Police target cannabis factories
The News Review:
- Police target cannabis factories
- Hitting The Right Groove.(high competition in television broadcasting…
- 60 more Taliban killed in Afghan push
- New Software Gives Execs Hard Facts.
- US companies flock to Cuba
Police target cannabis factories
The Independent – Independent – Sep 25, 2006
The masterminds behind the factories are "organised gangs with knowledge, finance and equipment" who are prepared to use violence to protect their money-spinning trade, according to Metropolitan Police Commander Allan Gibson, The Association of Chief Police Officers’ (Acpo) lead on cannabis cultivation. At least three murders have been linked to the trade. Mr Gibson said: "Skunk tends to be home-grown and is about 60% of the cannabis available. "A typical domestic factory will cost about £20,000 to set up and then can generate about £100,000 to £150,000. "A very large factory in an industrial or agricultural unit can generate millions in a year. "The largest we broke up was generating £8 million a year. " A small factory could have about 200 plants with about 1,000 plants being grown in a large factory.
Hitting The Right Groove.(high competition in television broadcasting…
Free with registration – Multichannel News – AccessMyLibrary.com – Sep 25, 2006
(US) By Tim Kridel MTV, Fuse Take Risks In Jammed Music Space From cable and broadband to wireless and iTunes, there is no lack of ways consumers now get music. But the competitive scene has made it more difficult than ever for providers to stand out from the pack. Will cable operators and telcos be able to use music services to differentiate themselves from their rivals? And with so many options, what are consumers willing to pay for? A strong brand, incumbency, exclusivity and a willingness to take risks all figure into the answer. Take MTV Networks, which sees its library as a key market differentiator and a long-term revenue opportunity. “No one has a more valuable music library than CMT, MTV and VH1,” said Van Toffler, president of MTVN’s Music, Logo and Films Group. “We’re just opening the door to digitizing all of that. ” One possibility is a video-on-demand or broadband service, which for a fee offers exclusive content such as the first Video Music Awards or, say, all of Madonna’s VMA performances.
60 more Taliban killed in Afghan push
Turkish Daily News – Turkish Daily News (subscription) – Sep 25, 2006
Afghan officials allege the Taliban fighting force is being fed in part by men taught in such schools, called madrassas, in neighboring Pakistan. In an interview with the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper, Karzai said Pakistan must find the political will to eliminate its breeding grounds of terrorism if Afghanistan is to know peace. The leaders of the neighboring Islamic countries have been at odds this year about the rising insurgency, with Pakistan — which helped nurture the Taliban in the 1990s — insisting Afghanistan needs to accept that much of the violence is home-grown. The two leaders are due to meet together with US President George W. Bush in Washington on Wednesday.
New Software Gives Execs Hard Facts.
Free with registration – Broadcasting & Cable – AccessMyLibrary.com – Sep 25, 2006
For today’s TV-sales professional, those rudimentary communication tools have been supplanted by portable computers and software. These tools deliver instant access to the nerve centers of station ad-sales operations. In recent years, station-software providers have added sales-proposal products by introducing home-grown applications, forging integration arrangements with outside providers or buying.
US companies flock to Cuba
Dominican Today – Sep 25, 2006
The average wage is about $13 a month. But health care and education are free, and no one goes hungry because every Cuban receives a food ration. There are open-air markets all over Cuba with mostly home grown products. But the truth is that Cuba doesn’t come close to producing enough food for its people, reports CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell. Up to thirty percent of the food Cuba imports comes from the United States – that’s more than from any other country. Despite the 47-year-old U.