Iran - Man being executed beats "hangmen" before his death

Palestinian official killed in West Bank protest

A Palestinian official in charge of the settlement portfolio was killed in a West Bank protest on Wednesday, according to Reuters news agency.

Ziad Abu Ein died shortly after being hit and shoved by Israeli soldiers during the protest in the occupied West Bank, a Reuters photographer who witnessed the incident and a medic said.

Following Abu Ein’s death, Palestinian authorities said they cut off security cooperation with Israel, a Fatah official told Al Arabiya News Channel.

Palestinian and Israeli authorities usually meet and exchange information on humanitarian and security affairs, which entails coordination of passage of medical aid, issuance of work permits for Palestinians working in Israeli-controlled areas in addition to facilitating the travel of Palestinian officials.

About 100 foreign and Palestinian activists with the Committee to Resist Settlements and the Wall, the government-run protest organisation that Abu Ein headed, were on their way to plant trees and protest near an Israeli settlement when they were stopped at an improvised checkpoint, witnesses said.

A group of around 15 Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the protesters and began scuffling with them.

Ziad Abu Ein was rushed by ambulance from the scene in the village of Turmusiya, but died en route to the nearby Palestinian city of Ramallah.

Abu Ein, who was in charge of dealing with the issue of Israeli settlements within the Palestinian Authority, "was martyred after being beaten in the chest," Ahmed Bitawi, the director of the Ramallah hospital, told Agence France-Presse.

Mahmoud Aloul, a leading member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said he and Abu Ain had been among dozens of protesters carrying olive tree saplings during a protest against land confiscations when Israeli troops fired tear gas at them.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned “the brutal assault that led to the martyrdom” of Abu Ein, calling it “a barbaric act that cannot be tolerated or accepted,” official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

“We will take the necessary measures after the results of the investigation into the incident,” Abbas said.

Later on Wednesday, EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini demanded an “immediate” inquiry into the death of the official.

“Reports of excessive use of force by Israeli Security Forces are extremely worrying: I call for an immediate, independent investigation into... Abu Ein’s death,” she said in a statement.

Following the incident, Jibril Rajoub, a Palestinian official, announced the halt of security coordination with Israel.

The Israeli military said it is looking into the report and had no immediate comment.

Abu Ain headed a Palestinian Authority department dealing with Israeli settlements and the Israeli separation barrier, and had the rank of Cabinet member.

Previously, he served as deputy minister for prisoner affairs.

Almost 48,000 Guatemalans Deported from U.S. to Date in 2014

GUATEMALA CITY – The deportation of Guatemalan immigrants from the United States reached a total of 47,805 in the first 11 months of 2014, 3.47 percent more than in the same period last year, officials said on Monday.

According to a report by Guatemala’s DGM migration office, U.S. immigration officials sent back 47,805 undocumented persons to the Central American country between January and November this year, which represents 1,607 people or 3.47 percent more than in the first 11 months of 2013.

In that period last year, 46,198 undocumented persons were repatriated to Guatemala.

Of the total number deported between January and last November, 41,727 were men, 5,896 were women and the rest were minors.

The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry estimates that some 1.8 million people from that country are living in the United States, 60 percent of them “without papers.”

In 2013, U.S. immigration authorities deported a total of 50,221 Guatemalans, compared with 40,647 in 2012.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina estimates that some 100,000 citizens of his country could benefit from immigration measures announced recently by his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.

Argentine Police Break Up Drug Ring " Woman leader "

BUENOS AIRES – Argentine police broke up an international drug trafficking organization, seized 235 kilos of cocaine and arrested 27 people, including the Bolivian woman suspected of being the gang’s leader, officials said Tuesday.

Peruvian, Colombian and Dominican citizens were also arrested in the operation, Security Secretary Sergio Berni told reporters.

The arrests of five Bolivians, including the suspected gang leader, led to “30 searches in different places in the metro area of the federal capital, resulting in the seizure of 235 kilos of cocaine of maximum purity,” Berni said.

Investigators determined that “the Peruvians sold (the cocaine) wholesale, the Colombians sold it abroad and the Dominicans sold it at the retail level in Buenos Aires,” Berni said.

The investigation started following the arrest more than one year ago of a drug courier at Ezeiza airport who was headed to Spain.

The courier was carrying one kilo of cocaine in his body, Berni said.

Iran: Christians arrested for playing religious music

NCRI - Two Christians have been arrested in Iran for playing religious music on a public par, according to reports received from Iran.

Shahram Donia Roui and Mohammad Reza Vahedi were detained by state security forces in Khalij-e Fars park in the city of Fooladshahr in Isfahan province, on November 30.

Donia Roui and MohammadReza Vahedi are both members of a music group.

No information on their fate has been released to their families by the authorities since their arrest.

The fate of fellow Christian church worker Ebrahim Hosseinzadeh, who was arrested by plain-clothes police last week at his home in the city of Shiraz, is also unknown.

The persecution of Christians in Iran in recent weeks is part of wider campaign of repressive measures aimed at preventing any public expression of anger against the regime.

At least 50 prisoners have been executed in Iran in recent weeks, including women and juvenile offenders. Many others have been arrested on charges of 'prevention of vice and protection of virtue'.

Note from " Blogger " on Iran's women

This is disgusting "acid attack's ," see the photo in the below article. The country of Iran is better off banishing these women who refuse to dress the way their leader's want them to.

 I cannot understand why the men would do this to the beautiful women of Iran. I also cannot believe they would stab a woman over the way she dresses?

Blogger    

Iran acid attackers to enforce new law 'promoting virtue'

Iran has brought in a new law on the 'Promotion of virtue and prevention of vice' in the latest repressive measure against women.

The regime's paramilitary Basij forces and Revolutionary Guards will enforce the new rules which include arrest and punishment for women who break Iran's draconian dress code.

A recent spate of human rights abuses, acid attacks and stabbing of women, which met with widespread protests across Iran, have been justified by the regime as 'promoting virtue.

The state-run Fars News Agency said MPs debated details of the new law on December 9 and ratified the remaining articles. 

Nationwide news agencies reported that the members of the headquarters for the 'Promotion of virtue and prevention of vice' are:

1. A Friday prayer mullah of the regime in Tehran
2. Minister of Interior
3. Minister of Intelligence
4. Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
5. Minister of Education
6. Minister of Science, Research and Technology
7. Minister of Industries and Mines and Business
8. Two members of parliament as picked by Committee on Cultural Affairs as observers
9. The plenipotentiary representative of Head of Judiciary
10. Head of Regime’s television and radio
11. Head of mullah’s Propaganda Organization
12. Commander of security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
13. Head of the Basij forces
14. Head of the regime’s Friday prayer Imams’ headquarters
15. Two clerics as selected by the mullah’s Supreme Council of Seminary
16. A cleric as selected by the regime’s “Supreme Council of Women Seminary”
17. The Secretary of the headquarters as selected by the head of headquarters