US aid worker and ISIL hostage Kayla Mueller confirmed dead

The United States has confirmed the death of aid worker and ISIL hostage Kayla Mueller. Her family say they are heartbroken.

It comes four days after the Islamist captors of the 26-year-old, seized in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, claimed she had been killed in a coalition airstrike by Jordanian fighter jets outside Raqqa, the capital of the extremists’ self-proclaimed caliphate.

Jordan has expressed doubt about the Islamist militant group’s account and US officials have said they had no evidence to support ISIL’s claims although the details surrounding Kayla’s death remain unclear.

Her family have released a handwritten letter they said Kayla wrote to them while in captivity. In it, she says: “I…have learned that even in prison, one can be free.”

In control of wide areas of Syria and Iraq, ISIL is said to have sent Kayla’s family an e-mail and photograph that confirmed her death. She was the group’s last known American hostage.

Paying tribute to her, President Obama said the US would “find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible”.

He added in a statement released by the White House: “ISIL is a hateful and abhorrent terrorist group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla”.

MOSCOW - Hunger strike for Ukrainian servicewoman

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court on Tuesday extended the period of detention for former Ukrainian servicewoman Nadezhda Savchenko until May 13.

"Having heard the reasons of the sides and considered submitted materials, the court reaches the conclusion that an investigator’s request to extend the measure of restraint for Savchenko in the form of detention until May 13 should be granted," Judge Artur Karpov announced the decision.

Investigators say that during combat operations near the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk in the summer of 2014, Savchenko, who was a pilot for a Mil Mi-24 (NATO reporting name: Hind) helicopter gunship, joined the Aidar battalion - a paramilitary group of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.

She is suspected of involvement in the murder of two Russian journalists near Lugansk in July 2014, as well as of illegally crossing the Russian border. The two criminal cases against her have been integrated.

The defense said the court’s ruling on detention extension is illegal and plans to appeal it in the Moscow City Court.

The period of investigation on Savchenko’s case has also been extended until May 13.

Nadezhda Savchenko has been on a hunger strike for over 60 days. Today she said she has no plans of stopping the strike. "I will continue the hunger strike, which has been lasting for more than 60 days, until I’m taken back to Ukraine or until I die, " she said.

Cops Investigate 2 Bodies Found Floating off Puerto Rican Coast

 

SAN JUAN – Puerto Rican authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding two bodies found floating in the sea off the western coast of the island, local police said Monday.

Police said in a communique that the investigation is being handled by personnel of the Rincon and Aguada districts, as well as by the Homicide Division and the Maritime Unit of Añasco, all municipalities of western Puerto Rico.

The bodies were found in waters near the town of Rio Grande, between the municipalities of Rincon and Aguada, a place where undocumented immigrants often come ashore from the neighboring Dominican Republic after sailing across the dangerous Mona Passage.

Authorities were alerted by an anonymous 911 call around 10:30 a.m. local time, and as yet no details have been provided about the bodies’ identities or their physical characteristics.

The authorities were previously engaged in investigating the death of another person, thought to have drowned, on the tourist beach of Puntas de Rincon.

Blogger note : Iran - The land of no rights ( And no singing )

That's right,women are not allowed to sing now ( the cleric's recently told the world ). As for human right's they don't exist in Iran.  Who is the NCRI ( National Council of Resistance of Iran ) founded in 1981 in France?


The President -elect of the NCRI is Maryam Rajavi , currently living in exile in Paris. The over 500 members of the group have ( horrific stories ) they could tell you about family members being killed for speaking up for their rights. The story about losing a brother or two sisters being killed by the Iranian regime. I ask myself what would make a group of 500 plus Iranian's form the NCRI but now I have my answer.

The countless stories of murder , and human right's violations and it never ends. ( servant's to a brutal regime )

Iran - A Civil Rights Activist Arrested in Mehrabad Airport

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• A Civil Rights Activist Arrested in Mehrabad Airport

Taken to unknown location

Posted on: 9th February, 2015

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• Editor: Human
• Translator: Sohrab
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HRANA News Agency – Ali Rezaei, civil rights activist was arrested and transferred to an unknown location.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Ali Rezaei, civil rights activist, was arrested at Mehrabad Airport on Wednesday, February 4, by security forces and transferred to an unknown location.

After his arrest, the security forces went to his house and seized some of his personal accessories, his laptop and some books.

An informed source told HRANA’s reporter, “Ali Rezaei is considered as a moderate Azeri activist”.

This source also said, “Mr. Rezaei’s demands are in accordance with promises of Mr. Rohani and included implementation of article 15 of the constitution, teaching mother tongue, establishment of Turkish academy, restoration of Uremia lake, cultural and financial equality for all communities and ethnicities in Iran, which is stated in the constitution”.

He has experience of working with the weekly press Yarpagh, monthly Dilmaj, and some zeri-Farsi publications Azeri-Farsi on his record.

Islamic State Loots and Destroys Ancient Religious Sites in Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq – Jihadists with the radical Islamic State over the past few days have been looting and destroying ancient religious sites in this northern Iraqi city, a local government official told Efe on Sunday.

The extremists on Saturday stole relics, historic books and manuscripts that were inside one of the religious sanctuaries in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, before demolishing the buildings with large earthmoving machines.

In addition to razing several sanctuaries, they destroyed the mosque of Muhsin, from which they stole valuable objects that had been housed there.

The government source said that the jihadists demolished that site, which consisted of a small 5th-century mosque with a large cupola and contained one of the tombs of the imam Muhsin.

The IS, meanwhile, released a video showing the group’s destruction of mosques and religious sites, calling it a “fight against ... heresy.”

The IS practices an extreme version of Sunni Islam that rejects the existence of mausoleums inside mosques because it feels that then the faithful could potentially direct their prayers to the dead resting there rather than to God.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces recovered control of most of the city of Biyi, 40 km (25 mi.) north of Tikrit, capital of Saladin province, provincial governor Jasem al-Jabara said.

Iraqi troops, aided by tribal fighters, retook the city’s industrial zones, the military district, the market area, the railroad sector and all the neighborhoods near the Biyi refinery, along with other sections of the city.

They also advanced toward Al Siniya, 10 km (6.2 mi.) west of Biyi, where they retook control of the region’s oil refinery in clashes with occupying jihadists that resulted in dozens of dead and injured in the IS ranks.

Iraqi authorities last November had announced their intention to regain control of strategically important Biyi, although the IS had made significant advances in the area and took over parts of the city on Dec. 21 after a series of attacks on government positions.

Biyi is the site of Iraq’s largest oil refinery – which produces 250,000 barrels of crude per day, although it was shut down on June 10, 2014, after jihadist advances in the area – and a hub for supply routes to Nineveh, Al Anbar and Kirkuk provinces.

Four Siblings Gunned Down in Southern Colombia

BOGOTA – Four siblings ranging in age from 7 to 17 were fatally shot inside their family’s home in a rural area near Florencia, capital of the southern Colombian province of Caqueta, authorities said.

Unidentified men entered the residence Wednesday night and opened fire, killing four of the Vanegas Grimaldo siblings.

The fifth sibling was wounded, but managed to get away.

The public ombudsman’s office identified the dead as Samuel, 17; Juliana, 14; Xiomara, 11; and Deiner, 7.

The surviving Vanegas Grimaldo sibling and a neighbor alerted authorities about the attack, the ombudsman’s office said. Investigators suspect the quadruple-murder may be linked to a dispute between the children’s father and squatters who invaded some lands he owns.

Caqueta Gov. Hugo Rincon expressed sorrow about the killings and vowed that authorities “will find those responsible for the massacre.”

Separately, a 13-year-old boy was slain and dismembered in Tulua, a town in the southwestern province of Valle del Cauca.

“For what we know so far, the minor resided in Cali (the provincial capital) and had gone to the town to spend vacation with relatives,” the ombudsman’s office said.