[YAHOO] Myanmar's government is drafting a law that could see men tossed in the calaboose Book 'im, Mahmoud! for up to seven years for getting a woman pregnant but not marrying her, a bigwig said on Wednesday.
The provision is part of tough new legislation designed to strengthen women's rights as the country opens up after half a century of military rule.
Director of the social welfare department Naw Tha Wah said the new law would criminalise domestic violence for the first time and make gang-rape a capital offence.
If passed in parliament, the law would also carry a penalty of up to five years in prison for any man who refuses to marry a woman after they have lived together, and up to seven if she is pregnant.
"We are now drafting a bill to protect women and prevent violence against them," Naw Tha Wah told AFP.
"Women can complain if they are bullied into not getting married after living together. We will give them protection under the law."
Buddhist-majority Myanmar is a socially conservative country, where gender stereotypes are deeply entrenched and sex remains a taboo topic.
The Burmese language has no word for female genitalia and any garments worn on a woman's lower half are considered unclean, meaning they must be washed separately from men's clothes.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Why not just make them get married? Isn't that punishment enough?
[REUTERS] Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... President Roch Marc Christian Kabore replaced army chief of staff Pingrenoma Zagre on Wednesday, the government said in a statement, after a string of deadly myrmidon attacks, including against the security forces.
The statement did not provide a reason for Zagre's replacement by Sadou Oumarou, formerly the inspector general of the armed forces, but military sources said the decision was prompted by the incidents.
Attacks in Burkina Faso were relatively rare before an attack by al Qaeda-linked fighters on a hotel in the capital, Ouagadougou, that killed 29 people in January.
Since then, the country has been hit by several attacks near its northern border with Mali, including one this month in which unidentified gunnies killed a dozen members of the army's special anti-terrorist group.
Islamist turbans are active in Mali, and Burkinabe authorities are concerned the long desert border between the two countries could become a transit point.
Burkina Faso's army is also dealing with the fallout from a failed coup attempt by elite presidential guard soldiers in September of last year.
The government said in October that it had foiled a new coup attempt by ex-members of the same unit, a pillar of former president Blaise Campaore's rule before he was ousted by demonstrators in 2014 over his attempts to change the constitution to prolong his 27 years in office.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2016 00:00 ||
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The late President Hugo Chavez created a Food Ministry in 2004. His socialist government nationalized and then neglected farms and factories, and domestic production dried up. When the price of oil collapsed in 2014, the government no longer could afford to import all the country needed.
Hungry Venezuelans began rioting, and so Maduro handed the generals complete power over food. The government now imports nearly all the country’s food, and corruption drives prices sky-high. With much of the oil country on the verge of starvation and malnourished children dying in pediatric wards, food trafficking has become big business in Venezuela. And the military is at the heart of the graft, according to documents and interviews with more than 60 officials, company owners and workers, including five former generals.
One South American businessman says he paid millions in kickbacks to Venezuelan officials as the hunger crisis worsened, including $8 million to people who work for the food minister, Gen. Rodolfo Marco Torres. The businessman insisted on speaking anonymously because he did not want to acknowledge participating in corruption. He explained that vendors like him can afford to pay off officials because they build large profit margins into what they bill the state.
The socialist administration says it takes graft seriously.
“The state has an obligation to root out corruption in all levels of public administration,” the defense minister, Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, said this fall.
And yet dirty dealing persists from the port to the markets, according to dozens of people working in Puerto Cabello, which handles the majority of imported food. Officials sometimes keep ships waiting at sea until they are paid off, according to a stevedore who spoke anonymously because he feared losing his job. After the cargo is unloaded, customs officials take their cut, refusing to even start the process of nationalizing goods without a payment, four customs workers said. The corruption doesn’t stop once cargo leaves the port, according to truck drivers. The military has set up checkpoints along highways to catch food traffickers, and truck drivers say they have to pay bribes at about half of them.
At the end of the food chain, some soldiers partake in selling food directly to citizens, according to business owners. Bakery owner Jose Ferreira cuts two checks for each purchase of sugar: one for the official price of 2 cents a pound and one for the kickback of 60 cents a pound. He keeps copies of both checks in his books in case he is ever audited.
In large part due to concerns of graft, the three largest global food traders, all based in the U.S., have stopped selling directly to the Venezuelan government. The U.S. government has taken notice. Prosecutors have opened investigations against senior Venezuelan officials for laundering riches from food contracts through the U.S. financial system, according to several people with direct knowledge of the probes. No charges have been brought.
[CNBC] President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that Sprint will bring 5,000 jobs back to the United States from overseas, while another company OneWeb will add 3,000 jobs in the U.S.
Trump said the deal "was done through" SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, a Japanese billionaire and technology investor. Earlier this month, the pair announced in New York that SoftBank agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and aimed to create 50,000 jobs.
While President-Elect Trump made a point to announce Sprint would keep or create 5,000 jobs in the U.S., those jobs are part of a previously-announced deal with SoftBank from several weeks ago, a Sprint spokesman told NBC News.
"The 5,000 jobs announced today are part of the 50,000 jobs that Masa Son (Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of SoftBank) announced a few weeks ago, but these jobs will be funded by Sprint," the Sprint spokesman said.
#1
Tech support is a tailor made AI job, as patience and thoroughness are the keys. If the speech recognition is good enough and the speech generation is not the usual unintelligible mosh that's typical now, tech support will be the first really successful human interacting AI replacement for people.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/29/2016 9:30 Comments ||
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#2
If tech gets a couple better levels in CGI, maybe we can do away with actors altogether. Think of the savings for the studios (not to consider our psyche with their off time babbling and extra curricula activities).
#3
not to consider our psyche with their off time babbling and extra curricula activities
You dreamer, you! CGI will next be used to generate virtual celebrities that babble and carry on. Remember, you read it on the 'Burg first.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/29/2016 12:03 Comments ||
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#5
8K jobs.
In a surprising development 6 months after the inauguration, both companies will suddenly announce that they require 8k H1B visas, because neither company can find a single american qualified to do the job.
[The Grauniad] The Czech government is to set up a specialist “anti-fake news” unit as officials attempt to tackle falsehoods, predominantly about migrants, which they claim are spread by websites supported by the government of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Why would the Russians spread lies about migrants in Europe, when the truth is horrible enough?
The new unit will aim to counteract interference in the Czech Republic’s forthcoming general election, to be held in October, amid polling evidence that online disinformation is influencing public opinion and threatening to destabilise the country’s democratic system, established after the fall of communism in 1989.
Although definite links are hard to prove, officials say they are convinced the Kremlin is behind about 40 Czech-language websites presenting radical views, conspiracy theories and inaccurate reports. The officials believe the objective is to transform the Czech Republic’s current status as a western-aligned country.
Part of the interior ministry, the new Centre Against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats will begin operating on 1 January with 20 full-time specialists. They will be based in the building that was used as an interrogation centre by the former communist regime’s secret police during the cold war, when the former Czechoslovakia was a close ally of the Soviet Union. The specialists will scrutinise disinformation and attempt to counter it, via a dedicated Twitter account and a new section of the interior ministry website devoted to communicating the government viewpoint. The centre will also train civil servants to avoid blackmail and resist foreign lobbying.
The Czech fears echo those voiced by Germany’s domestic intelligence chief that Russia-linked “fake news” sites could interfere with its election. Claims have also been made of Russian cyber activity aimed at influencing last month’s US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.
The new “anti-fake news” centre has drawn accusations that it will result in censorship, spying and a crackdown on free speech – a charge rebutted by its supervisors.
Online agitation in the Czech Republic has been particularly influential during the refugee crisis, coinciding with a spate of anti-Islam rallies typically attended by protesters carrying placards denouncing the EU, Nato and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. It has fuelled public fears of terrorism and of an influx of people from the Middle East, even though the Czech Republic has only a tiny Muslim population and has been largely unaffected by the refugee crisis.
Efforts to uncover the origins of sites such as AE News have failed. “It is so well secured that Czech journalists have not been able to find out who is behind it,” said Jakub Janda, deputy director of the Prague-based European Values thinktank, which runs a programme called Kremlin Watch.
But intelligence officials and seasoned politicians have little doubt. They blame elements among the Czech Republic’s estimated 45,000-strong Russian community and Russia’s sprawling Prague embassy – a legacy of the cold war.
Moscow provides the “most active foreign intelligence services” on Czech soil, according to the Czech Republic’s domestic security agency, BIS, whose most recent annual report describes Russian espionage activities as geared towards “fabricating disinformation” and promoting the motto that “everybody is lying”.
The agency has complained about the number of Russian diplomats in the Czech Republic – estimated at between 130 and 150, double the number of Americans present – and says many are operating as undercover spies.
Ivan Gabal, an independent MP and deputy chairman of the parliamentary defence committee, advocates expelling Russian citizens convicted of peddling fake news and ejecting Moscow’s diplomats suspected of spying.
“This country strived for 20 years after communism to create an open, democratic society that’s part of the west, and now we have achieved a recognised place in the free world, we’re not going to give it up for some KGB guy,” he said, referring to Putin’s past career in the Soviet intelligence services.
“He is looking to break Europe up into elementary member states that compete with each other for Russian resources and influence. The risk is great. They feel we still belong to their sphere of influence. We are a bigger threat to them than Britain, because we’ve only been democratic for 25 years and we’re proof that it’s possible to transition from totalitarianism to an open society.”
#1
So...
The Kremlin is putting out news that is aligned with the core of capitalist reality (Ricardo's law).
Yet the West should be based on ignorance of Ricardo's Law?!?
Truly the western establishment are getting hopelessly desperate in their attempts to continue their parasitism.
The Obama administration is preparing to announce, as soon as Thursday, a series of retaliation measures against Russia for meddling in the US election, according to American officials briefed on the plans. The actions are expected to include expanded sanctions and diplomatic measures, the officials said, in what the administration deems a proportional response to a Russian operation that went beyond cyber hacking activities common among nations.
Russia will respond to any "hostile steps" that the US may take in response to allegations of hacking during the 2016 election, according to the official representative for the ministry.
Some of the steps are expected to name individuals associated with a Russian disinformation campaign that US intelligence officials say used hacked information from mostly Democratic Party organizations and officials to attack the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
The retaliatory measures are separate from an intelligence report President Barack Obama ordered on foreign hacking of US election entities. That report expected in early January will include declassified intelligence information on cyber hacks by China in 2008 and 2012, as well as the hacking and disinformation activities by Russian intelligence agencies in the 2016 campaign, the officials said.
The administration's announcement comes after months of internal debate over how to respond to Russian cyber activity that US law enforcement and intelligence agencies have watched take place for over a year.
US intelligence officials believe that the Russian efforts were intended to hurt Clinton's campaign. At a minimum the Russians expected the operation to sow confusion into the US elections. Then as they saw it having some success, the Russian intelligence agencies redoubled their efforts by funneling releases of hacked information to sites such as WikiLeaks and DCLeaks, intelligence officials believe. Obama administration officials have come under attack from Democrats since the election for not sooner taking public action against the Russians.
Administration officials have said any delays have been in order to allow intelligence and law enforcement agencies to do their work. There were also sensitivities about protecting US classified sources and methods on cyber activities.
And at least one reason for not taking more public action, as CNN first reported, was that White House officials didn't want to appear to be favoring the Democratic presidential nominee's campaign. They assumed Clinton would win the election, and there was concern that Donald Trump -- already making claims of a rigged election -- would use any Obama administration actions to bolster his claims.
#1
a caretaker president with no electoral mandate is wanting to pick a fight with a nuclear armed superpower 22 days out from being replaced by Trump, who has said he wants to be friends and allies with Russia?
#2
It all comes back to this eternal question - if you were the president and you hated this country, what would you be doing differently than what's being done now?
#3
He is a fraud. All of his lawfare should be thrown out under this pretext.
He is foreign agent with foreign law from foreign Nation with a malicious purpose.
#5
Kind of have to look beyond January 21 to understand why he is doing this stuff. It has to do with what he perceives his next gig is. World leader in exile, establishing his role as a renegade world leader. In my opinion, a very dangerous game.
#10
Just shows how bat shit insane the obama regime was.
Dumb like foxes.
Let us just see if our Kenyan Master 'folds his tent' or mobilizes his pro-Muslim shadow gov't (as Rush believes) to lead the democratic party and communist movement from the political and social fringes.
#11
seems like he's counting on Trump to clean up his mess.
He doesn't see it as a mess;
He doesn't want it cleaned up.
See Raj @ #2,,,, It all comes back to this eternal question - if you were the president and you hated this country, what would you be doing differently than what's being done now?
#13
This is so blatantly stupid it seems like he's counting on Trump to clean up his mess.
He's counting on the media crucifying Trump when Trump is forced to clean up the mess thereby making it that much more difficult for Trump to implement his agenda. Prediction: we're about to be treated to at least a year of "Trump is a Russian shill!"
Posted by: Ho Chi Pelosi6924 ||
12/29/2016 9:15 Comments ||
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I seem to remember Team Obama bragging - bragging - about sending their elections A-Team to work against Netenyahu.
And Obama onceself threatening the UK if they voted pro-brexit.
And the NGOs who went to Egypt to work for Morsi and were so meddlesome, some were arrested, and was so against what the people supported a coup.
My favorite is the Honduran coup, where Obama supported the illegal extra term, but Hillary, after receiving a fat gift to The Foundation, opposed Zelaya.
Interestingly, or maybe not so, is when the people rose against Venezuela and Iran, Obama was very much so pro-regime.
In fact, I seem to remember Obama mocking both Romney and McCain about their concerns over Russia. There was even a movie made back in the 80s over a concern hacking could start a war.
So he is going all sabot cat and spraying ink like a herd of octopi. Probably taking notes on who slow-walks selling MANPADS to the group who just assassinated a Russian diplomat, for example, and who jumps how high.
But seriously, MANPADS 4 Jihadis? Anyone out there see anything like 'ISIS airstrike decimates Syrian position'? 'ISIS helicopters catch convoy in the open'?
And didn't Jaw Kerry just go on TV and directly interfere with the politics of Israel? Seriously doing his goodbye speech dedicated directly at the politics of Israel? Sounded like a bad karaoke of a Daler Mehndi song, meaning no offense to Mr. Mehndi.
And what did the e-mail leaks really do, except expose the total disdain the democrat leadership has for members of its supposed constituency? The absolute corrupt leadership? How Bernie was sandbagged? All the leaks did was point out that, in fact, there are no clothes.
So they will cash in their open clandestine activities, set up potential shops, whine about not getting their laffy taffy, and screw up as much as possible to sully the next administration.
#17
And what did the e-mail leaks really do, except expose the total disdain the democrat leadership has for members of its supposed constituency? The absolute corrupt leadership? How Bernie was sandbagged? All the leaks did was point out that, in fact, there are no clothes.
That and so much more. Russia is a squirrel.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/29/2016 14:04 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Pakistain's fourth nuclear power plant went online Wednesday, a joint collaboration with China that adds 340 megawatts to the national grid as part of the goverment's efforts to end a growth-sapping energy deficit.
Pakistain is one of the few developing countries pursuing atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, as it seeks to close an electricity shortfall that can stretch up to 7,000 MW in peak summer months, or around 32 percent of total demand.
The Chashma-III reactor, located some 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of capital Islamabad, is the third built as part of a collaboration between the Pakistain Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
The country's first nuclear plant was supplied by Canada in 1972, with an installed capacity of 137 MW.
"Today we have crossed an important milestone in the journey to free the nation from scheduled power cuts. I am thankful to Allah and congratulate the entire nation," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... told an inaugural ceremony attended by Chinese and Pak officials.
He added a fourth Chashma plant was expected to be commissioned by April 2017. Two more reactors would follow at an unspecified date in central Pakistain, as well as two giant 2,200 MW power stations in southern 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... Islamabad is aiming to produce 8,800 MW from atomic energy by 2030.
Pakistain has been struggling to provide enough power to its nearly 200 million citizens for years, and Sharif has vowed to solve the crisis by 2018.
The energy sector has traditionally struggled to cover the cost of producing electricity, leading the government to divert $2 billion annually as a subsidy, according to a recent report commissioned by the British government.
China meanwhile is ramping up investment in its South Asian neighbour as part of a $46 billion project unveiled last year that will link its far-western Xinjiang region to Pakistain's Gwadar port with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades.
Last week Pakistain's main bourse announced that a Chinese consortium was set to acquire a 40 percent stake in the stock exchange in a deal estimated at $84 million.
Shanghai Electric announced in August it would buy a majority stake in the utility that supplies energy to Karachi for $1.7 billion, in the country's biggest ever private-sector acquisition.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/29/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Babar, the smoke, the blue smoke, behold! Is that good Babar?
Posted by: Marilyn McCoy1772 ||
12/29/2016 7:13 Comments ||
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#4
Chinese knockoff (with the typical Sino cost-saving 'tweaks') of a very good French pressurized water reactor design, built by a Chinese firm with a long list of scandal and corruption (with probably some more Paki 'tweaks').
What could go wrong?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/29/2016 10:46 Comments ||
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#5
What could go wrong?
If it happens in Pakistan it won't be wrong.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/29/2016 14:06 Comments ||
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#6
Wait till the counterfeit alloy steel pipes shatter, like in the Chinese power plant that killed two people. Pic HERE. ID printing on pipe showed a different material than actual. Caveat Emptor.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/29/2016 19:08 Comments ||
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[DailyMail] - Library employees now sport the pins, with extras given to interested students
- The buttons come in three versions: 'He him his,' ''She her hers' and, for people who don't identify themselves as male or female, 'They them theirs'
- 'We encourage you to ask before assuming someone's gender' a sign reads
- Buttons are part of the 'You Belong Here' marketing effort to lure undergrads
- Libraries have reordered them at least once Poor Cousin to "almost twice."
to keep up with demand"
Lemme see here. For about $5.00 per button, maybe 1,000 buttons purchased. Let's say the purchased buttons are twice as "neat" to look at as those linked. So, for an initial investment of, say, $15,000 (includes artwork, public entity surcharge, processing, stupid slogan fee, etc.), somebody could create a high-school targeted marketing gimmick eventually picked up by International Press.
Not a bad publicity ROI for someone so inclined and "lucky."
#1
Evidence that even universities need a full shut down, and cold restart, followed by re-installation of the original back up of the operating system.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A man took a coconut cream pie from a grocery bag, grabbed Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson from behind and smacked him in the face with it at a charity event, leading the former NBA star to start swinging and then tackle the man who was left battered and facing assault charges.
The pie wielder and local activist, Sean Thompson, 32, said Thursday that the mayor overreacted, sending him to the hospital for nine stitches before he went to jail. He said he was angry Johnson devoted so much political energy to an arena for the city’s basketball team and not to other needs such as education and homelessness.
The mayor was greeting people eating at an outdoor charity dinner Wednesday night at Sacramento Charter High School when Thompson pulled Johnson back and shoved the pie in his face, said Johnson’s chief of staff, Crystal Strait.
"There was no throwing of the pie," said Erika Bjork, who works for a professional soccer team in Sacramento and saw the encounter up close. "This was a direct assault. It just happened that he had a pie in his hand."
Bjork, whose boss is a major donor to Johnson, said the mayor looked shocked and swung at Thompson multiple times, but she didn’t see him land any punches.
Thompson had red and blue bruises around his right eye when he spoke to The Associated Press in jail.
"When I threw the pie at him, right at that moment, I shouted at him. I said, ’You need to better represent me,'" Thompson said.
He said the mayor turned and hit him at least twice "and pretty hard." Thompson said he covered his face and started to move away but was quickly surrounded by people and kept taking hits. He couldn’t tell who delivered the blows.
Thompson said he expected to be tackled by police but was caught off guard when the punches came from the mayor. He said he has no regrets but was surprised to be facing a felony, assaulting a public official. [snip] Nice photo @link.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
12/29/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
This story's about a month old, folks - just sayin'.
#3
I want to apologize to the World for my vulgarity, but eons of idiocy - willful idiocy is tolerable at normal levels, but the current liberals have made ignorance and destruction a religion. and if 30 days it takes, I will cuss out any dickhead that crosses my red line of logic with verbal waterboarding
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.
[YAHOO] Myanmar's government is drafting a law that could see men 
[CNBC] President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that Sprint will bring 5,000 jobs back to the United States from overseas, while another company OneWeb will add 3,000 jobs in the U.S.
Zero & the establishment are going to say the election was illegitimate due to Russian hacking.
