At Least 4 Dead, 19 Wounded in Landmine Explosion in Ukraine

KIEV – At least four people were killed and 19 wounded when a passenger bus swerved over a landmine when trying to avoid a government checkpoint in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military command reported on Thursday.

Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoli Stelmaj said that the accident took place when the bus abruptly turned to avoid the security post near Artiomovsk, a town controlled by Kiev, while en route to the pro-Russian separatist-held city of Gorlovka.

According to DAN, the news agency of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, the bus driver decided to bypass the stop after the Ukrainian military blocked the way to Gorlovka.

Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s regional office in Donetsk region Ilya Kiva wrote on his Facebook page that shortly after the accident, separatist militias attacked the area with mortar fire, obstructing the evacuation of the wounded.

Kiva reported that the bus driver was unhurt and was apprehended by the police.

Although a cease-fire went into effect on Feb. 15 between the involved parties to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, hostilities have not ceased.

Schlumberger fined $232.7mn for breaking Iran, Sudan sanctions

AFP - 25 March 20 15 - French-US oil services giant Schlumberger Ltd. was fined $232.7 million by the Justice Department Wednesday for violating sanctions on Iran and Sudan.


Fully owned subsidy Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. admitted guilt to one count of 'knowingly and willfully conspiring to violate' the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act, under which US sanctions are applied, the department said.
According to the charges, the company’s Texas-based drilling and measurements unit provided services to Iran and Sudan between 2004 and 2010 and tried to hide the fact from authorities.

While Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, was allowed to work in both Iran and Sudan, the Department said the US Drilling and Measurements unit was not.
Justice authorities said the company as well tried to hide the fact that the US unit was doing the work.
'Over a period of years, Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. conducted business with Iran and Sudan from the United States and took steps to disguise those business dealings, thereby willfully violating the US economic sanctions against those regimes,” said John Carlin, US assistant attorney general for national security.
'The guilty plea and significant financial penalty in this case underscore that skirting sanctions for financial gain is a risk corporations ought not to take,' he said in a statement.
The penalty includes Schlumberger forfeiting $77.6 million of the unit’s earnings from its Iran and Sudan business, and a $155.1 million criminal fine, the largest ever for a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

US issues terror alert against possible attacks in Kampala

Iran news in brief, 24 March 2015

Maryam Rajavi: Iran regime will not give up nuclear bomb

In an interview with a German daily Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) warned that mullahs in Tehran will not give up the nuclear bomb. She also warned against the Iranian regime’s increasing interference in the neighboring Iraq.

“The mullahs' regime has never been a reliable negotiating partner and it cannot be one. This is a proven fact. We have been witnessing 30 years of concealment and deception. The Iranian Resistance divulged a secret nuclear site just in the midst of the recent talks. I think this regime will never give up its nuclear program, voluntarily,” she said in the interview published on March 6 in West Dutche Allgemeine Zeitung.

“Given the present policy of the West, especially the US, they will never forget about the nuclear bomb. They have been continuing their project to this very day, because they feel the price they pay for not abiding by international laws is much too small. This regime must be compelled through international pressure and sanctions to fully implement the UN Security Council resolutions, fully halt its enrichment activities, and accept intrusive inspections.”

On the growing interference by the Iranian regime in Iraq, Mrs Rajavi said: “Unfortunately, as a result of the wrong policy of the US and the West, the hegemony in Iraq has fallen into the hands of the Iranian regime step by step since 2003. With the fall of Nouri Al-Maliki this influence was undermined to a great extent, but the only solution for Iraq and the first step in any attempt to solve the problem of Islamic fundamentalism is the eviction of Iran's regime from Iraq.”

“The militias are fully under the control and command of the Iranian regime. They have an extremely destructive role. Under the name of fighting ISIS, they have carried out the genocide of the Sunni populace. This is a crime against humanity and fuels the Shiite-Sunni sectarian war for years to come.”

IRAN: Funeral for street vendor turns into anti-regime protest

NCRI - A number of residents of the Iranian city of Khoramshahr were arrested after taking part in a funeral service of an Arab Iranian worker that turned into an anti-regime protest with people chanting slogans against the regime.

Younes Asakereh, a 31-year-old street vendor, was a resident of the city of Khoramshahr in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan in southwestern Iran.

Younes, father to two young children, set himself on fire on March 13, to protest against the repeated attacks by security forces that prevented him from working.

He died of severe burns in hospital in Tehran on Sunday, March 22.

Younes’s self-immolation provoked rage in the people in cities across Iran, particularly in the Khuzestan Province.

Participants at the funeral chanted “We are all Younes”, “Freedom, freedom”.

According to reports, at least eight participants of the funeral were arrested afterwards - either in their homes or while returning home from the funeral.

Last week, during a soccer match on Tuesday, the security forces in Ahvaz arrested spectators who carried signs that read: “We are all Younes.”

Plainclothes agents and intelligence agents barbarically attacked the spectators and arrested a large number of people, especially those wearing traditional Arab minority clothing known as Dishdasha.

The Iranian Resistance called on all international bodies to condemn the savage repression of the people of Ahvaz who manifested on March 17 in defense of Younes and to take urgent measures to free those who were arrested.

Italy Arrests 3 Suspects for Recruiting IS Members

ROME – Italian police arrested on Wednesday three suspects, a Moroccan and two Albanians, on charges of forming a terrorism cell that recruits jihadists from Italy and Albania to join the Islamic State, official sources said.

During the security operation “Balkan Connection,” Italian security forces apprehended a 20-year-old Moroccan, from the northern Italian city of Turin, who is believed to be the author of an IS propaganda document circulating on the Internet.

Accordingly, the Moroccan suspect is convicted of propagating terrorism over the internet.

The two other detainees, who were arrested in Turin and Albania, are accused of recruiting jihadists for the terrorist organization.

According to Italian media, the two Albanian suspects convinced a minor of Tunisian origin, living in Italy, to travel to Syria and join IS.

According to the director of the Italian Central Administration of Protection, Mario Baba, the arrests were made after two years of investigations in cooperation with Interpol.