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The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Monday 31 March, 2014.
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Our Teesside breaking news live blog begins at 07:00am every weekday and is updated throughout the day and into the evening.
The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in the Gaza Strip has commemorated Land Day – March 30th – by planting tens of olive trees in the Jabaliya area.
The region was uncultivated before the Hamas-led government reached a truce with Israel; allowing farmers to cultivate the land. Recently, Malaysia has allocated nearly $400,000 to help farmers develop the land and plant more trees. But, despite the truce the Israeli jeeps patrolling the border area often shoot at the farmers and obstruct their work.
Palestinians commemorate Land Day on March 30 every year to commemorate the events of March 1976 when the Israeli authorities expropriated thousands of acres of land belonging to its Palestinian population. In protest, the Palestinians living in Israel declared a general strike and organised demonstrations throughout Arab towns and villages from the Galilee to the Negev that resulted in violent clashes between the protesters and the Israel police and army. As a result, six unarmed Arab citizens were killed, about one hundred were wounded, and hundreds others arrested..
MEMO Photographer: Mohammed Asad
An Egyptian court has sentenced two supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi to death in connection with violence that followed his ouster last year.
On Saturday, the court in the northern city of Alexandria convicted the two defendants of throwing two young people off the roof of a building during mass protests demanding Morsi’s reinstatement on July 5 last year, AFP reported.
The two convicts are among 63 defendants on trail in the city. Local media say the court will issue verdicts on the remaining defendants on May 19.
International rights groups expressed outrage after the military-installed government on Monday handed down death sentences to 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters after just two hearings.
In a statement issued on Monday, Amnesty International described the mass death sentences as a “grotesque example of the shortcomings and the selective nature of Egypt’s justice system.”
“Imposing death sentences of this magnitude in a single case makes Egypt surpass most other countries’ use of capital punishment in a year,” said Amnesty International Deputy Middle East and North Africa Program Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
According to the Amnesty official, the mass death penalties have been delivered to Morsi’s supporters while Egyptian courts continue to “ignore gross human rights violations by the security forces.”
Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since Morsi, the country’s first democratically-elected president, was deposed by the army on July 3, 2013. Hundreds have lost their lives in the ensuing violence across the country.
Since then, Egypt’s military-backed government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and arrested thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members, including the party’s senior leaders.
MN/NN/AS
Newly revealed documents show senior Egyptian opposition leaders who called for the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, had the financial backing of the US.
US President Barack Obama had claimed that Washington did not take sides in the Egyptian political crisis that ousted Morsi in July last year.
According to Aljazeera TV channel, a review of dozens of US federal government documents obtained by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley shows that Washington quietly funded opposition groups in Egypt that worked against the Morsi government.
Washington channeled the funding through a State Department program which is part of a wider effort to try to stop the retreat of pro-US secularists and defeat the Islamic movements in the Middle East.
The program was dubbed by US officials as a “democracy assistance” initiative.
The move is in contradiction to the US government regulations that ban the use of taxpayers’ money to fund foreign politicians and activists that target democratically-elected governments.
The Egyptians launched a revolution against the pro-US regime of former President Hosni Mubarak in January 2011, which eventually ended the 30-year dictatorship of Mubarak in February 2011.
In June 2012, Egyptians voted in the country’s first free and fair presidential election, electing the Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi as their leader.
But about a year later, the Egyptian army toppled Morsi, suspended the constitution and launched a violent crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood.
On December 25, 2013, the military-appointed government listed the Brotherhood as a “terrorist” organization over alleged involvement in a deadly bombing, without investigating or providing any evidence.
In January 2014, Amnesty International criticized Egyptian authorities for using an “unprecedented scale” of violence against protesters and dealing “a series of damaging blows to human rights.”
According to the UK-based rights group, at least 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since Morsi’s ouster in July 2013, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”
GJH/GJH
BHOPAL: In a big embarrassment to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate the CBI on Saturday arrested Ganesh Malviya, the co-convener of Narendra Modi’s election cell. He was caught along with his wife, Poonam Rai, deputy commissioner of income tax, while accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh.
When CBI laid a trap for Malviya, the agency, ironically, was acting on a complaint of another state BJP leader, Rajesh Bhadoria, convener of cultural cell of the state BJP unit.
Malviya’s wife, an IRS officer, had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from Bhadoria, who also owns Ramayan Constructions, to correct discrepancies in his firm’s I-T returns, a CBI official said.
CBI seized around Rs 2.5 lakh in cash, gold and diamond jewellery and keys of four bank lockers from the residence of the Malviya couple. They were produced before special court on Saturday which remanded them to CBI custody till April 1.
The arrests heated up the political firmament in Madhya Pradesh with the Opposition jumping into the fray. Some experts also called it a fallout of the factional war raging within BJP. On Saturday, Congress lodged a complaint with Election Commission, seeking an inquiry into the bribery episode. “This is how Narendra Modi’s men are collecting funds for election. We demand a probe into the sources of BJP’s poll funds,” said J P Dhanopia, Congress spokesperson.
Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare said, “Modi talks about a corruption-free India while his own man is asking his party colleague to cough up a bribe of Rs 25 lakh. I demand an explanation from both Modi and Shivraj. This shows the scale of corruption in Madhya Pradesh, where even party members are not spared. It’s shocking that a member of BJP’s culture cell had to get member of the party’s national cell arrested”
Egyptian military-controlled media have been trying to cover up the reality of the murder of the young female journalist, Mayada Ashraf, who was shot dead with a live bullet fired at her by a police sniper on Friday while she was covering an anti-coup protest.
Egyptian military-run media are claiming that Mayada got shot by pro-Morsi protesters. All available evidence, however, point to the fact that Mayada was killed by police snipers, who also killed three other protesters in the same incident.
On Saturday, the Al-Marg Prosecution issued an arrest warrant against an injured protester, accusing him of killing Mayada. Based on verified evidence, the accusation seems trumped-up, and is probably an attempt to exonerate the police officer who killed Mayada.
The following links show the truth about Mayada’s death, based on raw footage and testimony of her friends who witnessed the incident:
Mayada Ashraf is a 22-years-old graduate of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University. According to her Facebook page, Mayada Ashraf was a principled journalist. Although she had been an opponent of Morsi, and a supporter of June 30 protests, her Facebook statuses show that she rejected Al-Sisi’s presidential candidacy, and the massacres committed against Morsi supporters. In one of her latest Facebook posts, she said: “Although I am not surprised that Al-Sisi is running for president, I don’t know why I felt disheartened after his presidency bid announcement.” Following the August 14 massacre against Morsi supporters in Rabaa Al-Adaweya, Mayada wrote: “Morsi is not worth dying for, but also Al-Sisi is not worth renouncing our humanity for.” In a Facebook conversation published by rights activist Haitham Abu Khalil, Mayada tells her friend that she “hates Al-Sisi since the Rabaa massacre”
Pupils from Coatham Primary School joined Cllr George Dunning at the Beacon's Seasons cafe to sing Happy Birthday and cut a special birthday cake
Some love it, some hate it - but there’s certainly no ignoring it.
And on Friday, the structure formerly known as the vertical pier, the Redcar Beacon, celebrated its first birthday, having opened to the public on March 28, 2013.
Back in 2009, Redcar and Cleveland Council announced plans for an 80ft high tower, or “vertical pier”, as the focal point for a huge seafront regeneration scheme.
From the start, it attracted its fair share of bouquets and brickbats, with some loving its striking appearance and others labelling it a monstrosity.
Even the “vertical pier” label proved controversial and prompted a competition to find it a name, with more than 500 names - including some unprintable ones - suggested and Redcar Beacon eventually coming out on top.
And last year, independent councillor Steve Kay branded it “little more than an 80ft high lavatory block,” claiming the visitor numbers were inflated because they included people just going to the ground-floor toilets.
But it has many fans too, with many people enjoying a meal at the ground floor cafe before heading up to the viewing platform, with its stunning, 360 degree views of Redcar.
View from the top of the Redcar Beacon
And Redcar and Cleveland Council leader, Councillor George Dunning, remains defiant that the beacon has proven “a real hit with the public,” with just under 200,000 visitors so far.
He said: “The overall feedback has been really positive since it opened and I am delighted to see visitors coming from as far afield as Australia and Abergavenny.”
To celebrate its first year, pupils from Coatham Primary School joined Cllr Dunning at the Beacon’s Seasons cafe to sing Happy Birthday and cut a special birthday cake.
Entry remains free and it is open from 9am-5pm each day. From Good Friday, it will open from 9am-7pm.
And studio space is available to rent for creative businesses to work from and showcase their work.
Contact charlotte.allen@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk.
A professional crime gang targeted homes to steal more than £300,000 worth of cars, a court heard.
They mounted a well-organised campaign of planned burglaries to steal high-value motors.
They were linked to 26 burglaries and 27 stolen cars in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Thornaby and Eaglescliffe from September 2012 to April 2013.
Prosecutor David Brooke told Teesside Crown Court: “The group targeted homes, stealing the keys to vehicles parked outside the owners' homes.
"The vast majority occurred when the house was occupied, often when the occupants were asleep in bed.
“The total value of the stolen vehicles is well in excess of £300,000.
“The offending was determined. On some nights, up to three houses were being targeted.
“It was quite plain there was a high degree of planning involved.
“The overall pattern demonstrates a systematic targeting of houses for the theft of high-value cars, deposited somewhere safe, number plates changed then moved on.
“The group were quite prepared to get cars from any source and had the organisation to deal with the cars."
Teesside Crown Court heard of the shock, anxiety, stress, trauma, costs and inconvenience suffered by the many victims and their families.
Aged 21 to 66, some with children, included a fire safety officer, two nurses, a cleaner, a dentist, a student, a rigger and a retired man.
They spoke of the emotional and psychological impact, with fear, paranoia, sleep problems, panic attacks and feeling unsafe at home.
Some had to move home after the burglaries. Some came to court to see the burglars sentenced.
One said: “I don’t believe these people consider their actions when committing these despicable crimes.”
Another said: “The people who have done this are thoughtless thugs.
“Disgraceful human beings who really need to learn how to work for things themselves rather than stealing from other people.”
One woman said: “They deserve everything they get and they should receive long sentences in prison as they are horrible people.”
The burglars often reached in and stole keys left near doors, “fished” through letterboxes, broke in or snuck into homes.
Mr Brooke said they used a sophisticated system using false plates to get rid of the cars quickly "for considerable financial gain".
They deposited cars for a "cooling-off period", travelled in convoys and used careful methods to thwart detection. Cars were often taken to Billingham.
Five cars worth a total of £58,000 have still not been recovered, 14 were found, four crashed and three recovered in parts.
The six conspirators were arrested 50 times between them during the plot, but without direct evidence they were bailed, and carried on burgling.
At one point, two of the conspirators spotted police watching them and said: “You’ll have to try harder than that to hide.”
Mr Brooke said the main conspirator was Trevor Keenan who was involved in 15 burglaries.
He said Keenan drove valuable cars, renovated his home, took a holiday to Egypt and had photos of vehicles parked around Middlesbrough in his home.
Donovan admitted involvement in nine burglaries - he is already serving an 18-month sentence for one of them - and asked for another 16 burglaries to be taken into account.
Ashley Brown and Brad Anderson were involved in eight burglaries each, Lee-Jay Brown five, and Luke O’Neill was involved in removing cars after three burglaries.
The police mounted a complex six-month operation to catch the gang, with 30 officers involved in the operation costing about £350,000.
There were more than 200 witnesses including 14 undercover officers.
With little fingerprint or forensic evidence, officers relied on telephone, surveillance, eyewitness, tracker and number plate recognition evidence.
Six men - Keenan, 30, of Keith Road, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough; Ashley Brown, 23, of Askham Close, Middlesbrough; Lee-Jay Brown, 20, of Holme House Prison; Hackleton, 21, of Ayresome Street, Middlesbrough; Anderson, 20, of Brompton Street, Middlesbrough; and O’Neill, 20, of West Lane, Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough, all admitted conspiracy to burgle.
Hackleton asked for another 16 burglaries to be taken into account. Anderson admitted a separate charge of vehicle taking.
The six have more than 320 previous offences between them.
Rod Hunt, defending Keenan, said: "Nothing can turn the clock back to put right what has been done.
"Regrettably, there are worse cases."
He said it was accepted Keenan was a "facilitator" for 15 burglaries with his skills and advice, and helped transport and deliver vehicles.
But he denied that Keenan was a "mastermind", "master criminal" or "controller".
Mr Hunt argued they were all equally responsible, and some of the burglaries were opportunistic.
He said the gang acted extremely locally and did not travel far and wide or steal cars "by shopping list".
He added Keenan had lost a child and his holiday was funded by family and friends, not crime.
Mr Hunt also represented Anderson, who he said was illiterate, "not the brightest bulb in the chandelier", and admitted roaming estates looking for things to steal.
He said Anderson had changed as he become a father, wanted to better himself and hoped for forgiveness from the victims.
Nigel Soppitt, representing Hackleton, said he showed exceptional remorse and courage in his plea and confessions, and made "seismic shift" towards reform.
He said Hackleton was from a broken home, "ran loose", took drugs and was an "eager and willing pair of hands" to be recruited and used by others.
Kieran Rainey, defending Ashley Brown, said he now recognised the impact on the victims.
Mr Rainey said: "He hadn't really considered it at the time.
"He received no great financial gain from his involvement. He's not a rich man living the high life. He doesn't own a house, he doesn't own a car."
He said Ashley "dipped in and out" of the plot, was present at two burglaries and helped move cars after six others, but was not a director or organiser.
David Lamb, for Lee-Jay Brown, said he was sorry, he wouldn't do it again and wanted to work and lead a law-abiding life.
He said the young dad was the driver of stolen vehicles at five burglaries in one week, including three in one day, before he "bowed out".
O'Neill's barrister Peter Makepeace said he was an impressionable, unsophisticated man "under the thrall of others", and he played the least role in the plot for less than a month.
The joiner came from a decent, law-abiding family who were devastated by what he did, and he had learnt his lesson from his difficult first time in custody.
Two more men - Philip Johnson, 39, of Rutherglen Walk, Eaglescliffe, and John Wilkes, 37, of Lulsgate, Thornaby - admitted handling stolen goods.
The handlers' barristers said they were unsophisticated and didn't know the cars came from home burglaries.
Andrew Turton, for Johnson, said he was an unsophisticated mechanic who made "a few extra pounds on the side" from a hobby.
He said Johnson was foolishly drawn into it through his associations and was an"outlet" for three vehicles.
The dad-of-three helped care for his brother with Down's syndrome, suffered depression, was awaiting an operation and had not been to crown court or to prison before.
Johnson was allowed to attend a funeral during the two-day sentencing hearing.
Richard Bennett, representing Wilkes, said he was the very least involved, kept out of trouble for a year and asked for a suspended sentence.
He said Wilkes was doing a favour for a friend and received £50 "easy money" for removing an engine, roof and airbags.
He added Wilkes was not involved in the burglaries or with the burglary conspirators, had contact only with his former employer Johnson, and was involved in only two vehicles.
He had few previous convictions and the Probation Service felt he was rehabilitated.
All eight men will be sentenced on Tuesday. All are in custody except O'Neill, Johnson and Wilkes who are on bail.
Crimean Tatars say they will establish their own autonomous region on the Black Sea peninsula.
According to a Saturday vote by the Crimean Tatars’ assembly, the 300,000-strong Muslim minority will seek “ethnic and territorial autonomy.”
“In the life of every nation there comes a time when it must make decisions that will determine its future,” assembly leader Refat Chubarov told over 200 delegates.
Chubarov made the announcement during the second extraordinary session of the assembly in the city of Bakhchisaray in central Crimea.
“I ask you to approve … the start of political and legal procedures aimed at creating ethnic and territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatars of their historic territory of Crimea,” he said.
Head of Russia’s semi-autonomous republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and head of Russia’s Muftis Council Ravil Gaynutdin also attended the meeting.
“I think we should get closer together, be together,” Minnikhanov said at the meeting.
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17 and formally applied to become part of Russia. This came on the heels of a referendum a day earlier, in which 96.8 percent of Crimeans voted for reunion with Russia.
On March 21, Putin signed into law documents that officially made the Black Sea peninsula part of the Russian territory despite condemnation from the West and the new Ukrainian government.
The move sparked angry reactions from the United States and the European Union, both imposing punitive measures against a number of Russian officials and authorities in Crimea.
MSM/NN/AS
Brighton boss Oscar Garcia less than pleased with his side’s performance and admits the missed penalty was a blow
Boro head coach Aitor Karanka saw his side win at Brighton yesterday then expressed his delight at the strides the club are making since he took over.
Second-half goals from Albert Adomah and Danny Graham secured the points for Boro.
And afterwards Spaniard Karanka said: “It’s my first season in English football and I’m very happy because everything is new to me.
“The potential is such that we have to work together to do the best. We have a good attitude and will be working to improve the squad in time.”
Jimmy Griffiths/Griffiths Photographers
Brighton v Boro match action
Karanka refused to single this out as one of Boro’s best performances, saying: “We have played a lot of games in recent times and played well but haven’t won.
“We created some good chances in the first half and didn’t let Brighton play.
“We are playing in a very high tempo and deserved a slice of luck when Brighton missed their penalty.”
This was Boro’s 12th clean sheet in their last 19 games and Karanka felt his men were fully deserving of their first win in seven away games.
He said: “I am very happy that we won, playing against a very good team. We had a lot of the ball and we knew we needed to go for the game.”
Brighton boss Oscar Garcia, however, was less than pleased with his side’s performance, and neither were the fans with the side booed off at half-time when the scores were level.
The Seagulls boss, whose side missed a penalty while trailing 1-0, said: “We’re making mistakes at the back and we are being punished.
“The problem is we are not punishing the opposition ourselves and now these are the kind of things that are making the difference.
“We started slowly, were the better side in the second half but they went in front and then missing a penalty was a blow. Their second goal was a killer.”
As for the boos from the home fans at the interval, he added: “I didn’t hear it.
“I am first to the dressing room. It’s normal. If they are not happy, they can do this.”
The Judges Disciplinary Council started today a trial of former Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim, who was appointed by the ousted President Mohamed Morsi. Ibrahim is accused of eavesdropping on the military-appointed Prosecutor General by installing eavesdropping equipment inside his office. Ibrahim describes the trial as a “farce”, and insists the equipment are normal security cameras installed in all offices of the General Prosecution’s headquarters
Myanmar will not allow Muslims to register as ‘Rohingya’ in the country’s first census in three decades despite UN assurances.
Ye Htut, a government spokesman, says Rohingya Muslims can call themselves Bengali as they register for the first census in the past 30 years.
“If a household wants to identify themselves as ‘Rohingya’, we will not register it,” Htut told reporters in Yangon on Saturday.
The term ‘Bengali’ is being used by the authorities who view most Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.
Extremist Buddhists in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine say they will boycott the census over fears that it could lead to the official recognition of the Rohingyas.
Muslims in parts of the Rakhine state complained that authorities have threatened them with harsh penalties if they identify themselves as Rohingya despite the UN assurances.
The country’s first UN-backed census will last 12 days and is aimed at plugging an information deficit in the former junta-run country.
Meanwhile, a prominent human rights activist has recently told Press TV that Myanmar’s government has been behind the ongoing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in the country.
“I do have a strong feeling that there is support behind the scenes by the government,” said Myra Dahgaypaw, the coordinator of the US Campaign for Myanmar, in a Friday interview.
Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar account for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million. They have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country’s independence in 1948.
Myanmar’s government has been repeatedly criticized for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims. International bodies and human rights organizations accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the violence.
JR/PR/SS
