IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Pope urges Brazil’s youth to fight for change

    {{Pope Francis on Saturday encouraged Brazil’s young people, who have protested against corruption in their country, to continue their efforts to change society by fighting apathy and offering “a Christian response.”}}

    The 76-year-old pope spoke to a crowd estimated by the Vatican to be more than 2 million people gathered on Rio’s famed Copacabana beach for an evening rally where he also urged young people to shun fleeting fads and be “athletes of Christ.”

    Francis, nearly concluding his first overseas trip, received yet another rapturous welcome when he arrived at the crescent-shaped beach. He stopped his popemobile several times to kiss babies and an Argentine flag that was waved at the car.

    Most participants planned to spend the night on the sand and adjacent pavement to hold their places for Sunday’s closing Mass on the same spot, making the place a giant campsite.

    Brazil, Latin America’s largest nation, was rocked by massive protests against corruption, the misuse of public money and the high cost of living. Most of the protesters were young.

    Francis told the gathering he knew that young people had taken to the streets in Brazil and elsewhere “to express their desire for a society that is more just and fraternal.”

    Speaking from a giant white stage, he encouraged them to fight apathy and be “protagonists of change” and offer “a Christian response to the social and political concerns arising in many parts of the world.”

    In his prepared text, he had added that they should do it in an “an orderly, peaceful and responsible way” but he improvised and did not read that part of his address.

    The Vatican says that when the pope departs from his prepared text and omits phrases, his thoughts are considered valid nonetheless.

    Francis has dedicated much attention in his speeches to the problems, the prospects and the power of young people.

    On Friday night he urged them to change a world where food is discarded while millions go hungry, where racism and violence still affront human dignity, and where politics is more associated with corruption than service.

    The day before, during a visit to a Rio slum, he urged them to not lose trust and to not allow their hopes to be extinguished. Many young people in Brazil saw this as his support for peaceful demonstrations to bring about change.

    {wirestory}

  • Israeli Cabinet Approves Referendum Bill of vote on Prisoners Release

    {{The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the draft of a bill mandating a national referendum if an accord with the Palestinians is reached that necessitates withdrawals from part of Jerusalem or land swaps.

    The bill will be brought to the Knesset for a vote on Wednesday.}}

    “Any agreement, if it is achieved in negotiations, will be brought as a referendum. It is important that every citizen will directly vote on fateful decisions like these that determine the future of the state,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said during the meting.

    The only two ministers to oppose the bill were Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz, both from Hatnua.

    The bill, which is to be a basic law, will essentially say that any change in the status of territories where Israeli law applies will have to be brought before the country in the form of a referendum after the move passes the government and the Knesset.

    The bill does not, however, call for a referendum on an agreement that calls for the transfer of any parts of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians, although there is some talk now of perhaps legislating a bill to that regard as well.

    Under the bill the cabinet approved Sunday, for instance, the disengagement from Gaza would not have had to come before the country for approval, nor would any future decision to uproot settlements in the West Bank as part of an accord that did not include altering the status of Jerusalem or involve any “land swap”.

    Discussion on prisoner release still ongoing

    The approval came during the cabinet meeting that is expected to pave the way for the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians this week in Washington. The cabinet is also expected to vote on whether to release Palestinian prisoners as part of the negotiations. That discussion is still ongoing.

    The vote on the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture ahead of renewed peace talks was delayed for over an hour Sunday morning as Netanyahu sought to secure enough support for the move, in the face of internal pressure from within his own Likud party.

    In an attempt to neutralize the strong opposition within his party, Netanyahu made a distinction between Israeli Arab prisoners and other prisoners, saying a decision to release the former would be made separately and brought to an additional vote.

    At the opening of the cabinet meeting the prime minister said that this was a tough day for him and for the families of victims killed by the terrorists on the list of prisoners intended for release. Despite that, he said, repeating the statement he made in an open letter to the citizens of Israel on Saturday, difficult decisions must be made “for the good of the nation.”

    The prime minister also said that a committee to be made up of himself, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri, a former Shin Bet head, will be established to determine which prisoners will released, and when.

    {{Jerusalempost}}

  • China Orders Nationwide Govt Debt Audit

    {{China’s National Audit Office will conduct an audit of all government debt at the request of China’s State Council or cabinet, it said in a statement on Sunday, underlining concern over rising debt levels in the world’s second biggest economy.}}

    The audit office, responsible for overseeing state finances, made the announcement in a one-sentence item on its website, but gave no details on the audit.

    The official People’s Daily newspaper said separately on its website, citing unidentified sources, that an urgent order for the audit was issued on Friday and work will start this week.

    The audit could indicate increased official concern over the systemic risk from rising debt levels in China, especially debt of local governments, as top leaders slow economic growth in order to promote reform.

    A local government buckling under the weight of its own debt is a troubling scenario for the leadership, and one that Deutsche Bank has said could potentially pose a systemic and macroeconomic risk to the country.

    Standard Chartered, Fitch and Credit Suisse have estimated local government debt in China at the equivalent of anywhere between 15 percent and 36 percent of the country’s output, or as much as $3 trillion based on World Bank GDP figures for 2012.

    Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said earlier this month that the government did not know precisely how much debt local governments had built up.

    The audit office warned in a June report that debt levels among local governments are rising and the financial burdens and risks are not being properly managed. It put total debt of a sample of 36 local governments at 3.85 trillion yuan ($628 billion) at the end of 2012.

    China’s budget law forbids local governments from taking on debt directly, but they have borrowed heavily through special-purpose vehicles, while many have also borrowed from companies in private arrangements at high cost, with the money often used in speculative real estate projects.

    ($1 = 6.1316 Chinese yuan)

    {agencies}

  • Sharapova Tops Forbes’ List of Russian Celebrities

    {{Maria Sharapova has claimed the throne in Forbes’ 2013 edition of Russia’s top 50 celebrities. The nominations were allocated based on three factors: income for the year, media coverage and top searches in Yandex.}}

    The tennis player has replaced singer Stas Mikhailov — who topped the list two years in a row — due to her hefty income of over $29 million.

    Gregory Leps came in second place with an estimated earning of $15 million for the year.

    Although Leps came in behind Sharapova, he dominated in being the top searched celebrity in Yandex, having 6.5 million searches to his name versus Sharapova’s 760 thousand.

    Many accredit Leps’ recent popularity to his performance at the State Duma where he publicly chastised journalists and their constant presence.

    Third place went to the conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev. According to Forbes, Gergiev’s income was $16.5 million, topping Leps’. The directors yearly income has more than tripled over one year; it is reported that in 2012 the conductor’s annual income was $3 million.

    The top ten positions also included: singer Philip Kirkorov ($9.7 million), hockey player Alexander Ovechkin ($16.8 million), TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak ($1.4 million), singer Nikolai Baskov ($8.9 million), model Natalia Vodianova($8.6 million) and football player Andrei Arshavin($6.4 million).

    For the first time since this edition started printing, Alla Pugachyova did not make in the top 10, and is instead at 11th place with an annual earning of $2.5 million.

    {The Moscow Times }

  • US: 7 Shot dead in Florida hostage rampage

    {{In Us, a gunman set fire to his Miami-area apartment unit, then killed six people in and around the building in a shooting rampage before he was slain by police who stormed his position early Saturday and rescued two neighbors he had taken hostage.}}

    The freed hostages emerged unharmed from the pre-dawn raid, which ended a standoff that began late Friday and lasted several hours, police in the Miami suburb of Hialeah said.

    “We don’t have a clear motive,” Hialeah police spokesman Carl Zogby said. “This was an irrational act, and many times there is no rational explanation.”

    Police said Pedro Vargas, 42, had no known criminal history and he was described by other residents of the apartment building as a quiet man who kept largely to himself.

    Neighbors said the gunman, described by the Miami Herald as a part-time graphic artist, may have been facing eviction, but police were still investigating.

    The melee unfolded on Friday evening, police said, when the suspect set fire to the fourth-floor apartment he shared with his mother. According to the Herald, police said Vargas started off by torching about $10,000 in cash he had withdrawn earlier from his savings account.

    Two building managers, 78-year-old Italo Pisciotti and his wife, Camira, 68, saw smoke pouring from the unit and ran to the apartment, Zogby said.

    “He came out of the door and shot both of them several times, killing them right at the scene,” he said.

    Vargas then went back inside his burning apartment, walked out on the balcony and fired 10 to 20 shots into the street, Zogby said.

    A man who lived across the street was killed as he was walking from a parking lot toward his home. Vargas also shot at arriving emergency personnel and police, hampering their efforts to aid the victims, police said.

    The gunman then went to a third-floor apartment, kicked down the door and shot dead a couple and their 17-year-old daughter, Zogby said.

    Vargas next ran through the building, firing erratically and exchanging gunshots with police officers who swarmed to the building. Running up to the fifth floor, he took two people hostage and barricaded himself inside their apartment, police said.

    reuters

  • UN says Accord Reached on Syria Chemical Arms

    {{United Nations said it had reached an agreement with Syria on an inquiry into the use of chemical weapons, but did not say UN inspectors would be allowed in.}}

    Two UN envoys went to Damascus on Tuesday for two days and held talks with Syria’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, a brief UN statement said.

    “The discussions were thorough and productive and led to an agreement on the way forward,” Friday’s statement said, without giving any other detail. It did not say UN inspectors would be allowed in.

    Ake Sellstrom, the chief inspector in the UN investigation team, and Angela Kane, the UN high representative for disarmament, were to report to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the trip.

    Ban has demanded widespread access to investigate all allegations of the use of chemical weapons in the 28-month-old conflict. Syria has insisted that the UN only investigate its claim that rebels used chemical weapons in the town of Khan al-Assal on March 19.

    The UN says it has received reports of 13 chemical attacks in the conflict.

    Britain, France and the United States say all the attacks were carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Russia, Assad’s main ally, says its inquiry found that rebels used sarin gas in Khan al-Assal.

    Source: AFP

  • ‘Pink Panther’ escapes in armed Swiss prison break with fellow inmate

    {{Police in Switzerland hunted Friday for two inmates who escaped in a prison break staged by a pair of armed accomplices.}}

    The two prisoners who escaped from Orbe prison Thursday evening were named by the Vaud canton’s police department as serial criminal Adrian Albrecht, 53, and Milan Poparic, 34, a Bosnian national.

    Poparic was jailed for robbery of a jewelry store in Neuchatel and is part of the “Pink Panthers” group, the police statement said.

    According to the Interpol website, the Pink Panthers are behind armed robberies targeting high-end jewelry stores in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States.

    The loosely associated network of criminals has hundreds of members and is believed to have stolen jewelry worth more than €300 million ($396 million) since 1999, it said.

    Several inmates were exercising in an outside area under the supervision of prison officers and private security guards when the two accomplices used vehicles to breach a gate and barbed wire barriers around the prison grounds.

    They brought two ladders to help Poparic and Albrecht escape over the barbed-wire of the prison yard, police said.

    At the same time, the accomplices directed bursts of automatic weapon fire toward the prison officers and security guards to keep them at bay.

    The security personnel were able to take cover and no one was hurt, police said. The four men then torched one of the two vehicles and drove off in the other, a gray-colored vehicle.

    Police patrols, canine teams and security officers are combing the area for clues to their whereabouts. The border guards and French police are also involved in the hunt for the four men, police said.

    Orbe, a town in Switzerland’s western Vaud canton, or state, is not far from the French border.

    {agencies}

  • US Warns one brand of Vitamin B Supplement Contains Dangerous Steroids

    {{Federal regulators warned consumers to avoid one brand of vitamin B dietary supplement because it contains potentially harmful anabolic steroids.}}

    Preliminary lab tests showed the product, Healthy Life Chemistry By Purity First B-50, contains methasterone, a controlled substance, and dimethazine, the Food and Drug Administration said.

    “Products marketed as a vitamin but which contain undisclosed steroids pose a real danger to consumers and are illegal,” said Howard Sklamberg, director of the FDA’s compliance office.

    Regulators received 29 complaints associated with the product, including fatigue, muscle pain and cramps, and liver and thyroid problems, the FDA said.

    Women also reported unusual hair growth and missed menstruation, and men reported impotence and low testosterone.

    Some patients were hospitalized, the FDA said in a statement, but no deaths were reported.

    Anyone who used the product and has symptoms should seek medical care and report the case to the FDA, regulators said.

    The product manufactured by New-York based Mira Health Products Ltd is sold online and in stores. The company has not issued a response to the warning.

    {agencies}

  • EU, China Reach Deal to Resolve Solar Panel Trade Dispute

    {{China and the European Union reached a deal on Saturday to defuse a multi-billion euro dispute over Chinese solar panels that threatened a wider trade war.}}

    After six weeks of talks, the EU’s trade chief and his Chinese counterpart sealed the deal over the telephone, setting a minimum price for panels from China near spot market prices.

    European solar panel manufacturers had accused China of dumping about 21 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of solar panels in Europe last year at below the cost of production, putting European businesses out of business.

    Europe planned to impose hefty tariffs from August 6.

    But, wary of offending China’s leaders and losing business in the world’s No. 2 economy, a majority of EU governments – led by Germany – opposed the plan, which led to the compromise deal.

    “We found an amicable solution,” EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.

    “I am satisfied with the offer of a price undertaking submitted by China’s solar panel exporters,” he said, referring to an agreement for a minimum price for China’s imports.

    Chinese Commerce Ministry Spokesman Shen Danyang welcomed the deal, hailing a “positive and highly constructive outcome”.

    An EU diplomatic source said the agreed price was 0.56 euro cents per watt, near the spot price for Chinese solar panels in July in Europe, according to solar exchange pvXchange.

    That may not satisfy EU solar manufacturers who say the price still constitutes dumping, but China has sold solar panels at as low as 0.38 cents per watt in Europe, according to the European Commission, which handles trade issues for EU states.

    Under the terms of the deal, China will also be allowed to meet about half Europe’s solar panel demand, if taken at last year’s levels.

    EU consumption was about 15 gigawatts in 2012, and China will be able to provide 7 gigawatts without being subject to tariffs under the deal, the EU source said.

    {agencies}

  • North Korea heralds 60th anniversary of war ‘victory’

    {{North Korea celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Korean War truce on Saturday with a massive military parade trumpeting the revolutionary genius of three generations of leaders that gave it “Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War”.}}

    Leader Kim Jong-un was joined by Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao on the podium overlooking Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung square to inspect a massive throng of soldiers in goosestep and a display of weapons including its mid-range missiles.

    Kim clad in black exchanged words with Li through an interpreter but did not make public remarks at the parade, which appeared to be one of the largest ever put on by the North.

    Choe Ryong-hae, Kim’s main military aide and the chief political operative of the North’s 1.2-million-strong army, said the reclusive state sees peace as a top national priority and its military was aimed at safeguarding North Korea from invasion.

    “Reality shows if peace is sought, there must be preparations for war,” Choe said in a speech. “For us with our utmost task of building an economy and improving the lives of the people, a peaceful environment is greater than ever.”

    The remarks were moderate in tone, without the bellicose rhetoric that routinely fills the North’s public commentary, and Choe did not mention the country’s nuclear arms program or name the United States as its chief enemy.

    Kim and Li, along with the North’s top military officials and the youthful leader’s uncle Jang Song-thaek, seen as North Korea’s second most powerful man, watched as a missile arsenal paraded past, including the newly developed mid-range Musudan.

    Fighter jets and large military helicopters flew over the square packed with tens of thousands of soldiers, North Korean and foreign veterans of the Korean War and diplomats.

    A military expert in Seoul said the parade appeared to feature weapons previously unseen in North, including new surface-to-air missiles that are used for anti-missile defense.

    reuters