Subject: Dutch government announces plans to ban sale of hallucinatory mushrooms

From: "Florine Peacock" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:46:48 +0200

The recent rise in tensions between Turkey and the United States has led the military to increase its planning for alternatives, two military officials with direct knowledge of the ongoing assessment said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says any treaty must be "universal in nature."
"I know that we don't always see eye to eye on every element of the solutions to these issues," Rice said. "Nonetheless, I believe we will do this in a constructive spirit, that we will make progress during these talks as we continue to pursue cooperation."
The first explosion reportedly struck a house but no injuries were reported, while the second and third explosions "caused more damage to several houses and the casualties," the military said.
MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- President Bush's top two Cabinet officials, expecting a polite photo op, were ambushed by a Russian leader who fears Eastern Europe may be turned into a U.S. staging point for a new Cold War.
U.S. forces have searched the affected area and are trying to track down the suspects, the military said.
"Events have triggered more detailed planning for the curtailment or closure" of access to Turkey, one official said. The key issue is to find ways to ship supplies and other critical equipment into Iraq.
The attack comes a day after a security official in Iraq's Salaheddin province said that a U.S. military operation Thursday night killed 20 civilians, most of them women and children. Full story
"We may decide someday to put missile defense systems on the moon, but before we get to that we may lose a chance for agreement because of you implementing your own plans," he told Rice and Gates in Russian, according to an Associated Press translation.
Putin set the tone early on when he hosted the pair and their Russian counterparts at his country home outside Moscow and delivered a stern rebuff to U.S. plans to push ahead with establishing missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Despite U.S. pledges of cooperation and new ideas on missile defense, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were warned by President Vladimir Putin to back off on missile defense plans for the former Soviet sphere.
In a series of meetings Friday, Rice and Gates failed to turn around Moscow's opposition to the system and other strategic arms issues and got little more than a pledge to meet again.
"We hope that in the process of such complex and multifaceted talks you will not be forcing forward your previous agreements with Eastern European countries," Putin said.