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13 More Killed as South Yemen Clashes Rage into 5th Day
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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3 09:44 Beavis [336064]
-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
"Climate change" facade continues to crack
Note the CYA headline at the link....
The island nation of Kiribati is one of the countries most threatened by rising sea levels.
If that ever happens, they mean...
However, many of the floods it has seen may be due to a mix of natural variability and human activities, complicating the picture of how rising sea levels are endangering Kiribati and other island nations.
There is always the possibility, unadmitted by our MSNBC journalist, that the seas aren't rising at all. But do go on, dear.
[L]and reclamation at Tarawa -- which involved filling in areas behind sea walls -- increased land in some locations but aggravated erosion and flooding in others, such as the atoll's airport.
Ah, 'man-made' land erosion?
Mining barrier reefs and beaches for construction material can also make the shoreline vulnerable to extreme tides and storms.
You don't say.
Moreover, the building of causeways between islets has altered how these small islands evolve, diverting sediment to some while eroding it away from others. For instance, the loss of the lagoon islet of Bikeman, a once-popular resting spot for fisherman near Betio, is due primarily to the construction of the Betio-Bairiki causeway, and not rising sea levels.

Donner wants to avoid the false impression that Tarawa is subject to constant flooding because of sea-level rise.
If he does, he's the only one....
"When scientists or environmentalists use a photo of a flooded village in Kiribati as evidence of sea-level rise, they open the door for critics of climate science
knee-jerk stupidity,"
Donner said. "We can't attribute an individual flooding event on sea level rise any more than we can attribute an individual heat wave to global warming."
Has anyone told the Goracle, et al.?
Donner detailed these findings April 24 in the journal Eos.
Never heard of it. An "honest" journal, or a crack in the armor? We report, you deride.
Posted by: Barbara || 05/17/2012 09:38 || Comments || Link || [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mods, feel free to add appropriate graphics - I can't see them from my work computer (which blocks a lot of stuff).
Posted by: Barbara || 05/17/2012 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I gave you an earthquake, Barbara. Poor Al Gore doesn't rate anymore.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/17/2012 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Simon Donner, a climate scientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, recommended a nice hike across the Rocky Mountains this winter. "We could call it a party," Donner said.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 05/17/2012 11:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Lord Garth for snark of the day!
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/17/2012 11:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Is the ocean rising or is the continental plate sinking. Plates aren't static.

Most likely this is all about the rising and falling levels of research grants....
Posted by: Chemist || 05/17/2012 13:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Duh...not continental plate....ocean plate
Posted by: Chemist || 05/17/2012 13:49 Comments || Top||

#7  (psst...the Sierra Nevada, LG)
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth, semi-pedantic fusspot || 05/17/2012 16:55 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL, good one Garth.

* ION FREEREPUBLIC > [Rush Limbaugh.com]ENVIRO-IDIOTS: TWO EARTHS NEEDED BY 2030.

versus

* PRAVDA > HUMANS [read, USA = Americans] DESTROY A THIRD A EARTH'S BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES IN 40 YEARS.

IIRC, as measured for between the Years 1968 -2008 - in addition, actually up to FIVE PLANETS may be needed for the rest of the World to par wid US-specific consumption rates.

HMMMMM, HMMMMM, well, I am reminded of personal dreams/visions from childhood where I "saw" one close Planet in the Skies oer Central-Southern Guam, + another Purplish-colored Planet oer GUAM-WESTPAC REGION.

As per the NET + YOUTUBE, the Purple Planet thingy may be the incoming NIBIRU = PLANET X???

or JUPITER???

* WORLD NEWS > SOLAR MINIMUM MAY CAUSE ABRUPT CLIMATE CONDITIONS. Sudden changes.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/17/2012 22:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Taylor says prosecutors paid witnesses
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Convicted Liberian warlord Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
has accused UN prosecutors of paying witnesses to testify against him as he addressed a war crimes court in The Hague.

Taylor, 64, was found guilty by the UN-backed court last month for aiding and abetting war crimes.

"Witnesses were paid, coerced and in many cases threatened with prosecution if they did not give statements," the former Liberian president told the Special Court for Sierra Leone at a hearing ahead of his sentencing on May 30.

Dressed in a light grey suit, white shirt and blue tie, Taylor addressed the court for 30 minutes from the witness box -- his last chance to state his case before judges pronounce a sentence, expected to be delivered in two weeks' time.

Mr Taylor insisted that he "pushed hard for peace" in the neighbouring country. "I was convinced that unless peace came to Sierra Leone, Liberia could not go forward."

And he expressed his "sadness and deepest sympathies at the crimes suffered by victims and their families in Sierra Leone."

Once one of the most powerful men in west Africa, Taylor was found guilty last month of arming and aiding rebels who killed and mutilated thousands of people in Sierra Leone during a decade-long civil war that killed 120,000.
Posted by: Fred || 05/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
BNP reels from prison shock
[Bangla Daily Star] The BNP, which had been threatening to launch tough anti-government movements, suddenly finds itself in deep trouble as a record number of big shots of the party and its associated bodies have been put behind bars in an arson case.

Leaders of all tiers of the party got "puzzled and panicky" when 33 top leaders of the BNP-led 18-party alliance, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, were sent to jail yesterday.

Talking to The Daily Star, party insiders termed the incident "unprecedented" in the country's political history and feared that the government's "hard line" against the opposition may put democracy in jeopardy.

"There is no example of sending so many opposition leaders to jail in any democratic country in the world," Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, an adviser to the BNP chairperson, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Khandaker Mahbub, also a former president of Supreme Court Bar Association, said he had witnessed the rule of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan and also the last 40 years of independent Bangladesh, but never before did he see such mass detentions. "It did not happen even in any military rule."
Perhaps y'all might want to give up that whole hartal thingy, guys. It doesn't seem to be working well. But there's nothing to be done now about past corruption or what happened during the war. Sorry.
Posted by: Fred || 05/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
13 vehicles burnt, 200 smashed
[Bangla Daily Star] Agitated leaders and workers of BNP-led 18-party alliance vandalised around 200 vehicles and dozens of establishments across the country yesterday, ahead of today's nationwide dawn-to-dusk hartal.
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
Scores were also injured in festivities between the alliance activists and law enforcers. The activists had blockaded roads and brought out processions protesting the court order that sent opposition leaders to jail.

A Dhaka court yesterday sent 33 leaders of 18-party alliance, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, to jail rejecting their bail petition in a case filed in connection with torching a vehicle near the Prime Minister's Office during April 29 shutdown.

Since yesterday afternoon, at least 13 vehicles were torched in Dhaka. Of them, four buses were set ablaze in Mirpur, one in Rajarbagh, one in Karwan Bazar, one on Panthapath, two pick-up trucks in Rampura, a taxi on Elephant Road and two buses and a car in Savar, on the outskirts of the capital.

Several people including pro-BNP lawyers and 18-party leaders and workers, and journalists sustained injuries in the capital when agitated activists clashed with law enforcers in and around the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court.

In Thakurgaon town, BNP activists vandalised several banks and business establishments and at least 100 vehicles, including police vans, buses, microbuses, cars and cycle of violences, reports our correspondent.

An hour after the violence, when police took position at Thakurgaon Chourasta (intersection), BNP activists engaged in a clash with the law enforcers. Twelve people, including three coppers, were maimed in the clash.

Law enforcers had to lob 30 to 40 teargas canisters and shoot rubber bullets to calm the situation down, said Thakurgaon police.

The activists also snatched the camera of Partha Sarothi, district correspondent of Mohona Television, while he was shooting the violence.

Police locked away
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
11 people until 5:15pm, said acting superintendent of police Belayet Hossain.
Posted by: Fred || 05/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thought this would be France.............my bad ;^)
Posted by: AlanC || 05/17/2012 19:19 Comments || Top||

#2  "Since yesterday afternoon...Law enforcers had to lob 30 to 40 teargas canisters and shoot rubber bullets to calm the situation down..."
Too early for the RAB to show up with the #7 Vice-Grips and velvet-cased stutter gun for some serious riot-quelling.
Posted by: USN,Ret || 05/17/2012 22:05 Comments || Top||


Bangla: Opposition big shots in jail
[Bangla Daily Star] Court terms charges against 33 leaders non-bailable; violence erupts; hartal called for today
Posted by: Fred || 05/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Feel free to insult me: campaigners
Calls to scrap Public Order Act in UK

An unlikely coalition of lawmakers and activists came together in Britain on Wednesday to urge people to "feel free to insult me" in a campaign for the repeal of a law banning public insults.

Groups including the Christian Institute, the National Secular Society and a noted gay rights campaigner, led by a lawmaker from the ruling Conservative Party, called for the relevant section of the Public Order Act to be scrapped.

They said it has been used to arrest a teenage boy who held a placard reading "Scientology is a dangerous cult" and a student who joked that a police officer's horse was "gay," though both were eventually released without charge.

The wording, which bars people from using "insulting words or behaviour" in the hearing of someone likely "to be caused harassment, alarm or distress," has also been used against protesters and street preachers.

Conservative lawmaker David Davis said the ban, known as Section 5, was having a "terrible, chilling effect on democracy," while a poll commissioned by the campaign said 62 percent of lawmakers would support its repeal.

But 17 percent thought repealing it would undermine the ability of the police to protect the public, and one in five thought it would penalise minorities.

"We've sunk our differences to defend free speech," gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell wrote in the Times newspaper. He said he was arrested and charged under Section 5 in 1994 when he protested against the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

"Members of this Islamist group had endorsed the killing of Jews, gays, apostates and women who have sex outside marriage," he wrote.

"I displayed placards that documented the persecution of gay people by Islamist fanatics...

"I fought the charges and won, but not before spending many hours in police cells and standing trial."

He added that great thinkers such as Galileo and Darwin had caused "great offence and distress in their time."

The Public Order Act became law in 1986 in the wake of the miners' strikes across Britain, a key standoff between trade unions and authorities.

The campaigners said Wednesday that separate British laws protect people against discrimination, incitement and violence.
Posted by: tipper || 05/17/2012 03:42 || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, it's OK for Muslims to be threatening but not OK for anybody else to be insulting, right? Is that what I'm reading here?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/17/2012 13:39 Comments || Top||

#2  That,s certainly how I read it, Ebbang Uluque6305.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/17/2012 15:36 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Koreans Hijack Chinese Fishing Boats


Three Chinese fishing boats were apparently hijacked in Chinese waters and then taken to North Korean waters. They hijackers were "armed men in blue hats and uniforms". Chinese officials said they were aware of it and "considered it a matter for the fisheries industry" according to the source article.

Posted by: crosspatch || 05/17/2012 02:13 || Comments || Link || [336115 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting. Are elements of the Nork armed forces out of central gov control and looking for their own revenue raising.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/17/2012 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  looking for their own revenue raising

Or just - Food
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/17/2012 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Bingo, phil.
Posted by: Barbara || 05/17/2012 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Funny how the Chinese _don't_ feel that way about the Philipines.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/17/2012 10:05 Comments || Top||

#5  I wonder if some day the Chinese will get so upset with their lap dog they will euthanize it.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/17/2012 16:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Is Beijing certain whom did it - the MSM-Net Artics from yestiddy afternoon seemed to allude Beijing believed these "Pirates" were working on behalf of the NORTH KOREAN STATE = Jong-un + his Pyongyang Boyz???

* CHINA DAILY FORUM > NORTH KOREA ASKS RANSOM FOR CAPTURED CHINESE FISHING BOATS.

* TOPIX > NORTH KOREA SEIZES CHINESE BOATS FOR RANSOM, "GLOBAL TIMES" SAYS.

* SAME > NORTH KOREA ASKS RANSOM FOR CAPTURED BOATS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/17/2012 22:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Arab press blushes at new French PM's name
The Arab-speaking media was in a quandary after the appointment of Jean-Marc Ayrault as France's new prime minster on Tuesday -- about how to mention the head of the French government without causing offense.

Transcribed into Arabic from the French pronounciation of his name, "Ayrault" refers to the male sexual organ in several Arabic dialects.

The problem lasted for hours after French President Francois Hollande named the head of the Socialist bloc in parliament as his prime minister, with Arab journalists trying different possible pronunciations of his name.

Some newspapers referred to him as "Aro," others prefixed his name with an "H," while some chose to spell out the last two silent letters.

The conundrum was finally resolved by the French foreign ministry, which issued an official edict on subject permitting his name to be transcribed as written, and saving the blushes of many an Arabic editor.

Posted by: tipper || 05/17/2012 08:46 || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nah.. too easy.
Posted by: USN,Ret || 05/17/2012 22:07 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Gilani takes PML-N to task for undermining his office's sanctity
[Dawn] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
on Wednesday took the leadership of Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) to task for undermining the sanctity of the office of the country's chief executive.

"While I was abroad, some politicians tried to undermine the sanctity of the office of the prime minister and urged their party workers to stage protest rallies, but they miserably failed due to the people's commitment to democracy," said the prime minister while chairing the federal cabinet meeting.

He said such politicians could not interpret the court judgments according to their "own whims" and asked them to avoid influencing the courts by their own interpretation.
Posted by: Fred || 05/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Ahmadinejad wants to attend London Olympics
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that he is eager to attend the Olympic Games in London to support Iranian athletes but that Britain doesn't want to host him.
He could stay in France and take the Chunnel over...
Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying he would like to be ``beside Iranian athletes'' during the games but that the British are reluctant to have him.

``I would like to be next to our young athletes at the 2012 Olympics but the host has a problem with this,'' said Ahmadinejad during a meeting with Iranian athletes who have qualified for the Olympics.

Ahmadinejad did not specify whether he has officially requested to attend the games or say if Britain has refused him entry.

There was no immediate comment from the International Olympic Committee.
Posted by: tipper || 05/17/2012 11:13 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Could always invite him then have some fun with an LRAD
Posted by: Unetle Hupitle5251 || 05/17/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Just come over as a private citizen. I am sure that it is all safe around there.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/17/2012 13:36 Comments || Top||

#3  make sure he's had all his shots, remains on a leash at all times, and is housebroken.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/17/2012 14:07 Comments || Top||

#4  ``I would like to be next to our young athletes at the 2012 Olympics but the host has a problem with this''

Not if you're going to be the designated javelin-catcher...
Posted by: Pappy || 05/17/2012 15:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Will somebody tell dinny that figure skating is a Winter Olympic.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/17/2012 17:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Sure thing buddy! Oh, SEAL team 6 will be there too. Just an FYI.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/17/2012 18:33 Comments || Top||

#7  This is fine with me. So long as Isreal is giving the position in front of Dinnerjackets country during ceremonies.
Posted by: Charles || 05/17/2012 19:40 Comments || Top||

#8  What about Vladimir + his Muslim Gymnast-Model GF???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/17/2012 22:45 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
33[untagged]
4Govt of Pakistan
3TTP
3al-Qaeda
3al-Shabaab
3Arab Spring
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
2al-Qaeda in North Africa
2Govt of Syria
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Pirates

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
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Fred
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2012-05-17
  13 More Killed as South Yemen Clashes Rage into 5th Day
Wed 2012-05-16
  Ghalioun Elected Chief of Syrian Opposition Coalition
Tue 2012-05-15
  37 Dead, Including 23 Troops as Syrian Army Shells Rebel Bastion
Mon 2012-05-14
  Nearly 25.000 troops battle Al-Qaeda in Abyan
Sun 2012-05-13
  Al Qaeda's Leader Encourages Somali Militants to persist the fight
Sat 2012-05-12
  Tens of Thousands of Protesters Defy Syrian Regime Gunfire, 13 Dead
Fri 2012-05-11
  Somali Gov't, Al shabab claim victory over Bay,Bakol fighting
Thu 2012-05-10
  Damascus bombings kill 40, wound 170: state TV
Wed 2012-05-09
  Annan Fears 'Civil War' Looming in Syria
Tue 2012-05-08
  Al-Qaeda underwear bomb plot was targeted by US drone
Mon 2012-05-07
  Nine soldiers killed, military convoy attacked in N Wazoo
Sun 2012-05-06
  Man wanted in USS Cole bombing killed in Yemen: tribal chief
Sat 2012-05-05
  Pro-Regime Gunmen Kill 12 'Qaida' Militants in Yemen
Fri 2012-05-04
  Bajaur teenyboomer kills 24
Thu 2012-05-03
  Afghanistan: Pakistani driving truck bomb arrested

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