Russian woman pardoned by Putin over text message freed

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Russian President Vladimir Putin/ AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Aleksey Nikolskyi

A Russian woman pardoned by President Vladimir Putin after she was sentenced to seven years in jail for treason over a text message about movements of military equipment was released Sunday, local media reported.

Shopkeeper Oxana Sevastidi, 46, was convicted in March 2016 over an SMS sent eight years earlier about a train carrying military hardware towards neighbouring Georgia, months before Russia fought a brief war with the country.

Footage broadcast on state television from outside Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where Sevastidi was being held, showed her hugging her mother before grabbing her personal items and getting into a car with her lawyer.

The Supreme Court is set to rule on her case on March 15. Sevastidi’s defence has hailed the pardon but insisted she would fight until her conviction was quashed.

“We are preparing for the Supreme Court hearing which on Wednesday will consider this absurd criminal case and, I hope, put an end to it,” lawyer Ivan Pavlov wrote on his Facebook page Saturday.

Putin’s pardon, issued on March 7, said it was motivated by “principles of humanity”.

Sevastidi, who hails from the Black Sea city of Sochi, told Meduza news site in December that she photographed military equipment transported on a train in April 2008, months before the August conflict.

Sevastidi said she exchanged messages with a Georgian acquaintance about what she had seen.

Sevastidi was detained by the FSB security service in January 2015 and convicted after a trial held behind closed doors.

In a similar case, a woman in a small town outside Moscow was arrested in 2015 after calling the Ukrainian embassy to say soldiers had left a nearby base and could be heading to eastern Ukraine where a conflict was raging, and where Russia denies intervening militarily.

She was released from prison and the treason charges against her were dropped after a public outcry.

Russia has prosecuted an increasing number of its nationals and foreigners for treason and espionage since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in 2014 and the ensuing standoff with the West.

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Body of beheaded German hostage found…Read full details

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Coroners at a funeral house look at a body body containing the remains of German hostage Jurgen Kantner in Jolo, Sulu province, on the southern island of Mindanao on March 5, 2017. The Philippine military said on Sunday it had recovered the body of an elderly German hostage who was beheaded by Islamic militants last week. The Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-for-ransom network in the southern Philippines that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, killed Jurgen Kantner, 70, after its demands for 600,000 USD were not met.<br />NICKEE BUTLANGAN / AFP

The body of an elderly German hostage who was beheaded by Islamic militants has been found, the Philippine government said on Sunday.

The Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-for-ransom network that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, murdered Jurgen Kantner, 70, last week after its demands for 30 million pesos ($600,000) were not met.

Military officials said marines found Kantner’s body on Saturday evening in the militants’ remote southern island stronghold of Sulu.

“The Philippine government is deeply saddened but resolved as ever to respond to the recent discovery of the body of Mr. Jurgen Kantner,” President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

Troops have clashed with the Abu Sayyaf in recent days, leaving 29 soldiers injured and 14 militants dead, according to the military which says it has been unable to recover the bodies of slain guerrillas.

“It was not easy to find it because of the fighting with the Abu Sayyaf kidnap group that resulted in the wounding of 29 of our men and in the wounding of many of the enemy,” said Colonel Cirilito Sobejana, head of an anti-terror task force in the southern islands.

He said the government was arranging with the German embassy to repatriate Kantner’s body for burial.

Kantner’s yacht, the Rockall, was found drifting on November 7 off the southern Philippines with the body of his female companion, Sabine Merz, who had been shot. The Abu Sayyaf claimed the kidnapping.

Kantner’s remains are in a military hospital morgue in Sulu while officials prepare documentation for transporting the body, authorities said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has apologised for failing to save Kantner and said the military had stepped up operations against the militants.

The Abu Sayyaf, established with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, has been kidnapping foreigners and locals for decades and holding them for ransom.

It is believed to still hold at least 19 foreigners and six Filipino hostages.

The group, blamed for the nation’s worst terrorist attacks, has used the support of local communities, millions of dollars in ransom and collusion with corrupt local officials to defy decades of military operations.

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DNA Twins: Here is everything you need to know about Mavin Records new artists – Bio, wiki, age + facts

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DNA in 2017

Blair and Clinton Roberts, aka DNA twins or simply DNA are in the news following their signing to Don Jazzy.

The question, however, is; apart from featuring on Glo X-factor, what else do we know about them?

The boys, christened Blair and Clinton, were born on June 16 1996, to a polygamous family which had 11 other children. They attended Madonna Model Secondary School, Owerri, Imo State.

The public became aware of them after they decided to participate in the Abuja auditions of the 2013 Glo X-factor competition, just as they finished writing their secondary school final exams.

They were the second group to be evicted from the competition, following the exit of another group, The SmoothBoiz.

After their eviction, a little welcome party was thrown for them. Popular music acts, Bez and Burna Boy, who attended the reception, commended the twins for their impressive showings at the X Factor competition, and advised them to work relentlessly towards realizing their dreams.

The boys themselves declared at the time “This is not the end for us as we are going to use this platform to build on our musical dream. People should look out for us in the near future… we want to tell Nigerians, Africans wherever you are, watch out for DNA. Don’t be surprised to see us doing a song with P-Square.”

After their time on X-factor, they released their first single, titled ‘Mash Up Freestyle’, a combination of some top Nigerian songs, including ‘Soundtrack’ by May-D, and ‘Your Waist’ by Iyanya.

In April 2016, news about the boys came out, but it was not the type of news everyone hoped for.

The boys, then 20, were kidnapped by armed men on their way to Lagos from Abuja.

The kidnappers first asked for a ransom of N6million, but later increased it to N10million. Efforts were now being made to raise the money and get the boys back to the safety of their home where their family members were worried sick.

They were later released, although no mention of a ransom was made.

On 3rd March 2017 just few days after signing to Mavin Records, DNA released their hit single titled “HOW CAN” which was produced by Don Jazzy.

WATCH DNA TWINS ON GLO X-FACTOR below..

Sources: Pulse Nigeria, Instagram and Uzomedia

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Round Up: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Malayalam Actress’ Molestation Case…Read full details

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In an event that shook the entire film industry, a popular and successful Malayalam actress was kidnapped and molested by her driver and two others less than two weeks ago. The prime accused, her driver – Pulsar Sunil, had worked with her for months, when one night he planned to abduct the actress on her way home. Two of his friends allegedly forced themselves into the vehicle and the trio drove around for two hours, molesting her, and then forced her to pose for questionable pictures. After this, they dropped her off at a friend’s house at 10pm. The actress was notably shaken and traumatised, and later filed an FIR with the police.

He has now been arrested by the police and it is being hoped that this will help the actress slowly get back to normalcy. The phone from which the pictures were taken hasn’t been found yet but the cops assured her that they’re doing their best to find it. Her driver, Sunil, in a statement said that he did this to blackmail her and get a hefty sum in return.

Her close friend and actress Remya Namibian – whose house she was heading to that night – spoke out to Indian Express in her support.

She is with me and she is slowly recovering from the horror. Her fight is not just for herself but for all women in our society. She had apprehensions about the fact that the main accused had not been nabbed but now she is fine. She is recovering now and all of us are trying hard to help her.

According to a report in Bollywood Life, another friend of hers revealed the actress is shaken.

She has been in counselling ever since the incident happened. She has resumed shooting, but is unable to sleep and is on sedatives.

Her fiancé is doing his best to support her too through these tough times.

Her fiancée, who is a producer, has stood by her through all this. In fact, he insisted that she gets back to work. She shot for a few scenes on Monday. He was on the sets, protectively hovering around her, making sure she was not asked uncomfortable questions.  She has also switched off her cellphone.

Her co-star and friend Prithviraj lauded her courage and vowed to never be a part of misogynist films ever again. He was one of the first actors to speak out and render his support to her.

More power to her for being so strong and resuming shooting whilst trying to get back to normalcy. This unfortunate incident has brought the whole South Indian film industry together to fight for her justice. Stay strong, you.

The post Round Up: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Malayalam Actress’ Molestation Case is copyright of MissMalini.

Source: Miss Malini

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Bloody Islamic State video puts China in cross-hairs…Read full details

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This photo taken on February 27, 2017 shows Chinese military police getting off a plane to attend an anti-terrorist oath-taking rally in Hetian, northwest China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Islamic State militants from China's Uighur ethnic minority have vowed to return home and "shed blood like rivers", according to a jihadist-tracking firm, in what experts said marked the first IS threat against Chinese targets. The threat came in a half-hour video released on February 27 by a division of the Islamic State in western Iraq and featuring militants from China's Uighur ethnic group, said the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which analysed the footage. / AFP PHOTO / STR / China OUT

Islamic State militants from China’s Uighur ethnic minority have vowed to return home and “shed blood like rivers”, according to a jihadist-tracking firm, in what experts said marked the first IS threat against Chinese targets.

The threat came in a half-hour video released Monday by a division of the Islamic State in western Iraq and featuring militants from China’s Uighur ethnic group, said the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which analysed the footage.

China has for years blamed exiled Uighur “separatists” for a series of violent attacks in its western Xinjiang region — the Uighur homeland — and warned of the potential for militants to link up with global jihadist groups.

In the video, a Uighur fighter issued the threat against China just before executing an alleged informant.

“Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say! We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed,” according to SITE’s translation.

A traditionally Muslim group, many Uighurs complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination by China.

It appears to be the Islamic State’s “first direct threat” against China, Dr. Michael Clarke, an expert on Xinjiang at the National Security College of Australian National University, told AFP.

“It is the first time that Uighur-speaking militants have claimed allegiance to IS,” he added.

The video showed China is now “very firmly a target of jihadist rhetoric,” Clarke said, marking a shift from years past when it rarely figured in statements by global jihadist groups.

But Clarke said it also could indicate a possible split among Uighur fighters, as it includes a warning to those fighting with the al Qaeda-aligned Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Syria.

– Show of force –
China maintains tight security in Xinjiang but a drumbeat of deadly unrest has continued. A knife attack last month left eight dead, including three attackers, police said.

The video was released the same day that China held the latest in a series of mass rallies of military police in Xinjiang meant to indicate Chinese resolve in crushing security threats.

More than 10,000 officers gathered Monday in the region’s capital Urumqi — the fourth such rally this year in Xinjiang.

Chinese authorities have tightened controls in the region, beefing up police checkpoints.

In one violence-wracked corner of Xinjiang, authorities are offering rewards of up to 5 million yuan ($730,000) to those who expose terror plots or “struggle, kill, wound, or subdue” any attackers.

The Islamic State video showed fighters, including heavily armed children, giving speeches, praying, and killing other “informants”.

It also featured images of Chinese riot police guarding mosques, patrolling Uighur markets, and arresting men in what appears to be western China. The Chinese flag is pictured engulfed in flames.

Clarke said the hints of a Uighur split could “intensify the threat to China” as it indicates Uighur militants may be able to tap into the capabilities of both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Overseas experts have up to now expressed doubts about the strength of Uighur militants, with some saying China exaggerates the threat to justify tough security measures.

A US think tank said in July that tough Chinese religious restrictions on Muslims may have driven more than 100 to join the Islamic State.

Authorities have banned or strictly controlled the observance of certain Muslim practices, such as growing beards, wearing headscarves, and fasting during Ramadan, saying they were symbols of “Islamic extremism”.

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Philippine education ministry rejects school condoms

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PHOTO:AFP

The Philippine education ministry has rejected a plan to distribute condoms in schools, authorities said Friday, blocking a move meant to stop one of Asia’s fastest growing HIV epidemics.

The health department said in December it would give out contraceptives in schools as part of a strategy to prevent HIV infections, prompting criticism from some lawmakers and bishops in the mainly Catholic nation.

The Philippines has a rapidly growing HIV epidemic, with rights groups saying the government has failed to promote contraceptives and give sex education to gay or bisexual men.

However the education department said this week it would not allow condom distribution in primary and high schools because laws only mandated the agency to provide “sexuality education”.

“We want to be sensitive to what the parents feel and we got the feedback that they don’t agree with the idea,” education assistant secretary Tonisito Umali told AFP.

“Parents think this will send a wrong signal to our students that it’s OK to have premarital sex, to have sex while you’re a minor so long as you are protected.”

Access to contraceptives is a contentious issue in the Philippines, with the influential Catholic Church opposing laws and programmes seeking to distribute condoms to the poor.

President Rodrigo Duterte has challenged the Church, ordering government agencies last month to deliver free contraceptives to six million women to boost a family planning programme.

His health department has also launched a plan to curb the spread of HIV especially among Filipinos aged 15 to 24, which it said was the most vulnerable to infection.

Health department spokesman Eric Tayag said his agency would continue distributing condoms in clinics and outreach missions despite the decision of the education ministry.

“We’re not disappointed because one big thing that happened was we mainstreamed the conversation about condom access, which was taboo before,” Tayag told AFP.

Tayag added critics had confused HIV prevention with family planning.

“HIV in the Philippines mostly happens when you have unsafe sex: males having sex with males. Nobody gets pregnant among that vulnerable group,” he said.

“For those who have already experienced sex, we are aiming for risk reduction and one (way) is condom access.”

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said giving students condoms was “a waste of public funds”.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2jEChZ4