Ukraine ( Russian armored personnel carriers are on their way to Crimea )

Russian armored personnel carriers are on their way to Crimea, and Ukrainian officials are calling it a “military invasion and occupation.”


A convoy of nine Russian armored personnel carriers and a truck on a road between the port city of Sevastopol and the regional capital, Sinferopol, the Associated Press reported.

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PHOTOS: Enemy at the gates: Ukraine under siege

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“I can only describe this as a military invasion and occupation,” Ukraine’s newly named interior minister, Arsen Avakov, wrote in an online statement.
Meanwhile, Russians armed with rifles and wearing military uniforms stormed into Crimea’s main airport and took up positions on Friday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said movements of armored vehicles belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet were prompted by the need to ensure security of its base and didn’t contradict the lease terms, Haartez reported.


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Somalia ( A car bomb exploded near a Cafe and kills 7 in the capital Mogadishu )

MOGADISHU: A car bomb exploded near a caf'e in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu Thursday in an area close to the intelligence headquarters, killing at least seven people, police said.
“We have counted seven civilians killed in the car bomb, but the toll could be higher as many people were also wounded,” police official Ahmed Mumin told AFP.


 The cafe, near the city’s Lido beach, was reportedly popular with security officials.
The blast is the latest in a string of attacks in the dangerous capital, where Al-Qaeda-linked Shabab insurgents are fighting to topple the internationally backed government.
There was no immediate claim of responsiblity, but the blast comes just a week after the militants carried out a major attack against the heavily fortified presidential palace, killing officials and guards in a fierce gun battle.
The attack comes amid an apparent upsurge of Shabab bombings in and around Mogadishu, with nighttime mortar rounds fired into the vast, heavily guarded airport complex, home to the 22,000-strong African Union force fighting the Shabab as well as foreign diplomats and aid workers.
The group, who also carried out last year’s attack at the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, in which gunmen killed at least 67 people, once controlled most of southern and central Somalia but withdrew from fixed positions in the war-ravaged coastal capital two years ago.
AU troops — including large contingents from Uganda, Kenya and Burundi — have since recaptured the insurgents’ main bases and tried to prop up Somalia’s fledgling government forces.

Ukraine ( Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych said " I was not overthrown " )

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia: Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych insisted Friday in his first public appearance since fleeing to Russia that he had not been overthrown and would continue to fight for the future of Ukraine.
Yanukovych told reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don that he had been “compelled to leave” Ukraine after he received threats to his security.
“I have not been overthrown by anyone, I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to an immediate threat to my life and the life of those close to me,” he said, sitting at a desk alongside a senior editor from the ITAR-TASS news agency in front of three Ukrainian flags.
“I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who try to saddle it with fear and terror.”


Yanukovych, who fled after being impeached by parliament on Saturday, savaged the anti-Kremlin and pro-EU forces who have now taken power.
“Power in Ukraine has been taken by nationalist, pro-fascist young people who represent the absolute minority of people in Ukraine.”
“This is anarchy, terror and chaos,” he added.
But Yanukovych, 63, speaking in Russian, said he wanted to apologize for leaving Ukraine in its current state.
“I am ashamed. I want to say I apologize to the Ukrainian people for what happened in Ukraine and that I did not have the strength to keep stability.”
He blamed the “irresponsible policies” of the West for the crisis in the country and said he would not take part in “illegal” presidential election planned by Ukraine’s new leadership for May 25.
Yanukovych said he spoke by telephone to Russian President Vladimir Putin after arriving in the country but had not yet met with the Kremlin chief.
He said such a face-to-face meeting was planned in the future. Yanukovych said he was surprised that Putin had not yet spoken out on Ukraine since his flight.
Yanukovych said he had arrived in Russia “thanks to a patriotically-minded young officer” without giving further details. He said he would only return to Ukraine once his personal security was assured.
Yanukovych said he could understand the anger of citizens in Ukraine’s pro-Russian region of Crimea against the new Ukrainian authorities.
“I consider that what is happening in Crimea is an absolutely natural reaction to the bandit-like takeover that happened in Kiev.”
He said he still saw himself as the Ukrainian president and as such believed that Crimea must remain part of Ukraine.

OMG ( Daily Caller article " Misconduct by Teacher " )

Substitute teacher, 72, arrested for furiously masturbating in high school hallway

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Substitute teacher, 72, arrested for furiously masturbating in high school hallway

A 72-year old substitute teacher at a public high school in the never-ending suburbs of Connecticut proved that he’s still got it when he was busted for allegedly masturbating right there in a hallway.
The septuagenarian teacher is Michael Luecke, reports The Courant. The incident happened on Wednesday. The scene of the crime was Westhill High School in Stamford.
Police say a school paraprofessional spotted Luecke doing the deed just after 7:30 a.m. The woman said she walked by Luecke as he was sitting in the hallway. She thought maybe he was hurt.

When she approached him, she said, she realized that the 72-year old substitute teacher had his hand stuck down his pants and was “manipulating his penis.”

The school paraprofessional then notified school officials, who notified police.

At that point, school officials removed Luecke from the class he was calmly teaching.

According to The Courant, surveillance video of the scene shows Luecke in a stairwell “suspiciously manipulating the front of his pants while looking at students in the courtyard.”

The sub then vanishes behind some lockers for a moment. Then, he reappears, lying on his back on the floor, focused on the task at hand. At some point, the shocked paraprofessional discovered him — but not before a half dozen students stroll by.

It’s not clear if the students noticed Luecke, realized what he was doing or cared. Nevertheless, school officials as well as local police are working to identify the teenagers to see if they need counseling.

Meanwhile, notes News 12 Connecticut, police have announced that they will not be releasing the video.

Luecke, who has no criminal record, now faces three charges: public indecency, breach of peace and risk of injury to a minor.

Mexico ( Mexican Drug Lord’s Hideout Becomes a Tourist Attraction )

 
CULIACAN, Mexico – The sun, sand and partying are no longer the only attractions in the Mexican Pacific resort city of Mazatlan, where the building used as a hideout by Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman has become the most popular place to visit since his arrest over the weekend.

The Miramar condominium tower, located on Avenida del Mar, has become a tourist attraction and the most photographed place in Mazatlan since marines captured Mexico’s most-wanted man on Saturday.

Both tourists and residents flocked to the building where the drug lord spent his last hours of freedom as soon as the world press put this coastal city in the spotlight.

Taxi drivers are now offering “narcotours” that cost between 250 pesos and 300 pesos ($19 or $22) and include a look at the Miramar condo and visits to regular attractions, such as the Monument to the Family, the seaside walk and Paseo del Centenario.

“Since Saturday, I’ve made about 10 trips through the city and they’ve all asked me to take them to where Chapo was captured,” taxi driver Jaime Lopez told Efe.

“The truth is that I’ve had a lot of work because it’s a novelty for everybody, and you give the customer whatever he wants,” Lopez said.

“I came to take some photos out of curiosity, I’ll take them with me as a reminder of what happened while I was on vacation in Mazatlan,” one tourist said.

The arrest of the 56-year-old Guzman, the world’s most notorious and powerful drug lord, has given a boost to tourism rather than scaring away visitors, and hotel reservations have “exploded,” Sinaloa state Tourism Secretary Francisco Cordova Celaya told Efe.

“Strangely enough, we have seen a rise in the number of reservations. They (hoteliers) tell me that the telephones have not stopped ringing because people want to come to the port city,” the state official said.

Guzman fled to Mazatlan and took out a three-month lease on an apartment at the Miramar after marines nearly arrested him on Feb. 17 at a safe house in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.

The drug lord, who was on Forbes magazine’s list of global billionaires, was captured by the security forces in Mazatlan on Saturday without any shots being fired.

Mazatlan has now joined a group of cities, like Culiacan, that tourists visit to see the businesses, houses, murder sites and tombs of notorious drug traffickers.

One of the most visited places in Sinaloa’s capital is Plaza Cinepolis, where one of the brothers of Juarez cartel boss Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was known as the “Lord of the Skies,” was gunned down along with his wife.

The parking lot of the City Club, where Chapo’s son, 22-year-old Edgar Guzman Lopez died in a fusillade of 500 bullets along with Arturo Meza Cazares, the son of Blanca Margarita “La Emperatriz” (The Empress) Cazares Salazar, is also a popular attraction.

Cazares Salazar has been identified by U.S. officials as the leader of a money laundering ring that works for Guzman and another top Sinaloa cartel boss, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The chapel of Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of drug traffickers, is a frequently visited and photographed site.

Narcotours first became popular in Mazatlan after Tijuana cartel boss Ramon Arellano Felix was gunned down in the Hotel Plaza Gaviotas parking lot in 2002.

The old narcotour route included a stop at the ruins of the “Frankie Oh!” club, which was owned by drug trafficker Francisco Arellano Felix until being seized by the government.

CARACAS ( Venezuela Arrests More Agents for killing " Two Protesters " )

CARACAS – The Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday announced the arrests of five members of the Sebin intelligence service in connection with the Feb. 12 shooting deaths of two people following a protest, bringing to eight the total number of Sebin personnel in custody.

Seven of the eight agents may face homicide charges, the AG’s office said in a statement.

On Feb. 12, a demonstration by students and other opposition elements was held in Caracas to protest the policies of the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro.

At the end of the march, some people broke off from the group to stage attacks on public buildings and vehicles while others ran through nearby streets, where several of them were shot.

Bassil Da Costa, a student participating in the protest, and Juan Montoya, a member of a pro-government organization, died.

A few hours later, another young man, Robert Redman, who had participated in the march that morning, was shot to death.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega announced on Monday the arrests of three Sebin agents linked to two of the three deaths and said that the cases “are very clear.”

In the same remarks, she said that 13 people had died in the protests besetting the country over the past two weeks.

Eight days ago, Maduro fired Sebin director Gen. Manuel Bernal after admitting that members of the service failed to abide by the order to stay off the streets on Feb. 12

Mexico ( Indian Women Demand Compensation from Mexican Government for False Imprisonment )

 
MEXICO CITY – Two Otomi Indian women are demanding that the Mexican federal Attorney General’s Office compensate them for the four years they spent in prison on kidnapping convictions that were later thrown out by the courts.

Alberta Alcantara and Teresa Gonzalez, who are from the central state of Queretaro, said in a press conference Tuesday that the AG’s office was trying to get out of its responsibility in the case.

The AG’s office filed a review motion on Feb. 7 in an effort to get out of paying compensation and making a public apology in the case, the women said.

“I cannot believe that the AG’s office does not accept the errors it made and I cannot believe that they keep saying it was us, even when we have shown that we are innocent, they keep insisting that there was a crime,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez, Alcantara and fellow Otomi Jacinta Francisco Marcial, who operated market stalls in Queretaro, were arrested in August 2006.

The three women were later sentenced to 21 years in prison on charges they kidnapped six federal agents who claimed that the vendors took them hostage in March 2006 during an operation targeting sellers of pirated DVDs.

The Supreme Court ordered the women released from prison in 2010.

Marcial was released from prison in September 2009, followed by Alcantara and Gonzalez on April 28, 2010.

“I just want all of this to end and for the president (Enrique Peña Nieto) to acknowledge that we are innocent. For the AG’s office to obey the Supreme Court ruling. I don’t want to continue doing this, it’s really tiring. Make good the harm done and let this end,” Alcantara said.

The Attorney General’s Office will not respond because it has taken the position that “we committed the crime and we are guilty even though we’ve shown that we are innocent,” Alcantara said.

A court ordered the federal AG’s office last November to compensate the two women for damages due to irregularities linked to prosecutors in the case.

Alcantara demanded that federal prosecutors admit that the women were innocent in the same media outlets used to accuse them of committing crimes.

The two women were accompanied at the press conference by Amnesty International and Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center representatives.