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Sun-powered water splitter makes hydrogen tirelessly – tech – 11 February 2010 – New Scientist
Sunlight + water = hydrogen gas, in a new technique that can convert 60 per cent of sunlight energy absorbed by an electrode into the inflammable fuel.
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Sunlight + water = hydrogen gas, in a new technique that can convert 60 per cent of sunlight energy absorbed by an electrode into the inflammable fuel.
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UN: Heritage sites on occupied land – Israel News, Ynetnews
UN special coordinator for Mideast peace process condemns cabinet decision to declare West Bank Jewish sites national heritage sites. Robert Serry says ‘sites are in occupied Palestinian territory, are of historical significance to Islam, Christianity as well’
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On Sunday, the cabinet approved a comprehensive plan for the preservation of “heritage” sites across the country, at an investment of some NIS 400 million (roughly $106 million).
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At the last minute, following pressure from ministers and rightists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to ad the two West Bank locations to the preservation plan.
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Palestinians in Hebron declared a general strike on Monday in protest of the decision, and held a demonstration
in which stones were thrown at security forces.
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`Traders can gamble on the euro for the price of a cup of coffee in Starbucks`
A fall in the cost of speculating in currencies is allowing hedge funds to make multimillion-pound bets against the euro “for just the price of a cup of coffee in Starbucks“, one of Britain`s leading investment managers warned today.
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Every day, global dealing in foreign exchange totals around $4tn, 90% of it purely speculative, and London traders dominate the market.
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Behind the huge daily dealing in currencies stand the world’s investment banks, some of whom just 18 months ago were seeking bailouts from central banks and taxpayers, but are now enjoying record turnover and profitability from volatile currency markets. According to Euromoney, the top five traders in currencies in 2009 were Deutsche Bank, UBS, Barclays Capital, RBS and Citi.
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Mass protests greet Sarkozy visit to Haiti
French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled for a one-day visit to Haiti on February 17, amid rising popular opposition to the Western-backed Préval government and international tensions over how to rebuild the country.
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Sarkozy, the first French head of state ever to visit Haiti, was greeted with street protests by thousands of Haitians demanding the return of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ousted by a US- and French-backed coup in 2004, Aristide was flownto the Central African Republic, a former French colony.
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Protesters held pictures of Aristide aloft and demanded that Sarkozy repay $21 billion paid to France by Haiti, a former French slave colony. In 1825 warships under the orders of France’s King Charles X—soon to be toppled by the 1830 revolution—forced Haiti to repay 90 million gold francs in exchange for its freedom.
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The ransom paid to Charles X, the equivalent of $21.7 billion today, devastated Haiti’s economy and took 122 years to repay. In comparison, it is estimated that the post-earthquake reconstruction of Haiti will cost $14 billion—which is also less than the cost of one year of the upper-class tax cut Sarkozy pushed through upon coming to office in 2007.
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Sarkozy’s visit came amid steps to transform Haiti into a military dictatorship jointly run with foreign occupation forces and aid agencies. Haiti’s legislative elections, previously scheduled for February 28-March 3, have been indefinitely postponed.
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The New Poor – Despite Signs of Recovery, Long-Term Unemployment Rises – Series – NYTimes.com
Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.
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Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.
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Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.
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لوس أنجلوس تايمز: وفاة قهوجى بسبب التعذيب فى مصر
رصدت صحيفة لوس أنجلوس تايمز فى تقرير أعده مراسلها فى القاهرة، جيفرى فليشمان، المعاناة التى عاشتها أسرة فاروق سيد، النادل بأحد مقاهى القاهرة، والذى لقى مصرعه جراء التعذيب الشديد فى أحد أقسام الشرطة.
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