Anti-austerity protestors clash with police at new ECB hq in Frankfurt

Iran news in brief, 16 March 2013

Former U.S. Soldier Charged with Trying to Join IS

WASHINGTON – A former U.S. Air Force mechanic has been formally charged with trying to join the Islamic State in Syria, the Justice Department announced Tuesday in a statement.

The accused was identified as Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, a 47-year-old U.S. citizen who served as an avionics and instrumentation specialist in the Air Force from 1986-1990.

He is facing charges of “attempting to provide material support” to a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice for destroying evidence.

“Born and raised in the United States, Pugh allegedly turned his back on his country and attempted to travel to Syria in order to join a terrorist organization,” said President Barack Obama’s nominee for attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch, the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York.

“We will continue to vigorously prosecute extremists, whether based here or abroad, to stop them before they are able to threaten the United States and its allies,” she added.

Legal documents in the case say that Pugh attempted to join the IS between May 2014 and Jan. 12 of this year.

Authorities said that the accused flew on Jan. 10 from Egypt to Turkey to join the jihadists in Syria after losing his job as an aircraft mechanic in the Middle East.

Pugh was deported from Turkey to Egypt and then from that country to the United States, where he was arrested on Jan. 16.

Before his arrest, Pugh tried to destroy four thumb drives which, investigators say, show that he consulted Internet Web sites regarding border crossing points between Syria and Turkey controlled by the IS and downloaded videos showing executions by that group.

If found guilty, Pugh could face up to 35 years in prison.

Honduran Migrant Murdered in Attack on Train in Mexico

PUEBLA, Mexico – A Honduran teenager died and another was wounded in an attack on “La Bestia,” or “The Beast,” the freight train Central American migrants headed for the United States often ride on their journey across Mexico, prosecutors in the central Mexican state of Puebla said Tuesday.

About 10 armed men boarded the train, which was traveling from Tierra Blanca, in the Gulf state of Veracruz, to Apizaco, a city in Tlaxcala state, on Monday near Tehuacan, a city in Puebla state, the Puebla Attorney General’s Office said.

“A group of six undocumented (migrants) was traveling on the train when 10 subjects, who said they were ‘coyotes’ (people traffickers), tried to rob them and opened fire,” an AG’s office spokesman said.

A 17-year-old Honduran died from several gunshot wounds and a 15-year-old boy from the same country was wounded in the head.

The wounded migrant was taken to a hospital.

Railway company Ferrosur’s employees found the migrants in an area in the Tehuacan region called the Cañada Lobo de Azumbilla.

Migrants called the freight trains that operate across Mexico “The Beast” because of the dangers they face on the trains.

An estimated 300,000 Central Americans undertake the hazardous journey across Mexico each year on their way to the United States.

The trek is a dangerous one, with criminals and corrupt Mexican officials preying on the migrants.

Gangs kidnap, rob and murder migrants, who are often targeted in extortion schemes, Mexican officials say.

Body of Colombian Child Missing Since February Found in Venezuela

BOGOTA – Colombian police reported Tuesday that the body of a 9-year-old Colombian boy, missing since last Feb. 10 from the municipality of Tibu in the northeastern province of Norte de Santander, has been found in Venezuela.

The youngster Luis Fernando Lambartines Calvo was found “dismembered and in an advanced state of decomposition” inside a bag in a grave at the Encontrados Municipal Cemetery in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, police said in a communique.

The discovery of the little boy was made public by an anonymous source seeking the reward of 10 million Colombian pesos (some $3,730) offered by the authorities to anyone who could help find him.

According to preliminary investigations, the day the child disappeared he was with a woman he called “aunt” and with whom he got into a black vehicle, police said.

From that moment the investigation began that led to the arrest of Adriana Dariana Portilla, former lover of the boy’s mother.

The first reports in Venezuelan media said the accused had demanded a ransom of 100 million Colombian pesos (some $37,278), about which the police have given no further details.

Upon hearing that someone had helped find the body, Portilla admitted what she had done and directed police to the exact location of the body, which was identified by the boy’s mother.

Colombia’s Caracol Radio has said that police are investigating “whether this is a crime of passion” or whether the woman had some other motive for killing the child

US Senators (move forward) on Iran nuclear bill next week ?

 Tuesday, 17 March 2015 14:09

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The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee could vote as soon as next week on a bill requiring U.S. President to submit any possible nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime for Congress’ approval, Senator Bob Corker, said on Monday.

President Obama has threatened to veto the bill, saying it could disrupt the nuclear talks.

The chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Senator Corker told reporters at the US Senate that he planned to move ahead with the legislation in the committee next week.

Aides to Corker and the committee’s top Democrat, Senator Robert Menendez, said the panel had not yet settled on a specific date to debate and vote on the bill. Menendez must also agree on a date for the panel to consider the legislation.

The Foreign Relations panel must approve the bill before it can be considered by the full Senate. The full-Senate vote is unlikely to take place before mid-April because next week is the last opportunity before lawmakers leave Washington for a two-week recess.

The measure would also have to be approved by the House of Representatives to be sent to the White House for Obama’s signature or veto. It would need the support of two-thirds of both the Senate and House to overcome a veto.

Source: Reuters

Islamic State makes up to $1 billion on drug trafficking — Russian drug control service

MOSCOW, 6 March. /TASS/. The Islamic State terrorist group makes up to $1 billion on drug traffic through its territory, head of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) Viktor Ivanov said on Friday.

"The area of poppy plantations is growing. This year, I think, we’ll hear news about record-high poppy harvest, therefore the high yield of opium and heroin. So this problem should be raised not only in Moscow, but also in the UN in general, because this is a threat not only to our country’s, but also European security. Over the past five years the Balkan route has been split - the heroin traffic now also goes through the Iraqi territory," he said.

"The transit of heroin from Afghanistan though the Islamic State-controlled territory is huge financial sponsorship. According to our estimates, IS makes up to $1 billion on Afghan heroin trafficked through its territory," he said.