In what is thought to be the first such discovery, Greater Manchester Police officers found a plastic trigger (top image) and clip capable of holding bullets, which they believe had been 3D-printed using a MakerBot Replicator 2 that was also discovered at the property.
If verified, the discovery "demonstrates that organised crime groups are acquiring technology that can be bought on the high street to produce the next generation of weapons," said detective inspector Chris Mossop of the city's organised crime unit.
Update: Greater Manchester Police issued a new statement following these claims after the 3D-printing community pointed out they may be harmless printer upgrade parts.
"This is a really significant discovery for Greater Manchester Police," said Mossop. "In theory, the technology essentially allows offenders to produce their own guns in the privacy of their own home, which they can then supply to the criminal gangs who are causing such misery in our communities. Because they are also plastic and can avoid X-ray detection, it makes them easy to conceal and smuggle."
Forensic experts are analysing whether the parts found could be used to make a working weapon, but Greater Manchester Police already believe this is the first discovery of 3D-printed gun parts in the UK. quoting a Makerbot expert
Ok, this is kinda messed up. The top image looks more like an extruder upgrade to me, and the bottom "3D clip" is a dead ringer for a filament spool holder - the T-shaped bit of it is the give-away.
Oh wow.
This "trigger" is plainly an extruder idler tension arm. I totally agree with you about the spool holder thing too.
I've printed that extruder upgrade myself.
Well.. The damage is done. Makers are criminals.
The 3rd picture was of a MakerBot Replicator 2 (couldn't tell but looked like the single-extruder, not 2X) so it wouldn't be printing for long without the upgrade, and lots of 3rd party plastic spools won't fit on the MBI holder.
Detailed map showing where "gun" parts were found pic.twitter.com/dIkVJErB1F
I can see the rap where this is heading: "only authorized and licensed persons are able to legally make things..."
source data for that "trigger" http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53125
They've updated their FB page with a cagey response of "We need to test these more to see if they are gun parts". Their main news page remains the same at the moment.
[An Nahar] A transgender U.S. woman who claimed to be a surgeon and reportedly injected adhesives and cement into a woman's bottom was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail.
Oneal Ron Morris, 32, accepted a plea deal for one count of illegal practice of health care in what became known as the "toxic tush" case, in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Another suit is pending against Morris, involving the death of a woman who was one of her patients.
Prosecutors said Thursday they could not determine exactly what substances Morris injected in women, many of whom were transgender.
"I think the media picked up on a key word and ran with it," her lawyer, Michael Mier, told the court. "There was no evidence of Fix-a-Flat or Super Glue."
An image that circulated widely in the U.S. press last year showed the woman at question, whose face was altered and who had a grossly swollen rear end.
Photos of Morris, who apparently injected herself with the same toxic mix as evidenced by her large, misshapen hips, also gained traction in the media.
Morris must surrender to authorities on January 7. For the moment, it is not clear what will happen with the murder charge Morris faces for the death of a patient in Broward County, north of Miami.
Morris first came to the attention of authorities in May 2010, when a woman who paid $700 for an operation to increase the size of her buttocks ended up in the hospital with pneumonia and grossly deformed hips, among other issues.
At the time, doctors said her buttocks had been injected with adhesive, tire sealant, mineral oil and cement.
After the story was publicized by the press, Miami Gardens Police reported last year that they had received hundreds of calls from victims of Morris and other supposed doctors who perform the same type of operation in private homes and even hotel rooms in Florida.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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...s/he's a looker - I can understand why someone would like to be V2.0...! The poor victim maybe should have waited, just to see if corrections to errors of nature or whatnot are covered under DemoCare /s:
[An Nahar] An elderly Australian woman lay dead for months in her home as her adult daughter, who apparently used air freshener to mask the smell, fraudulently accessed her bank accounts, police said Friday.
The body of the 83-year-old was found in the bedroom of her Sydney home a week ago, but a post-mortem suggested she had been dead for months.
Her 48-year-old daughter, receptionist Melissa Peacock, who was believed to be her primary carer, was not at the premises. On Thursday she was discovered at a luxury hotel in central Sydney and locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! , police said.
"She was arrested and charged with failing to report a death and dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception," they said in a statement.
"Police will allege the woman had been fraudulently accessing and obtaining money from her deceased mother's bank accounts on a number of occasions."
A Sydney court on Friday heard that Peacock told police her mother Noreen died on July 28 and that after finding the body she walked from the bedroom, shut the door and had not re-entered since, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
But the court was told forensic evidence indicated attempts were made to keep the room clean after the woman's death, including changing the sheets and using air freshener to mask the smell, the report said.
The cause of death is not yet known, but a preliminary autopsy suggested she may have died from hypothermia.
Peacock, who is accused of using her mother's money to pay for her accommodation at luxury Sydney hotels, quit her job in July and all her own bank accounts were overdrawn, the Herald added.
She remains in jug pending a bail hearing on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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...is there an International Union these clowns can join...?
#2
Um. Wouldn't she have been legally entitled to inherit her mother's assets? Or is this another case of concealing the body to continue collecting said body's social security checks.
[Al Ahram] Police in Athens on Friday said they had tossed in the slammer Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! a Greek couple suspected of having purchased a Roma baby for 4,000 euros ($5,500).
The couple, a 53-year-old man and his 48-year-old wife, told police that they had received the baby girl, then only a few weeks old, from a Roma woman in March.
The woman then unsuccessfully tried to register the baby as her own child.
Private adoption is legal in Greece as long as money is not exchanged in the process.
The case came amid heightened scrutiny by Greek authorities after the discovery of a mysterious blonde girl living in a Roma camp with a couple who were accused of abducting her.
Greece's supreme court has ordered a general review of newborn registrations after the discovery of the blonde girl known as Maria exposed lax recording practices around the country permitting the misuse of state benefits.
Maria's false parents, who were arrested last week, are believed to have declared a total of 14 children to claim increased family support benefits.
Maria is thought to be Bulgarian, and left behind in the Greek Roma camp by her biological mother who could not care for her.
Bulgarian authorities on Thursday questioned a Roma couple thought to be the girl's biological parents. The result of DNA tests to confirm the girl's parentage are expected next month.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A 30-centimeter (12-inch) tsunami hit Japan Friday after a powerful and shallow undersea quake, broadcaster NHK said, although there were no immediate signs of serious damage or injury.
People were being warned to stay away from the coast with the small wave rolling ashore in Ishinomaki around an hour after the 7.1 magnitude quake.
Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant were "ordered to evacuate from the waterfront", Kyodo reported, also quoting the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) as saying no new abnormalities had been found at the power station.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Felt both the recent Cebu quake in the PHIL, + now this one in Nippon.
[Euronews] There were just 10 seconds between US police spotting a teenager with what they thought was a rifle and opening fire on him, it's emerged.
The drama unfolded as Andy Lopez Cruz, 13, was walking in a field on his way to a friend's house in Santa Rosa, California.
Police said they called for him to drop what turned out to be a toy replica gun, before firing several rounds from their handguns. He died at the scene.
Now police investigating the shooting have revealed a timeline of events. There were 10 seconds between officers spotting the boy and opening fire and a further 16 seconds before medical assistance was called.
A post-mortem has revealed seven bullets were lodged within the boy's body.
The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on "administrative leave". Who are they? What are their names? Why is the government and press not naming them? If I mistakenly shot a 13 year old boy my name and photo would be all over the news.
The tragedy has reignited calls in the community for creation of civilian review boards to examine such incidents.
"People have to do something," said Elbert Howard, a founding member of the Police Accountability Clinic and Helpline of Sonoma County. "He's a child, and he had a toy. I see that as an overreaction to shoot him down."
An advisory panel of the US Civil Rights Commission urged Sonoma County to create civilian-review boards in 2000 following eight fatal officer-involved shootings in less than three years, but that recommendation went unheeded.
As many as 200 mourners gathered on Thursday around a makeshift memorial consisting of flowers, balloons, teddy bears and pictures of the boy at the site of the shooting. Some held candles and signs that said: "What a tragedy, what a travesty."
Friends and family have described the boy as a well-liked eighth-grader who played the trumpet and basketball and had a good sense of humour.
I believe this ran previously. An external perspective on our out of control Police State.
#2
A post-mortem has revealed seven bullets were lodged within the boy's body
Someone is getting better at putting rounds on target versus many previous shootings (see-NYC shooting hitting bystanders). That said, I'm interested in the entry point and angle. Was he down and someone felt the need to deliver a 'coup de grace'?
There were 10 seconds between officers spotting the boy and opening fire
De facto shot first, ask questions later. If they had done this in uniform in Afghanistan, they'd most likely be facing a courts martial these days. Past time to rig officers with video that can't be tampered with.
#4
Ah, my home town and current residence. I'll try to answer any questions. The area of town this occurred in has been traditionally a troubled area, with gang violence the main irritant, and the drugs that go along with it. Not too long ago, there was a major pot raid in this exact neighborhood. So many houses were growing that the smell was easily detected just walking down the streets. So the area itself has its history. Recently, the area has been undergoing some a real turn around with the addition of Elsie Allen High School and community infrastructure. All of which has attracted a large influx of recent "immigrants". What was a small, troubled area is now a much more populated, troubled area.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/26/2013 12:33 Comments ||
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#3 is correct - no orange tip. The photos they have of the toy could be of a real gun. He also had a toy handgun in his waistband.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2013 13:32 Comments ||
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#6
Thanks for the background info Rex, as there are neighborhoods where 13 YOs are dangerous.
#7
The Senior Officer (more than 20 years) engaged. All they saw was an AK with feet and the barrel was raised toward the Officers. This is unfortunate, but sounds like they did what they thought they had to.
#8
I'm afraid I agree that this looks like a proper use of force for the Police.
I don't care who you are, I don't care what language you speak, or even if you are deaf, nor what country you are in. When multiple people in police uniforms and wearing badges are pointing weapons at you, it's pretty much wise to drop anything you are holding, slowly raise your hands with fingers spread and gently drop to your knees and cross your feet at the ankles.
Let the lawyers sort it out later - because right now Officer Friendly is NOT feeling friendly and is seeing WHATEVER you have in your hands as a threat.
#10
You don't fire unless fired upon.
sorry, but that's just plain dumb - and only works for lucky people. Others find absorbing that first bullet a little problematic. You point a gun at a cop, who likely doesn't have a platoon also aiming at the perp, and he's within his rights to take you down
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2013 14:51 Comments ||
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Only firing when fired upon will lead to a lot more dead cops.
If the toy looked real, if the boy didn't drop the weapon when told, if he made a move towards the police and in a gang filled area, the cops had every right to drop him.
Little hint to those on the other end. Just do what the cop with the drawn gun says. It ain't hard and it ain't rocket science.
#12
I don't think Whuck Forkbeard5327 cares about the safety of the cops, bystanders. It's all about emotion and "why can't you just wing him - like on TV?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2013 15:11 Comments ||
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Way back when Saturday Night Live was remotely funny, during the start of the Afghan War, they had a skit where a reporter asked "Donald Rumsfeld" (played by Darrel Hammond) "The Taliban shot at US troops and missed, but the US troops shot back anyway. Is that fair?"
This seems to be the attitude a lot of people have: bad guys get to take the first shot. And maybe a second if they miss.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/26/2013 15:19 Comments ||
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David Guth, the University of Kansas journalism professor who tweeted last month he hoped the children of national Rifle Association members are murdered, will return to Kansas but in an non teaching role, according to a Kansas City Star news report.
Guth used Twitter September 20th after the Washington DC naval yard shooting to say: "Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you."
The university reaction was to grant Guth a sabbatical for the spring semester, even though at least one Kansas legislator wanted him fired.
Guth excused himself for his tweet as "word misconstrued".
#2
Sabbatical? I thought that word was reserved for spending two weeks in a cave outside Monte Cassino, not transfered to a non-essential salary position. Like to point out that here in Kansas, NRA members tend to put money into the tax system big time, which in turn pays the salary of this agitating teacher in a flailing university best know for embezzling $30mil from Sebelius in order to make a great college football team so that the alum can say fine things at their whine and cheez parties. In fact, the only reason his department floats like a goldfish turd is the neohippy children of gated communities located 30 miles east of Lawrence have no other talent than poorly writing about their feelings.
So little talent, couldn't even agitate the removal of a Chik-fil-A from Berkley-on-Kaw, and I'm sure a 25% increase in tuition will fix wonders.
Lawrence used to be an interested and even rough and tumble city. In the quest for a liberal utopia they created such an anti-business environment in the guise of protecting downtown that they made it unaffordable for the small or local to do business downtown, so now its bars and established niches and micky d burritos. Perhaps our hard cooked egghead writing confessor would do a story about how the city council blocked a new wally world, then got paid off and allowed its construction. Where is the follow story about the $30mil bathroom renovation at the same time new lighting was put up at the football field, and a jumbotron which blocked the traditional view from the hill into the bowl? Gonna come in real handy after I change the channel to the World Series at halftime this evening. These gushing progressives voted their town a sanctuary city, and when they tired of drugheads unexpectedly panhandling the precious downtown business out of friendly, they voted to round them up and place them in a minimum security institution somewhere east of town. But that's ok, because basketball.
#4
He would like to have a "Final Solution" for his enemies--and their children.
He would be on-board for the roundup and removal of his protectorate friend homeless and drug addles invited to live in his town, and a disregard to the stewardship of an entire university wing, its enough evidence for me...especially since he was given a continuing position for proof positive hate speech while Coach Mangino was strapped to a donkey and ridden out of town backwards for alleged hate speech accused by known gangster criminal football players at the prompting of the Athletic Director's special service investigation.
But our curious and vaunted writing teacher has no story on the absolute corruption called the Roy Williams Fund. Ironically, by invoking God, he sets himself outside the vocal tribe, and sounds rather Phelpsian.
The Canadian corporate giant which did such a bang up job with the ACA websites also helped Canada with its long gun registry system, which was such a smashing success in Canada that the law was scrapped. Unfortunately, our homegrown fascists still have feverish visions of disarmed slaves.
Extremist, in case you didn't know, is a liberal buzz word which means the Ku Klux Klan and other groups to which RKBA groups can easily be linked without any actual nexus. As long as you don't ask the group being linked, that is. That would be unfair.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Rifle ammunition prices were mixed with .308 ammunition continuing to post a modest price reduction, while pistol ammunition was unchanged to higher.
Prices for used weapons of all categories for private sale were mixed.
Pistol Ammo
.45 caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, .34 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: BluCore Shooting Center, P&G Performance, reloaded, .34 per round (-.02 each from last week)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Selway Armory, Ultramax, reloaded, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Lucky Gunner, BVAC, reloaded, .32 per round (+.06 each from last week)
9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: +.02 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: High Country Ammunition, Rangemaster, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Battle Bag Ammo, Reloaded, .24 per round (Unchanged)
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged ( +.12 each over three weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Fiocchi, .44 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: No Listing: Offered from last week: LAX Ammunition, Fiocchi, .41 per round
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: +.05 each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Tulammo, steel cased, .32 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Sportsman's Guide, Wolf steel cased, .32 per round (Last Week: -.02 each )
.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: -.03 each (-.21 over five weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition Depot, MFS, steel cased, .52 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Sportsman Guide, MFS, .56 per round
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (Five Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo Supply Warehouse, Wolf Polyformance, steel core and case, .26 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Ammo Supply Warehouse, Wolf Polyformance, steel core and case, .25 per round
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (Four Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammo Fast, Eley Target, .10 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Natchez Shooters Supplies, Remington Thunderbolt, .08 per round (Unchanged: -.06 each over two weeks)
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $670 Last Week Avg: $746
California: Smith & Wesson M&P-15: $650
Texas: High Standard: $650
New York: Smith & Wesson: $500 (!)
Virgina: Bushmaster Mixed Build: $800
Florida: Armalite: $750
.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,264 Last Week Avg: $1,308
California: Sig Sauer M716 Patrol: $1,500
Texas: DPMS: $1,100
New York: CMMG Mk3: $650
Virginia: Smith & Wesson MP-10: $1,575
Florida: DPMS: $1,495
7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $665 Last Week Avg: $649
California: WASR: $650
Texas: Romarm: $650
New York: Saiga: $750 (Prolly Same Gun)
Virginia: Saiga: $550
Florida: WASR: $725
.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $503 Last Week Avg: $410
California: Rock Island Armory: $475
Texas: American Tactical Imports: $600
New York: Regent R200SS (Stainless): $400 (Same Gun)
Virginia: Rock Island Armory: $500
Florida: Taurus: $540
9mm Beretta 92FS or other Semiautomatic Average Price: $459 Last Week Avg: $426
California: Taurus PT24/7: $450
Texas: Taurus 92AF: $450
New York: Glock 19: $405 (Same Gun)
Virginia: Glock 19: $500
Florida: Glock 17: $490
.40 caliber S&W (Glock and other semiautomatic) Average Price: $580 Last Week Avg: $495
California: Glock 22: $500
Texas: Smith & Wesson: $450
New York: Glock 27: $500
Virginia: Glock 23: $474
Florida: Glock 23: $475
#1
Picked up this little beauty for net $60 when you figure in the goodies the seller included such as a 1,000 rounds of 30 caliber ammo. It's a 1944 Winchester but has a lot of mixed parts including the non-USGI stock set I'm replacing this weekend. When I'm finished it will be back to pure Winchester with all parts proper for the rifle's vintage.
This will be KiloBravo's LFG. I'm getting a BFG Monday, stay tuned.
Unfortunately, our homegrown fascists still have feverish visions of disarmed slaves.
Let me share an Aesop story my daughter read to me last night: The Thieves and the Cock
Some thieves once broke into a house, but found nothing in it worth carrying off but a cock. The poor cock said as much for himself as a cock could say, urging them to remember his services in crowing to get people up in time for their work. "Nay," said one of the thieves, "you had better say nothing about that. You alarm people and keep them waking, so that it is impossible for us to rob in comfort."
#6
#1 Picked up this little beauty for net $60 when you figure in the goodies the seller included such as a 1,000 rounds of 30 caliber ammo. I had one of these babies some time ago. It cost considerably more than $60 bucks. I didn't get 1000 rounds of ammo. What a deal!
For a moment I thought someone was following the example of this regime and trying to redistribute some of the taxpayers ammo compliments of TSA--but alas it was just teenagers creating mischief.
[An Nahar] Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo said Friday one of its politicians was killed in a raid on its military base by government troops earlier in the week.
The statement came after Renamo, which fought a bloody civil war against the ruling Frelimo party before transforming into a political party, declared that a 1992 peace deal was over.
Renamo said the assault Monday on its base in central Mozambique amounted to an attack by the government on multiparty democracy.
"Our colleague Armindo Milaco died as a result of government forces' attack on our leader's base on 21 October," Renamo front man Fernando Mazanga told Agence La Belle France Presse. "He was hit by a howitzer."
The party only learned of Milaco's death on Friday because communication had been difficult, it said.
Militants reportedly from the former rebel movement attacked a nearby cop shoppe the day after the attack, which kicked off a spate of tit-for-tat violence.
Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama last November returned to his bush camp near the central Gorongosa mountains and started retraining soldiers for a "revolution", without making clear his intentions.
Dhlakama fled ahead of Monday's attack and is hiding at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
Over the last six months Renamo forces of Evil have clashed sporadically with government forces and attacked civilian vehicles on the main north-south highway.
Renamo took up arms against the then-communist government of Frelimo -- the Mozambique Liberation Front -- after independence from Portugal in 1975.
It became the official opposition party after the 1992 peace agreement, but has lost every national election ever since.
Officially Renamo is demanding a bigger role in electoral bodies and its fighters' integration into the government forces. But more than 20 rounds of talks with Frelimo over the past 10 months have stalled with little progress.
The party is boycotting upcoming local polls on November 20 after refusing to register until electoral reforms are passed.
It failed to table its suggestions in parliament, saying Frelimo's overwhelming majority meant they would probably be voted down.
It has been highly critical of the Frelimo government, which it accuses of politicizing the state and stealing the impoverished country's resources.
As Mozambique started mining coal and gears up to extract vast natural gas reserves, simmering tensions between the two reached a breaking point and Renamo demanded a cut of the revenues.
The unrest has been confined to the central region, but this week's attacks have sparked fears of renewed war between the foes, prompting worried reactions from the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... , the United States and neighbors South Africa.
Many are unsure how to interpret the movement's statements that ended the peace agreement, after many similar hints to take up arms again in the past.
But its front man Mazanga said the movement did not want to return to civil war, following the devastation of the previous 16-year conflict.
"We know the consequences of conflict. If we respond with violence we might plunge the country back in war," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We are open for talks, but demand that the head of state and commander of the armed forces withdraw his troops from our base."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
As Mozambique started mining coal and gears up to extract vast natural gas reserves, simmering tensions between the two reached a breaking point and Renamo demanded a cut of the revenues.
Renamo simply responding to the models already established in Zim and South Africa. Pay them off and lets get back to tribal communism as usual.
#3
Seems to me there is a big opportunity for outsourcing and privatization in situations like this where the govt either can't or has better things to do than putting down rebel groups.
I also have a vague sense of having seen this movie before.
[Al Ahram] Congo's M23 rebels clashed with government troops for the first time in nearly two months on Friday, and neighbouring Rwanda said Congolese army shells had landed on its territory, raising tensions in the volatile region. The fighting came after peace talks broke down in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Monday. It sent some 5,000 civilians fleeing across the border into Rwanda, a U.N. peacekeeping spokesman said.
General Sultani Makenga, M23's military commander, said the rebels came under attack at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) at Kanyamohoro, around 15 km (10 miles) north of Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
"We are going to defend our positions," Makenga told Reuters by telephone.
Congolese army General Lucien Bahuma said M23 fighters had attacked first and fierce combat was continuing. The Congolese army was seeking to overrun rebel positions in Kibumba, just south of Kanyamohoro, officers said.
A Reuters reporter in Goma said fighting was intense and continuous on Friday as Congolese army troops bombarded rebel positions with heavy artillery and machinegun fire.
Rwandan army spokesman Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita said Congo's army fired three shells and small arms into Rubavu district, just over the border near the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. Border security had been tightened.
"There are many Congolese crossing into Rwanda," Nzabamwita said, adding that a 58-year-old Congolese woman had been evacuated after being struck by a bullet.
Rwanda's U.N. Ambassador warned the 15-nation council on Friday during a closed-door meeting that Rwanda would not tolerate shelling of its territory and was in a position to respond militarily, a U.N. Security Council diplomat said.
In late August, Rwanda accused Congolese troops of shelling its territory and the tensions between the two neighbours raised fears of a regional conflict.
South African and Tanzanian troops, part of a new 3,000-strong U.N. Intervention Brigade with a tough mandate to crush armed groups in eastern Congo, were present near the frontline but did not join the combat.
The United Nations mission in Congo (MONUSCO) asked a committee of military experts from the International Conference of the Great Lakes region - an 11-nation regional bloc - to investigate the reports of a shell landing in Kageyo in Rwanda.
"MONUSCO is on high alert and is closely monitoring the situation," Martin Nesirky, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general, said in New York.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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Argentine President Cristina Fernandez faces one of the most important elections of her career on Sunday, and aides say she's not even following the news.
She's not what she once was with her hubbie gone. Or with the hole in her head...
Fernandez has been secluded in the presidential residence, recovering from skull surgery in the run-up to congressional elections that will decide how much power she'll have during the final two years of her presidency.
Her doctors say she must avoid stress, so Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo says she wasn't even told about the train crash causing new problems for the government this week.
Polls suggest the ruling Front for Victory party will lose ground in both houses, burying the idea that she'll win the super-majority necessary to change the constitution and enable re-election to a third straight term.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
...like sharks teeth, you can be certain that another Peronist is on the way...
#2
Cheer up, Greenpeas dudes and dudettes! Even though Murmansk is at 69 degrees North latitude, Global Warming will soon render it a tropical paradise. Lotsa nice beachfront. All praise the Goreacle!
MOSCOW Piracy charges against 30 people who were aboard a Greenpeace ship protesting Arctic drilling have been reduced by Russian authorities to hooliganism, the head of the Investigative Committee announced Wednesday.
In the old Soviet penal code that wasn't a downgrade...
The Russian coast guard seized the Arctic Sunrise after two activists attempted to climb onto an oil rig in the Pechora Sea on Sept. 19, and later towed the ship to Murmansk.
Greenpeace said the protesters expected to face perhaps 15 days in Russian custody, but investigators charged all of those on board with piracy which carries a 15-year sentence and the courts refused to grant bail.
Greenpeace guessed wrong. They thought they were dealing with spineless westerners, not Russians...
The action made global headlines and has roiled relations between Russia and the Netherlands. The Arctic Sunrise was sailing under a Dutch flag, and the Netherlands protested what it said was an illegal seizure in international waters.
Wonder if the Russians will seize the ship "to pay court costs" or something like that...
The incident marks the stiffest crackdown on Greenpeace since French intelligence agents sank the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.
Even President Vladimir Putin, who criticized the protest, said it was clear it did not amount to piracy. But, day after day, defendant after defendant has appeared in the Murmansk courtroom over the past month, and theyve all been sent back to their cells to face trial.
Now, charged instead with hooliganism, they face maximum sentences of seven years, although conviction usually brings much milder punishment.
"Usually" being the key word here. They are not out of the woods...
The Arctic 30 are no more hooligans than they were pirates, a statement issued by Greenpeace said. We will contest the trumped up charge of hooliganism as strongly as we contested the piracy allegations. They are both fantasy charges that bear no relation to reality. The Arctic 30 protested peacefully against Gazproms dangerous oil drilling and should be free.
The 30 defendants hail from 18 countries. Two, Capt. Peter Willcox and Dima Litvinov, are Americans. Greenpeace says all 30 have been held separately in the Murmansk jail and have had difficulty asking for supplies because they dont speak Russian. All have reportedly been visited by consular officials from their respective countries.
Haven't learned to say "Остановить это!" yet?
The investigators move came just hours after the Foreign Ministry announced that Russia would not take part in a tribunal on the ships seizure requested by the Dutch government under the provisions of the International Law of the Sea, which Russia ratified in 1997. The ministry statement says that Russia does not recognize the authority of the tribunal in cases involving sovereignty.
Greenpeace and its allies have noted that the ship, though in Russias economic exclusion zone, was not in Russian territory, and that the convention does not permit signatories to exempt themselves from its provisions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
The incident marks the stiffest crackdown on Greenpeace since French intelligence agents sank the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.
[Al Ahram] A Spanish court freed a serial rapist 17 years into his 30-year sentence under a European human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... ruling that also benefits terrorism convicts, officials said Friday.
Antonio Garcia Carbonell, 76, became the first non-terrorism convict to benefit from the ruling, which has angered Spanish authorities.
The European decision overturned a Spanish judicial doctrine that retroactively cut remission earned through prison work, mostly for jugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! members of the armed Basque group ETA.
An official in the Catalonia regional courts service told AFP on Friday that a Barcelona court had ordered Garcia's release the previous day. Media reported he had walked free almost immediately.
Garcia was convicted in 1996 at two trials of a string of rapes, robberies and abductions and sentenced to a total of 268 years in jail, of which he was ordered to serve a legal maximum of 30 years.
In a written ruling ordering his release on Thursday, the Barcelona court upheld an appeal by Garcia's lawyers on the grounds of Monday's decision by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in a separate case.
"The penal liability to which Antonio Garcia Carbonell was sentenced is extinguished... and consequently the convict's liberty is decreed," the Barcelona court said.
The European court said Monday that Spain had wrongly extended the sentence of Ines del Rio Prada, a 55-year-old woman jugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! for a series of violent ETA attacks.
It said Spain breached European rights law by cutting the years of remission she earned for prison work.
Spanish courts had also applied this practice, known as the Parot Doctrine, to Garcia, who would otherwise have been due for early release in 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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Its probably for the best...they are only Europeans, after all.
268 years for serial rape, robbery, kidnapping and multiple sodomy does seem to be a bit excessive.... even for your average hot blooded Spaniard.
Sounds like a French Law, though, doesn't it? The tone, you know, definitely French. And the crimes couldn't have happened in Germany...the Germans are more into old people and uniforms and dogs....doesn't sound German...except the serial part, maybe.
[Dawn] Pakistain ranks as the world's second-worst country in terms of gender equality and equitable division of resources and opportunities among men and women, says a report published Friday.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2013, published by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with faculty at Harvard University ...home of the Best and the Brightest, contributed $878,164 to the 2008 Obama campaign. Is there a reason universities are among the top financiers of political campaigns? and the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Berkeley, assesses 136 countries, representing more than 93 per cent of the world's population, on how well resources and opportunities are divided among male and female populations.
According to the index, Iceland tops the list with the most equitable sharing of resources among the sexes, followed closely by north European countries such as Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Pakistain comes down at 135, followed only by Yemen, and its score has fallen three spots since the study was conducted last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I would say Saudi,Somalia,Afghanistan and Sudan must be up there with the worse.
#2
I don't know....they way men are ridiculed, mocked, second-class students at Colleges and Universities, and in healthcare....US might be up there as well
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2013 13:39 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Governor Shaukatullah Khan on Thursday feared that Paks could face travel restrictions over the growing polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... cases in the country.
"If the situation (high polio incidence) is not handled on war footing, there could be a ban on Paks wanting to travel to 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... for Haj and Umrah as well as workers," he said during a World Polio Day function at the Governor's House.
He said increase in polio cases in various parts of Fata was a matter of grave concern but the government was committed to meeting the challenge effectively.
The governor said 37 polio cases had been reported in Fata in 2013, which was 75 per cent of the total nationwide cases of the year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2013 00:00 ||
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This reeks of "too good to check," but Greenfield seems to be playing it straight. The clip looks like something you'd see on on overnight TV in a country ruled by pro wrestling promoters. Am I missing the joke? Are things this weird over there? Officially, I mean? Context, please!
[frontpagemag.com] Hajj Abd Al-Nabi: I am the executioner of the Arab Republic of Egypt. I hold the rank of chief warrant officer in the police and the prison authority. I am Egypts executioner, responsible for carrying out the death penalty.
...
When I was young about 13 or 14 years old the dry Ismailiya Canal in Shubra Al-Kheima still had water in it. My hobby was to catch a cat, to place a rope around its neck, to strangle it, and throw it into the water. I would get hold of any animal even dogs. I would strangle these animals and throw them into the water even dogs.
#2
There's a whole catalog of 20th Socialist who's bodycount demonstrates the utter lack of conscience about anything but power to impose one's will without regard to human life. For the Left, it is it's own god.
#3
So what has been happening with Canadian healthcare, Mr. Killa? Any plans to increase the number of MRI and ultrasound machines, so that your countrymen can get tests done at home, instead of coming south to find out what's causing their problems?
#4
Well, my father just had an MRI done on a bad knee and had to only wait 3 days...and he didn't have to get a second mortgage on his house...funny that...Tea Party wannabes should really stop drinking the neocon Koolaid and try a little Tetley's...
#6
And exactly WHAT evidence do you have that the Canadian health care system is all bad and broken?? Oh yes, what you read in the NY Post and ogle on Fox News(LOLs). Seems to me that the US system is the one on life-support, pardon the pun....
#7
The US system was broken, but the Obamacure is worse than the disease. The Canadian system isn't terrible, but it is subsidized by US consumers paying all the R&D costs on most drugs and devices. And, Jerkface, there must be some truth to the anecdotes about long wait times for a lot of tests and services to explain the oversized medical complexes that have grown up in Buffalo and Cleveland.
#8
death panels are already in place in America's Hat. Hope Jerk needs some expensive care and can't cross into the hated America
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2013 8:54 Comments ||
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#9
The long waits and multiple tests can be explained easily, it's to jack the price up,
(You want to be certain, don't you) thereby putting the fault on YOU, not them, (Hey you authorized it)
Umm, did you?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/26/2013 8:54 Comments ||
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#10
That my money is better spent on abotions and gender surgery in California rather than bad backs and work injuries locally is why I don't take advice from people with a Kindergarten taunt handle.
That I should pay for the oral surgery of meth heads who got caught robbing my neighbors and then pay their disability and grocery bills so they have spare income to buy more drugs is moral? For all I know pa pa is doing elective surgery on his knee to get the pain pills. Then again, if I had to work the basement stairs five times a day to tell my kid to go get a life, I'd understand.
And by the time the collectivists are done with it, it is more likely a Canadian with the wealth to do so will be more likely to visit a medical platform offshore Nova Scotia than jumping the lakes.
Id have to say referring to something as not the end of the world is less than a hardy endorsement. Speaking of ambivalence, at a reunion I recently spoke with Canadian relatives about their national health insurance. All agreed that the coverage is so minimal that it was essential to purchase supplemental private policies. Also, two of the five had medical procedures performed in the States with a third traveling for elective surgery scheduled next month.
#14
And exactly WHAT evidence do you have that the Canadian health care system is all bad and broken?? Oh yes, what you read in the NY Post and ogle on Fox News(LOLs).
Why no, Mr. Killa. I grew up in Buffalo, where my father was a department head for the oversized cancer institute that served so many Canadian patients. A lot of my parents' friends were doctors there. My husband did research there in his youth, and my sister programmed their supercomputer.
Besides, I never claimed the Canadian system was broken, as it manifestly is not. It's just that y'all may find things a bit different without the southern pressure valve taking care of those willing to spend their own money for faster service, especially for unusual conditions. Or as a formerly Canadian friend of mine commented, "In Canada I can have treatment for my MS quickly and inexpensively, once the diagnostic tests are complete. It's just that I will only be prescribed the old standard medications, and never even know that there are new possibilities to try that work better and have fewer side effects."
#15
It's funny that y'all have all these anecdotes about the 'evils' of the 'socialist' Canadian health care system and y'all know this guy and that guy, yet I'm a Canadian and I know of nobody who EVER went to the 'America' to get treatment for anything other than the sticker shock of actually needing health care while in Florida on vacation...in other words, I call BULLSH*T on ever comment in this section (except mine of course)...
#17
Hey, Jerkface. You really live up to your name, don't you.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/26/2013 13:35 Comments ||
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#18
One of the ways Canada cuts costs is by playing with the definition of "elective treatments."
When I was up in BC on business there was a case of an Inuit woman with back pain. She could not sit or stand (and obviously could not work). After 2 years her turn came up and she flew down to Vancouver for back surgery. Unfortunately, the had an influx of emergency surgeries, and she was told she'd lost her place in line and try again in 6 months.
They'd defined her treatment as elective even though she couldn't work, stand or sit.
Nice way to save on medical costs, don't cha think? Coming to a clinic near you.
Al
Posted by: frozen Al ||
10/26/2013 13:35 Comments ||
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#19
What should we do, quote their names so you and yours can harrass or otherwise disenfranchise them?
#20
I know Nova Scotians who had extreme problems with the health service there, but no offfshore surgery boats happened.
They'd defined her treatment as elective even though she couldn't work, stand or sit.
Nice way to save on medical costs, don't cha think? Coming to a clinic near you.
Business opportunity? International waters, procedure then R&R, stabilized surgical room, nurses, helicopter pads, room service, shuffleboard, bingo.
True story: I once knew this fellow who would go about picking fights with people. No idea why, maybe because their jeans were not skinny enough because who in real life does that? At any rate, this fellow would start the arguement talking down to the unfortunate audience using story after personal story and whenever the target would tell their own story or experience this fellow would clap his hands really loud and go La La La La!
#21
The Canadian system isn't perfect, but in the US system, denying insurance to those with 'pre-existing' conditions, is the sickest, cruellest, most disgusting, fucked-up policy perhaps in human history.
#26
denying insurance to those with 'pre-existing' conditions, is the sickest, cruellest, most disgusting, fucked-up policy
You are conflating 'insurance' with 'prepaid health care'. Try calling up an auto insurer and tell them you just wrecked your car and want to get insurance coverage for the damage.
#28
"You are conflating 'insurance' with 'prepaid health care'. Try calling up an auto insurer and tell them you just wrecked your car and want to get insurance coverage for the damage"
Nice. So now you are equating the health care system with car insurance. Way to go, Stevie. Nice to know The Tea Party wannabes think of us humans as just a bunch of Ford Pintos....
#31
Nice. So now you are equating the health care system with car insurance. Way to go, Stevie. Nice to know The Tea Party wannabes think of us humans as just a bunch of Ford Pintos....
Even nicer: Don't like the facts? Change the subject
#32
So now you are equating the health care system with car insurance.
No, he's equating health care insurance with car insurance. I've included the Wiki for Insurance, so that we are all on the 'same page'.
Healthcare insurance is not healthcare, just as car insurance is not a car.
What the ACA is, is a mandate that insurance be purchased, hence creating a 'risk pool', i.e., a fund for transferring or distributing risk among those mandated to buy insurance.
In world ruled by mathematics, the insured are therefore protected from a specific risk event, or risk events for a fee, with the fee being dependent upon the frequency and severity of the event(s) occurring.
Example: A cargo from Singapore bound for Amsterdam in the hull of a ship certified by a host nation whose flag it flies, sailing with a competent and certified crew, traveling on safe route, will have a lower risk-level than a cargo traveling from Singapore to, say, Mombasa, in the hull of a ship flying a flag-of-convenience, with a pick-up crew, with the route traversing down the coast of Somalia.
Hence the people that are shipping the cargo on the latter ship will pay higher fees for insurance against loss of the cargo than would the shippers on the former vessel (the shippers in the latter instance would likely pay lower shipping costs, but that's for another time.)
In order for an insurer (private or governmental entity) to not lose their metaphorical shirt paying out on claims, they attempt to manage the risk. That could be done by increasing the risk pool (the Affordable Care Act (ACA)) using statistics to determine the risk of loss or an event, or establishing loss or event parameters up front - suicide not being covered by life insurance, for example. Additionally, certain items may either be not covered or reimbursement schedules will be at the insurer's discretion.
The "tweak" here with the ACA is that the risk pool has deep-shallow payment. Low-risk insurance purchasers will pay more for their low risk of incurring a medical event (pay more for being in the shallow end), in order to subsidize the insurance of those with high risk (being in the deep end.) The need for healthy young people with low health risks and good personal incomes to purchase health insurance is thus required in order to financially cover the health care costs of their statistical opposites. It essence, it is a perversion of what would normally and sanely be defined as "insurance."
Additionally there is a social engineering aspect applied to the ACA. There is a high healthcare risk among pregnant lower-income women both prepartum and postpartum due to many economic and even more social factors.
In order to cover this tragic problem and to standardize policies (as a way to keep administrative costs low) people are mandated to pay for insurance features they may not or will not need, i.e., a post-menopausal woman required to pay for maternity care features provided in her policy.
The other problem with this so-called healthcare reform is that it has the same issues as Medicaid and Medicare. It is payment-reimbursement driven. Obstetrics is a high-risk medical field; factor in the conditions of increased risks from social conditions (lack of or ignoring prenatal care, use of drugs during the pregnancy, poor physical health, etc.) and the risks become higher.
However, the legal system does not necessarily take that into account when a malpractice suit is filed. Insurance fees for insuring against malpractice claims in fields like obstetrics and cardiology are astronomically high. Practitioners in those fields will then take steps to mitigate the risk of a lawsuit and adding to healthcare costs.
Another issue is that nowhere in the ACA (so far) is a list of defined costs for medical procedures, tests, treatment, etc. In fact, medical costs for the same procedure vary widely across the United States. That too is based on risks, on how expensive it is to "do business" and also socially-imposed costs that have to be absorbed until reimbursement is made (if it ever is made.) The mandate that treatment must be provided at emergency rooms regardless of ability to pay, for example. Southern California, particularly the Los Angeles area, have had hospitals close because the costs of operating them are not reimbursed or covered by incoming payments for treatment.
What is covered and not covered, or covered and the quantity and quality also varies widely. Taking the maternity care cost issue, for example, is partially addressed by standardization, but imposes costs on those insured that will never use it. It also leaves open what is covered and not covered, and what will be paid for and not paid for.
We haven't even touched on reimbursement. That too varies widely and there is no, nor are there transparent and publicly available defined reimbursement definitions and schedules .
A nationalized health care plan also adds in healthcare management, but it does not remove managing the risks. Two things must be controlled: expenses and income. I'll leave it to the reader to elaborate on both, but demographics and social engineering factor still play a role.
To repeat: A healthcare system is not healthcare insurance. What is being called healthcare insurance under the Affordable Care Act, is, for the most part, presently neither.
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.
[An Nahar] A transgender U.S. woman who claimed to be a surgeon and reportedly injected adhesives and cement into a woman's bottom was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail.
[Al Ahram] Police in Athens on Friday said they had 
By Chris Covert
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez faces one of the most important elections of her career on Sunday, and aides say she's not even following the news. 
[Dawn] 
