Iran: Regime bans female singer from stage ( First banned from certain events )

A female singer has been banned from performing with her group at a concert in Tehran.

Iranian authorities said the show would only be allowed to go ahead if Azerbaijani singer Fargana Qasimov watched her band perform from the sidelines.

The organizers of the January 13 concert at Tehran's Vahdat amphitheater had called for the ruling to be overturned, forcing spectators to wait for hours in the street before the concert began.

Once the show started, the conductor told the audience: "Nowhere else in the world are women artists treated in this way."

Asked if she had faced similar humiliation at any other concerts, Mrs Qasimov replied: "Not at all, this is the first time that I have faced this situation. I am not feeling good about it but I have to support my father when he performs," according to a report.

Iranian officials also banned photographers from the concert and has not allowed any pictures of show to appear in the media.

Iran - Iran to open " Dating marriage website "

TEHRAN: Iran has announced plans to combat what it says are “immoral” online dating websites by launching an official site for young people seeking marriage.
Local media quoted officials as saying the site would launch in the next few days and promote long-term marriages among the under-30s.
There are strict prohibitions on sexual contact before marriage in the country, but that can be circumvented under the Shiite system of “sigheh,” or temporary marriage, under which a couple can contract matrimony for as little as an hour.
The government is seeking to discourage the practice and the deputy minister for youth and sport, Mahmoud Gholrazi, said there are as many as 300 websites deemed “illegal and immoral” that often encourage sigheh. Gholrazi did not say whether the site would be similar to traditional ones, where members post photos on a profile describing themselves, their interests and what they are seeking, but he did say “counselors and psychologists” would work with it.
Noting that Iran has a marriageable population of around 11 million, he said that, “with the help of this site, we could have 100,000 marriages with a correct method, and the problem of marriage for young people would be partly solved.”
Not only is the government attempting to encourage marriage, it is also seeking to reduce a record divorce rate which has reached 22 percent. In big cities such as Tehran, an estimated one in three couples divorce.

Tucson Home invasion suspects wanted - Phoenix suspects wanted ?

TUCSON- The Tucson Police Department is asking for the public's help identifying a suspect in connection to a home invasion Monday afternoon.

According to TPD, a female was returning to her house near North 1st Avenue and East Fort Lowell around 3:45 p.m., when a man forced her inside at gunpoint.

PHOENIX -- Phoenix police are asking the public to help identify two suspects in a residential burglary.

Read more: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Phoenix-police-need-help-identifying-burglary-suspects-288745641.html#ixzz3OwCoTxFl

Phoenix suspects wanted burglary ?

The30-year-old woman was bound, while the suspect stole items from her purse, TPD said.

"There were threats to my life, he said he would kill me, he would kill my dogs," said the victim." "Yeah, multiple threats during that time."

TPD detectives learned the suspect attempted to use the woman's stolen credit card an hour after the home invasion at the Fry's Supermarket at 555 E. Grant Road.

Police say the suspect is a Hispanic male between 25 to 35 years old, with short brown hair. He is 5-foot-9-inches tall and between 190 and 200 pounds.

The man was last seen wearing a red, long-sleeve hooded shirt with an unknown woman.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Ex-Chief of Dominican Drug Squad Charged in Theft of Cocaine

SANTO DOMINGO – The Dominican Republic’s former top counter-narcotics official and 24 other people were arrested Tuesday in connection with the theft of more than a ton of cocaine from a police storeroom, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said.

Facing charges along with the erstwhile chief of the DICAN agency, Carlos Fernandez Valerio, are 20 police officers, three prosecutors and a civilian, Dominquez Brito told a press conference.

The group is accused of stealing cocaine confiscated in a DICAN operation and then selling the drugs back to the traffickers who were the target of the original raid.

Investigators found that Fernandez Valerio and DICAN’s then-head of operations, Felix Humberto Lopez Paulino, distributed large sums in cash to the other suspects, who subsequently confessed to their part in the crime, the attorney general said.

“About this matter there is a very clear message: we can never allow he who is called upon to pursue crime, to combat crime, to seek peace in society, to ally himself with crime,” Dominguez Brito said.

Mexico - Former Iguala mayor formally charged with the kidnapping of 43 students

by Lucio for Borderland Beat

There has been a formal arrest warrant issued for former Iguala, Guerrero mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, along with 44 others for charges of kidnapping of 43 kidnapped and missing normalistas (students) on September 26th 2014.

This was announced by Tomas Zeron, of the federal general attorney’s office.  He did not state when the warrant was issued.  

Although Abarca was charged with crimes connected with organized crime activities, these are the first charges that are directly related to the September Iguala attacks, and kidnapping of the 43 students.

It is suspected that .Abarca directed the municipal police, in conjunction with the organized crime group Guerreros Unidos,  to attack and kidnap the students.  

There is no mention of the other deaths in the attacks of the night of September 26th.
   

Those attacks resulted in the deaths of 8-9 people, one being a young 15 year old soccer player who was  traveling on the team bus.

Another normalista, Julio Mondragon was taken, murdered,  his face flayed, and his corpse dumped in the street close to the location of the second attack.  

He is not counted with the  43.

It is peculiar that with the world wide publicity and attention of the Iguala 43, almost zero has been paid to the others that were killed and injured in the same attacks.  

As for Abarca’s wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, on Monday, the federal courts spokesman said a judge had ruled Abarca's wife will stand trial for links to organized crime. 

In evidence are records of bank deposits into her account originating from Guerreros Unidos.

There are doubts that she will be charged with the attacks and kidnapping of the normalistas, and there have been no announcement either way as of yet.

Saudi Arabia ( Blogger to receive his second flogging ) Photo

Saudi Arabia's history of hypocrisy we choose to ignore

On Thursday, a Saudi blogger will receive his second flogging for 'insulting Islam'. Robert Fisk looks at a barbaric regime with a brutal record

US must halt appeasement to ‘tyrannical’ Iranian regime, Senator Cotton demands

The United States must cease all appeasement towards the 'tyrannical' Iranian regime which is the world's greatest state-sponsor of terrorism, US Senator Tom Cotton has demanded.

Republican Tom Cotton said America should begin with 'immediate and crippling sanctions' in place of 'sham nuclear negotiations' to make the US military threat more credible.

In a speech at the US Heritage Foundation, he said: "Iran is a radical, Islamist tyrannical regime... that has been killing Americans for 35 years.

"Iran is at war with the West just as the Islamic State is. While operating a repressive totalitarian state at home, the Iranian regime conducts many of these operations against America and our allies through terrorist proxies, as Iran remains the worst state sponsor of terrorism in the world, according to President Obama’s own State Department.

"Iran is a lead financer and arms supplier of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, vile terrorist organizations dedicated to destroying Israel.

"While Iran likes to boast that it has joined the fight against the Islamic State, it’s done so only to protect Assad, and has threatened to attack US forces currently fighting against the Islamic State if they target the Assad regime."

Cotton also warned about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and stressed that appeasement by the US would only help the regime obtain them.

He added: "US negotiators have surrendered repeatedly to Iran’s demands, conceding a right to enrich uranium, allowing Iran to keep its plutonium-producing reactor, asking only that its centrifuges be disconnected instead of dismantled.

"In return for these concessions to Iran, the US has given and will give Iran billions of dollars more in sanctions relief.

"What started as an unwise policy has now descended into a dangerous farce. One can only suspect an unspoken entente between the Obama administration and Iran: the US won’t impose new sanctions on Iran and will allow it to develop threshold nuclear capabilities, while Iran won’t assemble a bomb till 2017."

Mr Cotton called for a clear policy of regime change, adding: "Cease all appeasement, conciliation, and concessions toward Iran, starting with these sham nuclear negotiations.

"Enact immediate, crippling sanctions; and make our military threat more credible."