Egypt detains 156 Christian protesters after clashes

CAIRO: Egypt’s public prosecutor on Thursday accused 156 protesters arrested in clashes between Christians and police of planning to kill policemen and ordered their detention for two weeks.

The protesters were arrested during bloody clashes with police in Cairo on Wednesday over the government’s refusal to grant them a permit to build a church. One demonstrator was killed in the violence and dozens were wounded.

A judicial source said the protesters were accused of “planning to kill policemen” and illegally demonstrating to prevent the authorities from doing their work.

They will remain in custody for questioning for two weeks and will then either be formally charged or have their detention renewed if they are not released.

The Coptic Christians who clashed with the police on Wednesday had been protesting against an official decision to stop them

Japan, China defence chiefs to meet Monday

TOKYO: Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie will hold a meeting in Hanoi on Monday, Kyodo news agency said, the latest sign of a thaw in the two nations’ strained ties.

Kitazawa and Liang will hold talks on the sidelines of a regional gathering of defence ministers in the Vietnamese capital, Kyodo said on Sunday, quoting sources familiar with bilateral relations.

It will be the first ministerial level meeting to be held after China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan in response to the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with Japan Coast Guard ships off disputed islands, Kyodo said.

China and Japan, Asia’s two largest economies, have acted to ease tension following the stand-off over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in

Iraq twin bomb attack kills 25 at football match

BAGHDAD: A double bomb attack at a football match in northern Iraq, which was unprotected by security forces, killed 25 people on Friday in the second incident this week to cause mass casualties.

The explosion, which also left dozens wounded, occurred at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) in Tal Afar, 380 kilometres (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer told AFP.

Eyewitnesses said around 250 people were watching the game when the attackers struck and that no police or soldiers were on duty.

“We heard a loud explosion and the people behind me shielded me from the shrapnel,” said spectator Hussein Nashad, 29. “I ran away, but then I heard someone shout ”Allahu akbar” (God is greatest), and then there was another explosion.”

The police officer said the double blasts were caused by a car bomb followed by a suicide attack. An interior ministry official said 25 people were killed and 100 wounded.

The incident came four days after a devastating series of attacks in five cities blamed on Al-Qaeda killed 110 people in the bloodiest violence this year.

Around five dozen bombings and shootings shattered a lull in unrest on Monday, as Iraq moved closer to forming a government two months after a general election seen as crucial to US combat troops leaving the country by August 31.

The government pinned the blame for those attacks on Al-Qaeda, while Iraq”s deputy interior minister conceded that the nation”s security apparatus was at fault and an inquiry into its shortcomings was underway.

In March 2006, Tal Afar was hailed as a model town by then US president George W. Bush, but exactly a year later it witnessed one of the biggest attacks to hit the country.

Some 155 people were killed in a day-long massacre, the deadliest violence to ever strike Tal Afar, when gunmen murdered 70 men in an overnight rampage on March 27 in revenge for bombings that killed 85 people earlier that day.

Friday”s attacks were the deadliest to strike Tal Afar since July 9 last year, when a double suicide attack targeting the home of a police sergeant and his brother killed 35 people and left 61 others wounded.

The latest violence came as political wrangling over the outcome of Iraq”s March 7 election rumbles on.

A recount of votes in Baghdad yielded no evidence of fraud, Iraq”s electoral commission said on Friday.

Tallies from the 12-day process were still to be entered into the commission”s computer system, with results expected on Monday, spokesman Qassim al-Abboudi told reporters.

“We finished the recount of 11,298 ballot boxes and no violations or fraud have been found,” Abboudi told a news conference in the capital”s heavily fortified Green Zone.

He added that political parties could still contest the results from the recount, but offered no timetable for the complaints procedure.

Electoral authorities began a manual recount of votes in Baghdad, which accounts for 68 seats in Iraq”s 325-member Council of Representatives, on May 3, nearly two months after the election.

US condemns Iran for imprisoning Bahai

WASHINGTON: The United States denounced Iran on Friday over its detention of seven leaders of the Bahai religious minority who have been held for two years.

The United States “is deeply concerned about the ongoing persecution” of both Bahais and other religious minorities in Iran, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.

On the second anniversary of the detention of seven Bahai leaders, he said, “the United States strongly condemns their continued incarceration as a violation of due process.”

Washington “calls on Iran to meet its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” he added.

In January, Iran put the seven Bahai leaders on trial on charges of “spying for foreigners” and cooperating with Israel. They were arrested in May 2008.

Crowley”s statement complained that no date has been set for a fourth hearing — although there have been three since January this year — and they “continue to be denied access to their attorneys.”

He urged Iran to live up to its international commitments.

During a review at the UN Human Rights Council in February 2010, “Iran pledged to abide by international law and highlighted its ethnic and religious diversity,” he said.

But the United States is “disappointed” that the Iranian government “publicly rejected” a recommendation that emerged from the review to end discrimination against the Bahais, he said.

Followers of the Bahai faith, founded in Iran in 1863, are regarded in the Islamic republic as infidels and suffered persecution both before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Chile shrouds Pakistan embassy TNT case in secrecy

SANTIAGO: Chilean prosecutors dropped Wednesday a veil of secrecy over the case of a Pakistani man found with traces of explosives as he visited the US embassy to discuss a revoked visa.

Prosecutor Francisco Jasir issued a special decree that means no information about the police investigation can be released until after the interrogation process is complete or the suspect freed.

Chilean authorities on Tuesday extended the detention of Mauhannas Saif Ur Rehnab Khan under the South American country”s anti-terror laws. Rehnab, 28, who has denied any terror ties, can be detained until Saturday without charge.

Experts found traces of a TNT explosive derivative on the young suspect”s hands, cell phone, bag and documentation after he went through a security checkpoint on Monday, prompting embassy staff to notify police.

Rehnab insisted he did not know where the traces came from, and said that he was at the embassy only to renew his visa.

But the State Department said in Washington that the embassy called Rehnab in after revoking his US visa. It did not say why the visa had been revoked.

Five gunmen killed in shootout with Mexican troops

MEXICO CITY: Five gunmen have died in a shootout with Mexican troops in Reynosa, a city just across the US border, in the latest flare-up between suspected drug traffickers and the military.

The confrontation, which took place early Friday, also left three soldiers injured, Tamaulipas state officials said in a statement.

On Tuesday, attackers set up roadblocks in a bid to slow the army”s movement, leading to confrontations that left 16 assailants dead in four municipalities in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states.

The Zetas and Gulf cartels, formerly allies, are now locked in a bitter fight over the control of lucrative drug routes into the United States from Mexico”s border region.

In other violence, gunmen stormed a Reynosa prison late Friday, sparking clashes that killed three inmates, state officials said, adding that order has since been restored at the detention site.

At another prison close the US border, in Matamoros, 41 inmates escaped on March 25 without violence.

US Releases List of 645 Detainees Held at Bagram Air Base

US Releases List of 645 Detainees Held at Bagram Air Base, The United States has released a long-secret list of 645 detainees held at a military base in Afghanistan.
The identities and descriptions of the detainees at Bagram Air Base had been sought by the American Civil Liberties Union. In response to the lawsuit, the government released roughly 2,000 pages of documents yesterday evening. The list could help the non-Afghan detainees at the base challenge their detention in US courts, although it contains only their names, not nationalities or the circumstances of their capture. The Afghan government has agreed on a plan to take over responsibility for the prison at Bagram, where there have been allegations of human rights abuses. US and Afghan officials said the hand-over could occur by the end of the year.

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US Releases List of 645 Detainees Held at Bagram Air Base was first posted on January 16, 2010 at 4:31 pm.

Al-Qaeda is Plotter of Terrorist Attacks: Hillary Clinton

Al-Qaeda is Plotter of Terrorist Attacks: Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that Al-Qaeda is plotter of terrorism attack, adding that terrorists are being trained near Pak-Afghan border.
In a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Washington, she said that Al-Qaeda is training and financially assisting terrorist organizations. She maintained that US realized the challenges imposed by terrorists and would keep trying to root out terrorism with its allies. She refused to comment on the detention of five US officials in Pakistan. Ukrainian Foreign Minister said that Ukraine was ready to cooperate with US on missile defense shield and other issues.

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Al-Qaeda is Plotter of Terrorist Attacks: Hillary Clinton was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 4:55 pm.

Tennessee Football Players Arrested

Tennessee Football Players Arrested, Three University of Tennessee football players are in custody and charged with attempted armed robbery after an incident that occurred this morning in a pilot store located on Cumberland Avenue in Knoxville, near the campus of the University of Tennessee.

According to Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk Knoxville, Nu’Keese Richardson, Mike Janzen Jackson and Edwards were arrested at the Detention Center of Knox County.

Officers responded to the convenience store located at 2218 Pilot Cumberland Avenue at about 1:43 this morning on an armed robbery in progress call. According to police reports three men were sitting in the car waiting for a friend who was inside the store.

The three men said they had parked next to a light blue Toyota Prius. He went on to say a black man then approached with a black sweatshirt and brandishing a black semi-automatic pistol. He opened the driver’s door and said, “Give me everything you have.”

The men said a black man, then exited from the passenger side of the Prius, wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt. He walked to the passenger door of his car, opened it and said, “Give us everything you have.”

According to statements made by men to the police, all presenting their portfolios to suspects and showed them that he had no money. A black man, third, then went and told the other two black males, “We have to go.” The three got into the Prius and left, according to reports.

The Prius has been observed near Gibbs Hall on Lake Loudoun Blvd. on the campus of the University of Tennessee. There is a stop crime took place on the vehicle, and four men were detained in the vehicle.

He saw two hooded black officers in sight in the backseat. Under the seat back towards the center, officers found a black air pistol CO2 powered. Inside the glove box, officers found a marijuana grinder. A search of the suspects revealed a clear plastic bag containing a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana in the vehicle’s driver, his jacket pocket Marie Montmarquet’s. Montmarquet later stated that the mill marijuana belonged to her. She was charged with possession, in addition to attempted armed robbery.

Crime Lab responded to the scene and confiscated the hoodies, the air gun and marijuana mill. The vehicle was towed to the city impound lot. The marijuana was confiscated by the officers.

The four suspects were taken back to pilot a program to identification. The victims positively identified Edwards and Richardson as the two approached their vehicle and demanded everything. Source thedailytimes

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Tennessee Football Players Arrested was first posted on November 12, 2009 at 8:34 pm.