Clipmarks | mickfinn's 'murder' clips

Who are the Chaldean Christians?

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:28:33 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: An archbishop seized by gunmen last month in Iraq has been found dead.

The body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, was found in a shallow grave close to the city.

Pope Benedict XVI said he was profoundly moved and saddened, calling the archbishop's death an act of inhuman violence.

Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped not long after he left mass in Mosul, in northern Iraq, on 29 February. Three people who were with him at the time, a driver and two guards, were killed by the gunmen.

It is not clear whether he was killed, or died of natural causes. Nobody has claimed responsibility for his death.

The archbishop's body was found by church workers who went to the area after being contacted by the kidnappers.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Chaldeans form the majority - about 550,000 - of Iraq's estimated 700,000 Christians

Their spiritual leader, Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, is based in Baghdad

His Church originally comprised members of the Nestorian Church, and has had a presence in the country now known as Iraq since the 2nd Century

Nestorianism ascribes to the belief that Jesus Christ has two natures - that of a divine being, the Son of a God, and that of a mortal human

The Eastern-rite Church the Chaldeans belong to has a traditional liturgical language, Syriac - a linguistic descendant of Aramaic

There are an estimated 50,000 Christians in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city

A rise in religiously-motivated attacks since the US-led invasion in 2003 has prompted many Christians to leave Iraq

A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped or killed by Sunni extremist groups

Estimates suggest as many as 60,000 Christians have fled the country

Tags: chaldean christianity, iraq, kidnap, murder

On this day 1770: The Boston Massacre

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:00:31 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: "The Boston Massacre" refers to an incident involving the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British troops on 5 March 1770. In the subsequent trial of the soldiers, their lawyer, John Adams, argued that if they were endangered by the mob they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, they were at most guilty of manslaughter. The jury agreed and acquitted six of them. Two were found guilty of murder because there was overwhelming evidence that they fired directly into the crowd. However, Adams used a loophole in British Common Law and by proving to the judge that they could read by having them read from the Bible their crime was reduced to manslaughter. Two were found guilty of manslaughter and punished by branding on their thumbs. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd. Patrick Carr, the fifth victim, corroborated this with a deathbed testimony delivered to his doctor.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Engraving by Paul Revere

"The Boston Massacre" refers to an incident involving the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British troops on March 5, 1770, the legal aftermath of which helped spark the rebellion in some of the British colonies in America which culminated in the American Revolution. A tense situation due to a heavy British military presence in Boston boiled over to incite brawls between soldiers and civilians, and eventually led to troops discharging their muskets after being attacked by a rioting crowd. Three civilians were killed at the scene of the shooting, and two died after the incident.

Current view of the Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts, the seat of British colonial government from 1713 to 1776. The Boston Massacre took place in front of the balcony and the original site is marked by a cobblestone circle in the square.

Boston Massacre grave marker

Every year the Boston Massacre is reenacted on March 5, the anniversary of the event.

Tags: the boston massacre

Renaissance Man

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:51:18 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: After 500 years, one of Renaissance Italy's most enduring murder mysteries has been solved by forensic scientists.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's fame has faded, but he was a celebrated figure at the Medici court. The flamboyant philosopher became an instant favourite of Lorenzo de' Medici when he arrived in Florence in 1486. Lorenzo was charmed by Pico, who was essentially a Platonic philosopher influenced by Oriental mysticism.
He became famous for his incredible memory and his knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic.
Savonarola repeatedly preached against the Medicis, urging Florentines to reject the excesses of the Renaissance.
Works by Botticelli and Michelangelo were burned during the "Bonfire of the Vanities" in 1497, when the monk's followers set fire to lavish furniture, mirrors, pagan books and immoral sculptures in the Piazza della Signora.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Ever since Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a mystical and mercurial philosopher at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, suddenly became sick and died in 1494, it has been rumoured that foul play was involved

Scientists display the bones of

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

He gained notoriety when, at the age of 23, he offered to defend 900 of his opinions on philosophy and religion against all-comers

His subsequent tract, The Oration on the Dignity of Man, has been called the "manifesto of the Renaissance"

However, he died aged 31 - two years after Lorenzo

Last July, a team of scientists from the universities of Bologna, Pisa and Lecce exhumed the two corpses

Yesterday they concluded that both men had been poisoned with arsenic

High levels of mercury and lead were also found

Pico's close friendship with Girolamo Savonarola, the fanatical Dominican friar, appears to have earned him the enmity of Lorenzo's son, Piero de' Medici

The forensic scientists believe it was Piero who ordered Pico's death.

Tags: renaissance

Born 20 Years Too Late

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 03:04:52 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Millionaire property developer Nicholas van Hoogstraten nas been arrested in Zimbabwe.
Bundles of money allegedly found at his house were carried out by police. They also recovered pornography from Mr van Hoogstraten's home.
"Van Hoogstraten is being charged under the Exchange Control Regulations for charging a service and dealing foreign currency. He is also facing charges under the Censorship Act."
In 2002 a British court convicted Mr van Hoogstraten of manslaughter and sentenced him to 10 years in jail after a business associate was shot and killed.
Mr van Hoogstraten appealed against the conviction and was cleared in 2003, although in 2005 a civil court awarded the murdered man's family £6m in damages.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Once heralded as Britain's youngest millionaire, Nicholas van Hoogstraten

aspired to be what he calls a "quality person" and was a great fan of Margaret Thatcher

he sold his astutely acquired stamp collection for £1,000

Now he is believed to have homes in Barbados, St Lucia, Florida, Cannes and Zimbabwe.

"I don't believe in democracy, I believe in rule by the fittest."

his list of previous convictions includes ordering a grenade attack on the home of a business associate

Mohammed Raja, 62, was shot dead by two men identified as Mr van Hoogstraten's henchmen

December 2005 the civil courts - where the standard of proof required is much lower than the criminal courts - ruled that on the balance of probability, Mr van Hoogstraten was involved in the murder

In the 1980s, as the housing market boomed, he prospered

When a fire broke out at one of his properties

he described the five people who died in the blaze as "scum"

his tenants are "filth"

people who live in council houses are "worthless and lazy".

Tags: nasty nick

Nazi 'death trains' exhibition

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:23:09 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Thousands of trains carried people to the extermination camps. Innocent people were packed into cattle wagons, often with little food or water, and scarcely enough air to breathe.
For the Reichsbahn, it was a booming business - it was paid for each adult and child it transported to the extermination camps.
Adult prisoners and children over four were charged a fare - four pfennigs per km for adults, two pfennigs for children - earning the railway millions of marks.
From 1941, trainloads of 400 or more people, which amounted to huge overcrowding, received a 50% discount.
Deutsche Bahn said the tracks and freight of the Reichsbahn were integral to the Nazis' extermination plan.
"Without the Reichsbahn, the industrial murder of millions of people would not have been possible," said Susanne Kill, a Deutsche Bahn historian.
After Berlin, the exhibition is moving to other German stations, including Frankfurt, Halle, Muenster and Munich.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Where should the exhibition be held - in a train station or at a more discreet location?

And is Deutsche Bahn really facing up to its historic responsibility?

Nazi officials cynically refer to the "movement of Jews" and "the evacuation of foreign people"

There is a collection of photographs of children who were deported

The event also traces the plight of some of the 11,400 Jewish children who were deported from France to the Auschwitz concentration camp between 1942 and 1944. Only 2% of the children survived

At least three million people, including Jews, Sinti and Roma, were transported on the Reichsbahn from all over Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe to concentration camps

For the Reichsbahn, it was a booming business

Deutsche Bahn said the tracks and freight of the Reichsbahn were integral to the Nazis' extermination plan

After Berlin, the exhibition is moving to other German stations, including Frankfurt, Halle, Muenster and Munich

Tags: reichsbahn death trains

Oh, What a Circus . . .

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:31:45 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: There is a serious risk that without the continuing copy the late Diana provides, some British newspapers would go out of business. Please.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

It had been a routine day at the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed

a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, was accused of concealing a conspiracy to murder the mother of the second-in-line to the throne

an estranged Fayed bodyguard gave evidence via a faltering video link from Nigeria

and an Argentinian dandy called Roberto Devorik waxed lyrical about his dear friend Diana, her loves and fears

and the unmatched quality of the cucumber sandwiches at Kensington Palace

Ahead lay the evidence of Rita Rogers, Diana's medium, promising an other-worldly take on the events of August 31, 1997

The woman standing on her own was well-spoken, dressed smartly and in her late sixties or early seventies

She was there

because of a personal interest in the case

But first, could she say how annoyed she was about a newspaper article alleging that the public gallery

full of "weirdos"?

before adding that she herself was being stalked by men from MI6 intent on killing her

Tags: diana inquest

Death in the Desert

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:42:16 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Authorities say they know gang members have frequented the site, but they have received no complaints of trouble in the last 18 months. (LAT)

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

The two-story bunker, which is about a mile south of California 58, is all that remains of the former Hawes Auxiliary Field, which was built during World War II

For more than 20 years the bunker has stood alone in this remote stretch of desert, a crumbling relic from another era

Gaping holes puncture the concrete roof

Thousands of bullet casings crunch underfoot. Shattered glass forms a jagged carpet inside and out

Over time the abandoned Air Force installation has become the haunt of bored teenagers, target shooters and outlaws

And sometimes worlds collide

By dawn two teenagers lay dead inside. Both were shot in the head at close range

Both enjoyed stellar reputations at the top-flight charter school where they met and among those who knew them

Authorities have ruled out murder-suicide

Some teenagers said they had encountered armed skinheads at the bunker

"They had shaved heads and looked like Nazi Lowriders."

Nazi Lowriders are a white supremacist gang active in the high desert

Tags: death, desert

IT 'Anorak' . . . Web . . . al-Qa'eda hate

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:32:55 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Tsouli, a Moroccan diplomat's son who came to Britain in 2001 and studied at an IT college in London, had been creating a website called Youbombit. By 2003, he was posting his own material, including a manual on computer hacking. Later he moved on to publishing extremist images and al-Qa'eda propaganda online. (DT)

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

One of al-Qa'eda's most influential cyber-terrorists, who used the internet to distribute images of beheadings and jihadist propaganda, ran his operation from a top-floor flat in Shepherd's Bush, west London

The case of Younis Tsouli, 23, is being used by anti-terror chiefs around the world to illustrate the threat from Muslim fundamentalist terror groups on the web

Tsouli, who was convicted and jailed last year, never became physically involved in terrorist attacks

Described by police as an internet "anorak", he used all the IT skills that he gained from a western education to peddle hatred and messages of violence

Tsouli worked with al-Qa'eda leaders in Iraq

He came up with a way to convert often gruesome videos into a form that could be put on to the internet

He posted messages including

images of the kidnapping and murder of hostages in Iraq

His capture led to the arrest of several Islamic terrorists around the world, including 17 men in Canada and two in the US

Tags: terrorism

Iranian Women Are Stoned (To Death)

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:41:23 GMT

clipped by: rfnajera
clipper's remarks: Mahmood will tell you, with a smile on his face, that this doesn't happen in Iran.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

End death by stoning, Iran urged

Stoning to death is a "horrific practice, designed to increase the suffering" of those condemned, the UK-based rights group says in a report.

The majority sentenced to death by stoning are women, Amnesty says.

Amnesty's statement highlights the case of condemned woman Mokarrameh Ebrahimi.

The father of her children, both of whom were born outside wedlock, was stoned to death in July 2007.

Amnesty says Ms Ebrahimi and eight other women and two men face a similar fate to Mr Kiani.

The majority of those sentenced to death by stoning are women, who suffer disproportionately from such punishment, Amnesty says.

One of the eight women currently facing execution was allegedly forced into prostitution by an abusive husband who was a heroin addict, Amnesty says.

She was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her husband - by one of her clients - and to death by stoning for adultery.

Tags: iran, middle east, islam, death penalty, capital punishment, human rights

Families must help catch 'honour' killers

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:58:01 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Massoud Shadjareh, of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the Muslim community should not be demonised for forced marriages. "Domestic violence happens in every community, and forced marriages are also a feature in Sikh and Hindu communities," he said.

Clip Source: news.independent.co.uk

One of Britain's leading Muslims has called on his community to rise up against a culture of fear and help stamp out forced marriages and honour killings after the third high-profile court case in Britain in the past year

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, head of the Muslim Parliament in Britain, spoke out after a coroner ruled on Friday that 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed was "unlawfully killed" and that "the concept of an arranged marriage was central to the circumstances of her death"

Five members of her family, including her parents, were arrested in connection with the death, but later released without charge

"I think relatives won't speak out because they are scared," he said.

"Somebody in the family disappears, relatives must have been concerned. But they would not co-operate with the police

That's why many of these murders are unresolved. There are now 12 cases a year on average."

About 12 honour killings are committed in Britain each year

Tags: arranged marriages, cultural differences, murder

Suharto the butcher gets away with it

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:07:39 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Never brought to justice.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Indonesia was at the end of an era last night, as its former dictator Suharto, the general and mystic who for 32 years dominated the world’s largest Muslim nation, teetered on the verge of death.

King of corruption

— The Suharto family’s estate includes homes in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Hawaii as well as a multimillion-dollar mansion outside Los Angeles

— In 2004, when the Berlin-based antigraft NGO named Suharto the single most corrupt leader of all time, the GDP per head of Indonesia was just $3,500 (£1,800)

— In 1998, the value of the Indonesian rupiah fell 80 per cent. Suharto exhorted his population to make financial sacrifices while shifting his assets abroad

— “Tommy”, Suharto’s favoured son, was granted a monopoly on cloves used in the manufacture of kretek cigarettes in the 1990s. By 1993 this yielded $40 million for a controlling stake in Lamborghini

Source: Transparency International; CIA World Factbook; Agencies; Times archives

Tags: corruption, crime, murder, theft

Burma's bittersweet independence day

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:02:12 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

For most nations, the anniversary of a successful independence struggle against imperial overlords would be marked with flag-waving, official celebrations and perhaps even a public holiday. Not so in Burma

On 4 January 1948, more than 60 years of British colonial rule came to an end

Many Burmese had fared badly under the British, as integration into the empire's political and economic systems took its toll

The authorities carried out mass executions as they sought to control the country, people's pride took a battering as Burma was absorbed into India, and the landscape was devastated as mangroves and lush jungle were cleared to create industrial-scale rice fields

By the early 20th Century, the British had created an impoverished, dysfunctional society with the world's second-highest murder rate

The seeds of rebellion had been sewn

Aung San emerged as the figurehead of resistance

Aung San and six of his cabinet were murdered by a rival

and the fallout has blighted the nation ever since

Tags: burma, colonialism, social history

Murder behind a wall of silence

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:20:33 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

It is a month since Stephen Quinn buried his youngest son Paul.

"They have to be savages to do what they did," he says.

He's talking about a gang of up to ten men who beat Paul to death with iron bars.

The 21-year-old had been phoned by friends who told him to come across the border into the Republic of Ireland to help muck out a barn.

Too late Paul discovered his friends had been taken hostage by masked men and forced to make the call. The gang turned on Paul, beating him with iron bars.

He died later, with nearly every major bone in his body broken. No-one's been arrested or charged and yet his father is certain he knows who is responsible.

"It's about control," Stephen Quinn tells me

"Paul got into fights with two of them, connected to the IRA. There's no-one else who could do such a thing around this area,"

The Quinn family say they've never been into politics, but their son's killing is now a political issue.

They've formed a support group to try to persuade people to speak out.

Tags: murder

Agatha Christie - Eat you heart out

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:50:28 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

A celebrated architect who was the victim of an infamous murder in the 1930s has finally had a headstone erected

Francis Rattenbury was bludgeoned to death with a croquet mallet by his wife's 17-year-old lover in 1935.

The love triangle tragedy was one of the greatest scandals of the time and became dubbed the "Murder at the Villa Madeira", after the name of the Rattenburys' home in Dorset.

Teenage lover George Stoner

was found guilty at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death.

Consumed by shame and guilt, Rattenbury's wife, Alma, committed suicide

While on death row, Stoner won vast public support as it was felt that Alma had manipulated him "for her own pleasure and entertainment"

He served just seven years before he was released to serve in the war, winning his freedom through bravery. He died in 2000, aged 83.

Alma and Stoner were jointly charged at first

The case is still studied by law students worldwide, and inspired the 1987 TV play Cause Célèbre, starring Helen Mirren.

Tags: affair, lover, murder, scandal

Clipmarks | mickfinn's 'murder' clips

Who are the Chaldean Christians?

On this day 1770: The Boston Massacre

Renaissance Man

Born 20 Years Too Late

Nazi 'death trains' exhibition

Oh, What a Circus . . .

Death in the Desert

IT 'Anorak' . . . Web . . . al-Qa'eda hate

Iranian Women Are Stoned (To Death)

Families must help catch 'honour' killers

Suharto the butcher gets away with it

Burma's bittersweet independence day

Top Film Poster of 2006 - Sam Smith

Murder behind a wall of silence

Agatha Christie - Eat you heart out