{{Ahmed Ben Ahmed, a Tunisian rapper also known as Klay BB.J, has been jailed for six months without remission for songs judged insulting by the authorities and for undermining morals.}}
The rapper’s lawyer said he would appeal Thursday’s verdict.
“We have decided on a sentence of six months in prison, to begin immediately,” Judge Belgacem Chaieb ruled after a trial lasting less than 90 minutes.
Ghazi Mrabet, lawyer for Klay BB.J, told media: “It is a new injustice targeting artists. I will appeal and continue the fight.”
His client was on trial for insulting officials, violating public morals and defamation in songs he sang alongside fellow rapper Weld El 15 at a concert last month in the eastern town of Hammamet, where the trial took place.
The two young men were given 21-month jail terms in absentia at the end of August, without being summoned to court or even informed of the trial.
Klay BB.J had decided to contest the earlier ruling while Weld El 15, who has been on the run since his conviction, has said he is a victim of judicial harassment and does not plan to appeal.
Weld El 15, whose real name is Ala Yaacoubi, was jailed in June for a controversial song he wrote called The Police are Dogs, and freed on appeal in July after his two-year term was reduced on appeal to a six-month suspended sentence.
The trials have prompted a wave of criticism of the police, the judiciary and the Islamist-led government, which has been repeatedly accused of trying to stifle freedom of expression won in the 2011 revolution that initiated the so-called Arab Spring.
Rights groups say the government relies extensively on the penal code inherited from the toppled regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which is still in force, to silence its critics.
{{Fighting among rebels and government troops left at least two dead on Thursday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, ending a short lull in violence as negotiations continue between the two sides.}}
The clashes in the town of Kahunga, north of the provincial capital of Goma, were the first since UN peacekeeping troops and government soldiers forced rebels from the M23 movement to retreat on 30 August.
Two rebel fighters were killed and a government soldier injured during a firefight that lasted just 20 minutes, said Prosper Basse, spokesperson for the UN brigade charged with “neutralising” the rebels.
“The situation is calm once again,” Basse said, an assertion backed up by anonymous army and rebel sources.
The M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa said six government soldiers had been killed, and blamed Kinshasa for trying to “undermine” peace talks by attacking his men – accusations denied by a government spokesman, who said the rebels had attacked an army base.
Talks between the Congolese government and the rebels have stalled since they began on 10 September in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, aimed at ending a recent upsurge in fighting in the resource-rich east.
The M23 was founded by former rebels who were incorporated into the Congolese army under a 2009 peace deal.
Complaining the deal was never fully implemented, they mutinied in April 2012, turning their guns on their former comrades and launching the latest rebellion to ravage DRC’s mineral-rich east.
{{Guinean authorities have said they will hold opposition party leaders responsible for any coup d’état after a Paris-based weekly claimed one was looming, as the country Saturday holds long-delayed legislative elections.}}
The Le Canard Enchainé report has also sparked angry reaction from the clergy and civil society organisations, while Guinea security minister Madifing Diane Wednesday claimed the country “was in danger” from outsiders plotting against it.
Local media in their Thursday editions, quoted the newspaper reporting that an imminent coup d’etat loomed over the incumbent Guinean government led by President Alpha Condé.
According to Le Canard, the coup plot had been put together by “French, South African and Israeli mercenaries with links to Paris and Africa and backed by a diamond magnate”.
“The unrest could be triggered as early as next week,” the newspaper added, quoting confidential correspondences from the American and European secret services.
The news comes at a moment when Guinea is grappling with ethnic and politically motivated violence compounded by belated legislative polls, the first in 10 years.
In response, Guinea’s official spokesman Albert Damantang Camara said the report should concern all Guineans “because nothing can justify an attack on the country”.
A justice ministry spokesman, Ibrahima Beavogui, said the government was taking the report seriously, adding that the states would conduct investigations before an official reaction.
Mr Diane cast suspicion on a multinational mining company operating in the country but did not explicitly name it.
Former prime minister, Cellou Dalein Diallo, who came second in the 2010 presidential poll, dismissed allegations of involvement as false.
He said that it was a ploy by the ruling party to clamp down on opposition members ahead of the legislative elections.
“My party is beyond reproach. I say it here, I refute and I challenge anyone. If there is massive fraud, let it be clear, our members will be out there to protest”.
{{Two leading rights groups say Sudanese police have killed at least 50 people during protests in the last week, often “shooting to kill”.}}
A statement released by Amnesty International and the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies late on Thursday urged authorities to end violent repression of the protesters. Lucy Freeman, Amnesty’s deputy chief for Africa, said the police’s “aiming at protesters’ chests and heads” is a “blatant violation of the right to life”.
Information from Sudan is starting to flow out today after a 24 hour internet blackout. Only about five newspapers reached kiosks on Thursday, carrying mainly statements from First Vice President Ali Osman Taha denouncing violence during the protests.
Editors at three newspapers said they had either been prevented from publishing by security agents or had decided not to print to protest against state attempts to steer coverage.
Youth activists and doctors at a Khartoum hospital have told The Associated Press news agency that at least 100 people died since protests first broke out on Monday. The clashes are the worst unrest seen in Sudan’s central regions for years.
{{Interpol on Thursday issued an arrest notice on behalf of Kenyan authorities for Samantha Lewthwaite, the fugitive Briton whom news media have dubbed the “white widow.”}}
Lewthwaite – a 29-year-old Muslim convert whose first husband was one of the suicide bombers in the 2005 attack on the London transit system that killed 52 commuters – is wanted by Kenyan authorities over alleged involvement in a plot to bomb holiday resorts there.
Social media reports that a white female was leading last week’s terrorist attack on an upscale Nairobi shopping mall – followed by comments from Kenya’s foreign minister that a British woman had been involved – led some British broadcasters and newspapers to link Lewthwaite to the recent attack on the Westgate mall, despite the lack of hard evidence that she was involved.
The Interpol notice made no mention of Westgate, however, saying that Lewthwaite is wanted on charges of possessing explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony in December 2011.
African authorities have linked her to other attacks as well – again, without presenting evidence of her involvement. She is believed to have been questioned by police once but was not taken into custody.
She originally criticized her late husband – Jermaine Lindsay – for taking part in the transit attacks, but later apparently embraced the jihadi cause.
She told The Sun newspaper in September 2005 that her husband had fallen under the influence of radical mosques.
“How these people could have turned him and poisoned his mind is dreadful,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “He was an innocent, naive and simple man. I suppose he must have been an ideal candidate.
“He was so angry when he saw Muslim civilians being killed on the streets of Iraq, Bosnia, Palestine and Israel – and always said it was the innocent who suffered.”
{{Judges at the Hague have upheld the 50-year jail sentence of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for aiding murderous rebels in Sierra Leone’s civil war.}}
Taylor, 65, had earlier been found guilty by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on April 26, 2012, of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including terrorism, murder, rape and using child soldiers. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on Thursday rejected Taylor’s appeal against his earlier conviction.
“The trial and judgment of Charles Taylor sets out a clear marker that even those at the highest levels of power can be held to account,” Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “The Taylor trial, and the Sierra Leone Special Court’s work overall, have made a major contribution to justice for brutal crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s conflict.”
Gruesome attacks
About 50,000 people died in the 11-year civil war that ended in 2002.
Thousands more were left mutilated in a conflict that became known for the extreme cruelty of rival rebel groups who gained international notoriety for hacking off the limbs of their victims and carving their groups’ initials into opponents. The rebels developed gruesome terms for the mutilations that became their chilling trademark: They would offer their victims the choice of “long sleeves” or “short sleeves” – having their hands hacked off or their arms sliced off above the elbow.
Taylor was convicted not only of aiding and abetting Sierra Leone rebels from Liberia, but also for actually planning some of the attacks carried out by Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.
Taylor’s trial was moved from the Special Court of Sierra Leone’s headquarters in the capital, Freetown, to the Netherlands because of fears it could destabilise the West African region if held in Sierra Leone.
The Taylor appeals ruling is the final judgment at the court, which indicted 13 of the main architects of the atrocities in Sierra Leone. Two died before trial and one more remains unaccounted for and possibly dead. Another died before hearing a verdict and all the others were tried and convicted.
The number of Americans giving up their citizenship has rocketed this year – partly, it’s thought, because of a new tax law that is frustrating many expats.
{{Goodbye, US passport.}}
That’s not a concept that Americans contemplate lightly. But it’s one that many of them seem to be considering – and acting on.
The number of expatriates renouncing their US citizenship surged in the second quarter of 2013, compared with the same period the year before – 1,131 cases to 189 in 2012. It’s still a small proportion of the estimated six million Americans abroad, but it’s a significant rise.
The list is compiled by the Federal Register and while no reasons are given, the big looming factor seems to be tax.
A new law called the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) will, from 1 July next year, require all financial institutions around the world to report directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all the assets and incomes of any US citizens with $50,000 (£31,000) on their books.
The US could withhold 30% of dividends and interest payments due to the banks that don’t comply.
It’s an attempt by the US authorities to recover an estimated $100bn a year in unpaid taxes on US citizens’ assets overseas. Unlike other countries, Americans are taxed not only as residents of the US but also as citizens, wherever they live.
Suddenly, some expats are waking up in a cold sweat. They have always had to file tax returns and disclose foreign accounts on a form called the FBAR, although in practice many didn’t.
But now Fatca means they have to be more rigorous or face huge fines, in the knowledge that the US authorities could know a lot more than they have in the past.
Many would say the IRS is only trying to get what it is owed, but critics say that in trying to track down the wealthy tax-dodgers, ordinary people are being dragged into an expensive and time-consuming form-filling nightmare. And for some, it’s become too much.
Bridget(not her real name) told media she gave up her US citizenship in 2011, 32 years after leaving for a new life in Scandinavia.
“This has nothing to do with avoiding taxes. I was never in danger of having to pay taxes in the US since I pay more here. The issue for me was that it was becoming harder and harder to follow the tax code and comply. It was difficult already but when I knew Fatca was coming, I thought, ‘Do I want to go through with it anymore?’”
She felt threatened even if she did everything to fulfil her responsibilities, she says. A simple loyalty card at the local grocery store caused her anxiety when she realised it was linked to a bank account she never knew she had.
It became so complicated to do her tax return that she turned to professionals, at an annual cost of nearly $2,000 (£1,250), with the prospect of Fatca raising the price to $5,000. Also, fewer tax lawyers were taking on American clients, she says, and some banks were even turning away American money.
“In the end, I sleep better now knowing that I no longer have to worry about the US requirements. I will never be able to live or own property in the US but I can visit and that’s enough for me.”
Bridget, who runs an editing and translation company, says her strong emotional bond with the US has been frayed.
“I’ve enjoyed being an American even though I haven’t lived there since I was young. I identified with America so I felt angry that I had to get to this point where it wasn’t viable to keep my citizenship anymore.
“When you’re an American living in America, it’s one thing but when you live abroad in another country, in certain ways that feeling becomes even stronger because you realise that things that you think are individual characteristics are actually national ones so you identify even more strongly with your nationality.
“I used to always introduce myself as American but not now, although I will always be American in my heart even though I won’t carry the passport. I will still celebrate Thanksgiving and 4 July.”
She says the tax issue is the biggest topic of conversation among the expat Americans she knows. And tax lawyers in the US who deal with people living abroad say it has become a huge issue.
{{A five-storey building has collapsed in Mumbai at day-break in the latest accident in India’s financial capital, killing at least two people with dozens feared trapped inside.}}
Local people put the number of residents usually inside the apartment block as high as 60.
At least two people were killed and 12 others have been pulled alilve from the building and rushed to hospital, Alok Awasthi, an official with the National Disaster Response Force, said.
Officials said the building was believed to have been 35 years old.
Five other apartment blocks have collapsed in or close to Mumbai in recent months, including one in April that killed 74 people.
Across India, building collapses have become relatively common. Massive demand for housing around India’s fast-growing cities combined with widespread corruption often result in builders using substandard materials or adding unauthorised floors.
{Firefighters and other first responders rushed to the scene to begin rescue operations}
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{{ Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog played down prospects for a quick breakthrough in talks on Friday with the agency on a stalled investigation into Tehran’s disputed atomic program.}}
Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, was asked by reporters whether he expected an agreement in discussions due to start with the IAEA at around 10 a.m.
The meeting between Iran and the IAEA will be the first since Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, took office as new Iranian president in early August, pledging to try to resolve the Islamic state’s nuclear dispute with the West.
It comes after talks between Iran and world powers at the United Nations on Thursday.
“This is the first meeting so nobody I guess should expect that in just (a) one-day meeting we can solve (our) problems,” Najafi, who was appointed new Iranian ambassador last month, said.
“We are going to have a first meeting with the agency. We expect to review the existing issues and also exchange views on the ways we can continue our cooperation to resolve all issues.”
Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation at the United Nations, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the standoff.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after Zarif held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions that Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons.
Separately from big power diplomacy to resolve the decade-old dispute that could yet trigger a Middle East war, the IAEA has held 10 rounds of talks with Iran since early 2012 to try to resume a blocked inquiry into suspected atom bomb research.
The talks have so far yielded no results but Western states see Friday’s meeting in Vienna as a litmus test of any substantive Iranian shift from its intransigence under Rouhani’s hardline conservative predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran denies it is seeking to develop the capability make nuclear weapons, saying its program is a peaceful bid to generate electricity.
{{Rwanda National Police has intercepted more drugs which include 528 boules of cannabis, 238 litres of Kanyanga and a carton of African Gin.}}
Three people were arrested in connection with the illegal act in various parts of the country.
One of the suspects; Joshua Rusangiza, 29, and Emmanuel Mazane, were arrested in Rilima sector, Bugesera district with 210 litres of kanyanga.
Others are Alphonse Harerimana, 43, a resident of Ruhango sector of Ruhango district, who was intercepted with 200 boules of cannabis.
He is held at Nyamagana Police station.
Another suspect, Augustin Niyonkuru, 27, of Kimihurura sector, Gasabo district, was caught with 328 boules of cannabis.
The Central region Police Spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Urbain Mwiseneza reminded the public that drug abuse is not only punishable by the law but also harmful to one’s health.
He thanked the public for its continued cooperation providing Police with timely information to prevent and apprehend criminals.
The suspects will face one to three years of imprisonment and a fine of Rwf50, 000 to 500, 000 as stipulates in article 594 of the penal code.
