A senior Egyptian general admits that "virginity checks" were performed on women arrested at a demonstration this spring, the first such admission after previous denials by military authorities.
The allegations arose in an Amnesty International report, published weeks after the March 9 protest. It claimed female demonstrators were beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges and forced to submit to virginity checks.
At that time, Maj. Amr Imam said 17 women had been arrested but denied allegations of torture or "virginity tests."
But now a senior general who asked not to be identified said the virginity tests were conducted and defended the practice.
"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general said. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."
Mubarak attorney discusses accusations Military 'Justice' in the new Egypt
The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.
"We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place," the general said. "None of them were (virgins)."
This demonstration occurred nearly a month after Egypt's longtime President Hosni Mubarak stepped down amid a wave of popular and mostly peaceful unrest aimed at his ouster and the institution of democratic reforms.
Afterward, Egypt's military -- which had largely stayed on the sidelines of the revolution -- officially took control of the nation's political apparatus as well, until an agreed-upon constitution and elections.
Mubarak denies ordering shootings
The March 9 protest occurred in Tahrir Square, which became famous over 18 historic and sometimes bloody days and nights of protests that led to Mubarak's resignation.
But unlike in those previous demonstrations, the Egyptian military targeted the protesters. Soldiers dragged dozens of demonstrators from the square and through the gates of the landmark Egyptian Museum.
Salwa Hosseini, a 20-year-old hairdresser and one of the women named in the Amnesty report, described to CNN how uniformed soldiers tied her up on the museum's grounds, forced her to the ground and slapped her, then shocked her with a stun gun while calling her a prostitute.
"They wanted to teach us a lesson," Hosseini said soon after the Amnesty report came out. "They wanted to make us feel that we do not have dignity."
The treatment got worse, Hosseini said, when she and the 16 other female prisoners were taken to a military detention center in Heikstep.
There, she said, she and several of other female detainees were subjected to a "virginity test."
"We did not agree for a male doctor to perform the test," she said. But Hosseini said her captors forced her to comply by threatening her with more stun-gun shocks.
"I was going through a nervous breakdown at that moment," she recalled. "There was no one standing during the test, except for a woman and the male doctor. But several soldiers were standing behind us watching the backside of the bed. I think they had them standing there as witnesses."
The senior Egyptian general said the 149 people detained after the March 9 protest were subsequently tried in military courts, and most have been sentenced to a year in prison.
Authorities later revoked those sentences "when we discovered that some of the detainees had university degrees, so we decided to give them a second chance," he said.
The senior general reaffirmed that the military council was determined to make Egypt's democratic transition a success.
"The date for handover to a civil government can't come soon enough for the ruling military council," he said. "The army can't wait to return to its barracks and do what it does best -- protect the nation's borders."
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Fewer unaccounted for from devastating tornado in Joplin, Missouri
Officials in Joplin, Missouri, trimmed the list of people still missing Monday, more than a week after the most-deadly U.S. tornado in more than 60 years tore through the city.
Twenty-nine people remain unaccounted for, down from 43 on Sunday, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety. That figure includes three people whose families have reported them as dead.
"Our work will not cease until the number of unaccounted-for individuals is zero," said Andrea Spillars, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
She acknowledged over the weekend that families waiting for information on missing relatives are frustrated the identification process hasn't proceeded as quickly as they might have hoped.
Authorities are relying on scientific identification of the remains. While that process is slow, it's more reliable than a family member's visual identification, Spillars said.
The May 22 storm flattened buildings, destroyed neighborhoods and killed more people than any other U.S. tornado since modern recordkeeping began in 1950.
Early Sunday, Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr told CNN the death toll was 142. State officials have released the names of 101 victims.
Authorities have 146 sets of human remains, Spillars said Sunday, but some of the remains may belong to the same person and she cautioned against using that number as a death toll.
Also Sunday, President Barack Obama visited Joplin, promising residents the support of the nation as they rebuild.
The EF-5 tornado barreled into the city with 200-mph winds, reducing homes to unrecognizable rubble.
"Your country will be with you every step of the way," the president said to cheers. "We're not going anywhere. The cameras may leave, the spotlight may shift, but we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet."
Twenty-nine people remain unaccounted for, down from 43 on Sunday, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety. That figure includes three people whose families have reported them as dead.
"Our work will not cease until the number of unaccounted-for individuals is zero," said Andrea Spillars, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
She acknowledged over the weekend that families waiting for information on missing relatives are frustrated the identification process hasn't proceeded as quickly as they might have hoped.
Authorities are relying on scientific identification of the remains. While that process is slow, it's more reliable than a family member's visual identification, Spillars said.
The May 22 storm flattened buildings, destroyed neighborhoods and killed more people than any other U.S. tornado since modern recordkeeping began in 1950.
Early Sunday, Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr told CNN the death toll was 142. State officials have released the names of 101 victims.
Authorities have 146 sets of human remains, Spillars said Sunday, but some of the remains may belong to the same person and she cautioned against using that number as a death toll.
Also Sunday, President Barack Obama visited Joplin, promising residents the support of the nation as they rebuild.
The EF-5 tornado barreled into the city with 200-mph winds, reducing homes to unrecognizable rubble.
"Your country will be with you every step of the way," the president said to cheers. "We're not going anywhere. The cameras may leave, the spotlight may shift, but we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet."
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Oklahoma deputy shot; 2 suspects sought
A massive manhunt was under way early Saturday for two men suspected in the shooting of an off-duty sheriff's deputy in Oklahoma.
Maj. John Waldenville, a 25-year veteran from Oklahoma City, was working as a security officer at a restaurant and walking to a nearby bank about midnight when he was attacked, said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel.
Two men attacked the deputy from behind, shooting him in the head as soon as he turned around.
"He never had the opportunity to even unbuckle his gun," Whetsel said.
Whetsel said the shooting was caught on videotape. Investigators are "trying to make a good identification of these two people."
Waldenville is listed in critical condition. The sheriff said his deputy is undergoing a lengthy surgery.
"We're praying for the best," he said.
Maj. John Waldenville, a 25-year veteran from Oklahoma City, was working as a security officer at a restaurant and walking to a nearby bank about midnight when he was attacked, said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel.
Two men attacked the deputy from behind, shooting him in the head as soon as he turned around.
"He never had the opportunity to even unbuckle his gun," Whetsel said.
Whetsel said the shooting was caught on videotape. Investigators are "trying to make a good identification of these two people."
Waldenville is listed in critical condition. The sheriff said his deputy is undergoing a lengthy surgery.
"We're praying for the best," he said.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Along the Mississippi, signs of recovery and stormy forecasts
Early signs of recovery mixed with stormy forecasts Friday, as residents struggled to dig out of the most significant flood to hit the lower Mississippi River valley in more than 70 years.
In Tunica, Mississippi, two casinos reopened after being shut for almost three weeks because of the flooding, said Caesars Entertainment, the company that owns and operates them.
But farther south, Vicksburg residents face a long and slow goodbye to the historic flood that submerged much of their city, forecasters said. They predicted that the river could remain out of its banks until at least mid-June.
The Mississippi River is not expected to return to its 43-foot flood stage in Vicksburg until after June 14, which is 46 days after it climbed out of its banks, said Amanda Roberts, a National Weather Service hydrologist.
It crested at 57.1 feet Thursday, and the weather service predicts the crest will hold through at least Saturday morning in Vicksburg.
Severe storms are likely Saturday and Sunday in the Mississippi River, Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, said CNN meteorologist Sean Morris.
Up to 3 inches of rain per hour are possible, with heavier storms on Sunday. The rain could lead to secondary crests and higher crests along the Mississippi from Memphis, Tennessee, southward, he said.
Some greeted the cresting floodwaters -- which have damaged hundreds of homes and displaced 2,000 Vicksburg residents -- with relief. Others celebrated.
Eddie Monsour, who owns a waterfront restaurant, threw a "River Crest Party" on Thursday night. It was a big success, he said.
"Usually we've got a good crowd, but nothing like it is now. We're probably 200 people more than we usually are," Monsour told CNN affiliate WJTV.
"There's tourists here. People from all over the state just coming to see the water. They've never seen anything like it."
The patrons also included area evacuees such as Louise Roland of Eagle Lake.
"(I'm) just here to celebrate the river cresting," Roland said. "Hopefully, it'll start going down soon."
All but about a dozen of Eagle Lake's 600 residents evacuated, according to CNN affiliate WLBT.
"We talked about it and thought about it, but this really wasn't a decision at all," one of the holdouts, Cindy Roberson, told WLBT. "This is home. This is where our stuff is."
Local officials caution that some area residents may have to wait to return to their homes.
Flooded houses pose a variety of dangers, they said. Rising floodwaters bring on debris, hazardous waste and gas leaks, and force snakes or other potentially dangerous animals from their habitats and into residential areas.
"Right now we're moving to the recovery stage," Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield told CNN.
"Our first priority, I believe, should be public safety, to continue to encourage our residents and onlookers to stay free of the water."
Law enforcement officials are patrolling evacuated areas to help ensure that abandoned homes and businesses aren't burglarized, Winfield said. And each flooded property must be assessed before an owner can return to it, he said.
Residents who live along the river should be vigilant, said Marty Pope, a senior hydrologist with the weather service.
Warren County, which includes Vicksburg, has "several hundred homes that have water" and about 2,000 residents have been displaced, Sheriff Martin Pace said.
County residents are accustomed to flooding and know what to do, but none have experienced it at this magnitude, according to Pace.
The river began cresting ahead of schedule Wednesday night, probably because an old levee system in the Mississippi city of Greenville was breached May 13 and spread the flood's flow, Pope said.
The Mississippi River is more than 14 feet above flood stage at Vicksburg and more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.
Water levels in Natchez, a city about 70 miles south, are nearly 4 feet beyond the record. The river stood at 61.9 feet Thursday night, and the crest isn't expected till Saturday.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers kept a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee, which residents near Vicksburg were counting on. It is designed to keep water from backing into parts of the Yazoo River delta.
A slide was detected on the mainline Mississippi levee at Albemarle Lake, the Corps of Engineers said Thursday. That occurs when the integrity of a levee is undermined because dirt and sand are being eroded, said spokeswoman Eileen Williamson.
"It will take about a full week to repair," she said.
Farther south, where the Mississippi River has not yet crested, residents were working to clear out their homes and find ways to get by.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked for federal assistance in grappling with flooding stemming from the Morganza Spillway, where 17 bays have been opened in hopes of sparing New Orleans farther downstream.
So far, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has delivered nearly 150,000 sandbags, 30,000 cubic yards of sand and 33,000 linear feet of fabric-lined baskets, the governor's office said. Approximately 1,150 Louisiana National Guard members have been mobilized.
Mandatory evacuations will be in effect Saturday -- beginning at midnight Friday -- in Butte La Rose, Happy Town and the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said.
By Saturday morning, "the area will be secured and no one will be allowed to enter," the parish said in a news release.
Officials said spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks. It will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage, allowing evacuees to return.
About five miles of the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge were closed Friday after four barges broke loose from a towboat, said Seaman William Benson of the U.S. Coast Guard. Three of the four sank. Benson declined to say whether the recent flooding could have had anything to do with the incident, but said an investigation was under way.
The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937. It has affected nine states so far: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
In Tunica, Mississippi, two casinos reopened after being shut for almost three weeks because of the flooding, said Caesars Entertainment, the company that owns and operates them.
But farther south, Vicksburg residents face a long and slow goodbye to the historic flood that submerged much of their city, forecasters said. They predicted that the river could remain out of its banks until at least mid-June.
The Mississippi River is not expected to return to its 43-foot flood stage in Vicksburg until after June 14, which is 46 days after it climbed out of its banks, said Amanda Roberts, a National Weather Service hydrologist.
It crested at 57.1 feet Thursday, and the weather service predicts the crest will hold through at least Saturday morning in Vicksburg.
Severe storms are likely Saturday and Sunday in the Mississippi River, Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, said CNN meteorologist Sean Morris.
Up to 3 inches of rain per hour are possible, with heavier storms on Sunday. The rain could lead to secondary crests and higher crests along the Mississippi from Memphis, Tennessee, southward, he said.
Some greeted the cresting floodwaters -- which have damaged hundreds of homes and displaced 2,000 Vicksburg residents -- with relief. Others celebrated.
Eddie Monsour, who owns a waterfront restaurant, threw a "River Crest Party" on Thursday night. It was a big success, he said.
"Usually we've got a good crowd, but nothing like it is now. We're probably 200 people more than we usually are," Monsour told CNN affiliate WJTV.
"There's tourists here. People from all over the state just coming to see the water. They've never seen anything like it."
The patrons also included area evacuees such as Louise Roland of Eagle Lake.
"(I'm) just here to celebrate the river cresting," Roland said. "Hopefully, it'll start going down soon."
All but about a dozen of Eagle Lake's 600 residents evacuated, according to CNN affiliate WLBT.
"We talked about it and thought about it, but this really wasn't a decision at all," one of the holdouts, Cindy Roberson, told WLBT. "This is home. This is where our stuff is."
Local officials caution that some area residents may have to wait to return to their homes.
Flooded houses pose a variety of dangers, they said. Rising floodwaters bring on debris, hazardous waste and gas leaks, and force snakes or other potentially dangerous animals from their habitats and into residential areas.
"Right now we're moving to the recovery stage," Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield told CNN.
"Our first priority, I believe, should be public safety, to continue to encourage our residents and onlookers to stay free of the water."
Law enforcement officials are patrolling evacuated areas to help ensure that abandoned homes and businesses aren't burglarized, Winfield said. And each flooded property must be assessed before an owner can return to it, he said.
Residents who live along the river should be vigilant, said Marty Pope, a senior hydrologist with the weather service.
Warren County, which includes Vicksburg, has "several hundred homes that have water" and about 2,000 residents have been displaced, Sheriff Martin Pace said.
County residents are accustomed to flooding and know what to do, but none have experienced it at this magnitude, according to Pace.
The river began cresting ahead of schedule Wednesday night, probably because an old levee system in the Mississippi city of Greenville was breached May 13 and spread the flood's flow, Pope said.
The Mississippi River is more than 14 feet above flood stage at Vicksburg and more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.
Water levels in Natchez, a city about 70 miles south, are nearly 4 feet beyond the record. The river stood at 61.9 feet Thursday night, and the crest isn't expected till Saturday.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers kept a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee, which residents near Vicksburg were counting on. It is designed to keep water from backing into parts of the Yazoo River delta.
A slide was detected on the mainline Mississippi levee at Albemarle Lake, the Corps of Engineers said Thursday. That occurs when the integrity of a levee is undermined because dirt and sand are being eroded, said spokeswoman Eileen Williamson.
"It will take about a full week to repair," she said.
Farther south, where the Mississippi River has not yet crested, residents were working to clear out their homes and find ways to get by.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked for federal assistance in grappling with flooding stemming from the Morganza Spillway, where 17 bays have been opened in hopes of sparing New Orleans farther downstream.
So far, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has delivered nearly 150,000 sandbags, 30,000 cubic yards of sand and 33,000 linear feet of fabric-lined baskets, the governor's office said. Approximately 1,150 Louisiana National Guard members have been mobilized.
Mandatory evacuations will be in effect Saturday -- beginning at midnight Friday -- in Butte La Rose, Happy Town and the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said.
By Saturday morning, "the area will be secured and no one will be allowed to enter," the parish said in a news release.
Officials said spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks. It will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage, allowing evacuees to return.
About five miles of the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge were closed Friday after four barges broke loose from a towboat, said Seaman William Benson of the U.S. Coast Guard. Three of the four sank. Benson declined to say whether the recent flooding could have had anything to do with the incident, but said an investigation was under way.
The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937. It has affected nine states so far: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Doomsday church: Still open for business
By now, you've probably heard of the religious group that's predicting the end of the world starts this weekend.
Harold Camping and his devoted followers claim a massive earthquake will mark the second coming of Jesus, or so-called Judgment Day on Saturday, May 21, ushering in a five month period of catastrophes before the world comes to a complete end in October.
At the center of it all, Camping's organization, Family Radio, is perfectly happy to take your money -- and in fact, received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. Camping founded Family Radio, a nonprofit Christian radio network based in Oakland, Calif. with about 65 stations across the country, in 1958.
But not even all of his own employees are convinced that the world is ending on Saturday.
In fact, many still plan on showing up at work on Monday.
"I don't believe in any of this stuff that's going on, and I plan on being here next week," a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney.
A program producer in Illinois told us, "We're going to continue doing what we're doing."
According to their most recent IRS filings, Family Radio is almost entirely funded by donations, and brought in $18 million in contributions in 2009 alone.
Take a look at Family Radio's IRS filings
According to those financial documents, accountants put the total worth of Family Radio (referred to as Family Stations on its official forms) at $72 million.
With those kind of financials -- and controversial beliefs -- it's no wonder skeptics have accused the group of running a scam.
Camping first inaccurately predicted the world would end in 1994. Even so, he has gathered even more followers -- some who have given up their homes, entire life savings and their jobs because they believe the world is ending.
Esther, the receptionist in the Oakland office, said some of her most extreme coworkers have recently driven up in fancy cars or taken their families on nice vacations as a last hurrah.
But overall, she estimates about 80% of her coworkers don't even agree with Camping's May 21 forecast. She has stuck to her work as usual, booking appointments and filling up calendars for her coworkers well beyond the May 21 date.
Meanwhile, some employees are questioning the meaning of Harold Camping's goodbye letter sent to the Family Radio mailing list last week. While he says farewell, he encourages employees to "steadfastly continue to stand with us to proclaim the Gospel through Family Radio."
Could that mean he plans on disappearing, but the company should still go about its business as usual?
Read Harold Camping's goodbye letter
The producer in Illinois said, "We're trying to guess what it means for the company. Our producers have programs done through the end of the month, so we're not looking at that having any effect on the work."
Also curious is why Family Radio requested an extension to file their nonprofit paperwork. The group is required to submit financial documents in many of the states where they solicit donations, and in Minnesota they requested an extension from their July 15 deadline to November 15.
July 15th was already well past their Judgment Day prediction -- when they say believers will ascend to heaven -- so why bother requesting an extension to November?
But Family Radio's financial filings otherwise look hardly unusual for a religious nonprofit.
"At first glance, it looks like they have a lot of assets, but they actually don't have a lot of cash that they're stockpiling," said Laurie Styron, analyst with the American Institute of Philanthropy.
Most of the group's net worth is tied up in FCC broadcasting licenses, valued at $56 million. Family Radio claimed it held only $1.5 million in cash on its books at the end of 2009.
The paperwork shows Camping has so far, never taken a penny for his own salary, but Family Radio has plenty of other paid employees.
The nonprofit employed about 350 people and paid them a collective $8.3 million -- or roughly $23,000 per person -- in 2009.
What the 2009 IRS filings don't show, is how the organization's donations and expenses may have changed during 2010 and leading up to the May 21 Judgment Day prediction.
In the last few months, Family Radio billboards have popped up across the country. And the group purchased RVs to drive around the country on its evangelizing missions.
Those expenses could have changed their financial picture, but since Family Radio doesn't have to turn in their next IRS filing until November, it may not even matter.
"If people donating to this group think the world is ending on Saturday, then I'm not sure that they care," Styron said.
Harold Camping and his devoted followers claim a massive earthquake will mark the second coming of Jesus, or so-called Judgment Day on Saturday, May 21, ushering in a five month period of catastrophes before the world comes to a complete end in October.
At the center of it all, Camping's organization, Family Radio, is perfectly happy to take your money -- and in fact, received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. Camping founded Family Radio, a nonprofit Christian radio network based in Oakland, Calif. with about 65 stations across the country, in 1958.
But not even all of his own employees are convinced that the world is ending on Saturday.
In fact, many still plan on showing up at work on Monday.
"I don't believe in any of this stuff that's going on, and I plan on being here next week," a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney.
A program producer in Illinois told us, "We're going to continue doing what we're doing."
According to their most recent IRS filings, Family Radio is almost entirely funded by donations, and brought in $18 million in contributions in 2009 alone.
Take a look at Family Radio's IRS filings
According to those financial documents, accountants put the total worth of Family Radio (referred to as Family Stations on its official forms) at $72 million.
With those kind of financials -- and controversial beliefs -- it's no wonder skeptics have accused the group of running a scam.
Camping first inaccurately predicted the world would end in 1994. Even so, he has gathered even more followers -- some who have given up their homes, entire life savings and their jobs because they believe the world is ending.
Esther, the receptionist in the Oakland office, said some of her most extreme coworkers have recently driven up in fancy cars or taken their families on nice vacations as a last hurrah.
But overall, she estimates about 80% of her coworkers don't even agree with Camping's May 21 forecast. She has stuck to her work as usual, booking appointments and filling up calendars for her coworkers well beyond the May 21 date.
Meanwhile, some employees are questioning the meaning of Harold Camping's goodbye letter sent to the Family Radio mailing list last week. While he says farewell, he encourages employees to "steadfastly continue to stand with us to proclaim the Gospel through Family Radio."
Could that mean he plans on disappearing, but the company should still go about its business as usual?
Read Harold Camping's goodbye letter
The producer in Illinois said, "We're trying to guess what it means for the company. Our producers have programs done through the end of the month, so we're not looking at that having any effect on the work."
Also curious is why Family Radio requested an extension to file their nonprofit paperwork. The group is required to submit financial documents in many of the states where they solicit donations, and in Minnesota they requested an extension from their July 15 deadline to November 15.
July 15th was already well past their Judgment Day prediction -- when they say believers will ascend to heaven -- so why bother requesting an extension to November?
But Family Radio's financial filings otherwise look hardly unusual for a religious nonprofit.
"At first glance, it looks like they have a lot of assets, but they actually don't have a lot of cash that they're stockpiling," said Laurie Styron, analyst with the American Institute of Philanthropy.
Most of the group's net worth is tied up in FCC broadcasting licenses, valued at $56 million. Family Radio claimed it held only $1.5 million in cash on its books at the end of 2009.
The paperwork shows Camping has so far, never taken a penny for his own salary, but Family Radio has plenty of other paid employees.
The nonprofit employed about 350 people and paid them a collective $8.3 million -- or roughly $23,000 per person -- in 2009.
What the 2009 IRS filings don't show, is how the organization's donations and expenses may have changed during 2010 and leading up to the May 21 Judgment Day prediction.
In the last few months, Family Radio billboards have popped up across the country. And the group purchased RVs to drive around the country on its evangelizing missions.
Those expenses could have changed their financial picture, but since Family Radio doesn't have to turn in their next IRS filing until November, it may not even matter.
"If people donating to this group think the world is ending on Saturday, then I'm not sure that they care," Styron said.
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