11.25.2009

funny or sad? ok it's funny.

1. Avigdor Lieberman wants meeting participants to take lie-detector test after leaks to Haaretz

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is demanding that all officials who attended Sunday's meeting of the security cabinet undergo a polygraph test, in the wake of a leak to Haaretz about details of the discussion.
Haaretz newspaper said Wednesday that Lieberman has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin to summon participants to a lie-detector examination.

The meeting discussed the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Lebanese part of the border village of Ghajar. It was held at the Israeli prime minister's office and was deemed highly confidential.

However, details of the meeting were reported by Haaretz on Monday.

Sources at the Israeli foreign ministry told the daily that Lieberman brought up the issue on Monday at his weekly meeting with senior ministry officials and appeared to be furious. They said he noted that he was late to the meeting because he was asking Netanyahu and Diskin to investigate the leak.

In addition to senior foreign ministry officials and the seven ministers in the security cabinet, the meeting was attended by senior figures from the defense ministry, national security council and the Israeli army.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday that nothing had been finalized with Lieberman on the issue. Diskin's office, as well as that of Lieberman, declined to comment.

source: naharnet news


2. Venezuelans show no signs of cutting back on plastic surgery

CARACAS: Unfazed by a recession and rampant inflation, image-conscious Venezuelans show no signs of cutting back on the facelifts, liposuction, and breast augmentation that have become beauty treatments. “There is never a question of not doing it, but of how you can do it. We all want to get everything done,” said Helen Patino, a 37-year-old former model who had her first breast augmentation when she was 21 and her third about three months ago.

Venezuela’s inflation is the highest in Latin America, up more than 20 percent in the first 10 months of this year and the South American nation is in recession after a five year boom.

Hard times may even encourage cosmetic procedures as people look for ways to lift their spirits, with many dipping into savings or taking on debt to get operations, surgeons say. “The financial crisis has spurred people to spend more on themselves ... to console themselves in this crisis. I have not seen demand diminishing,” said Peter Romer, a plastic surgeon in Caracas.

For Iris Delgado, a 57-year-old dental technician, a lack of funds was not an obstacle to getting a recent eyelid tuck.

“With the economy, one has to make sacrifices, because you don’t have the money. So, you get it from credit cards, from family and you pay for it,” said Delgado, who borrowed 7,000 bolivares—about $3,250 -- for the procedure, a move she saw as a hedge against inflation in plastic surgery prices. Like Delgado, many go into debt to finance cosmetic surgery, according to those in the industry. “It’s an investment that people make and they look for money everywhere,” said Romer, adding that one of his patients moved into a smaller apartment to get a makeover and another traded her car for a facelift.

source: the peninsula

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