All Trought about politic at Ukraine

The survey, conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org in 17 countries, found that residents of 15 of them have a positive attitude to such practices as monitoring the electoral process by international observers. In 11 countries, most people believe that it will benefit their country.

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If you're one drink or toke over the Westchester County line, or drag racing, you could wind up kissing your car goodbye.

Adding to the obvious reasons not to, the county's legislature is poised to pass a new vehicle forfeiture law that would let cops seize the vehicles of drivers convicted of driving while impaired or drag racing on Westchester roads.

"The prospect of forfeiting one's car, often an expensive material possession, will cause people to think twice before getting drunk and getting behind the wheel," said Bill Ryan, chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators.

The bill gained momentum following recent high-profile drunken-driving tragedies like the July ... Read more »

Sen. Edward Kennedy, the indefatigable liberal icon whose 47 years in the Senate were often overshadowed by his twin roles as keeper and casualty of the Camelot myth, died late Tuesday night after a long battle with brain cancer.

He was 77, and passed away at the famed Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.

"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the heartbroken Kennedy family said in a statement.

"We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progr ... Read more »

The consultant behind the city's troubled Snapple deal stands to make big bucks if its new schools contract is approved tonight.

Education officials want the marketing firm Octagon to find new corporate sponsors for kids' sports - despite the Snapple deal Octagon brokered that resulted in $5 million less than guaranteed.

"The Snapple and Octagon deals were bad the first time," Controller William Thompson wrote in a letter urging Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) members to reject the contract.

"We teach our kids to learn from their mistakes; the DOE should learn from its mistakes."

Tonight's PEP meeting is the first since the changes to the mayoral control law required a vote on contracts over $1 ... Read more »

City controller hopeful John Liu insisted during a recent debate that he's refunded every major contribution from donors linked to groups he's given taxpayer dollars as a city councilman. But it's simply not true.

The Daily News counted at least 10 people on the boards of groups to which he steered money who have lavished him with donations.

Among them:

- Two board members of Asian Americans for Equality, which got $50,000 from Liu's portion of the City Council slush fund this year. Banking executive Fred Hung gave the maximum $4,950.

- Two board members of the Flushing Business Improvement District gave Liu $4,950 and a third, restaurateur ... Read more »

PARIS - France plans to include happiness and well-being in its measurements of economic progress, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday, beckoning other countries to join in a "revolution" in the way growth is tracked after the global economic crisis.

France will adapt its statistical toolbox as recommended by two Nobel economists whom Sarkozy commissioned 18 months ago to analyze new ways of measuring social progress, he said in a speech in Paris on the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.< ... Read more »

Mayor Bloomberg tried to distance himself Sunday from a hit his campaign launched at Controller William Thompson, his likely mayoral opponent.

Bloomberg campaign staffers handed out leaflets ripping into Thompson's record - at a news conference the controller held to spotlight school overcrowding.

Afterward, Bloomberg dodged questions about the tactic.

"You'll have to ask the campaign about that," he said, referring to his own campaign.

When pressed to comment about the leaflet - which challenges Thompson's record as president of the Board of Ed from 1996 to 2001 - the mayor repeatedly refused.

Later yes ... Read more »

WASHINGTON - Rep. Joe Wilson is sorry for calling President Obama a liar - sort of. And he's done apologizing.

The once-obscure South Carolina Republican was more defiant than penitent on Sunday, explaining he was "provoked" when Obama asserted in last Wednesday's primetime speech that his health care reform plan excludes illegal aliens from benefits.

"I believe in the truth," Wilson told "Fox News Sunday" in a rambling appearance. "What I heard was not true." Republicans contend that House bills barring benefits for illegal immigrants have no enforcement teeth.

House Democrats want Wilson to apologize on the chamber's floor this week. His refusal means they will likely introduce a "resolution of disapproval" rebuking his "You lie!" outburst, which even GOP leaders have said was way out of line.

Republican elders pressured Wilson into issuing a wri ... Read more »

WASHINGTON - Tens of thousands of people thronged to the National Mall Saturday, propelled by the belief that President Obama will do evil, deny care to the elderly and destroy the Constitution and country.

"It's not that he's evil," said Suzanne Mullen, of Fayetteville, N.C., "but the outcome will be."

"What he's doing to the budget, and taking over health care, is ... Read more »

Across from the World Trade Center site there were more flowers than usual outside Engine 10, Ladder 10, the legendary New York firehouse known as Ten House. There are always more flowers, and signs, and photographs and flags, when there is another anniversary of Sept. 11.

So the FDNY Memorial Wall, stretching down Greenwich St., was alive with color and handmade art yesterday morning. A "Flag of Heroes," listing the names of emergency service personnel who gave their lives eight years ago, hung outside Ten House at the corner of Greenwich and Liberty.

There was a wreath for the < ... Read more »

HOUSTON - The guy named Vinny with the Vandyke and Brooklyn accent looked out of place in the leafy Texas neighborhood of gated mansions.

That's because this Vinny was Vincent Palermo - onetime Mafia star turned FBI informant - a guy who managed to vanish from the world of scungilli and Sinatra to recreate himself 1,400 miles away in the land of BBQ and the Texas two-step.

Palermo, with a new name, lives under a cloak created by the feds after testifying against the DeCavalcante clan, the Jersey-based Mafia family w ... Read more »

DALLAS — Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95.

Borlaug died just before 11 p.m. Saturday at his home in Dallas from complications of cancer, said school spokeswoman Kathleen Phillips. Phillips said Borlaug's granddaughter told her about h ... Read more »

The outspoken Mayor of London - who's in town to lure New Yorkers to his home turf - joined the fray Sunday over the Lockerbie bomber's controversial release, calling it a "betrayal" and "completely crazy."

"Had I been in charge, I would not have released him. It seems to be completely crazy," said Boris Johnson.

"It's a complete mockery of justice. It's a betrayal of the victims of the Lockerbie Bomber."

Johnson's remarks come as the U.S.-British "special relationship" remains in the deep freeze over last month's decision by Scottish ministers to free convicted ... Read more »

OUTPOST SPUR, Afghanistan - Eight soldiers based in upstate Fort Drum are perched atop a 7,000-foot mountain - and they are constantly on high alert.

This is one of Afghanistan's tiniest outposts, high in the rugged peaks of Logar Province, about 100 miles south of Kabul.

Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, along with an Afghan interpreter, spend 10 days at a time here living in a small metal container airlifted in by helicopter.

They sleep on cramped bunk ... Read more »

British Prime Minister Gordon Brownapologized for the fact that the British authorities sentenced died 55 years ago, mathematician Alan Turing to the treatment of homosexuality. This was reported on the official website premier.Thus, Brown has met the requirements of the petition, which was signed more than thirty thousand people. The drafters of the petition also appealed to the Queen of Great Britain with a request to posthumously dedicate Turing knighted, says The Guardian.In Turing's no more living relatives, so that the apologies are symbolic. The message Brown calls mathematics one of the most famous victims of homophobia in the UK.The famous mathematician and one of the founders of the first electronic computers, Alan Turing was convicted of homosexuality in 1952. According to the court, he was made to choose between imprisonment and tre ... Read more »

Competition between the Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev in the presidential election in 2012 will not. Told himself, Vladimir Putin during a meeting with participants of the Valdai Discussion Club, "the RIA Novosti.According to director of the Russia and Eurasia Program of the Institute of World Security Nikolai Zlobin, who was present at the meeting, Putin stated the following: "We agreed because we are people of one blood and one of political views."The Prime Minister also added that when it comes time before the announcement of candidates for election, they will be thinking about who to nominate for the presidency, along with Mr. Medvedev, on the basis of the political plans of the political forces and the provisions of United Russia.According to another meeting participant, the political analyst Ariel Cohen, Putin n ... Read more »

With guards cruiser "Moskva" had happened, something strangeThe flagship of the Black Sea Fleet Russia Guards missile cruiser "Moskva" evening of 9 September was the center of public attention: the journalists became aware of the emergency on board a ship, which occurred on September 7. And because of the long silence sailors incident began to acquire a tinge of mystery.
The first, in the morning on Sept. 8, the incident in Sevastopol reported some Ukrainian Internet media. The night of 9 sentryabrya this information reprinted Georgian portal "Georgia Online". But sources, who cited the Ukrainians, were very much questionable.The present turmoil in the Internet began after the explosion on "Moscow" and wounding ten sailors with reference to the unofficial source told the respected Ukrainian agency UNIAN.It seems that the explosion was."Lenta.Ru" immed ... Read more »

Russia ready to supply Venezuela tanks and other weapons. This, according to RIA Novosti, said the president of RussiaDmitry Medvedev on September 10 at a joint press conference with the president of this country, Hugo Chavez. "Russia will supply to Venezuela, the types of weapons that Venezuela we ask. I will supply the tanks, the tanks we have good" - said Medvedev.Recall that before the visit of the Venezuelan leader in Moscow, a source in the military-industrial complex of Russia, close to the structures involved in arms exports, has informed agency "Interfax",that during the visit, Chavez may sign new contracts to supply Venezuela military equipment.In particular, he said, it is a diesel-electric submarines of the class Varshavyanka, a large batch of infantry fighting vehicles BMP-3 and T-72 tanks, ten military helicopters Mi-28N, several mobile coast ... Read more »