1. statute of limitations about to expire for suspect in Saudi murder / stolen family jewels case in Thailand
If Abu Ali, a prime suspect in the murders of Saudi diplomats in 1990, is not arrested before Feb 1 the statute of limitations of this case will expire, Department of Special Investigtion deputy director-general Pol Col Naras Savestanant said on Thursday. Pol Col Naras said the DSI and the prosecution asked the Criminal Court to issue a warrant for the arrest of Abu Ali, a Middle East national, because evidence obtained by the department showed he was involved in the murders of three Saudi diplomats on Feb 1, 1990. The statute of limitations in this case is 20 years. He said the DSI’s investigation into the murders was successful to an extent as it was able to establish the motive of the crime, which was believed to be a religious conflict between Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East. The DSI’s finding was different from that of the Royal Thai Police Office, which believed a conflict of interest over recruitments of workers to Saudi Arabia was the motive, Pol Col Naras said. The DSI secured an arrest warrant for the man. Its investigators believed he murdered Abdullah A al-Besri, one of the three Saudi diplomats, on Feb 1, 1990.
Compare the international outcry over the Gaza massacre to the relative silence toward Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil people in 2008 and 2009. Conservative estimates place the death roll at over 20,000 people, perhaps as high as 50,000. The Colombo regime dismissed all attempts to cease its military operations, negotiate with the Tamil Tigers or allow the transfer of hundreds of thousands of civilians to safety. Today, close to 300,000 Tamils are trapped in government-imposed camps, surrounded by barbed wire and unable to leave.
3. Sri Lanka: Tamils throw weight behind general who crushed them
Seven months after Sri Lanka’s long and bitter civil war was brought to an end by a withering government assault, the political coalition that supported the Tamil Tigers has thrown its support behind the former army chief who crushed them….Over the weekend, with the campaign gathering pace, the former general toured the formerly rebel-held Jaffna Peninsula and said he would create an environment that encouraged business, relax security measures and return land seized by the military. He also said he would release hundreds of Tamil youths held on suspicion of having links to the rebels and offer amnesty and rehabilitation to hardcore fighters.
Making up 12 per cent of the population, Tamils represent an important electoral bloc and the UNP opposition coalition has been seeking to reach out to the TNA, which currently holds 22 seats in Sri Lanka’s 225-member parliament. At yesterday’s press conference, Mr Sambanthan did not comment on Mr Fonseka’s role in the alleged abuse that is said to have taken place during the closing stages of the war, when the UN estimates up to 10,000 Tamil civilians were killed. However, he said his party talked with both candidates about issues that were of importance to Tamils, such as the resettlement of some 300,000 civilians displaced by the war, the rehabilitation of areas destroyed by the fighting and the dismantling of so-called high-security zones in Tamil areas.
4. meanwhile….
siege ends in Iindian Kashmir - two militants hold hotel for 24 hours, shot dead by police
there are no drugs in Goa - the problem is a “media creation”
russian girl raped by Goa politician says her statement was not recorded by police
The police inspector had allegedly cautioned the victim that the accused, John Fernandes, was an “influential person and can get her visa cancelled.” “They were pressurising me to tell (write the complaint) that John just pushed me and gave bad words…He (Shirodkar) told me that John was a powerful person,” the girl claimed. The victim, whose drink was spiked allegedly by John and later raped in a car at Colva beach, had written to Consul General of Russia in Mumbai, describing the ordeal which she went through at the police station.
in Israel, rabbi suspected of making 1,200 obscene calls to children http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141018.html
