Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Russian Lawmaker Quits After Real Estate Disclosure
Russian Lawmaker Quits After Real Estate Disclosure
By ELLEN BARRY
MOSCOW — A senior lawmaker from Russia’s governing party, who was also the chairman of Parliament’s ethics committee, resigned from the legislature on Wednesday over revelations that he owned more than $1.3 million worth of luxury real estate in Florida that he did not list on required disclosure forms.
The lawmaker, Vladimir A. Pekhtin, said that he did not want the matter to taint colleagues in his party, United Russia, and announced his departure at a morning parliamentary session.
Mr. Pekhtin said he had not broken any law. But “there are very controversial documents that have been made public on the Internet,” he said, and it was necessary to clear up “obvious legal misunderstandings.”
“I will give up my mandate, which I always achieved in honest political battle, and my rivals, my opponents, know this,” he said, in comments broadcast on television. “Nevertheless, I will not cling to it. Because I think that my personal matters are secondary to United Russia. Thank you for many years of work, and for your devotion. We will fight on.”
Whether he surrendered his seat voluntarily or under pressure from the Kremlin, Mr. Pekhtin’s departure set a precedent in the Russian government, where high-level corruption and lavish spending overseas have developed into a serious political liability. Hours after Mr. Pekhtin’s announcement came a second resignation, from a United Russia lawmaker, Anatoly Lomakin, an industrialist whose wealth Forbes estimated at $1.2 billion.
Iceland Looks to Export Power Bubbling From Below
Iceland Looks to Export Power Bubbling From Below
By ANDREW HIGGINS
KRAFLA, Iceland — Soon after work began here on a power plant to harness some of the vast reserves of energy stored at the earth’s crust, the ground moved and, along a six-mile-long fissure, began belching red-hot lava. The eruptions continued for nine years, prompting the construction of a stone and soil barrier to make sure that molten rock did not incinerate Iceland’s first geothermal power station.
While the menacing lava flow has long since stopped and Krafla is today a showcase of Iceland’s peerless mastery of renewable energy sources, another problem that has dogged its energy calculations for decades still remains: what to do with all the electricity that the country — which literally bubbles with steam, hot mud and the occasional cloud of volcanic ash — is capable of producing.
In a nation with only 320,000 people, the state-owned power company, Landsvirkjun, which operates the Krafla facility, sells just 17 percent of its electricity to households and local industry. The rest goes mostly to aluminum smelters owned by the American giant Alcoa and other foreign companies that have been lured to this remote North Atlantic nation by its abundant supply of cheap energy.
Now a huge and potentially far more lucrative market beckons — if only Iceland can find a way to transmit electricity across the more than 1,000 miles of frigid sea that separate it from the 500 million consumers of the European Union. “Prices are so low in Iceland that it is normal that we should want to sell to Europe and get a better price,” said Stein Agust Steinsson, the manager of the Krafla plant. “It is not good to put all our eggs in one basket.”
Cyprus Trial Spurs Call for E.U. to Act Against Hezbollah
Cyprus Trial Spurs Call for E.U. to Act Against Hezbollah
By NICHOLAS KULISH
LIMASSOL, Cyprus — A Hezbollah operative who worked as a courier for the group in Europe said at his trial Thursday that he had instructions to record the arrival times of passenger flights from Israel to Cyprus, prompting Israel to press the European Union to formally declare the militant group a terrorist organization.
During a cross-examination, Hossam Taleb Yaacoub described himself as “an active member of Hezbollah” with the code name “Wael,” and that he had received a salary of $600 a month since 2010. Asked why he had a code name, he answered through an interpreter, “In general, the party is based on secrecy between members. We don’t know the real names of our fellow members.”
Mr. Yaacoub said that his handler, a shadowy figure known only as Ayman, told him to track the landing times for an Arkia Israel Airlines flight between Tel Aviv and Larnaca, Cyprus. Ayman also asked him to look into the rental prices of warehouses, he said.
Mr. Yaacoub, 24, who holds Lebanese and Swedish passports, described himself as a pawn, following orders but not involved — or at least not knowingly involved — in planning an attack. But prosecutors say that is exactly what he was doing. Intelligence experts in the United States and Israel say that Mr. Yaacoub was one small player in the covert war that has pitted Israel against Iran and Hezbollah.
Mr. Yaacoub’s testimony, which began here on Wednesday, has provided an unusual look inside the operations of the secretive group. Mr. Yaacoub on Thursday described the weapons training he had received as a member of the group.
3 Convicted in Britain Over Terrorist Plot to Rival ’05 Attacks
3 Convicted in Britain Over Terrorist Plot to Rival ’05 Attacks
By JOHN F. BURNS
LONDON — Three men accused of plotting what prosecutors said would have been the most devastating terrorist attacks in Britain since the London transit system bombings of July 2005 were convicted Thursday after a 12-week trial. The judge hearing the case told the men to expect sentences of life imprisonment.
Prosecutors said the three men — Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all British citizens from the industrial city of Birmingham in the English Midlands — planned to detonate up to eight homemade bombs in rucksacks in crowded places, the method used by the four suicide bombers who killed 52 other people on London subway trains and buses in 2005.
That attack prompted MI5, the domestic security service, and police forces across the country to rapidly expand their counterterrorism efforts. Officials at MI5 and at Scotland Yard have said that the authorities track dozens of active terrorist cells, and they cite a series of successful prosecutions and the absence of any attack that led to mass casualties in Britain since the transit bombings as evidence of their success.
The court in Birmingham was told that the authorities had the three defendants under close surveillance from an early stage, along with nine co-conspirators, six of whom have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. The police officer who led the surveillance, Detective Inspector Adam Gough, described the three men, all Muslims, as “committed, passionate extremists,” and added, “They had a real stated intention to kill and maim as many people as they possibly can.”
France tops world hostage list with latest kidnapping
France now has the most nationals held hostage in the world, following the kidnapping of an entire French family holidaying in Cameroon on Tuesday. The number of French citizens held in Africa now stands at 15.
By FRANCE 24 (text)
The kidnapping of a family holidaying in north Cameroon has brought the total number of French nationals being held hostage abroad to 15. All of them have been taken in Africa over the past three years.
The latest incident makes France the country with the highest number of citizens held hostage in the world, according to the terrorist watchdog IntelCenter. The United States, which comes in second on this inauspicious list, has nine citizens in the hands of hostage-takers worldwide.
The latest incident makes France the country with the highest number of citizens held hostage in the world, according to the terrorist watchdog IntelCenter. The United States, which comes in second on this inauspicious list, has nine citizens in the hands of hostage-takers worldwide.
French special forces in Cameroon following kidnappings
© AFP
One day after a French family was abducted in Cameroon, French special forces arrived in the country on Wednesday from their regional base in neighbouring Chad to help with the hostage situation, a local governor said.
By FRANCE 24 (text)
French special forces arrived in northern Cameroon from their regional base in neighbouring Chad, local authorities said on Wednesday, to help with an investigation to locate a French family taken hostage the day before.
“French special forces came in yesterday from N’Djamena to help with the investigation. They left yesterday and came back today,” Augustine Fonka Awa, governor of Cameroon’s Far North Region told the Reuters news agency by telephone.
French Army spokesman Thierry Burkhard declined to comment.
The Moulin-Fournier family was abducted near Cameroon’s Waza National Park on Tuesday, only a few kilometres from the Nigerian border. The father was the Director of External Affairs at the French gas company GDF, who had been stationed in Cameroon’s capital of Yaoundé for two years. The seven family members included four children.
Witnesses told Cameroonian and French media that men armed with Kalashnikovs seized the family from their car, separated the adults from the children and sped away from the scene on motorcycles. In a statement, Cameroon’s foreign minister said the hostages had been whisked across the border to Nigeria.
On Wednesday, France’s Foreign Ministry urged its citizens in northern Cameroon “to leave the area as quickly as possible,” issuing an advisory against travel in regions bordering Nigeria until further notice.
“French special forces came in yesterday from N’Djamena to help with the investigation. They left yesterday and came back today,” Augustine Fonka Awa, governor of Cameroon’s Far North Region told the Reuters news agency by telephone.
|
French Army spokesman Thierry Burkhard declined to comment.
The Moulin-Fournier family was abducted near Cameroon’s Waza National Park on Tuesday, only a few kilometres from the Nigerian border. The father was the Director of External Affairs at the French gas company GDF, who had been stationed in Cameroon’s capital of Yaoundé for two years. The seven family members included four children.
Witnesses told Cameroonian and French media that men armed with Kalashnikovs seized the family from their car, separated the adults from the children and sped away from the scene on motorcycles. In a statement, Cameroon’s foreign minister said the hostages had been whisked across the border to Nigeria.
On Wednesday, France’s Foreign Ministry urged its citizens in northern Cameroon “to leave the area as quickly as possible,” issuing an advisory against travel in regions bordering Nigeria until further notice.
EU governments on Monday agreed to extend sanctions against Syria for another three months but plan to alter an arms embargo to allow more non-lethal aid and technical assistance into the country.
By News Wires (text)
European Union governments agreed on Monday to renew sanctions against Syria for three months but said they would amend an arms embargo to provide more non-lethal support and technical assistance to protect civilians.
Greece was left paralysed by a nationwide strike on Wednesday organised by leading unions in protest against continued austerity in the crisis-hit country ahead of an audit by international creditors.
Greece was hit by a fresh strike on Wednesday called by leading unions against unrelenting austerity in the recession-weary nation ahead of an audit by international creditors, disrupting flights, ferries and hospital services.
The radical leftist party Syriza, which heads the opposition, wants to use the strike as a springboard to topple the brittle coalition government of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
The strike -- the first general work stoppage in debt-crippled Greece this year -- has forced airport authorities to scrap or reschedule dozens of flights while hospitals were operating on reduced staffing.
Ships will remain docked throughout the day, disrupting ferry services to the islands. And although most public transport will be operating, buses and train services will suffer problems because of planned work stoppages during the day.
Doctors, lawyers and teachers were among several professions joining the action organised by private sector union GSEE and public sector union ADEDY.
The radical leftist party Syriza, which heads the opposition, wants to use the strike as a springboard to topple the brittle coalition government of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
The strike -- the first general work stoppage in debt-crippled Greece this year -- has forced airport authorities to scrap or reschedule dozens of flights while hospitals were operating on reduced staffing.
Ships will remain docked throughout the day, disrupting ferry services to the islands. And although most public transport will be operating, buses and train services will suffer problems because of planned work stoppages during the day.
Doctors, lawyers and teachers were among several professions joining the action organised by private sector union GSEE and public sector union ADEDY.
Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov's resignation accepted
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| Boiko Borisov (left) greeted supporters outside parliament |
The vote opens the way for an early election, now expected in April rather than the scheduled July.
Mr Borisov's surprise resignation followed nationwide street protests against high electricity prices and austerity measures.
On Tuesday clashes between protesters and police left at least 14 people injured.
Birmingham men guilty of mass bomb plot
Three would-be suicide bombers who plotted to carry out an attack to rival the 7 July and 9/11 atrocities have been found guilty of terrorism charges.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
United Russia MP resigns over Florida property allegations
Vladimir Pekhtin denies breaking law but quits after blogger accuses him of failing to declare property to Duma
Vladimir Pekhtin, above, is accused of holding deeds to three US properties, none of which was listed on a disclosure form to the Duma. Photograph: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
Greece
Tens of thousands have filled city streets across Greece in protest of the government's deep-cutting austerity measures. The 24-hour general strike comes amid projections of 30 percent unemployment this year.
An estimated 40,000 people marched through the capital city on Wednesday in an effort to curb fiscal policies they say are damaging recovery efforts.
After Bulgarian Protests, Prime Minister Resigns
By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER and DAN BILEFSKY
Published: February 20, 2013
20 February 2013 Last updated at 19:11 ET
Fighting has laid waste to
large parts of Syria's cities, like here in Deir el-Zor
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said violence was "a road to nowhere".
The move comes as the opposition Syrian National Coalition is due to begin a two-day meeting in Egypt to discuss a framework for a possible solution.
Russia and Arab League propose direct Syria talks
Fighting has laid waste to
large parts of Syria's cities, like here in Deir el-Zor
Russia and the Arab League say they
want to broker direct talks between the Syrian government and opposition in a
bid to end the country's civil war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said violence was "a road to nowhere".
The move comes as the opposition Syrian National Coalition is due to begin a two-day meeting in Egypt to discuss a framework for a possible solution.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
ArcelorMittal, Announcing Loss, Indicates No Further Plant Closures in Europe
ArcelorMittal, Announcing Loss, Indicates No Further Plant Closures in Europe
By STANLEY REED
LONDON — ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, appeared to draw the line on additional European plant closures Wednesday, even as it announced a $4 billion net loss for the fourth quarter of 2012 and a $3.7 billion net loss for the year.
But the company’s results also highlighted just how bad operating conditions in Europe have been. A key reason for the losses was $5 billion in write-downs, almost all of it on its European businesses.
ArcelorMittal continues to be badly hurt by its operations in Europe, where it employs 98,000 people and where demand for steel has dropped by 30 percent since 2007, including a 9 percent decline in 2012. The company reported a $2.9 billion operating loss for the quarter in its European unit which supplies the beleaguered automobile industry.
Lakshmi N. Mittal, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said during a conference call with analysts Wednesday that he expected steel shipments to increase this year by 2 percent to 3 percent. That, he said, was because of growing demand for steel in China, Brazil and the United States, where the oil and gas industry, as well as auto and heavy equipment makers, were proving strong markets for ArcelorMittal’s products.
Unlike in Europe, he said that U.S. “businesses are getting loans.” He added that he expected Europe to remain in recession this year, but that this would be “far less severe than in 2012.”
Although ArcelorMittal is bidding on a steel plant being sold to the German steel maker ThyssenKrupp in Alabama, the company is mainly focusing on its new investments in mining, which has been more profitable than steel making of late, recording $1.2 billion in operating profit and a 22 percent operating margin last year.
Italian Bank Confirms Loss of $985 Million in Secret Deals
Italian Bank Confirms Loss of $985 Million in Secret Deals
By JACK EWING and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
FRANKFURT — Monte dei Paschi di Siena, an ancient Tuscan bank whose troubles have shaken Italian politics and caused jitters around the euro zone, on Wednesday confirmed earlier estimates of losses from a series of secret transactions that were used to conceal the scope of the bank’s problems.
The bank said its losses from three questionable transactions were 730 million euros (about $985 million), only slightly higher than an estimate in October of a loss of 720 million euros. The disclosure Wednesday, after a meeting of the bank’s board that lasted into the evening, could calm financial markets if investors conclude that all of the bank’s skeletons are out of the closet.
The disclosure came as Italian prosecutors said on Wednesday they had ordered the seizure of assets worth about 40 million euros in connection with possible fraud against Monte dei Paschi, Reuters reported. Prosecutors did not give details, but Italian news organizations reported that the money was seized from other banks that did business with Monte dei Paschi.
Problems at Monte dei Paschi, founded in 1472 and commonly known as M.P.S., have rippled far beyond the medieval Tuscan city of Siena, which is also the bank’s largest shareholder.
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has seized on the scandal as an issue as he tries to make a political comeback.
Europe’s Plan for GPS Limps to Crossroads
Europe’s Plan for GPS Limps to Crossroads
By ANDREW HIGGINS
FUCINO, Italy — With lofty dreams of European unity increasingly grounded by economic woe and the weight of narrow national interests, an array of computer screens here in central Italy blinks with faint signs that — far away in space, at least — Europe’s often quarreling nations can still sometimes find common cause.
Ringed by snow-covered mountains on a plateau east of Rome, the Fucino Space Center stands guard over the European Union’s flagship joint project: a satellite navigation system that is years behind schedule, many times over its original budget and unlikely to start operating for at least another year.
Europe’s future commitment to the project, known as Galileo and designed to create a new, improved and European-controlled version of America’s Global Positioning System, is to be decided in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, when European leaders will try for a second time, after talks failed in November, to hash out a long-term budget for the 27-nation bloc.
With recession and austerity clouding much of the Continent, they will argue over where the ax should fall on a European Union budget for 2014 to 2020, which would total nearly $1.35 trillion as drafted. An over-budget satellite navigation system that is years from full completion, largely a duplicate of an American system already widely used in Europe and unlikely ever to generate much revenue would seem to be in the budget cutters’ cross hairs.
English Hospital Report Cites ‘Appalling’ Suffering
English Hospital Report Cites ‘Appalling’ Suffering
By SARAH LYALL
LONDON — Shockingly bad care and inhumane treatment at a hospital in the Midlands led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths and stripped countless patients of their dignity and self-respect, according to a scathing report published on Wednesday.
The report, which examined conditions at Stafford Hospital in Staffordshire over a 50-month period between 2005 and 2009, cites example after example of horrific treatment: patients left unbathed and lying in their own urine and excrement; patients left so thirsty that they drank water from vases; patients denied medication, pain relief and food by callous and overworked staff members; patients who contracted infections due to filthy conditions; and patients sent home to die after being given the wrong diagnoses.
“This is the story of the appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people,” Robert Francis, the lawyer appointed by the government to lead the inquiry, said at a news conference.
“They were failed by a system which ignored the warning signs and put corporate interests and cost control ahead of patients and their safety,” he added. “There was a lack of care, compassion, humanity and leadership. The most basic standards of care were not observed, and fundamental rights to dignity were not respected.”
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Euro MPs back large-scale fishing reform to save stocks
Continue reading the main story
More data is needed about species to make Europe's fishing more sustainable
The European Parliament has voted for sweeping reforms of the controversial EU Common Fisheries Policy.
The package includes measures to protect endangered stocks and end discards - the practice of throwing unwanted dead fish into the sea.
Stafford Hospital: Five more hospitals to be investigated
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| Five hospitals in England are being investigated after the reporting into failings at Stafford Hospital |
Neglect and abuse at the hospital led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths between 2005 and 2008.
In response to the inquiry, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that five other hospitals with persistently high death rates would be investigated.
All the hospitals named have had high rates for two years.
They are Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Death rates are calculated by looking at the number of people that would be expected to die when taking into account the age and disease profile of the local population.
High death rates were one of the factors that triggered the original investigation into Stafford Hospital. While not necessarily proof there is a problem, they are a "smoke alarm" suggesting there could be.
The figures for the five hospitals were already known about within the NHS and were being monitored
However, the intervention has been ordered amid mounting concern about levels of care.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Cameron said: "I have asked the NHS medical director, Prof Bruce Keogh, to conduct an immediate investigation into the hospitals with the highest mortality rates and to check that urgent remedial action is being taken."
Prof Keogh said: "Each of the hospitals we identify today is already under scrutiny by regulators.
"This clinically led and practical investigation will allow me to assure myself, Parliament and patients that these hospitals have everything they need to improve."
Continue reading the main story
'Reform'
The long-awaited report into failings at Stafford Hospital produced 290 recommendations aimed at "fundamental change" to prevent the public losing confidence in the health service.
The inquiry chairman, Robert Francis QC, described events at the hospital as "appalling and unnecessary" which led to hundreds of people suffering and had "betrayed" the public's trust in the NHS.
He argued that NHS staff should face prosecution if they hide information about poor care and should be compelled to be open with patients about mistakes.
He also recommended:
The merger of the regulation of care into one body - two are currently involved
Senior managers to be given a code of conduct and the ability to disqualify them if they are not fit to hold such positions
An increased focus on compassion in the recruitment, training and education of nurses, including an aptitude test for new recruits and regular checks of competence as is being rolled out for doctors
He said failings went right to the top of the health service saying the Department of Health was too "remote" and focussed on "counterproductive" reorganisations.
The hospital trust, local GPs and MPs and the Royal College of Nursing were also criticised.
The government's full response to the public inquiry will come next month, however, it has already been announced that a new post of chief inspector of hospitals will be created in the autumn.
Speaking in the House of Commons, David Cameron said he was "truly sorry" for what happened at Stafford Hospital, which was "not just wrong, it was truly dreadful" and the government needed to "purge" a culture of complacency.
There has been anger from some quarters after nobody lost their jobs as a result of the public inquiry.
James Duff's wife Doreen died in the hospital. He said: "Not one person has lost their job over this - instead they have been promoted and some people have been moved sideways.
"This has been a disaster yet nobody is accountable."
Sir David Nicholson has been the focus of anger from families affected by the scandal. He is chief executive of the NHS and was briefly in charge of the Regional Health Authority while death rates were high at Stafford Hospital.
Responding to calls for him to go, he said: "I think it's perfectly understandable, I understand the anger that they feel, the upset that they feel about the treatment of their loved ones in Mid-Staffordshire hospital.
"I absolutely understand all of that. At the time I apologised and in a sense I apologise again to the people of Stafford for what happened, but apologies are not enough.
"We need action, we need to make things happen."
Abdullah Ocalan: A bridge between Kurds and Turks?
For decades, the islands on the Sea of Marmara outside Istanbul have been home to Turkey's most dangerous exiles and prisoners.
Ottoman princes were held there; Trotsky made the islands his home following his escape from Stalin's Russia; and a Turkish prime minister was executed there after a military coup in 1960.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Turkish extreme left-wing group DHKP-C said on Saturday that it was responsible for a suicide bomb attack on the US embassy in Ankara on Friday, according to a statement on a website affiliated with the group.
“Our warrior Alisan Sanli carried out an act of self-sacrifice on Feb 1, 2013, by entering the Ankara embassy of the United States, murderer of the people of the world,” the statement said.
The suicide bomber detonated an explosive Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy, killing himself and a guard at the entrance gate.
The bomb exploded inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance to the embassy, but did not damage the inside of the embassy itself.
(FRANCE24 with wires)
“Our warrior Alisan Sanli carried out an act of self-sacrifice on Feb 1, 2013, by entering the Ankara embassy of the United States, murderer of the people of the world,” the statement said.
The suicide bomber detonated an explosive Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy, killing himself and a guard at the entrance gate.
The bomb exploded inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance to the embassy, but did not damage the inside of the embassy itself.
(FRANCE24 with wires)
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