Husbands are allowed to slap their wives if they spend lavishly, a Saudi judge said recently during a seminar on domestic violence, Saudi media reported Sunday. Arab News, a Saudi English-language daily newspaper based in Riyadh, reported that Judge Hamad Al-Razine said that “if a person gives SR 1,200 [$320] to his wife and she spends 900 riyals [$240] to purchase an abaya [the black cover that women in Saudi Arabia must wear] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment.”
Cadaver dogs found the body of a wanted professor “beneath the earth” in the north Georgia woods Saturday, two weeks after police say he shot his wife and two other people to death outside a community theater, then vanished. Searchers found two guns near the body of marketing professor George Zinkhan, 57, but police wouldn’t say how he died. They did say it appears he buried himself in brush and dirt.
SUSAN Boyle turned down the chance of a dream dinner date with President Barack Obama in Washington . . . to stay at home and wash her hair, we can reveal. Britain’s Got Talent’s Hairy Angel confessed to being TOO NERVOUS to meet the American president – her most famous fan – at a glittering star-studded bash. A source told us: “She was shocked and thrilled by the invite – but it was all too much too soon for her so she said No.”
More than two thirds of women admitted that a gossip with friends is the only time they are properly listening to what is being said. The same percentage think they hear most intently when they are trying to eavesdrop on an argument taking place nearby. Only half of men said they only hear properly when gossiping, while four in 10 admitted to listening closely to other people’s conversations. The poll of 2,000 people also found that more than one in five men reckon they always listen carefully to every word, and while less than one in five of women said the same. Ladies are also most likely to switch off when listening to their work colleagues, with the average woman catching what they say just 64 per cent of the time.
President Hugo Chávez has sent troops to seize boats and facilities owned by oil service companies as part of a “revolutionary offensive” in Venezuela. The socialist leader said the move would liberate the country’s oil industry from capitalism and return its natural wealth to the people. On Friday the state took control of more than 300 vessels and 39 ports and docks in Lake Maracaibo, one of South America’s biggest oil reserves. Two US-owned gas facilities have also been taken over. The expropriations, the latest move in a two-year campaign against foreign and domestic companies, placed 8,000 oil workers under the umbrella of the state oil company, PDVSA.
Lack of spelling skills nails knucklehead trying to float phony checks.
A Tennessee man is being held on two counts of forgery after he had a shipment of cell phones sent to the address of the FBI office in Monroe, police reported Friday. The FBI notified Monroe detectives Thursday after it received a call from a Minnesota cell phone distributor that some phones shipped to 300 Washington St., Monroe, were apparently ordered by the same person who had been giving counterfeit cashier’s checks. They knew they were counterfeit because cashier’s was spelled “cahier’s.”
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Myrtle Beach South Carolina says no thanks to invading bikers but they’re likely to show up anyway.
In the midst of a recession and with loads of empty hotel rooms, South Carolina’s vacation hot spot is hanging a “No Vacancy” sign for hundreds of thousands of motorcycle riders who have come here each May. Over the past year, officials have outlawed parking lot gatherings, loud mufflers and riding without helmets — all in an attempt to keep the bikers out. Even with the city’s new measures, motorcycle riders are expected to show up for two of the nation’s largest rallies: one traditionally attended by white bikers on roaring Harleys, the other by black bikers on screaming sport cycles. But for the white biker rally that begins Friday, tourist-dependent business owners are uneasy because bookings are down a third from last year. “At a time like this, you can’t pick and choose the tourists you want. You take the ones who are going to come,” said Robert Kelley, who owns three hotels and a restaurant.
US mail stamps go up 2 cents tomorrow May 11. Yay.
t’ll cost Americans an extra 2 cents to mail a letter starting Monday. The price of a first-class stamp will climb to 44 cents. It’s the third year in a row that rates have gone up in May under a new system that allows annual increases as long as they don’t exceed the rate of inflation for the year before. While the increase will bring in added income, the post office continues to struggle financially as more and more lucrative first-class mail is diverted to the Internet, and the recession discourages businesses from sending their usual volume of advertising. The Postal Service lost $2.8 billion last year and is $2.3 billion in the hole just halfway through this year.
[Where do we sign up for that government run health care plan again?….ed]
Here, 26 miles above the Arctic Circle, the free ride is over. (snip) The Department of Motor Vehicles has found them.
Beginning this fall, the DMV plans to require local car owners to register their vehicles, to get insurance and generally join the bureaucracy of fees, fines and paperwork that comes with driving nearly anywhere else in the United States. Indeed, Kotzebue may well be the largest community in the country where such basic car-licensing laws aren’t enforced.
Daughter donates kidney to mom making for a memorable Mother’s Day indeed.
Jasmin Harris, 35, may be giving her mom the gift of life for Mother’s Day, but Sonia Lebron jokes she still expects a gift and a Hallmark card. On Thursday, both women underwent successful surgery in which surgeons took one of Harris’ kidneys and transplanted it into her mother. “It’s the best gift I can ever imagine,” said 59-year-old Lebron two days before the surgery. Having taken early retirement from American Airlines because of her kidney failure, she said, “It’s been a struggle, but I’ve been very fortunate.” For Harris, it’s a no-brainer. “It’s been hard to watch her be limited on her life. I’m going to give back what she gave me: Life,” she said.
Two Navy men nailed for smuggling cocaine.
Two Navy men stationed in Mississippi were couriers who smuggled a ton of cocaine from Texas to the Tampa area. They made the trek every five days in a minivan and a Jeep Wrangler with the cocaine stashed in hidden compartments that held 16 kilos each, according to federal court documents. Jesus I. Coronodo III, 23, was arrested April 30 in Mississippi. A federal judge in Tampa allowed his release on as $25,000 signature bond, according to court documents made public today. Carlos Millian Ibarra, 22, was identified in court records, which do not reflect whether he was arrested.
Fights, weapons and other offenses are frequent sights at some schools in the Washington suburbs, recent data shows. Suspension figures from area school districts reveal such infractions occur on an average of almost once a day in some schools. Middle school students are involved in even more violent incidents than high schoolers, according to the data. But educators say they are working to develop programs to curb such behavior. In Prince George’s County, Md., Suitland High School gave out nearly 250 suspensions for fighting and another dozen for having weapons on campus, during the 2007-08 academic year. Meanwhile in Alexandria, Va., officials at George Washington Middle School reported 168 incidents of fights or serious personal offenses, such as bullying or sexual harassment, averaging nearly one incident per school day.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise one-day visit to Baghdad today and discussed U.S.-Iraqi economic relations with the prime minister, the government spokesman said. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki asked Pelosi, a California Democrat, to shield Iraq from the demands for reparations from neighboring countries dating back to the actions of Saddam Hussein, spokesman Ali Dabbagh said.
Quote of the day.
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
-Theodore Roosevelt