Animal Rights - Young calf killed in Spain (Video ) people cheer

Animal rights activists have released a disturbing video of a young calf being stabbed to death in the ring during a fiesta in Spain.

Described as one of the “cruellest” of all Spain’s many bullfighting fiestas the traditional becerradas took place in Valmojado, a town in Castilla-La Mancha.

The video shows a young animal, aged between one and two years old, and apparently not yet weened from its mother, mooing in pain as it repeatedly stabbed with darts by participants.

It is finally killed in the ring in front of spectators as part of the town’s annual summer celebrations.

Warning: The video contains graphic footage that may be upsetting to some viewers

Becerrada en Valmojado from PACMA TV on Vimeo.

Unlike fully grown fighting bulls, the young calves can inflict little harm on the ‘bullfighters’.

 The video was released on Tuesday as part of the latest campaign by Pacma, the animal welfare party, which calls for Spain to put an end to bullfighting.

"I’ve never seen such cruelty inflicted on an animal in the name of fun," said Silvia Barquero, the  president of Pacma.

"Thousands of popular taurine festivals, such as that of Valmojado, are tainting the image of Spain, converting it into a symbol of animal cruelty across Europe," Pacma said in its petition. "It’s time to end this anachronism."

Vienna -Police officer run over by prisoner on day release

Justice officials say the 29-year-old Turkish biker was nearing the end of a prison sentence at Hirtenberg jail in Lower Austria, and had been granted unsupervised day release.

A police unit tried to stop the 29-year-old at around 6pm in Floridsdorf when they noticed he was riding an unlicensed motorbike. He refused to pull over and they gave chase, calling for reinforcements.

As the biker headed towards Strebersdorf a police officer who was manning a pedestrian crossing to make sure schoolchildren could cross safely tried to flag him down and stepped into the road.

After initially slowing down, the biker then increased his speed, knocking the officer down and falling off the bike himself. The police officer was taken to hospital by helicopter and is in a critical condition. The motorcyclist was also injured and is being treated in hospital but police say they will question him on Friday.

Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said the man was carrying his younger brother’s identity papers and was serving a six year sentence for drug and property crimes.

Brigadier Alfred Steinacher, director of Hirtenberg prison, said the man was not considered a risk to the public and had been granted day release as a reward for good behaviour. He left prison on Thursday morning and was due back on Friday morning, by 10am. Steinacher said the man had recently tested clean for drugs.

Second headless bison found dead at (Spanish nature reserve) not shot?

The death of the bison was similar to that of Sauron, the 660-kilo (1,455-pound) male whose decapitated body was found nearly a week earlier at the reserve.

A spokesman for the central government's representative in the eastern Valencia region where the private Valdeserrillas reserve is located said the animal had been decapitated after death.

"Either it died of a natural death, or it was poisoned before being decapitated by an axe."

The European bison, the continent's largest wild land mammal, once roamed across most of the continent but it was severely hunted until it finally became extinct in the wild in 1927, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Neither of the dead animals had any bullet wounds, and reserve spokesman Rodolfo Navarro told AFP earlier this week he thought that Sauron might have been poisoned and decapitated by hunters who wanted its head as "a trophy".   

At the time, another three animals belonging to the same herd were missing, and staff feared they could have been sick or frightened and hiding.   

The second bison to have been discovered dead was one of those three.    

The two other animals have been found safe and sound.    

Moroccan man stabs Syrian man after rape claim

Rape victim stabs Syrian asylum seeker

Published: 19 Sep 2016 16:38 GMT+02:00

A 45-year-old Moroccan asylum seeker has been arrested for attempted murder in Vienna after stabbing a 27-year-old Syrian man who he claims drugged and raped him

Police are now investigating whether the Moroccan was raped on Sunday in the Ottakring district, as he claims, and if the Syrian man was involved.

The Moroccan is in police custody and the 27-year-old Syrian is in hospital, where he’s being treated for serious injuries.

Both men are asylum seekers who live in accommodation in the Favoriten area. Originally, the 45-year-old told the authorities he was 35 years old and came from Syria. Police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger said it was likely he had lied as he thought he’d have a better chance at being granted asylum if he was believed to be from war-torn Syria.

Keiblinger said the man had refused to go into much detail about his rape ordeal, saying he would save his story for the judge.

He was treated in hospital on Sunday lunchtime for injuries that suggested he had been assaulted. He told doctors he had been raped by two men in Ottakring.

He said he had gone with them to an apartment where they had offered him a glass of lemonade, and shortly after drinking it he began to feel unwell and lost consciousness. He says that this is when the two men raped him.

When he woke up he was in pain and went to a hospital, where doctors contacted the police after hearing his story.

After being released from hospital he went back to his accommodation in Favoriten, and 12 hours later stabbed the Syrian man with a pocket knife in the chest. Witnesses said the men had not fought before the attack, and that the Moroccan had not said anything prior to the stabbing.

Keiblinger said the Syrian had been able to talk to police from his hospital bed, but that he claimed he had no idea why the Moroccan had attacked him and he denied having raped the man.

The Moroccan man’s blood will be tested to see if he was given a date rape drug and police are trying to locate the apartment where he said the assault took place. Other asylum seekers who live in the Favoriten home told police that they believe he has psychological problems.

Mexico - priests are a target for murder

Two priests were kidnapped and killed in the Mexican state of Veracruz, raising the death toll of priests murdered in Mexico to 14 in less than four years.

Veracruz state attorney general Luis Angel Bravo Contreras told reporters Sept. 20 that the "victims and the victimizers knew each other" and added that the attack was "not a kidnapping."

"They were together, having a few drinks, the gathering broke down due to alcohol and turned violent," he said.

Catholic officials in Veracruz rejected the explanation, calling it "an easy out" and saying it ignored the reality of a state notorious for crime and corruption.

"We are hoping for more professional and careful inquiry, because this declaration the prosecutor is giving generates more doubts than responses to the issue of the murder of these two priests," said Fr. Jose Manuel Suazo Reyes, spokesman for the Xalapa archdiocese. "It surprises us how quickly they've concluded an investigation that requires more time and care."

Explore Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family with our free study guide.

Fr. Alejo Nabor Jimenez Juarez and Fr. Jose Alfredo Juarez de la Cruz were dragged at gunpoint out of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Poza Rica, a Gulf Coast oil city consumed by crime in recent years, the Papantla diocese confirmed in a statement. Media reported the men were found Sept. 19, one day after their abduction, along the side of a highway with their hands and feet bound. They were beaten and had gunshot wounds, according to media reports.

A driver employed by the parish also was abducted, Mexican media reported, but was found unharmed.

State officials said Sept. 20 that five men participated in the abductions and one of the suspect's identities was known. Robbery of a church building fund was cited as a motive, Veracruz media outlet Plumas Libres reported.

"In these moments of pain, impotence and tragedy provoked by violence, we raise our prayers to the heavens for the eternal rest of our brothers and implore to the Lord the conversion of the aggressors. Of the authorities, we await the clarification of the acts and the application of those responsible," the Mexican bishops' conference said in a statement.

Violence has struck Veracruz clergy previously. In 2013, two priests in the Tuxpan diocese were murdered in their parish.

Palestinian Shot after Attempting to Stab Israeli Soldier

JERUSALEM – A Palestinian teenager was shot and gravely injured by Israeli security forces after he attempted to commit a knife attack near a Jewish settlement in Hebron, the Israeli Army said.

According to local witnesses, the alleged assailant was wielding a knife when he approached Israeli security forces at the entrance of the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement.

The assailant was shot by security forces at the scene and was receiving medical attention, according to an Israeli military statement.

The area outside the settlement has become the target of attacks and aggression over the last year amid a wave of tension and violence in the region.

There has been a general surge in violence over the last week, in which there has been dozens of attacks or assaults in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

A similar attack was carried out by Palestinians last week near the Kiryat Arba settlement which left a woman lightly injured, according to Israeli authorities.

The escalation of sporadic violence that has engulfed the region has claimed the lives of 233 and a Jordanian since October 2015, the majority of which were suspected of attacking Israelis.

The rest were killed in either police raids or demonstrations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip or East Jerusalem.

Palestinian attacks have killed 36 Israelis and three foreigners in the region.

Egypt Says 162 Killed in Migrant Boat Capsizing

CAIRO – At least 162 people died when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized in the Mediterranean, the Egyptian Health Ministry said Friday.

Six of the travelers rescued alive following Wednesday’s accident remain hospitalized, the ministry said in a statement.

The boat was carrying between 400 and 600 migrants when it capsized after setting out from a point somewhere between Rashid and Baltim, in the province of Al Bahira.

The provincial governor, Mohamed Sultan, called for search operations to continue and for the legal process of returning victims’ bodies to families be sped up.

So far, 164 migrants have been rescued alive, among them 111 Egyptians, 26 Sudanese, 13 Eritreans, two Somalis, one Syrian and one Ethiopian, according to information released by the International Organization for Migration.

Health Ministry spokesman Khalid Mujahid told EFE that bodies recovered from the site are brought to the port of Bugas Rashi.

If identification documents are found on the body, the family is notified, while bodies without documents are taken to hospitals for identification, Mujahid said.