Mexican Governor to Step Down amid Corruption Investigation

MEXICO CITY – Javier Duarte, the governor of the Mexican Gulf state of Veracruz, said on Wednesday that he planned to step down 48 days before the end of his term to deal with the corruption investigation targeting his activities.

“I have made the decision, as of today, to ask the state legislature to grant me leave so I can step down from the post of governor,” Duarte, who took office in 2010 and was to finish his term this year, said in an interview with Televisa.

The 43-year-old Duarte, who is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office for illicit enrichment, embezzlement and failure to perform his official duties, said “Veracruz does not need a part-time governor, it needs a full-time governor.”

“And it’s the right time to deal with, to face up to, the allegations and I cannot, if I stay on, govern on the one hand and on the other deal with this situation,” Duarte said, adding that the allegations against him were “unfounded.”

The Veracruz state legislature plans to hold a special session on Wednesday afternoon at which it may take up Duarte’s request.

The governor will not appear before the legislature in person, but his request is contained in a letter to lawmakers, state government spokesman Alberto Silva told EFE.

Duarte, a member of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said no one demanded his resignation and that the move was “a personal decision.”

“I have nothing to hide, my assets have been made public, my financial statements have been very clear and have no variations in them,” Duarte said.

The governor said he had not touched “a single peso” from the public coffers and that the state’s debt “is balanced.”

“It would be truly laughable (to say) that I stole 35 billion pesos (nearly $1.85 billion). Where is it? It’s not simple or easy to hide” a sum of that size, Duarte said, adding that the allegations were “mere speculation.”

The governor was suspended by the PRI in late September, the final step before expulsion from the party.

Duarte has been accused of engaging in corrupt acts during his nearly six years in office and of attempting to shield himself legally from prosecution.

State lawmakers in Veracruz approved the creation of an anti-corruption prosecutor’s office and a special court in the state judicial system focused on corruption, with both initiatives seen as a way to protect Duarte, who was scheduled to leave office on Nov. 30.

The last governor to request a leave to step down before the end of his term was Angel Aguirre, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, in Guerrero in October 2014, following the disappearance of 43 education students at the hands of police and drug traffickers in the city of Iguala.

Over 600 Human Remains Found in Mexico’s Coahuila State

MEXICO CITY – The remains of over 600 corpses have been unearthed in a field in the San Pedro municipality of northern Mexico’s Coahuila state, according to Grupo VIDA, a civil society group comprising the relatives of disappeared persons.

Bones, teeth, pieces of clothing and shoes were discovered in a 16-hectare field in San Pedro, west of the state capital of Saltillo.

Grupo VIDA president Silvia Ortiz said the remains have been handed over to authorities be identified, as cited by local media.

The ranches of San Pedro were the preferred mass killing sites for criminal groups active in the area years ago, when Torreon municipality was listed as one of the most violent cities in the world.

According to official data, almost 2,000 people from the area have been missing since that time, mostly as a result of violence between drug cartels.

Members of the office for the Attorney-General of Mexico and its forensics branch were involved in gathering the remains, alongside the National Human Rights Commission.

Hours before the remains were discovered, the assistant Attorney General’s office for Special Investigations said that since April last year, over 3,500 body parts were found in the ranch land.

The process of identification has been complicated owing to the deterioration of the bodies, some of which were set on fire in metal drums up to eight years ago as perpetrators attempted to erase the traces of their violent acts.

MOSCOW - There are so many pussies around your presidential campaign " stated Russian Foreign Minister ."

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed Washington’s claims that Moscow is interfering in the US presidential race.

 

 "It's flattering, of course, to get this kind of attention -- for a regional power, as President Obama called us some time ago," Lavrov said in an interview with CNN, adding that Russia had not seen “a single fact, a single proof” that Russia is meddling in the election.

When asked what he thinks about Republican candidate Donald Trump’s latest campaign scandal, Lavrov said that English was not his first language and that he was unsure if he would sound "decent.”

Then Lavrov said: "There are so many pussies around your presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment."

The video in which Trump talked about women in lewd terms back in 2005 emerged last week, forcing the candidate to apologize for his words. 

 

'Man bun' sparks drunken brawl on flight to Alicante

Published: 10 Oct 2016 11:47 GMT+02:00

A fight that broke out between passengers on a flight between Edinburgh and Alicante last week erupted after one man was repeatedly insulted over his hair style.

When the Ryanair flight from Edinburgh arrived at lunchtime last Thursday, police were waiting to arrest four passengers after airline staff called ahead to report the troublemakers.

During the brawl, a young child was reportedly hit on the head by a flying wine bottle.

It has now emerged that the scuffle broke out after members of a stag party taunted a fellow passenger because he was sporting a “man bun”, a style popular with hipsters.

Eyewitness Conor Cockburn who was travelling a few seats behind the stag party told The Sun that the constant taunts upset the girlfriend of the man with the “offending” hairstyle.

 “The woman lost it and ‘jumped’ at the drunk revellers after they continuously shouted ‘topknot’ at her friend,” Cockburn said.

Passengers said the group celebrating the bachelor party had been “absolutely hammered” before they even got on the flight.

In a statement, Ryanair said: "The crew of this flight from Edinburgh to Alicante requested police assistance upon landing in Alicante, after four passengers became disruptive in-flight.

"The aircraft landed normally and the individuals were removed and detained by police in Alicante.

Russia - Talk about the debate (last night)

MOSCOW, Sunday evening’s US presidential election debate between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump revealed utter lack of tact on either side, with the opponents getting too personal now and then, polled experts on US affairs have told TASS. By and large, the TV show sounded like an obscene quarrel.

In the debate televised from St. Louis, Missouri, Clinton, a former US Secretary of State, accused Russia of war crimes in Syria and called for an investigation. Trump retorted that in Syria Bashar Assad, Russia and Iran were fighting together against the Islamic State (terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) and that the United States should join that common struggle.

Clinton’s "trump card"

"Hillary Clinton tends to demonize Russia and Putin in an attempt to deal a heavy blow on her main rival, Donald Trump," believes State Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov, whose doctoral thesis was devoted to the US political system. "Confrontation with Russia is Clinton’s ‘trump card’ she is keen to use in attempts to outplay her Republican rival, allegedly having sympathy for Putin."

"By presenting Russia as an enemy the Democratic candidate hopes to mobilize her electorate for struggle against a common threat," Nikonov said.

He expressed regret the current election rhetoric was a reflection of Washington’s real policy towards Moscow. Over the past few days the US television networks kept showing footage presented as the effects of Russian air bombardments of hospitals and childcare centers in Syria, Nikonov said. "Clinton has in fact followed in US Secretary John Kerry’s footsteps to urge an investigation of what she described as Russia’s war crimes in Syria. In fact, this is a call for direct confrontation."

Andranik Migranian, a professor at the Moscow state institute of international relations MGIMO, remarks that Clinton did not bother to present any proof, though.

"At a certain point Clinton supported bombardments in Iraq and Libya, which had left tens of thousands of civilians killed. It is very careless of her to come out with war crime charges against Russia," Migranian said.

"Russia is now more proactive in its foreign policy. It has built up its military potential and proposed its own conditions for cooperation with the United States.

A very convenient situation for pointing an accusing finger at Russia and declaring it a common enemy, isn’t it? This is being done for mobilizing the electorate in Clinton’s support. But even if she emerges the winner, Clinton will have to interact with the Kremlin somehow, which she acknowledged regarding cooperation in the nuclear sphere," said the deputy head of the Institute of US and Canada Studies, Viktor Kremenyuk.

Meager content, much bawdry

By and large the experts described the US presidential debate as meaningless in content and very harsh in form.

"Judging by comments in the social networks, the fly that settled on Clinton’s face during the debate was the most widely discussed participant. This is a sure sign the public at large does not care at all about the content of the debate," Nikonov said.

READ ALSO

First Clinton-Trump presidential debate: clash of equal rivals

He found rather amusing Clinton recalled a dirty remark about women, whcih Trump dropped eleven years ago, in her attempt to discredit the opponent as a sex maniac.

"By doing so she merely helped 70-year-old Trump score more points," Nikonov said with irony.

In his opinion, the rivals’ ferocious attacks against each other, including Trump’s threat to send Clinton to jail, are something unprecedented in US politics.

Migranian said the debate looked pretty much like a household quarrel, in which Trump dubbed Clinton as a duplicitous liar, while the opponent came pretty close to slamming him as a rascal.

"It was pretty boring to watch this 90-minute hassle, in which the opponents were washing the other’s dirty linen. It looks like the Americans are fed up with political correctness," Migranian said.

Who beat whom

"Even the outspokenly pro-Clinton television network - the CNN - had to admit that in the second round the Democratic candidate performed worse than Trump, while the multi-millionaire presidential hopeful coped with his task far better. It looks like it was really so," Nikonov said.

Kremenyuk disagrees. "By the second debate Trump had obviously lost much of his original momentum. On the contrary, Hillary looked triumphant," he said.

"We will know the answer to the question who beat whom after the latest public opinion polls, to be more precise, after November 8, the day of the presidential election in the United States," Kremenyuk concluded.

 

Spain- 10 yr old hit in head by bottle of booze " On plane flight ."

 Four passengers were arrested by Spanish police after “disruptive drunken behaviour” on board their flight from Edinburgh to Alicante. 

Police in Alicante were waiting for the Ryanair flight which left Edinburgh at 11.15am on Thursday after airline staff phoned ahead to report the troublemakers.

The men were part of two distinct stag parties heading to Spain who were reportedly "absolutely hammered" before the plane even took off.

A mother travelling with her two children told The Scottish Daily Recordthat scuffles had broken out between the rival groups and that one ten-year-old child had been hit on the head by a flying wine bottle.

In a statement, Ryanair said: "The crew of this flight from Edinburgh to Alicante requested police assistance upon landing in Alicante, after four passengers became disruptive in-flight.

"The aircraft landed normally and the individuals were removed and detained by police in Alicante.

U.S. House Speaker Ryan Cancels Joint Event with Trump over Sexist Comments

WASHINGTON – U.S. House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan withdrew on Friday his invitation to the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for a joint event, which was to be the real estate mogul’s first appearance after a recording of his sexist comments surfaced in American media.

“I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests,” Ryan said in a statement, adding that, “In the meantime, he is no longer attending tomorrow’s event in Wisconsin.”

Ryan referred to the controversy unleashed following The Washington Post’s publication of a clip in which Trump used vulgar language to talk about women and women’s bodies.

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. Grab them ... When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump says at one point on the tape.

Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus similarly condemned the words spoken by Trump, saying that “No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner.”

The event this Saturday in Wisconsin, where the congressman’s re-election will play out in November, would have been the first campaign in which Ryan appeared together with Trump, as the two have expressed their differences to the public on many occasions.

Ryan delayed giving his official backing to the real estate magnate for several months due to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, but eventually held several meetings with the billionaire, saying he will accept the will of the voters.

However, Ryan has stayed away from the Republican electoral sphere since Trump was officially confirmed as the party’s candidate at the convention held in Cleveland last July, something unusual for someone occupying a senior political post in the U.S. conservative bloc.

Indiana Governor and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence finally travelled to Wisconsin in place of Trump, as confirmed by the Trump campaign, explaining that the tycoon will now stay in New York to prepare for Sunday’s debate with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump Makes Lewd Comments about Women in 2005 Tape

WASHINGTON – The Washington Post on Friday disseminated a 2005 video clip in which Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is heard describing a failed attempt to seduce a married woman and boasting that his celebrity status allowed him to grope women.

Trump made the comments in an off-camera exchange with Billy Bush, then the host of the television program “Access Hollywood,” as the two men were aboard a tour bus headed to the set of a soap opera that was to feature the millionaire in a cameo appearance.

The conversation, which was captured by a microphone attached to the real estate mogul’s lapel, occurred several months after Trump had married his third and current wife, Melania.

Trump, who was 60 at the time, shared with Bush a story about an unsuccessful bid to seduce a woman he identified only by her first name.

“I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f--k her. She was married,” Trump said. “I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there.”

Subsequently, Trump notes the presence outside the bus of an actress.

“Whoa!” he says. “I’ve gotta use some Tic-tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything ... grab them by the p---y. You can do anything.”

The Republican candidate responded to the disclosure of the tape by offering a rare apology.

“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended,” Trump said in a statement.

The tape emerged just two days before Trump is to face Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the second of three scheduled debates.

“This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president,” Clinton said Friday on Twitter.

U.S. Formally Accuses Russia of Mounting Cyber-Attacks (Putin I don't know anything)

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government on Friday accused Russia of being behind recent cyber-attacks, including the hack that targeted the Democratic National Committee.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations,” the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement.

Publication of hacked e-mails by sites such as DCLeaks.com WikiLeaks and the person or group known as Guccifer 2.0 “are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts,” according to the statement.

“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process,” the government agencies said. “We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”

In July, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton blamed Russia for the hack that led to the publication of some 20,000 DNC e-mails.

The e-mails revealed that the DNC sought to undermine Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Bloomberg News raised the issue of the DNC hack in an interview last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who denied any involvement by Moscow.

“The important thing is the content that was given to the public,” Putin told the news agency. “But I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this.”

51 Women Rescued from Traffickers in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities rescued 51 women from traffickers and arrested seven people, the capital district attorney’s office said Monday.

The suspects hired the women as dancers, but then forced them to perform nude and engage in prostitution at two bars in Mexico City’s Cuauhtemoc borough, the office said in a statement.

For a three-drink minimum, patrons at the La Tirada and By Latino establishments were entitled to have sex with the women for a fee subject to negotiation, according to the statement.

The investigation was launched in response to an anonymous tip from an employee at one of the bars.

Police arrested bar owner Francisco Javier Soto along with Gerardo Panfilo Guerrero, Ruben Lopez, German Bolaños, Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Jose de Jesus Echeverria and Hugo Cesar Cubillos.

The women rescued from the traffickers are receiving psychological counseling and legal advice, the DA’s office said.

Cows trample German to death in Swiss Alps

Published: 03 Aug 2015 09:20 GMT+02

A woman was trampled to death by cows near Laax in the Swiss canton of Graubünden after walking through a field containing grazing cows and their calves, cantonal police have reported.

The 77-year-old was on her way to the Grauberg gondola station from the Nagens mountain restaurant on Friday when she took a path through the alpine pasture, police said on Saturday.

After passing through the electric fence, she was attacked by cows grazing on and around the trail, who knocked the woman to the ground and trampled over her.

A cyclist witnessed the scene and called air ambulance Rega, but the woman died at the scene from her injuries, despite attempts to resuscitate her.

According to Germany’s DPA news agency, the woman was a German tourist from Berlin.

Hikers often encounter cattle on paths throughout the Swiss Alps.

Attacks are rare but do occur, especially when the herd contains calves.

Last year a family of tourists were attacked by a cow with a calf above Davos, also in Graubünden.

In 2012 a woman was attacked by cows in a pasture above Saint-Gingolph in the canton of Valais.

Speaking to Swiss radio, Walter Grass, president of the Association of Graubünden walking trails (BWA), called for action to prevent future incidents, reported newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Monday.

In a letter to municipalities, the association asked them to check the safety of their trails and seek a dialogue with farmers over the issue.

The problem can only be avoided entirely if footpaths are diverted or completely fenced off, the paper reported.

Fugitive cow outwits police for 4 weeks before capture

Published: 02 Aug 2016 18:06 GMT+02:00

Updated: 02 Aug 2016 18:08 GMT+02:00

Kaiserslautern police sent out helicopters to track down Johanna. But again and again the canny cow slipped through the net of the law.

The wild goose chase is finally over. Western Germany can sleep easy again at night.

After fruitlessly searching for an elusive fugitive for a whole month, police in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate made a triumphant announcement on Tuesday. The net had been closed on the runaway - the cops had got their man.

Well, man might not be exactly the right description. This was a female for a start. And she was one of the four-legged variety.

A month ago a plucky bovine dodged a bullet when she escaped from a slaughterhouse in Kaiserslautern, reports broadcaster SWR.

Police subsequently received reports from multiple worried road users who reported seeing a brown cow tromping towards the city centre.

Several police helicopters were dispatched to hunt the escapee, who has since been named Johanna.

Although officers spotted her now and then, Johanna immediately disappeared again each time, and police abandoned the search in frustration.

But, after a couple of weeks, the slippery beast once again ventured out into the public eye, walking down a street.

When cops moved in though, Johanna was already gone. She had fled into a nearby forest where, among the trees, she was practically impossible to trace.

Perhaps embittered that the humans who had raised her to adulthood now wanted to put her on a plate, Johanna turned to ever more radical means.

She began straying onto railway tracks, disrupting the service between Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl on several occasions.

A reward was placed on her head (by an animal welfare organization). But one professional animal catcher soon gave up, claiming the bovine simply couldn't be found.

As is so often the case with free spirits of her nature though, Johanna eventually rode her luck too far.

Her next target was a factory owned by the car maker Opel. At 3am on Tuesday she crossed into the premises. What devious plan she had in mind, only she knows. But security guards caught her movements on CCTV and alerted the fire brigade.

By the time Johanna noticed that she was being tailed, it was too late. As she turned to make a getaway, firemen drove her into a closed-off area and her dramatic time on the run was over.

But the story doesn't end there. Johanna's life is to be spared.

In the next few days, she will be taken to an animal sanctuary in northern Rhineland-Palatinate to live out her days. But the animal keepers there will no doubt be under strict instructions to keep a very close eye on her.

Spain- Police called to home " exorcism taking place ?"

A young woman was rescued from a ‘cult exorcism’ taking place in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo after her "blood-curdling screams" were heard by neighbours.

Police said they were called to a flat near the Plaza de la Gesta at around daybreak last Saturday after a neighbour called in to report the "blood-curdling" screams of a woman.

"I heard a woman screaming and it frightened me," one neighbour told local media. "The screams were blood-curdling, like she was being slowly murdered."

The woman, who has not been named but is said to be of South American origin, had to be hospitalized after being found in "a state of great mental anguish".

She was discharged hours later after it was confirmed that she had suffered no physical injury.

The woman was reportedly undergoing an ‘exorcism’ in the presence of several other young people and led by a "shamen".

"It absolutely had nothing to do with sanctioned Catholic exorcism," Benito Gallego, dean of Oviedo Cathedral told La Opinión A Coruña. 

"It may be that it was some sort of cult ritual, faith healing or voodoo, but is far removed from the exorcism practised by the Catholic Church," he said.  

Sanctioned exorcisms are regularly carried out by the Catholic Church in Spain. 

Germany - Webcam girl "fights in court ," work at home mom ?

Published: 04 Oct 2016 14:21 GMT+02:00

Updated: 04 Oct 2016 14:21 GMT+02:00

German porn star Natalie Hot will appear in court on Wednesday to defend her right to work as a 'webcam girl', stripping and performing for erotic chat rooms.

The trial will revolve around the question of whether stripping on camera qualifies as "working from home".

The 24-year-old, who is well-known in Germany with more than 6,000 'likes' on her official fan page, works from her detached house in Ampfing, Bavaria. The town is home to 6,000 residents, several of whom have lodged legal complaints over their neighbour's chosen profession.

Hot is challenging a decision by local authorities that prevented her from undressing on camera, threatening a penalty of €2,000 if she doesn't adhere to the ban.

Their reasoning is that her house is in a specific land-use area, which does not allow for commercial use - in fact, the room Hot uses for her work is intended as a children's bedroom.

Complaints made by neighbours also included claims that Hot was too noisy, and that their children were being mocked at school for living near a porn star.

"Some people will always complain for some reason," said Hot, who does not want her real name made public.

"Light pollution, I'm too loud, the children can't sleep - that kind of thing." 

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Berlin- Teenagers killed by train while on tracks ...

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Berlin- Teenagers killed by train while on tracks ...: Published: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00 Updated: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00 Two young men, 18 and 19, were run over and killed by ...

Berlin- Teenagers killed by train while on tracks spraying graffiti

Published: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00

Updated: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00

Two young men, 18 and 19, were run over and killed by a train around midnight Sunday night in Berlin.

Police reported on Monday that the accident occurred on the S1 line between the stations Wittenau and Wilhelmsruh.

 

Police believe the two were on a section of the S-Bahn rails on a bridge when a train heading in the direction of Wannsee drove through and rolled over them.

 

The train driver told police that he heard a rumbling sound, and then stopped the train. He then found the two young men, already dead, after he got out of the train to figure out what had caused the noise.

 

Fresh graffiti was found in the area of the bridge where the teens had been, as well as several cans of paint and a backpack containing other graffiti paraphernalia.

 

According to Tagesspiegel, the victims were from Berlin and were already known to police as graffiti painters, as well as for other crimes.

 

A police helicopter was called to the spot in order to light up the scene while the bodies of the two were removed by the fire services.

 

The train was able to travel on from the scene of the incident after two hours. However, the 50 passengers on board the S1 train had to remain inside the carriage for the two hours while the bodies were being removed because it was too risky to have them exit out of the train and across the tracks in the dark.

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Missing Swiss cat turns up 600km away in Germany

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Missing Swiss cat turns up 600km away in Germany: Published: 30 Sep 2016 12:28 GMT+02:00 A family's much-loved cat who went missing from her home in the north-eastern Swiss city of...

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Loyal dog mounts vigil at hospital doors for sick ...

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Loyal dog mounts vigil at hospital doors for sick ...: Published: 05 Sep 2016 10:58 GMT+02:00 Maya was finally reunited with her owner after waiting patiently for six days at the doors of a...

Missing Swiss cat turns up 600km away in Germany

Published: 30 Sep 2016 12:28 GMT+02:00

A family's much-loved cat who went missing from her home in the north-eastern Swiss city of St Gallen more than a year ago has been found 600 kilometres away in Bonn, Germany.

According to daily 20 Minuten, the 15-year-old moggy, called Sissi, disappeared from her home at the end of August 2015.

The cat’s distressed family looked everywhere for Sissi – who is deaf – but, as winter approached, finally gave up hope.

“It was very difficult for us. Tears flowed,” owner Julika Fitzi told the paper.

So she was amazed when she was contacted by a cat refuge in Bonn to say they had found Sissi in the German city and identified her by her microchip.

Refuge worker Susanne Wanniger told Germany’s Express paper on Thursday that the cat was found by a resident in the city centre of Bonn in a dire state – covered in fleas and very thin.

While no one knows how Sissi managed to travel the 600km to Bonn, Fitzi thinks she probably got into a vehicle by mistake and was accidentally driven there.

It takes around six hours to drive between the two cities.

Loyal dog mounts vigil at hospital doors for sick owner

Published: 05 Sep 2016 10:58 GMT+02:00

Maya was finally reunited with her owner after waiting patiently for six days at the doors of a hospital in Alicante.

Sandra Iniesta, 22, was discharged from Elda hospital near Alicante on Saturday where she rushed a week earlier after suffering a ruptured appendix.

Waiting loyally for her at the door of the hospital was Maya, a two-year-old Akita Inu, who had steadfastedly refused to leave her vigil while her owner was recovering.

Even when her owner’s father attempted to pull her away tempting her into the car with offers of treats, the dog refused to budge.

“She knows what is happening and she is showing that she can be patient,” he explained to local Alicante newspaper Información of Maya, whose Japanese breed is famous for its loyalty.

She quickly became a favourite with hospital staff who posted a photograph of Maya on their facebook page and the story soon went viral on social media.

Iniesta emerged from the hospital on Saturday to discover her beloved dog had become a celebrity.

“She just did what she does at home in Barcelona which is wait at the door of a place until I return,” explained Iniesta.

"After days of not seeing my girl Maya, the kiss and happiness at seeing me and me her is priceless," she wrote on Twitter

Iran - U.S female Chess Master faces arrest (refuses to wear hijab )

This is what standing up for women’s rights looks like.

Iran is set to host the world chess championship, but now the U.S. women’s champion and others are accusing chess tournament officials of not standing up for women’s rights because it has allowed Iran to rule that all female contestants must wear the oppressive Muslim headscarf during their stay in the Muslim country.

Worse, Iran has said that female chess grandmasters who refuse to wear the hijab while in Iran will face arrest!

Wearing the headscarves has been strictly enforced by the “morality police” since 1979.  Refusal to do so can result in public reprimands, arrests or fines, the Mail reported.

Fide, the nickname of the World Chess Federation, is now being accused of bowing to pressure from the terrorist exporting nation and not standing up for its female players.

In particular, the U.S. women’s champion, Nazi Paikidze, is attacking Fide as weak-willed.

 

“It is absolutely unacceptable to host one of the most important women’s tournaments in a venue where, to this day, women are forced to cover up with a hijab,” Paikidze said according to the Daily Mail.

“I understand and respect cultural differences,” she added. “But, failing to comply can lead to imprisonment and women’s rights are being severely restricted in general. It does not feel safe for women from around the world to play here.”

“If the situation remains unchanged, I will most certainly not participate in this event,” the U.S. female champ concluded.

U.S. Women’s Champion Nazi Paikidze

Paikidz isn’t the only chess champ from the west who is balking at Iran’s demands. Former Pan American champion Carla Heredia, from Ecuador, also criticized the tournament.

“No institution, no government, nor a Women’s World Chess Championship should force women to wear or to take out a hijab,” Heredia said. She then added, “This violates all what sports means. Sport should be free of discrimination by sex, religion and sexual orientation.”

Others agreed and a group of the female champions have demanded that Fide address the issue. So far, though, the chess organization has timidly refused to even comment and there has yet been no action on the accusations against it.

 

Iran - 16 years in prison for Human Rights activist

Iran: Amnesty International react to “shameful” 16-year-sentence for human rights defender Narges Mohammadi

 Thursday, 29 September 2016 22:05

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NCRI - Amnesty International havehighlighted the recent news that the 16-year prison sentence against Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, who is critically ill, has been upheld by the Iranian regime’s appeal court.

Their Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther, said: “This verdict is yet another cruel and devastating blow to human rights in Iran, which demonstrates the authorities’ utter contempt for justice. Narges Mohammadi is a prominent advocate of human rights and a prisoner of conscience. She should be lauded for her courage not locked in a prison cell for 16 years.” 

He added that it is “harsh” and “appalling” that this sentence has been given for human rights work that has been carried out peacefully. He said it is clear that the authorities have “laid bare their intent to silence human rights defenders at all costs”. 

Luther said that this sentence is even more shocking because it comes at a time when Iran’s regime is preparing for renewed bilateral dialogue with the EU, and “given that Narges Mohammadi was convicted for her work campaigning against the death penalty and meeting with the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs”. He said that this sentencing raises many doubts about Tehran’s commitment to dealing with the EU over human rights issues. 

“Narges Mohammadi’s conviction and sentence must be quashed and the authorities must order her immediate and unconditional release. We urge the EU to make these calls, too, and put the heightened repression of human rights defenders in Iran at the heart of their dialogue.”