Free Republic

World's biggest drug seizure in Afghanistan By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor Last Updated: 12:38AM BST 12/06/2008 Afghanistan's police claim to have made the largest drugs seizure in history after they discovered hashish worth at least £200 million. Afghan counter narcotics officials uncovered 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan About 260 tons of narcotics were found in trenches and bunkers in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. No previous haul comes close to matching this find, which weighed roughly the same as 30 double-decker buses. The previous record was set by Colombia's security forces when they uncovered...

BOSTON (AP) — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's hospitalization after a seizure stretched to a third day Monday, raising questions about the severity of his illness. The senator's office announced that he is not expected to return to Washington this week, and a spokeswoman said the Massachusetts Democrat had not been available to take a call from President Bush earlier in the day. "Take care of my friend," the president told Vicki Kennedy, who answered the call from the White House to Massachusetts General Hospital, according to Kennedy spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. There was no word on how long Kennedy, 76, would...

‘Blake is having a seizure, and they’re hurting him’Blake Dwyer remembers pain: The agonizing burn of electrical shock. And shouting. And fear. “I thought a swarm of wasps was after me,” the 17-year-old Guyer High School athlete said. “I was trying to fight them off.” He doesn’t remember the epileptic seizure he suffered July 18, 2007, when he was 16. He doesn’t remember fighting to keep from being tied to a stretcher or hitting a paramedic. His brother, Travis Baker, 17, remembers all of it. He recalls screaming at Corinth police to stop shocking Blake with a Taser. His mother,...

BOSTON - A spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Kennedy says he is conscious and talking to family after he suffered a seizure in his Cape Cod home and was flown to a Boston hospital. The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat fell ill at his home Saturday morning and was rushed to a local hospital. He later was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure. Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said he is "conscious, talking, joking with family." His wife, children and niece Caroline Kennedy are among those with him at the hospital. The second longest serving member of the Senate...

Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims. ADVERTISEMENT But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images. The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons. The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that...

Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims. But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.

EL PASO — Customs agents found nearly $1.9 million hidden in the doors of a sport utility vehicle at an El Paso port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Tuesday. Agents found the cash, wrapped in bundles and hidden in the doors of a 1992 Ford Expedition, after using a density meter to inspect the vehicle Monday morning, CBP spokesman Roger Maier said. "The driver was a little bit nervous, a little bit shaky," Maier said. "So the agents used ... a density meter. It registered higher than normal, consistent with contraband. They started looking closer at...

LIMA — Two robbers who broke into Luther Ricks Sr.’s house this summer may have not gotten his life savings he had in a safe, but after the FBI confiscated it he may not get it back. Ricks has tried to get an attorney to fight for the $402,767 but he has no money. Lima Police Department officers originally took the money from his house but the FBI stepped in and took it from the Police Department. Ricks has not been charged with a crime and was cleared in a fatal shooting of one of the robbers but still the...

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...