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No small money. Withdrawal of $75 billion from EU banks before Brown announced to freeze overseas assets of Bank Melli Iran

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran

(quote)

Iran has withdrawn around $75 billion from Europe to prevent the assets from being blocked under threatened new sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear ambitions, an Iranian weekly said. "Part of Iran's assets in European banks have been converted to gold and shares and another part has been transferred to Asian banks," Mohsen Talaie, deputy foreign minister in charge of economic affairs, was quoted as saying.

Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment on the report in Shahrvand-e Emrouz, a moderate weekly, which did not specify the time period for the withdrawals which it said were ordered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Bank Melli’s UK branch in London

"About $75 billion of Iran's foreign assets which were under threat of being blocked were wired back to Iran based on Ahmadinejad's order," the weekly said. Iran's Etemad-e Melli newspaper, also quoting Talai, last week also reported that the world's fourth-largest oil exporter was withdrawing assets from European banks but did not give any figures.

Britain will freeze overseas assets of Iran's largest bank, Bank Melli. "Action will start today," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday.

(unquote)

Photos Courtesy of Reuters and The Jerusalem Post

Original Source: Javno and Associated Press

After 14-day mission, 217 orbits, 5.7 million miles around the Earth, space shuttle Discovery softly touches down with 7 crew

crew of shuttle Discovery: Mike Fossum, Mark Kelly and Garrett Reisman; Ken Ham, Akihiko Hoshide, Karen Nyberg and Ron Garan

(quote)

The U.S. space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew returned to earth Saturday after a successful two-week mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle safely touched down at 11:15 a.m. local time (1515 UTC) at the U.S. space agency's landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center in the southeastern state of Florida.

The mission's highlight was the delivery and installation of a new $1 billion Japanese science laboratory. The 11-meter long lab is now the largest module on the orbiting space station.

Space Shuttle Discovery soon after the shuttle and the International Space Station began their post-undocking relative separation on Wednesday June 11, 2008

The Discovery crew also dropped off a new toilet pump to allow the Russian space station crew to fix their on board facilities. Discovery made 217 orbits and travelled 5.7 million miles around the Earth before it was given the green light to return home yesterday morning.

But on Friday Nasa engineers were forced to carry out last minute checks on the shuttle after astronauts spotted something floating away from their space ship. It turned out be a 12 inch metal clip from the rudder.

the International Space Station as seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation on Wednesday June 11, 2008

After four hours, the crew were told that its absence posed no danger for re-entry - during which temperatures around the shuttle can reach more than 2,500 degrees C.

Extensive checks are carried out on space shuttles before they begin re-entry after Columbia burned up as it entered the atmosphere, killing all seven crew on board, after foam panels in its heat shield were damaged during lift-off.

Discovery returns to earth after successful mission

Commander Mark Kelly brought the shuttle safely back to Earth at 4.15pm (BST) yesterday afternoon through slightly cloudy skies. Television cameras were able to track the shuttle as it made its final approach, landed and deployed its brake parachute.

As Discovery came to a safe stop, Kelly said: "Great to be back." NASA officials described the landing as being as "smooth as it gets".

space shuttle Discovery touches down at Kennedy Space Center

Astronauts also exchanged a member of the orbital outpost's permanent crew. American astronaut Greg Chamitoff remained on the space station for a six-month mission. He replaced U.S. astronaut Garrett Reisman who returned home after 95 days in space.

Reisman's wife, Simone Francis, was waiting at the Kennedy Space Center. Over the past week, Reisman described in quite romantic terms how much he missed her, calling her "my favourite Earthling".

(unquote)

Images Courtesy of AP Photo/NASA, BBC News

Original Source: BBC News (with video), The Telegraph, and VOA News

June 12 - US Supreme Court delivers its third consecutive rebuff to Bush Administration's handling of detainees

Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court

(quote)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered its third consecutive rebuff to the Bush administration’s handling of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, ruling 5 to 4 that the prisoners there have a constitutional right to go to federal court to challenge their continued detention.

The court declared unconstitutional a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that, at the administration’s behest, stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions from the detainees seeking to challenge their designation as enemy combatants.

U.S. Supreme Court

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the truncated review procedure provided by a previous law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, “falls short of being a constitutionally adequate substitute” because it failed to offer “the fundamental procedural protections of habeas corpus.”

Justice Kennedy declared: “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

Guantánamo Bay naval base

'Habeas corpus' (Latin: [We command] that you have the body) is the name of a legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention of themselves or another person. The writ of habeas corpus has historically been an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action.  read more »

"Return to Our Roots" - Ron Paul's convention to rival GOP 2008

Ron Paul plans his own convention

(quote)

Presidential candidate Ron Paul is planning a rally during the Republican National Convention to show what his party stands for.

The Texas congressman has tentatively reserved the Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2, the second day of the Republican convention.

Ron Paul

"We plan on having a large rally. We want it to be a celebration of Republican values and what the Republican Party has traditionally stood for," said Paul spokesman Jesse

Benton on Tuesday. Benton also said that Paul wants to send a message to the Republicans 'that we need to return to our roots' of limited government and personal responsibility.

Paul's campaign picked up substantial steam during the GOP primaries, when the libertarian leaning Texan raised about $35 million almost entirely online and garnered more than a million votes.

Paul secured at least 35 convention delegates, but Republican Party big-wigs are denying him a speaking slot and he has decided to stage his own convention.

(unquote)

young Ron Paul and bride  read more »

Video: Ron Paul, presidential candidate: "I deal in philosophy. It's a challenge in philosophy. I am determined..."


(quote)

(This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," June 10, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.)

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Well, the Republican National Convention just got some competition, not from the Democrats, but from another Republican — Ron Paul just announcing he's holding a convention of his own. It will be the same day and in the same city as the RNC Convention.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul joins me now.

What are you — what are you up to, Congressman?

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't know whether we'll call it a convention. We're certainly going to have a meeting.

But we're sort of following up on what happened early in the presidential primary races. As you recall, early on, I was excluded from a forum out in Iowa. It happened to be a tax group. And I have no idea why I was singled out and excluded. But we went and had a rally next door. We didn't crash the party. We didn't try to cause any problems. We just went next door. And our rally was a lot bigger than the presidential forum was.

So, at the national convention, we believe, since we won't have very much of a role to play there, that we will see what kind of numbers that we have, where Republicans could come together to remind the party of its promises for limited government.

That's the roots of the Republican Party, and I still think there are still a lot of Republicans that believe that government ought to be small and balanced budgets and free markets and all these principles that, for so long now, we have been neglecting.  read more »

Next generation iPhone 3G to be released on July 11 with built-in GPS navigation for location-based services

iPhone 3G running Google Maps application

(quote)

The next generation iPhone will be released in 22 countries on July 11 - and is cheaper and faster than its predecessor. Apple boss Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone 3G at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday morning.
"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," he told the conference. The new version will be available through Vodafone in New Zealand, and will roll out in 22 countries on July 11. By the end of 2008 it will be on the market in 70 countries.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces new Apple iPhone 3G  read more »

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