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Congress gives Obama long-delayed Afghan war funds
In Kabul, the Afghan government accused the United States of ignoring nfl jerseys Pakistan's role in the Taliban insurgency as the fallout continued from Sunday's unauthorized release of 91,000 classified U.S. military reports on the war. Congress, controlled by Obama's Democratic Party, took six months to give him the funding he sought to pay for the 30,000 extra troops he is sending to Afghanistan to try to break a resurgent Taliban in the nine-year-old war. The House of Representatives gave final approval to $37 billion in funding for the war effort by a vote of 308 to 114 but more Republicans than Democrats voted for it. In all, 102 House Democrats voted "no." The Senate previously passed the bill, which now goes to Obama to sign into law. Democrats are deeply divided over the war. The Pentagon had pushed hard for the money, saying it would have had to cut back civilian salaries if the money was not approved by August. Supporters of the measure argued it was Arizona Cardinals Jersey wrong to delay funding for troops already sent to war. The measure provides $33 billion mostly for the U.S. military in Afghanistan but with some covering expenses in Iraq. There is also nearly $4 billion for a related civilian surge of economic aid to Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. The $37 billion is in addition to about $130 billion Congress already approved for Afghanistan and Iraq for this year. Congress has appropriated more than $1 trillion for the two wars since 2001. "NO BIG REVELATIONS" The leaked documents, made public by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, detailed allegations that U.S. forces sought to cover up civilian deaths and described American concerns that Pakistan secretly aided Taliban militants even as it took billions of dollars in U.S. aid. In his first public comments on the leak, Atlanta Falcons Jersey Obama said it underscored the need to stick with his war strategy. "While I'm concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations, the fact is these documents don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate on Afghanistan," Obama told reporters. The general who Obama nominated to head the command that oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq agreed. "I've seen no big revelations," General James Mattis, nominated to lead U.S. Central Command, told a Senate hearing. "One of the newspaper headlines was that 'The war is a tense and dangerous thing.' So if that is news, I don't know who it's news to on this planet." Some analysts said the revelations could be damaging as the White House seeks to shore up sagging public support for the war while setting the stage to start withdrawing U.S. troops by Obama's target date of July 2011. Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special Baltimore Ravens Jersey envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, will testify on Wednesday before a House panel and could face sharp questions from its chair Nita Lowey, who said in June said she would cut billions of dollars in aid for Afghanistan because of reports of corruption. CONTRADICTORY POLICY The Afghan government, which is seeking more control over foreign aid, said Washington has pursued a contradictory policy in the war by ignoring Pakistan's links to the insurgency. But experts said Pakistan's relationship with the United States is unlikely to be changed by the disclosure. In its first reaction to the leak, Afghanistan's National Security Council said the United States had failed to attack the patrons and supporters of the Taliban hiding in Pakistan throughout the war. "With regret ... our allies did not show necessary attention about the external support for the international terrorists ... for the regional stability and global security," the council said in a statement. Afghanistan has long blamed Pakistan for meddling in its affairs, accusing its neighbor of plotting attacks to destabilize it. Pakistan, whose military and spy agency have had long-standing ties to the Taliban, denies involvement in the insurgency and says it is a victim of militancy itself. In Afghanistan, the remains of one of two U.S. sailors who disappeared last week were found in the east of the country and the search continued for the second man, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. On Sunday, the Taliban Buffalo Bills Jersey said they were holding one of the two sailors who had strayed into territory controlled by the insurgents south of Kabul and that the other had been killed. The Afghan government and NATO officials disputed each others' accounts of reports that more than 50 civilians were killed in a NATO rocket attack on Friday when they were caught up in fighting in Helmand province. Government spokesman Siamak Herawi said 52 people died, many of them women and children. The NATO-led force said a preliminary investigation had not yet revealed any civilian casualties. Civilian deaths caused by foreign forces are a major source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers, whose 150,000 troops are engaged in an increasingly bloody war with the insurgents. Phillip Rivers Jersey
Written by: | 27/07 06:37PM
Leong Hup plans RM30m broiler farm
JOHOR BARU: Integrated poultry company Leong Hup nfl jerseys Holdings Bhd plans to spend up to RM30mil this year to set up a broiler farm in the Bio Desaru Food Valley project in the Kota Tinggi district. Executive director Tan Sri Francis Lau Tuang Nguang said the farm would be located on 72.84ha dedicated for poultry farming activities within the 3,642.17ha Bio Desaru Food Valley, the first big-scale organic food farm in the country. “We are investing between RM20mil and RM30mil in the farm which will have the capacity to produce 500,000 to over one million fowls within the next three years,’’ he told StarBiz recently after the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between Leong Hup subsidiary Leong Hup Contract Farming Sdn Bhd and Johor Biotechnology & Biodiversity Corp (J-Bio Tech). State-owned J-Bio Tech, the developer of Bio Desaru Food Valley, also signed MoAs and memoranda of understanding with eight other companies in conjunction with the 2nd Bio Johor 2010 International Biotechnology and Cincinnati Bengals Jersey Biodiversity Conference. Like other chickens reared in Leong Hup’s farms nationwide, the birds at the Bio Desaru Food Valley farm would be bred in broiler houses, Lau said. A broiler house refers to a building for rearing broiler chickens in close confinement while broilers are young chickens raised for broiling or roasting. “Chickens raised at our Bio Desaru farm will be sent to Singapore as the republic’s close proximity to Kota Tinggi makes it more economical in terms of transportation costs,” said Lau. He said Leong Hup was still optimistic on the Cleveland Browns Jersey local poultry industry despite the recent increase in prices of dressed chickens in the market. Consumers would continue to consume chicken meat and eggs as they were easily available and among the cheapest sources of protein, he said. Before the Government abolished the ceiling price for chicken, it stood at RM6 per kg. Malaysia has a per capita chicken consumption of about 38kg. Jerry Rice Jersey
Written by: | 26/07 07:44PM
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