Oh, United Nations diplomats with their fancy cars! We know they are awesome at racking up millions in unpaid parking tickets, but did you know that sometimes their drivers leave $100,000 Mercedes Benz S550 sedans double-parked and idling on streets as they duck into bodegas for snacks? more ›

Diplomatic immunity—it's not just for avoiding paying parking tickets! A man who works for the country of Georgia was arrested for shoplifting hundreds of dollars of items at Century 21, but didn't face prosecution because of immunity. The next obvious question: Does this mean all immunity-protected folks are going to opt for the five-finger discount?! more ›

Last month, the body of a Nicaraguan diplomat was found dead in his Bronx apartment. Cesar Mercado, 34, but police started to suspect suicide when they found "hesitation wounds" and couldn't find signs of forced entry to his home. The medical examiner also found Mercado, who was allegedly depressed because he learned he was HIV positive, with drain fluid in his system. Now the Post reports that sources say he "inflicted the heinous wounds himself -- attempting to sever his own head after drinking drain cleaner and ripping out tufts of his hair... A Nicaraguan pathologist concurred with those conclusions, sources said." more ›

Though Nicaraguan diplomat Cesar Mercado's death of 12 stab wounds to the abdomen and a slashed throat originally looked like a murder scene, police are coming closer to ruling the case as a suicide. Investigators found the bloody fingerprints around Mercado's apartment all belonged to him, and while that doesn't rule out homicide, most signs suggest his wounds were self-inflicted. There was no sign of forced entry, and hairs found in Mercado's hands are currently undergoing DNA testing. Sources say Mercado had recently become depressed as a result of being diagnosed with HIV. more ›

The Daily News reports, "A Nicaraguan diplomat was found dead with his throat slashed when his driver came to pick him up in the Bronx Thursday morning, police sources said. The 34-year-old man was found around 10:30 a.m. behind a door at a building on the Grand Concourse near E. 180th St." (The News' headline also says he was "nearly decapitated.") It's believed that the victim, who worked for the Nicaraguan Mission to the UN, lived at the building and was being picked up to go to the General Assembly. more ›

Foreign diplomats who park as they please around the United Nations owe the city big bucks, and Rep. Anthony Weiner is not about to let it ride. He's got a plan to make diplomats pay for their $18 milllion worth of infractions by hitting their countries where it hurts. (And no, he's not talking about stealing their models.) more ›

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