US Federal Court Threatens Argentina with $50,000 a Day Fine for Contempt

NEW YORK -- A U.S. judge has ordered a hearing for Monday on a potential order finding Argentina in contempt of court and fining the country $50,000 a day for disobeying the court's orders. The amount would

NML Capital, Aurelius Capital Management LP and other holders of defaulted Argentine bonds who are owed $1.8 billion dollars have prepared a draft order for U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa, giving Argentina until Monday to potentially avoid the sanctions in a "Motion to Show Cause." Argentina published full-page ads in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal announcing plans to drop Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as trustee for its restructured debt and the new law was promulgated in its Official Bulletin Wednesday (see below) while the holdouts also took out full-page ads calling on Argentina to follow the court's orders and pay its debts. 

“Argentina has blatantly and repeatedly violated the court’s orders, making abundantly clear that it has no respect for those orders, the court or the U.S. judicial system,” the holders of the defaulted bonds said in a filing today in Manhattan federal court (see below).

Griesa set a hearing on the matter for September 29, after clerks revealed that he was already occupied with another Argentina matter (payments to be made by Citibank in Argentina) on Friday afternoon when the hearing was originally scheduled.

The judge previously threatened Argentina with sanctions for violating orders. In August, NML asked Griesa to find the nation in contempt of court after government officials announced a plan to swap Argentina’s restructured debt for bonds paid locally, to avoid the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Griesa denied that request, saying a contempt ruling wouldn’t help the parties negotiate a resolution to their stalemate.

The US Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that Argentina can’t make payments on its restructured debt unless it also pays the NML-led group for its bonds and the US Supreme Court found no fault in the decision and declined to hear Argentina's objections.

Argentina defaulted on its performing debt July 30 after not paying the holdout creditors, and Bank of New York Mellon, complying with Griesa’s orders, was unable to pass to bondholders a $539 million interest payment.

Meanwhile, the Argentine government opened today the Nación Fideicomiso account at the Central Bank of Argentina, saying it was evidence of the country’s "good faith and its willingness and ability to pay in equitable conditions."

The objective was to allow for the payment of the interest on the bonds issued in the 2005 and 2010 debt swaps by removing the Bank of New York Mellon as payment agent.

Mexican AG’s Office to Probe Congressman’s Murder

MEXICO CITY – Prosecutors in the Mexican states of Zacatecas and Jalisco have handed over to the federal Attorney General’s Office all the information they have collected in the murder of congressman Gabriel Gomez Michel, officials said Thursday.

Authorities in both states are working with the federal AG’s office to expedite the probe, Zacatecas state Attorney General Arturo Nahle told MVS radio.

Gomez Michel was kidnapped on Monday as he drove to the airport in Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital.

The charred bodies of the abducted congressman and his aide, Heriberto Nuñez, were found Tuesday inside the lawmaker’s SUV on the border between Zacatecas and Jalisco.

Zacatecas has already provided federal prosecutors with the autopsies and all forensic evidence found at the scene, Nahle said Thursday.

Also turned over were the statements taken from Gomez Michel’s brothers, “who have no idea about where this brutal aggression might have come from,” Nahle said.

Authorities in Jalisco relayed the results of their investigation of the daylight abduction in Guadalajara.

“There are still many questions awaiting a response,” Nahle said.

Gomez Michel, a physician, represented part of Jalisco in the Mexican Congress.

The armed assailants who seized and ultimately killed the lawmaker and his assistant were not after a ransom, Nahle said.

“We’re not talking about a kidnapping, strictly speaking,” he said. “They grabbed them, they killed them, the burned them and they dumped them there on the border of Zacatecas with Jalisco.”

Man divorces wife for not closing car door

Islam forbids Muslims from divorcing out of anger or for petty reasons, but this injunction did not stop a Saudi man from leaving his wife because she refused to close their car door, according to recent reports in local media and on social networking sites.
The couple reportedly went out on a picnic and when they returned home, the wife got out, helped their children to do so and then moved to go into their house.
Her husband then called out for her to close the door, but she refused, saying he should do so because he was closer to it. Incensed at her reply, the husband reportedly said: “You are forbidden to me and should not enter my home if you do not close the door.”
The woman then reportedly left and returned to her father's house. Many people have tried to reconcile the couple, but the woman has rejected all attempts, saying that she does not want to remain married to such an "irresponsible" man
Arab News spoke to well-known Saudi Sheikh Asim Al-Hakim on the matter, who said that the divorce is valid based on the man's actions.
Al-Hakim explained that there are direct and indirect divorces. Direct divorce can occur even if a person jokes about it. Indirect divorce is based on intent.
“Intention is very important in such cases, but such behavior is irresponsible." He said Islam has given men a great deal of responsibility to act correctly under these circumstances. "So a man should be very careful about his actions,” he said. 
He said a judge can issue a final verdict in such cases. He warned that people should not act hastily and in anger.
According to a study conducted by Aleqtesadiah newspaper, there are 2.5 divorce cases for every 1,000 men above the age of 15.
There were 30,000 divorces in 2012, averaging 82 a day, or three an hour. In earlier reports, the Ministry of Economy and Planning confirmed that while courts and marriage officials register around 70,000 marriage contracts annually, they also process more than 13,000 divorces.
The study also showed that the Kingdom ranked second among Gulf Cooperation Council countries in terms of divorces after Bahrain, where the rate is 2.7 for every 1,000 people. The same study showed an upward trend in divorce cases in 2012 compared with 2010, when there were 75 a day.

Iran ( arrested at volleyball match ) ?

A roaring crowd gathered outside Iran’s Azadi Stadium to watch the Iranian national volleyball team play a qualifying match against Italy, an exciting day for anyone fluent in the universal language of sports, and a life-changing moment for Ghoncheh Ghavami.

The British-Iranian citizen, 25, was among 50 women arrested that June day for trying to watch the match from inside the stadium, a luxury only afforded to men in Iran.

Although the women were all released on bail, they were asked to return at a later date to pick up their belongings.

Upon her return, Ghavami was singled out among the women, detained a second time and sent to Iran’s notorious Evin political prison, where she was kept in solitary confinement for more than 60 days, with no access to a lawyer or to the outside world.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” her brother, Iman Ghavami, told ABC News. “In my eyes, it’s just a misunderstanding. It’s such a small thing to try and get into a stadium to watch a match, and then to get arrested and ending up in solitary confinement, it’s just absolutely ridiculous and horrible really.”

Ghoncheh Ghavami has yet to be formally charged, her brother explaining, “We are completely kept in the dark.”

There’s no clear, singular reason for why she was the only protestor arrested or to explain her treatment, said Matthew McInnis, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former senior Middle East analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense.

It’s possible, he said, that her dual citizenship may have raised a red flag within the Iranian administration.

“The Iranians talk constantly about soft war, which is the idea that the U.S. and Britain are conducting a long-term, covert war against Iran,” he explained. “The Iranians fear the U.S. is conducting a war through espionage, through sabotage and cultural efforts to undermine the internal stability of the regime.

“The fact that she is British, I can’t imagine that’s not affecting how they’re dealing with her, if they’re asking, ‘What is she really up to?’”

After more than 60 days in solitary confinement, Ghoncheh was moved to a shared cell and her parents were able to meet with her Tuesday.

“She is quite distressed and I think she’s getting the impression that she’s going to be held for a really long time,” Iman Ghavami said.

“The state of uncertainty is really worrying for her,” he continued, adding that even though she’s under duress, “she is still herself, her spirits are still up”

The Iranian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ghoncheh Ghavami and her brother have lived continuously in England for more than seven years. She had visited Iran to work with low-income children, teaching them to read and write, before returning to the U.K. to compete her law degree at the University of London.

The ban on women attending volleyball games was introduced in 2012. Ghavami’s brother said Iranian Vice President Shahindokht Molaverdi’s recent statements against the ban and her hope that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would ultimately strengthen women’s rights prompted his sister to try and get into the game that day, despite their mother’s misgivings.

Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, who was among the first people able to communicate directly with the family before they decided to appeal to the public, said, “They let all the women go free, but they kept her. We are asking why. What’s the difference between her and the other women.”

“She is just full of energy and enthusiasm, her face is full of life,” Alinejad told ABC News. “She just wanted to support her national team, just like any other girl.”

Ghavami is one of several political journalists and activists recently imprisoned in Iran. Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and his wife Iranian journalist Yeganeh Salehi  were arrested in July. Earlier this summer, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaski said they had no new information about their whereabouts or condition.

When asked about Ghavami’s imprisonment, the Foreign Office representative for the United Kingdom said, “We are aware that a British national is being detained in Iran, we are in touch with family and are following up the case with Iranian authorities.”

In the meantime, a social community has begun to bloom around her cause, and Amnesty International is now calling for her release, saying in a recent statement that she has been put under “severe psychological pressure” by her interrogators who have warned that she “would not walk out of prison alive.”

Iman Ghavami has also started a petition on change.org for his sister’s release, appealing to the public to “help end this nightmare for my family.” The petition has already gotten almost 40,000 signatures.

“I just want people to speak up about this tragedy,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get support and she can be released.”

Algeria ( al-Qaida has beheaded a French hostage )

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Algerian splinter group from al-Qaida has beheaded a French hostage over France's airstrikes on the Islamic State group, in a sign of the possible widening of the crisis in Iraq and Syria to the rest of the region.

 

The killing of Herve Gourdel, a mountaineer who was kidnapped while hiking in Algeria, was a "cowardly assassination," a visibly upset French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday, but he vowed to continue the military operation.

"Herve Gourdel is dead because he is the representative of a people — ours — that defends human dignity against barbarity," Hollande said on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. "France will never cede to terrorism because it is our duty, and, more than that, because it is our honor."

High school worker sentenced for peeping on kids

TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. - A former boarding school worker was sentenced Wednesday to 17 months in prison and three years' probation for taking video recordings of children in the shower.

Pierre Laplante, 50, of Trois-Rivieres, Que., was arrested last year as part of a Toronto police child-porn bust.

He has admitted to voyeurism and producing and possessing child pornography.

Laplante had installed a camera in the locker room showers at Mount Benilde and Bromptonville high schools east of Montreal.

He was reportedly in charge of boarders at Bromtonville school.

Court heard that he captured video of the boys undressing and taking showers a number of times between 2006 and 2013.

Police seized thousands of photos and more than 190 videos from his home following his arrest.

The Crown had suggested a sentence of 15 to 18 months in prison

Kidnapped Congressman’s Body Found in Western Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – The burned body of a kidnapped congressman was found on Tuesday inside his SUV on the border between the western Mexican states of Zacatecas and Jalisco, officials said.

Gabriel Gomez Michel, a member of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was abducted on Monday, Jalisco Attorney General Luis Carlos Najera Gutierrez said in a press conference.

Gomez Michel was kidnapped as he drove to the airport in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, the AG said.

Prosecutors in Zacatecas contacted their counterparts in Jalisco early Tuesday to inform them of the discovery of “a burned vehicle ... in which two bodies were found and had tags corresponding to the vehicle of the lawmaker who was deprived of his liberty,” Najera Gutierrez said.

The body of one of Gomez Michel’s assistants was also found in the SUV, Najera Gutierrez said, adding that the remains “were left unrecognizable.”

The motive for Gomez Michel’s kidnapping and murder has not been determined and the federal Attorney General’s Office may join the investigation because he was a member of Congress, Najera Gutierrez said.

The emergency services center received two calls Monday about the kidnapping of the occupants of an SUV in Guadalajara by men riding in two vehicles, the AG said.

Prosecutors confirmed the kidnapping using video from security cameras and opened an investigation, while the congressman’s family reported his disappearance at 10:00 p.m., Najera Gutierrez said.

There is no record of threats being made against Gomez Michel, who represented Autlan in Congress and was the former mayor of El Grullo, two cities located on the southern coast of Jalisco, Najera Gutierrez said