[Chicago Tribune] Shootings across the city left 4 people dead and at least 14 others wounded in a 12 hour period ending about 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
The shootings included an attack on the West Side just after midnight, in the 500 block of North Lavergne Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, that left a 17-year-old boy dead and five young women wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 12:11 ||
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#1
summertime, and the living's easy...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/01/2014 15:52 Comments ||
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[BREITBART] A man from Las Vegas, Nevada admitted to vandalizing two billboards in El Paso, Texas by painting "cartel-style" threats and hanging mannequins from them.
According to Fox News Latino, Ryan Jean was tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... as he attempted to board a plane in El Paso. The man subsequently told police that he altered the billboards as a way to protest the drug war in the U.S.
Breitbart Texas reported on the billboards when they were first discovered on May 23.
One of the vandalized signs on highway I-10 said "Plata o Plomo," which translates into "silver or lead." Reports state that this message is usually meant as a threat to government officials from cartels in Mexico. Prior to Jean's arrest the threat was perceived my many as a message that a cartel was prepared to use violence if police refused to cooperate with them.
A mannequin, dressed in a suit and tie, was found hanging from the sign via a noose.
A second vandalized billboard was subsequently discovered on the same highway. This one was originally a sign advertising a $5 million reward from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for turning in Rafael Caro Quintero, a drug lord.
"Dying for drugs," was painted across the billboard. The DEA sign also sported a hanging mannequin, this one dressed in jeans.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 11:13 ||
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#1
IMHO, although initially inconvenienced, the perp' will claim First Amendment privileges and this will all quietly go away.
[THEWEEK] Is the end near? Scientists at Duke University say the world is on the brink of its sixth great extinction, since certain species of plants and animals are now dying out at least 1,000 times faster than they did before humans came into existence.
The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, measured the the rate at which species are disappearing from Earth. In 1995, the researchers found that the pre-human rate of extinctions was roughly 1. Now, that rate is about 100 to 1,000.
Stuart Pimm, the study's lead author, said habitat loss is mostly to blame for the increasing death rates. As humans continue to alter and destroy more land, animals and plants are increasingly being displaced from their natural habitats. Climate change is also a factor, he added.
"Whether we avoid it or not will depend on our actions," Pimm warned.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 11:15 ||
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#1
"Communists and cockroaches predicted to survive"
#2
..since certain species of plants and animals are now dying out at least 1,000 times faster than they did before humans came into existence.
Because someone was around doing all the counting and classifying before humans developed writing and record keeping? Who knew. If you simply classify a species by the color of their feathers or fur, how can you tell from partial bone fragments 500,000 year later?
[An Nahar] Floods have killed three women in northeastern Iran and emergency workers rescued 600 people from a neighboring region hit by a landslide, media and the Red Islamic Thingy reported Saturday.
Heavy rains hit Iran hard in the past week, with the fatalities being recorded in Khorasan province.
"Following the floods in the province, three women bit the dust on Friday," Hojat Ali Shayanfar, head of a crisis management unit, told the official IRNA news agency.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called the chief of staff and complained that the artillery was keeping him awake... relief workers rescued 600 locals trapped after torrential floods and a landslide in Golestan province, Iran's Red Islamic Thingy said Saturday. Food was distributed to those affected.
Hassan Sadeqloo, Golestan's governor, was quoted by IRNA as saying the initial estimate of the damage in the province was $49 million (36 million euros).
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Or anyone else that's not supposed to have one.
T. C. Allen wasnÂ’t supposed to have a gun. A Dallas County court forbade it last year as part of a family violence protective order against him, but no one forced the 27-year-old Dallas man to turn over his 9 mm handgun. Just weeks later, he says, he used it to go on a deadly shooting spree. The Dallas Morning News found that judges and police routinely fail to enforce laws that prohibit certain domestic abusers from having firearms, leaving the victims and the public at risk. Easier to ban guns so the law-abiding citizens won't have those dangerous shooty-things.
Dallas County officials say the firearm ban is difficult to enforce because of holes in the law. The News found, however, that the countyÂ’s failure to adopt a gun-removal program reflects its own inaction. Judges, police and politicians here have long been fumbling for solutions as other counties found ways to enforce the law. They gotta pass laws that are self-enforcing - like the 55 mph speed limit, fer instance!
A Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, who oversees the family violence division, likened the countyÂ’s current gun-removal strategy to telling her children they canÂ’t have a cookie: It works only until she turns her back. I never sole cookies behind my Mother's back - she counted 'em!
“I don't think our current system has enough teeth in it,” she said. Count the cookies, sweetheart! The answer isn't more Mothers!
Other communities in Texas had to confront the same questions and qualms as Dallas County when they decided to take guns away from abusers. But they worked through them once they made confiscating firearms a priority, said the public policy director for the Texas Council on Family Violence.
Under federal and state law, it is illegal for convicted domestic abusers and subjects of protective orders to possess firearms, with certain exceptions for police and the military.
But the law doesnÂ’t say who should confiscate the guns, leaving some judges and police hesitant to enforce it. Now if we had universal handgun bans, they could be enforced!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/01/2014 15:34 ||
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[An Nahar] The leader of South Sudan's rebels, former vice president Riek Machar, said Saturday he was not completely in charge of his forces, who have been accused of atrocities during a brutal six-month conflict.
In an interview with Agence La Belle France Presse in Nairobi, Riek Machar was asked if he was in control of his troops and replied: "No, I can't say that. I would be lying to you if I did say that."
"So I can't say I control them, but we are hoping we can control them because we are training them and we are disciplining them," added Machar.
Machar's rebels have been battling forces loyal to President Salva Kiir since December 15, when fighting between rival army factions broke out in the capital Juba.
Kiir accused Machar of having attempted a coup, but has in turn been accused of starting the war by launching a purge of his rivals.
Machar admitted his forces had been cobbled together.
"When did we become an army? We were forced out of Juba, those who rebelled ... It took us time to regroup them into a viable force under a control and command" (structure), Machar told AFP.
"We also have volunteer fighters -- civilians who have their own guns -- who joined the war," he added.
The two sides agreed a ceasefire in January and again earlier this month, but the truces have not held.
The civil war has claimed thousands -- possibly tens of thousands -- of lives, with more than 1.3 million people forced to flee their homes. Some 75,000 people are also sheltering inside U.N. bases in fear of ethnic violence.
Peace talks are scheduled to resume in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa next Wednesday, with the East African regional bloc IGAD -- of which Kenya is a member -- providing mediation.
Speaking after talks in Nairobi with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Machar stressed he was "committed to peace" to end what he called a "senseless war" in the world's youngest country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates foresees greater stability in Egypt after former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sissi won a presidential election last week and will continue to back it financially, the UAE foreign minister said on Saturday.
Since the army ousted Egypt's first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... amid mass protests against his rule last July, the UAE has become a major donor for Egypt, taking a hands-on approach in its support for Cairo.
The Gulf Arab countries were opposed to Morsi and his Moslem Brüderbund, which they regard as a security threat. In total 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... , Kuwait, and the UAE have pledged over $12 billion in loans and donations since July.
[An Nahar] Egypt's outgoing interim president enacted a law on Saturday making it illegal to desecrate the national flag or refuse to stand for the national anthem, his office said.
Those who break the new law will face up to one year in jail.
The government drafted the law late last year amid heightened nationalistic fervor after the military toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... and unleashed a crackdown on his supporters.
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who ousted Morsi, wan an overwhelming victory in last week's presidential election and is to take office next month.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Now they have done it. The American Civil Liberties Union will be all over them.
[An Nahar] Tens of thousands of people Saturday answered a call by 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... 's opposition to protest against any move by President Blaise Compaore to get a fifth term in office.
Crowds poured into the largest stadium in Ouagadougou, filling it to its 35,000 capacity, voicing their anger against any move by the 63-year-old to extend his decades-long hold on power in the landlocked nation.
Compaore, an often controversial titan of west African politics, has hinted he may seek a referendum to extend his 26-year reign in 2015 polls, despite a two-term constitutional limit.
But shouts of "No to the referendum" and "We are tired, the big baobab must fall" -- in reference to the species of large African tree that can live for centuries -- echoed around the arena.
"It's a historic mobilization... The stadium is full from top to bottom," said opposition leader Zephirin Diabre.
People have "turned out en masse" to show that "from now on, change is no longer a dream. Change is here and now," said Benewende Sankara, president of the Union for Rebirth/Sankarist Movement party, one of 30 opposition parties at the rally.
Anger has been growing against a planned vote on whether to modify Burkina Faso's constitution, which limits the president to a maximum of two five-year terms in office and which would have prevented Compaore from extending his 26-year reign.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[ABCNEWS.GO] Malawi's President Peter Mutharika was sworn into office Saturday at a brief ceremony in Blantyre, the country's commercial center.
A larger inauguration is scheduled for Monday.
Mutharika was declared the winner of the election earlier Saturday by the national election commission. The election was marred by scattered unrest and complaints from the former president and others that the vote was rigged.
Mutharika, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party and brother of a president who died in 2012, won the May 20 election with nearly 2 million votes, or 36.4 percent of the electorate, according to the commission. Another opposition leader, Lazarus Chakwera, came second with 27.8 percent, the election commission announced late Friday night. Malawi uses the first-past-the-post system, meaning the candidate with the largest share of votes, no matter how small a percentage of the total votes cast, is the winner.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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The main problem with the coloni was that of preventing them from leaving the land they had agreed to cultivate as tenant farmers. The solution was to legally bind them to their holdings. Accordingly, a legal code established by the Roman emperor Constantine in 332 demanded labour services to be paid to the lord by the coloni. Although the coloni were legally free, the conditions of fealty required them to cultivate their lordÂ’s untenanted lands as well as their leased plot. This not only tied them to their holdings but also made their social status essentially servile, since the exaction of labour services required the landlordÂ’s agents to exercise discipline over the coloni. The threat, or the exercise, of this discipline was recognized as one of the clearest signs of a manÂ’s personal subjection. - cite
#3
Although the coloni were legally free, the conditions of fealty required them to cultivate their lord's untenanted lands as well as their leased plot.
Or, as Woodie Guthrie put it, "Some rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen." Constantine did it better, without six guns or fountain pens. Swords, clubs and written decrees sufficed then. Slavery is about the same as cannibalism.
#6
Grunter, if Putin knew, he would say it was deplorable, but that he's not going to go around judging people or violating their national sovereignity or anything like that. I suspect.
[VOA News] Ukrainian separatist leader Denis Pushilin said on Saturday six rebels had been
killed while trying to collect the bodies of comrades who had died under Ukrainian army fire earlier this week close to Donetsk airport.
Ukrainian forces regained control of the airport in the east of the country on Monday, killing at least 50 separatists, after a Sunday presidential election which gave billionaire Petro Poroshenko an overwhelming victory.
It was the first time the Ukrainian side had unleashed its full force on the pro-Russian two-month rebellion, caused partly by the ouster of a Moscow-friendly president and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russian troops.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya has denied sending fighters to support pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, but said some could have gone of their own accord.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... raised concerns with Moscow this week about reports of Chechens and other fighters crossing into Ukraine from Russia to join the rebellions against the leadership in Kiev.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who fought Russian troops in the North Caucasus province in the 1990s, echoed Moscow's denials of involvement but said he had recognized some of the fighters in pictures from Ukraine.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[VOA News] North Korean media say a South Korean Christian missionary has been sentenced to life at hard labor after being convicted of several charges, including setting up an underground church and espionage.
The official Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday that South Korean Kim Jong-uk admitted his guilt at a trial held on Friday.
Pyongyang says Kim crossed into North Korea from China and was tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in October. He appeared on North Korean TV in February and said he had received assistance from South Korea's intelligence agency.
He also apologized for committing crimes against the North.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service has insisted that Kim is not an agent.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Doesn't he get a reduced sentence for being a namesake of the current Nork honcho? That's gotta be good for at least twenty years off...
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] Ireland has moved in the opposite direction to Britain and much of Europe in recent elections, which may threaten the Celtic Tiger's revival
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 11:11 ||
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[Al Arabiya] Turkish police on Saturday used teargas in central Istanbul to disperse protesters seeking to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in decades.
Several hundred people gathered on streets leading to Taksim Square, shouting for the government's resignation, when police fired teargas at the crowd, which quickly scattered, Reuters reported.
Riot police also used gas and water cannon to disperse around 1,000 protesters in the capital Ankara.
At least 32 people have been reportedly detained by police, with some later released.
Earlier in the day, police blocked access to Istanbul's main square, Taksim, and news reports said some 25,000 coppers and up to 50 anti-riot water cannon vehicles would be deployed around the city.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Istanbul police closed the Gezi Park in connection with the anniversary of mass protests that took place in this park on May 31 last year, Turkey's Milliyet newspaper reported. Police forces arrived in Istanbul from nearby cities in this regard.
Earlier, Istanbul Province Governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the authorities of Istanbul will not allow activist groups to hold illegal protests in the city center and will use coercive measures.
Protests had been taking place in Turkey for nearly three weeks since the end of May 2013. The authorities said the protests were anti-government. Turkish opposition parties accused the police of using excessive force to disperse the protestors.
Around 2.5 million people from 79 Turkish provinces participated in the protests during that time, according to the Turkish Interior Ministry. Nearly 4,000 people were injured, and 4,900 were detained by the authorities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association has announced providing free legal aid to the complainant of the murder case of Farzana, a pregnant woman stoned to death by her family members outside the Lahore High Court on Wednesday, and urged the government to arrest the suspects.
At a press conference on Friday, bar's secretary Mian Ahmad Chichar said the incident had exposed country's criminal justice system.
He said the woman was murder in the presence of police personnel who did not rescue her. He asked the government to take action against the cops for acting as silent spectators on the crime scene.
Mr Chichar said the bar was going to form a committee to examine the legal points of the murder case and to make recommendations for the government in order to avoid such incidents in future.
Bar's vice-president Amir Jalil demanded the government try to arrest the killers and ensure exemplary punishment for them.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Bar's vice-president Amir Jalil demanded the government try to arrest the killers and ensure exemplary punishment for them.
By which, one would assume, he means some punishment other than stoning....
[DAWN] Five men have been tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! over the gang-rape and deaths of two girls found hanging from a mango tree in a northern Indian village, police said Saturday.
The discovery of the two cousins, aged 14 and 12, in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday is the latest sexual violence case to have stirred national outrage.
"Rape on both the girls has been confirmed. The cause of their death was asphyxia," Budaun district police superintendent Atul Saxena told AFP.
Saxena said preliminary cases had been filed against five men who were all being held in jug. Three are accused of rape while two coppers face charges of conniving with criminals and neglecting their duties.
Two other men were also named in a police complaint filed by the victims' families but their whereabouts were unknown, Saxena added.
The farming family of the two cousins from the lowest Dalit caste told AFP police could have "saved" the girls but claimed they refused to help when they found they were from a lower caste.
"She was my everything, my world -- and now my world has come to an end," the grief-stricken father of one victim said. The alleged attackers were also from a higher caste.
There is a long history of women and girls from India's lower castes -- especially those who belong to the Dalit caste who were previously known as "untouchables" -- of being sexually abused by people from higher castes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Untouchables? Really? Seems like they got touched. Seems like they ought to find a word that better suits the situation.
[DAWN] LAHORE: The family of a pregnant woman who was bludgeoned to death in broad daylight near the Lahore High Court accused her husband of killing her, in stark contrast to his version of a story that has shocked people around the world.
Police and witnesses said Farzana Parveen, 25, was murdered by assailants including her own father outside the Lahore High Court building on Tuesday because she had married a man of her own choosing, Muhammed Iqbal, instead of a cousin they had selected for her.
But on Saturday, Farzana's elder sister said it was Iqbal who had killed her.
"Muhammed Iqbal and his accomplices killed Farzana, and her father and the rest of her family were wrongly accused of murder," Khalida Bibi told news hounds in Lahore.
"I was present at the scene when she came out of the lawyer's chamber and as soon as she saw us standing on the other side of the road, she rushed towards us. Iqbal and his accomplices chased her and hit her with bricks."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[VOA News] U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has demanded that coup leaders in Thailand release detainees and immediately hold general elections, after Thai military leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha said a return to civilian rule is probably at least a year away.
Speaking at an Asian security conference in Singapore on Saturday, Hagel also called on the junta to end its curbs on free expression, including banning political gatherings of more than five people and tight media controls.
Condemning the kingdom's "retreat from democracy," Hagel told delegates to the Shangri-La Dialogue that the U.S. had suspended its long-standing military ties with Thailand.
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06/01/2014 00:00 ||
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A recently unearthed 2007 United States Geological Service survey appears to have discovered nearly $1 trillion in mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself.
The previously unknown deposits -- including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium -- are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world. An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys. More in the article.
#1
As long as Afghanistan is one of the most world important terrorism centers, little good is likely to come of this (if true).
Maybe China will build a railroad over their common border.
#2
With O pulling totally out of Afghanistan, you have to wonder what will happen now. China benefits and most definitely wants to exploit theses resources and may even have put pressure on US since they now own us and can dictate policy. China is also taking over Africa. Our foreign policy is scaring me and we have significant investment in the Hellhole. How they handle mineral rights as should be closely watched, building infrastructure and aiding the people. Afghanistan has a means to climb out of a dark hellhole of ignorance and poverty with their own resources & an alternative to poppies if corruption could be checked but that isn't likely. Thanks for posting.
#3
Afghanistan has a means to climb out of a dark hellhole of ignorance and poverty with their own resources They have always had the means, but up until now they prefer more Islam. Why should they change now?
#4
Either the fix is in for the Chinese to hit the jackpot in Afghanistan...can't have the US doing any nasty old manufacturing what with our lovely environmentally friendly service based economy.
Or maybe George Soros could get on the phone and the empty suit and slow joe could find the resources to ramp up our involvement in Afghanistan instead. Georgie LOVES commodity trading and THAT looks like a lot of commodity to trade.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/01/2014 16:41 Comments ||
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#5
Hmm. Maybe Obean should have been a bit more graceful about pulling out.
#6
This will have profound effect on the dollar, drive up gold, cause early peak oil, colder winters, hotter summers, lazy teenagers and newspapers in the ditch. And a bad year for the Cubs.
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.
[Chicago Tribune] Shootings across the city left 4 people dead and at least 14 others wounded in a 12 hour period ending about 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
[THEWEEK] Is the end near? Scientists at Duke University say the world is on the brink of its sixth great extinction, since certain species of plants and animals are now dying out at least 1,000 times faster than they did before humans came into existence.
[An Nahar] Floods have killed three women in northeastern Iran and emergency workers rescued 600 people from a neighboring region hit by a landslide, media and the 
A Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, who oversees the family violence division, likened the countyÂ’s current gun-removal strategy to telling her children they canÂ’t have a cookie: It works only until she turns her back.
North Korea
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association has announced providing free legal aid to the complainant of the murder case of Farzana, a pregnant woman stoned to death by her family members outside the Lahore High Court on Wednesday, and urged the government to arrest the suspects.
A recently unearthed 2007 United States Geological Service survey appears to have discovered nearly $1 trillion in mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself.
