World News joined 0012

[John]

Have you ever longed to indulge in a Yorkshire Pudding on a hot summer's day?

Then a new range of 20 ice creams created with Britain's best-known delicacies may be the ones for you.

Ranging from Yorkshire pudding flavour to Arbroath smokies the ice creams are designed to get British taste buds working.

Morelli's ice cream parlour at London store Harrods made the ice creams after Laterooms.com polled 500 people to pick flavours that best represented the UK.

Other flavours include traditional clotted cream, sausage and mash, pork pie, haggis and Cornish pasty.

There's even a Cheddar cheese flavour and Lancashire hot pot to satisfy those northern cravings.

Less palate-testing varieties are Eccles cake and Kendal mint cake.

Kathy Gwinnett, of Laterooms.com, said: "It is interesting that the humble Yorkshire pudding tops the list of favourite British delicacies.

"We're lucky to be spoilt for choice and the massive array of regional flavours that make up the taste of Britain shows just how much the UK has to offer."
-Source-Yahoo.com

[John]

Declaring "we are a better country than this," Barack Obama launched a sharp assault on Republican presidential rival John McCain on Thursday, promising to reverse the economic failures of the past eight years and restore America's reputation in the world.

Obama, the first black White House nominee of a major U.S. party, linked McCain directly to President George W. Bush and said their failed Republican policies were responsible for a faltering U.S. economy and a decline in U.S. global standing.

"We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight," Obama told a flag-waving crowd of about 75,000 supporters in Denver's open-air football stadium as he accepted the nomination on the last night of the Democratic convention.

"On November 4th, we must stand up and say: 'Eight is enough,'" Obama said.

Obama delivered the biggest speech in a career filled with big speeches on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech -- a landmark in the U.S. civil rights movement.

The speech kicked off a two-month sprint to the November 4 general election against McCain, who tried to steal the limelight with word that he had chosen his running mate and will appear with the choice on Friday in Ohio.

Obama said McCain, an Arizona senator, was out of touch with the day-to-day concerns of Americans and had been "anything but independent" on key issues like the economy, health care and education.

"Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know," said Obama, who had been urged by some Democrats to take a tougher line against McCain.

"Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90 percent of the time?" Obama asked, citing McCain's voting record in the Senate.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change," he said.

The televised acceptance speech by Obama, who was formally nominated on Wednesday, gave the first-term Illinois senator his biggest national audience until he meets McCain in late September in the first of three face-to-face debates.

The speech included some of the most direct attacks on McCain by Obama since the general election started. Obama, whose patriotism has been the subject of Internet attacks, said the candidates should be able to disagree without attacking each other's character.

'COUNTRY FIRST'

"I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first," Obama said.

Obama, an early opponent of the Iraq war, promised to "end this war in Iraq responsibly" but said he would finish the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and would be willing to use U.S. military power when necessary.

"As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home," Obama said.

He chided McCain, a staunch advocate of the Iraq war, for saying he would pursue Osama bin Laden to "the Gates of Hell." Obama said McCain's focus on Iraq had let al Qaeda and bin Laden escape.

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives," he said.

"If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice -- but it is not the change American needs."

The speech capped a sunny day of celebration and musical performances by singers like Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow under clear skies in the stadium. By the time Obama's speech started, nearly every seat, and the entire football field, was full.

Former Vice President Al Gore, the Nobel Prize and Academy Award winner who lost a disputed election to Bush in 2000, told the crowd things would have been very different if he had won.

"I doubt anyone would argue now that election didn't matter," Gore said, describing Obama as "a clean break from the politics of partisanship and bitter division."

Obama is running even with McCain in most opinion polls, although a Gallup daily tracking poll on Thursday showed him beginning to get an edge from the convention and moving out to a 6-point advantage, up five points.

Obama addressed criticism he has not offered enough specifics along with his sometimes soaring rhetoric, restating an ambitious domestic agenda that includes a tax cut for 95 percent of Americans and an end to dependence on Middle East oil in 10 years.

He said McCain's emphasis on new offshore oil drilling was a stop-gap measure and not a long-term energy solution. He promised to invest $150 billion over the next decade to develop affordable, renewable energy sources.

While Obama's policy proposals were not new, national conventions are often the first time voters pay attention to a presidential race. Opinion polls show many still unfamiliar with Obama and concerned about his readiness for the job.

McCain launched an advertisement on cable television in which he spoke directly to Obama through the camera.

"Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations," said McCain, who has been scathing in his criticism of Obama.

"How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight, senator, job well done."

The last presidential candidate to accept the nomination in an open-air football stadium was John Kennedy, who spoke to the Democratic convention at the Los Angeles Coliseum before 80,000 supporters in 1960.
-Yahoo.com

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay Libya $5bn as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes.



Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi said the settlement signed in the city of Benghazi opened the door to partnership between the two states.

Mr Berlusconi said the deal, which sees the money being released over 25 years, ended "40 years of misunderstanding".

Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s.

The former Ottoman territory became an independent country in 1951.

This is the first African country to be compensated by a former colonial master, the BBC's Rana Jawad reports from Benghazi.

The question is, she adds: will this latest move set precedents for other former African countries to follow suit?

Coastal motorway

Mr Berlusconi explained that $200m would be paid annually over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects, the main one being a coastal motorway between the Egyptian and Tunisian borders.

There will also be a colonial-era mine clearing project.

As a goodwill gesture, Italy also returned an ancient statue of Venus, the headless "Venus of Cyrene", which had been taken to Rome in colonial times.

The settlement was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era", the Italian prime minister said.

"In this historic document, Italy apologises for its killing, destruction and repression against Libyans during the colonial rule," Col Gaddafi said for his part.

The agreement was signed in the Benghazi palace which once housed the Italian colonial administration, Reuters news agency reports.

Rome and Tripoli have spent years arguing over compensation for the colonial period.

Mr Berlusconi's one-day trip was his second since June when illegal immigration from Africa to Europe was the key issue of talks.

Italy has been swamped by thousands of African migrants trying to reach its shores by boat.

Libya has come in from the diplomatic cold since 2003 when it abandoned efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to make the first high-ranking American visit to Libya since 1953.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

An analysis of new census figures has shown that Australia is suffering from an unprecedented "man drought".



The statistics have revealed that there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.

The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles, while many men have gone overseas.

Thirty years ago Australia was with flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males.

That position has been reversed because thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.

It has caused a gender imbalance that is having far-reaching implications.

Town and country

Major cities in Australia now have concentrated groups of unattached women, along with dwindling numbers of the opposite sex.

Demographer Bernard Salt says the exodus of young men to foreign countries is leaving its mark.

"If you go into the United Arab Emirates census you'll find there is around 12,000 Australians living in Dubai, mostly male, mostly in the 25 to 34-year age group.

"Here is an example of one country that has drawn out a specific age demographic out of Australia which has contributed to the 'man drought'."

But the situation outside of the larger towns and cities is very different.

Vast numbers of women have abandoned the countryside seeking better jobs or education in metropolitan areas. They have left behind communities overloaded with younger males.

In the town of Glenden in the northern state of Queensland there is one single female for every 23 men.

Demographers have compiled a so-called "Love Map" that shows how the various clusters of unattached men and women are distributed across the Australian continent.

BBC News

-I blame Kellie

[JohnCenaFan28]

A leading suspect wanted over the Philippines' worst militant attack has been arrested in Bahrain and returned to Manila, officials have said.



Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr, 35, is wanted for alleged involvement in the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that led to 116 deaths in a subsequent fire.

He was the "brains" behind an Islamic group allied to two al-Qaeda affiliated organisations, Manila officials say.

They say he was detected after document checks by Manila's embassy in Bahrain.

The arrest had not been made public while Philippine officials prepared deportation papers.

'Fled' country

Marcelino Libanan, head of the immigration commission, told Reuters news agency that Mr Lavilla was checked after trying to get a bank loan and had been working as an interpreter at the Philippine embassy.

However, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor told the AP agency that the arrest came after Mr Lavilla submitted documents for a job at the embassy.

Mr Lavilla is alleged to have fled the Philippines a month after the ferry attack.

He is accused of being the mastermind behind the Rajah Solaiman Movement, blamed for several bomb attacks in Manila in 2004 and 2005.

The movement is said to be linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Muslim militant groups, based in the southern Philippines.

Mr Blancaflor said: "If you are a terrorist, wherever you are, wherever you hide, the law will catch up with you - that's the most important thing here."

The ferry blaze was South East Asia's second-worst militant attack after the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.

The 10,000-tonne Superferry 14 was heading for Bacolod in the central Philippines when it caught fire on 27 February 2004.

BBC News

[flamesoffury]

*moves to australia* Maybe i'll be lucky enough to find someone now..

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thousands of opposition supporters in Taiwan have taken part in a protest in Taipei as President Ma Ying-jeou marked his first 100 days in office.



It was the first mass rally against Mr Ma since his inauguration, and also comes amid increased worries over his pro-China policies and the economy.

The protesters said he was moving too quickly to improve ties with Beijing.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, although they have been governed separately since 1949.

Resignation call

This was the first large-scale protest against President Ma since he took office in May.

Opposition supporters protest on the streets in Taiwan.

His critics - mainly pro-independence groups and members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party - took to the streets in the capital, chanting slogans, and rallied outside the presidential office, calling for him to step down.

They argue that Mr Ma has been too conciliatory towards China and that his policies have damaged the island's sovereignty.

The president was elected by a landslide in March, promising to work for friendlier ties with China and boost the island's economy.

Last month, the two sides launched regular direct flights for the first time in nearly six decades.

President Ma's administration has also relaxed many restrictions on doing business in China, and allowed more Chinese tourists to visit.

The president's office did not comment on the rally, but officials from the governing Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) said the public should not blame the current administration for the island's economic woes but the previous one, which held office for eight years.

They said the public should be protesting against Taiwan's former President, Chen Shui-bian, and his family, who are being investigated over fresh allegations of money laundering involving millions of dollars.

BBC News