By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (Worthy News)– Forensic analysts have exhumed what are believed to be the bodies of late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, who were executed in 1989.  It comes after relatives raised doubts that the couple was really buried in Romania’s capital Bucharest.

Witnesses said a team of pathologists and cemetery officials raised the wooden caskets of the Ceausescus early Wednesday, July 21. Officials took samples from the corpses and put them into plastic bags in a process lasting more than two hours, before re-burying the coffins.

Their son-in-law, Mircea Oprean, told Romanian television the investigation came after the family expressed doubts the Ceausescus were really buried in Bucharest’s Ghencea cemetery.

He said, “the corpses are being exhumed to get samples for DNA testing.”  Oprean added that ”they have to know if it is really them who are buried here. ” If not, he warned, the family will launch a lawsuit against the state for hiding the truth.

The couple’s three children repeatedly said they doubted their parents had actually been buried there.

BODIES EXHUMED

For years, authorities blocked their attempts to have the two bodies exhumed, but officials now say they are convinced the results will show they have nothing to hide.

The couple was executed two decades ago outside Bucharest during a revolution against Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule that killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands injured. He had ruled the country with an iron fist. Many Christians also suffered during that time. Bibles had to be smuggled into the country to avoid detection by border guards and the powerful secret service, known as the Securitate.

After a trial that reportedly lasted two hours, Romanian television footage showed how the clearly upset couple was led, hands tied, to their final destination. Romanian soldiers shot and killed them on December 25, 1989, Christmas Day, in many countries.

Fearing the tombs might be desecrated, the new authorities buried the Ceausescus at night, in Bucharest’s Ghencea cemetery.

WINTER COAT

The husband of the Ceausescus’ late daughter Zoia, Mircea Oprean, told reporters later he saw what he believed to be their bodies for the first time Wednesday. He said he recognized his father-in-law’s winter coat and added it had holes in it.

Oprean said he planned a full funeral ceremony if the tests confirmed the remains were those of his inlaws.

The head of Romania’s national institute of legal medicine, Dan Dermengiu, has warned the DNA tests could take up to six months.

He explained to reporters he hopes the DNA is not altered by water, fertilizers or acidic substances, because, “if this is the case, it will be very difficult to obtain a very precise result.”

There is still some nostalgia for the communist period and regrets the Ceausescus were executed.  Often, elderly Romanians can be seen putting flowers near the small graves of what they believe are those of the Ceausescus.  (Parts of this Worthy News/BosNewsLife News story also airs via the Voice of America (VOA) network.)

Read More: NEWS WATCH: Experts Exhume Bodies of Romanian Dictator, Wife

Source: Worthy Christian News

By Xavier P. William, BosNewsLife/Worthy News Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan

FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (Worthy News)– Two Christian evangelists who were shot and killed by suspected Islamic militants were quickly buried around sunrise Tuesday, July 20, in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad after a night of sectarian clashes, officials told Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife.

Police “forcefully took the dead bodies” of Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his  30-year-old brother Sajid Masih Emmanuel just hours after they were assassinated by five masked gun men Monday, July 19, at a court building in Faisalabad in Punjab province, said Khalid Gill, a Christian legislator in the Punjab Assembly, who attended the funeral.

“They” [the police] got them buried around 6am local time”, added Gill, who is also the president of the Christian Lawyers’ Foundation, in an interview with Worthy News.

Several other Christian leaders, including Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, and the men’s family, were also present at the funeral.

Rizwan Paul, president of advocacy group Life for All (LFA), told Worthy News and BosNewsLife that police arranged the fast funeral in Faisalabad “to avoid huge processions.” Security forces imposed a curfew Monday, July 19, when after the killings gunfire broke out in a predominantly Christian neighborhood of Faisalabad between Muslim and Christian gunmen.

MASSIVE GUNFIRE

Gunfire could be heard till early Tuesday, July 20 and police said at least eight people were detained. Shots seemed to have been fired from rooftops, people in the area told Worthy News.

“The police did this funeral early morning so that few people were able to attend. They explained that it was an attempt to calm the situation and bring back law and order,” added Paul, who has been trying to calm the situation overnight.

The handcuffed Emmanuel brothers of mission group United Ministries Pakistan, were killed Monday, July 19, as they were led to a court room to stand trial on charges of blasphemy against Islam, witnesses said.

Trial observers described the charges as false and linked them to the brother’s activities, that included evangelism.

MEN DETAINED

Police detained the men July 2 after complaints from local residents, including a market salesman, Muhammad Khuram Shezad.

He and other Muslims accused them of writing a pamphlet with blasphemous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The charges were based on hand-written and photo-copied pamphlets with remarks about the prophet Muhammad that the Muslims consider offensive.

Following the arrests of the evangelists, anti-Christian protests broke out and residents said an angry crowd burned tires and shouted slogans against Christians on July 12.  On July 16, some mosques provoked Muslims to protest at a rally and also to “burn the houses of Christians,” Christians said.

Muslim leaders could not be reached for comment.

BROTHERS “INNOCENT”

However Gill and Paul said the men were innocent, and handwriting experts reportedly notified police that signatures on papers denigrating Muhammad did not match those of the accused.

Gill suggested to Worthy News that the men have been pressured to admit wrongdoing. “When I saw the dead bodies I saw cuts and other signs of police torture including marks on their faces.”

Police had no comment on these allegations, but Punjab’s inspector general reportedly suspended two senior officials for failing to provide security for the slain brothers.

LFA’s Paul said his organization has called for nationwide protests against the killings and the police decision “not to allow a proper funeral for the deceased.” A first protest was expected Tuesday, July 20, in the city of Rawalpindi near the nation’s capital Islamabad. Another demonstration in Lahore was canceled due to heavy rain, Paul said.

It comes amid growing pressure on minority Christians, according to rights activists. Several Christians have been detained in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy, but critics claim the legislation has been misused to settle personal disputes, for instance over land or money.

Under blasphemy legislation of predominantly Muslim Pakistan, a man can potentially face execution if his insult to Islam amounts to apostasy, or turning away from Islam, while a woman generally faces life imprisonment. (With editing by Worthy News’ Stefan J. Bos).

Read More: BREAKING NEWS: Murdered Christian Men Quickly Buried After Gunfire (Exclusive)

Source: Worthy Christian News

By Xavier P. William, BosNewsLife/Worthy News Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan

FAISALABAD/ISLAMABAD (Worthy News)– Gun battles broke out in a predominantly Christian neighborhood of the Pakistani city of Faisalabad Monday, July 19, shortly after two Christian evangelists were shot and killed by suspected Islamic militants, witnesses told Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife.

Christian and Muslim gunmen exchanged gunfire for at least five hours in Daud Nagar area, said Rizwan Paul, the president of Life for All, a major Christian advocacy group that is trying to calm the situation. “The situation is very tense,” he added speaking by telephone to a BosNewsLife and Worthy News reporter.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Police said they detained at least eight people for damaging properties and burning tires, but it was not immediately clear any of those involved in the armed clashes were detained.

As night fell gun fire could still be heard late Monday, July 19.

POLICE CURFEW

Police imposed a curfew in the troubled area, with maximum five people allowed to gather, said Khalid Gill, a Christian legislator in the Punjab Assembly.

The fighting came after five masked men, believed to be Muslim militants, shot and killed two Christian men who were due to appear in court on charges of blasphemy against Islam, Gill told Worthy News.

Gill, who witnessed the incident, said Brothers Sajid Masih Emmanuel, 30, and Rashid Emmanuel, 32, were assassinated by five masked gun men Monday, July 19, ouside a district court building in Faisalabad, before they could enter a trial room. The attackers escaped, he added.

“Sajjid Masih died on the spot and Rashid died while being taken to the ambulance,” Gill said.

The two young men, who witnesses said showed signs of police torture, were earlier dragged to the court building to face charges of blasphemy against Islam while carrying out activities for their mission group group ”United Ministries Pakistan”. Their work  included evangelism among Muslims.

MEN DETAINED

Police detained the men last month after complaints from local residents, including a market salesman, Muhammad Khuram Shezad.

Police detained the men last month after complaints from local residents, including a market salesman, Muhammad Khuram Shezad.

He and other Muslims accused them of writing a pamphlet with blasphemous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The charges were based on hand-written and photo-copied pamphlets with remarks about the prophet Muhammad that the Muslims consider offensive, trial observers said.

Following the arrests of the evangelists, anti-Christian protests broke out and residents said an angry crowd burned tires and shouted slogans against Christians on July 12. On July 16, some mosques provoked Muslims to protest at a rally and also to “burn the houses of Christians,” Christians said.

Muslim leaders could not be reached for comment.

Several Christians have been detained in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy, but critics claim the legislation has been misused to settle personal disputes, for instance over land or money.

BLASPHEMY LEGISLATION

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy legislation a man can potentially face execution if his insult to Islam amounts to apostasy, or turning away from Islam, while a woman generally faces life imprisonment.

Rights group have urged the Pakistani government to annul the blasphemy legislation.

Christians comprise less than five percent of Pakistan’s mainly Muslim population of over 177 million people, according to estimates by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (With editing by Worthy News’ Stefan J. Bos).

Read More: BREAKING NEWS: Gun Battles Rock Pakistan City After Militants Kill Christians (Exclusive)

Source: Worthy Christian News

By George Whitten, Worthy News Jerusalem Bureau Chief

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (Worthy News) — Nearly half of Israelis want the Biblical Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem according to a major opinion poll, commissioned by Israel’s Knesset Television Channel and monitored by Worthy News Monday, July 19.

Of those questioned, 49 percent said they want the rebuilding of the destroyed Temple to take place, while only 23 percent opposed it.  The remaining 28 percent of those polled were unsure.

The public is nearly split on whether the third Temple will become a reality, with 42 percent saying it will happen and 39 percent claiming it won’t.

On the final poll question, “Should the State of Israel take active steps towards the reconstruction?” nearly half of the participants (48 percent) answered ”no”, while only 27 percent said ”yes”, researchers added.

The poll was released just prior to a national day of mourning, also known as Tisha B’Av, an annual fast day in Judaism to commemorate the destruction of both the First and the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

JEWS EXPELLED

Along with the destructions of the Temples, other infamous events have been associated with Tisha B’Av. In 1290, Jews were expelled from England on this day, according to historic records. The Alhambra Decree of 1492, deporting  Jews from Spain occurred two days prior to Tisha B’Av.

Centuries later, World War One started on Tisha B’Av. And, on the eve of Tisha B’Av in 1942, the mass deportation of Jews began from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka concentration camp.

Traditionally, the book of Lamentations, along with the book of Job is read throughout synagogues on Tisha B’Av.

Read More: Nearly Half of Israelis Want Temple Rebuilt

Source: Worthy Christian News

By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

BUDAPEST/BELGRADE (Worthy News)– The United Nations International Court of Justice has ruled that Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 does not violate international law.

“The Court considers that general international law does not contain any prohibition on declarations of independence,” said the president of the International Court of Justice, Hisashi Owada, as he read the court’s non-binding opinion.  “Accordingly, it concludes that the declaration of independence [of Kosovo] on the 17th of February 2008 did not violate general international law.”

That ruling came as a setback for Serbia, which had asked the International Court of Justice, the ICJ, to give an opinion on Kosovo’s declaration. Serbian President Boris Tadic said Serbia would not recognize Kosovo’s independence.

Kosovo officials hailed the decision.  In Washington, visiting Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci called the ruling “the best possible answer for the entire world.” 

Trial observers said the court’s non-binding ruling could encourage more countries to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Kosovo’s statehood has been recognized by 69 countries, including the United States and most European Union nations. But Serbia and its main ally Russia and several others have opposed the move.

SEPARATISTS CONCERN

There is also concern in countries ranging from Spain to Georgia that international recognition for Kosovo could lead to similar demands from separatists in their independence seeking regions.

But in an earlier interview with BosNewsLife in Budapest, Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni said several countries had told him they would recognize Kosovo’s independence after the court procedures.

He said he believed that even Russia, would eventually recognized Kosovo as a sovereign nation. “Russia as well will recognize Kosovo one day. It doesn’t mean that Russia will be among the first to do that. But definitely it may not be among the last to do that.”

But he also admitted that Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 has not yet brought prosperity to everyone, and that there remains concerns about the treatment of Kosovo’s Serbian minority. ”Many people are without jobs. And I say very openly that independence has resolved many of our problems but not all of them,” he said in an extensive interview.

U.S. SUPPORT

In Washington, the U.S. State Department expressed support for the ICJ ruling and urged Europe to “unite behind a common future.”

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said the U.N. chief urged “constructive dialogue” and urged all sides to “avoid any steps that could be seen as provocative and derail the dialogue.” The spokesman said the advisory opinion would be forwarded to the General Assembly, which would “determine how to proceed on this matter.”

Kosovo was placed under U.N. supervision in 1999, following a 78-day NATO bombing campaign that ended a two-year war between Serbia and the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo, which was then a Serbian province. (Parts of this Worthy News story also airs via Voice of America (VOA) network).

Read More: ICJ: Kosovo Independence Does Not Violate International Law

Source: Worthy Christian News

Wall Street Journal | Rockets fired into the heavily fortified International Zone in central Baghdad killed three people and injured 15, including two hurt Americans.

Read More: Iraq ‘Green Zone’ Attack Kills 3

Source: Infowars

Douglas Valentine | The homeland security boondoggle is the biggest reorganization of the U.S. government in 50 years. It might even bankrupt the country and, perhaps intentionally, throw it into a Depression.

Read More: Homeland Security for Whom?

Source: Infowars

TorrentFreak | The Pirate Party will use Parliamentary immunity to run the site from inside the Swedish Parliament.

Read More: World’s First Pirate ISP Launches In Sweden

Source: Infowars

NY Times | Jul 16, 2010

By ELLEN BARRY

MOSCOW — The lower house of the Russian Parliament passed a draft law on Friday allowing the country’s intelligence service to officially warn citizens that their activities could lead to a future violation of the law, reviving a Soviet-era K.G.B. practice that was often used against dissidents. The president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, is expected to sign it into law shortly.

The legislation was proposed during the tense weeks after two suicide bombers attacked the Moscow subway, and its stated goal was to stanch the growth of radicalism among young Russians. But rights advocates and opposition parties have warned that the expanded powers could be used to silence critics of the government. In a letter made public on Thursday, 20 leading human rights activists condemned the legislation as a blow to “the cornerstone principles of the law: the presumption of innocence and legal certainty.”

“Our country now objectively faces a dilemma — either we take the long and difficult path toward rule of law, or an anti-constitutional restriction of individual rights and a return to legal tyranny, intimidation of dissenters, and control of special services over the peaceful activities of citizens,” the letter said.

Asked about the bill on Thursday by a reporter in Yekaterinburg, where he was meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Mr. Medvedev intimated that foreign observers had little business questioning it.

“I would like to turn your attention to the fact that it is our domestic legislation, and not an international act,” he said. “Each country has the right to perfect its own legislation, including that which affects special services. And we will do this.”

He added that “what’s going on now — I would like you to know this — was done by my own direct instructions.” It was not clear whether he meant the drafting of the bill or its subsequent revision.

The bill has been criticized by opposition legislators in Parliament, but both the upper and lower houses are dominated by Kremlin loyalists. The measure passed in the lower house on Friday by a vote of 354 to 96; passage by the upper house is considered almost certain.

The version is somewhat weakened from an earlier draft, which prescribed punishment for individuals who ignored such warnings from the F.S.B. Amendments proposed during the bill’s first and second readings in Parliament also removed a provision that would have allowed the F.S.B. to publish its warnings in the media and to summon citizens to F.S.B. offices to be warned.

In remarks posted on his party’s Web site this week, Vladimir Vasiliev, the chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on Security, described the new power as “a preventive conversation” with “someone who is beginning to move toward committing a crime.”

“It’s another matter that he may not obey,” Mr. Vasiliev said, adding that someone can be punished only for an actual violation of the law. The policy, he added, “has been mapped out by the president,” and “answers all the most humane and highest standards of a law-based state.”

The legislation leaves vague what actions would prompt F.S.B. warnings, or what measures would be used to enforce them. Other provisions in the bill impose 15-day sentences or fines of $16.50 to $33 on citizens who obstruct the work of an F.S.B. agent. Previously, such administrative fines applied to police or prison officials.

Lev A. Ponomarev, a veteran activist with the group For Human Rights in Moscow, said liberals in Russia were seeing the bill as a litmus test for Mr. Medvedev and were surprised to hear him take credit for its development.

The president could win enormous loyalty in liberal circles if he had “the courage to oppose this bill, which puts the whole country under the control of the special services,” Mr. Ponomarev said. “We have some hope of this — but in fact, not much,” he said. “If, on the other hand, he signs it, it will be a big step toward losing his potential supporters.”

“And in truth he doesn’t have so many of them,” he said. “This is a pretty important moment.”

Read More: Draft Law Revives Practice of Soviets

Source: Aftermath News

Alex Jones & Matt Ryan | On behalf of everyone at Infowars, thank you again for your continued support in the fight against censorship and tyranny. This couldn’t be accomplished without you.

Read More: Another Victory: “Google Spies” Number 1 Searched Term on Google

Source: Infowars