Cartoons Mix Pictures Collection

Mixer of two different things like real picture or other pictures is called Photo Manipulation. photo manipulation is also a part of artwork which is created in computers with the help of different software’s. Here I am going to show you an amazing mixer of cartoon pictures. the mixer of cartoon’s pictures looks really so funny and interesting and amaze the clearly of editing. Unfortunately i don’t know about the artist otherwise i must appreciated his/her works. Funny pictures only purpose is making mood your better and better and i try to make always happy of mine and other visitors. Lets have look on real Disney land in real world.

U.S. House wants better pipeline rules

A bill in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to strengthen rules regarding the safety of oil and natural gas pipelines, a lawmaker said.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power approved a measure that would update the maximum allowable operating pressure on pipelines and include new provisions for those crossing waterways.

The House committee said the legislation is in response to last year's deadly natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., and the July oil spill in the Yellowstone River near Billings, Mont.

A September 2010 gas explosion killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in San Bruno. The Silvertip pipeline operated by Exxon Mobil spilled around 1,000 barrels into the Yellowstone River when it ruptured July 1.

"This bill demands improvements in both technology and personnel that can help prevent leaks from occurring in the first place and reduce the damage if they do," U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement.

Line pressure on the San Bruno line caused a weld seam to rupture. Investigators haven't indicated a cause for the Silvertip rupture, though officials in December confirmed the pipeline was buried 5 feet below the riverbed, meeting the 4-feet-depth-of-cover requirements of pipeline safety regulators.

U.K. energy group Afren moves into Iraq

London oil and natural gas explorer Afren announced it acquired two production-sharing contracts for work in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

The company said it was placing more than 80 million shares on the market to raise cash for the purchase of stakes in the Ain Sifni and Barda Rash fields in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Combined reserves from the fields are estimated at around 1 billion barrels.

Afren Chief Executive Officer Osman Shahenshah said in a statement the acquisition is consistent with his company's efforts to increase its recoverable reserve base by more than 700 percent.

"With a team in place, we expect to generate an incremental 75,000 barrels of oil per day net to Afren within five years from the Barda Rash field alone," he said.

Afren said the Kurdish region of Iraq is an attractive upstream investment opportunity. Undiscovered fields in the region could hold as much as 70 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

The move follows recent breakthroughs in disputes between the Kurdish and central governments in Iraq regarding the country's oil sector.

U.S. oil and gas company Hess announced similar work in the Kurdish region earlier this week.

Food imports put Cuban reforms at risk

High food imports are putting Cuban economic reforms at risk because of the drain they pose on foreign exchange resources.

The government sounded warnings about rising food commodities import bills after it emerged that while Vietnam, the lead exporter, saw earnings rise from rice sales to Cuba, Havana's cash-strapped state trade sector wasn't too pleased about the situation.

Cuban President Raul Castro has been exhorting Cubans to become self-reliant and has laid off of tens of thousands of government employees to cut state spending and signal his readiness to accept a gradual shift toward a market-oriented economy.

Cubans catapulted out of state employment were told to become self-employed and start anew as merchants and entrepreneurs.

State curbs on buying and selling in the marketplace were eased and Cubans were told they could buy and sell real estate. The rule change that has sent the fledgling market economy into a subdued frenzy as would-be property tycoons begin to hone their skills in a fast-changing business environment.

However, government statistics indicated the food import bill was a major worry. Cuba imports up to 60 percent of rice it consumes and, by the latest count, bought more than 400,000 tons of the commodity to meet basic needs, Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported.

The import bill is set to rise as domestic demand for the staple grain this year is likely to exceed that level and may reach 600,000 tons to meet the basic needs of Cuba's population of 11.2 million.

Despite numerous moves to relax state control on food distribution and supply, Cubans depend on rationing to fulfill basic needs for rice and other consumables.

Grain Research Institute Director Telce Gonzalez said self-sufficiency in food was crucial to Cuba's economic well-being.

"The first challenge is to produce what we need," he said, adding that, although Cuban agriculture expanded areas under rice cultivation, it still had a long way to go to realize that goal.

This year, the government will need to import almost double the quantity of rice it produces for domestic consumption, new estimates indicated.

Vietnam is Cuba's main supplier of rice. Neither side has disclosed the terms under which Cuba buys rice from Vietnam, a socialist nation in an advanced stage of transformation into a market economy.

The prospect of the state trade sector having to pay more for imports sent the government into overdrive this month. There were calls to institutions to galvanize rice farmers to produce more and reduce dependence on imports.

The campaign aims at raising awareness of about 50 varieties of the grain that can be grown in the island's different ecosystems for maximum rice yield.

Cuba's agriculture suffered when it lost export markets as they ditched communism and switched to capitalist options, or cut imports with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The government frequently has set targets to boost rice production and reduce dependence on imports but has missed reaching any of the goals.

Libya's TNC courting Washington

Washington is reviewing a request from the Libyan Transitional National Council to open an embassy in the United States, the U.S. State Department said.

London this week summoned Libyan representatives of Moammar Gadhafi to inform them the TNC was recognized as the sole governmental authority in Tripoli.

Members of the NATO intervention in Libya at a recent meeting in Istanbul recognized the legitimacy of the TNC. London said it was working with the TNC to assign diplomats in the country to take the place of Gadhafi's.

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said TNC officials have asked to set up a presence in Washington.

Kashmir trade talks featured in New Delhi

Agreements for increased cross-border trade between Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir were reached during peace talks in New Delhi, authorities said.

Trade issues between Pakistan and India were expected to top the agenda during formal talks in New Delhi.

The talks came less than two weeks after a triple bombing in Mumbai left 19 people killed and another 120 people injured. The 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai perpetrated by Pakistani fighters with Lashkar-e-Toiba overshadowed efforts at peace between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

The foreign ministers of both nations said that talks were moving in the right direction. There were no major agreements reached on Kashmir or terrorism, the BBC reports, though cross-border trade and relaxed travel rules were discussed during the talks on Kashmir.

The countries went to war on three separate occasions over Kashmir.

Pakistani forces in May accused the Indian military of firing on their positions in Kashmir, killing one Pakistani soldier.

Islamabad complained early this year that India was hijacking bilateral talks by focusing on militancy and ignoring issues such as water and the disputed region of Kashmir.

China announces its first aircraft carrier

China's Defense Ministry says it will refit and recommission an imported aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine for "scientific" research and training.

The announcement is the first official confirmation that the country is pursuing an aircraft carrier program.

"China is making use of an old aircraft carrier platform for scientific research, experiment and training," ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.

The vessel is an empty aircraft carrier shell purchased from Ukraine, which disarmed it and removed its engines before selling it to China.

"The warship is still seaworthy, as it has been docked at sea for some time. The time for its first sea trial will depend on the refitting schedule," Geng said.

"As an important part of the research and training program, training for aircraft pilots is also in progress," he said.

Geng said the pursuit of an aircraft carrier program would not change the navy's inshore defense strategy, Xinhua reported.

China's need for an aircraft carrier grows from its long coastline and large area of territorial waters, Geng said.

Once recommissioned, the aircraft carrier will make China the last of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to possess a carrier.