Bangladesh and India are likely to sign an extradition treaty at the end of a four-day meeting of top interior ministry officials from the two countries, a report said on Wednesday. The talks are due to start on Thursday, the Independent daily said, quoting a Bangladesh Home Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity. A draft extradition treaty between the countries was prepared following talks in Dhaka earlier this year.
Law Minister Moudud Ahmed has said Bangladesh holds around 5,000 foreigners from India and Myanmar who cannot be repatriated because there is no extradition treaty with either country. Some have already completed their jail terms. Dhaka was also expected to hand over a list of around 800 wanted criminals believed to have taken refuge in India, the report added.
Bangladesh has signed only one extradition treaty to date, with Thailand.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
While definitely a terrible loss, the current images seem to show the main dome shrouded in scaffholding. This allows for the possibility of there having been an actual work accident that ignited the fire.
However, there were also reports of an explosion preceding the blaze, so it's still anyone's guess.
One thing is for sure. If the conflagration was started by terrorists, expect some dreadful reprisals from Moscow. This church was an incredible piece of architecture.
Nearly all large masonary structures require reinforcement of some sort. Extremely long sections of stone weigh far too much to be of service, especially at high interior elevations. The sidewalls to support such massive beams at great heights would be enormously thick. This is one of the reasons that flying buttresses were invented. They provide external support without obscuring the high vertical (clerestory) windows needed for interior illumination of such large buildings as cathedrals.
Wood is an incredible building material. For example, there is no metal on earth that can equal the strength-to-weight ratio of wood. While stone arches could be used to support groined vaults, the main roof beams of the large churches invariably had to be of wood. While the three-dimensional nature of domes allowed for significantly greater use of masonary materials, the lightweight strength of wood usually meant that it was used as well.
Even when it was not used structurally, many domes have their interior surfaces paneled or ornamented with wood. It is easier to carve or decorate and processing it into shape is far less expensive than stone.
NEW YORK An interview in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine with C.C. Goldwater reveals that her HBO film to be aired Sept. 18 paints her late grandfather, Sen. Barry Goldwater, "as a kind of liberal," with testimonials from Al Franken, Sen. Ted Kennedy, James Carville and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
This is, to remind the young'uns, the same Barry Goldwater who called for bombing the North Vietnamese back to the stone age.
In fact, Hillary campaigned for Goldwater in 1964 in his race for president against Lyndon Johnson. "Hillary was a Goldwater girl," says the filmmaker, interviewed by Deborah Solomon. "She passed out cookies and lemonade at his campaign functions."
Re NYT: Reminds me of that fabled bird that flew in ever-decreasing circles until it flew up its own cloaca....
#1
If Barry was a liberal, what are the Dummocrats ? Commies ? If his thoughts truly represented liberalist doctrine, I believe I could sit down and converse. It's true that Hildebeast started out as conservative. Her whole family was. What turned her ?
The California Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would require the "microstamping" of semi-automatic handguns -- giving cartridges fired from those guns a unique imprint, which according to gun control advocates, would help police solve crimes.
Supporters say microstamping would turn spent cartridges into potential evidence in civil and criminal cases. According the California Million Mom March, "when the police retrieve the bullet casing at a crime scene, they can quickly track down the legal owner of the handgun that fired it."
Nonsense, say Second Amendment supporters, who view the bill as yet another attempt to burden gun manufacturers and further restrict gun sales in the state. They say that gun makers, faced with the added expense of microstamping semiautomatic weapons, would either stop selling their wares in California or drastically raise prices.
The bill (AB 352) would "expand the definition of unsafe handgun to include semiautomatic pistols that are not designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters, that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched into the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and which are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired."
The bill passed the California Senate 22-18 and it now goes to the Assembly -- for a "fight and a final vote," said the California NRA Members' Councils, a grassroots gun-rights network.
The bill's lead sponsor, Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) acting in tandem with the Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence, has been fighting to pass the bill since last year.
Griffin Dix, the president of the California Million Mom March Chapters, said police fail to make an arrest in approximately 45 percent of all homicides in California because they lack the evidence they need. "This bill will help police...by providing them with new and meaningful leads for solving handgun crimes," Dix said.
But the California NRA Members' Councils says the microstamping would create false evidence trails.
"Micro-stamped cartridge cases fired and abandoned at government agencies facilities or private shooting ranges could be gathered and used to 'seed' crime scenes with the with 'evidence,' implicating law enforcement officers and citizens" in crimes they had nothing to do with, the group said in an analysis on its website.
The gun-rights group also said microstamped cartridges could not be recycled because they might implicate secondary users of reloaded cartridges. "Millions of pounds of metals will be turned into scrap and require expense disposal requirements imposed so it will not enter landfills."
And without the ability to sell and recycle used (microstamped) cartridge cases, the cost of firearms training will increase for government agencies, the gun rights group added.
Second Amendment supporters also note that microstamps can be easily defeated by replacing parts of the handgun that have been stamped; polishing the microstamp with abrasives or modifying the stamp; and in some cases, the stamped markings may be filled in with residue produced by normal firing of the gun.
Paul Helmke, the new president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, applauded the California State Senate for "embracing this innovative technology," and he said he hopes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "will listen to a fellow Republican and sign this bill once it passes."
Second Amendment supporters, meanwhile, say they will mobilize grassroots opposition to the bill in an effort to prevent it from landing on the governor's desk.
#2
Awright! More FeelGood(tm) legislation from California. I feel better already, although I suspect the microstamping could be disabled by an enterprising criminal with a dremel tool and a few minutes time. If this law only applies to semi-automatics, will it result in revolvers becoming the weapon of choice among the criminally minded?
#3
Crap like this is prima facie evidence of the dumbing down of the American people and the fascist, "Rules are for Republicans" attitude of the Blue State Democrat establishment
#4
The California Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would require the "microstamping" of semi-automatic handguns -- giving cartridges fired from those guns a unique imprint, which according to gun control advocates, would help police solve crimes.
You mean, like... now? I think it's called "ballistics"? I saw it on CSI...
#5
Of course, no one would dream of firing the gun inside their car or putting a catch screen over your ejection port. Or, if you have a few seconds, policing up your cartriges.
#8
Or like any criminal, use a hot* gun and just drop it clean at the scene. How many shootings have involved criminals who by existing law are not suppose to have a gun? Donkwits.
Thats Schwarzeneggers new catch phrase in the next sequel Terminator 6. Microstamp (AB 352). He shouts it out right before he saws down an entire police precinct with a futuristic hand-held ballistic missile.
#11
Unless, of course, some criminal uses a gun made before the law goes into effect. Or imports a gun from another state, or uses some of the other techniques mentioned here.
Luckily criminals are stupid and would never think of such things. So this measure should pretty much end gun crime in California. /sarcasm
#12
I hear the rap stars want their all their bodyguards to have diamond encrusted shell casings with their monograms on them. Seeing how it's the law and all...
#13
another stupid bill that would make more bad "unintended consequences" for law abiding gun owners and honest citizens who want to purchase more fire arms. Less government is the best government.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/25/2006 21:02 Comments ||
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Announcer (think Curt Gowdy):"It's a incredibly tight race in this high-stakes contest to see which state can claim the Air America Prize for Most Indubitably Stupid Electorate in the US! Coming around the turn into the stretch it's the usual contenders, Cal and NY neck and neck, with Vermont coming up fast on the outside and Mass in fourth. Cal and NY, Cal and NY. SUDDENLY CAL STARTS TO OPEN A LEAD!" (to be continued)
Posted by: mac ||
08/25/2006 21:50 Comments ||
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(CBS) Confronted by accusations that hes taking too long to clean up his city after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin defended himself by remarking on New York Citys failure to rebuild Ground Zero. Nagin made the remarks in an interview conducted by CBS News National Correspondent Byron Pitts which will be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. EDT.
You guys in New York cant get a hole in the ground fixed and its five years later. So lets be fair.
On a tour of the decimated Ninth Ward, Nagin tells Pitts the city has removed most of the debris from public property and its mainly private land thats still affected areas that cant be cleaned without the owners' permission. But when Pitts points to flood-damaged cars in the street and a house washed partially into the street, the mayor shoots back. "Thats alright. You guys in New York cant get a hole in the ground fixed and its five years later. So lets be fair."
Nagin is confident New Orleans will be whole again and will even be able to withstand another hurricane of Katrina strength, pointing out that taller and stronger levees are being built. It will take time. "Were into a five-to-seven-year build cycle . At the end of the day, I see the city being totally rebuilt. I see us eliminating blight, still being culturally unique," Nagin says.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2006 10:11 ||
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#1
He's got a point. Nobody's fixed the hole in his head either and it's fifty years later.
The owners of a new restaurant named "Hitler's Cross" in the Indian city of Mumbai have changed its name after protests from the Jewish community.
The restaurant opened last week in the city's outskirts, initially displaying a giant poster of Hitler.
But now one of the restaurant's owners has acknowledged that naming the restaurant after Hitler was "most inappropriate" and has apologised.
The small Jewish community said they were insulted over the choice of name.
'Very apologetic'
"We have decided to change the name of our restaurant and remove all signs and articles associated with Hitler and Nazism in and around it," said one of the restaurant's owners, Satish Sabhlok.
"Our intention was not to glorify Hitler - or his atrocities or ideology in any way - and we regret the anguish caused by the use of this name," he said.
The Chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, Jonathan Solomon, told the BBC that Mr Sabhlok came to his residence for a meeting on Thursday morning and was "very apologetic".
Mr Solomon said that he hoped that the restaurateur had "acted out of ignorance rather than malice".
"The opening of a restaurant with such a name has shocked us and all right thinking persons around the world," he said.
"We are grateful... To the people and government of our country, to the media for highlighting this issue and to the consular authorities of Germany, the USA and Israel in taking note of this issue and helping in its solution."
The restaurant opened in the city's outskirts last week with a party for 700 guests.
A poster of Hitler was placed at the entrance, although the owners said it was not put up by them.
But the name caused fury among the 5,000-member Jewish community in Mumbai.
"How can anybody think of naming a restaurant after a perpetrator of such heinous crimes against humanity?" Mr Solomon asked.
The consul generals of Israel and Germany became embroiled in the dispute, requesting the owners to change the name.
Initially they refused to do so, saying that they were only using the name and not promoting Hitler in any manner.
Posted by: john ||
08/25/2006 20:48 ||
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#1
So what do ya think 'Pol Pot's Killing Fields Pub' or 'Rwanda Massacre Restaurant'?
#3
why not name it after the Brit general who opened up on Ghandi's supporters... seems like a good way to show the owners didn't mean anything personal...
Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq said on Thursday that he would ask the Punjab government to double the reward for finding the 'Naalain Mubarik' (shoes) of the holy Prophet (may his drip clear up peace be upon him) which were stolen from the Badshahi Mosque in 2002.
Speaking on a call attention notice moved by the MMA's Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair in the National Assembly, Haq said the Punjab government had investigated the incident and found none of the mosque's staff involved in the theft. He said the shoes had not been returned despite a Rs 2 million reward announced by the Punjab government. "I will tell the Punjab government to double the reward and reinvestigate the incident," he added. Sahibzada Abul Khair said that the matter should be thoroughly investigated and the mosque's staff should be punished for letting the theft take place.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Didn't he play for the Knicks?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/25/2006 0:45 Comments ||
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Curly toed slippers? And I thought Moh was just a pedophile.
Muslim clerics in earthquake-hit Azad Kashmir have told aid agencies to fire all local women employees or face violent protests, officials and religious leaders said on Thursday.
That's the way you say "you're welcome" in Urdu, I think...
If our demand is not met then we will take direct action and extreme steps.
The threat, given to district officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bagh on Tuesday, will dent hopes that the October 8 quake could have a positive effect on womens rights in the conservative region. We have told the administration that we will not allow NGOs to exploit our women and asked them to give a date suitable to them for removal of all female workers, Syed Atta Ullah Shah, prayer leader of the Bagh central mosque, told Agence France Presse. If our demand is not met then we will take direct action and extreme steps. There will be demonstrations and damage may be caused to public property and a law and order situation would be created in the area, he added.
"You know we can't control ourselves, so it's best to just give in to our Just Demands™..."
They hire beautiful girls and take them to Islamabad for enjoyment. They keep women in offices as decoration pieces...
The religious leader said locals were angered by obscene activities at NGOs. They hire beautiful girls and take them to Islamabad for enjoyment. They keep women in offices as decoration pieces because we know that women have no work and there is no such work that men cannot do, Shah said. Aid groups say female workers are vital to ensure that religious and social conventions are respected when dealing with women in the devastated region, especially for health matters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan's Mullahs are notorious for their obesity. Study the unholy Koran, grow a beard, keep only male company, spew jihad rhetoric on Fridays, and generally waste a life on malignant leisure. I would hire the ladies over those slugs.
#5
Make all responding NGO teams consist entirely of women. If these chauvanist maggots want any help, they must suffer experience the competent management of rebuilding being led by women. Otherwise, they can go rot. Something they seem to be extremely good at.
If our demand is not met then we will take direct action and extreme steps. There will be demonstrations and damage may be caused to public property and a law and order situation would be created in the area, he added.
Sounds like a direct threat of incitement to riot. Isn't that a jailable offense thingie?
#6
A good ass kicking will usually square away your average bully. Or a spoiled child. Both apply here.
If they don't wanna come around, then fuck 'em. Let 'em all starve or freeze to death..
#7
If they don't wanna come around, then fuck 'em. Let 'em all starve or freeze to death.
Yes, but I want them to conspicuously reject aid based on their incurable misogeny so that both the general population and the world at large gets a solid glimpse of just how moronically stupid pyrrhic their autocracy is while they fester and rot.
#8
Like with Indonesia, don't think the past amount of private relief aid would be as readily forthcoming for these lovely people come the next big disaster....which seems inevitable.
#10
Now, now, we must respect their indigenous cultureTM and social norms. This is merely an authentic demonstration of their respect for women and we must give them time to deal with the shame and humiliation of having to subsist on handouts from white males, who have historically oppressed their traditions.
After all, we can't distract womens' groups in the West with piddling things like this.
Talks to draft a new Constitution for military-ruled Myanmar will resume in October but the party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is likely to be excluded from them, Myanmar's ambassador to the Philippines said on Tuesday.
Thaung Tun said the effort, which was adjourned in late January, was "75 per cent complete" with the power-sharing provisions between the central government and the states still to be worked out. The talks have been held sporadically for more than a decade but have been condemned internationally for failing to include Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
Despite the constitutional talks, Thaung Tun said the armed forces would retain a significant role, similar to that of early, post-colonial Indonesia. He said that because the NLD had walked out after being invited twice to previous sessions of the talks, it was "unlikely" to take part in future sessions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/25/2006 00:00 ||
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An impeachment `complaint' against President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was defeated in Manila on Thursday. This was the second such move by the Opposition after the mandatory gap of a year since the previous impeachment plea which also had failed at the initial stage itself.
They've got Al Gore on retainer??
I do believe they're stuck with Gloria until the next election.
Gloria wants to hang around long enough to hand over part of her country to the Moro Liberation Front so she can qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
How many times is this?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/25/2006 0:46 Comments ||
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#2
The second, I believe. The Philippines keeps trying to be a banana republic.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2006 8:58 Comments ||
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#3
They have also had two coupes. Well, three if you count the one where she took power.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/25/2006 9:04 Comments ||
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#4
I believe it must be genetic. My wife had a Filipina as a supervisor in Germany. She told my wife she went to school with Imelda Marcos and Corazon Aquino, and was still good friends with both. She was also deeply involved with running black market goods in and out of the country. I'm quite sure she would have jumped at the chance to run a small country as well. Inside every Filipina is a dictator trying to get out. Just ask their GI ex-husbands.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/25/2006 13:52 Comments ||
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#5
Ah the ancient American saying, If you want great sex - get a Filipina, If you want loyalty - Get a dog.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/25/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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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.
(CBS) Confronted by accusations that hes taking too long to clean up his city after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor 
Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq said on Thursday that he would ask the Punjab government to double the reward for finding the 'Naalain Mubarik' (shoes) of the holy Prophet (
Muslim clerics in earthquake-hit Azad Kashmir have told aid agencies to fire all local women employees or face violent protests, officials and religious leaders said on Thursday.
An impeachment `complaint' against President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was defeated in Manila on Thursday. This was the second such move by the Opposition after the mandatory gap of a year since the previous impeachment plea which also had failed at the initial stage itself. 
