Iran ( Iran Bans Reformist Newspaper " for telling lies " )

 Saturday, Apr 26 2014

      

 

Iran has banned the reformist newspaper "Ebtekar," the third such publication to be closed by authorities in recent months.

Mohammad Ali Vakili, the newspaper's managing director, told ISNA news agency on April 26 that he received a note from the media court which said a ban has been imposed on the daily for "spreading lies."

ISNA reported that the ban was imposed because of an erroneous headline saying the prison chief was dismissed but, in fact, he had been promoted to another post.

In February, the reformist daily "Aseman" was banned for publishing an article allegedly insulting to Islam.

"Bahar," another reformist newspaper, was closed down in October over an article seen by critics as questioning Shi'ite beliefs.

An ultraconservative daily was also temporarily banned for criticizing President Hassan Rohani.

Based on reporting by ISNA, AFP, and Radio Farda
RFE/RL

North Korea ( Kim Jong Un " flexes small muscles " )

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged the army to develop to ensure it wins any confrontation with the United States, the reclusive country's news agency said on Sunday, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama warned the North of its military might.

Kim led a meeting of the Central Military Commission and "set forth important tasks for further developing the Korean People's Army and ways to do so", KCNA news agency said

United Arab Emirates ( Man in prison - No charges ? ) Zack Shahin.story

Dear @MOJ_UAE, Free Zack Shahin. (find him on twitter )

Iran ( 19 political prisoners on hunger strike in Rajai Shahr prison )

Saturday, Apr 26 2014

 

 

19 political prisoners of Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj have gone on hunger strike in solidarity with the political prisoners of ward 350 of Evin prison.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Afshin Heyratian, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, Saleh Kohandel, Said Masouri, Mohammad Ali Mansouri, Rasoul Badaghi, Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi, Khaled Hardani, Hamid Reza Borhani, Batir Shahr Mohammadov, Misagh Yazdan Nejad and Naseh Yousefi have gone on hunger strike since the morning of April 23rd in solidarity with the political prisoners of ward 350 of Evin prison.

Jafar Eghdami, Said Madani, Masoud Bastani, Mostafa Nili, Reza Entesari and Mehdi Mahmoudian have also shaved their hairs and gone on hunger strike since the eveningof April 23rd in solidarity with the political prisoners of ward 350. Said Razavi Faghih has shaved his hairs as well but he is not on hunger strike.

The prison guards took 32 political prisoners of ward 350 to the solitary confinement and shaved their hairs during the raiding of April 17th.

HRANA News Agency

CAIRO ( Woman killed as police clash with Brotherhood )

CAIRO: A supporter of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood was killed on Friday in clashes with the security forces in Fayoum province, south of Cairo, medical sources said.
The woman, Reda Dahish, died after being hit by birdshot in her stomach. Six other people were injured, the sources said.

A Reuters witness saw Brotherhood supporters throwing rocks and fireworks at security forces who fired teargas and used birdshot against the protesters.
In a separate incident in Cairo, a policeman was shot dead by Brotherhood supporters, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Egypt has faced a surge in violence after the army overthrew President Muhammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July following mass protests against him a year after he was elected.
Mursi's supporters accuse the army of staging a coup while the army says it was siding with the will of the people.
Since Mursi was ousted the government has launched a campaign against the Brotherhood, which it has branded a terrorist organization, arresting thousands of its members including Mursi. Hundreds have been killed in clashes.
Attacks by militants have also killed around 500 people, mostly policemen and soldiers.
Egypt is due to hold a presidential election next month that former army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, who led the overthrow of Mursi, is widely expected to win

Mexico ( "Papa Smurf " self defense group leader )

Morelia , Michoacán - . Estanislao Beltran, " Papa Smurf " , one of the leaders of the General Council and Community Self-Defense Forces of Michoacan.

Bet at the entrance of one of the legendary caves Servando Gómez Martínez , " La Tuta " , accompanied by a command state and federal police , grabbed his "goat horn " and fired a burst into the air.
"Tuta ! I 'm looking for , "he shouted and gunfire echoed in the cliffs of the Tuscan hills , 20 minutes from the county seat of Arteaga, Bonnet earth , on the border with the town of Tumbiscatío .
But the only surviving leader of the Knights Templar cartel did not respond.
A few meters from " Papa Smurf " a rusty metal door and roll side gave entrance to a damp , dark cave , with fresh tracks and tennis shoe on the ground, and with a length that was possible to observe up to 100 meters deep. The cave is narrow sections that require crawling , but open to vault up to 10 meters high.
The path to the cave is interrupted by a natural pool fed by an underground tributary of a river, about seven feet long, but there is a alternating tunnel made ​​by humans around the pool and continues the tunnel for 30 yards , after which the depth of it is lost in darkness .

Read more: http://www.elblogdelnarco.info/2014/04/ni-rastro-de-la-tuta-en-su-legendaria.html # ixzz305zuzrIuFollow us : @ MundoNarco on Twitter

BRASILIA (Activists Decry Murder of Retired Brazilian Colonel Who Admitted to Torture )

 

BRASILIA – Rights defenders on Saturday denounced the murder of a retired army colonel who testified last month that Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship tortured its political opponents, saying it was proof that the erstwhile regime’s former agents remain active.

Paulo Malhães, 74, was killed Thursday at his home in suburban Rio de Janeiro by suspected burglars, who stole computers and guns after spending nearly 10 hours inside the residence.

The victim’s wife, Cristina Batista Malhães, who was also inside the home, said the two were tied up in different rooms and that she did not know at what point the robbers killed her husband.

Police say he was suffocated.

The retired colonel testified in March to Brazil’s Truth Commission, which is investigating rights violations during the dictatorship, that he illegally detained and tortured regime opponents.

Malhães, who provided graphic details of the torments, said one of his victims was lawmaker Rubens Paiva, whose daughter said Saturday she is convinced the retired military man was murdered to prevent him from making further revelations.

Vera Paiva told the daily O Dia that agents of the former regime remain active and are seeking to prevent the “historical truth” from being exposed.

She recalled that another admitted torturer, Col. Julio Miguel Molina Dias, who was also implicated in her father’s 1971 kidnap-murder, was killed in an alleged robbery in 2012.

The Truth Commission, established in 2011 by the administration of President Dilma Rousseff, a former leftist militant who suffered torture and was imprisoned for more than two years during the dictatorship, also demanded that authorities get to the bottom of Malhães’s killing.

“The murder and its possible relation with the revelations made by Malhães ... must be rigorously and expeditiously investigated,” the commission said Friday.