Free Republic

Ghislaine Maxwell kept a 58-page list of rules that ordered staff at Jeffrey Epstein’s estates to “see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing” — and to always make sure the couple had a gun nearby at night. The accused madam’s sex-trafficking trial got to see the “Maxwell Household Manual” on Thursday as former housekeeper Juan Alessi testified about the “very degrading” way staff were treated. The 2005 manual — which was entered into evidence — showed the lengths Maxwell, the 59-year-old “lady of the house,” went to in ensuring that Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., was “like a five-star hotel.”...

KILLING a teacher is no problem as long as they have received a warning and a solid beating, but taking a beardless boy into your private quarters or spending money without your commander's permission is likely to cause big trouble. These are just three of the 30 rules the Taleban ruling council have insisted their fighters follow in Afghanistan. The rules have been approved by "the highest leader of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan", Taleban-speak for Mullah Omar, the one-eyed reclusive leader of the regime who has a £5 million bounty on his head. The rules were agreed by the...