MOSCOW - Russia’s ruling party is trying to lure voters in upcoming elections with free bottles of vodka and other gifts, campaigners from two non-governmental groups said in Moscow on Wednesday.
Yelena Panfilova, Russia director for Transparency International, an anti-corruption group based in Berlin, said at a news conference in Moscow that United Russia was giving “hidden bribes.”
These gifts included sponsored vodka bottles, rucksacks, gloves and even jar lids carrying the United Russia symbol for the many Russians preparing jams for the winter season, Panfilova said. Full Story - Discount Magazine Subscriptions - Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco - Discovery Channel Store

UK - THREE young children got a Halloween scare to remember after potty police tried to shut down their pumpkin stall because they did not have a TRADERS LICENCE.
Justin Sanford, 35, and his sons Robin, 7, Jack, 4, and Benjamin, 3, set up their stand last week on a rural road near their home in South Wiltshire to raise money to buy costumes to go trick or treating. Full Story - Discount Magazine Subscriptions - Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco - Rapid Bath For Pets

BALTIMORE Maryland - The father of a fallen Marine was awarded nearly $11 million Wednesday in damages by a jury that found leaders of a fundamentalist church had invaded the family’s privacy and inflicted emotional distress when they picketed the Marine’s funeral.
The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress to the Marine’s father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa.
Snyder sued the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified monetary damages after members staged a demonstration at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. Full Story - Discount Magazine Subscriptions - Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco - Neckties

WASHINGTON DC - Lawmakers meeting about airline safety Wednesday heard about a government report that described a commercial pilot and his first officer falling asleep at the wheel 60 miles outside from Denver, and careening toward the airport at twice the speed allowed.
Rep. Bart Gordon , D-Tenn. demanded to know why this information was available on a system available to the public, known as ASRA, but NASA refused to release the information from a separate survey conducted in an $11 million program called the National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service. Full Story - Discount Magazine Subscriptions - Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco - Boca Java

Australia - A man has been charged with murder in Sydney’s south after punching and kicking an elderly man - sparking a “massive” heart attack - during an argument over water restrictions, police say.
A 66-year-old man was watering his front lawn, on Formosa Street in Sylvania, when another man, 36, who was walking past the house, challenged him about water restrictions.
The two argued and police said at one point the 66-year-old turned the hose on the other man, wetting him. Full Story - Discount Magazine Subscriptions - Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco - Fleurop

Indiana - The Greenfield Police Department is buying tracking devices that use radio signals to locate people with Alzheimer’s disease, autism or other conditions making them prone to wander and become lost.
Individuals wear wristbands containing tiny devices that transmit radio signals on pre-set frequencies, Greenfield Police Chief Clarke Mercer said. Police use tracking receivers that they tune to the frequency of the person they are seeking. “It’s almost a no-brainer,” Mercer said. “You have to do it.” Full Story - Discount Magazine Subscriptions - Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco - Crock-Pot