Romania ( Teacher slaps cop - Cop slaps Teacher )

Syria ( Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in the Eastern Syrian city of Raqqa abducted a prominent Italian Jesuit priest. )

Tue Jul 30, 2013 4:11

Al-Qaeda Kidnaps Italian Priest in Syria

        

TEHRAN (FNA)- Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in the Eastern Syrian city of Raqqa abducted a prominent Italian Jesuit priest.

The terrorist group's members kidnapped father Paolo Dall'Oglio on Monday while he was walking in the city, which had fallen under the control of militant extremist brigades, the sources in Raqqa province told Reuters.

The unrest in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following intervention of western and regional states.

Many Syrians who sided with the opposition at start of the protests have now turned to side with the government and the army to defend their country against foreign-backed extremists.

TEXAS ( Man dies after being held captive - in Texas Home )

1 of 3 elderly men held captive in Texas home dies

Posted: Jul 30, 2013 2:49 PM by Associated Press

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HOUSTON - One of three men found malnourished and held against their will in a dungeon-like garage of a Houston house has died.

A Houston police statement Tuesday says 79-year-old William Merle Greenawalt died Thursday. Two other former captives, 59-year-old Dean Cottingham and 64-year-old John Edward Padget, are out of the hospital and in the care of Adult Protective Services.

Walter Renard Jones was arrested at the scene Aug. 19, when the men were found. The 31-year-old Houston man remains jailed on two counts of injury to the elderly with serious bodily injury. A message left with his attorney wasn't returned.

Police say the men told investigators they were forced to live in the garage so their captor could cash their assistance checks.

Iran ( Saeed Matinpour allowed visitation in Evin prison - After 3 years )

29 July 2013

Saeed Matinpour allowed visitation in Evin prison

Keywords : Political Prisoners

فارسى

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – Saeed Matinpour, jailed journalist and political activist was granted visitation in prison today, July 29 after spending about 3 years of his sentence behind bars.

According to CHRR, on July 18 Saeed Matinpour and a number of other political prisoners at Evin prison were transferred to solitary confinement after about 150 officers violently raided the men’s public Ward 350 of the prison. This led to 6 prisoners launching a hunger strike in support of Matinpour, demanding that he be released from solitary confinement and returned to the public ward. The six prisoners who went on hunger strike were Saeed Jalalifar (CHRR member), Saeed Haeri (former CHRR member), Reza Shahabi, Soroush Sabet, Fereydoun Seydirad and Vahid Ali Ghalipour.

The hunger-striking prisoners ended their strike after 4 days when their demands were met and Saeed Matinpour was transferred from Ward 240 back to Ward 350 in Evin prison. Today, one week after his return to the public ward, Saeed Matinpour was finally granted visitation with his family.

Saeed Matinpour, a philosophy major at Tehran University is a civil activist involved in Azerbaijan ethnic rights, and journalist who wrote in Zanjan Newspaper. He was arrested on May 25, 2007 and subjected to harsh interrogations while held in solitary confinement for nine months, leading to back and neck problems. He was handed an 8-year prison sentence by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati on the charges of “connection with foreign entities,” and “propaganda against the regime.” Even though Matinpour has spent more than half of his prison term behind bars in Evin prison, he has been barred from his legal right to furlough despite many requests on the part of his family. He is now serving his prison term in Ward 350 of Evin prison.

EGYPT News ( The hospitals and several gun shot victims- No slow down in the violence )

Colombia ( Eight Gang Members Arrested in Colombia -Authorities seized 107.5 kilos of cocaine )

The suspects were involved in drug trafficking, staging attacks on the security forces and running extortion rackets targeting business owners, officials said

BOGOTA – Eight suspected members of the Los Rastrojos gang were arrested in Bahia Solano and Nuqui, two cities located in the northwestern Colombian province of Choco, the navy said Sunday.

Pacho Valois, the gang’s suspected leader, was among those arrested.

Attorney General’s Office and navy personnel carried out the operation that led to the arrests in urban and rural sections of the cities.

The suspects were involved in drug trafficking, staging attacks on the security forces and running extortion rackets targeting business owners, officials said.

Authorities seized 107.5 kilos of cocaine, 1.6 tons of marijuana, arms and ammunition from the Los Rastrojos cell operating in the two cities over the past 18 months, the navy said.

The gang’s operations have been dismantled in Nuqui and Bahia Solano, officials said.

Leonardo Fabio Barrera Santos, who ran the gang’s finances in the northeastern city of Puerto Santander, was arrested in a separate operation, the National Police said.

Los Rastrojos is one of a number of groups founded by veterans of the defunct United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) militia federation.

Los Rastrojos and the other AUC successor groups, such as Los Paisas and Nueva Generacion, are responsible for a good deal of the criminal activity in Colombia, officials say

INDIA ( 10 Children Die in School Bus Crash in India - 30 were injured )

NEW DELHI – Ten children died Tuesday and another 30 were injured when the bus taking them to school collided with a truck in the northeastern Indian state of Rajastan, a police spokesman told Efe.

The accident occurred early Tuesday morning in the Hanumangarh district as the bus was headed for the city of Goluwala with some 40 youngsters on board, the spokesman said.

Six of the children were pronounced dead at the scene and four others died later at a hospital.

Around 30 others are being treated for their injuries in different medical centers.

According to NDTV television, the crash occurred when the bus driver tried to pass another vehicle.

The whereabouts of the bus and truck drivers remain unknown.

Some 125,000 people die annually in India in traffic accidents and, according to a report published in 2011 by the World Health Organization, it is the country with the greatest number of deaths on the highways.

Accidents in India are chiefly caused by bad driving, poor signposting, and the disrepair of vehicles and roads. EFE