Saturday, February 28, 2015

Murder most foul in Texas County – grieving son shoots dead seven


#TexasCounty #handgun #Summersville It was murder most foul in Texas County, Missouri, when 36-year-old Joseph Aldridge came home to discover his 74-year-old mother lying dead on the couch and went on a shooting spree to kill seven persons before shooting himself as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 February 2015.
The persons he killed were four of his relatives and three neighbors. It seems he had opened fire in four separate locations after finding his mother dead – she had been ill and died in her home in Texas County, Missouri. Apparently, her death was due to natural causes and she had been dead for more than 24-hours.
Texas County has a population of about 25,000 and is described as a 'close knit' community.
It seems Joseph Aldridge armed himself with a handgun and shot dead two male cousins, their wives, and three neighbors before ending his life by shooting himself in his pickup truck on the outskirts of Summersville, Missouri. Preliminary investigation appears to suggest that he had been feuding with his cousins for years and the shooter was a cousin to the male victims.

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Boris Nemstov, a fierce critic of President Putin, shot dead in Moscow


#BorisNemstov #VladimirPutin #Ukraine #DavidCameron #WhiteHouse Russia's former deputy Prime Minister 55-year-old Boris Nemstov who was a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin has been shot dead by unidentified assailants in Moscow as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 February 2015. The assailants shot him four times from a passing car.
It seems he was working on a sensitive report regarding concrete evidence about the direct involvement of Russia in the separatist movement in Ukraine that had erupted last year.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the killing and has termed it as despicable and callous. He has also added that the people of Russian had been deprived of a champion of their rights and that Boris Nemtsov was greatly admired in Britain.
It seems the incident occurred as Mr Nemtsov was walking along the Bolshoy Kammeny Bridge towards Bolotnaya Square. Along with him was a female acquaintance who had come from Ukraine.
The White House wants that the investigation is "prompt, impartial and transparent".
President Putin has condemned the death and has indicated that, to him, it appeared to be a “contract killing" – he has also said that he will personally oversee the investigation into the shooting.
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Friday, February 27, 2015

Immortality is not for humans but, what happens when you die in flight?


#Internationalflights #businessclass #bodybags #cabincrew None of us humans are immortal, all of us have to die and the death cannot be predicted – it can happen anywhere. Yes, even inside a plane that is cruising along at an altitude of 30000 feet. So what happens when that such a situation becomes a reality?
It has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 27 February 2015 that the crew must know how to react to a situation where a sudden death occurs in the air.
Nearly eight million people are travelling by aeroplane every day and, any of them could die suddenly. It could be death from natural causes on a domestic or international flight. So, how does the crew react, what do they do with the deceased person’s body in order not to alarm other passengers, especially children. The options are not very many because of the lack of any spare space inside the plane.
Therefore, the deceased could be shifted to an empty row in first or business class cabins. Some aircraft for long-haul journeys are equipped with special compartments to keep a body out of sight while some others have body bags, just in case.
Moreover, when there is absolutely no space, the cabin crew should cover the person with a blanket up to their neck and tighten their safety belt.
Shifting a dead passenger into the loo is not any possible option because the passenger could slip out from the seat and wind up on the floor.

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Death of a US-Bangladesh blogger at the hands of religious fanatics in Dhaka


#AvijitRoy #Dhaka #Bangladesh #religiousfanatics The incident of the hacking to death of a blogger in the name of religion reveals the undercurrents in society with fears of terrorism and death lurking round every corner. The brutal murder of Avijit Roy, a US-Bangladesh blogger at the hands of fanatics in Dhaka, is proof as reported in bbc.com dated 27 February 2015.
Avijit Roy was returning from a local book fair with his wife when a knife-wielding mob, armed with meat cleavers, attacked them and hacked him to death. They had ambushed the couple as they were on their way towards a roadside tea stall.
He was an atheist who advocated secularism and his writings on religion earned for him wraths of Islamist hardliners. Police have yet to make any arrests but the gingers of suspicion point to a local Islamist group that has praised the killing on the internet. As informed by his family, he had received threats after publishing articles that promoted secular views, science and social issues in his Bengali-language blog, Mukto-mona, or Free Mind.
It seems he had defended atheism in a recent Facebook post. He had called it as "a rational concept to oppose any unscientific and irrational belief".
His death has been mourned by hundreds of students who gathered in Dhaka.

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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Jihadi John identified as belonging to a respectable London family


#JihadiJohn #Kuwait #London #ISIS #JamesFoley #StevenSotloff ‘Jihadi John’ was the name given to The Islamic State executioner who has been seen in videos of beheading of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker David Haines, 22 Syrian soldiers and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
He has now been identified as a man from London as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 26 February 2015. His actual name is Mohammed Emwazi, was born in Kuwait. He is 27-years-old and resident of Queen’s Park, west London. Moreover, he is a computer programming graduate from the University of Westminster and it is believed that he had travelled to Syria in 2012 and later joined ISIS.
The identification has been apparently done by one of his close friends who said Mohammed Emwazi was like a brother to him.
Another person named Asim Qureshi, research director a British human rights group Cage, also believed the man was Jihadi John. Qureshi had been in contact with Mohammed Emwazi before he left for Syria.
The FBI had been trying to identify Jihadi John by using various investigative techniques like voice analysis and interviews with former hostages. British Prime Minister David Cameron has reiterated that Jihadi John has to face justice for the inhuman and appalling acts that have been committed in Syria.

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Terror from unexpected quarters – some Australian women support terrorism


#JulieBishop #TonyAbbott #ISIS #foreignfighters This must come as a great shock that some Australian women support terrorism and, as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said, 40 Australian women have either taken part in terror attacks or are supporting militant groups as reported in bbc.com dated 26 February 2015.
She has, reportedly, informed that many Australian women were going to Syria and Iraq to join their husbands who are fighting with Islamic State (IS) or to marry a militant. The worst part is that dozens of Australian nationals are believed to have joined IS. Obviously, this is not good news for the Australian officials who are worried about not just the effect of returnees, but also on those who support them apart from domestic security.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has also indicated that women accounted for nearly one-fifth of all foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq and that it "defied logic" on why they would join outfits like the IS.
She has also said that the IS has published instructions on the treatment of sexual slaves – these instructions make mention of committing atrocities on women like raping and physical torture. The instructions also encourage sexual assault on girls who have not yet reached puberty.
It is for society to reach out to vulnerable young people and prevent them from being radicalized.
In view of these developments, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made an announcement of a push to toughen citizenship laws so that domestic extremists can be targeted.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

ISIS militants kidnap 90 Assyrian Christians from Syria


#ISIS #Hasaka #AssyrianChristians #Syria It has been reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHM) that Islamic State militants have kidnapped nearly 90 people from Christian villages in Syria and some of the abducted are children as reported in news.sky.com dated 24 February 2015. These abductions have come soon after the reported beheading of 21 Christians by the ISIS in Libya.
As per information, the militants had stormed at least two villages that were inhabited by ancient Assyrian Christians and Nuri Kino, the head of the activist group A Demand For Action has quoted villagers who fled the attacks as saying that nearly 100 people are being held.
The raids happened outside the town of Tel Hmar in Hasaka province – this is a region divided between IS and Kurdish control and is close to the Turkish and Iraqi border. The Kurdish troops, backed by US-led airstrikes, have proved to be effective in the fight against IS, which seized large swathes of Syria and Iraq last year. The Kurdish troops have targeted militants in Hasaka in the last few days.
Syria's SANA state news agency has reported that IS overran seven villages which led hundreds of people to flee.

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Five teenage girls commit group suicide in a Bengal village


#teenagegirls #suicide A strange case has come to light about a group-suicide of five teenage girls in a village in Bengal – this has been reported in thehindu.com dated 25 February 2015. There we six girls in the group and one of them is in hospital for her life.
No one knows exactly why they committed this ghastly act and, while one theory is that the marriage of one of the girls had been fixed against her wish and, since they were close friends, they felt that they could not bear to live without her.
The eldest of the girls was 17 and the youngest was only 13 and, even though they had family relationships and were from the same Bhuniya community. These people are one of the poorest communities of Bengal and the reason of their suicide remains a mystery.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Suicide bombing in Nigeria – a 10-year-old girl suicide bomber kills five


#potiskum #bokoharam #nigeria #suicidebomber The incident took place in Potiskum in NE Nigeria where a 10-year-old girl got out of a tricycle taxi in front of the busy cell phone market in Potiskum and minutes later her explosives detonated killing the girl and four others as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 24 February 2015. Using such young girls who do not have the faintest idea of how they are being used would lead one to presume that they have been made victims and most probably had been kidnapped.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in which 46 people have suffered serious injuries, but experts feel that it bears he hallmarks of Boko Haram, Nigeria's homegrown extremist group.
If reports are to be believed, Boko Haram has, of late, been using teenage girls and young women for suicide bombings in marketplaces, bus stations and other busy areas. However, the girl in the Potiskum attack appeared far younger and it is not yet clear whether the bombers activate the explosions themselves, or whether they were remote controlled devices.
Potiskum is the capital of Yobe state and, last November, a suicide bomber disguised in a school uniform had set off explosives hidden in a backpack during an assembly at a high school. At least 48 students were killed in the attack and another 79 were wounded.

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Drones over Paris at night rob the sleep of the French Police


#drones #eiffeltower #placedelaconcorde #elyseepalace Drones have taken to the night skies of Paris to rob the sleep of the police because these gadgets are not very large, easy to procure and use and, those with ulterior motives could use them to create problems for law enforcement agencies.
The French police have indicated that at least five of the unmanned aerial machines have been sighted during the night and none of the operators have been caught as reported in bbc.com dated 24 February 2015. The worry is that these drones have been spotted over sensitive locations. The first one appeared over the US embassy followed by later sightings near the Eiffel Tower and Place de la Concorde. In the opinion of the French, the drone flights could be linked.
Incidentally, only last month a drone was seen over the Elysee Palace, home of President Francois Hollande, and in October a series of nuclear plants was targeted across the country.
Drones have the ability to provide high-quality aerial film and the worry for the authorities is whether to treat them as work of enthusiasts or whether they were being used with malicious intent.
Drones or UAVs have been extensively used in wars by the US and other countries and civilian versions are being created to carry out work like that of courier services there have been reports of drones being used to airdrop drugs inside prisons. Hence, the world of drones is fraught with innumerable possibilities.

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Monday, February 23, 2015

Ferry accident in Bangladesh leaves at least 68 dead


#Bangladesh #PadmaRiver #ferry It was a tragedy when an overcrowded double-decker ferry was hit by a cargo vessel and capsized with passengers in the lower deck getting trapped leading to at least 68 deaths as reported in edition.cnn.com dated 23 February 2015.
The incident on the Padma River and it is understood that the boat was packed when it overturned in the Manikganj district north of the capital, Dhaka. This has been conveyed by the local police Chief Bidhan Tripura.
Many of the rescued passengers were on the upper deck and they jumped into the river. The deputy commissioner of Manikganj, Rashida Ferdouse, has admitted that the number of passengers on board the ferry were not known. On a rough estimate there were around 100 passengers and the dead included 19 children.
It seems in August last there had been another deadly ferry accident on the same river in which 45 people died. Overcrowding of ferries and poor monitoring systems are not new to Bangladesh where scores of casualties occur from ferry accidents every year.

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Al-Shabaab eyes malls in London – could carry out Westgate style attacks


#WestgateMall #alshabaab #MallofAmerica #WestfieldMall Terrorist group al-Shabaab has plans to carry out Westgate style in London, the United States and Canada. It has, apparently, released a graphic video calling for such attacks on shopping districts like Oxford Street in London apart from major shopping centers in the United States and Canada as revealed in dailymail.co.uk dated 23 February 2015.
Security officials have taken the threat seriously because the terrorist group has called on Jihadis who are living in the west to target major shopping centers in their home cities. Among possible targets are London's Oxford Street, and the Westfield malls in Stratford and White City.
It may be recalled that the al-Shabaab had laid a siege in 2013 siege on Kenya's Westgate Mall and it resulted in the death of 62 people.
It is a matter of concern that in the video, the terrorist had indicated the GPS co-ordinates for the Westfield shopping centers in Stratford, East London and White City in West London – obviously, tensions are high.
Other possible targets could be the Mall of America in Minnesota or the West Edmonton mall in Canada or in London’s Oxford Street or any of the hundred or so of the Jewish owned Westfield shopping centers.
In view of the threats, the Mall of America is taking 'extra security precautions' and its officials are coordinating and working closely with the FBI and America's Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This mall is the country's largest shopping center, with 40million visitors a year.

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Sunday, February 22, 2015

British girls off to Syria to become jihadi brides – parents should lock up their passports


#JihadiBrides #WilliamHague #passports #ISIS Three teenage British girls are believed to be trying to go to Syria to become jihadi brides and William Hague has reportedly advised parents of all such girls who are at risk of being radicalized to confiscate their passports. That could act as a deterrent and stop them from travelling to join Islamic State.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 21 February 2015.
William Hague feels the families have a ‘big responsibility’ to spot signs that their loved ones are preparing to join jihadists in Iraq and Syria and has called for tougher laws to intercept online messages.
These developments have come after the families of Shamima Begum, and Amira Abase, both 15-year-olds and 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana reported that the girls are feared to have fled Britain to join ISIS – the parents have pleaded with them not to cross the border into Syria. They are believed to have reached Istanbul.
The comments of William Hague have come against the backdrop of Inspire, a Muslim women’s human rights group, that has urged schools to take suitable action to tackle the ‘romanticized notion’ of ISIS that is being presented to young people to win them over through propaganda.
As the head of Inspire has admitted – the girls are getting all their information online. The information is glorified and romantic and gives a wrong impression that it is one big happy family out there which is certainly not the case. Hence the proposal to keep passports of the daughters under lock and key.

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Nigerian Army takes back the town of Baga from Boko Haram.


#BokoHaram #LakeChad #terrorists #Nigeria #Baga Boko Haram militants had taken over the city of Baga on 3 January 2015 and it was reported officially that 150 people had died during the attack on Baga and nearby Doron Baga but locals put the toll at around 2,000.
Anyway, the Nigerian army has now retaken the north-eastern town of Baga and that mopping up operations had been started as reported in bbc.com dated 21 February 2015.
The Army has also claimed that it had killed many Boko Haram militants – there is no independent verification of this. As per the version of the Army, the militants had fled and some of them drowned in Lake Chad when they tried to escape the aerial bombardment. Moreover, the militants had laid nearly 1000 mines in Baga which had to be negotiated by the soldiers before entering.
Boko Haram now controls much of Nigeria's north-east and it has killed thousands of people indiscriminately in its drive to establish an Islamic state. More recently, it has conducted cross-border raids in neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger by attacking villages and military bases. All these three countries have joined forces with Nigeria to create a military coalition against the Islamist militants.

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

UN could release names of 200 war criminals of Syria


#warcriminals #syrianconflict #ISIS #alnusra #FSA UN is worried about the spate of atrocities committed in Syria by both the people in power and those in the opposition and has complied a list of persons who could fall in the category of war criminals as reported in bbc.com dated 20 February 2015.
The list has been compiled by investigators of United Nations and, as per diplomatic sources, it runs into 5 lists with roughly 40 names in each list. The names include people belonging to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad as well as people belonging to Free Syrian Army FSA, Islamic State, al-Nusra affiliates etcetera – these persons are suspected of having committed war crimes in Syria.
In case the UN does release the list, it would be a departure from present procedures because, there is a long-held policy of not naming alleged war criminals in the Syrian conflict. However, the investigators feel that there had been an "exponential rise" in atrocities committed in Syria with more than 220,000 people killed in the course of the four-year civil conflict.
The investigators - from the UN's Commission for Inquiry on Syria - said they had prepared five lists of names including "a variety of perpetrators from different groups".
The Syrian government has carried out innumerable air strikes on rebel-held territory throughout the conflict, and has been accused by human rights organizations of killing thousands of innocent civilians in the process. The making public of the list could coincide with the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on 17 March.

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25 killed and 40 injured in terrorist attack by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu


#mogadishu #somalia #alshabaab At least 25 people have been killed and 40 injured is suicide attacks at a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as reported in foxnews.com dated 21 February 2015.
It seems one Islamic extremist rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the gate of the Central Hotel, while another extremist went in and blew himself up as per a statement from the office of Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.
There was a meeting of Government officials going on in the Central Hotel at the time, and the deputy Mayor of Mogadishu and two legislators died in the attack. However, it is not clarified as to whether the number of casualties include the two terrorist bombers. Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab militants have accepted the responsibility for the attack.
This is the second attack on a hotel in Mogadishu in less than a month. In the previous instance, on Jan. 22, three Somali nationals were killed when a suicide car bomber blew himself up at the gate of a hotel that was housing the advance party of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had later visited Somalia.
Incidentally, in spite of losing key strongholds in Somalia, al-Shabaab continues to stage attacks in the capital and elsewhere.

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Friday, February 20, 2015

Libyan car bomb kills at least 30 in a gas station in Qubba


#CopticChristians #Egypt #ISIS #Qubba #Libya #carbomb #gasstation There are reports of a car bomb that struck a town in eastern Libya which is, at present, under control of the country's internationally recognized government. At least 30 people were killed in the attack and an army spokesman has put the blame on Islamic militants. This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 20 February 2015.
The bombing has taken place after a video had surfaced that showed the beheading of 21 abducted Egyptian Coptic Christians at the hands of Libya's branch of the Islamic State group. This has resulted in Egypt carrying airstrikes on IS positions in Libya. It also raised fears that the extremist group has spread its tentacles beyond the battlefields of Iraq and Syria and had set up a major strategic foothold closer to European shores.
In the latest attack, the suspected Islamic militants had bombed a gas station that was packed with motorists in the town of Qubba which is located approximately 19 miles from the city of Darna. This is believed to be a stronghold of Libya's Islamic State offshoot.
It seems the motorists had lined up to fill their tanks at the station, which is located next to the town's security headquarters, when the attack took place and scores of people were also wounded in the attack.

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UN Secretary General wants action to be taken on sieges in Syria and use of barrel bombs


#barrelbombs #syria #assad #UNSC #ghouta #damascus With no end in sight to the hostilities and civil unrest in Syria that has been going on since 2011 and with death toll over 210,000, the US Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has denounced the apparent business-as-usual approach to Syria. He has called for urgent action to lift sieges on civilians and to end barrel bomb attacks. This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 20 February 2015.
In a report to the Security Council, he has listed five priorities for action to normalize the situation and give relief to the people. These include the lifting of sieges on 212,000 people, ensuring access to medical aid to all of Syria and rebuilding the education system. Moreover, he wants the 15-member council to address barrel-bomb attacks on civilians and put an end to the practice of denying services as a weapon of war.
His report was the 12th to the council, which is believed to be deeply divided over the war that has left more than 210,000 dead and has displaced 12 million Syrians.
Incidentally, Russia which is an ally of President Bashar al-Assad has blocked moves to punish the regime for the worsening violence. As per reports with Ban Ki-moon, there has been a significant escalation of violence and attacks by government forces during January in Damascus, rural Damascus and in eastern Ghouta. It seems in the eastern Ghouta region, Assad's forces had carried out aerial bombardments with barrel bombs, and had shelled the area apart from launching surface-to-surface missiles.

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Retaking of Mosul from ISIS on the cards for Iraq-Kurdish forces


#ISIS #Mosul #US #Iraq #haideralabadi It has been revealed by US officials that plans have been drawn up to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS and, in order to carry this out, a joint Iraqi-Kurdish military force of up to 25,000 fighters is being readied as reported in bbc.com dated 20 February 2015.
This operation to recapture Mosul, which is at present held by a 1000 to 2000 strong force of ISIS, has been tentatively for April or May. The city of Mosul was home to over a million people before IS captured it in June 2014.
It is expected that all of the fighters in the Iraqi-Kurdish force would have undergone necessary training imparted by the US by the time the operation is launched. It is important to carry out the operation before the onset of summer in May because at that time the heat would be unbearable.
The unnamed US official has indicated that no decision had been made on whether a small group of US military advisers would be needed on the ground to direct air support. In the opinion of US officials, the IS forces are now in retreat and Washington is keen to show that its efforts to rebuild Iraqi military capacity are bearing fruit.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has already confirmed that his forces were "planning an offensive on Mosul". Moreover, military chiefs from more than 20 countries have already assembled in Saudi Arabia – they would be discussing on how best to strengthen the Iraqi army against IS.

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Thursday, February 19, 2015

German nurse killed over 30 patients with lethal poison for thrills – says he is sorry


#oldenburg #lethaldose #resuscitation #patients A 38-year-old male nurse of Delmenhorst clinic, near Oldenburg, is on trial for having killed over 30 patients with lethal dose of poison in the intensive care unit between 2003 and 2005 as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 19 February 2015. He has admitted that he killed for thrills.
His activities came to light when a colleague caught him as he was in the act of injecting patients in 2005 and, in the first trial in Oldenburg, a district court in 2008, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for attempted murder – he has, since then, been in detention since.
By his own admission, his motive was to spark medical emergencies so that he could then demonstrate his resuscitation skills. Moreover, he also acted out of boredom. He was seeking thrills to release built up tensions and he felt on top of the world when he managed to resuscitate whom he had administered the lethal dose.
He felt devastated when he failed and, with each failure, he vowed never to play his lethal game again, but this determination was always short-lived.

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ISIS harvesting human organs – kidneys missing from many dead bodies


#ISIS #organharvesting #iraq #UN ISIS has unleashed a spate of violence in the Iraq and Syria regions and have also been carrying out beheading and killing of innocent people as and when they wish and, as per latest reports, it seems they are also involved in harvesting human organs to reap financial benefits. This is because some dead bodies have cavities where the kidneys should have been giving rise to speculations that these had been removed. This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 19 February 2015.
The United Nations are investigating this aspect that ISIS was engaged in "harvesting organs from slain civilians and gaining financial benefits by trafficking the body parts."
Iraq’s ambassador to the UN Mohamed Alhakim has revealed that some of the bodies were found to be mutilated from which it can be concluded that body parts are missing. The ISIS terrorist groups have committed the most heinous criminal terrorist acts against the Iraqi people irrespective of whether they belong to Shia, Sunni, Christians, Turkmen, Shabak or Izadis.
The outgoing UN envoy to Iraq, Nikolay Mladenov, has informed the Security Council that a total of 790 people were killed in January alone by terrorism and armed conflict.

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Assad government agrees to six-week ceasefire in Aleppo


#aleppo #syria #assad #mortarfire #SOHR It has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 19 February 2015 that the government of Syria has agreed to put on hold airstrikes and artillery shelling on Aleppo for six weeks to see if a ceasefire is workable in the city which is divided into a rebel-controlled west and government-held east.
This has been informed by the United Nations envoy to Syria by Staffan de Mistura who was briefing the Security Council in a closed session on his latest efforts to find a solution to the civil war that has torn Syria apart over the past four years.
In his opinion, the fresh development should be viewed as a 'glimmer of hope' and emphasized the need for a political solution to the conflict. He would also have to convince the opposition and obtain their support for the plan – this would mean they would have to suspend rocket and mortar fire in the same period.
Incidentally, in spite of the agreement to a ceasefire by the regime of Assad, battles have been raging in and around Aleppo and have resulted in the death of killed at least 70 pro-government fighters apart from another 80 insurgents in the last 24 hours.
This was the outcome of a fresh offensive launched in Aleppo by the army. The army, backed by local allied militia, had captured areas north of Aleppo. As per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, this was basically an attempt to encircle the city and throttle the supply lines.
The conflict in Syrian began in 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-Assad and has gradually taken the shape of a civil war, drawing in foreign fighters on both sides. According to UN estimates, the total number of casualties is nearly 220,000 while millions have fled to neighboring countries to seek refuge.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Delhi police team of women karate experts ready to protect the women


#delhi #karate #nirbhaya #plainclothes #uberrape Delhi has been branded as the rape capital of India and the Delhi police are getting ready to show that they would not tolerate any more bad behavior against its women. A 40-strong team fondly named ‘Charlie’s Angels’ has been trained to tackle the menace and they are fully trained in martial arts like karate as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 February 2015.
As its leader Bharti Wadhwa says – the bad behavior can begin with a simple cat call followed by stalking and then rape. And, the mission of the team is to nip all such antics in the bud. These police women would be dressed in plain clothes instead of uniforms and would be deployed in the coming months at vulnerable locations like busy bus stations and metro stations, outside colleges and other such areas where women are thought vulnerable.
Delhi, the capital of India, is a sprawling city of some 16 million and it came under the spotlight just over two years ago when a 23-year-old woman was brutally gang raped in a moving bus. It was the Nirbhaya case and it led to an unrest of unimaginable magnitude and thousands took to the streets.
The attack and the subsequent protests all over the country led to a wave of policing and legal reforms.
In spite of promises the situation has not changed much and Delhi once again made the headlines when an Uber taxi driver was charged with raping a woman passenger.
As far as statistics go, nearly 2,069 rapes were registered with police in Delhi in 2014 against 1,571 the previous year – this is an increase of 31.6 percent.

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President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wants UN to authorize world powers to intervene in Libya


#ISIS #copticchristian #egypt #libya #derna The whole world has been appalled by the brutal killing of 21 Egyptian Christians at the hands of the ISIS and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wants a United Nations resolution that would allow international forces to intervene in Libya as reported in bbc.com dated 17 February 2015.
President al-Sisi has apparently told the French radio that there was no other choice and that Egypt cannot be a silent spectator to such brutalities. ‘We will not allow them to cut off the heads of our children’, is how he put it. He has demanded that weapons should be made available to Libya's internationally recognized government, which had fled to Tobruk after rival militias seized power in the capital.
Subsequent to the release of the militant video of the apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians, Egyptian jets have carried out bombing of IS targets. The targets had been Islamic State camps, training sites and weapons storage areas near the city of Derna. As per military sources, the strikes would continue and there was no need for ground troops at present.
It may be noted that Libya is home to a large community of both Muslim and Coptic Egyptians and a majority of them work there in the construction sector.

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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Thieves steal three big cats from breeding farm in Riyadh


#bigcats #riyadh #dartgun #securitycamera This gang of thieves is no ordinary gang – they have gone in for stealing three big cats from a breeding farm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 16 February 2015.
The three animals are a tiger, a leopard and a jaguar and the thieves smashed security cameras, disabled the alarm and knocked out the animals with a dart gun before carting them away from the breeding farm. They left behind empty syringes on the floor of the empty cages.
The owner is devastated because the animals were worth more than £100,000 and were probably stolen to order because they were trained to be perfect pets. Moreover, big cats are popular as pets among wealthy Arabs – they do not mind paying he sums to acquire such exotic pets that are difficult to obtain.

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ISIS seizes Iraqi town al-Baghdadi located 5 miles from US air base


#ISIS #albaghdadi #iraq #alanbar #pentagon #alasadairbase ISIS has ideas of spreading its wings beyond Syria and Iraq in order to establish militant affiliates in other countries and hence have, apparently, seized the town of al-Baghdadi, in Iraq’s Anbar Province, located hardly 5 miles from an air base staffed by U.S. Marines.
As per reports on foxnews.com dated 15 February 2015, hundreds of Islamic State fighters have captured nearly the whole of the city of al-Baghdadi. This city is 55 miles from the capital Ramadi.
It seems earlier, Iraqi soldiers had retaken several government buildings, but the soldiers had to subsequently withdraw handing the town back to the militants. As one local Iraqi official has admitted – ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district is now under the control of the insurgents.
It has been revealed by the Pentagon that the ISIS militants had launched attack on the town of al-Baghdadi from two directions before advancing inward. This is seen by observers as the first territorial gain by the militant group in months.
Incidentally, the Islamic state fighters had led a suicide attack on the Ayn al-Asad air base, where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops. In this attack, most of the ISIS fighters died – they were either killed by Iraqi government forces or by detonating their suicide vests.
As per estimates, there were 20-25 militants, most of them in uniforms of the Iraqi military, involved in the attack on the air base located in Iraq's Anbar province.
American intelligence officials believe that the number of fighters in the terror group have reached as many as 31,000 in Syria and Iraq. Alongside, there are nearly 2,600 U.S. forces in Iraq and, out of these, about 450 are training Iraqi troops at three bases across the country. The base at al-Asad is one of these bases.

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Tamil actress forces own 14-year-old daughter into the flesh trade


#vadapalani #mylapore #tamilactress #sextrade The CB-CID police have arrested a Tamil actress in Vadapalani for forcing her own teenage daughter into the sex trade. The daughter herself is also in the film industry and the police rescued her from a hotel. The police have also arrested a woman pimp and a film director from the same hotel as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 11 February 2015 from where the girl was rescued. The incident came to light because of a tip from volunteers of an NGO. It seems the police team sent a decoy to the hotel located in the vicinity of Vadapalani, where the girl was detained. The arrests included the mother of the girl and the film director. As per plans, the decoy met the mother who showed him picture of the girl and demanded Rs 1.5 lakh for her services. To this demand, the decoy paid an advance of Rs 10,000 and promised to pay the remaining later. Then the decoy entered the room, confirmed that it was indeed a juvenile girl being forced into prostitution and alerted a waiting police team who rushed in and nabbed the three accused. The girl has been sent to a government home in Mylapore and the arrested remanded to judicial custody.

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Russian company offers guided tank-tours to war ravaged Donetsk and Luhansk


#russianholiday #tanktour #donetsk #luhansk #ukraine In a major shift in policy, a Russian holiday company is offering guided tours to Donetsk and Luhansk to see the war ravaged countryside with its damaged battle tanks as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 14 February 2015.
The tours include tank-transport and personal bodyguards and the holiday company appears to be testing the boundaries of tolerance quite literally with such guided tours of war-torn eastern Ukraine.
The four-day tour would come to about £1,300 to £2,000 per person and the company would make available bodyguards from a security firm – each of the tanks will hold between five and seven people.
Apparently, even as a fierce and bloody battle continues between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, the holiday company based in Moscow and known as Megapolis Kurort feels that the scenario has tremendous potentials and want to exploit it.
Incidentally, the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk are on the itinerary of the company and both are strongholds of the pro-Russian rebels and had witnessed large scale violence.

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Boko Haram targets Chad – kills at least 25


#bokoharam #chad #ngouboua #nigeria Nigerian militants Boko Haram have attacked locations in Chad and left at least 25 people dead in various attacks as reported in news.sky.com dated 13 February 2015.
This was the first known lethal encroachment of the Sunni Muslim jihadist group into neighboring Chad in its latest wave of violence. It seems the jihadists arrived in large numbers at a fishing village early in the morning. They arrived in motorized canoes and set fire to houses and also attacked a police station.
As informed by a witness of Ngouboua village which is located around 12 miles east of Chad's border with Nigeria, the militants came in three pirogues and managed to kill ten people before being pushed back by the army.
Moreover, they also killed at least 21 people in two separate attacks in villages in northeastern Nigeria near the strategically important city of Maidiguri. The breakdown is 12 people in Akida village and nine others in Mbuta village. The attackers also destroyed shops and homes in the raids.
This Sunni jihadist group has increased cross-border attacks because they want to create an Islamic caliphate around Lake Chad, which spans Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. This group has proved to be a danger to all countries in the vicinity of Nigeria.

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Saturday, February 14, 2015

When in Chennai, be careful of who sits beside you - ‘she’ could be a ‘he’


#crossdresser #chennai A 23-year-old man in Chennai learnt the hard way that appearances can be deceptive and that a woman dressed in a nighty turned out to be a man who stole his wallet as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 15 February 2015. The victim was waiting at a bus stop in the Thousand Lights and had not given attention to the 'woman' seated beside him until he found his wallet missing and the 'woman' walking away.
The man raised an alarm and the fleeing offender was caught and it turned out that ‘she’ was, in fact, a 45-year-old cross dresser who would change his looks after every strike to evade police arrest. He is now cooling his heels in prison.
The facts of the case are – it was around 11.30pm and the victim, who worked in a cellphone shop at a mall, was at the bus stop waiting for his bus when a woman in a green nighty, with her face masked, came and took the seat beside him. The cross dresser had been loitering in the area when he noticed the victim seated alone and decided to target him.
The victim apparently dozed off and suddenly felt the woman falling on him. He believed that she was trying to lure him but decided to ignore her. Suddenly, he realized that his wallet was gone and the ‘woman’ was slinking away. He raised an alarm and a police patrol that was fortunately nearby checking vehicles intercepted the ‘woman’. When the police pulled down her mask, they saw behind it a bearded man and, he is a habitual offender.

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Dartford woman gets six years for biting off a portion of another woman’s nose


#holidaycamp #headbutting #bognorregis It takes all sorts to make a world, including a woman who headbutted another woman and bit off a piece of her nose in a ‘shark style’ attack during a children's pantomime as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 13 February 2015.
The nose had to be reattached after surgery as revealed by the prosecutors.
Tina Love had bit off a 3cm by 3cm piece of the victim Julie McDonald 's nose which was found on the floor after the attack on April 11, 2013 and the jury of the Chichester Crown Court took just 48 minutes to convict her of wounding with intent and she has been locked up for six years.
The woman 29-year-old Tina Love had lunged at mother-of-three 50-year-old Julie McDonald who hailed from Aylesbury, Bucks, before pinning her down and then biting a chunk from her nose. The attack happened following a 'stupid and childish' disagreement about a table. It was at a Jack and the Beanstalk show at Butlins Holiday Camp in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

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Ukraine peace deal in jeopardy again with fresh bombings and 11 dead


#artemivsk #kramatorsk #ukraine #smerch #minsk Consequent to fresh bombings, Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine has warned that such bombings in the east of the country is likely to put the impending ceasefire in danger as reported in news.sky.com dated 14 February 2015.
As per reports, at least 11 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the last 24 hours and the ceasefire agreed upon in Minsk on Thursday would take effect at 10pm UK time.
It seems a shell landed in a school yard in the eastern Ukrainian town of Artemivsk which is under control of the government forces on Friday – it resulted in the death of one child and two adults. In Kramatorsk, the Russian multiple rocket launch system Grad, or Smerch, has killed three civilians.
Moreover, Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels continued to fight across the eastern part of the country in spite of the new peace deal that was brokered by Germany and France in Minsk.
Information released by a Ukrainian military spokesman is that 11 soldiers had been killed and 40 wounded in the past 24 hours.

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Eight men admit to rape a Nepali woman for three hours in Rohtak and murder her


#gangrape In yet another gruesome case of a woman being raped and later murdered, details have emerged about the rape of a 28-year-old Nepali woman in a village in Rohtak district as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 14 February 2015 – it seems when the woman reached Khedi Gaddi in the evening at around 7 pm on February 1, five of the nine accused were having liquor at a roadside 'hotel'.
As she was looking for a hotel, the men waylaid her and forced themselves on her.
Police managed to nab eight on the men who had gang raped the woman for three hours and subsequently killed her by using bricks. They had taken turns to commit the heinous crime even when she was unconscious and inserted pieces of asbestos sheets into her private parts.
The body of the woman was found in the fields of neighboring Bahu Akbarpur village on February 4.
All the eight men have confessed to the crimes. There was a ninth man but he had fled to Delhi and subsequently committed suicide on February 9.
Special investigation team were interrogating the accused all of who lived in Khedi Gaddi village in and one of them was a Nepali, also from the same village.

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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Three of a Muslim family shot dead in North Carolina – was it a hate crime?


#hatecrime #chapelhillshooting #northcarolina It is a strange coincidence that three members of a Muslim family, all were students of a college in North Carolina were shot dead by their neighbor at a quiet apartment complex in Chapel Hill as reported in news.sky.com dated 11 February 2015 – was it a hate crime or did it result from a parking dispute?
The gunman has been charged with the triple homicide and police feel that it could have been motivated by a parking dispute. But the family members believe it was a hate crime because the victims were Muslims.
The police chief of Chapel Hill has vowed to "exhaust every lead" to investigate if it was a hate crime since all the victims were Muslims.
Incidentally, on his Facebook page, the 36-year-old suspect has described himself as an atheist and had made posts condemning Christianity, Mormonism and Islam. However, his wife says that the shooting had "nothing to do with religion or the victims' faith".
The father of one of the victims feels that it was a hate crime because the shooting was execution style with a bullet in every head.

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Yazidis kill Arabs in Sinjar who helped ISIS to eliminate the minority community


#yazidis #sinjar #islamicstate It is a retaliation of sorts as members of Iraq's Yazidi minority carry out revenge attacks on Sunni Muslim villagers who, they believe, had helped Islamic State to commit atrocities on their community last year as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 12 February 2015.
Arabs who are living in Sinjar in Iraq's Nineveh province have revealed that groups of heavily armed Yazidis have made four raids on the villages over the past two weeks killing at least 21 people and leaving a further 17 missing.
It may be recalled that Yazidis, whose ancient religion has elements of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam, had suffered grievously in the ISIS offensive last year and hundreds of them were killed and thousands captured, enslaved and raped by the Sunni Muslim militants. All because they considered Yazidis as worshippers of the Devil.
With the ISIS having been driven out from Sinjar, the Yazidis are gradually returning to their homes and uncovering mass graves one after another – sordid evidence of the atrocities committed by the ISIS and, therefore, some of the Yazidis are striking back.
It is miso unfortunate that Arabs and Yazidis, who once were friends and farmed together could never bring back Sinjar to its earlier glory before the arrival of Islamic State.

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22-year-old fashion designer kills pregnant housewife and hides the body in the sofa


A 22-year-old fashion designer of Mumbai killed a pregnant housewife and hid the dead body inside a sofa and entertained guests even as the body lay in the sofa as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 13 February 2015!! It appears to be a real life enacting of Alfred Hitchcock’s famous movie ‘The Rope’.
The motive of the murder was money. It seems the designer had borrowed Rs 20,000 from the husband of the pregnant woman and when she began to pester to return the same, the designer killed her. She used three different to kill and then stuffed her body in the storage cabinet of her sofa. Later, she entertained her maid and sister in the house while the body remained concealed in the sofa cabinet.
It seems the woman first strangled the victim with a rope before throttling her with her bare hands. And, finally, she slashed her throat with a blade and bludgeoned her on the head.
The woman has, since, been arrested from Borivli East. She initially blamed an 'unknown assailant' for the crime and sent the police on a wild goose chase but finally confessed.
The designer is single and lived with her parents while the deceased lived in the same neighborhood with her husband and their four-year-old son and in-laws. The husband was employed as a driver and he had loaned the money after borrowing it from someone.
Moreover, both of them were apparently getting close and that led to a dispute about six months earlier which was subsequently resolved.
The concealment of the body was quite similar to the movie ‘The Rope’ where the murdered person was hidden in the sofa and lay there even as a party raged in the house.

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Girls leave hostel after reports surface of their nude photos being taken on the sly


#girlshostel #berhampur #nudephotos Nearly 100 girls belonging to SC/ST weaker section of society stay in the residential Kasturba Gandhi Ashram Girls' School Hostel near Gudiali Square at Kabisurya Nagar in Berhampur. They study in class VI, VII and VIII and want to leave the hostel.
The reason is that it has now been revealed that the accountant of the school had taken nude photographs of the girls as reported in telegraphindia.com dated 12 February 2015.
The authorities have taken immediate action by suspending three employees of the school – the main accused has already fled the scene before the police arrived. However, the police have seized a camera and a 4GB disc, in which he had stored the photographs.
The school has been in operation for the last 15 years.
Such indignities is not new and concerns have been raised about the security of the inmates in such residential schools and girls' hostels that are run by the SC and ST development department. Earlier, there had been two incidents in which two tribal girls were left pregnant in the past two months.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

ISIS man shoots Syrian prisoner dead with a shotgun from pointblank range


#ISIS #jihadihohn #orangejumpsuit The ISIS continues to reveal its bloodthirsty attitude by shooting dead a Syrian prisoner with a shotgun fired from pointblank range - this has been shown in a video released by the Islamic State terrorists. The weapon used is a pump-action shotgun as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 11 February 2015.
In the opinion of experts, this latest graphic and shocking footage has all the militants' trademark slick production effects. The killer is shown as a light-skinned executioner dressed in a costume similar to that of 'Jihadi John'. And – the prisoner is shown wearing an orange jumpsuit which Western hostages are made to wear before they are savagely beheaded by ISIS.
The killer is seen ranting in Arabic behind the doomed prisoner and, later, he fires a single round from a pump-action shotgun into the back of the victim's head.
The unidentified killer is seen wearing the uniform of the Islamic State executioner - a black robe, a black balaclava to mask his identity and a brown leather gun belt.
As per details provided by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the ISIS terrorists have killed 2,000 people in Syria during the past six months and most of them were civilians. They have also executed 120 of their own men in the last two months - most of them were foreign fighters who tried to return home.

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Nearly 40% schoolgirls in Britain suffer sexual coercion


#NSPCC #sexualcoercion #pornography #schoolgirls A study carried out by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in Britain has found that over 40% of schoolgirls aged between 13 and 17 have been coerced into engaging in sexual activity as reported in news.sky.com dated 11 February 2015.
Majority of the girls have admitted that they had been pressured into having sex and, some of them have also reported being raped.
The findings of the survey carried out by researchers at the Universities of Bristol and Central Lancashire and led by the NSPCC has revealed that many of the girls had suffered physical attacks, intimidation and emotional abuse.
The study was also carried out in Norway, Italy, Bulgaria and Cyprus and this study is believed to be the largest of its kind ever carried out in Europe and found that many teenage boys regularly view pornography and one in five have a negative attitude towards women.
It is shocking that nearly 22% of the girls have to suffer physical abuse, violence or intimidation from their boyfriends and these include slapping, punching and even strangling. This is certainly not good news for today’s society because the girls grow up feeling oppressed and the boys look upon bullying as a convenient tool to keep the fairer sex under the thumb.
The need of the hour is to bring up the children in such a way that they have positive relationships based on mutual respect.

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IS militants behead a man in Raqqa for practicing witchcraft


#beheading #ISIS #raqqa #witchcraft It was a public beheading by IS militants in Raqqa of a man who was reportedly practicing witchcraft in Syria as revealed in zeenews.india.com dated 9 February 2015.
The victim has not been identified but he had long grey beard and bald head and he was photographed while being killed by a masked executioner. The incident took place in a village just outside ISIS' stronghold and de facto capital Raqqa and there were a large number of spectators present to watch the gruesome act.
In the image, the so-called witch is seen being led to the execution site by a militant who appears to be a teenager and there are plenty of masked militants around wielding assault rifles. Then there is another image that shows an old man kneeling on the floor. His hands tied behind his back, his head is resting on the chopping block and the axe is just a few millimeters away from his neck.
The ISIS is surviving on fear factor which is a very important part of its style of execution and, with every passing day, it is bringing that fear factor to new heights by carrying out beheadings of innocent people from any corner of the globe.
There are reports that ISIS have threatened to behead US President Barack Obama and also that it would transform America into a Muslim country.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

11-year-old girl of Ohio beats to death a two month old baby


#cleveland #wickliffe #ohio #murder This is an incident that may have no parallels in history – it is about an 11-year-old girl of Cleveland, Ohio, who has brutally murdered a two month old baby as reported in edition.cnn.com dated 11 February 2015.
The horrific incident took place in an apartment in the city of Wickliffe, about 17 miles outside Cleveland. As per reports, the girl's mother was babysitting the infant, Zuri Whitehead and after the mother fell asleep on the couch, the girl took the baby upstairs. However, she came back about 45 minutes later, woke the mother up and mumbled that something was wrong with the baby.
When the baby was taken to a hospital, she died during surgery and, it is revealed that the baby had massive injuries to her brain, liver, spleen and kidney.
The girl who committed the murder is being held at the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center and the police are trying to piece together the events that led to the sordid murder. She was taken to a juvenile court and the judge has ordered her to undergo a mental competency exam before her next appearance.
Obviously, questions would be asked about whether the actions of the girl were results of watching violence in movies or video games or some such other outlets and the influence of the social media on young corruptible minds. It is not a big deal in America or elsewhere to see school students commit crimes like murders. It is a wakeup call for society as a whole.

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Japanese tourist raped in Jaipur by her guide


#japanesetourist #tourguide #jaipur #pinkcity This is the shocking story of a 20-year-old Japanese tourist who was raped by her guide in Jaipur, the Pink City as reported in japantoday.com dated 10 February 2015. This is yet another sex attack on a foreign tourist in India and creates embarrassment for those who swear by the ‘Incredible India’ campaign that invites tourists to visit India to enjoy her rich heritage.
As per reports, the tourist had met the accused near a hotel after arriving in Jaipur. The 25-year-old man introduced himself as a tour guide and agreed to take her around the city on her motorbike during the day.
They also went to a few places after which they took some food and he had laced the food with drugs. Later the accused offered to drop her at the hotel in the evening but, instead, took her to a desolate area and committed the crime. The screams of the victim alerted the locals and the man fled.
The woman has undergone medical examination and is helping the police to identify the rapist. The Japanese embassy was also gathering information about the attack.
Obviously, this shameful incident is another blow to the country’s tourism industry. Britain and France have already revised their travel advisories for India last January and has warned tourists headed for India about the risk of sexual attacks following several instances of rape of foreigners.

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Angelina Jolie opens school in London for women victims of atrocities


#angelinajolie #williamhague #warzones #ISIS #sexualviolence Hollywood actress and director Angelia Jolie who is also an international women’s rights campaigner has opened a center in London to take care of women victims who have been ravaged by war and who have seen and experienced violence of the most vicious and brutal order. This has been reported in theguardian.com dated 10 February 2015.
It has been touted as Europe’s first academic center to combat the brutality faced by women in warzones across the globe. On the occasion she had for company former UK foreign secretary William Hague at the London School of Economics (LSE).
This center on women, peace and security aims to boost global campaigns for women’s rights and combat the use of rape as a weapon of war. This was an issue which Jolie – a special envoy for the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) - has campaigned on throughout the world.
The purpose of this center is to gather key thinkers, activists, policymakers and academics together so that they can put their heads together to work out methods to better tackle intransigent global problems such as the prosecution of warzone rapists and women’s engagement in politics.
For this, Angelina Jolie and the UNHCR have released two powerful short films that narrate the stories of women who have suffered sexual violence at the hands the ISIS militants.
It seems she had filmed these short films when she was on a visit to a Kurdish refugee camp in Dohuk, northern Iraq – this place houses nearly 2.1 million Iraqis who were forced to abandon their homes in 2014 after the invasion of the ISIS.

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Monday, February 9, 2015

Jordan Air Force bombs ISIS targets in retaliation of burning alive a Jordanian pilot


#KingAbdullahII #jordan #ISIS #MaazalKassasbeh It was a retaliatory action by Jordan against the ISIS militants due to their burning alive a pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh who had been captured by the militants in Syria as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 6 February 2015. He was captured by ISIS in December following the crash of his F-16 fighter aircraft in Syria.
King Abdullah II was briefed on the attacks by the armed forces chief of staff – the attacks were carried out by the Jordanian Air Force eagles. It seems the aircrafts struck ISIS training camps apart from their weapons and ammunition stores.
Location of the targets have not been disclosed but, as per information, the targets were destroyed and the aircraft were safe, they have returned to base safely.
These news have come even as people were killed when rebels unleashed rocket fire on Damascus and the forces of President Bashar al-Assad retaliated.
King Abdullah II cut short his US visit and returned to Amman after the video of Kassasbeh's killing emerged. Later, he visited the family of the slain airman to pay his condolences.
The military of Jordan has vowed to not only destroy the ISIS but also ‘kill the evil in its own place’ and punish them for perpetrating the heinous act of burning the pilot alive.
The situation in Syria is a matter of concern for the world. In a recent spate of attacks, at least 66 people, including 12 children, were killed by regime air strikes and shelling on rebel areas around Damascus as revealed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The assault took place on the Eastern Ghouta region and occurred when the rebels fired more than 100 rockets at the city, killing 10 people including a child.
Incidentally, Jordan has been carrying out raids on a regular basis as a part of the US-led campaign against the ISIS Sunni extremist group and over 200,000 people have lost their lives ever since anti-government protests erupted in Syria in early 2011. There is destruction and death all over the country and, with the escalation of a multi-sided civil war, the jihadists got an opportunity to enter and create mayhem.

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Friday, February 6, 2015

NGO activist launches ‘shame the rapist’ campaign in Hyderabad – her car is stoned


#charminar #ShameTheRapist #SafariCar She is a prominent anti-human trafficking activist and has taken up cudgels to punish a gang of six rapists who had carried out the heinous crime nearly six months earlier. She came to know about the crime through videos on WhatsApp, YouTube and the like as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 6 February 2015.
She does not know the victim but the men responsible are visible and from their poses, they appear to be bragging about their activities. From the language spoken, she has deduced that they belong to North India or Assam or Odisha.
As a result of her initiative, she has faced the wrath of the people – her Safari car was stoned by unknown persons when the vehicle was parked nearby Charminar bus stop. That happened very soon after she launched a nationwide online campaign `Shame The Rapists' in which she has uploaded the photographs of the 6 alleged rapists.
She runs an NGO in Hyderabad and had come across the two videos. It seems a friend of her had alerted her about the videos after seeing them on WhatsApp.

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North Korea defector recollects living with rats and dead bodies on railway platforms


#chongjin #famine #northkorea #laborcamp Ji-hyun Park has managed to defect from North Korea and has, now, revealed the deep dark secrets that lurk in the North Korean labor camps as revealed in dailymail.co.uk dated 6 February 2015. As per her narrative, she was forced to clean out filthy toilets with her bare hands and the people ate rats in a desperate attempt to survive. The worst part is that people are all hungry and the stocks of rats, snakes or wild plants have practically vanished.
Ji-hyun Park had spent a year inside the Chongjin labor camp which is one of the notorious detention camps of North Korea after she was deported from China as an 'economic defector' - she had fled to China to escape starving to death. In her words, the whole of North Korea is one big prison.
While recalling the North Korean famine of the late 1990s, she said that plenty of people died between 1996 and 1998 and the dead bodies would be littered on the railway platforms.
Ji-hyun first left North Korea during the famine of the 1990s that ravaged the country and it is estimated that over four million people died in the famine. At that time, the country was ruled by Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un, the present ruler.
The woman Ji-hyun now lives in Manchester with her partner and four children and she is gradually rebuilding her life after her experiences in the labor camps.

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Thursday, February 5, 2015

No woman is safe - trainee pilot molested in Madhya Pradesh Flying Club, Indore


#madhyapradeh #flyingclub The 27-year-old woman is a resident of Amravati district in Maharashtra and she was molested by the trainer of the Madhya Pradesh Flying Club, Indore in the course of training as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 5 February 2015.
The woman was a trainee pilot and had undergone training in USA through a flying club in Punjab and, as per the norms of a private airlines. She had to complete another 10 hours of flying for which she had come to the city.
However, when the training was underway in a closed room at the club, the victim faced misconduct by the trainer. He performed obscene acts and even touched her during the session. Enraged, she left the room and complained to her brother and MP Flying Club chief flight instructor. Subsequently, she lodged a complaint with the police. The man has been terminated by the club and a hunt is on to nab him.

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Safety of women at stake in Mumbai – three men gang rape a slum dweller


#cottongreen #gangrape #localtrain It is strange that rape of women keep happening and the safety of women traveling alone just cannot be guaranteed by the authorities as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 5 February 2015.
The woman was a 21-year-old and a slum dweller while the three rapists who committed the gang rape worked at a goldsmith’s shop. Incident of rape has been confirmed after medical examination and the three culprits have been arrested by the police.
It seems the woman was on her way to home when the culprits befriended her at the Reay Road railway station. The four of them got up in a local train together and the accused promised to drop her home safe.
However, when they alighted at Cotton Green station, the accused threatened the victim and took her to a truck parking nearby, where they committed the crime. Fortunately, there was a police party patrolling in the area. They heard her cries for help and rescued her. The rapists were arrested from the spot.
As per the police, the accused were not habitual offenders and did not have any past criminal records.

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Atrocities of Boko Haram – slit the throats of at least 100 victims in Fotokol


#fotokol #bokoharam #cameroon #nigeria In their latest show of atrocities that continues to shock the civilized world, the Boko Haram militants have slit the throats of at least 100 victims in the town of Fotlkol in Cameroon. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 5 February 2015.
The dead were mercilessly murdered by the militants of the terrorist Islamist group inside their own homes and at a mosque.
This raid has come amid a major offensive launched by Cameroon and its neighboring African states against Boko Haram, which has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in Nigeria and has also started to mount raids across the borders.
The militants had gained entry into Fotokol through Gambaru early in the morning and massacred people in the mosque, in the houses and also set fire to properties – this has been revealed by the civic leader Abatchou Abatcha, whose own son was shot dead during the raid.
The information minister of Cameroon Issa Tchiroma has clarified that the Cameroon army had pushed Boko Haram out of the border town following heavy fighting in which at least 50 militants were killed apart from six of its own soldiers.
The Sunni Muslim jihadist group is obviously a major security threat to Nigeria which is Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer. The African Union has, last week, authorized a regional force of 7,500 troops to fight the militants. Simultaneously, in neighboring Chad, the state television has reported that its army had destroyed Boko Haram bases at Gambaru and Ngala in northern Nigeria killing over 200 militants with nine Chad losses.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Chibok girls return to school after escaping from clutches of Boko Haram


#chibokgirls #bokoharam #godiya #yola #nigeria Boko Haram had kidnapped around 220 girls from their school in north-eastern Nigerian village of Chibok and, while 57 of them succeeded in escaping from their clutches, the others are still held captive deep in the jungle as reported in theguardian.com dated 3 February 2015.
The mass abduction last April propelled the sect into global infamy and the global community rose as one to condemn the kidnapping and the missing students became an international symbol of the oppression of Boko Haram and their attitude towards education.
But these girls have become bold and are now pursuing studies. That has been made possible by a 27-year-old woman known only as Godiya who offered scholarships – her sister was one of the kidnapped schoolgirls. Her mission put her directly in the crosshairs of the sect of Boko Haram which means “western education is forbidden”.
She is an employee of the American University of Nigeria in Yola. She approached her boss Margee Ensign at the American University of Nigeria in Yola who has run the establishment for six years. Godiya told her that her sister was one of the girls who had escaped, and that she and the other girls were in Chibok, doing nothing and she wanted Ensign to help them out.
Therefore, Ensign managed to collect $50,000 in donations to put 10 girls through the university for one year and the once traumatized girls have got a fresh lease of life and are turning over a new leaf, thanks to Godiya and Ensign.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings

Monday, February 2, 2015

Chinese father and daughter executed for killing a woman in McDonald’s restaurant


#quannengshen #zhaoyuan #lethalinjection #yantai A father and daughter belonging to a Chinese cult have been executed for killing a woman with an iron bar at a McDonald's restaurant in Zhaoyuan, in China's Shandong province even as customers watched. The sentence was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court of Yantai city as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 2 February 2015.
The two were 29-year-old Zhang Fan and 54-year-old Zhang Lidong, 54. They were among five members of the banned Quannengshen cult and had been convicted of attacking the woman after she reportedly rebuffed their attempts to recruit her.
It seems no one came forward to help 37-year-old Miss Wu as the duo kept beating her. All her cries for help fell on deaf ears. The attack took place in May last year – it was shown through a three-minute video that was circulated online.
For execution, China uses both lethal injection and shooting but the method used in this case was not specified.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Professional cellphone thieves caught in Kolkata – they were salaried thieves


#cellphone #kolkata #shoppingmalls #posharea It was a gang of four from Kolkata – three thieves who stole cellphones as reported in telegraphindia.com dated 31 January 2015. The fourth was the boss who was also the mastermind of the gang. He collected the stolen items and, in return, he paid the three thieves monthly salaries of Rs 8000. The wife of the boss even cooked and gave meals for the three thieves before they left on their daily missions.
They had to target cellphones from upscale areas where they could easily come across people who carried high-end cellphones. If they stole any cheap phone, they would promptly return it to the owner by saying – ‘I think you have dropped your phone or some such thing.
The thieves had been working for the boss for the last four months.
As per confessions of the thieves, the stolen phones would be smuggled into Bangladesh. It seems the three of them would leave for work by 9 every morning and return with around 20 cellphones. They have confessed that they never stole phones on buses or trains but went to shopping malls and posh areas so that they could steal costly mobiles.
The police have managed to recover 28 cellphones and returned them to the rightful owners.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings