Arrest in slayings of mum, toddlers

POLICE detained a man in the deaths of a woman and her two toddler children, whose bodies were found in a horrific scene that authorities said has shocked even veteran law enforcement.

The man was taken in for questioning around 2 a.m. at a Placer County, California Denny's restaurant after authorities spotted a white Chrysler minivan missing from the scene of the killings outside.

The man was believed to be in possession of the van, Sacramento County Sheriff's spokesman Jason Ramos said. He was being interviewed by homicide investigators.

The woman, who was in her 20s, and her 2-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter were found dead by the children's father on Tuesday afternoon at their Rancho Cordova home. Rancho Cordova is about 24 kilometres east of Sacramento.

A 6 month-old infant was found crying inside a crib in the back of the house, authorities said.

Authorities have not said how they were killed, although Mr Ramos said they suffered a lot of trauma.

"This is somebody who confronted a family inside their homes and took their lives very violently," he said on Tuesday. "It's shocking, even to veteran law enforcement."

After discovering the bodies, the children's father ran to a neighbor, who called police.

Mr Ramos said officers found the "extremely distraught" man sitting in front of the house when they arrived.

The names of the man and the victims have not been released, though authorities said the family is of eastern European descent. Officers also questioned the father and the neighbor, though they have not been identified as suspects.

By early evening Tuesday, police and television reporters had poured into the block of ranch-style houses around the corner from an elementary school. Several television reporters said that the officers exiting the home were visibly shaken.

Mr Ramos said officers "rarely see" a crime of this magnitude.

"We're looking into everything; we have a mom and two kids dead," he said.

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rising gold price boosts necklace theft

A NEW trend has hit the streets of Paris: ripping gold chains from their owners' necks.

Police said on Wednesday that 270 people had been arrested in the first nine months of the year for muggings aimed at cashing in on the rising price of the precious metal.

In July alone - at the height of the tourist season - there were 635 reported incidents of thefts of gold chains or necklaces in the French capital and its surrounding suburbs.

Authorities in other French cities have reported a similar upward trend in gold-centred thefts in a year which has seen the metal hit record highs thanks to its rediscovered status as a safe haven in times of financial turmoil.

Gold prices were at $US1708.35 ($A1,662.55) an ounce on Wednesday on the London Bullion Market, up from $1574.50 at the beginning of the year.

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Islamist group rejects Syria truce

ISLAMIST group Al-Nusra Front on Wednesday rejected a truce in Syria proposed by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for this week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

"There is no truce between us and this transgressing regime that is shedding the blood of Muslims," Al-Nusra Front said in a statement reported by the US-based monitoring service.

"We, Allah permitting, aren't among those who give a chance to plotters to trick us," the group, which has claimed responsibility for several deadly suicide bombings in Syria, said in the statement posted on the Internet.

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Israel expels 15 Gaza boat activists

ISRAEL has expelled 15 international activists who had tried and failed to reach Gaza by boat at the weekend in a bid to breach the maritime blockade on the territories, a spokeswoman for Israel's immigration service said.

"Fifteen foreign activists were expelled. Only two Norwegians are still in detention and awaiting expulsion," Sabine Hadad said.

There were 30 pro-Palestinian activists and parliamentarians on board the Finnish-flagged Estelle which was on Saturday intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters some 38 nautical miles off Gaza.

Of that number, three were Israelis and 27 were foreign nationals. Ten of them were sent home on Sunday and Monday.

Among those on board were 79-year-old Canadian and former lawmaker Jim Manly, as well as five members of parliament from Norway, Sweden, Spain and Greece.

Some activists accused the navy of using Taser guns to subdue them as they took over the vessel, their lawyer told AFP, in a claim dismissed by the Israeli military.

Israel says its blockade of the Gaza Strip is necessary to prevent weapons from entering the coastal territory, which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.

In May 2010, pro-Palestinian activists tried to reach the Gaza Strip in a six-ship flotilla which was stormed by Israeli troops in a botched pre-dawn operation which left nine Turkish nationals dead, sparking a diplomatic crisis with Ankara.

Since then, there have been several other attempts to reach Gaza by boat, all of which have been stopped by Israel, although there has been no repeat of the bloodshed.

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Car bomb kills six in Damascus: state TV

A CAR bomb explosion in southern Damascus has killed six people and wounded 20 others, state television says, while a watchdog gave a death toll of eight.

"The terrorist car bomb blast in Daf al-Shuk killed six people, wounded 20 others and caused material damage," said the Syrian state broadcaster.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "a car bomb hit the area between Tadamun and Daf al-Shuk, targeting a vehicle carrying 24 passengers, killing eight people."

The blast also "wounded 20 others," it said, adding that it was unclear whether the victims were civilians or soldiers.

The Britain-based watchdog said clashes raged in Tadamun immediately after the blast.

The attack took place as international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi announced in Cairo that the Syrian regime and "most" rebel commanders have agreed to a truce during the four-day Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins on Friday.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime said it would take a "final decision" on the proposed ceasefire on Thursday, while the Free Syrian Army, the main rebel group, said it would cease fire during the four-day Eid provided government forces stop shooting first.

But the Islamist group the Al-Nusra Front, which has claimed the majority suicide bombings in the Syrian conflict, rejected the truce.

"There is no truce between us and this transgressing regime that is shedding the blood of Muslims," it said in a statement posted on the internet.

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Libyan militia takes former Gaddafi town

LIBYA'S government has taken control of one of the last strongholds of deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists, the government claimed, after fierce battles that left dozens dead and thousands displaced.

The capture of Bani Walid was a triumph for the government that replaced Gaddafi's regime, but the fact that it took a full year underlined the fractious nature of the country and the new regime's inability to impose its authority over squabbling tribes and heavily armed militias.

The victory could even spark new violence. The government-backed militia that led the charge came from the city of Misrata, a longtime rival of Bani Walid, and recriminations could result.

In the centre of Bani Walid, some 140 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, fighters fired their weapons into the air in celebration. Columns of smoke billowed into the sky near the airport outside, where clashes were still ongoing, despite official statements that the government was in full control.

Shops were closed and the town was deserted. A power station was destroyed, the main hospital was not functioning and a doctor was among the wounded. Fighters opened fire on signs that carried the old name of Libya under Gaddafi.

Mohammed al-Taib, a commander of a pro-government militia called Libya Shield, told AP that his forces control the town centre, but there were still some clashes going on.

Omar Boughdad, a commander from the Misrata militia, said his forces would remain in the town to keep Gaddafi loyalists out. "The loyalists have fled to the valleys, but we will clean up these places and we will not leave again," he said.

Bani Walid is one of the last major pockets of support for the former regime, and disarming its militants has been one of the most daunting tasks facing the government.

"Bani Walid is under full control," the official LANA news agency quoted the spokesman of the pro-government militia, Mohammed al-Kandouz, as saying late on Tuesday.

LANA said on Tuesday that 13,000 families were displaced by the fighting. Families fled by car, and workers walked several kilometres to escape the gunfire.

Bani Walid became a bastion of Gaddafi loyalists during and after the eight-month civil war that led to Gaddafi's capture and killing and the fall of his regime last year.

Interim President Mohammed El-Megarif expressed support for the offensive on Bani Walid in a speech aired on national TV. "This is not targeting a region, a tribe or unarmed civilians, but outlaws," he said. "This is to impose state legitimacy."

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bombing suspect complains of mistreatment

THE main suspect in the USS Cole bombing has appeared before a military judge complaining of having to wear chains and endure attacks from guards at the US prison in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Saudi national Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the deadly October 2000 attack in Yemen, stood before the special military court and said he has wanted to attend each of his hearings, but "the one thing that would prevent me from coming is the chains and the security measures."

The defendant in the capital case, his hair short and his face freshly shaven, and wearing a tunic and white trousers with a grey suit jacket, complained the prison guards were mistreating him.

"In my prison... there are attacks on me under the so-called security measures," he said, according to a retransmission of the hearing shown at a Maryland military base.

"I'll let the world know that the judge sentenced me to death because I didn't show up due to chains," he said, speaking in Arabic, which was being simultaneously translated.

This was day two of a three-day preliminary hearing. Nashiri waived his right to attend the first day in protest over having to wear chains while being transported to the court room.

He said his refusal to appear on Tuesday and earlier, in July, were "because of the ill-treatment of the guards.

"They say security, (but) they can't do anything in the name of security, that's impossible. Security must have a limit."

He thanked the judge for giving him an opportunity to speak, saying nobody has heard "for 10 years what I have to say today."

"I have a bad back," he complained, but "they insist on placing belly chains around my waist."

He said the guards also put chains on his wrists and legs, and, holding up his hands to show they were empty, he argued that the chains have nothing to do with security.

The judge interrupted, preventing him from describing all the measures taken against him.

"This is my case. This is my right to defend myself," Nashiri countered.

After the judge read Nashiri his rights to be present to hear the case against him, the defendant promised to come to all future hearings, on condition of better treatment.

He asked for "a comfortable chair, a comfortable car," saying he is "getting sick" using the car currently provided.

Nashiri, like the September 11 suspects held at Guantanamo, was subjected to harsh interrogations while being held at a secret CIA prison in Poland, former CIA director Michael Hayden has acknowledged.

An alleged associate of late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Nashiri has been in US custody since 2002.

The United States is seeking the death penalty against the 47-year-old, who is accused of directing the suicide attack in Yemen that left 17 sailors dead.

Militants rammed an explosives-laden skiff into the side of the Cole in the port of Aden, blowing a 10-by-10-metre hole in the destroyer and nearly sinking it. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Nashiri is also accused of being behind a 2002 attack on the French oil tanker MV Limburg that killed one person.

23.34 | 0 komentar | Read More