Tag: InternationalNews

{US accused of opening up its own tax havens at home.}

The United States has been professing to be fighting tax evasion all over the world, but at the same time, it’s opened up tax havens at home: in Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota, says journalist Ernst Wolff.

Mr Wolff says: “See, the states of Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota are the new Switzerlands of this world.’’

He adds that the states are absolute tax havens that guarantee people banking secrecy which surpasses that of Switzerland and Luxembourg.

He said that what the US is doing is blackmailing people all over the world and the only way people can avoid ending up in that list is putting their money into the new tax havens in America.

Meanwhile, Mr Gerald Celente, publisher of the Trends said: “When the Panama Papers were first reported in the US, the first thing that they started writing about were the connections between those alleged to put the money in the offshore accounts and Russian President Vladimir Putin without any evidence at all. This is this anti-Russian, anti-China, anti-Iran campaign that just keeps beating in America.”

Commenting on billionaire George Soros’s connection to this issue Mr Celente said: “As a matter of fact, his influence is beyond global – look what’s going on in America and his influence in the presidential reality show that they call a presidential race.

US FINANCIAL SYSTEM

‘‘And when you read from the Guardian that “much of the leaked material will remain private,” this is supposed to be a free and open society? I believe that this might be a push back from Soros for Russia last year banning a number of American NGOs. So, this could be payback.”

Given the political class in Washington, it is very unlikely any serious attempt will be made to reform the US financial system with regard to laundering and tax havens, says political commentator and writer John Wight.

Meanwhile, Panama’s public prosecutor against organized crime said on Tuesday there was no evidence so far to take action against the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, following a raid lasting 27 hours on its offices.

“Right now we don’t have any strong evidence allowing us to take any sort of decision” against the firm Mossack Fonseca’’, the prosecutor, Javier Caraballo, told reporters.

He said the swoop on its law offices, located in Panama’s banking district, had begun on Tuesday.

{New cabinet decision orders religious officers to report violators to police or drug squad unit.}

Saudi Arabia has stripped its religious forces of their powers to arrest, urging them to act “kindly and gently” in enforcing Islamic rules.

Under changes approved by the Saudi cabinet on Wednesday, religious officers will no longer be allowed to detain people and instead must report violators to police or drug squad officers, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

Officers of the Haia force, also known as the Mutawaa, must “carry out the duties of encouraging virtue and forbidding vice by advising kindly and gently” under the new rules, it reported.

“Neither the heads nor members of the Haia are to stop or arrest or chase people or ask for their IDs or follow them – that is considered the jurisdiction of the police or the drug unit,” the regulations say.

Subject of controversy

Saudi Arabia’s religious police enforce the country’s interpretation of Islamic law including segregation of the sexes, ensuring that women cover themselves from head-to-toe when in public.

Formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, its members also patrol shops to make sure they are shuttered during time prayers.

Prior to the new regulations, officers were allowed to arrest people using alcohol or drugs and committing certain other offences including witchcraft.

Their tactics have regularly been the subject of controversy, most recently in February when members were arrested for allegedly assaulting a young woman outside a Riyadh shopping mall, local media said at the time.

In 2013, religious policemen were arrested after their patrol car crashed into another vehicle during a chase that left two men dead.

{A 450-page trove of records released on Tuesday by the Clinton Library shows Hillary’s husband knew Trump in the 1990s}

These days, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fire plenty of withering invective at each other in the battle for the White House.

But the billionaire tycoon, seeking the Republican presidential nomination, was once on good terms with the Clintons, newly released documents show.

A 450-page trove of records released on Tuesday by the Clinton Library shows Democratic frontrunner Hillary’s husband Bill — president between 1993 and 2001 — knew Trump in the 1990s, when the current Republican frontrunner’s name came up in several White House memos.

One document from 1995 lists half a dozen White House receptions, dinners and other events to which the real estate mogul was invited.

In June 1996, Bill Clinton’s personal secretary Betty Currie sent an email to a White House staffer asking whether to mail Trump a letter congratulating him on his 50th birthday.

The letter was cancelled three days later.

Another draft letter to Trump was nixed in December 2000.

In June the same year, Mr Clinton took part in a photo opportunity with Mr Trump in his Trump Tower in Manhattan, where the president was due to attend a fundraiser.

The dump of documents also includes a copy of the title page from Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” inscribed to White House aide Mark Middleton.

The Clinton Library released the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Buzzfeed.

Although they contain no startling revelations, the documents show the White House followed Mr Trump’s activities in 1999 during the build-up to a presidential election the following year. A memo intended to prepare Bill Clinton for a television interview advised how to answer questions about whether presidential campaigns by Trump or other celebrities would be “demeaning” to the White House.

“We go through all sorts of cycles in politics, and we’re in one now where some people from the entertainment world are talking about running for president,” Clinton was advised to say.

“That’s not a first, by the way. So it’s a free country, people can chart their own course, and the political process will sort our the wheat from the chaff.”

Trump was exploring seeking the Reform Party’s nomination, but later abandoned his plan.

{The emergence of new media is threatening traditional media business stability, even in China.}

For Chinese media, there has usually been no question about source of audience.

A population of more than 1.3 billion people and stringent government policies mean radio, newspapers and television remain important.

In fact in China, the government has a hand in nearly all media outlets operating radio, print or television, guaranteeing a further stability in the business sense of media management.

“The government is like the grandpa who makes rules for the family. It makes rules for family (civilians) and decides which computer games, social media and movies to watch,” Mr Zeng Qingjun, Vice-Manager of the China Broadcasting Network Corporation told a group of journalists last week on the reasons behind government presence in media operations.

“It is the Chinese culture which sometimes the Western world doesn’t understand.”

The Chinese may be criticised for this, but unlike most parts of the world media organisations here reap big revenues mostly from advertising.

At Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation in China’s old capital of Nanjing for example, success is evident.

Created in 2001, JSBC currently worth $2.2 billion (Sh220 billion) runs 16 television channels, 10 radio stations, a newspaper and a magazine.

This is besides content production, a web television portal, movie distribution business, and cable network as well as animation services.

JSBC claims it sells some of its produced content to media giants like Al-Jazeera, BBC, SONY, ITV and NBC.

“If you came here 20 years ago, you could see lots of foreigners doing filming. That is because we didn’t have technology,” Mr Ren Tong, JSBC’s head of international outreach arm told reporters on a tour of his organisation last week.

“Now because we have been investing a lot in it, those very people are asking us for help. They are now buying our films and documentaries.”

But even with these revenue streams, the emergence of new media is threatening that stability.

Some social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked here. But Chinese youth are generally hooked to their smartphones.

The ordinary taxi driver looks at his phone every time he stops at traffic lights.

It is an addiction for watching news clips on the mobile on the road, in railway stations, checking links on popular Chinese social media site Weibo and sharing via WeChat.

So why would media organisations enjoying a kind of smooth-sailing invest in new media technologies?

“Influence of new media is affecting everyone and even the biggest media houses do not have adequate solutions,” said Ms He Keyi, JSBCs head of online content.

“New media has influenced traditional TV. Even if we don’t accept it, the global trend is that new media is growing, even in China. We have to put a lot of effort and innovation to bridge the gap.”

CONVERGENCE STRATEGY

JSBC employs about 600 journalists who must ensure a stable supply of news, and recruits 200 university graduates every year.

But as a motivation to keep up with new media, the company says it pays bonus to authors of every item that receives more clicks online.

This, the managers say, motivates reporters to be fully converged.

JSBC’s web presence receives more than 6 million views per day. This is no surprise given the population in China. But there must be something to hook them in.

JSBC says it provide every of its journalists with a smartphone and encourages creativity to pull in more clicks.

One recent news item received 1.7 billion views, the highest in the organisations online news history.

“We hope to boost interaction between users of new media and television. This already works mutually. Online team promotes broadcast content and vice versa,” Ms He added.

But even in this sophistication, will Chinese media publish traditional boring content or that which suits the users of new media?

JSBC strategy is to have what they call strong and appealing content, responding to demands of audience and working with internet service providers.

To make changes, JSBC says it studied media dynamics in the US where we found that newspapers were trying to survive by simply turning pages into electronic format.

“I think newspapers will forever remain relevant, but with new media, the newspaper form will change. Peoples reading habits still show they like the printed word,” Mr Ren said.

{Two young men shot dead when Indian army opens fire at protesters demonstrating against army sexual harassment case.}

Hundreds of Kashmiris have taken to the streets, throwing rocks and chanting freedom slogans after Indian army troops shot dead at least two people during a protest against an alleged case of sexual harasment by an army soldier.

The two men, Nayeem Ahmad and Muhammad Iqbal, were shot dead when a protest erupted on Tuesday following an allegation by local residents that an Indian army soldier tried to sexually assault a young woman in the town of Handwara in the Kupwara district of Indian-administered Kashmir.

“It started off with a small demonstration, and then hundreds of others joined. Protesters were demanding that the soldier [charged with sexually harassing a girl] be arrested and handed over to the people,” Zulkarnain Banday, a cousin of victim Nayeem Ahmad, said.

“When they refused, the army opened fire and fired tear gas at the protesters. It was then that protesters tried to burn the bunker,” Banday said from Handwara.

When Al Jazeera spoke to Banday, gunfire and screaming could still be heard in the background as running battles between protesters and police continued.

Banday described the situation in the town, some 50km away from the capital Srinagar, as very tense.

Police officials confirmed that the army killed two young men, while local media reports claimed that a young woman was also shot dead later on Tuesday evening, but it is still unclear who was responsible for her death.

Colonel NN Joshi, public relations officer for the Defence Ministry in Srinagar, told Al Jazeera that the army “regrets the loss of life and that the matter will be investigated. Anyone found guilty will be dealt with as per law […] all of this is a matter of investigation,” he said.

Police Inspector-General Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani also confirmed that his department would be investigating the sexual assault allegation against the soldier.

But civil society groups say that the case is likely to fall into an abyss of unresolved and unsolved cases in Kashmir. Human rights groups have for long accused the Indian military of using rape and sexual molestation to intimidate the local population.

“This is why people don’t come forward with cases of sexual harassment and abuse, because this is how they are dealt with,” Khurram Parvez, programme coordinator of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, told Al Jazeera.

Zulkarnain Banday said that it was unlikely that the Ahmad’s family would file a complaint with the police.

“No one has any faith in the police or the system,” Banday said.

Banday, who is also a journalist with the New Delhi-based newspaper, The Statesman, said he was also threatened by the police for taking photos of the incident.

“They told me that if I take photos, they will kill me as well,” he said.

Kashmiri leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq as well as Yasin Malik on Tuesday called for a shutdown across Kashmir in protest against the killings.

{UN drops secrecy in contest for next secretary-general but some say a backroom deal could still prevail.}

For the first time in history of the United Nations all member states will get a chance to question the candidates for secretary-general, in a move designed to make the usually secret selection process for the world’s top diplomatic post more transparent.

The eight hopefuls for one of the world’s most high-profile jobs will also hold town hall meetings with the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

They will each pitch their credentials and then answer questions in a two-hour session.

Last year, the General Assembly responded to a demand from many countries that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s successor be chosen in a more open process, unanimously adopting a resolution allowing public hearings on how candidates would respond to global crises and run the UN’s far-flung bureaucracy.

The search for a successor to Ban – a former South Korean foreign minister who will step down at the end of the year after two five-year terms – has also prompted a push by more than a quarter of UN states for the first female leader.

While the 15-member Security Council will formally recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly, the General Assembly vote has long been seen as a rubber stamp.

Nations with veto powers – the US, Russia, Britain, China and France – must agree on the nominee.

As part of the changes introduced by the General Assembly last year, the list of candidates has been made public for the first time, with nomination letters and even the candidate’s CVs posted online.

{{Backroom deal}}

On the surface, it is a shift towards democratisation of a secretive process controlled by the five veto powers.

But there is no requirement for the five to pay attention to the popularity of candidates with the General Assembly, and the winner could still be selected in a backroom Security Council deal as has been the case for seven decades.

When asked if the meetings could have any influence over the veto-power countries, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: “It might.”

“For us it’s important to hear what others think, and I’m sure they will not be shying away [from] telling us who they like, so it’s going to be an interesting process,” he said.

But there will be no vote or informal polls by the General Assembly to signal to the Security Council who the favoured candidates might be.

“Even the biggest of powers need friends and a majority of their friends are actually asking for a much more open process where they get real influence,” Mogens Lykketoft, the Danish diplomat who is president of the General Assembly, said in an interview.

Diplomats told the Reuters news agency that Moscow wanted the UN chief to come from Eastern Europe, in line with an informal tradition of rotating the post between regions.

{{The first woman?}}

The council is expected to hold its first “straw poll” – a sort of informal vote – behind closed doors in July and aims to have a decision by September so the General Assembly can elect the next UN chief in October.

A group of at least 56 countries, led by Colombia, and several civil society groups want the UN’s first female secretary-general since its creation at the end of World War II.

Half of the candidates nominated so far are women: UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria; former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic; Moldova’s former Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the UN Development Programme.

Also in the race are former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim; Montenegro Foreign Minister Igor Luksic; former Slovenian President Danilo Turk; and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who is also a former Portuguese prime minister.