Navajo Nation ( First Native American Appointed postmaster Dine' ) Steve Begay

First Native American appointed postmaster is Diné

By Alastair Lee Bitsoi
Navajo Times
FARMINGTON, January 24, 2013

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T he new postmaster for the Farmington Post Office is 37-year-old Steve Begay.Last Friday, Begay was appointed Farmington's new postmaster, a Level 22 position with the U.S. Postal Service system.
It's a feat for Begay who is the youngest and first Native American to be the postmaster at the 134-year-old post office.
"I'm not the only one," Begay said about being the first Native American postmaster. "In Farmington alone, I am the first Native American and the youngest ever. Gallup and Window Rock have their own Navajo postmasters."
Though he welcomes the congratulatory remarks, the Shiprock, N.M. native says it requires responsibility. After all, he will oversee the function of the post office, which employees about 50 people and the delivery of about 18 million pieces of mail and 150,000 packages to 21,000 addresses in the area.
"Farmington alone generates $3 million," Begay said about his office's impact in the U.S.P.S and on the economy. "In the private sector, we would be a Fortune 500 company. It's a lot money but there's a lot of expenses."
Prior to becoming the postmaster in Farmington, Begay worked with the U.S. Postal Service as a city mail carrier in Tempe, Ariz., in 1999, after serving in the U.S. Marine Corp. from 1993 to 1997.
Between 1997 and 1999, Begay held various jobs and because of aspirations of being a firefighter or police officer, he applied to both jobs with the Tempe city government and, ironically, a third job with the local post office.
"They're the first one who came calling," Begay said about U.S.P.S. "That's how I started."
Since then, he worked at various post offices, primarily in the Phoenix area, as a city mail carrier for six years, before returning back to the Four Corners region in 2005.
From 2005 to 2008, Begay worked periodically as a city mail carrier and then later as an official supervisor.
"The more I worked and the more I saw the structure of the company, I realized the postmaster was the end goal," he said.

Iran news ( 12 journalists arrested during the week -end in Iran ) Crackdown on media

In a renewed crackdown on the news media in the capital, plain-clothes intelligence ministry officials yesterday searched the headquarters of four daily newspapers – Etemad, Arman, Shargh and Bahar – and the weekly Aseman and, without giving any explanation, arrested at least 10 journalists.

Two other journalists were arrested the day before. Arrest warrants have been issued for other journalists.

“The constant persecution of journalists keeps on intensifying by the day,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Iran has not yet emerged from the era of terror launched after the disputed June 2009 presidential election and now, five months before the next election in June 2013, a clear warning is being given – journalists and news media will be gagged.”

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists currently detained in Iran. The authorities must put an end to these repeated waves of arrests, which have the sole aim of ensuring the regime’s stability and survival. Such intimidation attempts are doomed to fail.

According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, at least 12 journalists were arrested during the weekend. The ten arrested yesterday were Sasan Aghai, Nasrin Takhayori, Javad Daliri and Emily Amrai of Etemad; Motahreh Shafie, Nargus Jodaki and Saba Azarpik of Arman; Porya Alami and Pejman Mousavi of Shargh; and Akbar Montajabi of Aseman.

The two journalists arrested the day before were Milad Fadai Asl of the news agency ILNA and Soliman Mohammadi of Bahar. Both were arrested at their place of work. All 12 were transferred to unknown detention centres after searches of their homes and confiscation of personal effects.

Other journalists have been sent summonses to present themselves to revolutionary courts during the days to come.

Since the start of January, a number of journalists have been summoned for questioning by Revolutionary Guards or intelligence ministry officials. During these interrogations, they have been questioned above all about the next presidential election and the candidate or candidates they intend to support.

They were also asked for their opinion on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s latest speech, on 28 December, in which he berated government opponents. “Stop saying we must organize free elections,” he said. “Since the start of the Islamic Republic, the elections have always been free.”

Prosecutor-general Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi said threateningly during a news conference on 21 January: “Reliable information has reached me that certain journalists in Iran are collaborating with westerners and counter-revolutionaries based abroad.”

Anonymous Group ( Threatens U.S citizens in Federal Witness Protection program ) Terrorist act

Hackers Infect Government Websites with 'Asteroids' Game

By Paul Wagensil | LiveScience.com – 1 hr 20 mins ago

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Hackers angry over the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz took over the website of the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) twice over the weekend, finally infecting the homepage with a playable version of the classic arcade game "Asteroids."

The hackers, claiming affiliation with the online movement Anonymous, also claimed to release a list of people in the federal Witness Security Program, also known as the Witness Protection Program, but that was quickly discovered to be a hoax.

Blood of the martyr

The attack began late Friday (Jan. 25), when the homepage of the USSC, which sets sentencing guidelines for federal courts, was defaced with a video regarding the prosecution of Swartz.

"We have seen the erosion of due process, the dilution of constitutional rights, the usurpation of the rightful authority of courts by the discretion of prosecutors," said a voiceover on the video. "We have seen how the law is wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control."

Swartz, who hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment earlier this month at the age of 26, was facing decades in federal prison for allegedly downloading millions of academic documents from an online archive to a laptop hidden on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to a report released last week, local authorities in Boston had not intended to seek any jail time for Swartz.

Federal prosecutors then took over the case, first indicting Swartz on four charges that carried a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison, then adding nine more charges in a second indictment that increased the possible prison time to 50 years.

Two weeks ago, Anonymous defaced the websites of MIT and the U.S. Department of Justice in Swartz's memory.

Florida ( Missing woman -Husband charged with her death) Vilet Torrez

It was Feb. 24, girls’ night out. Best friends Vilet Torrez and Clarissa Garcia went out to the Cheesecake Factory, where they ordered drinks and split a slice of cheesecake.
They laughed and chatted and caught up on the things best friends talk about over drinks and desserts: their families, their children, their marriages.

And, yet again, Garcia advised her friend she had to leave her husband.
She was tired of hearing the stories of how Cid Torrez beat her and then swore every time afterward he would never do it again. She was sick of seeing Vilet with bruises.
“What’s it gonna take? Your death? A casket?” Garcia asked.
“Oh, my good friend, he wouldn’t do that,” Torrez said.
Torrez went missing five weeks later.
Friends, family and former co-workers of Torrez all believe her husband, Cid, is behind her disappearance. Miramar police and prosecutors agreed and — despite the lack of a body, or an eyewitness, or a weapon — charged the 39-year-old with murder. Such murder charges don’t always stick, as evidenced by the just-completed murder trial of Geralyn Wilson, foster mother of Rilya Wilson. It was another case of no body, no witnesses, no murder weapon. Geralyn Wilson was convicted of lesser charges.
Cid’s family expressed disbelief that he would harm, much less kill and dispose of, the mother of his three children, although they acknowledged the marriage had turned toxic.
Cid Torrez has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial in a Broward jail.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/26/3202276/the-missing-miramar-mom-a-tale.html#storylink=cpy

Mexico (Kombo Kolombia band - killed tortured and Dismembered ) see story

Kombo Kolombia Band Tortured and Dismembered

Monday, January 28, 2013 | Borderland Beat ReporterChivis

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

16 Members and 4 others went missing Thursday at least 8 bodies found

Authorities of Nuevo Leon state performed an intense mobilization in the municipality of Mina on Sunday afternoon after an anonymous call alerted the whereabouts of the members of the musical group Kombo Kolombia. The group was kidnapped by an armed group last Friday morning.

 

 

The police officers received the mysterious call and headed to the location given to them. At kilometer 92 of the highway to Monclova, a water well (other reports say "mine") was located and several bodies inside.

-click to enlarge-

Troopers of the Civil Force, the Mexican Army, and Federal Police secured the area to allow staff of the State Agency of Investigations to perform their work.

The clandestine grave was found near a road to El Espinazo community.

Credible reports indicate that the l bodies have been found in that location. The anonymous call to the authorities also mentioned the bodies were from members of the Kombo Kolombia band.

Other reports mention that the members of the Kombo Kolombia band were tortured and executed. The bodies were dismembered and buried in the clandestine grave.

It was after a private performance on Thursday night that the band disappeared from the city of Hidalgo about 80 miles north of Monterrey and 40 miles south of the US border. On Friday at 4 AM citizens in the area where the bodies were found hear a series of gunshots and vehicles speeding away.

One unidentified member managed to escape and alert the army. He reports that they were loaded onto a truck at the La Carreta and taken in front of a well/mine at which time he managed to run and jump into a hole and hide.

Most of the band members lived in Monterrey and at least one is a citizen of Colombia.

It is not known why the group would be targeted, unlike other bands they did not sing narco corridos, songs that glorify drug traffickers. They stayed away from that genre of music.

Authorities are keep quiet and not sharing details but unofficial reports say at least 8 bodies were found at the site. Keep in mind authorities have only confirmed that 8 bodies were retrieved so far, other details have been from other sources.

India ( Family of Rape victim want Juvenile to face death penalty ) An eye for an eye

Uttar Pradesh: The family of the Delhi gangrape victim today termed the Juvenile Justice Board’s decision of ruling the sixth accused in the case as minor as “unfortunate” and said that they would challenge it in the court.
“The family would consult legal experts and challenge the matter in the relevant court,” the brother of the girl said over phone from Delhi.
“The family is not ready to accept that the sixth accused get anything less than death penalty,” the brother said, adding that the minor accused should also get the same punishment of death penalty for which the central government should make necessary changes in the law.

PTI

“How can the family accept that the main accused is let off with a mere three year imprisonment,” he asked.
On the decision of the Juvenile Board, the brother said that it is based on his school documents whereas he should have been sent for medical examination.
He expressed apprehension of some kind of “fraud” in mentioning the date of birth in school documents and alleged that the minor accused was the one who had played the main role in the incident

Iran ( Women Human rights bloggers - Put in Evin Prison ) Just a few of many

Human Rights (Defender)
2011, awarded the Swedish Per Anger prize on October 25, 2011, sentence reduced to 6 years in prison on February 14, 2012, summoned to Evin prison to serve sentence on April 21, 2012, transferred to Evin clinic after nervous paralysis, transferred to Zanjan prison on May 17, 2012, temporarily released for medical care on 30 July 2012

  . Rojin Mohammadi, blogger, medical student, arrested after returning to Iran, transferred to Evin prison on November 23, 2011


Tahmineh Monzavi, freelance photo-journalist, arrested on unknown charges in Tehran on February 18, 2012

Tahmineh Monzavi