Dr. Hayat Sindi is a Saudi Arabian medical scientist and a woman who has earned respect for extraordinary accomplishments in a country that denies women basic liberties. She is not only an award-winning scientist but one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman, it is not surprising that Harvard University has brought her to the country as a visiting scholar. However, a nasty lawsuit in King County has raised deeply disturbing allegations about Sindi’s efforts against women who she accuses of hacking her emails. According to counsel for one of those women, Sindi worked to have another woman flogged for writing on Facebook that she had had an affair with her husband. On the other side is Samia El-Moslimany, a women’s activist and photographer who lives in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, who is fighting to keep Sindi from forcing the disclosure of the women, who would face medieval Sharia justice in Saudi Arabia.
Category: Society
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty, (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor
British banking giant, HSBC reached an agreement in 2012 with the Department of Justice that kept it from being hauled in to court on criminal charges due to its systemic assistance in laundering money for drug cartels and allegedly terrorists. HSBC, with its Hong Kong headquarters shown above, is now in trouble again for alleged problems prior to the settlement agreement in 2012.
“The US Department of Justice is considering bringing criminal charges against HSBC and its executives as part of its investigation into whether the bank’s Swiss subsidiary helped US clients evade taxes.
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren called on prosecutors to “come down hard” on HSBC if the bank is found to have colluded with tax evaders on Tuesday.
Her intervention came as US government officials with knowledge of the DoJ’s investigation provided the Guardian with new details about the inquiry.
Renewed focus has been placed on the long-running investigation into HSBC Switzerland by the department, after a huge leak of secret bank data – passed to the DOJ’s tax division almost five years ago – was obtained by the Guardian and other media.
It shows that HSBC Switzerland helped some clients conceal millions of undeclared assets, and has immediately raised questions on Capitol Hill about the response from prosecutors and tax authorities. US government officials said the investigation is not merely looking at HSBC’s US clients, and could also result in criminal indictments against the bank itself. “That has not been ruled out,” one official said, when asked if HSBC or its executives could be criminally indicted. “It is certainly something that is under consideration.” ‘ Reader Supported News Continue reading “Will HSBC Be Too Big To Jail…Again?”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously wrote HERE of the plight of Sureshbhai Patel who was left partially paralyzed after being thrown to the ground by Madison, Alabama police during an investigative detention. The officer accused in this matter has been charged with Third Degree Assault.
Thanks to a crowd sourced donation campaign seeking to help alleviate the financial costs of his injuries, in just over three days $130,000 dollars so far has been raised. The amounts continue to grow.
Continue reading “$130K Raised To Support Indian Man Injured By Police”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A ninety year old man left a note on an unmarked patrol car he accidentally struck while parking next to it had a big surprise after he received a telephone call from a police sergeant who called to settle the damages: a crowd sourced funding campaign to pay for it.
Continue reading “Police Set Up GoFundMe Project For Man Accused Of Colliding With Patrol Car”
We have been following the bizarre case of the once leading national Orthodox rabbi and powerful local figure, Barry Freundel. Freundel (shown above from a YouTube clip), is now criminally charged with using a secret camera to film Jewish women engaged in the ritual bath known as a Mikva. There is now new details in the case and they are shocking even in this notorious case. Freundel is now accused of photographing more than 150 women in the ritual bath.
Continue reading “Rabbi Reportedly Accused Of Filming Over 150 Jewish Women In Ritual Bath”
Puerto Rico is considering an extreme response to childhood obesity: a fat tax. Sen. Gilberto Rodríguez Valle has introduced a bill to fine parents of obese children as a form of neglect. The bill suggests that fines would be imposed when the obesity is viewed as a form of neglect though that can be a very difficult line to discern. Continue reading “La Isla Del Gordo: Puerto Rico Considers Tax For Obese Children”
Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West Little League team was riding a crest of success this month, including a photo op with President Barack Obama, when it came crashing down in a very messy cheating scandal. The team was accused of effectively stacking the team with ringers from outside of their district — a serious infraction for such teams. The first all-African-American team to win the U.S. championship was stripped of its honor in favor of Mountain Ridge Little League from Las Vegas. In the meantime, there is a suggestion from at least one Chicago leader that the action against the team is racist.
Police are looking for this felon. He should not be hard to find. He is clearly pictured and has a giant “Islam” tattoo on his chest. The latter distinguishing mark would not have been known except that the man pulled up his shirt to ask that the store clerk not call police on a “fellow Muslim.” In addition to the picture, the man’s religion, he is also apparently an iPhone lover.
There is a rather bizarre health department case out of Los Angeles where inspectors, responding to a call from a customer, found Metro Supermarket in Temple City selling prepackaged raccoons in the frozen food section. The raccoons were sold for Chinese customers who have a special hankering for the animals. It turns out that raccoons sell for $9.99 per pound at Metro Supermarket.
Continue reading “California Store Found To Be Serving Packaged Raccoons As Chinese Delicacy”
Former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a French court that he was unaware of the “prostitutional character” of women involved in orgies at luxury hotels in Paris and Washington D.C. were prostitutes. The much ridiculed defense is only the latest development in a bizarre criminal prosecution in France, where prostitution is legal but not soliciting or running a prostitution business – a curious line to draw for criminal cases.
There is a horrible triple murder being investigated this morning in North Carolina where three people from a Muslim family were allegedly murdered by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46. Some are speculating that Hicks’ strong atheist views may have been a factor after reading this “anti-theist” positions on the Internet. He has been described in some media account as a “radical atheist” though atheists have rarely engaged in violent acts against religious persons. UPDATE: Police have said that the dispute was not religiously motivated but a dispute over a parking space.
We have yet another example of the twisted view of women in the Saudi Kingdom and the equally twisted view of what appears to pass for an intellectual in Saudi Arabia. Saudi historian Saleh Al-Saadoon told the Saudi news show Rotana Khalijiyya that the reason women in the West drive is that they “don’t care if they are raped on the roadside.” It was particularly offensive from a Saudi academic in a country long accused of having a culture that excuses rape.
Jenifer Lynn Patterson, 24, is facing a serious charge this week after the North Carolina mother used her 4-year-old son to smuggle drugs to an inmate at Columbus Correctional Institution. The question is whether in addition to the charge of felony introduction of drugs into prison facility should be combined with a move to sever her parental custody of her two children.
We have previously discussed the problem in some countries like China where drivers routinely drive on sidewalks. Russia is also notorious for some horrendous drivers. One group however has started a campaign to confront drivers, leading to some tense confrontations on sidewalks as the videotape below indicates. It raises an interesting legal question of this type of citizen action. The line between citizen action and vigilantism can blur if it involves property damage, even though this is relatively slight. Indeed, there is admittedly a certain satisfaction in seeing these cars marked with a large sticker after such reckless conduct.
Continue reading “Video: Russians Confront Drivers Using Sidewalks To Avoid Traffic”
There is a fascinating lawsuit in California where Anna Marie Phillips has sued A California woman P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. for charming a dollar extra for gluten-free food. Phillips says that gluten diets are necessary for people with celiac disease and thus the added charge violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Continue reading “P.F. Charges: Restaurant Chain Sued Over $1 Charge on Gluten-Free Dishes”