Mexican bar shootout, 15 Dead

(Reuters) - Fifteen people were killed and at least one seriously wounded in a suspected drug-related shootout on Friday in a bar in northern Mexico, a region that has been brutalized by fighting between criminal gangs.

On Friday night, armed men entered the bar in Chihuahua, capital of Chihuahua state, and opened fire on various people inside suspected of involvement in drug dealing, the local attorney general's office said in a statement on Saturday.

A local press association said two men killed in the attack were journalists, adding to the tally of media casualties from Mexico's rampant gang violence.

The attorney general's office also said two other people were shot dead in a separate bar attack in the city, bringing Friday's death toll to 17. Read More

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Bahrain Demonstrators outraged by activist's death

April 21 - Thousands marched in Manama to call on the government to step down and to demand Sunday's Formula One race be canceled. Deborah Gembara reports

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French ICRC official kidnapped in Yemen

(CNN) -- A French official of the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped Saturday in western Yemen, an ICRC spokeswoman said.

The ICRC official, whose identity was not disclosed, was taken about 30 kilometers (19 miles) outside of Hudaida, a coastal city on the Red Sea, said Dibeh Fakhr. He was traveling with two Yemeni drivers, who were also taken but then released, she said. They were unharmed.

"Until now, we have no contact with the kidnappers or our employee," Fakhr told CNN.

The spokeswoman declined to identify the official because of concerns for his safety. For the same reason, she said she would not comment on the possible identity of the kidnappers. Read More

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Neil Heywood: Chinese censors try to silence U.S. website behind ex-pat murder revelations with crippling cyber attack

Chinese government hackers are believed to be behind a crippling cyber attack on a US-based website that revealed how British businessman Neil Heywood was killed with cyanide on the orders of the wife of a Communist Party leader.

The Boxun website, run by Chinese dissidents, first reported that Mr Heywood was killed in his hotel room after agreeing to syphon almost £1 billion out of the country for Gu Kailai, the wife of rising Communist leader Bo Xilai.

The website said Old Harrovian Mr Heywood was killed after he asked for a bigger cut and threatened to expose Mrs Gu if his demands were not met.

The cyber attack on Boxun paralysed the website for hours on Friday, forcing it to find another internet hosting service to get back online.

The manager of the North Carolina-based site said Boxun had become a victim of a ‘denial of service’ attack, with hackers bombarding it with millions of requests per minute, causing it to crash. Read More

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Pinterest bubble burst already? New figures reveal dramatic drop in site's users.

In recent months celebrities and politicians have rushed to join the thousands of media savvy ‘pinning’ on the web’s latest hit social network.

But they may have caught on too late as it now seems that the Pinterest bubble has already burst.

After a meteoric rise in popularity in January and February new figures show that the photo-sharing site is unexpectedly losing users this month.

The majority of Pinterest users sign up through Facebook and the number of people doing this has significantly dropped in the past few months, according to data collected by the Business Insider. Read More

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Police Launch Murder probe after 19 year is shot and killed outside the Hubb pub, Nottingham

A murder investigation has been launched into the death of a teenager believed to have been shot outside a pub.

The 19-year-old victim was taken to hospital following reports that a gun had been fired at around 3.30am outside The Hubb in Sherwood, Nottingham, where a party was taking place.

A spokesman for Notts police said a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out to find out how the teenager, who has not been named, died.

But it is believed he suffered at least one gunshot wound.

The pub and surrounding area, including a major route into Nottingham, was condoned off for several hours yesterday while forensic examinations were carried out. Read More

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Taha Muhammad the Second hate cleric who is allowed to stay - and he's so dangerous he was banned from AS-level chemistry

An Iraqi Muslim cleric suspected of being involved with Al Qaeda and radicalising young Britons has used the Human Rights Act to continue to live in the UK – despite Government efforts to deport him.

Taha Muhammad is regarded as one of Britain’s most dangerous security threats. He was even banned from studying AS-level chemistry because of fears he would use the knowledge to commit terrorist acts.

The decision to let him stay is another setback for Home Secretary Theresa May, already under pressure after attempts to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan descended into chaos.

The Government is so concerned about Muhammad, 35, that for several years he was placed under round-the-clock surveillance, given a curfew and banned from preaching.

But Muhammad says he cannot be deported to Iraq because he could be detained and tortured there.

He argues sending him back would be a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Judges at an immigration tribunal allowed him to stay even though the Home Office said they believed he:

• Had links to several terrorist groups including Al Qaeda.
• ‘Took part in both terrorist training and activities’ and had ‘considerable jihadi pedigree’.
• Maintained contacts with Islamist extremists in Britain and abroad.
• Provided support for the jihadist insurgency in Iraq.
• Expressed extremist views. Read More

Note: How many Innocent people will have to die before Human Rights starts being applied to non criminals?

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Governor George Fergusson a Senior Diplomat Mugged In West London Cemetery May Lose Sight

Doctors are battling to save the sight of a senior British diplomat who was mugged while walking through a cemetery in west London.

Bermuda's new Governor George Fergusson may lose his vision in his left eye after being attacked by a man in Hammersmith Cemetery, police said.

He received other facial injuries in the assault but managed to walk to a nearby hospital.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "The 56-year-old man was assaulted and robbed at around 7.30pm on Friday, April 20, while walking in Margravine Cemetery and Park, also known as Hammersmith Cemetery.

"He had suffered facial injuries, including a serious injury which threatens the sight in his left eye. He remains in hospital."

He added: "A small quantity of cash was taken and, at this early stage, officers are satisfied that robbery was the only motive.

"Officers from Hammersmith and Fulham Priority Crime Unit are investigating the incident."

It has been reported that Mr Fergusson was taking a short cut through the cemetery to get to a dinner party, and was attacked after getting out his mobile phone to check the address of his hosts. Read More

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Bahrain King's Pledge On Day Of Grand Prix

Bahrain's king has declared himself committed to reform amid tight security for the Formula One Grand Prix which is going ahead today.

King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, who is due to attend the controversial race, said in a statement that he wanted "to make clear my personal commitment to reform and reconciliation in our great country".

He insisted that substantial progress had already been made, adding: "The door is always open for sincere dialogue amongst all our people."

His statement came a day after claims surfaced that anti-government protester Salah Habib Abbas, 37, was killed by shotgun pellets fired by secruity forces on a rooftop. Read More

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Marissa Danielle Alexander: NAACP declares "stand your ground" fair for blacks, but not for others like Zimmerman; hypocrisy?

The NAACP's Jacksonville chapter has thrown its support behind a woman who will be sentenced Monday in a shooting where she claimed self-defense against an abusive husband under the state's Stand Your Ground law.

Marissa Danielle Alexander, 31, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault in August 2010 after she fired a single shot into the ceiling of her home during a dispute that somehow turned physical.

A judge denied her immunity in a Stand Your Ground hearing. And after a jury found her guilty, she faces a mandatory term of 20 years in prison.

"This is a clear case of domestic violence against Marissa," branch President Isaiah Rumlin said Friday. "After looking into it and studying the case, this is a clear case of Stand Your Ground as it relates to what she had to do on the date that she did it." more

Note: Wasn't the Sanford incident a clear case of violence against Zimmerman? Shouldn't Marissa and Zimmerman both be free due to domestic abuse / assault? There are grounds for both of them going free, yet bias seems to be the word of the day.

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Police Fire Tear Gas In New Bahrain Clash

Police in Bahrain have fired tear gas on protesters as they responded with petrol bombs ahead of the Gulf state's Formula One Grand Prix.

Up to 150 protesters were reported to be facing off against 50 police in jeeps during the violence in a Shiite district outside Manama.

The fresh clashes came after an anti-government protester was found dead after violence overnight ahead of Sunday's grand prix, according to the opposition party Wefaq.

Wefaq said the body of Salah Abbas Habib, 37, was found on the roof of a building in the village of Shakhoura.

It claimed Mr Habib was part of a group who were chased and "brutally" beaten by police during the clashes, late on Friday night.

Wefaq, the leading party among Bahrain's majority Shi'ite Muslim population, published a photograph of Habib's body on a corrugated iron rooftop. Read More

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Violent student protest in Montreal

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India: Man arrested with explosives on train

New Delhi (CNN) -- A man was arrested Saturday in India after he was caught traveling on a train with about 30 detonators and other explosives, CNN affiliate IBN reported.

The man was a passenger on an express train traveling from Chhattisgarh state in central India to Bankura, in West Bengal, IBN said.

As well as the detonators, 30 gelatin sticks, a form of explosive, were recovered, IBN said. Source

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Alexander and Thomas Hunter Face Fraud Charges in the United States

A pair of British brothers are facing charges in the United States for allegedly defrauding investors out of more than 1.2 m US dollars (£745,000) through a bogus stock scheme.

Twins Alexander and Thomas Hunter were just 16 years old when they devised the "elaborate" online scam which fooled around 75,000 people, according to US officials.

In 2007 the brothers, reportedly from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, are alleged to have invented a fictitious "stock picking robot" and claimed on a series of websites that the highly sophisticated computer trading programme could identify stocks that were poised to rocket in value.

They then targeted thousands of unsuspecting investors, mainly in the US, selling them "home versions" of the bogus software - named Marl - and annual subscription to a newsletter that listed the programme's stock recommendations, it is said.

However, the stocks were not generated by any technical analysis and were in fact those companies who were paying the brothers to promote, according to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who has brought the civil action.

Legal papers filed in a New York federal court claimed investors paid 47 US dollars for newsletters listing Marl's stock picks and 97 US dollars for the home software. Read More

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Zhou Yongkang & Bo Xilai Forced Google to Withdraw from China according to Epoch Times

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'Bahraini Protester Found Dead After Clashes' .... £25m to Stage the Event so doubt the killing of a protester is High on their list

An anti-government protester has been found dead after clashes overnight with police in Bahrain ahead of Sunday's grand prix, according to the opposition party Wefaq.

It said the body of Salah Abbas Habib, who was in his 30s, was found on the roof of a building in the village of Shakhoura.

Wefaq claimed Habib was part of a group who were beaten by police during the clashes, late on Friday night.

A spokesman for the government, which has deployed armoured vehicles onto the streets of the capital Manama, declined to comment.

Around 50,000 activists gathered in the capital Manama on Friday as Formula One drivers took to the track of Bahrain International Circuit, just 25 miles away. Read More

Bahrain: Facts

• :: Bahrain's royal family owns 40% of the McLaren F1 racing team.
• :: The F1 race is Bahrain's premier international event and it has cost the kingdom an estimated £25m to stage.
• :: The Grand Prix drew 100,000 visitors to the nation and generated $500m in spending when it was last held two years ago.
• :: The event is expected to draw a worldwide TV audience of about 100m in 187 countries.

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The more things change, the more they stay the same: Residents of LA intersection where '92 race riots flared up say reform efforts have done NOTHING

Twenty years ago, at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in south Los Angeles, a mostly black mob, enraged at the acquittal of four Los Angeles policemen in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, dragged white truck driver Reginald Denny from his cab and beat him unconscious while news helicopters hovered overhead.

The gory images helped incite six days of fires and looting throughout the city that led to 53 deaths and an estimated $1 billion in property damage.

The riots also ushered in years of self-examination and reform efforts in a city whose poorer neighborhoods have long been plagued by gang violence, unemployment and despair.

A visit to Florence and Normandie today, though, suggests that while some things have changed, a lot more has remained the same. Read More

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12 border guards tasered and beat Mexican illegal immigrant to death'

A video has emerged that appears to show an illegal immigrant from Mexico being beaten and tasered by more than a dozen border patrol agents just hours before his death.

It comes as another video apparently captures Anastacio Hernandez Rojas screaming for help as he begs the officers to spare his life in May 2010 at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The videos, along with two eyewitness accounts of the alleged attack, feature as part of a PBS Need to Know report, carried out with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.

Rojas, a 42-year-old father of five, had been deported and was trying to sneak over the border when he was caught by Customs and Border Protection agents, who said he became 'combative'.

In a press release following the attack, the San Diego Police Department said officers had to use a taser to 'subdue the individual and maintain officer safety' - and 'the subject stopped breathing'. Read More

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George Zimmerman shown with blood pouring down his head minutes after Trayvon Martin shooting

A graphic photograph showing blood pouring from the back of George Zimmerman's head on the night he shot teenager Trayvon Martin was released today - and could be the key piece of evidence that will clear him of murder.

It was released on the same day Zimmerman appeared in court and spoke to the slain teen's parents for the first time, telling them: 'I am sorry for the loss of your son...I did not know if he was armed or not,' before he was released on $150,000 bond.

The photograph, obtained by ABC, was said to have been taken three minutes after the shooting took place on the night of February 26, and shows blood coming from two cuts and a possible contusion forming on the crown of his head.

It is the first piece of evidence to give substantial merit to Zimmerman's claim that 17-year-old Martin bashed his head against the concrete pavement as the 28-year-old tried to defend himself. Read More

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Texas cockfight turns into a gunfight, killing 3 and leaving 8 Injured

Three people were killed and eight injured when masked gunmen opened fire during an illegal cockfight on a Texas ranch.

The attack, described by authorities as a bloody massacre, sent spectators fleeing from makeshift bleachers surrounding the fighting ring near Edcouch, near Mexico.

Police were searching for the attackers and for clues as to their possible motives, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said.

Homer Jasso, the justice of the peace for that area of the county, said the scene was shocking in its gore.

'It was a massacre,' Jasso said. 'I haven't seen this kind of violence in the valley here on my watch. This is the first time in my life I've seen something this bad.'

Authorities were withholding the names of the victims until after they had notified the men's families, but they said two of them, aged 49 and 53, were brothers. The other man was 42 years old. Read More

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