Free Republic

Zimbabwe's farm seizure blocked The land reform programme has been accompanied by violence A southern African regional court has ordered Zimbabwe not to proceed with the seizure of a white farmer's land. The Namibia-based Southern African Development Community (Sadc) tribunal ruled in favour of Mike Campbell, who argued that the seizure was racist. The outcome is seen as a blow to President Robert Mugabe's programme to transfer land to the black majority. The ruling should allow Mr Campbell to remain on his farm until Zimbabwe's Supreme Court hears a group challenge. Mr Campbell had asked the Sadc tribunal to overturn...

MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - A Moscow court has given the green light for the seizure of 100 pct of the shares of the Russian oil group Russneft, Russian news agencies reported, citing a Russian interior ministry statement. 'A Moscow court has approved the seizure of 100 pct of the shares of the company. Russneft shares have now been seized,' the statement said. The ministerial press office was unavailable for comment. The seizure follows a judicial procedure launched in January by the interior ministry's committee responsible for tax arrears. Another Moscow court had found in favour of the Russian fiscal authorities...

Jefferson linked to BR sugar companyBy GERARD SHIELDS Advocate Washington bureau Published: Jul 3, 2007 - Page: 1A WASHINGTON — Baton Rouge-based Arkel Sugar was the subject of two 2001 meetings between federal Export-Import Bank officials and U.S. Rep. William Jefferson or one of his aides about a sugar plant in Nigeria, bank officials have confirmed. Jefferson, a New Orleans Democrat, was indicted June 4 on a wide range of public corruption charges, including that he solicited bribes from companies wanting to do business in Nigeria. Jefferson has pleaded innocent to the 16 counts. The indictment accuses him of trying...

BRANFORD – A federal appeals court has upheld a decision that a former Branford High School teacher has to forfeit interest in his local home to the government, but decided that his wife shouldn't have to because she wasn't actively involved in her husband's marijuana cultivation. Harold Von Hofe and his wife, Kathleen, were charged in 2001 after police raided their 32 Medley Lane home and found 65 marijuana plants, glass smoking pipes and other items associated with the cultivation of marijuana in the house's basement. The Von Hofes ultimately resolved their criminal cases in state Superior Court. Harold Von...

The "Shadow Wolves" lead a 2½ ton pot bust on the Tohono O'odham Nation, worth an estimated $2 million. The Native American trackers spotted vehicle tracks leading off a road. The found two trucks concealed by tarps.

South Africa to step up land seizure By Bill Corcoran in Johannesburg and Mike Pflanz Last Updated: 2:29am GMT 02/03/2007 White farmers in South Africa who refuse to sell their property to the government under a land redistribution scheme were told yesterday that their property would be seized. Under an election promise made in 1994, the ruling African National Congress said it would return all land taken during colonisation or apartheid back to black South Africans by 2008. Many of the deals have gone through under a "willing buyer, willing seller" scheme, but farmers still holding out for a better...

Next big test of power to seize property? The US Supreme Court will examine whether a private company can demand payment in exchange for not seizing private property. By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Bart Didden wanted to put a CVS pharmacy on his property in Port Chester, N.Y. He even obtained approvals from the local planning board. But because a portion of the CVS site was in a blighted redevelopment zone, Mr. Didden was told that planning board approval wasn't enough. He'd have to reach an understanding with a private company that had been...

They are meant to reduce crime by helping police spot problems. By the end of the year, 40 cameras will cover 31 locations in the area. It's part of a plan first announced in January by Dallas Police. Grant money will cover the 840-thousand dollar price tag for the cameras. Police will monitor the cameras from their headquarters and City Hall. Some residents feel apprehensive about the surveillance, seeing it as an invasion of privacy. But others say the cameras could help curb petty crime and random violence.

(New Haven-WTNH, Sept. 19, 2006 10:45 PM) _ A student's refusal to walk through a safety detector earns him a trip home. For some the installation of metal detectors in schools is to better protect those inside. One New Haven student is refusing to walk the walk, questioning whether his rights are being violated. The district says it is like the right to enter a courtroom or get on a plane. It's new policy to keep young people safe. For this New Haven student it's all about his fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Nick...

In New Jersey, one's home is not one's castle after all. The real castle, it turns out, is the car. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled 4-3 yesterday that police do not need a reason to ask permission to search someone's home. The same court four years ago issued rules saying police must have a good reason before asking motorists if they can search their cars. Yesterday the court said the rules for cars -- which prohibit police from asking motorists if they can conduct a search unless they have "a reasonable and articulable suspicion" of criminal activity -- are...

This is story that would have made the front pages in ordinary times;but,happening as it did - on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 weekend - it went unremarked. Owing to the circumstances, Hugo Chavez might have been rather unhappy-and this might account for some of his snarky remarks this week !

AUBURN -- The man behind the wheel of the speeding vehicle thrashed in the throes of a grand mal seizure, but it seemed that only Jill Crowell recognized that fact. Early-morning traffic rolled en masse in both directions along the four lanes of Center Street as drivers scurried to their jobs, but the 2000 Chevrolet Blazer never slowed. Drivers pounded horns and wrestled with their steering wheels as the runaway vehicle tore into the roadway from a McDonald's parking lot. Crowell, one car back from the scene, heard the horns and saw the brake lights. But what she saw inside...

"Police blotter" is a weekly CNET News.com report on the intersection of technology and the law. What: A business traveler protests the warrantless search and seizure of his laptop by Homeland Security at the U.S.-Canada border. When: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on July 24. Outcome: Three-judge panel unanimously says that border police may conduct random searches of laptops without search warrants or probable cause. These searches can include seizing the laptop and subjecting it to extensive forensic analysis. What happened, according to court documents: In January 2004, Stuart Romm traveled to Las Vegas to attend a training seminar...

It's not been a bad week for the pro-firearms side of the ideological battle for America. On Monday, a California judge struck down San Francisco's ban on handgun possession by city residents. Proposition H was struck down after Superior Court Judge James Warren found that this latest attempt at handgun banning in San Franciso exceeded the powers of the local government; intruding into areas of law that were the sole purview of the State of California. Hence, Proposition H was tossed. Still no word on an appeal, but having had the same type of law struck down twice since the...

In some countries the use of eminent domain can be a life or death issue. Last June, in the small village of Shengyou, China, six people were killed and 50 injured in a bloody clash between farmers and hundreds of armed thugs sent by government operatives to seize their land. This was just one of thousands of disputes over land appropriation that take place each year in China Fueling these conflicts is the ambiguous nature of property ownership in China. The rights of farmers who hold land collectively are not made clear under Chinese law. Although farmers can acquire property...

WASHINGTON - When the US Supreme Court ruled in June that private homes may be seized to make room for commercial development projects, the decision ignited a firestorm of criticism. Outraged property-rights activists said the 5-to-4 opinion in Kelo v. New London would render homes and businesses nationwide vulnerable to government land-grabs to foster economic revitalization. Some ranked it among the high court's worst decisions, calling it this generation's Dred Scott. Now, six months later, the debate over property rights is still raging, but it is about to enter a new, more deliberative phase as state legislatures prepare to open...

  Dear Friend of the ACU:Kiss your civil liberties and right to privacy goodbye! Do you believe that you should be compelled to carry a National ID Card that is imprinted with your fingerprint or your DNA imprint or other highly personal and private information?Do you believe that you should be required to produce this ID card on demand -- when you go to the grocery store or cross state lines or pay your taxes or at the whim of some petty government bureaucrat?This is not science fiction folks -- nor is it a scene out of a futuristic "B-movie"...

DETROIT -- Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer had a seizure on the Detroit bench late in the first period of Monday night's game against the Nashville Predators and was listed in stable condition at a hospital. Fischer was given CPR at the bench by team physician Dr. Tony Colucci before the 25-year-old native of the Czech Republic was removed on a stretcher. The game was called off with no makeup date immediately announced. "His heart was stopped," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "They hooked up the auto defibrillator and shocked him." Team spokesman John Hahn said Fischer was taken...

For the past few years, we've been hearing from the liberals about how the Patriot Act is trampling our constitutional rights. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, not one American citizen has lost his/her rights because of the Patriot Act. Now, with no declaration of martial law, the 2nd Amendment is being illegally and openly violated by the New Orleans Police Department. Yet there is not one whimper from the liberals about the Constitution being trampled.

A few months ago, this ranch was known as Camp Thunderbird, the headquarters of a paramilitary group that promised to use force to keep illegal immigrants from sneaking across the border with Mexico. Now, the 70-acre property about two miles from the border is being given to two immigrants whom the group caught trying to enter the United States illegally. The land transfer is being made to satisfy judgments in a lawsuit in which the immigrants had said that Casey Nethercott, the owner of the ranch and a former leader of the vigilante group Ranch Rescue, had harmed them. "Certainly...