Vietnam Arrests Two Peruvians for Robbing Foreign Tourists

BANGKOK – Vietnamese police have arrested two Peruvians who allegedly robbed foreigners in hotels in Hanoi to fund their trips around the world, the Vietnamese press reported Friday.

William Rafael A.V., 43, and Jose Marcelino V.A., 63, were arrested after a Canadian tourist reported being robbed of several electronic gadgets, money and credit cards.

Police Lt. Col. Ngo Van Dap said that the pair had confessed to several thefts in different hotels frequented by foreigners, and that authorities were searching for more victims, according to the Tuoitre News portal.

According to the Peruvians, their modus operandi was to stay at two different hotels and use telephones to coordinate their crimes, the proceeds of which were used to finance further travel. 

Journalist Who Revealed Death of Prosecutor Nisman Leaves Argentina in Fear

BUENOS AIRES – The journalist of the daily Buenos Aires Herald, Damian Pachter, who last Sunday announced on his Twitter account the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, left Argentina Saturday in fear after finding that he was being followed, the Argentine Journalism Forum, or Fopea, said.

“Fopea reports that journalist Damian Pacter left the country because he feared for his safety,” the journalism association said on the social network Twitter.

“Pacter told Fopea yesterday, Friday, that he was being followed and thought he had better leave the country,” it said.

Damian Pachter set off alarms last Sunday with a scoop on social networks that there had been an incident in the home of prosecutor Nisman and a detachment of security forces had been sent there.

“They found prosecutor Alberto Nisman in the bathroom of his home in Puerto Madero lying in a pool of blood. He was not breathing. Doctors are there,” Pachter tweeted at midnight Sunday, three hours before the prosecutor’s death was officially confirmed.

“I’m leaving because my life is in danger,” the journalist said on the Infobae Web site, minutes before leaving the country on Saturday.

“Since all this began, someone who has been a close, trustworthy source for years and who knows how to move in the world of intelligence, has been sending me hints,” he said.

“I don’t known when they started following me” Pachter said on Infobae, but from a tweet he received from within the government, “today it was all confirmed. ‘Leave because they’re looking for you.’”

“I never imagined that after that tweet, in five days I’d have to leave the country on the basis of real evidence,” the journalist said.

“I don’t believe this solves Nisman’s death. Power covers its tracks,” he said.

After the news was made public, in a communique posted on the Web site of the daily Ambito, which belongs to the same media group as the Buenos Aires Herald, the company said that the journalist “at no time” expressed his fears to his superiors.

Alberto Nisman was found dead from a shot to the head at home in his bathtub in circumstances that have not been explained by investigators, who have not discarded any hypotheses.

Five days before his death, prosecutor Nisman had entered a complaint against Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, Exterior Minister Hector Timerman, and several ruling party leaders for presumably orchestrating a plan to protect the Iranians suspected of attacking the Jewish organization AMIA in 1994, in exchange for stepping up trade with Iran.

Maryam Rajavi: Evicting Iran regime from Iraq and Syria is foremost step in securing victory over fundamentalism

Speaking at conference titled “The crisis of terrorism and fundamentalism, roots, solutions, role of religious dictatorship in Iran”:

Partnering with mullahs in Iraq on pretext to fight ISIS is hundred times more dangerous than the nuclear bomb

The massacre of hundreds of thousands in Syria and Iraq will not end with these countries, the flames of this war will spread to the whole region and will also reach the heart of Europe

NCRI - On Monday, January 26, in a conference at Council of Europe titled “The crisis of terrorism and fundamentalism, roots, solutions, role of religious dictatorship in Iran”, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described the eviction of the Iranian regime from Iraq and Syria as the foremost step to win the fight against fundamentalism and underscored on the need to help the Syrian people to overthrow Bashar Assad. She warned: The massacre of hundreds of thousands in Syria and Iraq will not end with these countries and the flames of this war will spread to the whole region and will also reach the heart of Europe.

The conference “The crisis of terrorism and fundamentalism, roots, solutions, role of religious dictatorship in Iran” was held at the invitation of British, Swiss and Finnish parliamentary committees concurrent with the official meeting of the Council of Europe at its headquarters in Strasburg. In this conference, Mrs. Rajavi expressed abhorrence for crimes such as the slaughter of journalists and opening fire on defenseless people in France and stated that the spirit of Islam rejects these actions with utmost repugnance.

In this conference held at the presence of a number of European legislators, including leaders of groups of representatives from various European countries and different political groups, Rajavi emphasized on the need for the eviction of the Iranian regime, the Qods Force and its so-called Shia militias in Iraq. She reminded that without uprooting the Iranian regime and its militias in Iraq, even if the war against ISIS weakens the group in Iraq, it will spread this phenomenon internationally.

In another part of her speech, Rajavi mentioned that the weakness shown by the West in the face of the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program, the inclusion of this regime in the international coalition against ISIS, or courting this regime in some way in Iraq and Syria, are all elements that would defeat the strategy of confronting fundamentalism and would give this regime space to operate in and attack from, devastating other countries in the region in fire and bloodshed.

Mrs. Rajavi said that the narrative that Sunni fundamentalism is more dangerous than Shiite fundamentalism and the former should be confronted with the aid of the latter, is a dangerous theory for closing the eyes on the clerical regime’s destructive dominion over the region. This is part of the narrative underpinning a policy with which some American and western politicians have steered the world toward the current disaster. She warned: Acquiescing regime's meddling in Iraq on the pretext of fighting ISIS is a hundred times more dangerous than the nuclear weapon and a prelude to a greater catastrophe and it is tantamount to avoiding a hole but falling in a well.

President-elect of the Resistance also participated today in official meetings of several political groups, including the Christian Democrats (the largest group in the Council of Europe) and the Liberals, making speeches at the request of the representatives.

Similarly, Rajavi warned about offering concessions to this regime in the nuclear talks and stated that the regime’s nuclear program has no legitimacy for the Iranian people. She thus called on the international community to implement the United Nations resolutions in this regard.

In this conference, presided over by senior Finnish legislator Kimmo Sasi, the following offered speeches: Jordi Xucla, Leader of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group and sent Carmen Quintanilla (Spain); Tiny Kox (Netherlands), Leader of Unified European Left Group; Mike Hancock and Alan Meale (Great Britain); Eric Voruz (Switzerland); Senator Bernard Fournier, Frédéric Reiss, Emile Blessig (France); leaders of Italian and Estonian delegations; Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania) and Scott Sims (Canada); Nazir Hakim, General Secretary of Syrian National Coalition political delegation, and Nejat al-Astal, President of the Palestinian delegation in PACE.

President-elect of the Iranian Resistance accentuated: The ultimate solution in confronting fundamentalism lies in the overthrow of the Iranian regime as the epicenter of fundamentalism and terrorism. With the regime's downfall, al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah or Houthis will no longer present a serious threat to peace and democracy and will be deprived of power and influence. In the face of this destructive force with its source in Tehran, instead of appeasing the mullahs, the will of the Iranian people to overthrow the clerical regime must be recognized by the international community.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 26, 2015

Female protester killed on eve of Egypt uprising anniversary

Ton of Cocaine Seized on boat in Panamanian Island

 

PANAMA CITY – Panama’s Senan naval air service seized a total of 1,141 kilograms of cocaine on an island off the country’s Caribbean coast near Colombia, a Senan official said Monday.

The seizure of the drugs took place on the weekend on Tiger Island after last Friday Senan received intelligence information about a boat that sailed from Colombia carrying the coke, Senan chief Jose Laniado told reporters.

The drug shipment was found on board the boat after it ran aground on Tiger Island, some 160 km (99 mi.) north of the Panamanian capital, after being pursued by two Senan patrol boats, Laniado said.

The packets of cocaine were stamped with assorted logos, including that of Audi, the luxury and sports vehicle manufacturer.

The San Antonio anti-drug operation is still under way as authorities search for the crewmembers of the boat transporting the drug, officials said.

Two Wounded in Shooting Inside Colombia’s Police HQ ( Lovers )

BOGOTA – At least two people were wounded Wednesday in a shooting inside the Bogota headquarters of Colombia’s National Police, the force said, describing the attack as a crime of passion.

The shooter, a male police officer, fired at a female officer who had been his girlfriend.

A third officer who tried to stop the assailant was also wounded.

“The first enquiries detected a romantic issue and it is under investigation by police units,” the force said in a statement.

The attacker was part of the headquarters security detail, whose members are the only people allowed to enter the building armed, police sources told Efe.

While some media outlets said the assailant shot himself after wounding the other officers, police did not confirm those accounts.

The wounded were rushed to police hospital, just down the street from the headquarters building, according to the statement, which offered no information on the victims’ condition.

Texan Gets 11 Years for Ramming Border Patrol While Trafficking Marijuana Across Rio Grande

MCALLEN, TEXAS — A Rio Grande City man is now serving a significant sentence for possessing with the intent to distribute marijuana, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

Issac Medina, 29, of Rio Grande City, pleaded guilty June 26, 2014.

Today, U.S. District Judge Randy Cane sentenced Medina to 135 months of federal imprisonment to be immediately followed by a four-year-term of supervised release.

On March 14, 2014, Border Patrol (BP) agents observed Medina drive his vehicle down to the Rio Grande River where it was loaded with 34 large bundles that later tested positive for marijuana. Medina then headed north at a high rate of speed. A BP agent attempted to intercept the defendant and pulled onto a road where the agent observed Medina’s vehicle come to rest. Medina began to exit but then accelerated his vehicle forward striking the agent’s vehicle head-on.

The agent, hearing Medina accelerating his engine, feared being pushed into the roadway and discharged his service weapon. At that time, Medina surrendered and was taken into custody.

Judge Crane enhanced Medina’s sentence for use of a deadly weapon (the motor vehicle), use of violence against the agent and acting in a manner creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury.

Medina has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Border Patrol and the Pharr Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Steven Schammel and former AUSA Juan Villescas prosecuted the case.