Saturday, October 25, 2014

Iran hangs woman for killing alleged rapist


Iran has hanged a woman convicted of murdering a man she said was trying to rape her.
The official IRNA news agency says Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn Saturday for premeditated murder. It quoted the court ruling as rejecting the claim of attempted rape and saying all evidence proved that Jabbari had plotted to kill Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former intelligence agent.
The court ruling says Jabbari, 27, stabbed Sarbandi in the back in 2007 after purchasing a knife two days earlier.
The execution was carried out after Sarbandi's family refused to pardon Jabbari or accept blood money.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups had called on Iran's judiciary to halt the execution.

Anti-Israel restaurant receives funding from John Kerry’s wife’s foundation


A food cart that hands out anti-Israel propaganda with each of its sandwiches has received funding from a foundation run by Secretary of State John Kerry’s wife.
Conflict Kitchen, a pop-up restaurant located at the intersection of Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh University, seeks to use food to educate locals and college students about countries that are allegedly in conflict with the United States.
It recently began serving Palestinian food wrapped in leaflets that include quotes from Palestinians defending terrorism and opposing the existence of Israel.
“How can you compare Israeli F-16s, which are some of the best military planes in the world, to a few hundred homemade rockets?” states one quote on the wrapper, a reference to Hamas rocket attacks against Israelis. “You’re pushing them to the absolute extreme. So what do you expect?”
“Palestinians are not going to just let [Israel] in and drop their arms,” it adds. “No, they’re going to kill and they are going to die.”
The statements on the wrappers were taken from interviews with Palestinians. They are published without quotation marks and do not appear to be edited for accuracy.

As Dems avoid Obama on campaign trail, Romney is in GOP demand


Flashing the easy smile of someone whose name isn't on the Election Day ballot, Mitt Romney has never been so politically popular. He’s traveled the country – 23 states by his count – in recent months to lend support to fellow Republicans in advance of November’s midterm election.
“A lot of people who helped me – I owe big time,” the two-time presidential candidate cheerfully explained when asked about his campaign stops.
It’d be understandable if Romney’s enthusiasm for rallies, banquet halls, fundraisers and the seemingly never-ending line of outstretched hands had waned since his 2012 loss. But two years later, Romney is busy stumping for candidates in tight races nationwide including this two-day stretch in Arizona.
“It’s a real thrill to go across the country and I see a lot of the people who helped me during my campaign,” Romney told Fox News on Thursday night in Mesa. “Not just volunteers but a lot of dear, dear friends that I hadn’t seen in many, many years. So it’s fun to get back on the trail and make a difference.”
The irony of Romney’s high-profile appearances – about 1,500 people showed up to see him with Arizona’s statewide Republican candidates – is that President Obama has been nearly invisible in public support of Democrats this cycle. That’s not lost on Doug Ducey, Arizona’s Republican candidate for governor, one of the candidates getting a boost from Romney.
“People talk about contrasts in this campaign and I can’t think of any bigger contrast than for me to say how proud I am to be campaigning with our Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney,” Ducey enthusiastically told supporters after Romney introduced him on stage. The audience then roared in laughter at Ducey’s observation that Obama hasn’t been seen in Arizona supporting Democratic nominee Fred DuVal.  
Romney readily says he wishes he could be in the White House today leading the country but “that’s not going to happen.” He says he wants the president to succeed at home and internationally but is convinced that’s not likely to happen either.  
His sharpest criticism of the president came in response to questions about the administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis, which Romney calls a massive threat to America.
“Frankly, the president has once again been spectator-in-chief,” Romney said, then questioned why the president didn’t take a stronger line with the CDC in making sure the health agency was on top of the situation.
Romney expanded his critique to other controversies that have stricken the Obama administration, singling out the IRS scandal, Secret Service foul-ups and the roll out of ObamaCare.
“This is your administration. You appointed those people to lead those organizations. They report to you,” he said. “You should have been meeting with them, dealing with these issues before they broke and embarrassed our nation.”
Romney’s prominent role on the campaign trail along with polls showing a measure of buyer’s remorse from some 2012 Obama voters has prompted speculation that a third run for the presidency is possible. Romney repeated his oft-stated line that “I’m not running. I’m not planning on running.”  
He offered strong compliments about others who are considered likely candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination. “We’ve got some good people who are looking at the race. I think the first debate may have 10 or more people on the stage. Time will tell. We’ve got very credible people who are giving it a careful look.”
Friday morning outside Tucson, Republicans showed up at a community center to hear from Romney and a pair of GOP congressional candidates. Twice during the short event, rally-goers chanted “run Mitt run” with seemingly little effect on their target. Romney’s smile never left his face.

New York, New Jersey order Ebola quarantines


Both New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday they are ordering a mandatory, 21-day quarantine for all doctors and travelers who have had contact with Ebola victims in the ravaged countries of West Africa.
The move comes a day after a Doctors Without Borders volunteer was diagnosed with the disease after returning to the U.S. a week after treating Ebola victims in Guinea.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the case forced them to conclude that the two states need guidelines more rigorous than those of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends voluntary quarantines.
"It's too serious a situation to leave it to the honor system of compliance," Cuomo said.
A woman who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport from West Africa developed a fever and was the first traveler to be quarantined under an Ebola watch Friday.
She had no symptoms upon arrival, authorities said.
Dr. Craig Spencer was traveling in New York City prior to his diagnosis Thursday. Health officials said he followed U.S. and international protocols in checking his temperature every day and watching for symptoms, and put no one at risk. But others said he should have been quarantined — that is, kept away from others, either voluntarily or by the government — during Ebola's 21-day incubation period.
An automatic three-week quarantine makes sense for anyone "with a clear exposure" to Ebola, said Dr. Richard Wenzel, a Virginia Commonwealth University scientist who formerly led the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that a quarantine of that nature would be going to far and that people who contract Ebola are not contagious until symptoms begin.
"As long as a returned staff member does not experience any symptoms, normal life can proceed," the organization said in a statement.

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