Human rights violations alleged in Fallujah fight

Human rights violations alleged in Fallujah fight

CAMP TARIQ, Iraq

As Iraqi security forces tighten their grip on the outskirts of militant-held Fallujah allegations of human-rights violations are surfacing on both sides of the operation.

On Monday, hundreds of civilians, many bearing marks of torture, were released north of Fallujah after being detained by a group of government sanctioned mostly Shiite militias. Five of those detained died while in the group’s custody according to Yahya al-Muhamadi, an Anbar council member working with displaced civilians.

The militia forces, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, are one of a number of different Iraqi security forces participating in the operation to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State group that has controlled it for more than two years.

The Popular Mobilization Forces deny that their fighters detain civilians.

Ali scripted funeral plans in detail

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

Muhammad Ali and his innermost circle started a document years ago that grew so thick they began calling it “The Book.”

Its contents will soon be revealed.

In the pages, the boxing great planned in exacting detail how he wished to say goodbye to the world.

“The message that we’ll be sending out is not our message - this was really designed by The Champ himself,” said Timothy Gianotti, an Islamic studies scholar who for years helped to plan the services.

Experts begin renovations of Jesus’ tomb

JERUSALEM

A team of experts has begun the first renovations in more than 200 years at the site where Christians believe Jesus was buried.

The work that began Monday is the first of its kind since 1810, and was made possible by a rare accord among Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenians, who are responsible for maintaining separate sections of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and who jealously guard their domains. In 2008, an argument between Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks erupted into a brawl.

This time, the clergymen have put aside their differences – a reflection of the dire need for the repairs. Last year, Israeli police briefly shut down the building after antiquities experts deemed it unsafe, prompting the Christian denominations to join forces.

Cesar Chavez’s widow dies at 88

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.

Helen Chavez, widow of civil rights and labor leader Cesar Chavez, has died at age 88.

A family statement released through the United Farm Workers says Helen Chavez died Monday at a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., surrounded by many of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. No cause of death was given.

Born in the town of Brawley in the California desert near the Mexico border, she met Cesar Chavez in the mid-1940s and married him in 1948. In the early 1960s, the couple left a comfortable middle-class existence in East Los Angeles to organize farm workers in California’s Central Valley.

They had eight children, and Helen Chavez had to care for them alone for long stretches while he was traveling.

Cesar Chavez died in Arizona in 1993.

Associated Press