Website encourages people to marry their pets

Marryyourpet.com was set up by Dominique Lesbirel, from Amsterdam, who says a pet makes the perfect partner.

"I wanted to make the love between a man and his pet official," she said. "Now everyone can marry his cat, dog or snake."

"But don't be too impulsive. A wedding certificate is not a guarantee for a long and happy marriage."

From SealKitty

DATING (Outside the Family):

* Always offer to bait your date's hook, especially on the first  date.

* Establish with her parents what time she is expected back.  Some will say 10:00 PM.  Others might say "Monday," If the latter is the answer, it is the man's responsibility to get her to school on time.

More at Larrinator

 Afghan Poppies Sprout Again
Production Nears Record Levels, Worrying Anti-Drug Officials

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 10, 2003; Page A16

GHANIKHEL, Afghanistan -- Two years ago, Afghanistan was virtually poppy-free. The country's strict Islamic militia, the Taliban, banned the flourishing crop in mid-2000, and it soon vanished from the fields. But in recent months, with deterrence efforts weak and sporadic under democratic rule, opium poppies have made a spectacular comeback, nearly reaching the record-high production levels of the 1990s.

According to a report released last month by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghan poppies -- whose sap is the basis for three-fourths of the opium and heroin consumed illegally abroad -- are being grown on 197,000 acres across 28 of the country's 32 provinces

"There is a palpable risk that Afghanistan will again turn into a failed state, this time in the hands of drug cartels and narco-terrorists,"

Al-Arabiya ordered to shut down in Baghdad

The Iraqi Governing Council ordered the Arabic-language television network Al-Arabiya to shut down its operation in Baghdad, sending officials from the Interior Ministry to the network's headquarters to "seize their uplink and transmission equipment until further notice."

"What we have done is not more than broadcasting what we think is important news,"  Al-Arabiya news director Salah Negm said.

Qubad Talabani, the council president's son and spokesman, told CNN that the council does not consider Al-Arabiya's reporting "an element of the free press," but rather a "tool" for inciting violence and acts of terrorism.  

 Town passes ordinance requiring nearly all homes to have guns

By The Associated Press

At Least 17 U.S. Troops Commit Suicide Since April; Army Seeks Answers

    Since April, the military says, at least 17 Americans -- 15 Army soldiers and two Marines -- have taken their own lives in Iraq. The true number is almost certainly higher. At least two dozen non-combat deaths, some of them possible suicides, are under investigation

 Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top American military commander in Iraq, has ordered a 12-person mental health assessment team to Iraq to see what more can be done to prevent suicides.

There is evidence that those who serve in the Army for a long time have a higher suicide rate than civilians. This is probably because "some longstanding servicemen do develop alcohol problems over time, and alcohol use is very strongly related to suicide."

Gang Faces Court Over Donkey Meat Scam

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A gang of butchers and vets in Algeria has been charged with selling tons of donkey meat as beef.

Authorities believe more than 120,000 pounds of donkey meat was sold at knock-down prices at markets in the capital Algiers since August ... 

More than 1,500 donkeys were brought in from around the country and slaughtered before vets certified the meat as beef