Palestinian Prisoners in Israel Protest After Inmate Dies

Maysara Abu Hamdiya, 64, a retired general in the Palestinian Authority security services, died in a hospital in southern Israel two months after receiving a diagnosis of throat cancer. Mr. Hamdiya was detained by Israel in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian uprising and was serving a life term for attempted murder after sending a suicide bomber to a cafe in Jerusalem, according to Israeli officials. The bomb failed to detonate.

Mr. Hamdiya’s death came amid efforts by the Western-backed Palestinian leadership to place the prisoner issue high on the diplomatic agenda, with the Obama administration calling for a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Emotions over the prisoner issue have been running high among the Palestinian public in recent months, leading to protests in support of prisoners on hunger strikes and over the death of a prisoner in February under disputed circumstances.

The Palestinian Authority said Mr. Hamdiya had been suffering severe throat pain since August. In the days and weeks leading up to his death, Palestinian representatives blamed Israel for procrastinating in his diagnosis and treatment as they pressed for his early release.

Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Service, said Mr. Hamdiya had been under medical supervision and a committee would examine the circumstances of his death, as in all cases of prisoners dying in custody. Ms. Weizman added that the prison service had applied to a parole board for an early release for Mr. Hamdiya about a week ago, once it was clear that his illness was terminal, but that he died before the process could be completed.

The office of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said in a statement that it held the Israeli government “fully responsible” for Mr. Hamdiya’s death, which it said stemmed from a policy of “deliberate medical negligence.”

Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the authority, also accused the Israeli prison authorities of a “policy of medical negligence,” saying in a statement that the delay in treating Mr. Hamdiya “was a primary reason for his martyrdom.” He called for international monitoring of the conditions inside Israel’s prisons.

Prisoners in Israeli custody hold an honored place in Palestinian society, with many Palestinians regarding even compatriots convicted of deadly terrorist acts as political prisoners and fighters for the Palestinian cause.

With news of Mr. Hamdiya’s death, Palestinian prisoners in several Israeli jails erupted in anger, banging on cell doors and throwing objects, Ms. Weizman said. Tear gas was used to quell the unrest in one of the prisons, though calm was restored by the afternoon.

Rioting also broke out in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Mr. Hamdiya’s hometown, where many stores closed in protest on Tuesday and a public hall was opened to receive mourners.

Mick Philpott, wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley guilty of killing six children in fire

The parents accused of killing their six children in a house fire have been convicted of their manslaughter.
Mick Philpott, 56, was found guilty by a jury at Nottingham crown court of setting the blaze at his home in Derby which took the lives of Jayden, five, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and 13-year-old Duwayne.
Philpott – a father of 17 children – was the prime organiser in setting a fire in the hall of his council house in Derby in a twisted plan to frame his ex-girlfriend after she left him, taking their children with her.
His wife Mairead Philpott, and his friend Paul Mosley were both found guilty of manslaughter of the children.
He abused the goodwill of the community in Allenton, who raised more than £15,000 to pay for funerals for all six children. Philpott demanded that any money left over should be given to his family in Argos vouchers. In pre-trial hearings, it was revealed that Philpott showed a "callous disregard" for the community fundraisers – and even demanded that hundreds of teddy bears left outside the burnt-out house should be auctioned off and the money given to him.
He told one organiser: "Shut up and just get on with it."
In the aftermath of the fire on 11 May last year, detectives put Philpott, Mairead and Mosley up in a hotel room which was bugged. The trio were overheard checking their stories with each other. Mairead Philpott was also overheard performing a sex act on Mosley, which the Crown said was carried out to keep him on side as part of the plot.
The Crown alleged the fire was started with Philpott as the prime organiser in a plan to frame Willis, who had walked out with their four children three months earlier.
Philpott had lived in the property with Willis and Mairead, who was the mother of the six children who were killed. He had sexual relationships with both women, alternating between the two. But Willis – who said she was kept a virtual prisoner by Philpott – walked out on him, taking five children with her in February last year.
The fire at the council house in Victory Road took place hours before Philpott was due to face Willis in court for a custody hearing.
The jury heard how Philpott had spread rumours after Willis left that she wanted to firebomb the house, all part of his attempt to frame her for the fire.
The plan was for Philpott to rescue his children and for Willis to be prosecuted for arson, the court heard. But it went horribly wrong when the blaze took hold fast. The adults escaped the house but the six children died as they slept.

Tibet landslide: 54 bodies found, says state media

Chinese rescue crews have recovered a total of 54 bodies in the aftermath of a huge landslide in Tibet that buried more than 80 mine workers, state television reported on Tuesday.

China Central Television reported that operations resumed on Tuesday morning after being suspended on Monday due to fears of more landslides in the area.

A total of 36 bodies had been recovered by Monday before operations were suspended, state media reported previously. The latest total would mean that 29 miners were still missing.

The disaster struck on Friday when the landslide crashed down a mountain east of the Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa onto a mine workers' camp and buried 83 people.

EU troops begin training Malian soldiers

The European Union military instructors, on Tuesday at Koulikoro base 60km from Bamako, began training the first 670 contingent of soldiers in Mali, whose army need a thorough overhaul. 

The European Union Training Mission (EUTM) exercises are meant "to help Mali to ensure its long-term security, after the ongoing military operations against armed groups in the North".

There will be a general training, to be followed by a specialised training in engineering, telecommunications and artillery and engineering, sources said, adding elite snipers will also be trained.

In all, four contingents ie 2600 troops should be trained in about 15 months.

Lead by French General François Lecointre, the Mali-EUTM was approved in December 2012 by the 27 EU countries, but its preparation was accelerated in the aftermath of the French military intervention on 11 January.

Twenty-three European countries are involved in this training mission, whose overall cost is €12 million.

A total of 63 Malian soldiers and about 600 Islamist militants have been killed since the launch of the French military intervention against insurgents who had taken control of the northern region. 

Chad has so far paid the heaviest brunt of the war with about 30 of its soldiers killed since the army ventured in the Adrar of Ifoghas mountain range, where its troops and French forces have been jointly tracking down jihadists taking refuge in the region they considered their stronghold.

France has lost five troops, while Togo has suffered two dead and Burkina Faso one.

France is preparing to hand over to a UN-mandated African force of 6,300 in coming weeks.

A military coup, on March 22 toppled former Malian leader Amadou Toumani Toure, and ushered in a political transition, following a transitional period of 40 days.

The putsch worsened the situation in north, divising the country into as separatists Tuaregs and Islamists groups had launched an offensive claiming independence.

Austria:€ 180,000 retail value of drug confiscated from drug gang in Linz

LINZ. Successfully the police investigation took place in the drug scene. Now eight suspects are in custody, you should have sold drugs worth 180,000 euros.

When the narcotic division of Linz city police commandos arrived in mid-January 2013, for operation into a illegal immigrant living in a apartment in Linz. During an investigation by the drug investigators a strong cannabis smell was noticed. During a subsequent search a large number of  narcotic drugs (marijuana and crystal meth), as well as cash and a loaded handgun were found and secured.

They encountered in the apartment, a 21-year Linzer tire fitter and a 20-year-old unemployed Hungarian, who subsequently were arrested. During the interrogations, they admitted that they have sold a total of about eight kilograms of marijuana and 100 grams of crystal meth in Linz.The drug crystal meth was purchased in the Czech Republic and smuggled to Austria. The two arrested named both their marijuana suppliers and their customers of narcotic drugs to officials.

Other suspects pried

Thereupon the supplier, a 25-year-old businessman, was arrested.With him in the apartment was obvious drug money and half a kilogram of marijuana. In further investigations the mastermind and main supplier and a 25-year-old employee were found and also arrested. During the search of his home a large quantity of money was found and secured - apparently from his narcotics business. He did not confess.

Due to the investigation, arrest warrants were obtained against "wholesale" and four people (a 19-year-old office clerk, two 20-year-old unemployed and a 22-year-old car salesman, all of Linz) are arrested. All eight were arrested and placed in Linz Built Delivers the prison.

Drugs worth € 180,000

The eight-member narcotics gang is under strong suspicion, at least 17 kilograms of marijuana and 100 grams of high-quality highly dangerous drug crystal meth in the sales value of € 180,000 to a wide customer base, were sold mainly in Linz. The seized assets worth 37,000 euros were seized on court order. The previously been explored customers, a total of 50 persons were predominantly confessed.

 

Mexico: Nine bodies found inside a truck in Victoria

In another incident reported police arrested seven kidnappers

 

  

 In Tamaulipas , state officials unveiled the discovery of nine dead bodies , which had been brutally dismembered, in a van and arrested seven kidnappers in the municipalities of Ciudad Victoria , and Nuevo Laredo , in two different offenses.

These events were recorded in the localities in question on March 31, police also released a person who had been deprived of his liberty by the kidnappers. The Attorney General and the Ministry of Public Security of the State through two different communications, confirmed the events.

They reported that on Sunday they had received a report at 22:00 pm on the location of nine dead bodies inside an abandoned van at Km 7.5 of the Victory Road-Soto la Marina , at the height of the ejido Santa Clara Township Victoria.

The site in question a GMC Yukon type vehicle was located, color and license plates gray HFN June 94 Texas State. Inside were found the remains of nine male persons, not identified, most of them dismembered

Office staff was responsible for integrating the preliminary investigation, testified to the events, while the bodies were sent to the Medical Examiner for autopsies as practice of law.

In other events, also report instances Tamaulipas, in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, managed the arrest of seven alleged members of a gang of kidnappers who had kidnapped male person unnamed.

Those arrested were identified as Armando Christian Montalvo Recio (alleged leader of the band), Carlos Raúl García Solis Cerón Melina Mara Garcia, Daniel Garcia Medina, Victor Manuel Contreras and Gilberto Roman Macias Nuño Zapata. The seventh detainee is a minor.

His arrest was carried out by agents of the Unit for Combating Kidnapping of the State Ministerial Police, following a complaint lodged by a relative of the victim. When he tried to collect part of the ransom money, police arrested him then apprehended all remaining gang members.

 

Tanzania mudslides kill 13 after heavy rain

Mudslides after torrential rains have killed 13 people at a quarry in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Tanzania's buoyant economy has fuelled a building boom, especially in the centre of the tourist town but high demand for construction materials has led to a proliferation of new quarries, raising concern for safety standards.

"A heavy downpour on Sunday caused mudslides and flooding in some parts of Arusha. This resulted in the deaths of 13 people at a quarry," Arusha Regional Commissioner Magesa Mulongo was reported as saying.

Television footage showed rescue workers in army uniform using stretchers to carry the bodies of victims out of the quarry. Several trucks were buried under the muddy morass in the Moshono area on the outskirts of Arusha.

Mulongo said two people were rescued from the mudslides before the search and rescue operation ended late on Monday. The quarry was temporarily closed to allow police investigations.

 

In an indication of shaky safety standards in the building industry, at least 36 people were killed in the collapse of a multi-storey building under construction in Tanzania's biggest city Dar es Salaam on Friday.

UN warns of serious crisis in Korean peninsula

United Nations, April 2 The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said today that the current crisis on the Korean peninsula has gone too far and called for calm and negotiations to resolve the situation.

In remarks made Tuesday in Andorra and distributed in the UN headquarters in New York, the head of the world body warned that nuclear threats are not gaining anything. "Aggressive rhetoric and military positions only cause adverse reactions and feed the fear and instability" He said. "believed that at this moment the situation is worsened by the lack of communication between the parties and warned that the crisis could fall into a path that no one wants to follow." Ban Ki-moon told the DPR Korea (DPRK) that "there is no need to travel a path of collision with the international community. I am convinced that no one tries to attack that country because it does not agree with their political or foreign policy" He said continuing however to stress his fear's because "others respond firmly to any direct military provocation". Dialogue and negotiations are the only way to resolve the current crisis, and the UN Secretary General was ready to assist the parties to take that route" He said.
The DPRK put on alert yesterday its strategic missile forces to attack military bases on U.S. territory, including Hawaii, islands of Guam, the Pacific and in South Korea in case of provocations. The announcement was made ​​through a proclamation of Marshal Kim Jong Un to the People's Army Supreme Command Korea.

FBI busts Queens State Sen. Malcolm Smith in mayoral election bribery plot

 

Sen. Malcolm Smith

The FBI busted Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens Tuesday and was set to haul in City Councilman Dan Halloran on charges they tried to rig the 2013 mayoral election by buying Smith a spot on the Republican ballot, sources said.
Agents were also rounding up four suspects, including Bronx Republican Chairman Jay Savino and Queens GOP vice chairman Vincent Tabone who were to receive bribes in exchange for backing Smith when he switched sides last year in a never-realized run for City Hall.

 City Councilman Dan Halloran

Smith was picked up by agents early Tuesday at his Queens home.
All six defendants were scheduled to be presented in White Plains Federal Court and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day in Manhattan.

The charges mark a tremendous fall from grace for Smith, who for a time was president pro tem of the state Senate when Democrats briefly held the chamber’s leadership in Albany.

1 Arrested, Another Sought in LA Girl's Kidnapping

One man has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl who was taken in the middle of the night from her Los Angeles home and let go hours later. Police are focusing on the San Diego area as they seek the transient with a long criminal record who is the central suspect in her abduction.
Daniel Martinez, 29, has been booked for investigation of kidnapping, police said Monday. He was being held on $1 million bail after his Sunday arrest in Northridge, the San Fernando Valley area where the girl lives.

aerial view of San Fernando Valley were crime took place

  Tobias Dustin Summers, a 30-year-old transient with a long criminal record, was identified by authorities over the weekend as a suspect in the case.
Police initially said they were looking for two suspects but noted they were focusing their efforts on Summers, who may have fled to the San Diego area and changed his appearance by shaving his head.
They suspect Martinez was present when the kidnapping occurred, but it was unclear if he was there throughout the crime.
"We believe he is the second person," police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. He wouldn't provide details on the connection between the two men but said, "certainly they know each other."
The girl was abducted around 3 a.m. Wednesday and found about 12 hours later wandering near a Starbucks several miles away. She was barefoot, had bruises and scratches, and wasn't wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished.
Investigators have said they believe the girl was driven around the San Fernando Valley in a couple of cars and taken to at least two locations, including a storage facility, before she was released.
The Los Angeles Times reported that law enforcement sources said the girl was sexually assaulted. Police officials would not confirm it but asked the media to not report information about "indignities" the girl may have suffered.
The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Court records show Martinez has been convicted of various offenses, including burglary, grand theft and resisting a police officer.
Police noted Summers had a criminal history dating back to 2002 and had been arrested for robbery, grand theft auto, possession of explosives and kidnapping.
Authorities haven't given a motive for the girl's kidnapping. They don't believe Summers and the family knew one another.

South Korea vows ‘strong’ retaliation

South Korea’s new president on Monday promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation after Pyongyang announced that the two countries were now in a state of war.
President Park Geun-Hye’s warning came as North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament was set to hold its

annual session and a day after ruling party leaders vowed to enshrine Pyongyang’s right to nuclear weapons in law.

"The DPRK possession of nuclear weapons should be fixed by law and the nuclear armed forces should be expanded and beefed up qualitatively and quantitatively," a KCNA report on the meeting said.
"The People's Army should perfect the war method and operation in the direction of raising the pivotal role of the nuclear armed forces in all aspects concerning war deterrence and war strategy."
 The North is angry at UN sanctions following its nuclear test in February.

It is also unhappy with joint US-South Korea annual military drills. But the US says there is no sign of North Korean actions to back up the rhetoric.
In the last few days North Korea has issued multiple warnings of attacks on US and South Korean targets to which the US has responded with an apparent show of military hardware. The US flew F-22 planes from Japan to South Korea's Osan Air base on Sunday, as part of ongoing joint military exercises with Seoul, officials said.
Meanwhile, North Korea has announced it has appointed a new premier, Pak Pong-ju. He was sacked from the same post in 2007.
In a meeting with senior military officials and defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin, Park said she took the near daily stream of bellicose threats emanating from the North over the past month very seriously.

“I believe that we should make a strong and immediate retaliation without any other political considerations if the North stages any provocation against our people,” she said.
Park, a conservative who had advocated cautious engagement with the North during her election campaign, has been compelled to take a more hardline posture after assuming office in February.
The defense minister made it clear that the South would carry out preemptive strikes against the North’s nuclear and missile facilities in the event of hostilities breaking out.
“We will establish a so called active deterrence aimed at neutralizing the North’s nuclear and missile threats quickly,” Kim said.
The Korean peninsula has been caught in a cycle of escalating tensions since the North’s long-range rocket launch in December, which its critics condemned as a ballistic missile test. UN sanctions were followed by a nuclear test in February.For now, cool heads prevail in Seoul's presidential Blue House. Park, a conservative who took office less than two months ago, has spoken of engagement with the North a departure from the hardline stance of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, who cut free-flowing aid and took inter-Korean relations to their lowest point in years.
Park reportedly wants to begin the process by offering humanitarian aid, followed by huge investment in North Korea's social and economic infrastructure, but only if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons programme in return.

                                         South Korean President Park Geun-Hye

Burmese rejoice over first private newspapers in 50 years

Privately owned daily newspapers have hit newsstands for the first time in 50 years in Burma

 

Four dailies went on sale on 1 April selling out completely within hours of hitting the newsstands.
"We've been waiting half a century for this day," said Khin Maung Lay, chief editor of the new daily Golden Fresh Land. "It shows how much people long for private daily newspapers. This morning, I was in tears seeing this."
Burma closed all private daily print production in 1964 under a military junta headed by General Ne Win. For much of the next five decades the country became better known for spying on, censoring, jailing, torturing and seizing equipment of journalists deemed against the state.
The changes have significantly opened up freedom for Burma's press, such as last year's rolling back of pre-publication censorship and the recent opening of an Associated Press bureau in Rangoon, the first foreign news agency to be based in the country.
However, journalists are still subject to strict regulations under the 1962 Printing and Registration Act, which carries a seven-year jail sentence for failing to register and also allows the government to suspend publishing licenses at any time meaning there is still much progress to be made in terms of reforms for freedom of speech within the formally reclusive country but the future has been looking bright ever since Aung San Suu Kyi's election to parliament.
A further 12 dailies will soon appear, including one from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. There will also be a new Yangon Times and Mizzima Daily, an offshoot of the online news portal Mizzima.
Mizzima's Sein Win stated "From today, the style of reporting has changed."

Mexico: Two bars Attacked in Jalisco, there are 29 injuries and 4 deaths

Attacks on two bars east of Guadalajara apparently perpetrated by the same armed group last night left four dead and at least 29 wounded. 

"There were several people in the bar, and others outside when the attack happened" reported an area commander.

The attack killed two unidentified men. However, apparently one of them is of U.S. origin.

In addition at least 17 people were injured with bullet wounds. Paramedics warned this morning that five injured were in serious condition.

Then, the perpetrators moved 16 blocks to the west and attacked with bullets and an explosive device inside a bar on Javier Mina the intersection with 66th Street in the Old Penal Colony.

At the bar a waiter died and a unknown customer.The attack left 12 others wounded by bullets.

After both attacks, local and state police carried out operations to try to capture the perpetrators.

Meanwhile in different events,  three men were shot dead in zapopan, which totaled seven dead last night in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara