Seven opposition leaders arrested as Mousavi nephew's body 'missing'

Iranian security forces today rounded up at least seven prominent activists amid reports that the body of the opposition leader's nephew, killed on Sunday as hundreds of thousands took to the streets, had gone missing

Clashes had been expected at a funeral ceremony for Seyed Ali Mousavi, whose uncle Mir Hossein Mousavi was defeated in hotly disputed elections earlier this year.

Instead police fired teargas to disperse Mousavi supporters who had gathered outside the hospital that his body had been taken to, an Iranian opposition website said.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said that eight people were killed on Sunday in anti-government protests across Iran that erupted during the religious festival of Ashura. Iran’s Health Ministry said that over 60 people had been injured in Tehran, with around 300 people reportedly arrested

A report on the website of state television put the number of dead as high as 15 and quoted the Ministry of Intelligence that more than 10 were members of "anti-revolutionary terrorist" groups.

The other five who reportedly died during the bitter clashes in the Iranian capital were killed by "terrorist groups," Iranian TV claimed.

State television said unknown assailants killed Mr Mousavi, 35. A Mousavi ally described his death as martyrdom.

“A group of Mousavi supporters have gathered in front of Ebn-e Sina hospital where his nephew’s body was kept ... Police fired teargas to disperse them,” the Norooz website reported.

A moderate website said today the body of Mr Mousavi’s nephew was missing from the hospital.

“We can not hold a funeral until my brother’s body is found,” said another of Mr Mousavi’s nephews said, according to parlemannews. Clashes were expected at the funeral ceremony.

Opposition websites and activists said security forces raided a series of opposition offices today, making at least seven arrests.

The parlemannews site said that three of Mr Moussavi’s top aides were rounded up, including his top adviser, Ali Riza Beheshti

Nigeria attacker cut contact with family

ABUJA (Reuters) - The family of a Nigerian man who tried to blow up a U.S. passenger jet said on Monday they had lost contact with him while he was studying abroad and had reported his disappearance to security agencies two months ago.

WORLD

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was charged on Saturday in the United States with trying to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day with almost 300 people on board.

"His father, having become concerned about his disappearance and stoppage of communication while schooling abroad, reported the matter to Nigerian security agencies about two months ago and to some foreign security agencies about a month and a half ago," the Mutallab family said in a statement.

"The disappearance and cessation of communication which got his mother and father concerned ... are completely out of character and a very recent development," said the family statement, which was sent to Nigerian media.

The media had quoted family members as saying his father had been uncomfortable with his son's "extreme religious views" and had reported him to the U.S. embassy in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and to security agencies.

Abdulmutallab began his journey to Detroit in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center, where he boarded a KLM flight to Amsterdam before going through transit at Schiphol airport.

The son of a respected former banker, he is from a privileged background in Africa's most populous country, most of whose estimated 140 million people live on less than $2 a day.

Investigators in the United States are trying to confirm his claims that he has connections to al Qaeda.

CUT FAMILIY TIES

Abdulmutallab was educated at the British School in Lome, Togo, a boarding school mostly for expatriates and students from West Africa, before studying engineering at University College London, where he was enrolled until June 2008.

A family friend said Abdulmutallab had subsequently made two trips to Yemen for short Arabic and Islamic courses. Nigerian media have said he moved to Egypt and then Dubai, where he cut family ties, after leaving London.

Residents in his family's home town say they believe he was radicalized while studying abroad.

Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili said on Sunday he had been living outside Nigeria for some time and "sneaked" into the country on December 24, the eve of the attack, before leaving again the same day.

Abdulmutallab bought his Lagos-Amsterdam-Detroit ticket on December 16 at the KLM office in Accra, Ghana, according to Harold Demuren, the head of Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority.

The United States asked airports and airlines around the world to tighten security after the foiled attack, which raised questions about how Abdulmutallab had been able to get explosive materials on to the plane despite higher security worldwide since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, in which several aircraft were hijacked.

Demuren said Abdulmutallab went through normal security checks when he began his journey in Lagos and had a multiple-entry U.S. visa issued in London. He also passed through security in transit at Schiphol airport.

The U.S. government created a record of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab last month in the intelligence community's central repository of information on known and suspected international terrorists, but there was not enough negative data to put him on a "no-fly" list, a U.S. official has said.

Abdulmutallab was refused a visa to enter Britain in May 2009 when he tried to apply for a course at a bogus college, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said.

Somali pirates to free Chinese coal ship

Somali pirates onboard a Chinese cargo ship say they are preparing to release the vessel and its crew of 25 after receiving a USD 3.5 million in ransom. 

A pirate source said Sunday that a helicopter dropped the ransom on the deck of the coal ship De Xin Hai, which was seized by Somali pirates in mid-October en route to India.

The ship, carrying a 76,000-ton cargo from South Africa, came under attack in the Indian Ocean northeast of the Seychelles, but was later transferred to the bandit's hideout on the Somali coast, where a number of other pirate-held ships remain anchored.

The October 18 hijacking again highlighted how a multinational European Union-led naval armada dispatched to the region to battle piracy in the Horn of Africa has failed to tackle the growing crisis in one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

Furthermore, the anti-piracy presence seems to have pushed the outlaws to expand their operations.

De Xin Hai was taken more than 1,000 kilometers (550 nautical miles) from the Somali coast.

The limits faced by the naval mission also renders is impossible to hold any suspected pirates caught at sea without proof. The pirates in turn take advantage of the situation, dumping any weapons or proof as soon as a warship is sighted.

The 324 hijacking attempts worldwide up to October 20 this year, point to a dramatic rise from the same period in 2008, with 194 attacks.

Of the total annual attacks in 2009 and 2008 respectively, 37 and 36 were successful according to the latest figures from the ICC International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB).

Source Press Tv

Somali Lawmakers Abroad Told to Return Home

The speaker of Somalia's parliament has called on absent lawmakers to return to the capital within 10 days.

Sheikh Aden Madobe says it is crucial for lawmakers living abroad to come home so parliament can have a quorum to carry out official business.

On Saturday, the parliament was forced to postpone a session in Mogadishu because not enough members were present.

Madobe says any parliament members who fail to return will face legal action that he did not specify.

Like many Somalis, some lawmakers have fled to Kenya or safer parts of Somalia to escape violence in Mogadishu.

Islamist insurgents clash almost daily in the capital with government troops and African Union peacekeepers.

At least 11 people died in the most recent heavy fighting, on Thursday.

The insurgent groups control large sections of the capital after a three-year insurgency.  The government maintains control of several key sites, including the airport, with the help of the AU peacekeepers


Source VOA

Tens of Somali refugees arrive in Yemen

Nearly 96 Somali refugees have arrived in Yemen, including 28 women and seven children.

According to the security authorities in Hadramout governorate, an unknown smuggling boat has disembarked 85 refugees at Broom coast.

The refugees have been gathered and sent to the representative of UN High Commissioner for Refugees to be transported to the main camp of refugees in Kharaz district of Lahj governorate, the Interior
Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, the security authorities in al-Zaher district of Hodeidah governorate have arrested 11 Somalis, six of them were women.

The Somalis were planned to be taken to another governorate, the authorities said, adding that the car was seized and two Yemenis involved in the transport operation was detained as well.

The authorities said that the sea turmoil occurred in this period yearly resulted in reducing the number of the Somali refugees arrived in Yemen recently.

Yemen is considered to be a gateway for Somalis to the Middle East. It recognizes all Somalis as refugees on a "prima facie basis," meaning they are automatically granted the right to stay. But many
of those who cross the Gulf of Aden move on to Yemen's neighbours Saudi Arabia and Oman in pursuit of jobs.

The escalating numbers of refugees place increasing strain on Yemen's limited resources and pose more challenges to the government's efforts to balance its obligations under international law with the need to protect the country from illegal entry


Source Saba