Saudi Arabia ( Workers unable to " Save girl " who fell into well )

The Civil Defense has not succeeded to retrieve the body of six-year-old Lama Al-Rouqi who died after falling into an abandoned well in Tabuk two weeks ago.
Lama was out picnicking with her family when she fell into the well in Al-Asmar valley in Haql Governorate on Dec. 20. She fell more than 30 meters into the 100-meter-deep and half-a-meter-wide well.

 Maj. Gen. Mastour Al-Harithy, director of Tabuk’s Civil Defense, said at a press conference here on Thursday that the team was still trying to retrieve her body. They came close to the body on Wednesday, but it slid 11 meters further into the well because of loose soil in the hole.
Al-Harithy also outlined the events that took place since the Tabuk Civil Defense arrived at the scene after receiving a call for help at 3:54 p.m. on Dec. 20.
Lama’s father told them that she fell into the well while playing with her sister, said Al-Harithy. He said the rescuers first made sure the girl was not anywhere else in the valley.
“On examining the well, Civil Defense experts assumed that the girl had fallen into the well through a hole on the side because it was covered at the top,” said the official.
As a preliminary step, they pumped oxygen into the well and sent down a camera at the end of a cable. “The camera collided with some rock and mud at a depth of 30 meters and there was no sign of the body,” he said.
The Civil Defense dug a hole parallel to the well to reach the level where the girl was trapped. It was three meters away from the well.
The rescuers sought the help of teams from Madinah, Qassim, Riyadh and the Taif Civil Defense directorates, including experts from Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Geological Survey, Al-Harithy said. Three academics from Tabuk University were present to provide advice on such rescues.
Experts from an Italian company and Saudi Binladin were also consulted on Saturday. However, they could not help because they did not have equipment to deal with such a situation.
A company was contracted to provide support for the wall of the well while digging took place.
The teams started taking special care to ensure the safety of the diggers when they reached a depth of 27 meters on Tuesday evening. However, they then hit hard rock at 30 meters.
About 72 hours after they started digging the parallel well, the Civil Defense rescuers managed to open a small hole of 30 cm in diameter and gain access to the well. At that spot, the teams could smell the decaying body of the girl.
They also came across a doll, which relatives said belonged to the child. Unfortunately, the body fell 11 meters further because of loose soil.

Israel ( Woman, 40, found dead in her apartment surrounded by 3 drunk guys )

 

By: Sarah Weiss
A woman was found dead inside her apartment along with three drunk guys, according to police reports in Israel.

Be’er Sheva Police said that the dead body of a local 40-year-old woman was found on Saturday morning, in her apartment.

Magen David Adom paramedics who were called to the scene, pronounced her dead. Police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the case. Three men who were drunk at the apartment were detained for questioning.

Police came to the woman’s apartment after a call came into the police phone line (100) asking for a welfare check on the woman.

When police officers went into her bedroom they saw the unresponsive woman on her bed.

According to the initial police investigation, the woman along with the three men drank alcohol throughout the night, and in the morning, the woman did not wake up.

One of the three men went to a neighbor in order to get help.

The woman's body was transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to determine the cause of death. The three men will be freed if the autopsy shows no criminal activity.

Lebanon ( Lebanese troops have arrested the leader of the Al-Qaeda group ) That bombed Iranian Embassy

BEIRUT: Lebanese troops have arrested the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked group that claimed a double suicide bombing at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in November, the defense minister told AFP Wednesday.
Majid Al-Majid, the “emir” of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, “was arrested by the intelligence services of the Lebanese Army in Beirut,” Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said, without specifying when the arrest took place.


“He was wanted by the Lebanese authorities and is currently being interrogated in secret,” the minister added. Majid was on a list of 85 suspects wanted by the kingdom.
The Azzam Brigades was designated in the United States as a “terrorist organization” in 2012, and has in the past claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon.
The group was formed in 2009 and is believed to have branches in both Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula. According to the group's sites, Majid was revealed to be the leader of the Brigades in 2012.
On Wednesday, a Twitter account belonging to Sirajeddin Zreikat, a member of the Sunni Muslim extremist group, appeared to have been suspended.
Zreikat had claimed responsibility in the group’s name for the double bombing at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut that killed 25 people

Palestinian ambassador Dies ( Booby-trapped " Safe " kills ambassador )

PRAGUE: The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic died Wednesday in an explosion that occurred when he opened an old safe that had been left untouched for more than 20 years, officials said.

Ambassador Jamal al-Jamal, 56, was at home with his family at the time of the explosion, according to Palestinian Embassy spokesman Nabil El-Fahel. Al-Jamal was seriously injured and rushed to a hospital where he died, according to police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said no foul play was suspected, noting that the safe had been left untouched for more than 20 years.

It also appeared that the door of the safe had been booby-trapped, according to Zoulova. It was unclear how al-Jamal tried to open it or what type of safe it was.

The safe was recently moved from the old embassy building, but it had come from a building that used to house the Palestinian Liberation Organization's offices in the 1980s, Malki said.

"The ambassador decided to open it. After he opened it, apparently something happened inside (the safe) and went off," Malki told The Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear how Malki knew the safe had been untouched for more than 20 years or why and when the safe would have been booby-trapped.

During the 1980s — before the fall of the Soviet Union — the PLO had close ties with the Eastern bloc countries. In recent years, relations have been tense and the Czech government was seen as largely taking Israel's side in the Mideast conflict, said Nabil Shaath, a foreign affairs veteran and leading official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

"The safe was sitting neglected in one of the areas of the old embassy. It was in one of the corners. No one had touched it for 20 to 25 years," Malki said.

BEIRUT ( A large car bomb killed five people and wounded at least 20 )

BEIRUT: A large car bomb killed five people and wounded at least 20 in a Hezbollah bastion in south Beirut on Thursday, a health ministry source told AFP.
“According to an initial toll, five people have been killed and more than 20 injured,” the source said on condition of anonymity.


Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said: “The terrorist explosion targeted a densely populated residential area, just 150 to 200 meters (yards) away from Hezbollah’s political bureau.”
The official National News Agency reported that the explosion was caused by an explosives-packed four-wheel-drive vehicle in the Haret Hreik neighborhood.
The district is a symbolic one for Hezbollah, which once based many of its leadership institutions in the area.
Much of the neighborhood was reduced to rubble during the massive Israeli air bombing that accompanied its 2006 war with Hezbollah, but it has since been rebuilt

Iran ( Student Activist " Maryam Shafipour " transferred to prison infirmary after falling unconscious )

December 2013

 

Keywords : Political Prisoners

فارسى

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – Sources have reported that the health of jailed activist Maryam Shafipour – held behind bars in the women’s ward of Evin prison - continues to deteriorate. In the past week her high blood pressure reached dangerous levels rendering her unconscious and she was transferred to the prison’s infirmary.

According to CHRR despite the recommendation by the prison physician that Shafipour immediately receive an MRI, the prison authorities did not comply. In addition during the past weeks Maryam Shafipour has been suffering from extreme toothache but she has not been seen by a dentist nor been allowed to receive medical attention for her teeth.

Maryam Shafipour, detained since August 5, 2013 had her first court session on October 21, 2013 and her second court date has been set for January 1, 2014 at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati. According to her father, Maryam Shafipour is accused of “conspiracy against national security.” A source close to the family has said that the charges brought against the student activist are “baseless” and “unfounded.” The source emphasized that there has been no proof or evidence substantiating any of the charges brought against Shafipour, and that the investigators seem to be holding a personal vendetta against her. In an earlier interview with the Kaleme website, Maryam Shafipour’s father said, “The type of charges brought against Maryam and her treatment are reminiscent of the manner in which intelligence officials conducted themselves in 2009 [during the unrest following the contested presidential election results.] The way they have dealt with her is as if this case has been left behind from those days.”

A source close to the family said regarding Maryam Shafipour’s physical condition, “even though she has lost a lot of weight and is in poor health, she is in very good spirits and denies all charges brought against her.”

Maryam Shafipour is a former agricultural engineering student from Qazvin International University who was suspended after 2 semesters and was expelled from university on her eighth semester due to her student activities and her weblog. In 2009 she served in the presidential election campaign of Mehdi Karroubi who has been under house arrest. Shafipour was first detained in 2010 and was handed a one-year suspended prison term by the Qazvin Revolutionary Court.

Shafipour was handed a summons to appear at the Prosecutor’s office in mid July of this year. She appeared at Branch 2 of Evin prison’s Shahid Moghoddas Court on August 5th per the summons order and was subsequently detained and transferred behind bars in Evin prison. She remains behind bars in the women’s ward despite her ailing health and need for medical care.

Maldives ( A dead body washed up by resort where " David Beckham " is taking a hideaway for Christmas )

MALE, Maldives: A dead body has washed up at an exclusive island resort in the Maldives where English football star David Beckham is taking a hideaway Christmas holiday with his family, police said Monday.
Investigations were underway to establish the cause of death of the man, whose body was found floating near a jetty on Sunday at the One and Only Reethi Rah resort near the capital island Male, police said.


“The body was removed to a morgue and investigations are underway,” police spokesman Hassan Haneef told AFP by telephone.
In a second incident, a stock of fireworks brought in for New Year’s Eve exploded on the island Sunday, shattering the calm for guests who pay up to $12,700 a night for a room.
Police said the dead man, identified as a Sri Lankan national, was not a guest or an employee of the upmarket resort where Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich was also reportedly staying.
Beckham, his wife Victoria and their four children remained at the de luxe resort despite the problems on Sunday, tourism sources said.
The couple visited the Maldives a year ago and stayed at the same resort, but that holiday was dampened by incessant rain.
Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb told reporters last week that several international celebrities were spending their Christmas holidays in the nation of more than 1,000 coral-fringed islands scattered across the equator.
The Maldives is known for its secluded resorts with pristine beaches and privacy and is also a popular destination for well-heeled honeymooners. It attracted nearly a million foreign holidaymakers last year.
Tourism has suffered setbacks in recent years due to political unrest following the resignation of former President Mohamed Nasheed in February 2012 in what he later alleged was a coup.