Air France allows female crew to refuse Iran route in headscarf row

Air France’s female flight attendants will be allowed to refuse to work the company’s new route to Iran, the company has announced.

Unions for the airline’s cabin crew held talks with management after several female crew members opposed an order to wear a headscarf in Iran.

The company will introduce an exception so that employees who don’t want to work on the route will be reassigned on other destinations with no sanctions.

A note sent to female cabin crew members requires them to wear a headscarf on their arrival in Tehran. They must also wear the uniform’s long-sleeved jacket and trousers rather than a knee-length dress.

The unions, however, wanted the Tehran flights to be staffed on a voluntary basis and an agreement that any staff who refused to fly to Iran because of the headscarf rule would not have their pay deducted.

Air France said in a statement on Monday: “Therefore, to ensure this fundamental principle governing the profession of crew member guarantees the respect of the personal values of each Air France female crew member, when a stewardess or female pilot is assigned to a flight to Tehran, Air France will offer them the possibility to choose not to fly to Tehran and work on a different flight. They will have to inform of their decision to refuse to wear the headscarf in line with a specific procedure beforehand.”

Air France plans to fly to Tehran three times a week from April 17. It suspended flights to Iran in 2008.

Based in part on wire reports

US Navy Seized a Weapons’ Shipment from Iran to Yemen

UAE (AP) April 4, 2016 — The U.S. Navy says it has seized a weapons shipment in the Arabian Sea from Iran likely heading to war-torn Yemen.
The Navy said in a statement Monday that the USS Sirocco on March 28 intercepted and seized the shipment of weapons hidden aboard a small dhow, a type of ship commonly used in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
The Navy said the shipment included 1,500 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 21 .50-caliber machine guns. It said those aboard the dhow were released after sailors confiscated the arms.
A Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition is fighting in Yemen against Shiite rebels and their allies there. Officials have linked similar weapons seizures to Iran and the Shiite rebels, though the rebels deny receiving support from the Islamic Republic.

North Korea Urges U.S. to Replace Sanctions with Talks

SEOUL- North Korea Monday urged the United States and its allies to stop imposing sanctions on the country for its nuclear and missile tests and begin negotiations to ease tensions in the Korean peninsula.

In a statement published by the state-run KCNA agency, a spokesperson of the National Defence Commission in Pyongyang said talks are a better solution than reckless military pressure, and concessions without conditions and cooperation are more effective than trying to overthrow the regime.

This is the first time this year that North Korea has alluded to the possibility of a dialogue with the U.S., as until now it had threatened to continue to develop its nuclear and missile programs.

The spokesperson argued the "illegal" sanctions imposed by the U.S., following North Korea's recent nuclear and missile tests, are a part of the "anachronistic and suicidal" strategy, which will only serve to strengthen the North Korean army and people's will to destroy their enemies.

He added Washington is exerting strong military pressure on North Korea and creating a serious crisis situation, which can result in a retaliatory nuclear strike on the U.S.

Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear launch in January and another space rocket launch in February, believed to be a disguised long-range missile test, which led the U.N. Security Council to impose resolution 2270 on the country.

The sanctions outlined by the resolution include mandatory inspection of cargo, restrictions on export of raw materials, trade embargo on light weapons and a ban on sale of aviation fuel, as well as financial sanctions against individuals, entities and assets.

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan had also ordered additional unilateral sanctions against North Korea to choke off its revenue sources further.

Meanwhile, Seoul and Washington are conducting their largest ever joint military exercises on South Korean territory, involving 17,000 U.S. soldiers and 300,000 South Korean ones. 

Indian Militants Burn Trucks in Southern Chile

SANTIAGO – Three trucks and an excavator were set on fire Thursday in the southern Chilean region of Araucania by a group of at least six armed Mapuche Indian militants wearing hoods, police said.

Left behind at the scene was a message demanding the release of a pair of Mapuche brothers who are in custody in connection with the January 2013 arson deaths of an elderly couple.

Celestino Cordova, a “machi,” or shaman, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison for the deadly blaze, which came against the backdrop of a conflict that has seen militants in Araucania torch vehicles, highway toll booths and lumber shipments as part of a struggle to reclaim lands the Mapuches lost during a 19th century “pacification” campaign.

A sibling of Cordova was among 10 other Mapuches arrested Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the Jan. 4, 2013, fire that resulted in the deaths of Werner Luchsinger Lemp, 75, and his wife, Vivian Mackay Gonzalez, 69.

No one was hurt in Thursday’s attack, police Maj. Carlos Ramirez told Radio Bio Bio, adding that a search for the perpetrators was in progress.

The conflict in Araucania has claimed the lives of Mapuche activists, police and farmers, while dozens of indigenous people have been sent to prison for attacks and setting vehicles ablaze, along with burning agricultural and lumbering machinery, rural properties and forests, among other crimes.

Mapuches make up around 650,000 of Chile’s 17 million people and are concentrated in Araucania and greater Santiago.

Security Forces Rescue 19 Migrants in Northeast Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Mexican security forces rescued 19 migrants – 15 Central Americans and four Mexicans – in Reynosa, a border city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said.

The migrants were found on Friday at a residence in Reynosa, located across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas, thanks to a tip from the public, the joint state-federal agency said in a statement.

“The migrants said they had been kept locked up in dangerous conditions as they waited to cross the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) into the territory of the United States,” the agency said.

Twelve of the migrants are from El Salvador, two are from Honduras and one is from Guatemala, while the Mexicans are from the western state of Jalisco, the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said.

The migrants were turned over to the National Migration Institute, or INM, for processing.

Tens of thousands of 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, exploit and murder migrants, who are often targeted in extortion schemes, Mexican officials say.

Japan Selects Seven Ninjas from 235 Contenders from 40 Countries

TOKYO – The authorities of Japan’s Aichi prefecture have selected seven ninja warriors, from 235 contenders from 40 countries, to carry out martial arts demonstrations and boost tourism in the region.

Following auditions earlier this week, six Japanese – five men and a woman – and an American have been selected as the new ninjas who will use their skills to entertain tourists in Aichi (central Japan), local authorities said Friday.

The ninjas will receive $1,604 per month and will demonstrate their martial art skills at the historic Nagoya castle or at the Nagoya airport.

The job advertisement last month had grabbed attention in the international media, ensuring 85 percent of the applicants were foreigners, including 38 from the United States, 29 from Russia, 12 from Italy, six from Latin America, and some from Africa.

Around 24 of the 235 candidates were selected for the audition that was held in the city of Tokoname, and 29-year-old Chris O’Neill was the only one to be selected from among the foreign contenders.

The “ninjitsu,” or the art of ninja, originated in the 7th century among groups of popular resistance in the Iga Mountains in western Japan, and reached its peak in the 17th century when they were secretly hired by rulers of that time to destabilize enemy forces.

Today the ancient ninja techniques, and particularly their strict discipline, are preserved and taught in a few Japanese martial arts academies.

Iraqi Army Kills 27 IS Jihadists in Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq – The Iraqi army announced on Friday that they have successfully stopped an attack by the Islamic State in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh and killed 27 jihadists in the process, a security official told EFE.

The spokesman of operations command for the liberation of Nineveh, Gen. Feras Sabry, said the terrorists attacked the vehicles of an Iraqi army brigade.

He said that security forces were able to stop the attack and killed 27 IS fighters, including two suicide bombers, adding that Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led international coalition bombed the terrorists who fled after the foiled attack, without giving further details.

Meanwhile, three Iraqi policemen were also killed and four wounded in an attack by a car bomb in Nineveh on Friday.