A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday. SA is not ultra-conservative. It is ultra-insane. The teenager would have been better off if she were a goat, sheep, or a camel...the usual victim of a middle eastern male.
The 19-year-old woman -- whose six armed attackers have been sentenced to jail terms -- was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," the Arab News reported. OMG...The horror! The horror!
But in a new verdict issued after Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council ordered a retrial, the court in the eastern town of Al-Qatif more than doubled the number of lashes to 200. A court source told the English-language Arab News that the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media." Heaven forbid that an islamic judge would be rational.
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic doctrine known as Wahhabism and forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public. But it's OK for islamic males to gang rape a woman.
Last year, the court sentenced six Saudi men to between one and five years in jail for the rape as well as ordering lashes for the victim, a member of the minority Shiite community. But the woman's lawyer Abdul Rahman al-Lahem appealed, arguing that the punishments were too lenient in a country where the offence can carry the death penalty. No, Abdul. She is only a woman and the kingdom is governed by sharia (rhymes with diarrhea) law.
In the new verdict issued on Wednesday, the Al-Qatif court also toughened the sentences against the six men to between two and nine years in prison. Another 3 to 5 years and the sentences would be right up there with camel theft.
The case has angered members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite community. The convicted men are Sunni Muslims, the dominant community in the oil-rich Gulf state. Yawn. They didn't get the memo. A muslim is a muslim regardless the flavor. There is no prejudice in islam.
Lahem, also a human rights activist, told AFP on Wednesday that the court had banned him from handling the rape case and withdrew his licence to practise law because he challenged the verdict. Truth?! You can't handle the truth!
He said he has also been summoned by the ministry of justice to appear before a disciplinary committee in December. Sounds like more sharia (rhymes with diarrhea) justice is on the way.
Lahem said the move might be due to his criticism of some judicial institutions, and "contradicts King Abdullah's quest to introduce reform, especially in the justice system." Sure. And be sure to send some snowballs from H*ll, too.
King Abdullah last month approved a new body of laws regulating the judicial system in Saudi Arabia, which rules on the basis of sharia, or Islamic law. That's sharia (rhymes with diarrhea) justice. Every bleeding heart liberal who has the least bit of sympathy for islam needs to read this article. That's what the every true muslim really wants. Polls in the ME, the US, the UK, and Europe all say pretty much the same thing.
RIO DE JANEIRO,(AP) A series of strong aftershocks with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and 6.8 hit northern Chile on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The two temblors hit Antofagasta, about 780 kilometers north of Santiago, shortly after noon local time, just a day after an M7.7 quake rocked the same province.
On Thursday, the Chilean government said Wednesday's earthquake destroyed or damaged 4,000 structures and rendered about 15,000 people homeless.
Wednesday's quake killed two people when roofs caved in and injured at least 200 others, with aftershocks with magnitudes of around 5 continuously affecting the area, the Associated Press said.
KHARTOUM - Rift Valley Fever has killed 92 people in Sudan since reports of an outbreak surfaced a week ago and it is still spreading, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday. A WHO spokeswoman said the latest figures showed 314 known human cases in Sudan, up from 228 reported six days ago, with a death rate of just under 30 percent.
The UN body has started holding daily meetings to monitor the spread of the disease.
Meetings, by gum, that'll stop the spread of disease!
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said it had sent an animal health expert to Sudan to help the government contain any outbreak in livestock and said Sudan had already reported some animal infections to the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. National daily Alray Alam also reported a number of Sudans key trading partners, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, had already imposed temporary bans on imports and the movement of Sudanese animals over their borders.
But Khartoum denied making any such report on Wednesday and the Ministry of Animal Resources said there were no confirmed cases in herds despite the outbreak among humans.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/15/2007 00:00 ||
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A rebel faction of Bangladeshs former ruling party took over the partys headquarters under heavy police guard on Wednesday, signalling a major change in the countrys political landscape.
The headquarters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of detained former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia had been locked since January when the army-backed interim government took charge and banned all political activity.
Police protection: Witnesses said police cordoned off the BNP headquarters in Dhaka to allow the dissidents to enter the building. The faction, led by Khaledas former finance minister Saifur Rahman and ex-commerce minister Hafizuddin Ahmed, has been invited by the Election Commission (EC) to talks on Nov 22 to prepare for delayed elections. Khaleda demanded the EC invitation to Hafizuddins group be withdrawn, threatening legal action against the commission if it was not. Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said on Wednesday the commission would not change its decision. If they (Khaleda loyalists) dont accept it, they can go to the court and we will accept the courts verdict.
Filling the gap: The interim authority, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, says it remains firmly committed to hold a free and fair election before the end of next year. Saifur, the acting BNP chief, said he had stepped in to fill the gap in Khaleda Zias absence and will hand back the leadership to her when she is freed. His opponents said Saifur and his associates are using Khaledas name as part of a trick to win support of the bigger faction of the party.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2007 00:18 ||
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#1
At the rate with which our current generation is so quickly forgetting the lessons of WWII, I'll say that we should spend megabucks rescuing these worthy warbirds. If only to ensure that there remain some examples of what it took to quash the previous enemies of a free world. We'll have to do it all over again right soon and I hope that those involved fail to feel every little bit of hesitation as those who preceded them.
#3
Mine, too. Tough planes, and beautiful in an ungainly way.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/15/2007 5:37 Comments ||
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#4
It's my understanding that although there were many twin-engine fighter types produced by all sides during WWII - primarily for the "bomber destroyer" role - this plane was the only truly successful twin-engine all around fighter that was mass produced in the war. It also saw service in other roles such as ground attack, tactical bombing, and recon/radar. A remarkable design for the time.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
11/15/2007 7:15 Comments ||
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#5
No mo,
The Lightning was only surpassed by the twin-Merlin engined DeHavilland Mosquito, which literally did every combat mission there was during the war - and which the RAF tried very hard at one point to kill.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/15/2007 7:24 Comments ||
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#6
There were three of these flying at the Chino air show this past spring. And the P-38 association had several vets there, signing photos and the like.
Zen, the loss of WWII common sense and perspective is alarming, and embodied by the passing of the vets, now in full swing. But as many serving officers have said, today has its own Greatest Generation, that being a small subset of their full cohort.
#11
I've read pilot comments that with the guns positioned as they were, it was alot easier to hit than with wing mounted guns. Plus if you hit, generally the whole group of guns hit and just ripped the target apart. Yay for the cone of death:)
#12
Tough planes, and beautiful in an ungainly way.
World War II's Warthog.
and which the RAF tried very hard at one point to kill.
If you ever want to read a truly disturbing book, grab a copy of Project Cancelled by British author Derek Wood. Jeepers! I just noticed that this bookwhich I bought for a few bucks in a thrift shopis now selling for up to $200.00!!!
The author goes into gory detail of case after case where the British government and military repeatedly snatched defeat from the jaws of aviation victory. One of the most stunning was how original British designs (TSR-2?) that were bludgeoned to death by burdensome multi-role requirements eventually became the basis for Dassault Industry's Mirage fighter jet, one of the best-selling export aircraft of all time.
#13
the loss of WWII common sense and perspective is alarming, and embodied by the passing of the vets, now in full swing. But as many serving officers have said, today has its own Greatest Generation, that being a small subset of their full cohort.
I thank my effing stars that America still has a core of patriotic young men and women who understand how irreplaceable individual liberty and freedom truly are. We have been at peace for so long that far too many people have forgotten that freedom doesn't come for free.
Between the One World Government types, Multiculturalists and Politically Correct newspeakers, never has free-market democracy been at such peril. Short of outright civil war, it is difficult to foresee exactly what it will take to extinguish these misguided and often viciously malign opponents of freedom.
The P38's Maiden flight January 1939 Introduction into Army Air Force 1941
Number built 10,037
It could do everything..
Air to Air: It could kick the Zero's A$$ when flown by a pilot who knew how to use it's advantages.
BTW, it's not my fav warbird from WWII either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
DH.98 Mosquito Maiden flight 25 November 1940
Introduction 1941 Number built 7,781
Posted by: Red Santa Dawg ||
11/15/2007 12:52 Comments ||
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#15
My wife's great-uncle was a P-38 pilot in North Africa and Sicily before paying the ultimate price on 12/25/43. He had 3 confirmed and 3 probable kills in 3 months combat with that bird.
#16
IMHO The Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA., has the best collection of flyable warbirds (including some WWI and inter-war years). Unlike so many others, that have only display birds, the PoF aircraft are regularly exercised; being able to rub your (hand or whatever) over the aluminum and come away with 'Oil de Engine' on your skin can make an otherwise crappy day shine. Dented leading edges, mismatched tires, a bit of rust and chipped paint is a lot more fun that looking at a display piece. The shops are slao open for one to wander through and if not careful, be handed a wrench or rag and put to work. (Better than sex, once again, IMHO)
Paul Allen in Seattle also maintains an extensive (private) collection of flyable warbirds that he periodically opens to the public. They fly out of Arlington, WA airport. The pilots he employs are probably the second luckiest group of guys in the world ( the wrench twisters are the luckiest)
#17
IMHO The Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA., has the best collection of flyable warbirds (including some WWI and inter-war years).
Thanks for the tip USN, Ret. I will make it a point to pop in there for a visit asap. They have a good $100 hamburger place there too called Flo's. Although you need to do a new weight and balance after you've eaten.
#18
You're welcome.
Last original jack Northrop flying wing, the N9MB is there and is a flyer. How that one escaped the USAF purge of the flying wings is beyond me; they have the history and story of restoration there; worth the read.
(gotta wonder about the hundred dollar hamburg you mention, tho' :) )
#19
Aluminum corrodes rapidly in salt water, I doubt it's anything but a crumbling shell.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/15/2007 15:38 Comments ||
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#20
Last original jack Northrop flying wing, the N9MB is there and is a flyer.
Chino it is! [circles location on map]
Here's a fascinating to a well-written article by Bud Baker about the Northrop flying wing's history. It partially debunks the claims of corruption surrounding this revolutionary aircraft's demise.
#21
Re #11: I've read as much as well. With the twin props in counter-rotation, there supposedly was no torque, and with the firepower all concentrated in the nose there was not a "cone" of death that converged at some point for maximum firepower, but rather the firepower was extended out in a line to the lowest common trajectory.
The only real drawback I'd heard of was that the pilot needed to make a good leap if he had to bail out to clear the twin boom tail.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/15/2007 18:33 Comments ||
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Uzbekistans secret service said on Wednesday it had seized 235 kg of heroin bound for Russia, one of the Central Asian states biggest seizure of the drug.
The heroin was discovered hidden in crates of persimmons at a food market in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, the SNB secret police said in a statement. It did not say when the narcotic was intercepted. The consignment had been smuggled into Uzbekistan via mountain passes from neighbouring Tajikistan and had been due to travel to Russia by railway. The delivery of the drug was coordinated by a Tajik citizen who is a member of an influential local group of drug traders, SNB said. Two Uzbeks were arrested.
The SNB did not say whether the seized heroin was the largest amount of the drug intercepted in Uzbekistan. Local drug control officials had earlier reported seizures of up to 50 kg of heroin. The United Nations urged Russia and Central Asia last month to stem drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Europe via their territories, saying the proceeds from heroin and other opiates were funding global terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/15/2007 00:17 ||
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#1
The Dems are going to have an issue feast on the situation in occupied Helmand District, Afghanistan.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - A national state of emergency that was imposed after a police crackdown on opposition protests will come to an end on Friday, said Georgia's parliamentary speaker, a close ally of the president. "The state of emergency will be lifted on Nov. 16, and we will switch to a normal life," Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said in a televised statement. The United States and other Western nations had pressured Georgia to resume normality.
President Mikhail Saakashvili introduced the 15-day nationwide state of emergency last week, after police violently dispersed opposition protests in the capital, Tbilisi. Independent newscasts and demonstrations were banned as a result.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said Tuesday, after meeting the Georgian leadership and opposition in Tbilisi, that he was assured the state of emergency would be lifted Friday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Hah, thought this had something to do with illegals around Atlanta. Rain Turtles as a suggestion. The left can't get mad because it is a Native American deal.
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea agreed in principle to formally open a reconnected railway for regular cargo service across its heavily armed border with South Korea before the end of the year, an official said Thursday.
The two sides were trying set a specific date at high-level talks in Seoul for starting service on the 16-mile-long track for transport to and from a joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Nam-shik said. "Both sides shared an understanding that it would be meaningful in further vitalizing the Kaesong industrial complex," Kim said.
In May, the sides conducted a one-time test run on the track and another reconnected rail line, marking the first train crossings across the frontier in more than half a century. But no regular service has yet started.
The rail's opening would mark one of the first tangible results of a landmark summit between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang last month.
This week's talks between the prime ministers of the two sides the first such meeting in 15 years are aimed at fleshing out the summit accord that calls for greater peace and economic cooperation between the two sides. Also on the agenda for the meetings running through Friday are the South's offers to repair a major North Korean road and a railway, build two shipyards there and provide medical assistance for the impoverished nation. The South Koreans also offered to supply cargo cars, but North Korea politely declined saying that they already had plans in place to have them ready when the railroad opened. They did however, make an unusual request for 1,000 rattle-cans each of brown and white Rust-Oleum spray paint, 100 stencil kits, and 100 barrels of axle grease.
#1
Are the crews from the North or South? I would be looking for some sort of 'deposit' from the North crew to ensure they made a round trip. Or will the cars just be pushed across the border and then be connected to an engine that never crosses the border, and the other engine gets unhooked?????
She was before it before she was again' it, and that was before she was first again'it before she was for it.
As predicted yesterday: she pushed NY to drop the license plan: here's the link.
Pakistan's parliament is scheduled to dissolve itself at midnight Thursday to make way for a new caretaker government to oversee January elections. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that while President Pervez Musharraf tries to make the elections appear credible despite emergency rule, his opponents are busy uniting against him.
I'm mildly surprised by this, hence the pic. Forming a caretaker government introduces a new level of uncertainty for Perv at a time when he's desparately trying to lock things down in his favor. It's not at all clear to me that the caretakers will be all Perv's drinking buddies. Perhaps Fred or John Frum have a clue on that one ...
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz addressed a final cabinet meeting late Thursday before the new caretaker government takes office Friday. State television broadcast footage of Aziz praising officials for their accomplishments. "We have promoted press freedom and freedom of expression. No government has been more tolerant that ours in hearing criticism," Aziz said.
That just might be true in Pakland, which is a sorry statement in and of itself.
The claims of progress by the close ally of General Musharraf stood in stark contrast to political opposition leaders, who say security forces continue to pursue the president's critics.
Ahsan Iqbal is a spokesman for the political party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He spoke to VOA by telephone. "After elections were announced, they should have put an end to all these arrests of opposition leaders," said Iqbal. "But they are still hounding us; they are still searching for us. I am in a hideout. The entire leadership of the PML-N is either in jail or in detention or they are in hiding. So how can there be fair and free elections in the country."
While the government crackdown is succeeding in preventing mass protests, its success is unifying political opposition leaders.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has confirmed that she has spoken with Mr. Sharif about forming a broad coalition to challenge General Musharraf. "I think that we the leaders of political parties need to exchange ideas of what could be a possible agenda for all of us to rally around," she said.
She'll ally herself with Nawaz just long enough to get his votes, and then dump him like a cheap date. He's very likely to remain sleeping in Saoodiland for a long time to come.
Ms. Bhutto made the comments in a phone interview with Dawn News, an independent television news broadcaster that returned to local airwaves Thursday for the first time since emergency rule was imposed November 3.
Dawn and a few other stations have agreed to abide by a new code of conduct that bars news coverage that directly criticizes President Musharraf, the army or the judiciary. Criticism of the president's policies is allowed.
But since the policies and the man are intertwined, criticize at your peril.
News anchors and hosts can face heavy financial penalties and up to three years in prison if any part of their shows is considered in violation of the law. Most political reporters for the networks have not returned to work.
#3
What utterly amazes me in all the hype about "man made global warming" is the total lack of consideration given to naturally-occurring volcano activity.
Volcanoes are rated on a scale of "O" (zero) to 8. Checking out the listing at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_Explosivity_Index
it is easy to see that there was one Category 5 volcano is 1963 (Mt. Agun), another Category 5 in 1980 (Mt. St. Helens), another Category 5 in 1982 (Mt. El Chichon), and one Catgory 6 volcano in 1991 (Mt. Pinatubo), as well as a Category 5 volcano in 1991 (Mt. Hudson) - AND NO MAJOR VOLCANIC ACTIVITY since 1991.
One Category 5 volcano puts a cubic kilometer of volcanic material into the air. A Category 6 volcano puts 10 cubic kilometers of "junk" into the air. Every time one of these volcanoes goes "bang" global temperatures drop a degree or two for a year or two (or longer).
Whatever warming is ongoing will go away really quickly once the next big volcano erupts. Do the MMGW moonbats think that volcanic activity has concluded on earth?
There has been only one category 7 volcano in modern times - Mt. Tambora, in 1815. That explosion put 100 cubic kilometers of volcanic material into the earth's atmosphere. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer
for a discussion of what the year 1816 was like for the world's population.
16 years since the last big volcano. Methinks that we are about due for the next big event.
#4
See also LUCIANNE/TOPIX > THE SUN AND EARTH'S GLOBAL WARMING - A COSMIC CONNECTION? Among other thingys, Earth experiencing upsurges in Solar energies.
#8
So they need more power from the ship plant. Why not just install an extra one or two gas turbines. Better yet take Fusion Reactor reasearch away from the DOE and give it to the Navy. All DOE seems interested in (or the people running the program) is generating phds. The Navy would have a need for a reactor that would fit in a ships hull rather than a football stadium. The Navy through DARPA was funding Robert Bussard's work on Electrostatic Confinement Fusion with the Energy Matter Conversion Corp (EMC2). The work on various test unit showed promise that as the size of the machines went up the scaling factors led Bussard to believe that a 1.85 diameter meter machine would be possible with Deuterium while a proton Boron11 machine in the range of 2 meters looked to be practical. The p-B11 is capable of converting the fusion reaction directly to electricity with little or no waste products. Bussard estimated that for 200M$ a prototype p-B11 could be built (due to restrictions on funding that anything over a certain amount for fusion has to go through DOE the NAvy/DAPRA ceased support at the end of 2005). Now Bussards initial training was as an engineer, not a physist. He felt that most of the major physics problems had been solved. The problems left where engineering problems. The ITER consortium is going to spend at least 10B Euros over 20 or so years. Lets say Bussard is off by a factor of 5 or 10 in his cost estimate. That would put the costs at 1 to 2 B$. Given what we spend on programs that don't go anywhere or produce any tangible results I think we could afford to try this one out.
http://www.rexresearch.com/bussard/bussard.htm
#12
GMD, SPAWAR, GLOBAL PROMPT STRIKE, SPACE STRIKE, etc > ideally, every foot of the Earth' surface will be pre-Fired/Gridded to assure a direct hit the first time. For me, rapid-fire "Naval Rail Guns" + Army-Marine Ampib Groups or EGS + "Air Mech/Armor" or "AirLanding" VTOL assets means HYBRID, TURRETTED "ARSENAL SHIPS" for naval fire suppor. RAPID FIRE = HIGH AMMO VOLUME/CAPACITY SHIPS.
Efforts by former New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka to challenge the elimination of his post hit a dead end yesterday. The U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, declined to hear his case against former Gov. James E. McGreevey, Gov. Jon S. Corzine and other officials. In March, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that the officials were immune from Baraka's lawsuit.
Baraka, a longtime activist in Newark, lost his post in July 2003 when McGreevey eliminated it amid an uproar after Baraka read his 60-stanza poem "Somebody Blew Up America." Some lines suggested that Israel had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and included a reference to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: "Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed/Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers to stay home that day?/Why did Sharon stay away?"
Baraka denied being anti-Semitic and refused to resign. The governor and Legislature were barred from firing the poet laureate, so McGreevey signed a bill that eliminated the post. Baraka sued, asserting that his First Amendment rights were violated when he lost the post and its $10,000 total honorarium.
The 3rd Circuit also found that the officials did not withhold the money over Baraka's views because the Legislature had not yet appropriated it.
The nation and other states have poets laureate. In New Jersey, the job description was to "promote and encourage poetry within the state and ... give two public readings within the state each year."
McGreevey had appointed Baraka as poet laureate in July 2002. Calls for Baraka's ouster emerged after he read the poem at a poetry festival in Stanhope on Sept. 19, 2002. During the controversy, Baraka said he wrote the poem in October 2001 and had read it all over the world.
Reached at a poetry reading in Venezuela, Baraka said he expected the high courts decision and called it "confirmation of the neo-fascist trend in the United States." "I'm in Venezuela now, and that's what I'm going to tell them when I read that poem here," Baraka said. "A lot of people asked questions about 9/11. The question is when will they be answered?"
His lawyer, Robert Thomas Pickett, said they were disappointed but would seek to recoup the honorarium in state court. "The government had no right to terminate his position based on what he said," Pickett said.
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 court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
RIO DE JANEIRO,(AP) A series of strong aftershocks with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and 6.8 hit northern Chile on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. 
KHARTOUM - Rift Valley Fever has killed 92 people in Sudan since reports of an outbreak surfaced a week ago and it is still spreading, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday. A WHO spokeswoman said the latest figures showed 314 known human cases in Sudan, up from 228 reported six days ago, with a death rate of just under 30 percent.
A rebel faction of Bangladeshs former ruling party took over the partys headquarters under heavy police guard on Wednesday, signalling a major change in the countrys political landscape. 
The author goes into gory detail of case after case where the British government and military repeatedly snatched defeat from the jaws of aviation victory. One of the most stunning was how original British designs (TSR-2?) that were bludgeoned to death by burdensome multi-role requirements eventually became the basis for Dassault Industry's Mirage fighter jet, one of the best-selling export aircraft of all time. 
Pakistan's parliament is scheduled to dissolve itself at midnight Thursday to make way for a new caretaker government to oversee January elections. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that while President Pervez Musharraf tries to make the elections appear credible despite emergency rule, his opponents are busy uniting against him.
