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Leaked "Rape" Report Sparks New Strauss-Kahn Furor

Joseph Ax
Reuters
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Nafissatou Diallo
© Reuters / Todd Heisler/Pool (L) and Shannon Stapleton (R)Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn (L) and Nafissatou Diallo are seen in this combination photo.
Opposing lawyers disputed the meaning of a medical report that said "rape" caused injuries sustained by the woman who has accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault.

L'Express magazine on Tuesday reported the contents of a medical file from the woman's first hospital examination in New York shortly after the May 14 incident.

"Cause of the injuries: assault. Rape," the report said, according to the French translation in L'Express.

A lawyer representing the accuser said the report proves the attack occurred.

But defense lawyers for Strauss-Kahn criticized her team for releasing the report, calling it "misleading and deceitful" because it was based almost entirely on her account.
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Cut

Canada, British Columbia: BC Hydro, Government to Set Timeline for Cuts and Job Losses

Justine Hunter
The Globe and Mail
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:58 UTC
Image
© The Canadian Press / Richard LamA BC Hydro crew in the Beach Grove neighbourhood of Tsawwassen, B.C., Sunday, February 5, 2006.
Energy minister Rich Coleman will sit down Tuesday with the president of BC Hydro to hammer out a timeline for $800-million in spending cuts at the Crown corporation that will spell major job losses.

"We're going to walk through the recommendations and set out expectations - I don't want this to sit on the shelf and collect dust," Mr. Coleman said in an interview Monday.

The cuts are recommended in a review, commissioned by Mr. Coleman and made public last week, that aims to rein in proposed electricity rate hikes.

BC Hydro's president, Dave Cobb, has agreed with the government's demand that Hydro cut its requested rate hikes in half - to 16 per cent from 32 per cent over three years.
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Pistol

Canada, British Columbia: Police Deny Link Between Kelowna and Surrey Gang Shootings


News 1130
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:53 UTC
Image
© unknown
Man shot at outside Mirage nightclub Monday night

Police say there is no direct link to a targeted shooting in Surrey Monday night and the murder of Jonathan Bacon. But investigators admit the man who was shot at does have gang connections.

The 32-year-old was getting into an SUV outside the Mirage nightclub around 10:40 p.m. when a gunman sprayed the vehicle with up to eight bullets.

Sgt. Peter Thiessen with the RCMP's "E" Division said while there is nothing tying the incident to the Bacon murder at this point, investigators are exploring any underworld links the man may have.

"We're trying to determine his background, what association he has with gang members or gangs generally and how strong that affiliation or association might be," he said.
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Target

Canada, British Columbia: Revenge May be on Horizon After Notorious Gangster Slain, Hells Angel Hurt:RCMP

Tamsyn Burgmann
The Canadian Press
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Canadian Press / Chris Stanford Police tape seals off a downtown Kelowna, B.C., street corner at the scene of a multiple shooting on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011. Six people were taken to hospital.
A settling of scores could be on the way between gangs in British Columbia after a notorious leader of the Red Scorpions was gunned down and a full-patch member of the Hells Angels was wounded in a very public daylight attack, police say.

The brazen slaying of 30-year-old Jonathan Bacon outside a glamorous waterfront hotel in Kelowna Sunday has the potential to ignite violent reprisals, RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon acknowledged Monday, a day after the shooting that injured at least four others at the time.

"I think retaliation is something we're very cautious of," the officer told a news conference in the B.C. Interior city.

"Where it might happen, whether it'll happen in Kelowna or any community in this province is something that law enforcement officials are very leery of at this particular time.

"I can't comment on expectations. I think it's a possibility that it could happen."

No arrests have yet been made in the high-profile slaying that police described as linked to organized crime. Const. Steve Holmes said it was targeted but he wouldn't say who in the group was the intended victim.
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Wine

French women don't just tolerate their husbands' affairs - they expect them

Lucy Wadham
The Daily Mail
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:37 UTC
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© MasonsShock: Lucy Wadham was outraged to discover her now ex French husband's circle of friends frequently had sex with each other
When Lucy Wadham married her charming French lover, she discovered more about the Gallic way of living - and loving - than she had bargained for.

Lucy, 44, a writer, was about to step onto a sexual merry-go-round where casual adultery was the norm.

Here Lucy, who now lives with her English second husband and four children, tells Tessa Cunningham why the French are so different from us.

The first time I realised just how differently the French view sex was at my wedding. I married Laurent Lemoine at his parents' beautiful house in Normandy. Set in acres of lush farmland, it was the perfect bucolic setting.

As I walked down the aisle of the local church, I had never felt happier or more confident - until I caught sight of the guests. Dotted about the church were my husband's ex-girlfriends. Elegant, exquisitely dressed and immaculately groomed, they radiated a mixture of hauteur and sexual confidence.
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Binoculars

US: Detroit Police Will Now Ignore Burglar Alarms

Mike Schuster
Minyanville
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:47 UTC
Robocop
© Minyanville

The Detroit Free Press reported today that local law enforcement will now treat burglar alarms with the same indifference as the public treats car alarms.

And it's not because there's just nothing left to steal.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. announced that 98% of all burglar alarms that his department responds to are false. (Though he never mentioned the percentage of the alarms police don't respond to.) From here on in, any triggered alarm will require a verified response before dispatch sends a cruiser to the location.

Detroit Police Commander Todd Bettison told the Press, "We at the police department are working hard to serve the citizens; however, nowadays we have to rely more on technology to help solve our problems because we're not getting any more resources." Adding, "We've been looking at this for a long time and from what we've observed this is definitely the way to go. Verified response will take us to the next level."
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Bad Guys

UK Riots: Two Men Jailed for Four Years for Inciting Rioting on Facebook


Metro
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:15 UTC
Jordan Blackshaw Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan
© PAJordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan have been jailed for four years for using Facebook to incite rioting
Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan have each been jailed for four years after causing 'panic and revulsion' by using Facebook to incite rioting.

The two men were arrested after trying to organise disorder on the social networking site.
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Smoking

Rampant and Agressive Anti-smoking Propaganda is Spreading: Russia Prepares for a Total Smoking Ban


RIA Novosti
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:34 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti. Vitaliy BezrukikhRussia prepares for a total smoking ban
By the end of the year, the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development will submit a bill to the State Duma that could introduce serious complications into the lives of Russian smokers. Cigarettes will become more expensive, they will only be sold in large stores and smokers will be able to light up without considering the people around them in their own apartments and on the street. Experts maintain that the new standards conform to the framework of the WHO Convention on Tobacco Control, which was signed by 157 countries, and they hope to reduce the number of smokers in Russia.

Smokers are driven into their homes

Beginning in 2014, a total smoking ban may be imposed in long-distance trains and cruise ships. The ministry's press service reported on this Friday evening, as well as on other measures to curb smoking, having laid out the content of a new bill on protecting public health against the harmful effects of tobacco use.
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Cult

Dominionism: A 'dangerous' Christian movement influencing Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry?

Elizabeth Flock
The Washington Post
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:46 UTC
michelle bachman
© APRepublican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) holds up a newspaper saying that she won the GOP Straw Poll as she speaks at the Black Hawk County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner in Waterloo, Iowa, Aug. 14, 2011.

According to an article published by the Daily Beast Sunday, GOP presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry have "deep ties" to a "fringe fundamentalist movement" known as Dominionism.

Dominionism is defined as the tendency of politically active conservative Christians to try to control government. Writer Michelle Goldberg simplifies the definition down to: "a movement ... which says Christians should rule the world."

Goldberg is the author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism and she makes her case for applying the controversial term to both candidates by listing the ways Dominionism has supposedly influenced them.
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Sherlock

Thai hotel deaths remain a mystery

Zoe Daniel
ABC News
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:35 UTC
Thai authorities have released a final report into the mysterious deaths of five tourists and a tour guide in the northern city of Chiang Mai earlier this year.

But despite a five-month investigation, the report failed to identify the exact cause of the deaths.

The report says that four people who died at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai in January and February may have been exposed to the same toxic chemical or gas but they cannot be sure.

"As difficult as it may be to accept, ultimately, the precise causes for the deaths and illnesses cannot be definitively identified or confirmed," the report said, following the investigation by various Thai ministries with the help of the World Health Organisation.

The report listed rodenticide, used in pest control, and chemicals such as those found in pesticides as possible causes.

Authorities said they could not exclude the possibility that an elderly British couple, found dead at the same hotel as two of the other victims, had also been poisoned, although investigators could not establish a direct link.
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