Bogota Colombia ( Ex mayor - in jail for extortion - embezzlement charges )

Bogota’s jailed ex-mayor again denied bail

Friday, 01 March 2013 07:19 Rob Edmond

Tags:

• Bogota
• Corruption
• Samuel Moreno

While awaiting trial for corruption allegations, the former mayor of Bogota, Samuel Moreno was denied bail Thursday.

The ex-mayor has been waiting for his day in court since September 2011 after he was removed from office due to extortion and embezzlement charges amongst others.

BACKGROUND: Suspended Bogota mayor taken to prison

A criminal court judge reportedly claimed that the complexity of the process meant a public hearing must be pushed back even further, which is a sufficient enough reason to continue detaining Moreno.
The disgraced former mayor's most recent plea for bail was in July of 2012. He is currently being held in Bogota's La Picota prison.

MORE: Bogota's jailed former mayor denied freedom for 3rd time

Japan ( 2 U.S sailors get 10 years in prison for the rape of a Japanese woman )

2 U.S. sailors get 9-10 years for raping woman in Okinawa

CrimeMar. 01, 2013 - 05:30PM JST( 46 )

TOKYO —

Two U.S. sailors who raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October were jailed on Friday for a crime that reignited long-smouldering anger against the American military in Japan.
The Naha District Court in Okinawa said Seaman Christopher Browning, 24, should go to prison for 10 years for the brutal rape of the young woman, from whom he also stole 7,000 yen.
Petty officer 3rd class Skyler Dozierwalker, 23, was jailed for nine years, also for raping the woman before dawn in a car park.
Browning and Dozierwalker, who were not stationed in Okinawa, had been drinking on the evening of the attack, and “were contemptible and violent”, Judge Hideyuki Suzuki said.
“The ruling may seem severe, but the damage to the feelings of the victim and residents is more severe,” he said in a statement after the case, according to Kyodo News.
During an earlier court appearance, the two men had admitted the rape, which caused outrage on the sub-tropical islands and beyond, and led to a nationwide night-time curfew on all U.S. military personnel in Japan.
Despite the curfew, misconduct involving servicemen, much of it drunken, has continued to fuel anti-U.S. sentiment in communities with bases.
Wary of yet another public relations disaster, the U.S. moved quickly to try to lower the temperature immediately after the rape, with Ambassador John Roos holding a special news conference at which he appeared visibly angry and upset.
“The United States will cooperate in every way possible with the Japanese authorities to address this terrible situation.”
“I understand the anger that many people feel with respect to this reported incident,” he said. “I have a 25-year-old daughter myself, so this is very personal to me.”
Okinawa is the reluctant host to more than half of the 47,000 American service personnel in Japan, and the crimes, noise and risk of accidents associated with their bases regularly provoke ire in the local community.

- See more at: http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/2-u-s-sailors-get-9-10-years-for-raping-woman-in-okinawa#sthash.8JiPt1Bk.dpuf

Iran News ( Public Security plan " Gangster Paradise" )

Iran: Suppressive “Public Security Plan” is launched

 

 

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Published on Monday, 25 February 2013 14:55

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NCRI - The Iranian regime have began to implement the infamous “Public Security Plan,” the deputy chief of the State Security Forces in Central Province has announced.

Iraj Kakavand whose remarks were reported by state-run Media on Saturday (Feb 23) said: "In line with developing the security towards the end of the year (Iranian year ends on March 20).

“The Public Security Plan will be carried out in all cities over the country,” he added.

“The Public Security Plan” which is used by the regime to suppress people, was initially launched in April 2007. The police arrested dozens of people on the pretext of being “thugs” to increase public security.

The people arrested were sometimes beaten on camera in front of neighborhood inhabitants, or forced to wear hanging watering cans used for lavatory ablutions around their necks to humiliate them.

In one case the arrested people included a young Iranian who was previously arrested during Iran student demonstrations and had no criminal record.

 

 

Iran News ( 7 farmers shot blinded - Clash over water shortage ) Riot see photo

Iran: Seven farmers in Isfahan have been shot and blinded

 

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Published on Friday, 01 March 2013 14:55

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NCRI - Seven farmers in Isfahan have been shot and blinded by pellet guns in the escalating clashes over water shortages with the regime's security forces.
They are among a several who have been killed and hundreds injured after anti-riot armed State Security Forces were sent to the region to crush a uprising by famers angry at Revolutionary Guards for building dams in the Zayande-Rud River and cutting off their water supply.

Violent scenes have been erupting throughout the week after demonstrators set fire to up to five buses carrying security forces, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
In Khursagan, farmers set fire to a government trailer, and security forces hit back by cutting off electricity and all mobile phone networks.
At least 160 arrested since the demonstrations began on Wednesday, when farmers and their families had protested against the regime turning the river into a parched valley.
People living on Iran's central plateau have been demanding that the government restore their river water since it ran dry four years ago.
The Iranian Resistance has praised the protesting farmers in the towns of Khurasagan, Varazane, Ziar, Gavand, Gavkhuni and others in Isfahan Province.
In a statement, the resistance added: "The Iranian Resistance calls on all compatriots, especially the courageous youths of Isfahan Province, to rush to the support of the brave farmers and people uprising in various towns and cities of this province and support the families of the martyrs, wounded and arrested protesters.
"The Iranian Resistance also calls on all international and human rights organizations to take urgent action for the release of those arrested."

Taco Bell News ( Horse meat found in Tace bell meat in U.K )

Horsemeat scandal: Four new products test positive

Nearly 2,000 tests for horsemeat have been carried out by British retailers

Continue reading the main story

Horsemeat scandal

• Table of test results
• Q&A: Meat scandal and response
• What is the FSA?
• Horsemeat - food fraud, not food safety

Four beef products sold by Bird's Eye, Taco Bell and catering supplier Brakes have been found to contain horse DNA, the Food Standards Agency says.

This is the third wave of test results received by the FSA, which has now received a total of 5,430 test results.

Meanwhile, new tests conducted on beef retail products revealed no new cases of horsemeat adulteration, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said.

This latest round of tests saw 1,797 products being examined.

The FSA has asked retailers to test beef products for the presence of more than 1% of horsemeat, with anything above that figure considered to be a sign of adulteration.

Its latest results have found that more than 99% of tests show no horse DNA at or above the level of 1%.

The affected products are Birds Eye's Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese and Beef Lasagne - which the company took of shelves last week as a precaution; Brakes' Spicy Beef Skewer; Taco Bell's Ground Beef.
'Let down'
Taco Bell has three outlets in Britain and says all its affected stock has been removed. The products had come from a supplier in Europe, the company said.

A spokesman for Taco Bell said: "Once we learned of this issue, we immediately voluntarily tested our product for our three Taco Bell restaurants in the UK.

"Based on that testing, we learned ingredients supplied to us from one supplier in Europe tested positive for horsemeat.

"We immediately withdrew it from sale, and discontinued purchase of that meat and contacted the Food Standards Agency with this information. We apologise to our customers and take this matter very seriously as food quality is our highest priority."

Birds Eye said in a statement: "We are introducing a new ongoing DNA testing programme that will ensure no minced beef meat product can leave our facilities without first having been cleared by DNA testing."

Brakes, which is based in Ashford, Kent, said: "Our testing programme represents a significant proportion of all results the FSA has obtained from across the food industry.

"Brakes have also segregated a frozen burger as a precaution after equine DNA at 1% was reported to the Food Standards Agency."

It said it was "very disappointed to have been let down" by suppliers and that it "sincerely apologised to our customers."

South Africa ( 8 police officers arrested for dragging man behind patrol car and killing him)

South African police officers arrested over taxi driver video

Eight police officers accused of dragging a taxi driver behind their patrol car and killing him have been arrested on murder charges. Their arrests came hours after South Africa's police commisioner said they had been disarmed and suspended for "callous and unacceptable behaviour". The station commander has also been removed from his post pending investigation.

Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia, 27, was filmed being manhandled, handcuffed and dragged by a police van through the streets to a police station east of Johannesburg. Some two hours later, he was found dead in custoy, with a post mortem finding the cause of death head injuries with internal bleeding.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has opened a murder investigation.

^{A still from the video shows Mido Macia as he is dragged behind a police van in Johannesburg (EPA)}

Footage of the incident, condemned by Jacob Zuma, the South African president, as "horrific," spread quickly online, once again shining a spotlight on the conduct of the country's much maligned police force.

Related Articles

• SA police chief: officers suspended over taxi driver video
  01 Mar 2013
• South African police officers suspended over taxi driver video
  01 Mar 2013

Investigators are said to have been told that the taxi driver assaulted one of the police officers and took his gun.
New footage posted by South Africa's Daily Sun, which obtained the original video, yesterday appeared to contradict officers' version of events.
It appears to show the cab driver arguing with police officers with his hands by his side, before he is manhandled to the ground by up to five men in uniform.
Riah Phiyega, South Africa's police commissioner, said that the episode was being thoroughly investigated.
"Any one death is one too many," she said, adding that "what is in the video is not how the SAPS (South African Police Service) in a democratic South Africa goes about its work."
South Africa's police service is under intese pressure after a series of incidents which has tarnished its reputation. Last August, 34 striking miners were shot dead by police.
It was also humiliated when it emerged that the officer investigating the murder case against star sprinter Oscar Pistorius himself faced charges of attempted murder for shooting at a taxi.
Mr Macia had moved to South Africa as 10-year-old boy when his parents travelled to work on the mines, according to Mozambican high commissioner Fernando Fazenda, who has appointed an advocate to represent the family.
He came from the town Macia 100 miles north of Maputo. His wife and son had been on holiday in Mozambique and are returning to South Africa.

North Korea ( Dennis Rodman hangs out with Kim Jong Un )

Dennis Rodman leaves North Korea, calls Kim Jong Un 'awesome guy'

Updated at 07:55 AM today

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea. ((AP Photo/VICE Media, Jason Mojica))

 

 

March 1, 2013 (PYONGYANG, North Korea) -- Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an ''awesome guy'' and said his father and grandfather were ''great leaders.''

Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim since he inherited power from father Kim Jong Il in 2011, watched a basketball game with the authoritarian leader Thursday and later drank and dined on sushi with him.
At Pyongyang's Sunan airport on his way to Beijing, Rodman said it was "amazing" that the North Koreans were "so honest." He added that Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder, "were great leaders."

  "He's proud, his country likes him - not like him, love him, love him," Rodman said of Kim Jong Un. "Guess what, I love him. The guy's really awesome."
At Beijing's airport, Rodman pushed past waiting journalists without saying anything. Rodman's visit to North Korea began Monday and took place amid tension between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a "hostile" policy toward the North.
Rodman traveled to Pyongyang with three members of the professional Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a production crew to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series.
Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told the former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls star that he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea, said Shane Smith, founder of the New York-based VICE media company.
Dressed in a blue Mao suit, Kim laughed and slapped his hands on a table during the game at Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium as he sat nearly knee to knee with Rodman. Rodman, the man who once turned up in a wedding dress to promote his autobiography, wore a dark suit and dark sunglasses, but still had on his nose rings and other piercings. A can of Coca-Cola sat on the table before him in photos shared with AP by VICE.
Smith, after speaking to the VICE crew in Pyongyang, said Kim and Rodman "bonded" and chatted in English, though Kim primarily spoke in Korean through a translator.
Thursday's game ended in a 110-110 tie, with two Americans playing on each team alongside North Koreans. After the game, Rodman addressed Kim in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands of North Koreans and told him, "You have a friend for life," VICE spokesman Alex Detrick told AP.
At an "epic feast" later, the leader plied the group with food and drinks and round after round of toasts were made, Duffy said in an email to AP.
Duffy said he invited Kim to visit the United States, a proposal met with hearty laughter from the North Korean leader.
Kim said he hoped sports exchanges would promote "mutual understanding between the people of the two countries," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953. The foes never signed a peace treaty, and do not have diplomatic relations.
Rodman's trip is the second attention-grabbing American visit this year to North Korea. Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a four-day trip in January to Pyongyang, but did not meet the North Korean leader.
The Obama administration had frowned on the trip by Schmidt, who was accompanied by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, but has avoided criticizing Rodman's outing, saying it's about sports.

- See more at: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=9012049#sthash.YgiLygtd.dpuf