[Guardian] The demise of Tiger Woods has taken its latest and perhaps the most serious turn, with confirmation the golfer was arrested on suspicion of drink driving in Florida in the early hours of Monday morning. As a police mug shot of Woods gained huge traction online ‐ his face puffy and eyes the epitome of sadness ‐ the epic career heights which saw the 41-year-old win 14 major championships and break records with stunning regularity never seemed so far away. Woods, once a sporting phenomenon, is now making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Woods’s details were issued by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office, as is customary for such incidents in the United States. The golfer was arrested close to his home in Jupiter Island at 3am, with his release time stated as 10.50am. There has been no detail provided as to where he was going or coming from, nor the level of alcohol in his system, but a full arrest report should appear on Tuesday. "He was arrested for suspicion of driving under influence at around 3am, and transported to the Palm Beach County Jail," said a spokesman for the Jupiter Police Department. "He is no longer at the jail."
A man who went on a shooting rampage after a domestic argument is accused of killing eight people, including his mother-in-law and a sheriff's deputy, at three different residences in Mississippi.
After Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, of Bogue Chitto, was arrested around 7am on Sunday, he toldThe Clarion-Ledger he got into an argument with his estranged wife over their children on Saturday night.
Neighbors called the police, and Godbolt allegedly killed responding deputy William Durr, 36, around 11:30pm along with three women at the home in the 2800 block of Lee Drive in Bogue Chitto. Godbolt's wife fled the scene with her step-father.
Godbolt then made his way to the 1600 block of Coopertown Road, in Brockhaven, about 15 miles away, where the bodies of two juvenile boys were found, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations said.
A man and a woman were found dead at a third crime scene at the 300 block of East Lincoln Road before Godbolt was arrested Sunday morning, more than seven hours after the first shooting broke out.
Godbolt, who faces charges of one count of capital murder and seven counts of first degree murder, told the Clarion-Ledger he 'ran out of bullets' and planned to die by committing 'suicide by cop'.
'I ain't fit to live, not after what I done,' a handcuffed Godbolt told the local newspaper.
[Hurriyet Daily News] The cross of a 12th century Byzantine chapel, located outside the ancient city of Myra in the southern province of Antalya, has reportedly been stolen.
Demre District Governor Murat Uz said an investigation has been opened into the theft, and they believe the 20-centimeter long marble cross was stolen in the last three or four days.
"The Culture and Tourism Ministry will make the necessary statement soon," said Uz.
The theft was noticed by security officials at Myra and a family living next to the chapel.
The Byzantine chapel was unearthed during excavations in 2010 carried out by Professor Nevzat Cevik, a member of the Akdeniz University Archaeology Department and the head of the Myra excavations, and Professor Engin Akyurek from the Byzantine History Department of Istanbul University.
The ancient chapel was restored with the contributions of then Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay and taken under protection with tight security measures.
The 5.5-meter deep chapel is closed to visitors and is covered to prevent damage from the rain.
There are also Santa Claus, Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ figures at the entrance of the chapel.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Does it matter? They'll eventually pave it over and build a mosque.
#3
Wars are inevitable I suppose. I just wish there was some way someone could dig into the way we actually do war and eliminate the friendly force 'wars within wars' that claim so many innocent lives.
For those unfamiliar with the term 'wars within wars,' what I am referring to is the 'we're special' factor. As in; geographic areas of responsibility (Specified Areas of Operation) mean nothing. 'We don't have to coordinate our operations with you because.... you don't have a need to know.'
The word 'special' should be stricken from the lexicons of everyone in uniform. Just my umble opinion.
Mice are not humans. But they are close enough that many drugs that work in mice turn out to work in people, too. Three years ago Robert Naviaux, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, published a paper suggesting that a drug called suramin could alleviate the symptoms of autism in mice. That was interesting, for despite all the research into autism, few effective treatments are available. Now things have got more interesting still. In a paper just published in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, Dr Naviaux has repeated his experiments on humans, and found that the drug seems effective for them, too.
Nobody is sure what causes autism. But one theory is that it stems from a phenomenon known as the "cellular danger response". This involves compounds circulating in the blood, known as purines, which command cells to halt their normal activities and brace for an imminent viral attack. That response is normal and, provided it switches off when the danger has passed, beneficial. But some researchers believe that the mechanism can end up switched on permanently. This, they think, can encourage the development of autism.
Nor is this simply conjecture. Dr Naviaux's past work with mice shows that when mothers are exposed to a virus-like stress while pregnant, the cellular danger responses of their pups can become permanently activated. And one side-effect of the response is to inhibit the growth of neural connections that is normal in young brains. The result is a set of behaviours - difficulty with social situations, and a strong preference for familiar things and for routine - that bear a strong resemblance to autism in humans.
Suramin, which was discovered in 1916 and has long been used to treat the sleeping sickness spread by tsetse flies, blocks purines from binding to neurons. Dr Naviaux reasoned this might help the neurons of young mice afflicted with autism to begin making connections again. Sure enough, as long as the mice were on the drug, they shed many of their autistic traits. The next step was to see if the same would happen with humans.
Like all early-stage clinical trials, this one was small. Dr Naviaux and his colleagues initially recruited 20 autistic boys between the ages of five and fourteen. The boys were paired by age, IQ and their severity of their autism, such that for every participant who was given an intravenous infusion of suramin, a very similar participant was given an intravenous infusion of saline solution as a placebo. This pairing and a decision to exclude any recruits who were found to be taking prescription drugs left the experiment with ten participants in total.
All of the boys had the suramin levels in their blood monitored over the course of six weeks. Most importantly, they were each assessed with a battery of tests designed to measure language ability, social interactions and the repetitive behaviours that are commonly associated with autism. All tests were run before the drug was administered and then again seven and 45 days later.
Each of the participants who was given suramin showed statistically significant improvements in their performance on the tests at seven days; those who were given the placebo showed no significant improvement at all. At 45 days, the boys who were given the drug were performing better on the tests than they had before the infusion, but it was clear that as suramin was leaving their system, their autistic traits were returning.
Those findings matched the experience of the children's parents. They did not know whether or not their children had been given suramin or a placebo. But those who had received the drug reported astounding changes in behaviour.One said that her 14-year-old boy, who had only been able to speak in single words and fragments of words before the infusion, started singing in the days after the infusion. One week later, he walked up to his father in the kitchen and said "I want to eat chips." It was the first full sentence he had uttered in 12 years. Another boy of five began smiling after receiving his infusion. Soon after he began to giggle and laugh, telling his mother, "I just don't know why I'm so happy".
Such stories were informal and are therefore not listed in the paper (instead, Dr Naviaux has collected them on his website). But they add to the impression that Dr Naviaux may be onto something. The logical next step would be to try long-term doses of the drug to see if the benefits can be sustained. If they can, then a new and powerful treatment for autism may have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
#2
Nobody is sure what causes autism. But one theory is that it stems from a phenomenon known as the "cellular danger response". This involves compounds circulating in the blood, known as purines, which command cells to halt their normal activities and brace for an imminent viral attack. That response is normal and, provided it switches off when the danger has passed, beneficial. But some researchers believe that the mechanism can end up switched on permanently. This, they think, can encourage the development of autism.
A similar mechanism has been proposed for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, only in that case after three years that portion of the immune system burns out completely. This may explain why some cases of CFS apparently spontaneously go into remission within three years, while others never do.
Blood Money
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS 0.48% bought about $2.8 billion in Venezuelan bonds that had been held by the oil-rich country's central bank, a lifeline to President Nicolás Maduro's embattled government as it scrambles to raise funds in the midst of widening civil unrest.
The New York-based bank's asset management division last week paid 31 cents on the dollar, or about $865 million, for bonds issued by state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA in 2014, which mature in 2022, according to five people familiar with the transaction. The price represents a 31% discount on the trading Venezuelan securities maturing the same year.
The investment comes as Mr. Maduro's detractors lobby hard to block Western financial institutions from doing transactions that support the cash-strapped government, which has been accused by the U.S. and other countries of widespread rights abuses.
Mr. Maduro's increasing authoritarianism coupled with critical food and medicine shortages have spawned two months of almost-daily street demonstrations, costing at least 60 lives. The economy is also suffering, having shrunk 27% since 2013. Venezuela is saddled with what the International Monetary Fund estimates will be an inflation rate of 720% this year.
The people familiar said the deal is part of the asset manager's steady increase in Venezuelan holdings. They said Goldman is betting that a change in government could more than double the value of the debt, which trades at deeply discounted rates with yields around 30% due to chronic default fears. So, a corporate Soros
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2017 08:18 ||
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#1
Now we're going to suddenly the drum banging about why we need to 'get involved' in Venezuela.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/29/2017 8:45 Comments ||
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#2
this may be only one part of a multiple prong hedge
on the other hand, I'm surprised that anyone would pay 0.70 on the dollar for Venez 2022 bonds - this is better than the discount that Puerto Rico 2035 bonds have, about 0.60. Also 10 yr Greek bonds are going for about 0.60
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/29/2017 10:06 Comments ||
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#3
According to the article: The New York-based bank’s asset management division last week paid 31 cents on the dollar, or about $865 million...
So 31 cents on the dollar, the bonds still have to be paid back in 2022 and the full price of the bonds must be paid.
How much do you want to bet that of the 865 million dollars, all of it will go into various off shore accounts and none of it will be used to buy food, medicines and the like?
There's more I'll like to say on this subject but...
#4
Goldman Sachs isn't buying the bonds, some shell that is off loaded (see Fanny Mae) to pension funds, foreign banks, holding companies et al are buying the funds. Or in that 2008-9 example, ultimately the American taxpayer in bailouts for those stiffed by the issuer who knowingly buy the crap.
Too big to fail? Not for someone who knows how to play the game. Re-charter the First Bank of the United States (see Hamilton), absorb all the assets as well as the huge liabilities they try to off load this time on the taxpayers, and fire the first three levels of management, telling the stockholders you bet wrong.
#6
Goldman Sachs gives a new meaning to the term greed.
Their "advice" is what caused the collapse of Greece's economy (they gave the Greeks some nifty advice about how to hide their debt among other things) and took a big fee.
More and more everyday I think these big brokerage houses are just big criminal enterprises.
[DAWN] A senior politician and influential feudal lord belonging to upper Sindh region, Sardar Taj Mohammad Domki, has claimed that he had settled the gang rape case of a 12-year-old maid servant and imposed a fine of Rs1.8 million against the "real accused".
He announced this on Sunday during a presser at his residence in Kandhkot town.
The 12-year-old girl, a resident of Kandhkot town in Sindh, was working as a maid at a house in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... where she was allegedly intoxicated and gang-raped.
Domki claimed that girl "was not gang-raped as claimed by her father Urz Mohammad Golo in a first information report but was raped by a single person".
"The accused had raped the girl in Karachi after assuring her that he would marry her," he said.
The feudal lord claimed that had he not intervened in the matter, the girl would never be able to get justice from the courts.
Highlighting the loopholes in the FIR, he said that the complainant had nominated the father and his two sons, whereas, Domki argued that "it was next to impossible that a minor girl could be raped by two brothers and their father."
Sardar Domki further claimed that now the complainant would file an application in the court to withdraw the case as per the rules set during jirga held a few days back.
The feudal lord said that he was satisfied that both parties agreed on the decision made under his supervision.
Seven persons were nominated in the FIR, including Rahib Sorhiani, his two sons and nephews under Sections 337 and 376 of the Pakistain Penal Code on account of rape and injuries.
Chief Justice of Pakistain Justice Saqib Nisar had also taken a notice of the incident on May 11. The crime reportedly took place in Malir Cantt area of Karachi.
The action followed media reports that a girl -- a resident of Kandhkot town in Sindh -- was working as a maid at a house in Karachi where she was allegedly intoxicated and gang-raped.
When contacted, a police official Mohammad Moosa at Kandhkot town said that three of the seven accused -- Saqib, Sheeraj and Apno -- were in jail under judicial remand. He added that police was unaware of any jirga as claimed by Sardar Domki.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights had directed the Ministry of Human Rights to get details of the incident and submit a report at the earliest.
Committee chairman Babar Nawaz Khan said such incidents could only be eradicated by ensuring strict action against the accused.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2017 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] People who ’have not eaten and not smoked create problems’ in their marriages, make ’ill-considered decisions,’ says leading sharia holy man.
Judge Mahmoud Habbash said he based his ruling on "the experience of previous years" when he found that the dawn-to-dusk fast and ban on cigarettes, which began on Saturday, tended to lead to frayed tempers and sharp tongues.
#1
but perhaps you may still beat her for disobedience or honor kill her if her hijab isn't on tight enough
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/29/2017 0:16 Comments ||
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#2
"Wait. So you're saying I have to spend another *whole* month with a shrewish woman with low blood sugar and nicotine withdrawal? I might as well be a Juice!"
#6
I visited Eqypt during Ramadan several years ago. At times it was 120 degrees during the day. Add this to the no fasting/smoking/drinking rule. How would you like to work in building construction on a hi-rise in Cairo?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
