Sudan and South Sudan sign landmark deal
 

Agreements covering border and oil issues will pave way for South to resume sale of its oil using North's pipeline.

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Dexter
 

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

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This is a picture of me looking very dapper! I really am very funny, always running, jumping and chasing anything I can find. I love to attack feet when nobody is expecting it! My family think I am the cutest thing around!



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Laky (and Friends) [redux] - September 27, 2012
 

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Laky (and Friends) [redux]
Vincenzo says: Ciao from Sardinia, Italy! My little white kitten is named Laky. The little grey kitten is named Charly. They are brothers. My dog is named Laky too. And I have another dog and his name is Charly. It's true! My dogs and my cats have the same names. It's because they are the names of the animals I had when I was a little boy.
Courtesy of: Vincenzo Vacca
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Nevada Senators Continue To Battle Over Online Poker
 

As one of them faces a tough fight for reelection and the other seeks to keep his highly prestigious seat as the Majority Leader, the dueling members of the Senate representing the state of Nevada continue to battle over the regulation and legalization of online poker, both publicly and privately.

The two men, current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and junior Senator Dean Heller, have gone back to the Silver State with the close of the most recent session of the Senate, but that hasn’t calmed issues between the two men down on the key question of the regulation of the online poker industry. Sen. Reid, who negotiated a still-unintroduced bill with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl on that subject, tasked Sen. Heller with garnering the necessary votes from fellow Republicans that would ensure passage of the bill. Earlier this month, Sen. Heller allegedly balked at the proposition prior to the fall recess, bringing the ire of Sen. Reid upon him last week.

In discussing the current stalemate, Sen. Reid’s office accused Sen. Heller of not stepping up for his constituency in Nevada as well as the multitude of gaming corporations who would benefit from federal regulation. Calling regulation of online gaming and poker “the most important issue facing Nevada since Yucca Mountain (a reference to the stoppage of a proposed nuclear waste repository in the state),” Sen. Reid chastised Sen. Heller for not supporting the issue wholeheartedly. Sen. Heller, for his part, countered by stating in a letter that the issue was best left to the House of Representatives to take first action rather than the Senate.

Yesterday, Sen. Heller issued another salvo in the ongoing battle by saying that Sen. Reid was attempting to make a political issue out of the online poker fight. According to the Nevada Appeal, Sen. Heller stated that the legislation should be removed from the “partisan fights” between the two men so that it doesn’t “poison the waters” for passage later this year.

“I believe, at the end of the day, we will have the 10-15 (Republican) votes that we’re going to need in order to get a bill like this passed,” Heller stated to the Appeal. “But we don’t need the politics playing in it today and we don’t need to poison the water on this also.”

Even though there’s quite a bit of acrimony between the two, Sen. Heller does state that, in his belief, they will come together on the subject. “The internet poker bill was never going to pass before the election,” Heller said. “It’s going to happen, and I’m still committed, as Senator Reid is, to get a bill passed. When this is all said and done, both sides are going to come together and say, ‘OK, let’s do what’s best for Nevada.’”

Sen. Heller is locked in a particularly difficult fight for a second term as a Senator from Nevada. Oddly enough, the person challenging Heller for his seat, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (currently representing the state in the House of Representatives), is supported by Sen. Reid in the 2012 elections on November 6. Rep. Berkley has been a supporter of federal regulation of the online poker industry and also fired off against Sen. Heller’s lackadaisical approach to the question in saying, “Senator Heller has failed to deliver for Nevada’s hardworking families who were counting on online poker legislation to boost the state’s struggling economy and to create thousands of good paying jobs.”

“Perhaps Senator Heller shouldn’t have spent so much time cozying up to Wall Street special interests by protecting tax breaks for corporations that ship American jobs overseas,” Rep. Berkley concluded.

The stakes are high for Sen. Reid on this subject also. If he is unable to deliver for the Nevada casino interests the federal bill they seek, then he would lose a great deal of support from those companies (according to the Las Vegas Sun, MGM Resorts International was Sen. Reid’s largest campaign donor in 2010 for his re-election campaign, followed by Caesars Entertainment). Sen. Reid may also be looking to shore up his place as Senate Majority Leader; if his efforts sway the voters to put Rep. Berkley in Sen. Heller’s seat, it would almost ensure that the Democratic Party would maintain its majority in the Senate and he would maintain his leadership position.

Currently, Congress is on recess for its members to head home to campaign (the entirety of the House of Representatives is up for re-election and one-third of the Senate is facing its constituents), meaning that nothing will get done on online poker regulation until after November 6. At that time, the “lame duck” session will kick in, but online poker is way down the list of issues the Congress must contend with, which include several major showdowns over taxation, budget issues and aiding the farming industry.

The rhetoric will probably continue, not only in Nevada but elsewhere, as the potential for federal legislation of online poker in 2012 becomes a problematic question.



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Global Poker Index: Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier Still On Top
 

A look at the most updated Global Poker Index rankings where Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier continues to hold a slight lead.

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Giovanni Rosadoni Wins World Series of Poker Europe Event No. 4
 

A total of 141 players entered the €3,250 no-limit hold’em shootout at the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, but in the end Giovanni Rosadoni was the last man standing. ...

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The Pink Stairs ::: Philippe Cap
 

http://www.photoburst.net/photo_sect...ilippe-cap.jpg The Pink Stairs ::: Philippe Cap ::: Picture taken in Abhaneri, Rajasthan, India.

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FSB to track bus, rail and air travellers' movements inside Russia
 

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The Transport and Interior ministries are joining forces to increase security in Russia.
Read Full Article at RT.com

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Quokka - Marsupial Waste Recycler
 

http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/we...ges/quokka.jpgWhile European explorers have variously mistaken them for rats and wild cats, quokkas (Setonix brachyurus) are actually small marsupials, morphologically similar to wallabies and, to a lesser extent, kangaroos but typically smaller. Quokkas can weigh up to 5 kilograms (about 11 lbs); growing to just 54cm (21.3 inches) tall and 30cm (11.8 inches) long.

Quokkas are adapted to the warm climate of Western Australia and the largest population of them is found on Rottnest Island near Perth. Indeed, the island, somewhat indirectly, is named for the presence of quokkas. In 1696, an early explorer of Western Australia (then New Holland), the Dutch sea captain - Willem de Vlamingh, considered the quokkas to be vermin and named the island 'Rottnest', which is Dutch for 'rat nest'. This less than flattering name has, it seems, stood the test of time.

Rottnest Island is something of a safe-haven for quokka, as it is free of fox and cats that were, in fact, only relatively recently introduced to the island by European settlers. Moreover, laws on the island mean that it is illegal for visitors to interfere with the animals in any way. However, the quokkas' complete lack of fear of humans, which means that they remain highly vulnerable to abuse.

There is a small mainland population of quokkas in Two Peoples Bay; however, here the predation threat is a lot higher, particularly from foxes and domestic cats. The animals, therefore, require dense vegetation for cover. On the mainland the quokka are sympatric with Gilbert's Potoroo, another marsupial, sometimes called a rat-kangaroo.

Quokkas are mainly nocturnal and exclusively herbivorous, feeding on grasses and leaves. However, they are thought to be able to survive for extended periods without any food or water. The Rottnest population is thought to have suffered a certain degree of ill health due to being fed inappropriate food-stuffs by tourists, including bread. Visitors to the island are, as outlined above, now requested not to feed or handle these animals.

Quokkas can breed at any point during the year, however, on Rottnest Island their breeding period is usually confined to late summer. Females produce just one joey per year with a gestation period of four months. The joey will reside in the mother's pouch for a further 25 weeks and will continue to be suckled by the mother for an additional ten weeks after that.

Perhaps the most fascinating (and disgusting) facts about the quokka is that they recycle a small amount of their own waste products. Such caecotrophy is common in the animal kingdom and is practiced by many other mammals, including rabbits. It allows for the re-processing of any material that has made its way through the entirety of the animal's digestive system without being fully digested. Such coprophagous behaviour can be expected to be most common during times of low food abundance or extremely high physiological demand (e.g. during pregnancy and/or lactation).

Picture of the Quokka on Rottnest Island WA Australia 2008, by Gavin Williams, licensed under GFDLhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/anim...FI:gIN9vFwOqvQ
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French Soldiers
 

Today's picture shows a group of French Soldiers enjoying soup for lunch. The picture was taken during World War I, in the year 1914.https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...s.blogspot.com
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