250 per person to come to this three-hour walking safari over 50-acres of land in Myrtle Beach, where they may run into a few of their favorite animal celebrities.
The animals at this safari have already starred in over 500 movie and television shows over the past 30 years, and some of these animals still have a long career ahead of them-- like Bubbles the Elephant. Bubbles has starred in many movies, but is most famous for her role in Ace Ventura.
“She’s what I call the world’s biggest movie star,” said Antle. “There has been another elephant in a movie but its not as tall or heavy as Bubbles.”
By visiting Bubbles or some of your other favorite animal-stars, you are contributing to the Rare Species Fund which was established to provide funding to critical international wildlife conservation programs.
“The animal actors and the animals that are here meeting the guests will raise money for grassroots conservation programs that give people the chance to save wildlife throughout the world,” said Antle.
2012年4月24日星期二
North Korea issues sharp military threat to South Korea
Global online B2B marketplace : http://www.bytrade.com
North Korea's military warned Monday of imminent "special actions" that would reduce South Korea's conservative government to ashes within minutes, sharply escalating the rhetoric against its southern rival.
The threat from the North's military leadership comes amid concerns that North Korea may be plotting another provocation in the wake of an unsuccessful rocket launch condemned by the U.N. Security Council as a violation of a ban against missile activity.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned North Korea against "further provocative measures," telling reporters in New York late Monday that such actions "will not be desirable for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula."
North Korea characterized the April 13 rocket launch as a failed bid to send a satellite into space — not a disguised test of missile technology — but then followed up two days later by unveiling a new long-range missile at a military birthday parade for late President Kim Il Sung.
There are new concerns that North Korea may conduct a nuclear test as it did after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009. South Korean intelligence officials say recent satellite images show the North has been digging a new tunnel in what could be preparation for a third atomic test.
"Nuclear weapons are not the monopoly of the United States," Lt. Col. Nam Dong Ho told The Associated Press on Monday on the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone, saying North Korea needs atomic weapons to defend itself against the threat of attack from the U.S. "It's my personal opinion, but I think we'll continue to conduct nuclear tests."
On Monday, the military warned in a statement carried by state media that it would launch "special actions" soon against the South Korean government and conservative media.
However, there was no outward sign of tension on the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone. At Panmunjom, small groups of tourists were touring the "peace" village and the buildings where the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953. The South Korean side was quiet.
For days, North Korea has railed against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and conservative South Korean media for criticizing its rocket launch and the celebrations of the centennial of Kim Il Sung's birth.
But Monday's message, distributed by the state-run Korean Central News Agency and attributed to the "special operation action group" of the Korean People's Army's Supreme Command, was unusual in its specificity.
"Once the above-said special actions kick off, they will reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style," it said.
The threat comes as North Korea's new commander in chief, Kim Jong Un, makes a strong show of support for the "military first" policy championed by his father, late leader Kim Jong Il. North Korea marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of its army Wednesday.
Seoul expressed worry that the threats were hurting relations between the countries and increasing animosity.
"We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters, according to the ministry. "We express deep concern that the North's threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions."
A South Korean Defense Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with departmental rules, said no special military movement had been observed in the North.
In November 2010, after issuing a warning to the South Korean government, North Korean troops showered artillery on a front-line island in disputed western waters held by South Korea. The attack killed four people, including two civilians.
However, it is unlikely that North Korea would launch a large-scale military attack against Seoul, which is backed by nearly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South, said Kim Young-soo, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul.




