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NGO: At least 79 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Qusayr
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 20:55 Steve White [3] 
15 22:30 USN,Ret. [4] 
3 12:01 Muggsy Mussolini1226 [] 
1 04:20 g(r)omgoru [5] 
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3 19:08 RandomJD [7] 
1 15:38 M. Murcek [] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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2 23:24 JosephMendiola [5]
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3 18:48 Barbara [4]
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6 15:06 rjschwarz [1]
Page 2: WoT Background
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6 23:21 JosephMendiola [2]
3 20:52 Uncle Phester [7]
1 20:03 JosephMendiola [6]
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1 20:16 3dc [7]
1 17:46 Shipman [1]
3 15:09 rjschwarz [1]
3 08:53 Procopius2k [2]
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2 18:39 Redneck Jim [4]
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4 13:46 Raj [2]
4 14:14 Rob Crawford [1]
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Page 4: Opinion
2 18:24 Frank G [1]
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2 19:48 ed in texas [3]
6 23:01 CrazyFool [4]
3 10:07 g(r)omgoru []
8 15:54 Redneck Jim [3]
Page 6: Politix
4 18:52 Grunter [7]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
New Evidence Shows Trayvon's Life Unraveling
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/28/2013 14:59 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  thuglife wannabe
Posted by: Frank G || 05/28/2013 15:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The judge has ruled it out as evidence in court. The 'fix' is in.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/28/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#3  that's appeal-able. It also precludes the state from referencing Trayvon's "stellar" character without allowing rebuttal evidence.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/28/2013 18:00 Comments || Top||

#4  It will be included in the end I think. The Trial judge just doesn't want the heat for including it, better to kick it up to a different judge. Perhaps one NOT living in ground zero.
Posted by: Charles || 05/28/2013 20:50 Comments || Top||

#5  I think Frank has it. The prosecution has to establish that Mr. Zimmermann committed a crime, and it's easier to do that if the victim is spotless and clean (except for the blood stain and bullet hole). The prosecution sets itself up for a bag of hurt if they IN ANY WAY reference the character of the victim, since the defense team can then stand, object and say "Wait a minute, your Honor..."

I think it would be better for the prosecution if they acknowledged that Trayvon was not squeaky clean, and rest their case on the notion that even a thug is allowed to live unless he's about to take someone's else life. It's then up to the defense to show that Zimmermann was in danger, and the defense has its own problems.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2013 20:55 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Rape on the rise in Somaliland
HARGEISA, Somalia May 27 2013 (Garowe Online) – Rape in Somaliland has been on the upsurge according to a department in Somaliland’s Ministry of Health that reported 299 rape cases in 2012 and 2013, Garowe Online reports.
It is reports like this that make you think that Somaliland in the north is but a short, sorry, single step ahead of its crazy cousins to the south...
The findings came from a Needs Assessment department in Somaliland’s Health Ministry that reported 104 rape cases during 2013. The rape cases are steadily increasing rape activists in Somaliland say. Asho Abdi the head of the department that broke the findings told media that there were 67 cases that were taken to court and that only 17 cases were presided over by Somaliland courts.

The rape cases have been on the increase and activists are asking for concentrated effort in curbing the violent crimes. Earlier this year the UAE and Britain pledged £2million to fight sexual violence in Somalia.

Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Politically tense Mozambique starts voter registration
But I think we all saw this coming...
MAPUTO - Mozambique began registering voters this week in preparation for a presidential election that has provoked deadly political violence between the ruling party and its main rival.

The process had a chaotic start, with many registration posts opening late or not at all due to technical problems, frustrating those queuing in long lines in Mozambique’s cities and towns.

Frelimo, the party that has ruled the southern African country since independence, is on track for another landslide victory at next year’s presidential election, after taking 75 percent of votes in 2009.

The rival party, Renamo, which fought a 16-year post-independence civil war with Frelimo, has rejected the registration process as illegitimate, saying the ruling party unfairly dominates the National Election Committee.

“The entire electoral machinery begins with registration. This committee is unilateral, dominated by members of the Frelimo party and therefore not valid,” Renamo spokesman Fernando Mazanga said.

Renamo, which has an estimated 1,000 former guerrillas at its disposal, has threatened to disrupt voter registration although there have so far been no reports of trouble.

Frelimo, a Marxist-turned-capitalist party that has enjoyed a near-total grip on power since the end of the war in 1992, dismissed the threats as evidence of Renamo’s lack of preparedness.

“It is hard to understand how a party like Renamo, which always claimed it was democratic, is now against elections,” spokesman Daniel Jose said. “Renamo recognises that it is not ready for the elections. But the Mozambican people will not be held hostage to their disorganisation.”

One of the world’s poorest countries, Mozambique is enjoying an unprecedented economic boom based on a flood of foreign investment into coal mining and off-shore natural gas.
No doubt they can throw all that away. It's a specialty in many parts of the world...
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tuh-ray-zuh Heinz is from Mozambique. Are she and Jimmuah Catah there meddling in the election, or did she just send her (deceased husband's) money to make trouble?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/28/2013 15:38 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrain court upholds jail term for 14
DUBAI - A top Bahraini court upheld a 15-year jail term for 14 people on Monday after they were convicted of killing a Pakistani in Manama during the 2011 unrest, a judicial source said.
Not a terrorist act but just unrest in a small country that we really need to be on our side...
The Court of Cassation announced its verdict in the presence of 12 of the accused, the source said, adding that the remaining two had been tried in absentia. A court convicted the defendants of beating the victim to death “for terrorist purposes”, the source said, citing the charge sheet.

A semi-military court established under a state of emergency in 2011 had originally sentenced the men to life in prison. But an appeals court reduced the sentence to 15 years in December last year.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Kuwait opposition to boycott election
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait’s opposition will boycott any future poll under a controversial electoral law amended last year, even if the constitutional court upholds the amendment next month, a former MP said on Monday.

The highly anticipated verdict is due to be handed down on June 16. Opposition former MPs “decided to boycott the next election if the constitutional court confirms” the amendment, Faisal Al Muslim said after a lengthy meeting early on Monday.

Under the amended law, ordered by the Amir, His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, in October, each voter chooses a single candidate compared with a maximum of four under the previous law issued in 2006 after popular protests.

Al Muslim said Monday’s meeting was attended by 24 former MPs and the boycott decision has authorisation from at least six others, as well as being backed by many opposition groups.

The electoral law divides the country into five electoral districts, with 10 MPs elected from each district to the 50-seat parliament.

As a result of the amendment, almost all opposition groups and former MPs boycotted the December poll on the grounds that the amendment allows the government to manipulate election results to create a rubber-stamp parliament. The opposition former MPs decided “that without reinstating the 2006 electoral law, they will not participate in any polls”, Al Muslim said.

The constitutional court, whose rulings are final, is due to rule next month on 23 challenges to the amended electoral law and the December election process. Among the possible decisions is that the court may scrap the amendment and order the dissolution of parliament.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
South Korea Dismisses Pyongyang's Dialogue 'Offer'
[AnNahar] South Korea on Monday brushed off an apparent offer by North Korea to resume nuclear disarmament talks, and chided Pyongyang for a recent personal attack on its president Park Geun-Hye.

"Actions are more important than words," Unification Ministry front man Kim Hyung-Seok said of the offer contained in a letter delivered Friday by an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Chinese state media said the letter cited the North's willingness to resume stalled six-party talks on denuclearization involving China, the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan.

The reported message was greeted with skepticism in South Korea, where observers saw it as an effort to appease Beijing, rather than a genuine signal of intent.

North Korea has repeatedly declared that its program to develop a viable nuclear deterrent is not open to negotiation.

Seoul and Washington, meanwhile, insist that the North must demonstrate its commitment to abandoning its nuclear weapons program in order for formal talks to begin.

The North Korean state media's coverage of envoy Choe Ryong-Hae's visit to China made no mention whatsoever of a dialogue proposal.

Of the letter handed to President Xi, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said only that it conveyed Kim's desire to deepen the "traditional friendship" between North Korea and China.

China is North Korea's key economic benefactor and diplomatic protector, but it signed off on U.N. sanctions punishing Pyongyang for its nuclear test in February.

In Seoul, the Unification Ministry said the North needed to set its priorities straight, and it criticized Pyongyang for a "two-faced" invite sent to a left-wing civic group in the South.

"If the North genuinely wants dialogue, the first step should be responding to our repeated call for working-level governmental talks on the Kaesong industrial complex," the front man said.

Kaesong was the most high-profile victim of two months of elevated military tensions that followed the North's nuclear test.

Established just north of the border in 2004 as a rare symbol of cooperation, the showpiece project had more than 120 South Korean firms employing some 53,000 North Korean workers.

The North barred South Korean access to the zone and pulled out its workers in early April. Seoul withdrew the last of its nationals early this month.

The South has called for talks on securing the raw materials and products stocks left by the departing South Korean managers, but the North has so far refused.

The Unification Ministry also criticized the North for a recent personal attack on Park Geun-Hye in which it labeled South Korea's first female president a "confrontation maniac."

"For the sake of healthy inter-Korea relations, the North needs to control and restrain itself ... and immediately stop such remarks that are too unspeakable for us to quote here," front man Kim told news hounds.

Park, who is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with President Xi next month, said Monday she would seek to "work more closely with China in order to resolve North Korea issues."
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Huh, maybe some backbone is showing?
Just a glimpse?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/28/2013 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Possible fall out with having Bumbles in charge. They can't play the good cop to the American bad cop anymore cause the American cop is out playing golf.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/28/2013 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Talk to the hand.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 05/28/2013 12:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
10 more children die of measles in Lahore
Not WoT related, but this sort of thing doesn't happen in civilized countries...
LAHORE: Ten more children died of measles in Lahore on Monday, bringing the death toll in this city to 65 and 120 across Punjab. The ten children breathed their last in different hospitals of Lahore on Monday as the provincial government has failed to curb the outbreak despite vaccination campaigns.

Over 14,000 children have been affected by the disease and are under treatment in government hospitals across Punjab.

Health Department officials claim the situation would be brought under control after two or three weeks when children get proper anti-measles vaccination.

Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan of Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Punjab health department to take measures on war footing to control the measles epidemic. The judge also ordered the director general health and other officials to personally appear on May 29. The judge remarked that the steps taken by the health department to control the disease are unsatisfactory and children are dying every day.

Judicial Activism Panel (JAP) chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique moved the petition submitting that the Punjab in particular and the rest of the areas of Pakistan in general have been caught by measles. He said that such a disease mostly occurs amongst children and is preventable if precautionary measures are taken by the concerned authorities before its outbreak.
So are the Talibunnies also opposed to measles vaccinations?
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One tool in a multi-generational war is to move against the next generation.
Posted by: Greans Snolunter9259 || 05/28/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Allan wills it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/28/2013 16:00 Comments || Top||

#3  this sort of thing doesn't happen in civilized countries...

Sure it does. The UK had 2,000 cases of measles last year and 1,200 so far this year.

Assuming the UK still counts as "civilized."
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/28/2013 19:08 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hi-Tech Israeli Arabs
[Jpost] Arab youth in Israel are just as eager and talented as their Jewish counterparts to work in the increasingly connected world.
And the smart ones aren't interested in jihad.
Amid efforts to find ways to boost employment of Israel's Arab citizens, the opening of an industrial park in Nazareth marks a double milestone. For Arabs who studied and trained to work in hi-tech, there are new opportunities with some of the leading firms in Israel, and additionally, they will be able to work at a location in a major Arab city.

"Nazareth is only the beginning of the process," says Smadar Nehab, who envisions the establishment of five hi-tech industrial parks in Arab communities in Israel. Nehab is executive director of Tsofen, a five-year-old non-governmental organization striving to increase the numbers of qualified Arabs working in Israel's dynamic, flourishing hitech industry.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The author is a moron.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/28/2013 4:20 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Global Cooling Is Here
h/t Instapundit
Long, worth the effort
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/28/2013 07:44 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  read the authors comment replies to the warmers as well. Hilarious
Posted by: Silentbrick || 05/28/2013 8:32 Comments || Top||

#2  The Red Guard (and its useful idiots) will die but never surrender (to facts).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/28/2013 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  All hail mighty Gaia, who's oceans and solar cycles are more powerful than your puny CO2 spewing factories and cars!

Freeze and repent!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/28/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Here goes my plan to market aquariums with corrals: "you too can combat global warming".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/28/2013 10:04 Comments || Top||

#5  grom,
The real scammers got there first.

Grants for Scares was a multi billion industry.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/28/2013 10:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Yea, but I do have these Dibbler moments (non faculty, non tenured, etc...).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/28/2013 10:12 Comments || Top||

#7  The sneetches have spent all their money on green.

The next thing we'll see is the star-off machine.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/28/2013 10:51 Comments || Top||

#8  Nenana Ice Classic 2013

The 2013 Jackpot was $318, 500.00

The Tanana River ice officially broke up on

May 20th at 2:41 pm Alaska Standard Time

The latest time on record the ice has ever gone out in more than 100 years.
Posted by: junkiron || 05/28/2013 11:35 Comments || Top||

#9  "Global Cooling Is Here"

So the 1970's Time magazine stories about "The Coming Ice Age" are finally correct?
Posted by: Barbara || 05/28/2013 13:13 Comments || Top||

#10  We'll have to follow their advice from the 70's now...

Oh combating global cooling plan is exactly the same as combating global warming..

We seem to have to divert most money via rent-seeking politically well-connected people in order to control the suns effects.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/28/2013 13:30 Comments || Top||

#11  ...divert most money via rent-seeking politically well-connected people in order to control the suns effects.

Why did that above statement remind me of how ancient Egypt worked with the Pharaohs?
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/28/2013 13:48 Comments || Top||

#12  Alternative title: "The "sky is falling alarmists eat crow." Al Gore sinks deeper into the dust bin of history along with the "flat earth theory" adherents.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/28/2013 16:08 Comments || Top||

#13  We're all going to die, send your money to us, we can get you into heaven.

this is not original.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/28/2013 17:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Ah yes, the Great/Mighty Asia-Pacific Slushy.

Years of rain, rain, + sleet, cold or icy but not frozen, iff my dreams or visions from childhood hold true.

I knew GWCC was about the Sun when in my younger years I began noticing "red light" beams/spectrums, etc. emanating from sunlight reflections inside family car(s) + home.

Plus, of course, the "SIRIUS EVENT" + similar Guam, Earth-visible Solar Flares.

[007 JAMES BOND = "SHAKEN, BUT NOT STIRRED" here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/28/2013 19:56 Comments || Top||

#15  Another plus: that means the next season of Ice Road Truckers will be longer.....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 05/28/2013 22:30 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2013-05-28
  NGO: At least 79 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Qusayr
Mon 2013-05-27
  Rockets hit Hezbollah Beirut heartland
Sun 2013-05-26
  Female Suicide Bomber Injures 12 in Russia's Dagestan
Sat 2013-05-25
  French soldier stabbed with Stanley knife in Paris
Fri 2013-05-24
  Two Stockholm schools attacked as Sweden riots continue
Thu 2013-05-23
  Niger suicide bombers target Areva mine and barracks
Wed 2013-05-22
  'Soldier beheaded' in 'Islamist terror attack' oustide barracks in Woolwich
Tue 2013-05-21
  Nigeria Says It Has Retaken Five Islamist Strongholds
Mon 2013-05-20
  Syria: 20 Hezbollah Fighters Killed In Qusair
Sun 2013-05-19
  Syria army 'storms' rebel town Qusair
Sat 2013-05-18
  Moroccan Jailed For Milan Synagogue Bomb Plot
Fri 2013-05-17
   Syrian troops flush out rebels from prison
Thu 2013-05-16
  Nigeria declares 'massive' military campaign on borders
Wed 2013-05-15
  IMU takes credit for Quetta suicide bombing
Tue 2013-05-14
  Nigeria Court Convicts Iranian of Illegal Arms Shipment


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