Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger and activist who is the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for the charge of "insulting Islam."
Badawi had called for May 7th to be a "day for Saudi Liberals." The day, intended to bring attention to Saudi Arabia's strict religious policies, was promoted on his website. In addition to the decade in prison for the charge, Badawi will undergo physical and monetary punishment procedures. The blogger has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and a 1 million riyal ($267,000) fine.
He was originally arrested for "insulting Islam" on June 17, 2012. Last year, he was cleared of apostasy charges. Renouncing Islam is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, based upon the Quranic principles of the Islamic shariah law.
Badawi, 31, has a long history of run-ins with the Shariah-compliant legal system. In 2008, he was arrested on apostasy charges, but he was released a day later. In 2009, Saudi officials banned him from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts.
Concerning his current sentence, Badawi's wife said, "This is terrible news and I'm absolutely shocked and devastated by it. How is it possible they could take a sentence that was already so harsh and make it even harsher? Ten years in jail and 1,000 lashes? That's unimaginable. I'm extremely scared for my husband." After the first 100 lashes they will be administering lashes to a corpse.
Surely they do X lashes per day every Y days. To give the lasher time to recover between sets.
"It's very unlikely that the doctor will die from his sentence if it is administered in the usual Saudi Arabian way—i.e., broken up into weekly bouts of 50 lashings each."
[AnNahar] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has announced four more deaths from the MERS coronavirus and 18 new infections, as it battles to contain the mystery disease which has now killed 121 people in the kingdom.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) after a five-day mission to Jeddah pinpointed breaches in its "recommended infection prevention and control measures" as being partly responsible for an increase in infections in the Red Sea city.
The disease, which first appeared in the kingdom in September 2012, has now infected a total number 449 Saudis, accounting for the bulk of cases registered across the globe.
Two of the latest deaths reported late on Wednesday -- of a 65-year-old woman suffering from several illnesses and a 45-year-old woman -- occurred in the capital Riyadh. Both died on Tuesday.
In Jeddah, the commercial capital, a 70-year-old woman died on Monday and a 60-year-old man died on Tuesday, the health authorities said.
Among the 18 people newly infected is a 10-year-old boy who was taken to a government hospital in Jeddah following an accident on April 29.
After he was discharged from the hospital on May 2, MERS symptoms began to appear and he was rushed to intensive care.
The WHO said the recent increase in numbers of infections does not suggest a "significant change in the transmissibility of the virus".
"The majority of human-to-human infections occurred in health care facilities," it said, adding that "one quarter of all cases have been health care workers".
The team urged health care workers to improve their "knowledge and attitudes" about the disease.
MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.
There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for MERS, a disease with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent that experts are still struggling to understand.
Not all Saudi women are abused pets. Some are true to their Bedouin heritage.
[AnNahar] A Saudi woman was killed in a car crash in the capital Thursday as she defied the kingdom's long-standing ban on female driving, local media reported.
The woman, in her 20s, lost control of her vehicle and crashed into the wall of a youth club in Riyadh, according to the website of the local Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... daily.
The car caught fire and she died, it said.
Ultra-conservative Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... they usually get behind the wheel in desert regions away from the capital.
Thursday's deadly accident was not the first of its kind involving a woman driver. In January 2012, a female driver was injured and her companion killed when their car overturned in the northern Hael province.
And in November 2010, a woman driver was killed along with three of her female passengers in a similar accident.
Women in the kingdom who have the means hire drivers while others must depend on the goodwill of male relatives.
Women's rights activists make frequent calls to challenge the ban and those who do so post online videos showing themselves behind the wheel.
In addition to not being allowed to drive, Saudi women must cover themselves from head to toe and need permission from a male guardian to travel, work and marry.
[Dhaka Tribune] Mohammad Jamal Hossain, chairman of Pablakhali Cluster Village Project, also ex president of Kobakhali union Awami League of Dighinala upazila in the district, allegedly misappropriated 45MT of wheat, allocated for 290 poor families.
According to upazila nirbahi office sources, government had allocated 25MT rice and 45MT wheat for 290 families for January, February and March month's Test Relief.
A total 87kg rice and 155kg wheat had been allocated for each of the 290 families.
The UNO office also fixed second week of March to distribute the food grains in presence of monitoring officer and Dighinala upazila Agriculture Officer Md Sala Uddin.
Mohammad Mahabub Alam, Abul Kashem, Rahomot Ali, Hasina Begum, Rehena Akhter in the village admitted that that project chairman had distributed 25MT rice among the listed 290 card holders families but misappropriated all 45MT wheat, worth over Tk9 lakh.
They also submitted a complain letter to the UNO to investigate the matter.
When asked, the chairman denied his involvement with misappropriating and said: "The incident was planned by my political rivals to tarnish my image."
Replying to another question, Jamal said he would fight legally against the complain.
Sala Uddin admitted that he had got rice during distribution the three months' Relief.
"I haven't seen wheat in the godown," he said adding that project chairman might have misappropriate the wheat.
The upazila Awami League President Md Abul Kashem admitted the allegation and said they had already suspended him for his anti-laws activities.
UNO Fazlul Zahid Pavel said: "A committee is investigating the allegation and stern action would be taken if the allegation is proved."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
......president of Kobakhali union Awami League of Dighinala upazila in the district.
After half a century, Dick Portillo has decided to sell his Chicago landmark hotdog chain and retire. Hat tip to the former US Marine and great American entrepreneur.
#2
To be honest this local place is better than Portillio's but more fiscally conservative. Example: they closed their restaurant in the old Sears building when the new owners doubled the rent. Augustino's Rock & Roll Diner
Drip, drip, drip... Can the Saudis and Putin hear the dripping?
[Ynet] A land-based facility to process Cyprus' new offshore gas remains a top priority, but the search for additional sources of the fuel must move quickly to keep up with a rapidly shifting market, the country's energy minister said Thursday.
The amount of gas inside Cyprus' single proven field off its south coast isn't enough to secure the billions of euros needed from investors to finance construction of the facility that authorities hope will turn the country into an alternative supplier of energy to Europe and beyond.
[Ynet] About 200 US special operations forces and support staff will be participating in training exercises across Europe and the three Baltic nations in the coming months as part of America's ongoing effort to reassure allies in the region.
The Pentagon says about 40 special operations forces are now taking part in the two-week Exercise Spring Storm in Estonia. And 140 will
participate in Exercise Flaming Sword, which is in Latvia and Lithuania this month and will include forces from America and seven other nations. A third exercise called Namejs will take place in Latvia.
The Pentagon also says small teams of U.S. commandos will do language, cultural skills and tactical training in the three Baltic nations and two other eastern European countries in the next two months.
#1
Better to use Swiss trainers. Follow the Swiss model and arm every adult with their issued weapon stored at home with 200 rounds of ammo. Might toss in an RPG, or equivalent, for every couple houses on the block. Of course, that assumes that most of the people supports the existing government.
#2
Good stuff. Classic FID [Foreign Internal Defense] Mobile Training Team [MTT] Special Forces mission.
Trivia point: US Army Special Forces COL(Ret) Aleksander Einseln.
COL Einsen (born 25 October 1931 in Tallinn) is a former commander of the Estonian Defence Forces. He held that position from 4 May 1993 to 4 December 1995.
Born in Estonia, Einseln fled that country with his mother in 1944 as Soviet troops retook the Baltic states from Nazi Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1949 and became a U.S. citizen. He enlisted in the Army and served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was a one-time staff officer with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO in Brussels, retiring with the rank of colonel.
In 1993, at the request of Estonian President Lennart Meri, Einseln returned to Estonia to take command of its military forces, over the objections of the U.S. State Department.[3] The U.S. threatened to terminate Einseln's military pension and even to revoke his U.S. citizenship. However, after getting support from several U.S. senators, Einseln received official permission from the U.S. authorities to take on his new post.
On 4 December 1995, he was forced to resign due to a disagreement with the defense minister.
In February 1996, he was awarded the Order of the Cross of the Eagle.
[AnNahar] A Turkish court has freed three journalists and five others accused of ties to a banned Marxist group after eight years of pre-trial custody, pending an appeal in their trial, a journalists' union said Thursday.
An Istanbul court freed the defendants under a new law passed in March reducing the detention limit for suspects on trial from 10 years to five years, the Turkish Journalists' Union told AFP.
Among those affected by the court ruling is Fusun Erdogan, who holds dual Turkish and Dutch citizenship and is director of Ozgur Radio, which broadcasts in Kurdish.
An Istanbul court freed the defendants under a new law passed in March reducing the detention limit for suspects on trial from 10 years to five years, the Turkish Journalists' Union told AFP.
Erdogan, who was detained in 2006, is appealing her November sentence of life in prison along with the seven others for belonging to the banned Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
The European Federation of Journalists (EJF) said on Thursday that 32 journalists were still in jail, most of them for suspected links to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The release of the three journalists "has given us new hope for our campaign to decriminalize journalism in Turkey but we need to go on for those journalists who are still behind bars in Turkey," said Mogens Blicher Bjerregard, EFJ president.
Turkey has long been criticized for a lack of press freedom.
In December, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists described Turkey as the world's number one jailer of journalists for the second straight year, ahead of Iran and China.
[AnNahar] In a major congressional step towards curtailing widespread surveillance of millions of Americans, a House panel voted Wednesday to end the dragnet collection of telephone metadata.
The rare unanimous vote by the House Judiciary Committee provides strong bipartisan support for a measure that is backed by civil rights groups and could serve as a blueprint for a bill to be sent to President Barack Obama If you like your coverage you can keep it... 's desk that would ultimately halt the controversial intelligence policies.
The USA Freedom Act would forbid the National Security Agency's systematic scooping up of phone metadata -- which includes numbers dialed, duration and times of calls, but not content.
It would require a secret surveillance court to issue an individual warrant, based on "reasonable articulable suspicion," for each request by intelligence agencies to scour the database, which should be done only in relation to an existing investigation.
It would also boost transparency of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, create a panel of legal experts to ensure the FISA court adheres to privacy and constitutional rights, and allow communications firms, such as those ordered by the government to hand over data, to release more information about such requests.
"Today's bill unequivocally ends bulk collection (and) makes it crystal clear that Congress does not endorse bulk collection," the measure's author, House Republican Jim Sensenbrenner said.
Sensenbrenner was also a primary author of the Patriot Act that passed Congress in the wake of the 9/11 attacks of 2001 and which broadened agencies' intelligence-gathering powers.
But he became a forceful advocate for changing the law after NSA contractor Edward Snowden last year revealed the extent of the snooping on Americans.
"The government has misapplied the law that we passed," overstepping its bounds to violate the privacy rights of millions of Americans with no suspicion of or connection to terrorist activities, he said.
"We urge the House and Senate to move expeditiously on this legislation so that we can begin to restore confidence in the way intelligence is gathered and protect the privacy rights of all Americans," Sensenbrenner, Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte, and others on the panel said in a joint statement.
But the outcome in Congress is far from finalized, with a similar competing measure in another House panel set for a vote on Thursday.
Snowden's stunning revelations prompted Obama to call for comprehensive reforms to how intelligence agencies operate in the United States. Both House panels say their legislation aligns with Obama's priorities, but the White House has not publicly endorsed either bill.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy ...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, source of more leaks than a plumber could keep up with... hailed the House bill's advancement as "historic," and said his panel will consider the issue this summer, when he will press for additional reforms.
#1
Oh, this'll matter (sarc). They'll write the final reg so that if you might ever 'become' a terrorist, they can keep the info. Or there will be a presidential 'finding' (secret, of course). Or they'll have the Brits do all the recordings of Americans, and we'll return the favor. Or they'll assist in the creation of an 'enhanced credit report', where all this information is kept by private companies, and guess what, no civil rights there. Or they'll just say that the peons need to be quieted; Sounds like a job for Homeland Security.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/09/2014 7:20 Comments ||
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#2
The proles must never discover that these foreign distractions and threats are not their actual enemy. If they are to be effectively controlled, we must monitor them closely.
[DAWN] After the detection of ghost schools in parts of the country, 'ghost forests' have been found in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where huge amounts of money are claimed for bogus plantation and the subsequent maintenance.
Official sources told Dawn on Wednesday that block plantations had been shown in documents that ate up funds on maintenance and watering of the ghost plants in the region.
They said bigwigs in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. could not carry out monitoring and evaluation of plantation schemes in the militancy-affected areas on account of law and order situation, which led to massive irregularities.
They said 'ghost forests' had been detected in the militancy-hit North Wazoo, South Waziristan, Khyber and Mohmand agencies and some areas of Frontier Regions.
Until now, the relevant authorities have ordered one inquiry in 'Non Timber Forest Product in Fata'.
It is learnt that block plantation and regular maintenance work had been shown in documents, but it could not be found on ground after physical verification in many areas.
An official concerned said 'ghost forests' had been mostly detected in the troubled areas and that funds had been regularly released from the annual development programme.
He said officials of the forests department in tribal agencies had shown huge spending on account of using tankers for watering plants, but plantation did not exist.
Conservator (forests) of Fata Sher Nawaz said plantation existed but maintenance work, including watering of plants, had not been done, despite release of money.
Sher Nawaz, who took charge of his office around five months ago, admitted irregularities in the Fata forests directorate but left the matter to the 'Almighty Allah.'
"The directorate has taken certain measures to block holes and stop irregularities," he claimed, adding that strict monetary discipline was now showing trickle down effects in the forestry sector in the tribal areas," he said.
The official said verification and probing irregularities would be very difficult for the government at this moment.
The government spends huge amount of money on forestation in Fata every year.
In the annual development programme for the fiscal 2013-14, the government has allocated Rs669.929 million for forests, including non-timber forest products and conservation of the wildlife in Fata.
According to official documents, forests covered area is 0.53 million hectors, making 19.5 per cent of the total Fata area.
Conservator Sher Nawaz said the directorate of forests had restructured schedule rates, which led to the saving of a huge sum of money, while more reforms in the forestry sector were in pipeline.
He said the cost of forestation on one acre of land had come down from Rs43,000 to Rs30,000, while the daily wage of labour working there had gone up from Rs200 to Rs400 due to the directorate's efforts.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... faces acute shortage of oral 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... vaccine and thus, struggling to implement the World Health Organisation recommendation for vaccination of all those traveling abroad from there, it is learnt.
The provincial government is required to administer OPV to people approaching the Bacha Khan International Airport, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. for international travel.
"The government has decided to implement the WHO recommendations and administer anti-polio drops to all people traveling abroad from the province. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... it's not possible until the federal government supplies the required stock of vaccine," a relevant official told Dawn on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] A Paleostinian rights group says it has documented nearly 500 complaints of detainee abuse in Paleostinian jails in 2013, up by 200 from the previous year.
The Paleostinian Independent Commission for Human Rights said Thursday that the increase is due, in part, to better access for its Sherlocks to lockups in the Gazoo Strip. The Islamic bad boy group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has ruled Gazoo since seizing it from Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... in 2007, leaving him with only parts of the West Bank.
The poor don't get richer by shoving money at them. 60 years of a failed war on poverty should show you that. They get richer by learning new skills and bettering themselves while having an opportunity for upward mobility. A hand up, not a hand out. Otherwise they learn nothing about the value and discipline of saving and spending money. They blow it as fast as they get it otherwise and do not value it.
You want to help the poor? Get the crony capitalism and socialism holders out of power and true entrepreneurial minded people in there.
#2
Maybe you would be better to ask why the governments have so much money. Maybe revitalize the values of Christianity instead of asking the UN for help.
The UN. Anyone who relies upon the UN for help is in real trouble. And who is the UN to finger point on sex scandals anyways.
#4
For wealth that is earned, it is a matter of personal morality to choose to redistribute it, not through coercive force. It is best to also remind the 'poor' that engaging in the seven deadly sins keeps one in the condition. Human free will has consequences. You do not punish or condemn others for the choices of those who choose badly.
Thou shall not covet
Thou shall not steal
Thou shall not bear false witness
Before commenting you should really read the source document. Do not count on the press to report in accurately. The LSM has its own agenda.
Pope Francis was invoking the example of Zacchaeus from the Gospel of St. Luke. Zacchaeus was a tax collector who overtaxed the community and kept the excess for himself. After speaking to Jesus, he was inspired to repent and return the money he had stolen.
Note that Zacchaeus worked for the government and was able to steal as a result of the coercive power of the legions. in this story, the government can steal and cheat, as can its employees.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/09/2014 13:22 Comments ||
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#7
Why is wealth not equally distributed?
a) War/feudal lords grabbed all the land
b) Governments confiscated the means of production
c) Crooks stole it (see a & b above)
d) Hard working people accumulated capital while less hard working people didn't
#10
"the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society."
Very general word usage. Can be interpreted many ways. True Christian faith emphasises church based work with the poor with successful private sector people working through the church. Much better accountability and has an immediate impact on the neighborhood of that church and private sector.
To try emphasize "economic benefits" go to a secular government is not efficient, at all.
#13
The other issue is Pope Francis is not nearly as intelligent as his 2 predecessors, nor is he careful with his words, as his predecessors were. Pope Francis is a man of God, but somewhat of a rube.
[AnNahar] Health Minister Wael Abou Faour announced on Thursday afternoon that the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus has been detected in Leb.
"One person has been diagnosed with MERS, and he was being treated at a hospital in the country," Future television quoted the minister as saying.
But Abou Faour noted that the infected patient "has left the hospital after showing signs of recovery."
Ministry sources told An Nahar daily that the man, who is a Lebanese national, arrived in Leb coming from a Gulf country.
Earlier in the day, the minister denied that any MERS cases were detected in Leb, stressing that all precautions have been taken at the Rafik Hariri International Airport.
"We took some measures at the airport. Two thermal cameras were installed to detect individuals with high body temperatures, the first indicator for infections with the MERS virus," the state-run National News Agency quoted him as saying.
"Until the moment, all samples taken at the hospitals have tested negative. No cases of infection with the deadly virus have been recorded in Leb so far," added the Minister in the morning.
Abu Faour's comments came after touring the airport accompanied by head of the Public Health parliamentary committee Atef Majdalani where they inspected the measures taken at the airport to halt possible entry of infected individuals to Leb.
On Wednesday, media reports raised fears that an infected Saudi national was transferred to the Hotel Dieu hospital on suspicion of MERS infection, but were renounced by the hospital afterwards.
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.
Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger and activist who is the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for the charge of "insulting Islam."
[AnNahar] 
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
Wazoo
