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Maze cartoon of one person whispering to the other, "PSSST, Carl, I think they are going to hit Iran."
By Yonatan Frimer
Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze
Click here for the maze solution of Whispers on Iran
A blog of one man's journey to explore new worlds and seek out new possibilities, to boldly go where no blog has gone before. And also thousands of Optical Illusion Mazes that I have drawn.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip—A France-based satellite provider is halting broadcasts of the Hamas TV channel to Europe and parts of the Arab world because of concerns that it spreads incitement, a station official said Tuesday.
The decision will deprive Gaza-based al-Aqsa TV of most of its viewers, said the channel's head, Hazem Sharawy.
The Hamas station -- best known for its children's programs glorifying violence against Israel -- is the centerpiece of a growing media operation of Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers. Losing the satellite provider will hamper the group's attempts to spread its message and raise funds abroad.
The decision to cut off the Hamas station came six years after a similar move by France and the U.S. against al-Manar, the channel of Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
The group, National Priorities Project, conveyed the size of US war spending by highlighting other things that could have been bought with the money. For example, for the price of America's two wars, the US could give grants to all of America's 19 million college students for the next nine years. One trillion would also pay the annual salaries of 21 million policemen, the group says.
According to the report, the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, which began in October 2001 and March 2003 respectively, are the most expensive military operations the US forces have ever conducted abroad since the end of the Second World War.
Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday far-reaching new sanctions on Iran that aim to squeeze the Islamic Republic's fuel imports and deepen its international isolation.
Obama said the new sanctions were the toughest ever passed by the U.S. Congress and would make it harder for Iran to buy refined petroleum as well as goods and services to modernize its oil and natural gas sector, the mainstay of its economy.
While the door to diplomacy remained open, he said, Iran would come under even greater international pressure if it continued to defy international calls to halt its uranium enrichment program.
The United States and its European allies suspect Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb, despite Tehran's insistence that its nuclear program is for the peaceful generation of electricity.
(click here to read the full article)Maze Cartoon of the Afghanistan hand-off between Petraeus and McCrystal.
Cartoon maze sports analogy of an NFL football handoff between Petraeus and McCrystal as generals for the war in Afghanistan. Created by Yonatan Frimer
Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze
Click here for the maze solution
Visit Team of Monkeys . com for more maze cartoons by Yonatan Frimer
WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday removed his top US commander in Afghanistan following a public flap over the general's controversial remarks to a magazine.
The unceremonious exit of General Stanley McChrystal injected greater uncertainty into the troubled war effort, taking place just as the United States was about to launch a major offensive in and around the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taleban.
Gen McChrystal, who derided the Obama administration and its handling of the war in Afghanistan in a lengthy profile in the Rolling Stone magazine, was summoned to the White House yesterday to explain his remarks.
After a 30-minute face-to-face meeting, Mr Obama said he accepted the resignation of the petulant general and relieved him of his command of US forces in Afghanistan. 'It was a difficult decision, it saddens me to lose a soldier who I've come to respect and admire,' said Mr Obama, noting that the decision was not prompted by the 'personal insult'.
'But war is bigger than any one man or woman. Difficult as this is, it is the right decision for our national security.'