TEMPE Az ( Police arrest boyfriend who killed 23-year-old Annovedwin Begay-Barakzai. )

TEMPE, AZ - Police have arrested a man for the murder of a woman whose naked body was found in a Tempe street earlier this month.
According to Tempe police spokesman Michael Pooley, detectives arrested 27-year-old Douglas Ray George for the death of 23-year-old Annovedwin Begay-Barakzai.
A passerby found the victim dead around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 15 on Minton Drive near McClintock Drive and Baseline Road.

The Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.
During the investigation, it was reportedly revealed that George drove Begay-Barakzai to Minton Drive after killing her at another location.
He then placed her body in a dark area of the neighborhood, Pooley said.
"The investigation was made even more complicated due to the fact that she had no identification and was left unclothed," Pooley said.
With the public's help, police were later able to identify Begay-Barakzai.
Pooley said George and Begay-Barakzai lived together near Baseline and Rural roads.
George was also arrested earlier this month for domestic violence on the victim, Pooley said.
Detectives determined that George was linked to the homicide and is being booked into Tempe City Jail on the charge of 2nd degree murder


Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/tempe/pd-douglas-ray-george-arrested-after-naked-female-body-found-in-tempe-street#ixzz2XGR2SLyV

Iran ( Political prisoner dies of Heart attack 40 yrs old - 5 yr sentence with physical punishment ? ) physical punishment ?

Details

Published on Monday, 24 June 2013 04:55

NCRI - Political prisoner, Afshin Osanlou, died of heart attack on Thursday, June 20 in a hospital. He was member of bus drivers union.
His cellmates immediately transferred him to the prison clinic in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj. he was then transferred to a hospital, where he died.
He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with physical punishment on charges of acting against the system.

According to the reports he was 40 years old. He was a brother of the founder of bus drivers union Mansour Osanlu.

Iran News ( 6 people have been sentenced to have " Their hands cut off " by the court ) OMG

Details

Published on Tuesday, 25 June

File photo : Amputation in Iran

NCRI - Six people have been sentenced to having their hands amputated by a court in the Iranian city of Shiraz.

The barbaric punishment would be carried out once confirmation was received from the head of the judiciary, Shiraz public prosecutor Ali Alqasi said.
He also insisted that despite claims from their families, the victims were 'criminals' and not political prisoners.
Alqasi said: "The verdict of the amputation of the hands of six people has been issued and we are waiting for the response of our correspondence with the head of judiciary, so that it will be carried out very soon.
"We do not have any political prisoners in Shiraz and they are criminals that are in detention, but their family members are trying to portray their arrests as political.
Many opposition activists and members of religious minorities were arrested in the months ahead of the June presidential election.
In recent months, one man had his fingers amputated in pub in Shiraz after being convicted of robbery.

Mexico City ( Police Find 3 Burned Bodies in Central Mexico ) Border security

MEXICO CITY – The burned bodies of two women and a man were found by police on a dirt road in the central Mexican state of Morelos, prosecutors said.

The bodies were found early Saturday some 150 meters (about 490 feet) from a municipal building in the city of Huitzilac, the Morelos Attorney General’s Office said.

The victims were about 80 percent burned and had been gagged, the AG’s office said.

Another body was found in Xochitepec, a city in Morelos, media reports said, adding that the victim was shot in the head.

Numerous murders have occurred in Morelos recently, with the killings linked to drug trafficking.

Arizona tucson ( Three bodies found in southern Arizona desert )

Three bodies found in southern Arizona desert

Posted: Jun 24, 2013 4:50 PM by Associated Press
Updated: Jun 24, 2013 5:51 PM

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TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Federal authorities say the bodies of three men have been found in the southern Arizona desert and all appear to be heat-related deaths.

U.S. Border Patrol officials said Monday that Casa Grande Station agents discovered two bodies near Quijotoa.

They say the bodies and three marijuana bundles were spotted Friday by air patrols.

The Tohono O'odham Police Department took custody of the scene.

Tucson Station agents reported finding the body of a man Saturday near Arivaca within 100 yards of a road.

The man's sister told agents her brother had fallen and was unresponsive before being abandoned by the group crossing the desert.

Authorities say the nationalities of the three men aren't immediately available

Ecuador ( Ecuador Confirms Snowden Has Filed Asylum Request ) CIA employee

Ecuador Confirms Snowden Has Filed Asylum Request
The former CIA employee cited “danger of persecution” by the U.S. government in his asylum request, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said

BANGKOK – Former CIA employee Edward Snowden has filed a request for asylum in Ecuador, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said Monday.

The 30-year-old Snowden cited “danger of persecution” by the U.S. government in his asylum request, Patiño said in a videoconference from Hanoi, where he is on an official trip.

“The United States is intercepting the majority of the communications in the world,” Snowden said in a letter read by the foreign minister.

Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong in early June after leaking documents about two top-secret National Security Agency surveillance programs to Britain’s Guardian newspaper and The Washington Post, asked Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa for political asylum.

The former CIA technician and NSA contractor flew from Hong Kong to Russia on Sunday, a day after the United States requested his extradition on espionage and other charges.

Snowden could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Hong Kong’s government said it rejected the extradition request because the United States did not fully comply with the region’s laws.

WikiLeaks said in a Twitter posting that it helped Snowden leave Hong Kong and seek “political asylum in a democratic country,” but it did not say where the former intelligence operative was headed.

Quito granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asylum last year, but he is still in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London awaiting a safe conduct guarantee from Great Britain.

Snowden has admitted releasing details about the secret surveillance programs, but he denies being a traitor. EFE

Washington D.C ( Missing Red Panda "Rusty" last seen Sunday night )

A male red panda has been missing from the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C. since 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening.

"The keepers last saw him when they fed him on Sunday night," said Devin Murphy, a spokesperson for the zoo. "They noticed he wasn't in his cage at 7:30 a.m. when they went to check on him."

She said that zoo officials are combing the grounds for the panda, who is less than a year old and is named Rusty.

"He could be sick & hiding, or someone could have taken him," the Zoo posted on Twitter on Monday morning. "Please help us keep an eye out for Rusty."

Red pandas are typically the size of a house cat and have big, bushy tails. (Read: Red panda facts.)

They spend most of their time in trees, even sleeping in the branches. They are most active at night, as well as in the early morning and early evening hours.

 

 

"They're raccoon-like and share certain raccoon characteristics but they're not as adept or opportunistic as raccoons," said Marc Brody, a conservationist and National Geographic grantee who founded Panda Mountain, a panda conservation center.

"And they would be hard pressed to make it on their own," he said. "If it was late in the season, there would be a lot more fruiting plants around the National Zoo. I'm sure he can live for a couple of days but to forage indefinitely, it's early in the season to feed on fruits and berries."

Brody also warns that Rusty may be in trouble if temperatures climb. Red pandas typically live in a cooler climate and might not adapt well to the humidity of Washington.

"Red pandas generally tend to sleep in trees during the heat of the day," said Murphy. "They're not aggressive, but we are advising people to respect that he is a wild animal."

Rusty arrived in Washington D.C. in April, from a zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska. He has been on exhibit for about three weeks and is up to date on all of his shots.

He is not the only red panda to go on the lam. Yin, who lived at the Virginia Zoo from 2007 until her death in 2011, escaped twice in a month shortly after arriving in Norfolk, Va.

"She was quite the escape artist," said Winfield Danielson, the marketing and PR manager for the Virginia Zoo. "We design the habitats in accordance with the standards of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to keep the animals secure in their habitats but sometimes things happen. One time a branch fell from a tree and allowed Yin to climb over."

The National Zoo has asked anyone who spots Rusty to immediately tell an official at the zoo or call 202-633-4888