Mehr News Agency quoted Syrian
media as writing that Al Nosra Front terrorists had kidnapped tens of Syrian
citizens, shot them dead, and thrown their corpses to the sea.
According to Al Watan daily
newspaper, a high-ranking official of the city has said that their examinations
indicated that most of the corpses belonged to residents of Bustan al-Qasr
neighborhood of Aleppo, kidnapped by terrorists for their supporting of Syrian
government, and a Tunisian terrorist, Hafas Abu Islam, murdered them.
The report says that Bustan
al-Qasr residents have identified the terrorists of Al Nosra terrorists
committing crime. They stressed that their sons have been kidnapped and murdered
since they rejected to leave their homes on terrorists’ demands.
Sana News reporter pointed to
horrific crimes, and said that “terrorists, as with their other crimes, claim
that Syrian government forces have committed this crime, but due to the
witnesses, they have no way but to accept responsibility for crimes.”
The families of the victims
emphasized that corpses belonged to their families, and they had frequently
contacted terrorists to pay extortion money for their freedom.
Thane: A young doctor found guilty of raping a 30-year-old woman admitted to the ICU in a hospital at Navi Mumbai, was today sentenced to ten years imprisonment by a local court.
Thane Additional Sessions Judge R D Sawant handed out the punishment to Dr Vishal Vanne (26), who was also fined with Rs 1,000 along with another three-month imprisonment in the 2010 case.
Additional Public Prosecutor Sandhya Bacchav told the court that it was on October 16, 2010 the victim and her family including children, husband and a relative came to the Modern College grounds when she suffered uneasiness and was taken to the nearby Lotus Hospital in Vashi. That night she was admitted to the ICU as her condition worsened.
AP
According to the complaint, the accused doctor was on night duty in the ward, where she was left alone with a staff nurse after a medical examination.
As the staff nurse was suffering from asthma, the accused asked her to leave the ICU and take rest. Thereafter the doctor allegedly gave an injection to the patient, making her drowsy.
The prosecution further told the court that after about two in the morning, the accused locked the door of the ICU from inside and molested the victim and also raped her repeatedly.
The victim, in her statement to the court said as she was not well that night, she could not shout or scream for help. Next morning, when she narrated the incident to her husband, Vanne was handed over to the police.
The woman’s husband told the court that on two occasions in the night he wanted to enter the ICU to check on the condition of his wife but could not do so as the door was locked from inside and also curtains were drawn.
Also, another patient in the ICU was fast asleep in the room when the incident took place.
The staff nurse, in her deposition, said she entered the ICU next morning around 5.30 AM after she was driven out the night before.
PHOENIX (AP) — A landscaper in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa found a body in bushes that matches the suspect in an office shooting that killed a man and critically wounded another.
Authorities say the rental car that 70-year-old Arthur Douglas Harmon was likely driving was also found nearby early Thursday in a parking lot.
The person who was found died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police say a handgun was also found.
Police say that after Wednesday's shooting, a witness got in his own car and drove after the rental car, and at one point Harmon got out and shot at that witness.
The shooting happened at the end of a mediation session over a lawsuit Harmon filed against a company in a contract dispute.
This image provided by the Phoenix Police Department shows an undated image of Arthur Douglas Harmon, 70 who authorities identified as the suspect, who they said opened fire at the end of a mediation session at a Phoenix office complex Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Phoenix Police Department) Harmon then fled in a 2013 Kia Optima, Arizona license plate AVS-2052, he said. Harmon shot at a witness who was following him, Thompson said. "Anybody who contacts him needs to be aware that he is armed and dangerous," he said.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A powerful explosion on Wednesday ripped through a hotel near SeaWorld San Diego from a room where authorities say a couple was extracting hash oil, sending guests fleeing for safety.
A 22-year-old man in the room suffered life-threatening injuries. Also hurt were a woman in the room and a young man staying next door, authorities said. All three were hospitalized. Julie Jordan of San Diego was sleeping with a friend's baby in a nearby room at the three-story Heritage Inn Sea World Hotel when she felt the building shake violently, then heard a loud explosion. She ran outside and saw a shattered window and a badly injured man sitting at the bottom of some stairs moaning.
"People were screaming and running, and a man was burned from head to toe," said Jordan, 30. "His skin was falling off."
Investigators found several boxes containing canisters of butane inside the room where the blast occurred, police Lt. Joseph Ramos said.
The butane apparently was ignited by a cigarette, Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque said. The second-floor room looked like a "war zone," he said.
"It was a very intense and devastating explosion," Luque said.
Hash oil is made by packing finely ground stems and leaves of marijuana plants in a pipe and pouring butane through it, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which is leading the investigation. The liquid typically is then cooked on a stove to separate the butane.
Hash oil averages about 15 percent THC, the chief intoxicant in marijuana, according to the DEA. A drop or two is about as potent as a marijuana cigarette.
The DEA did not confirm that a cigarette ignited the butane or know the size of the drug operation.
"It just looks like a bomb that blew up there," Roderick said. "It's hard for us to tell what was going on there."
The DEA will review the evidence before deciding whether to send the case to the San Diego County district attorney's office for criminal charges.
Authorities said the couple in the room where the explosion occurred suffered burns, and the man in the neighboring room had bruises, cuts and possible burns.
The badly burned man was in "very, very serious" condition, Luque said. His female companion and the man in the next room — both believed to be around 20 years old — were in moderate condition. Their names were not released.
Joseph Tydingco, 52, rushed out of his room after what felt like a major earthquake and saw black smoke billowing from rooms. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and, with another guest, removed mattresses as they heard people screaming outside.
Tydingco, a SeaWorld maintenance worker, estimated that walls collapsed in six rooms. Police said at least four rooms were destroyed or badly damaged.
The blaze was mostly under control within minutes of the blast, which happened at about 11:15 a.m.
Tydingco said the hotel largely caters to vacationing families on tight budgets and local residents who lack enough cash to sign a rental lease.
A 14-year-old Sahuarita High School wrestler who is facing kidnapping and aggravated assault charges was released from the Pima County Juvenile Detention Center to his parents Tuesday.
The boy, whom the Star is not naming because his case is being heard in juvenile court, is among seven Sahuarita High wrestlers facing charges in connection with a Jan. 15 assault on a student in the high school's gym locker room.
Before Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Karen Adam ruled on the release, Attorney Michael Vaughan, who represents the boy, told Adam that the teen is not a flight risk and does not have a prior record.
The victim's father told Adam that his son and family are undergoing a "very stressful" and difficult time since his son was attacked. He said his son has begun counseling.
The father said he has had several nightmares. He also said that evidence will show that what happened to his son is not an isolated incident, but that it has "been going on for quite some time at Sahuarita High School."
Adam told the teen that under conditions of his release, he is to stay away from the victim. He is not to possess weapons or be around people with weapons. He is to attend school but not be involved in any extracurricular activities.
A trial review on the case is set for Feb. 25 at 8:30 a.m.
Among those facing charges are three students who are age 18 - Andres Vasquez of Amado, and Jorge Loya-Lopez and Marcus Stitts, both of Sahuarita. Vasquez, Loya-Lopez and Stitts were booked into the Pima County jail and have been released after posting bail.
Two youths remain in custody at the juvenile detention center, another youth was released, and the Pima County Attorney's Office is reviewing the case of two other juveniles and will decide if criminal charges will be brought against them.
Authorities say the arrests stem from an incident in which a group of students was seen forcing another student to the ground and assaulting him, Sgt. Matt McGlone, a Sahuarita Police Department spokesman, has said.
The victim, who is not on the wrestling team, was surrounded by seven to 10 students, according to interim complaints filed in court.
"The victim was forced to the ground and forcibly held by four individuals. The victim's pants and underwear were forcibly removed," the documents state.
Two of three juveniles - ages 14, 16 and 17 - performed lewd acts on the restrained student while the third teen helped hold the boy down, court documents allege. One of them also threatened a witness in the locker room, telling the student, "You're next," court records say.
The assault lasted two to five minutes, and the victim was taunted by the entire group, court documents state.
Sahuarita High Principal Kent Thompson sent a letter to families Monday saying, "We are saddened by these events and are taking a comprehensive approach to address the concerns that have emerged."
He wrote that the staff is working to promote a "safe campus culture," including "the teaching of behavioral expectations and norms in regards to interscholastic athletics programs. It is anticipated that these additional elements will be presented in cooperation with our school resource officer.
"I know that there is so much good at our school. This recent incident must not define us. Rather, it must be used to inform us and help us all be just that much better in the future," Thompson says in the letter.
Coffee growers to block roads across Colombia as 'crisis' besets industry
Wednesday, 30 January 2013 15:23 Jacob Stringer
Tens of thousands of coffee growers will attempt to bring roads across Colombia to a standstill in February to demand the government step in to save their troubled industry, said a strike organizer Wednesday.
The coffee growers strike will block national highways across 12 departments of Colombia, in an attempt to save an industry for which Colombia is famous, Victor Correa, strike coordinator in Antioquia department, told Colombia Reports Wednesday.
"We are paid $282 for a sack of coffee but the cost of producing it is $366," he said. "We are small farmers. We are poor. The culture of coffee growing is important to Colombia but we cannot continue like this...We are facing an economic crisis, a social crisis, an institutional crisis and a crisis of production."
Marina Velez, a coffee grower from Concordia in southwest Antioquia and president of her local growers association told Colombia Reports that, "International brands and middlemen in Colombia are getting money...but we are not getting enough to live on."
The strike and blockade is planned to begin on February 25. According to Correa the department of Antioquia will see 20,000 people taking action, while the Huila department will see 80,000 coffee growers taking what they see as a last-ditch action to save their livelihoods.
"We don't know how to do anything else but grow coffee. We cannot change careers. We don't have the money," said Velez. "It's even part of our identity."
"Cocoa producers and rice producers will also join us," said Correa. "This is a crisis of all agriculture in Colombia because the government has ignored agriculture."
Instead the government has focused on mining, claims Correa. There are mining concessions and applications covering much of the land where coffee is currently grown. "The mining companies get tax relief but agriculture doesn't."
The government has given a temporary subsidy to farmers of $33 dollars per sack, but this is not enough to turn coffee-growing into a money-making enterprise and is set to end on January 31
