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The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 states that revenue will be withheld from states that allow the purchase of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21. Prior to the effective date of that Act, the drinking age varied from state to state. Some states do not allow those under the legal drinking age to be present in liquor stores or in bars (usually, the difference between a bar and a restaurant is whether food is being served). Contrary to popular belief, since the act went into law, few states specifically prohibit minors and young adults from consuming alcohol in private settings. As of January 1, 2007, 14 states and the District of Columbia ban underage consumption outright, 19 states do not specifically ban underage consumption, and an additional 17 states have family member and/or location exceptions to their underage consumption laws. Federal law explicitly provides for religious, medical, employment and private club possession exceptions; as of 2005, 31 states have family member and/or location exceptions to their underage possession laws. However, non-alcoholic beer in many (but not all) states, such as Idaho, Texas, and Maryland, is considered legal for minors (those under the age of 21).[14] By a judge's ruling, South Carolina appears to allow the possession and consumption of alcohol by those 18 to 20 years of age,[15] though a circuit court judge said otherwise.

As of July 1988, all U.S. states have a minimum purchase age of 21. However, prior to 1988, the minimum purchase age varied from state to state. Unlike the states, the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have a minimum purchase age of 18 (21 in the Northern Mariana Islands and the recently added Guam).

September 23. Bin Laden was believed by Pakistani officials to be on the Afghan-Pakistani border. He is said to have been keeping a low profile, with as little as ten men guarding him.

June. Taliban leader Mullah Bakht Mohammed claimed "The latest proof that he is alive is that he sent me a letter of condolences after the martyrdom of my brother. He advised me to follow my brother's path."

July 12, Pakistan's Interior Minister states bin Laden is not in Pakistan. The TimesOnline reports that he is still hiding in Afghanistan; Kunar Province being not far from Tora Bora

It has a very high level of mercury and the United States Environmental protection agency advises women and young children to stay clear of it. Click here to see the levels of mercury found in shark compared to other fish.

A survey in 2006 by Wild Aid and the Chinese Wildlife Association showed that 35% of participants had consumed shark fin soup in the previous year. This equates to an immense number of sharks being taken from the ocean.

Report on North Korean Nuclear Program by Siegfried S. Hecker, November 15, 2006 Richard L. Garwin and Frank N. von Hippel, "A Technical Analysis of North Korea’s Oct. 9 Nuclear Test," Arms Control Today, November 2006. North Korea’s Bomb: A technical assessment, FAS Strategic Security blog, October 16, 2006 Statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the North Korea Nuclear Test, ODNI news release, October 16, 2006 Korea and US Nuclear Weapons, FAS Nuclear Information Project, September 28, 2005 North Korea's Nuclear Program, 2005, Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2005. Visit to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in North Korea, Testimony of Siegfried S. Hecker, Los Alamos National Laboratory, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, January 21, 2004

The Nuclear Threat Initative's North Korea nuclear profile Report of U.S. Congressional Delegation Visit to North and South Korea, May 30 - June 2, 2003 led by Rep. Curt Weldon North Korea's Nuclear Program, 2003, Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2003 North Korean Nuclear Weapons, CIA Estimate for Congress, November 19, 2002 North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program, Congressional Research Service North Korean Nuclear Program, U.S. State Department release, October 16, 2002 Text of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Text of the Agreed Framework

North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program Larry A. Niksch, Foreign Affairs and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, October 9, 2002 STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE U.S.-DPRK FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT Thomas L. Wilborn, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College -- April 3, 1995 [40 pages, 125 kb PDF] Assessing the U.S.-North Korea Agreement Masao Okonogi Joint Forces Quarterly Spring 1995 [215 kb PDF] The North Korean leadership is attempting to sell its outmoded baggage of the Cold War. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) The Nuclear Potential of Individual Countries Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons Problems of Extension Appendix 2 Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service 6 April 1995 Nuclear Nonproliferation: Implications of the U.S./North Korean Agreement on Nuclear Issues (Letter Report, 10/01/96, GAO/RCED/NSIAD-97-8). N Korean Nuclear Arsenal By Lee Wha Rang, April 27, 1996 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure--Part One," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1999, p. 38 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing North Korea's Secret Nuclear Infrastructure, Part II," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 August 1999 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure" Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1994, 74-79

religious duty of Muslims

Arabic, the word jihād translates into English as struggle.

ppears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah

humiliation resulting from the Islamic world falling behind the Western world - this discrepancy made especially visible due to recent globalisation.

Top Muslim organizations in the United States were swift to condemn the attacks on 9/11 and called "upon Muslim Americans to come forward with their skills and resources to help alleviate the sufferings of the affected people and their families".

The second-biggest operation of the U.S. Global War on Terrorism outside of the United States, and the largest directly connected to terrorism, was the overthrow of the Taliban rule of Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition.

Since 1991 more "new economic policies" or reforms have been introduced.

Reforms include currency devaluations and making currency partially convertible, reduced quantitative restrictions on imports, reduced import duties on capital goods, decreases in subsidies, liberalized interest rates, abolition of licenses for most industries, the sale of shares in selected public enterprises, and tax reforms.

faster growth rate of the economy

About 22.5 million Americans aged 12 or older in 2004 were classified with past year substance dependence or abuse (9.4% of the population), about the same number as in 2002 and 2003. Of these, 3.4 million were classified with dependence on or abuse of both alcohol and illicit drugs, 3.9 million were dependent on or abused illicit drugs but not alcohol, and 15.2 million were dependent on or abused alcohol but not illicit drugs.

Animal experiments are widely used to develop new medicines and to test the safety of other products.

A majority of New Yorkers oppose plans to build a mosque and Muslim cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday.

Fifty-two percent of the respondents said they did not want the mosque to be built at all, 31 percent are in favor of it, and 17 percent are undecided.

"New York enjoys a reputation as one of the most tolerant places in America, but New Yorkers are opposed to a proposal to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero," said Quinnipiac University Polling Institute Director Maurice Carroll in a press release.

Mr. Obama argued for a slower course, saying, “We are going to want to make sure that we can continue to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons,” and, he added, to “make sure that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances.”

“I’m not going to parse that right now,” he said, sitting in his office as children played on the South Lawn of the White House at a daylong Easter egg roll. But he cited the example of North Korea, whose nuclear capabilities were unclear until it conducted a test in 2006, which it followed with a second shortly after Mr. Obama took office.

“I think it’s safe to say that there was a time when North Korea was said to be simply a nuclear-capable state until it kicked out the I.A.E.A. and become a self-professed nuclear state,” he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “And so rather than splitting hairs on this, I think that the international community has a strong sense of what it means to pursue civilian nuclear energy for peaceful purposes versus a weaponizing capability.”

g similar noises since the Eisenhower administration, and halting the spread of nukes (if not elimin

The argument that nuclear weapons can be agents of peace as well as destruction rests on two deceptively simple observations.