Tucson AZ ( Puppy left in " Dumpster " in trash bag ) suspects wanted

Abandoned puppy in semi-critical condition

Sierra Vista - Animal Control Officers want information about an abandoned four-month female Maltese puppy found in a semi-critical condition and left in a dumpster on Sunday, April 13.
Police tell us the dog was found dirty, wet and suffering from hypothermia inside a Miracle Grow soil bag. The bag was left in a dumpster at the Oasis Apartments located at 4250 E. Busby Drive. The puppy was wearing a red, rhinestone collar.
She was taken to a veterinarian and is in a semi-critical condition due to a possible head trauma. She is slowly recovering as she learns to walk, eat and drink again.
If you have any information on the puppy or who might have left her, call the Sierra Vista Animal Control Office at (520) 458-4151 or the Sierra Vista Police Department at (520) 452- 7500.

Iran ( Iranian killer's execution halted at last minute by victim's parents )

Thursday, Apr 17 2014

Convict had noose around his neck when victim's mother approached, slapped him in the face and spared his life

When he felt the noose around his neck, Balal must have thought he was about to take his last breath. Minutes earlier, crowds had watched as guards pushed him towards the gallows for what was meant to be yet another public execution in the Islamic republic of Iran.

Seven years ago Balal, who is in his 20s, stabbed 18-year-old Abdollah Hosseinzadeh during a street brawl in the small town of Royan, in the northern province of Mazandaran. In a literal application of qisas, the sharia law of retribution, the victim's family were to participate in Balal's punishment by pushing the chair on which he stood.

But what happened next marked a rarity in public executions in Iran, which puts more people to death than any other country apart from China. The victim's mother approached, slapped the convict in the face and then decided to forgive her son's killer. The victim's father removed the noose and Balal's life was spared.

Balal hanging Hosseinzadeh's mother slaps Balal. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi /Isna

Photographs taken by Arash Khamooshi, of the semi-official Isna news agency, show what followed. Balal's mother hugged the grieving mother of the man her son had killed. The two women sobbed in each other's arms – one because she had lost her son, the other because hers had been saved.

The action by Hosseinzadeh's mother was all the more extraordinary as it emerged that this was not the first son she had lost. Her younger child Amirhossein was killed in a motorbike accident at the age of 11.

"My 18-year-old son Abdollah was taking a stroll in the bazaar with his friends when Balal shoved him," said the victim's father, Abdolghani Hosseinzadeh, according to Isna. "Abdollah was offended and kicked him but at this time the murderer took an ordinary kitchen knife out of his socks."

Hosseinzadeh Sr has come to the conclusion that Balal did not kill his son deliberately. "Balal was inexperienced and didn't know how to handle a knife. He was naive."

According to the father, Balal escaped the scene of the stabbing but was later arrested by the police. It took six years for a court to hand down a death sentence, and the victim's family deferred the execution a number of times. An date for execution was set just before the Persian new year, Nowruz, but the victim's family did not approve of the timing.

Hosseinzadeh said a dream prompted the change of heart. "Three days ago my wife saw my elder son in a dream telling her that they are in a good place, and for her not to retaliate ... This calmed my wife and we decided to think more until the day of the execution."

The noose is removed from around the neck of Balal. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi /Isna

Many Iranian public figures, including the popular TV sport presenter Adel Ferdosipour, had called on the couple, who have a daughter, to forgive the killer. Although they did so, Balal will not necessarily be freed. Under Iranian law the victim's family have a say only in the act of execution, not any jail sentence.

Saudi Arabia ( Filipino woman found raped and killed " family refuses blood money" )

The parents of a Filipino woman who was found dead in a dumpster in Jeddah on Thursday have rejected monetary compensation from her killers, local officials have said.
“The aggrieved family has rejected the offer because they want the culprits to be prosecuted for violating Islamic law,” according to Anwarudin Kuit Emblawa, a municipal councilor who is also the victim’s uncle.


 Emblawa said that his niece, 44-year-old Rauda Mamison Sabdullah, had been badly beaten and had been hit on the head with a blunt object.
A police report then confirmed that the victim had been badly injured and eventually died from her injuries the same day she had been found.
Policemen have arrested a Pakistani and Lebanese expat in connection with the murder, the report said.
The victim was first reported missing on April 3.
Investigators had managed to obtain information from the victim before she succumbed to her injuries in hospital, leading them to the whereabouts of her attackers.
Other relatives suspect that Sabdullah had been abducted and taken to a house far from where she works, where she was raped and tortured.
The victim’s cadaver was released Thursday morning by hospital authorities in Jeddah prior to a decent burial, according to the office of Datu Abdullah Sangki Mayor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu.
The mayor said she extended financial assistance to the victim’s family for the traditional prayer rites.
Filipino community leaders have cautioned fellow OFWs, especially women, to remain vigilant in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“Fellow OFWs have to be extra cautious when dealing with male strangers whatever their nationality,” said Gener L. Benter from Dammam.
“We should learn how to defend ourselves.”
“There are other stories that do not appear in the media,” said Benter.
“An OFW in Jazan, for instance, claims to have been beaten up by her sponsors and raped.”

TUCSON Az ( Vehicle fire slows traffic - I -10 )

1 hour 24 minutes ago by Nichole Szemerei

Vehicle fire on I-10 causing slowing

TRAFFIC JAMS: Vehicle on fire on I-10 EB near SUNSET RD. A lot of slowing in the area. Try Silverbell instead.

CAIRO ( 120 Muhammad Mursi supporters get 3 years in jail )

CAIRO: An Egyptian court jailed 120 supporters of deposed President Muhammad Mursi for three years on Wednesday over clashes that left dozens of people dead last year, officials said.
The trial is part of

a relentless crackdown that has targeted Mursi’s supporters since the army ousted him in July.
The defendants were sentenced over clashes pitting protesters against the security forces and civilian opponents that killed 24 people and wounded 90 in the central Cairo district of Dokki on Oct. 6, the judicial officials said. Six other defendants were acquitted, and those sentenced can appeal the verdict.
A total of more than 50 people were killed that day in nationwide violence as Egypt marked the anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Since Mursi’s ouster his supporters have staged near-daily protests calling for his reinstatement, and their rallies have often descended into street clashes with security forces and civilian opponents.

Colombia ( Police in Colombia Seize 3 Tons of Cocaine )

BOGOTA – Colombian police on Tuesday seized 2,877 kilos (6,337 lbs.) of liquid cocaine discovered in the Caribbean port of Cartagena, where seven tons of the drug in solid form were confiscated a week ago.

The liquefied cocaine was mixed with dielectric oil – an insulator – and concealed inside an electric transformer set to be shipped to the Guatemalan port of Santo Tomas de Castilla.

The drugs seized Tuesday belonged to Los Urabeños, a gang made up of former right-wing paramilitaries, Colombian police said.

Colombia’s largest-ever seizure of liquid cocaine came just a week days after authorities in the port of Cartagena discovered seven tons of cocaine bound for Europe.

The national police recently sent a special investigative team to Cartagena to look into suspicions that some cops assigned to the port were colluding with drug traffickers, Bogota daily El Tiempo said Tuesday.

The amount of cocaine confiscated at Colombia’s ports has been on the increase since mid-2013, prompting authorities to increase scrutiny of maritime terminals, the newspaper said.

Mexico ( Vigilantes Cut Deal with Mexican Government )

MORELIA, Mexico – The leaders of the community self-defense groups in 20 cities in the western Mexican state of Michoacan have reached an agreement with federal officials to begin demobilizing, officials said.

The vigilantes also agreed to work with federal authorities to strengthen efforts to identify Caballeros Templarios drug cartel “targets,” the office of the federal commissioner for security and development in Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo Cervantes, told Efe.

Federal officials met with Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde, who represented the vigilante groups, on Monday in Tazumbos, a community in the western state of Jalisco.

The leaders of the self-defense groups in the cities of Buenavista, Tancitaro, Los Reyes, Periban, Uruapan, Aguililla, Aquila, Chinicuila, Taretan, Patzcuaro, Coalcoman, Coahuayana, Lombardia, Ziracuaretiro, Apatzingan, Tepalcatepec, Churumuco, La Huacana, Mugica and Huetamo also attended the meeting.

Castillo and the vigilante leaders reached agreements covering legalization and coordination; demobilization; dialogue; compensation; legal solutions; and protection for leaders at the gathering, federal officials said.

One of the agreements calls for the creation of a rural state police force by May 11 that will be staffed by self-defense group members.

The first vigilante group was formed in Michoacan on Feb. 24, 2013, to fight the Caballeros Templarios cartel.

Vigilante groups operate in 30 of the state’s 113 cities.

The federal government deployed soldiers and police in Michoacan on Jan. 13 in an effort to end the wave of drug-related violence in the state.

Federal security forces killed the Caballeros Templarios cartel’s two top leaders, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and Enrique Plancarte Solis, in February and March, respectively.

Moreno and other members of the Familia Michoacana gang formed the Caballeros Templarios organization after he was reported killed by the government in 2010.

The Caballeros Templarios cartel, which deals in both synthetic and natural drugs, commits murders, stages kidnappings and runs extortion rackets that target business owners and transport companies in Michoacan.

The cartel uses Michoacan’s 270 kilometers (168 miles) of coastline to smuggle chemical drug precursors for the production of synthetic drugs into Mexico.