Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Police in Pakistan have arrested a man suspected of attempting to marry off his three-year-old daughter to a 60-year-old groom. The deal was valued at 2.5 million Pakistani rupees (just over 760,000 rubles). The incident occurred in the city of Chaman in Balochistan province, The Media Line reports. Is this a crime in Pakistan, or just sometimes a desperate necessity?
According to police, the girl's father, Abdul Baki, made a deal with a man named Salah Uddin as part of the walwar tradition. According to this custom, the groom or his family gives the bride's relatives an agreed-upon sum of money.
However, the police managed to intervene before the deal was finalized. The agreement existed only on paper, and the full amount had not yet been transferred, so the marriage had not actually taken place. The girl and her mother were taken into protective custody, the father was detained, and the intended 60-year-old groom was placed on the wanted list.
Investigators are also looking into a possible connection between this incident and the recent murder of the girl's older 14-year-old sister. She was married to Salah Uddin's 30-year-old son, and her husband has been detained on suspicion of her murder. Police are investigating whether a conflict between the two families could be connected to the woman's death.
Previously, the Argentine criminal group Los Monos attempted to sell a Russian woman's newborn child. The woman had moved from the United States to Argentina and, suffering from mental health issues, ended up homeless. She fell in with the gang and gave birth to a child fathered by a gang member. The gang forced the Russian woman to give birth outside of a hospital so they could take the baby for sale—light-skinned children are highly valued on the black market. Lawyer Cristiane Rubilar contacted the police, and the crime was prevented.
link goes to the NOAA short range public discussion
- rains of 1-5" will cover parts of AZ, CO, NM and Texas over the next few days
some particulars
Albuquerque about 2.5"
San Angelo about 3"
Santa Fe about 3"
Flagstaff about 2"
Durango about 3"
Rivers are at their seasonal lows so flooding of mainstream rivers will mostly not be severe and in fact will be beneficial to reservoirs, e.g., Lake Powell, Lake Navajo, Elephant Butte Lake all of which are currently at low levels.
However, small streams, urban areas and SW facing slopes may be damaged pretty badly.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/29/2026 00:00 ||
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[GaroweOnline] Heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy... erupted Monday in Baidoa, the capital of Somalia’s South West state, with gunfire and heavy weapons reported in several parts of the city as rival forces backed by opposing political factions clashed.
Residents reported fighting in areas including Boonkaay, Barwaaqo, Munaawar, Maayafuulka, al-Axmaar, al-Faras and Onodka. Armed fighters were also seen in parts of the city, according to local reports.
Forces supporting parliamentary speaker Sheikh Adan Mohammed Nur Madobe said they had defended their positions. Forces loyal to former South West President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohammed Laftagareen, meanwhile, claimed to have entered Baidoa and taken control of parts of the city.
Fighting was also reported near the South West State presidential palace, where residents said they heard heavy shelling. Local reports also said drones were used and that three armored vehicles were destroyed, though the claims could not be independently verified.
Residents in areas affected by the fighting were reported to be sheltering in their homes as the situation remained tense. No independent casualty figures were immediately available, and it was not possible to independently determine which side controlled the contested areas.
The latest festivities are part of a broader political and security dispute in South West state. Laftagareen-aligned forces have reportedly entered Baidoa more than seven times since May, when the federal government backed Madobe in a power struggle over the leadership of the state.
[GaroweOnline] Æthiopia’s army chief accused Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... and Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... on Sunday of backing gangs fighting federal troops, as festivities with Tigrayan rebels intensified. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it was waging a "defensive war" and seized airports. A humanitarian source said rebels captured the Afar town of Erebti on Sunday.
Heavy festivities have resumed between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government since Wednesday, raising fears of a return to a 2020-2022 civil war in which an estimated 600,000 people died.
The TPLF has seized airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara, saying they were engaged in a "defensive war" against the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
A humanitarian source said the Afar town of Erebti, near the border with Tigray, fell to the rebels on Sunday after being pounded by heavy artillery.
The TPLF was now advancing towards the town of Afdeera, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the east.
The source estimated that at least 150,000 people have been displaced in Afar, but said it was impossible to give precise numbers.
Speaking on the army's YouTube channel, army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula said: "We are fighting forces that are organised and allied to serve the interests of external forces.
"Neither Shaebia (Eritrea) nor the TPLF can achieve anything alone, even if they are allied, unless they are backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers," he added.
TV STATION ATTACK
The TPLF has allied with seven gangs around the country, and appears to repeating a strategy from the last war of pushing south through Amhara towards Addis Ababa,
Its offensive in Afar is aimed at cutting supplies from Djibouti, which provides almost all of Æthiopia's international trade cargo, including fuel.
The headquarters of Tigrai TV, seen as the key outlet for the rebel authorities in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, was hit by a drone on Sunday.
"We heard a loud bang from a dronezap elsewhere and we fled the building," a journalist from the station told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... The channel has not commented on the incident.
Photos taken by a local journalist showed Tigrai TV building facade damaged and blackened, with numerous windows blown out by the earth-shattering kaboom.
Another journalist said the station, which has around 400 employees, was off-air after the attack. No reports of casualties were immediately available.
The federal government in Addis Ababa said on September 21 that Tigrai TV had been suspended "indefinitely", and banned other outlets from broadcasting its reports.
BLOCKADE
Communications have been limited since Friday when telecoms providers reported major disruption to phone and internet services in Tigray, making reporting on the conflict difficult.
Many in Tigray fear a repeat of a blockade imposed by the federal government during the 2020-2022 conflict when electricity, banking, and almost all aid were cut off.
United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... chief António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... raised the alarm on Friday, his front man saying Guterres was "particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians".
The government has a significant military advantage, with a large arsenal of drones, some 500,000 troops, and support from abroad, notably the United Arab Emirates.
But the conflict could draw in neighbouring Eritrea on the side of the rebels, as it fears landlocked Æthiopia has been planning to invade and seize a direct point of access to the Red Sea.
The TPLF ruled all of Æthiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined with Abiy's rise to the prime minister's post.
That triggered a civil war marked by widespread war crimes and sexual violence.
The Pretoria Peace Agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, maintained an uneasy calm until last year. But it was never fully implemented, leaving around one million people unable to return to their homes.
Sporadic festivities then resumed, with the federal forces launching multiple dronezaps in Tigray in recent months and massing troops at the border.
Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepared for renewed conflict.
[IsraelTimes] Cambridge PhD candidate Giulio Regeni, 28, was killed and mutilated in Cairo during research trip; investigators believe Egyptian authorities thought he was a spy
A Rome court on Monday convicted three Egyptian security officers of the murder of an Italian student a decade ago, in a case that has strained Italy’s diplomatic relations with Cairo.
The officers, who were all convicted in absentia, were each given sentences of 10 years in prison, an AFP reporter who was in the courtroom said.
As the verdict was read out, there was silence from Giulio Regeni’s family and supporters in court who wore yellow T-shirts and badges — the color of their long campaign for justice.
It was the second attempt in Italy to prosecute the national security agents accused of kidnapping and brutally murdering the 28-year-old Regeni, who was in Cairo conducting research for his doctorate when he was abducted in January 2016.
His badly mutilated body was found nine days later, dumped on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, barely recognizable and bearing extensive signs of torture.
A first trial in 2021 was thrown out by judges because prosecutors had been unable to inform the suspects of the procedures against them.
A ruling by Italy’s Constitutional Court in September 2023 allowed the trial to go ahead against four defendants: General Tariq Sabir, Colonels Athar Kamel and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif.
One of the four, Sabir, was acquitted on Monday.
Defense lawyers had unsuccessfully petitioned for the case to be thrown out, arguing that the charges indiscriminately targeted the group without attributing specific acts to each individual.
Investigators believe Regeni, a University of Cambridge PhD candidate, was abducted and killed after being mistaken for a foreign spy.
Regeni had been researching Egyptian trade unions, one of many subjects deemed sensitive by Egyptian authorities.
I’ve mentioned before that Mr. Wife was warned by the Egyptian authorities on the occasion when he took a photo of the picturesque soldier standing guard on the street near the Mena House hotel in Cairo, sandals and gunstock both held together by duct tape. He wasn’t arrested, but they took his film — state secret, donchaknow.
When his body was discovered, five of Regeni’s teeth were broken, 15 bones were fractured and letters had been inscribed into his flesh, according to the family’s lawyer.
We watched events with concern at the time — links at the bottom of this post.
His mother later said her son had been so badly mutilated that she recognized him only by the “tip of his nose.”
Mr. Wife would never take me with him to those interesting parts of the world — no doubt this kind of thing has something to do with it.
Several months after the first trial against the defendants was thrown out in 2021, an Italian parliamentary commission determined that Egypt’s security agency was to blame for Regeni’s death.
It also accused Egypt’s judiciary of acting in an “obstructive and openly hostile manner” by failing to disclose the defendants’ whereabouts.
Egypt’s public prosecutor cleared all four suspects of responsibility for Regeni’s murder in December 2020, dropping the case.
While extradition remains unlikely, the convictions could renew diplomatic tensions between Italy and Egypt.
Italy could now demand that Egypt pay the two million euros ($2.3 million) in damages requested by the Italian government, given that the accused were public servants.
Italy considers Egypt an important partner in the Middle East, but bilateral relations have been strained over the Regeni case.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was last in Cairo earlier this month, when he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, to try to expand trade deals.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] In the Netherlands, for the first time in the country's history, euthanasia was performed on a two-year-old child. This was reported on September 28 by the Daily Mail.
As expected. They can be proud, I suppose, that they beat England and Canada. Ugh.
The baby, who was almost 24 months old at the time of her death, was born prematurely, at 26 weeks of gestation. During her short life, the child suffered from severe brain damage, cerebral palsy, and visual impairment, as well as seizures that were unresponsive to medication, and mucus in her lungs, which made breathing difficult.
After it was determined that the child's suffering could not be alleviated by medical treatment, the doctor and parents decided to end his life. An investigation by the commission concluded that the doctor who performed the euthanasia acted with due diligence.
"All aspects of 'human life'—motor skills, behavior, and personality—were severely impaired and showed no signs of improvement. Despite all medical and non-medical interventions, the parents and doctor saw no improvement in the child's condition and were convinced that the child was suffering unbearably and without prospect of relief, " the statement from the Committee on Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life of Newborns and Children is quoted in the article.
In the Netherlands, euthanasia has been legal for terminally ill children aged one to 12 years for two years now. Before the law was changed, only newborns and children over 12 could be euthanized.
According to Dutch law, euthanasia is permitted for children, but only if the patient is experiencing unbearable suffering with zero chance of recovery. In other cases, euthanasia in the Netherlands is permitted only at the patient's voluntary request and with official confirmation from a physician regarding the necessity of the procedure.
In May 2025, the lower house of the French parliament passed a bill legalizing medical euthanasia for people with terminal illnesses. However, it was noted that a final decision may not be made soon; approval is still pending from the Senate. If euthanasia is fully legalized in the country, it will be available to individuals over 18 years of age. Doctors will be required to confirm that the patient has a serious, terminal, incurable illness and is experiencing severe pain.
Currently, in addition to the Netherlands, euthanasia laws are in effect in Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and several other countries. In November 2024, it was approved by the UK Parliament. Shortly before, London residents noticed posters promoting suicide on the walls of a subway tunnel.
[IsraelTimes] After amusing with quick-witted defense during trial, Deniz Goktas found guilty of insulting president and ‘religious values,’ could be jailed for 19 months
An Istanbul court convicted a popular Ottoman Turkish comedian on Monday of insulting Ottoman Turkish President His Enorfamily:courier,"Courier New","Courier 10 Pitch",serif;background:#FFFB99'>...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... and another offense, but ordered his interim release pending appeal, an AFP news hound in the courtroom said.
Following a lively opening session in which Deniz Goktas, 32, offered a quick-witted defense that had much of the courtroom in stitches, the judge convicted him on two charges, sentencing him to just over 19 months in prison.
But until the sentence is finalized — which only happens after it is reviewed by an appeals court — the judge ordered his release.
It was not immediately clear how long the process would take.
Known for his dry wit and political satire, Goktas has spent iinearly three months in Karatepe high-security prison since his arrest on July 3, a week after a YouTube video of his "Dead Sea" show went viral, reaching nine million views.
Goktas went on trial for insulting Erdogan, incitement to public hatred, and praising crime and criminals.
The judge convicted Goktas on the first charge.
He then amended the second charge to "insulting religious values" and convicted him of that too, while acquitting him on charge three, the correspondent said.
When the hearing opened, Goktas took to the stand to weave a defense rich in political satire, making witty observations that frequently had the courtroom in fits of laughter.
’CAN’T TAKE A JOKE’
In the indictment, prosecutors singled out a line in which he called Erdogan "a shy dictator," but Goktas insisted there was "no criminal element" there.
"Dictator is not an insult: it is a political characterization," he said.
"As the president and leader of the party that has ruled the country for 25 years, a political comedy show in which Erdogan’s name is never mentioned would be neither sincere nor have any connection to reality," he reasoned.
"Erdogan should be open to the art of satire," he said, denying the charges against him.
None of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s most famous comedians or political satirists had been prosecuted in the past, when "these kinds of criticisms were received much more positively... by society and those in power than they are today," Goktas continued.
"The laws protecting freedom of expression have not changed since that time. But today, a comedian is sitting in a cell.
"The joke hasn’t changed. What has changed is the increasingly fragile leadership that can no longer tolerate the joke."
Among the audience were several comedians from Istanbul’s TuzBiber comedy club — where Goktas reportedly began his career in 2019 — alongside observers from the Dutch and US embassies.
Humor, Goktas told the court, was a centuries-old part of Ottoman Turkish culture, so there should be "no place for censorship, bans, or detention when it comes to artists on the stage."
’MAKES ME FEEL PROUD’
He asked to be acquitted and released.
"Three months have been taken away from my life. I quit smoking, so I’ll add three months to the end of my life anyway," he said, drawing laughter and loud applause as he left the stand.
Goktas’s arrest was the latest in a widening crackdown on anyone seen as critical of Turkey’s Islamo-conservative government or its values.
The crackdown has netted hundreds of people, including politicians, artists, musicians, journalists, and LGBTQ activists.
Outside in the pouring rain, around 50 protesters gathered, chanting: "Deniz Goktas is not alone!"
Among them was a student from Alanya near the southern resort city of Antalya whose appearance is strikingly similar to Goktas and who recently started doing stand-up.
"I am not afraid to do stand-up after his arrest. I will keep doing it," 22-year-old Fatih Yilmaz told AFP.
"His arrest made me feel proud. His strong stance and the way he keeps making jokes from his prison cell keep me going."
Ottoman Turkish media said the Ankara-born comedian began his career at TuzBiber in Istanbul and has gone on to perform at venues across Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and the United States.
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.
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
