Monday, December 26, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Iran to hang or stone to death woman convicted of adultery

Posted:

A local Iranian judiciary official has said that a woman sentenced to death on charges of adultery will be executed either by stoning or hanging.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning, but that sentence was later suspended following an international outcry over the case.

Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of justice department of East Azerbaijan province where Ashtiani is in prison, said that judicial authorities are still discussing whether to execute Ashtiani by stoning or by hanging.

Ashtiani, 43, was convicted in 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband the year before and was sentenced at that time to 99 lashes.

She was later convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, CBS News reports.

Various celebrities including American actors Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, and popular singer Sting have called on Iran to release Ashtiani.

In an open letter published late last year, over 80 actors, artists, musicians, academics and politicians said that "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has suffered enough."

Signatories include actor Colin Firth, artist Damien Hirst, Nobel literature laureates Wole Soyinka and V.S. Naipaul, British opposition leader Ed Miliband and former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.

They called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release Ashtiani along with her son and lawyer, who are also imprisoned.

Kim Jong-Il's eldest son 'under Chinese protection'

Posted:

The eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-Il has arrived in Beijing as Pyongyang prepares a state funeral for his father, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported today.

Citing what it called a source familiar with Kim Jong-Nam's activities, it said he arrived in Beijing from Macau a few days ago and "has been placed under Chinese protection".

Seoul's National Intelligence Service said it had no information on the report and there was no other confirmation.

It was not clear whether the son would attend Wednesday's funeral in Pyongyang, Yonhap said. Kim Jong-Nam, 40, has lived abroad -- mainly in the Chinese territory of Macau -- for years after apparently falling out of favour with his father for trying to enter Japan on a false passport in 2001.

Kim Jong-Il eventually backed his youngest son from another marriage as the next ruler. The North proclaimed Kim Jong-Un the "great successor" after his father died of a heart attack on December 17.

Kim Jong-Nam's whereabouts have been the subject of intense speculation since his father's death. "He's moving here and there.

It has been hard to track him down," said Ricardo Pinto, publisher of Macau Closer magazine.

"It appears that he lives at his house sometimes, and sometimes he stays at different hotels." In a January interview with the Tokyo Shimbun, Jong-Nam was quoted as voicing opposition to the planned dynastic succession. "Even Chairman Mao Zedong of China did not enforce hereditary succession," he was quoted as saying.

"(Hereditary succession) does not fit with socialism, and my father was against it as well."

'Mysterious' Namibian 'space ball' turns out to be fuel tank from unmanned rocket

Posted:

A mysterious metal ball that thudded to a remote grassland in Namibia last month has been identified as a hydrazine tank from an unmanned rocket.
There was wide speculation after a bizarre object, made from a "metal alloy known to man", fell out of the sky in to the African nation.
Authorities were so baffled by the find NASA and the European Space Agency were called in to investigate. After the investigation went public, a commentator on tech site Gawker identified the ball as 'a piece of an unmanned rocket,' News.com.au reports.
"For anyone wondering what it actually is, it''s likely a 39-litre hydrazine bladder tank (based on its apparent size; there are also much larger hydrazine tanks). They''re used on unmanned rockets for satellite launches, which would explain why they''re falling down in such a specific geographic footprint," the commentator said.
According to the report, the European space company Astrium told Gawker that the tanks are found in the Ariane 5 rocket, which are frequently used by the European Space Agency to launch satellites. Several similar balls have also dropped in southern Africa, Australia and Latin America in the past 20 years.


Iran to hang or stone to death woman convicted of adultery

Posted:

A local Iranian judiciary official has said that a woman sentenced to death on charges of adultery will be executed either by stoning or hanging.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning, but that sentence was later suspended following an international outcry over the case. Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of justice department of East Azerbaijan province where Ashtiani is in prison, said that judicial authorities are still discussing whether to execute Ashtiani by stoning or by hanging.
Ashtiani, 43, was convicted in 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband the year before and was sentenced at that time to 99 lashes. She was later convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, CBS News reports.
Various celebrities including American actors Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, and popular singer Sting have called on Iran to release Ashtiani. In an open letter published late last year, over 80 actors, artists, musicians, academics and politicians said that "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has suffered enough."
Signatories include actor Colin Firth, artist Damien Hirst, Nobel literature laureates Wole Soyinka and V.S. Naipaul, British opposition leader Ed Miliband and former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner. They called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release Ashtiani along with her son and lawyer, who are also imprisoned.


Banned Sipah-e-Sahaba killers of Shahbaz Bhatti to be brought to book: Malik

Posted:

Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said red warrants on Shahbaz Bhatti's killers have been issued, and they would be brought to book soon.

"The two assassins are activists of the banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba. They had managed to reach Middle East. However, we are making efforts for their arrest and will bring them back to the country," The Daily Times quoted Malik, as saying.

Former Federal Minister for Minorities, Bhatti was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Islamabad on March 2 for championing the case of Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death last November for allegedly committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.
Malik said Bhatti sacrificed his life for principles and added his services for interfaith harmony would always be remembered.

He said law and order in the country has improved and the Pakistan government has made foolproof security arrangements for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) meeting in Karachi.

He requested all political parties to avoid using provocative language because it was against democracy, adding neither he nor any member of his party had ever used harsh words against PTI chief Imran Khan.

He warned that the Pakistan People's Party would also review its policy if other parties fail to mind their improper language against their opponents.


15-yr-old youngest to climb top peaks

Posted:

A US teenager has become the youngest person to climb to the summit of the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents.

Jordan Romero (15) reached the summit of Mt Vinson Massif in Antarctica on Saturday, the final peak in a quest he started six years ago.


Scaling new heights: Jordan Romero was the youngest to climb to the
top of Mount Everest too. File pic/afp

His team, which includes his father and stepmother, hope to complete their descent to base camp later on Sunday.

At 10-years-old, Jordan climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa. At 13, the Californian climbed the world's highest mountain, Mt Everest.

He called his mother, Leigh Ann Drake to confirm he had reached the top of Mt Vinson Massif. Jordan beat the record previously held by British climber George Atkinson, who completed the ascents at the age of 16 in May.

A post to his Find Your Everest page warned there would be no celebrations until the team had completed their descent.


28 killed in Nigeria church blasts

Posted:

At least 28 people have been killed when an explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital.

A radical Muslim sect waging an increasingly sophisticated sectarian fight claimed responsibility for the attack and another bombing in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's north east.

One blast struck a church in the north-eastern town of Gadaka and two explosions rocked the northern city of Damaturu, making five blasts in total.


Not a very merry christmas: Locals look at the wreckage of a car
following a bomb blast at St Theresa Catholic Church outside the Nigerian
capital Abuja yesterday. pic/afp

The Christmas Day attacks showed the growing national ambition of the sect known as Boko Haram, which is responsible for at least 491 killings this year.

The Vatican denounced the deadly Christmas Day attacks as a sign of "cruelty and absurd, blind hatred" that shows no respect for human life.

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said the Catholic church was praying for all Nigerians confronting "this terrorist violence in these days that should be filled with peace and joy".

The first explosion struck St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town in Niger state close to the capital Abuja. Rescue workers recovered at least 25 bodies from the church and officials continued to tally those wounded in various hospitals, said Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.

In Jos, a second explosion struck near a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church. Gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one police officer. Two other locally-made explosives were found in a nearby building.

After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the name Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with the public.


25 killed in Nigeria church blast

Posted:

At least 25 people were killed in an explosion that ripped through a Catholic church during the Christmas service near Abuja Sunday, officials said.

The blast hit St. Theresa Church in Madalla town in Niger state, as worshippers gathered for the Christmas Mass.

The explosion comes amid recent attacks by a militant Islamic group, Boko Haram, which has been seeking to impose Sharia law across Nigeria with its predominantly Christian south and largely Muslim north. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.


Posted by Harshad at 7:49 AM

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