16. mars 2004

Islamic militants threaten France over headscarves ban A previously unknown Islamist group has sent a letter with terror threats to the French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin through the newspaper Le Parisien. The group, calling itself "Servants of Allah, the Powerful and Wise One," threatens France with "reprisal" attacks because France has banned headscarves in state schools. The letter was signed the "Mosvar Barayev commando" after the leader of the Chechen terrorists who took hostages in a Moscow theatre in October 2002, and was killed when security forces attacked. Psst, Spaniards: Unless you plan to give up all your human rights and invite the Taliban to run your country, you can't appease these nuts. 10:53:10 PM    comment []  trackback []

I, Asimov fan I've been a fan of Isaac Asimov since I read the Foundation trilogy when I was 14 years old (incidentally at the same time I read LOTR). I am quite thrilled (and scared) to see that the movie "I, Robot" will be released this summer, starring Will Smith. Look at the trailer (req qt, sound, bandwidth, all that). I, Robot was not a novel, but a collection of short stories, so I wonder how close the movie will follow any part of the book. Based on the trailer, I'd say, not very much at all! Hat tip to Dean's World. 8:33:10 PM    comment []  trackback []

Why women are depressed Women are more often depressed than men. Looking into causes doesn't bring up a single answer. It's a bit about genes, something abour hormones, something about women being more often abused, and quite a bit about how women react to problems. Women, Dr. Nolen-Hoeksema says, are at least twice as likely as men to be abused, and abuse often leads to depression. Another important factor, she said, is the greater tendency of girls and women to ruminate over the common curveballs of life, like criticism at work or school or rejection by a friend. In studies over the last decade, Dr. Nolen-Hoeksema has consistently found that women react more strongly than men to such experiences, mulling them over and over without being able to come to a resolution or to simply move on. Dwelling on problems causes the initial sadness to snowball, she said. Besides, women have to put up with men. 7:31:46 PM    comment []  trackback []

Top of the link-pops On the web, top bloggers outrank top traditional media columnists by a wide margin. The top 200 list shows who people on the web are linking. Of course, most of those linking other people are themselves bloggers, so that should skew the results somewhat. 3:44:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

Poll: Iraqis are better off after invasion The BBC and other international broadcasters have commissioned a poll among Iraqis from Oxford Research International, and the results are overall good reading for the coalition and quite damning for the horror picture the leftist press tries to paint. It suggests that the reporting of the daily attacks on the occupying forces in Iraq could be obscuring another picture. No shit, Sherlock. Seventy percent said that things were going well or quite well in their lives, while only 29% felt things were bad. And 56% said that things were better now than they were before the war. Almost half (49%) believed the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition was right, although 41% felt that the invasion "humiliated Iraq". The poll also showed that for the majority of Iraqis, security was a number one priority. I am sure they are very happy that the new Spanish PM Zapatero reduces their overall security by withdrawing troops which has no other job than protecting and improving the lives of civilian Iraqis. That the Spanish socialist leader disapproved of the invasion is one thing, but all he can accomplish by withdrawing the troops now is 1) make life worse for ordinary Iraqis; 2) make the jihadists who killed 200+ of his countrymen happy; 3) poke his nose at Bush and Blair. This is not the first poll to show that the average Iraqi disagrees with anti-war leftists. 11:59:59 AM    comment []  trackback []

French general: we almost got Bin Laden French troops in Afghanistan say they have on some occassions been very close to capturing Osama Bin Laden: But French soldiers are determined to capture the fugitive head of the al-Qaida network by the end of the year, General Henri Bentegeat said. “Our men were not very far,” Bentegeat said. “On several occasions, I even think that he slipped out of a net that was well closed.” I can't imagine the shock to the world if the French actually captured Bin Laden. "Monsieurs and Mesdames, ve got 'im!" Incomprehensible, and war blog land would look very strange if that ever happened. 1:33:25 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.04.2004; 02:26:50.