Cardinal Admits Church Protected Pedophile Priests in Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – The Alberione house, located in the western Mexican municipality of Tlaquepaque, was a refuge for priests involved in pedophilia cases, Cardinal Emeritus Juan Sandoval Iñiquez confirmed on Wednesday.

In an interview with EFE after the recent publication of his memoirs entitled “Con mi propia voz” (In my own words), the cardinal said that the house was a rehabilitation center for clergy until Pope John Paul II in 2001 sent a letter to bishops asking them not to conceal those cases.

“Since I was in the post, and certainly before, but when in 2001 Pope John Paul II said that pedophiles had to leave the ministry, then I gave the order to the Alberione house not to admit any pedophile priest,” he said.

Since that time, a group of physicians, psychologists and psychiatrists were connected to the house – located several kilometers from where Sandoval lives – attending to priests suffering from alcoholism, depression or who had “problems with authority,” said the 83-year-old prelate.

Sandoval recalled that after the cover-up scandal involving pedophile priests at the Boston Archdiocese, John Paul II sent the bishops in May 2001 a document classifying pedophilia as a sin and at that point reforms were launched “that have been made stricter and stricter.”

With those reforms, bishops now have the obligation to immediately and “thoroughly” investigate if they learn of a case of clerical pedophilia, to send a report to Rome and to inform the civil authorities.

“It has to be done, it must be done because it’s been ordered done,” said the cardinal emeritus in response to a question about whether bishops are complying with these obligations.

On June 4, Pope Francis decreed that the rules against pedophilia cases be strengthened, whereby bishops can be ousted from their posts if they have acted in a negligent way or have failed to fully comply with the order.

In the interview conducted at his home in downtown Tlaquepaque, the cardinal – retired since 2011 – said that during his 17-year-mandate at the head of the Guadalajara Archdiocese he had to deal with only “a single case” of clerical pedophilia.

“He was sent to prison, and I left him there and later they let him go because he was old. They threw him out. But I did not defend him, he didn’t conduct himself like a priest,” Sandoval, who was one of the cardinals close to John Paul II, said without providing additional details.

Iran bans goalie caught wearing 'SpongeBob' pants.

Paul Ryan Calls Trump’s Attack on Judge “Racist”

WASHINGTON – U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Ill.) said on Tuesday that the attacks made by his party’s presumptive presidential nominee, magnate Donald Trump, on a judge of Mexican heritage meet “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”

“I regret those comments that he made,” said Ryan, who – as House Speaker – is the highest-ranking elected Republican, at an event held in Washington to present a plan to fight poverty.

The Republican leader was referring to accusations made by Trump against Indiana-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is tasked with hearing lawsuits alleging fraud committed by the “university” bearing the magnate’s name.

Last Friday, Curiel ordered the publication of more than 1,000 pages of court documents on Trump University because of the public interest in the case, which began in 2010 in the Southern California district, based in San Diego.

In response, the billionaire accused the judge of making that decision because of his Mexican heritage, which he said was a conflict of interest on Curiel’s part because of his own plan to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

Ryan said Tuesday that “claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment.”

“I think that should be absolutely disavowed,” said the speaker, adding that the New York real estate developer’s comments were “indefensible.”

Ryan criticized Trump last week on the same subject, albeit in a much more moderate tone.

Also last week, the Republican leader officially declared his support for Trump in the November election after much hesitation due to the billionaire’s incendiary rhetoric.

Trump’s comments about Curiel, whom he accuses of treating him unfairly in investigating the claims of fraud against Trump University, have sparked heated controversy throughout the United States.

Trump University has been depicted in court documents as an unscrupulous business that pressured poor enrollees to buy its courses in real estate purchasing, management and finance costing almost $35,000.

Japanese Woman Carrying her Children's Corpses in Car Arrested

TOKYO - Police arrested Wednesday a Japanese woman, who was traveling with the corpses of her children in the backseat of her car, on suspicion of killing them.

The 30-year-old woman is in police custody and is being interrogated by the police, who are trying to clarify the cause of death of the two children, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.

On Tuesday evening, a relative had reported the disappearance of the mother and her two children, who are natives of the southwestern Yamaguchi prefecture.

On Wednesday morning, police officers stopped a vehicle with the license plate of the prefecture in question and discovered that the driver was the missing woman, who was traveling with the corpses of her children in the backseat.

The vehicle was found in Yame, located in a mountainous region of the Fukuoka prefecture.

The police believe the mother tried to commit suicide after killing her children, investigating sources told Japanese daily Asahi.

Mexico Intercepts 21 Migrants on U.S. Border

MEXICO CITY – Mexican marines detained 21 undocumented Latin American migrants in the northern city of Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen, Texas, officials said Tuesday.

The migrants were taken into custody Monday in a safe house where they were waiting to be shepherded across the border to the U.S., the Tamaulipas state government said.

Acting on an anonymous telephone tip, the marines went to the house and discovered the group, comprising nine Salvadorans, seven Guatemalans, four Ecuadorians and a Honduran.

Seven of the migrants are minors.

Authorities provided the migrants with medical assistance before turning them over to the immigration service for repatriation to their respective homelands, the Tamaulipas government said.

NCRI -Another 70 people arrested in Iran for attending mixed-gender party in restaurant

NCRI - The mullahs' regime on Thursday arrested more than 70 young men and women for taking part in a mixed-gender party at a restaurant in Tehran, the Iranian regime's state media reported on Friday.

The youths were arrested by the regime's police during a raid on a restaurant in the Iranian capital’s northern Farahzad district, the state-run ILNA news agency reported.

Earlier this week, the Iranian regime's suppressive state security forces (police) in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, raided a mixed-gender party, arresting 62 people and transferring them to prison, according to state media.

The state-run Shahrvand daily wrote on June 2 that 23 men and 39 women, who were caught dancing and partying, were arrested in the raid which was carried out on Sunday, May 29.

Similar raids have been carried out in Iran in recent days.

More than two dozen young Iranian men and women were arrested last weekend by the mullahs' regime for participating in a mixed-gender party in Mashhad, north-east Iran.

The 29 youngsters were rounded up by the regime's police at a party on the evening of May 28 at a villa near the Danesh Junction in Mashhad.

The state-run Rokna news agency reported that altogether 15 young men and 14 young women were arrested at the party and were taken to the regime's court in District 6 of Mashhad on Sunday to face prosecution.

Some 35 young men and women were flogged last week for taking part in a mixed-gender party after their graduation ceremony near Qazvin, some 140 kilometers northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran, the regime's Prosecutor in the city said on May 26.

Ismaeil Sadeqi Niaraki, a notorious mullah, said a special court session was held after all the young men and women at the party were rounded up, the Mizan news agency, affiliated to the fundamentalist regime's judiciary, reported on May 26.

"After we received information that a large number of men and women were mingling in a villa in the suburbs of Qazvin ... all the participants at the party were arrested," he said.

Niaraki added that the following morning every one of those detained received 99 lashes as punishment by the so-called 'Morality Police.'

According to Niaraki, given the social significance of mixed-gender partying, "this once again required a firm response by the judiciary in quickly reviewing and implementing the law."

"Thanks God that the police questioning, investigation, court hearing, verdict and implementation of the punishment all took place in less than 24 hours," Niaraki added.

The regime’s prosecutor claimed that the judiciary would not tolerate the actions of “law-breakers who use excuses such as freedom and having fun in birthday parties and graduation ceremonies.”

He warned the youths that they should be careful about their conduct “since being arrested in mixed-gender parties and receiving sentences is a crime and would create problems for their future education and employment.”

Last month, the Iranian regime’s paramilitary Basij in north-eastern Iran broke up two mixed-gender parties within 72 hours, detaining 70 people.

The head of the fundamentalist Basij in Nishapur precinct, Ali-Akbar Hosseini, announced that his forces were alerted to a so-called “obscene party” in the city. During the raid, 14 boys and 14 girls were arrested and transferred to a local police station.

A second party was raided on May 20, leading to the arrest of over 40 participants, Hosseini told the state-run Fars news agency on May 21.

NCRI -Saudi Arabia arrests 32 over spying for Iran regime

Saudi Arabia has arrested 32 spies with links to Iran's regime in three years, according to a report on Sunday in the Saudi daily Okaz.

The spies were 30 Saudis, an Iranian, and an Afghan who were all part of espionage rings working for Iran's regime, Okaz wrote.

The 32 spies with links to the Iranian intelligence services are still on trial and the public prosecutor has recently presented his evidence against each of the suspects, the daily said.

The charges include the formation of a spy cell, which liaised and collaborated with elements of the Iranian regime's intelligence ministry to provide secret and sensitive information related to the military and that affects the national security, the territorial unity and integrity of Saudi Arabia and its armed forces.

The suspects are also accused of meeting the Iranian regime’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and coordinating with agents from the Iranian intelligence, according to Okaz.

Other charges include attempts to carry out acts of sabotage against economic interests and vital installations in Saudi Arabia, to undermine social peace and public order, to spread chaos, to incite sectarian strife, and to carry out hostile acts against the kingdom.

The suspects also face accusations of high treason, and attempting to recruit people working in state agencies to commit acts of espionage for the Iranian intelligence service.

According to the charges, most suspects had travelled to Iran and Lebanon where they were trained on espionage techniques including drafting coded messages.

Some of the suspects had hacked into computers to obtain sensitive information related to the internal and external security and the national economy of Saudi Arabia, Gulf News wrote on Sunday.

Others charges included supporting riots and demonstrations in Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, possessing weapons, forging documents and accepting bribes.