News – Putting it to the Impostors

Middle East

In an effort to fight the copycats dressing as Iraqi police forces, they’re being issued new uniforms. The kit includes camouflage that is described as ‘hard to counterfeit’. Of course, if the insurgents take out a few police and abscond with their uniforms that eliminates that obstacle. They’re also adding serial numbers to the uniforms and police vehicles. This is a more canny idea.

Hizbullah warns it will start fighting again in Lebanon unless Israel withdraws from Shebaa farms area and other pockets of territory occupied during this summer’s 34-day war. Shebaa farms itself has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, says that developing nuclear technology is his nation’s right and they will continue to pursue it.

Iraq going fine? Evidence suggests not. Mind, I skip over many an article every day of this sort. After a while, it gets tedious belaboring the same point constantly. But I like to occasionally remind that troubles linger and fester over there, despite whatever efforts we make to quell it. Suggesting that the current methods in use are suboptimal.

Sunni Iraqis are changing their names to avoid Shia deathsquads.

A US study puts the number of Iraqis killed since 2003 at ~655k. Mind you, that’s an estimate, rather than a full count.

A Qatari initiative to broker unity within Palestine fails. But at least someone is trying, rather than helping the steady decay of the country.

Africa

Three years after the war in The Democratic Republic of Congo, armed groups still control thousands of child soldiers.

Diamonds from Ivroy Coast are still being sold in the international market despite a long time UN ban. So before you buy your next diamond this or that, check and make sure the sparklies you wear weren’t sold for guns and bombs.

Asia/Pacific

North Korea threatens more nuclear tests if US policy toward it remains hostile. It is added that any increase in US pressure would be seen as an act of war. On a side note, France’s defense minister believes the tests to have been a failure or faked.

Martial Law will linger for a little while yet in Thailand. It will likely be in place for at least another month, despite the urgings of the international community for it to be lifted as soon as possible. Given the current string of events in the country, I’d say give them the benefit of the doubt for a little while. Abuse of power seems minimal, which is a welcome thing.

Americas

The US tightens up enforcement of trade sanctions against Cuba. Some see this, by the timing, as a move to snatch more Cuban exile vote for the republicans. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Helen and James Briggs arte seeking to unadopt their now 16 year old son, saying the state hadn’t told them of his history of abuse. Of course, the situation is more complex than that. Have a read and see if you can find the best solution to the situation.

A new conflict on freedom of speech in America, this one in regards to comments about Israel.

Fixing up the poor health care plans of Democrats.

General

Google buys YouTube got $1.65 billion. So long as google doesn’t screw around with the site, I don’t mind it. YouTube is fine as it is.

A study suggests that the decline of hearing and eyesight in the elderly may be linked together.

Researches find that dust storms in the Sahara have some inverse link with hurricane activity in the Atlantic. When one is down, the other is up, as it were. The common logic is, then, that the dist storms could somehow be used or show a means to quell hurricane activity in the Atlantic. Of course, this begs the question.. If you quell the hurricane activity in the Atlantic, what impact will that have on global weather patterns? While it would be nice to safeguard ourselves from natural disasters, one must consider the overall impact of such a thing.

Microsoft promises that Vista will be secure. Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.

The Blogs look at Google’s purchase of YouTube and the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Today’s Papers has an investigation into the FBI’s complete failure to realign itself to fight terrorism, the continuing international puzzlement over the nature of North Korea’s bomb, which yielded a far smaller explosion than nukes usually produce, a note that, while Kim Jong is a nut, he is also a clever and ruthless political survivor and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Reporter asks inmates about pink jumpsuits. “I’m not going outside in these things. It’s a good deterrent because I don’t want to wear them anymore.” “You can make that two,” another inmate chimes in

Dumb: Morans try to rob McDonald’s. Dumber: They only steal cups. Cue the Benny Hill music

New scam: squirrel-proofing a home. Now here’s something we thought you’d really like

If you’re on trial for receiving stolen goods, you might not be able to help farting loudly in court. But if you burst out laughing and get a contempt charge, you have no one to blame but yourself. With photo goodness

If you’re stupid enough to think “The Departed” is an appopriate movie for your 5-year-old girl, you’re probably also stupid enough to have a public tantrum when someone asks you what the hell you’re thinking

Only one in five Europeans surveyedknow how many countries are in the EU

Because the hamster thing is kind of played out – SHRIMP on a TREADMILL

Michigan county has to reprint 170,000 ballots because the letter “L” was left out of the word “public”

Man steals beer truck; police follow trail of empty bottles to find him

Whooping cough is making a comeback, thanks to anti-vaccine loons

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this flexible gentleman

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this “children at play” sign

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this spikey spider