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Comments:Hamas ends truce with Israel

Its funny how history repeats itself. These intercounty feudes and innerreligious battles are so simmlar to the crusuades. Why can't they just start leaning from eachother. They all believe closly the same thing, different names, different stlyes but why can tollerence just be the answer.

--71.158.236.248 16:41, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Personally, I've given up trying to understand why they're fighting. Fephisto (talk) 18:13, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

 * "[The Arabs] will stop fighting us when they love their children more than they hate [Jews]."-Golda Meir

Personally I tired of the Arab-Israeli conflict--KDP3 (talk) 01:05, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Congraluations you all have done exactly what our government wants you to, believe that there is no way to solve this crisis and we should just give up. Palestinians live under apartheid rule, the United Nations has recognized this calling Israeli actions a breach of the geneva conventions, they defend themselves by creating an army (Hamas) to do so, something which is illegal by our standards and therefore Hamas is a terrorist organization. Israel invades its surrounding countries at will with no provocation time and time again, with the most deadly consequence being the 1982 Lebanon-Israel war which ended in the deaths of 20,000 Lebanese and the total destruction of Lebanon, which is still constantly invaded by Israel. The Lebanese try to defend themselves by joining an army to help protect them, called Hezbullah, again we consider Hezbullah terrorists because your not allowed to defend yourself from the imperialist powers, that's illegal. All arab states, including Iran and the PLO, have asked for a two-state settlement since 1979, something which Israel has refused to begin to talk about. And so long as Israel does the U.S' bidding we go on supplying them with military support and calling any organization that tries to stop them "terrorists". So stop thinking that the situation is unfixable and go read Finklestein or Morris.Soapy (talk) 18:09, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

 * yay antisemitism because we should side with people (Terrorist) that teach their kids that Jews are the devil and blow them self up for 72 Virgins. --66.229.21.217 21:36, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

 * I won't even bother responding thatSoapy (talk) 22:03, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Criticism of political and military actions is exactly that. Israel as a nation is guilty of several crimes against the Palestinians. This is nothing to do with the identity of its citizens, it only relates to the brutality of its government. What is the use of forbidding criticism? That only opens the way for more suffering as violent acts are committed against more people. No one gets a free pass to hurt others anymore. 68.210.66.89 00:47, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Killing civilians on purpose is not self-defense. It's not even fighting, and that's the reason they're considered terrorists rather than simply enemies. Ya'ir Hunter (talk) 21:23, 27

December 2008 (UTC)

 * So the Israeli invasion of Lebanon was not terrorism on a scale 30x larger than everything the Palestinians have done over the last 30 years combined? Some estimates put civilian deaths from the 1982 invasion at around 12,000.  That's not terrorism?Soapy (talk) 18:37, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * At least it's not their goal, unlike with Hamas and the like. Or do you think angering Palestinian populations is somehow in Israel's interests? Also, Iran does not call for the two-state solution but for Israel's destruction, while Israel has worked hard for it. It helped create the Palestinian Authority just so they'll have someone semi-sane to negotiate with. Not to mention it havn't tried to take land in decades- On the contrary. Ya'ir Hunter (talk) 13:33, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

 * The supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, has said that he accepts the opinion of all arab nations that Israel and Palestine should accept a two state settlement, yes he does believe that Israel has the right to exist. Israel doesn't care about angering the Palestinians because the worst that happens is that Palestinians fight back and then Israel can use their resistance as a propaganda tool allowing them to crack down even more on the Palestinians and build even more settlements.  So yes my argument is still valid that since 1979 all Arab nations have asked for a two-state settlement and Israel refuses to accept this.  Anyway I'm done arguing with someone who obviously won't be convinced no matter how many facts I come up with. Soapy (talk) 19:20, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Well Soapy, I really hope sane people like Khamenei get's his will(if he really want peace in the Middle East) through, because as for now, with a five year old baby for president, we are a very long way from peace Like which persident on earth acts like this: Iranian president calls Israel ‘disgraceful blot’, that man is extraordinarly childish. Like who on earth would believe eg Gordon Brown's policys if he calls France disgraceful for the Napoleonic Wars? If mr Ahmadinejad gets his will through, peace will never happen.

HAMAS = Cowards
Firstly I would like to say that I am neither Israeli, or Palestinian. I have no ancestors from either side. I am a US Catholic woman who hates war of any kind. Also someone who feels that it is necessary to know, and understand, what is happening in the world.

The news from Gaza is horrific. To hear of women, but mostly CHILDREN that have died due to this war. Only to find (verified by the AP) that there really was a hideout in that school with Hamas fighters, but worse missiles and ammunitions stored there. Does Israel look bad? Yes, to the extent that a school was bombed! A school that fighers were launching from, and hid weapons? What kind of men/HAMAS do that to a school?

What is far far worse? HAMAS. They literally hide in schools with children, and in homes with regular families. Who, I guess, cannot say NO---go away! Hamas, whose leaders said to the effect to Israeli troops: "Enter and you will die", are now hiding out with babies, and families who have nothing to do with anything. What COWARDS!!! Seriously, we know that all terrorists do that (act like sissy babies, run and hide after they set the missiles off. Mostly they are, or act like, 12-13-18 yr old boys who get excited by that kind of thing. And to get paid for it by HAMAS? Now that war is here: they ALL hide (and leaders too after there are 2 down, 3 to go) and scatter among women and children. Why? Firstly because they ARE cowards when it comes right down to it. Please know that I do not condone death of any kind---I do not feel sorry for leaders who encite other to kill. If they are no longer here, it is my feeling that is a good thing.

Second, because Hamas likes this: so they can be the "saviors" after the fact. Do the people there understand that THEY are the ones who made this happen?, and would not stop launching missiles? To that I say--take their food and water to survive, but do not forget who brought this to the good people of Gaza. The "fighters" of HAMAS are in hiding in bunkers with their families with food, water, and mostly knowing that THEY will be safe underground while all the innocent people are left to suffer unimagineably. The world is thinking of you.

Not too many missiles fired today---again COWARDS! To HAMAS: keep hiding in schools. knowing you have been targeted, and truly do not give a damn if children get killed, as long as YOU rats don't. That's why you hide weapons supplies in schools and hospitals (thinking they would not dare bomb here, or if they do, they will kill innocent people and make the bombers look BAD) Now really, who looks bad????? those who stockpile their bombs and weapns in schools and hospitals?

HAMAS has really showed their colors here: they are COWARDS!! I hope their bunkers are bombed so that the 'missile bearers' feel the wrath that they brought upon the people. HAMAS rats are in bunkers while the rest of the people suffer and die.

It is my sincerest hope that this war will be over quickly for the people of Gaza. To those who will not stop in their ratholes/bunkers?: I think the people will look around and ask after their devastation...where were those HAMAS guys? They, and their families, are not here? They made us suffer, and they are nowhere to be found.

Oh my Lord, I hope there is peace, and a truce there quickly. I try to picture myself in Gaza these last days. I simply cannot imagine the suffering, the sorrow, and the overwhelming fear especially for children who will never forget. My prayers are with you, though I pray to another God, I feel there is only one for us ALL. No matter what the name.

That one does listen, and answer my prayers. I think that same creator answers us all.

With prayers for peace, life, and an end to this war. No more children die my Lord. May families be saved, and life supports such as food, water, and life-saving abilities be restored.

May God be with you now and always. May he protect you, your families, and all that you hold dear. That peace comes quickly, and that this never happens again. I pray that all peoples (terrorists excluded if they do not see a true way to peace) be safe, lose none of their families, and may carry life forward after this nightmare. With prayers of love, peace, and life without sacrifice for all the good people of Gaza, Deborah Elliott

title: Comments:Hamas ends truce with Israel


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Talk:Report blames 747 crash at Brussels on bird strike

Review
Title spelling (Brussles) fail Cary Bass (talk) 17:39, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Talk:168-centimetre water main breaks near Washington D.C.

Nonsensical unitary system
Wouldn't it make more sense to just say "5½ feet" than to convert into metric, where its some bizzare number, especially since it was undoubtedly specified and manufactured in feet and occurred where everyone knows feet and a few know "centimetres" ? 76.117.247.55 17:50, 23 December 2008 (UTC) PS. Same for reporting in Centigrade over Fahrenheit.
 * Most of the world (including me, and I assume whomever wrote this) does not live in the united States and might not know how big 5.5 feet is. (Although personally I'd say 1.6 metres instead of 168cm). Although then again I find the choice of centigrade (as opposed to celcius) somewhat odd, but thats just me, and it really doesn't matter. Bawolff ☺☻ 04:10, 24 December 2008 (UTC)


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Cyprus charges five over 2005 air crash that killed 121

December 23, 2008 Cypriot prosecutors have charged five people over the 2005 crash of Helios Airways Flight 522. The loss of the Boeing 737 killed all 121 people on board in what was the deadliest air disaster for both Greece and Cyprus.

"The charge sheet was submitted to the court [in Nicosia] today [Tuesday], and a response to the charges has been set for February 26," said deputy attorney general Akis Papasavvas. The names of those charged were not released, and they face charges of manslaughter and causing death by a reckless, thoughtless or dangerous act, which carry life and four year terms respectively. They all worked for Helios.

"The charges concern two of the three most serious offences under the Cyprus penal code," said Papasavvas. Families of the victims, who had already called for criminal prosecutions, are still carrying out a civil action against the Cypriot civil aviation authority and airframer Boeing. Helios closed in 2006, having been renamed Ajet Airways.

The unresponsive aircraft, supposed to be flying between Lanarca to Prague, entered Greek airspace, where it was intercepted by two F-16 fighter jets on August 14, 2005.

The F-16 pilots reported the airliner's pilots were slumped over the controls. After flying on autopilot for two hours the aircraft crashed near Athens despite the efforts of a flight attendant, who was training to become a pilot, to take control and save the jet.

The subsequent investigation discovered that the pilots failed to adequately monitor the pressurisation system. The plane lost cabin pressure and hypoxia caused the incapacitation of the passengers and flight crew. It is thought that the conscious flight attendant had used multiple crew oxygen cylinders to outlast the others on board. Investigators also believe that the equipment had been left in the wrong setting after testing by maintenance engineers and never checked before flight.

After failing to resuscitate the pilot-in-command, the trainee pilot turned off the autopilot and attempted an emergency landing at Athens International Airport, which the aircraft had been circling in a holding pattern awaiting human input. However, the aircraft ran out of fuel before reaching the runway.


title: User:PoinDexta1


text: User talk:PoinDexta1

title: User talk:PoinDexta1


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Talk:Cyprus charges five over 2005 air crash that killed 121

On page 154 of the report, it says that it could not be determined what the crew did or did not do, which seems to contradict the last two paragraphs. (Although it did say that someone entered the cockpit elsewhere in the document, but i could not find where it said what they did (but its a _really_ long document, I didn't read all of it)). Bawolff ☺☻ 22:34, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

 * "Based on the fact that there was only one male cabin attendant on board the accident aircraft, that the voice on the CVR was identified by colleagues to match that of the male cabin attendant, and that the person that entered the cockpit was wearing a Helios cabin attendant uniform, the Board concluded that the person that entered the cockpit and made efforts to control the aircraft was the male cabin crew member." - from page 139 (that's as Adobe reads it, not by the numbers at the bottom). It is part of the bit marked 'Sequence of events' - the bit marked 'Descent' I think. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 23:02, 23 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I see it. Thanks. Bawolff ☺☻ 23:09, 23 December 2008 (UTC)


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Template talk:Yourarticlegone

I like the name of this template: Your Article Gone! Bawolff ☺☻ 23:14, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Yourarticlegone


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User talk:Knockmedownrhcp

Welcome
Thanks for experimenting with Wikinews. Your test worked, and has now been reverted or removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do, since testing in articles may disrupt the site's working and will be reverted quickly. , welcome to Wikinews! Please refrain from using content pages for testing. Here are a few good links for newcomers on how to edit Wikinews:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! Bawolff ☺☻ 05:40, 24 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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K-bat 707
Just a heads up, K-bat 707 was deleted as an inside joke between me and myself. Cheers, and thanks for your understanding. Bawolff ☺☻ 05:40, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Knockmedownrhcp


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FDA says Coca-Cola's Diet Coke Plus is misbranded

December 25, 2008 🇺🇸The US Food and Drug Administration has written a warning letter to The Coca-Cola Company that Diet Coke Plus violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act's guidelines. The December 10 letter, signed by Roberta Wagner, director of the office of compliance at the Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, says Coca-Cola should "take prompt action to correct these violations."

The product's label describes the drink as "Diet Coke with Vitamins and Minerals." FDA said the soft drink does not have enough nutrients to justify the use of the word "plus" in its trade name. According to statute, foods must contain at least 10 per cent more of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) or Daily Reference Value (DRV) for a given nutrient "than an appropriate reference food" in order to be called "plus" legally.

The FDA also advised "it is inappropriate to add extra nutrients to snack foods such as carbonated beverages." The FDA warns Coca-Cola and asks it to revise the drink's labeling and inform the agency of its reply regarding how it plans to fix the violation, within 15 days of receiving the warning. Coca-Cola says it will submit a reply to the FDA in early January, but currently has no plans to alter the label. The US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA, FDCA, or FD&C), is a set of laws passed by Congress in 1938 giving authority to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics. A principal author of this law was Royal S. Copeland, a three-term U.S. Senator from New York, whose concerns about drug safety stemmed from the fact that he was also a homeopathic physician. The act has been amended many times, most recently to add requirements about bioterrorism preparations.

The Coca-Cola Company issued a statement saying, "This does not involve any health or safety issues, and we believe the label on Diet Coke Plus complies with FDA's policies and regulations."

The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company, largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups in the world, and one of the largest corporations in the United States. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in 1886. Diet Coke Plus (also known as Coca Cola Light Plus) was released in the United Kingdom in October 2007.

Forbes has reported that "Coca-Cola has been on a crusade to revamp its image from a purveyor of highly sweetened, fattening products to a more family-friendly image of low-calorie, nutritional drinks. Its violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act could mean hefty fines and a seizure of product from the pop king, but often these sorts of issues are resolved without incident."


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Talk:FDA says Coca-Cola's Diet Coke Plus is misbranded

I CREATED this health news article. Hoping that you help in publishing it. Merry Christmas.--Florentino Floro (talk) 10:55, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

prelimanary review
(most issues are minor) Bawolff ☺☻ 08:25, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Paragraph 3 looks like it is heavily borrowed from wikipedia - Is that ok [copyright-wise]? (I really have no idea). (as well, the info seems to only appear in 'pedia, none of the sources talk about it)
 * Same with Paragraph 5 (but info is in sources)
 * Its says its only available in 350 mL bottles, but the Coke website talks about 8 fl oz. serving having blah (8 fl oz. = 240mL according to google)
 * I can't find where it says the stuff about how its sweetened (although it does say in the wikipedia article, but thats not really cited as a source) or where its called Coca Cola Light Plus (again, in 'pedia, but couldn't find in sources)

Edited
I cut the seemingly unnecessary parts and dubious claims or description. Thanks for the prel. review. Hope it is ok now. I really rely heavily on Wiki english having faith that editors do their work. Merry Christmas. --Florentino Floro (talk) 10:11, 25 December 2008 (UTC)


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Comments:Chanchangi Airlines 737 crashes on landing in Nigeria

can i have the list from the people that flying on that day and time.

 * You'd be better asking Chanchangi Airlines that. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 19:17, 24 December 2008 (UTC)


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Wikinews talk:2008/December

Please add interwiki links de:Wikinews:Archiv/Hauptseite/2008/12 es:Wikinoticias:Archivo/2008/12 fr:Wikinews:2008/décembre it:Wikinotizie:2008/dicembre ja:ウィキニュース:2008年/12月 nl:Wikinews:2008/december pt:Wikinotícias:2008/Dezembro fi:Wikiuutiset:2008/Joulukuu zh:Wikinews:2008年/12月 HenkvD (talk) 18:54, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

 * ✅ Sorry it took so long for someone to notice this. In the future, you can use editprotected along with your request to help bring it to the attention of an administrator. Tempodivalse [talk]  18:39, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

title: Wikinews talk:2008/December


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Comments:Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of 'Star Trek' creator dies of cancer at 76

Whoa! Now this is deep. I'm surprised we didn't see much more coverage of this in the mainstream media. All of the Trekkies are mourning as we speak, I'm sure.

Live long and prosper, Majel.


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Four UK retailers call in administrators during the week of Christmas

December 29, 2008

Four UK retailers The Officers Club, Whittard of Chelsea, Zavvi and Adams Childrenswear have called in administrators during the Christmas week in 2008.

On Tuesday, December 23, the menswear retailer The Officers Club's administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers decided to close 32 of the 150 stores immediately. PricewaterhouseCoopers also announced that TimeC 1215 limited had bought 118 of the stores for an undisclosed fee. TimeC 1215 is backed by David Charlton, chief executive of The Officers Club. This deal saves around 900 jobs. The Officers Club began in the early 1990s in Sunderland and has headquarters at Cramlington, Northumberland.

Also on December 23 an international retailer of coffee, tea and various other hot beverages, Whittard of Chelsea, was placed into administration with Ernst & Young. Its owners were the Icelandic investment company Baugur, who were hit by turmoil after Iceland's banking crisis. Ernst & Young stated that the company was then sold for an undisclosed sum to EPIC private equity partners. Whittard of Chelsea was founded in 1886 by Walter Whittard, a merchant from London, and now has some 130 retail stores. The deal saves around 950 jobs.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, the UK's largest independent entertainment retailer, Zavvi, went into administration due the loss of its supplier and not being able to pay its debts. Until 2007 Zavvi had been a part of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Megastores, but became independent due to a management buyout. Zavvi's supplier had been Entertainment UK (EUK), which had entered administration itself, along with other parts of its parent company Woolworths Group, in November 2008. The companies within "Zavvi UK", which is in administration, are Zavvi Group Limited, Zavvi Retail Limited, Piccadilly Entertainment Stores Limited, VR Service Limited, Ablegrand Limited and Ablegrand 2 Limited. Tom Jack, Simon Allport and Alan Hudson of Ernst & Young LLP have been appointed joint administrators, and Zavvi will continue to trade as a buyer is found. Ernst & Young said Zavvi Guernsey will be liquidated, while Zavvi Ireland was not subject to any formal insolvency proceedings. At the time of administration Zavvi had 114 stores in the UK and 11 in Ireland, where they employed a total of 3,415 staff. All stores opened as normal on Boxing Day, 26 December, for the normal post Christmas sale.

During the weekend of Sunday 28 December the 75 year old children's clothes retailer, Adams Childrenswear called in administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers. Adams had previously been placed in administration with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2006, but was rescued by Northern Irish businessman John Shannon in February 2007. A large rebranding followed in 2008, after 42 stores were closed. Adams has outlets worldwide in places such as Saudi Arabia, and also makes clothing under the Mini Mode brand for Boots. At the time of the 2008 administration there were 260 stores in the UK and 116 outlets overseas, employing around 2000 people. Adams is reported to owe around £20 million to Mr Shannon and £10 million to Burdale.


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User talk:TubularWorld

Welcome
--Brian McNeil / talk 19:49, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:TubularWorld


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Wikinews Shorts: December 25, 2008

Toyota sales drop sharply
The Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota has reported a sharp decrease in the number of global vehicle sales in November. The firm sold 618 000 cars in that month, a decrease of almost 22% from the same time last year.

This comes several days after Toyota' prediction that it would have its first annual loss in 71 years.

Sources

Madoff investor commits suicide
Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the fund manager of an investment fund that lost US$1.4 billion to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, was found dead on Tuesday, having committed suicide.

De la Villehuchet was found by a security guard in his Madison Avenue office in New York City on December 23. A bottle of sleeping pills and a box cutter were discovered on the floor near his person, and his wrists were slashed.

Sources

title: Wikinews Shorts: December 25, 2008


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User:TubularWorld

I'm a British software developer and university graduate, and I spend most of my time on the English Wikipedia, where my user page is - User:TubularWorld.

Articles

 * Four UK retailers call in administrators during the week of Christmas
 * Nationalised bank Northern Rock sold to Virgin Money

title: User:TubularWorld


text:
User talk:75.47.130.195

Welcome
Welcome!

75.47.130.195, welcome to Wikinews! Thank you for your contributions I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews:
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Here are some other hints and tips:

 * I would recommend that you get a username. You don't have to log in to read or edit articles on Wikinews, but creating an account is quick, free and non-intrusive, requires no personal information (not even an e-mail address), and there are many benefits of having a username.  (If you edit without a username, your IP address is used to identify you instead.)

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If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! Bawolff ☺☻ 07:41, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:75.47.130.195


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User talk:24.215.91.45

Welcome
Bawolff ☺☻ 03:18, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

warning on Wikileaks tells Wikinews why they published Danish child porn censorship list
I think its acceptable to have the warning. Could you perhaps make a convincing argument why we shouldn't have it on the talk page? Bawolff ☺☻ 03:18, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:24.215.91.45


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User talk:124.203.157.254

First off, we really appreciate your contribution.

But sometimes users submit an article from somewhere else, not realizing that Wikinews cannot keep copy-and-paste versions of articles which are published elsewhere under a restrictive copyright. An article created in this way is a copyright violation, and Wikinews policy is to erase these even if they are excellent article ideas.

Another problem which sometimes comes up is press releases: Press releases are sometimes excellent sources, but they do not qualify as unbiased news articles so they can't be published as they are. Two key things to remember about press releases is that they're usually written to represent the viewpoint of an involved party (Thus likely running foul of our Neutral Point of View policy). And second, they are generally covered by copyright which can conflict with our open editing approach.

A better way to get an article on an exciting subject published here is to write an original article following the guidelines described in writing an article, or to write a brief explanation of the subject and include the url address of articles or websites to use as sources. If you are part of the story that the article is about, you may also wish to consider requesting an interview rather than writing the article yourself.

Thanks again! Bawolff ☺☻ 03:27, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:124.203.157.254


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User talk:RobSeitz

Welcome
Bawolff ☺☻ 03:37, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Article Social Networking PR Comes to Fordham University
Hi there. Thank you for submitting Social Networking PR Comes to Fordham University. However to me it does not look like something that we would consider news in its current form. Please review Content guide and What Wikinews is not. If you believe that you can turn it into something that meets these guideline, I look forward to reading your final article. However, if you think that perhaps wikinews is not the place for your work, and would rather publish it somewhere else, put  on the article and we'll delete it. Thanks for your understanding. If you have any questions (or believe that the article actually is news in its present form), don't hesitate to ask me or anyone else. Cheers. Bawolff ☺☻ 03:37, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:RobSeitz


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Australia makes changes to Boxing Day cricket test team

December 26, 2008

Following its recent loss to South Africa, the Australian Cricket team has replaced player Jason Krejza for Nathan Hauritz in the traditional Boxing Day test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of an expected crowd of 70,000. Australia lost the first test of the three game series by six wickets after South Africa chased down an almost world record 414 in their second innings. Only West Indies have done better making 7-418 in Antigua during the 2002-03 tour.

All rounder Andrew Symonds kept his place despite being restricted in training with knee-soreness. Victorian speed bowler Peter Siddle was also thought to be on the verge of replacement yet managed to retain his place in the team. There has been rumour that the injury would keep Symonds out and Queenslands team mate Shane Watson would be returned after time on the sidelines.

News.com.au quotes Australian Captain Ricky Ponting "We have only made the one change in the side and that's Nathan Hauritz will come in for Jason Krejza. Otherwise we are pretty happy with what most of the rest of the guys did in Perth."

Australia, currently leading the work test team rankings must avoid a 3-0 loss to South Africa if they are to retain their current rankings. If they do loose the series, it will be the first time they have done so on home soil since they lost the West Indies in 1993.

Following their emphatic win, South Africa has named an unchanged side putting aside doubt over vice-captain Ashwell Prince making a comeback as he continues to suffer with a thumb injury. South Africa will train before joining family and friends in the traditional Christmas Day luncheon for both teams.


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Talk:Wikinews Shorts: December 25, 2008

Typo
editprotected "commited" => "committed" Van der Hoorn (talk) 20:10, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Fixed it myself. Van der Hoorn (talk) 23:49, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wikinews Shorts: December 25, 2008


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Talk:Australia makes changes to Boxing Day cricket test team

I'm not sure if Boxing Day should be capitalized. Bawolff ☺☻ 07:30, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

I think it should be.....every where else has it that way Bjornengelhardt (talk) 10:36, 25 December 2008 (UTC)


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World’s largest ice 'Father Christmas' built in China

December 26, 2008 The world’s largest Santa Claus ice sculpture has been built in China for the upcoming 25th International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in Heilongjiang Province. In Harbin, city ice sculptors and organizers are building the giant Father Christmas, a 160 meters (525 ft) long and 24 meters high sculpture. It centers on an enormous face of Santa, complete with flowing beard and hat.

Tang Guangjun, one of the sculptors, complained of the effects of global warming and hazardous conditions saying "it is even bigger and higher than last year's, and more difficult. The weather swings between warm and cold, so it becomes very wet and slippery on the ice. It is very dangerous for us." He added that "its huge size and unseasonably warm temperatures have made the job especially challenging." Organizers even have to use artificial snow.

The mid-December to early February ice festival which officially begins on January 5, has consistently increased in size over the years, with more talented artists involved and more impressive techniques and pieces on show. Ice sculpture decoration ranges from the modern technology of lasers to traditional ice lanterns. The climate of Heilongjiang is very cold and ice is plentiful. Objects of all sizes appear, up to and including building-sized pieces. In Harbin, winter temperatures can drop to below minus 35 degrees Celsius (- 31 F). According to Jia Yan, director of the local tourism bureau, about 800,000 tourists, 90 per cent of them Chinese, are expected to visit the ice festival this year. Father Christmas or "Shengdan laoren" (literally "The Old Man of Christmas") is a name used in many English speaking countries, for the gift-bringing figure of Christmas. Although "Father Christmas" and "Santa Claus" have for all practical purposes been merged, historically the characters were different.

The symbolic personification of Christmas as a merry old figure begins in the early 17th century, in the context of resistance to Puritan criticism of observation of the Christmas feast. He is "old" because of the antiquity of the feast itself, which its defenders saw as a good old Christian custom that should be kept. Allegory was popular at the time, and so "old Christmas" was given a voice to protest his exclusion, along with the form of a rambunctious, jolly old man.

The earliest recorded personification of Christmas appears to be Ben Jonson's creation in "Christmas his Masque" dating from December 1616, in which Christmas appears "attir'd in round Hose, long Stockings, a close Doublet, a high crownd Hat with a Broach, a long thin beard, a Truncheon, little Ruffes, white shoes, his Scarffes, and Garters tyed crosse", and announces "Why Gentlemen, doe you know what you doe? ha! would you ha'kept me out? Christmas, old Christmas?" Later, in a masque by Thomas Nabbes, "The Springs Glorie" produced in 1638, "Christmas" appears as "an old reverend gentleman in furred gown and cap". The character continued to appear over the next 250 years, appearing as Sir Christmas, Lord Christmas, or Father Christmas, the last becoming the most common.

According to early Christian origins Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. He was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey.


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Talk:World’s largest ice 'Father Christmas' built in China

This the first wacky news I CREATED. But this Santa ice sculpture is the largest in the world ever. Please help in publishing this. Merry Christmas to all. --Florentino Floro (talk) 08:36, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Title
As I read the news sources vis-a-vis YouTube video of the ice sculpture, I chose Father Christmas rather than Ice Santa, since the snow sculpture depicts more of Fr. Xmas than Santa. Wiki English say - Father Christmas: "the character is similar to, and in some places such as the United Kingdom, interchangeable with Santa Claus. Although "Father Christmas" and "Santa Claus" have for all practical purposes been merged, historically the characters were different."
 * I know that usincg Ice Santa is sweeter to the ears in titling. But I leave the discretion to the reviewer and publisher to change or retain my proposed title, since I am just the CREATOR and this is a collaboration.--Florentino Floro (talk) 06:09, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Edit Protected
editprotected Could someone please change Category:Culture and entertainment to Category:Christmas, please? Surf Dog (talk) 03:51, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
 * ✅ in line with Wikinews categorisation methods. --Brian McNeil / talk 09:12, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Photo
The photo in use on this article, and as a complimentary image on the lead, is confusing. It is NOT of the Chinese Ice Santa. --Brian McNeil / talk 11:51, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I had included this, since, I searched Commons but found none, because this sculpture is so recent. I had seen some news articles that use similar pictures noting in the description of the image that this is a similar image. Like in the LA massacre, I found in AP source the burned Dodge car of Pardo, and I used the Commons' Dodge image. I am just in love with images. Maybe, I should have added a note of "a similar Father Christmas" inside the image. But, the readers can open the sources and will find many pics of Father Christmas, hopefully. Cheers.--Florentino Floro (talk) 08:16, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Pics or it didn't happen
Seriously.


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User talk:202.69.15.11

Bawolff ☺☻ 10:03, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Publish
You do realize that since we changed to the review system, that articles without review won't show up on main page DPL's? Bawolff ☺☻ 10:03, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:202.69.15.11


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Financial crisis strikes charity in Poland

December 25, 2008

The current financial crisis have recently caused the Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy (Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity), one of the top Polish charity organizations, to reduce spending on The Great Finale events, which are scheduled to take place on January 11, 2009. As a result, all major events in the city of Wrocław, have been canceled.

Although many companies have declared they will help with organizing and will provide essential products for volunteers, the organizers are still in need financial aid for concerts and other mass events.

Every year, during The Great Finale, the Orchestra's volunteers collect several million zloties, which are then given to various health-care organizations to help young patients. Since 1993, when the first Finale took place, the Orchestra has collected near $100 million (~290 million złoty).


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User talk:Xeretic questo

Hi there, in regards to The Final Solution, - please review What Wikinews is not. Bawolff ☺☻ 13:10, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Xeretic questo


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User talk:202.69.15.12

Feeling Bored
[copied from my talk page]

You dont feeling bored while contributing to Wikinews again and again. Will you tell me if is there any kind of money or reward we gaining by contributing to this site or just waisting our time.--202.69.15.12 14:21, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
 * There is no monetary reward, however its not boredom (trust me, I have lots of things to do that are not-wikinews related, which i should probably do more of over wikinews). I personally find contributing very rewarding, And that is because i do things that I enjoy. You'll notice if you go through my contributions that most of what I do is not writing articles—I am personally not the greatest writer, and don't really enjoy that. However there are many things here that I do enjoy doing. There is also the reward of seeing something you do appreciated by others, and seeing what you do is seen by other people. For example, While we were publishing Chris Benoit mystery editor confesses: Claims "terrible coincidence", it was an extremely exciting time to be on #wikinews, as we could really tell that what we did affect the world in some small way. It may be rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but its cool to see something you helped create being talked about by a great many people around the world. [that paticular article was cited by many other news sources, including some major ones] Really its pretty similar to why be involved in any other wiki, or (I assume) open source type project. Bawolff ☺☻ 14:35, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:202.69.15.12


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User:Zeotronic

This user is considering writing an article about the Pandora on its release. Objections, concerns, and assistance would be appreciated.

This is the same Zeotronic from Wikipedia.

title: User:Zeotronic


text:
Apartment gas blast in Yevpatoria, Ukraine

December 25, 2008

At least 27 people, including three children, have been killed and about twenty are still missing after a Wednesday gas explosion in an apartment building in the Ukrainian town of Yevpatoria, Crimea. Five injured are treated in local hospitals, one of them in a serious condition.

According to Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry, the blast occurred at about 9:45 p.m local time on Wednesday, destroying 35 apartments of a five-storey post-Soviet block. The rescuers, in the number of 565, managed to pull out alive 21 residents of the building; about twenty people are still unaccounted for, the Ministry spokesmen said. The search was regularly suspended so the rescuers could hear voices of victims still trapped under the rubble, the AFP reports.

Olexander Mazilin, head of the regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said that 26 out of 27 bodies have been identified so far. He told the journalists that entire families, including one family of five, were among the dead. Eduard Grivkovsky, the Crimea's deputy prime minister, told the reporters that there are likely more casualties, as the rescuers were working through the rubble of the third floor to get to the lower floors and basement.

According to the outcome of the government experts, the blast was caused by a leak of oxygen; the gas is reported to have been stored in cylinders in the building's basement. Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, however, told the journalists that a certain information about the content of the cylinders, which is to be oxygen or acetylene, will be revealed only when rescuers get to the basement. ""According to preliminary expert conclusions, there was a workshop in the building's basement where explosive materials have been used without any kind of permission," she said. The Ukrainian government has allocated UAH 70 million (about US$ 13.865 million) for work against the effects of the blast. According to the official website of the Prime Minister, the funds will be used to pay peculiarly compensations for lost properties and purchase temporary accommodations for the victims of the blast.

Gas explosions are not rare in the post-Soviet and poorly maintained areas of Ukraine. In 2003 and 2007, such blasts happened in Dnipropetrovsk in the south-central region of the country. In 2003, ten buildings, including a nine-story apartment building, were destroyed after a series of gas blasts; the occurrence resulted in 23 victims. One year ago, a nine-story building was partially destroyed with 15 people dead.

Responses to the occurrence
Viktor Yushchenko, the President of Ukraine, who arrived in Yevpatoria on Thursday, is reported to have visited victims of the blast in hospitals. The following condolence has been published on his official website: "This is a horrific and irremediable loss for all the families and relatives of the victims. This is a great tragedy for the whole Ukraine. I assure you that the state will do everything possible to help you in your disaster".

President Yushchenko signed a special decree "On urgent measures aimed at dealing with consequences of the emergency in Yevpatoriya" that guarantees the victims support in moving from their destroyed flats into places of temporary residence and protects the civil order at the place of the blast. "We have reached agreement that before December 31 all the victims will be resettle", he said in a Thursday interview to the journalists. The President also assured that the state would give the victims all possible support. Victor Yushchenko thanked to the Government and local authorities for their quick reaction to the explosion; on behalf of the state he thanked to all who offered help and condolence.

With another special decree, the President announced December 26 the day of national mourning in Ukraine. "On the day of mourning national flags will be half-masted all over Ukraine on residential houses and buildings, housing state authorities, local self-government bodies, state enterprises, agencies and organisations. All entertainment happenings – concerts, sport competitions, entertainment television and radio programs will be cancelled", he wrote.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came to Yevpatoria on Thursday, too, order the Ministry of Emergency Situations to manage debris of the destroyed building by the end of the day. "There is everything necessary, in manual mode and if necessary – using technical equipment to clear away debris. We should rescue all the people who can be rescued by the end of the day", she said. Yulia Tymoshenko expressed condolences to families of the victims of the explosion; she said that every damaged family will obtain a compensation of UAH 100,000 (about US$ 19,800) for each dead person. She confirmed that the government will "spare no effort" to support families that suffered from the blast and that they "will obtain pecuniary compensation from the Government of Ukraine and new apartments", the official Prime Minister website states.

Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Russia, expressed his condolences to president Viktor Yushchenko. "It is with great regret that we learned about the explosion in a residential building in Eupatoria, which resulted in multiple dead and wounded people. If necessary, the units of the Black Sea Fleet positioned in Sevastopol are willing to provide the necessary assistance to help save lives. I would like to send my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims, and my sympathy and wishes for a fast recovery to the wounded." According to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, president Yushchenko answered that no help was required.

Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, expressed his condolences to his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko. "I have taken with a great regret the note of the tragedy that touched the Nation of Ukraine yesterday in Yevpatoria. Information about many dead and wounded raise my compassion", he wrote in a statement published on his official website.


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Talk:Apartment gas blast in Yevpatoria, Ukraine

Typo
editprotected 'occurence' => 'occurrence' Van der Hoorn (talk) 14:56, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

 * ✅ ♪Tempo di Valse ♪ 00:52, 14 March 2009 (UTC)


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Nine dead after armed Santa Claus opens fire in LA suburb

December 29, 2008

At least nine people have been killed in a two-story house in Covina, California, after a man dressed in a full Santa Claus outfit opened fire at a Christmas Eve party and then set the house ablaze. Covina is a city in Los Angeles County, California about 22 miles (35 km) east of downtown Los Angeles.

According to local police, the Christmas party at the 1100 block of East Knollcrest Drive was attended by about 25 people. Trend News Agency said that the gunman fired two semi-automatic handguns and used an apparently home-made pressurized device to spread some kind of accelerant. As the guests tried in vain to escape, the gunman used his 'present' to spray inflammable liquid that started the raging blaze. Reports from the scene said Molotov cocktails were also used by the madman.

Media reports said the gunman was plotting vengeance against his ex-wife. Prime suspect, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, age 45, six-foot-three-inch, 250 pound (1.9 meter, 113 kilogram), an electrical engineer, is long time Roman Catholic church usher and a laid-off aerospace worker. He worked with ITT Electronic Systems, Radar Systems, in Van Nuys from February 2005 to July 2008, and as an engineer at Northrop Grumman for five months in 2005, according to Court records. He had also worked for about nine years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena until 1994.

Pardo's ex-sister-in-law, who escaped from the Covina house alive with her injured daughter, called 911. Police on Friday released her 911 audio.

Msnbc.com has reported that Pardo "has brown hair and blue eyes, and known to frequent La Crescenta and La Verne." Court records reveal that Mr Pardo's wife acrimoniously divorced him last September. The divorce decree was finalized December 18. Until earlier this year, he lived in the Sylmar house with his ex-wife and her three children. The marriage lasted barely a year. However, Pardo held no criminal record and had no history of violence.

There is some speculation that the divorce may have been caused by Pardo concealing a paraplegic child from a previous relationship. Matthew, his nine-year-old son, by another former girlfriend, Elena Lucano, became brain damaged when he fell into a backyard swimming pool on Jan. 6, 2001. Pardo kept this child a secret from his wife. Pardo owed her $10,000 as part of the divorce settlement, according to court documents that detailed a bitter split. He also lost a dog he doted on and did not get back a valuable wedding ring. Pardo complained in a court declaration that Sylvia Pardo was living with her parents, not paying rent, and had spent lavishly on a luxury car, gambling trips to Las Vegas, meals at fine restaurants, massages and golf lessons.

After the mass murder, Pardo put on his street clothes and drove his rental Dodge Caliber car to the house of his brother, Jimmy Pardo, in Sylmar, approximately 30 miles away from the crime scene, where he committed suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His brother was not present in the home and he broke inside to enter in. It was believed that Pardo intended to flee to Canada by plane as he had bought an airline ticket to a flight there from Los Angeles to Moline, Illinois. However due to suffering from severe third-degree burns on both arms stemming from the blaze, he decided to go against the initial plan.

Police had found $17,000 cling-wrapped on his legs inside a girdle, the car key, and his rental car that had been parked on Herrick Avenue, one block from his brother's house, which had been rigged by remnants of his Santa suit that would ignite a flame and detonate the car with black powder if removed. Also recovered from the scene were four 13-round capacity handguns that were each empty, and at least 200 rounds of ammunition. Suggesting that what had been inside the car was being treated as a threat, police fired an incendiary device into it, destroying and burning it.

The police found on early Thursday, Mr Pardo bore a single gunshot wound to the head. According to LA County coroner's official Ed Winter, the bodies found in the ashes were "extremely charred and burned." All three of Sylvia Pardo's children — Selina, Sal and Amanda — survived. According to the Scott Nord, the Ortega family lawyer, "the entire family was wiped out, and there's basically like 16 orphans."

Three other party guests have injuries, according to police. A 16-year-old girl was shot in the back, and an eight-year-old girl suffered facial gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, while a 20-year-old woman had a broken ankle, after jumping from a second-story window, the police specified. About 80 firefighters put off the fire that soared fifteen metres (40 to 50 feet) high for more than one hour. The police discovered two handguns at the scene, and found two more in the in-laws' house. Media reports on Friday said the 16-year-old daughter of Sylvia Pardo was released from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

Meanwhile, investigators served a search warrant at Pardo's Montrose house, where they retrieved evidence of high-octane racing fuel, five empty boxes for semi-automatic handguns, as well as two shotguns. Covina police Lt. Pat Buchanan on Saturday said they are looking for Pardo's rented gray 1999 RAV4, with California license plate 5RYD562. Police have found the second rental car Saturday night in a Glendale, California but found no bombs nor any explosives.

The police also revealed Saturday the names of nine people missing since the Christmas Eve massacre occurred. They are Pardo's ex-wife, Sylvia Pardo, 43; her parents, Joseph Ortega, 80, and Alicia Ortega, 70; Alicia Ortiz, 46, and her son, Michael Ortiz, 17; Sylvia's brother, Charles Ortega, 50, and his wife, Cheri, 45; another brother, James Ortega, 52, and his wife, Teresa, 51, according to Lt. Buchanan. "Hopefully, we'll get positive identifications early next week," Covina Police Chief Kim Raney said.

A murder-suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons immediately before, or at the same time as, killing him or herself. According to the psychiatrist Karl A. Menninger, murder-suicide or murder and suicide are interchangeable acts - suicide sometimes forestalling murder, and vice versa.


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Talk:Nine dead after armed Santa Claus opens fire in LA suburb

I CREATED this sad and horrible massacre news article, under crime and law. Please help in publishing the same. Cheers.--Florentino Floro (talk) 06:40, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Re-edited, checked and updated for 2nd Review
I had taken out the copy vio and unbacked up phrases. I also updated this with latest police info, add the pics of a Dodge car used by Pardo (see AP pics burnt Dodge car), and 2 Wikipedia articles. This article is summed up as Murder-suicide.--Florentino Floro (talk) 07:40, 27 December 2008 (UTC) Note also, that I wikified the Flamethrower, since this is a technical device - KILLER SANTA USED A FLAMETHROWER ; 9 Left Dead in Ashes of Party House--Florentino Floro (talk) 07:53, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Please bear with me, the reports being updated are conflicting
I took pains to read all the latest reports, and now it comes clear. As you see, we cannot blame the conflicts of names, back ups, etc., since the scene of the crime things are current and do change, like names of James to Joseph, etc. Journalists scramble to get the best details. --Florentino Floro (talk) 09:21, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Updated, dangerous 2nd car missing
I uploaded the 1999 image of the 2nd car sought, since, if anyone finds this, it might explode. So, this news is a dire warning. The story is not over yet.--124.106.80.18 07:30, 28 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I forgot to sign in. The above is my edit. --Florentino Floro (talk) 07:31, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

2nd edit for 3rd review
Hopefully, this is good now. I deleted the 4 which have no backing. I added 2 links on car keys and found 2nd car at Glendale, no explosive. So, booby trap really has no backing. Cheers.--Florentino Floro (talk) 11:50, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Good Job
Woooow! I'm amazed... u guys work hard, great job guys :D --AlexDuarte (talk) 22:40, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Bon Appetit! (Your cute blog). My passion is also cooking, home made foods. But my first, is horse racing, I am a frustrated race horse jockey aspirant. You have a nice blog. I had studied Spanish for 7 years, and Latin, 4 years in the seminary, 1965, here, Philippines. Espanol es la lengua del Cielo! Is this true? Not now because of the Polish Pope. Delicious jamon de bola or serrano in you beautiful blog! (Oh, this news article is eerie, they are feasting on Christmas Eve! You know this is my hardest article. Imagine I had been working on this for days. The news keeps on changing. And the statements of the Police are speculations, some true some not. But we editors cannot but just synthesize what these journalists are doing.
 * Let me share you however my thought on law vis-a-vis journalism. Our Philippine laws were borrowed 70% from the Federal Rules of California. The murder-arson-suicide happened in Covina, CA. According to our Rule 129, Rules of Court, the courts can take judicial notice of all newspaper reports whether top or tabloid. Why? Because of trustworthiness and expediency. You do not want to bring James Hookwayto Manila, Philippine Courts to be cross-examined in a lawsuit here. (He interviewed me 4 hours in Makati, and in his WSJ article, 80% of the facts are false but good journalism. I never consult dwarfs, they do consult me! This is our Filipino culture, 99% of us Filipinos do have religion, mythology and folklore. But we do not believe in suicide attacks). Even statements of police that are speculative, guessing, or theories, and absurdities are admissible, provided, they relate to the SOCO or crime scene and probe, not about his girls or any other thing. But what is good in Wikinews, is collaboration, the reviewer takes a very very hard look on a creator's work. And there is no gain if there is no pain. I want my works to be reviewed, and this is the heart of reliability of Wikinews. If the reviewer just takes faith on a good editor, and there are some mistakes, Wikinews is put to a test amid the disclaimer. ERGO, I am proud that my work is reviewed many times, since, I update the same before being put to the stable page. Thanks to you and for the good works of the reviewer. Happy New Year to all of yeah!--Florentino Floro (talk) 04:09, 30 December 2008 (UTC)


text: Talk:Four UK retailers call in administrators during the week of Christmas


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User:Ppgardne

More about me here.

title: User:Ppgardne


text:
Comments:FDA says Coca-Cola's Diet Coke Plus is misbranded

Oooooh... It seems that the FDA wants a Christmas present.


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User talk:Ppgardne

Welcome
--Brian McNeil / talk 09:12, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ppgardne


text:
Comments:World’s largest ice 'Father Christmas' built in China

Yeah...according ancient christian documents. You can still see the origin of Santa Clause today in Siberia, their native Shamans dressed in red and white symbollically referring to the Amanita Musceria mushroom, a giant red with white spots, hallucinogenic, completely legal mushroom that grows in forests in nearly every part of the world, off the roots of trees, much like an apple grows off a branch. On the winter solstice (december 21-25 +/-)in Siberia, the shaman would collect the Amanitas in his sleigh pulled by deer, let them dry by stacking them in the branches of a cone shaped pine tree, bring them back to the village/tribe and sell/give them to the members, and in Siberia, the snow may pile higher than the front enterances of their tents or homes, so the shaman would then enter through the smoke hole in the top. To prepare these mushrooms to rid the negative toxins out of it, Siberians would hang them over their fire place in stockings to dry out, they are then edible without negative side effects. My instincts suggest the Romans adored these winter solstice traditions of the natives to the north.

These traditions have existed far longer than our religious institutions, and still do to this day.

Chinese Ice Sculpture
The Chinese ice sculpture is a wimp when compared to little Bethel, Maine's 'Snowwoman':

http://www.bethelmainesnowwoman.com/


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Egyptian teacher who killed child receives prison term

December 26, 2008

An Egyptian teacher who kicked a schoolboy to death after he failed to complete his homework has been given a six year prison sentence for manslaughter.

Islam Amr Badr, the schoolboy, died in a hospital in Alexandria with four broken ribs, according to testimony heard by the court.

In response to these allegations, Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, the convicted teacher, stated that he was not intending to hurt the child, he was merely intending to discipline him.

The lawyer for Abdelhamid also defended his client's actions. He stated that "Hitting [children] is not banned in schools and my client did not break the law."

The Egyptian government has announced new measures and released statements regarding 's eradication in response to this case.

Amr Badr Ibrahim, the father of the schoolboy killed, has called for more people than just the teacher to be blamed for the death. "The problem is the teaching and the teachers because they cannot find good teachers," he claimed. "The minister of education should be the first person to be accused - how can he agree to let such a young man teach children?"


text: Talk:Egyptian teacher who killed child receives prison term


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Comments:Wikinews Shorts: December 25, 2008

Madoff investor commits suicide
Another one bites the dust. Second I've heard this week. Obviously not enough New York buildings have elevators that go to the roof. --Brian McNeil / talk 17:58, 26 December 2008 (UTC)


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Comments:Egyptian teacher who killed child receives prison term

I bet if the teacher was gay. He would of gotten the noose.--74.233.185.188 18:01, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

This is horrible
No teacher should be allowed to beat a child for punishment no matter the country. Discipline should be up to the parents to administer.

Jehan Amin-Shama

You mean... "horrible"? Yeah... what a monster! How come hitting is allowed there? --AlexDuarte (talk) 06:48, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Because they have a different culture and government. (Shock horror.) --78.146.205.210 12:14, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

The teacher said that he kicked the boy for discipline. Kicking a child in the chest broking 4 ribs to disciple him?? So, what would he do if he wanted to kill him? The government has to make a new system for punishment in schools, cause it's not the first time when a teacher hurts child in such a brutal way. --M.Hassan (talk) 13:30, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Only six years?! --


text: Category:User it-3

title: Category:User it-3


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User:MathCool10

Hi! I'm MathCool10. I'm much more active on the English Wikipedia; my username there is MathCool10.

title: User:MathCool10


text:
User talk:41.208.161.4

Hi. We're not an encyclopedia, nor is this the french language edition. You may be interested in French language wikipedia. Bawolff ☺☻ 07:17, 27 December 2008 (UTC) -

Welcome
Welcome!

41.208.161.4, welcome to Wikinews! Thank you for your contributions I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews:
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If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! العربية (Arabic) – Български (Bulgarian) – Bosanski jezik (Bosnian) – Català (Catalan) – Česky (Czech) – Nederlands (Dutch) – Deutsch (German) – Suomi (Finnish) – Français (French) – עברית (Hebrew) – Italiano (Italian) – 日本語 (Japanese) – Norsk (Norwegian) – Polski (Polish) – Português (Portuguese) – Română (Romanian) – Русский (Russian) – Српски / Srpski (Serbian) – Español (Spanish) –Svenska (Swedish) – ไทย (Thai) – Українська (Ukrainian) – 中文 (Chinese) – Start a new edition

title: User talk:41.208.161.4


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Also note that these special gadgets are not part of the MediaWiki software, and are developed and maintained by users on your local wiki. Administrators can edit available gadgets using definitions and descriptions.

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User talk:207.244.189.216

hi everyone!

yes

title: User talk:207.244.189.216


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User:207.244.189.216

I HATE this IP address.

title: User:207.244.189.216


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Israeli air strikes hit government compounds in Gaza

December 27, 2008 Israel has launched with at least 30 simultaneous missiles strikes on Hamas installations in Gaza City, causing heavy damage. F-16 fighters targeted security compounds in the city’s centre.

The “massive” air strikes on Saturday have claimed at least 220 lives, including Gaza police chief Maj. Gen. Tawfiq Jaber. More than 700 were injured, while others were still buried under the rubble, according to Health Ministry officer Moawiya Hassanain. Gaza City hospitals, including Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s main treatment center, are crowded with wounded victims. In response thirteen rockets and mortar shells had also hit southern Israel on Friday, damaging an unoccupied house.

Meanwhile, Hamas declared it would retaliate, by launching rocket attacks on and sending suicide bombers to Israel. “Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood,” warned Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas’ rival, says he “condemns this aggression” and calls for restraint.

When the Egyptian-mediated truce terminated last week, Israel warned of their potential to launch a major offensive on Gaza, amid senior leaders’ call to topple Hamas. “I will not hesitate to use Israel’s strength to strike at Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Thursday, issuing a dire warning that ”tens of thousands of children and innocents” would be at risk “as a result of Hamas’ actions.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel has temporarily opened some border crossings Friday to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in response to the international community’s pleas.

Two hours after IAF missiles targeted Hamas installations in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian gunmen launched on Saturday a massive attack with Qassam rockets on Israeli territory. Seven struck Ashkelon, killing one person, while another suffered serious injuries, and four others were moderately wounded when their house was hit. They were rushed to the Soroka hospital in Beersheva.

According to the IDF, Hamas militants had further launched more than 110 rockets since Saturday, IDF says. Meanwhile, a Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour has called on the United Nations to condemn the deadly violence. "There is no justification for punishing 1.5 million in the Gaza Strip because of the actions of a few. We hope we don't fail in having a reaction from the Security Council tonight," he said. Dr Moawiya Hassanein has said "we have counted 271 dead and 620 wounded since Saturday."

The 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, referred to as "Operation Cast Lead" (מבצע עופרת יצוקה - also known as "Operation Solid Lead") by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), is an Israeli air strike operation launched on December 27, 2008 at 11:30 am local time (9:30 am UTC) against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials justified the offensive as a retaliation against daily Palestinian Qassam rocket and mortar fire on Israel's southern communities.


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Talk:Israeli air strikes hit government compounds in Gaza

I CREATED this conflicts article in the Gaza strip. Please help in publishing it. Cheers.--Florentino Floro (talk) 10:54, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Alot of gramatical errors, copyvio and un neccessary sources. Please consider your articles before assisgning them for Review.--Chowdhury (talk) 22:07, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


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User talk:Chowdhury

Hi there. Please note, when creating a prepared article, please actually prepare some content. If its just the headline, its likely to be deleted. Thanks. Bawolff ☺☻ 12:50, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Chowdhury


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User talk:24.125.242.203

I'm going to step in as an uninvolved admin. Quit trolling or get blocked. Thanks, and have a nice day. Blood Red Sandman (Talk)   (Contribs) 14:09, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Your recent edits
Hi there. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikinews pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four tildes ( ~~~~ ) at the end of your comment. On many keyboards, the tilde is entered by holding the Shift key, and pressing the key with the tilde pictured. You may also click on the signature button located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your name and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you! --SineBot (talk) 10:18, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

A fuggin' robot, like I have discourse with that.

Jerk

title: User talk:24.125.242.203


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User talk:Psalm Tours

-Tempodivalse [talk]  22:56, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

"It is used by our staff to jointly make volunteer contributions."
That is a violation of Role account. Cirt (talk) 19:34, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

OK Cirt, I understand now, thanks. I wonder what will happen with my article now? Thanks

title: User talk:Psalm Tours


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Comments:Israeli air strikes hit compounds in Gaza

Fuck Israel
Shame on Israel for attacking innocent civilians. They are nothing more than scum. They are the epitomes of Hitler. and here are some links Hamas ends truce Hamas began firing Rockets at Israel And the evil Israeli trying to make life easier for the people of Gaza by giving them aid and all they get is 60 rockets attacks. --KDP3 (talk) 22:23, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I hope for you know Hamas (a terrorist group btw) declare an end to the truce and shot the first shots while Israel open up 5 roads so the Palestinian can have fuel,meds and all the good stuff for the basic life since Hamas used all the Hospitals as battlefields with Fatah which held a Christmas mass with Israel and Christians. So shame on Hamas for being the Ignorant radicals they are and staring an other war.

WTF
'''CAN'T WE ALL JUST GROW UP? KILLING INOCENT PEOPLE OVER THIS? REALLY?'''

ISRAEL SUCKS
Though many other countries suck just as well.


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Mexican billionaire denies buying Honda Formula One team

January 3, 2009 Following recent news that Honda had withdrawn from Formula One in 2009, initial rumours that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has rescued the team appear to be false. Foxsports quotes a Telmex release as saying "The Telmex Team can confirm that Carlos Slim Helu has not bought the Honda F1 team nor is holding any negotiations to do so. Therefore all information related to this subject has no basis and is completely false." Slim is the CEO and President of Telmex, a telecommunications provider in Mexico, and claims to be the world's second richest person.

The initial reports suggested that a team had already been chosen including Jenson Button and rookie Bruno Senna as its drivers for 2009. Senna, who is the nephew of triple world champion Ayrton Senna, was said to be replacing veteran Rubens Barrichello. Slim is already sponsoring Senna through Embratel, one of his group's subsidiaries. Claims that Slim paid a visit to the Honda team facility in Northamptonshire in December also seem incorrect following a comment from team principal, Ross Brawn, in London's Daily Telegraph that "We would love it if it were true but it's pure speculation from various members of the media." A further quote stated that "It's just been one of those rumours which has developed a life of its own."

Honda withdrew from Formula One recently following a 40% slump in its retail car sales and an estimated budget in excess of US$350m annually. The recent season was not successful for Honda which saw them finish ninth in the constructors' championship, only beating Team India and Super Aguri, who each failed to register a single championship point in 2008.

Almost a week ago reports began circulating that Slim was interested and that other suitors may include Vijay Mallya and David Richards. Mallya took an active role in Formula One in 2008 with his purchase of the Spyker F1 team for US$130m. The first year was a tough one for Mallya and the team with constant failure to finish and not a single championship point gained. Richards is reported to have already met with potential investors in the Middle East. He has the experience as former team principal for BAR and Benetton Formula One motor racing teams.


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Talk:Mexican billionaire denies buying Honda Formula One team

would like some feedback on whether it should be posted as a series of unconfirmed stories as there is nothing yet to confirm that Carlos Slim has actually signed the deal.....Bjornengelhardt (talk) 07:43, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Great job on starting the news :D ... i read several external articles saying that they don't have a deal yet and that there's a line-up of four people to put Honda back into Formula One... I believe that either we wait to see who's gonna sign the deal then we start an article about it, or we rename this article to "Candidates to put Honda Formula One back on track" or something like it and start the article about it. You're right, all we know so far is that there's this series of unconfirmed stories... so there's no verifiability anywhere. --AlexDuarte (talk) 00:05, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Changed heading as the reports of Slim buying honda seem to be false.....changed theme of article to be more about Honda still looking for buyer Bjornengelhardt (talk) 23:58, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Review
ive reviewed the above comments and notes are:

1. 40% slump was referred to in previous wikinews articles and that was approved and published

2. Mallya's constant failure to finish details are available onthe F1 website link which has full details for every race, team etc

3. Richards F1 experience is linked to Wikipedia.....details his experience with BAR & Benneton

4. Removed sentence "This lack of success"

Bjornengelhardt (talk) 12:39, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

 * Because Wikipedia is a wiki, and doesn't have FlaggedRevs like us, it is not a reliable source. I'll see what I can turf up on it myself, though. I will look through the F1 stuff, I only checked the immediate page linked but assuming that's true then that's sorted. Can you show me an article with '40% slump' in it for me to check? Thanks, Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 13:05, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

 * Ok, I got it. I'll assume that article was reviewed correctly. Other stuff sourced properly now. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 13:31, 3 January 2009 (UTC)


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Ghanaians elect new President

January 3, 2009 University of Ghana law professor John Atta Mills, age 64, was confirmed on Saturday as the winner of the runoff presidential election, the fifth in Ghana since the return to multi-party democracy in 1992.

According to Electoral Commission Chair, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Atta Mills obtained 50.23 percent of ballots cast on December 28, or 4,521,032 votes, while Nana Akufo-Addo got 49.77 percent or 4,480,446 votes. Despite the ruling party's call to boycott, the Tain local election officer also announced that Atta-Mills obtained 19,566 votes in Friday's special election there, while Nana Akufo-Addo had only 2,053 ballots.

In the parliamentary elections, Atta Mills’s NDC won 114 seats to the NPP’s 107. Minor parties and independent candidates won seven seats while two are still being contested.

President John Kufuor appealed for sobriety and urged the candidates to accept the official result.

A presidential election was held in Ghana on 7 December 2008, at the same time as a parliamentary election. Eight candidates contested the first round of voting.

Ghana's electoral commission announced on December 10 that a run-off election must be held on 28 December, 2008 for the Ghanaian presidency. The commission said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won 49.13% of the vote, slightly more than the other main candidate, John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who obtained 47.92%. However, neither candidate reached the 50% mark needed to declare an outright winner to succeed President John Kufuor, who will step down after two terms.

Turnout on election day was very high. Out of some 8.6 million votes cast, more than 200,000, or 2.4% of the full total, were rejected. Overall voter turnout in the election was 69.52%.

The second round was to be rerun on 2 January 2009 in the Tain District due to ballot papers irregularities. As the number of voters in Tain, which has a constituency of about 53,000 eligible voters, exceeded Atta Mills' margin of victory without the results, the Election Commission stated it would not announce Atta Mills as the winner until after the election rerun in Tain.

The NPP sought to delay voting in Tain as it claimed that "the atmosphere in the rural district was not conducive to a free and fair election", but the court said it would only hear the case on January 5, denying the NPP an injunction. The NPP then proceeded to call for a voting boycott, for which it was criticized by civil groups.

On December 21, 2006, former Vice-President John Atta-Mills, who unsuccessfully ran as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004, was overwhelmingly elected by NDC as its candidate for the 2008 presidential election.

Former Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was elected as the 2008 presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a party congress on December 23, 2007. Although he fell short of the required 50%, the second-place candidate, John Alan Kyeremanten, conceded defeat and backed Akufo-Addo.

title: Ghanaians elect new President


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Talk:Ghanaians elect new President

I CREATED this new elections article. Please help in publishing it. Cheers.--Florentino Floro (talk) 10:08, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Review
I have reviewed this article, and give it the thumbs up. ♪ Tempo Di  Valse ♪ 20:14, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ghanaians elect new President


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User talk:118.221.118.140

Welcome to Wikinews! Thanks for creating Korea Aims To Set Christmas Carol World Record, articles like this are appreciated. There are a few issues that must be dealt with before it can be published. The most important is that all Wikinews articles must cite sources for the information they contain. Articles should cite sources by using the source tag at the bottom of the story. There are instructions for using the source tag when you click the "source" link on this message. If your article contains original reporting, you should read the information at original reporting. If you are part of the story that the article is about, you may also wish to consider requesting an interview rather than writing the article yourself.

Discussion about your article will occur on the article talk page. Please go there to start or participate in the discussion with other Wikinews contributors. Keep at it and try to get this article published, which can sometimes be difficult, but you will find that it is worth the effort. user:Bawolff 11:00, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:118.221.118.140


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Comments:Israeli air strikes hit government compounds in Gaza

It's okay people...! This is not terrorism! This is killing people western style, so it's OK! Don't freak out!
 * he meant to say "Hey i support a radical terrorist group that rather let their own people suffer in a futile war with a Nation that is willing to let us live in peace but we are too ignorant to live side by side with Jews unlike our arabs brothers in the West Bank who by the way had a Christmas mass with Jews in celebration of Jesus birth (crazy I know jews and arabs celebrating Jesus!?!)". And they been what firing rockets at Israel for weeks which breaks any truce. Kinda common sense unless you live a double standard life in my opinion. But I hope Hamas is overthrown and someone is place in power that really cares about the Palestinians and their future and not fighting a war that will lead to their destruction.--KDP3 (talk) 14:30, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Yeah! Palestinians should already be extinct! Go Israel!

 * Only someone who is immature or can't stand he/she is on the wrong side of the issue responds like that.And the great Irony. Hamas wants Israel and any Jew extinct.--66.229.21.217 18:22, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * If you take over a people's land, then force them to live under apartheid rule by taking away all their basic liberties and freedoms, and then keep up violent attacks on their population, they are bound to join an army to try and protect themselves, Hamas. Obviously diplomatic efforts are futile, the PLO and all arab states have asked for a two state settlement since 1979, which was met by the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 which killed 20,000 Lebanese and destroyed the entire country.  Well around the year 2000, the Palestinians kind of gave up on diplomacy and started fighting back, something which is apparently illegal by our standards because Hamas is now branded a, "terrorist" group, and I guess the Israeli apartheid system is all peachy.  The entire world, with the exception of the U.S, has sided with Palestine, the UN has passed numerous resolutions telling Israel to GTFO Palestine, but Israel never listens, they don't have to, they are an outlaw state with massive nuclear capabilities.Soapy (talk) 18:34, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * HAHAHAHAHAH okay I'm done laughing at the apartheid comment since Israeli gives more rights to arabs citizens then any other arab nations in the whole middle east(I'll let that culture shock sink in for a second)....Done realizing your wrong on Israel and you are defending terrorists? And in fact the Israelis was willing to live in peace with the Palestinians, but the Arab league said no to that back in 1949. And Israel has been out of the West Bank and Gaza letting Fatah and Hamas kill each other. But it seem Hamas sending suicide bombers and rockets into Israeli kinda toss out the whole idea of "gtfo" since its okay for you to attack me but GOD DAMN YOU if I defend my self. But Israeli having nukes dos not bug me. You need to keep Mecca in your cross hairs if you have 2 Muslims nations (Syria and Iran the rest got tired of losing wars and decided peace was a better idea) that want you and your race excite. And entire world? you mean Nations that are antisemitic that are in a UN has more then third of the members are dictatorships?And since I have to answer if single issue you brought up. If the PLO didn't hide in Lebanon, they would never got bomb, Jordan thought it was better to be at peace then Hide terrorist like the POL. PS. I'm the IP that is defending Israel I don't want you to fell that your arguing two people.

--KDP3 (talk) 18:52, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

A previous comment was removed by someone so I'll rephrase it more generally. Everyone who is too excited needs to stop and think some before commenting. Try to say something intelligent, or you would only be trolling and wasting bandwidth. 68.222.134.18 17:15, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

OMG, The drafs is a joke!
"Israel has killed at least 220 Palestinians, including women and children, in response to “Hamas terror operatives” who killed a 58-year-old Beber Vaknin israeli." Seriously? Whoever phrased the sentence as it is in the draft currently, should have his fingers chopped. Nomaed (talk) 15:57, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * on the issue of the who killed more people. Hamas aim to kill many Israeli as possible, civilian or military. Israel target Hamas military facilities and bomb shops. I don't like it that they did it in Day time when the streets are pack but it's better if they get the Top leaders and bomb/rocket makers while they are at work. But i ask you Nomaed, if a country or terrorist group lunch a attack on your nation how would you respond? --66.229.21.217 18:24, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Remember Lebanon in 2006? Israeli civilian casualties: 48. Lebanese civilian casualties: 1500.

 * Still didn't answer the question if someone attack your nation what you do? Stand around and hold your D*cks or fight back. If Hamas really care for the people of Gaza they would live in peace with Israel like Fatah and the Palestinians are going right now.--66.229.21.217 23:38, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

 * I think you misunderstood me. First, it wasn't me responding about Lebanon. Second, if we're talking about the situation and opinions, and not about the new article, Israel should have overthrown Hamas long time ago. No country would allow itself being attacked for so long as Israel have, and it was about time. And indeed, caught Hamas by surprise, to increase damage. What I meant is that this quoted text, whoever wrote it, is a biased text to show that Israel is the devil, emphasizing phrases like "killed at least 220 Palestinians" (not to mention that at least 180 are Hamas militants), "including women and children" (irrelevant), putting quotes around "Hamas terror operatives" to undermine the attacks on Israel, and "in response to ... 58-year-old Beber Vaknin israeli." (which is completely untrue, it has nothing to do with Israel's retaliation against the continued shelling of Hamas into Israeli civilian towns). Hope I made it clearer. Nomaed (talk) 09:21, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I apologize then and I understand now.--66.229.21.217 14:37, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Still I would find it remarkably hard to defend the tactics that Israël is currently using. The use of massive bombing of the Gaza strip from the air, knowing in full the huge population density of Gaza. To my opinion a ground offensive might be the better option. Not to mention that Israel airforce still uses clusterbombs.
 * That's my biggest problem with this attack. But Hama's is using civilian areas (Houses and Mosques) as staging grounds to lunch missiles attacks into Israel.And I believe The IAF are not using clusterbombs in this conflict just the good old "smartbombs" and hellfire missiles(I wish along with the US are banned). But a ground attack is coming and what i hear on the news the battle for Gaza for be in the Northern part of the city since according to Fox news that where is Hamas is based.--66.229.21.217 03:57, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Nomaed I don't believe that your view "Whoever phrased the sentence as it is in the draft currently, should have his/her fingers chopped." is a good way to look at anybodys attempts at editing. On the issue of numbers, you need to add context, for example 20 Israeli's have been killed in 8 year but over 300 have been killed in 3 days, and saturday was the largest loss of life in palestine since the creation of israel. Also as far as i am aware, most/if not all, the rockets fired by hamas have landed in the occupied territories not in israel proper. And I just do not believe that hamas were using a university to fire rockets, usually they are fired from fields.

slanted timeline
1 the truce didn't terminate itself - hammas declared it over a day early presumably to make a point of it 2 israel wanted (probably still does) to extend the truce as do most palestinians I bet 3 hammas launched dozens of rockets after they ended the truce and before israel attacked (this is a key point for journalistic integrity) - cite from economist and other neutralish news sources (wikinews is looking less neutral than I anticipated - thus this post)

 * So the ending of the truce had nothing to do with the exaggerated demands and unequal offers that the Israelis made tanking the most recent peace negotiations...? 68.210.105.45 04:57, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Ceasefire and the stop of shooting missiles against Israel is hardly "exaggerated demands". Nomaed (talk) 09:23, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

 * You obviously have not been following things very well. The details discussed in the actual peace solution, the offers made by the Israeli representatives involved taking vast swaths of land from Palestine and and crippling it as a nation before it can even be restored. 68.222.134.18 17:17, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Story begins in the middle, with no explanation
This story begins with Israel attacking Gaza, but the airstrikes were aimed at stopping the massive increase in rocket fire from Gaza, initiated after Hamas decided not to extend the six month ceasefire. Not only did they decide to not extend the ceasefire, they fired hundreds of rockets and mortars. Hamas and Fatah did nothing to stop that, so after several days, Israel did something about it. Heavy-handed, yes, but a slap on the wrist doesn't stop the rockets. The "civilians" in the area are being used as human shields. They could have been easily moved out of the way, but Hamas didn't want that. They wanted to fire rockets and they wanted to use women and children as a shield. Hamas wants death - it is all they really want.

This is a difficult situation and when you are dealing with stupid people - who are safely hidden away in Syria, it is made much worse. We all remember what happened when Israel was persuaded not to completely destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon - they used it as propaganda to say Israel was weak. There probably isn't much chance that will fly this time.

This could all be very different, but the people who have the power to change this immediately, don't have the intelligence to do it. 76.114.29.67 23:04, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

 * But why is that point more significant than the one before, or the one before that, or even before that? Because it deflects blame from the Israeli government for their own actions? You could give a 60 year history and still fail to assign all blame. 74.227.157.87 18:14, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Damages of building
I would prefer to read something about the damaging of educational building e.g. university. --Wiki von Falke (talk) 10:58, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Comments from feedback form - "Today is the 2nd anniversary v..."
Today is the 2nd anniversary vigil 1-3pm in London. —91.85.173.162 (talk) 10:10, 27 December 2010 (UTC)


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User:Xeretic questo

Hi Boewolf

ref/           GAZA 28 dec 2008, 1704 pm

The bombs terror continue !, before Israel can push Gazans into the Sinai They must win the media/propoganda war!, So Bush,Brown,Fatah,Muhbarack,saudis ect can say no mea culpa!, This reminds me of 1944 and the Warsaw ghetto!

Merry Xmas and peace on earth ! and goodwill to0 all men xeretic

PS   meanwhile Israeli tanks and reservists mass on the border.

Katusha rockets!, do i detect the hand of Mossad in Gaza?, Time to manufacture the invasion excuse?, 10.13PM dec 29 08 Why are all Hamas rockets duds?all smoke and no bang!,review

title: User:Xeretic questo


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User:Mschlindwein

Brazilian from Porto Alegre.

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title: User:Mschlindwein