DUBAI (Reuters) - Thousands of Iranians chanting “Death to America” rallied on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the imminent reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.
"Sponsored" by their government, of course, which means you either get out there and show your support or you get killed. But you have a choice, so there's that.
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Pot's legal nationwide in Canada, but Canadians are now undergoing more scrutiny at Canadian/US border crossings because it's still illegal in much of the the USA. Canadians who are found to have ingested the weed - even decades ago - are turned away and banned for life from entering the USA.
The Canadian government warned people pre-legalization that "previous use of cannabis, or any substance prohibited by U.S. federal laws, could mean that you are denied entry to the U.S." An American customs official recently told CBC News that those found at the border with cannabis on their person, or in their car, could face arrest and prosecution by U.S. officials.
Welp, now it's happening. That'll harsh the buzz, for sure.
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Over the past two weeks, Indian police have been bursting into suspected illegal call centres, arresting everyone in sight and seizing troves of equipment used to carry out phone fraud aimed at foreigners. Police say they arrested 28 people in just one of their sweeps, including two seen as the kingpins of the operation. Most are in their twenties.
Dozens of scam centres are believed to still be active in multiple cities across India, each with independent managers and using their own technology to evade detection.
In Canada, their version of the IRS is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and the Indian scammers have been hitting taxpayers heavily. It works like this:
The CRA scam, just one of the criminal schemes operated from the centres, typically begins with a robocall claiming to be from the CRA and telling the recipient that they owe taxes. The target is informed that they must call back — or face arrest and imprisonment.
Call spoofing technology is used to make it appear the number is in Canada, and sometimes even originating from a legitimate CRA contact centre. Those who call back are subjected to further threats, but then offered a one-time chance to pay and settle the matter. Thousands of Canadians have done exactly that over the past several years, at an estimated cost of more than $10 million, falling prey to the dozens of call centres using the same scheme.
Eh, they also target Americans, pretending they're from the IRS, but the format's the same. Personally, I use NoMoRobo, which really cuts down on the robocalls. The victims who fall for this scam are generally older people or recent immigrants, of course. One good rule of thumb is to bear in mind that revenue agencies in the US and Canada rarely call - they send letters if they believe there's a problem. If one receives a call purporting to be from IRS or CRA, it's likely a scammer.
The bulk of the call centres operate in Mumbai, India's largest metropolis.
And naturally, in some case, the police are involved in them; a little extra money goes a long way when it comes to limiting operational difficulties.
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17 year-old Mikhail Zhlobitsky, a student at a local technical college, walked into an FSB office in the northwestern Russia city of Arkhangelsk and detonated an explosive device, killing himself and injuring three FSB employees. No motive has been identified, so the Russians are describing it as a terrorist attack.
Russia's Federal Security Bureau doesn't seem all that secure, really.
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U.S. troops landed in Iceland last week ahead of the start the largest NATO military exercise since the Cold War, and apparently, they left their mark in the most appropriate way possible: by drinking every last beer in the nation’s capital.
A significant number of bars in downtown Reykjavík were forced to make emergency beer runs under the onslaught of thirsty American sailors and Marines in town for the start of Trident Juncture 18, Iceland Magazine reports.
The local blogger Eiríkur Jónsson spoke to restaurateurs who said they had never experienced a similar situation. Bar owners who ran out of beer tried to solve the issue by borrowing from bars which were better stocked, while members of the delivery team from Ölgerðin were called out to help the bar owners cope, but “they were fighting an overwhelming force,” as Eiríkur puts it.
Clever, but it seems doubtful that the tactic would work against the Russians.
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U.S. troops landed in Iceland last week ahead of the start the largest NATO military exercise since the Cold War, and apparently, they left their mark in the most appropriate way possible: by drinking every last beer in the nation’s capital.
A significant number of bars in downtown Reykjavík were forced to make emergency beer runs under the onslaught of thirsty American sailors and Marines in town for the start of Trident Juncture 18, Iceland Magazine reports.
The local blogger Eiríkur Jónsson spoke to restaurateurs who said they had never experienced a similar situation. Bar owners who ran out of beer tried to solve the issue by borrowing from bars which were better stocked, while members of the delivery team from Ölgerðin were called out to help the bar owners cope, but “they were fighting an overwhelming force,” as Eiríkur puts it.
Clever, but it seems doubtful that the tactic would work against the Russians.
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An Austrian woman's conviction for calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile did not violate her freedom of speech, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday. The woman in 2009 held two seminars entitled "Basic Information on Islam," during which she likened Muhammad's marriage to a six-year-old girl, Aisha, to pedophilia.
The marriage according to Islamic tradition was consummated when Aisha was nine and Muhammad was around 50. An Austrian court later convicted the woman of disparaging religion and fined her €480 ($546). Other domestic courts upheld the decision before the case was brought before the ECHR.
Well, it seems incontrovertible that Muhammad, at 56, having sex with a nine year-old qualifies as pedophilia. What else do you call it? But oh! That would offend the peaceful religion. Can't have that!
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About 2000 of them have, according to Mexico, dropped out to apply for asylum in that country, while several hundred more have accepted free bus rides back to their countries of origin.
And the police are doing their thing as well:
The Associated Press saw federal police officers force a half-dozen passenger vans to pull over and make the drivers kick migrants off, while leaving Mexican passengers aboard. In a climate where heat makes walking nearly impossible at midday, such tactics may eventually take a toll on migrants’ health.
Whatever it takes.
Espinosa, a tortilla maker from Cortes, Honduras, said there was no work back home. “That’s why we decided to come here, to give a better future for our children,” she said.
That's all well and good - come here legally or make a better future for your children back home. Illegals? No thanks.
There are also large groups of men, some with criminal histories, aggressively demanding that the U.S. take them in. During a visit to the Guatemalan town of Chiquimula, about 35 miles from the Honduran border, Judicial Watch encountered a rowdy group of about 600 men, ages 17 to about 40, marching north on a narrow two-lane highway. Among them was a 40-year-old Honduran man who previously lived in the United States for decades and got deported. His English was quite good, and he said his kids and girlfriend live in the U.S. Another man in his 30s contradicted media reports that caravan participants are fleeing violence and fear for their life. “We’re not scared,” he said waving his index finger as others around him nodded in agreement. “We’re going to the United States to get jobs.” Others chanted “vamos para allá Trump!” (We’re coming Trump) as they clenched their fists in the air. “We need money and food,” said a 29-year-old man who made the trek with his 21-year-old brother.
Sorry, boys. Poverty isn't a metric used to grant admission; in fact, one of the requirements is that you need to be self-supporting, so you're out already.
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Corpses are exploding in Venezuelan morgues.
Due to the lack of refrigeration, many of the bodies in the morgue quickly enter what is known as the emphysematous phase of decomposition, when the bodies can no longer contain the gases and putrid fluids accumulated inside it before they burst.
Maduro, the head honcho down there, is threatening war with the USA. Maybe he's planning to shoot exploding corpses at us; it seems they have an almost unlimited supply.
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Yes, the invading army approaching our southern border is only coming here in hopes of achieving better lives as peaceful, law-abiding foreign nationals after breaking laws (and heads) to illegally enter the USA. Trump's made a good start in moving to cut "aid" to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador; ideally, that's just the beginning.
Calling up the military is an excellent move as well, since the Left Coast Democratics have made clear that they will not allow mobilization of National Guard troops to guard our nation. An end-run around those bozos is long overdue.
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