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The Army was unveiling its latest recruitment tool, the “America’s Army” video game, free to download online or pick up at a recruiting station, and now available for purchase on the Xbox, PlayStation, cell phones and Gameboy game consoles. Since its release, the “game” has gone on to attain enormous popularity with over 30,000 players everyday, more than nine million registered users, and version 3.0 set for launch in September. “America’s Army” simulates the Army experience, immersing players in basic training before they can go on to play specialized combat roles. Most of the gameplay takes place in cyberspace where virtual Mideast cities, hospitals and oil rigs serve as backdrops for players to obliterate each other. As a “first person shooter,” the game allows players to “see what a soldier sees” in real combat situations – peek around corners, take fine aim, chose weapons that replicate those actually used by the US Army.

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Yet, far from providing realism, “America’s Army” offers a sanitized version of war to propagandize youth on the benefits of an Army career and prepare them for the battlefield. In the game, soldiers are not massacred in bloody fire typical of most video games, or for that matter, real combat. When hit, bullet wounds resemble puffs of red smoke, and players can take up to four hits before being killed. To further protect youth, concerned parents can turn on optional controls that sanitize the violence even more – shots produce no blood whatsoever and dead soldiers just sit down. This presentation of war contrasts to the much more grisly reality unfolding every day in Iraq and Afghanistan, like a June suicide attack on the Fallujah City Council in which three Marines, two interpreters and 20 Iraqis, including young children, were killed. Photos by American photojournalist Zoriah depict a horror scene in a small courtyard, dismembered body parts – ears, hands and pieces of skull – spot the ground; one Marine’s head looks smeared into the pavement. Zoriah writes of the scene, “There are dying people strewn around like limp dolls along with lifeless bodies of all ages. People are screaming and crying and running as if they have something important to do, only they can’t figure out what that important thing could possibly be … people are literally frantic removing the dead, as if their pace may bring some of them back.” It is this violent, realistic quality of combat that has been excised from the game.

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Recruiters stage area tournaments with free pizza and sodas; winners receive Xbox game consoles, free copies of “America’s Army” and iPods. Game centers are also set up at state fairs and public festivals with replica Humvees and .50 caliber machine guns, where children as young as 13 can test out the life-sized equipment.

For years, Serbian and international security services, including Britain’s GCHQ eavesdropping centre, had tapped the telephones of his family, relatives and friends and routinely raided their homes and took them in for questioning as part of a campaign to locate Europe’s most wanted man. That would have been no secret to Karadzic, who had a $5m bounty on his head.

He appears, however, to have become complacent after years in his new skin. At some time in June, according to two Serbian security sources, a telephone call from a mobile number in Belgrade was monitored on the tapped line of one of his relatives. The number was traced to a Dr Dragan David Dabic, living in a small rented apartment in New Belgrade.

While the Democratic convention is being held on Aug 25-28, officials with the Colorado National Guard are seeking to reserve 438 rooms for Aug. 22-30 and 78 rooms for Aug. 18-30 according to award announcements published Friday on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site, a page run by the federal government for business contract solicitations.

The documents show that majority of guard personnel staying from Aug. 22-30 are set to lodge at Johnson & Wales University, located on 7150 Montview Blvd in far east Denver, while 32 rooms will be rented out for an unknown Extended Stay America location in Denver.

NOTICE OF INTENT: Due to lack of other known sources the Colorado National Guard intends to award a sole source contract to Johnson & Wales University for 3,510 room nights and 3 meals per day 22-30 August 2008 for the Democratic National Convention. The place of performance will be the Denver Colorado.

The term “room nights” refers to the total number of rooms per-night that are being used during a guest’s stay, and is calculated by multiplying the number of rooms by the number of nights a guest stays at the property.

Those staying from Aug. 18-30 are set for the Drury Hotels according to the documents, a building that is also located in far east Denver at 4400 Peoria St.

NOTICE OF INTENT: Due to lack of other known sources the Colorado National Guard intends to award a sole source contract to Drury Hotels Denver East for 1,020 room nights from 18-30 August 2008 for the Democratic National Convention.

The awards notices show that a total of 4530 room nights are planning to be purchased for the Democratic convention, although the cost is currently unknown.

Nine blasts are thought to have hit residential areas and crowded markets in Gujarat state’s capital city.

Local TV broadcast footage of a wrecked bus and other reports said one device exploded outside a train station.

Much of the loss was due to a writedown in the value of assets, and losses on falling values of SUVs coming off leases back to the automaker’s Ford Motor Credit arm. But, like a kid who wrecks the family car and tries to distract his parents from the bad news by offering to paint the house, Ford unveiled a plan to make over its lineup with more small, fuel-efficient vehicles in the next two-and-a-half years—faster than Wall Street had expected.

Ford’s plan to achieve a net profit in 2009 after losing $15.3 billion the past two years had already been thrown off track by the worse-than-expected housing meltdown and high gas prices. But the huge second-quarter loss was a setback Chief Executive Alan Mulally did not anticipate until a few months ago when SUVs like the Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, and Lincoln Navigator started losing thousands of dollars in value in a matter of weeks at auctions where off-lease vehicles are sold. Skyrocketing gas prices have cratered demand for such vehicles.

Additionally, key crop input prices are also rising and show no sign of slowing, according to a new Rabobank report, “U.S. Crop Inputs.”

“Farmers’ use of key crop inputs is reaching record highs, while prices are also at record highs, which is putting the pinch on pocketbooks,” said Associate Erin FitzPatrick with Rabobank’s Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) department.

One reason for the increase in crop input usage is the economic growth in emerging markets where demand for food is driving the need for production.

Additionally, the cost of inputs has increased because of higher price tags on transportation, labor, energy and raw materials as well as the weakened U.S. dollar and regulatory constraints.

During this planting season, farmers have seen a huge increase in the cost of fertilizer — in some case as much as double. Demand has depleted reserves and strained supplies as 2007 global fertilizer consumption climbed more than 4 percent over 2006.

That may seem small, but individual countries, such as China and India, have increased their fertilizer use 38 percent and 54 percent respectively, putting pressure on prices around the world.

“With demand for fertilizers expected to grow and no significant increase in short-term supplies, farmers are likely to continue paying high fertilizer prices,” said FitzPatrick.

Further increases will depend on the types and amounts of crops planted.

In the United States, corn is by far the largest consumer of fertilizer — per acre and in total.

Therefore, when fewer acres of corn are planted the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied decreases.

“How the picture plays out for individual farmers will vary depending on purchase times and location,” said FitzPatrick.

“Additionally, while 2008 price increases are painful, there would have to be an extreme change in the current marketplace for the price tag on fertilizers to lower in 2009.”

Seeds, chemicals and farming equipment have also experienced changes that are driving costs up.

Globally, crops grown using genetically modified seeds have seen a 67 percent increase since commercialization in 1996, which in some cases has lead to seed shortages.

Additionally, the recent run-up of prices in pesticides can be attributed to a limited supply in the hands of producers.

In regards to input equipment, most key machines are sold out for the season, leaving many farmers with higher maintenance and operation costs.

“While at first glance it may seem that this equipment shortage is due to what many are calling the ‘Ag Boom,’ that is only part of the story,” said FitzPatrick.

“There has been a structural shift to fewer farms with larger acreages, which need different types of machinery.”

However, larger farms do not automatically equate to economic efficiencies as all farmers and suppliers are poised to continue operating along a rising price curve well into 2009.

One in every 171 households was foreclosed on, received a default notice or was warned of a pending auction. That was an increase of 121 percent from a year earlier and 14 percent from the first quarter, RealtyTrac Inc. said today in a statement. Almost 740,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, the most since the Irvine, California-based data company began reporting in January 2005.

“Rising foreclosures are putting downward pressure on prices, increasing the possibility that homeowners will go upside- down on their mortgages,” said Sheryl King, chief U.S. economist at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. “That will cause more losses in mortgage portfolios and less willingness from investors to securitize mortgages and therefore fewer mortgages.”

The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors — including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits — will switch to Mutual of Omaha with “the full amount of their deposits.”

The FDIC also said accountholders can access their funds during the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.

As of June 30, the closed banks had total assets of $3.6 billion. That’s down from $4.1 billion six months earlier. Most of the assets are in 1st National while First Heritage accounts for $254 million.

Calls to 1st National were referred by a receptionist to Joe Martony, an executive vice president in Scottsdale, Ariz. Martony didn’t return repeated calls to his office.

In Nevada, 1st National has 10 branches and employs about 350 people. Five of its branches are in Las Vegas, three are in the Reno-Sparks area, one is in Carson City and one is in Laughlin. Notices of the closure were being posted late Friday.

Fifteen 1st National branches are in Arizona, while Newport Beach-based First Heritage has three branches in Southern California.

Bill Uffelman of the Nevada Bankers Association said Friday the FDIC action “is a reflection of the times for the banks. It’s a poor economy.”

Uffelman cautioned against the sort of consumer concern that prompted many customers of IndyMac Bank branches to wait for hours in line to withdraw funds across Southern California last week after that bank was seized by federal regulators. All FDIC-insured bank deposits are guaranteed by the FDIC up to $100,000, he noted.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said the bank takeover will be closely monitored in Nevada “to ensure there’s minimal disruption to business and that employees’ jobs are protected as much as possible.”

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell said in a statement that the FDIC’s takeover of 1st National is not indicative of the overall banking climate in Arizona.