Free Republic

Mugabe in plea for S Africa to bail him out of crisis By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 19/07/2005) President Robert Mugabe's destruction of Zimbabwe's economy began to strike home yesterday after he had to ask South Africa for a rescue package. Unable to arrest the spiralling crisis or buy essential supplies of fuel, Zimbabwe has turned to its powerful neighbour. ‘Embarrassing’: Robert Mugabe has finally acknowledged the gravity of Zimbabwe's situation Senior officials have visited South Africa to request an emergency injection of money likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. About one third of Zimbabwe's economy...

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A federal judge ordered a 90-year-old woman and her 60-year-old son jailed without bail on drug charges, saying they might represent a danger to the community if freed. Lucious Westry, also known as "Big "Mama," and son Calvin Westry pleaded innocent Friday. Defense attorneys asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Bert Milling Jr. to let them stay with Calvin Westry's daughter until the case is resolved, but he refused. "I'm not concerned about a risk of flight," the magistrate judge said. "I am concerned about the danger to the public because of a long-standing drug activity in that...

TWO terrorists wanted in connection with the 2002 Bali bomb blast may be on the run in the southern Philippines, a US thinktank believes. The private sector intelligence group Stratfor, said reports from the Philippines indicated the two members of the terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) had been sighted in a mountainous region bordering the southern Muslim-dominated provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur on the island of Mindanao. Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, and Umar Patek, are both sought in connection with a series of attacks against Western targets in Indonesia, including the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that...

WASHINGTON -- Border Patrol agents arrested nearly 100,000 non-Mexicans illegally crossing into the United States through Mexico over the past eight months and let the vast majority of them go free on bail or their own recognizance, immigration officials told a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday. About 70 percent of so-called non-Mexican illegal immigrants captured along the southern border of the United States are released on their own recognizance to appear at a future deportation hearing, Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Few ever show up. The rise in non-Mexican illegal immigrants captured while crossing the Mexican...

NEW YORK - Two U.S. citizens accused of being al-Qaida loyalists were each ordered held without bail Tuesday as they appeared in federal courtrooms in New York and Florida. Tarik Shah, 42, of New York, waved and smiled at supporters and appeared relaxed at his preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz. In Fort Pierce, Fla., Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 50, told U.S. District Judge James Hopkins that he had yet to hire an attorney, and the judge set the next hearing in his case for June 6. Neither defendant had entered a plea...

GET OUT OF GOLD! Head for the exits!Commentary: Gold has likely topped By Tim W. Wood, Cycles News & Views Last Update: 1:19 PM ET Dec. 9, 2004 GULF SHORES, Ala. (Cycles) -- It's truly amazing to watch the sentiment pendulum as it swings from one extreme to the other. At the 2001 bottom, everyone everywhere was totally disgusted with gold. When I suggested buying gold I was met with rejection, "Gold is dead" to quote my critics. Here we are some four years later, gold topped $458 last week - a three year high. On Wednesday, gold fell more...

The cost of being arrested with a gun in San Francisco is about to go up -- big time. Starting Thursday, Superior Court judges -- with a nudge from the district attorney's office -- will be doubling, tripling and even quadrupling bail for people arrested for weapons-related felonies. The bail for assault with a firearm, for instance, will jump from $35,000 to $75,000 -- far surpassing the $50,000 bail for the same crime in Marin, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties. Get arrested for possessing or selling a machine gun in San Francisco and bail will rocket from $25,000 to...

Just heard on TV. Galveston County TX has charged Robert Durst with tampering with evidence (chopping up the body of his neighbor Morris Black). Judge has set ANOTHER bond -- ANOTHER $1 billion. That makes a total bond of $3 billion (with a B).

Live news cast....breaking..more follows

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - Robert Blake's handyman was formally released from the actor's murder case Monday and his $1 million bail was refunded to Blake after the prosecution declined to appeal the dismissal of a conspiracy charge against Earle Caldwell.</p>

B'klyn Dem Leader Norman Arraigned By Graham Rayman Staff Writer October 10, 2003, 3:47 PM EDT After a night in the District Attorney's office, county democratic leader Clarence Norman strolled into a Brooklyn courtroom yesterday in handcuffs with a smile on his face. Norman was arraigned yesterday before Bronx Supreme Court justice Martin Marcus on two counts of grand larceny and one count of failing to file business records. He pleaded not guilty. He faces up to seven years in prison. The handcuffs were removed after he walked in by a detective, who smiled almost apologetically to Norman's parents who...

Iran envoy in bombing inquiry is freed on bail By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 13/09/2003) A senior Iranian diplomat arrested in Britain last month was released on bail yesterday after the High Court ruled that no evidence had yet been presented to support charges that he was involved in the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. The surprise ruling may be an early hint of problems with the extradition request issued by an Argentine judge, Juan Jose Galeano, who is investigating the attack that killed 85 people in 1994. The High Court decision will relieve...

<p>In an effort to make sure those who are accused of crimes show up in court, Forrest-Perry County Circuit Judge Bob Helfrich said he is requiring defendants to show up with their lawyer or bail bondsman monthly.</p> <p>And those who fail to make the trip to the Forrest County Courthouse face jail time as a result.</p>

CHICAGO: A judge denied bail to a man accused of spying on Iraqi opposition groups for Saddam Hussein, saying he had "hitched his star to the murderer and torturer of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis”. Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, 61, held his head in his hands on Thursday as federal magistrate judge Edward A Bobrick accused him of spying for "the maniacal, perverted, homicidal mass murderer and torturer of women and children." The community newspaper publisher is accused of spying on Iraqi opposition leaders in this country on behalf of Saddam's intelligence service while failing to register as an agent of...

Martha Stewart is expected to arrive in a NYC court at 12:00 noon today.(to answer the Grand Jury indictment against her)

Domestic style setter Matha Stewart intends to declare her innocence and proceed top trail if indicted, her attorney said on Tuesday.Attorney Robert Morvillo disclosed Stwarts intentions in a brief statement.Earlier Stewarts company, Martha Stewart Living, said Federal Prosecutors intended to seek a grand jury indictment against her.The company said it was also informed that a civil complaint by the Security and Exchange Commission was expected.

Judge Orders Robert Blake to Stand Trial LOS ANGELES - A judge ruled Thursday that Robert Blake (news) must stand trial on charges of murdering his wife, saying the actor "had the time, the opportunity and the motive to commit the shooting." AP Photo Slideshow: Robert Blake Superior Court Judge Lloyd Nash also said Blake could be released on $1.5 million bail, news that appeared to stun the 69-year-old actor who has been jailed since April. Blake's handyman-bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, will also be tried on a count of conspiracy in the slaying of Bonnie Lee Bakley, the judge ruled. The...

A Los Angeles judge has denied bail to actor Robert Blake, who's been in jail since April 18 in connection with the murder of his wife. Judge Lloyd Nash said his decision does not mean he believes Blake is guilty of murdering Bonny Lee Bakley. According to The Associated Press, Nash said he had reviewed hundreds of pages of documents submitted by both sides before the hearing, but could not "make findings of fact without hearing evidence." Nash says he'll reconsider his bail decision after an upcoming preliminary hearing, in which witnesses will testify. The hearing had been set for...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California Supreme Court has ordered Los Angeles' sheriff to explain why actor Robert Blake should not have a bail hearing before going on trial for the May 4, 2001 murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley. The high court ordered the sheriff's department, which runs the county jails and investigated the murder, to show the trial court the evidence supporting a special charge of "lying in wait" against the 69-year-old former star of the "Baretta" crime-fighting TV series. The special charge makes Blake ineligible for bail. The justices ordered the sheriff's department to show "whether...