Blu-ray Update - Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Blu-ray player sales down despite format victory

> The c/net NEWS.com website brings us this report today and it starts off like this... Looks like it wasn't the HD DVD/Blu-ray battle that was keeping potential customers away from high-definition video players after all... The NPD Group released some of its retail sales tracking data Wednesday that showed sales of Blu-ray standalone players (not a PlayStation 3, combo player, or PC with Blu-ray drive) had mostly decreased since the beginning of the year...
Read the full report HERE

* HD-Report.com has this report out today... Paramount Pictures, who in the Fall of 2007 surprised high-def soothsayers with their announcement to go exclusive with former rival disc format HD DVD, is now getting set to release Blu-ray exclusive titles...
Read the rest at link below...
Paramount readies new Blu-ray titles

* The LATimes.com website has this take and it goes in part like this... UPDATE -- Andy Parsons of Pioneer said his company, which makes premium-priced Blu-ray players, saw "a distinct increase in demand" after HD DVD hit the skids in early January. The implication is that sales would have grown faster if manufacturers hadn't scaled back production in anticipation of the usual post-holiday slow-down...
Read the full report HERE

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AubreyJ.........

Israel: Hezbollah May Strike Israel via 3rd Party

HAARETZ.com brings us this troubling news this early Wednesday morning. It starts off like this...
Hezbollah may try to carry out an attack in the North with the help of another paramilitary organization, which can provide it with deniability, intelligence officers told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee yesterday... "We clearly identify a great deal of activity among Hezbollah," the intelligence officers said. "It is growing stronger on all levels, improving its systems, its units and is receiving a great deal of weapons and missiles for medium and long distances. Hezbollah is readying itself for an escalation that may break out in the North as a result of an operation against Israel. We are not discounting any possibility - there are assessments that they may carry out an operation in the North through another organization," the officers told the MKs...
Read the rest at link below...
Intelligence officers: Hezbollah may strike Israel via 3rd party

Israel Flag Image courtesy of CIA

New Draft At UN Will Extend UNIFIL Stay In Lebanon

YaLibnan.com website brings us this story and it starts off like this... France circulated a draft U.N. resolution Friday that would extend the mandate of the 13,600-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon and call for a permanent cease-fire and long-term solution to last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war...
Read story in full HERE

Lebanon Map by UN

Afghanistan: Tora Bora Assault Continues

US and Afghan air and ground forces pounded Al Qaida militants for a second day yesterday in the Tora Bora Mountains close to the Pakistan border where Osama Bin Laden once fled in the wake of the 2001 invasion... "It is a joint operation conducted by Afghan and US forces, divided by ground and air assets," said Captain Vanessa Bowman, spokeswoman for US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan...
Read story in full at GulfNews.com

America Builds Case On Iran

US military spokesmen, officials and analysts are gradually adding flesh to the bones of allegations of official Iranian collaboration with Shia and Sunni insurgents in Iraq, including elements linked to al-Qaida... The development comes amid reports that the White House is leaning towards military action against Iran over its suspect nuclear activities and supposed meddling in Iraq, and growing expectations that George Bush will extend the military "surge" to at least next summer...
Read this story in full at Guardian.co.uk

Guantanamo Bay: Detainee Transfer Announced

Detainee Transfer Announced
Monday, July 16, 2007

The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of sixteen detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Saudi Arabia. These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes conducted at Guantanamo Bay.

Approximately 80 detainees remain at Guantanamo who the U.S. government has determined eligible for transfer or release. Departure of these remaining detainees approved for transfer or release is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations.

Since 2002, approximately 415 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.

Approximately 360 detainees remain at Guantanamo.

(Taken from DoD Press Release #879-07)

Massive Weapons Cache Found in Iraq

* Massive Weapons Cache Found in Iraq *

Tip from a local Iraqi led U.S. Forces to uncover homemade explosives, artillery projectiles and mines that could have created 300 improvised explosive devices.

(Fox News aired this story today - June 14, 2007)

Posted on LiveLeak today, with a short write-up, by Darock