| The Kensington Review |
5 October 2005 |
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Volume IV, Number 119 |
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City of New Orleans Sacks Half Its Workers -- Their homes are gone, their city evacuated, and now, some 3,000 “non-essential” city workers have been told by the City of New Orleans that the municipality can no longer afford to pay them. In a cost-cutting measure, Mayor Ray Nagin has decided “emergency leave without pay” is the way forward starting on Saturday, and final paychecks will go out this month. While he doesn’t seem to have much choice, one cannot help but wonder, is this any way to revive a city?
UK, Saudi Arabia Worry about Iranian Influence in Iraq -- A British official, speaking anonymously to the BBC, said early today that the eight British troops killed in Iraq this year died thanks to Iranian interference in Iraq. At the same time, the Saudi Arabian government has voiced its concern about Iranian influence in Iraq. This caused the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, to drop his plans for a visit to Riyadh. And it led Iraq’s Shi’ite interior minister Bayan Jabr say he didn’t want to be lectured by “some Bedouin riding a camel.” Nationalist bigotry aside, Iranian influence over Iraq was inevitable once the Americans bumbled their way into Baghdad promising democracy. French Connection to Downgrade FCUK Brand -- The French Connection, a retail chain that borrowed its name from a Gene Hackman movie, is downgrading its FCUK (French Connection United Kingdom) brand after nine years of controversy. Alarming to dyslexics and old fuddy-duddies, the logo appeared on T-shits across the modern-marketing world. Some investors are alarmed by the abandoning of this brand, but the truth is it is a weak joke that went on a few year too long. Seeing profits drop by two-thirds in the last quarter proved as much. X-Prize Founder Starts Rocket Racing League -- Peter Diamandis, founder of the aerospace Ansari X Prize, has decided that the next great sporting industry will be rocket-plane racing. At a ceremony in New York (where the races will most definitely not take place), he unveiled the Rocket Racing League as its founder and co-chairman. If all goes right, the first four-plane race will be held in October of 2006. Which implies that if all goes wrong, it may happen sooner, though, Mr. Diamandis may disagree. © Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux. |
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