Israeli army shoots two Palestinian teenagers dead

Anthony Hopkins wins Russian theater award

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. British actor Anthony Hopkins was named on Monday a winner of the International Stanislavsky Award for his "contribution into the development of world’s theater art."

Prominent Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich also won the award for his "contribution into the development of theatre art."

The International Stanislavsky Award was established in 1994, honoring more than 170 theater stars across the globe.

Russian bomber destroys terrorists' fortifications in Syria

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. A Russian front bomber of the aviation group in Syria delivered a surgical strike on a camp of Islamic State militants near Maarrat al-Numan with a corrected KAB-500 air bomb, the Defence Ministry's representative Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

"The objective control data is the airstrikes destroyed terrorists' fortifications, ammunition, fuel and seven units of equipment," he told a briefing at the ministry.

Iran - Man sets himself on fire , after kidnapping of 14 yr old daughter

NCRI - Following several recent cases of self-immolation outside government offices in Iran, a man in his forties from the town of Malekan, north-west Iran, set himself on fire outside the local offices of the Iranian regime's judiciary last week.

The man, identified as Sirus Neek-khu, 45, set himself ablaze on Monday, September 28, in protest to the failure of the authorities to see to his grievances. He had asked the authorities to launch a proper investigation into the kidnapping of his 14-year-old daughter. But the regime's judiciary officials in Malekan, situated in East Azerbaijan Province, had ignored his requests.

According to his relatives, Mr. Neek-khu suffered 70% burns on his body and later died of his injuries. He was buried under tight security on Saturday, October 3 to prevent a large gathering and anti-regime protests from forming.

Since Saturday, the judiciary offices in Malekan have been closed, and people are prevented from entering the premises.

The regime’s judiciary chief in the city has summoned Mr. Neek-khu’s relatives and threatened to arrest them if they report the incident to the media.

Numerous cases of self-immolation in Iran in recent months have drawn special attention, including the cases of Omid Rashedi, 36, from the south-western city of Ahwaz; Mansour Keyhani, a retired teacher from Sanghar, western Iran; Ali Akbari, 45, a laborer from Tehran; Hamid Farokhi, 43, a street vendor from Tabriz, north-west Iran; and Youness Asakareh, 31, a laborer from Khorramshahr, south-western Iran. In all these cases, the self-immolations had an element of protest against the ruling mullahs' regime.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/iran-protests/19046-iran-heartbreaking-self-immolation-of-a-kurdish-teacher-in-protest-to-extortions-by-mullahs-regime

Iran - School teacher beat down " In prison ", and activist.

Political prisoners Iraj Mohammadi and retired teacher Mohammad Amin Agushi were vicious attacked on Saturday at 10 am by a group of Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) agents in Zahedan Central Prison, incoming reports indicate.
These two political prisoners were injured and several parts of their bodies suffered major blows due to the attack. The agents prevented any medical care to be provided for these two political prisoners. Due to the low hygiene conditions in this prison there is a serious threat of their wounds becoming infected.
The man in charge of this vicious raid was an MOIS agent by the name of Jalili. This horrific attack was planned by MOIS interrogators and Zahedan prison warden Khosravi had it carried out by a number of MOIS agents and prison interrogators.

Russia - Angelina Jolie may be considering the invitation to Crimea

© Ruslan Shamukov/TASS

Crimea head invites world’s celebrities to create new ‘Beverly Hills’

SOCHI, October 2. /TASS/. American screen star Angelina Jolie may be considering the invitation to Crimea, Crimea’s head Sergey Aksenov told TASS on Friday.

"I suppose she is thinking over the invitation," Aksenov said, noting that Russian citizenship is becoming more popular among foreigners. "I am sure that Crimea is also in the demand," he said.

Earlier Aksenov has invited celebrities from around the world to come to Russia’s Black Sea Peninsula saying he would welcome the creation there of a counterpart to the US iconic Beverly Hills.

Aksenov said the representatives of show business, athletes, actors and other celebrities would face no administrative or other barriers if they decide to buy any real estate on the peninsula, move for permanent residence or come for vacation.

"We will eagerly provide assistance to scope out convenient places on the coast, either among mountains, or unique woods or prairies — in any case in the midst of great nature and marvelous climate," he said in his open address both in Russian and in English.

"If honoured stars wish to settle in Crimea they are absolutely welcome," Aksenov said. "We shall encourage the new Beverly Hills upraise in Crimea eventually."

UN must focus on human rights in Iran

Although the Iranian regime's nuclear pursuits will grab the spotlight at this year's United Nations General Assembly in New York, it is "the regime's record on human rights that deserves scrutiny," Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan of the University of Baltimore has said.

"The Iranian regime continues to execute its citizens at a higher rate than any UN member state. In fact, the regime boasts the highest rate of executions per capita in the world, surpassing even China. More than 2,000 people have been executed on President Hassan Rouhani's watch in just two years, more than in any similar period in the past 25 years," Dr. Sheehan wrote on Monday for Al Jazeera's website.

"Amnesty International has referred to Iran's 'execution spree' as 'staggering', and the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights, too, has decried the rising tide of executions - also carried out on juvenile offenders - during Rouhani's tenure," he said.

"Today, hundreds of Iranian dissidents, including minority and women's rights activists, are behind bars, and Iran has become the largest prison for journalists in the Middle East."

"Despite Rouhani's repeated promises to respect civil rights following his election in 2013, serious rights abuses continue. The regime's record of arbitrary detentions and unfair trials, discrimination against minorities, mistreatment of political prisoners, and restrictions on freedom of expression, have led UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to deliver a sharp rebuke in March 2014."

"But in recent months, security issues have distracted the US and world leaders from the regime's domestic troubles. As the UN General Assembly gets under way, it is time to refocus the world's attention on human rights."

"Indeed the circumstances are bleak for millions of Iranians trapped by a regime that has grown adept at consolidating its own power and influence while doing little to support the people's aspirations for a more just and tolerant society."

"As world leaders take their seats at the UN, the primary agent of Middle East instability will have a seat at the table. But officials should know that Tehran's leaders don't speak for the Iranian people."

"The Iranian people yearn for a democratic, tolerant, gender-equal, pluralistic state."

Dr. Sheehan highlighted the major rally on Monday by thousands of supporters of the principal Iranian opposition outside the UN headquarters "to give voice to the voiceless."

These individuals, he said, are denouncing the "presence of Rouhani and Iranian officials at the UN General Assembly" and demanding that the international community "hold the Iranian regime accountable for its abysmal human rights record."

He said the rally is a "demonstration to the world that there is a democratic alternative to the Ayatollahs."

"But more needs to be done to highlight this principled resistance and the values it upholds, commitments consistent with the very charter of the United Nations."

"When Iran's foreign minister sat recently with his Western counterparts in Geneva - shaking hands and celebrating a possible nuclear accord - the lifeless body of a young man hung from a crane in a bleak public square in Tehran. As world leaders gather, Iranians are rightly asking if the world will continue to disregard human rights and their moral commitments in the interest of cosmetic diplomacy or whether a tipping point has finally been reached."

Regime change from within Iran can be the "best strategy to uphold human rights," Dr. Sheehan argued.

"President Barack Obama makes a mistake by treating Tehran as a fixture of the Middle East landscape, but other US officials need not make the same mistake. International law does not simply guarantee sovereignty - it upholds human rights. States are instruments of and by the people - not the other way around."

"As the UN General Assembly convenes, the Iranian opposition's calls for freedom and human rights, peace and security reflect these noble hopes and aspirations, and their determined resistance reflects the arc of history bending towards justice."

Prof. Ivan Sascha Sheehan is director of the graduate program in Global Affairs and Human Security at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore.