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The new U.S. strategy for Iraq, outlined by President George W. Bush in January 2007, in the wake of the Iraq Study Group report, has come and gone with no discernible effect. With 100,000 soldiers still on the ground, despite congressional calls for major withdrawals, “force protection” is the new catchphrase, given domestic intolerance of American casualties. No one debates any longer whether Iraq is experiencing a civil war; it’s in fact part failed state, part civil war and part regional war....

At 69, Arinze is the right age for a pope. In ceremonial appearances he flashes a winning smile and displays a self-deprecating sense of humor. Since his name first appeared on journalistic lists of papabali four years ago, Arinze has avoided reporters as a matter of policy–a sure sign that he is taking the talk of his candidacy serious-ly. But his experience at the Vatican has been limited to a single post: as president of the Pontifical Council for In-terreligious Dialogue, he has been the pope’s contact man with Muslims, principally, but also with Hindus and Buddhists....

The National Hockey League has seen two significant trends take hold and shape its direction in recent years. The first is an infusion of young, ultra-skilled talent that has changed the way the game is played on the ice. Highlights from players like Trevor Zegras, Kirill Kaprizov, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, and many more are dramatically different from the NHL of old. High-end skill has infused the NHL with creativity the game hasn’t seen before, and it has made for a much more exciting product for fans....

Such cavalier dismissals of Bill Clinton are commonplace on Capitol Hill these days. After the election last November, many Democrats saw Clinton heralding a new era for their party. Now they’re not so sure. The failure of his stimulus package, the muddle over Bosnia policy, the confusion over the direction of health-care reform have all eroded confidence in Clinton’s leadership. Now he faces a revolt from Hill Democrats on his economic plan....

This was largely the case even after announcements that Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving wouldn’t be returning, nor would co-director Lilly Wachowski—though some doubt begun to seep in. Fans questioned how Matrix 4 could realistically explain the “resurrections” of these seemingly deceased figures, and where the story could go from here. These doubts were at least partly realized, and the film’s poor reception yielded tepid earnings of $153 million gross at the box office....

When he won the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, his last race victory before he’d return to the top of the podium again, but after five years, they said, “he might be monosyllabic out of the car, but boy he can race when he’s in it!” Even when he set the fastest lap in the sport, at Monza, during the 2018 Italian Grand Prix qualifying, upon being congratulated on the team radio- “Kimi, you are on pole”- his answer was the simplest it could’ve been: “thank you....

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The sequels to The Purge have dug into the expanded universe in more depth, but ever since the third movie – 2016’s The Purge: Election Year – the filmmakers have gone way overboard with the politics. Although The Purge is tailor-made to broadly satirize issues like gun violence and rising crime rates, the third film crammed it through the narrow lens of one election cycle. Since then, the franchise has leaned too heavily into unsubtle political commentary, singularly focused on the policies of the Trump administration....

The Outer Worlds Canid’s Cradle Walkthrough The first step in The Outer Worlds’ Canid’s Cradle quest is to reach a crashed UDL gunship, and it is located south of the Sulfur Pits in the Monarch Wilderness. Upon arrival, players should extract the Gunship Captain’s Key from the terminal inside and enter the now-open door. In this section of the craft, fans will find the Cantankerous Canid Targeting Module, which they should pick up to advance to the next part of the quest....

The two-part pilot episode (simply called Pilot Part 1 and Pilot Part 2) cost between $10 and $14 million collectively—which is the equivalent of over $14 to $20 million today, in 2021. It is not the most expensive pilot episode anymore, but it is still one of the most expensive. That money was put to good use (arguably) in the purchasing and shipping of a Lockheed 1011 airliner to Oahu, Hawaii, where the show was filmed....

American environmentalist Jeremy Rifkin, who has made a career warning about the dangers of scientific arrogance, looks back on the creation of the Global Greenhouse Network in the late 1980s as “the first time NGOs from around the world worked together around a central theme.” Until then, says Rifkin, “environmental issues, and economic and social issues, could for the most part be addressed regionally and locally. Here we had a situation where the whole globe was affected....

The leaders of the West seemed flabbergasted. On the face of it, the largest developing nations had torpedoed a summit from which they had the most to gain. Spearheaded by Brazil with vocal support from India and quiet backing from China, the core group founded in Doha was reincarnated as the group of 22 developing nations, or G22. They will bear the brunt of the cost of failure in Cancun, which according to the World Bank includes the lost opportunity to raise 144 million people out of poverty....

All this Portillo–who last week won Guatemala’s first presidential election since the country’s 36-year civil war ended in 1996–has admitted. The Guatemalan press reported on the incident back in September. Given the country’s violent past and growing fear of crime, such a revelation might be expected to destroy a candidate. But Portillo, who is allied with a former military dictator, used it to enhance his appeal to voters. One of his television spots boasted: “A man who can defend his life can defend yours....

Charlotte Church is just 13 and a budding classical music star. Most divas don’t ask that trips to Disney World be included in their recording contracts, but then Charlotte Church is rather unusual. Her album of hymns and folk songs, “Voice of an Angel,” climbed to No. 1 in Britain’s classical charts and reached the top 10 in the pop charts after its release last fall. It went double-platinum in five weeks, making it a merry Christmas indeed for Sony, which signed Church for a reported £100,000 advance on a five-album contract last spring....

The Intent of the Missed Call If the call rang only once or twice, it may mean that the caller intended for the call to be missed, perhaps because they wanted to reach your voicemail. They may leave a message explaining the reason, such as, “Hello, I need to talk to you but don’t want to use up my credit, so call me back.” If you have to call back, be mindful of how VoIP apps can save money on calls....

But freelancing comes with its own share of challenges. Besides the client work alone, you also need to take care of your accounting. This is where bookkeeping software comes into play, and AND.co is one of the various options available to you. Keep reading to discover more about AND.co and how it can improve your freelance business. What Is AND.co? AND.co is a bookkeeping platform developed by Fiverr, a freelancing website....

Computer glasses are similar to reading glasses, and some also feature lenses that can block out blue light. Of course, there is more to the story here. Here, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of using computer glasses, so you can figure out if they are worth it for you. The Pros of Using Computer Glasses Before we get into the discussion, it’s important to make the distinction between computer glasses and gaming glasses that block out blue light....

About 30 minutes into the rally in Manchester on Thursday night, there was a disturbance by a small group of protesters who were carrying banners with the words “Jews against the occupation” according to The Washington Post. A man next to the group, later identified as Frank Dawson, grabbed one banner and threw it into a nearby entryway. He then grabbed a second and threw it over the edge of the balcony and it landed in the crowd below....

In 1974, as part of the political class’s post-Watergate vow to sin no more, it adopted a less-than-painful penance. That class created for itself an entitlement. Egged on by political hygienists, a.k.a. campaign-finance reformers, Congress passed–and President Gerald Ford, then just two months in office and soon to be seeking election, signed–a law creating government funding of presidential campaigns. Because this has freed up, over the years, hundreds of millions of dollars of private political money for nonpresidential candidates, the entitlement was a benefit not only for presidential candidates, but for all the rest of the political class, too....

According to the rankings, the president that scored highest on measures of narcissism among the 19 who held office over this period was—Lyndon Johnson. Johnson, who served between 1963 and 1969, was followed by Teddy Roosevelt (1901–1909) and Richard Nixon (1969-1974). William McKinley (1897–1901) was rated as the least narcissistic, with William Taft (1909–1913) and Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929) coming in just above him. Compiling the Data Effectively The ranking was created by John Harden, an assistant professor of political science at Ripon College, and it features in a study published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution authored by the researcher....