Mexico City (CNN) -- A Mexican singer who is accused of raping a teen is scheduled to testify Saturday, state media reported.
Pop star Kalimba will testify in a private hearing before a judge in the state of Quintana Roo, the state-run Notimex news agency reported.
Prosecutors allege he raped a 17-year-old girl in a hotel there in December.
His attorney, Rodrigo Cejudo, told Notimex that the singer is calm and confident because he is innocent.
On Thursday, the singer, whose full name is Kalimba Marichal Ibar, was deported from the United States to Mexico after an immigration violation in El Paso, Texas, U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero said.
The 28-year-old singer is a former member of the group OV7, and also was the voice of Simba in a Spanish version of Disney's "The Lion King."
He is in custody in a prison in Chetumal, Mexico, Notimex said.
Twenty-four big cats have been rescued from ill treatment and poor living conditions in outlawed circuses in Bolivia.
Animal rights campaign group Animal Defenders International(ADI) carried out the operation in conjunction with Bolivian authorities.
Bolivia became the first country in the world to outlaw animal performances in circuses after ADI provided evidence of abuse and substandard living conditions using undercover filming.
Undercover footage highlights the brutal treatment meted out to some animals.
The rescued animals were seized from eight circuses and also included six monkeys, a racoon, a deer and horse.
The animals are now being held in a compound in Santa Cruz before being relocated to an animal sanctuary in America.
The lions are now headed to an animal sanctuary in America
ADI president Jan Creamer said: "We must commend the Bolivian authorities for the decisive way that they have enforced the ban on animal circuses."
The organisation is now calling for a similar ban in England, where they claim animals are still used by some circuses and live in cramped and poor conditions.
An appealhas been launched to raise funds for the rescue mission and to care for the animals.
Television watchdogs are calling for a child pornography investigation into MTV's US version of Channel 4's teenage drama series Skins.
The Parents Television Council (PTC) sent a letter to America's Justice Department calling for an immediate inquiry "regarding child pornography and exploitation on MTV's Skins".
The first episode of MTV's version aired on Sunday in the US.
The PTC said the drama about, and starring, teens as young as 15 years old could violate US laws against the sexual exploitation of minors and statutes against child pornography.
American child pornography laws forbid the visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Skins is a show that addresses real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way.
MTV statement
People under the age of 18 are considered to be minors.
In the show, misfit teens dabble in drink, drugs and sex.
On Thursday, fast food chain Taco Bell pulled its commercials from the programme.
A spokesman for the company said it had "decided that the show is not a fit for our brand and have moved our advertising to other MTV programming".
The first MTV episode attracted 3.3 million US viewers, the vast majority aged between 12 and 34, according to TV ratings figures.
The original Channel 4 show first aired in the UK in 2007.
Scene from the US remake of Skins
MTV has declined to comment specifically on the request for a government investigation.
But it said in a statement: "Skins is a show that addresses real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way.
"We review all of our shows and work with all of our producers on an ongoing basis to ensure our shows comply with laws and community standards.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that MTV executives had ordered producers of Skins to make changes that would tone down some of the content.
The paper said the cable network was particularly concerned about an episode scheduled for the end of January in which a 17 year-old actor is shown from behind as he runs naked down a street.
Even before Skins premiered, the PTC labelled the show "the most dangerous programme that has ever been foisted on your children" and called on advertisers to boycott the series.
South Korean special navy forces have stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates and rescued all 21 crew members aboard.
Eight of the pirates were killed and five captured in the military operation, which took place off the coast of Africa, authorities said.
It comes a week after the attackers seized the Samho Jewelry and held hostage crew members from South Korea, Indonesia and Burma.
The captain of the ship was shot and wounded by a pirate. The other 20 crew members were rescued unharmed.
South Korean president Lee Myung-bak said: "We will not tolerate any behaviour that threatens the lives and safety of our people in the future."
The chemical tanker was sailing from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka when it was hijacked last Saturday.
Naval special forces take up positions during the rescue operation
It was the second vessel from South Korea-based Samho Shipping to be seized in the past several months.
In November, Somali pirates freed supertanker Samho Dream and its 24 crew after months of captivity.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.
Piracy has flourished off its coast, sometimes yielding multimillion-dollar ransoms.
The ransoms the pirates get are among the few regular sources of income for small businesses that supply the pirates with food and other goods.
In April 2009, a French navy commando team stormed the yacht Tanit. The shoot-out killed two pirates and one French hostage. Four French citizens were freed.
In the same year, US navy snipers shot three pirates who were holding an American captain hostage in a lifeboat after they had abandoned a larger ship, the Maersk Alabama.
A woman kidnapped as a baby from a New York hospital has been reunited with her family 23 years later - after uncovering her own abduction case.
Kidnapped Baby Finds Family After 23 Years
2:26pm UK, Friday January 21, 2011
Angela Barnes, Sky News Online
A woman kidnapped as a baby from a New York hospital has been reunited with her family 23 years later - after uncovering her own abduction case.
Carlina White was 19 days old when she was stolen from Harlem Hospital in 1987.
Her parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, had taken her there because she had a high fever.
They said a woman dressed as a nurse helped them at the hospital and they left Carlina to recover overnight.
However, when the Tysons returned the next day both the 'nurse' and their daughter had vanished.
Despite the offer of a $10,000 (£6,200) reward no suspects were ever identified.
However, as the years went by, it turned out the best investigator on the case was Carlina herself.
She had long suspected she was at least adopted because the woman who raised her could never provide her with a birth certificate when she was old enough to apply for a driving licence.
Carlina was abducted when she was 19 days old
She also realised there was no family resemblence between them.
On January 4, Carlina, now 23, checked the website again, but searched this time through New York's missing children and saw a baby photo that looked nearly identical to hers.
She contacted the site, which helped connect her with her real mother.
A DNA test confirmed her true identity on Wednesday.
The FBI and authorities are now looking at whether the alleged kidnapper could face federal prosecution since there is no statute of limitations for the abduction of a child under the age of 18.
The woman has not been identified.
In an interview with the New York Post, Carlina said reuniting with her family was like a dream.
"I'm so happy. At the same time, it's a funny feeling because everything's brand-new. It's like being born again."
Culture and art are the lifeblood of a democratic society that wants to renovate itself. Cinema is one art form that can inspire dialogue around crucial issues, but all too often it is censored in the countries where it would speak the loudest.
“The Band’s Visit,” a 2007 Israeli movie directed by Eran Kolirin about an Egyptian police orchestra in Israel, shows how Israeli and Arabs can interact not only as enemies but as human beings with common hopes and lives. Other movies also illustrate how different religious beliefs can find meeting points, as in the love of a Pakistani Muslim guy and an Irish Catholic woman in Ken Loach's “A Fond Kiss” (2004).
The News Year's Eve terrorist act in Alexandria against the Coptic community made clear that throughout the entire society it is necessary that the other be known as a human being before anything else. Cinema could be of great importance in supporting dialogue and stimulating public discussion along such lines.
One movie that could help move forward dialogue about sectarian tension is France’s “Of Gods and Men,” which won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The film shows how clashes start when the simplicity and coexistence of everyday life is interrupted, and argues that religion is never a justification for terrorism.
Based on a true event in Algeria in 1996, the film tells the story of a group of Trappist monks living in an abbey according to the ancient rule “Ora et Labora” (“Pray and Work”). They peacefully cohabit with the Muslim population and give them medical support. Day after day, a mutual respect and acceptance of their differences develops naturally as human beings loved by the same god.
However, the monks’ choices are severely tested when a group of terrorists starts persecuting the population. “We do not understand who is killing who,” says a Muslim man to the monks.
The indiscriminate killing that defines terrorism is the beginning of the end. On Christmas Eve a group of terrorists enter the monastery asking for medicines, but are refused. The monks, now in great danger, are forced to reflect on their future.
The film attempts to show that inter-religious dialogue is possible. The title is echoed in Psalm 82 of the Bible, which reads: “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” Man and gods can meet, know and respect each other.
The movie is a powerful statement against sectarian violence, and a compelling document of uncertain events. Paolo Branca, professor of Islamic Studies and of Arab Language and Literature at the Catholic University in Milan, said, “‘Of Gods and Man’ shows that the monks did not aim to convert their Muslim fellow citizens. On the contrary, it tackles the interfaith dialogue at a spiritual level without looking for the guilty.”
The film achieved great success in France, a secular country. As a monk writes, quoting Pascal: “men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.”
Amaal Othman, the head of the Egyptian parliament's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee admitted on Saturday that the membership of 486 MPs could be invalid. This step could lead to the dissolution of parliament before the end of its session in 2015.
This number constitutes more than 90 percent of the 518 MPs in parliament, of whom 10 are directly appointed by the president.
Several candidates in the 2010 parliamentary election submitted complaints accusing the governmental bodies supervising the electoral process of fraud and vote manipulation. Several administrative courts across Egypt made rulings that nullified the election in a number of constituencies as a result.
Amaal Othman said the committee has referred 1527 appeals challenging the parliamentary election results to the Court of Cassation so it can prepare a report to submit to parliament, reported the state-run news agency MENA.
Othman did not say why the complaints were referred to the Court of Cassation. However, she did say that the committee will examine the report it prepares in order to decide conclusively on the validity of those MPs' membership.
Othman added that the membership of only 22 elected MPs, as well as the 10 appointed by the president, have not been challenged. Their membership will be declared valid next week.
The ruling National Democratic Party obtained a sweeping victory in the recently-concluded parliamentary poll. It won more than 90 percent of parliamentary seats in an election widely viewed as fraudulent.
Parliament has habitually rejected any complaints challenging MPs' memberships in previous sessions, stating that it has the exclusive right to decide on the validity of membership.
On Wednesday, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group, said that the ruling regime must dissolve parliament in order to prevent a Tunisia-style revolution in Egypt.
