ARMED with explosives, two men are heading to Mongolia's Gobi Desert to find the fabled acid-spitting and lightning-throwing Mongolian death worm.
The worm has never been documented but some Mongolians are convinced it exists. They call it Allghoi Khorkhoi, or "intestine worm" because it resembles a cow's intestine and is about 1.5m long. The worm apparently jumps out of the sand and kills people by spitting concentrated acid or shooting lightning from its rectum over long distances, NZPA reports.
Seriously.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/08/2009 08:01 ||
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#1
Sounds potentially useful. Maybe instead of killing it they should try to make a deal.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/08/2009 11:42 Comments ||
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#2
sounds like 13th Warrior's glowworm
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2009 11:52 Comments ||
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#3
It's related to the Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka.
A US-based university professor is among 13 men convicted in absentia by Ethiopia for plotting to overthrow the government, the state news agency said on Friday.
Berhanu Nega, who is Ethiopian-born with US nationality and teaches economics at Philadelphia's Bucknell University, was accused of masterminding a plan to topple Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The Ethiopian News Agency said the Federal High Court had issued the guilty verdicts late on Thursday. Government officials did not immediately comment. The 13 are mostly based in the United States and Britain. Another 32 men in Ethiopia - mainly former and current army personnel, including two generals - have been charged. Three have been bailed and 29 are in custody.
The prosecution has presented its case and the defence will begin on August 26, relatives told Reuters. Addis Ababa says the group had planned to kill senior government ministers and blow up power and telecommunications facilities to provoke protesters who would then march on government buildings and try to topple the government. The arrests have worried rights groups, who say the Ethiopian government has become increasingly authoritarian.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Moroccan police on Thursday (August 6th) arrested a man who escaped last month from a Belgian high-security prison on a hijacked helicopter, MAP reported. Berkane police arrested Moroccan criminal Mohammed Johry on an Interpol "Orange Notice". Johry and fellow prisoners Ashraf Sekkaki and Abddelhaq Melloul Khayari escaped from the Bruges facility on July 23rd in a helicopter hijacked by their accomplices. Khayari was arrested in Belgium. Sekkaki is still at large.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Well, it is an uncomfortable precedent. I hope michelle-of-the-awsome-arms likes the climate in exile Caracas...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/08/2009 0:31 Comments ||
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"What the f*ck were you thinking when you backed Zelaya in the first place"?
Well, when you rely upon the AP for making foreign policy rather than read the country's own constitution and dailies, you're likely to stick your paw into poop. Don't expect the 'experts' at State to learn from this.
#6
Honduras demonstrates an adherence to constitional law that we need to follow.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/08/2009 11:40 Comments ||
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In other words, "they" shot first and asked questions later.
It took them 40 days to admit their blunder:
As it turns out, the U.S. Senate can't find any legal reason why the Honduran Supreme Court's refusal to let Zelaya stay in office beyond the time allowed by Honduran law constitutes a "military coup."
Attackers slit the throat of a teenage boy and a hostess for a soccer team was tortured and beheaded as suspected drug violence intensified in northern Mexico, police said Thursday.
Some 9,600 people have died in suspected drug-related attacks in Mexico since the start of 2008 despite a military clampdown involving some 40,000 troops deployed across the country. Police found a 15-year-old boy with his throat slit inside a house in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most volatile city, across from El Paso, Texas, a statement said Thursday. In a separate incident, attackers shot dead a woman in the southeast of the city outside her house.
Along the border to the northwest, police in the city of Tijuana found the headless, tortured body of a hostess for a second division soccer team in a garbage dump, local authorities said Thursday. Eight others died in the past 24 hours in Ciudad Juarez, and one person died in a mountainous area of the same state of Chihuahua, a key area in battles between drug cartels for control of trafficking routes into the United States. At least 2,800 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million, since the start of 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Anyone care to make this boy a poster boy for legalizing drugs? I didn't think so.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/08/2009 11:37 Comments ||
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Richard...It's really unbelievable. The Mexican gangs are actually worse than jihadis. By an large jihadis kill innocents through incompetence. These people are truly subhuman. I am not sure what the answer is. But somehow the US has to eradicate illegal drug use.
TEGUCIGALPA -- The Obama administration has backed away from its call to restore ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power and instead put the onus on him for taking ``provocative actions'' that polarized his country and led to his overthrow on June 28. The new position was contained in a letter this week to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., that also rejected calls by some of Zelaya's backers to impose harsh economic sanctions against Honduras.
This is a pleasant surprise ...
While condemning the coup, the letter pointedly fails to call for Zelaya's return. ``Our policy and strategy for engagement is not based on supporting any particular politician or individual,'' said the letter to the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
What's next: reinstating aid to Honduras? Take that, Oogo ...
The new U.S. position is likely to undercut diplomatic efforts to bring about Zelaya's return, analysts said. It may, in time, help the administration win confirmation for three top State Department officials President Barack Obama has appointed to deal with the region. Senate Republicans have put their nominations on hold to protest U.S. policy in Honduras.
Ah-ha. Sounds like the Honduran lobbyists are having a useful effect.
While condemning the overthrow and predawn expulsion of Zelaya, the Aug. 4 letter said that Zelaya, who is allied with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, was largely to blame for his plight. ``We also recognize that President Zelaya's insistence on undertaking provocative actions contributed to the polarization of Honduran society and led to a confrontation that unleashed the events that led to his removal,'' said the letter, signed by Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Richard Verma.
`I think this could open the door for an alternative option as president,'' said Jorge Yllesca, a political consultant based in Honduras, meaning that interim President Roberto Micheletti might try to end the political crisis by stepping aside, not for Zelaya but for the president of the Congress or the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Wait for the November election and the problem solves itself.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a conservative Republican congresswoman from Miami, applauded the State Department letter. ``It seems that the U.S. is stepping a bit away from its unabashed support for Zelaya,'' Ros-Lehtinen said in a telephone interview. She would prefer that the Obama administration break ranks with the rest of Latin America and Europe and drop its support for Zelaya.
Republican senators angered by the administration's Honduras policy put a hold on Obama's nomination of Arturo Valenzuela to be assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, along with two key ambassadorial nominees. Lugar, in a July 30 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said he hoped that her explanation could ``improve the prospects'' of confirming Valenzuela this week.
A senate hold is such a useful thing ...
The Obama administration has taken a series of low-level steps to show its dissatisfaction with the Micheletti government. The U.S. has revoked diplomatic visas for five Hondurans associated with the Micheletti government. It suspended anti-drug operations from the U.S. military base in Honduras, withheld $16 million in defense aid and warned that it might not disburse the final 10 percent of money for Honduras under a $250 million aid program.
The U.S. also has strongly supported the mediation efforts of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has proposed a compromise plan to reinstate Zelaya with limited powers. Micheletti has rejected the plan, while Zelaya has accepted it.
The letter to Lugar said U.S. officials wouldn't go much further. ``We have rejected calls for crippling economic sanctions,'' it said.
The letter comes at a time when Zelaya is expressing his unhappiness with the Obama administration.
Just realized you're going to be spending your retirement in Caracas, eh sucker ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/08/2009 00:00 ||
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In a few weeks the Obama Administration will fully dismount their high horse and recall that they fully supported the courageous & legal defense of Honduran democracy by that nation's legislature, courts & armed forces.
#5
Not just us, but Zelaya's friends in general seem to be backing away from their initial vigorous support of him. Credit must be given to the Hondurans who have kept their behavior in line with their constitition. Very impressive. I hope that some day we will be able to do as well. Recent events illustrate glaringly how far we have drifted.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/08/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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I'm sensing an entrenched bureaucracy at State with it's own agenda here. You have to fumigate every few years to get rid of the roaches....
#7
TFSM, according to the hard Left, the "election" will be "illegal", since the "coup" installed a "government" that can't "legally" run an "election".
That's Oogo's talking point, and he'll stick to it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/08/2009 16:27 Comments ||
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Somewhere along the line I missed where the Oogo name originated.
Yun Hye-yong was a woman beyond the reach even of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Yun, the lead singer of Kim's former favorite band Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, was brutally executed after she spurned Kim's persistent advances and fell in love with another man.
Or so claims Chang Jin-song, an author formerly affiliated with the North Korean Workers' Party, in "Kim Jong-il's Last Woman." Published in May, it is an epic poem that details Kim's private life and inside story of his regime based on the true story of the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble.
According to the book, Kim ordered Yun Hye-yong's songs to be used for the mass gymnastic performance "Arirang," and attended a concert with her on his birthday. Although many women had found the dictator's favor before, none had ever merited a place next to him at a public event. Kim even sent officials to Europe to buy her stage costumes and accessories. Yet Yun loved the band's pianist. When Kim's agents discovered their relationship by tapping her phone, Yun jumped from the roof of Mokran House, an official banquet hall, with her lover. Although the man died instantly, Kim ordered his men to kill Yun after resuscitating her by any means. She was eventually executed at the end of 2003, while still in coma.
Kim Ok, another of Kim's paramours, was introduced in the South Korean media in July 2006 as his fourth wife. However, the woman whom the media named "Kim Ok" was not the woman who features in a book by Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's former personal chef. According to the June issue of the Monthly Chosun, "Kim Ok was in fact Kim Son-ok, a former aide to Jo Myong-rok, the first vice chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission.
The real Kim Ok was the pianist of Wangjaesan Light Music Band and a graduate of Kumsong Senior Middle School, known for extensively training Kim's private entertainers. Kim loved her more for her bold personality and sharp wit than her looks, and granted her the privilege of speaking informally to him. To Kim, long used to absolute obedience to his authority, Kim Ok's gestures would've appeared refreshing.
Although Kim's former wives Song Hye-rim and Ko Yong-hi were artists, they were civilians to begin with, not women exclusively trained to entertain Kim. But Kim Ok had been selected for such a purpose, and often entertained Kim at the orgies he held with his inner circle. It would have been unthinkable, therefore, for Kim to make Kim Ok his official wife.
Most women with whom Kim was involved were celebrities. It is widely known that he moved in with the actress Song Hye-rim after abandoning his fiancé Kim Yong-sook. Hong Young-hee, who was bestowed the title of "distinguished actress" at the age of 18, or Woo In-hee, an actress publicly executed for openly speaking about her relationship with Kim, were among many celebrities who had become Kim's paramours.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/08/2009 00:00 ||
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BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The remains of a U.S. airman killed in Hungary near the end of World War II are on their way back to the United States, officials said Tuesday. The remains of Sgt. 1st Class Marvin Steinford were discovered five years ago in a mass grave in the town of Zirc in western Hungary, where he had been buried with 26 Soviet soldiers.
Steinford, a native of Iowa, was part of a 10-man crew of a B-17 bomber which was shot down near Zirc on March 14, 1945, while returning to its base in Italy from a mission over Hungary. Col. Evan Roelofs, the Air Attache at the U.S. Embassy, said the crew, except for Steinford, parachuted safely from the plane but that Steinford was listed as missing in action.
Steinford's remains were identified using dental records and other anthropological evidence by members of the U.S. military's Hawaii-based Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Museum of Natural Sciences in Budapest. The command deals with identifying and recovering American soldiers killed in conflicts around the world.
Lt. Gen. Jozsef Hollo, director of Hungary's Military History Museum, said Steinford's ID tags had been found recently, when the contents of the grave in downtown Zirc were being relocated to another cemetery. "In a few days, the war will finally end for the sergeant, because his mortal remains will be laid to rest in his homeland," Hollo said at ceremony outside the U.S. Embassy, where a small coffin with Steinford's remains was handed over by the Hungarian Defense Ministry to the U.S. military.
The remains will be taken to Hawaii for final positive identification.
Roelofs described Steinford as "one U.S. Army Air Corps soldier who paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for the liberation of Europe during World War II."
"It was not blind courage ... It was a sense of duty, honor and country" that led Steinford and thousands of other soldiers to fight for those oppressed under Nazi rule, Roelofs said. Sergeant Steinford's wife, 87 year old Rosella Runyan, is still alive and she will be there when is laid to rest in his home town.
Colombia is to send 84 soldiers to join NATO forces in Afghanistan in yet another nod to US wishes, as the Latin American state draws near isolation. Thank you, Sir "Draws near isolation"? Oh right, Iran PressTV.
Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said on Friday that the infantry soldiers will travel in two groups of 42 -- the first in 2010 and the second in 2011 -- to join the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in war-torn Afghanistan. The soldiers are to provide security at Spanish bases, where over 780 Spanish troops are stationed.
Santos also stressed that Colombian military presence in Afghanistan could increase in the future.
Colombia, a top US ally in South America, has one of the largest and most well-equipped armies in Latin America, which has been mainly financed and trained by the United States. So Iran PressTV notes the correlation, do they ...
The move comes as regional opposition to Washington's decision to increase its military presence and open military bases in Colombia, increased.
Despite Washington's efforts to calm the region, tensions have been running high between Colombia and EcuadorBoliviaCubaNicaraguaVenezuela other Latin states, over the US-Colombia military deal which places around 1,400 fully-armed US soldiers with military equipment in South America. To go along with that impressively armed and trained Colombian army ...
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has even gone so-far as threatening to halt 'all' business transactions with its neighbor, which tops an annual $7 billion. That could be contagious, Oogo. Think 'Citgo' ...
A number of other Latin American states, such as Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia have backed Chavez's bid and accused the United States of setting up a military platform in Colombia from which to attack its neighbors. Chile actually is too busy making money and building its own country to notice what else is going on ...
Only the Peruvian President Alan Garcia -- the other principal US ally in the region -- gave his support to the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whom he called "a good friend."
The US claims the planned military surge is aimed to help Bogota combat drug-fueled violence. However, South American leaders accuse the US of using the war on drugs in Colombia as a pretext to boost its regional military presence.
#1
Columbia has been an aspiring democratic trade and security partner to the US, doing good things. Our Donk Congress and Preznit haven't reciprocated inasmuch as the Columbians have exposed the Venezuelan efforts on FARC's behalf. If they lose Columbia, it's on their shoulders. Marxist F*ckers
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2009 17:32 Comments ||
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Every country friendly to the US has commandos chomping at the bit to go to Afghanistan. What they learn there is worth millions of dollars as far as military modernization.
Then when they go home, they look at their country's military and announce what must be changed. Debriefing must last weeks. Every little detail poured over.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Saturday told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to show up to a regional summit to explain a plan to expand the U.S. troop presence at Colombian military bases. I wonder if Chavez sent an engraved ivitiation to Uribe? Oogo is acting rather rattled, isn't he ...
The proposal to allow the U.S. military to use seven Colombian military installations for counter-drug operations has soured ties between the Andean neighbors and fueled concern from governments across the region from Brazil to Chile.
A fierce opponent of U.S. influence, Chavez joins other South American leaders on Monday for a summit in Ecuador, where the base plan is expected to top the agenda. U.S. ally Uribe is not attending, but toured the region to drum up support.
"Uribe should show up, come and face the music and let's sit down and talk," Chavez told local Colombian television RCN. Woddy Allen once said that 80% of life is just showing up!"
Chavez portrayed the base expansion as aggression against OPEC member Venezuela. Chavez had withdrawn his ambassador to Bogota, saying the plan could spark war in South America, but on Friday night he ordered his envoy to return to Colombia.
Colombia, the world's No. 1 cocaine producer, has received more than $5 billion in mostly military aid from Washington to fight drug traffickers and FARC rebels. The base deal is an extension of an existing military cooperation accord.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday denied the United States is planning to set up military bases in Colombia as part of the upgraded security agreement and has no intention of sending large numbers of additional troops. The United States is in talks with Uribe's government about relocating U.S. drug interdiction flight operations to Colombia after being kicked out of neighboring Ecuador.
The plan is expected to increase the number of U.S. troops in Colombia above the current total of less than 300 but not above 800, the maximum permitted under the existing military pact, officials said.
Tensions between Colombia and Venezuela heated up last month when Bogota charged that Caracas had supplied arms to Colombia's FARC guerrillas. The Andean neighbors often spar over what Bogota sees as Chavez's backing for guerrillas and over Colombia's conflict spilling across the border.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
TEGUCIGALPA -- The Obama administration has backed away from its call to restore ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power and instead put the onus on him for taking ``provocative actions'' that polarized his country and led to his overthrow on June 28. The new position was contained in a letter this week to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., that also rejected calls by some of Zelaya's backers to impose harsh economic sanctions against Honduras.
Yun Hye-yong was a woman beyond the reach even of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Yun, the lead singer of Kim's former favorite band Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, was brutally executed after she spurned Kim's persistent advances and fell in love with another man.
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The remains of a U.S. airman killed in Hungary near the end of World War II are on their way back to the United States, officials said Tuesday. The remains of Sgt. 1st Class Marvin Steinford were discovered five years ago in a mass grave in the town of Zirc in western Hungary, where he had been buried with 26 Soviet soldiers.
