[Emirates 24/7] At least one person died and more than 100 were hospitalized in Argentina, some with serious burns and eye injuries, after they were hurt by Christmas fireworks, officials said Sunday.
Police said a 27-year-old in the central Santa Fe province died after a large firecracker went kaboom! in his mouth, in circumstances that were still under investigation.
In the capital Buenos Aires, medics worked over the holiday to treat scores of patients, including many children.
"We had a 20 percent increase over last year, with 57 patients admitted with severe eye injuries," said Fernando Pellegrino, head of emergencies at the Santa Lucia Eye Hospital in the capital Buenos Aires.
This may be a sign of prosperity, as more people are able to afford a dangerous tradition...or just statistical variation. Does anybody know the numbers for the last twenty years?
The Buenos Aires Burn Hospital treated 27 patients with burns from fireworks and firecrackers used by residents to mark holiday celebrations in Argentina's largest city, according to hospital official Miriam Minho.
"This year I have seen more severe injuries. In the past it was abrasions and superficial burns, but now 90 percent have exposed bones and muscle loss, and we had to amputate a finger," she said.
Or a sign that the bigger booms are more popular these days. Cherry bombs used to cause lots of problems in the U.S., back in the day.
She added that most of the burn victims were less than 14 years old, and that in the most serious case, an eight-year-old boy was on life support in the intensive care unit with burns on 38 percent of his body.
The injured also included an eight-month-old baby struck by a firecracker.
Scores of injuries were reported from other provinces as well.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Huh. Christmas never really struck me as a hoot-n-holler, bang-bang holiday. But whatever...
You should have heard it here in SC on Christmas Eve. Sounded like rush hour in Baghdad.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/26/2011 6:05 Comments ||
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In the Philippines they shoot off their guns at midnight on New Year's Eve. Straight up. Physics being what it is, there are plenty who end up in the hospital as a result.
#4
You should see or hear Diwali in India. Some of the generally available fireworks there, would be classified as munitions here.
Large fireworks that rattle windows and set off car alarms. And some of the 'pipe' rockets are quite impressive.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
12/26/2011 12:56 Comments ||
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As per #3, there have a handful of similar incidents here in Guam, usually because people shoot real bullets instead of blanks, fired either perpendicular or at steep angle in an urban area, + espec because they also forgot or ignored the elementary physics-science lesson(s) that "what goes up must also come down" + "for every action there is an equal + opposite reaction".
[Emirates 24/7] Pak actress Veena Malik has managed to embroil herself in yet another controversy.
The All India Moslem Tyohar (Festivals) Committee recently issued a 'fatwa' against Malik for degrading the sacred institution of marriage or 'Nikah' by signing a contract to choose a groom through a reality TV show, reports The Times of India.
Even as the nude photo shoot controvery refuses to die down, Malik is back in top headlines for her Swayamvar stint. The actress has signed a contract with a television channel as the main protagonist for the fourth season of the reality show 'Swayamvar'.
The fatwa was reportedly issued following complaints against the actor that urged to take action against her, said the daily.
"We were getting complaints from concerned community members who said that the activities of this Pak female actor was sending a wrong message to our teenagers, especially girls," Hindustan Times quoted Ausaf Shahmiri Khurram, chairman of the Majlis-e-Shura.
"The complaints said that there were offensive photographs of this woman all over the Internet and that she was going to have a 'Swayamvar' on television. Islam has a certain procedure for a 'Nikaah'. We do not have 'Swayamvar'," he added.
Last week, Rakhi Sawant, another of Bollywood's controverdsial item girls, took a dig at Malik saying the Pak actress, who is all set to participate in the reality show to get married in 'swayamvar' style, is unfit to host the show due to her marital status.
Rakhi, who has herself hosted the show in the past (and said she wanted to marry a starving baba), alleges that Veena Malik, who went topless recently in a publicity stunt, is already married, and therefore cannot get married again -- reality TV or not.
"The whole industry knows that she is married and now, she is in a live-in relationship with Ashmit Patel. I haven't heard of any man wanting to marry a married woman, and who's living in with another man. I want to know where these contestants (grooms) are coming from," Rakhi said in a bid to unsettle the emerging controversy queen.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Veena Malik can be a real ISI agent trying to make a base in India. Indian security agencies, please note the previous episode Pakistani terrorist David (Dawood) Headley.
TUNIS, Tunisia: Tunisia's first freely elected government has been sworn in following a popular uprising earlier this year.
Congratulations, guys, and good luck. You'll be much happier if you don't try to create your own little corner of the new Caliphate, truly.
The new government led by moderate party Ennahda received a vote of confidence in parliament Friday and was sworn in Saturday. Its new government is still only temporary, running the country until a new constitution is written and another round of elections held.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... still has the support of a majority of Russians, his front man said Sunday after a mass protest challenged the premier's authority two months before he stands in presidential polls.
Organizers said 120,000 people attended the rally in central Moscow Saturday where protesters rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against Prime Minister Putin and called for the annulment of disputed December parliamentary elections won by his party.
Police put the numbers at 29,000 but Agence La Belle France Presse correspondents said the turnout was clearly bigger and more anti-Putin in tone than the first rally two weeks ago which smashed the taboo in Russia against mass opposition protests.
"As a politician and a presidential candidate, Putin still has the support of a majority. And we should treat the opinion of a majority with respect," his front man Dmitry Peskov told AFP.
He added that Putin was "beyond competition" as a candidate in March 4, 2012 presidential polls, where the Russian strongman plans to stand for a third Kremlin term after his four-year stint as prime minister.
Peskov acknowledged the protest had taken place and said the demonstrators' position was to be treated with respect. "Those people who came out onto the streets -- they are a very important part of society. But they are a minority."
The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had late Saturday dramatically called on Putin to quit, just as he had done on December 25, 1991 when the USSR collapsed exactly two decades ago.
The protest movement -- which brings together a charismatic anti-corruption blogger, a detective story writer, musicians and a former finance minister -- does not so far have a clear leader but is gaining momentum.
"This is not an outburst which will die down. This is not about the protests but about the mood," Yevgeny Gontmakher, head of the Center for Social Policies at the Moscow-based Economics Institute, told AFP.
"There is a danger of a revolution. Authorities are making concessions but are not keeping up with the development of the events."
The leaders have not said when the next protest will take place and one of the most prominent opposition figures, politician Vladimir Ryzhkov, admitted that there were "several points of view" within the movement on the timing.
Ryzhkov told Moscow Echo radio he would prefer the next rally to take place in March to coincide with the presidential polls but he said some of his colleagues wanted a rally at the end of January.
The opposition set up a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/moscow.comes.back) to coordinate and debate the timing of future protests.
Another leading figure, 35-year-old blogger Alexei Navalny, provocatively vowed on Saturday that one million people would attend the next anti-Putin rally.
The mass protests were triggered by widespread claim of wholesale violations in this month's parliamentary polls which handed a reduced majority to Putin's ruling United Russia party.
Protesters called for the annulment of the ballot, sacking of the Central Election Commission chief and a re-run of elections.
Hoping to ride out a wave of protests, Putin ignored those demands and promised instead a return to the direct election of regional governors and a simplified procedure to register political parties.
In defiance of the protests, the newly-elected lower house of parliament convened for its first session earlier this week.
Most Russians lost their taste for street politics in the chaotic 90s and the scale of the current protests is a major boon for the fragmented opposition which had for years struggled to encourage Russians to take to the streets.
But incensed by his claims that opposition supporters were in the pay of the U.S. State Department and insults comparing them to an anti-AIDS campaign, protesters are now taking their anger out directly at Putin.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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If the protesters are smart enough to keep it decentralized, so that it is hard to break up their movement by harassing or arresting "leaders", they may effectively send the message that Putin has had his time, and that he should give somebody else a chance, instead of acting like a Tsar.
It is a real acid test to see if they have learned that democracy is not about a person, but about a system.
#7
I could be wrong, but after watching the protests on the MSM per local Guam TV, CNN + FOX + CNBC, my impression is that these protests are more about the composition + organiz = "pecking order" of the post-elex various Pol Parties within Russia's Parliament, NOT ABOUT POOTY PER SE.
Not strictly WoT, but a pipeline that doesn't involve Russia is a very good thing for Europe.
Turkey and Azerbaijan will sign a memorandum of understanding on Monday, establishing a consortium that will build a pipeline to ship natural gas from the BP Plc-operated Shah Deniz field to Europe via Anatolia, Bloomberg reported.
The Trans-Anatolia pipeline is planned to be completed by 2017, when the second phase of Shah Deniz starts producing gas, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Nov. 18. It's too early to provide a cost for the project, he said when asked about Socar's estimate of as much as $6 billion, according to state-run Anatolia news agency.
The pipeline may be linked with Nabucco, the OMV AG-led project designed to bring Caspian-region natural gas to the European Union.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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I doubt it will ever be built with shale gas coming online and the Cyprus and Israeli gas fields.
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... , on Sunday, pledged to make Pakistain an Islamic welfare state if his party came to power,
With what money? The former Mrs. Imran Khan, aka Jemima, isn't likely to donate to lifetime support for Pakistani "stray kittens", and Pakistan has been living off foreign donations since the beginning.
and promised a state where justice would be ensured on grass roots level.
First, kill all those in Pakistan trained as lawyers...
Addressing a big convention at a ground adjacent to the Mazar-e-Quaid, the PTI chairman told the crowd he was forming a team to formulate policies, notably aimed at alleiviating poverty "We want to break the begging bowl once and for all", he said, and make Pakistain a "true Islamic welfare state". He hit out at President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , claiming his days were numbered and accusing him of policies that encouraged corruption.
He said his party would solidify judiciary on priority basis, and promised free of cost justice on people's doorsteps, adding that all the systems in government departments would be computerised to check corruption. Khan said that he would introduce an exemplary team, which would be honest and capable. He said that party ticket would be granted on merit to only those candidates who will declare their assets. Later, if someone's assets grow, he/she would be asked to make a declaration. That mechanism, he said, would prevent politicians from getting involved in corruption.
The PTI chief further said that corruption prevalent in the country would be eliminated within 90 days of his party's coming to power, and said it was not a tough task for him. He said that in present situation, the country bears a loss of Rs 3000 million every day. He announced that his party would form a free and fair accountability cell, free of political pressure, and vowed to end political interference in police department.
All roads in Bloody Karachi near the rally venue were jammed for more than ten hours, an AFP news hound said, and hundreds of thousands of people waved party flags when the former Pakistain cricket captain arrived. "I promised to all you people that we'll make a new and respectable Pakistain. Join me to achieve this goal," he told the crowds, full of people waving the green and red flags of his opposition Movement for Justice Party.
"I have been an honest cricketer who never fixed a match. I promise you that I'll never fixed a match either during my political career," he said, brushing aside speculation his rise had tacit support from the military establishment. Imran Khan said that he will do everything which Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah would have done, and would never beg from foreigners. He said his team would present outstanding and revolutionary policies on all subjects, including local government, foreign, transport, economy, agriculture, and particularly education. He said that a unified educational system was his dream.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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I wish him the best in creating a welfare state as we have millions of Pakis in UK living on OUR welfare state!
They might go home LOL
Posted by: Paul D ||
12/26/2011 7:33 Comments ||
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This could be a winning strategy. Compare Pakistan with Mexico of not too long ago, in that by far the most important thing, as far as the man on the street was concerned, was keeping the price of tortillas, rice and beans low. If a politician could come through with that, they would vote for him.
He could do about anything else he wanted, as long as staple food was cheap. But if he lost his focus on that, no matter what else he did or was doing, they would turn him out.
Pakistan has 188 million people. The average wage is about $1/hr.
#4
Pakistan already is a welfare state. If not for remittances from Pakistanis working in the other countries and foreign aid from the US, among others, Pakistan would be broke and its people would starve.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/26/2011 17:36 Comments ||
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"Pakistan would be broke and its people would starve"
What's the downside, LG?
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/26/2011 17:58 Comments ||
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The Red Cross just knocked on my door and asked if we could contribute towards the floods in Pakistan. I said we'd love to, but our garden hose only reaches to the driveway.
#8
IIRC Islamic Governance is already a pre-determined/established Welfare State, iff only to Muslims - in essence ole Khan is calling for major upgrading of the methodology of the histor Islamic Welfare Model.
An Israeli Antiquities Authority archaeological survey at the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount yielded a tiny tin artifact, the size of a button, inscribed with the Aramaic words: "Daka Le'Ya," which the excavation directors on behalf of the IAA, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, explain means "pure for God."...The team believes the tiny seal was put on objects designated to be used in the temple, and thus had to be ceremonially pure.
In addition to this artifact, the dig also yielded other Second Temple artifacts, some older from the time of the Hasmonean Dynasty rule, including oil lamps, earthenware pots, and containers filled with oils and perfumes, as well as coins bearing Hasmonean kings such as Alexander Jannaeus and John Hyrcanus. Paleo agiprop has contended for decades that no temple existed in the location of the temple mount.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/26/2011 00:00 ||
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PRIOR to Islam?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/26/2011 1:02 Comments ||
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King Herod built the Temple in the waning years BC, Redneck Jim. So, yes -- about 700 years before Islam.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman 
