Saddam is buried in home village

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, hanged for crimes against humanity on Saturday, has been buried in the village where he was born 69 years ago.

In a sparsely attended ceremony in Awja, in the Tikrit region north of the capital, the former Iraqi leader was laid to rest in a family plot.

Happy Birthday Ovi Magazine

December 20th marks the second birthday of Ovi magazine and we would offer you a slice of cake if we had one – chocolate, of course. Can you believe that two years have passed so quickly? Our stats include 17 free monthly PDFs, over 1100 original articles, dozens of cartoons, over 60 contributors and we are still a non-profit magazine!

Whether you have been with us from the very first day or joined us along the way, or have discovered us on this joyous occasion, we welcome you to continue participating in a project to champion free speech and encourage positive discussion.

Domestic violence, world famine, promoting equality and fighting for peace are common themes in Ovi magazine, but change does not come overnight. We need your help and support.

To effect real change, Ovi realizes that awareness needs to be brought to many of these issues and that is the role we play. We invite everybody to contribute to our magazine in the form of articles, interviews, promotion and participation in the comments section.

The Ovi team is determined to accomplish many of their goals throughout 2007 and their third year, so why not become a part of the Ovi project. It costs you nothing other than time and a little brainpower.

We’ve covered every issue for two years!

Happy Birthday Ovi magazine!

Bush defends Iraq strategy delay

US President George W Bush has said he will not be rushed into deciding how to change his Iraq policy.

He said he was receiving advice, but would reject implementing "ideas that would lead to defeat" - such as "leaving before the job is done"

Rumsfeld makes surprise Iraq trip

Outgoing US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made a surprise visit to Iraq, saying US forces should not quit the war until the enemy is defeated.

Mr Rumsfeld addressed 1,200 US soldiers and marines at a military base in Anbar province - an insurgent stronghold.

Second day of clashes in Somalia

Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops have clashed with Islamists for a second day in western Somalia, officials and witnesses say.

The fighting took place in villages about 80km (50 miles) south-west of the government base in Baidoa, they say.

Radiation find in British embassy

Small traces of a radioactive substance have been found at the British embassy in Moscow following a precautionary check, the UK Foreign Office has said.

But officials said the levels of radiation found would not pose a risk to public health.

Controversial US envoy quits post

The controversial US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is to leave his post, the White House says.

Mr Bolton looked unable to win the necessary Senate support for him to continue in the job, which he had obtained on a temporary basis.

Lawyers lodge Saddam death appeal

Lawyers for Saddam Hussein have lodged an appeal against the former Iraqi president's death sentence for crimes against humanity, court officials say.

The appeal was lodged just two days before the expiry of a deadline and a month after the sentence was imposed.

Iran: US exit key to Iraq peace

US troops must leave Iraq if security is to be restored, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said during talks with the Iraqi president.

The instability of Iraq was detrimental to all countries in the region and the US had no hope of improving the situation, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

US army 'to suggest Iraq changes'

US military leaders are preparing to recommend changes in strategy on Iraq, America's top military officer says.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Peter Pace said commanders were having their own dialogue and would make the changes that were needed.

Why the hell to create a blog?

"Why the hell to create a blog?" was the question we posted in the Ovi Forum back in April 2005 after a number of our regular readers had encouraged us to start one. Most of the comments were negative, such as Bighairyfinn's "It gives you the 15 minutes of fame required to make the average egocentrist happy" and harryparry's end statement, "If there is something you want to write about or if you have opinions that you want to express, then start a blog. Otherwise, why bother?"

Well, 19 months later we have learnt for ourselves 'why the hell to create a blog' and we have gone one, no two, maybe three…many steps further by creating more than one Ovi blog and have even chosen 'Blogs' as the theme for the 17th PDF magazine released today. We understand 'why to bother' and we feel that we have something to say. Okay, we have a great deal to say about everything, but that is why you read Finland's opinionated daily magazine.

The Ovi team were reluctant to change our magazine into a blog because we believe that an online magazine has a different reputation to a blog. We don't consider magazines better than blogs, or vice-versa. Instead, we believe that when a reader arrives at a magazine they expect something different from the content and style, which wouldn't be found on the average blog.

We actually discovered the difference for ourselves in the form of a personal freedom. Maintaining our own personal blogs or the Ovi blogs allows us to write about events in an alternative style to the magazine articles. Why? We don't really know, but Ovi does encompass over 80 different writers and they all have their own opinions, so the Ovi team owe it to one another to maintain a professional style and approach. However, the blogs free us from these constraints and we can exercise our…cheekiness far more.

Today, Thanos launches another three personal blogs in addition to his existing god-knows-how-many. We have a suspicion here that when he has created his 52nd blog he will create the Thanos Blog Playing Card Series - each card has the front page of one of his blogs. Anyway, one of the blogs launched today is written in twisted Athenian slang and another features tales, such as fairytales and other children's stories, so check those out.

Blogger and WordPress may dominate the blogosphere, but Asa has been experimenting with MySpace and he gets a secret thrill with every 'So-and-so wants to be your friend' message, while many of our readers also maintain their own blogs. How do we know? Well, they actively support and promote Ovi magazine via their pages, add us to their Blogrolls and pester fellow bloggers to do the same. They have also gently guided us through the rocky blog landscape, pointing out the dangers and being supportive, which is the other reason for our decision to choose 'Blogs' as our PDF theme: We wanted to say, "Thank you!"

The new PDF has become a landmark issue for the Ovi team. The reason for such a long gap between our 'Copycats' PDF and issue #17 is due to the desire of implementing a number of fresh ideas into its pages. You will spot some of them immediately and the others will merely soak into your unconscious because Thanos has performed some minor miracles with the style and overall feel of the layout, but you should look for yourself because we are a little biased.

PDF Issue #17 is full of articles about blogs, bloggers and blogging, plus a couple about podcasts and other web-related content, plus cartoons, jokes and other Ovi nuances that you have come to love. The first-timers are the luckiest of all because you have no idea what to expect, which is something that we often envy.

In case you don't know, the Ovi PDF is free to download and read. There are no catches to downloading the PDF; you don't need to register, you don't need to sacrifice your firstborn, you don't even need to say, 'Please!' A computer, net connection and a PDF reader go without saying, but you can always ask a friend to do it for you.

In April 2005, we began a long journey of discovery and today we are confident that we could satisfactorily answer our own forum question: "Why the hell to create a blog?" Could you?

The birth of a copycat

On Friday 13th October, Jone Nikula and Ari Halttunen published the first edition of their brand new free magazine that will be distributed across Finnish cities and we hope that it will bring them bad luck. The familiar name of this new magazine is 'Ovi'.

Yes, they have stolen our name, a name we have built a reputation upon for three years and has become intrinsically connected with everything we do here at www.ovimagazine.com as the Ovi team.

We categorically state that the copycat has nothing to do with us and we ask for your continuing support,

The Ovi Team

Below is a copy of the mail we sent to the staff of the copycat magazine:

The Ovi magazine and the Ovi team feels obliged to say that the name of your magazine is simply splendid – we bet you gave great thought to its selection, after dismissing names like the New York Times, Newsweek, The Economist, you decided to send your creativity sky high using our magazine’s three-year-old name. Your graphic designer also did a splendid job as well; we bet their portfolio features other names like Leevi's Jeans, Colpa Cabana, Roleks and others.

Just as we have done over the last four months, we promise to answer all the mails coming to Ovi magazine and Ovi lehti, both names that are registered to us, but we suppose you already know that.

Actually, in a telephone call a few months ago with Ari Halttunen, he gave the rather entertaining answer, "We didn’t know you existed; we checked the internet!" You definitely knew about us since then and you know that we are the only true Ovi magazine and are one of the very few daily magazines in the world.

We wish you luck in the harsh world of free Finland newspapers, although we are confident you will find a niche among City, Voima, SixDegrees, V, Metro, Uutis 100, Nöjesguiden, Sue and Spektr. We're sure we missed four or five – oddly, we are so organized that we have carried out research into the future of free magazines and it doesn't look good.

We are certain you will finish on top of the pile…just before they are sent away for recycling. We're joking, although you are printing your magazine on recycled paper, aren't you? It is only coming out ten times a year, so you could always pass the cost onto your advertisers - let's hope the Green Party use you to promote their candidates in the coming elections. Ahhh, irony!

Luckily, you have the web edition of your magazine to champion yourselves online at the catchy URL of www.ovi-lehti-fi. Nice. Don't most of your competitors just have their title and dot fi? Oh well, we are sure it will work out through the search engines and your readers will not stumble upon any original titled online magazines…hmm.

Seriously, we wish you the best and if a copy happens to blow down the street and strike a leg then we may scrape it off the ground and have a read.

The Ovi Team

P.S. Despite the warnings, even from Roman Schatz, that you act as a copycat and our warnings that you shouldn’t base your future on somebody else’s work, you ignored everything. It's natural that we are going to publish the truth, warn advertisers and readers at every single chance.

US to introduce new N Korea draft

US diplomats are circulating a new draft of a United Nations resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea in response to its claimed nuclear test.

US envoy John Bolton said he hoped the new draft, which the US will formally introduce on Thursday, would pass by the end of the week.

Iranian Bomb

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Thursday that Tehran's nuclear program is peaceful and said he is "at a loss" about what more he can do to provide guarantees.

"The bottom line is we do not need a bomb," he said at a news conference on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, iran, oviblog & theOviMagazine

Bin Laden '9/11 video' broadcast

Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera has broadcast what it says is unseen footage of Osama Bin Laden meeting some of the 9/11 hijackers.

The channel said it showed al-Qaeda leaders "preparing for the attacks and practising their execution".

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, theovimagazine, Bin Laden & 911

Gunman fires on Jordan tourists

A gunman has opened fire on a group of foreign tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman, killing a British man. The shooting happened at the Roman amphitheatre, a popular attraction.

Five other tourists were injured - two British women as well as tourists from New Zealand, the Netherlands and Australia. The gunman was arrested.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, Amman, gunman & Jordan

Annan to see Lebanon destruction

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is to see first-hand the destruction wrought in south Lebanon during the four-week conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr Annan landed at the southern port of Naqoura, home to the UN peacekeeping force, after flying in from Beirut.

The force is to be significantly expanded under the UN-backed ceasefire, which ended the fighting. The UN chief will travel on to Israel, as he continues his regional tour to try to bolster the two-week old truce.

Ovi magazine, Ovi lehti, Lebanon, Hezbollah & Kofi Annan

Annan to see Lebanon destruction

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is to see first-hand the destruction wrought in south Lebanon during the four-week conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr Annan landed at the southern port of Naqoura, home to the UN peacekeeping force, after flying in from Beirut.

The force is to be significantly expanded under the UN-backed ceasefire, which ended the fighting. The UN chief will travel on to Israel, as he continues his regional tour to try to bolster the two-week old truce.

Ovi magazine, Ovi lehti, Lebanon, Hezbollah & Kofi Annan

Beirut fury at 'ceasefire breach'

Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora has accused Israel of a "naked violation" of the five-day-old ceasefire, after a raid by Israeli commandos deep inside Lebanon. The raid, in the eastern Bekaa Valley, left one Israeli dead and two injured.

Israel said it was trying to disrupt the movement of weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah, and insisted the ceasefire was still intact.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, Israel, Lebanon & Hezbollah

US echoes Iraq civil war warning

The top US commander in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid, has said Iraq could move toward civil war if the sectarian violence is not stopped.

"The sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it, Gen Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, Iraq, Middle East , John Abizaid & USA

The new Ovi magazine

The new
Ovi magazine
is now on line.
check it out!!!








Ovi magazine, Ovi lehti, Ovi & Original Ovi

Israel 'presses US on bomb sale'

Reports from the US suggest Washington has been asked to speed up a shipment of precision bombs sold as part of a deal with Israel last year.

According to a report in the New York Times, Israel made the request after it began its air assault on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon 12 days ago. The weapons, including five-tone laser-guided bombs, are part of a sale signed last year. Unnamed US officials say the request to speed up delivery is unusual. From the news.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, US, Israel, Lebanon & bombs

Israel vows no let-up on Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the attacks on Lebanon will be kept up until two captured soldiers are freed.

He also insisted Hezbollah guerrillas had to be disarmed and the Lebanese army had to control southern Lebanon.

"We are not looking for war or direct conflict, but if necessary we will not be frightened by it," he said.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, cartoon, comic, Israel, Lebanon & Palestine

Scores dead in Mumbai train bombs

More than 160 people have been killed and 460 injured by seven bombs on the train network in the Indian financial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say.

The first of the near-simultaneous blasts went off at about 1830 local time (1300 GMT), during the rush hour in the suburbs on the Western Railway. Correspondents spoke of scenes of pandemonium, with people jumping from trains and bodies flung onto tracks. From the news.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, cartoon, india, Mumbai, news, terrorism

George W. Bush: “Hard to read North Korea’s motives.

President Bush said Thursday it is hard to read North Korea's motives in firing a missile with the potential to hit the United States or Canada, but said the U.S. cannot afford to misjudge the situation.

"I think we've got to plan for the worst and hope for the best," Bush said.

Bush stressed that the United States is seeking a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with North Korea. He cautioned that diplomacy will take time.

Ovi magazine, Ovi lehti, George w. Bush, north korea, Saddam, cartoon

Israel to 'intensify' Gaza action

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered the military to intensify its actions in Gaza to secure the release of a captured Israeli soldier.
Mr. Olmert said he had instructed Israel's forces "to do everything" to free 19-year-old Cpl Gilad Shalit.


bush ovi ovi magazine ovi lehti israel palestine

Supreme Court Blocks Bush’s Guantanamo

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The ruling, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and Geneva conventions.

bush
Guantanamo
Supreme Court
Cartoons
cartoon
ovi magazine
ovi lehti

G8 calls for Iran nuclear answer

The G8 countries have called on Iran to give an answer in seven days to the international offer of incentives to halt its disputed nuclear programme.

G8 foreign ministers meeting in Moscow said they were disappointed Iran had yet to respond to the offer.

Ugandan rebel denies war crimes

The leader of Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, has insisted he is not guilty of war crimes.

Joseph Kony is wanted by a UN court, but told the BBC his group was not responsible for killings, maimings and abductions in northern Uganda. Mr. Kony was speaking in what he described as his first meeting with a journalist in almost 20 years. Thousands have died in the conflict between rebels and the government, and some two million forced to flee. Most of them live in camps, often in appalling conditions, in attempts to escape attacks by the LRA.

Israeli threat of military action

“Israel's prime minister has promised prolonged and extensive military action to free an Israeli soldier missing and presumed held captive in southern Gaza.

"Let it be clear: We will reach everyone, no matter where," Ehud Olmert said in a speech in Jerusalem.” From the news.

Iranians seeking politics-free sport

“The country's three matches have attracted both demonstrations by pro-Israeli groups and the threat of neo-Nazi action.

Questions have also been asked about the ban in Iran on women going to football matches. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was forced to go back on a promise to allow women into stadiums earlier this year following outrage from clergy.”

From the news today.

Charles Taylor leaves for trial

Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor has left Sierra Leone on a plane ahead of his trial in The Hague. The UN-backed tribunal in Sierra Leone said he was taken by helicopter to Freetown's airport from his prison cell where he has been since his capture.

Mr. Taylor faces 11 war crimes charges after allegedly backing rebels in the decade-long Sierra Leone civil war. “Mr. Taylor is in a very reflective and pensive mood. This is his whole life we're talking about” Jewel Taylor

Iran's president Ahmadinejad calls for Asian unity

Iran's president has told Central Asian, Russian and Chinese leaders they should co-operate to prevent what he called threats from domineering powers.

Addressing the SCO group of countries, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said it could become a strong institution if it extended ties to the political sphere.

Issue 15 of the original Ovi magazine went online.

Boundaries is the theme and our team of writers have produced a sterling effort covering the subject, plus a few random articles thrown in for good measure.

There are over 50 web pages of new material for you to enjoy for the next month, including the usual favourites, such as U Do I Don’t, Show Bizz and Thanos’ one-man crusade against the clown president of Iran.

Check it all out today:

www.ovimagazine.com
We cover every issue

Bush makes surprise trip to Iraq

US President George W Bush has arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on a surprise visit to meet new Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

They met in the US embassy in the fortified Green Zone, where Mr Bush is expected to stay for about five hours in his first trip since November 2003.

"Good to see you," Mr Maliki said, who had had only a five-minute notice.

2006 World Cup started in Germany

The 2006 World Cup has got under way in Germany with an extravagant opening ceremony in Munich's Allianz Arena. Pele, a World Cup winner in 1958, 1962 and 1970, carried the trophy onto the pitch, with German supermodel Claudia Schiffer at his side. More than 150 former World Cup winners were on display as the hosts put on a spectacular show.

Iran 'positive' on nuclear offer

“Incentives aimed at persuading Iran to halt sensitive atomic research contain "positive steps" and "ambiguities", its chief nuclear negotiator has said. Ali Larijani spoke after receiving the proposal, agreed by world powers last week, from the EU foreign policy chief.

The proposals have not been made public but the BBC News website has learned that they include light water reactors and permission to buy US plane parts. Tehran says it will consider incentives but refuses to halt enrichment.” From the news.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

For the first time there will be no cartoon but a text. Unfortunately living in the land of the copycat we have to deal with this as well. So it follows an announcement we feel oblige to write and if you read it and you want we will be grateful if you add it in your blog or site. Thank you!

Ovi magazine is so popular that Jone Nikula (former Finnish Idols judge) is using the same name on his forthcoming new free magazine.

Whether Jone was influenced by Thanos Kalamidas and Asa Butcher's Ovi was not mentioned in their Press Release (http://www.marmai.fi/doc.te?f_id=915164), but he will certainly become aware of the fact over the next few months.

The original Ovi has been an online magazine for 14 months, has published 14 issues and the name has become synonymous with our style. According to international web measurements, Ovi magazine, the only e-zine from Finland, outranks many Finnish monthly and daily magazines, in Finnish or English. In addition, we have been presenting a weekly radio show under the name 'Ovi Bad Boys' for nearly four months. The show name is announced every week in the Helsinki Sanomat radio programme section and we talk about Ovi magazine, interview guests and promote events for the foreign community.

After all the expense and effort they have done and will do, they will find that they are coming second and advertising another magazine that might not be their style! From our side, the only thing we have to do is remind them that there are European laws protecting copycats and fourteen months of successful history gives us a good advantage.

We will be sending this mail to all the media (including Ovi magazine network of blogs, forums and sites) nationally and internationally to ensure that people know that this free magazine has nothing to do with us.

If Jone Nikula or anybody connected with this Ovi impostor wishes to contact the original Ovi, please email info@ovimagazine.com

Open the original

www.ovimagazine.com

We cover every issue!

P.S. We would like to thank all our readers from the media companies who informed us straight away about this Press Release and we would also like to thank them for their support; it doesn’t matter if they did it anonymously or not. We think you should have informed Mr. Nikula as well, even though we are sure in a country where the Internet is so popular, Mr. Nikula’s associates were definitely informed and knew very well what they were doing.

Java earthquake toll passes 5,800

Indonesia has upped the death toll from the earthquake which hit the island of Java on Saturday to more than 5,800.

Large quantities of aid started flowing into affected areas, and the UN spoke of "enormous progress" being made.

Bush invokes resolve of Cold War

“President George W Bush has likened the US "war on terror" to the Cold War fight against communism after World War II, at a military graduation ceremony.

Speaking to cadets at West Point military academy in New York state, Mr Bush said the US would not rest until the threat of terror had been removed.” From the news.

Olmert urges Palestinian action

“Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he is ready to negotiate peace with the Palestinians but not until Hamas rejects violence and recognises Israel. "I extend my hand in peace to Mahmoud Abbas, the elected president of the Palestinian Authority," Mr. Olmert said in a keynote speech to the US Congress.” From the news.

Blair welcomes Iraq's 'new start'

“Mr. Blair said this was a "new beginning" which would allow Iraqis to "take charge of their own destiny".

He was speaking at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki after landing in
Baghdad on Monday.” From the news.

Montenegro 'chooses independence'

“Montenegro has voted for independence from its union with Serbia, according to unofficial projections. If confirmed, the vote would erase the last vestige of the former Yugoslavia.

Initial indications are that 56.3% of voters elected to secede from Serbia. The pro-independence bloc needs to win 55% of the vote to succeed.” From the news.