[Al Ahram] An officer went missing as two Egyptian military amphibious vehicles capsized in the Suez Canal during exercises on Thursday, officials said.
Egyptian drivers are very special. In civilian life they turn off their headlights at night "to save the battery".
Traffic in the vital waterway was not affected by the accident which occurred away from shipping lanes, canal officials said.
Military and shipping officials said the first armoured vehicle sank due to an "unexpected" technical fault while the second capsized when the crew tried to assist their comrades.
Four conscripts in the first vehicle were brought to shore but an officer was trapped in the second amphibious unit and listed as missing, believed drowned, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2012 00:00 ||
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I'm going to go out on a limb + speculate the amphibs haven't been used for quite a while???
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Just days after winning a tough re-election battle, Venezuelan His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez named his foreign minister Nicolas Maduro as his new vice president Wednesday.
"I want us all to offer applause of support and motivation to our new vice president, Nicolas Maduro," Chavez said at the headquarters of the national electoral council, which proclaimed the anti-US firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... leftist leader the winner of Sunday's vote.
The 49-year-old Maduro, a former bus driver and union activist, had served as foreign minister since 2006.
Maduro replaces Elias Jaua, who plans to run for the governorship of Miranda state -- the most populous in the country -- against Henrique Capriles, the man defeated by Chavez. That vote will take place on December 16.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2012 00:00 ||
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- It is clear that Britannica will continue to bake bread. Some have kitchens that work, others do not, so it must be different, even if we try to get similar food in the whole municipality, says Catherine Lindberg.
So, every one must do without cause the bureaucrats can't get around to fix the the kitchens that don't work? Socialism - drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator [except the administrators/apparatchiks/Inner Party at the top].
[Dawn] With the case of Rimsha Masih still grabbing the headlines, another case of blasphemy was reported to police on Wednesday, this time not in a slum but in a middle-class neighbourhood of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, after the house of the accused boy belonging to a religious minority community was ransacked and furniture was set on fire in a violent protest.
The teenage Christian boy has been accused of sending text messages containing 'blasphemous' content to his area residents without reading it.
The incident took place in the staff colony of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) located at the junction of University Road and Abul Hasan Ispahani Road.
Police said that the boy was accused by the residents that he had sent text messages containing blasphemous content to the staffers and officers of the SSGC present at the residential-cum-office compound.
As the SMS reportedly circulated among the residents of the colony comprising workers and officers, they eventually attacked the residential quarter of Ryan Stanten, 16, and his mother, Rubina Bryan, on Wednesday, police said. Ms Bryan worked as a superintendent at the SSGC, they added.
The SMS had been sent on Tuesday night.
However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... apparently after realising the gravity of the situation the family had abandoned the house, said a police brass hat of the area.
"Had they not left the house, the situation could have been really bad," the officer observed.
On Wednesday, the enraged people ransacked the house and set fire to the household articles, including the bed, washing machine and fridge, after bringing them out on to the main University Road.
The protesters also raised slogans against the family.
The SMS was passed on by the accused teenager by his own cellphone on Tuesday. After receiving it, some people had gone to the boy asking him about it, he told them that he had forwarded the SMS after receiving it, said DIG (east) Shahid Hayat while speaking to Dawn.
"Ryan told complainant Khursheed Alam and Pesh Imam Qari Ghulam Qadir of the SSGC Jamia Mosque that someone sent him this SMS and he forwarded it to all Mohammedan friends without reading it," said the DIG.
The official in charge of the SSGC security, an ex-serviceman, kept handling the situation, the police officer added.
After the mayhem, police reached the scene and tried to appease the protesters assuring them that police would register the case.
"We reached the scene and talked sense to some holy mans who were leading the protest," said a police officer of the area. The violent protest caused a severe traffic jam on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road and University Road.
A case (FIR No 432/2012) under Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet) of the Pakistain Penal Code, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 25 of the Telegraph Act was later registered at the Mobina Town cop shoppe.
A duty officer of the cop shoppe said the FIR was registered against Ryan Stanten, son of Ms Bryan, a resident of SSGC staff colony on a complaint of SSGC chief manager Khursheed Alam.
'People scared'
Describing the trend as very dangerous, in which the Christians were also being targeted, Human Rights Commission of Pakistain chief Zohra Yousaf said that people had become very scared.
"At least 22 blasphemy cases have been reported in the country this year alone, in which Mohammedan accused are more in number compared to the Christians," said the HRCP chief.
Referring to a Sept 21 incident that took place in Hyderabad, Ms Yousaf said some people had lodged a blasphemy case against a trader who had not closed his shop on the day of protest.
Earlier in August, a 14-year-old Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, had been accused of blasphemy by a holy man in a suburban neighbourhood of Islamabad. She was finally released by a court and had to be airlifted to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location for security reasons.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Who torches a fridge? I mean, really...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/12/2012 13:19 Comments ||
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Somehow they just can't connect this sort of thing with turbans shooting young girls on school buses.
[Dawn] A constable at Shalimar cop shoppe and an upper division clerk (UDC) of the air force were caught and taken into custody over their involvement in 'moral policing'.
Apparently, they were fleecing couples entering F-9 Fatimah Jinnah Park, who could not provide proof of their marriage.
Both these officers who through their actions made Islamabad look like Kabul under the Taliban, were threatening couples with legal action, on Wednesday, police sources said.
One of the couples being brave enough called 15 and as a result, a police promptly arrived on the scene and placed in durance vile Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! the two officers.
From the park, the police took the two officers to Margalla cop shoppe.
During inquiry, one of them introduced himself as a constable of capital police, stationed at Shalimar cop shoppe and the other as UDC of Air Force at Air Headquarters.
There would have been legal action against the accused officers but later both were released from police custody due to intervention of seniors without any legal action, sources added.
Further details of the case like how many couples were fleeced and how much many the officers made -- and got away with -- could not be provided, as no case was registered.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2012 00:00 ||
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The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of work in advancing peace in Europe.
The committee said the EU had helped to transform Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.
The award comes as the EU faces the biggest financial crisis of its 54-year history, with many of its member states mired in recession.
The last organisation to be given the award outright was Medecins Sans Frontieres, which won in 1999.
Announcing the award, Nobel committee president Thorbjoern Jagland acknowledged the EU's current financial problems and social unrest.
But he said the committee wanted to concentrate on the body's work over six decades of advancing "peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights".
The committee president highlighted the EU's work in sealing the reconciliation between France and Germany in the decades after World War II.
I thought they would give the peace prize to Khomenei or maybe to Islam.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/12/2012 6:41 Comments ||
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Next time, the committee can give ITSELF the prize, for, you know, working for peace 'n stuff.
Thereby permanently pegging the irony meter, while putting up a sign that says "By the way, we're useless, but we're still the center of the universe".
What you have here is an illustration of how european political academics think. In Technicolor.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/12/2012 6:47 Comments ||
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Norwegians sensibly decided not to join the EU...
Obviously the Nobel committee has been taken over by leftist idiots (as all sources of un-earned money seem to).
#16
ask any Austrian how much of their GDP was gone toward their military or NATO in the past 60 years.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
10/12/2012 14:15 Comments ||
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#17
tu3031, we gave them the breathing room to become Russia on their own schedule. If that wasn't bad enough a couple of years ago they decided pakistan was a better model and the switch has been jarring to say the least.
#18
So the guy with the "charisma of a damp rag" (Nigel Farage)is going to collect the Nobel Prize.
Sounds about right to me.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/12/2012 16:07 Comments ||
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That whirring sound you hear is Alfred Nobel spinning in his grave.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/12/2012 19:06 Comments ||
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#20
This prize should have gone to Malala Yousufzai, the young girl shot by the Taliban. Too bad the Nobel committee is more interested in self pleasurement.
#21
If anyone should get a prize for sixty plus years of peace in Europe, it should be the US military for keeping the Russians out and the Germans down.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/12/2012 20:51 Comments ||
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#22
When I was serving in the Bundeswehr, I didn't have the impression that our US friends were here to keep us down.
As a matter of fact their presence was pretty uplifting.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/12/2012 21:59 Comments ||
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[Ynet] Vatican hopes new initiative would send comforting word to Christians in Mideast and decrease tensions with Mohammedans
In an effort to reach out to Christians in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI carried an address in Arabic for the first time. The Pope's weekly general audiences at the St. Peter's Basilica are broadcast worldwide and translated into various languages, including English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Polish, Hungarian and Russian. On Wednesday, the sermon was translated into Arabic for the first time in history.
A century ago, Christians comprised 20% of the Middle East's population; the numbers went down to 5% due to immigration prompted by wars in the region.
"The pope prays for all people who speak Arabic. May God bless you all," he said in Arabic. A priest then read a summary of the pope's Italian language weekly address, which discussed the Second Vatican Council's 50th anniversary, in Arabic for the first time.
The initiative reflects the church's growing concern with the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and their decreasing numbers in the local population.
A century ago, Christians comprised 20% of the Middle East's population; the numbers went down to 5% due to immigration prompted by wars in the region.
Quite a few of them ended up in the U.S., which is why Arab-Americans are primarily Christian, and Muslim-Americans mostly come from the Indian subcontinent.
The Christian population in the Middle East is currently estimated at 12 million, and could halve by 2020 if security and birth rates continue to decline.
The Vatican said the addition was made to show the pontiff's concern for Christians in the Middle East and to remind both Mohammedans and Christians to work for peace in the region.
A Vatican statement said the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics wanted to continue the spirit of his trip to Leb last month. During the visit, the Pope urged Christians and Mohammedans to end the Syrian conflict.
The sermon was broadcasted live on radio and television worldwide. Vatican officials hoped the sermon would send a comforting word to Christians in a region which is home to many Christian holy places.
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.
An officer went missing as two Egyptian military amphibious vehicles capsized in the Suez Canal during exercises on Thursday, officials said.
His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez
[Dawn] With the case of Rimsha Masih still grabbing the headlines, another case of blasphemy was reported to police on Wednesday, this time not in a slum but in a middle-class neighbourhood of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, after the house of the accused boy belonging to a religious minority community was ransacked and furniture was set on fire in a violent protest.
