Nigeria ( Riyom - Shots fired over missing cows -five people injured )

Five persons, including three soldiers, were reportedly injured in Riyom, Plateau, on Wednesday when civilians clashed with soldiers who had gone to aid a search for missing cows.
The incident led to the blockage of the Jos-Abuja road as protesting youths and women took over the highway.

Capt. Salisu Mustapha, Media Officer of the Special Task Force (STF) maintaining the peace in Plateau, who confirmed the incident to NAN, said three soldiers were injured in the fracas after women protested against the search.
Mr Emanuel Danboyi, a leader of the Riyom community and former member of the Plateau House of Assembly, also told NAN that two youths allegedly shot by STF during the clash had been hospitalised.
Mustapha said STF received intelligence report that cows said to have been rustled were sighted in the Farin-Lamba area of Riyom and went in search of the animals.
“But to our surprise, when we approached the area for the assignment, women and some youths of the area attacked our personnel, which led to the injury of three soldiers.
“Some of the youths fired gunshots into the crowd which led to the casualties recorded,’’ he said
Mustapha described the incident as “unfortunate’’ and wondered why people should seek to stop STF personnel from carrying out “a very routine exercise’’.
He claimed that there had always been reports of cattle rustling in the area.
Some eyewitnesses, who spoke with NAN, alleged that the STF personnel were resisted because they allegedly “stormed’’ the community with an armoured tank in search of the cows.
“It was when the women and youths of the area resisted the STF men that the road was blocked,’’ the source, who pleaded anonymity, said.
Also, Mr Timothy Dem, the Majority Leader of Plateau House of Assembly, who confirmed the incident, faulted STF for visiting the area without notifying him or other key stakeholders in Riyom.
“STF made a serious mistake in taking that step without notifying us. Perhaps such incident would not have happened.
“We are not happy with what happened in our community today, especially the casualties recorded as a result of such a grave mistake,’’ he said.
Dem expressed concern over the continuous clash between STF personnel and his people and alleged that his people were “always at the receiving end’’.
Mustapha, however, faulted Dem’s opinion that the STF should have notified stakeholders of the council before embarking on the search.
“Why should we notify somebody we are accusing of being in possession of some missing property when we want to conduct a search?
“When you do that, the search will not yield any positive result for us,’’ he said.
Mustapha said that his men had dispersed the youths and cleared the Abuja-Jos highway, while law and order had been restored.
“Law and order has returned to the affected area and our men are keeping vigil,’’ he said. (NAN)

Iran News ( 35 Human rights reporters released from Evin Prison ) Unexpectedly

Dozens of political prisoners released from Evin prison

Keywords : Political Prisoners

فارسى

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – On the afternoon of Tuesday April 9th around 35 political prisoners were unexpectedly released from Evin prison.

According to news provided to CHRR, Saman Hamidi, Amir Gorshasabi, Ghourbian, Sedaghat, Lahouti, Ali Shariati, Abolfazl Ghasemi, and Javad Zakeni are among the released. Seyed Alireza Seyedian and Davar Hosseini’s 2.5-year prison sentences were commuted.

These prisoners were mostly arrested in 2009 during the mass upheaval following the contested presidential elections. They were released on Tuesday with no explanation or clarification about whether they were being granted temporary or permanent release.

In the past few weeks, a number of political prisoners were granted temporary release for the Nowruz holidays. Among those released on furlough were Emad Bahavar, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mehdi Khodayi, Nasim Soltan Beigi, Alieh Tabrai, Hassan Zeidabadi, Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh, Mohammad Rezai, Shahabeddin Mortazavi, Kamyar Parsa, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Saman Hamidi Azadi, Majid Sedaghat, Hassan Farji, Behzad Hooshmand, Hassan Khodavari, and Mostafah Badkoobei.

Iran News ( Denmark stops aid to Iran 's fight against Drug trafficking- because of Executions )

Denmark Stops Aid to Iran’s Fight Against Drug Trafficking-

Tuesday 9 April 2013

[English] [فارسى]

 

Iran Human Rights, April 9: The Danish government has decided to cut its aids to Iran’s anti-drug program, say Danish newspapers today.
Denmark was one of several western countries providing financial aid to Iran’s war on drugs. The aid is provided to Iranian authorities though the UNODC (United Nation’s office for drugs and crimes).
Many of those in Iran who are issued drug related charges are executed. According to the Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty in 2012, at least 76% of all executions (438 out of 580 executions) in 2012 were for drug-related charges.
In the past few years several human rights organizations have urged the UNODC and donor countries to stop contributing indirectly to the increase in executions in Iran.
Danish newspaper Politiken reported that "Denmark has the past two years given five million dollars annually to a counter-narcotics program in Iran."
“During the same period, the Iranian authorities executed hundreds of suspected drug offenders, and on this basis, Development Minister Christian Friis Bach (Radikale) has now decided to immediately discontinue support for the program”, reported Politiken Tuesday.
– “It is a signal to Iran that the use of the death penalty is unacceptable and something that we in no way can vouch for”, he told Politiken.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR welcomed Denmark’s decision and said: "We still haven’t heard the details through official channels, but given that the news is true, we are very glad and hope other countries providing aid to the UNODC’s cooperation with Iran will follow Denmark’s move. This aid should go to programs promoting human rights and not to programs contributing to the death penalty."

Iran News ( Blogger gets 6 months in jail - For making comment about the Supreme Leader ) 28 dollar fine

Iran: Blogger jailed for branding Khamenei speech 'strange'

Details

Published on Wednesday, 10 April 2013 13:54

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NCRI - A pro-Khamenei blogger has been jailed in Iran for six months for describing a comment by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as 'strange', in the latest example of the suppression of free speech in the regime.
Mojtaba Daneshtalb made the 'subversive' remark while commenting on Khamenei's plans to change the presidential election process.
The Supreme Leader had said he was considering changing the election process from public vote to electing the president through a parliamentary vote only.
Daneshtalb - also fined 100,000 Tomans ($28) - branded the idea 'strange in his blog in October 2011, noting that Khamenei has stated this after his differences with Ahmadinejad had been revealed.
The blogger wrote at the time: "The remarks by the leader create fear among the people. They fear that developments behind the scenes are moving so fast that the people will eventually be left without any will of their own at all.
Daneshtalb also described Khamenei's election proposals as 'much darker than present system'.
At the time he was detained and held briefly after publishing an apology on his blog. Before leaving to serve his six-month sentence in Tehran's Evin prison, he wrote on his blog that he had not intended to be 'anti-revolutionary' and had not meant to cause offence.

Navajo Nation ( Happy Birthday Irene Eskey " Crystal Woman " 107 yrs old ) Uncommon Wisdom

Guy Atchley's Arizona

Navajo grandmother turns 107

CREATED Apr. 9, 2013

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• Image by kgun9.com
• The view of the Painted Desert out Irene Eskey's front door ... Image by Guy Atchley
• Irene's sheep on the Navajo Reservation north of Joseph City, Arizona ... Image by Guy Atchley
• Irene Eskey's home is a few miles down this dirt road on the Navajo Reservation ... Image by Guy Atchley
• A home belonging to one of Irene Eskey's neighbors on the Navajo Reservation north of Joseph City, Arizona ... Image by Guy Atchley
• Another home on the Navajo Reservation ... Image by Guy Atchley

 

 

Chapter preview of Uncommon Wisdom

Reporter: Guy Atchley
Web Producer: Laura Kittell
Irene Eskey, a Navajo grandmother also known as “Crystal Woman” turned 107 years old on April 7th.
She still cooks, herds sheep, and her daughter Liz says that she can chop wood – if she has to!
A large party was held in Irene’s honor at the Navajo Reservation, north of Winslow on April 7th... When asked how she lived so long and remain healthy for so long, she said “Hard work and living clean.”

You can read about Irene’s life and the inspiring lessons that she has learned during her 107 years in a new book, just released, called UNCOMMON WISDOM: the Inspiring Lifetime Stories of 12 Extraordinary People.
Local author Thomas Whittingslow has collected the life stories of twelve exceptional people: ranging from a Nobel Prize Winner, to a man who lived for two years hooked to an artificial heart machine. At the end of each story they share the most important lessons that they have learned in life.

UNCOMMON WISDOM: the Inspiring Stories of 12 Extraordinary People should be available on Amazon books by May 1st. However; you can reserve an autographed copy of the book by contacting the author at twhittingslow@gmail.com.

FBI News ( Kentucky Senator McConnell under investigation - Dirty pool ) Ashley Judd

FBI Investigating Alleged Bugging of Republican Senator’s Office

WASHINGTON – The FBI said on Tuesday that it is “looking into” who may have bugged Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office and taped him at a private meeting with members of his reelection campaign discussing strategies to discredit a possible election rival.

“I can only confirm that we were contacted by Sen. McConnell’s office and that we are looking into those accusations,” Mary Trotman, an FBI spokesperson in Louisville, Kentucky, told Efe.

On the tape of the Feb. 2, 2013, campaign strategy meeting, which was released on Tuesday by Mother Jones magazine, McConnell and his campaign committee members are heard discussing ways to discredit actress Ashley Judd, who at the time was considering challenging McConnell’s reelection bid for his Kentucky Senate seat in 2014.


Last week, Judd decided not to run for the seat and, for now, McConnell’s reelection campaign has not presented any proof that the tape recording was the result of illegal bugging.

McConnell and members of his campaign staff are heard on the tape discussing tactics they could use to hurt Judd’s candidacy, including pointing up her past struggles with depression and her religious opinions.

A source close to the campaign, however, told the daily Politico that they are presuming that “a crime was committed” because “nobody in that meeting leaked this.”

An unidentified voice on the tape can be heard saying that Judd is “emotionally unbalanced,” had shown evidence of “suicidal tendencies” and “was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the ‘90s.”

McConnell’s campaign says that the tape was not leaked by any insider and the senator himself accused “the political left” of resorting to “quite a Nixonian move” to get confidential information.

In remarks to reporters on Tuesday, McConnell said that the alleged illegal tape shows “what the political left does these days.”

McConnell complained to reporters that last month, leaders on the left attacked the ethnic origin of his wife and were listening in to conversations in his campaign headquarters. The Senate Republican leader refused to respond to reporters’ questions about his alleged strategy against Judd.

McConnell’s second wife is Elaine Chao, the former labor secretary under George W. Bush and the first Asian American woman to serve in the Cabinet. EFE

Mexico ( Indians Lynch and kill man that robbed and beat taxi cab driver )

Indians Lynch Suspected Criminal in Southeast Mexico

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico – A man was beaten and set on fire by a mob for allegedly robbing a taxi outside San Juan Chamula, a city in southeastern Mexico, prosecutors said.

The incident occurred Sunday night in the Tzotzil Indian community of Bechijtic, located about five kilometers (3.1 miles) from San Cristobal de Las Casas, the Chiapas state Attorney General’s Office said.

The suspected criminal “lost his life as a result of the wounds caused by blunt objects and burns all over his body,” the AG’s office said in a statement.

Three subjects robbed and beat a taxi driver in Bechijtic around 8:45 p.m. Sunday and fled the scene, investigators said.

The taxi driver asked residents for help and a mob chased the three men, capturing one of the subjects.

The man was taken to the community, where the mob attacked him and set him on fire, the AG’s office said.

Investigators are trying to identify the assailants, the AG’s office said. EFE