PHOENIX ( Family Asks McCain to Help Win U.S. Marine’s Release from Mexican Jail )

PHOENIX – Relatives of U.S. Marine Andrew Tahmooressi, who is being held in a Mexican jail for entering the country with weapons in his possession, have asked Republican Sen. John McCain for help in the case.

“We’re very concerned about his well-being. He’s been beaten, he’s suffering from hunger. The only thing they’re giving him to eat is bread and water with sugar,” Beth Whitney, Tahmooressi’s aunt, told Efe as she displayed a photo of her nephew.

Tahmooressi, a Marine sergeant who served two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested in March 31 when he entered Mexico from San Diego with three firearms in the trunk of his car.

Mexico only allows members of its armed forces to carry weapons.

At the entrance of the checkpoints into Mexican territory there are signs indicating that entering the country with firearms is prohibited.

Everything was a mistake, given that Tahmooressi crossed into Tijuana, Mexico, to do some shopping and when he returned to his parked vehicle in San Diego he then took a wrong turn, realizing quickly thereafter that he was once again in Mexico with the firearms in his possession, Whitney said.

His truck “was surrounded by a group of 20 soldiers, all of them pointing pistols at him,” Whitney said.

The family is desperate about the soldier’s “uncertain future” and so on Saturday they went to McCain’s offices in Phoenix to ask for his help with the aim of obtaining Tahmooressi’s release, Whitney said.

The Tahmooressi case spurred Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. to take the lead in a series of efforts with an eye toward getting his countryman released, arguing that the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Hunter, a war veteran like Tahmooressi, requested that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suspend any kind of military aid to Mexico until the Marine is released from the jail in Baja California state where he is being held.

KABUL (Three Turkish Engineers Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Attack)

   

KABUL – Three Turkish engineers died on Monday and another was wounded in a suicide attack against the van in which they were going to work in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an Afghan official told Efe.

The attack occurred in the town of Benegah when a suicide bomber detonated the explosives he was carrying in a motorized rickshaw, provincial Gov. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

The engineers were headed for a construction site.

No insurgent group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after the recent freeing of five captive Taliban leaders by the United States in exchange for the only U.S. prisoner remaining in Afghanistan, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

The Afghan conflict has entered one of its bloodiest phases since the U.S. invasion ousted the Taliban regime nearly 13 years ago.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force’s mission in Afghanistan will conclude at the end of 2014, though Washington has announced that it will maintain some 9,800 troops in the country until late 2016.

Afghanistan is also in the midst of a presidential election campaign for the June 14 runoff – Three Turkish engineers died on Monday and another was wounded in a suicide attack against the van in which they were going to work in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an Afghan official told Efe.

The attack occurred in the town of Benegah when a suicide bomber detonated the explosives he was carrying in a motorized rickshaw, provincial Gov. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

The engineers were headed for a construction site.

No insurgent group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after the recent freeing of five captive Taliban leaders by the United States in exchange for the only U.S. prisoner remaining in Afghanistan, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

The Afghan conflict has entered one of its bloodiest phases since the U.S. invasion ousted the Taliban regime nearly 13 years ago.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force’s mission in Afghanistan will conclude at the end of 2014, though Washington has announced that it will maintain some 9,800 troops in the country until late 2016.

Afghanistan is also in the midst of a presidential election campaign for the June 14 runoff

SAN FRANCISCO ( Man " Wanted by FBI " nationwide alert ) In custody 6-3-2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The FBI has issued a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies about a San Francisco social media consultant they consider armed and dangerous who is wanted on suspicion of possessing explosives.

FBI spokesman Peter Lee said Sunday that 42-year-old Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II was last seen in a dark blue, hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Multiple agencies, including hazardous materials crews, searched Chamberlain's apartment in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood on Saturday, blocking off the street to vehicle and pedestrian traffic for much of the day.

Lee gave no details Sunday about the nature of the investigation, but said authorities believe Chamberlain is acting alone.

"We believe he is alone in the vehicle but we just don't know, again, where his ties or his network is so we ask that any members of the public be on the lookout for anyone that matches this man's description," Lee said at a press conference outside FBI headquarters on Sunday.

Chamberlain is traveling in a white 2008 Nissan Altima with Texas or California license plates, but authorities do not know where he is heading, Lee said.

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This undated image provided by the FBI shows Ryan Kelly Chamberlain, II, who is being sought by the  …

His boss at a music rights consultancy group said he last contacted her Friday to remind her to deposit his paycheck at a new bank account. Brooke Wentz said the conversation was uneventful and that she was "tremendously dumbfounded" by the news that the contractor she hired to handle her company's social media accounts was wanted by the FBI.

"He's a nice guy," Wentz told The Associated Press.

Wentz said it didn't seem like Chamberlain was staying in the apartment on Jackson Street. She said when she mailed him his paycheck in April, he told her he would have to go the apartment to pick it up. She said he seemed under financial pressure because he told her that two friends who were leasing his apartment left without telling him and he had to scramble to pay for two rentals.

"I wondered what kind of friends would do something like that? I tried to ask him about the situation but he was kind of evading my question," Wentz said.

Randy Bramblett, a personal trainer and professional athlete in San Francisco, said he became friends with Chamberlain through Project Sport, a local sports marketing company. The company let Chamberlain go when it was sold in November and he soon lost touch with friends and stopped returning calls and messages, Bramblett said.

"We all knew that he was a very emotional guy and when he didn't get his own way he would say 'Screw you, I'm going to go do my own thing,'" Bramblett said. "I've never seen him be violent, ever, but I would definitely say that maybe emotionally and mentally he was a little unstable."

Chamberlain had worked for years as a political consultant on Democratic campaigns, Bramblett said.

He also worked as an independent contractor for The San Francisco Chronicle during the 2012 NFL season, doing social media to boost coverage for the San Francisco 49ers Insider iPad app, the newspaper said.

A spokeswoman for the University of San Francisco said Chamberlain taught a "Grass Roots Mobilization" course to graduate students in the Public Affairs program in 2011. Anne-Marie Devine said Chamberlain taught for one semester, and wasn't invited to teach another course. She said she didn't know why because hundreds of adjunct professors come and go at the university.

The affidavit and search warrant used to enter Chamberlain's home remain under seal.

India ( Protest over "Rape and killing of girls" police fire water cannon ) video

China ( Woman killed while eating at " Mcdonalds " by cult members )

Iran ( Women speak out -see video )

Iran ( Women's "Human rights leader " gets 6 years in prison ) Nargess Mohammadi

Activist gets summons after meeting EU official

 

Sunday, Jun 01 2014

 

 

, the Iranian human rights activist and deputy director of the Human Rights Defenders Centre of Iran, has been summoned by the Evin Prison Court.

Kaleme reports that Mohammadi has been summoned to appear in court on Sunday June 1, and the reason for her summons has been referred to as "charges stated in the file."

Mohammadi has been sentenced to six years in jail for "assembly and collusion against national security and propaganda activities against the regime."

Shirin Ebadi, the head of the Human Rights Defenders centre in exile, has reported on Mohammadi's summons, saying it may be connected to her visit with Catherine Ashton in Tehran.

Mohammadi was the head of a delegation of women's rights activists that met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Tehran on International Women's Day. The meeting at the Viennese embassy stirred severe reactions from conservative factions in Iran.

Radio Zamaneh