Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab released from prison

Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been freed after serving two years in prison for his involvement in illegal protests.

Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was convicted in 2012 of taking part in illegal gatherings and disturbing public order.
An appeals court later reduced his original three-year term by a year.
He was one of several leading activists arrested by the authorities after pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011.

Appeal Soon after his release on Saturday, Rajab told the Associated Press news agency that he was happy to be out after spending more than 600 days in prison.
He also appealed for the release of all political prisoners, the agency added.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights First, have campaigned on behalf of Rajab throughout his prison sentence, calling on the authorities to release him.

In December 2013, a Bahraini court rejected a request by Rajab's lawyers for early release. They argued that he was eligible because he had already served three-quarters of a two-year sentence.
In addition to his role with the BCHR, Mr Rajab is deputy secretary general of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
Before his imprisonment in July 2012, Mr Rajab was repeatedly detained in connection with the pro-democracy protests that erupted in the Gulf kingdom the previous year.

Amnesty said that he was punched in the face several times by riot police as he led a demonstration in February 2012, and in May 2012 was charged with "insulting a national institution" in comments about the interior ministry he posted on Twitter.

In June 2012, Rajab was sentenced to three months in jail over different tweets he wrote about the prime minister. The conviction was eventually overturned on appeal, but only after he had begun his two-year sentence for taking part in unauthorised protests.

At his trial, Mr Rajab told the court that he had been held in dire conditions and subjected to ill treatment, including being placed in solitary confinement with a dead animal and kept almost naked.
BCHR's founder, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is serving a life sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. He was convicted on evidence that was widely accepted as having been secured under torture

The $200m match decided by defensive error as QPR back in EPL

May 24, 2014

The so-called richest game in football hinged on a late defensive error by Derby captain Richard Keogh as Bobby Zamora scored a dramatic injury-time winner for 10-man Queens Park Rangers in the Championship playoff at Wembley Saturday.

Promotion to the English Premier League is estimated to be worth $200m and it was QPR celebrating an unlikely win at the final whistle.

Former England international Zamora scored with a first-time volleyed shot after Keogh's intended clearance fell straight to his feet.

It was QPR's first shot on target after a match largely dominated by Derby -- particularly after Gary O'Neil's red card on the hour mark.

O'Neil went for hacking down Johnny Russell as he raced towards goal and it looked only a matter of time before Derby, managed by former England boss Steve McClaren, grabbed a winner.

His QPR counterpart Harry Redknapp admitted as much as he reflected on his side's triumph.

"We were hanging on with 10 men until a fantastic finish," he told Sky Sports. "We were hanging on for our lives," he admitted.

QPR, relegated from the EPL last season, has spent heavily, backed by owner Tony Fernandes, with a massive wage bill in comparison to other rivals in the second flight of English football.

Leicester City and Burnley gained the two automatic promotion spots, leaving QPR to negotiate its passage through the playoffs involving the next four best-placed teams in the league.

Victory over Wigan saw QPR into the final, while Derby thrashed Brighton to reach the Wembley showdown.

A cagey and tactical match produced few chances, the best coming after O'Neil was dismissed but QPR's man-of-the-match defender Richard Dunne and goalkeeper Robert Green were outstanding in repulsing Derby.

Then came the late drama -- with Zamora repeating a feat he achieved in helping West Ham win the playoffs in 2005.

It left a distraught Keogh to be consoled by his teammates while QPR lifted the playoff trophy.

For McClaren it was a bitter disappointment after guiding his young team to third place in the regular season standings and a deserved place in the final.

"I've lost some games in my career but that is the cruelest," he told BBC Sport. "For somebody to make mistakes -- we don't blame anybody," he added.

Pope Francis travels to the Holy Land with a rabbi and a Muslim cleric

May 24, 2014

Pope Francis departed Rome on Saturday for a trip to the Holy Land with a rabbi and a Muslim cleric from his home country of Argentina.

The pope will visit Jordan, Bethlehem and Jerusalem with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who co-wrote a book with the pontiff, and Sheikh Omar Abboud, who leads Argentina's Muslim community.

The Holy Land visit is the first for Francis as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and just the fourth for any pontiff in the modern era.

The religion of the pope's traveling companions is no coincidence.

"It's highly symbolic, of course," said the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a consultant to the Vatican press office.

"But it also sends a pragmatic message to Muslims, Christians and Jews that it's possible to work together -- not as a system of checks and balances but as friends."

Pope Francis is expected to call attention to the poor and downtrodden during his 36-hour visit.

In Jordan, the pope will greet some of the 600,000 Syrians that have fled since the start of the civil war in 2011, as well as refugees from Iraq. He will also celebrate Mass and visit the Jordan River, where many Christians believe Jesus was baptized.

In Bethlehem, Frances will greet children from refugee camps, celebrate Mass in Manger Square, lunch with Palestinian families, and visit the site of Jesus' birth. The pope is expected to call for a Palestinian state, which has long been Vatican policy.

And in Jerusalem, the pontiff will meet the city's grand mufti and chief rabbis, visit the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, a memorial to the Holocaust, and lay a wreath on the grave of the founder of modern Zionism. He will also celebrate Mass at the site of the Last Supper.

The papal visit will include high-profile meetings as well. Frances will meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II, with the President of the Palestinian Authority in Bethlehem, and with Israel's Prime Minister and President while in Jerusalem.

Find out some SEO Jobs