August 2009

Pet Tags

While in theory any animal might be a pet, in practice only a small number of species of mammals (especially dogs and cats) and other small animals, such as birds, fish, or lizards, are practical. One reason for this is that large animals are not able to fit inside small dwellings.

Lost pet: Pet leaves home or cannot find its way back, and the owner does not succeed in finding it. Health: Severe health problems make it impossible to have a dog in the house or impossible for the owner to care for the dog. Practice babies: Shelters use this term for animals that have been adopted by couples, and who are then abandoned when the couple splits up, or when a real baby comes along and they no longer have the time or inclination to care for their pet.

Pet Tags

Khamenei hails Shiite leader's fight against Saddam (AFP)

TEHRAN (AFP) –
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised leading Iraqi Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim as the symbol of the struggle against Saddam Hussein's regime on Thursday as Iranians mourned his death.

"His death is a big loss for the Iraqi people and government, and is a painful incident for the Islamic Republic (of Iran)," said Khamenei, in a message read at the mourning ceremony in Tehran where Hakim died in hospital on Wednesday.

The Iraqi politician, who was one of the principal leaders in exile of the opposition to Saddam's regime which mounted a devastating 1980-88 war against Iran, died of lung cancer after a 28-month battle.

"He symbolised the hardship involved in jihad in fighting tyranny," said Khamenei as hundreds of Iranians gathered at the Iraqi embassy to mourn Hakim's death.

"The efforts and endeavour of this hardworking cleric are unique and unforgettable both in Iraq and Iran.

"I pay my condolences to the Iraqi government, Hakim's family and especially Ammar Hakim," he added, referring to Hakim's son, who has said he is prepared to take on his father's mantle.

Leading Iranian officials such as parliament speaker Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki were also present at the mourning ceremony.

"He had an admirable devotion and deference to the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei," said Larijani, dressed in black, in an address to the mourners.

"We hope his sacred way continues more powerfully and we will witness our brother's (Ammar Hakim) increasingly effective role on the scene."

The coffin carrying Hakim's body was wrapped in the Iraqi flag and borne by pallbearers a short distance from the embassy in tribute.

"Death to America. Death to Israel," the mourners chanted.

The body was to be taken to Iran's Shiite clerical capital of Qom before being flown to Iraq later Thursday for burial in the central shrine city of Najaf, where Shiites from around the world are traditionally taken for interment.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Hakim's death "a great loss for the Iraqi people," and paid particular tribute to his family, describing them as "revolutionaries," the official IRNA news agency reported.

In 1982, Hakim helped to establish an opposition movement in exile in Iran to battle Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime, and returned to Iraq after the US-led invasion of 2003.

His Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) swept Shiite areas in the first provincial elections after the invasion, but in new elections this January the party suffered major losses.

A former chain smoker, Hakim was admitted to a Tehran hospital on Saturday following complications.

"The advanced stage of cancer had damaged his liver, brain and bones and because of that he died," said a doctor at the Masih Daneshvari hospital.

Hakim had been in Tehran for treatment for more than four months and also visited the United States in the past to consult lung cancer specialists.

Russia, Mongolia fete 1939 battle victory over Japan (AFP)

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AFP) –
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Mongolian host on Wednesday honoured veterans on the 70th anniversary of a key pre-World War II battle in which Soviet and Mongolian forces defeated Japan.

Medvedev and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj laid wreaths at a monument in Ulan Bator honouring Georgy Zhukov, who led the combined forces into a tank battle against the Japanese near the Khalkhyn Gol river in 1939.

"This is truly our common victory," Medvedev said, praising the "spirit of trust and the spirit of support" binding the two nations.

"The Soviet and Mongolian soldiers fought for the right cause."

The Russian leader, who arrived on Tuesday for a two-day visit, bestowed medals on veterans from both countries at the ceremony, which ended with a Soviet-era anthem played by a Mongolian military band.

According to official estimates, more than 18,500 Soviet and Mongolian soldiers died, while Japan lost about 60,000 soldiers.

The ceremonies come as the world prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II in September.

Elbegdorj said the Mongolian people would never forget the "military aid rendered by the Soviet Union and the Soviet people".

"Mongolia remembers the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in the defeat of fascism," he said.

Mongolian veteran Damdinzhav Tsagaan, bedecked in military medals, beamed with pride at his role in the battle, and the strong ties between the neighbouring states.

"I believe that our two countries will be united forever," said 100-year-old Tsagaan, who wore traditional Mongolian dress and hat.

Another veteran, 93-year-old Gendendarzhan Tsogt, said: "Japan would have conquered Mongolia if not for the Soviets. We all remember this."

Russian infantry veteran Yury Zavidonov, 88, who travelled from Moscow to join the celebrations, said: "It was a victory that slightly cooled the Japanese and their belligerent spirit."

The event comes as Russia seeks to revive ties with Mongolia, a former Soviet satellite that is rich in mineral resources such as coal, gold, copper and uranium.

On Tuesday, the two countries agreed to form a joint venture to exploit the Dornod uranium deposit.

Other nations are vying to obtain access to Mongolia's vast resources, but Medvedev suggested Moscow had a competitive edge due to historical ties between the countries: "History is such a stubborn thing that can be neither forgotten nor changed."

The Mongolian president said the bilateral ties had been "sealed by the blood and sweat of our peoples."

Medvedev's visit comes just three months after one by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, highlighting the importance Moscow is placing on breathing new life into ties with Mongolia, which lies between Russia and China.

In honour of the Russian president, Mongolia staged a mini-version of its traditional Naadam festival featuring horse racing, wrestling and archery in the steppe outside Ulan Bator.

Medvedev tried his hand with a bow and arrow, and drank fermented horse milk, a popular beverage in Mongolia.

The two presidents also observed joint military exercises on the outskirts of the capital.

Medvedev headed back to Russia late Wednesday.

Obama asks docs to promote health care fix (AP)

WASHINGTON – The White House is asking doctors to help promote its drive to overhaul health care, marking an effort by President Barack Obama to regain momentum on the issue.
White House health advisers held an hourlong conference call Tuesday night with close to 3,000 physicians and officials of their professional groups in which they tried drumming up support by answering questions and describing the administration's goals, participants said.
Before the call, the White House e-mailed a 12-page booklet to medical associations titled "Doctors for Health Insurance Reform." The brochure stated the administration's case for revamping the nation's health care system and suggested ways doctors could call attention to the issue.
Among the suggestions: Hosting local events on health care, giving tours of hospitals or designating a "Health Insurance Reform Week" during which events could be staged around the country.
"There are numerous ways that you can advance the president's goal of enacting health insurance reform this year," the booklet said.
It added, "As always, thank you for your help!"
The White House effort comes as the administration attempts to win public and congressional support for its health care proposal. Throughout August, these efforts have been drowned out by media coverage of unruly opponents shouting down lawmakers at local town hall meetings. Polls have also show growing public skepticism about Obama's plans.
The public has also been subjected to competing television advertising campaigns.
But in response to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the conservative group that has been the biggest-spending advertiser against the Democratic health care effort said Wednesday that it was temporarily suspending its television commercials attacking the proposal.
One of the two ads by Conservatives for Patients Rights was airing in the Boston area and on Martha's Vineyard, where Obama is vacationing. The other was being shown nationally.
"Now is a time for respect, reflection and remembrance," the group's president, Rick Scott, said in a statement announcing the suspension of ads.
The White House outreach to doctors underscores how it is relying on help from interest groups who support its goals, even as it frequently criticizes others who have fought parts of Obama's plan. The insurance industry — which strongly opposes Democratic proposals to offer optional government-run insurance coverage — has been a favorite target of the president.
"The White House has been reaching out to the broad coalitions supporting health insurance reform and last night's call with 3,000 doctors was just another part of that effort," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin.
The White House has had similar conference calls with nursing and senior citizen groups.
The White House booklet said when doctors stage events backing Obama's plan, "we want to hear about it and make sure others know of your work."
It also guides doctors to information on White House web sites, suggests questions they could ask at discussions they stage and provides talking points they can use to round up support, such as, "The status quo is threatening your health care."
At a time when the White House has had problems honing a concise message to sell its plan, the brochure said the "top line message" is "health care stability and security for all Americans." This includes new consumer protections for patients, reduced costs and giving people a choice of care and insurance, it said.
In a publicly posted blog on Wednesday, American Medical Association President J. James Rohack said the call made clear "the need to keep the dialogue ongoing between physicians and those within the Washington Beltway." He declined to describe the call, which was supposed to be private.

Others who participated said White House officials on the call, including health adviser Kavita Patel, seemed to break no new ground. They said the officials reiterated the administration's interest in several proposals, such as doing something about scheduled cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors.

Groups included in Tuesday's call included the American College of Physicians and the American College of Surgeons.

CDC leery of estimates about swine flu's toll (AP)

WASHINGTON – Government health officials are urging people not to panic over estimates of 90,000 people dying from swine flu this fall. "Everything we've seen in the U.S. and everything we've seen around the world suggests we won't see that kind of number if the virus doesn't change," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He made the comment in a C-SPAN interview taped Wednesday.
While the swine flu seems quite easy to catch, it so far hasn't been more deadly than the flu strains seen every fall and winter — many people have only mild illness. And close genetic tracking of the new virus as it circled the globe over the last five months so far has shown no sign that it's mutating to become more virulent.
Still, the CDC has been preparing for a worst-case flu season as a precaution — in July working from an estimate slightly more grim than one that made headlines this week — to make sure that if the virus suddenly worsened or vaccination plans fell through, health authorities would know how to react.
On Monday the White House released a report from a group of presidential advisers that included a scenario where anywhere from 30 percent to half of the population could catch what doctors call the "2009 H1N1" flu, and death possibilities ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. In a regular flu season, up to 20 percent of the population is infected and 36,000 die.
"We don't think that's the most likely scenario," CDC flu specialist Dr. Anne Schuchat said of the presidential advisers' high-end tally.
What's really expected this year? CDC won't speculate, finding a numbers game pointless as it tries to balance getting a largely complacent public to listen to its flu instructions without hyping the threat.
Along with how the virus itself continues to act, the ultimate toll depends on such things as vaccinations beginning as planned — currently set for mid-October — and whether the people who need them most get them. CDC also is working to help hospitals keep the not-so-sick from crowding emergency rooms and to properly target anti-flu drugs to the most vulnerable.
What is likely: A busy flu season that starts earlier than usual, Schuchat told The Associated Press. This new H1N1 strain never went away over the summer, infecting children at summer camps in particular. Already clusters of illnesses are being reported at some schools and colleges around the country.

Cap Cana

Cap Cana

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Latino rocker sees Havana gig helping U.S.-Cuba thaw (Reuters)

MIAMI (Reuters) –
Colombian rock star Juanes says a public concert he plans in Cuba next month could help further thaw U.S.-Cuban ties despite outcry from some Cuban exiles who accuse him of pandering to the island's communist rulers.

Juanes, who lives in the United States, told the Miami Herald in an interview published on Wednesday he saw his scheduled September 20 concert in Havana's Revolution Square as a chance to promote reconciliation between Cuba and the United States, which have been ideological foes for nearly 50 years.

"I am not a communist ... I'm not going to Cuba to play for the Cuban regime ... Our only message is one of peace, of humanitarianism, of tolerance, a message of interacting with the people," he told the paper at his Key Biscayne home.

Juanes, 37, whose full name is Juan Esteban Aristizabal Vasquez, is a major star in the Spanish-speaking music world and has won a string of Latin Grammy Awards.

A 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba restricts travel to the Communist-ruled island by Americans, although special licenses can be granted.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said Juanes met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in May to propose his concert and they had discussed the general support of President Barack Obama's administration for "people to people" contacts with Cuba.

But he said Clinton refrained from taking a specific position and it would be up to the Treasury Department, which enforces the U.S. embargo, to issue the necessary licenses for those involved in the concert to make the trip.

A Treasury spokesperson said Juanes required a license because he resided in the United States, which made him subject to U.S. jurisdiction even though he was Colombian. The spokesperson did not say whether the license had been granted.

Among the anti-communist Cuban exile community in the United States, critics have pilloried Juanes as "naive", saying his concert will be a boost for Cuba's communist leadership while ignoring the plight of detained Cuban dissidents.

A number of well-known Latino singers Juanes had invited declined to take part because of the political sensitivity.

But Juanes said the planned "Peace without Borders" event in Havana, which will follow a similar reconciliation recital he gave on the Colombian-Venezuelan border last year, could help revive U.S.-Cuban cultural exchanges that had remained largely frozen under former U.S. President George W. Bush.

"RIGHT MOMENT"

Obama, while calling on Cuban leaders to improve human rights and political freedoms, has said he wants to seek more normal ties with Havana and in April lifted restrictions on Cuban Americans traveling to the island, slightly easing the long-running U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

"This is the right moment to start something," Juanes told the Miami Herald. "In the last administration, for sure we weren't talking about this. But with this administration, with Obama as president, I believe it's different."

Miami media have reported Juanes has received death threats over the concert and a small group of right-wing Cuban exiles smashed and burned CDs of his music in Miami last week.

Juanes said he met with Clinton and members of the U.S. administration and Congress in May to see if they would back his initiative and give permission to U.S. musicians and technicians to attend the show.

The Miami Herald said Juanes would hold the September 20 concert in the same Revolution Square location where Pope John Paul II gave a mass in 1998 during his historic visit to Cuba.

Fellow pop singers Miguel Bose of Spain and Olga Tanon from Puerto Rico would join the Colombian rocker, it added.

Cuban American commentator Ninoska Perez, a fierce critic of Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother, former leader Fidel Castro, said she had told Juanes she feared the Cuban government would use his concert for political manipulation.

"He said he wanted to sing for the people. I replied that what Cubans needed was freedom, not concerts," she wrote in the Spanish language El Nuevo Herald at the weekend.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by David Storey)