Page 2 - Aruba Today
P. 2
A2
UP FRONTWednesday 13 January 2016
Pentagon: Italy autopsy: US
woman strangled,
2 US Navy boats held by Iran; will be returned maybe with rope
LOLITA C. BALDOR to be Americans, and said ers. Department, the official
the sailors were trespassing Secretary of State John Ker- said.
Associated Press in Iranian waters. ry, who forged a personal Officials said the sail- FANUEL MORELLI
“We have been in con- relationship with Iranian ors were part of Riverine
WASHINGTON (AP) tact with Iran and have re- Foreign Minister Moham- Squadron 1 based in San FRANCES D’EMILIO
ceived assurances that the med Javad Zarif through Diego and were deployed
— Iran was holding 10 U.S. crew and the vessels will be three years of nuclear ne- to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet Associated Press
Navy sailors and their two FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — An
small boats that drifted autopsy has determined
into Iranian waters after that an American woman
experiencing mechanical whose naked body was
problems. Iran accused found last week in her Flor-
the sailors of trespassing ence apartment was stran-
but American officials said gled with an object such as
Tehran has assured them a rope or cord, an Italian
that the crew and vessels prosecutor said Tuesday.
would be returned safely Prosecutor Giuseppe
and promptly. Creazzo cautioned that
The sailors, nine men and more lab results are need-
one woman, were being ed to pinpoint the time of
held overnight at an Ira- Ashley Olsen’s death.
nian base on Farsi Island in The 35-year-old had been
the Persian Gulf, and were living in Florence for about
expected to be transferred three years. Autopsy find-
to a U.S. ship in the region ings so far indicate that she
on Wednesday morning lo- died roughly in a 36-hour-
cal time. Officials said they period between the morn-
believe the U.S. had spoken ing of Friday and the early
to one of the crew, and all afternoon of Saturday. The
10 were fine and uninjured. corpse, with bruises and
Pentagon spokesman Pe- scratches on the neck, was
ter Cook told The Associ- discovered after her Italian
ated Press that the Riverine Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 805 is seen in the Persian Gulf. Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors boyfriend expressed alarm
and their two boats, similar to the one in this picture, on Jan. 12, 2016, after the boats had me-
boats were moving be- chanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters. American officials have received assurances he hadn’t heard from her
from Tehran that they will be returned safely and promptly.
tween Kuwait and Bahrain in a few days and asked
(Torrey W. Lee/U.S. Navy via AP)
when the U.S. lost contact the landlady to open the
with them. apartment door.
U.S. officials said that the in- Olsen, originally from Sum-
cident happened near Far- returned promptly,” Cook gotiations, called Zarif im- in Bahrain. When the U.S. mer Haven, Florida, was
said. The incident came mediately on learning of lost contact with the boats,
si Island in the middle of the amid heightened tensions the incident, according to ships attached to the USS last seen by friends early
with Iran, and only hours a senior U.S. official. Kerry Harry S Truman aircraft
Gulf. They said some type before President Barack “personally engaged with carrier strike group began Friday at a popular Flor-
Obama was set to deliver Zarif on this issue to try to searching the area, along
of mechanical trouble with his final State of the Union get to this outcome,” the with aircraft flying off the ence nightclub.
address to Congress and official said. Truman.
one of the boats caused the public. It set off a dra- Kerry learned of the inci- Officials said a radio sig- It could be weeks before
matic series of calls and dent around 12:30 p.m. EST nal from one of the boats
them to drift into Iranian meetings as U.S. officials (1730 GMT) as he and De- showed that they were on results of analyses of body
tried to determine the ex- fense Secretary Ash Carter Farsi Island, setting off ef-
territorial waters near the is- act status of the crew and were meeting their Filipino forts to contact the Irani- tissue and fluid are ready
reach out to Iranian lead- counterparts at the State ans. q
land, and they were picked to help experts narrow the
up by Iran. time-frame when she was
The semi-official Iranian strangled, Creazzo said.
news agency, FARS, said Laboratory results will also
the Iranian Revolutionary help determine whether
Guard’s navy has detained Olsen had been sexually
10 foreign forces, believed assaulted, Creazzo said,
adding that there were no
US welcomes ruling on Philippine defense pact external signs of sexual at-
tack.
M. PENNINGTON wanted to see more U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Secretary Albert del Rosario There were reportedly no
Associated Press Carter described the Philip- said they discussed loca-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The operations to uphold free- pines as a critical ally as the tions where the Philippines signs of struggle against
United States on Tuesday U.S. looks to boost its pres- can provide access to U.S.
welcomed a court ruling dom of navigation and ence in the Asia-Pacific. forces for “mutual benefit.” whoever killed her.
on the constitutionality of a He said the two sides were The Philippines has in-
defense pact with the Phil- overflight in the region. discussing how to use the creasingly testy relations Creazzo said at this point
ippines, saying it would al- defense pact “to strength- with China over their territo-
low the allies to strengthen The top diplomats and de- en our maritime security rial dispute in the South Chi- investigators have no sus-
their maritime cooperation capabilities and our role na Sea, where six Asian
amid tensions with China in fense officials of the U.S. in keeping a peaceful re- governments are vying for pects.
the disputed South Chi- gion, a region without divi- control of small islands and
na Sea. and the Philippines met sions, without tensions, and shoals in seas that a thor- Olsen’s friends, in a letter
The Philippines ac- a region where everyone oughfare for about one-
cused China of using flash- at the State Department has freedom to carry out third of world trade. The appearing in an English-
ing lights and flares to chal- their affairs, including com- U.S. is looking to support the
lenge Philippine military Tuesday, hours after the merce.” ill-equipped Philippine mili- language biweekly in Flor-
flights over the contested Speaking to reporters after tary and counter assertive
Spratly Islands and said it Philippine Supreme Court the talks, Philippine Foreign Chinese action.q ence, said they are hoping
ruled that the enhanced whoever killed her will be
defense cooperation brought to justice.
agreement, signed by the “While we mourn her pass-
two governments in 2014, ing we place our trust fully
is constitutional. The pact in the Italian authorities to
will allows American forc- investigate this tragic epi-
es, warships and planes to sode,” read some of the
temporarily base in local sentiments in the letter in
military camps. The Florentine. q
