Vancouver's Jenna Talackova was everything Miss Universe Canada was looking for when she was selected among 65 finalists for the 2012 competition, to be held in Toronto in May.
But the Donald Trump--owned beauty pageant confirmed Friday that the 23-year-old has been disqualified from the competition.
The reason, Talackova claims, is she was born male.
"She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form," stated a Miss Universe Canada release issued on Friday.
"We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best," it concludes, without specifying what requirements she did not meet.
[Tripoli Post] Senegal's ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... President Abdoulaye Wade Another octogenarian wannabe president-for-life... ...if he's made it to octogenarian then he's no longer a wannabe...
Though he does seem to have failed at the "for life" bit.
conceded defeat to challenger Macky Sall late Sunday as initial results in the presidential run-off election showed the opposition candidate with a commanding lead.
As thousands of his supporters began celebrating in the streets of the capital, Dakar, particularly in front of his headquarters soon as the results came in, Macky Sall, said the poll marks a "new era" for the country, stressing that the people were the main winners in the poll.
Although official results from Sunday's election are not expected before Tuesday, people danced and sang for joy, honking their horns, with thousands more descending on Independence Square to celebrate.
The Senegalese Press Agency said 85-year-old Wade, "phoned his rival Macky Sall at 23.30 (CET) to congratulate him after the first results showed him to be the winner of a presidential run-off" vote. It helped ease fears that Wade, who had controversially changed the constitution to allow himself a third term, would try to stay in office or challenge the victory of Sall, his former protege.
Wade, who has ruled the West African nation for 12 years, lost in a number of key voting areas including in his home precinct in Dakar.
Thijs Berman, the head of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... observer mission to Senegal, said the results were very clear - about 65% for Mr Sall and 35% for Mr Wade so "there is no hesitation as to who is the winner".
The election comes just days after a military coup in neighbouring Mali.
Mr Wade brought in a two-term limit for presidential office, but argued that the limit should not apply to his first term which came in before the constitution was changed. His argument was upheld by the constitutional court in January, prompting widespread protests in which six people died.
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03/27/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Though he does seem to have failed at the "for life" bit.
Well, that honorific title, for an octogenarian, can still be achieved before the inauguration of the new President.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 30 people were maimed and 15 vehicles vandalised yesterday during a clash between activists of the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP over who would be at the National Memorial first.
Seriously? Throw 'em all in jail for a while to ponder the stupidity.
Spurred by an earlier clash between two factions of the BNP, the half-an-hour-long incident also caused damage to a petrol station and a canteen before law enforcers could bring the situation under control.
The injured, mostly BNP activists, received medical treatment in local clinics.
At 6:15am, two factions of the BNP around 150 yards away from the entrance to the memorial in Savar got involved in a clash over who would get to welcome BNP chief Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... when she arrived to pay respects to the deaders of the Liberation War.
Law enforcers rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control and calm down the two factions, led by former Savar BNP politician Dewan Salahuddin Babu and upazila BNP president Haji Refayetullah.
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03/27/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
30 people hurt in a fracus as to who would greet her first? Wow. I wonder what would have happened if Madonna was in town? Or Paris Hilton? or the bisexual who was kicked out of Donald Trump's T and A contest.Oh trouble there.
[An Nahar] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... will announce the completion of the first stage of a controversial missile defense shield at a May summit that will not include Russian leader 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... , its chief said Monday.
NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Western military bloc intended to announce the deployment of the first "interim" phase of a missile defense shield for Europe at the summit in Chicago.
The US-backed system has been bitterly opposed by Russia and has remained one of the main stumbling blocks in Moscow's recent relations with Washington.
"I can confirm that it is our intention to declare what we call an interim capability of the NATO system. That is part of the first phase of the development of the NATO missile defense system," Rasmussen said in a video conference with Moscow news hounds.
However he confirmed that Putin is expected to miss the May 20-21 meeting when he pays his first visit to the United States since his March 4 election to a third term as president.
Rasmussen said he and Putin had agreed by telephone that their summit was unlikely to go ahead in Chicago "due to the very busy domestic schedule in Russia."
He stressed that he was still planning to meet Putin soon after his May 7 Kremlin inauguration. Putin is still scheduled to visit the United States in May for the G8 summit in Camp David.
"The relationship between NATO and Russia is not dependent on a single meeting in Chicago or elsewhere," commented Rasmussen.
Yet Rasmussen also poured scorn on Russia's plans to unleash a massive nuclear warhead and missile development program that is a part of Putin's 23-trillion-ruble ($793-billion) military spending plan through 2020.
"I can honestly say ... that would be a complete waste of money," he said.
Washington and NATO argue that the missile shield is meant to protect Western nations against missile attacks from potential future nuclear powers such as North Korea and Iran.
Moscow fears the shield could make its own nuclear capabilities less effective and has sought to build a joint system in which it has an equal say.
NATO has dismissed the idea and sought to assure Russia that its nuclear deterrence would remain unaffected.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2012 00:00 ||
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Until after the US elections; then it will be politically practical to close it down, per recent live mike episode with President Zero.
#2
Until after the the US elections when a new President takes office. Obama just wanted to be left alone until he was out of office. Crisis are so complicated and he's just not that good at them.
#5
We should have brought the Russians in long ago and let them see fake systems. Either super-primitive to make them feel secure or so futuristic they'd die to figure out how it worked. Meanwhile we build the real thing unimpeded.
#6
I've always thought it would be hilarious if the US made a huge push at the UN to ban antimatter, gravitational and meson weapons while refusing to comment on any details or existence thereof.
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03/27/2012 17:22 Comments ||
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#7
Poland almost got heat stroke after the "Prez" started speaking Pidgin Russian.
[An Nahar] Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug went on trial Monday on charges of leading a terrorist group accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government, local media said.
Basbug, who was chief of staff from 2008 to 2010, has been in jug since January and risks life in prison if convicted in a case that has inflamed tensions between the government and the powerful military.
He is the most senior officer to be implicated in a massive probe into the so-called Ergenekon network, accused of plotting to topple Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Basbug, 68, branded the charges against him as "tragi-comic" when he was locked away in January.
At the start of the hearing in a court in Silivri, outside Istanbul, Basbug's lawyer called for his client to be tried by the supreme court but the demand was rejected, the Anatolia news agency reported.
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03/27/2012 00:00 ||
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Turkey's former armed forces chief General Ilker Basbug said on Tuesday he would not defend himself against terrorism charges, describing the allegations against him as a "comedy" and calling for his trial to be heard by the supreme court.
Basbug, accused of involvement in a plot to overthrow the government, told the court he had no respect for the indictment, saying the allegations were against the Turkish armed forces and were a serious insult to the state.
[Dawn] For the last one month I have not seen my daughter. What kind of justice is this which does not allow a mother to meet her daughter?
This was stated by Salchani Bai, the mother of Rinkal Kumari who was allegedly kidnapped from Dherki in Sindh over a month back.
Speaking at a presser along with her lawyer here, she added: "The kidnapers are threatening us that if the court handed over the girl to her family they will kill us all. I just want to meet my daughter."
Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhel alleged that at 4pm on February 24 Mian Aslam, Hassam Kalhore, Naveed Shah, Mehfooz Shah and three other persons kidnapped the 17-year-old girl from her house at gunpoint. He said an application was filed with the Mirpur Mathelo police but they refused to register a case.
Later, when the FIR was registered the police did not nominate Mian Aslam, who is son of Mian Abdul Haq alias Mian Mitthu, a PPP MNA.
Mr Mandokhel said on February 25, Ms Kumari was produced in the court of civil judge Hasan Kalhore, where she said she wanted to go with her mother. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the judge handed her over to the police instead of sending her to the Darul Amaan.
On February 27, the police once again brought her to the court but her lawyers and family members were not allowed to enter the court and later the 'kidnapers' stated that Ms Kumari had converted to Islam and named as Faryal Bibi, adding she cannot live with her family members. She was shifted to a religious place at Bhar Chundi, he added.
"Section 144 was imposed during the hearing so we don't know what happened in the court. Article 36 of the law allows minorities to live without any fear but forced conversions are taking place in Dherki and other areas of Sindh. After Supreme Court's suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice, the girl has been brought to Islamabad but we want that a judicial commission should be constituted to probe the matter. Seven millions Hindus have been living in Sindh for centuries but some elements now want to start riots there," he said.
Former federal minister Amar Lal said when the case was shifted to Sindh High Court, Ms Kumari was brought to 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... Press Club where once again she said she had been kidnapped.
During the last nine years, 2,700 girls have been converted from Hinduism to Islam, he claimed.
When Ms Kumari was sent on judicial custody by the SHC, a deputy superintendent of police shifted her somewhere else and refused to arrange her meeting with her mother. I called President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... who assured us that he would not allow any forced conversion but during the last few months 47 boys have been forced to convert to Islam. Army should be sent to Dherki because people have been
threatening the Hindu community," he said.
Chairman Jiye Sindh Party Riaz Chandio said Hindus had been living in those areas for the last 5,000 years. They are sons of the soil and should be allowed to live without any interference.
They said Ms Kumari would be produced before the Supreme Court on Monday (today). Advocate Noor Naz Agha, Rasheed A. Rizvi and Akram Sheikh will defend the case, they said.
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03/27/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A meeting of Hindu community representatives has expressed serious concern over the plight of the minority communities in Pakistain and demanded the implementation of the existing laws and enactment of more laws to ensure their protection against kidnapping, harassment, forced conversion and discrimination.
The meeting was organised by the Pakistain Hindu Council in the backdrop of "growing incidents of kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu girls in the country".
A resolution passed unanimously by over 500 community representatives from across the country at the meeting held here on Sunday called for specific and more stringent laws in this regard.
Referring to the recent events of some Hindu girls' conversion and marriages with Mohammedans, the resolution noted that the attitude of the police and lower courts was unfavourable towards the complainants -- the parents and relatives of the girls -- alleging that the girls were not only produced in courts under pressure but also not handed over to their parents.
Similar was the case of several kidnapping for ransom cases involving Hindu community members, it said, adding that the Hindus felt insecure and wanted protection to their life, property and honour. If this was not ensured, a mass migration of the Hindus from the country would be inevitable, it warned.
The meeting strongly recommended that "once an FIR is lodged after the disappearance of a Hindu girl, the victim should be handed over to her parents immediately after her recovery; and she should be allowed to stay with them for a couple of months before a court of law records her statement. The matter should then be decided according to her will".
It urged the community to launch a concerted struggle for its rights.
A committee formed at the meeting was entrusted with the task of organising gatherings at the divisional and district levels to mobilise the community and formulate a strategy to cope with the situation.
Lawmakers criticised
Earlier, speaking at the forum most of the representatives strongly criticised the politicians representing the Hindu community in the elected houses for "not properly taking up the issue with the authorities concerned". "They are not the community's true
representatives; and many of them have got themselves elected on the reserved seats of the minorities on the basis of their wealth or connections with the politicians," one of the speakers remarked.
Some other speakers called for preparing a list of "forcibly converted and married (Hindu) girls" and suggested that the relatives and other community members should set up protest camps to keep the issue alive for the "rescue and recovery of the victims".
PHC chief Dr Ramesh Vankwani pointed out that despite a Supreme Court order for the recovery of three missing Hindu girls, Asha was yet to be recovered. He urged all Hindu politicians to raise the issue in the elected houses.
He said the community was making efforts to get the subject of religion included in the syllabus so that Hindu children could study their religion in educational institutions. He observed that Hindu businessmen and traders were subjected to extortion, kidnapping for ransom and harassment and this had become a major issue that must be tackled on a priority basis. He recalled that some Hindus were killed in Chak a few months back but the culprits were not tossed in the slammer yet despite their identification in the FIR.
Haresh Tulreja from Pano Aqil said the constitution envisaged equal rights for the minorities but they were being discriminated against in every field. Even the police would not provide security to the life and property of a Hindu citizen, he alleged.
Gobind Ram from Khipro demanded that the scheduled caste should be given an equal status by the community.
Dr Chandiram from Hyderabad urged community members to join political parties of their choice and seek their support as and when needed. He was of the view that the issue of recent conversion of Hindu girls was being highlighted only because the girls involved came from well-off families. In support of his claim, he referred to the kidnapping of 10 Hindu teachers in Thar, and complained nobody took up the issue with the authorities concerned. Most people even did not know about the incident, he moaned.
One of the speakers told the meeting that two Hindus -- Ajeet Kumar and his sister Prigati Bai -- were kidnapped three years back in Jacobabad and the boy was eventually recovered after Pir Pagara's help was sought. While he returned home from Bharchundi Shareef, his sister still remained unaccounted for, he said.
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[Dawn] The health department is launching a three-day emergency anti-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... vaccination campaign in Jalozai camp and nearby villages to immunise the internally displaced children from highly-endemic Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, according to officials.
"The emergency vaccination drive, to get underway from Monday, has been planned in the wake of red alert issued by the World Health Organisation last week to prevent transmission of the virus to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and other surrounding areas," they said.
Normally children below five years are administered anti-polio drops but during the emergency campaign vaccine will be administered to people up to 15 years of age in line with the protocol followed during the international health emergency to do away with the risk of any child serving as a carrier for the spread of the crippling poliovirus.
Officials said that the decision to enhance the age limit of target children had worked in Somalia, Chad and Mali where similar step was taken to contain reemergence of poliovirus after those countries were declared polio-free.
The government decided to hold an emergency meeting following a letter from WHO to provincial chief secretary, requesting him to make a plan for the children taking refuge in Jalozai camp owing to military operation in Khyber Agency.
"We are also setting up emergency transit polio checkposts on all routes leading to Bara in response to WHO`s fears that polio situation is getting out of control in Peshawar in particular and the province in general owing to shifting of people from Bara to Jalozai camp," officials added.
They said that the campaign in Jalozai for Bara IDPs had also been suggested to the chief secretary by members of Technical Advisory Group of global polio initiative in a meeting held last month.
"We have recorded 38 polio cases in Bara since 2010. It is a matter of grave concern as it poses serious threat to the worldwide polio eradication efforts," officials said.
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[Dawn] Four persons including two brothers were killed while another sustained serious injuries when person or persons unknown opened firing on their car on Charsadda Road here on Sunday.
The victims were gur traders and were on their way to market in a taxicab early in the morning when the assassins ambushed them. Two real brothers -- Jan Mohammad and Akhtar Munir -- were among the killed persons, sources said.
The other killed persons were identified as Jan Zeb and Ikram. All of the dear departed belonged to Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency but they were presently living in Shero Jangai area on Charsadda Road. The driver of the car, Shehzad Ali, was maimed in the incident.
According to officials of Khazana cop shoppe, the family of Jan Mohammad and Akhtar Munir had enmity with another family in Mohmand Agency. Police said that a bomb planted outside the house of Jan Mohammad was defused by bomb disposal squad about one month ago.
The relatives of the killed persons have not nominated anyone in the FIR registered with Khazana cop shoppe.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... a constable was injured and van of Matani police damaged in a remote controlled kaboom near Arbab Tapu checkpost. Additional SHO Gohar Khan and coppers were patrolling in the van when a roadside kaboomwent kaboom!. A constable was injured while other coppers remained unhurt in the blast.
In Batkhela, a boy and his sister were killed while his other brother received injuries when kaboom went off at their residence in Wather area of Dargai tehsil on Sunday.
Official sources said that the owner of the house, Shafiq Akbar, was a miner and used to keep kaboom for drilling of mountains. He had kept some of the kaboom at his residence that went off when he and his wife were away. His 16-year-old daughter Uzma and 13-year-old son Hassan Akbar were killed in the blast. His other son, Khaista Akbar, received serious injuries.
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Monday allowed two Moslem convert girls to stay at a shelter house 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... for a period of three weeks enabling them to take a decision for their future independently and in a free atmosphere.
A three-Judge comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez also ordered the coppers to escort both girls back to Bloody Karachi in safe custody.
The bench in its order observed that though undoubtedly both girls, Faryal Bibi (Rinkle Kumari) and Hafsa bibi (Dr Lata), had performed Nikah and joined their husbands but there were allegations of forced conversion.
It said that apparently there was a lot of pressure upon both girls by the parents and the courts, so after recording their statements in camera, they were of the opinion that they required time, free from pressures and take a decision for their future.
The bench allowed both girls to stay for three-weeks in shelter house named 'Panah' owned by Majeeda Rizvi, a senior lawyer.
The bench was hearing a constitutional petition moved by Pakistain Hindu Council.
During course of proceedings, the bench allowed applications of all parties for hearing.
The chief justice told Malik Qamar Afzal and Mujeeb Pirzada counsels for Syed Naveed Shah, husband of Faryal Bibi and Dr Khalid Ranjha, counsel for Nadir Baig, husband of Hafsa bibi, that these girls might require some time to think over their future in a free atmosphere.
He opined that under the charged atmosphere and pressure from parents, court and husbands, they would not be able to do so.
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#1
And after three weeks in a "free atmosphere" they end up where . . ?
Pakistani courts treading dangerously close to logic here.
#1
I reserve judgement on STREEP as I haven't seen her performance or movie yet either in theater or on TV - as for Ex-"HANOI" = now "FLOTUS" JANE, this I gotta see to believe.
D *** NG IT, ITS FOR THE SECOND US CIVIL WAR IN 2015!
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.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 30 people 
...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...
[An Nahar] Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug went on trial Monday on charges of leading a terrorist group accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government, local media said.
Asif Ali 
A meeting of Hindu community representatives has expressed serious concern over the plight of the minority communities in Pakistain and demanded the implementation of the existing laws and enactment of more laws to ensure their protection against kidnapping, harassment, forced conversion and discrimination.
The health department is launching a three-day emergency anti-
Four persons including two brothers were killed while another sustained serious injuries when 
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed two 
