| Asean leaders sign Charter, economic and environment pacts
On Tuesday, leaders projected a sense of business as usual, with several declaring the day's signings to be 'historic' and a 'milestone'. 'It is a historic moment because the new Charter will address ongoing challenges and opportunities,' Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters before the signing ceremony. The 31-page Charter spells out how Asean might take what PM Lee called a 'symbolic quantum leap' from being a loose regional grouping to become a more effective and cohesive organisation, with clearer rules on how decisions should be made and disputes settled. It calls on Asean leaders to meet twice a year, establishes four new coordinating councils of ministers, as well as a committee of permanent representatives to be based in Jakarta. Asean will also appoint four deputies, who will, among other things, help the secretary-general monitor how well the group is living up to its pledges and plans.
Woman IDs bat-wielding robber
A Fort Wayne man accused of entering a north-side home and robbing a woman while armed with a plastic baseball bat in August was formally charged Monday. Larry Robinson, 27, of the 4400 block of Sanford Lane, is charged with burglary, robbery and criminal confinement after his photo was picked out of an array by the robbery victim in August. Robinson had not been arrested as of Tuesday night. Fort Wayne police were called to the woman's home in the 2300 block of Leroy Avenue about 9 p.m. Aug. 20. She told police she took her trash out earlier that evening and left her garage door open because she usually rides her bicycle at night. She was in her house grading papers when about 8:55 p.m. she heard footsteps in the kitchen. She said at first she was not concerned because she thought it was her son.
Microsoft opens up: Everything you need to know
In 2004, the Commission found Microsoft guilty of antitrust violations and abuse of its dominant position in the market, a finding which Microsoft contested until October 2007. But early indications are that it will not satisfy the Commission. Nor does it remove Microsoft's threat to sue open source developers. The announcement also addresses another issue: Office's support for document formats. It includes a promise to allow developers to add document formats and make them the default in Office, but does not add out-of-the-box support for the industry standard Open Document Format (ODF). Is this important?
It is clearly important to Microsoft. The company lined up its chief executive, Steve Ballmer, its top lawyer and vice president Brad Smith, chief software architect Ray Ozzie, and server and tools vice president Bob Muglia, and press released it as "Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices".
Civil Affairs in Israel, Public Relations Image Challenge
Politicians started following the leads of marketing firms and hiring PR consultants to help them dress, speak and convey their message - or image - and reach their target audiences. Politicians in Israel have only begun to take such strategies seriously in recent years, holding on strongly to traditional, informal ways. Golda Meir used to smoke cigarettes while being interviewed on TV. And years later in 1993, When Teddy Kollek ran for mayoral reelection in Jerusalem, he hired a very young and recent army press-corps graduate as his PR director, and a lay art staff to design his posters, many of which were made by hand. He also smoked cigars publicly. Israeli candidates for prime minister started hiring American consultants as far back as 1977, but it wasn't until the 1999 elections, when Binyamin Netanyahu hired Arthur Finkelstein and Ehud Barak brought in James Carville, Stanley Greenberg and Bob Shrum, that top American consultants totally revamped the Israeli electioneering process to follow American marketing strategies.
It's official: RAGBRAI route to end in LeClaire
Hey RAGBRAI, welcome back to Scott County.The 2008 route for the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa will end July 26 in LeClaire, where riders will dip their bike tires in the Mississippi as the traditional completion of the ride. The route also includes Tipton as an overnight stop before riders roll into LeClaire, the ride’s organizers announced today.RAGBRAI last ended in Scott County in Davenport in 1982.The Quad-Cities Convention and Tourism Bureau sought a resolution from Scott County in support of seeking LeClaire as the endpoint. RAGBRAI’s executive director visited LeClaire last summer during Tugfest to see how the river town handles a large influx of visitors.The 417-mile route will begin in Missouri Valley, with overnight stops in Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama-Toledo, North Liberty and Tipton.
Sarkozy, Rudd visit Afghanistan
Kevin Rudd and French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew into the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday to meet with Karzai and visit their respective country's troops participating in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. In a morning meeting, Sarkozy "assured President Karzai of his government's long term political and military support with the people of Afghanistan," according to a statement from the Afghan president's office. Rudd, who was elected in a landslide victory Nov. 24, appeared with Karzai at a news conference, where he repeatedly said that the Australian commitment to Afghanistan is strong. "We will be, as I said before, in this country, Afghanistan, for the long haul. It's important for us to be here in partnership with NATO countries," Rudd said.
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It grazed the SUV and hung on to finish the U-turn. In their rear-view window, though, Wilkerson's passengers were horrified to see the Denali flipping over and over, according to the sheriff's report. And that's when, Wilkerson admits, he made a really big mistake. He panicked and took off. "I freaked out," he says. "That's no excuse; that's so not me. But I had the people in my car yelling, 'Go, go, go!' and I just freaked out and panicked." Sheriff's deputies caught up with him just 10 minutes later. Because he fled the scene, it's understandable that the sheriff's deputies assumed that Wilkerson had something to hide. Their reports note that he smelled heavily of alcohol, that he'd admitted to smoking pot that morning, that he seemed drunk. The problem is, all the tests came back well under the legal limit.
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