UN Urges Sierra Leone to Let Pregnant Students Return to School

NAIROBI – The United Nations requested on Wednesday that Sierra Leone, the country most affected by the recent Ebola outbreak, allow pregnant women to resume their studies, as the schools closed due to the epidemic were recently reopened.

“The United Nations wants to remind the Sierra Leonean government that education is a fundamental human right, in which Sierra Leone is committed to respecting,” a UN statement declared.

Although the Education Act of the African country enshrines the principle of non-discrimination, the government issued an order preventing pregnant students from entering schools, which reopened their doors on Tuesday.

The UN implored authorities to put a stop to discrimination against pregnant adolescents, in accordance with international treaties, while also demanding that the country develop educational programs especially for pregnant students.

“Schools should be accessible without any discrimination and with affordable prices,” the statement issued from the UN headquarters in Sierra Leone added.

The UN also offered assistance to ensure the right to education for all Sierra Leonean youth, pregnant or not.

Around 1.8 million students in Sierra Leone returned to school after an eight-month delay.

Ebola has caused 10,600 deaths, 3,831 of which were in Sierra Leone, according to the latest report from the World Health Organization.

480 Rescued Migrants to Be Transferred to Sicily

ROME – Some 480 migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard will be transferred to the port of Palermo in Sicily, while another 400 people are still missing in the Mediterranean Sea.

Some groups have already landed in Palermo after being rescued by the King Jacob cargo ship, while two other ships are expected to arrive in Palermo later in the day, local authorities said.

Over the last four days, a total of 8,000 migrants trying to traverse the Channel of Sicily to reach the Italian coast were rescued, while 1,169 landed in Palermo on Tuesday.

The coast guards said Tuesday night that they had not yet located the bodies of about 400 migrant passengers, who have apparently drowned when their boat sank.

According to the latest figures provided by the Italian Interior Ministry, the number of migrants who successfully reached Italy by sea between January and April 7 is 12,616, in comparison with 11,695 during the same period last year.

U.S. Senate committee to vote on Iran bill

In a direct challenge to the White House, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is to vote on a bill that would give Congress a chance to weigh in on any final nuclear agreement that can be reached with Iran.

The bill put forward by Senator Bob Corker, the panel's chairman, would give Congress a vote on any final nuclear agreement with Iran.

Despite a veto threat from President Barack Obama, there is strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for Congress to have a say in any deal that the U.S. and five other nations are able to negotiate to keep Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for easing international sanctions.

Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a vote is likely on Tuesday, possibly on a new version still being crafted Monday night. "There have been some tweaks," said Corker, R-Tenn. "I'm hopeful that we're going to be successful tomorrow."

A new version would be an attempt to make the bill more palatable to lawmakers who have sought changes, such as shortening from 60 days to 30 days the length of time that Congress would have to review any final deal that's reached.

If the panel of 10 Republicans and nine Democrats approves the legislation, it would be sent for a vote in the 100-member Senate.

Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat in the committee, said he and Corker were trying to work out a compromise.

He told reporters: "I think we can get to a place where we can deal with most of the White House concerns and maintain the purpose of the bill, which is an early congressional review and timely notice if there is a material breach (by Iran of an agreement."

On the House side, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday he will bring the bill to the floor if the Senate acts on legislation giving Congress the power to review any deal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry personally pleaded with House Republicans and Democrats on Monday to give the Obama administration more time and room to negotiate a final deal. Kerry met in a closed-door session with members of the House and was to meet with senators on Tuesday before the committee debates the bill.

Ex-US Commander in Iraq: Shiite militias get their directions from Iran’s Quds Force

In an online conference, on Monday, a former senior US military commander in Iraq said Shiite militias in Iraq are getting their directions from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

Colonel Wesley Martin said that for the situation to improve in Iraq, the IRGC and its commander Qassem Soleimani should be evicted from the country.

“Soleimani is a commander of the state- sponsored terrorist operation and people in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen are paying for the consequences,” he said.

Martin, who served several tours of duty in Iraq as the senior antiterrorism and force-protection officer for coalition forces, said Shiite militias who “get directions from Quds Force and the Badr Corps… have turned the situation into a civil war and the Sunnis have to fight for their survival.”

He lambasted the Iranian regime’s belligerence in the region and said it has to be checked. He added operation “Decisive Storm” by a coalition of Arab countries is trying to do that but that its success is not guaranteed yet. He said the operation “caught Tehran by surprise,” adding, “The mullahs thought they would have an easy walk in Yemen.”

During the conference, which lasted more than an hour, Col. Martin strongly criticized the Obama administration’s lack of action in the Middle East and said the US does not have a policy there, allowing the Iranian regime to fill the void. He compared Obama’s approach to Iran with Neville Chamberlain's "peace in our time," speech following Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Regarding Iraq, Martin said that, worse than simply turning a blind eye to the situation, “the US in practice has been flying bomber missions in support of the Quds Force in Iraq.”

He stressed that the Iranian regime is the number one exporter of terror in the world and that it can never be trusted. He elaborated by saying that there is zero chance of Iran upholding its nuclear agreement with the world. “As this regime continues its nuke capability in hidden facilities, it has Western powers tied down to the negotiating table,” Martin added.

Col. Martin was also in charge of protection of Iranian dissidents while they were residing at Camp Ashraf. He said the rights of the dissidents, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) who are now residing in Camp Liberty near Baghdad airport should be observed. He said demands have to be made to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for the release of Safar Zakery, a camp Liberty resident who has been kept in illegal custody for about a month.

Martin said the US has reneged on its commitments to the residents and that the State Department even tried to cover up crimes and murders perpetrated by against Iranian dissidents by the forces of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He went on to add: “The US will do nothing to upset the Iranian regime. That's why the US closes its eyes on the Camp Liberty situation.”

Col. Martin was a signatory of a letter sent to Abadi by 34 former US government officials and military leaders, urging him to end restrictions on the residents of Camp Liberty and to provide protection for them.

The online conference took place on the eve of the meeting between Abadi and Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the situation in Iraq and various groups and tendencies in that country, Col. Martin said Nouri-al Maliki’s sectarian policies contributed to the growth of ISIS. He said if Prime Minister Abadi wants to be successful he has to unite Shiites and Sunnis to keep the country together and should keep the Iranian regime at a distance.

Martin agrees with the assessment of General David Petraeus that in the long run Iran is a bigger danger to Iraq than ISIS. He said, “Gen Petraeus won the war in Iraq. Obama lost the peace.”

He said the large meeting of Iranian opponents and their international supporters in Paris on June 13 is important because it will highlight Tehran as the epicenter of Islamic fundamentalism, will show to the world that the Iranian regime does not represent Iranian people, and will demonstrate that there is hope for change in Iran.

Martin concluded by saying: “We can't be idle while evil powers, specifically ISIS and the Iranian government, destroy Middle East.”

Six People, Including Three Teens, Massacred in Southern Brazil

  

RIO DE JANEIRO – Six people, including three teenagers, were gunned down Sunday in an inn in Cidreira, a town on the coast of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, a crime thought to be a settling of scores among drug traffickers, authorities said.

The victims were in a room at the inn which apparently was being used by a group of drug traffickers as a sales location, the state Militarized Police said.

Three armed men burst into the room early Sunday morning and began firing indiscriminately at the people inside.

Five of the victims died on the scene and two others were seriously wounded and taken to a hospital in the neighboring city of Tramandai, where one of them died while receiving medical attention.

The attack on the Posada del Celomar occurred about 1 a.m. and police have no clues as to who carried it out.

In the past, police had arrested people being sought for drug crimes at the site of the massacre.

“The majority of the victims, teens who apparently were drug users, were at the wrong place at the wrong time,” a detective told the daily Zero Hora

Crocodile Kills Man in Mexican Caribbean Resort City

CANCUN, Mexico – A 31-year-old man from Tlaxcala, a state in central Mexico, died over the weekend when a crocodile pulled him under in the Bojorquez Lagoon near the hotel in the Caribbean resort of Cancun, police said.

Marco Antonio Sanchez Fernandez was drunk when he went for a swim on Saturday, encountering the crocodile.

Sanchez Fernandez and another person went for a swim in the lagoon around 6:00 p.m. Saturday in the Punta Cancun district, ignoring signs posted to warn the public of the presence of crocodiles.

The two-meter (6.5-foot) crocodile heard the swimmers and slithered into the water.

Passersby and police patrolmen shouted at the swimmers to get out of the lagoon, but only one of them did so, officials said, adding that when the other swimmer tried to get out, the croc grabbed him.

Sanchez Fernandez’s body was found around 6:00 a.m. on Sunday near where the crocodile grabbed him its jaws.

No relatives have stepped forward to identify the victim, but police determined the man’s name from identification found on the body.

Sanchez Fernandez drowned and his body has bite wounds typical of an attack by a large crocodile, the coroner’s office said.

“It did not eat him, it dragged him until he drowned, there is no detachment of any extremity, the body is intact,” the Quintana Roo state police said.

Iran news in brief, 12 April 2015