(AP) Boy dies from drinking meth at border crossing
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO
A Mexican high school student died from drinking highly concentrated liquid methamphetamine at a San Diego border crossing in an attempt to persuade inspectors that it was only apple juice, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday. Tastes just like chicken.
Cruz Marcelino Velazquez, 16, volunteered to take "a big sip" at the San Ysidro port of entry Nov. 18, the report said. He was then handcuffed and taken to a security office, where he began screaming in pain, said something about "the chemicals," and shouted, "My heart! My heart!" in Spanish, it added. Maybe he didn't understand just how powerful the stuff was.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner's report gives no indication that inspectors asked him to drink the liquid and doesn't say if they had an opportunity to stop him when he volunteered. Velazquez died hours later at a hospital from acute methamphetamine intoxication. They probably couldn't believe he would really do it.
Jackie Wasiluk, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees ports of entry, had no immediate comment on the findings
San Ysidro, the nation's busiest border crossing, has emerged as a major corridor for smuggling methamphetamine in the past five years as Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has increased its presence in the area. To avoid detection, crystal methamphetamine is dissolved in water and disguised in juice bottles, windshield wiper fluid containers and gas tanks. It is later converted back to crystals. It's like magic.
Children are caught with methamphetamine several times a week at San Diego crossings, an "alarming increase," Joe Garcia, assistant special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in San Diego, said in an interview last year. They are typically paid $50 to $200 a trip.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/16/2014 15:37 ||
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An early Darwin (self) Award nominee for 2014.
Sergeant Stryker, says, "Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." - Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
[An Nahar] A drunken man has been tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, s'il vous plait! for trying to douse the eternal flame at the landmark Arc de Triomphe monument in Gay Paree, police said Wednesday.
The man parked his car on Tuesday evening near the famed monument on the Champs Elysees, the city's emblematic avenue, and rushed towards the flame with a fire extinguisher in hand.
Police said the man, who was drunk, told them he wanted to extinguish the fire. He has been placed in jug.
The flame burns in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which commemorates La Belle France's dead in the two World Wars, at the base of the arch.
The flame has been attacked in the past. In 2002 a mentally unhinged soldier was arrested for trying to urinate on it, another man burnt himself the previous year after sitting over the flames and another was previously arrested for trying to cook eggs there.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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The man parked his car on Tuesday evening near the famed monument on the Champs Elysees,...
[An Nahar] Nepal's former Kumaris, girls worshiped as living goddesses in a centuries-old tradition, are to be awarded a pension to help them re-adjust to normal life, an official said Tuesday.
Ten former Kumaris will receive the monthly allowance of 10,000 Nepalese rupees ($101) from July for the next 10 years, Kathmandu Metropolitan City chief executive officer Laxman Aryal said.
"Although most of the Kumaris come from well-to-do families, they miss a vital period of their lives and often lag behind in our increasingly competitive society," Aryal told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The council made the decision this week as part of efforts to help the girls who are worshiped as goddesses, but lose their special status once they reach puberty.
The tradition has continued despite the end of the Shah monarchy in 2008.
The living goddess lives in a palace-temple in ancient Kathmandu's Durbar Square and is a major attraction for foreign tourists.
In 2008, Nepal's Supreme Court ruled the living goddess should be educated and they are now taught inside the palace where they live and are allowed to sit their exams there.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] U.S. archaeologists have uncovered the tomb in southern Egypt of a previously unknown pharaoh who ruled 3,700 years ago, antiquities officials said on Wednesday.
The discovery by a team from the University of Pennsylvania provides new evidence that at least part of Egypt may have escaped the rule of the Hyksos, invaders from what is now Syria who dominated the Nile Delta between the 18th and 15th centuries BC, the officials said.
A royal cartouche bearing the full name of pharaoh Senebkay was found on the sarcophagus and on a wall of the tomb unearthed in the ancient city of Abydos, the head of the antiquities ministry's pharaonic department, Ali El-Asfar, said.
The team also recovered the skeleton of the pharaoh, which suggested he stood 185 centimeters (just over six foot) tall.
They found canopic vases, traditionally used to preserve body organs, but no grave goods, suggesting the tomb was robbed in ancient times.
Asfar said the discovery suggested that the rule of the Hyksos did not extend to all of Egypt and that a native dynasty managed to preserve its independence in the south.
"The royal family in Abydos, which may have been founded by Senebkay, is of Egyptian origin and did not submit to the Hyksos's rule," he said.
The same U.S. team announced last week that it had identified the pharaoh whose tomb they unearthed at Abydos last year.
Pharaoh Sobekhotep I is believed to have been the founder of the 13th dynasty 3,800 years ago. His identity was established after the team found fragments of a slab inscribed with his name.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Democrats plan to run him for the Senate from Illinois, and later for the presidency.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/16/2014 21:36 Comments ||
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Pride goeth before the fall. Weinstein should be careful here. It could be that gun owners may make Weinstein wish he was never born. It is easier and legally safe to go after an amorphous political group as an individual. Those organizations don't vote, but they have a lot of money which makes the advocate a working man's hero. In reality it means the advocate is a pussy.
From TFA:
Movie producer Harvey Weinstein announced for the first time on Howard Stern's radio show that he is making a full feature drama to try to destroy the National Rifle Association.
Mr. Stern asked Mr. Weinstein on Wednesday whether he owned a gun. The Hollywood heavyweight replied that he did not and never would. "I don't think we need guns in this country. And I hate it," the producer said. "I think the NRA is a disaster area."
Mr. Weinstein then revealed his secret project about the gun rights group. "I shouldn't say this, but I'll tell it to you, Howard," he said. "I'm going to make a movie with Meryl Streep, and we're going to take this head-on. And they're going to wish they weren't alive after I'm done with them." The shock jock asked whether the film was going to be a documentary. Mr. Weinstein said no, that it would be a "big movie like a 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'"
The movie mogul said his vision was to scare people away from firearms. He foresees moviegoers to leave thinking, "Gun stocks -- I don't want to be involved in that stuff. It's going to be like crash and burn.
The chairman of the Weinstein Co. (formerly Miramax) is one of President Obama's biggest fundraisers. He brought in more than $500,000 from his Hollywood friends for the president's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2012.
I think it's a brilliant idea. Let him spend the large sums of his own and like-minded others's money necessary to make a serious film, let it lose horrendous amounts for them because about half of the population is happy to own guns, and leave Mr. Weinstein & Co. with that much less to invest in the politicians of their choice.
He might want to check with the dudes who made Lions for Lambs and other anti-Iraq war rotgut movies, just to see how they did. I think they had a similar agenda. It helped take the luster off of Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.
At the same time that Lions tanked, the movie 300 was doing boffo business. Why? Everyone in the audience knew who the heroes were.
So make your movie Mr. Weinstein. We know who the heroes are.
#1
Movie producer Harvey Weinstein announced for the first time on Howard Stern's radio show that he is making a full feature drama to try to destroy the National Rifle Association.
Weinstein, another Amish Trotskyite, left coast liberal communist, America hater. Interesting how they've migrated to gov't, Hollywood, and the media. Could there be a central goal or desired end state ?
#2
From the people who brought you Birth of a Nation another piece of bigoted propaganda masquerading as 'art'.
1 - end all tax write offs for the entertainment/sports industry. Never have been 'vital' for the economy.
2 - return to the original 14/14 copyright provisions with that second 14 years extendable only an individual artist, not a corporation. Ought to take a deep slice of life long royal patents royalties and residuals that fund the beast.
#3
Streep, right next to stegosaurus, I know of. Had to look up jolly boy.
Needs to spend $500mil at least. Perhaps a remake of LOTR but the good guys have no weapons, especially Legolas' high capacity assault quiver AR shotgun sad puppy murderer.
Apparently, he is a big Roman Palanski supporter and stiffed fellow traveler Michael Moorefood.
#4
Never owned a gun, So of course he knows all about Guns (Yes sarc)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/16/2014 10:42 Comments ||
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These Hollywood people are seriously deranged so why does anyone listen to them? They talk about things they know little about. If they had their way, we would have all been living under Nazism, Communism, Shintoism, Islamicism, Leftism or some other repressive "ism."
The traits scored were "unusual experiences", such as belief in telepathy and paranormal events, "cognitive disorganization" such as difficulty in focusing thoughts, "introvertive anhedonia" - reduced ability to feel social and physical pleasure, and "impulsive non-conformity", or tendency towards impulsive, antisocial behavior.
The researchers of the University of Oxford's department of experimental psychology found that comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits compared to the general group. Most striking were their high scores for impulsive non-conformity and introverted personality traits, the researchers said.
The actors scored higher than the general group on three types - but did not display high levels of introverted personality traits.
Posted by: Black Charlie Clash8728 ||
01/16/2014 11:21 Comments ||
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#7
Think a film about the Barberry Pirates would make money...
#8
Out in the real world they would be referred to as loose cannons. Its just they have a specialty in being able to make expressions.
Strike that. The most famous actors are the same damn character in every movie, so it would be more accurate to say they turned themselves into stereotypes.
Consider an easy example, the movie Gravity. Two actors, both with an extensive filmography. How different would the movie be using actors with no film history? Clooney is in it, well he chased down a terrorist in New York and killed vampires in a Mexican strip club - that film history automatically adds an air of authority to this character, in fact the industry relies on it.
I remember the first time I saw Executive Decision. Steven Seagal was billed. He always wins. It was a total shock to see him gone in the opening chapter.
#11
Ah ... making a note to myself to avoid this movie when it comes out, and also to avoid Meryl Streep. She had one strike against her in my book for bad-mouthing Walt Disney at a recent awards show. This will be another.
At the rate Hollywood is insulting my values, there aren't many A-listers that I can go watch any more. I've been crossing my fingers that Peter Jackson doesn't shoot off his mouth until the last part of The Hobbit is released...
#14
Put your money where your mouth is, Mr. Weinstein. Insist your bodyguards, gate guards, etc., not own any guns. And refuse to work with, or even talk to, anyone who won't do the same.
In fact, if you really "don't think we need guns in this country," insist the cops get rid of them as well.
*crickets*
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/16/2014 14:44 Comments ||
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#15
You guys have it all wrong -- I see Hollywood gold:
Sandy Hook Holocaust
A Harvey Weinstein Production
Starring:
Merle Streep As Nancy Lanza, the ditzy mom
Tom Hanks As Peter Lanza, the stay away dad
Sean Penn As Adam Lanza, the victim of a cruel uncaring society
Al Franken As Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy, the tragedy exploiter
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/16/2014 14:53 Comments ||
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#16
RJoe, good casting. Penn would look comical enough with a rifle, I picture him with a 1.5 scale double barrel chainsaw bayonet pure black rifle.
Whats the plan boss? Hour and a half building up the anti-hero, scenes staring blankly at Lone Ranger re-runs, an oddly uncomfortable sexual scene with Streep and ending with some ultra-violence set to Beethoven?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/16/2014 15:50 Comments ||
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#18
Rjoe - you forgot Whoopie Goldburg as the Katrina Victim (Bush'es fault) and now Sandy Victim (also Bush'es fault!) who is kept poor and on minimum wage by 'the [white] man' and who's Son gets tragically killed by a racist 'white hispanic' who comitted the hate crime of objecting to having his head bashed into concrete.
#19
I'm fn laughing here. Bigger than Mr. Smith I tell ya, bigger! I'm gonna grab Meryl Streep and we're gonna come kick your asses!
Mr. Smith.
I see it now, Streep goes to the Senate partly by horrific tragedy, partly for vindication. Its a sinister Republican controlled senate. One scene has the Senate leader eating a puppy dog. A bill is introduced to eliminate all regulations for a pure 2nd amendment country. Mrs. Street bravely hobbles to the Senate floor (shot in the opening scene, only survivor of family) in order to filibuster.
maniacal laughter from the Senate leader. "har har har, it was you Democrats who ended the filibuster! Do you feel the irony?"
How different would the movie be using actors with no film history?
Much, much better.
Seriously -- big name stars don't bring credibility to a role, they bring all their previous roles to it. When you can't immediately remember an actor's name, you start naming their previous roles... like that guy from the cross-dressing TV show in the 80's playing Walt Disney along with the princess of France from that Branagh film.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/16/2014 21:40 Comments ||
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#21
One scene has the Senate leader eating a puppy dog.
Naw. A well-known libertarian law professor leads a group of Tea Party Republicans in a round of puppy smoothies.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/16/2014 21:41 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] South Sudan's military battled rebels in the streets of the key northern oil town of Malakal on Wednesday, the army said, as violence in the world's newest nation entered its second month.
Little progress has so far been made in ceasefire talks in neighboring Æthiopia, where leaders have spent time squabbling over the venue but are deadlocked over rebel demands for the release of political prisoners.
The battle for Malakal, the main town in Upper Nile state, is now turning into one of the most bitter in the conflict, with the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... reporting tank battles in the streets.
Some of the 20,000 civilians sheltering in the peacekeepers' compound were maimed by stray bullets from heavy machine guns during the intense battle, with the peacekeeping mission saying it was treating "dozens of patients".
"There is heavy fighting," army front man Philip Aguer told AFP, dismissing rebel claims that they had taken control of the town.
Rebel forces staged a fresh attack Tuesday to seize Malakal, which has already changed hands twice since the conflict began, with rebel front man Lul Ruai Kong boasting that the gunnies had recaptured the town.
"This is not over yet," Aguer said, saying the rebels were liars. "The fighting is ongoing."
South Sudan has been gripped by violence since December 15, when festivities broke out between army units loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and those supporting ex-vice president Riek Machar.
According to the United Nations, about 400,000 civilians have fled their homes over the past month as the violence spiraled into ethnic killings between members of Kiir's Dinka people -- the country's largest group -- and Machar's Nuer community.
Up to 10,000 people are believed to have been killed in the fighting, aid sources and analysts say, including more than 200 civilians who drowned in a boat fleeing the latest round of fighting in Malakal.
U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Tuesday condemned both the army and rebels for stealing food and humanitarian supplies, expressing alarm at the "rising number of fatalities" in the fighting.
The U.N. World Food Program has said that at least 10 percent of its food in the stores have been looted, enough to feed some 180,000 people for a month.
More than four million people, or roughly a third of the population of the country that won independence from Sudan only in 2011, were deemed to be "food insecure" by WFP even before fighting began.
The East African regional bloc IGAD has been brokering peace talks in neighboring Æthiopia, although with still little sign of a ceasefire agreement.
Kiir, in a statement released Wednesday, called on the country to stand together at "this dark moment" while vowing to "defeat the rebels forever".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Egyptian voters in a referendum held this week have overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, an Interior Ministry official said on Wednesday, a result that could pave the way for army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to announce his candidacy for president.
"Turnout so far may exceed 55 percent and the approval of the constitution is perhaps more than 95 percent," Major General Abdel Fattah Othman, director of public relations for the ministry, told private satellite channel Al-Hayat.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Excellent! Splendid turnout. Good luck General al-Sisi. Keep the Broederbond on the run.
[Egypt Independent] Judges from the High Elections Commission have said that no ballot box can be sent to Maadi Military Hospital so ex-president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... and his wife Suzanne Thabet cast their ballots on the referendum.
The commission received request from Mubarak, however, law does not allow sending him a ballot box, so long as he can go to a polling station, the judges told Al-Masry Al-Youm, adding that Mubarak is not awaiting trial and that nothing is impeding his movement.
"Despite the challenge posed securing him, if he headed to the polling station, it has nothing to do with the commission but rather the Interior Ministry," one judge said.
Mubarak submitted request on Tuesday an official request to HEC to cast his vote on the constitutional amendments referendum.
Farid al-Deeb, Mubarak's lawyer, said he submitted request demanding his client and wife be allowed to cast ballots. "My client has the right to vote on the referendum, so long as no final verdicts have been issued against him," Deeb told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Mubarak filed a hand-written request three days ago to officials of the hospital security to transfer him to HEC to cast his vote, according to Deeb. "It seems that the request was lost. We took measures yesterday [Tuesday] to send the official request to vote."
Sources close to Mubarak said he was going to vote "yes" on the draft constitution, adding that Mubarak was keen on participation and that he proposed voting at polling station at his electoral district, if no special committee was made for him at the hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] The Administrative Control Authority allegedly caught Captain al-Saeed Ali Habib, director general of al-Adabeya seaport, red-handed as he was receiving a bribe from a private company executive in order to facilitate its work and commit illegal actions.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Cynthia backed into the galley, the barbecue fork held in front of her. Jack! she called. Where the hell are you?... Wagdy Mohammed al-Noweishy, director of Ataka fishing port in Suez, was also tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! while allegedly taking bribes from the chair of a fish-drying plant for exporting banned fish and smuggling subsidized diesel fuel.
The two cases were referred to Suez prosecutors. Investigations are still underway.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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A Ukrainian court has banned protests and rallies in central Kiev, where thousands of people have held daily antigovernment demonstrations since late November. News of the decision caused concern that officials might move quickly to forcibly disperse protesters.
The Kiev court agreed with a request by city officials to ban large gatherings of people in the city center until March 8. The ruling was dated January 8 but only published on January 15.
There are currently several thousand people at Independence Square, the site of demonstrations against President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign agreements for closer ties with the European Union in favor of improving relations with Russia. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry denied reports on Wednesday that riot police were heading to the capital's center.
[An Nahar] A Chinese firm plans to spend $165 million building a full-scale replica of the Titanic -- the doomed luxury liner which sank more than a century ago -- as the main attraction for a theme park, reports said Tuesday.
The original and supposedly unsinkable luxury passenger liner struck an iceberg and went down in the North Atlantic in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people.
The famous ship is a subject of immense fascination for many in China, particularly after the 1997 release of James Cameron's film on the liner's doomed voyage starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Little known Chinese energy company Seven Star Energy Investment said the replica, which is expected to cost 1 billion yuan ($165 million), will be the main attraction for a planned theme park located Sichuan, a landlocked province famous for its spicy food.
The replica will be docked permanently on a river, the South China Morning Post reported.
"When the Titanic was about to sink, the greatest extent of human spirit and responsibility was shown and that spirit goes beyond borders and it is eternal," Seven Star chief executive Su Shaojun said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Ukrainian government has threatened to outlaw the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for holding prayer services for opposition protesters occupying Kiev's central square.
The culture ministry on Monday sent a letter to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, accusing its priests of "breaking the law" by holding religious services outside a place of worship.
The Church's priests, along with those of the Orthodox Church loyal to the Kiev Patriarchate, hold open-air religious services several times a day on Kiev's Independence Square, known locally as the Maidan.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
If things continue as they seem to be going in the US, someday we could see the same thing here.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/16/2014 7:53 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] A women's rights group sounded the alarm on Wednesday about the prevalence of child brides in mostly Kurdish areas of eastern Turkey, saying hundreds of marriages involved girls under 15.
The report by the Women's Center (KAMER) was published just days after the apparent suicide of a 14-year-old mother of two hit the headlines in Turkey, highlighting the plight of young brides.
A survey by the group found that 2,200 of 60,000 women and girls were married between the ages of 13 and 15 over the last decade, while 4,700 were 16 or 17.
The poll, carried out in 23 provinces in mainly Kurdish areas of southeastern and eastern Turkey, found that 54 were married at the age of 12.
"We are fiercely opposed to child marriages... does anyone take into account their psychological state?" said Esra Gurcan, a local director of KAMER.
She highlighted the case of Kader Erten, who married at just 12 and who died of gunshot wounds in unclear circumstances on Sunday at the age of 14 after the death of her second child.
Her husband's family has said she committed suicide but her father has alleged it could have been murder.
"What kind of future could a girl have if she gets married at the age of 12?" Gurcan told Agence France Presse.
"I also got married at a very early age and I can sympathize with child brides. We know how grueling the outcomes of early marriages can be and we want to explain these especially to mothers."
The legal age for marriage in Turkey is 17 and the Turkish penal code stipulates prison terms of up to six months for those forcing marriage on under-age people.
Flying Broom, another women's rights group, cites poverty, religious belief, a lack of legal controls or a perception that a girl is safer with a husband as the main reasons for children getting married.
The KAMER report was issued just as a film about young brides called "Halam Geldi" or "My Aunt has Arrived" hit movie theaters in Turkey.
Umut Oran, deputy leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), accused the government of turning a blind eye to the situation.
"Why do you not instruct imams not to allow religious marriages? Are you allowing child marriages because you expect at least three children from people?" he asked in a parliamentary question on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came under fire in 2012 when he urged married couples to have at least three children despite failed attempts to reduce poverty and unemployment.
According to UNICEF, Turkey has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe.
Girls usually marry a much older man, a widower or even a man who has raped her, according to a study published by Gaziantep University in October which also found that over 80 percent of child brides in Turkey are illiterate.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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Flying Broom, another women's rights group,
Ya gotta like them gals what got a sense a humor. That said, not much talking Turkey in the EU lately.
The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday directed the government to immediately provide a bullet-proof car to former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.
Why would a Chaudhry need a bullet-proof car in Pakiwakiland?
The government has been accused of dragging its feet on providing appropriate security to the former chief justice.
Last week the government accepted a court order and provided an old bullet-proof car to Justice Iftikhar but imposed condition that it will be used only for official purposes for three months and the former chief justice will be responsible for its maintenance. As a retired person, Justice Iftikhar has no official work to perform.
In his verdict on a petition filed by Sheikh Ahsanuddin, IHCs Justice Shaukat Siddiqui said the former chief justice should be provided security on a par with former prime ministers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Indian police rounded up a group of homeless men Wednesday over the alleged gang-rape of a 51-year-old Danish tourist who lost her way near the main backpacker's area of the capital, officers said.
The woman approached the suspects for directions early on Tuesday evening while trying to return to her hotel in the bustling Paharganj district of New Delhi, reportedly after visiting a city museum.
Up to six "youngsters" allegedly assaulted and robbed the victim, who was travelling alone and had been in New Delhi since Monday after visiting the Taj Mahal, police and a receptionist at her hotel told AFP.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
...the posters, photos, etc. look pretty inviting on the Travel Sites, but there are some places that, if you choose to go there at all, being appropriately accompanied is a wise choice. Everywhere is not like Chicago(well, maybe it is...)
THREE RIVERS, Texas Not long ago, Richard Dockery was a real estate and insurance broker in this town of 1,800 residents, putting together small land deals and cobbling together a nest egg for retirement.
Today, Dockery, 47, lives in a new, 2,400-square-foot home that he bought with cash and will have his 23-year-old daughter's medical school bills covered before she steps into her first classroom.
Once a month, a six-figure check in his name arrives in his mailbox from an energy company royalties earned by leasing his property to oil companies and co-owning wells. It's one of several that appear in his box each month that, added up, equal roughly the annual salary of a midlevel NBA player.
"It's crazy," Dockery says. "And I'm small fry. There are literally thousands of people out here who are millionaires, and some who are going to be billionaires. It's the wild, wild West."
#3
will have his 23-year-old daughter's medical school bills covered before she steps into her first classroom
Good for her! I hope she practices medicine until her dad's money runs out, won't be long now.
#4
It would be better to collect extraction rights as a tax, and give them out as a dividend (and from that expand the range of citizens who have to feel the burden of the state).
These land based "lottery-wins" tend to distort the economy in unproductive ways.
#6
The fed's own more of Nevada than Nevadans do, as is the situation for most of the states west of the Pecos. Greatly undermines the sovereignty of those states. It also distorts demographics and statistics when poverty on federal land is rolled up with states' statistics which have no legal authority or means to address it. The advantage Texas enjoys is that it was not incorporated from federal territory before becoming a state.
#7
Doesn't productive and unproductive ultimately come down to the individual land owner's choice of what to do with their property and income from said property?
If this guy bought these properties on energy speculation, then damn savvy. If he didn't, he was making big financial risks on his own dollar in a county of 1800 with a main income of hosting a prison facility. So what if he won the lottery or whatnot, he is an expanding successful businessman to begin with. Need more of that, somebody had to build his house, needs new furniture and appliances, so forth.
There is a town in my area experiences these woes and its a boom town. Fresh seafood in the Oklahoma panhandle, you got it. Copious amounts of beef, energy extraction is hard work. Authentic Andouille or prosciutto, aisle 5.
City people passing through would stop, eat their pizza at the local chain (who can now hire youngsters at good wage), yuck up an ironic conversation with the next booth using their best coors beer commercial accent, and go on, not knowing that they just talked to someone who makes more in a year than they will their next ten. No, I think we need more of the humble country bumpkin eating pizza buffet and paying with $100 notes. Generations of debt paid off because the federal government wants to bottleneck energy, fine. Deep roots like that tend to stick.
#8
Texas is generally conservative with libertarian leanings. More money in the good guys hands? As for father preying daughters med school, family first -so that's a good thing, and I rather doubt she was brought up to be a leech, so back down on that kind of nasty mischaracterization #3. This is West Texas folk we are talking about, not some coastal elite liberals.
#9
Doesn't productive and unproductive ultimately come down to the individual land owner's choice of what to do with their property and income from said property?
Well, yes. But when one is used to the concept of the "Queen's lands"....
#11
If you have 'mineral rights' to your property and you want to lease your land for oil and gas drilling, or have someone erecting a rig nearby, consult an attorney [not just any attorney, but one who knows the oil business] to sort out the various aspects. Lease bonuses, community wells, production royalties, EPA rules and fines, and taxes can get very complicated.
#12
I like to make money. I think everyone should make money. Money is freedom. I therefore oppose all taxes, both monetary and paperwork time. I will grudge taxes so long as the government obliges its end of the contract, the US Constitution, state, county, local. The US Constitution being as intended a mediator between the individual and businesses with a list of obligations restrictions to their behavior.
Where is my check from the government for all the property they own? I have to compete with the government for quality employees, why should I be happy funding competition?
#13
Gov't prohibitions on 'Off Shore' drilling is particularly onerous. Similar to federal land, the US Gov't claims ownership of all Off Shore property, thus they [US Gov't] owns ALL the leases. Not only do they make money from the dozens of layers of taxes levied up and down the system, the Gov't actually gets a piece of the royalties as well.
Gasoline and oil are the heaviest taxed of any consumer items. It would be very challenging to compute the actual amount of gov't [State and Fed] tax that our $ 3.18 gallon of gas contains.
#14
Despised by the leftists, enough positives can't be said about Fracking Technology in regards to critical energy and wealth generation. Look for it to be a huge world wide industry that will help keep the lights on for hundreds of years.
#15
opposing taxes on the land makes you anti-capitalist
I think of it as pro-landowner. Part of the reason for the Revolutionary War was Great Britain's prohibition on colonists' expanding westward into new territory. The expansion westward that brought the railroads, etc., was driven by this desire. People died trying to do that. It's an "American thing".
And living in an area where the U.S. government controls the majority of land makes it particularly piquant.
#16
In December, I did a little feature about that stretch of South Texas benefitting from fracking. These were places that were about to dry up and blow away - and now, they are doing very well. Ranchers who were just holding on by the fingertips a decade ago are breathing easily, economically. With pictures - here.
#17
IIRC the UK is allegedly so hard up for oil + oil revenue they've allowed firms to legally frack on private properties widout need of owner consent.
Apparently there is no longer such a concept as private ownership in Britain anymore, or at least where Govt. $$$ are used in subsidation or rent or other taxpayer-funded public assitance.
Iff the DemoLeft wants America to be like Democratic Socialist Europe = EuroUnion, by definition what occurs in OWG-NWO EU is intended to occur in future OWG-NWO NAU, etc. Amerika???
* IIRC DRUDGEREPORT [paraph] > US DEBT TO CHINA AT NEW RECORD HIGH.
ENJOY YOUR BACKYARD + BACKYARD BARBECUES WHILE YOU STILL CAN, AMERIKA!
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.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
