India ( Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party has said rapes happen “accidentally” )

NEW DELHI: A minister from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party has said rapes happen “accidentally” in the latest controversial remarks by a politician, amid renewed outrage over attacks against women.
Ramsevak Paikra, the home minister of central Chhattisgarh state who is responsible for law and order, said late on Saturday that rapes did not happen on purpose.
“Such incidents (rapes) do not happen deliberately. These kind of incidents happen accidentally,” Paikra, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which also rules at the national level, told reporters.
Paikra, who was asked for his thoughts on the gang-rape and lynching of two girls in a neighboring state, later said he had been misquoted. His original remarks were broadcast on television networks.
The remarks come just days after the home minister of the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh state said rapes were “sometimes right, sometimes wrong.”
The minister, Babulal Gaur, gave the remarks on Thursday amid growing anger over the gang-rape and murder of the girls, aged 12 and 14, in northern Uttar Pradesh state late last month.
Modi, whose party came to power in a landslide election victory and has pledged increased women’s security, has so far stayed silent over the rapes.
India brought in tougher laws last year against sexual offenders after the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012, but they have failed to stem the tide of violence against women across the country.
Police said a Malaysian woman, 30, was raped in a car last Thursday in the western state of Rajasthan after a man, whom she had met to discuss business projects, drugged her — the latest in a series of sex attacks on foreigners in India.
“As she came to us, we rounded up the accused and placed him under arrest. We have seized his car and also recovered a pistol from the vehicle,” Amandeep Singh, a senior state police official, told AFP on Sunday.
Earlier this year, a Danish tourist was gang-raped at knifepoint after losing her way in central Delhi.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has faced severe criticism for his perceived insensitivity over the attacks on the low-caste girls in his state, who were found hanging from a mango tree after being sexually assaulted multiple times.
Yadav’s father Mulayam Singh — leader of the Samajwadi Party — was also the target of public anger in April when he told an election rally that he opposed the recently introduced death penalty for gang-rapists, saying “boys make mistakes.”
Women’s groups have slammed the comments as evidence that politicians were unable to stem sexual violence because they lacked respect for India’s women and were ignorant of the issues.
Politicians also came under fire after the fatal gang-rape in Delhi in 2012, a crime that angered the nation and shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women.
Several politicians have sought to blame tight jeans, short skirts and other Western influences for the country’s rise in rapes, while the head of a village council pointed to chowmein which he claimed led to hormone imbalances among men.
anb-str/tha/jta

BAGHDAD ( 15 Dead in Series of Baghdad Explosions )

 
BAGHDAD – At least 15 people died Saturday and 70 were wounded in a series of attacks chiefly launched against Baghdad districts with a Shi’ite majority, Iraqi security officials told Efe.

The wave of explosions coincides with a wide offensive by jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in several Iraqi provinces including Anbar, where on Saturday within a few hours they took hundreds of hostages at a university in Ramadi.

A total of five car bombs and an improvised explosive device (IED) went off almost simultaneously in the capital.

The deadliest attack took place in the downtown Baghdad district of Karrada, near the Babilon Hotel, where four people died and 15 were wounded when a car bomb exploded.

Another of the vehicles blew up in the New Baghdad district on the city’s south side, leaving three people dead and injuring another 14.

The perpetrators of these attacks are as yet unknown, though they all bear the imprint of the ISIL, which since last Thursday has kept security forces in check.

The extremists broke into a university in Ramadi on Saturday after detonating two IEDs and clashing with security guards of the building, where they remained entrenched for several hours.

Combined forces of the army and police rushed to the scene and managed to evacuate the hostages and later fought the radicals in several Ramadi neighborhoods.

Combat between the ISIL and Iraqi troops also continued Saturday in the northern city of Mosul, where over the past 48 hours some 30 jihadists, 25 police and 10 soldiers have been killed.

Iraq is going through a surge in sectarian violence and terrorist attacks that cost the lives of more than 8,860 people in 2013, of whom 7,818 were civilians, according to United Nations figures

Mexico ( U.S. Marine Tried to Escape Twice from Mexican Jail )

MEXICO CITY – U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, jailed in Mexico in April after crossing the border with several guns in his possession, has tried to escape twice and exhibited violent behavior, officials said.

When the 25-year-old suspect was incarcerated, he “manifested violent conduct, tried to escape on two occasions and inflicted physical harm on himself,” the Attorney General’s Office said Friday in its first statement on the case.

He was therefore placed “in the infirmary area,” the AG’s office said, adding that “his basic rights, including (the right to) due process, his personal safety and his right to consular notification and access” have been respected since his arrest.

Tahmooressi, a Marine sergeant who served two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested on April 1 when he entered the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana from San Diego with firearms, ammunition and ammunition clips that are reserved for the use of the Mexican army.

Tahmooressi did not identify himself as an active member of the U.S. Armed Forces at the time of his arrest and did not provide Mexican customs officials with a permit for importing or carrying the weapons, the AG’s office said.

Federal prosecutors launched an investigation into violations of Mexican firearms and explosives law and on April 3 the suspect was brought before a judge and jailed at the La Mesa penitentiary in Tijuana.

He was later transferred to another facility, also in Baja California state.

Two hearings in his case were postponed after Tahmooressi changed his defense attorney and no new dates have been set.

Signs warning that it is prohibited to enter Mexico with firearms are “clearly visible” near border crossings, the AG’s office said.

Congressman Duncan D. Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services committee, has made efforts to secure the suspect’s release, arguing that the whole episode was a misunderstanding.

Hunter, a war veteran like Tahmooressi, asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to suspend all military aid to Mexico until the Marine is released from custody.

ROME ( Italian Navy Rescues 2,500 Migrants )

ROME – Some 2,500 Italy-bound migrants were rescued from 17 boats trying to make the Mediterranean crossing from North Africa, the Italian navy said Friday.

All of the vessels assigned to the Mare Nostrum task force remain deployed in an ongoing operation, the navy said in a statement.

The San Giorgio rescued a total of 998 migrants, more than a third of them women and children, from five different boats Thursday night.

Another 400 migrants were collected by the frigate Orione.

A shortage of vessels forced Mare Nostrum units to transfer more than 600 migrants to passing freighters pending the arrival of additional ships to transport the travelers to Italian ports.

The number of migrants reaching Italy in the first five months of this year – 39,538 – is not far short of the 2013 total of 43,000.

Italy’s interior minister, Angelino Alfano, said Thursday that the European Union must aid Rome in dealing with the flood of migrants.

Italy “alone cannot pay for the instability in Libya,” he said during a visit to Luxembourg.

Rome initiated the Mare Nostrum operating following an Oct. 3, 2013, shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa that left 366 migrants dead.

Since then, Mare Nostrum has rescued 27,790 immigrants at sea, including 3,034 minors, according to the Italian Defense Ministry.

The operation is costing Italy 300,000 euros ($409,000) a day, not counting the expense of food, shelter and care for the migrants.

Iran News ( Iranian Journalist Denounced as 'Whore' Amid Women's Rights Campaign )

Mere weeks after sparking the "Stealthy Freedoms" social movement, creator and London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad is finding herself in the center of the story, and in the eye of the storm.

As ABC News previously reported, " Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women" is a social platform inviting Iranian women to share photos of themselves without the mandatory hijab. Though Alinejad, who has her own segment on Voice of America's "OnTen" program, does not endorse banning the hijab, she does advocate a woman's right to the most basic of freedoms - the freedom to choose, and the freedom to blow your hair in the breeze.

Alinejad is now facing steep criticism from Iranian state television in an attempt to temper her movement. Vahid Yaminpour, a conservative Iranian commentator and TV personality, is alleging that Alinejad was raped on the streets of London by three men as her son was made to stand by as a witness.

"Masih Alinejad is a whore, and not a heretic as some people claim her to be," Yaminpour wrote on his Facebook page. "We shouldn't elevate her to the level of a heretic. She's just trying to compensate her psychological (and probably financial) needs by recruiting young women and sharing her notoriety with younger women who are still not prostitutes."

Alinejad denied all allegations in an interview with ABC News, citing the comments as a weak attempt by Iranian officials to smear her reputation and quell the explosive activity around her Facebook page, which has now gained more than 450,000 likes.

"They want to keep journalists silent," she said. "I've been attacked several times, but this was the most fabricated, most disgusting news about me."

Iran ( Back to Prison - For female activist -Susan Tebyaniyan )

Posted on: 2nd June, 2014

        

 

HRANA News Agency – Susan Tebyaniyan, a Bahai from Semnan, was arrested in her home on the evening of May 31st.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA),  agents from the Ministry of Intelligence searched her home, seized a computer and religious books and images, and arrested her.
Mrs. Tehyaniyan, who has two small children, had a shop in Semnan until her arrest in April, 2009. In May 2010 she was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of propaganda against the regime and membership of a Bahai organisation.
She began her sentence in Evin prison on July 1st, 2010. After serving almost 14 months in prison, she was one of the prisoners granted clemency to mark Eid al-Fitr, on August 27 2011

LIMA ( At Least 10 Killed in Bus Crash in Peru )

 

LIMA – At least 10 people died and 20 others were injured Thursday when a bus went off the road and overturned on a highway in the southern region of Arequipa, Peruvian police said.

The accident occurred at Kilometer 87 on the highway linking the regions of Puno and Arequipa.

Police officers and members of the volunteer firefighters said that they still have not determined the exact number of fatalities because they are continuing to work on recovering the bodies.

The injured, among whom are three children, were transported to hospitals and clinics in Arequipa.

In Peru’s mountainous regions, road accidents – sometimes resulting in dozens of dead and injured – are regular occurrences, above all due to the lack of training of drivers, the use of trucks and buses in poor repair and the fact that rural roadways often traverse very rough Andean territory.

According to World Health Organization figures, traffic accidents account for 15.9 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Peruvian authorities say, however, that 92 percent of those fatalities occur in cities and the other 8 percent along interprovincial roadways, although the latter produce the greater number of victims.