"Does the complexity signify that global trade has become an unaccountable, internecine race to the bottom, where G20 countries fight for gains at the expense of the G32, where the European Union halts its in-fighting only for long enough to assault the United States, where corporate lobbyists masquerade as NGOs, and where journalists spend more time photographing picturesque protestors than tracking the real power-play inside the conference? Or can global markets be reshaped in a more responsible way?"

The article ends with the possible creation of a new 'G' -one that was actually open "to debate the opportunities and challenges of responsible competitiveness."

"Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it.

Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the Mexican government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration. "(AP)

"I figured, I took off my shirt at the pool for nothing," he said recently. "So, I was kind of like, what's the difference?"

Justin removed his T-shirt. The men watching him oozed compliments.

"LONDON - Virgin Galactic, the British company created by entrepreneur Richard Branson to send tourists into space, and New Mexico announced an agreement Tuesday for the state to build a $225 million spaceport. Virgin Galactic also revealed that up to 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for a seat on one of its manned commercial flights, including a core group of 100 "founders" who have paid the initial $200,000 cost of a flight upfront. Virgin Galactic is planning to begin flights in late 2008 or early 2009."

No, these dudes are not part of a rap group about to break singing. The brown stained fingers are supposed to be purple. But they are part of an expected 10 million Iraqis turnout to elect their permanent government that will rule them for the next 4 years.

This is the third time Iraqis go to vote and this time, the participation rate amongst eligible voters is expected to be higher that the already high turnout in the previous two.

Proceeds are reinvested into ecologically sustainable businesses in the rainforest , offering compelling ECO-nomic incentives for local rainforest people to leave their lands intact and reap the benfits for generation to come. "

What better a christmas gift could you give to the world?

The horde swirled after fleeing individuals, sometimes sweeping past police lines and horses, chasing a quarry who sought safety in restaurants, shops, toilet blocks and ambulances and police vehicles. Some were snatched by police, who stood against the swarm and repelled the most violent with capsicum spray."

"Fifty-seven years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibited all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, torture remains unacceptably common. Recent times have witnessed an especially disturbing trend of countries claiming exceptions to the prohibition on torture based on their own national security perceptions.

Let us be clear: torture can never be an instrument to fight terror, for torture is an instrument of terror.

The prohibition on torture is well established under international law. It is also unambiguous and absolute. It is binding on all States in all territories under their jurisdiction or effective control. It applies in all circumstances, in times of war as in times of peace. Nor is torture permissible when it is called something else: cruel and inhuman treatment is unacceptable and illegal, irrespective of the name we give it.

States must honour this prohibition and vigorously combat the impunity of perpetrators of torture. Those who conceive of or authorize any form of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and those who commit such acts, should not go unpunished. Nor may any State condone torture by a third party. This means that individuals must never be rendered to another State if there is any danger that doing so may subject them to torture.

The international community must speak forcefully, and with one voice, against torture in all its forms. Today, I call on all States who have not done so to ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the Optional Protocol to the Torture Convention. And I urge all States to allow the United Nations? Special Rapporteur on Torture independent access to detainees within their control. Unimpeded access is an essential protection for these individuals, whose isolation makes them especially vulnerable to abuse. Together, we must give voice, and redress, to abused detainees as well as to all victims and survivors of torture.

Humanity faces grave challenges today. The threat of terror is real and immediate. Yet fear of terrorists can never justify adopting their methods. Nor can we be complacent about the broader prevalence of cruel and inhuman punishment, which in so many of our societies disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people: the imprisoned, the politically powerless and the economically deprived. Instead, we must respond to this evil wherever we find it by reaffirming humanity?s most basic values.

Today, on Human Rights Day, let us recommit ourselves to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and let us rededicate ourselves to wiping the scourge of torture from the face of the earth."

(From: http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2005/sg.htm)

"There's a big controversy on the Jewish view of exactly when life begins. In
Jewish tradition, the fetus is not considered viable until after it graduates
from medical school. "

"Q: What's the difference between a Rottweiler and a Jewish Mother?
A: Eventually, the Rottweiler lets go. "

"Donohue said that Wal-Mart, facing a threatened boycott, added a Christmas page to its Web site and fired a customer relations employee who wrote a letter linking Christmas to "Siberian shamanism."

1. Be a resource of information about living, working, and AIESEC in Turkey for potential and future Turkey trainees.


2. Be a voice for current/ex- Turkey trainees.


3. Be an evaluation/measurement system for AISESEC Turkey to gauge their strengths/weaknesses, and help them improve.

1. Chuck Norris? tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

2. When Chuck Norris has sex with a man, it is not because he is gay, but because he has run out of women.

3. Macgyver can build an airplane out of gum and paper clips, but Chuck Norris can kill him and take it.

4. Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light, went back in time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying over the Pacific Ocean.

5. Chuck Norris doesn?t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

6. If you ask Chuck Norris what time it is, he always says, ?Two seconds till.? After you ask, ?Two seconds to what?? he roundhouse kicks you in the face.

7. Chuck Norris only masturbates to pictures of Chuck Norris.

8. Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his mother?s womb. Shortly thereafter he grew a beard.

9. Chuck Norris lost his virginity before his dad did.

10. Since 1940, the year Chuck Norris was born, roundhouse kick related deaths have increased 13,000 percent.

11. Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn?t stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month.

12. Filming on location for Walker: Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris brought a stillborn baby lamb back to life by giving it a prolonged beard rub. Shortly after the farm animal sprang back to life and a crowd had gathered, Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked the animal, breaking its neck, to remind the crew once more that Chuck giveth, and the good Chuck, he taketh away.

13. Chuck Norris?s girlfriend once asked him how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. He then shouted, ?HOW DARE YOU RHYME IN THE PRESENCE OF CHUCK NORRIS!? and ripped out her throat. Holding his girlfriend?s bloody throat in his hand he bellowed, ?Don?t fuck with Chuck!? Two years and five months later he realized the irony of this statement and laughed so hard that anyone within a hundred mile radius of the blast went deaf.

14. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

15. Chuck Norris built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot, Chuck met all three bullets with his beard, deflecting them. JFK?s head exploded out of sheer amazement.

16. Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse? horses are hung like Chuck Norris

17. Chuck Norris was the fourth Wiseman. He brought baby Jesus the gift of ?beard?. Jesus wore it proudly to his dying day. The other Wisemen, jealous of Jesus? obvious gift favoritism, used their combined influence to have Chuck omitted from the Bible. Shortly after all three died of roundhouse kick related deaths.

18. To prove it isn?t that big of a deal to beat cancer. Chuck Norris smoked 15 cartons of cigarettes a day for 2 years and aquired 7 different kinds of cancer only to rid them from his body by flexing for 30 minutes. Beat that, Lance Armstrong.

19. There are no disabled people. Only people who have met Chuck Norris.

20. Chuck Norris does not have AIDS but he gives it to people anyway.

21. Chuck Norris uses ribbed condoms inside out, so he gets the pleasure.

22. There is no chin behind Chuck Norris? beard. There is only another fist.

23. Chuck Norris once lined up to kick the winning field goal of a high school football game. When the football went flat, he persuaded the referees to let him kick the field goal with a 3 month old child. Chuck roundhoused kicked the baby 60 yards through the uprights and then proceeded to bang every girl in the stadium.

24. The original theme song to the Transformers was actually ?Chuck Norris?more than meets the eye, Chuck Norris?robot in disguise,? and starred Chuck Norris as a Texas Ranger who defended the earth from drug-dealing Decepticons and could turn into a pick-up. This was far too much awesome for a single show, however, so it was divided.

25. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

26. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

27. When Chuck Norris plays Oregon Trail his family does not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather roundhouse kicks to the face. He also requires no wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before you.

28. It was once believed that Chuck Norris actually lost a fight to a pirate, but that is a lie, created by Chuck Norris himself to lure more pirates to him. Pirates never were very smart.

29. Chuck Norris recently had the idea to sell his urine as a canned beverage. We know this beverage as Red Bull.

Does anyone know 29 things about Kevin Bacon? Please get in touch!

I read a depressing story in the paper on my flight from Amsterdam to Stockholm on Monday.

There is genocide in Dafur ? STILL. To be completely honest I knew two years ago this was happening and in my secure world as I stopped seeing articles I stopped thinking about.

I remember watching Hotel Rwanda shortly after we started our AI term ? we were still in transition and we talked about how some of us had never even heard that there was genocide there and it was only after and when the film was made that they even heard it had happened. I was living in Canada and I remember even as a young child hearing about it. And again as a Child I relied on my parents and friends for my safety and to keep the world safe for me?but apparently we don?t learn. We don?t learn that by ignoring it surprisingly more people are murdered, raped, and enslaved. And my people I mean 2 year olds named Zahra Abdullah who was beaten to death with a club on the street in front of her mother and sister and Noura Moussa who was gang raped

(http://iht.nytimes.com/protected/articles/2005/11/27/opinion/edkristof.php)

And now again another African country is being murdered and the Int?l community is quiet. Quiet and inactive. Unfortunately for Dafur there is no oil there, no gold, no high profit natural resources for the int?l community to care about. What they do have is an unstable neighbour ? Chad who is struggling to stay out of civil war and that this genocide next door is threatening to cause again?

Millions have already died ?how many must die for us to care?? Like the brave reporter (in my opinion said) ?How much Genocide is too much??

http://iht.nytimes.com/protected/articles/2005/11/27/opinion/edkristof.php

Today is World AIDS day ? maybe we need a world Genocide day for people to step up and take some action. Personally I will be learning all I can about what is happening and from there see who needs to be talked to, written to and influenced to do something. I encourage all of you to do the same.