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Qaeda threatens China over Uighur unrest
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
9 00:00 Waldemar Slainter9268 [7] 
1 00:00 Iblis [5] 
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2 00:00 Phil_B [4] 
2 00:00 DoDo [4] 
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [3] 
3 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [7] 
1 00:00 Mitch H. [7] 
3 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [4] 
5 00:00 trailing wife [7] 
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [9] 
1 00:00 rjschwarz [7] 
7 00:00 spiffo [7] 
3 00:00 JohnQC [5] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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1 00:00 JosephMendiola [6]
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2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [7]
10 00:00 rhodesiafever [4]
2 00:00 sludge [8]
2 00:00 Bobby [9]
10 00:00 James [12]
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Page 6: Politix
2 00:00 Dale [9]
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5 00:00 Nimble Spemble [4]
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9 00:00 Dale [8]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Worst Place in the UK Changed
We could apply this name to any number of august thoroughfares here in the States, particularly in DC.
In the end, the constant jokes were just too much to take for the long-suffering residents of Butt Hole Road.

Groups of youths used to visit the street and bare their backsides for photographs while many delivery firms simply refused to believe it existed. And coachloads of amused American tourists frequently turned up to view the sign after it appeared in a US book.

And so despairing households in the suburban street in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, decided that the road's name simply had to change. They spent £300 to change their address to the rather more palatable Archers Way.

Resident Peter Sutton said he originally thought the street's name would be fun - but admits he soon got tired of the jokes. Mr Sutton moved into the house vacated in 2003 by Paul and Lisa Allott, who were forced to move after becoming fed up with their street's name.

Mr Allott said: 'We'd heard every single gag there is and we'd had enough. We've had people flashing their bottoms for photographs by the drive, we've had people ringing us up with hilarious jokes about the street name and then we've had those who just don't believe us.

'All the other street names around here are quite sensible. I just can't see why they didn't call it Butt Hall Road, or something like that. I've no idea why it was named like this.'

Elizabeth Brennan, 77, who uses the street for access to her home, said: 'It was a bit tedious having the street laughed at all the time. The new name is much nicer.'

But an internet petition has already been started to change the road's name back again.

Butt Hole Road is believed to have been named after a communal water butt that was originally in the area. The road has been renamed Archers Way to refer to a medieval castle that is just half a mile away.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 07/16/2009 16:55 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a modern version of this
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/16/2009 17:10 Comments || Top||

#2  What has happened is an American slang term has recently come into common use in England.

When the street was named, people would have thought a butt was a water barrel.
Posted by: Phil_B || 07/16/2009 17:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, but water butts don't really associate with "holes", unless you have a now-non-functional water butt & a rapidly drying pool of mud around it.

Anyways, before "butt" meant ass it meant "target of a joke", and that meaning's contemporary with the water-barrel meaning. There was no point in time when "Butt Hole Road" was a particularly harmless or desirable address, if you ask me.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 07/16/2009 18:42 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand Pelosi Drive was a proposed alternative, but was scuttled as the *snicker* meanings were too close
Posted by: Frank G || 07/16/2009 19:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Regarding the word "butt", Etymology Online says:

"In sense of 'human posterior' it is recorded from 1450".

The "barrel" meaning dates to 1385.

Would be interesting to know when the street was named, but given the proximity of the two dates it's looking like Butt Hole might always have been intended to mean Butt Hole.
Posted by: Iblis || 07/16/2009 19:13 Comments || Top||

#6  It could be worse. The last Gropecunt Lane in England disappeared in 1561.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 07/16/2009 19:39 Comments || Top||

#7  butt also means an archery target - probably from the practice of using a barrel as a target - and a grouse shooting position - which may be the origin of this name.
Posted by: Phil_B || 07/16/2009 19:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Yes, but water butts don't really associate with "holes", unless you have a now-non-functional water butt & a rapidly drying pool of mud around it.

Actually...you would be wrong. Old fashioned barrels were filled through a hole in the side of the barrel. This hole was also called the "bung".

I kid you not. Lots of colorful colloquialisms related to barrels, bungs and such. Where do you think the phrase "over a barrel" came from?
Posted by: Waldemar Slainter9268 || 07/16/2009 20:50 Comments || Top||

#9  Correction, the hole was called the bung hole, the bung was the stopper that was driven in to plug the hole. Lovely language, English. ;)
Posted by: Waldemar Slainter9268 || 07/16/2009 20:54 Comments || Top||


Police believe Jackson was murdered: report
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Los Angeles Police Department is treating Michael Jackson's death as a homicide and is focusing on doctor Conrad Murray as a prime suspect, entertainment website TMZ reported Wednesday, a day after Jackson's sister, Latoya, told a British paper she believed her brother was murdered.

Although the King of Pop has been laid to rest there are still several unanswered questions that the Jackson family believes are linked to Murray's role in the final hours of Jackson's life. Murray's lawyers insist he has been cleared of wrongdoing.

TMZ cited "multiple law enforcement sources" and quoted them as saying "the evidence points to the anesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of Jackson's death," which the sources believe showed "plenty of powerful evidence" pointing to Murray, 51, as the person who administered the drug, known as Diprivan.

The evidence, TMZ said, includes items found in Jackson's rented mansion, including Propofol, an IV stand and an oxygen tank.

The drug is used to induce unconsciousness in hospital patients ahead of major surgery and experts say it should only be administered by a trained anesthesiologist.

Posted by: Fred || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Still trying for "Double Indemnity" I see.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/16/2009 22:05 Comments || Top||


Africa North
No Islamic attire by pool, Egypt tells Norwegian
Muslim woman says she is treated better in Europe than Cairo
Posted by: tipper || 07/16/2009 16:31 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Islamic full body condom. Don't leave Europe without it.
Posted by: Iblis || 07/16/2009 16:36 Comments || Top||


Arabia
UK firm pulls T-shirts insulting UAE, Islam
High-end UK retailer Harvey Nichols has come under fire after its Dubai store offended the UAE's Muslim values by selling T-shirts portraying a bulldog standing on the country's flag. The store was closed on Tuesday morning for a short time as staff removed the offending items, but photographs of the T-shirts had already been posted on the social internet forum Facebook, UAE daily the National reported on Thursday.

The bulldog is generally seen as a British icon, but a spokesman for the UK store told the National an error by the supplier had led to the wrong design being produced and delivered. The spokesman did not specify what the correct design was meant to be. "The store treats this as a serious issue and has ensured the appropriate disposal of the merchandise," a statement from the store said. "Harvey Nichols Dubai deeply regrets any offence or disrespect that may have been caused by the incorrect delivery."

Muslims see dogs as impure animals, and while the flag is a secular symbol, Islam teaches that respect should be given to things that people hold dear.

Arabs reacted angrily to the T-shirt blunder, saying the image was "insulting the culture and the dignity of the country". Others said they found the picture "really offensive", the newspaper reported. But Jihad Hashim Brown, who delivers the Friday sermon at the Maryam bint Sultan Mosque in Abu Dhabi, said the incident was unfortunate. He added: "These things happen."
Posted by: ryuge || 07/16/2009 10:40 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Yemen's religious police target massage parlors
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemeni religious police were out in force Tuesday in a major crackdown that saw many massage parlors and Chinese restaurants in the capital Sanaa shut down for allegedly promoting prostitution and vice.

The Yemeni religious police, modeled after Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, targeted popular tourist areas in Sanaa.

Authorities dragged Chinese women working in several spas and restaurants to the streets
Revenge for the Uighurs, perhaps?
and sealed the businesses after posting a sign reading "closed by the authorities," an eyewitness told Al Arabiya.

The number of Chinese restaurants and spas in the capital has increased significantly in the capital despite the fact that none of them have a legal work permits or Ministry of Health authorization, said an official who supervised the clampdown but spoke on condition of anonymity. "The way those places were increasing was very suspicious, too," he told Al Arabiya. "Within two months, around 50 of them were opened in Sanaa and all of them are run by foreign women who entered the country illegally."
That is queer, if true.
Another official who also requested his name be withheld also confirmed that there are documents and evidence that massage parlors were used as a façade for prostitution and that this is the main source of income. "These spas are not equipped like other health centers," he told Al Arabiya. "All that they are equipped with is Asian half-naked women and rooms with spot lights that are supposedly for massage but in fact are used for prostitution and drinking."

The crackdown comes in the wake of a new committee established in June 2008 to alert police about violations of Sharia, or Islamic, law and help track down places and people who spread "vice" in society.

The special panel of Islamic scholars and tribal chiefs, known as the Virtue and Vice Committee, is headed by Sheikh Abdul-Majeed al-Zindani, head of the Imam University in Sanaa and founder of the Saudi-based Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah.
Posted by: Fred || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet the number of prospective Jihadi dropped as the military age youth let off some pent up sexual frustration at the massage parlor.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 07/16/2009 16:10 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Zelaya calls for Honduras insurrection
Deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya has called for a popular insurrection in his country so he can be returned to power after soldiers removed him at gunpoint in June. "The Honduran people have the right to insurrection," said Zelaya, speaking in the neighboring Central American country of Guatemala.

Insurrection is a legitimate democratic right "when faced with a usurping government and a coup-supporting military," he added, urging his supporters in Honduras to strike, march and engage in civil disobedience because that is "a necessary process when the democratic order of a country is disrupted.

"I want to tell you to not leave the streets, that is the only space that they have not taken from us," he told a news conference alongside Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom.

Zelaya has issued an ultimatum to the interim government led by Roberto Micheletti that it must relinquish power within the week and demanding his own immediate restitution.

But in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, acting foreign minister Carlos Lopez said that authorities were still committed to talks aimed at finding a peaceful resolution with Zelaya on Friday in San Jose, mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. "We are not issuing threats," said Lopez, who emphasized that Micheletti's government was in control and the country was at peace. "We removed the curfew and the government has complete control of the territory."

Leaders of the new Honduran government regime, who have not been recognized by the international community, refuse to describe their move as a coup d'etat.
Because it isn't.
Honduras has become increasingly isolated by its neighbors, and the removal coup was roundly condemned by the United States.

Two days of talks last week mediated by Arias -- who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for helping resolve civil wars in Central America -- ended without any resolution to the stalemate, as the coup leaders insisted they would remain in power.

In San Jose, Arias again urged the parties to be patient. "Of course, I understand President Zelaya's desire... to return (to power in Honduras) as soon as possible, but experience tells me that he should be a little patient," Arias told reporters. "If not through dialogue, how else are we going to restore power to President Zelaya?"

Micheletti softened his position Tuesday, this time not excluding a meeting with Zelaya. "He is a former president of the country, an old friend of mine, and I will very gladly hold out my hand to him when the time comes, if he wishes to do so," Micheletti said.

The head of the Honduran army, General Romeo Vasquez, told AFP that Zelaya was exiled to avoid "deaths and injuries." Honduran security services "believed it would be dangerous to imprison him," Vasquez said, adding such a move "could have caused deaths and injuries" if his supporters had tried to free him.

"The consequences for the country would have been serious," he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We need an image here from the movie "Alien Insurrection".
Posted by: Lord garth || 07/16/2009 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Ok, that's it. Shoot the twit.
Posted by: mojo || 07/16/2009 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  They should have let his plane land when he tried to come back and shot him then. Missed opportunity.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 07/16/2009 11:55 Comments || Top||


Honduran interim leader says open to resigning
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - Interim Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti says he has offered to step down as long as ousted President Manuel Zelaya isn't allowed to return to power. Micheletti says the resignation offer was presented by a Honduran delegation in the United States, presumably to the U.S. government.

Micheletti made the comments Wednesday to reporters. Micheletti says he is "willing to leave office if at some point that decision is needed to bring peace and tranquility to the country, but without any return, and I stress that, of former President Zelaya."
Bad move: it makes it look as if the government of Honduras was in the wrong, and it wasn't.
It was unclear if the U.S. government had received the proposal to end the standoff over the country's June 28 coup.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meh, it makes him look like an interim president, which he is. He probably wants to get back to the legislature. They *are* running new elections, yes?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 07/16/2009 11:12 Comments || Top||

#2  May not be as bad as it seems, which isn't all that bad at all.

Credit to POTUS here if he keeps his Chicago cool. Let the critics (us) keep on him about hugging Hugo, but if he simply does nothing while the Hondurans issue press releases, they get their election, their new president, and their goverment back in short order.

Let's hope this was orchestrated with our input. I suspect we'll see if and when and. most importantly, HOW, Zelaya's return is handled. Anything other than unending defiance and open insurrection will be a success.

Again, we're calling Hugo (and Castro's) bluff, which shouldn't be hard.

This could be a very nice, but very small, plus for the current administration. And a huge gain for Honduras.

Si se Pueda!
Posted by: Phineth the Anonymous8743 || 07/16/2009 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, he meant to do that.

Pffft.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 07/16/2009 14:46 Comments || Top||

#4  The key to all of this is in the answers to two questions. Who installed him? Do they have the power to uninstall him? If he was installed by a constitutionally legal component of the government and they can discharge him then I'd say that Honduras is operating under law better than we are at the moment.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 07/16/2009 14:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Interim Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti was installed by the legislature and sworn in by the
Honduran Supreme Court.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/16/2009 23:54 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian rights activist Natalya Estemirova murdered
Snip, duplicate.
Posted by: tipper || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fundraising Corruption at Human Rights Watch

Perspective is everything
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/16/2009 5:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Bloomberg TV covered this, which surprised me. They even noted the number of activists killed over the last year, that several were shot down in Moscow, and that none of the crimes were solved.

Posted by: DoDo || 07/16/2009 13:08 Comments || Top||


Medvedev condemns murder of crusading activist
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed "outrage" at the murder of a prominent human rights activist, Natalia Estemirova. He has ordered an inquiry into the killing of Ms Estemirova, who was investigating alleged abuses by government-backed militias in Chechnya.
They'll discover that it was a rogue Chechnyan outfit that did it. Wait and see ...
She was abducted and bundled into a van as she left her home in the Chechen capital, Grozny, on Wednesday. Her body was found in neighbouring Ingushetia, with gunshot wounds.

Ms Estemirova, 50, had been gathering evidence - for the Russian human rights organisation, Memorial - of a campaign of house-burnings by government-backed militiamen.

The pro-Moscow Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, said the perpetrators of the murder "deserve no support and must be punished as the cruellest of criminals", according to Russian news agency, Interfax.

But the chairman of Memorial, Oleg Orlov, has already accused Mr Kadyrov of involvement in the killing. In a statement on its website, he said: "I know, I am sure of it, who is guilty for the murder of Natalia...His name is Ramzan Kadyrov."

Mr Orlov alleged that Mr Kadyrov, a former Chechen rebel turned Kremlin ally, had previously threatened Ms Estemirova, and considered her "a personal enemy".

In Washington, the White House issued a statement saying the US was "deeply disturbed and saddened by the... brutal slaying".

"Such a heinous crime sends a chilling signal to Russian civil society and the international community and illustrates the tragic deterioration of security and the rule of law in the North Caucasus over the last several months," said the White House.
Thanks Bambi. Did you let this interfere with your sucking up to Medvedev and Putin?
Ms Estemirova had worked with the activists Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in 2006, and Stanislav Markelov, who was killed in January this year. In 2007 she was awarded the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Prize, and had also received awards from the Swedish and European parliaments.

The New-York based human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Ms Estemirova had been working on "extremely sensitive" cases of human rights abuses in Chechnya. "There is no shred of doubt that she was targeted due to her professional activity," said Tanya Lokshina, HRW Russian researcher in Moscow.

BBC Moscow correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, who met Ms Estemirova in Chechnya just six weeks ago, says she was engaged in very important and dangerous work. She was investigating hundreds of cases of alleged kidnapping, torture and extra-judicial killings by Russian government troops or militias in Chechnya.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow! Those are some BIG crocodile tears there, Dmitry.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 07/16/2009 1:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover that critics of my government have been offed.
__ Dmi
Posted by: Elmomoper Squank7752 || 07/16/2009 15:21 Comments || Top||

#3  "Medvedev condemns murder of crusading activist"

Wink, wink....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/16/2009 22:17 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Eight Australian Freemasons spend a night in the cells in Fiji
EIGHT Australians spent a night in jail charged with sorcery after Fijian police raided a Freemasons meeting. Frightened villagers called police after they saw the group's equipment, which is believed to have included a sword, mace and Bible.

The Australians were among 14 men who were arrested and then freed after Fijian military dictator Frank Bainimarama granted them an official pardon. The Primie Minister intervened after the group contacted the Fijian Attorney-General's office.

The group was held at Nasudi police station for 24 hours after their arrest at Denarau Island on Tuesday night until they received news of the top-level intervention.

"An officer came in and said, 'We have been ordered by the prime minister's department to release you, however, the matter will still remain under investigation', and the Prime Minister himself is coming to the office later in the day to review the evidence," a member of the group, who didn't want to be named, said.

A New Zealand man, who was also among the group, blamed "dopey village people" for the raid on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed 14 people, including the eight Australians, were detained for convening a Masonic meeting without the right permit.
Posted by: tipper || 07/16/2009 14:23 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Crude Oil Rises After Equities Rally and U.S. Stockpiles Fall
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for a second day as equities climbed and a government report showed a bigger-than-forecast drop in oil supplies in the U.S., the world’s largest energy consumer.

“The huge rally across the board in equities helped boost crude oil,” said Mike Sander, an investment adviser with Sander Capital in Seattle. “The weekly EIA report showed a drop in crude oil inventories by 2.8 million barrels which lent support to higher crude prices as well.”

Crude oil for August delivery rose as much as 47 cents, or 0.8 percent to $62.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $61.80 at 9:54 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, it gained $2.02, or 3.4 percent, to settle at $61.54.

Crude stockpiles were forecast to decline 2.1 million barrels, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Refineries operated at 87.9 percent of capacity, the highest since August.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  VARIOUS > US DEBT AT/ABOVE US$1.0TRILYUHN.

* IIRC FOX NEWS AM > GLEN BECK Prog > Proposed US {"Tax the Rich"]"UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE" will cost US Taxpayers approxi US$1.0Trilyuhn over 10 years, wid COSTS JUMPING EXORBITANTLY AFTER FIRST FOUR YEARS.

BECK > UHC MEANS WASHINGTON WILL CONTROL ANUTHER 1/6TH OF US ECON = APPROXI < = 2/3's OF US ECON??

US GDP > approxi US$13-14.1 Trilyuhn
US DEBT > approxi US$11.0 Trilyuhn

IOW, US DEBT BECOMS US$12.0TRILYUHN - SSSSHHHHHHH, IFF NOT HIGHER, WID UHC???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/16/2009 0:59 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Senior KKK member arrested in south Tel Aviv
A high-ranking white supremacist on the run from US federal authorities was arrested on Monday night in a south Tel Aviv hideout. 33-year-old Micky Louis Mayon, one of America's 100 most wanted criminals, and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was arrested in a Florentine apartment by the National Immigration Authority's newly formed Oz enforcement unit.

Mayon is wanted in the US on charges of racist assaults, setting fire to vehicles belonging to federal agents, and a host of violent incidents.
No doubt he thought he was a sooper-genius hiding out in Israel, but all his Stormfront buddies are laughing at him right now.
The Oz unit was acting on intelligence relayed by Interpol, which informed authorities in Israel that Mayon had entered Israel illegally. He is said to have often moved apartments in order to evade police, but his efforts proved fruitless on Monday when a delicate operation by the Oz unit saw officers break into his hideout and arrest him.

Oz unit members have the powers of a police officer but can only use them in cases of illegal entry into the country.

Mayon was the subject of an American arrest operation in November 2007, but officers soon realized he had flown to Israel on a one-way ticket. Earlier that year, he reportedly fired his gun in the air repeatedly after being involved in an argument with an African-American. US authorities have described him as a dangerous fugitive.

Oz Unit head Tziki Sela said Mayon was surprised to be arrested, but cooperated with the officers. He has been transferred to a Holon jail facility, where he underwent an immigration hearing. He was then taken to an Israel Prisons Service jail facility.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...cause white is so in for cross dressing burka wearers this year.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/16/2009 8:56 Comments || Top||

#2  So, why did he pick Israel for a hideout? Seems like he would choose a place friendlierly to his cause and one with less efficient police enforcement and more inclined toward bribery. That would have been my choice if I was in his miserable skin.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 07/16/2009 14:40 Comments || Top||

#3  So, why did he pick Israel for a hideout?

File under idiot of the day.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/16/2009 19:39 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
H1N1 Threat at Hajj
Iran's official Fars news agency Wednesday reported that a 57-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man who had recently returned from a pilgrimage
to Saudi Arabia
tested positive for the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. This brings Iran's tally to three cases.

Every year about two million Muslims go on pilgrimage to Mecca
in 2009, the Great Hajj will be in late November
Peak time to spread influenza...

-- the holiest place in Islam. As well as the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which all Muslims are required to make at least once if they can afford to, the faithful can also make a lesser pilgrimage to Mecca, known as umra, at any time of the year.

The latest cases highlights concerns that the Muslim pilgrimage will hasten the spread of swine flu.
Did you hear that the swine flu innoculation is cultured from Jewish blood? Anyone who gets the shot automatically becomes a Jew... forever!!! Even the president of Iran himself, Ahmadenijad, cannot shed the taint of his Jewish blood, and I think that was only his grandfather or great-grandfather. But, shhh! don't tell anyone, 'k?
Posted by: Lord garth || 07/16/2009 09:16 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ha! The Periwinkle Princess strikes again!
Posted by: Bobby || 07/16/2009 12:37 Comments || Top||

#2  The big risk is of co-infections of H5N1 bird flu and H1N1 swine flu. When (and note I don't say 'if') that happens the merde will really hit the fan.
Posted by: Phil_B || 07/16/2009 18:32 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka cancels $200m China, Pakistan weapons purchase
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has cancelled a $200 million purchase of ammunition from Pakistan and China after the end of its war with the Tamil Tigers, the island nation's new top military commander said on Wednesday.

General Sarath Fonseka, who as army commander was one of the chief architects of the campaign to destroy the separatist Tigers and end a 25-year war, was named to the newly created post of chief of defence staff on Sunday. "We stopped the orders of $200 million worth of ammunition from China and Pakistan with the war's end," Fonseka said at his swearing-in. He is now in overall command of the military.

The order would have been enough ammunition to fire guns and heavy weapons at the rate seen during the climax of the war, which ended on May 18, Fonseka said. About 800 members of a breakaway Tiger group have also joined the armed forces, he added.

Sri Lanka is currently seeking a $1.9 billion International Monetary Fund loan to bolster foreign exchange reserves and solve a balance-of-payments problem, and diplomats are closely watching to see if the military remains a top government priority. Fonseka's promotion, and that of navy chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda to the new post of the president's national security adviser, means the military will still have an influential role in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration. Fonseka was nearly killed by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in 2006, but in three months returned to his post as army commander and launched the offensive that would spell the end of the LTTE.

Western diplomats privately have frowned on plans to add 50,000 people to the security services, saying that Sri Lanka should be spending its money on post-war rebuilding. Overall defence spending this year was estimated at up to $1.74 billion, accounting for 17 percent of the country's total estimated expenditure. The forecast came before the end of a war that has always been a drag on Sri Lanka's $40 billion economy.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's worth a raised eyebrow. Is this with the approval of the Chinese, or did their new pearl just stiff the would-be Indian Ocean hegemons?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 07/16/2009 10:54 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
All passengers believed dead in Iran plane crash
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Iranian airliner en route to Armenia caught fire mid-air and plunged flaming into farmland Wednesday, killing all 168 people on board in the worst air disaster in Iran in years.

Witnesses and state media said the Russian-made Caspian Airlines plane was ablaze before smashing into the ground and exploding near a village northeast of Tehran shortly after taking off from the capital's international airport.

Television images showed a vast crater at the disaster site littered with debris of plane parts, shoes and clothes in Iran's worst plane crash in six years.

The aircraft, travelling to Armenia's capital Yerevan from Tehran, crashed near the northwestern city of Qazvin shortly before noon (0730 GMT) after about 16 minutes in the air.

"The Tupolev plane has been totally destroyed and the corpses, unfortunately, have been totally burnt and destroyed," Qazvin police commander Massoud Jafarinasab told the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Iranian television showed footage of debris and body parts and a smoking trench with mangled pieces of metal scattered around. Smoke rose from the site as police and bystanders gathered around.

Senior Iranian provincial official, Sirous Saberi, said the aircraft had had technical problems and tried to make an emergency landing. "Unfortunately the plane caught fire in the air and it crashed," he told Fars.
Posted by: Fred || 07/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Russian Safety Standards
Inshallah Maintenance
Azeri Terrorism

Armenia has been buddying up to Iran and I doubt the 20 million Azeris in Iran aren't too thrilled about that.

BTW, Iran portrays the Azeris as being like the Scots are to the English. Happy partners in nation building for 100s of years. I suspect they are more like the Irish.
Posted by: Phil_B || 07/16/2009 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe just an accident. But I can't help wondering about the names on the passenger manifest.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/16/2009 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Steve S. - like maybe match missing protesters?
Posted by: 3dc || 07/16/2009 4:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Russian Safety Standards
Inshallah Maintenance
Azeri Terrorism


Crappy Russian aircraft, dubious spares, and government cash diverted to Al Quds instead of its airlines.

Posted by: Pappy || 07/16/2009 9:18 Comments || Top||

#5  like maybe match missing protesters?

I was thinking more along the lines of someone working in Iran's newly sprouted nuclear. A little vacation for the team, maybe? Or perhaps a power play between competing mullahs.

Of course, as Pappy points out, there are some 'usual suspects' for a cause rather than mischief. Horses rather than zebras, right? Still we love our conspiracy theories. And you *know* how sneaky the Juice are!
Posted by: SteveS || 07/16/2009 11:15 Comments || Top||

#6  It would be interesting to find out the passengers on that plane.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 07/16/2009 12:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Is this how Iran got rid of the protest organizers?
Posted by: spiffo || 07/16/2009 15:07 Comments || Top||



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Thu 2009-07-16
  Qaeda threatens China over Uighur unrest
Wed 2009-07-15
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