A ‘Dad’ is Tenth Most Popular Christmas List Request for Children

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When it comes to Christmas, it might be safe to assume children will ask Santa for an extensive list of toys, games and treats.

But a survey of their typical lists for Father Christmas has shown many have more serious concerns, requesting “a dad” instead.

A study of 2,000 British parents found most children will put a new baby brother or sister at the top of their Christmas list, closely followed by a request for a real-life reindeer.

A “pet horse” was the third most popular choice, with a “car” making a bizarre entry at number four.

Despite their material requests, the tenth most popular Christmas wish on the list was a “Dad”.

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Japan: On Path to Rearming?

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WASHINGTON – Despite what has been described as a “pacifist” constitution implemented following World War II, Japan is considering rearming to offset what is perceived in the East Asia region as a more assertive China, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

That nation is throwing around its military weight to enforce its hegemony over the East and South China Seas.

Almost all the countries in the region are affected by China’s new assertiveness in the region, including Vietnam, the Philippines and even India, in addition to Japan. All have open and somewhat confrontational disputes with Beijing over jurisdiction over islands and potential maritime oil and gas resources.

For India, it has a number of contracts with Vietnam for offshore oil and gas exploration in the East and South China Seas to meet its increasing energy demands. In recent months, China and India have had disputes over access to areas where Beijing claims exclusive jurisdiction.

In addition to separate disputes between New Delhi and Beijing over land border disputes between the two countries, India has decided to enhance its presence in the East and South China Seas with an increased military naval presence of its own.

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Rocket Launch Proves North Korean ICBM Can Now Hit U.S. Mainland

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The rocket launched earlier this month by North Korea had the capability to travel more than 6,000 miles, meaning this type of rocket could strike the United States, South Korean defense officials said.

In remarks to reporters Friday, which were embargoed until Sunday, three officials with South Korea’s defense ministry offered their observations about the December 12 launch based on a recovered oxidizer tank that had been part of one of the rocket’s boosters. According to NASA, an oxidizer tank contains oxygen compounds that allow rocket fuel to burn in the atmosphere and outside of it, in space.

North Korean officials cheered what they hailed as a successful launch of a long-range rocket, which they said put a satellite in orbit. But the mission drew international condemnation, with many viewing it as cover for testing of ballistic missile technology, which the United Nations has forbidden Pyongyang from using.

The South Korean military officials said the evidence they found helps show their nuclear-equipped rival’s intent and progress in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Based on a simulation, the officials estimated the rocket can travel more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), meaning it could reach the U.S. mainland from North Korea. It can carry a payload of about 500 to 600 kilograms (225 to 275 pounds).

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Report: Syrian Chemical Weapons Appearing in Hezbollah Caches

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photo credit: wilhelmja

(H/T: Instapundit) I am back-and-forth on how seriously to take this particular story:

“Two days after a mysterious explosion at a Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon, the Kuwaiti website Al Jarida is reporting that Israel bombed the site because Syria had transferred missiles there that were capable of being equipped with chemical warheads. The missiles had been moved into Lebanon from Syria in the last several months and were being held inside warehouses owned by farmers in the area.

The report also claimed that Hezbollah has many additional warehouses across Lebanon that are used for the same purpose. In October another weapons storage facility in the town of Baalbek was destroyed after an explosion. The AFP said that four Syrians were killed in the blast.”

…given that I’m not familiar with either the website in question, or the site that it’s drawing its story from. On the other hand, reports that Syria is using Hezbollah as a storage facility for its weapons of mass destruction have been circulating for years. Haaretz reported something similar happening in 2009; the Washington Post, of course, had a column on the subject a couple of days ago. On the gripping hand, if I was running the Syrian regime right now I’d want to have my WMD stockpiles under the control of somebody reliable…

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Julian Assange: Expect More From WikiLeaks in 2013

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Julian Assange has said that WikiLeaks is preparing to publish 1m new secret government documents as he marked six months of refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London with a speech from its balcony on Thursday.

The WikiLeaks founder has remained in the embassy to avoid arrest and extradition to Sweden on suspicion of sexual offences. There is a permanent police guard and Assange will be arrested if he leaves the premises.

About 80 supporters gathered on Thursday night to hear Assange speak. They carried candles and held placards reading, “Don’t shoot the messenger” and “Don’t trust Sweden”. Some sang Christmas carols as they waited for Assange to speak from the first floor balcony, a short distance from Harrods department store. There were 60 additional police officers on duty.

Assange emerged with a raised fist and greeted the crowd: “What a sight for sore eyes. People ask what gives me hope. The answer is right here.”

He was momentarily disturbed when a journalist from Channel 4 shouted questions at him with a loudhailer, but he recovered and delivered a 15-minute speech which was high in rhetoric and low in novelty.

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Russia Sends Mixed Signals on Syria

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HAIFA, Israel – Russia continues to send mixed signals over its stance in support of the Syrian regime, with President Vladimir Putin hinting that President Bashar al-Assad’s downfall is likely even as unconfirmed reports indicate Russia is shipping high-tech missiles to the embattled strongman.

The abstention of Russia in Thursday’s UN vote condemning Syria, Iran and North Korea for widespread and systematic human rights abuses, is juxtaposed by Putin’s comments earlier in the day that, “We are not preoccupied that much with the fate of the Assad regime; we realize what’s going on there.”

Unconfirmed reports suggesting that Moscow may have sent some 24 Iskander cruise missiles to bolster Syrian forces, prompting neighboring countries such as Israel, Turkey and Jordan, whose respective militaries have for some time been on a heightened state of alert due to the instability in Syria, to further increase their vigilance and monitoring of events in the region.

Reports that the Iskander missiles – also known as SS26-Stone missiles –might have been dispatched from Russia to Syria first surfaced on Dec. 9. Sources believe the weapons passed through the port of Tartus on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and have deployed at dual points: 12 facing Turkey on Syria’s northeast border, and 12 facing Jordan and Israel on Syria’s southern border. Just as worrisome for those who fear an escalation could spill over beyond Syria’s borders is the fact that a number of other vessels are reportedly on their way to Tartus.

“They (the Russian vessels) are heading to the Syrian coast to assist in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens. Preparations for the deployment were carried out in a hurry and were heavily classified,” Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

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Egypt Constitutional Vote: ‘Things Are Definitely Worse Than Under the Old Regime’

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When Alber Saber’s mother called police to protect him from a mob baying for his blood, something odd happened: they arrested him. They then threw him in prison, encouraged his cellmates to attack him, and finally took him to court where he was jailed for three months.

Mr Saber’s alleged offence was all the more significant in light of the new constitution – being voted on by millions of Egyptians on Saturday – that is at the heart of Egypt’s political crisis.

The mob in his Cairo suburb accused him of atheism and disrespect of the Prophet Mohammed, and demanded he be killed; a neighbour had alleged he had posted to his Facebook page the now notorious Islam-mocking video that triggered protests across the world in September.

His mother, Kariman Ghali, cries frequently as she describes visiting him in prison the day after the mob surrounded their apartment block.

“He had blood all over his T-shirt,” said Mrs Ghali, who claims her son was put in a wing reserved for dangerous inmates. “The policeman told the prisoners, ‘This guy insulted the Prophet, I want to see what you can do with him.’ Someone stabbed him with a razor.”

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Jon Hammar, Marine Jailed in Mexico, Released From Prison (+video)

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The ordeal for Jon Hammar Jr., who languished under deplorable conditions in a violent Mexican prison for four months, is finally over.

Jon Hammar Sr. has confirmed that his 27-year-old son, a Marine combat veteran, is back on U.S. soil and with him in a rented car in Brownsville, Texas.

Hammar Sr. said his son was released from the notorious CEDES prison at 8 p.m. local time and made it back across the bridge between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas by around 8:30 p.m.

The ex-Marine, who was arrested at the same border crossing Aug. 13 after attempting to declare an antique shotgun, was suffering from a stomach virus, his father told Fox News as he and his son drove from the border looking for a hotel to spend the night.

“We’re both tired and at our wits end,” Hammar Sr. said. “We’re glad he’s out of there.”

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Pope On Gay Marriage: ‘People Dispute the Idea That They Have a Nature’

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope pressed his opposition to gay marriage Friday, denouncing what he described as people eschewing their God-given gender identities to suit their sexual choices — and destroying the very “essence of the human creature” in the process.

Benedict XVI made the comments in his annual Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches of the year. He dedicated it this year to promoting traditional family values in the face of gains by same-sex marriage proponents in the U.S. and Europe and efforts to legalize gay marriage in places like France and Britain.

In his remarks, Benedict quoted the chief rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, in saying the campaign for granting gays the right to marry and adopt children was an “attack” on the traditional family made up of a father, mother and children.

“People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being,” he said. “They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.”

“The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned,” he said.

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UN General Assembly Targets Israel with 22 out of 26 Resolutions in 2012

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By the end of this week the current 2012 UNGA session will have adopted 22 country-specific resolutions targeting Israel – and only four on the rest of the world combined, one each for Syria, Iran, North Korea and Burma, according to UN Watch.

On Tuesday alone The U.N. General Assembly adopted nine resolutions on ”Palestinian rights and the Golan,” sharply criticizing Israel yet making no mention of Sunday’s massacre of Palestinian Arabs by Syrian warplanes firing missiles into a mosque in a refugee camp near Damascus.

On the UN Watch’s website Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, underscored the absurdity of the resolution tally. “The U.N.’s disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial and respected international body, and exposes the sores of politicization and selectivity that eat away at its founding mission, eroding the U.N. Charter promise of equal treatment to all nations large and small,” he said.

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