health: Lincoln Tribune

الجمعة، 6 أبريل 2012

Lincoln Tribune

U.S. court sentences Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to 25 years
Five electricity workers die after boat capsizes in eastern Turkey
Remains of U.S. airman missing from Vietnam War chopper crash identified
Death toll rises to 13 after suicide bombing in Afghanistan
Suicide bomber targets Pakistani police superintendent, killing 4

U.S. court sentences Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to 25 years

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 06:01 PM PDT

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- A federal court in New York on Thursday sentenced Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to 25 years in prison, prosecutors said. He arrived in the United States in November 2010 after being extradited from Thailand, where he had been imprisoned since 2008.

Bout, dubbed as the "Merchant of Death", had been charged by U.S. prosecutors for conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons, including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and over 20,000 AK-47s to Colombian militant group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

Bout, who is also a former Soviet air force officer, had repeatedly denied the charges and claimed he was on a business trip to sell planes. During the sentencing on Thursday, Bout stated that he did not intend to kill anyone or to sell any weapons.

The Russian arms dealer was extradited from Thailand to the United States in November 2010 after a long episode in which both the United States and Russia fought for his extradition. Bout had been imprisoned since March 2008 when he was arrested during a joint U.S.-Thai operation at a Bangkok hotel.

"Viktor Bout has been international arms trafficking enemy number one for many years, arming some of the most violent conflicts around the globe," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said. "He was finally brought to justice in an American court for agreeing to provide a staggering number of military grade weapons to an avowed terrorist organization committed to killing Americans."

"Today's sentence is a fitting coda for this career arms trafficker of the most dangerous order," Bharara added.

Bout, who is accused of trafficking arms to warlords around the world since the 1990s, had been facing up to life in prison for four terrorism charges in the United States, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiracy to acquire an anti-aircraft missile and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist group.

In addition to his 25-year prison term, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin sentenced Bout to five years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $15 million and pay a $400 special assessment fee.

Five electricity workers die after boat capsizes in eastern Turkey

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:50 PM PDT

ASKALE, TURKEY (BNO NEWS) -- Rescue workers in eastern Turkey have found the bodies of five electricity workers who went missing earlier this week when their boat capsized on a lake during a repair job, officials said on Thursday.

The incident occurred late Tuesday night at the Karasu 2 dam reservoir in the Aşkale district of Turkey's eastern province of Erzurum when the five Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAŞ) workers were aboard a pedal boat to repair a power line on the reservoir.

The workers were crossing the ice-covered lake when the boat reportedly hit a large piece of ice, ultimately causing the boat to capsize. The five workers grasped on to pieces of ice desperately as they awaited for rescue teams, but they eventually disappeared before emergency teams reached the scene.

Aşkale District Governor Asalet Karabulut told the Hurriyet Daily News that emergency teams consisting of a helicopters and seven divers were deployed to the scene, but after failing to find any trace of the workers, the team's operations were stopped at around 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

The first body was found on Wednesday, and all five victims had been recovered by Thursday. They were identified as TEDAŞ workers Feridun Öztürk, Mustafa Arifoğulları, Sait Turan, Rıdvan Takım, and Şahin Baykal, the newspaper reported on its website.

Witnesses told the media outlet that emergency teams were slow to respond, adding that the workers held on to pieces of ice for some two hours before they disappeared. The incident happened on the same day that Turkey's Parliament discussed the drafting of a new labor safety law to regulate working conditions in order to provide workers' needs.

Remains of U.S. airman missing from Vietnam War chopper crash identified

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:44 PM PDT

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The remains of a U.S. Airman who went missing in a helicopter crash in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War in 1972 have been identified, the U.S. Department of Defense announced on Thursday. His remains have been returned to his family.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Allen J. Avery, of Arlington, Massachusetts, went missing on April 6, 1972, when he and five other airmen were flying a combat search and rescue mission in their HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter over Quang Tri Province in South Vietnam. The aircraft crashed when it was hit by enemy ground fire.

About 16 years later, in 1988, Vietnamese authorities turned over remains they attributed to an American service member, although the name provided did not match anyone lost or missing from the Vietnam. The remains were held by the U.S. Department of Defense until improved technology could possibly facilitate identification.

Between 1989 and 1992, U.S. and Vietnamese investigators found evidence which led them to the helicopter's crash site as well as two burial sites. "Team members recovered human remains and personal effects as well as aircraft debris," the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement on Thursday.

The remains of the six crew members were accounted-for in 1997, but only three of the airmen were identified at that time. Improved scientific capability enabled progress in the mid-2000s, but it was not until 2010 that mitochondrial DNA testing matched the remains of the three other airmen.

The U.S. Department of Defense said Avery will be buried on Friday at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with full military honors.

Since late 1973, the remains of more than 930 Americans killed in the Vietnam War have been accounted-for and returned to their families. With the accounting of Avery, 1,672 Americans remain missing from the conflict, which ended in April 1975 and left more than 315,000 people killed.

Death toll rises to 13 after suicide bombing in Afghanistan

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:19 PM PDT

MAYMANA, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll from a suicide bombing outside a park in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday morning has risen to at least thirteen, including four Afghan soldiers and three American service members, officials said on Thursday.

The attack happened when an unidentified person riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives at the gate of a park in Maymana, the capital of Faryab province, approximately 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Thursday confirmed at least thirteen people were killed. Among the casualties were three American service members, four Afghan National Security Force members, and six Afghan civilians. The explosion also wounded more than 30 others, including 16 American troops.

"Despicable is the only word to describe the cold, heartless way in which the enemies of peace carried out this attack - detonating an [improvised explosive device (IED)] in the middle of a large crowd of civilians," said ISAF commander General John R. Allen on Thursday. "My deepest condolences are with all the families of those killed yesterday, and the entire ISAF community prays for the complete recovery of those injured."

Ohio Adjutant General's Department said the three American service members who were killed in the attack were members of the Ohio Army National Guard's 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Their identities were not immediately released pending full notification of next of kin.

After the attack on Wednesday, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility and identified the bomber as Mullah Abdul Ghafar of Sar-e Pol province. "The attack was carried out by a lion of Islamic Emirate (Taliban) when he detonated his explosives belt in the middle of foreign invaders and their puppets while the enemy troops were on their way to a nearby park," he said on Wednesday.

Suicide bomber targets Pakistani police superintendent, killing 4

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:01 PM PDT

KARACHI, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- At least four people were killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber attacked an armored personnel carrier belonging to a senior police official in southern Pakistan, local authorities said. Several others were injured.

The attack happened when the suicide bomber, who was riding a motorcycle and was carrying between 5 to 6 kilograms (11 to 13 pounds) of explosives, crashed into an armored vehicle in the Mali Hart area of Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, located in Sindh province.

Police said at least four people were killed while thirteen others were injured, including some who were said to be in a critical condition and rushed to the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center. The fatalities were believed to be civilians near the scene of the attack.

Senior Superintendent of Police Malir Rao Anwar, who was inside the armored vehicle, said the suicide bomber was targeting him. The superintendent said he had been receiving threats during the past month from unknown people, but he was unhurt from Thursday's attack.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

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الجمعة، 6 أبريل 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Lincoln Tribune

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