16. januar 2007

Reports: Taliban spokesman arrested The Afghans have reportedly taken the Taliban's spokesman. Intelligence service spokesman Sayed Ansari named him as Dr Muhammad Hanif, who has been speaking for Afghanistan's former rulers since October 2005. Mr Ansari told the Associated Press the spokesman had been detained on Monday. He did not say where he is being held. Dr Hanif's capture, if confirmed, would be a notable success for the Afghan government as it battles the Taleban. There have been some conflicting reports about what exactly is the position of Hanif in the Taliban. 7:55:38 PM    comment []  trackback []

Benon Sevan indicted for taking bribes from Saddam Hussein Benon Sevan is being indicted in the US. Former U.N. Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in New York federal court for allegedly taking bribes under the program from Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. authorities announced Tuesday. The charges, detailed in a joint press release by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and the Manhattan district attorney, came over a year after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker completed an investigation for the United Nations into the massively corrupted Oil-for-Food program that operated in Saddam's Iraq between 1996 and 2003. According to the press release, Sevan allegedly received $160,000 generated from the sale of Iraqi oil under the program from one Ephraim Nadler, an associate who was also indicted, on behalf of the government of Iraq. The money was allegedly used to pay off overdue credit cards and bills. Oh yeah, and let's remind ourselves about the UN's moral authority. PS: Everybody be careful about elevators! 7:49:38 PM    comment []  trackback []

Castro is ill. Very ill. Really very ill, honest. Oh, we've heard this one before, haven't we? Fidel Castro is in a "grave condition." The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro. In a report published on its Web site, El Pais said: "A grave infection in the large intestine, at least three failed operations and various complications have left the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, laid up with a very grave prognosis." Cuba has released little information on Castro's condition since he temporarily ceded power in July to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, until he could recover from emergency intestinal surgery, prompting much speculation and rumor in the country and around the world. El Pais' report, which could not immediately be confirmed, was a rare detailed description from a major media outlet about Castro's condition.  El Pais is considered quite reliable, but even if the diagnosis is correct, we know he's a stubborn old guy. Of course, he is 80, and being very ill at 80 is worse than being so at 60. He's going to pass away sooner or later. Is that bad or good for the Cubans? 7:45:28 PM    comment []  trackback []

Michigan court says adultery punishable by prison for life In Michigan, adultery can give prison for life, a court reluctantly finds. In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison. "We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion." "Technically," he added, "any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I," the most serious sexual assault charge in Michigan's criminal code. How about lashes? 7:15:23 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.02.2007; 06:23:08.