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Dark This is how humans behave in the 21st century




“Rebel cuts out soldiers Heart and eats it”


Video showing a Syrian rebel cutting out and eating the heart of a dead government soldier has been posted online in a horrific new propaganda stunt.

The unverified clip, posted by a progovernment campaign group, claims to show a man - believed to be Abu Sakkar, the well-known founder of Homs' Farouq Brigade - standing over the uniformed corpse in a ditch while ranting against President Bashar al Assad. Using a knife, the man hacks open the torso and removes two organs before holding them up to the camera and declaring: 'I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog.' He then raises one to his mouth and takes a bite. It comes as David Cameron warned today he may still sanction military intervention in the war-torn nation amid growing evidence that Assad is using chemical weapons against his own people. The video, posted on YouTube by and billed as proof of a war crime, is the latest instalment of a propaganda war that is growing fast behind the scenes of this bloody conflict. Last month, a photograph was released by a pro-Assad group based in Lebanon that appeared to show a young rebel fighter barbecuing the severed head of a government soldier.

Experts say such images demonstrate that the battlefield has spread from rubble-strewn streets and war-churned fields to the internet as both sides vie to control their public image and discredit that of their opposition. Meanwhile, human rights groups say it is emblematic of a civil war that has rapidly descended into sectarian hatred and revenge killings. In the most recent video, Sakkar tells the camera: ‘I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,’ His rant is greeted by offscreen cheers of his comrades shouting ‘Allahu akbar”.

The man hacks op and removes two


Wednesday 13th May 2013 1 Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said that he had seen an original, unedited copy of the video and that Abu Sakkar’s identity had been confirmed by rebel sources in Homs and by images of him in other videos wearing the same black jacket as in the latest clip and with the same rings on his fingers. ‘The mutilation of the bodies of enemies is a war crime. But the even more serious issue is the very rapid descent into sectarian rhetoric and violence,’ said Bouckaert.

He said that in the unedited version of the film, Abu Sakkar instructs his men to ‘slaughter the Alawites and take their hearts out to eat them’, before biting into the heart. Abu Sakkar has been seen in previous videos firing rockets at Lebanese Shi’ite villages on the border and posing with the body of a soldier purportedly from the Lebanese Shi’ite militant Hezbollah group, which is helping Assad’s forces.

pen the torso organs.

Rebel is believed to be Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq Brigade

Sakkar rants: 'I swear we'll eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs'

He then raises one of the organs to his mouth and takes a bite

Cameron warns he may send troops as evidence of chemical weapons grows




At least 40 people have been killed in a wave of sectarian car bombings across Iraq. Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad and the southern city of Basra were targeted as bombers struck at market places and crowded bus stops during the busy morning hours, officials said. The attacks, which left dozens of people injured, are the latest in a recent spike of bombings that has hit both Sunni and Shiite civilian targets over the past week. The bloodshed has raised fears of a return to the widespread sectarian violence of 2006-2007 that brought the country to the edge of civil war. In the Iraqi capital, nine car bombs went off at bus stops, open-air markets and in the streets of Shiite areas, killing 27 people and wounding 116, according to police officials. The deadliest attacks came in the northern Sabi al-Boor neighborhood and in Baghdad’s eastern suburb of Kamaliya. Seven people were killed in each of those attacks. In the southern city of Basra, two car bombs - one near a restaurant and the other at the city’s main bus station - killed

“Forty Killed i Bombing across I at least 13 and wounded 40, according to the provincial police spokesman, Col. Abdul-Karim al-Zaidi, and the head of city’s health directorate, Riadh Abdul-Amir. The blast at the Basra bus station ripped through food stalls that serve falafel and eggs to travelers. Slippers lay scattered on the bloodstained pavement. A Basra resident, Talib Dakhil, said he was at the station when the explosion went off. ‘This will not discourage us from continuing our life,’ he said. ‘We will continue challenging terrorism, whatever happens.’


Monday 20th May 2013

in car gs Iraq” No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts but such large-scale bombings bear the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq. Hospital officials in Baghdad and Basra confirmed the casualty tolls. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. In Baghdad, Malik Ibrahim blamed the government and political parties for the bloodshed and the lack of security in the country.

‘How long do we have to continue living like this, with all the lies from the government,’ asked the 23-yearold Baghdad resident. ‘Whenever they say they have reached a solution, the bombings come back stronger than before. We’re fed up with them and we can’t tolerate this anymore,’ he added. Tensions have been intensifying in Iraq since the country’s minority since Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country’s north on April 23. Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks.

40

Bombers target Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad and Basra

Fears of return to widespread sectarian violence

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts



“British doctor, Killed after his hospital is hit by Mortar�


Dr Isa Abdur Rah A young British doctor has been killed by a bomb in Syria as he treated wounded civilians at a makeshift hospital. 'Inspirational' Dr Isa Abdur Rahman, 26, had left his position at London's Royal Free Hospital to volunteer with a British charity in the conflictridden country. The married doctor - who has been described as 'kind and deeply caring' - was injured on Wednesday morning when a shell hit the secret clinic in Syria's Idlib province. Dr Rahman died shortly afterwards. Two other civilians died and two more people were wounded by the attack, which charity Hand in Hand for Syria has blamed on government forces, a report in the Times said.

‘Everyone who knew him is shocked an saddened to hear the tragic news of his death, but we can draw comfort from the fact that he died doing work that he loved.

Dr Rahman's devastated wife, parents and siblings were too upset to speak in the wake of the tragedy.

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family at this difficult time,’ Mr Sahloul added.

The 26-year-old, described as 'brave' and 'dedicated' by the founder of the charity, was from north west London, and trained at Imperial College before taking up a post at the Royal Free.

The doctor, who was of Indian descent, had been learning Arabic and was said to be popular with local people.

He flew to Syria almost a year ago after deciding to put his medical expertise to use helping civilians caught up in bitter fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels seeking to oust his regime. Faddy Sahloul, the chairman and founder of Hand in Hand for Syria, remembered him as ‘one of the bravest and most dedicated people I have met’. ‘I was very close to Dr Isa, a shy young man whom I first met two years ago,’ Mr Sahloul said in a statement. ‘We spent a significant amount of time working together in Turkey and Syria and he was one of the bravest and most dedicated people I have met.

His body was buried last week in the village of Atmeh, close to the border with Turkey, where Dr Rahman first began working after arriving in Syria. He set up a clinic in Atmeh then set about travelling from town to town offering medical help. More recently he had been working in the field hospital in Idlib that came under attack on Wednesday morning. A Just Giving donation page set up by Hand in Hand for Syria in Dr Rahman’s name has raised more than £20,000. The charity has said the money raised - £23,392.26 to date - will be used to set up a field hospital in Homs named after the ‘inspirational’ medic.


It had hoped to raise £7,000 to pay for an ambulance in the doctor’s honour, but now has enough for the clinic after thousands more came flooding in. The organisation said on the fundraising page of their ‘beloved brother and friend’: ‘Those who knew him personally, and those who have heard of him, will know what an amazing, inspirational, kind and deeply caring person he was. ‘It is quite hard to where even begin describing what an amazing person he was, and all of us are still in shock.’ Mr Sahloul told MailOnline it had been Dr Rahman’s dream to establish a hospital in Homs.

‘Homs is absolutely devastated, it has been under siege for the past 11 months now,’ he said. ‘[Setting up a hospital there] was his dream, and we want to try to make it come true.’ He said news of the young doctor’s death had devastated his family and friends. ‘He was 26-years-old and he had a great future ahead of him’ More than 70,000 people have died since the uprising against Assad’s regime erupted in March 2011. Meanwhile, both sides have agreed in principle to enter direct talks in Geneva next month.

left his post at a London hospital to volunteer in Syria

Monday 27th May 2013

hman

3

Dr Isa Abdur Rahman died after hospital he worked in was shelled

Attack blamed on government forces killed two more civilians in Idlib

Married doctor left job at Royal Free Hospital to volunteer in Syria

Described as ‘brave’ and ‘inspirational’ by devastated colleagues


Austin McCord

19 Years Old


Emilee Bates

13 Years Old


A teenage boy has accidentally shot and killed his 13-year-old step-sister on her birthday while he was cleaning his AK-47.

“GirL shot Dead by Brother”

Emilee Bates was shot once in the stomach by 19-year-old Austin McCord in their home near Joshua, Texas on Tuesday evening as he attempted to remove rounds from his weapon, authorities said. He immediately hit a home alarm system to notify law enforcement and six minutes later - at 8.11pm - sheriff's deputies arrived to find McCord holding his sister's wound.

She was airlifted to hospital in Fort Worth, but died at about 10pm on Tuesday. Investigators said McCord had two dummy rounds above his loaded magazine. He ejected these rounds and thought he was making the weapon safe by pulling the trigger to drop the bolt on an empty chamber - but forgot he had a loaded magazine in the gun and it discharged. The incident is being treated as an accident and no charges are expected to be filed, Lt. Tim Jones, a spokesman for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, said.

‘There is no question in our minds that this is just a horribly tragic accident,’ Sheriff Bob Alford told the Burleson Star. ‘(McCord) did everything he could do after the firearm was discharged.’ He called the incident ‘110 per cent accidental’. ‘Our hearts go out to this family,’ he added. Emilee was was a student at Loflin Middle School in Joshua. School officials said that grief counselors will be present for students who need support.

‘This is the worst, worst thing,’ school Superintendent Fran Marek said. ‘It doesn’t get any worse than this.’ On Facebook, her father displays one of his guns while her step-brother lists Call of Duty: Black Ops and Battlefield among his favorite games.


Wednesday 5th June 2013 1

Shot once in the stomach

The sherrif has called the incodent purly accedental


found a body



The woman who killed her boyfriend by stabbing him with a stiletto was arraigned in court today claiming that she acted in self-defence. 44-year-old Ana Trujillo admitted to police that she killed her 59-year-old boyfriend Alf Stefan Andersson in a lover's spat at their apartment early Sunday morning. Trujillo and Andersson, a professor at the University of Houston, had spent most of the evening at Bodegas, a local taco shop, where they drank a couple bottles of wine and took a few tequila shots. Couple's fight: Trujillo, left, and her boyfriend, Andersson, right, got into a fight after leaving a favourite taco shop. Andersson was so popular there that they are holding a memorial for his Thursday Walter Garcia, an assistant manager at the restaurant saw the couple there often. Andersson often came by himself, but would bring along his girlfriend on Fridays or special occasions.

Police arrived at 3:44am

'I knew him. He was a good person,' Garcia told the AP. 'They looked like a normal couple.' but things turned sour that night when another man approached Trujillo at the bar and offered to buy her a drink. Andersson got jealous of the stranger's advances which spurned a fight back at his apartment around 2 a.m. The ensuing fight was so loud, that neighbours thought it sounded like furniture moving. When Andersson grabbed her, Trujillo told police the she pulled his hair - so much so that she had clumps of it in her hands. When that didn’t stop him she started beating him with a stiletto shoe causing multiple stab wounds.

Police arrived at 3:44 a.m., but who called the authorities is still unclear. When police got to the 18th floor of the condo, Trujillo opened the door and let officers into the unit, which is where they found Andersson in a hallway between the entryway and the kitchen. While Trujillo claims she acted in self-defence, that doesn’t change the charges, according to Sara Marie Kinney, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s office. ‘She confessed to doing it. The reason and all of that will play out in court,’ Kinney said. Trujillo was charged with murder Wednesday, and is being held on $100,000 bond. Her lawyers has requested a mental evaluation of his client. Andersson is survived by all of his friends at Bodegas, who are sad to lose a regular and a friend. ‘Everybody, now, we’re very sad, angry with her, because he was customer No. 1,’ Garcia The bar is hosting a memorial for Andersson on Thursday where they will drink Bud Light and Jiro Tequila - his favourite drinks.


Thursday 13th June 2013

“KilleD with a stilettO”

1

Suspect Ana Trujillo was charged with murder Wednesday in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Alf Stefan Andersson

Police found Andersson’s body Sunday with multiple ‘stab’ wounds

Alf Stefan

59 Years Old


A do dete suspe youn ha poi


octor told ective he ected the ng woman ad been isoned.


Church-going woman, 51, used anti-freeze to kill husband she 'hated' and son who was 'worse than a pest' before poisoning daughter who 'would not get a job' A woman, 51, who confessed to murdering her husband and son, and poisoning her daughter, by pouring anti-freeze into their drinks was a devout church-goer who helped direct a religious choir. Diane Staudte, of Springfield, Missouri, has been charged over the deaths of her husband Mark Staudte, 61, and son Shawn Staudte, 26, last year, and the poisoning of her daughter Sarah Staudte, 24, this month. The regular church-goer admitted to police she killed her husband because she 'hated him' and her son because he was 'worse than a pest'. She tried to kill her daughter, who remains in a serious condition in hospital, because 'she would not get a job and had student loans that had to be paid.' Staudte initially told law enforcement that her husband hadn't been feeling well and suffered from seizures before his April 2012 death, the probable cause statement said. And she said her son had been sick with flu-like symptoms before his death in September. The Greene County Medical Examiner initially ruled that the husband died of natural causes and that the son's death was the result of prior medical issues. But an anonymous tip led authorities to reexamine the deaths earlier this month following the hospitalization of Staudte's daughter. A detective wrote that a nurse told him that although Sarah's condition was potentially fatal, Staudte had visited only a couple times and not stayed long. The nurse described Staudte's actions as 'inappropriate', saying she joked and laughed with hospital personnel. The nurse also told the detective that Staudte told her that she planned to go on an upcoming vacation to Florida regardless of her daughter's status. A doctor told the detective that Sarah's condition was 'very suspicious' and said he suspected the young woman had been poisoned.

Sarah is expected to live but may have permanent damage. Staudte admitted under questioning to poisoning her family by putting anti-freeze in their soda and Gatorade over several days. Staudte was charged Friday with two counts of firstdegree murder, one count of first-degree assault and one count of armed criminal action. She is being held without bond. Staudte, an active Facebook user, has regularly updated her 'friends' on her daughter's status. The devout Lutheran wrote on Wednesday: 'Sarah update: out of ICU and able to walk a little.' The regular church-goer also treats her followers with memes of motivational sayings, including: 'Lord, Wrap your arms around my family and draw us close to you. Amen.' And: 'Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs.' Staudt is assistant director of the Springfield Sanctuary Choir, a 'type of music choir sings ranges from classical Lutheran hymn tunes to more contemporary sacred songs.' The Standfill family, who live across the street from the Staudtes, said they have struggled to come to terms with the news. Mark died before the family moved to a the south Springfield neighborhood where the Standfills live, while Shaun died in the house across the street from them. 'Just kind of, disturbing, you know,' Becky Standfill told KSPR. 'They brought a body bag out on a stretcher, we didn't know what happened or who it was or anything like that and we never heard anything.' Doug Standfill said: 'They moved in a little over a year ago, they're quiet, keep to themselves, we very rarely see them unless they are coming and going.'

She joked and laughed with hospital p


Sunday 22th June 2013

“Mother poisons her own Family”

3

The regular churchgoer admitted to police she killed her husband because she ‘hated him’ and her son because he was ‘worse than a pest’.

Shawn Staudte

Sarah Staudte

26 Years Old

24 Years Old

Is in intensive care after her mother put anti-freeze in her drinks because she 'would not get a job and had student loans that had to be paid'

Died in September last year after his mother poisoned his Gatorade and soda with anti-freeze

personnel

She tried to kill her daughter, who remains in a serious condition in hospital, because ‘she would not get a job

Diane Staudte, 51, confessed to poisoning her husband, son and daughter with antifreeze



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Removes two organs.


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