Tag Archives: classifieds
Erdogan issues final protest warning
Erdogan issues final protest warning (AFP) / 13 June 2013 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday issued a “last warning” for thousands of protesters to evacuate an Istanbul park at the centre of mass anti-government unrest. This was after offering to hold a referendum on plans to redevelop the site. “I’m making my last warning: mothers, fathers please withdraw your kids from there,” Erdogan said in a live television broadcast. “We cannot wait any longer because Gezi Park does not belong to occupying forces. It belongs to everybody.” The premier urged environmental protesters to withdraw so that police could clear the site of “illegal organisations”. “Don’t sadden us anymore, let us clean Gezi park and return it to its rightful owners… the people of Istanbul.” On Tuesday, police already took back Taksim Square, next to the park, sparking a day of violent clashes between riot police and tens of thousands of angry demonstrators. A campaign to save Gezi Park’s 600 trees from being razed to make way for a replica of Ottoman-era military barracks was met with a tough police response on May 31. The violence sparked a nationwide outpouring of anger against Erdogan, seen as increasingly authoritarian after more than a decade in power. The premier has faced international condemnation over his handling of the crisis, which has left four people dead and injured nearly 5,000 demonstrators. But Erdogan defended the police action, saying: “Police use force when needed.” He put the damage from the protests so far at 100 million lira (40 million euros). Continue reading
UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syrian conflict
UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syrian conflict (AP) / 13 June 2013 Syria’s upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of almost 93,000 people, the United Nations’ human rights office said Thursday but acknowledged the real number is likely to be far higher. A new analysis of the Syrian death toll documented 92,901 killings between March 2011 and the end of April 2013. But the U.N.’s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, who oversees the Geneva-based office, said it was impossible to provide an exact current figure. The last such analysis, released in January, documented nearly 60,000 killings through the end of November. Since then, U.N. officials had estimated higher numbers. The latest figures add more confirmed killings to the previous time period, and find almost 27,000 more between December and April. “The constant flow of killings continues at shockingly high levels, with more than 5,000 killings documented every month since last July,” said Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. “This is most likely a minimum casualty figure. The true number of those killed is potentially much higher.” Among the victims were at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10. “There are also well-documented cases of individual children being tortured and executed, and entire families including babies being massacred — which, along with this devastatingly high death toll, is a terrible reminder of just how vicious this conflict has become,” Pillay said. Her office commissioned San Francisco-based nonprofit Human Rights Data Analysis Group to study eight data sets provided by various groups containing 263,000 reported killings. Those lacking a name, date and location of death were excluded, and some duplicates were found. The figures trace the arc of violence. Since the start of the peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad in March 2011, which turned into an armed rebellion and then morphed into civil war, the average monthly number of documented killings has risen from around 1,000 per month in the summer of 2011 to an average of more than 5,000 per month since last July. At its height from July to October 2012, the number of killings rose above 6,000 per month. “Civilians are bearing the brunt of widespread, violent and often indiscriminate attacks which are devastating whole swaths of major towns and cities, as well as outlying villages,” Pillay said. “Government forces are shelling and launching aerial attacks on urban areas day in and day out, and are also using strategic missiles and cluster and thermobaric bombs. Opposition forces have also shelled residential areas, albeit using less fire-power, and there have been multiple bombings resulting in casualties in the heart of cities, especially Damascus.” The vast majority of the victims are male, but three-quarters of the reported killings do not indicate a person’s age, and the analysis could not differentiate between fighters and non-combatants. The most documented killings were in rural Damascus, with 17,800 people dead. Next were Homs, with 16,400; Aleppo, 11,900; and Idlib, 10,300. Continue reading
Gang of five robbers who target companies caught
Gang of five robbers who target companies caught Staff Reporter / 12 June 2013 A gang of five Asians, who allegedly break in and burgle establishments at night, were arrested by Abu Dhabi Police on Friday in a sting operation code-named “Jerboas of the Dark”, due to the suspect’s attempts to avoid detection. The gang — comprising of several heavy-built members — specialised in robbing private industrial companies in Al Mafraq and Musaffah areas in the Capital. A combination of illustrations showing how the gang burgled company buildings. — Supplied photos The suspects would catch watchmen off guard, before binding them with rope and cutting the wires on the surveillance cameras, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at ADP Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Bu Rasheed said. “The knife-armed and masked members of the gang managed to burgle company buildings and made off with cash, cooper metals and diesel, at amounts estimated at Dh1.8 million”, he noted. Col. Dr Bu Rasheed added that after a spate of reports were filed at the Operations Room of the CID, by companies working in the field of transportation, contracting and manufacturing of electric switch keys, a search and investigation team affiliated to the anti-organised crime division was formed to track down the perpetrators. The burglaries had been ongoing for the last two months. The efforts of the team resulted in a number of the suspects being captured, despite the lack of information in the case, he said, adding that the disconnection of the wires from the CCTV, among other precautionary measures, failed to allude them from the authorities. Upon interrogation, the perpetrators, H.G., 30, T. N., 25, A.H., 28, B.W., 25 and N.R., 26, all Pakistani, confessed to the robberies. They claimed they assigned the stronger members of the gang to holding the watchmen hostage. A quick-moving member of the gang was given the task of disconnecting the CCTV cameras, as well as keeping watch, while the remaining members started emptying the contents inside of the desk drawers and safes inside before fleeing the scene. Upon arrival at the targeted company, the members of the gang would knock on the door of the watchman’s room before hiding. “Once the watchman or the worker at the establishment opened the door to find out who was knocking…the members of the gang attacked him and beat him up”, he said, quoting the victims. After threatening to kill them at knife-point, they would then hand over the keys of the safes and stores to the gang, he said, noting that the gang later locked them up in a closed room after tying their hands and stealing their personal belongings. Col. Dr Bu Rasheed said the culprits used two motor vehicles during their crime spree — one saloon and one pickup — depending on the type of building they were targeting. They used the saloon car in limited thefts related to money, while the second vehicle was used in stealing and loading cooper and drums filled with diesel. Col. Dr Bu Rasheed said they gang were able to easily target these places as companies often hired untrained watchmen to guard the premises. The members of the gang, according to him, are on a legal residence working visa in the country, but practice burglary as a part-time money earner, noting that the gang had locked up 11 watchmen and workers (victims), in five separate burglaries. He further said that a number of the victims succeeded to untie the ropes from their hands and legs and inform the police, while some others were discovered tied-up the next day. Col. Dr Bu Rasheed said the police will keep a watchful eye and take action against any ill-minded persons who try to breach public order and break in to others’ properties. He urged the owners of the companies to ensure that the doors and windows of their companies are tightly locked when official working hours are over. He also advised them not to leave cash inside. He further warned the owners of the companies not to pose over-confidence in the employees of their establishments, and not inform them on the security measures and the valuables inside the company, as the culprits, when questioned, said that they had obtained information on the premises through word of mouth. He called on companies to sign contracts with security companies or delegate experienced employees for training to cope professionally with eventualities such as this, and not to rest on the company workers to perform security works. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
