[Al Ahram] An 18-year-old Manchester United fan became so incensed after a decision went against his team that he called the police during the match to report a crime.
On Wednesday, he apologized and was let off without punishment.
The unidentified fan called Nottinghamshire Police after United midfielder Nani was red-carded for dangerous play during Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Nottinghamshire Police chief inspector Ted Antill says "there may be people out there in real trouble who need our help and they have to wait because we are tied up with calls like this one, reporting a referee from the television."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Woman with no pants on, tries to flee scene on a child's battery-powered toy truck
A half-naked DUI suspect tried to flee the scene of a car crash in a child's toy truck, police said. Jamie Craft, 28, was not wearing any pants when she hopped on board the battery-powered toy truck -- which has a top speed of just 5 mph -- to make her escape.
Her attempted getaway came moments after she allegedly slammed her Pontiac Grand Am into the side of a trailer home in Jonesboro, Ark., on Tuesday. Cops gave chase -- on foot -- and arrested her within minutes.
It took them minutes to chase down a toy truck?
Seconds, then.
KTLA reports she had a blood alcohol level of 0.217 -- three times the legal limit in the state.
What's the legal limit when driving a toy truck?
Craft faces an array of charges including disorderly conduct and driving on a toy truck with a suspended license.
I'm thinking you probably don't want to see any pictures of this drunken idiot (but I repeat myself), RJ.
Somehow I doubt she's a double for Pamela Anderson.
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/07/2013 10:25 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I believe the alcohol point works both ways, as the difference between a hunk/hunkete and (male/female) coyotes is somewhere around 5 drinks and 5 minutes to closing. As the commercials say, as seen on tv Spinger.
#2
Of course the other trend feeding into lack of starter house purchases is the fact that many of those potential purchasers will spend the first 15-20 years of their working life paying off student debt. They will have to put off buying houses and starting families.
#5
Also, many municipalities have made a lucrative racket out of demanding all sorts of code compliance upgrades before they will allow a sale to go forward. Things than were just fine while you lived in your home for years are suddenly expensive showstoppers at sale time.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/07/2013 13:15 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Being a member of "Team Boomer" is on my top 5 list of things I am least proud of... especially when I hold my grand kids on my lap.
From the Greatest Generation to the boomer generation Ponzi scheme in one generation.
#8
I put in the landscape myself, did not hire wetbacks to do it. It looks good too. I spent a butt load of time and money fixing the place up, worked my ass off to make the mortgage payments and this makes me a bad person?
#9
You aren't a bad person, Ebbang Uluque6305. You and all the rest of us just need to wrap our minds around the idea that what we put so much time, effort, and money into is a home, not a profit center.
#10
A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude: Works and Days, 1870
#11
You are all bad, bad people. For shame. Putting your own interests and desire for profit ahead of the state. Shame Shame. I'm calling the re-education centers on you.
#12
The popping of the housing bubble began, IMHO, in 2006. The housing crisis is continuing and only massive intervention by the feds is preventing a catastrophic drop in housing prices.
What is this 'next housing crisis' the cited article is referring to?
[Al Ahram] Israel on Wednesday began battling a swarm of locusts from Egypt on Wednesday to prevent crop damage in the south of the country.
Locust clouds darkened skies some three weeks before the Jewish Passover holiday that recalls 10 Biblical plagues, one of them locusts, that struck Egypt during the exodus of Israelite slaves.
The insects covered nearly 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of desert overnight, officials said. Israel sprayed pesticides from the air and land to try to kill them in the early morning before dew on their wings dried and they could take off again.
Miriam Freund, director of plant protection in the Agriculture Ministry, called it a "medium-sized swarm" and her office set up a hotline for farmers to call in case they see it advance.
"We hope our actions are effective," one of the pilots of a plane spraying the fields said on Army Radio. "Let's hope the damage will be minimal."
Locusts, which wreak havoc by eating crops, last invaded southern Israel in 2004, said the pilot, who gave only his first name, Shai.
Potato farmer Pavel Rosenfeld, who lives about 3 km (2 miles) from the Egyptian border, said 30 to 40 percent of his land had already been damaged.
"Everything depends on the wind ... and we are praying that the wind doesn't bring us more," he said on Army Radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[MAGHAREBIA] Libyan politicians on Tuesday (March 5th) returned to the national assembly building in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... after a month-long occupation.
Assembly members "took possession of the premises after an agreement was struck with the former rebels", official news agency LANA reported.
Veterans of the revolution had been occupying the General National Congress (GNC) hall since February 3rd. The sit-in forced assembly members to meet in a nearby hotel.
The former rebels, among them amputees, mounted the protest to demand lifetime pensions and medical treatment abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
The former rebels, among them amputees, mounted the protest to demand lifetime pensions and medical treatment abroad.
Under the US State Department's "Wounded Jihadi Warriors program", the rebels must first be flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for evaluation. There they will be issued cover-names, visas, and flown to Bethesda Naval Hospital for long term, follow-on treatment. Secretary of State Kerry will conduct periodic clandestine visits to Bethesda to monitor their progress.
[MAGHAREBIA] The talk on the Tunisian street is all about the new government, which by law must be announced by Saturday (March 9th).
Despite their differences over politics, citizens agree that the incoming leaders must focus on security and jobs.
"I expect the new government to restore national unity, open the door for dialogue and understanding between the different political factions, and to give priority to the language of consensus for the best interests of the country," day labourer Mohamed Ali Tabboubi said.
Tunisians need to unite in the coming days and put national interests above anything else to help the country get out of its economic crisis and social tensions, he told Magharebia.
"I hope that the new government will start by establishing security and dealing with the chaos that has worried citizens," retiree Zoubaida Hamrouni said.
She added that the government needed to find a solution to curtail arms proliferation and put an end to violence and thefts that have spread in Tunisian cities so tourists and investors could return to the country.
"Punishments must be toughened for all those who violate the law before violence, threats and use of arms turn into a habit and an acquired right for Tunisians," she told Magharebia.
"There will be no development, tourism or economy without security," she added.
Student Nouha Belghith concurred. "The biggest concern for us now is how to restore security and avert terrorist threats and violence which we now live from day to day," she said.
She told Magharebia that establishing security was the key for getting out of the strangling economic and social crisis facing Tunisians and would guarantee the progress of the democratic transition in good political and social circumstances.
Many challenges are awaiting the new Ali Larayedh government, the most important of which is security, given the tensions and continuous worries for their future that are now haunting Tunisians, journalist Mahmoud Hocheni.
"It seems that restoring security will be a priority for Larayedh's government, and there are no other priorities preceding it," he said.
Tunisians are also expecting that the new government start dealing with social conditions, especially unemployment among university graduates.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[News24] A computer confiscated from one of 20 men accused of plotting to overthrow the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... 's government contained a hit list of Congolese leaders, a prosecutor told a the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday.
"President Joseph Kabila is at the top of that list," prosecutor Shaun Abrahams told the court.
"Then there is a group of Congolese leaders who the accused say have to be eliminated.
"The state is opposing bail against all 20 accused in this matter because they pose a threat to both South Africa and the DRC," he said.
City Press reported Abrahams as telling the court that the plotters had sought to source funds to buy arms belonging to prolific arms smuggler Viktor Bout.
On the shopping list of weapons the accused allegedly wanted: 50 satellite phones, 200 Motorola radios, 5 000 AK 47s, 1 000 grenades, various machine guns, 20 land missiles, 20 air missiles and 100 revolvers, according to City Press.
Abrahams did not complete his submission before Magistrate Solomon Mkhubela, and the matter was postponed until 15 March.
The men have been charged with engaging in mercenary activities under South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act and with conspiracy to murder Kabila and other Congolese leaders.
The Hawks got wind of the accused, most of whom reside in South Africa, planning the coup and infiltrated the circle, prosecutors say.
Every one of the alleged plotters' meetings in the six months between September last year and their arrest on 5 February, when they believed they were being taken for military training, was recorded on audio and film, said Abrahams.
Three days after the arrest of the first 19 suspects, a man named Etienne Kabila turned himself in.
Kabila claims to be the son of the assassinated president Laurent Kabila, the current president's father.
Etienne has lived in South Africa since Laurent Kabila was slain, said Abrahams, adding that the accused maintains Joseph Kabila is an imposter.
Supporters of the 20, who were in court again on Wednesday, say their allegiance is with Etienne Tshisekedi, who lost a 2011 election race to Joseph Kabila.
A 21st accused, William Amuri Yakutumba, a general "with experience in the military and politics", and who is well known outside the DRC, is still being sought by police.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A businessman sold fake bomb detectors to countries around the world, the Old Bailey has heard.
Jurors were told James McCormick's Advanced Detection Equipment was marketed to the military, governments and police forces in various countries.
Prosecutors said fake detectors sold for up to $40,000 (£27,000) had no grounding in science and made "fantastic" claims.
Mr McCormick, 56, of Langport, Somerset, denies three counts of fraud.
Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, said brochures featuring men in military-type outfits promised detection of substances from planes, underwater, underground and through walls.
Continue reading the main story
However, he said, the three models - the ADE650, 651 and 101 - were shams and did not work.
The prosecution said scientific tests showed the devices to be completely ineffectual and lacking any grounding in science.
Mr Whittam said the forerunner of the 101, the 100, "was actually a golf ball finder" that could be purchased in the US for less than $20 (£13).
He told the court that the devices were variously marketed as being able to detect all kinds of explosives, including TNT, drugs and even ivory, fluids and human beings.
"The devices did not work and he knew they did not work," said the barrister.
The legislature of the world's last major communist country is almost certainly the wealthiest in the world, according to a popular rich list that names 83 dollar billionaires among the delegates to China's parliament this year.
Meanwhile, in the United States, there is not a single billionaire in the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Pikers...
Among the delegates gathered in Beijing this week to attend the National People's Congress, the China-based Hurun Global Rich List identified 31 people with more than $1 billion in personal assets. The richest is Zong Qinghou, founder of Chinese drinks maker Wahaha, with an estimated fortune of $13 billion, according to Hurun.
What is that in real dollars, as opposed to play money manipulated by Chinese banks and rulers?
The NPC is tasked with approving legislation proposed by the ruling Communist Party, but in practice it plays a mostly ceremonial role. Another 52 billionaires are delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a toothless advisory body that meets at the same time as the NPC for about two weeks each year in early March.
More than 500 years ago, tens of thousands of Jews fled Spain because of persecution. Now their descendants are being invited to return.
Before the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century, some 300,000 Jews lived in Spain. It was one of the largest communities of Jews in the world.
Today, there are about 40,000 or 50,000 - but that number could be about to swell dramatically.
In total, about 100,000 Jews fled Spain in the course of the 15th Century. Some went to North Africa, but most settled in the economic powerhouse of the day, the Ottoman Empire - which then stretched from Hungary to Turkey, and beyond that to the south, and was expanding.
About 90% of Jews in modern-day Turkey are Sephardic Jews. Roni Rodrigue, 55, a car dealer in Istanbul, has already claimed his Spanish passport.
"At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn't understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews - who were such a source of wealth - and just give them to him," says Maria Josep Estanyol, a historian at the University of Barcelona.
Estanyol doubts very many will re-establish roots in Spain.
"Given how disastrous things are here today, I'd advise against it," she says.
Whatever the motivation, some Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back.
#1
"At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn't understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews - who were such a source of wealth - and just give them to him," says Maria Josep Estanyol, a historian at the University of Barcelona.
Ferdinand and Isabella borrowed money to wage the final war to expel the Moors from Spain in the Reconquesta. Once they expelled the Moors in 1492, they then expelled those to whom they owed the financial debt which financed the war. Leaving a little change in the pocket to finance a Genoan's idea to finding a new route to the Far East since old route east had been occupied by the Ottomans after the fall of Constantinople and their Portuguese neighbors were already nosing south around the African Cape of Good Hope. As they say, the rest is history.
#3
"Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back."
Gee, I wonder why?
/sarc
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/07/2013 10:27 Comments ||
Top||
#7
An act of desperation by a country that can't think of any other way to fix the economy.
They haven't grown their own workers for a generation, and it shows. First they tried bringing in Muslims from the southern shore of the Mediterranean, which didn't work out well, then labourers from the Hispanic Americas, who cost the earth in unemployment payments when the economy went south, so they shipped 'em back, and now in desperation they are offering citizenship to those clever, hard-working Jews... Only most of the Jews who take the citizenship won't move "home", bringing their magical economy-boost with them. Nor will they pull an Israel and drive out the colonizing Muslims for them, nor hand over a portion of their foreign earnings as taxes for the privilege of a sentimental second citizenship.
It's like all those plans that start with "First, assemble ingredients," then have a series of blanks before finishing triumphantly with "Become king of the world!"
#8
It's like all those plans that start with "First, assemble ingredients," then have a series of blanks before finishing triumphantly with "Become king of the world!"
#10
Only most of the Jews who take the citizenship won't move "home", bringing their magical economy-boost with them.
Some Turkish Jews might, given the warning signs emanating from Erdogan's AKP. The US is too free market and too competitive, and Israel is too much of a state at war, whereas Spain is a country at peace where the locals have forgotten how to compete. And the transition from Ladino to Castilian Spanish isn't, relatively-speaking, all that great.
#11
Some Turkish Jews might, given the warning signs emanating from Erdogan's AKP.
Good point, Zhang Fei -- and one I shouldn't have missed. Also some of the Jews now enjoying the North African Spring, who've also ejected moving to Israel or the U.S.
And yes, Pappy. I never expect the Spanish Underwear Gnomes. ;-) Thanks!
[An Nahar] A Jordanian MP, angered by a fellow deputy accusing the premier of corruption, tried to draw a pistol during a session of parliament on Wednesday but was circled by colleagues who talked him down.
Khalil Atiyeh, a deputy speaker, said MP Shadi al-Adwan was annoyed when fellow MP Zeid Shawakbeh accused Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur of corruption.
Videotapes of the incident showed Adwan reaching for his belt to pull out a pistol and then being surrounded.
Atiyeh said he suspended the session until Thursday, when the question of carrying arms inside parliament will also be on the agenda.
Last July, an MP got into an argument on a television talk show. He first took off his shoe and threw it at his adversary, then pulled a revolver from his belt and pointed it at him.
He eventually put the gun away.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Khalil Atiyeh is fortunate indeed. Forming the shape of a pistol by eating a corner from a piece of bread will get one suspended from kindergarten here. Government based childhood socialization and monitoring is the key. [sarcasm off]
#2
At least it sounds like they are familiar with firearms, unlike that doofus who was waving around that rifle with his finger inside the trigger guard.
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.
[Al Ahram] An 18-year-old Manchester United fan became so incensed after a decision went against his team that he called the police during the match to report a crime.
Woman with no pants on, tries to flee scene on a child's battery-powered toy truck
[An Nahar] A Jordanian MP, angered by a fellow deputy accusing the premier of corruption, tried to draw a pistol during a session of parliament on Wednesday but was circled by colleagues who talked him down.
