BERLIN (Reuters) Four elderly Germans went on trial on Monday charged with kidnapping their financial adviser and holding him prisoner in a basement in an attempt to recover 2.5 million euros (2.19 million pounds) in lost savings, a court spokesman said.
They are accused of seizing the financial adviser, a 56-year-old man, outside his apartment in the western town of Speyer, binding and gagging him and bundling him into the boot of a car before driving him some 500 km (300 miles) to the Bavarian town of Chieming.
There they tried to force him to transfer large sums of money to them. The banker tried to escape but suffered two broken ribs from one of those charged, a 74-year-old man.
In one remittance order the banker included the message "Sell 100 Call Pol.ICE today please!." A bank employee notified police and the banker was freed by an elite commando group.
The 74-year-old man charged with being the ringleader denied kidnapping. He said they had invited the man for a "few days holiday in Bavaria."
Defence attorney Harald Baumgaertl told ARD television it was an act of desperation.
"They feared there was no legal way to get their money back and so they did what one should not do -- committed a crime."
Prosecutors in the Bavarian town of Traunstein have charged the senior citizens -- aged 60 to 79 -- with kidnapping and complicity. They face jail terms of 5 to 15 years if convicted, state prosecutor Guenther Hammerdinger told ARD television.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Ralph Boulton)
With national scrutiny on ACORN and local scrutiny on the Working Families Party, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis quietly departed as state co-chair of the Working Families Party.
Lewis was a founding co-chair of the Party. According to Working Families spokesman Dan Levitan, Lewis stopped serving as co-chair "about a year ago," though many people familiar with the Party were unaware of that change and Lewis was identified as a current co-chair in an interview on WNYCs The Brian Lehrer Show as recently as September.
I think we can safely assume, then, that a rigorous definition of "about a year ago" would have bounds of unknown size subsequent to that interview last September. Well done, O Reporter!
The change in leadership comes as the Working Families Party and many of its endorsed candidates are providing extensive email and other documentation in response to December subpoenas from the United States Attorneys office in New York. Lawyers are also preparing to return to Staten Island Supreme Court on Feb. 23 for the lawsuit being brought against the WFPs company, Data & Field Services, and the campaign of now-Council Member Debi Rose by Randy Mastro on behalf of five Republican-connected residents of her Staten Island district.
The lawsuit, however, may not be the only legal action on the horizon. The trial was stopped short in January by Judge Anthony Giacobbe after Rose's treasurer, David Thomas testified that he had neither written nor was familiar with the information provided in affidavits to the Campaign Finance Board. That may result in attention from Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan--"there's a very strong possibility of a perjury case here," according to local legal sources.
More on the story, courtesy of Jegum Flunter4789, here.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Spokesman for Rep. John Murtha says the Pennsylvania Democrat has died at 77.
Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, the first veteran of the Vietnam war and one of the most powerful lawmakers in Congress, died Wednesday morning at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA, after complications from gallbladder surgery. Murtha was 77.
A native of New Martinsville, W.Va., voters elected first elected Murtha to Congress in a 1974 special election that spelled impending doom for President Nixon and congressional Republicans. That fall, Democrats wrestled away 49 House seats from the GOP, reeling from the scourge of Watergate and a presidency in shambles.
Murtha rose to become the chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that controls spending for the Pentagon. Chairs of the appropriations subcommittee panels are viewed with such prestige on Capitol Hill that theyre called "cardinals." Thats a nod to Rome because of the eminence these lawmakers hold over spending for their federal fiefdom.
Murtha was also the endorsed candidate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to become majority leader when Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. But current House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) overwhelmingly defeated Murtha by secret ballot in a hard-fought leadership contest.
Murtha enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1952 and became a drill instructor at Parris Island. He served in Korea and received a Bronze Star and Two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam. He continued to be a member of the Marine Corps Reserves until he resigned as a colonel in 1990.
Murtha voted to go to war in Iraq the fall of 2002. But two years later, the Pennsylvania Democrat called for the U.S to withdraw from. Later on the House floor, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), the newest member of the House at the time, spoke in favor of the war and chided Murtha that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do." Schmidts remarks ignited a firestorm on the House floor as lawmakers rose to Murthas defense. Schmidt later said she didnt know that Murtha was a Marine. She withdrew her comments and apologized.
A hint of scandal lingered over much of Murthas career. The FBI named Murtha an "unindicted co-conspirator" in its ABSCAM sting operation in the late 1970s and early '80s. ABSCAM resulted in the conviction of five House members and one senator. The FBI recorded Murtha on videotape declining a $50,000 bribe from federal agents posing as Arab sheiks. But the Congressman did say he could be interested in future dealings.
Nicknamed "The King of Pork," Murtha also faced scrutiny for earmarking federal dollars for projects in his district. Numerous news reports lambasted the Congressman for steering money to the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. The facility received $150 million from Washington for upgrades despite limited commercial use. But the airport is also used for military purposes.
The Congressman also faced scrutiny for campaign contributions he and other appropriators received from the now defunct PMA lobbying firm. Murtha scored nearly $2.5 million in donations from PMA and its clients over a nearly 20 year period. The feds continue to scrutinize PMA. The Office of Congressional Ethics asked the House Ethics Committee to drop any inquiries into the dealings Murtha had with PMA.
Murtha also stirred controversy in the fall of 2008 with President Obama poised to become the first African American president. When asked about Mr. Obamas chances in his Congressional district, Murtha responded that "theres no question western Pennsylvania is a racist area."
Even though Murtha won re-election, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) carried the district over by about 1,000 votes.
Despite controversy, Murtha was beloved by his House colleagues for holding court in whats called "Murthas corner" in the rear of the House chamber. During a House vote series, Murtha could often be seen trading information or spinning yarns with fellow lawmakers. He also won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and Pennsylvania's two highest honors, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.
#6
I'm thinking of having surgery (not gall bladder), but I'm very confused because I have no way to evaluate the risk-benefit. These events maake me think the risk is higher than you would think.
#8
Fester: A hot gallbladder is not to be ignored, as it can go nuclear in a hurry. Gallbladder
However, as a rule of thumb, it is far worse to procrastinate from major surgery than to worry about complications. Surgeons, despite what most people think, do not like to cut people open unless they have to. So when they have to, they mean it.
Do your research on the Internet, and talk to your doctor about your concerns, but don't ever think you can get away with "wishing it away", or just avoiding thinking about it.
Finally, this advise is x100 if you are talking about cancer. Screwing around after a diagnosis of cancer is a major killer.
#14
On a brighter note, his district will now have one of the most junior representatives in Congress during one of the deepest recessions in decades. What goes around, comes around. Party's over.
#21
I respected his service to our country, but when he got damn-near-caught in ABSCAM and then became The King of Pork and then libeled the Haditha Marines (MARINES, for crying out loud!) he lost all my respect.
#22
Now that John will be spending the future on the wrong side of the dirt, and won't be coming down for breakfast anymore, the important work is to find a replacement who can replicate the "Scott Brown" result in Teddy's former empire.
That would give Teddy and Johnny something to mull over as they toss back brimstone cocktails.
#23
He defamed our troops without proof during war, aided and abated the enemy, tried his best to rob the successful people and give to his cronies and was a general boob.
#25
The feeders at his trough would never have voted him out. Why is he still in Congress at 77 and not term limited eons ago? His whole life was a disgrace, including, I'm willing to bet, his so-called "service". Only death could stop the abuse. GOOD BYE.
#26
The one question I have, for our USMC burgers is this: as a veteran he is entitled to a military funeral; how does one refuse to serve as part of the honor guard? or is this a case of holding your nose and getting it done?
I am asking because of the slander he heaped on the Marines in Iraq.
A body has been found inside the wheel-well of a Delta Air Lines plane after it landed in Tokyo from New York, and Japanese authorities are trying to identify the man. You're doing it wrong. You stow away to get to America (or Japan) from a third-world hellhole. What, couldn't afford the super saver rate or something? Heck it's less than a thousand bucks for EWR-NRT. They give you your own seat and everything.
The police at Narita International Airport said that the body of the apparent stowaway was clad only in a long-sleeved plaid shirt and jeans. One of these times, the stowaway will remember to bring a parka and a box lunch.
Police official Zenjiro Watanabe said on Monday that a mechanic had found the body lying inside the landing gear compartment of the Boeing 777-200 during maintenance after Delta Flight 59 had landed on Sunday night. Love that name, Zenjiro. Sounds like a carny cold-reading act.
"All we know is that he must have sneaked in just before departure, because it is impossible for him to enter the storage during flight," Watanabe said. Yeah, would be hard to leap 38,000 feet up while the plane is over the Pacific ... Another wonderful breach of security at a U.S. airport.
The police were trying to identify the man, Watanabe said. The man had no visible injuries except frostbite, and he might have died of hypothermia. Gee, you really think so, Muldoon? Nuttin' gets past Watanabe ...
The police were investigating the case both as an accident and as a possible crime.
The temperature in the plane's landing gear is known to fall to about minus 50°C during the long flight. My last flight over the pole and into Asia, I could feel how bitterly cold it was outside, even through the double-pane window. Looking down into Siberia, it looked like the most hostile place on Earth.
Similar cases have occurred in the past. In 2007, a man was found dead in the nose-gear wheel-well of a United Airlines flight that arrived in San Francisco from Shanghai. He, too, was thought to have been a stowaway. See? That's the correct way to freeze to death in a jetliner landing gear. And the guy made the right decision to cut four extra hours off his flight by going west coast - Asia instead of all the way to JFK.
#1
At 30,000 feet you will die from lack of oxygen before the hypothermia gets you. It's just so cold you won't notice you are dying until you ARE dead (OK, stretching things a bit). Landing gear compartments are NOT pressurized.
#5
But I thought the closer to the sun, the hotter it would be. And if they really cared, they should put emergency oxygen masks in those compartments - and heaters.
- dead guy
#6
There actually was a case of a guy who stowed away in the wheelwell of a jetliner from Fiji. His body temperature was in the 80's when he arrived, and he was covered with grease (from the wheels, I guess). He survived and was shipped back to Fiji.
It was on Discovery Health, on (I think) "Untold Stories of the ER." It was pretty interesting watching what they did to re-warm him.
But yeah, his case was unusual - most of them wake up dead.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2010 18:41 Comments ||
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most of them wake up dead.
I just hate it when that happens to me, it screws up your whole week.
SAN FRANCISCO Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.
The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google Inc.
The new attack discovered by Christopher Tarnovsky is difficult to pull off, partly because it requires physical access to a computer. But laptops and smart phones get lost and stolen all the time. And the data that the most dangerous computer criminals would seek likely would be worth the expense of an elaborate espionage operation.
Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat security conference and a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's advisory council, called Tarnovsky's finding "amazing."
"It's sort of doing the impossible," Moss said. "This is a lock on Pandora's box. And now that he's pried open the lock, it's like, ooh, where does it lead you?"
Tarnovsky figured out a way to break chips that carry a "Trusted Platform Module," or TPM, designation by essentially spying on them like a phone conversation. Such chips are billed as the industry's most secure and are estimated to be in as many as 100 million personal computers and servers, according to market research firm IDC.
When activated, the chips provide an additional layer of security by encrypting, or scrambling, data to prevent outsiders from viewing information on the machines. An extra password or identification such as a fingerprint is needed when the machine is turned on.
Many computers sold to businesses and consumers have such chips, though users might not turn them on. Users are typically given the choice to turn on a TPM chip when they first use a computer with it. If they ignore the offer, it's easy to forget the feature exists. However, computers needing the most security typically have TPM chips activated.
"You've trusted this chip to hold your secrets, but your secrets aren't that safe," said Tarnovsky, 38, who runs the Flylogic security consultancy in Vista, Calif., and demonstrated his hack last week at the Black Hat security conference in Arlington, Va.
The chip Tarnovsky hacked is a flagship model from Infineon Technologies AG, the top maker of TPM chips. And Tarnovsky says the technique would work on the entire family of Infineon chips based on the same design. That includes non-TPM chips used in satellite TV equipment, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game console and smart phones.
That means his attack could be used to pirate satellite TV signals or make Xbox peripherals, such as handheld controllers, without paying Microsoft a licensing fee, Tarnovsky said. Microsoft confirmed its Xbox 360 uses Infineon chips, but would only say that "unauthorized accessories that circumvent security protocols are not certified to meet our safety and compliance standards."
The technique can also be used to tap text messages and e-mail belonging to the user of a lost or stolen phone. Tarnovsky said he can't be sure, however, whether his attack would work on TPM chips made by companies other than Infineon.
Infineon said it knew this type of attack was possible when it was testing its chips. But the company said independent tests determined that the hack would require such a high skill level that there was a limited chance of it affecting many users.
"The risk is manageable, and you are just attacking one computer," said Joerg Borchert, vice president of Infineon's chip card and security division. "Yes, this can be very valuable. It depends on the information that is stored. But that's not our task to manage. This gives a certain strength, and it's better than an unprotected computer without encryption."
The Trusted Computing Group, which sets standards on TPM chips, called the attack "exceedingly difficult to replicate in a real-world environment." It added that the group has "never claimed that a physical attack given enough time, specialized equipment, know-how and money was impossible. No form of security can ever be held to that standard."
It stood by TPM chips as the most cost-effective way to secure a PC.
It's possible for computer users to scramble data in other ways, beyond what the TPM chip does. Tarnovsky's attack would do nothing to unlock those methods. But many computer owners don't bother, figuring the TPM security already protects them.
Tarnovsky needed six months to figure out his attack, which requires skill in modifying the tiny parts of the chip without destroying it.
Using off-the-shelf chemicals, Tarnovsky soaked chips in acid to dissolve their hard outer shells. Then he applied rust remover to help take off layers of mesh wiring, to expose the chips' cores. From there, he had to find the right communication channels to tap into using a very small needle.
The needle allowed him to set up a wiretap and eavesdrop on all the programming instructions as they are sent back and forth between the chip and the computer's memory. Those instructions hold the secrets to the computer's encryption, and he didn't find them encrypted because he was physically inside the chip.
Even once he had done all that, he said he still had to crack the "huge problem" of figuring out how to avoid traps programmed into the chip's software as an extra layer of defense.
"This chip is mean, man it's like a ticking time bomb if you don't do something right," Tarnovsky said.
Joe Grand, a hardware hacker and president of product- and security-research firm Grand Idea Studio Inc., saw Tarnovsky's presentation and said it represented a huge advancement that chip companies should take seriously, because it shows that presumptions about security ought to be reconsidered.
"His work is the next generation of hardware hacking," Grand said.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010 08:13 ||
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#1
I wonder, could it have anything to do with the "Surf & Turf Nudist Colony" in Sharjah UAE ?
/no such place
Posted by: Unereth Darling of the Huns6805 ||
02/08/2010 11:24 Comments ||
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#2
In a brief statement responding to questions, building owner Emaar Properties blamed the closure on "unexpected high traffic," but then suggested that electrical problems were also at fault.
In'shallah Electrical Engineering. Nah, boys, I wouldn't worry about it...
#3
Ervin Hladnik-Milharcic, 55, a Slovenian writer planning to visit the city for the first time this month, said he hoped the Burj would reopen soon.
"It was the one thing I really wanted to see," he said. "The tower was projected as a metaphor for Dubai. So the metaphor should work. There are no excuses."
Hahahaha Ervin, it works as more of a metaphor than you think.
#1
Sing to the tune of `Sunscreen` - Baz Luhrmann:
Drink Alcohol.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, alcohol would be it.
The long-term benefits of alcohol have been consistently misunderstood by scientists,
whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own drunken experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your alcohol tolerance.
Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your alcohol tolerance until it's faded.
But trust me, in 20 years,
you'll look back at photos of yourself puking in a gutter and recall in a way you can't grasp now
how much alcohol you drank and how fabulous it really was.
You are not as sick as you imagine.
Don't worry about where the next beer is coming from.
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to pull a page three model after 15 pints of Stella.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your drink-addled mind,
like the unexpected lack of ale in the fridge on some idle Tuesday.
Drink one thing every day that scares you.
Sing badly.
Be reckless when buying other people drinks.
Don't put up with people who are reckless when buying yours.
Gargle.
Don't waste your time on shandy.
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.
The race is long and, in the end, it's only to the bar.
Make up compliments you received. Return the insults.
If you don't succeed in doing this, drink more beer now.
Keep your old ring pulls. Throw away your old cans.
Wretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know when you might dry-out in your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 when they would sober up.
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still haven't.
Get plenty of kebabs.
Don't be too kind to your liver. You'll hardly miss it when it's gone.
Maybe you'll pull, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll get some bird up the duff, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll enter rehab at 40,
maybe you'll dance the nude conga at your 75th University Reunion.
Whatever you do, congratulate yourself far too much and berate others.
Your choices are half alcohol influenced. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy someone else's body. Use it every way you can.
Don't be afraid of it or of what the lads might think of it.
It's probably the only time you'll ever pull.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but on the street with a can of Special Brew.
Ignore the directions, don't ever follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines,
just cut out the pictures and put them on your wall.
Get to know your parents. You never know when you'll have to tap them for some cash.
Be nice to your barman.
They're your best link to the bar and the person most likely to stop you getting your head kicked by a bouncer
when paralytic in the future.
Understand that favourite drinks come and go,
but with a precious flammable few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in strength and consistency,
because the older you get, the harder it will be to neck ales like when you were young.
Live in London once, but leave before it makes you a ponce.
Live in Liverpool once, but leave before everything you own gets stolen.
Dribble.
Accept certain inalienable truths:
Beer prices will rise.
Bouncers will throw you out.
You, too, will get a hangover.
And when you do, you'll fantasise that when you were young,
prices were reasonable,
bouncers couldn't catch you,
and hangovers were NEVER as bad as this.
Respect alcoholics.
Don't expect anyone else to buy you a beer.
Maybe you'll have a huge overdraft. Maybe you'll have a wealthy bird.
But you never know when either one might stop getting you p*ssed.
Don't mess too much with alcopops or by the time you're 25 you will look like a faggot.
Be careful whose cheap booze you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Cheap booze is a form of rip-off.
Dispensing it is a way of fishing old stock from the disposal, wiping it off,
painting over the sell-by date and re-selling it for more than it's worth.
Preach it, brother!
Rep. Mike Noel, the Legislature's chief climate-change skeptic, declared Thursday that global warming is a conspiracy to control world population.
The House Natural Resources Committee then approved a resolution that expresses the Utah Legislature's belief that "climate alarmists' carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures."
The resolution, sent to the House on a 10-1 vote, would urge the Environmental Protection Agency to drop plans to regulate the pollution blamed for climate change "until a full and independent investigation of the climate data conspiracy and global warming science can be substantiated."
"We're at the breaking point," said Rep. Kerry Gibson, the resolution's sponsor, who warned that the supply of safe and affordable food is already threatened by over-regulation. More from the Deseret News:
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2010 20:42 ||
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Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010 08:00 ||
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#1
There have been nastier snow storms elsewhere in this nation - this year - that have got ZERO press coverage....
It's sad.
Example: I have an 89 year old aunt - on her ranch in Montana - who had 11 foot drifts in the last storm between the house and garage/barn. Average amt on the ground was about the same as D.C. got. Coverage in the press of the storm? ZERO....
#5
Dear little old lady ranchers in Montana are generally merely inconvenienced by 11' snow drifts, being accustomed to and prepared for them. The Mid-Atlantic is neither, and so 6-24" of frozen precipitation causes everything to stop dead. Therefore Montana's situation is not news, but the East Coast's is.
#7
#6 3dc, the little old lady would be substantially harder hit by the storm if she had to put up with Baltimore drivers at the same time.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-02-08 11:25
#8
"6-24 [inches] of frozen precipitation causes everything to stop dead."
2 - 3 inches of snow will cause DC to stop dead. One of the funniest experiences one of my Minnesota program managers had was visiting the Pentagon and discovering was shutting down because of 2 inches of snow. Apparently the entire Federal Gov't is like that.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/08/2010 11:54 Comments ||
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#9
DC shut down during Dutch's birthday may be labeled as 'Signs and Portents'.
#10
Unlike in Montana, the traffic in the DC-Balt area is close to gridlock on many pm peak hours.
When a storm comes and a few lanes are closed (and in this case the transit system is operating at only a fraction of its capacity), opening Govt results in traffic disaster.
MT has excess traffic capacity.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/08/2010 13:00 Comments ||
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#11
When it's bad up here, all "non-essential" government workers are told to stay home. So nobody shows up.
#13
At least a nephew came along with a front-end loader to remove her drifts so she could help her 400 Angus cows in the barn calf so that new generations of hi-quality steak could be avialble for the Snowmageddon sufferers to get fat on next year....
In my previous DoD job I was considered essential personnel so along with my colleagues I kept a change of clothes etc. at work in case I needed to crash on a local couch when a bad storm hit. Usually though I just inched my way over the mountain and down the icy winding road.
Mr. Lotp is still in that category and still does. I on the other hand am in a different job and no longer in such a status. Instead I have to fight Beltway traffic and bureaucrats.
(Kyodo)--Ruling Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa said Monday he has asked that the United States give "sufficient time" for U.S. President Barack Obama to meet with him if it wants him to visit the country.
The ruling party kingpin made the remark amid reports that Ozawa is considering visiting the United States sometime around Japan's Golden Week holidays from late April after Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, asked him to do so when they met in Tokyo last week. "If I go over, I would expect that President Obama take sufficient time (to meet with me) and I made that request," Ozawa told a regular press conference at the party's head office in Tokyo.
He also said he would not engage in any policy talks with U.S. officials if he visits the country, underlining that his visit would be simply aimed at deepening bilateral friendship or ties between the DPJ and the U.S. Democrats.
Ozawa is expected to arrange his itinerary while taking into consideration the schedule of the ongoing ordinary Diet session.
Upon his return from his trip to Asia, Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters in Washington last Thursday that he asked Ozawa to take a delegation of DPJ lawmakers to the U.S. capital sometime during Golden Week.
In their meeting Feb. 2 in Tokyo, Ozawa and Campbell discussed the stalled issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, but did not go into detail, according to Campbell.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010 08:06 ||
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#1
He also said he would not engage in any policy talks with U.S. officials if he visits the country, underlining that his visit would be simply aimed at deepening bilateral friendship or ties between the DPJ and the U.S. Democrats.
Then stay home and do not waste the president's time.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
ed, time the President wastes is generally an improvement over other ways he would spend it.
#3
"If I go over, I would expect that President Obama take sufficient time (to meet with me)
Hand shakes and bowing, Dreams & Audacity book signing and gifting, more bowing and head nods, photo session, Toyota lecture and admonishment...we're now up to 14 minutes. That leaves you one minute Ozi.
FOUR disgruntled senior citizens have faced a German court of tying up, kidnapping and holding hostage their financial adviser after sustaining heavy losses in investments in the US property market.
The four, two married couples aged between 63 and 79, as well as an alleged co-conspirator, were charged with ambushing the 56-year-old adviser, tying him up with tape and driving him across Germany, holding him hostage for four days last June.
The hostage made a bid for freedom during the 480km journey, when the kidnappers let him out of the boot of the car for air, but he was recaptured and sustained two broken ribs in the struggle.
The defendants then allegedly tied the adviser up in a cellar and forced him to sign documents promising to recoup some 2.5 million ($3.9 million) in rotten investments.
However, according to media reports, the adviser managed to encode a secret SOS message in a fax to a Swiss colleague, who called the police. A team of commandos stormed the address, which they had worked out using details from the fax. The defendants gave themselves up without resistance.
A verdict in the case is expected on March 23.
The main suspect, identified only as Roland K, faces up to 15 years behind bars. If convicted, he would be released just before his 90th birthday.
One of the suspects, 67-year-old Gerhard F, did not appear in court due to ill health.
#1
Wouldn't this story have made a great old-timey type movie? Could have starred people like the late Peter Sellers, Jackie Gleason and others of that era.
PARIS (AP) - France has agreed to sell Russia an advanced amphibious warship and is considering a Russian request for three more, French defense officials said Monday. It would be the first major arms deal between Russia and a NATO member. French President Nicolas Sarkozy approved the sale of one Mistral assault ship after months of discussions, but then Russian naval officials submitted a request for three more, said Jacques de Lajugie, head of international development at the French arms agency DGA.
They've been talking about this for a while. The Russians have been lusting after a large assault ship they could use. For example, in the Black Sea ...
"We are in the process of examining" this new request, de Lajugie said at a news conference, predicting a decision in the coming weeks. He said the new request came not at the "political level" but from the general staff of the Russian Navy.
Among outstanding questions in the deal are where the Mistral would be built, de Lajugie said. No details about price were released.
Possessing a Mistral, which can carry 16 helicopters, would significantly increase the Russian military's capability to mount quick offensives. France sent a Mistral, which weighs 23,700 tons (21,500 metric tons) and is 980 feet (299 meters) long, to visit St. Petersburg last year in a clear sign of interest in a potential sale.
NATO members and Russia have had some small, country-to-country technology deals in the past but this would be the first sale of a major piece of equipment by a NATO nation to Moscow.
The prospect of the deal has alarmed some ex-Soviet countries.
"I believe that it's not a good idea to sell such ship to a country that has occupied another nation's territory," Temur Yakobashvili, a Georgian cabinet minister for reintegration who is in charge of issues related to separatist regions, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview after the French announcement.
The Mistral can anchor in coastal waters and deploy troops on land, a capacity the Russian navy now lacks. Russia's navy chief said last year that a ship like the Mistral would have allowed the Russian navy to mount a much more efficient action in the Black Sea during the Georgia-Russia war. He said the French ship would take just 40 minutes to do the job that the Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels did in 26 hours.
Russia's Interfax news agency had quoted naval first deputy chief of staff Vice Adm. Oleg Burtsev as saying the deal "is unlikely to happen in February or March this year, but work on the matter is continuing."
President Dmitry Medvedev visits France in March. Russia has been looking at similar ships made in Spain and the Netherlands.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010 08:05 ||
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The Russians have been lusting after a large assault ship they could use. For example, in the Black Sea ...
The problem for the Russians is that the Turks are can block the passage of any aircraft carrier thought Bosporus. So it needs to be built on the Black Sea and that means Ukrainian ship yards. But things are looking up for Putin as the re-absorption of the Ukraine is proceeding w/o western objections.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010 9:35 Comments ||
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I seem to remember a couple of times , 'secret' russian ships/subs going under the Bosphorus Bridge with the worlds press on top, happy snapping .
They eventually learnt their lesson and moved ship building to another venue, whilst Syrian port of Tartous, aids them too. Obvious cause for concern .
Posted by: Oscar ||
02/08/2010 10:41 Comments ||
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Now if you did ship procurement for the Indian Navy, wouldn't you have to ask yourself why you gave the Russians ship contracts when they in turn give the French a ship contract. Heh.
#4
Russia's navy chief said last year that a ship like the Mistral would have allowed the Russian navy to mount a much more efficient action in the Black Sea during the Georgia-Russia war.
Not even bothering to hide their intentions for this ship, eh?
#5
The Mistral Sale and the Russian Information War on Georgia First Caucasian Channel began broadcasting on Eutelsats new W7 satellite on January 15th, and it only took 2 days for Russia to complain about the channel. The channel was created by the Public Television of Georgia earlier this year with a main objective "to bring truth to peoples in North Caucasus - to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan as well as to Russian republics in the Caucasus that fight against the Kremlin's armed forces." The channel was taken off the air after being up for less than two weeks.
As we watch Russia leverage their unequal national power to influence France, keep an eye on eastern European countries like Poland. This will get bigger than Russia, Georgia, and France before it is all over, and the potential for long term consequences in Eastern Europe is not trivial.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010 14:38 Comments ||
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Now if you did ship procurement for the Indian Navy, wouldn't you have to ask yourself why you gave the Russians ship contracts
The Indian Navy Captain who held up a Russian Destroyer contract because of a non-working Shtil missile system died in a mysterious automobile accident while taking a morning walk.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2010 16:18 Comments ||
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Went to ed's link and saw a good picture of the ship in question. Dunno much about such things...assuming it has some kind of defense against anti-ship missiles but it looks like a pretty fat target. Of course, the Ruskies would scream bloody murder if somebody were to sell the Georgians some silkworms.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former Ukrainian prime minister and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, is the winner of the presidential run-off in the former Soviet state, exit polls suggest.
Yanukovich has acquired more than 48 percent of the ballots, while his main rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has collect only 45 percent.
Tymoshenko's top aide said on Sunday that it is too soon to declare the winner, claiming that massive rigging has taken place, AFP reported.
Both candidates have accused each other of plotting to rig the vote.
However, the controversial vote has been monitored by 500 international observers.
Tymoshenko has warned that she'll "rally people" if she loses the race. Yanukovich led Tymoshenko by 10 percent in the first round of elections on January 17.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010 00:00 ||
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The question is not who did rig the votes and who not. It is who did it better. Guess Yanukovich is a better rigger.
Also, many Ukrainians think that because they can't rely on West to come to their aid, they need to look eastward, and Yanukovich may be better choice in that regard (whether they are mistaken or not is another matter). C'est la vie.
#2
Ukraine is burdened with immutable locational obsolescence. Do these results mean we can go back to calling it The Ukraine? Ukraine sounds naked. It's as if we had begun calling Argentina Argentine.
#6
DAILY TIMES.PK > PRO-RUSSIA PARTY WINS UKRAINE ELECTIONS.
HMMMM, HMMMM, interesting historical turnabout centuries in the making e.g. "BACK TO THE FUTURE" > OWG-NWO = RUSSIA TAKES BACK EASTERN EUROPE = EURO-UNION; whilst the MUSLIM SARACENS finally takeover POST-CHARLES MARTEL/TOURS FRANCE, + REMAINDER OF [non-Russ]CONTINENTAL EUROPE, + LOOK FORWARD TO INVADIN' ENGLAND.
The Obama Administration has been moving full-speed ahead on anticarbon regulation, never mind waiting for Congress to pass a bill. But now opposition is building among senior Democrats, with two powerful committee Chairmen introducing a bill last week to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from declaring that carbon is a dangerous pollutant. Better to have no jobs and no CO2? EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is busy writing new rules that would let her drive a tax-and-regulation bulldozer through the U.S. economy under laws never meant to apply to greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson is expected to issue new anticarbon regulations for cars and trucks next month before moving on to power plants and other industries. Jobs, that's what we need more of, JOBS!
This is all too much for Missouri's Ike Skelton and Minnesota's Collin Peterson, the Chairmen of the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees, respectively. Along with Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson, they are pushing a two-page bill that would amend the Clean Air Act to restore Congress's original intent and strip CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the statutory language.
This is bipartisanship we can believe in. Such legislation would vaporize the EPA's "endangerment finding" for carbon and thus require the Administration to use democratic debate and persuasion if it really wants to reshape the energy markets and impose huge new costs on American consumers. What a thought.
"If Congress doesn't do something soon, the EPA is going to cram these regulations through all on their own," Mr. Peterson said. "I have no confidence that EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act without severe harm to all taxpayers." Cramming is Congress' job!
Added Mr. Skelton: "Simply put, we cannot tolerate turning over the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions to unelected bureaucrats at EPA. America's energy and environmental policies should be set by Congress." Yes, they should be. Hmmmm...Does that apply to anything else?
The Skelton-Peterson-Emerson bill follows a similar effort by North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy, not to mention Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski's coming "disapproval resolution" in the Senate that has the support of Democrats Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln.
Our one caveat here is that Messrs. Skelton and Peterson are doing the right thing for the wrong reason--specifically, to defend the ethanol industry. Their bill includes provisions that would expand the definition of renewable fuels and make it easier for corn ethanol and soy biodiesel to qualify for federal tax credits. This is despite the growing shelf of studies that common crop-based fuels increase carbon emissions because of land-use changes and deforestation. Compromise was intended by the Founding Fathers.
In any case, Ms. Jackson released final rules last week that would allow ethanol to maintain its mandate on the U.S. fuel supply, requiring her agency to back down from the more restrictive and supposedly science-based rules that it had proposed last year. Ms. Jackson insisted that EPA wasn't "dumbing down" its regulations, but her bow to the ethanol lobby revealed the death-grip it exerts on Congress.
Yet in the case of carbon regulation--an even dumber policy--we'll take what we can get. If the power of farm-state politicians ends up stopping the EPA's global-warming power grab, it would be the first good thing ethanol has done for the country.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/08/2010 13:32 ||
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Yeah! Who the hell do they think they are? They can't rip off the hicks!
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) has strongly condemned the thrashing of Prof Tahir Malik by Brig (retd) Obaidullah Ranjha at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML).
In a statement, Prof Kaleemullah Barheech (President), Dr Abdul Quddus Suhaib (Vice-President) and Badar Soomro (General Secretary) condemned the harsh treatment of an academician by a retired military officer, who was "illegally appointed" in the NUML.
Calling it a mean and shameful incident, the FAPUASA office-bearers called for immediate removal of Ranjha from the post of the registrar.
They regretted that FAPUASA had already demanded the appointment of serving professors as vice-chancellors in the universities but the demand had not yet been accepted by the Higher Education Commission. They reiterated the demand of removing ex-army officers and retired bureaucrats from the top positions, including administrative ones, from all universities in the country.
The federation warned that it would start a protest campaign in all universities if the retired brigadier was not immediately removed from the post of the registrar, NUML.
Academic Staff Association, Quaid-i-Azam University, also strongly condemned the incident of violence against a professor at NUML.
Reacting strongly to the drama, Dr Eatzaz Ahmad, President ASA, recommended immediate dismissal of Brig (retd) Ranjha from service. He said the practice of appointing Army officers as administrative heads of universities is an insult to academics and this practice should be ended.
He also appealed to President Asif Zardari and governors of the four provinces, who are chancellors of public-sector universities, to remove all Army officers from universities so that they can function as independent academic institutions.
The ASA head said if the NUML registrar was not removed, the QAU ASA will soon formulate a course of action.
Dr Gulraiz Akhter, ASA Secretary, QAU, said Brig (retd) Ranjha should be immediately suspended pending the inquiry. He said no one expects such behaviour from the educated people and that also against an academician.
Another QAU faculty member said even in the universities run by armed forces, the VCs or rectors should be academicians. He said if the HEC envisages VCs in public sector universities to be those possessing the qualifications required by a full professor, including a PhD degree, the same criteria should be applied to universities like NUST, NDU, Behria and Air Universities. Otherwise, he said, the HEC should cancel their charters and revoke degree awarding status of such institutions.
QAU alumni association, Quaideen, also condemned the brutal treatment of a respected professor, who is also a member of Quaideen at the hands of an ex-Army officer. They expressed dismay and surprise that the incident is taking place at a time when the country is being run by a democratic government.
Talking to The News, Asif Noor, secretary of the alumni, appealed to President Zardari to remove all ex-Army officers from academic and administrative posts by acting as chancellor of federal universities, especially from NUML as per standards already set by the HEC for the post of vice-chancellors/rectors.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010 00:00 ||
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In a 40 year flashback to the glories of 1960's anti-war outrage, infamously left-wing Riverside Church in New York City is hosting a "Truth Commission on Conscience in War" next month. This special hearing, in the spirit of "truth commissions," will evidently "explore and investigate systemic injustices, political violence, and mass atrocities" by the U.S., presumably in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It will "receive testimony, process their findings, and recommend strategies for change, healing, and reconciliation," while lifting "up the silenced and invisible voices of victims, offering survivors a public forum to testify to their experiences."
The "commissioners" of this "truth commission" includes a who's who of far-left religious activism. The testifiers are mostly a small circle of embittered veterans and conspiracy theorists, including former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who's still pondering possible U.S. involvement in contriving 9-11.
So the March 21-22 spectacle at dramatically gothic Riverside Church on New York's upper West Side will be an absurd theater of macabre conspiracy speculations, sanctimonious guilt trips about supposed U.S. crimes, and indignant condemnations of everyone not on the far-left who has failed to advocate full surrender to jihadist Islam. In short, it might be wonderful entertainment, if not treated too seriously. The ghost of the late William Sloane Coffin, former Riverside pastor, may even haunt the commission's somber hearing, ghoulishly chanting old protest slogans from the Vietnam War era. Coffin Still In Coffin: Film at eleven...
Among the testifiers will be Iraq War Veteran Logan Latuiri, who evidently left the military when he was not permitted to redeploy to Iraq without a gun. Recently active with Christian Peacemaking Teams [in Israel and "Palestine"] and his own anti-war group, Centurion's Guild, Latuiri announced on Jim Wallis' Sojourners blog that he is "overjoyed" to join in the Riverside Church "truth commission" extravaganza. The former soldier pronounced himself a "strict pacifist" and opined hopefully that the Riverside hearing will "build bridges" between pacifism and Just War believers.
Given the locale and organizers, the "truth commission" is far likelier to become a Stalinist-style denunciation of and trial without jury of America's supposed crimes against humanity. The project director oddly is radical feminist theologian Rita Nakashima Brock, who is more experienced in challenging the patriarchy and heterosexism than in exposing American militarism. Other commissioners include Princeton University's George Hunsinger of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture [by the U.S.], former Riverside Church pastor James Forbes, former Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) President Richard Hamm, left-wing Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center, United Methodism's Drew University Theological School President Maxine Beach, and New York's Union Seminary President Serene Jones.
Sponsors of the hearing include the Catholic Peace Fellowship, Yale Divinity School, Iraq Veterans Against the War, the United Church of Christ's Justice & Witness Ministries, the Mennonite Central Committee,
Mennonites? Oh dear.
the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and the World Christian Student Federation, among many others. The nearly same caste could easily have been assembled 25 years ago for a church rally in Manhattan for Sandinista chief Daniel Ortega. Perhaps the causes change slightly with time, but the groups remain largely the same, seamlessly moving from one bash America cause to the next.
Defending the Riverside Church hearing over which she will preside, Rita Nakashima Brock recently denounced President Obama's surge in Afghanistan as the "strongest evidence of his failure both as Commander-in-Chief and as a peacemaker." After all, Afghanistan is just "another quagmire like Vietnam," an equally "endless, poorly planned, losing war begun by one president and continued by his successors." But Religious Left activists like Brock, who portray all of Western Civilization as a dark and patriarchal, oppressive manacle on suffering humanity, cannot imagine any war in defense of America with moral merit.
Supposedly the Riverside hearing, as Brock described it in an op-ed, will thoughtfully articulate how individual military personnel should, as a religious freedom, have the "right to object to a particular war." After all, they " undertake tremendous risks and hardship to protect the nation," should not have to "sacrifice their consciences to serve," and instead should be able to "continue serving, in good conscience, the country they love." Those careful words sound nice. But in actuality, Brock and most of the others would like an emasculated military full of Christian Peacemaking Team activists, never willing to carry arms, but more than willing to perform as pacifist neutralists who obstruct all "violence."
In his Sojourners blog, Logan Laituri gave a foretaste about the "truth commission's" bent by bemoaning how in "our representative form of government, it is hard to escape even a fraction of complicity for the damage we are causing across the world." Indeed, he knows that the "military as it exists today is a system that makes it difficult to do good and very easy to do evil." Evidently, the guilt-laden spectacle next month at Riverside Church will help to ease his conscience about serving in Iraq. Even more importantly, it will help Religious left activists like Rita Brock smugly feign moral superiority not only over military personnel but most Americans, including most Christians, who are not intrinsically ashamed of their country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010 10:25 ||
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The MSM ought to put this on primetime. It's gotta be funnier than anything that passes for a comedy these days.
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.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is busy writing new rules that would let her drive a tax-and-regulation bulldozer through the U.S. economy under laws never meant to apply to greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson is expected to issue new anticarbon regulations for cars and trucks next month before moving on to power plants and other industries.
In a 40 year flashback to the glories of 1960's anti-war outrage, infamously left-wing Riverside Church in New York City is hosting a "Truth Commission on Conscience in War" next month. This special hearing, in the spirit of "truth commissions," will evidently "explore and investigate systemic injustices, political violence, and mass atrocities" by the U.S., presumably in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It will "receive testimony, process their findings, and recommend strategies for change, healing, and reconciliation," while lifting "up the silenced and invisible voices of victims, offering survivors a public forum to testify to their experiences."
