Mexico ( 7 cops arrested for kidnapping of " Mexican Singer " )

VERACRUZ, Mexico – Seven police officers have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a former contestant on the “La Voz Mexico” television program who died last weekend at the hands of a group of criminals, officials said Tuesday.

The seven cops participated in the Jan. 7 kidnapping of Gibran David Martiz Diaz and one of his friends, Sergio Martinez, 17, Veracruz state Attorney General Amadeo Flores said.

The officers, who allegedly turned the young men over to a gang of criminals, were accused of abuse of authority, failure to fulfill a legal duty and coercion, the AG told Mexican media.

“On the basis of the inquiries made into ... the disappearance of these young men ... the Attorney General’s Office found evidence of deeds considered to be crimes that may have been committed by seven members of the public security forces,” Flores said.

After conducting interviews of witnesses and the police officers themselves, the latter were arrested and brought before a judge to respond to the accusations against them.

The two young men, according to the complaint presented by relatives, were taken by force from their apartment in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, by armed people dressed in state police uniforms and traveling in three state police vehicles.

Police found the bodies of both victims last weekend in the city of Huatusco after a shootout in which two suspects were killed.

Martin Diaz and Martinez, according to ballistics tests, were murdered by the two criminals before they themselves were gunned down by police, the AG said.

BAGHDAD ( 26 men " Executed " for terrorism on tuesday )

BAGHDAD: Iraq on Tuesday announced the execution of 26 men convicted of “terrorism,” including a high-profile anti-Al-Qaeda militia commander whose arrest in 2009 prompted fierce street battles in Baghdad.


 The executions come despite widespread international condemnation of Iraq’s use of capital punishment, and were announced barely a week after Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki publicly rebuked Ban Ki-moon over the UN chief’s call for a moratorium.
“The Justice Ministry carried out the executions of 26 (men) convicted of crimes related to terrorism on Sunday,” a ministry statement said, adding that all of those put to death were Iraqis.
It said that the ministry would “continue to carry out sentences against those who have been condemned, after the final decision has been made,” despite persistent international calls for Iraq to declare a moratorium on its use of capital punishment.
“All 26 who were executed carried out brutal terrorist crimes against the Iraqi people, and they were tried and condemned, and the verdict was approved by the presidency,” Justice Minister Hassan Al-Shammari said.
Iraq executed at least 169 people last year, according to an AFP tally based on statements from the Justice Ministry and reports from officials.
It was the highest figure since the US-led invasion of 2003, and placed it third in the world for the number of executions after only China and Iran.

Russia ( Two " Black Widow suspects wanted - Sochi Olympics terrorism threat )

 The posters ask for help finding the women: Jhannet Tsakhaeva, 34,  from the restive Russian region of Dagestan, and Oksana Aslanova, 26, from Turkmenistan. A third woman who was wanted, Zaira Alieva, 26, from Dagestan, was killed Saturday by Russian security forces in Dagestan, NBC News confirmed..

Pakistan ( 3 '' Health care workers killed " polio workers )

KARACHI, Pakistan: Pakistani police say gunmen have attacked two teams of polio workers in the south, killing three members of the teams and wounding a fourth before fleeing.
Police official Pir Mohammad Shah says two female and a male worker were killed in Tuesday’s attacks in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province.
A health official Zafar Ejaz says the vaccination campaign was canceled following the attacks.
No group has claimed responsibility but Pakistani militants have killed several polio workers and police protecting them in Karachi and elsewhere in recent months.
Pakistan is one of only three countries where the polio virus is still endemic.
Militants oppose vaccination against polio and consider such campaigns a cover for spying. They also claim the vaccine is intended to make Muslim boys sterile.

Mexico ( The start of the week '" 23 killings " in mexico ) Cartel wars

MEXICO CITY-The start of the week saw an unprecedented spike in violence attributed to organized crime gangs in events that left at least 23 people dead in seven states of the country.


In Tabasco, authorities reported a shootout between criminal groups from Los Zetas and the Knights Templar, killing five people, including a woman.

The incident occurred around noon on Monday on the road from Villa La Venta to the county seat of Huimanguillo.

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VIETNAM ( 30 drug smugglers Men an women to be " Executed " )

HANOI: Vietnam on Monday sentenced 30 drug smugglers to death in the communist country’s largest ever narcotics case, involving scores of defendants and nearly two tons of heroin, a judge said.
The 30 men and women, all Vietnamese, were found guilty of drug trafficking and given the death penalty while a further 59 defendants were handed sentences ranging up to life in prison, presiding judge Ngo Duc said.
“This was Vietnam’s largest ever trial in terms of defendants, the number of death penalties given out and the amount of heroin involved,” Duc said after the verdict was read out in the northern province of Quang Ninh — which borders China.
“Because of the large number of defendants and the seriousness of the case, the trial was held at the prison,” Judge Duc added after the 17-day trial.


 Investigators said the defendants belonged to four international smuggling rings responsible for trafficking heroin and other drugs from neighboring Laos into Vietnam and China since 2006.
“All the defendants are Vietnamese and most of them came from Vietnam’s northwestern provinces,” court clerk Nguyen Trung Hieu said.
Vietnam’s remote northwestern region, which borders both China and Laos, is poor and populated by a patchwork of ethnic minority groups.
There have been previous smuggling cases in the area, which is far from the control of Hanoi.
According to a list of the defendants’ names seen by AFP, some of the 89 people were from ethnic minority groups but court officials could not confirm their status.
One of the leaders of the four smuggling rings broken up by the police remains at large, state media reported.
Police disrupted the rings in August 2013, making mass arrests and seizing large quantities of illegal drugs.
They also confiscated 20 luxury cars and dozens of guns and other weapons during the raid, state media reported.
Communist Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams (21 ounces) of heroin, or more than 20 kilograms of opium, can face the death penalty

Afghanistan ( Tucson Az - U of A Grad " Killed by Taliban " on Friday )

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
A woman killed in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan on Friday was a graduate student at the University of Arizona.


Lexie Kamerman, 27, was among 21 people killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack at a Kabul, Afghanistan restaurant popular with foreigners.
According to media reports, Kamerman was a grad student at UA studying higher learning.
She graduated in 2012.
Kamerman was dining at the Lebanese restaurant when officials say three terrorists carried out the ruthless and deadly attack.
One set off explosives in front of the restaurant, followed by two gunmen who stormed the building and opened fire.
Afghan police put an end to the attack by killing the gunmen.