User:Fillputt

So what does this slump in growth mean
, Has the dizzying growth of Wikipedia's knowledge database finally come to an end? The online encyclopedia expanded exponentially from its launch in 2001 by inviting participation and contributions from anyone with an Internet connection. Currently it contains over 13 million articles in more than 270 languages. However,, in its Sept. 28 issue Time magazine reports that Wikipedia's growth flattened out in early 2007 when the number of contributors peaked. The figure hasn't grown since. So what does this slump in growth mean? "Perhaps that the Web has limits after all,, particularly when it comes to the phenomenon known as crowdsourcing,," the article said. Crowdsourcing is the act of handing over a task to a large group of people in order to raise efficiency. Wikipedia in theory allows participation from everyone regardless of age or gender. In fact the site is led by a staff of editors and a core group of approximately 1,,000 passionate volunteers. The encyclopedia's credibility has increasingly been questioned as articles sometimes contain faulty information and even outright slanders of living people. Solving this problem may mean that participation in some subjects must be limited,, even though doing so contradicts the very essence of the project. To the eyes of Ed Chi,, a computer scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center in California,, the dwindling pace of Wikipedia's growth might represent "the Web's first major ecosystem collapse,," the article said. 相关的主题文章：      Obama, whose campaign strategy was to stress grass-roots democracy and community service, has expanded the influence of Korean voters groups, Kim said.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing
C-130 Hercules military cargo planes fly over the hanger and out of Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma City, India is set to buy six Hercules transport planes from U.S-based Lockheed Martin. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi,, this will be India's biggest arms deal with the United States,, and a major departure in New Delhi's military purchasing policies. Defense Ministry officials says India's security cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,, recently approved a deal to buy six Hercules transport planes from the United States. The contract for the C-130J planes is expected to be signed next month. The deal will be worth more than $1 billion. Lockheed Martin officials have told local media they will configure the planes according to India's needs, and equip them with missiles and radar warning systems. The planes are meant to enhance India's special forces capability. Although the number of planes involved is small, the deal represents a major change in policy by New Delhi. The Indian Air Force currently uses transport aircraft supplied by the former Soviet Union. The Hercules purchase will mark the first big entry of American military equipment into the Indian defense forces,, which for decades have relied heavily on Soviet arms and armaments. Defense analyst Uday Bhaskar,, former director of Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, says the purchase of American military equipment follows the vast improvement in the political and strategic relationship between the two countries in recent years. "The United States has not been a significant supplier of military inventory to India for a variety of complex reasons that go back to the Cold War,' said Bhaskar. "The contract for the transport aircraft is a positive development,, and it would balance the field as far as India is concerned. My sense is that the United States and India would be looking at this for the long term." Lockheed Martin and Boeing,, the other major American aircraft manufacturer,, are also bidding on a $10 billion contract to supply India with 126 combat aircraft. New Delhi is further reported to be negotiating the purchase of American reconnaissance aircraft.  India has emerged as the biggest buyer of military equipment in the developing world,, and is projected to spend $50 billion over the next decade to modernize its military. U.S. arms exporters are eager to get a slice of this lucrative market.  Observers say the United States and Israel could overtake India's traditional defense suppliers,, such as Russia, France and Britain,, in the years to come.  VOA News相关的主题文章：            Obama, whose campaign strategy was to stress grass-roots democracy and community service, has expanded the influence of Korean voters groups, Kim said.

An auction of art
A Chinese bronze rat head which is a part of the Yves Saint Laurent/Pierre Berge collection displayed at the Grand Palais in Paris,, Feb. 21,, 2009 An auction of art,, furniture,, and other property of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent is under way in Paris after a French judge refused China's demand that the sale be stopped. China says two bronze statues up for sale were stolen from China by French and British troops in 1860. The Paris court refused to stop the auction. It also ordered the group that filed the suit -- the Association to Protect Chinese Art in Europe -- to pay court costs to Christie's auction house and Saint Laurent's former partner,, Pierre Berge. Berge had earlier said he would be glad to return the bronze statues of a rabbit and rat if China moves to protect human rights. Christie's says it expects the Saint Laurent collection of more than 700 pieces to fetch about $400 million. Berge says he plans to donate at least part of the money to medical research. VOA News 相关的主题文章：  </li> </li> </li> </ul> Obama, whose campaign strategy was to stress grass-roots democracy and community service, has expanded the influence of Korean voters groups, Kim said.

and trade and investment as the three main agenda items
The annual ministerial-level council meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development began in Paris on Tuesday chaired by Korea. The ministerial-level council is the highest decision-making body within the OECD,, with a member country assuming chairmanship in rotation each year. This is the first time that Korea has chaired the meeting since becoming a member in 1996. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo delivered a keynote speech at the opening of the forum at the headquarters of the OECD on Tuesday morning. He diagnosed the financial crisis,, climate change and water shortage as the three crises facing the world and called upon OECD member countries to cooperate to deal with those problems. This year's council meeting will discuss economic recovery,, green growth,, and trade and investment as the three main agenda items,, with Korea playing a leading role in the selection of green growth as one of the agenda items. French Minister of Economic Affairs Christine Lagarde and British Business Minister Peter Mandelson are among the 55 ministerial and cabinet officials attending the meeting.

相关的主题文章：  </li> </li> </li> </ul> Obama, whose campaign strategy was to stress grass-roots democracy and community service, has expanded the influence of Korean voters groups, Kim said.

US$1=W925
The proportion of Korean stocks owned by foreigners has dropped to around 32 percent,, the lowest level in seven years. According to the Korea Exchange on Monday,, the aggregate value of foreign-owned stocks as of Nov. 29 was W305.76 trillion (US$1=W925) out of a total market worth W940.19 trillion. That's 32.52 percent of the total market capitalization of the Korea Stock Exchange,, and a drop of 4.7 percentage points from the previous year's 37.22 percent. It's the lowest level since 2001 when the Korea Exchange began collecting and analyzing data on foreign-owned stock. At the end of the 2001 the figure was 36.64 percent. The highest level was 44.11 percent on April 26,, 2004. Since then the proportion has fallen to 39.7 percent at the end of 2005 and 37.22 percent at the end of 2006. This year's plunge is the result of net selling of W22.64 trillion in stocks by foreigners. 相关的主题文章：  </li> </li> </li> </ul> Obama, whose campaign strategy was to stress grass-roots democracy and community service, has expanded the influence of Korean voters groups, Kim said.

Sen. Barack Obama speaks during his campaign stop in Fargo
Sen. Barack Obama speaks during his campaign stop in Fargo, North Dakota,, 3 July 2008 Senator Barack Obama, who will formally claim the Democratic Party's presidential nomination next month, has been working to defend and clarify his position on Iraq in recent weeks. The effort, culminating in a column in The New York Times,, follows a statement he made July 3 that caused some to believe he was trying to back off of his campaign promise to withdraw nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months, if he is elected president. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Al Pessin looks at Senator Obama's Iraq policy, and the controversy surrounding it. It all started with one word - refine. On July 3, Senator Obama told reporters he would "refine" his Iraq policy after visiting the country and talking to U.S. commanders. The immediate political firestorm caused by that one word led the senator to convene another news conference just a few hours later. "We are going to try this again," said Barack Obama. "Apparently, I was not clear enough this morning." Senator Obama was eager to reassure his core supporters on one of his signature issues. "I would be deliberate and careful in how we got out," he said. "I would bring our troops home at a pace of one-to-two brigades per month. And at that pace we would have our combat troops out in 16 months. That position has not changed. I have not equivocated on that position. I am not searching for maneuvering room with respect to that position." But aside from drawing criticism from Obama's political opponents,, that position has caused concern among some potential supporters in the middle of the political spectrum. Some analysts like Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, do not necessarily support the war, but worry that a precipitous U.S. withdrawal could have serious negative consequences for Iraq, the region and U.S. interests. "I am extremely concerned," said Michael O'Hanlon. "I think there is a lot of what the senator has said that is viable and reasonable, but that particular drawdown schedule, I think,, would put at risk all the hard work and all the progress we have seen. It is just too fast." O'Hanlon was a strong critic of the Bush Administration's Iraq policy,, and a skeptic of the troop surge the president announced a year and a half ago. But after two visits to Iraq since the surge began, O'Hanlon says progress on security and political issues is significant and needs to be protected, allowing for only a slow and careful U.S. withdrawal in the coming months. "I believe that the next 15 to 18 months in Iraq are a period of considerable difficulty and fragility," he said. "Now that we have seen the surge occur,, we should slow down the reductions a bit. We can probably continue to make modest reductions but they should not be at the same pace as they have been because the pace of the last seven months has been a dramatic cutback." O'Hanlon and other experts point out that the end of the surge later this month will complete a 25-percent reduction in U.S. combat troop strength in Iraq. They argue that it would be dangerous to continue at that pace,, and they say senior U.S. commanders agree. Republican Party candidate Senator John McCain has a similar view,, and says he will leave as many U.S. troops in Iraq as necessary,, for as long as necessary, to ensure that stability is well established before any major U.S. troop withdrawal. The man with the key responsibility for recommending future troop levels to President Bush, and to the next president,, is the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. He is just beginning an expected six-week period of assessment that will culminate with his next set of recommendations in September. Petraeus is keeping his thoughts to himself in the meantime. But one retired general, who works as an adviser to the Iraq commander and to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, says General Petraeus' recommendations will make the Iraq war a much less significant issue in the presidential election campaign. The adviser, General Jack Keane, says he also believes that by early next year, when the next president takes office, Petraeus will be ready to recommend troop withdrawals that will not be far off what Senator Obama has called for. "I do not believe we are arguing over very much between what Petraeus can not tell you now and what he would recommend to a new president in January, and what a new president would want to see, be they Republican or Democrat," said General Keane. "We are going to have significant force reduction in 2009 based on military commanders' recommendations, and it will be even more significant in 2010." That is far from certain. But it would be good news for Senator Obama, who has appeared to be setting himself up for a confrontation with senior U.S. military officers,, who have been cautious in their troop withdrawal recommendations. With that in mind, analyst Michael O'Hanlon hopes Senator Obama's coming visit to Iraq will moderate his position. "I am glad to hear that Senator Obama is going over there in July," said O'Hanlon. "I think that is a critically important decision on his account. And I am encouraged by it. And I would simply say let us all give him a little time to digest what he learns over there and hope that there is a revision to his public position before this fall." But Senator Obama is doing his best to put an end to such speculation, in part through his opinion article in The New York Times, confirming his 16-month withdrawal plan, as he did back on July 3, just after that one word started the confusion over his policy. "Let me be as clear as I can be,," said Senator Obama. "I intend to end this war. My first day in office I will bring the joint chiefs of staff in and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war, responsible and deliberately, but decisively." Senator Obama says his plan is the only way to pressure Iraqi officials to make needed progress on security and political issues. He makes provision only for what he calls "tactical adjustments" to ensure the withdrawal is safe. And he says that while he does not want a permanent U.S. troop presence in Iraq, he would be willing to keep a relatively small counter-terrorism force there for a while, along with trainers for the Iraqi military and enough troops to keep them safe. The senator does not say exactly how many that would be, but he makes clear they would not be in the lead combat role they have had for the last five years. VOA News相关的主题文章：  </li> </li> </li> </ul> Obama, whose campaign strategy was to stress grass-roots democracy and community service, has expanded the influence of Korean voters groups, Kim said.