#5
Yep, copied, sorta, but also an improvement on the item copied. Just a tool? Yep, you betcha. The "left on the table" principle says if it wasn't the AK, some other similar device would have been the go-to dick substitute for the terrs of the planet...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/24/2013 20:55 Comments ||
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[Al Ahram] Egyptian lakes Edko, Manzala and Borolous have witness the re-emergence of invasive green crabs for the first time in fifty years, Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported on Monday.
The green crab (Carcinus maenas) attacks fish, prompting concern from local fishermen.
Egypt's National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries will investigate why the crabs have returned and the effect they will have on local fisheries.
Green crab -- originated in Europe and Northern Africa and dubbed the cockroach of the sea -- is considered one of the 100 worst alien invasive species and has been blamed for ruining several soft shell clam fisheries around the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm waiting for the blood and then the frogs.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/24/2013 1:51 Comments ||
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#1
Related story: The Airbus facility in Hamburg has a row of buildings alongside the runway ( on the river side if you really care) that had one half of the upper story removed to provide clearance for the A380's on landing. I thought that was a story, like relative bearing grease, until I had a chance to see the fine German craftsmanship that went into the reno; looked like it was cut with a chain saw and the gaps plugged with caulk. Hope those weren't Airbus airframers in training.....
[An Nahar] South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has said he is ready for talks with rival Riek Machar "without preconditions," the U.S. special envoy to the violence-wracked country, Donald Booth, said Monday.
"I had a frank and open discussion with President Salva Kiir," Booth, in Juba, told reporters in Washington.
"Importantly, President Kiir committed to me that he was ready to begin talks with Riek Machar to end the crisis without preconditions as soon as his counterpart is willing."
Booth, who is also the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, said he met with a group of 11 senior figures in the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement "who remain detained in Juba."
Kiir's government last week announced the arrest of 10 people, many of them former ministers, in connection with an investigation of an alleged coup attempt led by Machar against Kiir.
"I can report that they are secure and well taken care of," Booth said.
"These individuals communicated to me their desire and their readiness to play a constructive role... for peaceful political dialogue and national reconciliation."
South Sudan's army on Monday was poised for a major offensive against rebel forces, as the country slid towards civil war despite international peace efforts.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The U.N. Security Council will hold emergency consultations on the situation in South Sudan later Monday, the French mission to the world body said.
The meeting, to begin at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT), will notably look at the possibility of reinforcing the U.N. mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said Monday he would ask the council to consider "additional troops, police and logistical assets" for the mission, so that it can better protect civilians as violence rages.
UNMISS is currently capped at 7,000 soldiers and 900 police, and includes more than 2,000 civilians, both locals and foreigners. The Security Council must approve any increase in the numbers.
Nearly 45,000 civilians are under U.N. protection at bases in the country, notably in the capital Juba and the cities of Bor and Bentiu, Ban said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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The UN secretary general has urged the Security Council to almost double the number of UN troops in South Sudan.
Ban Ki-moon asked for 5,500 police and peacekeepers to add to the 7,000-strong force there, amid escalating violence and allegations of atrocities. He earlier said anyone responsible for abuse would be held to account.
Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting, as rebels thought to support sacked former vice-president Riek Machar have seized major towns. His rival, President Salva Kiir, has promised an imminent counter-strike against the rebels.
Mr Ban said attacks on civilians and UN peacekeepers "must cease immediately".
"The United Nations will investigate reports of grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity," he said. "Those responsible at the senior level will be held personally accountable and face the consequences, even if they claim they had no knowledge of the attacks."
He requested in a letter to the Security Council that 5,500 troops be reassigned from existed UN missions in other African countries, including Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, he asked for hundreds more police, three attack helicopters, three transport helicopters and one military transport plane.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Three Libyan primitive have been killed in fighting that grew out of disputes between army units under conflicting orders over who controls key resources in the country's east, officials said Monday.
Another five people were maimed in the fighting between Toubou and Zuwayya rustics on Sunday night in Ajdabiya, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Benghazi.
The festivities were sparked by fighting on Friday between one unit made up of Zuwayya, under the orders of the general staff, and a Toubou unit that takes its orders directly from the defence ministry, an official explained.
At stake was control over oil wells and an agricultural water reservoir in Al-Sarir, 600 kilometres south of Benghazi, he added.
Five soldiers were killed in the fighting on Friday, and festivities broke out between Zuwayya and Toubou in Ajdabiya the following day after the soldiers' burial that spilled over into Sunday.
The Zuwayya, who are Arab, and the Toubou, who are black, have a long history of conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] A court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced eight people including an American to up to a year in prison Monday after being convicted in connection to a satirical video about youth culture in Dubai.
The video they produced and uploaded to the Internet was a spoof documentary of would-be "gangsta" youth in the Gulf Arab city-state. The state-owned daily The National said they were accused of "defaming the image of United Arab Emirates society abroad." Supporters of the defendants reported that they were charged under a 2012 cybercrimes law that tightened penalties for challenging authorities.
Shezanne Cassim, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen from Woodbury, Minn., became the public face of the defendants after his family launched an effort to publicize his months-long incarceration following his arrest in April.
Cassim, who was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Dubai for work after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2006, was sentenced Monday to a year in prison followed by deportation and received a 10,000 dirham ($2,725) fine, according to family spokeswoman Jennifer Gore.
Cassim's brother, Shervon, called the ruling "painful and unfair."
"Shez is coming up on nine months incarceration for making a parody. This isn't justice," he said in a statement.
American consular officials have been following the case closely and attended Monday's hearing at the State Security Court in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi.
The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment following the verdict. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf last week said American officials were troubled by Cassim's "prolonged incarceration" and called for "a fair and expedient trial and judgment."
Two Indian defendants received similar sentences, while two Emirati brothers were sentenced to eight months behind bars and received 5,000 dirham fines, according to The National. A third brother was pardoned.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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Parliament speaker Marzouk Al Ghanem says he had received an official letter informing him that all 15 ministers had tendered their resignations. All ministers in the Kuwaiti government submitted their resignations on Monday, the government spokesman said, after media reports of an imminent reshuffle.
All the ministers have submitted their resignations to the prime minister to enable him to prepare for the requirements for the next stage, said State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Shaikh Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah, the government spokesman.
The prime minister decided to refer the issue to the Amir to take whatever steps necessary to serve national interests, said Shaikh Mohammed, cited by the official Kuna news agency.
Earlier, parliament speaker Marzouk Al Ghanem said he had received an official letter informing him that all 15 ministers had tendered their resignations. The speaker also said the government would not participate in a parliament session scheduled for Tuesday, which has now been called off.
Kuwaiti media reported last week that Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah was preparing a major reshuffle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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A member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot has called for foreign countries to boycott February's Winter Olympics, hours after she was freed from jail. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova dismissed the amnesty law that set her free, saying it was a "cosmetic measure".
She and band-mate Maria Alyokhina, who was also freed, said the prison system needed wider reform and promised to continue anti-government action.
They were jailed in 2012 after singing a protest song in a Moscow cathedral. The act was seen as blasphemous by many Russians, and was condemned by the Orthodox Church.
But their conviction for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" was criticised by rights groups, anti-government activists and foreign politicians. The amnesty passed last week aimed to free some 20,000 prisoners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Turn loose the PR to kick GreePeace Ass? Hell these babes got game.
[Al Ahram] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planning a major cabinet reshuffle amid mounting tensions over an anti-graft probe that has touched the heart of the government, local media reported.
Erdogan, who was already expected to reshuffle his cabinet ahead of local elections on March 30, is expected to replace 10 ministers by the end of the month, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Rattled by the worst scandal of his 11-year rule, Erdogan has described the probe as a "smear campaign" against his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2013 00:00 ||
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h/t Puppyblender
Last week, snow covered more than half of the continental United States, the highest this measure has reached by this date in a decade, according to government scientists.
As of Dec. 15, snow covered 53 percent of the Lower 48, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported. Thats a significantly higher portion than in recent years. In 2006, for example, snow covered just 12 percent of those states on the same date, according to Climate Central, a climate news Web site.
#2
Shoveled about 8-10" of 'warmth' over the past weekend.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/24/2013 10:36 Comments ||
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Keep an eye on Antarctic sea ice. It's the place where there are almost no sub-global human effects, and it's been setting record after record this year.
We know from the Younger Dryas, 12K years ago, that the Earth's climate can cool very rapidly over as little as 5 to 10 years.
#4
And if you click through the link you'll discover:
While the large snowpack in the continental United States was largely the result of typical fluctuation in weather unrelated to climate change, its possible that snowfalls in the United States might increase in the future with global warming, said Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
From Watts Up with that
Michael Mann forced into a "do-over" in Mann -vs- CEI & Steyn
Posted on December 23, 2013 by Anthony Watts
Mann-Steyn-OrderWhat a great Christmas present for Mike. It is back to square one for him with his lawsuit over what he views as libel by Mark Steyn and CEI. I can't vouch for Watts conclusion as I never really understood all the facts. Also, it seems climate science is now Old Time Religion - should we begin to post news on it under that rubric?
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/24/2013 10:49 ||
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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.
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.
[Al Ahram] Egyptian lakes Edko, Manzala and Borolous have witness the re-emergence of invasive green crabs for the first time in fifty years, Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported on Monday.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
