New York Cop Charged with Manslaughter in Fatal Shooting

NEW YORK – New York Police Department rookie patrolman Peter Liang was arraigned Wednesday for the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American man.

Liang, 27, appeared in a Brooklyn courtroom to listen to the charges, which include manslaughter – carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years – and official misconduct.

He was released without bail after entering a plea of not guilty.

Akai Gurley, 28, was killed Nov. 20 while leaving the Louis Pink Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn.

Liang and another rookie officer were in the stairwell when Gurley and his girlfriend, a building resident, entered on their way down to the lobby.

Both officers were using flashlights, as the lights in the stairwell were burned out, and Liang also had his gun drawn.

Liang accidentally shot Gurley at a distance of about 10 feet (3 meters), the NYPD said at the time.

Authorities announced Tuesday that a Brooklyn grand jury had voted to indict the officer.

Gurley’s death came four months after another African-American man, Eric Garner, died after a white NYPD officer applied a chokehold while trying to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

The 43-year-old Garner, who was asthmatic, died of asphyxiation. The medical examiner classified the July 17 death as a homicide and said the chokehold was a factor.

Even so, a grand jury in the New York borough of Staten Island declined to charge the officer.

The Staten Island decision was announced 11 days after a St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Ex-Governor’s Brother Arrested on Corruption Charges in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Carlos Mateo Aguirre Rivero, the brother of former Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre, and several other individuals were arrested on corruption charges, Mexican Criminal Investigations Agency director Tomas Zeron said.

Investigators “have determined that a group of people, including former public servants in the state of Guerrero,” had state and federal funds deposited in their personal bank accounts, Zeron said.

The suspects, however, did not have any corporate or business relationships with companies that received public works contracts in Guerrero, the federal official said.

“It was determined, moreover, that relatives of the former public servants linked to these illegal transactions served as legal representatives, had power of attorney and were authorized (signers) on bank accounts of the different firms via which the funds were diverted,” Zeron said.

Funds from the Federal Electricity Commission, Banobras, the Federal Treasury, the State Water Commission, the State Public Safety Council and the Guerrero Highway and Airport Infrastructure Commission were diverted and ended up in personal bank accounts.

Some 287 million pesos ($19.16 million) was diverted to the suspects’ personal accounts between January 2012 and September 2014 via the Constructora Travesa, Comercializadora 2003 and Comercializadora Topacio corporations, Zeron said.

The Federal Police arrested the suspects on Tuesday on arrest warrants issued by a federal judge in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, Zeron said.

The other suspects under arrest are Luis Angel Aguirre Perez, Paulo Ignacio Hughes Acosta, Mauricio Francisco Hughes Acosta, Alejandro Carlos Hughes Acosta and Jorge Eduardo Hughes Acosta, the federal official said, adding that “other people” were also in custody.

Angel Aguirre, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, stepped down as Guerrero’s governor in October in the wake of the disappearance of 43 education students in the city of Iguala.

2m euros damages for babies switched at birth in France

Iran news in brief, 9 February 2015

Putin blames West for Ukraine crisis during trade visit to Egypt

UK, U.S and France closes embassy in Yemen amid civil war fears

IRAN: Tehran protest halts police action to confiscate satellite dishes

NCRI - A protest erupted in Tehran after Iranian police began removing satellite dishes from the roofs of homes and hurling them into the street below.

Police finally halted the removal of dishes in Iran Street in the Iranian capital on Sunday fearing the protest could spread to other areas of the city.

The police action was part of the latest crackdown on satellite TV by the regime's rulers, who have also used teenage members of the Basij paramilitary force to remove dishes and confiscate satellite equipment in other parts of the country.

A Revolutionary Guards’ website has reported that on the occasion of anniversary of the revolution, a teenage member of Basij collected 10 satellite receivers from the homes of the residents of Ahamad Abad village, in Fars province.

Prior to this, a number of young Basij force members also confiscated equipment in the village of Khosrow Abad.

The Cultural Deputy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps said on January 29 that over 60 percent of Iranians watch satellite TV channels.

On February 8, Ali Jannati, the minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance, acknowledged that the regime’s efforts to prevent use of satellite TVs have failed.

He said: "Wherever we collected the satellite dishes from rooftops, two days later the dishes were returned. It seems that we only create business for the dish installers."

But he warned: "The enemy is seeking to change the behavior of citizens, particularly youths, in Iran."