[Al Jazeera] South African officials are debating whether to grant diplomatic immunity to Zim-bob-we's first lady Grace Mugabe, who is accused of assaulting a 20-year-old model in Johannesburg this week.
Mugabe, 52, remains in South Africa after a day of intense speculation over her whereabouts, South African police said in a Wednesday statement.
The police said the Zim-bob-wean government asked for diplomatic immunity for a suspect involved in the alleged assault. The police have declined to name Mugabe, a possible successor to her husband President Bob Muggsy Mugabe Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... , in the case as she has not yet appeared in court.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] A United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... inquiry found that two UN Sherlocks were murdered by a group of Congolese fighters, likely members of a local gang from central Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... , but an absence of evidence "does not preclude the possibility that others are involved".
Michael Sharp, an American who was coordinator of an independent sanctions monitoring group, and Zaida Catalan, a Swede, were killed in central DRC on March 12 while carrying out investigations for a report to the UN Security Council.
The bodies of Sharp and Catalan were found in a shallow grave two weeks later. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set up an internal board of inquiry and gave an executive summary of the findings to the Security Council on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said it was time to "dial down rhetoric and dial up diplomacy" on North Korea, offering to help broker talks with the parties involved in the dispute.
"My good offices are always available ‐ and I conveyed this message yesterday to the representatives of the six-party talks," Guterres told news hounds on Wednesday amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang conducted ballistic missiles test last month.
"The solution to this crisis must be political. The potential consequences of military action are too horrific to even contemplate."
The UN chief's comments come on the day China warned North Korea and the United States to "hit the brakes" on threats and actions, and work towards a peaceful resolution of their dispute.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Posted by: chris ||
08/17/2017 9:28 Comments ||
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#4
At what point would Nork actions represent violation of the 1953 cease fire? Would there even need to be any new authorization to re-activate the 'police action?'
#9
The U.N. got used to the US rolling over and playing dead every time the Kim's started sabre rattling. They don't seem to be aware that there is a new sheriff in town.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/17/2017 14:51 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Two suspects have been placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in the 'forced divorce' case in which a panchayat ordered a man to sign divorce papers on gunpoint, said City Police Officer (CPO) Multan, Chaudhary Saleem, on Wednesday.
"Paperwork was started but nothing else was done against six members of the panchayat yesterday and two of them have been arrested already," Chaudhary Saleem told DawnNews.
"I personally contacted the couple yesterday; they are together and safe as they have been provided security," he added.
The case came to light on Tuesday when the couple -- Uzma Batool and Mohammad Adnan -- moved the Lahore High Court for protection from the members of a panchayat -- comprising their family members -- who had allegedly forced Adnan to sign divorce papers on gunpoint.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the life imprisonment sentence of two men and a woman over a murder committed some eight years ago, clearing them of all charges.
The court dismissed all sentences handed to the primary suspect Tahir Imran and two others -- Rubina Kausar and Kamran -- who had been convicted of killing a man, Akhtar Javaid, in Rawalpindi's R.A. Bazaar on April 21, 2009.
A trial court had sentenced Imran, Kausar and Kamran -- the dear departed's brother-in-law, wife and brother, respectively -- to death after finding them guilty of murdering Javaid over a family dispute. A high court had later turned their sentence into life imprisonment.
"The prosecution failed to prove [its] case," a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, said in its judgement on the acquittal plea filed by Imran against the conviction. The court ordered that the accused be released.
"Unfortunately in Punjab, if the charges are proven, death sentence [is handed down], and if the charges are not proven, life imprisonment is announced [by the courts]," Justice Khosa regretted in his remarks.
Commenting on the prosecution of the case, Justice Khosa said that it has become a tradition in Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... to accuse the slain victim's wife of his murder if the suspected murderer is unknown.
The wife of the victim is usually shown to be involved in the murder case in order to usurp the couple's property, the judge regretted.
He said that the Pak society should understand by now that judgements are given in the justice system on the basis of testimonies.
"Whenever false witnesses will be presented [in the court], the real culprits will continue to be acquitted," Justice Khosa remarked.
"The justice system cannot be established without truth."
Justice Khosa said that the time had come for handing life imprisonments to those who level false allegations against others.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A division bench of the Sindh High Court's Hyderabad circuit on Wednesday ordered the arrest of an Investigating Officer (IO) for receiving a bribe in a case of 'honour killing' in Badin.
The court handed the custody of the officer to the anti-corruption establishment and ordered a case to be registered against him. It also ordered departmental action against the inspector and a sub-inspector of police for criminal negligence in the case.
The petitioner, Atta Mohammad Leghari, requested the formation of a joint investigating team (JIT) to probe the murder of his son, Abbas Leghari, and Heer, the girl Abbas wanted to marry, since the investigation in the case had been compromised because of the actions of the investigating officers.
Regarding the case, Atta said that the couple had decided to marry against the will of Heer's family but were murdered before it could be solemnised.
Heer’s brother, Nawab Ali Leghari, had lodged a first information report (FIR) against deceased Abbas’ brother, Mohib Leghari, for killing the couple.
Atta had then filed an application before a Badin sessions judge under Section 22-A of the Criminal Procedures Code, seeking the registration of an FIR, which was lodged on July 17.
The investigation of the two FIRs was entrusted to Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Tandojam Aleem Lashari on July 19 under directives of the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Hyderabad. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the investigation of both cases was later transferred to Inspector Jiandal Shah on July 21 under another order of the DIG, the petitioner said.
The petitioner alleged that Shah kept demanding a bribe from him to clear his son in the FIR 80/17 -- filed by the girl's brother -- and to report on FIR 91/17 -- filed by the petitioner -- properly. Atta said that he paid Rs85,000 to Shah and that the inspector had also demanded a bribe from the accused nominated by him.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... a judicial magistrate (JM) in Matli had directed Shah to submit a final report for both cases, Atta Mohammad said. A final report was subsequently filed on Aug 5, with the accused in both cases being deemed 'untraceable' despite five men being nominated by Atta, the petitioner's counsel said.
The court on Wednesday directed SSP Hyderabad to personally investigate the matter and submit a report before the court. Ordering the action to be completed within one month, the court also ruled that any order passed by JM-I in the case shall not be binding upon SSP Hyderabad, who shall conduct his investigation without being influenced by the order.
DIG Police Hyderabad range was also directed to proceed against inspector Jiandal Shah and sub-inspector Mehboob Alam Pahore -- who had submitted an interim challan ... list of charges ... regarding FIR 80/17 -- for criminal negligence, fix responsibility and take departmental action against them.
It also ordered the inquiry proceedings of both cases to be shifted to JM-II, since the petitioner had expressed reservations over JM-I hearing the case.
Adjourning the case for four weeks, the court issued notice to Nawab Ali Leghari, the complainant of FIR 80/17, to appear before the court.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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#5
Nope, not gonna replace the A10, but very good for fighting against guerrillas and lightly armed enemies. They can go low and slow and loiter over the target area for a very long time and then rain rockets and lead on multiple targets.
Have the A-10 with these in the boxes would be a nice combination to have.
#7
...one problem. The Air Force. Ever notice it has been trying to kill it for 27 years. They still are. Beyond time to move the mission and force structure to the Army. The Army in turn can give up the next gen attack helicopter which overlaps in mission profiles.
#8
And these are a hell of a lot cheaper to buy and operate than A-10s. Plus the air force will allow NCOs to fly these. Jets are reserved for the officer elite....
#12
I suppose one could 'paint' a crowd with a UV or RF reactive dispersant, for future retrieval or identification. The CS launchers could do that though.
#16
#6 Why not just buy more new A10's . Clearly the greatest ground attack aircraft to date, just buy more.
Posted by: NoMoreBS 2017-08-17 11:13
NoMore,
The tooling and jigs for the A-10 were sold for scrap in the early 90s after Fairchild blew a competency gasket trying to build the T-46 Eaglet - a trainer with so many problems and so unstable that it probably would have killed more pilots than it trained. Fairchild had to mortgage everything it had to keep the lights on after the T-46 project went south, and they were paying for the storage on the Hog tooling - USAF hadn't yet decided whether or not to put it in long term storage the way they did with so many other aircraft. Fairchild sold it to save the storage fees and get what they could for scrap, and the USAF didn't lift a finger to stop them.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/17/2017 17:06 Comments ||
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#17
..well, give one to the Chinese to back engineer, if you want it cheaper, and soon.(do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/17/2017 18:22 Comments ||
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#19
#18 Did they toss the engineering drawings, too?
Posted by: Bobby 2017-08-17 18:22
Bobby,
They pretty much tossed everything that could be used to build a new airframe. It costs money to keep that stuff stored properly, and Fairchild was broke.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/17/2017 19:25 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] Amnesia Amnesty International has condemned what it described as an alarming number of police killings of suspected drug pushers in Indonesia.
The rights group said on Wednesday that police had killed at least 60 suspects this year, compared to 18 in all of 2016.
The group warned that Indonesian authorities could be looking to emulate the "war on drugs" in the Philippines, in which thousands have been killed.
"This shocking escalation in unlawful killings by the police sounds serious alarms bells," said Usman Hamid, Amnesty's Indonesia director.
The group said it had collected data of the killings.
Shooting people on sight is not only unlawful, said Hamid, "it will also do nothing to address the root causes that lead to drug use in the first place".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Leb's parliament on Wednesday abolished a law that allowed rapists to avoid prison by marrying their victims.
A proposal to repeal Article 522 of the penal code - which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping and forced marriage - was introduced last year and approved by a parliamentary committee in February.
The repeal of the law, which had been in place since the 1940s, follows years of campaigning by women's rights advocates.
Activists have campaigned against the country's law for more than a year, posting billboards of women in bloodied and torn wedding gowns.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The parliament approved on Wednesday the annulment of a controversial law allowing rapists who marry their victims to go free.
Article 522 of the penal code, which exempts the rapist from punishment in the event of his marriage to the victim, was scrapped during a legislative session held at Nejmeh Square.
Article 522 -- which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping and forced marriage -- was approved by a parliamentary committee in February.
Lebanese activists have ramped up several campaigns to scrap the law.
The reviled article, which also deals with the rape of minors, allows offenders to escape punishment by wedding their victims.
h/t Instapundit
One of the activists who toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, N.C., on Monday night is a member of an extreme leftist group that supports the totalitarian regime in North Korea and wants to abolish capitalism.
Taqiyah Thompson, a student at North Carolina Central University, was arrested Tuesday following a press conference in which she defended the actions of the demonstrators and equated police officers to Confederate soldiers and Ku Klux Klan members.
#6
False flag op with rent-a-mob and "white supremacist" bait ads.... Anarchist and Comintern cookbook recipe. Gee, wouldn't you think our fearless Feds would want to look into this possibility?
[LA Daily News] A pilot program that pays some Los Angeles County homeowners to build a second dwelling on their property to house homeless people was approved with a 4-0 vote Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.
Homeowners in unincorporated communities who qualify can receive up to $75,000 to build a second dwelling in areas zoned for such structures, while others may get $50,000 to update and legalize an existing dwelling.
The program was introduced last year as part of Los Angeles County’s set of 47 strategies to solve homelessness. The office of Regional Planning will work with several departments countywide with an allocated $550,000 in part to be used to offer subsidies.
Unlike a guest house, second dwellings include kitchens.
The program also will streamline the permitting process and provide technical assistance to homeowners within the county’s unincorporated areas, who would qualify, officials said.
Details of who would be housed and the selection process are still under discussion, said supervising regional planner Connie Chung on Monday. Funding allows for two to three new second dwellings, and for the remodeling of two to three existing ones, she added.
The program is expected to be completed within 18 months.
Homelessness spiked 23 percent across Los Angeles County’s neighborhoods and suburbs this year compared with 2016, with more than 55,000 people sleeping on sidewalks, in their cars, or along the Los Angeles River, according to results of a count taken in January and released in May.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles city and county voters approved two measures recently: Proposition HHH, a parcel tax, was approved by voters in the city of Los Angeles in November and is expected to raise $1.2 billion in bonds for the construction of 10,000 units of housing. Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax, was passed by Los Angeles County voters in March to raise an estimated $355 million a year for 10 years to help homeless people transition into planned affordable housing. That quarter-cent sales tax is set to begin on Oct. 1.
#7
Remember (de facto) unregulated nursing homes? Exploitation is just around the corner. Heck, according to VDH, they've already turned a blind eye to all sorts of zoning violations in housing illegals.
#9
to help homeless people transition into planned affordable housing
Just remember, 'Affordable Housing' is usually not affordable. It's heavily subsidized (let's just call it 'free') for the 'underprivileged'. Guess who pays for that.
Otherwise the required rents/payments are well beyond what most homeless can afford.
So the '$355 million a year for 10 years' is just the tip of the iceberg for the compassionate voters in LA County.
Upkeep be hard.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/17/2017 11:51 Comments ||
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#10
Because living somewhere is subsidised rents become unaffordable.
It's basic Ricardo's law (density of emoluments in an area defines the price of living there).
#11
There are incredible numbers of bums in SoCal, and they are emboldened and aggressive as any gang banger.
I can't help but wonder what it'd be like to have a neighbor who decides to open a flop house and become an absentee landlord on the county dollar.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/17/2017 12:34 Comments ||
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#12
Just FYI - typical rent in San Diego is ~$2000/Mo
Posted by: Frank G on the Road ||
08/17/2017 12:40 Comments ||
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#13
In TLH we have dorm-houses. They slipped in under a law regulating the number of non-related abiding in the house.
The law as been since fixed but grandfathering is still around. Good news is fireworks a beer are easy to find.
#15
If they want affordable housing they can move out to the desert. Everybody in the whole wide world wants to live in coastal southern California but the sad fact is they can't. (OK, some of you Rantburgers don't but if you did live here you'd know what I mean.) There is no such thing as affordable housing in coastal southern California, there are only the developers who make money building houses that they claim will be affordable and the crooked politicians who enable them. It's all a lie.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/17/2017 12:57 Comments ||
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#16
The program also will streamline the permitting process and provide technical assistance to homeowners within the county’s unincorporated areas, who would qualify, officials said.
This is just a scam to get them out of downtown and foist them on LA County's remaining rural areas.
#17
Dear Ubu @ #15: I read 'da Burg, and have no desire to live in CA; any part of it. I have to visit there as part of work and that is my constant reminder about how totally screwed up the state is. My condolences to you.
#19
USN, don't tell me. Tell it to the Mexicans, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Somalis and the New Yorkers. Tell it to the developers and politicians who tell us it's our responsibility to provide "affordable housing" for all the homeless freaks.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/17/2017 19:37 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.
North Korea
[FOX] Crop dusters regularly fly the skies above America’s heartland, but this combat crop duster is unlike anything Americans have ever seen.
[Al Jazeera] 
Home or business? You decide. 
