Tag: InternationalNews

{{Four men were found guilty Tuesday of raping and murdering a medical student on a Delhi bus last December – a crime that shocked the country, sparked mass protests and led to a reform of India’s rape laws.}}

Arguments on sentencing are due to begin on Wednesday and all four could be hanged for the murder conviction, said VK Anand, the defence lawyer for one of the accused.

Prosecutors had alleged that bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma, fruit-seller Pawan Gupta, and unemployed Mukesh Singh lured the woman and a male friend onto the bus on the night of December 16 as the pair returned home from watching a movie at a shopping mall in south Delhi.

They then beat up and robbed the male friend before taking turns in raping the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and tortured her with a metal bar as the bus drives around the capital.

After more than an hour, the bloodied young couple were dumped by a main road leading to the international airport, narrowly avoiding death when the gang tried to reverse over them with the vehicle.

The male friend later recovered, but the woman’s internal injuries were so severe that she died in a Singapore hospital two weeks after the attack.

A total of six suspects were arrested following a police investigation. Ram Singh, the alleged driver of the bus and one of the main accused, was later found dead in his cell after an apparent suicide, though his family and lawyer allege he was murdered.

Another suspect, a teenager, was trialled as a juvenile and on August 31 was found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to three years in a correctional facility – the maximum possible sentence for the teenager under Indian law.

agencies

{{President Barack Obama, seeking to boost support for military action against Syria, said on Monday that Russia’s offer to work with Damascus to put its chemical weapons under international control could be a big deal – if it is serious.}}

“This could potentially be a significant breakthrough,” Obama told NBC News in an interview. “But we have to be skeptical because this is not how we’ve seen them operate over the last couple of years.”

The president said he had explored the possibility of a proposal for Syria to cede control of its chemical weapons stockpile to international authorities with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting last week in Russia.

If Syria did so, that would “absolutely” put any U.S. military strike on pause, Obama told ABC News.

Obama gave six television interviews Monday to press his case that Congress should grant him authority to take action against Syria in response to an alleged August 21 chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,400 people.

With the American public strongly opposed to a military intervention, according to polls, the White House is making an all-out effort to win congressional support. It is holding briefings for lawmakers and dispatching senior officials to give speeches and television interviews.

The president plans to address the nation on television on Tuesday night and is due to speak to senators of both parties on Capitol Hill during the day.

Obama told CNN that any diplomatic effort to resolve the crisis must be serious and not just a bid to buy time.

“We don’t want just a stalling or delaying tactic to put off the pressure that we have on there right now,” he said. “We have to maintain this pressure, which is why I’ll still be speaking to the nation tomorrow about why I think this is so important.”

Russia’s proposal could make Obama’s bid to win congressional approval to use force in Syria an easier sell on Capitol Hill, two influential senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid abruptly backed off plans to schedule a test vote on Wednesday on a resolution to authorize military strikes against Syria.

Aides said the situation was fluid, particularly with Russia now trying to help find a way to avoid U.S. military force, but a vote was still likely later in the week.

Obama cautioned that a breakthrough on control of Syrian chemical weapons would not solve the country’s civil war, but resolving concerns about the weapons without having to resort to force would be welcome.

reuters

{{France’s first “secularism charter” for schools is to be revealed by the country’s Education Minister Vincent Peillon on Monday.}}

Although the precise details of the charter’s content are not yet known, it is expected to remind pupils of the strict secularist principles of France’s education system and make clear that they are not allowed to miss certain classes for religious reasons.

All public schools in France will be required to display the document from Monday onwards.

Peillon said the charter would help to instill the “values of the Republic” in the country’s young people, in an interview with French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday.

“The first article of our constitution states that the Republic is indivisible, democratic, social and secular,” he said.

“The school must teach these values, explain their meaning, remember their history. Because if we do not teach them, do not be surprised if they were misunderstood or even ignored,” he added.

A draft version of the charter was published online by French education news site Le Café Pédagogique in July. It contained a total of 17 paragraphs outlining the education system’s secularist principles and how these affect students.

Paragraph 4, for example, states: “Secularism guarantees freedom of conscience for all. Everyone is free to believe or not to believe. It allows the free expression of his beliefs, respecting those of others within the limits of public order.”

Another paragraph stipulates that: “No student may invoke religious or political convictions to challenge a teacher’s right to teach certain parts of the curriculum.”

French schools already have strict secularism rules, including a ban on wearing religious clothing or symbols.

Peillon has also said he wants to introduce compulsory classes on “secular morality” later this year.

However, some have questioned whether such measures stigmatise religion and France’s Muslim minority in particular, something Peillon strongly denies.

Asked by the Journal du Dimanche if the new charter conceals a certain degree of Islamophobia, his reply was a firm “Absolutely not!”

“Secularism is not against any religion,” he said. “It provides a protected and neutral space in which to give everyone, regardless of religion, regardless of their social or geographical origin, the means to choose and build a life.”

France24

{{The European Union is underpinned by the so-called “four freedoms”: the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. There’s little controversy over the first three.

But the free movement of people has become a hot political issue in many countries, often whipped up by nationalist parties. Some people who want to keep immigrants out are racists.

There are also two supposed arguments for keeping foreigners out: that they take both “our jobs” and “our benefits”.}}

Immigration is a particularly live issue in the UK. In the European Commission’s latest Eurobarometer survey, 32 percent of the British people questioned thought it was one of the two most important issues facing the country. The average for the EU as a whole was 10 percent.

In a poll for The Independent last month, two-thirds of those questioned thought British firms should give UK citizens priority over other candidates from elsewhere in Europe when hiring new workers – even if this meant Britain had to leave the EU. Just 16 percent disagreed. The UK Independence Party, which wants Britain to quit the EU, has heightened anxiety by arguing that there will be a wave of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria after the last restrictions on their citizens’ movements are lifted at the end of this year.

The free movement of people is one of the EU’s biggest pluses. And the number of EU citizens who engage in so-called “welfare tourism” – travelling to other countries to live off benefits – is exaggerated. However, it has become such a hot potato that it would be wise to tighten up the EU’s rules on immigrants’ access benefits. This is especially so in the UK, where David Cameron suggested last week in an interview with The Times that doing so could help sway a planned referendum on whether to stay in the EU.

First, though, look at the facts. Eight Eastern European countries, led by Poland, the so-called “A8” countries, joined the EU in 2004. A wave of migrants left for richer countries, especially the UK which didn’t impose any temporary restrictions. This was beneficial for the economy because most of the immigrants were skilled and hard-working. Most weren’t so young that the state needed to pay for their education or so old that it had to pay much for their healthcare.

The A8 immigrants are 59 percent less likely than natives to receive state benefits or tax credits and 57 percent less likely to live in social housing, according to a 2010 study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. They also make a positive contribution to the public finances – unlike the native population which consumes more in benefits than it pays in taxes.

Although the Eastern European immigrants also have a lower unemployment rate than the natives, they don’t seem to be taking British jobs either. In some cases, they have been doing jobs that local people don’t want to do such as farming.

Between 1997 and 2011, the UK created 3 million jobs. But British citizens have often lacked the skills and incentives to grab these opportunities. Immigration from the rest of the EU and further afield has filled the gap. Between 2008 and 2011, during the worst of the recession when unemployment rose by 1.1 million, the employment of Eastern Europeans in the UK rose by only around 100,000, according to Open Europe, a free-market think-tank. So EU immigration can, at the most, have been responsible for a minor part of the increased unemployment.

In fact, the arrival of skilled hard-working immigrants has probably been good for jobs. This is because it has improved the competitiveness of British-based businesses so helped them expand and because the Eastern Europeans themselves have spent money in Britain.

{{So much for the facts. What about policy?}}

The key EU law is the so-called Free Movement Directive. This doesn’t oblige a country to provide “social assistance” (things like housing benefit) to foreign nationals during their first three months – or if their only reason for staying after three months is because they are looking for a job. Unfortunately, there is another EU regulation that covers “social security benefits” (things like unemployment benefit). These benefits have to be offered to all EU citizens who are “habitually resident” in a country without discrimination.

The basic principle should be that people are free to move around the EU to work, study or retire but not to live off benefits. One way of achieving this objective, advocated by Open Europe, is as follows: only people who are self-sufficient or in work should have the right to live in another EU country, unless they have already been working there for a period; and only those who have the right to live in another EU country should have the right to get benefits. People could still go to another country to look for work but they wouldn’t have the right to any benefits during that period.

Though the UK is the country most exercised by this issue, it is not alone. Two years ago, 13 countries, including Germany, called for further discussion on the interaction between the principle of free movement and access to benefits. This year, the Dutch government said it was necessary to combat “the abuse of social security systems.”

Welfare tourism isn’t a big economic problem. But it is a political problem which could ultimately become a big economic one if it helped trigger Britain’s exit from the EU. Tightening up the rules is a priority.

{wirestory}

{{The U.S. government tapped into computer networks of companies including Google Inc. and Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, according to leaked U.S. documents aired by Globo, Brazil’s biggest television network.}}

A week after it broadcast a report that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on the presidents of Brazil and Mexico, Globo said the agency had also spied on major companies.

It showed slides from an NSA presentation, dated May 2012, that it said was used to show new agents how to spy on private computer networks.

In addition to Google and Petrobras the presentation suggested the NSA had tapped into systems operated by France’s foreign ministry and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, an international bank cooperative known as Swift, through which many international financial transactions take place.

The report did not say when the alleged spying took place, what data might have been gathered or what exactly the agency may have been seeking.

As with its previous report, Globo disclosed the information in coordination with Glenn Greenwald, an American blogger and journalist for the Guardian newspaper, who has worked with former NSA analyst Edward Snowden to expose the extent of U.S. spying at home and abroad.

During an interview in the Globo broadcast, Greenwald said the documents he obtained from Snowden contain “much more information on spying on innocents, against people who have nothing to do with terrorism, or on industrial issues, which need to be made public.”

In an email exchange with Reuters, Greenwald declined to discuss the report further.

Petrobras, which has made some of the world’s biggest oil finds in recent years, did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. Spokespeople for Swift and Google couldn’t be reached for comment. Officials at the French embassy in Brazil also could not be reached.

{wirestory}

{{Muted inflation data on Monday added to a run of August figures suggesting the protracted slowdown in China’s economy may be bottoming out, helped by targeted support measures and signs of improved export demand.}}

A steady consumer inflation rate also gives the People’s Bank of China some room to maneuver in response to any shock that might arise as the U.S. Federal Reserve starts to taper its monetary stimulus.

However, any sharp policy shifts in the world’s second-largest economy seem unlikely amid concerns about rising property prices and after efforts to curtail unregulated lending.

“There is no sign of any shift in monetary policy,” said Jerry Hu, an economist at Shanghai Securities, who saw stable consumer prices in the months ahead.

“I think monetary conditions will become tighter, probably through a combination of quantitative tightening and low interest rates.”

Consumer prices rose 2.6 percent in August from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said, in line with market expectations and July’s 2.7 percent rise. Month-on-month, prices were up 0.5 percent, slightly stronger than a forecast rise of 0.4 percent.

Producer prices fell an annual 1.6 percent, less than both a market forecast of 1.8 percent and a fall of 2.3 percent in July. While factory-gate deflation has now lasted for 18 months, the pace of decline has steadily eased from a peak of 3.6 percent in September 2012.

“The trend of stabilization in the economy is becoming clearer,” Yu Qiumei, a senior statistician at the bureau, said in a statement.

There are increasing signs that China’s economy is finding its feet after slowing in nine of the past 10 quarters, with other data already out for August showing some strength.

Exports rose more than expected, helped by improving demand in major markets, and manufacturing surveys suggested capital spending and industrial output have gathered steam in response to government steps to spur investment and promises to push through reforms.

As recently as a month ago, investors had worried that China was slipping into a deeper-than-expected downturn, especially after its money market was hit by an unprecedented cash crunch in June as the central bank sought to curtail credit growth.

But policymakers have stepped in with a series of measures aimed at stabilizing the economy, including quickening railway investment and public housing construction and introducing policies to help smaller companies with financing needs.

Data for industrial output, fixed asset and retail sales come on Tuesday is expected to increase confidence a sharp slowdown has been avoided.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao has said there was no need for government stimulus and growth could instead be supported through structural adjustments.

For its part, the central bank has kept policy stable since the start of this year, with some fine-tuning to support the slowing economy while heading off inflation risks.

For now, a major uncertainty is how investors will respond if the U.S. Federal Reserve does begin trimming its stimulus later this month. Some see a risk that a clutch of big developing economies are vulnerable to capital outflows.

“Given the weekend trade performance, we think China’s economy is stabilizing, but a sustained upside trend is still uncertain,” said Li Huiyong, an economist at Shenyin & Wanguo Securities in Shanghai.

“The moderation in August imports reflected still weak domestic demand, and we should not underestimate the impact of tapering of U.S. monetary stimulus.”

Officials have been optimistic about growth, saying there are clear signs of stabilization and that the annual GDP target of 7.5 percent — a two-decade low — is achievable.

reuters

{{Police used teargas to contain street protests on Saturday in several Brazilian cities, stopping demonstrators from disrupting Independence Day military parades and an international soccer game between Brazil and Australia.}}

The protests against corruption were much smaller than the massive demonstrations that shook Brazil in June, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in a sudden outburst of anger against the country’s political class for mismanaging government money and failing to provide adequate public services.

In downtown Rio de Janeiro, some 500 protesters invaded stands in the parade area, sending frightened families with children rushing for safety. Police used teargas and stun guns to disperse the demonstrators, who did not interrupt the parade.

“It was frightening. There was a wave of masked demonstrators dressed in black,” said Rosangela Silva, who took a niece to watch the parade.

In Brasilia, police used pepper spray to hold back a peaceful crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators who marched to Brazil’s Congress to demand the ouster of corrupt politicians.

Protesters were only allowed to march along the wide esplanade of Brazil’s capital after the annual Independence Day military parade led by President Dilma Rousseff had ended.

Organizers said many people who had intended to join the demonstrations did not turn up due to the heavy police presence and the prospect of violence seen in recent clashes in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro where hooded youths have become protagonists.

Police arrested groups of youths found with hoods, gas masks, stones and slingshots in their backpacks in Curitiba and Fortaleza, cities where parades went ahead without disruption.

france24

{{Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faced off against a Kremlin ally on Sunday in a Moscow mayoral election with high stakes for both President Vladimir Putin and his foes.}}

The contest to head Russia’s capital will help shape Putin’s six-year third term and the fortunes of two politicians who could play bigger roles in the future.

For underdog Navalny, 37, an anti-corruption campaigner who emerged from a wave of street protests as the driving force of opposition to Putin’s 13-year rule, the vote is a chance to show many Russians want change and he is the man to make it happen.

It pits him against Sergei Sobyanin, a former Putin administration chief who was appointed to a five-year term by the Kremlin in 2010 but called an early election to bolster his legitimacy and strengthen his position.

Irina, a Muscovite in her 40s who works in manufacturing and on Sunday voted with her father, cast her ballot for Navalny in a sign of protest against the Kremlin.

“We’ve both voted for Navalny, we like some things about him but first and foremost we really don’t like the authorities,” she said.

{{Worker Yevgeni chose Sobyanin.}}

“There is no need for any change, everything is fine here. He’s got serious experience now, he’s well into this job. I like the way he works and want to see more of the same,” he said, adding his main demand was for more jobs.

But even among those who voted for Navalny, there was little hope he could win and a threat of jail hangs over him.

{agencies}