Syria ( bomb kills 33 people at busy market )

BEIRUT: Syrian government aircraft struck a busy market Thursday in a rebel-held district of Aleppo, killing at least 33 people in the latest deadly attack targeting mainly civilians in the contested city, opposition activists said.

Several activists said a government helicopter dropped three barrel bombs that exploded in the Hillok district, which was packed with shoppers at the time. They said the attack wounded scores of people.
“It was mayhem; many of the bodies are burned,” said Hasson Abu Faisal, an activist in Aleppo.
It is the latest deadly government strike on the city.

Hero " Dies saving woman during knife attack "

Tucson Az ( Store owner " punches man " after he's hit) video

India ( Woman " Gang raped " over election work )

PATNA, India: A Muslim woman in eastern India has alleged she was gang-raped by more than a dozen men because of her work helping the Hindu nationalist opposition in ongoing elections, police said Tuesday.
The woman from Jharkhand state has filed a complaint with police that a mob attacked her in her home on Monday and also assaulted her 13-year-old daughter. Her husband was allegedly handcuffed during the attack.

Anurag Gupta, a senior officer and spokesman for Jharkhand police, confirmed an investigation had started but said it was too soon to confirm her allegations of a political motive for the attack.
“An investigation from all angles is on and it is very difficult at present to say the exact reason behind the incident,” Gupta told AFP.
The victim, in her 30s, was part of a so-called “minority” wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) designed to attract Muslim voters to the party, which is expected to sweep the ongoing polls.
Few Muslims are expected to vote for the BJP, which is being led by hard-liner Narendra Modi who remains tarnished by religious riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002.
Modi, forecast by voter surveys to become prime minister after results are announced on May 16, was chief minister of Gujarat when the riots broke out. More than 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.
Despite criticism that he failed to contain the violence, he has been cleared of any personal wrongdoing. A woman he later appointed to his cabinet has been jailed for life for directing rioters.
Women’s issues are high on the agenda in the parliamentary elections following the fatal gang-rape of a student on a New Delhi bus in December 2012, which touched off a national debate about sexual violence.
But fewer than a fifth of the candidates standing for the BJP or the ruling Congress party are women, according to an analysis by AFP.
In the current parliament women hold only 11 percent of seats in both houses.
The victim in Monday’s assault also alleged the attackers fled with 30,000 rupees (500 dollars) in cash and jewelry worth over 200,000 rupees.
Police inspector T. N. Singh in the police station closest to the victim’s home confirmed the gang-rape complaint to AFP.
He said villagers had used the loudspeaker of the mosque to alert others to the assault, after which the attackers fled.

Iran ( Banned Ebtekar newspaper allowed to reopen )

 

Wednesday, Apr 30 2014  

The ban on the Ebtekar Daily has been revoked four days after the newspaper was shut down by Iran's press court authorities.

Iranian media report that Mohammad Ali Vakili, the Managing Director of the newspaper, was informed that the newspaper's publication ban had been lifted.

Vakili announced that the newspaper will resume publication starting Wednesday April 30.

The newspaper was shut down after it reported on the removal of Gholamhossein Esmaili as the head of the country's prison organization following the attack on political prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prison.

The head of the judiciary has denied that any prisoner rights were violated at Evin and he insists that Esmaili's removal was more of a shuffle, which had been decided upon before any incident at Evin.

Ayatollah Larijani had also cautioned the media about reporting about the incident at Evin Prison in any manner that would indicate wrongdoing on the government's part.

Minister of Culture Ali Jannati had expressed his opposition to the ban on the Ebtekar Newspaper.

Radio Zamaneh

Bahrain ( 8 people sentenced to life in prison for killing policeman )

MANAMA: Bahrain’s Supreme Criminal Court has sentenced eight people to life in prison for their part in the killing of a policeman in a bomb blast in November, the Public Prosecutor’s office said on Sunday.
The Gulf kingdom has struggled with ongoing unrest since mass pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011.
The protests were controlled but since then more sectarian elements have carried out low-level violence against security forces on an almost daily basis. Recent months have seen a rise in the use of homemade bombs.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the eight men planted a homemade bomb close to where police usually erected a checkpoint during protests, before setting tires on fire and blocking the road to lure policemen to the site.
One policeman was killed and four others were injured in the resulting blast, the prosecutor said.
The government says it has taken steps to address security forces’ violations by dismissing those responsible and introducing cameras at police stations to monitor abuses. But activists say this has not helped.

GUATEMALA CITY ( Four Gunned Down at Nightclub in Guatemala)

 
GUATEMALA CITY – An attack by gunmen at a nightclub in the northern city of Coban left four people dead and two others wounded, Guatemala’s PNC national police force said Friday.

Roberto Cabna, 32, and Sergio Adonai Chon, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene of Thursday night’s attack, while Daniel Barrios, 26, and 21-year-old Benjamin de Jesus Medina died later at a hospital, PNC spokesman Pablo Castillo told Efe.

The two wounded survivors, a woman of 43 and a 28-year-old man, are listed in stable condition, Castillo said.

Guatemala, a nation of roughly 14 million people, suffered 6,072 homicides in 2013, or an average of 16 murders a day.