Bahrain ( Human rights activists have been put in jail )

Bahrain upholds jail terms for activists

Leading political and human rights activists have had jail sentences confirmed by Bahrain’s highest appeal court in rulings liable to bring more allegations of hypocrisy over the West’s dealings with a favoured Gulf ally.

Bahraini Shiite Muslim women hold portraits of relatives being held in Bahraini jails in the village of Sanabis, west of Manama Photo: MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP/Getty Images

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent

10:44AM GMT 07 Jan 2013

Seven of the 13, accused of plotting against the government after protests at the start of the Arab Spring in 2011 were crushed by the authorities, received life sentences.

Among them was Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a British-educated Danish citizen and co-founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, whose long hunger strike last year was publicised and narrated on social media by his daughters Zainab and Maryam.

The others included Hassan Mushaima and Abduljalil al-Singace, leaders of the Shia-led opposition party al-Haq. Both also have British links - Mr Mushaima was arrested after returning from London to Bahrain to participate in the protests, while Mr al-Singace, who is disabled, was initially seized in 2010 after returning from talking at a seminar in the House of Lords and then rearrested after the protests were put down.

The Bahraini royal family claims that al-Haq is attempting to enact a plot to overthrow their regime, with the support of Iran. Bahrain has a Shia Muslim majority, like Iran, but the royal family itself and a large minority elite is Sunni.

Human rights groups though claim that the protests which occupied parts of Bahrain’s capital Manama in February and March 2011 were largely peaceful, and their leaders arrested for advocating democratic reforms. Bahrain has a parliament elected by full franchise, unlike neighbours such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but its constituencies are drawn to ensure a Sunni majority, while the power to appoint a government remains in the hands of the rulers

Saudi ( 15-year-old Saudi girl flees from 90 year old husband )

15-year-old Saudi girl flees from 90-year-old husband

A 15-year old Saudi Arabian bride married off to a 90-year old groom escaped the martial home after she barricaded herself in a room on the wedding night.

The groom said he suspected the groom and her parents had set out to swindle him of the 65,000 Saudi Riyals dowry Photo: ALAMY

By Damien McElroy

7:09PM GMT 07 Jan 2013

The unnamed husband is now suing her parents for recovery of the £10,750 dowry he paid to secure marriage to his child bride.

Newspaper reports in the conservative Islamic state said the girl had managed to secure herself in the marital bedroom before escaping two days later to her parents' home.

The groom told Al-Hayat newspaper that he suspected the groom and her parents had set out to swindle him of the 65,000 Saudi Riyals dowry.

"I feel that there is a conspiracy by her mother against me," he said. "I will go to court tomorrow and demand that her parents give me back my money."

However campaigners in Saudi Arabia have called on the authorities to intervene to ensure the girl in Jizan, a southern town near the border with Yemen, is not returned to the man. Concerned authorities must intervene immediately to save this girl from disaster," said Suhaila Zain al-Abdin of the National Society for Human Rights.
Saudi Arabia has no minimum legal age for marriage but its government has said it was working on introducing a legal watershed for the "safety of young girls".

Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Hadeithi, a member of the Shura Council or Saudi Arabia's legislative body, said that the ministry of justice had signalled its intention to bring forward the regulations.

Ali Abdul Rahman al-Roumi, a university researcher, reported last year that in excess of 5,000 girls below the age of 14 were married off each year in Saudi Arabia.

For most parents involved in the trades, the practice is seen as a financial transaction.

Orange County ( Two people found fatally shot parking complex )

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ, CLAUDIA KOERNER, THOMAS MARTINEZ, KIM PIERCEALL and LOU PONSI / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

IRVINE – Two people who were found fatally shot inside a parked car Sunday night have been identified as a couple in their 20s, police officials said Monday.
Keith Lawrence, 27, and his fiancée, Monica Quan, 28, were discovered in the car on the top floor of a parking structure at 2100 Scholarship.

Keith Lawrence, 27, and his fiancée, Monica Quan, 28, were found shot inside a parked car on the top floor of a parking structure in Irvine late Sunday.

Ex LAPD  officer wanted

 facebook.com

MORE PHOTOS »

  

They were found at about 9:10 p.m. after officers received a call of someone slumped over in the car.
Lawrence was found in the driver seat while Quan was in the front passenger seat, said Lt. Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Department. Few other details have been released.
The couple had recently moved to the complex, Engen said.
"It doesn't appear they were robbed," Engen added. "There's no obvious motive."
Investigators are also trying to determine when the shooting occurred. When an officer arrived at the parking structure, it was obvious that Lawrence and Quan had been dead for some time, officials said.
The shooting appears to have taken place where the two where found.
The vehicle belonged to Lawrence, authorities said.
No arrests had been made as of Monday morning.
Lawrence and Quan were graduates of Concordia University, and Quan worked for Cal State Fullerton, Engen said.
The couple shared a love of basketball and both played for Concordia teams during their time as students.
Keith Lawrence attended Concordia 2006-2008, after studying at Moorpark College. He played on the Concordia basketball team during the 2007-08 season, traveling to the 2007 NAIA National Championship and earning a place on the all-tournament team.
Lawrence had worked since August as an armed public-safety officer at USC, after graduating from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Academy. He was assigned to patrol at USC, Capt. David Carlisle said.

Syria (Female English teacher -turned sniper 'Guevara' ) The Female Sniper

Syria: the former English teacher turned Aleppo's female sniper

Her fame has spread throughout Aleppo. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara', but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as: 'the female sniper'.

Guevara near the frontline in Salah Addeen Photo: ALESSIO ROMENZI

By Ruth Sherlock, Aleppo

7:30PM GMT 04 Feb 2013

Standing stock still, her finger suspended over the trigger, she stared through the sniper sight of her Dragonov rifle. Her view framed by the jagged concrete edges of the fist-sized hole that has been cut into the wall of her hideout on one of the most dangerous front lines in Aleppo, Guevara, named after the revolutionary, watched the enemy – government soldiers – moving along the other side of the street.

"I like fighting. When I see that one of my friends in my katiba [rebel division] has been killed, I feel that I have to hold a weapon and take my revenge," she said.

Dressed in green khaki trousers, a grey jumper dress, tight fitting hijab and a camouflage combat jacket, Guevara, 36, cleaned and loaded her gun, sitting in a half demolished building just metres from where government troops patrol.

^{Guevara watches the enemy lines through her sniper sight on the frontline in Salah Addeen (ALESSIO ROMENZI )}

Despite the war, she was immaculate – eyebrows perfectly plucked, blusher and a little eyeliner. Small leather boots with heels, and a gold bracelet are touches of her feminine side.

China ( China warns New York Times of " cyber attacks" )

New York Times cyber attacked by Chinese hackers for four months after Wen Jiabao investigation

The New York Times was subjected to a four-month cyber attack by Chinese hackers who infiltrated major information systems and captured passwords of every single employee as part of a "spy campaign", the newspaper has reported.

53 employees have had their personal computers accessed Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Carolynne Wheeler, in Beijing and Mark Hughes in New York

4:17PM GMT 31 Jan 2013

The attacks began last autumn as the newspaper published an investigation into the family finances of the outgoing Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. The paper reported that an estimated $2.7 billion had been accumulated by relatives of the former premier.

Chinese officials had warned the paper there would be "consequences" for the article, published last October.

On Thursday the New York Times said that the attacks were consistent with other hackings "believed to have been perpetrated by the Chinese military".

It reported that 53 of its employees had had their personal computers accessed, including that of the Shanghai-based correspondent, David Barboza, who broke the Wen investigation and a former Beijing bureau chief now based in India, Jim Yardley.

The newspaper said that, fearing possible repercussions for the article, it had asked an IT company to monitor activity on the networks beginning on October 24th, the day before the article was published.

Manila ( 22 killed in clash of Filipino extremists rebels )

22 killed in clash of Filipino extremists, rebels

Font Size

MANILA (AP) — A rebel group said Monday it attacked Abu Sayyaf gunmen after the Al-Qaida-linked militants refused to free hostages, sparking fierce jungle clashes that left up to 22 combatants dead in the southern Philippines. There was no word on whether the hostages were hurt in the fighting, but they remained in the grip of the Abu Sayyaf militants, police said. Rebel commander Khabir Malik of the Moro National Liberation Front, which has an autonomy deal with the government, said his group decided to attack the Abu Sayyaf in the rugged mountains of Patikul town in southern Sulu province after negotiations collapsed on the release of several of its foreign hostages, including a Jordanian TV journalist and two European men who have been held since last year. Abu Sayyaf militants did release two Filipino hostages over the weekend after an unspecified ransom was paid, security officials said, adding the captives were let loose on their own and not turned over to the Moro rebels. “We had no choice,” Malik told The Associated Press by telephone from Patikul. “They told us they won't hand over their hostages to us even if they die.” The Moro rebels battled the Abu Sayyaf with guns and knives at close range Sunday, Malik said, adding his group lost eight men, including one who was beheaded and a few others who were hacked to death. Military and police officials in Sulu said up to 14 Abu Sayyaf men were killed, citing intelligence. The fighting subsided Monday after Abu Sayyaf gunmen split into smaller groups, with a large group seen fleeing from Patikul to an adjacent town. But the clashes could erupt again, Sulu provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said. It was the first major bloody confrontation between the two insurgent groups, which have coexisted for years and at times were suspected of collaborating on kidnappings and backing each other in clashes against government troops.

FBI News ( The FBI arrested Malcolm X's grandson before he departs for IRAN )

FBI arrests Malcolm X's grandson before he departs for Iran

TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (MNA) – In US, FBI has arrested Malcolm Shabazz, Malcolm X’s grandson, a Muslim and civil activist, and has moved him into an unknown location.

Malcolm Shabbaz was preparing to travel to Tehran to attend ‘Zionist Holywoodism’ conference. Tasnim News reported that FBI had arrested and moved him to an unknown place. FBI has not provided the reason for his arrest. The arrest was coincided with Lifetime TV airing of ‘Betty & Coretta,’ a dramatization of lives of two women after deaths of their husbands. Betty was Malcolm X’s wife, and Coretta was Martin Luther King’s spouse.