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The Need for Speed
Those who drive rashly must be fined large sums of money — and must also be imprisoned," he says. Ezzeddin, who was preparing to go to Qatar to attend bin Salman's pretrial hearings, believes it is wrong for the accused to be tried in his country. “The first article of Criminal Law 58 for the year 1937 states that a defendant who commits a crime inside Egypt must be tried in front of an Egyptian court," the lawyer declares. The families and the lawyer say they will not file civil suits against the alleged drivers until verdicts have been reached in the criminal cases. Race TracksWhile bin Salman was able to flee the country despite witness reports that he had caused the accident, police found a replacement killer in Rami Serry, one of the nation's most famous (legal) race car drivers and a regular on the Autocross circuit. More>>
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Michele Kelemen, NPR Biography
A former NPR Moscow bureau chief, Michele Kelemen now covers the State Department and Washington's diplomatic corps. Her reports can be heard on all NPR News programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In her latest beat, Michele has traveled with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. She's written about the transatlantic diplomatic battles over Iraq, U.S. policy in post-war Baghdad and was part of the NPR team that won the 2007 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for coverage of the war in Iraq.
As NPR's Moscow bureau chief, Kelemen chronicled the end of the Yeltsin era and Vladimir Putin's consolidation of power. She recounted the terrible toll of the latest war in Chechnya and the tragedy of the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk. More>>
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GREAT plan a most useful springboard
It has served an entirely useful purpose in that it has introduced Georgia to a new speaker as a leader willing to think big and take risks. A debate is needed about the cost and size of government, about the appropriate mix of taxes and how fiscal conservatives could structure them to stimulate and strengthen the economy. The GREAT plan is that impetus. That said, however, it's not a plan ready for prime time. At the week's hearing, one critic after another sat down to voice objections or to raise questions. Many of those who spoke were advocating for some local government or interest group. Their primary interest appeared to be to rejigger Richardson's proposal to swap a portion of a homeowner's property tax for an expanded sales tax to something that would advantage them.
Howard "Buzz" Wachsteter, Rome's mayor pro tem, made a valid point — "we need a plan with a lot of deep, detailed studies" — but then went on to advocate a tax on Internet sales, something long favored by merchants. More>>