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Today: 47 articles and 116 comments as of 14:47.
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French Tanks Deploy at Bangui Airport amid Heavy Gunfire
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
1 18:12 Anon1 [3]
2 11:21 Mullah Richard [4]
6 15:07 Barbara [7]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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11 22:50 Uncle Phester [3]
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Page 6: Politix
2 17:53 tu3031 [6]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Santa And Helper May Face Drunken Driving Charges In Poland
[BREITBART] Police in Poland said a Santa and his helper could face drunken driving charges after they were thrown from their sleigh on a busy street.

Witnesses said the 51-year-old Santa and his 31-year-old female helper were both visibly drunk as they rode a horse-drawn sleigh down a busy road in Ustrzykach Dolnych and they were thrown from the vehicle when a car horn spooked their horse, the British newspaper the Mirror reported Monday.

"It reared up and sent them smashing into the wall on the corner of the street," said witness Zdzislaw Molodynski, who caught the incident on camera.

"It was a mixture of 'Ho, ho, ho' and 'No, no, no,'" he said.

Police said the two people, whose names were not released, were taken to a local hospital with concussions.

Police front man Dorota Glazowska said they could be facing charges.

"Technically, they were drunk while in charge of a vehicle on the road," the front man said. "We are looking at pressing charges."
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Looters Repeatedly Ransack Home With Dead Stockton Senior Inside
[SACRAMENTO.CBSLOCAL] Stockton police say looters repeatedly ransacked the home of a 94-year-old woman after she died.

Neighbors we spoke to say they can't believe nobody noticed it happening.

The burglary, which happened two doors down from Nichole Chew, is scary enough, but the way it happened turns her stomach, she says.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looter cheat inheritance taxation.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2013 12:32 Comments || Top||

#2  ..yes, cheating government of it's piece of the action 'share'. No matter, they'll just 'estimate' it and send the bill.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2013 13:24 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Justin Bieber tweets he's 'officially retiring'
[DAWN] Teen pop megastar Justin Bieber has set Twitter ablaze with a message suggesting he may be stepping away from the stage -- just as his new movie hits theaters on Christmas Day.

"My beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring," the 19-year-old Bieber said on Twitter to his nearly 48 million followers. The message has been retweeted more than 240,000 times and comments from fans flooded the globally popular messaging site.

But a subsequent tweet from the Canadian teen idol left some doubt about his future plans.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...It's a Christmas miracle. :D

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/26/2013 8:37 Comments || Top||

#2  In the words of Ozzy Osborne, "What the hell's a Beiber?'
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/26/2013 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  going in training for the wymyns lightweight boxing circuit
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2013 10:57 Comments || Top||

#4  It is a Christmas miracle. A good thing for this little twerp. He was heading off into the deep end.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/26/2013 17:35 Comments || Top||


Environmentalist fouls sidewalk with 16 floor header.
[Breitbart] On Monday, 86-year-old multimillionaire Robert W. Wilson, who was best known for his charitable ventures toward the environmentalist movement, threw himself from the sixteenth floor of his Upper West Side apartment building, the famous San Remo. He left a note before jumping. He had a stroke several months back, and had told friends that he “didn’t want to suffer.”
Strokes, HBP, IBD, memory loss, Sleep Apnea, ED, hair loss, itchy bottom, gift returns, all cured.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have to be exactly who I want to be, or I want to be nobody at all. He gets to commune with his goddess gaia now (dirt nap) and hopefully finds out belatedly what the real deal is...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/26/2013 10:01 Comments || Top||

#2  The god of gravity took him at such a young age.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/26/2013 11:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Hopefully the start of a trend among greenies...
Posted by: PBMcL || 12/26/2013 11:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Now Carbon Neutral.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||


Rev Jackson: 'Duck' star 'white privilege'
[Politico] The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. has stepped into the "Duck poo Dynasty" uproar, using the case of civil rights hero Rosa Parks to make his case against show star Phil Robertson.
All roads lead to Montgomery....yawn, double yawn with elbow slip.
"At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law," Jackson said in a statement, according to the Chicago Tribune. "Robertson's statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was 'white privilege.'"
"Following the law" unlike your wayward, thieving, imprisoned spawn Triple-J.
Jackson and his civil rights group Rainbow PUSH Coalition have demanded a meeting with the A&E network, which broadcasts the hugely popular "Duck Dynasty," and restaurant Cracker Barrel, which carries "Duck Dynasty" merchandise.
Are Cracker Barrel patrons referred to as....crackers ?
Robertson has been suspended from the reality show and Cracker Barrel briefly pulled "Duck Dynasty" merchandise from its shelves after the star's controversial comments about gays and African-Americans in an interview with GQ magazine. In the interview, Robertson said that in his Louisiana youth he picked cotton with African-Americans and never saw "the mistreatment of any black person," adding that they were "singing and happy" and didn't complain about white people.
"Singing and happy" unlike Jesse Jackson, who never sings and rarely appears happy about anything.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I smell another shakedown...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/26/2013 0:02 Comments || Top||

#2  There is a saying about a pitcher that goes to the well too often.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2013 1:46 Comments || Top||

#3  a little too late for the race pimp and hate-monger
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2013 7:13 Comments || Top||

#4  (insert duck call sound here)

I can guarantee you that Jesse Jackson has never once watched duck dynasty but he did hear they make 20 million a year.

(insert duck call sound here)
Posted by: Airandee || 12/26/2013 7:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Is this guy still somebody? Or anybody?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 12/26/2013 8:23 Comments || Top||

#6  JJ is probably trying to scam another well-paid but no-show job for one of his kin at A&E. Diversity Duck Director or something of that sort.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 12/26/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Jessie Who.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/26/2013 10:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Can't stand his people singing and being happy. Doesn't work for him.
Posted by: Threreling Munster6125 || 12/26/2013 10:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Diversity Duck Director

LOL, Mallards, Wood ducks, Marsh-hens need not apply, we are looking for Canvasbacks, Redheads and the elusive Rainbow Duck.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/26/2013 10:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Fresh off his visit to see his theiving son in prison...
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2013 10:57 Comments || Top||

#11  Jesse, your pathetic as usual. This guy was white trash growing up. He picked cotton. You on the other hand have ridden the white guilt all the way to millions in the bank. You son led a privileged life and served in congress. Like you your son gave into greed and gluttony and is paying the price for you lack of parenting. Look inward reverend, you will find the cause of all your problems, and the solutions. Until then leave the rest of us alone!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/26/2013 11:58 Comments || Top||

#12  Little late to the dance there pops; the cracker-ass cracker barrel joke already left with your date.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/26/2013 12:05 Comments || Top||

#13  Jesse who?

Sorry, JJ, but my give-a-shit meter is broken.
Posted by: Barbara || 12/26/2013 15:05 Comments || Top||

#14  Has the Reverend Racist Jesse Jackson apologized to the Duke LaCrosse team yet?

How about George Zimmerman?

No?

Then the dishonorable Racist Jesse Jackson can STFU!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/26/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Cruise ship mired in global warming in Antarctica
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Antarctic has been above normal in sea ice for a few years now (opposite Arctic which has mostly been below normal sea ice during that time)
Posted by: lord garth || 12/26/2013 3:25 Comments || Top||

#2  They sailed to where the Mawson Expedition were frozen in sea ice, and they were frozen in sea ice too. They will have an easier time of it, for sure.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/26/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  "December 26: Food supplies have begun to dwindle. The buffet was only half its usual amount. Some of the passengers have begun whittling the shuffleboard paddles into spears..."
Posted by: Pappy || 12/26/2013 13:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Wait a minute - it's summer in Antarctica.

Whatever happened to Gerbil Worming?

Please tell me the cruise ship was stupid enough to accept AlGore as a passenger ....
Posted by: Barbara || 12/26/2013 15:11 Comments || Top||

#5  algor is the latin word for cold.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2013 15:59 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Merry Christmas From Chuck Norris
Posted by: Grunter || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Bodies Litter Liberated South Sudan Town
[An Nahar] In the shade of a tree close to the slow waters of the White Nile river, a body killed during the fighting over South Sudan's town of Bor gathers flies.

On the bumpy road towards the heavily fortified compound of the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
peacekeepers, another body of man lies beside the track.

But some civilians are dancing, celebrating the liberation just hours before from rebel fighters who held the town for almost a week.

Hundreds of civilians weighed down with baggage, some balancing mattresses rolled up tight on their heads, flood back into the town, after rebels were forced from their positions by the army and fled.

Bor, state capital of South Sudan's power-key eastern state of Jonglei, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital Juba, was seized by forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar a week ago.

Government troops entered Bor on Tuesday just before dark, with fighting to finally retake the town continuing throughout the night.

Occasional shots still rang out on Wednesday afternoon, as soldiers from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) said they were hunting down possible hold-out rebels to secure the town.

The chaos caused by the rebels is everywhere to see.

Shops are looted, houses smashed down, while in the office of the governor -- used by the rebels as a base during their occupation -- windows have been bashed in and doors ripped off their hinges.

Huge piles of papers are scattered on the floor and covered in boot marks.

"We captured Bor yesterday evening... but there was still shooting throughout the night until around dawn," soldier Simon Deng told an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent, visiting the town Wednesday afternoon on a government-sponsored trip.

Bor's capture put an end to nearly a week-long siege of the town, that forced over 17,000 desperate civilians to seek shelter and protection at the overstretched United Nations peacekeeping compound, severely impacting limited food and supplies.

Peacekeepers had feared an assault like that which took place last week on a remote U.N. outpost in Jonglei's Akobo, in which two Indian blue helmets were killed when some 2,000 gunnies stormed the base to massacre at least 20 civilians sheltering there.

Vowing not to let gunnies breach the compound in Bor, U.N. peacekeepers had spent days bolstering fortifications ahead of the army assault.

During rebel control, four United States servicemen were maimed in an aborted mission to evacuate American citizens from the town when gunfire hit their three aircraft, with the mission finally completed a day later on Sunday.

Now, some civilians wave their hands in the air, the women ululating at the soldiers from the SPLA driving past, shouting the South Sudanese civil war-era chants of support, "SPLA-oyee!" (oh yes).
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:02 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
South Africa's right still fears post-Mandela apocalypse
[The Citizen] "The loss of power in 1994 was difficult for these people,"
meaning the fellas waving the 3 Sevens flag
said Fransjohan Pretorius, history professor at the University of Pretoria.
Well professor, you must admit a single payer party system does have it's downsides.
"They lived in a dream world then, and they prefer to continue living in that dream world."
Bybel and gun toting nut case, minority fringe types I'd reckon. Leave them alone, perhaps they'll have their boerewors and beer and simply go away peacefully.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2013 03:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Those clowns are still around? Thought that had died out.
Posted by: john frum || 12/26/2013 10:40 Comments || Top||

#2  john, "died out" or killed off?
Posted by: AlanC || 12/26/2013 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  AFAIK its been predominantly black South Africans whom have been threatening violent race war + anti-White, Aligned genocide on the Net.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/26/2013 21:36 Comments || Top||


U.N. Force Fires on Ugandan Rebels in DR Congo after Deadly Attack
[An Nahar] Helicopters of a special U.N. force in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
Wednesday fired on Ugandan rebels to help government troops retake the town of Kamango after an attack that killed civilians.

"South African helicopters in the U.N. intervention force were asked by FARDC (the DR Congo army) to give them support to recapture Kamango," said a senior officer with the U.N. mission to DR Congo (MONUSCO) who declined to be identified by name.

"We have already taken back Kamango," said Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Amuli, a FARDC army front man in North-Kivu province, the mineral-rich but volatile region plagued by a number of gangs.

Amuli admitted that at the time of the attack on Kamango the Congolese forces "withdrew because they were outnumbered."

Teddy Kataliko, head of the civil society in the Beni region where Kamango is located, as well as the MONUSCO officer, could not confirm to Agence La Belle France Presse the retaking of the town.

The civil organization blamed the initial attack on the Islamist Ugandan rebel group ADF-Nalu in collaboration with Uganda's army. It is one of the oldest but least known gangs based in eastern DR Congo.

"We have 10 people kidnapped, 11 civilians and five soldiers maimed, and several civilian killed, as well as homes burned, by the attackers," Kataliko earlier told AFP.

He also said the attackers were "now heading towards the town of Nobili," on the Congolese-Ugandan border, where more than 150,000 people have taken refuge from the fighting.

"We believe there is the risk of a massacre and that's why we are asking to establish a humanitarian corridor," he said, making an appeal to the government to come to the aid of those people.

ADF-Nalu stands for Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda and is considered the only Islamist organization in the region.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
No Gulag for you - Russia drops charges against Greenpeace activists
Posted by: Ulinetch Angomoper7916 || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I'm pleased and relieved the charges have been dropped, but we should not have been charged at all."

You ain't out yet, asshole. I'd keep my mouth shut until you are...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/26/2013 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Awww- I was hoping they would get to roleplay "A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich". It would have been such an educational experience, 25 years for Anti-Soviet Russian Hooliganism!
Posted by: Nguard || 12/26/2013 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Message delivered.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2013 1:44 Comments || Top||

#4  I posted this after clearing my cache, didn't check my nym at the time.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/26/2013 6:00 Comments || Top||

#5  "and you may swim home whenever you choose..."
Posted by: Grunter || 12/26/2013 11:15 Comments || Top||

#6  I could be wrong (and usually am) but I would expect (hope?) that they've been quietly told that the next boatload of protesters approaching a Russian installation will find themselves communing with Davy Jones.
Posted by: PBMcL || 12/26/2013 11:41 Comments || Top||

#7  You ain't out yet, asshole.

There's always time to lose their paperwork.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/26/2013 12:40 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China haunted by Mao's myth
That a man under house arrest in Beijing can publish this is remarkable:

The 20th century saw three great political myths. The myths of Hitler and Stalin have been annihilated, but the myth of Mao Zedong still haunts China today.

It won't be hard to give a comprehensive evaluation of Mao Zedong, so we can get a clear picture of what he actually achieved.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Ulinetch Angomoper7916 || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  HHHMMMM, HHHHHMMM, intehwesting, Mao's "57 Communes" = Bammer's "57 States"???

just wonderin'.

* See also WORLD MILITARY FORUM > [Telegraph.UK] IN CHINA, CHAIRMAN MAO STILL IS BIGGER THAN JESUS.

Which may be why China may be [divinely?]struck by the same asteroid chunk[s) which striketh the OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRA Global SSR???

[1960-70's = 1980's, 2013 MADONNA "I SUFFER THE SAME" here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/26/2013 2:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Power is truth and legitimacy

A fundamental principle of the Left.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2013 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  They raised three generations to believe in the myth, they can let isolated people like this rant without worrying that it's going to affect anything.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/26/2013 10:06 Comments || Top||

#4  ...sort of like tagging Lincoln as a Democrat.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2013 11:20 Comments || Top||


Europe
Outrage in Ukraine after Brutal Attack on Opposition Reporter
[An Nahar] Unknown assailants have savagely beaten a dogged Ukrainian journalist who has taken part in pro-EU rallies, triggering outrage among the opposition locked in a confrontation with President Viktor Yanukovych.

Tetyana Chornovil, who writes for the Ukrainska Pravda opposition website, was attacked overnight Tuesday outside the capital Kiev, police said in a statement, citing the journalist.

The prominent journalist, known for her critical reports about Yanukovych and brass hats, was driving to Kiev when she noticed she was being followed by a car.

"The driver of the suspicious car began to push her to the side. When she stopped, several men who were following her broke the back window of her car, pulled her out and started beating her," police said in a statement.

"After that she was thrown into a ditch," police said, adding she was found next to her vehicle shortly after midnight.

President Yanukovych condemned the attack and ordered Interior Minister Vitali Zakharchenko to find those responsible.

Later in the day Zakharchenko said three suspects in the beating had been identified and two of them incarcerated
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!

Police said its "most experienced" Sherlocks were probing the attack on the 34-year-old, who has participated in weeks-long pro-EU protests against Yanukovych.

Chornovil herself said there were "at least two" assailants. "I started running, they began pursuing me," she said in video comments posted on the Ukrainska Pravda website.

"They were hitting me on the head, they were not saying anything, they were just hitting," said the young woman, her face bruised and swollen.

The news site said, citing relatives, that Chornovil was hospitalized with a broken nose, a concussion and multiple bruises.

The attack on the journalist comes after a local pro-EU activist was stabbed in both thighs in the eastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday evening.

The latest assault caused outrage among opposition leaders, who have been locked in a standoff with Yanukovych over his decision to scrap key political and free trade agreements with the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
last month.

Several hundred protesters on Wednesday gathered outside the seat of the interior minister, calling for his resignation. Some of the protesters held up pictures of Chornovil.

"Today they nearly killed Tanya Chornovil and this should be the last drop of blood, the last manifestation of cruelty towards our people which we have all allowed through our inaction," locked away
Please don't kill me!
former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in a statement.

"Police and bandidos together are roughing up those who do not suit the authorities -- that's what the dictatorial regimes in Africa and Latin America did," opposition politician Andriy Shevchenko said on Twitter.

World boxing champion and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko posted on Twitter pictures of a bloodied Chornovil as well as of several journalists injured in recent festivities between protesters and police.

"The price of freedom of the press in Ukraine now thx to the system put in place by our current government," said the message next to the pictures.

The opposition has called for the resignation of Zakharchenko over police brutality and corruption but Yanukovych has refused to sack him.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In 20th century journalists received a quasi-sacred status---which they, and their fellow travelers in academia, used to turn a marginal political ideology into a mainstream. I'm glad that 21st century shapes up to be different.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2013 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  journalists squandered any credibility by becoming de facto political opponents
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2013 8:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Opponents of only one side Frank. It is now virtually de jure partisanism on the part of the "journalists".
Posted by: AlanC || 12/26/2013 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Tetyana Chornovil, who writes for the Ukrainska Pravda opposition website, was attacked overnight Tuesday outside the capital Kiev

Did it happen outside a cabaret internet cafe?
Posted by: Pappy || 12/26/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Bet her costs are funded by the EUSSR i.e. extorted from the taxpayers of Europe.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Erdogan Sees President as Media Report Cabinet Reshuffle Imminent
[An Nahar] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saw President Abdullah Gul late Wednesday amid expectations he was about to reshuffle his cabinet following the resignation of three ministers amid a high-level graft scandal.

Gul said Tuesday that Erdogan was preparing to replace several of his ministers. On Wednesday, Turkey's interior, economy and environment ministers quit the government, with the latter also calling on Erdogan to step down.

After announcing his own resignation, Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar raised the stakes by calling on Erdogan to follow suit. It marks the first time Erdogan has faced such a challenge from a minister in his own Justice and Development Party (AKP).

"I am stepping down as minister and politician," Bayraktar told the private NTV television. "I believe the prime minister should also resign."

Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Interior Minister Muammer Guler also announced they were quitting on Wednesday.

The sons of both ministers are among the two dozen people who have been charged as part of a wide-ranging bribery and corruption probe that has ensnared close government allies and top businessmen, including the chief executive of state-owned Halkbank.

Bayraktar's son was also incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
last week, but has not been formally charged and has been released pending trial.

Those caught up in the police raids are suspected of numerous offenses including accepting and facilitating bribes for construction projects and illegally smuggling gold to Iran.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Captor arrested; girl rescued
[DAWN] LAHORE: Chuhng police claimed on Wednesday to have tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
a kidnapper and recovered from his custody a three and a half years old girl who went missing from her Kibria Town residence three months ago.

According to a blurb issued here on Wednesday, a police team raided a house in Kachi Kothi in Kasur, took Safdar into custody and recovered Malaika, daughter of Muhammad Aslam, from his custody.

According to the blurb, Aslam had met Capital City Police Officer Chaudhry Shafique Ahmad a few days ago and complained that the police had failed to trace his daughter.

During interrogation, the suspect told the police he had kidnapped Malaika from outside her residence, took her to his village and changed her name as Sana.

Safdar said he had planned to get the girl married with his brother after a few years.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Minister urges uniform curriculum
[DAWN] The government has decided to set up a National Curriculum Commission (NCC) to ensure that the provinces follow a uniform course of study in schools and colleges.

The Minister of State for Education, Training and Standards in Higher Education, Muhammad Balighur Rehman, has written a letter to the chief ministers, saying that lack of coordination among the provincial curriculum development departments is creating discrepancies in the quality and content of the courses.

He said the proposed NCC would have members from federal and provincial governments and it would be headed on a rotating basis.

Mr Rehman had said in a recent session of the National Assembly that the provinces would be producing students of different standards because of differences in their curriculum.

In the letter, he said that he wanted a forum where experts from all over the country could produce a uniform curriculum for schools and colleges to cater to the national requirements.

According to sources, the provinces are yet to respond to the proposal.

Before the 18th Amendment enforced in 2010, the federal education ministry was responsible for curriculum development.

When asked to comment on the move, Dr A.H. Nayyar, who has extensively worked in the field, said academicians generally believed that the curriculum development should be centralised. Under the 18th Amendment, the provinces prepare textbooks for their schools and colleges.

A reversal of this clause would require the difficult task of getting another constitutional amendment approved by parliament.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


PM Sharif among billionaire lawmakers
[DAWN] With his assets growing rapidly Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
has joined the list of a very few politicians who are billionaires, according to statements of assets and liabilities of parliamentarians for the year 2012-13 released by the Election Commission of Pakistain.

The net value of assets owned by Mr Sharif rises to Rs1.71 billion from Rs261.6 million he had declared at the time of filing nomination papers for the May elections.

He has put the current value of his six agricultural properties (over 1,700 kanals) in Lahore and Sheikhupura at Rs1.08bn and that of a house in Upper Mall, Lahore, at Rs250m. His wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, owns a bungalow on Hall Road in Murree worth Rs100m. She owes Rs1.75m to two individuals.

Prime Minister Sharif owns Abbas and Company, a business venture started with an amount of Rs10,000. The company's present value is shown as unchanged, but a loan of Rs84,485 is outstanding against it. He possesses shares worth Rs33m in nine industrial units. He has received Rs197.4m remittances from his son Hussain Nawaz.

Mr Sharif owns two Mercedes cars, a Land Cruiser and a tractor. He and his wife have Rs138m in 10 bank accounts.

The other billionaires in the National Assembly are Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and three members from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
-- Khial Zaman, Raja Amir Zaman and Sajid Hussain Tori.

Khaqan Abbasi has Rs900m shares in a private airline. The value of his inherited property is Rs100m. He has Rs2m in three bank accounts and Rs500,000 cash in hand.

Sajid Tori owns 10 properties and has described the market value of only one of them as "billions of rupees".

Khial Zaman has put the value of his assets at Rs2.35bn. He owns four properties abroad worth Rs1.2bn.

Amir Zaman owns nine properties amounting to Rs1.88bn. He owns a plaza in F-8 Islamabad worth Rs800m, a house in F-7 Islamabad (Rs600m), shops and flats in Rawalpindi (Rs350m) and shops in G-9 Islamabad (Rs120m).

BNP-Awami chief Mir Israrullah Zehri owns over 51,000 acres of land. He also owns bungalows in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and Quetta and has Rs1m in his bank account.

Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao owns assets worth little over Rs53m, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
Rs7.3m, Farooq Sattar of the MQM Rs3.6m, PML-Z chief Ejazul Haq Rs10m and Pir Sadruddin Shah of the PML-F Rs395m.

Mehmood Khan Achakzai has agricultural income of Rs20m a year. He has two bullet-proof cars and four rifles.

Retired Captain Safdar, son-in-law of Prime Minister Sharif, has also mentioned in his assets a BMW car gifted to his wife by someone in the UAE.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Southeast Asia
Thai PM unveils reform plan, protesters still threaten poll
[Egypt Independent] Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra unveiled a plan on Wednesday to create an independent reform council to try to appease opponents who, angered by her billionaire family's political dominance, are calling for her resignation.

The proposal, which comes after weeks of anti-government protests that have rallied more than 200,000 people at their peak, could be put into play soon and would be free of government interference, Yingluck said in a televised address.

Yingluck is caretaker premier after calling a snap election for February 2 in a bid to deflate the protests. Her compromise offer was immediately rejected by the protesters, who draw strength from Bangkok's middle class and elite and who dismiss her as a puppet of her self-exiled brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin and Yingluck have their power bases among the vote-rich north and northeast but their opponents accuse former premier Thaksin of manipulating the rural poor in those areas to entrench his power.

Yingluck's plan calls for a council of 499 eminent Thais, chosen by a wider group of 2,000, to examine reform of Thailand's political system.

It looks similar to the unelected "people's council" protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has proposed to replace the government, with one crucial difference. Under Yingluck's proposal, the reform council would operate alongside an elected government, not an appointed one.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:



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Thu 2013-12-26
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Wed 2013-12-25
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