BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), has reached a deal with Europe's largest oil refiner Total in jointly tapping the country's domestic oil reserve in a move to meet its surging demand for energy.

The Sino-French oil company alliance will work on the Sulige gas field, located in the Ordos Basin in northwest China, Liu Weijiang, said CNPC spokesman for overseas business, quoted by Saturday's China Daily.

Industry sources said the Sulige field has gas reserves of up to 602.6 billion cubic meters.

"It is only a set of framework agreements, and more follow-up projects are still under discussion," Liu said on Friday.

East Village Hotel, 234 Palmer Street, East Sydney NSW 2010

PEAR SHAPED COMEDY CLUB

RE-OPENS MONDAY 29th NOVEMBER

MC s Brian Damage & Krysstal + LOADS of comics

Infoline: 0414 818 577 (from 10th Nov)

Tickets/Entry: A paltry $5

EVERY MONDAY @ EAST VILLAGE HOTEL

Every Monday MCs Brian Damage & Krysstal will proudly present the Best and Worst of Sydney's Comics, Cranks and Crackpots. A wild & wonderful night out!

Pear Shaped in Sydney follows in the footsteps of its sister clubs in London and at the Edinburgh Festival , a favourite of comedians and audience alike. There is no telling who will drop in to perform for the sheer pleasure of it, to plug their show, try out new material or just have a laugh.

1) FSOM - Welcome (Thomas P Heckmann Mix)

2) Sonic Voyagers - Beyond the Infinite

3) Q-Kontrol vs. VC Faktor Bioplexus

4) TR-Storm Rise

Featuring Australian artists:

FSOM (Melbourne, Australia) The triad collectively known as Future Sound Of Melbourne brought together the diverse talents of Davide Carbone, Josh Abrahams and Steve Robbins. Their first release in the early 90's has put them in the top five placing in the UK Mix Mag's dance chart. The act had received contracts from Sony Music (Australia), Carl Cox and Volume Records (UK), Frank De Wulf and Sony Music (Belgium), Trancemaster (Germany), Underground Resistance and AXIS (USA). For the past decade FSOM have been at the forefront of underground electronic music in Australia. They have performed Live at hundreds of raves, festivals, and events around Australia.

Sonic Voyagers (Melbourne, Australia)

The Sonic Voyagers is an eclectic, very rare special occasion that brings together two of Melbournes preeminent electronic

The trouble with being a music great is that only the best is expected. The Queen of Hip Hop Soul, Mary J Blige, has recorded nine studio albums. She has sold over 40 million records worldwide and has had over 20 Grammy nominations. She sings, she writes, she produces. She even acts occasionally. She has had countless hits, worked with the best in the business and is at a point in her career where she overseas the entire creative process of her work. For the rest of this review please check out: http://www.planeturban.com.au/album_reviews/album_mary_j_blige_growing_pains

The National Archives released once classified files that link Julia Child (among others) to the Office of Strategic Services, a US spy agency predating the CIA. The news will come as no surprise to any Child fans or historians: She openly admitted that she worked overseas for the agency in her early 30's and met her husband Paul Child on assignment in China. According to an earlier report of her involvement, Child cooked up shark repellent for underwater explosives to prevent the sharks from setting them off instead of German U-Boats, and she spent days in an experiment squeezing fish to see if a solider on a life boat could get drinkable water from them. Julia rocks. [Eater NY]

Random, invasive laptop searches and other digital privacy violations at the U.S. border are facing increasing pressure from the public and Congress. One of the big complaints EFF and others have had is the lack of information and accountability about the intrusive examination of computer files, cell phone directories, and other private information -- and the indiscriminate copying of that data -- as Americans come back home from overseas. The good news is that the government has finally made public its policy guidelines for digital searches and data seizures at U.S. borders. The bad news is that it is claiming expansive powers to randomly search your laptop, decrypt and translate any information on the machine, and even seize the device for an "off-site" search. As news coverage of the guidelines have pointed out, there is no limit to how long the government can keep your computer, iPod, camera, or any other digital device, leaving travelers just about helpless to protect their personal property and priv

Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times:The blocking of human rights websites in China leading up to the Olympics is part of an information control and surveillance network awaiting visitors that will include monitoring devices in hotels and taxis and snoops almost everywhere.Government agents or their proxies are suspected of stepping up cyber-attacks on overseas Tibetan, human rights and press freedom groups and the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement in recent weeks. And China is spending huge sums on sophisticated surveillance systems that incorporate face recognition technology, biometrics and massive databases to help control the population.China has installed about 300,000 cameras in Beijing under an estimated $6.5-billion, seven-year program dubbed the Grand Beijing Safeguard Sphere. Although face recognition software still can't process rapidly moving images, China hopes that it can soon electronically identify faces out of a vast crowd. "China is trying to project a picture and a narrative about the Olympi

Last week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced the "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008," a bill that proposes a number of alarming changes to copyright law. The bill is the Senate's gift to big content owners, creating new and powerful tools -- many of which will be paid for by your tax dollars -- for the entertainment industry to go after infringers. But it doesnt offer a lick of protection for legitimate innovators and technology users that may be buried by the copyright juggernaut.

One of the bill's most disturbing changes would give the Attorney General new powers to sue individuals on behalf of rightsholders like the MPAA and the RIAA. Bill proponents claim that these new powers, which would allow the AG to bring "milder" civil as well as criminal actions, are necessary because some offenses dont rise to the level of criminal conduct. This justification just doesnt make sense. If its a low-level offense, why should our top cops pursue it? Traditionally,

The media attention being paid to Senator Barack Obama's trip to Afghanistan this week has all the usual wing-nuts crying that the press isn't doing enough to cover Republican Presidential candidate George W. John McCain. "'The question really needs to be posed: Is this type of coverage fair?' said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. 'This is nothing but a political stunt.'" "Talk show host Rush Limbaugh said none of this should be a surprise. 'My prediction is that the coverage of Obama on this trip will be oriented toward countering the notion he has no idea what he is talking about on foreign policy and defense issues and instead will prop him up as a qualified statesman,' Limbaugh told The Associated Press. 'McCain, on the other hand, is a known quantity on these issues and his position does not excite nor fit the mainstream media's narrative on Iraq and Afghanistan, so they simply ignore it and him.'" But news executives point out one nagging, little detail: viewers don't want to tune in to hear McCain's fucking b

† jamie lynn spears is showing off her daughter maddie briann on OK! magazine! celebslam † i bet sarah larson wishes she was vacationing on lake como with george clooney! popsugar † victoria beckham had to think fast after a bird flew into her plane's engine a socialite's life † britney spears was caught looking super happy with her brand new blonde weave! dlisted † jessica simpson was celebrating her 28th birthday early w/ tony romo in case you didn't know † mariah carey is still crazy & delusional but i totally love her! webster's is my bitch † samantha ronson dropped $22,000 on a ring for her girlfriend lindsay lohan yeeeah! † brigitte nielsen broadcast her liposuction procedure live on german TV! cele|bitchy † would you want to take a tour of pete doherty's quaint english cottage? agent bedhead † jane seymour's advice to angelina jolie: put some meat on your bones! celebrity baby scoop caravan goldfrapp burn after reading trailer

Apparently no longer even bothering with coherent or rational arguments, supporters of the flawed surveillance bill have now resorted to namecalling. Here's Senator Orrin Hatch's argument in last Thursday's Senate debate. (h/t ThinkProgress)

"How many times have we heard claims that the Protect America Act would permit the government to spy on innocent American families overseas, on their vacations? Or innocent American soldiers overseas serving their country? Or innocent American students who are simply studying abroad?

Painting this type of picture only feeds the delusions of those who wear tinfoil hats around their house and think that Nine-Eleven was an inside job.

That's a strong statement. Who exactly is Senator Hatch referring to?

Here's USA Today in May of 2005:

"National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth... For the customers of these companies, i

TSXPO provides both prospective students, parents and anyone interested in taking up tertiary studies the chance to meet with expert advisers to find out the latest information on tertiary studies and career pathways. Representatives from all Queensland Universities, many interstate and overseas universities, TAFE, Defence Forces, Private Education Colleges, student support services and government agencies from throughout Australia will be in attendance. Admission is free.

Oh gawwwd. The Observer notes today that everyone who writes for Salon, that online kaffeklatsch, wants a gay son. Well, OK, there are just two examples, but they're both infuriatingly dumb. One is the mostly crazy Ayelet Waldman's piece from March '05 about her son maybe being gay and how that makes her excited and how lesbians sorta scare her. The other example is the new piece by Sarah Bird, in which she curses the straightness of her 18-year-old son and wishes she had some swishy interior design guru who would just love and adore mama forever (and call her "girlfriend"). It reads like a drunk Norma Desmond channeling Dave Barry. I guess I've suspected the worst for a long time. Certainly the signs were there from a fairly young age: He invariably chose "Power Rangers" over joining me in marathon viewings of the work of Stephen Sondheim. He preferred to thickly carpet his bedroom floor with castoff clothing rather than use the color-coded, padded hangers I put in his closet. Worst of all, he evinced a dis

This morning, EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien testified in a Senate hearing on laptop searches and other privacy violations faced by Americans at the U.S. border. Lee's testimony [PDF] outlined the dangers of random and invasive searches of travelers' digital devices, and urged more congressional investigation and oversight. Today's hearing comes as Americans are increasingly complaining about how the Department of Homeland Security searches laptops, cell phones, and other digital devices as they come home from overseas travel. Agents often confiscate the devices, copy the contents, and sometimes even provide a copy of the data to the Department of Justice -- even when the traveler is not suspected of criminal activity. EFF is deeply concerned about this blanket search and seizure power. We've participated as amicus in US v. Arnold, an important case concerning suspicionless searches at the border. We've also teamed up with other privacy and professional associations to ask lawmakers for answers, and w

The Stafford Brothers are undoubtedly the phenomena of Queensland dance music. Lady Lex gets down with two siblings, reflecting on their previous successes, ruminating on their upcoming overseas tour while anticipating inthemix50 for 2008.

Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, June 25, at 9 a.m., members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary hearing will hold a public hearing on laptop searches and other privacy violations faced by Americans at the U.S. border. Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation will appear at Wednesday's hearing to urge more congressional investigation and oversight of the Department of Homeland Security's border search practices and policies. While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that customs and border agents can perform "routine" searches at the border without a warrant or even reasonable suspicion, increasingly Americans are complaining about random and invasive searches of their laptops, cell phones, and other digital devices as they come home from overseas travel. In a typical search, U.S. border officials will turn on the device and then open and review files. If agents see something of interest, they may copy data or confiscate the device -- even if the traveler is not suspected of criminal activit

Major Overseas TV Network Tackles a Story the U.S. Networks Fear to Cover By the People and Power series

Al-Jazeera English

June19,2008 http://www.narconews.com/Issue54/article3134.html

Tales of being holed-up in an overseas bathroom with 'Delhi belly' or 'Montezuma's revenge' may be a thing of the past, after a trial of a needle-free vaccine showed a significant reduction in traveller's diarrhoea.