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Three more polio workers shot in Pakistan; eight dead in 48 hours
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
162 Hospitalized, 37 Dead from Cold Spell in Ukraine
[An Nahar] Ukrainian health officials say 37 people have died from the severe cold spell that hit the country this month.

Temperatures have dropped as low as minus-17 C (2 F).

The Health Ministry said Tuesday that 190 people have sought medical help for hypothermia, of which 162 people have been hospitalized.

No health official would say how the deaths occurred, but victims in previous cold spells have been mostly the homeless and elderly people. Authorities have set up some 1,500 centers around the country to provide food and shelter.

The cold weather comes as heavy snowfall in the eastern European nation blocked key roads, leaving hundreds of cars stranded.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How do you say "global warming" in Ukrainian?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/19/2012 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not global warming any more. It's climate change. That way, they get to take our money no matter what happens.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/19/2012 9:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Chronic illnesses resulting from Climate Change may be classified as man-caused and not be eligible for full coverage and reimbursement under Obamacare. Needs-based riders may be available at substantial additional cost for high risk categories such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and firearms ownership. See Appendix XVIII for more details.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2012 10:05 Comments || Top||


Ecuador Volcano Spews Lava, Ash, World to End in Two Days
[An Nahar] Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano spewed lava and towering plumes of ash Tuesday but the alert level remains the same, seismic experts said.

"During the overnight and early morning hours, there continued to be a series of explosive events and signs of quaking and (lava) emission," said a statement from the Geophysical Institute in Quito, capital of the Andean nation.

Authorities have issued an orange alert -- the second-highest warning level -- for towns near the volcano; it has not been elevated, officials said.

Greater activity has been building since Wednesday, along with a slight increase in gas emissions from the 5,029-meter (16,500-foot) volcano, located about 135 kilometers (84 miles) south of Quito.

Eruptions at Tungurahua, which means "Throat of Fire" in the indigenous Quechua language, peaked in 2006, killing six people in a Chimborazo village.

Several communities near Tungurahua, including the tourist town of Banos with 15,000 people, also were forced to evacuate during the volcano's violent eruption in 1999. Residents could only return to their homes a year later.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Qatar's big budget answer to anti-Islam film? $1 billion Prophet Mohammed movie
A movie series on the life of Prophet Mohammed with a budget of $1 billion has been planned by a Qatar-based firm, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday.

Alnoor Holding has said it will raise the budget for the planned production to $1 billion from the $1.5 million announced three years ago.

The company said the film will be in English and will be translated into several different languages "to correct the wrong image Western societies have of Islam."

The biopics will be produced as a series of "seven films -- instead of three films as per an earlier announcement -- with a total budget of $1 billion," Alnoor chairman Ahmed Al-Hashemi said in a statement.

The company said "the team of experts has finished writing the scenario after overcoming numerous artistic and dramatic challenges."
Posted by: tipper || 12/19/2012 06:22 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  pass the pop corn. The fisking opportunities will be infinite.

Oh, BTW isn't it illegal to portray the Big Mo? So what's this going to be, talking turbans?
Posted by: AlanC || 12/19/2012 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if the Shiites will like the film's Sunni take on Imam Ali and the issue of their prophet's succession.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 12/19/2012 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Spend your money now, guys. In a few years, when
Canada, the US, and Israel are major oil and natural gas exporters, you won't have nearly as much to spend on such frivolities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2012 11:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Is it a snuff film?
Posted by: Iblis || 12/19/2012 11:21 Comments || Top||

#5  TW, because of that you and I should form a movie production services company, and seek to fleece these jokers whilst the sheep is fluffy...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2012 12:12 Comments || Top||

#6  TW, because of that you and I should form a movie production services company

Only if we call it Argo, Dr. Steve. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2012 12:44 Comments || Top||

#7  1. How do you make a movie based on the life of a guy whose image can't be displayed under penalty of teeth-gnashing, rioting and murder? Will this be shot in first-person style like a video game?
2. Will the film contain scenes depicting his marriage to Aiesha?
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 12/19/2012 14:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Heck with all that. Will there be goat pr0n?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/19/2012 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Hollywood's challenge "humanise a murderous, invisible, thieving, paedophile prophet"
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/19/2012 14:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Musical??? Mo with a top hat and tails, buncha burqa babes doing the high kick?
Being an INFIDEL, I might pay to see that...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2012 17:13 Comments || Top||

#11  Rated X due to child-boinking?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/19/2012 19:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Hollywood's challenge "humanise a murderous, invisible, thieving, paedophile prophet"

Meh, Oliver Stone could do it standing on his head.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/19/2012 19:32 Comments || Top||

#13  A billion dollars? Nothing too good for Mo. That amount could feed hungry Paks, but a lot will go to the massive burkha budget.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2012 21:46 Comments || Top||

#14  Set the thing in a desert western town. have a black, gay iman come to town, call it 'Blazing Turbans.'
al-Mel Brooks, producer
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/19/2012 23:10 Comments || Top||


Saudi official jailed 25 years, to get 2000 lashes for holding parties
A Saudi official appears to have paid a heavy price for staging "unethical parties" at his department, with a court in the Gulf Kingdom sentencing him to 25 years in jail and ordering him lashed 2,000 times in public.
Wanna bet he's not even the lowest level royal?
The unnamed head of the government office in the southern town of Baha was also convicted of taking drugs, extortion of other officials and involvement in sodomy.

Newspapers said the court also fined the official SR200,000 and banned him from travelling outside Saudi Arabia during that period.

"He will be lashed in three batches after Friday's prayers at the place where he committed his crimes in front of people," Alsaudeh daily said.

It said the court also sentenced his aide to 15 years in jail, 1,500 lashes and travel ban, adding that the judge issued a recommendation the two would not benefit from any future pardon. The paper described it as a reduced sentence as the prosecutor had demanded the death penalty against the two.

"The two were found guilty of engaging in obscene acts, including staging unethical parties, using drugs and extorting other officials. They had also invited officials and other people to practice sodomy," it said.
Posted by: tipper || 12/19/2012 05:48 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's not easy to be as cool as Silvio Berlusconi.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/19/2012 14:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Can somebody actually survive 2,000 lashes??? Sounds pretty much like a death sentence right there. They are really trying super hard to make an example of this guy.
Posted by: Raider || 12/19/2012 14:40 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Almost Everything You’ve Heard About the North Korean Space Launch Is Wrong
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 12/19/2012 13:06 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  don't tell me ... let me guess. The rocket was really built by chimps and they put a human aboard as an experiment. HAHAHA!!!
Posted by: Raider || 12/19/2012 16:42 Comments || Top||


Koreans Vote for New President
Koreans choose their next president on Wednesday by casting their ballots at 13,542 polling stations across the nation from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The total number of eligible voters stands at 40.5 million, up 2.85 million from the previous presidential election in 2007.

The two contenders, the Saenuri Party's Park Geun-hye and the Democratic United Party's Moon Jae-in, campaigned until Tuesday in Seoul and Busan.

"We expect a very close race, so it will probably take some time before a winner becomes evident," said an official at the National Election Commission.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PRO-US-JAPAN, ANTI-CHINA-NORTH KOREA CANDIDATE WINS KOREAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

* SAME > PARK GEUN-HYE CERTAIN TO WIN SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENCY:LOCAL MEDIA - XINHUA.

RELATED TOPIX > PARK GEUN0HYE SURE TO BECOME THE FIRST FEMALE PRSIDENT IN KOREA: NEC - YONHAP NEWS.

* SAME > PARK GEUN-HYE TO STRIKE BALANCE BETWEEN CHINA, JAPAN. No reason in the World for SOKOR to be favoring one over the other.

SAME > SOUTH KOREA WILL CHANGE POLICY TOWARDS NORTH, towards "Moderation".

Reagan-esque "Trust, but Verify"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/19/2012 21:53 Comments || Top||


Economy
US Highiways and Bridges for Sale
Posted by: Dale || 12/19/2012 09:54 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tolls here we come.We will have to file a flight plan to drive in the future.Meet and greet friendly TSA workers with doggies.
Posted by: Dale || 12/19/2012 9:59 Comments || Top||

#2  And the funding from fuel and vehicle taxes that was originally collected to pay for roads and bridges, where did that get off to ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2012 11:12 Comments || Top||

#3  California's thieves have raided the gas tax for decades
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2012 11:25 Comments || Top||

#4  This bridge across the Wabash River was built in 1930. Due to "hard times" a .05 cent toll was charged to cover the cost. The bridge was paid off in the 1950's.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2012 11:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker, whatever gave you the idea that the highway fuel tax was sufficient to pay for all the roads?

Toll roads are a fact of life and have been for decades. I've been driving them on a frequent basis and have no problem with it. I have a transponder on my windshield -- zip through the toll arch, here's my money at 70 mph, and off I go.

If the toll ensures that the road is safe, maintained and wide enough to permit me and all the other morons out there with me passage, I'm good with it.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2012 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm not at all certain it is Doctor, but as a taxpayer, I would like to know where those dollars go. I believe you frequently drive I-90 into the city. Can you or anyone else provide a lay-down on what the Illinois Tollway Authority collects each day, week, month, year? At over a dollar per axel, it has to be buttloads!

(last time I passed through Hoffman Estates and Elgin and westward, the speed limit was 45mph due to construction. Nobody was driving 70 and the toll was not reduced)
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2012 12:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, it's going to get depressing when you have to pay a chinese company to drive on our own roads some day.
What isn't for sale in this county? And what will they do after the yard sale is over and all we're left with is a bunch of rotting junk, most of it made in the years after WWII? Our infrastucture in this country must be the worst of all the developed nations.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 12/19/2012 18:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Baby Bhutto seeks rapists' arrest
[Dawn] Pakistain People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari sent on Monday a bouquet to a six-year-old rape victim from Umerkot district admitted to the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
Hospital Lyari, and asked the Sindh government to provide necessary help to the victim and bring the perpetrators to book.

In a message, he also pledged to protect all weak segments of society from atrocities and violence.
Terribly nice of him to say so.
Bilawal House media coordinator Surendar Valasai gave the bouquet to the girl on behalf of Mr Bhutto-Zardari in the hospital. PPP Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
division information secretary Lateef Mughal and former PPP MPA Gianchand Meghwar were also present.

The small girl was kidnapped in Ghulam Nabi Shah town in Umerkot district early this month and raped by some men.
Because it's Pakistan.
The PPP chairman instructed the Sindh government to provide every kind of assistance, including the best medical facilities, to the victim and her family and to take stringent action against the culprits.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336064 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Three kidnappers released on fake acquittal orders
[Dawn] While police have so far failed to arrest any of the three undertrial prisoners who were released from the Sukkur central prison in October on forged acquittal orders, a similar case has been detected in which three men convicted of kidnapping in a 2006 case were released from the same prison on fake orders of a sessions court.

On Nov 23, the Rohri police had enjugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
Abdul Qayum Golo, a clerk of the 2nd additional sessions court Jacobabad, and court bailiff Nazir Ahmed Dasti for preparing fake acquittal orders of the three UTPs -- Akram Kehar, Leemon Rind and Noor Muhammad Khoso -- who had been released from the prison on Oct 24 and Oct 27.

Police said that the three convicts -- Irshad Junejo, Dodo Junejo and Ghulam Qadir Junejo -- were also released from the Sukkur central prison on fake release orders of the 2nd additional district and sessions judge, Jacobabad.

They said that in 2006 Hamza Supar was kidnapped by Irshad Junejo, Dodo Junejo and Ghulam Qadir Junejo within the remit of the Saddar cop shoppe, Jacobabad. The victim was later recovered and he identified his kidnappers, who were subsequently arrested.

They were sentenced to 21 years in prison and were sent to the Sukkur central prison.

The police said that a private suspect, identified as Adal Junejo, had allegedly cut a deal with court official Golo for the release of his relatives.

Suspect Golo issued fake acquittal orders of the sessions court in which he allegedly mentioned that an appeal of the convicts had been allowed by the Sindh High Court. Subsequently, jail authorities released the three convicts after getting the fake orders, the police added.

A case (FIR 82/2012) was registered on a complaint of Saeed Ahmed Soomro, the office superintendent of the district and sessions court, Jacobabad, against Abdul Qayoom Golo and Adal Junejo under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 422 (dishonestly or fraudulently preventing debt being available for creditors), 425 (mischief), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register, etc), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code at the Civil Lines cop shoppe, Jacobabad.

Following the registration of the case, the police arrested Adal Junejo and produced him and suspect Golo before Judicial Magistrate (Jacobabad) Zulfiqar Kamboh, who remanded them in police custody for seven days on Monday.

Court sources told Dawn that a man, Nazeer Bhangar, appeared before Judicial Magistrate Kamboh on Monday and recorded his statement under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code in which he confessed to his involvement in the release of three UTPs and as many convicts.

After his statement, the magistrate directed the police to put him under observation so that he might not move anywhere till the final decision.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Government committed to a polio-free Pakistan: PM
[Dawn] Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday while strongly condemning the attack on polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
field workers in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, reiterated the resolve of the government to make Pakistain a polio-free country.

Chairing a meeting of Polio Task Force at the PM Secretariat in Islamabad, the prime minister said “we cannot, and will not allow polio to wreak havoc with the lives of our children.”

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf expressed deep shock and grief over the death of polio field team workers in the two cities, earlier in the day and paid tribute to their services.

He said it was only due to their efforts that the disease was being wiped out from the country. The prime minister also ordered the concerned authorities to conduct an enquiry into the incidents and bring the real culprits to book.

The prime minister directed the interior ministry to coordinate with the national polio eradication authorities and provide foolproof security to the polio teams.

The meeting was informed that 34 million children would be covered under the National Emergency Plan 2013 which will involve over 25,000 polio workers.

The Prime Minister said seeking a polio-free life was the fundamental right of the people and added “we would not allow polio to plague their lives.”

“This is the least we owe to our children and we will stay the course until polio is wiped out from the country,” he said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336063 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF To Allow Gazans To Visit W. Bank For Christmas
Merry Christmas, habibi.
[Jpost] 500 Christian Paleostinians, 75,000 tourists to visit Bethlehem over holiday; IDF to decrease activity in area during holiday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/19/2012 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh, the Palestinian Minister of Uncontrollable Rage.

Just remember, Muslims, Jesus loves you. Even if you are godless heathens.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/19/2012 19:41 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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6Govt of Pakistan
3al-Qaeda in North Africa
3al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2Arab Spring
2Govt of Syria
1al-Qaeda
1TTP
1Muslim Brotherhood
1PFLP-GC
1Ansar Dine

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In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2012-12-19
  Three more polio workers shot in Pakistan; eight dead in 48 hours
Tue 2012-12-18
  Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp
Mon 2012-12-17
  Rebel Offensive In Hama
Sun 2012-12-16
  Rockets Fired on Peshawar Airport, Five Dead, Dozens Injured
Sat 2012-12-15
  Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Fri 2012-12-14
  Coca-Cola resumes its production in Somalia
Thu 2012-12-13
  'Friends of Syria' Recognize Syrian Opposition
Wed 2012-12-12
  Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
Tue 2012-12-11
  North Korea 'launches long-range rocket'
Mon 2012-12-10
  Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-12-09
  Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Sat 2012-12-08
  Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Drone-zapped During Breakfast
Fri 2012-12-07
  6 dead, 450 injured in clashes at Egypt's presidential palace
Thu 2012-12-06
  Two Dead as Egypt Islamists Overrun Opposition Tents
Wed 2012-12-05
  Hundreds of thousands besiege Egypt's presidential palace to protest draft constitution

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