NEW DELHI ( A Polish woman was drugged and raped " by a cab driver " )

NEW DELHI: A Polish woman was drugged and raped as she traveled to the Indian capital with her two-year-daughter, police said Sunday, the latest in a string of sexual attacks on women in the country.
The woman, 33, and her daughter were traveling in a taxi from the city of Mathura where they live to New Delhi last Thursday when she was allegedly raped by the driver.


 The driver drugged the woman at some point during the 150-kilometer (93-mile) journey and she was attacked after she passed out, Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP.
The woman woke up on a bench outside a railway station in New Delhi with her toddler crying by her side, the officer said, adding that details of the attack were still unknown.
“It is still a bit unclear, but prima facie, it seems she sat (in the taxi) voluntarily. But yes, thereafter, in the car he drugged her using some spray... medical report has confirmed rape,” he said.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, reported the incident to police who are searching for the driver, Bhagat said.
The woman, a devotee of the Hindu deity Krishna, had been living in Mathura — believed to be the birthplace of Krishna — in Uttar Pradesh state for the past three years and worked in the cloth export business, he said.
She and her daughter had been waiting on a busy road in Mathura for a taxi to take them to the capital when the driver approached.
The January 2 incident comes barely a week after India marked the first anniversary of the death of a student who was gang-raped on a New Delhi bus in an attack that sent shockwaves across the nation.
The gang-rape triggered massive protests over the levels of violence against women, but in the last 12 months there have been several more cases of local and foreign woman being attacked.
A judge last month sentenced three Nepalese men to 20 years in jail for the gang-rape of a US tourist in June in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.
Six men were sentenced to life in prison in July last year for the gang-rape and robbery of a 39-year-old Swiss woman cyclist who had been holidaying in the central state of Madhya Pradesh

Iraq ( Iraqi military fights to take back " Fallujah and parts of Ramadi " )

BAGHDAD: A senior Iraqi military commander said Sunday that a counter-offensive is underway to two key western cities from Al-Qaeda-linked militants, with pro-government Sunni tribal forces leading the operations.
Lt. Gen. Rasheed Fleih, who leads the Anbar Military Command, told the state television Sunday that “two to three days” are needed to push the militants out of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi.
Fleih said the army is providing aerial cover and logistics on the ground in support of tribal forces. He didn’t elaborate on the operations.
“The quiet and safe life that is sought by the Anbaris will not be completely restored before few hours or two to three days, God willing,” Fleih said.
Residents say it has been quiet since Saturday night in Fallujah, where militants still control the center of the city. Sporadic clashes took place Sunday in and around Ramadi. The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Levant has seized control of Fallujah and Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province. Ramadi was a stronghold of Sunni insurgents during the US-led war. Al-Qaeda militants largely took both cities over last week and have been fending off incursions by government forces there since.
ISIL is also one of the strongest rebel units in Syria, where it has imposed a strict version of Islamic law in territories it holds and kidnapped and killed anyone it deems critical of its rule. Also on Saturday, it claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in Lebanon.


Tensions in Anbar have run high since Dec. 28, when Iraqi security forces arrested a Sunni lawmaker sought for terrorism charges. Two days later, the government dismantled a months-old, anti-government Sunni protest camp, sparking clashes with militants.
To ease the tension, the Shiite-led government withdrew army forces from the cities. Sunni lawmakers see the army as a tool of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to target his rivals and consolidate power.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that America would support Iraq in its combat with Al-Qaeda, but without sending troop on ground.
The US was “very, very concerned” by the fighting, Kerry told reporters as he left Jerusalem for Jordan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss his effort to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. However, he said the US would not send ground troops in to support Iraqi forces.
The US recently supplied Iraq with Hellfire missiles often used against militants.
Violence in Iraq spiked in April after the government staged a deadly crackdown on a Sunni protest camp. Iraq’s Al-Qaeda branch has fed on Sunni discontent and on the civil war in neighboring Syria, in which mostly Sunni rebels fight a government whose base is a Shiite offshoot sect.
Militants have targeted civilians, particularly in Shiite areas of Baghdad, with waves of coordinated car bombings and other deadly attacks.
According to the United Nations, Iraq had the highest annual death toll in 2013 since the worst of the sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007. The UN said violence killed 8,868 last year

Saudi Arabia ( Human body parts fell from the sky in the city of Jeddah Sunday )

JEDDAH: Human body parts fell from the sky in the city of Jeddah Sunday, with police saying they could be the remains of a person trapped in an airplane’s wheel bay.
“Police received a telephone call at 2:30 a.m. from a witness reporting the fall of human remains at an intersection in Mushrefa neighborhood” in Jeddah, spokesman Nawaf bin Naser Al-Bouq said in a statement.

 Initial indications were that the remains “fell from a plane’s landing gear,” said Bouq, adding that investigations were ongoing.
Police would not say if the body parts have anything to do with the Saudia airplane that made an emergency landing at the airport in Madinah also  early Sunday.
The Boeing 767-300ER flight from Mashhad in Iran, carrying 315 passengers, made the emergency landing at dawn Sunday after the pilot reported a malfunctioning rear wheel. Twenty-nine people were injured during the rough landing.
In a desperate attempt to cross borders, some people at poorly monitored airports climb inside the bays holding the landing gear of planes. Most of them freeze to death once the aircraft reach cruising altitude, but some survive.
In 2010, the head of Beirut’s airport security resigned after the death of a man who managed to sneak onto a runway undetected and hide in the wheel bay of a Saudi-bound jet.
The man’s body was found by a maintenance worker in Riyadh who was inspecting the landing gear of the Saudi-owned Nas Air Airbus 320 after it touched down.

Mexico ( Mayor arrested for killing her " Top aide " )

VERACRUZ, Mexico – Sara Luz Herrera Cano, erstwhile mayor of the eastern Mexican city of Alvarado, was arrested on charges she masterminded the killing of her top aide, the Veracruz state Attorney General’s Office said.

Herrera Cano was taken into custody on Thursday, two days after her immunity from prosecution expired with the end of her mayoral term, Attorney General Amadeo Flores Espinosa said in a statement.

Prosecutors say Herrera Cano was behind the murder of her private secretary, Michel Martinez Corro, who went missing in late July 2012 and was found dead in Alvarado on Aug. 4 of the same year.

On Oct. 24, 2013, the AG’s office asked the Veracruz state legislature to revoke Herrera Cano’s immunity revoked, but lawmakers had yet to reach a decision by the end of the mayor’s term.

Herrera Cano is a member of Mexico’s governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI

India ( 16 year old girl gang raped " set on fire " and later died )

KOLKATA, India: The father of a teenager who was allegedly gang raped and later died after being set on fire in eastern India is demanding a federal inquiry into the case.
Hundreds of people protested Friday in Kolkata, accusing West Bengal state authorities of failing to protect the family.


Police say the 16-year-old girl reported being gang raped on two consecutive days in late October.
The girl’s father told reporters last week that his daughter was set alight Dec. 23 after being threatened with violence if she didn’t withdraw her complaint. She died from her injuries on Wednesday. Neither she nor her father is being named by Indian media under laws guarding rape victims’ identities.
Police arrested six suspects in the rape and another two who allegedly set the girl on fire.

lebanon ( Al-Qaeda leader dies while in " Custody " of Lebanese army )

BEIRUT: The leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked group that carried out attacks across the Middle East before shifting its focus to Syria’s civil war died on Saturday while in custody in Lebanon, the army said.


In a short statement, the Lebanese army said Majid Al-Majid “died this morning while undergoing treatment at the central military hospital after his health deteriorated.” It did not elaborate.
Earlier, a Lebanese army general told The Associated Press that Al-Majid died after suffering kidney failure. He was speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. State-run National News Agency said Al-Majid died “after his health conditions deteriorated.”
Al-Majid, a Saudi citizen, was detained in Lebanon late last month and had been held at a secret location.
He was the purported commander of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades — a Sunni militant group with Al-Qaeda links — and one of the 85 most-wanted individuals in Saudi Arabia.
The US State Department designated his group a foreign terrorist organization in 2012, freezing any assets it holds in the United States and banning Americans from doing business with the group.
The brigades have claimed responsibility for attacks throughout the region, including the 2010 bombing of a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and several rocket strikes from Lebanon into Israel.
The most recent attack claimed by the group was the double suicide bombing in November outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut that killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens.
Reports first surfaced about his arrest in Lebanon early this week. Security officials eventually confirmed that they had a suspect in custody, but said they were not certain of his identity.
On Friday, the Lebanese confirmed his identity, following a DNA test.
Al-Majid was believed to have serious kidney problems that require dialysis. He was an important figure, and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades grew from a relatively small outfit to a larger terror group since he took over in mid-2012, after the organization’s previous leader, Saleh Al-Qarawi, was gravely wounded in Pakistan.
According to Lebanese newspapers, Al-Majid was detained during the last week of December while on his way from Beirut to the eastern Bekaa Valley that borders Syria. The reports said that he was captured while in an ambulance after he had undergone dialysis at a hospital in Beirut.
In the spring of 2013, after the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group announced that it was fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops against the Syrian rebels, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades began to target Hezbollah as well — and by extension, their Iranian patrons.
On Friday, families of those killed in the Iranian embassy bombing demanded that Al-Majid, who had not been charged in the attack, be tried in Lebanon and not be sent to his homeland.

Arab News ( Middle East Cartoons )

North Korea ( Kim Jong Un " Kills Uncle " feeds him to 120 Dogs ) Human Rights Issue ?

Forget the hangman’s noose, the firing squad or lethal injection: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un executed his uncle and a handful of the man’s aides by feeding them to a horde of 120 starving dogs, according to a shocking (but unconfirmed) account.

Jang Song Thaek, the former No. 2 official in the secretive regime, was stripped naked and tossed into a cage along with his five closest aides.

Warning: Even in their unconfirmed state, the details are a bit gruesome.

“Then 120 hounds, starved for three days, were allowed to prey on them until they were completely eaten up. This is called ‘quan jue’, or execution by dogs,” according to the Straits Times of Singapore. The daily relied on a description of the execution in a Hong Kong newspaper that serves as the official mouthpiece of China’s government there. More established outlets in mainland China have not repeated the account.

“The entire process lasted for an hour, with Mr. Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader in North Korea, supervising it along with 300 senior officials,” the Straits Times said in a piece published Dec. 24, 2013, but only now getting traction in the United States. Two American national security officials contacted for comment said they had not heard that account, which first appeared in the Wen Wei Po newspaper on Dec. 12, 2013, and declined to vouch for its credibility.

North Korea ( Kim Jong Un " Executed 8 people " for plotting a coup )

             

(Newser) – North Korea's leader was "very drunk" when he recently ordered two aides close to his uncle to be executed, reports the Independent via the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. Kim Jong Un was apparently upset when the two men questioned his demand that a business be handed over to the military. Ri Ryong Ha, first deputy director of a department in the ruling Workers' Party, and Jang Su Gil, a deputy director in the same department, failed to approve Kim's order quickly, the Telegraph reports, and wanted to check with Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek.

 

                                                               

South Korea heard about the executions by wiretapping phone calls made by friends of the two aides, and considered Jang's execution "inevitable" from then on. This all contradicts Pyongyang's official story that Jang was executed for plotting a coup, the New York Times notes. In a closed-door meeting today, South Korea's director of intelligence said Jang and his allies had started a struggle among North Korea's elite by taking over profitable business deals—like the sale of coal to China. Friction then built up between government agencies over Jang's perceived abuse of power. At least eight people connected to Jang were executed and hundreds of his relatives were taken to prison camps in the purge.

West Bank ( Palestinians chant " Kerry go home " ) You Coward !

In advance of his meeting with Abbas and his attempt to advance the peace talks, crowds of Palestinians chant for Kerry to go home; Separately, McCain meets with Netanyahu, says PM has serious concerns about Kerry plan.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian protesters on Friday condemned the latest efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to advance peace talks with Israel, using chants evoking the Arab uprisings and telling him to go home.
Hours before Kerry was due to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a raucous crowd of several hundred took to the streets of Ramallah, the West Bank's de facto capital, chanting "Kerry, you coward, there's no place for you in Palestine!"

Separately, an official close to Abbas dismissed Kerry's drive for a "framework agreement" as biased toward Israel.
Kerry has said such an accord would narrow gaps between the sides and pave the way for a final deal when the nine-month period allotted the US-backed talks expires on April 29.
Palestinian and Israeli officials have publicly differed on the future status of the West Bank's border with Jordan, where Israelis want a permanent security presence but Palestinians want a full withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers.
Israel said last week it planned to build another 1,400 homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Kerry has told reporters that the agreement, besides borders and security, would aim to address all the conflict's key issues such as refugees and Jerusalem.
The US top diplomat held five hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and saw him again on Friday. He was due to see Abbas later in the day.
Around three hundred activists with the left-wing Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine party rallied in downtown Ramallah hours before Kerry's scheduled arrival.
"The people want the fall of the framework!" they chanted, evoking the chants heard in protests throughout the Middle East in 2011. "It's clear, Kerry, we don't want to see you! The Americans are the enemy of our people!" they added.
Dozens of riot policemen and plainclothes security forces prevented their march from reaching Ramallah's presidential compound, where Abbas was expected to receive Kerry

San Francisco ( Chinese Consulate in San Francisco Attacked by Arsonist )

WASHINGTON – San Francisco authorities and the FBI are investigating an act of arson against the Chinese consulate there that caused a fire but no injuries, authorities reported.

The fire, which damaged the main door of the building, located in the Lower Pacific Height section of the city, was brought under control by firefighters shortly after it was reported at 9:33 p.m. Wednesday.

The consulate, in a communique posted on its Web page, said that an unidentified man parked a van in front of the building, poured gasoline from two containers onto the consulate’s gate and doorway and set it ablaze.

The incident was classified as “sabotage” on the consulate’s Web page, which urged U.S. authorities to investigate the attack and to guarantee the safety of Chinese diplomatic personnel.

“We strongly condemn this vicious, destructive act of arson towards the American consulate of China, which severely damaged the facilities and threatened the safety of consulate personnel and others,” the consulate said.

Saudi Arabia ( First " Female Law Firm " license to practice law )

In what is being seen as a major boost for Saudi women seeking legal advice and help, Bayan Mahmoud Al-Zahran, the first Saudi woman lawyer who was issued license to practice law in the Kingdom, launched the first female law firm for the benefit of Saudi women on Wednesday.
Bayan Al-Zahran became the first Saudi woman lawyer when she appeared at the General Court in Jeddah for the first time in November last year to defend a client. She had been working for years as a legal consultant and had represented dozens of people in criminal and civil cases besides family disputes.
Al-Zahran told Arab News that the objective of her law firm is to fight for the rights of Saudi women and bring their problems before the court, since male lawyers in many cases couldn’t understand the problems and situations of a female plaintiff.
She said that she was planning to take up labor cases and business disputes but would also dedicate her time to women’s cases.
“I believe women lawyers can contribute a lot to the legal system. This law firm will make a difference in the history of court cases and female disputes in the Kingdom. I am very hopeful and thank everyone who supported me in taking this historical step,” she said.
Al-Zahran said in the past, Saudi women faced problems finding a female lawyer who could represent them in the court. However, with the establishment of her law firm, this problem will be solved, she said, adding that she was ready to take up cases of both genders.
She said she was looking forward to progress of women lawyers in Saudi Arabia in protecting the rights of women. “This is a very positive step toward the Saudi court and justices as right now, we are four female lawyers who got the license, but I am hopeful that in future, the number will increase,” she added.

Al-Zahran’s father Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Zahran said this is the first step toward the protection of the women’s rights in the Kingdom. “We are very proud of our daughter who stands firm for protection of women’s rights. This will help all women who couldn’t go and speak to male lawyers about their problems,” he said.
The launch was attended by Mazen Batterjee, vice president of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, Zuhair Nawab, president of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), Dr. Hussain Al Shareef , supervisor general of National Human Rights Organization, Makkah, Dr. Suhail Sawan, executive director of national committee for prisoners, Dr. Inam Ribwai, director of children surgery at King Fahad hospital and former director of family protection organization, and a number of businessmen and society ladies, doctors, lawyers, academics and jurists.
Mazen Batterjee, while congratulating Bayan ad all the female lawyers, however, emphasised on Shariah law in every aspect of life and in law practice in Saudi courts.
He said female lawyers should follow the restrictions of the court for hijab since Islam while giving rights to women, also had ethics in place for women while presenting themselves before a judge.
He hoped this first step toward a women’s law firm will be successful and follow all the rules and regulations of court and religion.
Dr. Suhail Sawan said that Al-Zahran was working for years as legal consultant and studying cases of prisons which gave her excellent exposure. This law firm is a milestone in that there are situations which can only be understood and represented by a female lawyer, he said.

Saudi Arabia ( Workers unable to " Save girl " who fell into well )

The Civil Defense has not succeeded to retrieve the body of six-year-old Lama Al-Rouqi who died after falling into an abandoned well in Tabuk two weeks ago.
Lama was out picnicking with her family when she fell into the well in Al-Asmar valley in Haql Governorate on Dec. 20. She fell more than 30 meters into the 100-meter-deep and half-a-meter-wide well.

 Maj. Gen. Mastour Al-Harithy, director of Tabuk’s Civil Defense, said at a press conference here on Thursday that the team was still trying to retrieve her body. They came close to the body on Wednesday, but it slid 11 meters further into the well because of loose soil in the hole.
Al-Harithy also outlined the events that took place since the Tabuk Civil Defense arrived at the scene after receiving a call for help at 3:54 p.m. on Dec. 20.
Lama’s father told them that she fell into the well while playing with her sister, said Al-Harithy. He said the rescuers first made sure the girl was not anywhere else in the valley.
“On examining the well, Civil Defense experts assumed that the girl had fallen into the well through a hole on the side because it was covered at the top,” said the official.
As a preliminary step, they pumped oxygen into the well and sent down a camera at the end of a cable. “The camera collided with some rock and mud at a depth of 30 meters and there was no sign of the body,” he said.
The Civil Defense dug a hole parallel to the well to reach the level where the girl was trapped. It was three meters away from the well.
The rescuers sought the help of teams from Madinah, Qassim, Riyadh and the Taif Civil Defense directorates, including experts from Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Geological Survey, Al-Harithy said. Three academics from Tabuk University were present to provide advice on such rescues.
Experts from an Italian company and Saudi Binladin were also consulted on Saturday. However, they could not help because they did not have equipment to deal with such a situation.
A company was contracted to provide support for the wall of the well while digging took place.
The teams started taking special care to ensure the safety of the diggers when they reached a depth of 27 meters on Tuesday evening. However, they then hit hard rock at 30 meters.
About 72 hours after they started digging the parallel well, the Civil Defense rescuers managed to open a small hole of 30 cm in diameter and gain access to the well. At that spot, the teams could smell the decaying body of the girl.
They also came across a doll, which relatives said belonged to the child. Unfortunately, the body fell 11 meters further because of loose soil.

Israel ( Woman, 40, found dead in her apartment surrounded by 3 drunk guys )

 

By: Sarah Weiss
A woman was found dead inside her apartment along with three drunk guys, according to police reports in Israel.

Be’er Sheva Police said that the dead body of a local 40-year-old woman was found on Saturday morning, in her apartment.

Magen David Adom paramedics who were called to the scene, pronounced her dead. Police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the case. Three men who were drunk at the apartment were detained for questioning.

Police came to the woman’s apartment after a call came into the police phone line (100) asking for a welfare check on the woman.

When police officers went into her bedroom they saw the unresponsive woman on her bed.

According to the initial police investigation, the woman along with the three men drank alcohol throughout the night, and in the morning, the woman did not wake up.

One of the three men went to a neighbor in order to get help.

The woman's body was transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to determine the cause of death. The three men will be freed if the autopsy shows no criminal activity.

Lebanon ( Lebanese troops have arrested the leader of the Al-Qaeda group ) That bombed Iranian Embassy

BEIRUT: Lebanese troops have arrested the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked group that claimed a double suicide bombing at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in November, the defense minister told AFP Wednesday.
Majid Al-Majid, the “emir” of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, “was arrested by the intelligence services of the Lebanese Army in Beirut,” Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said, without specifying when the arrest took place.


“He was wanted by the Lebanese authorities and is currently being interrogated in secret,” the minister added. Majid was on a list of 85 suspects wanted by the kingdom.
The Azzam Brigades was designated in the United States as a “terrorist organization” in 2012, and has in the past claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon.
The group was formed in 2009 and is believed to have branches in both Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula. According to the group's sites, Majid was revealed to be the leader of the Brigades in 2012.
On Wednesday, a Twitter account belonging to Sirajeddin Zreikat, a member of the Sunni Muslim extremist group, appeared to have been suspended.
Zreikat had claimed responsibility in the group’s name for the double bombing at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut that killed 25 people

Palestinian ambassador Dies ( Booby-trapped " Safe " kills ambassador )

PRAGUE: The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic died Wednesday in an explosion that occurred when he opened an old safe that had been left untouched for more than 20 years, officials said.

Ambassador Jamal al-Jamal, 56, was at home with his family at the time of the explosion, according to Palestinian Embassy spokesman Nabil El-Fahel. Al-Jamal was seriously injured and rushed to a hospital where he died, according to police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said no foul play was suspected, noting that the safe had been left untouched for more than 20 years.

It also appeared that the door of the safe had been booby-trapped, according to Zoulova. It was unclear how al-Jamal tried to open it or what type of safe it was.

The safe was recently moved from the old embassy building, but it had come from a building that used to house the Palestinian Liberation Organization's offices in the 1980s, Malki said.

"The ambassador decided to open it. After he opened it, apparently something happened inside (the safe) and went off," Malki told The Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear how Malki knew the safe had been untouched for more than 20 years or why and when the safe would have been booby-trapped.

During the 1980s — before the fall of the Soviet Union — the PLO had close ties with the Eastern bloc countries. In recent years, relations have been tense and the Czech government was seen as largely taking Israel's side in the Mideast conflict, said Nabil Shaath, a foreign affairs veteran and leading official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

"The safe was sitting neglected in one of the areas of the old embassy. It was in one of the corners. No one had touched it for 20 to 25 years," Malki said.

BEIRUT ( A large car bomb killed five people and wounded at least 20 )

BEIRUT: A large car bomb killed five people and wounded at least 20 in a Hezbollah bastion in south Beirut on Thursday, a health ministry source told AFP.
“According to an initial toll, five people have been killed and more than 20 injured,” the source said on condition of anonymity.


Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said: “The terrorist explosion targeted a densely populated residential area, just 150 to 200 meters (yards) away from Hezbollah’s political bureau.”
The official National News Agency reported that the explosion was caused by an explosives-packed four-wheel-drive vehicle in the Haret Hreik neighborhood.
The district is a symbolic one for Hezbollah, which once based many of its leadership institutions in the area.
Much of the neighborhood was reduced to rubble during the massive Israeli air bombing that accompanied its 2006 war with Hezbollah, but it has since been rebuilt

Iran ( Student Activist " Maryam Shafipour " transferred to prison infirmary after falling unconscious )

December 2013

 

Keywords : Political Prisoners

فارسى

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – Sources have reported that the health of jailed activist Maryam Shafipour – held behind bars in the women’s ward of Evin prison - continues to deteriorate. In the past week her high blood pressure reached dangerous levels rendering her unconscious and she was transferred to the prison’s infirmary.

According to CHRR despite the recommendation by the prison physician that Shafipour immediately receive an MRI, the prison authorities did not comply. In addition during the past weeks Maryam Shafipour has been suffering from extreme toothache but she has not been seen by a dentist nor been allowed to receive medical attention for her teeth.

Maryam Shafipour, detained since August 5, 2013 had her first court session on October 21, 2013 and her second court date has been set for January 1, 2014 at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati. According to her father, Maryam Shafipour is accused of “conspiracy against national security.” A source close to the family has said that the charges brought against the student activist are “baseless” and “unfounded.” The source emphasized that there has been no proof or evidence substantiating any of the charges brought against Shafipour, and that the investigators seem to be holding a personal vendetta against her. In an earlier interview with the Kaleme website, Maryam Shafipour’s father said, “The type of charges brought against Maryam and her treatment are reminiscent of the manner in which intelligence officials conducted themselves in 2009 [during the unrest following the contested presidential election results.] The way they have dealt with her is as if this case has been left behind from those days.”

A source close to the family said regarding Maryam Shafipour’s physical condition, “even though she has lost a lot of weight and is in poor health, she is in very good spirits and denies all charges brought against her.”

Maryam Shafipour is a former agricultural engineering student from Qazvin International University who was suspended after 2 semesters and was expelled from university on her eighth semester due to her student activities and her weblog. In 2009 she served in the presidential election campaign of Mehdi Karroubi who has been under house arrest. Shafipour was first detained in 2010 and was handed a one-year suspended prison term by the Qazvin Revolutionary Court.

Shafipour was handed a summons to appear at the Prosecutor’s office in mid July of this year. She appeared at Branch 2 of Evin prison’s Shahid Moghoddas Court on August 5th per the summons order and was subsequently detained and transferred behind bars in Evin prison. She remains behind bars in the women’s ward despite her ailing health and need for medical care.

Maldives ( A dead body washed up by resort where " David Beckham " is taking a hideaway for Christmas )

MALE, Maldives: A dead body has washed up at an exclusive island resort in the Maldives where English football star David Beckham is taking a hideaway Christmas holiday with his family, police said Monday.
Investigations were underway to establish the cause of death of the man, whose body was found floating near a jetty on Sunday at the One and Only Reethi Rah resort near the capital island Male, police said.


“The body was removed to a morgue and investigations are underway,” police spokesman Hassan Haneef told AFP by telephone.
In a second incident, a stock of fireworks brought in for New Year’s Eve exploded on the island Sunday, shattering the calm for guests who pay up to $12,700 a night for a room.
Police said the dead man, identified as a Sri Lankan national, was not a guest or an employee of the upmarket resort where Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich was also reportedly staying.
Beckham, his wife Victoria and their four children remained at the de luxe resort despite the problems on Sunday, tourism sources said.
The couple visited the Maldives a year ago and stayed at the same resort, but that holiday was dampened by incessant rain.
Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb told reporters last week that several international celebrities were spending their Christmas holidays in the nation of more than 1,000 coral-fringed islands scattered across the equator.
The Maldives is known for its secluded resorts with pristine beaches and privacy and is also a popular destination for well-heeled honeymooners. It attracted nearly a million foreign holidaymakers last year.
Tourism has suffered setbacks in recent years due to political unrest following the resignation of former President Mohamed Nasheed in February 2012 in what he later alleged was a coup.

Yemen ( A suicide car bombing at the security headquarters in Yemen kills 3 )

ADEN: A suicide car bombing at the security headquarters in Yemen’s southern city of Aden killed at least three soldiers Tuesday in what appeared to be an Al-Qaeda attack, police said.
The car exploded as it rammed into the front gate of the Aden security offices at dawn, a police official said. Several other soldiers were wounded in the blast.
Another police source said that two other attackers in an explosives-laden car attempted to ram through the gate after the first bombing, but were stopped by security forces.
The two “terrorist elements” are being questioned, he said.
Two police centers in different parts of the city simultaneously came under attack with rockets, a third source said, adding that there were no casualties.
The attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which earlier this month launched a similar complex assault on the defense ministry complex in the capital Sanaa, killing 56 people, including foreign medical staff.
AQAP took advantage of the weakening of the central government in Sanaa during a 2011 uprising inspired by the Arab Spring, seizing swathes of territory in the south before being driven back in June 2012.


The group is still active in southern and eastern Yemen, and stages frequent attacks on security forces despite Yemeni military operations and US drone strikes against the militants.
The group’s military chief Qassem Al-Rimi apologized for the civilian death toll in the Sanaa attack, saying one of the assailants had disobeyed orders to avoid the medical center of the complex.
Elsewhere in the country, two explosions late Monday struck an oil pipeline that pumps around 10,000 barrels per day from the Ayadh fields, in the southern province of Shabwa, to the Nushaima terminal on the Gulf of Aden, a government official said.
The two bombs, planted under the pipeline in different locations, took the conduit out of service, the official added.
Attacks on oil and gas pipelines in Yemen are frequent, and Oil Minister Ahmad Dares said earlier this month that sabotage had cost the country $4.75 billion (3.5 billion euros) between March 2011 and March 2013.

MANILA ( 8 killed 600 others were injured from firecracker blasts and gunfire )

MANILA: At least eight people were killed and more than 600 others were injured in bombings, firecrackers blasts and gunfire as the Philippines celebrated the coming of the new year Tuesday and early Wednesday, officials said.


 The military and police said six of the dead were killed when a homemade bomb exploded at a kiosk in the southern town of Sumisip in Basilan island province during a New Year’s party late Tuesday.
Ten others wounded, said Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala.
Zagala said the motive was still unknown.
Hours earlier in Cotabato province’s Carmen township also in the south, a motorcycle-riding assailant hurled a grenade outside a Protestant church wounding a mother, her three children and another girl, police said. Police said three men on two motorcycles were seen speeding away.
Capt. Antonio Bulao, a local army spokesman, said the assailants may have planned to attack a local police outpost but decided to throw the grenade at a weaker target.
At least two others who were reported killed during the revelry were from the northern part of the country.
In northern province of Cagayan, a fireworks fountain display packed with firecrackers exploded and killed a 19-year-old man, while an infant boy was killed by a bullet that went through the roof of the family’s house in Ilocos Sur province