Iran: An Iranian-Dutch executed by hanging

A woman with dual Dutch and Iranian nationality, was arrested after participating in antigovernment demonstrations in 2009, was hanged in Iran for drug trafficking, reported Saturday's semi-official Mehr news agency.

"A trafficker named Zahra Bahrami, daughter of Ali, was hanged today for concealment and sale of narcotics," Mehr wrote, citing the court.

According to the daughter of this woman of 45 years, cited by the advocacy organization Human Rights International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the drug trafficking charges were fabricated after arrest Zahra Bahrami for his participation in demonstrations in December 2009.

Mehr reported that she was convicted of importing cocaine from the Netherlands in Iran and that 450 grams of the drug were found on her.

Iran does not recognize dual nationality.

FRANCE: Carlos Ghosn explained the case of industrial espionage at Renault

REUTERS - Renault has followed the "usual process" by maintaining secrecy for several months on the internal investigation that led him to dismiss three of its officers suspected of espionage on its electric car program, said Carlos Ghosn, the CEO, in an interview published in the Sunday newspaper.

The prosecution announced January 14 the opening of a preliminary police investigation on this issue.Renault had filed a complaint against X for the day "for acts that constitute industrial espionage, bribery, embezzlement, theft and handling stolen goods, committed by an organized gang."

Ghosn aware since August 2010

If the first public information about the suspicions of the group date from the early, early internal warnings date back nearly five months.

"In late August, the ethics group, Christian Husson, who is also our general counsel, and the boss of Renault's safety came to see me," said Carlos Ghosn in the interview with JDD."They have shared information of very high concern about the integrity of some of our senior staff."

Asked to explain the reasons which led the group to keep the information confidential, he said that "Renault has very specific procedures for such cases.""I decided that the usual process would be used," he adds.

He refused to specify if Renault has used a private investigator to conduct its own investigations.

"Everything we have is now in the hands of justice," says he.

"We were unbeatable"

"It is not for me to go here into details of what we did. But we were blameless in relation to the law," he says.

"An investigation services spy-cons has been open since last week. I repeat, they have all the elements.Today, we expect that justice do its job, "he says.

The three officers covered by the suspicions of Renault, laid off at first, were dismissed. They have since announced the filing of a complaint for malicious prosecution or defamation case to case.

"His target is our strategy in the electric car", explains Carlos Ghosn in the Sunday newspaper. "We launched in 2006 in the most total skepticism.Today, we are the only ones in the world to manufacture both the battery, motors and chargers, to produce the whole system. "

"When a manufacturer is in technological advance, do not be naïve, ca lot of people interested."

He stated that the leaks do not correspond to information "technology" but it could be information on the "economic model" Renault's electric.

Carlos Ghosn assurance that it had "no doubt" the identity of the recipient of such information.

"We await the results of the investigation which I'm told it should last several months," he said.

The record floods over 600 dead

AFP - The president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff declared Saturday a national mourning for three days after torrential rains that killed more than 600 dead in the mountains near Rio where desperate people are facing chaos and shortages.

According to the latest report from the Civil Defense, at least 610 people perished in this disaster, one of the worst in Brazilian history.

On the other hand, 14,000 people are homeless in this agricultural region and resort to a hundred kilometers from Rio, where peaks rising to 2,200 meters.

Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday sent a message of solidarity to the victims and families of victims posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Rio, where he said he was "appalled by the tragic consequences of heavy rains and expressed his" spiritual solidarity to the people Rio.

A seven-day mourning was also declared in the State of Rio in memory of the victims most of whom were surprised in their sleep by the rivers of mud that took everything in their path.

A Teresopolis, 100 km from Rio, where 263 deaths were counted, people buried their dead.

In the municipal cemetery "a dog, Leao, do not leave the grave of his mistress, Maria Cristina Santana, buried two days ago," said one undertaker told AFP.

Inside the morgue, "it's like a horror movie," he told AFP a voluntary worker, Michelle Tosetti.

The bodies are so decomposed that medical examiners do more photo identification for fear of scaring the families of survivors and also because the photos are not used for anything, "she said.

Now, families are asked to describe the tattoos and any particular sign. In some cases, DNA testing by saliva are made.

The rain had stopped resumed in the afternoon.The soil remains saturated with water and the risks of further landslides remains high.A dozen agricultural areas are still isolated and as relief overtook them, the death toll rise, firefighters have warned.

"I think at the end of it all, we have over a thousand bodies," said Mauricio Berlim, a municipal cemetery sexton.

The Secretary of Health, Solange Sirico, warned against "the risk of epidemics such as hepatitis and leptospirosis.

She also asked people "not to drink well water is contaminated" and it appealed for donations of medical supplies and volunteer doctors.

A Nova Friburgo where 274 people were killed, the streets of this peaceful city, founded by Swiss emigrants in the early nineteenth century and valued by Cariocas for its mild climate, back images of ruins and chaos.

The people trying to leave the city, but gasoline is rationed and the road is dangerous because the yield point in several places.

Important economic consequences ahead: it was already very difficult to find fresh vegetables in Rio, the region serrana (mountain) is the main vegetable production area of the state of Rio.

The tourism sector has already lost 30 million dollars, said the vice-president of the Brazilian Hotel, Michel Chertouh.

This tragedy has generated a wave of solidarity throughout the country. Twenty tons of food were collected by Civil Defense and Rio several hundred people gave their blood.