Free Republic

More than 500 rape cases have been reported to five clinics in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the United Nations said on Thursday, warning that the actual numbers were likely to be much higher due to stigma and a lack of health services. “Women say they have been raped by armed actors, they also told stories of gang rape, rape in front of family members and men being forced to rape their own family members under the threat of violence,” Wafaa Said, deputy U.N. aid coordinator in Ethiopia, said in a briefing to U.N. member states in New York. She said at...

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie Inc. said it was re-evaluating its planned $54 billion acquisition of Shire PLC in light of new U.S. rules making it harder for American companies to lower taxes through overseas deal making. The rethink is the most dramatic fallout so far from a broad crackdown by Washington on so-called inversions—takeover deals structured to relocate tax domiciles of U.S. companies overseas to capture tax benefits.

A pair of 17-year-old Somalis from Minneapolis were charged this afternoon with first-degree murder in the killings of three people last week at a south Minneapolis market in what Hennepin County's top prosecutor called "a robbery gone bad." Ahmed Shire Ali and Mahdi Hassan Ali were accused in a criminal complaint of killing two store employees and a customer who walked in just as the robbery got underway. He was immediately shot. "It's a tragic, senseless shooting," said County Attorney Mike Freeman, in announcing three counts of first-degree murder against each defendant. "It's a robbery gone bad." The two suspects...

I am moving in the relatively near future and I'd like some helpful insight. I am tired of living with sheeple in suburbia, and merely existing from day to day, not following my dreams. So, I intend to try to do something about it. I want to build a great place for me, my daughter and close loved ones, Kinda like Walton's mountain. Yes I am a romantic idealist....so sue me. It may not happen, but that's what I'm shooting for. If you don't have a target, you'll never hit it, right? Work shouldn't be a problem (I am in...

The president of two San Diego-based Somalian organizations pleaded not guilty yesterday to lying about taking money from a group linked to terrorists. Community leaders and his family said they were mystified by the charges. Omar Abdi Mohammed, 41, a teacher's assistant in a San Diego elementary school, was described by prosecutors in federal court as a shadowy figure who collected more than $351,000 from a group accused of financing international terrorism. Prosecutors have refused to say what they believe Mohammed did with the money, but they said in court that, in addition to the $351,000, he also received $1,700...

Charting the Shire linesWhat was so special about the year 1601 that it should be when Hobbits needed to settle in a new home? And where, exactly, did they settle?People often ask a lot of questions about the early years of the Shire which are really hard to answer. For example, did Marcho and Blanco, the Fallohide brothers who led the first wave of migration into the Shire, have a surname? When did surnames become important to the Hobbits? How much do the surnames recorded in The Lord of the Rings reflect the social structure of early Shire clans?If there...

Dead Koalas Shock Drivers Australian Authorities Painting The Dead Animals Red   CBS  Email This Story Print This Story Jul 23, 2002 8:22 am US/Eastern(AP)-(BRISBANE, Australia)-Koalas killed by cars in an Australian shire are being painted bright red and left on roadsides to try to shock drivers into taking more care in areas populated by the slow-moving creatures, officials said Tuesday. The move has drawn criticism that it will upset passing motorists and children and may cause more accidents if drivers stare at the roadkill instead of watching the road. The Redland Shire Council, in the city of Brisbane in Queensland state,...