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Pakistan orders anti-Islam video block on YouTube
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Pharmacist Fires Handgun At Would-Be Robber
(CBS) -- Winslow Township police say a Camden County pharmacist turned the tables on a would-be robber Wednesday. Around 2 p.m., a man allegedly armed with a gun entered Jolin's Pharmacy at 412 Sicklerville Road in Winslow Township and demanded Oxycontin from the pharmacist.

Police say the pharmacist, identified as Dr. John Agyemang, distracted the suspect by telling him there was someone entering the store. While the suspect turned around, Agyemang ran to the back of the store and got his gun, according to police.

The suspect fled the store, with the pharmacist chasing after him. Authorities say Agyemang fired at least five shots at the suspect outside the pharmacy.
"Here y'go! Try some o' these pills!"
Posted by: Fred || 09/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The pharmacist needs shooting lessons. But, he's in Camden county. He really needs shooting lessons.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 09/14/2012 14:27 Comments || Top||

#2  You watch -- the Camden Co DA's office will file charges -- against the pharmacist.
Posted by: Shinter Javirong9154 || 09/14/2012 15:43 Comments || Top||

#3  That's NJ for you. But Camden just fired its entire police department, so the DA might not be able to justify that.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 09/14/2012 16:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Should have given him OxyTOCIN instead.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/14/2012 16:12 Comments || Top||

#5  "Who's that? is it MR. SMITH or MR. WESSON?"
Posted by: mojo || 09/14/2012 16:53 Comments || Top||

#6  I prefer Mr. Colt.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 09/14/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||


From Brand New Laptop to Infected by Pressing 'On'
[An Nahar] A customer in Shenzhen, China, took a brand new laptop out of its box and booted it up for the first time. But as the screen lit up, the computer began taking on a life of its own. The machine, triggered by a virus hidden in its hard drive, began searching across the Internet for another computer.

The laptop, supposedly in pristine, super-fast, direct-from-the-factory condition, had instantly become part of an illegal, global network capable of attacking websites, looting bank accounts and stealing personal data.

For years, online investigators have warned consumers about the dangers of opening or downloading files emailed to them from unknown or suspicious sources. Now, they say malicious software and computer code could be lurking on computers before the bubble wrap even comes off.

The shopper in this case was part of a team of Microsoft researchers in China investigating the sale of counterfeit software. They suddenly had been introduced to a malware called Nitol. The incident was revealed in court documents unsealed Thursday in a federal court in Virginia. The records describe a new front in a legal campaign against cybercrime being waged by the maker of the Windows operating system, which is the biggest target for viruses.

The documents are part of a computer fraud lawsuit filed by Microsoft against a web domain registered to a Chinese businessman named Peng Yong. The company says it is a major hub for illicit Internet activity. The domain is home base for Nitol and more than 500 other types of malware, making it the largest single repository of infected software that Microsoft officials have ever encountered.

Peng, the owner of an Internet services firm, said he was not aware of the Microsoft lawsuit but he denied the allegations and said his company does not tolerate improper conduct on the domain, 3322.org. Three other unidentified individuals accused by Microsoft of establishing and operating the Nitol network are also named in the suit.

What emerges most vividly from the court records and interviews with Microsoft officials is a disturbing picture of how vulnerable Internet users have become, in part because of weaknesses in computer supply chains. To increase their profit margins, less reputable computer manufacturers and retailers may use counterfeit copies of popular software products to build machines more cheaply. Plugging the holes is nearly impossible, especially in less regulated markets like China, and that leaves openings for cybercriminals.

"They're really changing the ways they try to attack you," said Richard Boscovich, a former federal prosecutor and a senior attorney in Microsoft's digital crimes unit.

And distance doesn't equal safety. Nitol, for example, is an aggressive virus found on computers in China, the United States, Russia, Australia and Germany. Microsoft has even identified servers in the Cayman Islands controlling Nitol-infected machines. All these compromised computers become part of a botnet -- a collection of compromised computers -- one of the most invasive and persistent forms of cybercrime.

Nitol, meanwhile, appears poised to strike. Infection rates have peaked, according to Patrick Stratton, a senior manager in Microsoft's digital crimes unit who filed a document in the court case explaining Nitol and its connection to the 3322.org domain.

For Microsoft, pursuing cybercriminals is a smart business. Its Windows operating system runs most of the computers connected to the Internet. Victims of malware are likely to believe their problems stem from Windows instead of a virus they are unaware of, and that damages the company's brand and reputation.

But more than Microsoft's image is stake when counterfeit products are tainted by malware that spreads so rapidly, Boscovich said. "It's more than simply a traditional intellectual property issue," Boscovich said. "It's now become a security issue."

The investigation by Microsoft's digital crimes unit began in August 2011 as a study into the sale and distribution of counterfeit versions of Windows. Microsoft employees in China bought 20 new computers from retailers and took them back to a home with an Internet connection.

They found forged versions of Windows on all the machines and malware pre-installed on four. The one with Nitol, however, was the most alarming because the malware was active.

"As soon as we powered on this particular computer, of its own accord without any instruction from us, it began reaching out across the Internet, attempting to contact a computer unfamiliar to us," Stratton said in the document filed with the court.

Stratton and his colleagues also found Nitol to be highly contagious. They inserted a thumb drive into the computer and the virus immediately copied itself onto it. When the drive was inserted into a separate machine, Nitol quickly copied itself on to it.

Microsoft examined thousands of samples of Nitol, which has several variants, and all of them connected to command-and-control servers associated with the 3322.org domain, according to the court records.

"In short, 3322.org is a major hub of illegal Internet activity, used by criminals every minute of every day to pump malware and instructions to the computers of innocent people worldwide," Microsoft said in its lawsuit.

Peng, the registered owner of 3322.org, said he has "zero tolerance" for the misuse of domain names and works with Chinese law enforcement whenever there are complaints. Still, he said, his huge customer base makes policing difficult.

"Our policy unequivocally opposes the use of any of our domain names for malicious purposes," Peng said in a private chat via Sina Weibo, a service like Twitter that's very popular in China. "We currently have 2.85 million domain names and cannot exclude that individual users might be using domain names for malicious purposes."

But past warnings by other online security firms have been ignored by Peng, Boscovich said. 3322.org accounted for more than 17 percent of the world's malicious web transactions in 2009, according to Zscaler, a computer security firm in San Jose, Calif. In 2008, Russian security company Kaspersky Lab reported that 40 percent of all malware programs, at one point or another, connected to 3322.org.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, who is presiding in the case, granted a request from Microsoft to begin steering Internet traffic from 3322.org that has been infected by Nitol and other malwares to a special site called a sinkhole. From there, Microsoft can alert affected computer users to update their anti-virus protection and remove Nitol from their machines.

Since Lee issued the order, more than 37 million malware connections have been blocked from 3322.org, according to Microsoft.
Posted by: Fred || 09/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A more interesting question: Who manufactured the hard drive?
Posted by: mojo || 09/14/2012 16:54 Comments || Top||


Economy
Franchisors warn Obamacare will halve profits
The International Franchise Association held a convention in Washington this week where most of the Radio Shack, Dunkin Donuts, Curves and other franchisers were grumbling about new federal regulations, especially the impact of Obamacare.

Most, said Atlanta Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchiser David Barr, presumed that the reports about how hard Obamacare will hit them were overblown. "They had their head in the sand," he told Secrets.

That is until he pulled out his powerpoint showing how funding Obamacare will cut his--and likely their--profits in half overnight. With simple math the small business folks understood, he spelled out that their only choice is to slash employee hours so they aren't eligible for company-paid health care or stop offering insurance and pay the $2,000 per employee fine.

Barr has 23 stores with 421 employees, 109 of whom are full-time. Of those, he provides 30 with health insurance. Barr said he pays 81 percent of their Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, or $4,073 of $5,028 for individuals, more for families, for a total bill of $129,000 a year. Employees pay $995.

Under Obamacare, however, he will have to provide health insurance for all 109 full-time workers, a cost of $444,000, or two and half times more than his current costs. That $315,000 increase is equal to just over half his annual profit, after expenses, or 1.5 percent of sales. As a result, he said, "I'm not paying $444,000."

Providing no insurance would result in a federal fine of $158,000, $29,000 more than he now spends but the lowest cost possible under the Obamacare law. So he now views that as his cap and he'll either cut worker hours or replace them with machines to get his costs down or dump them on the public health exchange and pay the fine. "Every business has a way to eliminate jobs," he said, "but that's not good for them or me."

But that's not all. His experience tells him that most low-wage workers he would have to cover under Obamacare won't take it because their $995 share is too high, meaning those the program was set up for won't see any benefit. And those who do will because they have major health issues, likely resulting in higher premiums to him.
Posted by: Beavis || 09/14/2012 09:18 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meet reality gentlemen.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/14/2012 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Does "Providing no insurance" mean they go on an Obama controlled insurance scheme?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/14/2012 12:57 Comments || Top||

#3  They have to remember they didn't build their businesses.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/14/2012 13:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Full time employee defined as 30+ per week instead of 35-40. People may be hired, but work 29.9 hours per week. Nobody will make enough money, income tax per pay period will drop, Fed sits around and wonders where the money is, taxes go up.

What about partnerships, proprietorships, and the businesses income counting towards the individuals $250k, or do we wait to find out about that?

Lunacy, everyone loses.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/14/2012 17:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Many companies have been cutting full timers to part time. Wall Mart is a good example. I'm not trying to pick on them but I know managers have been told to cut their full time help to part time or we will get somebody who will. That has been the case for over two to three years now. Don't have a help issue. Just subcontract all your staff needs. Using a temp type service. They simply sub contract as independent contractors working with a franchise agency. Most will cut help below the magic target number. Remember we don't need you, you need us.
Posted by: Dale || 09/14/2012 20:05 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Autopsy shows girl was murdered
[Dawn] An apparent suicide case turned out one of a murder when body of a 23-year-old girl was exhumed on the insistence of police here and a four-member team of district headquarters hospital carried out the post-mortem.

Station house officer of Mulkhow cop shoppe Adam Gul told Dawn on Wednesday that a girl, Qadir Gul, of Pakhturi Oveer went missing on August 27 from her home and her body was later recovered from a local river on Sept 3.

He said that relatives of the girl buried her before arrival of police to avoid post-mortem and told them that she had did away with himself by jumping into the river, but they could not explain circumstances related to the incident.

However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach...
the police stressed for exhumation of the body to determine real cause of the girl's death.

About the post-mortem report, a senior doctor of the DHQ hospital told this scribe that the girl's skull was badly smashed, which caused her death.

The SHO said that a murder case would be initiated on the basis of the report, which proved that the girl was killed and her body thrown into water. The medical team also included two lady doctors.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart...
in a statement a local rights activist, Niaz A Niazi, praised the local police for their efforts to establish the real cause of the girl's death.
Posted by: Fred || 09/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Polio case detected in Torghar
[Dawn] A 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...
case was detected in Torghar on Wednesday as National Institute of Health, Islamabad confirmed presence of crippling poliovirus in a 10-month-old child in the district.

The father of the affected child had refused administering anti-polio vaccine to his child in her early life, officials said.After detection of the fresh case in Torghar, the number of polio cases in the country reached to 32 during the current year. During the corresponding period last year, the country had recorded 101 polio cases.

The family of Maulana Saifullah, the father of affected child Aneesa, had lived 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 some time where she did not receive any dose of the oral polio vaccine.

The family has been living in village Dheera Koh in Shadag Shagai tehsil of Torghar for the last five months. The child was affected by the poliovirus recently, according to officials.

Torghar district had remained polio-free during the last two years. The last polio case was recorded in the area during the year 2010.
Posted by: Fred || 09/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Pakistan factory fires kill 310
KARACHI: More than 310 people have perished in fires that gutted factories in Pakistan’s two largest cities, in tragedies that prompted calls for an overhaul of poor industrial safety standards, officials said yesterday.

At least 280 people died at a garment factory in Karachi, in the worst blaze in decades to hit Pakistan’s biggest city, just hours after 21 died at a shoe factory in Lahore, close to the Indian border.

Dozens of others were hurt in Karachi as they jumped out of windows from the four-story building to escape the blaze that began Tuesday evening in a bid to save their lives, as sobbing relatives of trapped workers scuffled with police overnight.

“Our firefighters are finding bodies in greater numbers from the lower floors of the factory,” Karachi fire chief Ehtesham Salim said. “We didn’t find bodies in ones or twos, but in the dozens, which is why the death toll is increasing so alarmingly."

Salim said the fire probably originated on the ground floor, giving those workers in the basement and on that level less time to escape.

Abdus Salam, a doctor at Karachi’s Civil Hospital, said at least 65 workers suffered broken bones after jumping out of windows. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had ordered an inquiry into both fires, as officials said the factory in Karachi in particular had been flimsily built, lacked emergency exits and had developed cracks in the walls.

“It was packed like a box with little room left for ventilation. There were no emergency exits,” Salim said.

According to workers, the factory produced underwear and plastic utensils.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  May the families find strength and be comforted ...
Posted by: Adriane || 09/14/2012 17:49 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
From their DNA - A MUG SHOT - genes for facial form discovered.
Face MRI images were used to quantify the metrics of face shape ahead of the genetic study. Understanding the genes that determine human facial shape could one day provide valuable information about person's appearance using just their DNA.

The discovery of five genes involved in facial form could have applications in forensics, say the authors of a study. Virtually nothing was known about the genes responsible for facial shape in humans.

The study of almost 10,000 individuals is published in Plos Genetics.

"Perhaps some time it will be possible to draw a phantom portrait of a person solely from his or her DNA left behind, which provides interesting applications such as in forensics."
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/14/2012 10:55 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Big brother coming.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/14/2012 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Big brother is here.

Orwell was an optimist.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 09/14/2012 14:01 Comments || Top||

#3  I see the Luddites returning.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/14/2012 15:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Tip of the iceberg. Genetics is in for a great century, so long as ObamaCare (RomneyCare?) doesn't smother it in the crib.
Posted by: Iblis || 09/14/2012 15:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Genetics will be the next huge thing. The power of unlocking our own genes and controlling our own evolution is huge.

However, with great power comes great responsibility and there will be people and nations that abuse it. While being able to construct the face of the rapist from the semen collected from the victim is great, it could also be used to weed out undesirables as well. Just imagine if the Nazis could make a genetic virus that would wipe out all those they thought were sub-human.
All very possible with this technology.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/14/2012 15:57 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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3al-Qaeda
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1Takfir wal-Hijra
1Thai Insurgency
1Baloch Liberation Army
1al-Shabaab

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
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Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2012-09-14
  Pakistan orders anti-Islam video block on YouTube
Thu 2012-09-13
  Egyptian protesters, police continue to clash near U.S. Embassy
Wed 2012-09-12
  US Official Killed In Libya Prophet Protest
Tue 2012-09-11
  Somali election: Hassan Sheikh elected as president
Mon 2012-09-10
  Yemen says kills deputy regional head of al Qaeda
Sun 2012-09-09
  Three injured in blast at Indonesia ''bomb workshop''
Sat 2012-09-08
  Canada breaks off relations with Iran
Fri 2012-09-07
  Pakistan evicts Save the Children foreign staff
Thu 2012-09-06
  Drone Strike in Yemen Kills 5 'Qaida' Militants
Wed 2012-09-05
  20 Civilians Killed, 50 More Injured in Nangarhar Suicide Attack
Tue 2012-09-04
  Syria Warplane Kills 18 People in Single Attack in al-Bab
Mon 2012-09-03
  Breaking: Peshawar blast hits US consular vehicle
Sun 2012-09-02
  NATO suspends training new Afghan recruits
Sat 2012-09-01
  US drone kills five Pakistani suspects
Fri 2012-08-31
  US slaps sanctions on 8 LeT leaders including 26/11 mastermind


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