More Than 25,500 Egyptians Have Left Libya Following Beheadings

CAIRO – More than 25,000 Egyptians have fled Libya since the beheading of around 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians by the Libyan branch of the Islamic State jihadist group, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced Friday.

The massive exodus of Egyptian citizens living or working in Libya began on Feb. 16 following the release of a video in which jihadists loyal to IS showed the beheadings of the Copts who had been kidnapped in the northern city of Sirte.

A Foreign Ministry statement said that a total of 21,407 of those Egyptians returning home entered Egypt through the border crossing of Al Salum in the northwest of the country.

Another 4,122 arrived by air at Cairo International Airport from Tunisia, where they arrived through the border crossing of Ras Ajdir, linking Libya and Tunisia.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel Aty told Efe earlier this week that there was no evacuation operation organized by the government and it was a voluntary decision by those citizens who decided to return home.

Following the release of the video of the beheading, the Egyptian Air Force bombed jihadist targets in Libya.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi ordered his government to ban Egyptians from traveling to Libya, as well as to facilitate the return of citizens to Egypt.

Argentine Judge Rejects Cover-Up Charges against President

BUENOS AIRES – An Argentine judge on Thursday dismissed the charges late prosecutor Alberto Nisman brought against President Cristina Fernandez of trying to conceal Iranian involvement in a 1994 attack on a Jewish organization in Buenos Aires that left 85 people dead.

The evidence does not provide even minimal support for the accusations against Fernandez, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and six other people, magistrate Daniel Rafecas wrote in a ruling that is subject to appeal.

On the contrary, according to the judge, the evidence “categorically contradicts” Nisman’s notion of a conspiracy.

Nisman, the special prosecutor for the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish organization, was found dead Jan. 18, four days after he announced the charges against Fernandez.

The prosecutor died of a single shot to the temple, fired from a gun he had borrowed from a colleague. The case remains under investigation as a “suspicious death.”

Another prosecutor, Gerardo Pollicita, took up the accusation following Nisman’s death and filed a brief with Rafecas two weeks ago asking the judge to approve formal charges against Fernandez and the others.

Nisman’s accusation against Fernandez cited the Memorandum of Understanding her administration signed with Iran in 2013 to facilitate the AMIA investigation as the principal instrument of the purported cover-up.

The late prosecutor said that intercepts of telephone calls among some of the prospective defendants – though not Fernandez or Timerman – showed the outlines of a plan for Argentina to get Interpol to rescind the red notices the international police agency had issued for the arrest of Iranians accused in the AMIA bombing.

Yet the man who headed Interpol for 15 years until last November rebutted Nisman’s key accusation.

“I can say with 100 percent certainty, not a scintilla of doubt, that Foreign Minister Timerman and the Argentine government have been steadfast, persistent and unwavering that the Interpol’s red notices be issued, remain in effect and not be suspend or removed,” Ronald K. Noble said last month.

Many in the Argentine Jewish community believe the AMIA bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by Tehran’s Hezbollah allies.

Both the Iranian government and the Lebanese militia group deny any involvement and the accusation relies heavily on information provided by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Prosecutors have yet to secure a single conviction in the case.

In September 2004, 22 people accused in the bombing were acquitted after a process plagued with delays, irregularities and tales of witnesses’ being paid for their testimony.

U.S Blogger hacked to death " Killed , VIDEO

More Than 500 Indonesians Have Joined Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

BANGKOK – More than 500 Indonesians have joined the ranks of the Islamic State, IS, jihadist group in Iraq and Syria while the authorities have not taken any precautionary measures, according to the country’s largest Muslim body, local media reported Friday.

“At least 514,” Nadhlatul Ulama Chairman Said Aqil Siraj told kompas.com, referring to the number of people who have joined the IS, after a meeting Thursday with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Siraj said that the president had not commented on the increasing number of Indonesians joining the jihadist group, according to the Jakarta Post newspaper.

A report by the country’s intelligence revealed the existence of an underground network, which was spreading around the country, for recruiting and indoctrinating people for the IS, despite an official ban on these activities.

The president has sought the support of the Muslim organization to fight radicalism, and threatened to criminalize support to the IS and revoke the citizenship of those found guilty of non-compliance.

Most Islamic countries have asked the president to bring Indonesia to the frontline in the fight against IS and radicalism, according to Siraj.

Indonesia is known to have the largest number of Muslims in the world, or more than 200 million people, most of whom are Sunnis.

IRAN: Police attack peaceful protesters outside Tehran court

Police in Tehran attacked 3,000 protesters supporters of a spiritual group gathered in peaceful protest outside the city's Revolutionary Court before the trial of their faith's founder.

Intelligence Ministry agents used tear gas on the crowd, and arrested some who were transported to an unknown location.The violent scenes forced shops and businesses in the area to close down, and it took the police two hours to clear the area of demonstrators.

The trial involved allegations against Mohammad Ali Taheri, founder of Erfan-e-Halgheh group who was arrested on May 4, 2011, by officials linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was held in Evin Prison.

He was later charged with 'spreading corruption on Earth', a catch-all indictment of political dissent which carries the death penalty.

His supporters have gathered on numerous occasions outside Tehran’s Evin prison chanting 'freedom of expression is our right'.

International rights groups have issued statements expressing concern about welfare of Mr Taheri, who is serving his sentence in solitary confinement and his repeated requests to be transferred to a cell shared with other inmates have been denied, leading him to go on hunger strike.

PCSD searching for two men accused of stealing 8,000 cigarettes

TUCSON- The Pima County Sheriff's Department is searching for two men accused of stealing 8,000 cigarettes from a Northwest side convenience store.

According to PCSD, the theft occurred on February 14 around 4:40 a.m. at the Circle K located at 2080 W. Ruthrauff Rd.  

The two men walked into the store, went behind the counter and stole the 40 cartons of cigarettes, PCSD said.

The clerk told deputies he was in the back of the store when the theft was occurring and called 911 when he came out front and saw the men.

PCSD said the men were wearing dark colored clothing and hooded sweatshirts.  Both men had bandanas over their faces and were carrying duffle bags.  

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

U.S. looking into NCRI’s revelation of secret Iran nuclear site, Kerry says

Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday that a final nuclear deal with Iran could be derailed if new allegations from an Iranian dissident group that Iran is running a secret uranium enrichment operation at a facility near Tehran prove true,” The Washington Timesreported.

Mr. Kerry told lawmakers that U.S. officials knew of charges related the site prior to this week, but that “it has not been revealed yet as a nuclear facility.”

“It is a facility that we are well aware of, which is on a list of facilities we have,” the secretary of state said during a Capitol Hill budget hearing on Wednesday morning. “I’m not going to go into greater detail.”

“But these things are obviously going to have to be resolved as we go forward,” he said.

Mr. Kerry made the comments during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, in which lawmakers raised questions about the revelations Tuesday by the National Coalition of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), exposing a secret facility has never before been revealed to international officials.

On Wednesday, a State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “We have seen these claims and we take all such reports seriously”, according to The Washington Post.

The NCRI revealed on Tuesday the details of Lavizan-3 top-secret site currently used by Iranian regime for research & development on nuclear field using advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment. 

The NCRI announced that the explosive revelation was result of several years of detailed work by the network of the Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization in Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Rep. Brad Sherman, California Democrat, said in the hearing: “They [PMOI (MEK)] are the ones that told the world about the Iranian nuclear program.” “They now say that there’s a secret facility at Lavizan-3.”

PMOI's sources established that since 2008 the Iranian regime has secretly engaged in research and uranium enrichment at this site.

The NCRI provided Satellite imagery of the site, its entrance, and overview of the site in the press conference.

The NCRI representatives ripped the Iranian regime’s claim regarding transparency in the nuclear talks and went on to say the Iranian regime is deceiving international community.

They pointed out that research and development with advanced centrifuges in highly secret sites are only intended to advance the nuclear weapons project.

The NCRI stressed if US is serious about preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, it must make continuation of the talks predicated on the IAEA’s immediate inspection of the site before the regime gets a chance to destroy the evidence.