DUBAI, United Arab Emirates ( United States Congress refuses to help American in Jail ) Zack Shahin

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lawyers for imprisoned U.S. citizen Zack Shahinhave renewed their request for intervention by the U. S. Department of State, arguing that the continued reluctance of the U.S. government to publicly urge Dubai Authorities to release Shahin, who remains innocent of charges filed against him, is a dereliction of the U.S. government's duty to protect the life and interests of Americans abroad.

"Numerous letters have been sent, both to Washington and the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in the U.A.E., none of which have been answered.  Although Senator Sherrod Brown was kind enough to inquire about Zack's case, the response contained nothing we did not already know," stated Eric J. Akers, co-counsel for Shahin.

In a letter sent March 6, Shahin's attorneys renewed their request for a written response from U.S President Obama and the State Department to the prior communication delivered to a number of State Department officials, including Secretary Kerry and Acting Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Elizabeth Jones.  "Zack Shahin has reached the end of his options and will perish if his government continues to leave him to his fate," wrote Akers.

What effect the remand by the Cassation Court of Shahin's case in which the trial court imposed a term of imprisonment is, as of now, uncertain due to the lack of an interpretation of the judge's ruling.  However, as is reported, to require a new review of his case by a new panel of judges, raises serious questions about the Dubai justice system's overall appellate process and transparency which seems not to exist.

"As far as we know, including what we are able to glean from those officers who visit Zack, no effort has been exerted on Zack's behalf.  We can only assume that the American foreign policy is, as it appears to be elsewhere in the world, non-existent," said Akers. "The callous and inexcusable neglect of this American citizen by his own government while U.S. officials busy themselves with issues across the globe having little relevance to our country is a measure of how misguided our foreign policy has become."

Even Shahin's brother has not received a response from inquiries to the State Department, nor from President Obama. In 2012, in response to a letter to President Obama, Zack's brother did receive a letter from a State Department official, indicating the efforts taken to that date.  However, neither he, nor Zack's wife have received any written response from letters sent since then.

About Zack Shahin's Plight Since His March 2008 Arrest and Imprisonment:

On March 2, 2014, Zack Shahin declared a hunger strike to protest the U.S. government's unwillingness to intervene on his behalf and demand that Dubai authorities release him after six years in jail without an upheld conviction.

March 23, 2014, will mark the six-year anniversary of Zack Shahin's arrest.  Except for the brief period following his release on bail in July 2012 and return that September, he has remained imprisoned without an upheld conviction.  In early 2013, Zack was acquitted on the first of four criminal cases against him, all of which stem from the same baseless accusations concerning his tenure as CEO of Deyaar, a Dubai-based real estate company.  The prosecutor unsuccessfully appealed this decision and the not-guilty verdict was upheld.  In March 2013, Zack and co-defendants were found guilty of embezzlement and received a 15-year sentence. Zack immediately appealed the conviction and the Dubai Court of Appeals overturned the court's decision.

Despite an appeals court overturning Shahin's guilty verdict and a cassation court upholding another not-guilty verdict, after four years of court appearances and continuances, and an obvious strategic maneuver by the Dubai government to deny U.S. citizenZack Shahin his due process right to a trial, Washington continues to tread lightly.

For more information on Zack Shahin's arrest, visit www.FreeZack.com.  U.S. legal counsel for Zack Shahin are Eric Akers andJames Jatras.

SOURCE U.S. Legal Counsel for Zack Shahin

Tucson AZ ( Suspect tried to grab girl walking to school )

TUCSON - Tucson Police are looking for a suspect that tried to grab an 18-year-old woman by the neck near Irvington and Campbell Tuesday morning.

The Alta Vista High School student was walking to class near Iowa and Cherry when a man approached her, Tucson Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Widmer said.

The suspect grabbed the victim by the neck and told her not to scream, Widmer said.

She screamed, fought the suspect off and ran off to her school where she reported the assault.

Tucson Police say the suspect is a Hispanic male who is 5-foot 7-inches tall. The man has brown eyes and a scar on his right arm. He was wearing a black shirt with blue jeans.

Egypt ( Death sentences handed out against 529 people )

WASHINGTON: The US is “deeply concerned” about the death sentences handed out against 529 supporters of Egypt’s deposed President Muhammad Mursi, a US official said on Monday.
An Egyptian court handed down the sentences earlier, amid a sweeping crackdown on supporters of the former president, who was overthrown by the army last July.


“While appeals are possible, it simply does not seem possible that a fair review of evidence and testimony consistent with international standards could be accomplished with over 529 defendants after a two-day trial,” a State Department official said.
“We continue to call on the Egyptian government to ensure that all those detained in Egypt are afforded fair proceedings that respect civil liberties and due process and are consistent with international standards. The law must be applied equitably and free of political bias,” the State Department official said.
“We have said many times that even the appearance of politically-motivated arrests, detentions, and convictions will set Egypt’s transition back,” the official added.
The official, citing reports of violence in response to the sentences, warned that such a reaction would not help either.
But Egypt's army-installed interim government defended the court's handling of the case, insisting that the sentences had been handed down only “after careful study” and were subject to appeal.
The defendants who were sentenced to death are part of a larger group of more than 1,200 alleged radicals accused of killing two policemen and rioting on Aug. 14, after police killed hundreds of protesters while dispersing two Cairo protest camps.
Of the 529, only 153 are in custody. The rest were tried in their absence and have the right to a retrial if they turn themselves in.

Mexico ( Police chief beat up over " pay raises " ) video

Mexico ( New police torture video in mexico )

Australia ( Large objects floating in remote seas off Australia )

SYDNEY/KUALA LUMPUR: Aircraft and ships ploughed through dire weather on Thursday in search of objects floating in remote seas off that Malaysia’s government called a “credible lead” in the trans-continental hunt for a jetliner missing for nearly two weeks.
The large objects, which Australian officials said were spotted by satellite four days ago in one of the remotest parts of the globe, are the most promising find in days as searchers scour a vast area for the plane lost with 239 people on board.

A Norwegian merchant ship arrived in the area on Thursday, but officials cautioned it could take days to confirm if the objects were part of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777. Malaysia’s government said the search would continue elsewhere despite the sighting in the southern Indian Ocean.
The area where the objects were spotted is around 2,500 km (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth, roughly corresponding to the far end of a southern track that investigators calculated the aircraft could have taken after it was diverted.
“Yesterday I said that we wanted to reduce the area of the search. We now have a credible lead,” Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
A search for the plane that began in the tropical waters off Malaysia’s east coast has now switched to the vast, icy southern oceans between Australia, southern Africa and Antarctica.
Two Royal Australia Air Force AP-3C Orions, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion were involved in Thursday’s search which was called off late in the evening and will resume on Friday.
There have been many false leads and no confirmed wreckage found from Flight MH370 since it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia’s east coast early on March 8, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.
Hishammuddin said the information on the objects received from Australia had been “corroborated to a certain extent” by other satellites, making it more credible than previous leads.
The larger of the objects measured up to 24 meters (79 ft), long and appeared to be floating in water several thousand meters deep, Australian officials said. The second object was about five meters (16 feet) long. Arrows on the images pointed to two indistinct objects apparently bobbing in the water.
“It’s credible enough to divert the research to this area on the basis it provides a promising lead to what might be wreckage from the debris field,” Royal Australian Air Force Air Commodore John McGarry told a news conference in Canberra.
The satellite images, provided by US company DigitalGlobe , were taken on March 16, meaning that the possible debris could by now have drifted far from the original site.
Australian officials said an aircraft had dropped a series of marker buoys in the area, which will provide information about currents to assist in calculating the latest location.
The captain of the first Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion plane to return from the search area described the weather conditions as “extremely bad” with rough seas and high winds.
A Norwegian car carrier diverted from its journey from Madagascar to Melbourne and had arrived in the search area, the ship’s owner said. A Royal Australian Navy ship equipped to recover any objects was also en route.
China’s icebreaker for Antarctic research, Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, will set off from Perth to search the area, Chinese state news agency Xinhua cited maritime authorities as saying. About two-thirds of the 227 passengers on Flight MH370 were Chinese nationals.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a telephone call that he hoped Australia would do all it could to search the area and offer assistance to Chinese search ships, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
“At present, search and rescue work is quite difficult, and the situation in the relevant seas is complex. As long as there is a thread of hope, we must put in 100 percent effort,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

KABUL ( Taliban kill 10 police officers early on Thursday)

KABUL, Afghanistan: Taleban insurgents carried out a brazen early morning assault Thursday on a police station in the country’s east, killing 10 police officers and a civilian, officials said.
The spectacular attack in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern Nangarhar province, was the latest in the countdown to next month’s presidential elections.

The assault involved a suicide bomber, two remotely detonated bombs and seven insurgents and set off a four-hour gunbattle with the police.
By the time it was over, all seven insurgents involved in the multi-pronged attack were killed, said Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Mohammed Ayub Solangi.
The attack began with a suicide bomber detonating his explosives-laden car outside the police station, located near the palatial residence of the province’s Governor Attahullah Ludin.
After the blast, six gunmen stormed into the station simultaneously as two bombs were detonated nearby, presumably by remote control — one hidden in a motorized three-wheel rickshaw and another in a vegetable cart.
Solangi said the insurgents were armed with heavy weapons and automatic machine guns. The battle was fierce — with the Afghan troops fighting their way out and chasing the attackers down the street — and when it ended, 10 policemen, including a district police chief, were dead.
The one civilian who was killed was a university student caught in the cross-fire, said police.
Doctors at nearby hospitals said as many as 20 civilians were wounded, mostly from shrapnel from the initial suicide car bombing, but that the majority were treated and released quickly. Two of the wounded were said to be in serious condition.
The nearby state-run Afghan radio and television building was badly damaged in the first suicide bombing.
In an e-mail in Pashto — the language most often spoken by the Taleban — the insurgent group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taleban had staged the attack in Jalalabad.
The Taleban have carried out numerous attacks in Jalalabad and the country’s east, which is their traditional stronghold, along with southern Afghanistan.
They have threatened a campaign of violence to disrupt the April 5 vote, which will choose a new Afghan president to lead the country as foreign troops prepare to end their combat mission by the end of the year.