| It’s All About the Money
El-Falah always speaks, and the PM must be content with listening. Over the years, the strip has taken on Prime Ministers Atef Ebeid and Ahmed Nazif until, just recently, Ragab and Fahmy broke through the final wall of Egyptian politics and had El-Falah speak with President Hosni Mubarak himself. Over a year and a half ago, the Cairo Opera House hosted an art exhibition featuring none other than a certain witty Falah. Among the VIPs who stopped by for opening night were the then-ministers of culture and foreign affairs (neither of whom had anything to fear from El-Falah) and, surprising many, Ebeid himself. Despite being regularly savaged in the column, the PM was a class act, asking Fahmy that he consider granting his cartoon alter ego the opportunity to talk — “If even only once" — to El-Falah instead of having to listen, week in and week out.
Oil patch thefts escalate with the price of oil
Those involved in these thefts have to have inside information — your average crook off the street is not going to be involved," Chrisman said. "They need to have inside knowledge, and they need a vacuum tank to remove and haul the product from the tank batteries where it's stored to pipelines." Chrisman said the people stealing the product need someone willing to buy it — often at a fraction of what the market value is. "We're trying lots of things to curb the problem," he said. "From covert cameras that we change the location of to roving patrols, but it really gets down to old-fashioned police investigation work." While law enforcement officials have been helpful and busy in working cases of oilfield thefts, Chrisman said remote locations of drilling sites and tank storage farms makes them vulnerable to thefts.
Cancellation notice for the HD DVD Group's press conference at the ...
When Paramount announced in August that it sided with HD DVD as the exclusive format for which it will release its high-definition films, most thought of it as a marriage that would prolong the optical format war. Just prior to the opening of CES 2008, Warner revealed that it will slowly transition from being a format neutral company to supporting Blu-ray Disc exclusively starting this summer. Warner's shift represents a staggering loss to HD DVD – one so severe that it has Paramount reconsidering its vows with HD DVD. According to the Financial Times, Paramount is understood to have a clause in its agreement with HD DVD that allows the film company to back out of its exclusivity deal should Warner back Blu-ray Disc. Furthermore, the Times added that, with Warner officially on Blu-ray Disc, Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD.
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