Posts Tagged ‘No Doubt’

Mexico drug fighter killed after less than a day on job – CNN.com

2009/02/04/1831

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/02/04/m…

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) — A recently retired Mexican army general whose bullet-riddled body was found Tuesday near Cancun had taken over as the area’s top antidrug official less than 24 hours earlier, officials said.

Retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello QuiƱonez, his aide and a driver were tortured before being killed, said Quintana Roo state prosecutor Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo. He said there was no doubt Tello and the others were victims of organized crime.

“The general was the most mistreated,” Rodriguez said at a Tuesday night news conference monitored by El Universal newspaper. “He had burns on his skin and bones in his hands and wrists were broken.”

An autopsy revealed Tello also suffered broken knees and was shot 11 times, Mexico City’s Excelsior newspaper said.

Damn, Mexico has some serious problems.

Obama Envoy: “Direct Diplomacy” With Iran, But New U.S. Ambassador To U.N. Warns Of Further Action Unless Tehran Meets Nuke Demands

2009/01/26/2000

RTFA: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/26/world/ma…

President Barack Obama’s administration will engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran, the newly installed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.

Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. But U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice warned that Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program.

“The dialogue and diplomacy must go hand in hand with a very firm message from the United States and the international community that Iran needs to meet its obligations as defined by the Security Council. And its continuing refusal to do so will only cause pressure to increase,” she told reporters during a brief question-and-answer session.

Her comments, reflecting Obama’s signals for improved relations with America’s foes after eight years under President George W. Bush, came shortly after meeting with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on her first day in her new job.

This is certainly interesting… There’s no doubt that Iran is a major player in the Middle East – the biggest, if you don’t count Russia. Does anyone know of some thinktank policy papers that might shed some light on what’s happening here? Given that this action is contingent on nuclear regulation, is this some good cop/bad cop, when contrasted with Bush? …or is this action intended to engulf the region in conflict, in the somewhat likely situation that Iran does not relent in its nuclear ambitions?

BBC NEWS | Science

2009/01/06/0159

RTFA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7810846….

Ibn al-Haytham is regarded as the father of the modern scientific method.

As commonly defined, this is the approach to investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge, based on the gathering of data through observation and measurement, followed by the formulation and testing of hypotheses to explain the data.

This is how we do science today and is why I put my trust in the advances that have been made in science.

But it is often still claimed that the modern scientific method was not established until the early 17th Century by Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes.

There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Ibn al-Haytham arrived there first.

In fact, with his emphasis on experimental data and reproducibility of results, he is often referred to as the “world’s first true scientist”.

Take that, Baconator!