Ramadan: Christian In Iran Sentenced To Having His Lips Burnt

A Christian man in Iran was sentenced to having his lips burnt with a cigarette for eating at daytime during Ramadan.

According to Daily Mail he was punished publicly. The city deputy governor Ali Ashraf Karami also revealed that 5 Muslim men were flogged with 70 lashes for not fasting during the holy month.

Reacting to the sentence, The National Council of Resistance of Iran opposing the government called such a punishment "brutal" adding that the Christian man was also beaten "savagely". Extracts from the body’s statement reads:

"The silence of the world community, especially of western countries, vis-à-vis these medieval punishments under the excuse of having nuclear talks with Iran has intensified the brutal and systematic violation of human rights in Iran."

It has been gathered that the organization working under the name Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) releasing its annual report put Iran in top-5 countries with the largest number of "freedom of religion or belief prisoners". It is also provided that country Christians, about 250,000 Christians out of 76 million population, become target of torture, imprisonment or the death sentence under Sharia law for not observing Islamic religious festivals and dress codes.

Meanwhile, the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is soon coming to an end worldwide, is characterized as the time of spiritual reflection, increased devotion and worship teaching Muslims patience, modesty and spirituality. The fast, which starts and dawn and ends at sunset, presupposes abstaining from eating and drinking during this period of the day.

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Python Spews Out Swallowed Antelope In Front Of Shocked Villagers

A wildlife expert took photos of giant python swallowing a baby antelope on the edge of an open field at village in India.

After being tipped off about the spectacle, Nitish Bambhaniya accompanied by a member of his team dashed 25 miles to the tiny village of Billa in the Indian state of Gujarat to photograph the huge snake’s astonishing digestive feat.

Scroll down for more photos

On arrival, the expert found the giant snake – an Indian rock python – who was trying to swallow a nilgai, also known as a blue bull. However, the snake stopped swallowing the antelope and let go of its lifeless prey as people from the village gathered nearby.

According to Mr Bambhaniya, pythons can shed body weight and escape faster.

"I got a call in the morning for an Indian rock python. When we reached the spot, we saw this massive python. The python had hunted a baby blue bull and had already eaten 80% of the bull’s body.

"It is on the edge of an open field, so lots of locals start gathering there," Nitish, who runs the Red Headed Vulture Nature Club, said.

A number of locals wanted to kill the snake because the python would be a risk to children, but the wildlife expert convinced the villagers not to kill the python. Later the snake was caught and handed it over to the forest department officials.

The python was released by the officials in a nearby forest, before slithering away to freedom.

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Couple Lock Woman, Her Daughter In Snake Pit, Use Them As Slaves For 2 Years

A couple who locked a woman and her daughter in a snake pit and repeatedly tortured them for two years are now in a prison. Ohio, USA.

The couple threatened to unleash snakes, scorpions, lizards and spiders against their slaves if they didn’t obey

Cruelty of some people has no limits. 27-year-old Jordie Callahan and 32-year-old Jessica Hunt cooped up a mentally Shannon Eckley and her daughter for nearly two years in their snake pit. The "modern slaves" shop, cook and clean up after them and their dogs.

27-year-old Jordie Callahan and 32-year-old Jessica Hunt

The couple controlled every aspect of their prisoners’ lives threatening to unleash their snakes, scorpions, lizards and spiders against them if they didn’t obey. Another instrument of manipulation was a video record showing Ms Eckley (who was forced to do that) beating her daughter that was made by the couple to blackmail her.

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Obama Tells Russia to 'Get Serious' About Downed Flight MH17

President delivered a statement Monday calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and Russian support in controlling Ukraine's separatists.

President Barack Obama speaks to the press on Ukraine Monday outside the Oval Office at the White House.

President Barack Obama delivered a statement Monday morning as Israel and Hamas continue to battle in the Gaza Strip and Russian separatists continue to impede Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 investigation efforts.
Amid international turmoil, Obama spoke to reporters outside of the White House, first addressing Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas militants.
“We have serious concerns about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths,” Obama said. “That is why it now has to be our focus, and the focus of the international community, that brings about a cease-fire.”
Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Cairo Monday to discuss cease-fire negotiations with international officials. Though Obama cited Israel’s “right to defend itself” against Hamas missile strikes that now number in the thousands, he said he has instructed Kerry to prioritize de-escalation.

Obama Calls for Immediate Access to Crash Site

President Barack Obama is calling for international investigators to have "immediate and full access" to the site in Ukraine where a passenger jet was shot down last week, and he called on Russia to compel separatists in the...

“The work will not be easy. Obviously, there are enormous passions involved in this and some very difficult strategic issues involved,” Obama said of the two-week-long conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants that has resulted in hundreds of casualties, many of them women and children.
“We don’t want to see any more civilians getting killed,” Obama said.
The president then addressed the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which crashed Thursday over a pro-Russian separatist-controlled region of eastern Ukraine.
The plane is believed to have been shot down. Ukrainian officials point the finger at pro-Russian militants, though they have publicly denied involvement.

Obama said investigation efforts into what caused the crash have been impeded by pro-Russian separatists, who have assumed control of the crash site and have begun removing evidence.
“Unfortunately, the Russian-backed separatists continue to block the investigation,” Obama said of the militants. “All of which begs the question, what exactly are they trying to hide?”
Obama said responsibility lies with the Russian government, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, to convince the separatists to cooperate with an international investigation.
“Russia has urged them on, Russia has trained them, Russia has armed them,” Obama said. “Russia, and President Putin in particular, has direct responsibility to compel them to cooperate with the investigation.”

Obama said an investigation, and the ability to recover the bodies of the crash’s victims, would be “the least that decency demands.”
Obama called for Russia, and Putin, to “get serious” about addressing the separatists. And he threatened that “the costs for Russia’s behavior will only continue to increase” if the country “continues to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
“This [obstruction] is an insult to those who’ve lost loved ones. This is the kind of behavior that has no place in the community of nations,” Obama said. “What [investigators] need right now is immediate and full access to the crash site.”
"We have to make sure the truth is out and that accountability exists," he said

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Muslim Brotherhood leader gets life in prison

 


Cairo - An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie to life in prison on Saturday, Egypt's ON TV said, for inciting the violence that erupted after the army deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year.

Badie, convicted along with at least 36 other Brotherhood leaders and supporters for the same crime, is facing the death sentence in two separate cases.

The court also upheld death sentences for 10 other Brotherhood supporters.

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Oscar lawyers to take legal action over video

 

Johannesburg - Lawyers for murder accused Paralympian Oscar Pistorius are taking legal action over footage that emerged on Saturday of him re-enacting the night he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
"We are busy taking action against the Australian media house [that has the video]," his attorney Brian Webber told Sapa.
"They have no right to broadcast the video. We will deal with it accordingly."
The promotional video by Australian current affairs programme Sunday Night shows Pistorius walking on his stumps with an imaginary gun in his hand.
In another scene, Pistorius is seen carrying a woman out of his bathroom.
The website for the current affairs show said the video was "never before seen footage of Oscar Pistorius re-enacting the night he killed Reeva that convinced a top forensic expert he is innocent".
The video was scheduled to air on Sunday.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Nathi Ncube said it was not commenting on the video.
Pistorius's family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said the legal team was investigating the matter and "have asked for urgent clarification from Channel 7 in Australia”.
Pistorius faces a murder charge.
He claims he shot Steenkamp by accident through the locked door of his toilet in his Pretoria home on 14 February 2013, thinking she was an intruder.
The State argues he killed her during an argument.
Pistorius testified that he was on his stumps when he shot though the toilet door.
However, he said he put on his prosthesis before breaking down the door to get to Steenkamp.

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Gordon Brown Charges UK To Act More On Abducted Schoolgirls In Nigeria

Gordon Brown has criticized the United Kingdom, UK, for not doing enough to help the government in Nigeria find and release more than 200 school girls abducted in Nigeria almost three months ago.

The schoolgirls were abducted on 14 April, 2014 inside the compound of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, North-eastern Nigeria by members of Islamist militant sect, Boko Haram.
Speaking on the matter during a debate in the House of Commons, the former Prime Minister said that the UK is not doing enough to support Nigeria to rescue the kidnapped schoolgirls from their abductors.

* Gordon Brown
He also said the international community should provide more helicopters and surveillance equipment.
"In its hour of need Nigeria required more helicopter support, more aircraft cover, more surveillance equipment," the BBC quoted the ex-Prime Minister as saying.
The former Labour Party leader added: "I believe that we should also support President [Goodluck] Jonathan’s call for a better coordinated system for sharing intelligence across borders, and if necessary the use of Special Forces and law enforcement agencies to help them confront terrorism."
He said the world’s attention span was limited, and interest in the plight of the children had "ebbed".

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Catholic Priest Lands In Trouble Over Child Pornography

A 69-year-old Catholic priest, Father Stanislaus Hogan, has been dragged to court after the police found 1555 child pornography images in his bedroom at St Ignatius College in Adelaide where he worked.

His main interest was in images of boys in the low-to-mid teens, the very age range of children at the school where he was employed, Daily Mail reports.
More than 70 percent of the images were classed in the least serious category involving no sexual activity, but five images and videos were in category five, the most serious.
Related: Priest Raping Young Girls Jailed 50 Years After Abuse
Hogan, who previously taught at Xavier College in Melbourne and St Aloysius College in Sydney was said to have struggled to reconcile his sexuality with his Jesuit beliefs.

St Aloysius college in Sydney where Father Hogan taught
A psychologist said Hogan had previously suffered with alcohol problems and depression, which were directly related to his struggle to reconcile his sexuality with his ethical and religious beliefs.

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Suicide Bomb Explodes Near Somali's Parliament, Shebab Claims Responsibility

More than a Dozen people were killed when a bomb exploded in Somali, near the country’s parliament in the capital Mogadishu today.
Shebab rebels have already claimed responsibility for the latest suicide bombing, this happens just two days after the last attack which killed a Somali MP.
Somali police official named Mohamed Idle, confirmed the attack and said: “A car loaded with explosives was intercepted near the parliament and it went off. There are casualties but we don’t have details so far,”.
He also revealed that the suicide bomber was in the car. Police and witnesses who where at the scene claimed four people were killed including two policemen and many more wounded.
Al-Qaeda linked Shebab claimed responsibility and said: “We killed more than a dozen so-called police members after sacrificial attack at the main entrance of parliament buildings,” Abdulaziz Abu Musab, military spokesman of the Shebab, told AFP.
“We want to tell them that the MPs are not safe anywhere in Mogadishu. By the grace of Allah more attacks will come and continue.”
This continues a series of bloodshed over the past month, Last month the group had set off a car bomb at the gates of parliament and then attacked the unsuspecting MP’s who were having a meeting, that attack left several dead.

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Acid Victim Naomi Oni Says She's Open To Dating

London-based Acid victim, Naomi Oni, is undaunted by her attack and has made it known that she is bouncing back fast and willing to date again.

Naomi Oni before and after the acid attack
It is amazing how quickly Ms Naomi has jacked back to life having new hopes and even willing to take a swipe at having a new relationship all over again as her former boyfriend left her barely two months after the whole incident. This she revealed while speaking with UK Close Magazine.Ms Naomi has refused to allow the acid attack scar her for life or get in her way of living a normal life, this is evident in the gorgeous and very surprising new pictures she shared; check them out below.

Naomi Oni’s newly released pictures
During one of the court sittings that got her attacker who is also her close friend, Mary Konye, jailed for the awful and inhumane attitude, Naomi had expressed her mind to the jury about how her life has not been normal ever since the terrible incident.

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Daimler, Renault-Nissan to build $1.4 billion Mexico plant for compact cars

The companies announced Friday that construction on the plant would begin in 2015 in the northern state of Aguascalientes.
They called it the most ambitious project to date for the joint venture the firms launched in 2010. They said it would produce as many as 300,000 cars a year, with Infiniti production beginning in 2017 and Mercedes in 2018.
The plant is expected to employ 5,700 people
Automakers are increasingly moving car manufacturing to Mexico because of its access to the U.S., low labor costs and free-trade deals with more than 30 countries.

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Caesars Entertainment closing Atlantic City's Showboat casino at end of August

Caesars Entertainment told The Associated Press on Friday morning the company will shutter the poorest-performing of its four Atlantic City casinos.
CEO Gary Loveman said in a statement that the "difficult decision" is necessary to protect the rest of its business in Atlantic City, where it currently owns four of the 11 casinos.
"While we regret the impact that this decision will have on our Showboat associates, we believe this is a necessary step to help stabilize our business in Atlantic City and support the viability of our remaining operations in the vicinity," he said. "Since 2006, revenue in Atlantic City has declined by more than $3 billion and competition in the city has increased. The dynamic in Atlantic City has led us to the difficult but necessary decision to close Showboat."
"We sincerely appreciate the service, dedication and professionalism shown by the employees of the Showboat over the years to provide our customers with incredible experiences," he said.
The closing will also shutter the casino's House Of Blues, one of New Jersey's most popular concert venues.
It will be the second casino to close this year in the nation's third-largest gambling market. The Atlantic Club closed in January, taken down in a bankruptcy sale by Caesars Entertainment and Tropicana Entertainment, who stripped it for parts and closed it to reduce competition.
And, Revel Casino Hotel has warned it might shut down if a buyer can't be found in bankruptcy court.
Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers' union, said he planned to spend the next few days talking with Showboat employees.
"I'm heartbroken and angry, too angry to respond in an effective way," he said.
Thursday night, when he revealed that Caesars planned to issue warning notices to Showboat workers that the casino might close, McDevitt called the company's threat to close a profitable casino "a criminal act."
Asked at a press conference Friday if he is angry at Caesars Entertainment, which has had a hand in closing two Atlantic City casinos so far this year, Mayor Don Guardian responded that the company is still the largest taxpayer among casinos, adding, "I'm partnering with the businesses that remain in Atlantic City. I'm sorry that the Showboat is shutting down."
For the first quarter of this year, the Showboat posted a gross operating profit of nearly $2 million. But that was down from a profit of nearly $8.5 million in the first quarter of 2013.
So far this year, the Showboat has taken in $66.2 million from gamblers, ranking it seventh out of Atlantic City's 11 casinos. That represents a decline of nearly 16 percent from the same period in 2013.
Caesars said the Showboat will remain fully operational until Aug. 31. Guests with reservations after that date will be assisted in finding new accommodations, Loveman said.
He also said the company will work with the casino's more than 2,100 workers to help them find jobs with other casinos Caesars Entertainment owns in New Jersey and elsewhere.
In addition to the Showboat, Caesars Entertainment owns Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, which ranks second to the Borgata in the amount of money won from gamblers each month, Caesars Atlantic City, and Bally's Atlantic City. It also owns a casino in neighboring Pennsylvania.

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