[Naharnet] Kuwait has deported hundreds of expats for traffic offenses in the past month, a report said on Sunday, drawing condemnation from a human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... group.
The al-Anbaa newspaper cited a senior interior ministry official as saying that as many as 1,258 foreigners have been deported for traffic violations since a crackdown began about a month ago.
Foreign residents caught driving without a license, using their cars to carry paying passengers, jumping a red light for a second time, or breaking the speed limit by more than 40 kilometers per hour (25 miles per hour), can be deported without a court order.
The Kuwait Society for Human Rights called on the government to halt the deportations describing them as "oppressive".
"The oppressive measure against expatriates... violates the basic principles of human rights," it said.
The group warned that the measure could tarnish the Gulf state's image abroad at a time when its human rights record is under scrutiny.
Kuwait is home to 2.6 million expatriates who form 68 percent of the country's 3.8 million population.
Kuwaiti nationals who commit similar offenses have their vehicles seized and can be sent to court.
Last month, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra al-Rasheedi said the emirate plans to deport around 100,000 expatriates every year for the next decade to reduce the number of foreigners living in the Gulf state by one million.
She did not say what measures she would adopt to carry out the plan.
Foreigners need to hold a university degree, earn 400 dinars ($1,400) a month and have lived in Kuwait for at least two years to be eligible to apply for a driver's license, under a decision issued nearly a decade ago.
#1
I would like to know the national make-up of these expats. Would be interesting to know what nationality are the biggest violators.
After GW1, IIRC, Kuwait kicked out the Palestinians, who were doing the service jobs. Of course, the PLO and the Arafish did not help by endorsing Sadam's occupation of Kuwait.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/20/2013 1:18 Comments ||
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#2
Many of these people are Filipino. Sadly, modern day slavery is alive and well in the oil rich, Gulf States.
[Naharnet] A Saudi man escaped a sentence of paralysis for stabbing and paralyzing another man by offering him compensation, media reported on Sunday, although the authorities have denied issuing the punishment.
The sentence was dropped after the family of Mohammed al-Hazim, 26, accepted one million riyals ($270,000) in compensation from the family of convicted Ali Khawahir, 24, al-Watan daily reported.
A court in the eastern city of al-Ahsa had registered a waiver by the plaintiff's family, and would now proceed with the release of Khawahir, who has already spent 10 years in jail.
Last month Amnesia Amnesty International said Khawahir had reportedly been sentenced to Qisas, or retribution, and could be paralyzed from the waist down if he failed to pay compensation.
The London-based human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. watchdog said Khawahir had stabbed a friend in the back in 2003, and paralyzed him. Khawahir was 14 years old at the time.
But the Saudi justice ministry categorically denied the court had passed the verdict, saying on Twitter the judge had dismissed demands for the sentence.
A ministry front man also told Agence La Belle France Presse reports of the sentence that were "false."
Amnesty said a Saudi court had passed another sentence of paralysis in 2010, but it was unclear if it had been carried out.
The ultra-conservative Mohammedan kingdom imposes several forms of corporal punishment attributed to Islamic sharia law, ranging from flogging to amputation and beheading.
[Ynet] La Belle France is in talks with the United States and Israel to buy intelligence-gathering drones to build up a modern fleet, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday.
La Belle France's existing hardware is outdated and its military intervention in Mali this year has exposed its shortage of surveillance drones suitable for modern warfare. "We need this capacity in the short term. There are currently two countries in the world that build drones, the United States and Israel," Le Drian said on TV channel iTele.
Golly -- natural gas, cutting edge computer stuff, cutting edge medical stuff, and now drones. There are a bunch of countries that would be a good deal more polite and accommodating to Israel, were their leaders wise men and women.
Good luck, guys. Please choose wisely -- the cliff is ever nearer to us all.
[Naharanet] Croatians cast ballots on Sunday for municipal officials in a vote seen as a test for the center-left government and its austerity policies, six weeks ahead of the former Yugoslav republic's EU entry.
The latest surveys showed that the popularity of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's government, led by his Social Democrats (SDP), has hit the lowest point since it won late 2011 elections.
In April, the rival right-wing coalition, led by the main opposition conservative HDZ, won six out of 12 seats that Croatia will have in the European parliament once it joins the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... on July 1, compared to five for the SDP-led coalition.
Slashing spending and raising taxes, the government has failed to revive Croatia's economy that since 2009 has either been in recession or stagnated.
The main challenge the SDP faces in Sunday's vote is to win the powerful post of mayor of Zagreb, the country's capital, which incumbent populist Milan Bandic has held almost interrupted since 2000.
A failure to win in Zagreb would be another serious blow to Milanovic, analysts warn.
Bandic, widely linked by the media to various corruption scandals in the capital, is a former veteran SDP official.
He was expelled from the party in 2009 when he decided to run independently in Croatia's presidential race that he later lost.
Bandic will face, among others, SDP candidate Rajko Ostojic, the current health minister, but the latest surveys showed the race would probably go to a run-off in two weeks.
The SDP hopes to win in the second largest city Split and retain power in the northern port Rijeka.
More than 3.7 million voters will elect some 9,500 mayors and other local and regional officials and deputies.
Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and were to close twelve hours later. First partial results are expected around 1900 GMT.
[Naharnet] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... has postponed plans to introduce separate labeling for products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday.
Citing European diplomats and Israeli officials it did not identify, the paper reported that the plan, which had been due to be approved by EU foreign ministers later this week, will now not be put to ministers until the end of June.
Haaretz said that U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , who is trying to revive Israeli-Paleostinian peace talks, intervened with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton at Israel's request.
"Kerry and other senior U.S. officials asked Ashton and her staff, as well as several major EU states, to put off full enforcement," Haaretz wrote.
"According to two European diplomats, the Americans said enforcing the decision at this time would harm Kerry's efforts to revive negotiations between Israel and the Paleostinians."
More importantly, Europe is desperate for a gas source that isn't Russia, and Israel just starting pumping from what may be the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world. So the wisdom of not openly dissing Israel is becoming apparent to even the stupidheads in Europe.
Kerry is due back in the region on Thursday on his fourth visit since taking office in February.
EU foreign ministers, including Britannia's William Hague and Laurent Fabius of La Belle France, said they would back the labeling initiative, in a letter obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse last month.
Signatories also included the chief diplomats of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Britannia and Denmark have been at the forefront of calls for clear and unambiguous labeling of settlement products.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law.
No, they aren't. But y'all keep up the big lie, 'k?
Goods produced in them are not eligible for the same preferential tariffs enjoyed by Israeli exports to the EU.
According to 2012 World Bank figures, the EU imports 230 million euros ($300 million) of goods a year from Israeli settlements -- or 15 times more than from Paleostinians themselves.
Good. The better shape various national economies are in, the less horrible the crash will be when it comes.
[Naharnet] Moody's has raised Turkey's bond rating to investment grade, the rating agency said Thursday, citing improved economic and public finance measures and progress on reforms.
The government-bond ratings went up a notch to Baa3, the first step into investment grade, from Ba1, with outlook considered stable.
Turkey was granted higher ratings by Standard and Poor's in March and last November by Fitch.
Praising Turkey's improved "economic and fiscal metrics", the rating agency noted: "Since the beginning of 2009, Turkey's debt burden has fallen by 10 percentage points to a manageable 36 percent of GDP, and Moody's expects this decline to continue in the coming years."
Secondly, the agency cited "progress... on a wide-ranging institutional reform program that Moody's believes will gradually erode the country's external vulnerabilities."
These include increasing investment in personal pensions, a new commercial code and moves to reduce energy dependence.
Moody's said it expects Turkey's ability to finance its debt to strengthen as the proportion that is denominated in foreign currency drops, noting a decline in the measure from 46.3 percent in 2003 to 27.4 percent in 2012.
The revolutionary swims in the sea of the people, said Mao or someone equally horrid. How different must the seas of Afghanistan and Pakistan be, to get such different results?
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: Pak Taliban are unlikely to follow their Afghan counterparts, who recently offered help to their government in carrying out polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... campaigns in the country, according to the relevant officials in the lovely provincial capital.
The officials quoted the Afghan Taliban as declaring in a statement issued on May 13 that they supported all programmes, which sought to provide health facilities to the people of the country and that they acknowledged that immunisation was the only way to protect children against polio.
Continued on Page 49
[Ynet] Top commander says 'possible riot in Tehran' after June 14 vote could spread to other regions
A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard has warned that his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after next month's presidential election, calling the outcome "unpredictable" and sending the strongest message yet against any attempts to revive street protests, media reported Sunday.
The comments by Col. Rasool Sanaeirad point to a wide-ranging effort by Iranian authorities to intimidate opposition groups that could use the June 14 voting for possible political demonstrations.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/20/2013 02:08 ||
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[Naharnet] Iran is tightening control of the Internet ahead of next month's presidential election, mindful of violent street protests that social networkers inspired last time around over claims of fraud, users and experts say.
The authorities deny such claims, but have not explained exactly why service has become slower.
Businesses, banks and even state organizations are not spared by the widespread disruption in the Internet, local media say.
"The Internet is in a coma," said the Ghanoon daily in a report in early this month.
"It only happens in Iran: the election comes, the Internet goes," it said, quoting a tweet in Farsi.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous other sites, including thousands of Western ones, have been censored in Iran since massive street demonstrations that followed the re-election of President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad in 2009.
Those protests -- stifled by a heavy-handed crackdown that led to numerous arrests and even deaths -- were instigated online and observers say the authorities are choking the Internet to prevent a recurrence.
One DVD vendor, who sells illegal copies of Western movies downloaded online, said "you can forget about downloading stuff; the bandwidth drops every other minute."
A network supervisor at a major Internet service provider in Tehran said his company had been unable to address complaints about slower speeds, particularly accessing pages using the HTTPS secure communications protocol.
"Browsing (the net) is difficult due to the low speed. Even checking emails is a pain," he said.
"Sometimes, loading a secure Google ...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign... page takes a few long seconds," he added.
Like others interviewed for this article, he did not want to be identified for fear of retribution.
The problem is not limited to slower speeds, but also affects what people can actually access in a country whose rulers take great care in seeking to ensure that people do not see or read things deemed to be inappropriate.
Earlier this month, an Iranian IT website reported that the last remaining software that enables users to bypass filters imposed on net traffic "has become practically inaccessible."
Among such software is the virtual private network (VPN), which lets people circumvent the filtering of websites.
VPN uses certain protocols to connect to servers outside Iran. In that way, the computer appears to be based in another country and bypasses the filters.
Blocking these protocols could theoretically contribute to slower speeds.
Use of VPN, or its sale, is illegal in Iran on the official grounds that it is insecure and allows access to material deemed as depraved, criminal or politically offensive.
Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, head of the parliamentary communications committee, said VPN was blocked in early March, which has contributed to slowing the Internet, media reported.
He did not elaborate.
Authorities refuse to officially confirm the new restraints, but former officials and media reports have accused the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of ordering them.
The council, set up in March 2012, is tasked with guarding Iranians from "dangers" on the Internet while enabling "a maximum utilization of its opportunities."
The information and communication technology (ICT) ministry did not respond to AFP requests for an interview on the issue.
The complaints come as Iran prepares to elect its new president on June 14, but the authorities reject claims that there is any link with that and the current problems.
"Many parameters are involved in the Internet's speed, but the election drawing near is not one of them," a deputy ICT minister, Ali Hakim Javadi, said in early May.
His remarks have failed to allay concerns among an officially estimated 34 million net users out of a population of 75 million.
"Even if I wanted to believe it, I cannot ignore the timing," said Ali, a computer engineer.
The disruptions are also linked to Iran's stated plan of rolling out a national intranet that it says will be faster, more secure and clean of "inappropriate" content, observers say.
Critics say the unfinished "National Information Network" could expose Iranians to state monitoring once operational. They argue that a "National VPN" service launched in March could be a test run.
Users of the state-approved VPN service, available to select businesses reportedly at a monthly rate of 4,000,000 rials ($115, 88 euros), say it provides a relatively fast connection to select global websites.
The illegal VPN was available for as little as $50 for a full year.
"You can actually get some work done with this VPN. But it is almost as if you are paying the government to spy on you," said one business user wary that his privacy could be violated.
The intranet could theoretically enable the regime to shut down the Internet at sensitive times, or effectively slow down it to a point where it is unusable.
But the authorities insist the network will co-exist with the Internet.
And a Tehran-based Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , was also skeptical.
"It is unlikely that Iran would implement more restrictions, as that would render its Internet inoperable to its people, businesses and even (governmental) organizations that heavily rely on it," said the diplomat.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/20/2013 00:00 ||
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The top Marine general and four of his legal advisers are implicated in a complaint to the Defense Department Inspector General charging they inappropriately inserted themselves into the prosecution of cases stemming from the infamous video showing scout snipers urinating on dead insurgents in Afghanistan.
The complaint, filed by Marine Maj. James Weirick, an attorney assigned to Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va., alleges Commandant Gen. Jim Amos, or others acting on his behalf, deliberately sought to manipulate the legal process, effectively stacking the deck against the scout snipers in the video.
Weiricks complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Marine Corps Times, also alleges Amos showed preferential treatment to ensure the promotion of then-Maj. James B. Conway, the son of Amos predecessor as commandant, retired Gen. James T. Conway. Conway was executive officer of the scout snipers unit, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines.
According to the complaint, Conway was initially placed on administrative hold once the video became public in January 2012. But while the units commander, Lt. Col. Christopher Dixon, remained on administrative hold, Conways hold was released last year, after the case was discussed during an executive offsite meeting of the Corps top leaders, according to emails obtained by Marine Corps Times.
He was allowed to move from Camp Lejeune, N.C., to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in July 2012, and eventually took a coveted assignment as a battalion commander. Dixon remains on hold today, nearly a year later
#1
Article 134 - (Wrongful interference with an adverse administrative proceeding)
(1) That the accused wrongfully did a certain act;
(2) That the accused did so in the case of a certain person against whom the accused had reason to believe there was or would be an adverse administrative proceeding pending;
(3) That the act was done with the intent to influence, impede, or obstruct the conduct of such administrative proceeding, or otherwise obstruct the due administration of justice;
(4) That under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.
Explanation. For purposes of this paragraph adverse administrative proceeding includes any administrative proceeding or action, initiated against a servicemember, that could lead to discharge, loss of special or incentive pay, administrative reduction in grade, loss of a security clearance, bar to reenlistment, or reclassification. Examples of wrongful interference include wrongfully influencing, intimidating, impeding, or injuring a witness, an investigator, or other person acting on an adverse administrative action; by means of bribery, intimidation, misrepresentation, or force or threat of force delaying or preventing communication of information relating to such administrative proceeding; and, the wrongful destruction or concealment of information relevant to such adverse administrative proceeding.
Lesser included offenses. None.
Maximum punishment. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.
More than 85,000 veterans were treated last year for injuries or illness stemming from sexual abuse in the military, and 4,000 sought disability benefits, underscoring the staggering long-term impact of a crisis that has roiled the Pentagon and been condemned by President Barack Obama as ""shameful and disgraceful."
A Department of Veterans Affairs accounting released in response to inquiries from The Associated Press shows a heavy financial and emotional cost involving vets from Iraq, Afghanistan and even back to Vietnam, and lasting long after a victim leaves the service.
Sexual assault or repeated sexual harassment can trigger a variety of health problems, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. While women are more likely to be victims, men made up nearly 40 percent of the patients the VA treated last year for conditions connected to what it calls "military sexual trauma."
It took years for Ruth Moore of Milbridge, Maine, to begin getting treatment from a VA counseling center in 2003 -- 16 years after she was raped twice while she was stationed in Europe with the Navy. She continues to get counseling at least monthly for PTSD linked to the attacks and is also considered fully disabled.
"We can't cure me, but we can work on stability in my life and work on issues as they arrive," Moore said.
VA officials stress that any veteran who claims to have suffered military sexual trauma has access to free health care.
#3
While marching as a private, I was made to sing a vile, disgusting song which included the phrase:
If I die on the Russian front,
bury me with a Russian ****.
I can't get the Russian Front song out of my head. Other songs included references to bird bills, window sills, and Cadillacs. I need $$$$ help ! (but not just for the song)
#5
So basically every woman person who ever served in the military is a potential full disability case?
Well golly, sometimes I think I'll be the last person dumbarse in CA that actually gets up out of bed and goes to work in the morning.
I should get smart and figure out how to retire on them gubmint benefits too!
#6
I recall coming around a building corner at Lackland AFB one fine Texas morning and hearing a female TI, er, "counseling" her charges: "There's over a mile of dick on this base and you aren't going to see one inch of it until you learn how to MARCH."
The poor lasses are probably unable to get on this new gravy train....
#7
So Uncle Phester - did you know you could claim disability for the 'trauma' of hearing this sexual harassment?
With all seriousness - I have no doubt that there is rape and real sexual harassment on military base like everywhere else. But somehow I get the impression that they are using a very loose definition here.
"He called that guy Dick! OMG! Sexual Harassment! I've been traumatized! Disability!"
"Dick is his name - Richard Long or Dick Long or sometimes even Long, Dick."
#3
Chicago doesn't care if criminals get guns. They just want to be sure that the law abiding citizens (who aren't politically connected) don't get guns.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/20/2013 20:29 Comments ||
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The Internal Revenue Service is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that more than 60 million personal medical records were improperly seized by agents. According to a story by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed healthcare provider in California is suing the IRS and 15 unnamed agents, alleging that they improperly seized some 60 million medical records of 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges on March 11, 2011.
According to the complaint, the IRS agents had a search warrant for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the John Doe Company, however, it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter. The claim asserts that the IRS agents seizure of medical records violated the 4th Amendment.
No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPAA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records.
The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.
Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.
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.
Mahmoud 
