World News!

Since many of you are world travelors, and indeed, since many of you live in exotic spots around the world, I thought we might start a thread with unusual stories about places of interest to Entmooters.

For example, this item caught my eye this morning, and since anduin has recently traveled there I thought I'd post this link:

Amsterdam in shock as killer gangs muscle in on tourist haunts

<a href="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20001226/wl/russia_anthem_dc_1.html">Russia's Putin Restores Stalin's Anthem
</a>

One step closer to communism!

Hey!
Musically that was a darn good theme!
They'll change the lyrics, if i'm not mistaken.

Musical good taste can't be taken as a step towards Communism!

I have to admit that Stalin hired a pretty good composer!

And they will have new words. The other theme was pretty lackluster, musically. Russians have certainly proven themselves no slouches in the realm of musical genius.

Some folk are alarmed at the symbolism, but it should be remembered that a lot of Russians think more of the valor of their WWII generation when they hear it, and of the good they hoped to accomplish, than of the evil that Stalin did.

The concern is that Putin is not so sentimental.

Russia transfers nuclear arms to Baltics

Putin is just an old softy!

Aliens cult says it will clone dead baby girl


So that's what you French Canadians are up to!

[EDIT: Thanks NIFFIWAN! Ezcode synatx strikes again!!]

That last link is broken...

www1.sympatico.ca/news/Fu...10326.html
- Banff park officials, residents struggle to explain fatal cougar attack

I visited the Canadian rockies last summer.
There was once a little experiment done on a popular trail in Banff National Park not too long ago; a camera was strapped onto a tree beside the trail and set to take a picture every time it detected an object coming within several meters of it.
There were just about as many bears and elk using the trail as humans.

Here's one for all you Party Girls!

Women partygoers flogged in Iran

... if it weren't true.

Here's my contribution:

Mystikal misses his own New Year show

:lol:

Well, I guess I'll be the "nature" poster since nobody else is doing it...

www1.sympatico.ca/news/Sp.../2000/soi/
(Into the White Continent)

Quick trivia (please don't say if you're sure you know the answer): Why don't Antarctic polar bears eat the penguins?

This one is on par with my "Free Porn!" one...

Nice site Niffiwan!
Thanks for sharing that.

Would you have liked to be one of these students?

From the A.P. wire, this doesn't seem to be linkable, so I'll just post it, for all you Uzbekistan fans!

JANUARY 05, 14:43 EST

Couple Held for Human Organ Sales

By TIMOFEI ZHUKOV
Associated Press Writer

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) — A husband and wife who ran a travel agency offering cheap trips abroad and coveted visas to the West were in fact murdering clients and selling their organs, police said Friday.

Police arrested the couple — a doctor and a university professor — on Tuesday in one of the first confirmed cases of illegal organ trading in the former Soviet Union.

A search of their apartment in Bukhara, about 280 miles west of the capital Tashkent, revealed parts of six bodies, more than 60 stolen passports and about $40,000 in U.S. currency, the Uzbek Interior Ministry said.

Fyerututdin Karayev worked as a professor at the Bukhara Technological Institute and his wife, Alima, was a surgeon at a Bukhara area hospital, the ministry said.

The couple allegedly lured clients to their travel agency by promising trips to foreign countries for just $200. They also promised help in obtaining Western visas.

But instead of sending their clients on a trip, the couple murdered them and removed some organs for sale, the police spokesman said.

A police spokesman could not say how many people the couple is suspected of killing, and said an investigation is continuing. Police said other people, including a customs officer, might have been involved in the trafficking.

The organs may have been sold to countries in Southeast Asia, he said.

Lurker: How was I to know? Many Americans don't know the answer to that question, and I'm not kidding here...

juntel: Hmm... I haven't read the full report yet so I really can't say.
I can say that I like cold places and penguins, though.

UZBEKISTAN RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But you should know how many Canadians there are here - even if some of them are Quebeçois (j/k).

Like I said, it's like my "Free Porn!" one... heheh... ah, the memories.

Bouchard resigned.

My take:

He got on my nerves quite a bit, but I don't bear him any personal ill will like I do towards some other politicians (the late Trudeau, Chretien, or Parizeau, for example). And perversely, he resigned fighting the good fight - I mean, there's free speech, there's racism, and then there's just stupidity - and you have to stand up to the last one at all costs.

Vince McMahon finally stops trying to merge the XFL with the CFL to form a NAFL.

My take:

Thank goodness. Although I'm planning to enjoy watching (and possibly playing in) both the CFL and XFL, merging the two would be like... well, in the words of Ed the Sock (on MuchMusic, referring to the A*Teens):

"Satan has established his kingdom on Earth! Flee! Flee! Only the righteous will be spared!"

I mean, here we've got football that borders on being a survival exercise - 110 yards, astroturf, no fair catches, 17 games a season, wind, rain, and SNOW... and McMahon wants to merge that with a league that more or less resembles a real-life incarnation of NFL Blitz?

So, McMahon, best of luck with the XFL, but when you badmouth the CFL because we refused to bend over and... well, to quote The Rock (who tried out for the CFL, by the way): "It doesn't matter what you think!"

Flyers owner halts negotiation with Leafs over Lindros

My take:

Usually, I think players are just being spoiled brats when they try to renegotiate their contract or something. But in this case, I'm inclined to side with Lindros - he has every right to play with the Leafs (and come back home to Canada). And if he's having problems with Clark (the GM, I think), the Flyers should be GIVING him away.

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