Turkey says could use army to quell unrest as workers clash with police

Felipe Jun 18, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said today Turkey could deploy «elements of the armed forces» to help quell anti-government protests if needed, after more than two weeks of violent demonstrations in several cities.

«Our police, our security forces are doing their jobs. If it’s not enough then the gendarmes will do their jobs. If that’s not enough … we could even use elements of the Turkish Armed Forces,» Arinc told Turkey’s state-run TRT television.

His statements were made as riot police backed by water cannon faced off with around 1,000 trade union workers in the capital Ankara.

Police officers used megaphones to order workers to stop their march towards central Kizilay district.

«Those of you on the streets must stop blocking the streets. Do not be provoked. The police will use force,» they shouted, as several water cannon were positioned a few hundred meters away.

Further marches by striking workers were planned in Istanbul today, despite government warnings that demonstrations would not be tolerated.

«There is an attempt to bring people to the streets through strikes and work stoppages. These will not be allowed,» Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Iran’s Rohani: ‘Tehran is not ready to suspend its enrichment of uranium’

Felipe Jun 18, 2013

President-elect Hassan Rohani said today he hoped the world would grasp a new opportunity for «constructive interaction» with Iran and pledged to be more transparent about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in order to see sanctions lifted.

But he said Tehran was not ready to suspend its enrichment of uranium, which the West fears is aimed at producing a nuclear weapons capability – something Iran denies. «That period has ended,» he said.

Rohani, a moderate conservative cleric, scored an emphatic and surprise election win over conservative rivals on Friday and has quickly moved to assure Iranians and the world that he will keep his pledges of better relations with other countries.

He said the new government, after his inauguration in August, would «revive ethics and constructive interaction with the world through moderation».

«I hope that all countries use this opportunity,» Rohani told his first news conference after his election win.

Rohani, Iran’s nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005, said Tehran would be more transparent about its activities in the future.

«Our nuclear programs are completely transparent. But we are ready to show greater transparency and make clear for the whole world that the steps of the Islamic Republic of Iran are completely within international frameworks,» he said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Edward Snowden hits back against critics of NSA leaks

Felipe Jun 18, 2013

The former National Security Agency contractor who revealed the US government’s top-secret monitoring of Americans’ phone and Internet data fought back against his critics, saying the government’s «litany of lies» about the programs compelled him to act.

Edward Snowden told an online forum run by Britain’s Guardian newspaper that he considered it an honor to be called a traitor by people like former Vice President Dick Cheney, and he urged President Barack Obama to «return to sanity» and roll back the surveillance effort.

Taking questions from readers and journalists, Snowden talked about his motivations and reaction to the debate raging about the damage or virtue of the leaks. Snowden remains in hiding, reportedly in Hong Kong.

Snowden said disillusionment with Obama contributed to his decision but there was no single event that led him to leak details about the vast monitoring of Americans’ activity.

«It was seeing a continuing litany of lies from senior officials to Congress – and therefore the American people – and the realization that Congress … wholly supported the lies,» said Snowden, who had worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii as an employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton before providing the details to the Guardian and Washington Post.

Snowden referred to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s testimony to Congress in March that such a program did not exist, saying that seeing him «baldly lying to the public without repercussion is the evidence of a subverted democracy. The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed.»

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Snowden’s actions, and US officials promised last week to hold him accountable for the leaks.

Since Snowden went public in a video released by the Guardian on June 9, many US lawmakers have condemned his actions and intelligence officials have said the leaks will compromise national security.

Some lawmakers have been more restrained. Republican Senator Rand Paul, a Tea Party favorite, has said he is reserving judgment about Snowden’s methods, and separately encouraged Americans to be part of a class-action lawsuit against the US government for the surveillance programs.

Snowden, who traveled to Hong Kong before details of the programs were published, has promised to stay in the China-ruled former British colony and fight extradition.

China made its first substantive comments on Monday regarding Snowden’s revelations. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that Washington should explain its surveillance programs to the world, and she rejected a suggestion that Snowden was a spy for China.

Snowden said during the online forum on Monday that he does not believe he can get a fair trial in the United States.

«The US government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That’s not justice,» he said.

Obama and administration officials have defended the program as an effective tool in its effort to protect Americans from terrorist attacks and said it was instrumental in helping to disrupt dozens of potential attacks.

General Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, will testify on Tuesday at a House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing on the programs.

Officials have promised to make public details on some of the thwarted attacks, and a US government source familiar with the matter said more than 25 cases were on a list that spy agencies were trying to declassify for Tuesday’s hearing.

During his question-and-answer session with Guardian readers, Snowden rejected criticism from defenders of the surveillance programs – including Cheney – that he was a traitor for leaking the details.

Source. Buenos Aires Herald

EU, US leaders launch free-trade talks

Felipe Jun 18, 2013

The United States and European Union launched negotiations on one of the world’s most ambitious free-trade agreements today, promising thousands of jobs and speedier growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

Such a plan was first considered three decades ago but knocked down by France in the 1990s. Europe has now managed to get Paris onside, opening the way to a deal that could boost the EU and US economies by more than $100 billion a year each.

«This is a once in a generation prize and we are determined to seize it,» said British Prime Minister David Cameron, flanked by US President Barack Obama and the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council at the Group of Eight summit near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland.

The first round of negotiations will take place in Washington on July 8, the White House said in a statement.

The United States and Europe account for almost half of the world’s total output and a third of its trade. A free-trade deal therefore holds the prospect of massive economic gains and accompanying jobs.

While both US and EU negotiators are aware that a final deal will be tough to clinch, they are also conscious of the rising power and influence of China and the need to deepen Western economic integration in order to compete with Asia.

Issues over media protection and «cultural exception» could still complicate negotiations.

France had threatened to block the start of talks until the EU’s other 26 governments accepted its demand to shield movies and online entertainment from competition from Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Paris eventually won its exception, but Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said on Monday opposition to a fully comprehensive trade deal was «reactionary» and part of an anti-globalization agenda.

That sparked a stern response from French President Francois Hollande and other French officials, underlining just how sensitive negotiations over the coming 18 months are set to be.

Obama also warned against narrowing the scope of negotiations.

«It is important that we get it right and that means resisting the temptation to downsize our ambitions or avoid tough issues just for the sake of getting a deal,» he said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Putin, Obama face off over Syria; rebels get Saudi missiles

Felipe Jun 18, 2013

The leaders of Russia and the United States, now openly backing opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, played down their differences after talks where tensions had clearly flared over the escalating conflict.

Staring mostly at the floor as he stood alongside US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladmir Putin said he and Obama had agreed to encourage the warring parties to attend negotiations.

«Our positions do not fully coincide, but we are united by the common intention to end the violence, to stop the number of victims increasing in Syria, to resolve the problems by peaceful means, including the Geneva talks,» he said after a showdown with Obama at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

Heavy fighting resumed around the northern Syrian town of Aleppo, where rebels, buoyed by Obama’s decision last week to arm them, tried to block an advance into the north by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, who are supplied by Moscow.

In new evidence of growing foreign support for the rebels, a Gulf source told Reuters Saudi Arabia had equipped fighters for the first time with shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, their most urgent request. Rebels said Riyadh had also sent them anti-tank missiles.

The two developments sent the Syrian currency plunging to a new low in what dealers and bankers said was a chaotic scramble for dollars.

After months of indecision, the Obama administration announced it would arm the rebels because Assad’s forces had crossed a «red line» by using nerve gas. That has put Washington on the opposite side of the two-year-old civil war from its Cold War foe Moscow, which supplies weapons to Assad.

European nations backing the rebels would «pay the price» if they joined those sending weapons to Syria, Assad told a German newspaper.

The United Nations has urged all sides to stop sending arms to a conflict that has killed at least 93,000 and shows no sign of abating. But those calls have been ignored, with regional and global powers doubling down on support for either side.

The White House said last week Obama would try to persuade Putin to drop support for Assad at a summit of the G8 group of world powers in Northern Ireland. With both men looking uncomfortable after their first face-to-face meeting in a year, there were no signs Putin was convinced.

Obama said they had «differing perspectives» on Syria but shared an interest in ending violence and ensuring chemical weapons were not used.

Russia says it is unconvinced by U.S. evidence accusing Assad of using chemical weapons, and said on Monday it would block any attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Syria, a step Washington says it has not yet decided on but is on the table.

The United States moved anti-aircraft missile batteries and warplanes to Jordan in recent weeks, which Moscow believes are a precursor to a no-fly zone.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Turkey’s Erdogan says patience run out with protesters

Felipe Jun 14, 2013

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said today his patience had run out after almost two weeks of anti-government protests and gave a final warning to those occupying a central Istanbul park to leave.

In a speech at a meeting of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan struck back at criticism from the European Parliament over the ferocity of a police crackdown and accused some international media of exaggerated reporting.

«Our patience is at an end. I am making my warning for the last time. I say to the mothers and fathers please take your children in hand and bring them out … Gezi Park does not belong to occupying forces but to the people,» he said.

A heavy-handed police crackdown on Gezi Park nearly two weeks ago triggered an unprecedented wave of protest against Erdogan and his AK Party – an association of centrists and conservative religious elements – drawing in secularists, nationalists, professionals, unionists and students.

Erdogan, who has accused foreign forces, international media and market speculators of stoking the unrest and trying to undermine the Turkish economy, said he would «share with the nation» at another AKP meeting on Friday details of what he termed a «game being played with Turkey».

«It is as if the whole of Turkey is on fire, as if the whole of Turkey is collapsing,» he said of some media coverage, describing it as «deceptive and unethical».

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

‘All surveillance complies with US law,’ FBI director

Felipe Jun 14, 2013

FBI Director Robert Mueller said that the US government is doing everything it can to hold confessed leaker Edward Snowden accountable for splashing surveillance secrets across the pages of newspapers worldwide.

Mueller said at a US House Judiciary Committee hearing that Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, harmed national security when he divulged the secrets.

«As to the individual who has admitted making these disclosures, he is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation,» Mueller said without naming Snowden.

Mueller added: «We are taking all necessary steps to hold the person responsible for these disclosures.»

Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong after flying there last month from Hawaii, where he lived. He has said he plans to request asylum and that he divulged secrets to Britain’s Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post because he believed the US surveillance programs were illegal and intrusive.

The US Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the alleged disclosure of classified information. It has not revealed any charges or a request to extradite Snowden.

Mueller added his voice to the Obama administration’s defense of the surveillance programs, which he said comply in full with US law and with basic rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The information in a massive government database of daily telephone records has been instrumental in identifying people who sought to harm Americans, Mueller said.

The program collects «no content whatsoever» beyond data such as numbers called and the time and length of calls, he said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Explosion at Louisiana chemical plant kills 1, injures 78

Felipe Jun 14, 2013

An explosion and fire killed one person and injured 73 at the Williams Olefins chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana unsettling an industrial town where authorities ordered people to remain indoors for hours to avoid the billowing smoke.

The blast at 8:37 a.m. (1337 GMT) sent a huge fireball and column of smoke into the air. The plant along the Mississippi River, about 60 miles (100 km) from New Orleans, is one of 12 chemical plants along a 10-mile (16-km) stretch of the river.

The fire, fueled by the petrochemical propylene, burned for more than three hours, though government monitors had yet to detect dangerous levels of emissions, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal told a news conference near the scene.

«Once the investigations are done, once there’s a responsible party, they will absolutely be held responsible,» Jindal said.

Some 300 workers from the plant were evacuated and all the employees were accounted for, among them 10 who stayed behind in a safe room inside the plant, Jindal said.

Emergency responders took 73 people to hospital, Jindal said, including at least five who were being treated at Baton Rouge General Hospital’s burn center, said Dr. Floyd Roberts, a physician there.

Plant operations were shut, and the company’s own emergency response crews were assisting at the scene, parent group Williams Cos. said in a statement.

Authorities ordered people within a 2-mile (3-km) radius to remain in their homes, in part because of the smoke, said Lester Kenyon, a spokesman for Ascension Parish.

That «shelter in place» order was later lifted for residents but remained in effect for four other plants in the area that scaled down their operations, Jindal said.

«It’s a sad day in Geismar, and particularly for the Williams Olefins work family, and frankly for the petrochem community in this area,» Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeffrey Wiley said. «It’s an industry that practices safety every second of every day, but regrettably, things do happen.»

The same plant in had an accident in 2009 when about 60 pounds (27 kg) of a flammable mixture was released, resulting in a fire that caused property damage but no injuries, according to the Right-to-Know Network, citing data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s risk management database.

The plant produces approximately 1.3 billion pounds (590 million kg) of ethylene and 90 million pounds (40 million kg) of polymer grade propylene per year, which are used to make plastics, according to the Williams website.

Only propylene was burning, officials said.

Williams operates the plant and holds an 83 percent stake in it, the company said.

Shares in Williams Cos. fell as much as 4.3 percent on Thursday and ended the trading day down 1 percent.

With massive equipment operating under intense pressure and high heat, the petrochemical industry is particularly prone to occasional fires and explosions, most of which are quickly brought under control with limited injury or damage.

Southern Louisiana is home to a large share of the country’s petrochemical facilities and has seen at least two other blasts in the past two years.

An explosion at Geismar’s Westlake Chemicals vinyl plant sent a cloud of toxic vinyl chloride and hydrochloric acid over the town in March of 2012, and in June 2011 there was an explosion at a Multi-Chem Group plant in New Iberia, about 50 miles (80 km) from Geismar. Neither blast caused injuries.

Pressure on the industry to improve safety has increased since a 2005 blast a BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 people and injured 170 in one of the worst such industrial accidents in decades.

An explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, that killed 14 people in April has also sharpened attention on handling of volatile chemicals.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Greek PM faces coalition revolt over state TV shutdown

Felipe Jun 13, 2013

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras faced down a political revolt from partners in his ruling coalition after his government abruptly switched the state broadcaster off the air in the middle of the night.

Screens went black on state broadcaster ERT, cutting newscasters off mid-sentence only hours after the decision was announced, in what the government said was a temporary measure to staunch a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Samaras boasted that shutting the broadcaster was proof of the political will needed to transform Greece from «a real Jurassic Park, the only place on earth where dinosaurs survived».

But his two centre-left coalition partners were furious, saying they had not been consulted and demanding the broadcaster be switched back on, although their remarks fell short of threats to walk out of the government.

The confrontation brought back a febrile atmosphere of political drama in a country that had seemed to be emerging from a pattern of relentless political crisis accompanying one of the biggest peacetime economic collapses in history.

Unions called a 24-hour nationwide general strike in protest, and journalists across all media called an indefinite strike. Some newspapers were shut and private TV stations broadcast reruns of soap operas and sitcoms instead of the news.

The leader of the Socialist party PASOK, Evangelos Venizelos, called for an urgent meeting of coalition party leaders. The other coalition partner, the small Democratic Left party, said restructuring the broadcaster was necessary but should take place without shutting it.

A government source said Samaras had agreed to meet coalition partners in coming days. But the prime minister made clear he had no intention of backing down, describing support for the broadcaster as an «outbreak of the hypocrisy that has brought Greece to this point».

«All these years, people wondered whether anybody had the political will to change things,» he said. «We have the political will… There is no better proof than yesterday’s announcement.»

The return of political turmoil to Greece weighed on European stock markets, which closed lower.

Also on Wednesday, the Athens bourse was cut to emerging market status by index provider MSCI, making Greece the first country ever to lose the status of a developed market. The gesture was not only symbolically embarrassing but could also force fund managers that track indexes to ditch investments.

That followed the derailing of Greece’s privatisation programme earlier this week with the announcement that a gas firm could not be sold. The setbacks have reversed a rise in investor confidence that had prompted Samaras to say the risk of Greece being expelled from the euro zone was over and a «Greekovery» was under way.

Centre-right leader Samaras has ruled in fragile coalition with the two centre-left parties since winning power last year.

«ERT has become a catalyst on issues of democracy, a fair state, cohesion of this government and stability regarding the course of the country,» PASOK chief Venizelos said. «We shouldn’t create crises without a reason out of nothing.»

One official from Samaras’s New Democracy Party said the prime minister was considering calling a confidence vote, although a senior government official denied plans to do so.

«It could be highly destabilising if it moves to a confrontation in parliament where the two smaller political parties have to humble themselves to avoid a next election or stick to it and force a next election,» said political analyst Theodore Couloumbis.

The government promised to relaunch ERT within weeks, saying it was taken off air so suddenly only due to fears that workers would damage state equipment.

The 75-year-old Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ERT has shed viewers since the rise of commercial television and radio, and its three statewide stations had just a 13 percent combined audience share when it was switched off.

Its 2,600-strong staff include 600 journalists. Many Greeks cite the broadcaster as an example of inefficiency, overspending and jobs given in return for political favours.

Nevertheless, in a country where nearly two thirds of young people are now unemployed after years of relentless cuts and tax hikes there is a visceral public belief that the government should not slash jobs. Greeks were stunned by the fast shutdown.

«It had to happen. ERT was a big fat feast for the political parties,» said Maria Panagiotou, a 65-year-old retiree. «But the way they did it is unacceptable. How can this happen in Europe?»

Athens journalists’ union ESIEA said its strike would end only «when the government takes back this coup d’etat which gags information».

Some ERT journalists occupied the broadcaster’s building in defiance of government orders and continued broadcasting over the Internet, showing sombre newscasters deploring the shutdown and replaying images of thousands gathered outside to protest.

ERT reporters from as far away as Australia appeared on air to describe the outrage of local Greek communities.

A senior government official said Athens was under pressure to show visiting EU and IMF inspectors that it had a plan to fire 2,000 state workers as required under its bailout, and the ERT shutdown was the only option available to meet the target.

The European Commission said it did not seek ERT’s closure under the bailout but did not question the decision. France’s Socialist government voiced outright condemnation, calling it «very worrying and regrettable».

Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras called it «a coup, not only against ERT workers but against the Greek people», and accused Samaras of the «historic responsibility of gagging state TV».

The far-right Golden Dawn party was the only one that openly welcomed the closure, with lawmaker Ilias Panagiotaros tweeting: «ERT, that Socialist-Communist shack, is finally closing.»

The ERT crisis overshadowed MSCI’s reclassification of the country as an emerging market. MSCI said the Athens bourse had been too small for a developed market for two years. The stock market traded at two-month lows after the announcement.

Although reclassification could mean some funds are required to sell Greek shares, brokers said the move could also bring inflows by allowing Greece to win a share of funds allocated for emerging markets.

«Emerging market funds could not enter since Greece was classified as developed market. Now it will be on their radar,» said Theodore Krintas, head of wealth management at Attica Bank.

Yields on Greece’s 10-year benchmark bond crept back above 10 percent after Athens failed to sell state gas firm DEPA on Monday, putting it at risk of missing bailout targets.

Source Buenos Aires Herald

Pope Francis condemns ‘plague’ of child labour

Felipe Jun 13, 2013

Marking the World Day against Child Labour, Pope Francis condemned the exploitation of children in domestic work a “despicable growing phenomenon especially in poor countries.” “Greater action” is needed to tackle what the pontiff called a “plague.”

Addressing around 70,000 people who gathered at the St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican to listen to his weekly general audience, the Argentine pope said chil labour has reached worrying slave-like trends. Millions of under-age victims of a “hidden way of exploitation that involves frequently abuses and discrimination,” he insisted.

Global estimates by the International Labour Organization (ILO) warn that 14 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean are engaged in working activities that pose serious threats to their physical and psychological integrity.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

At least 70 killed in confrontations at Syrian town of Hatlah

Felipe Jun 13, 2013

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that at least 60 Shiites and 10 rebels were killed in confrontations at the Sunni town of Hatlah.

The director of that organization, Rami Abdel Rahman said: “armed Shiites villagers attacked a nearby post and killed two persons yesterday. Today, the rebels attacked back and took control of the town killing 60 of its Shiites habitants, most of them combatants”.

Meanwhile, Bashar Al Assad fight against the rebellion has turned into a bloody civil war in which both bands accuse each other on committing frightful massacres

Two bombs killed 14 people in central Damascus today, state media said, in an attack which appeared to target a police station.

Syrian television said the bombs exploded close to the police post in the central Marjeh Square, while the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one bomb was detonated by a suicide attacker inside the police station.

The Observatory, which monitors violence across Syria through a network of medical and security sources, put the death toll at 15 and said most of the casualties were police.

State media had earlier said the bombs had been left outside shops in Marjeh Square, located in the heart of the Syrian capital, which has been rocked several times by bombings during the two-year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

A bomb attack in the same square six weeks ago killed 13 people. Since then, Assad’s forces have retaken rebel-held areas to the east of the capital and also driven rebels from their stronghold in the town of Qusair, close to the Lebanese border.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

France threatens to block start of EU-US trade talks

Felipe Jun 13, 2013

France threatened to block the start of free trade talks between the European Union and the United States if movies and digital media are not kept out the negotiations.

Two days before EU countries are supposed to give the go-ahead for negotiations, France said it would veto the talks unless the sector – that it sees as crucial to its cultural identity and under threat from Hollywood – is excluded.

«France defends and will defend the cultural exception to the end – that’s a red line,» Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti said, referring to current EU rules that allow governments to preserve «cultural diversity» by setting subsidies and quotas that might otherwise be considered contrary to free trade.

The first round of talks – which would seek to establish free trade for all manner of goods – has been tentatively scheduled for July, but both sides must first agree the scope of the negotiations, something EU trade ministers are due to finalise on Friday.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told parliament: «France will go as far as using its political veto. This is about our identity, it’s our struggle.»

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could increase Europe’s economic output by 65 billion euros ($86.3 billion) a year, according to the European Commission, with the United States getting a similar boost.

But for the talks to start, EU trade ministers must reach a unanimous agreement in their discussions on Friday. France’s stance would appear to make that impossible at this stage.

Paris says it will not be pushed into signing up until it is satisfied that its system of support for film, radio and other audio-visual products remains shielded from Hollywood. It also wants to make sure any future technologies in the cultural sphere, such as visual arts downloads, are protected.

While other EU countries want to protect against too much US content and preserve subsidies, they are happy with a compromise put forward by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

That would allow EU members to retain subsidies and quotas for traditional media, but leave space for US and European companies to compete in the rapidly developing Internet and digital areas, including TV on demand and music downloads.

Britain, Germany and others argue that if the EU excludes the audio-visual sector completely, as France demands, the United States will exclude its own closed sectors.

French Trade Minister Nicole Bricq said the US would, in any case, seek to exclude certain sectors such as maritime transport and financial services. She told newspaper Liberation that culture risked becoming a negotiating pawn in the talks if it was not excluded from the start.

«It’s very sensitive for the French,» Irish Trade Minister Richard Bruton, who will chair Friday’s EU talks.

«If you start taking sectors off the table, complete carve-outs, so will the other side.»

Following 14 months of preparations, Brussels and Washington say the time is right for a deal first mooted three decades ago but considered too difficult because of the concerns over the impact of opening markets, especially the farming sector.

German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said the free trade deal was «too big to fail».

«We should avoid building up taboos at the moment,» he said at a conference hosted by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Berlin.

William Kennard, the US ambassador to Brussels, has warned against setting red lines before talks begin, telling the European Parliament that the moment to start talks was now.

«The alignment of stars won’t last forever. We need to seize the opportunity,» he said last week.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Turkish ruling party orders protesters to leave Istanbul park

Felipe Jun 13, 2013

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party ordered protesters out of an Istanbul park, while making a limited concession in the form of an offer to hold a referendum on redevelopment plans that caused nearly two weeks of riots.

Huseyin Celik, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, said hundreds of demonstrators still camped in Gezi Park, which adjoins Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul, must leave immediately.

Police fired tear gas into thousands of people gathered on Taksim late on Tuesday, sending them scattering into side streets, before bulldozing barricades and reopening the square to traffic for the first time since the troubles began.

But a ramshackle settlement of tents pitched in Gezi Park in the corner of the square, in what began as a peaceful campaign over plans to build there, were left largely untouched as skirmishes raged around them.

«Those with bad intentions or who seek to provoke and remain in the park will (now) be facing the police,» Celik told a news conference following a meeting between Erdogan and a group of public figures linked to the Gezi protesters.

There was an uneasy calm on Taksim, with small groups of demonstrators chanting while riot police looked on.

A heavy-handed police crackdown on Gezi Park nearly two weeks ago triggered an unprecedented wave of protest against the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party, drawing in a broad alliance of secularists, nationalists, professionals, unionists and students.

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon day after day in several cities, clashes which left three people dead including a policeman and some 5,000 thousand injured, according to the Turkish Medical Association.

The offer to hold a referendum on the park redevelopment was one of the only concessions the authorities have publicly floated, after days of firm rhetoric from Erdogan refusing to back down. Celik gave few details of how a referendum would be carried out, saying it could either be held across Istanbul or just in the district near Taksim.

Protesters also want the government to punish those responsible for the violent police crackdown.

«We think it is indispensable that Gezi Park should remain as a park, violence should stop and those who responsible for violence should be investigated,» said Ipek Akpinar, an architect who was among the delegation that met with Erdogan.

Erdogan has accused foreign forces, international media and market speculators of stoking conflict and trying to undermine the economy of the only largely Muslim NATO state.

Two foreign correspondents from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) were detained by police on Wednesday, prompting Foreign Minister John Baird to announce on his Twitter account that he had called the Turkish ambassador to voice concern. CBC quoted the Turkish ambassador to Canada as saying they were expected to be released shortly.

Turkey’s broadcasting authority said it was fining four television channels over their coverage of the protests on the grounds of inciting violence, media reports said.

Hundreds of lawyers packed the entrance hall of Istanbul’s main Palace of Justice, chanting slogans to protest at the detention of their colleagues a day earlier in a demonstration supporting the Gezi Park protests.

«Prosecutor resign», «Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance,» «shoulder-to-shoulder against fascists», the lawyers shouted, dressed in their court gowns, some shaking their fists, others clapping.

Several hundred lawyers held a protest march in Ankara and there were smaller protests by lawyers in other cities.

President Abdullah Gul, who has struck a more conciliatory tone than Erdogan, said it was the duty of government to engage with critics but also appeared to close ranks with the prime minister, saying violent protests were a different matter.

«If people have objections … then to engage in a dialogue with these people, to hear out what they say, is no doubt our duty,» Gul said. «Those who employ violence are something different and we have to distinguish them … This would not be allowed in New York, this would not be allowed in Berlin.»

Erdogan’s tough talk has endeared him to voters for the past decade, but his opponents say it has now poured fuel on the flames. On Tuesday he said would not kneel before the protesters and that «this Tayyip Erdogan won’t change».

The United States, which has held up Erdogan’s Turkey in the past as an example of Muslim democracy that could benefit other countries in the Middle East, expressed concern about events in Turkey and urged dialogue between government and protesters.

The European Union also raised concern about the police clearance of Taksim overnight. Top EU officials have called on Erdogan’s government to investigate cases of excessive force.

Erdogan argues that the broader mass of people have been manipulated by extremists and terrorists and says his political authority derives from his popular mandate in three successive election victories.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Bomb threats, explosion prompt evacuation of US airports, university

Felipe Jun 12, 2013

Several bomb threats and an explosion prompted today the evacuation of two international airports and a university in the United States.

An explosion was reported inside a maintenance shed today at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

There was no official word on injuries and no confirmed reports of fire or smoke at the scene near Concourse D, which has been evacuated.

Earlier, the Richmond International Airport in Virginia was evacuated after a threatening phone call, but a sweep of the airport located no dangers, officials said.

The airport «received a threat by phone, deemed serious enough to evacuate the terminal as a precautionary measure,» according to its Twitter page.

Police dogs were brought in to search the terminal, and all public areas were swept and declared clear of any threat, the Twitter page said.

Today, Princeton University evacuated its campus after receiving a bomb threat to multiple buildings on its sprawling New Jersey property, according to the school’s Twitter page.

Those with cars were told to leave the campus, and those without cars were directed by police to evacuation sites, the school said.

«This is NOT a test. There has been a bomb threat to multiple unspecified campus buildings,» said one of the school’s tweets at about 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT).

A spokesman for Governor Chris Christie said the governor was not in Princeton, which is home to the executive mansion, Drumthwacket.

Last night, a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Texas from Los Angeles with 143 passengers aboard was forced to land in Phoenix after a telephoned bomb threat and US fighter jets were diverted to monitor the situation, authorities said.

Southwest Airlines flight 2675 landed safely in Phoenix, the state capital of Arizona, at about 3:30 p.m. local time (2230 GMT), and all passengers on board were taken off without incident, the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Southwest said.

Phoenix police interviewed the passengers and bomb squad officers and dogs swept the aircraft. Police spokesman Sergeant Steve Martos later Tweeted that the search found «nothing of concern.»

The Austin-bound flight was diverted at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department after an unidentified caller made a bomb threat against a commercial flight from Los Angeles to Texas, according to Southwest and the FBI.

Laura Eimiller, the FBI’s spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said . an investigation was under way to determine who was responsible for the threat.

While the plane was in the air, F-16 fighter jets were diverted from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona to «monitor the situation from the air,» said Michael Kucharek, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint US-Canadian operation.

«It was serious enough that we diverted aircraft from their original flight plan,» Kucharek told reporters.

The Southwest Airlines aircraft – a Boeing 737-700 – was isolated at the airport away from the terminal after landing.

All the passengers were evacuated using airline steps and would be taken on to Austin «as soon as possible,» Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Katie McDonald said.

Flights at Sky Harbor were arriving and departing as scheduled.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

G8 partners put out by Britain’s hefty summit bill

Felipe Jun 12, 2013

Two days of accommodation at a lakeside golf hotel in Northern Ireland don’t come cheap – and Britain has irritated its fellow Group of Eight states by sending them hefty advance bills for the summit it is hosting there.

In charging 1,000 pounds ($1,600) for each delegate apart from the leader and a chief adviser, Britain says it is only doing what other G8 host countries have done.

But other members of the club of wealthy nations, some of whom may send a support staff of 12-15 people, see it differently.

«As far as we know, this has never happened before,» said an official from one European delegation, adding that London had only mentioned the issue of delegate fees a few days ago.

«It’s unprecedented and hasn’t been handled very well. The Japanese and Americans are saying: ‘Hold on a minute, this hasn’t been budgeted for’. There’s some outrage.»

An official from another delegation said Britain was doing itself no favours by being seen to «profit» from holding the G8 – an event that could boost the local economy to the tune of 40 million pounds, according to research carried out for Barclays Bank.

«A lot of people are uneasy with this,» he said.

A spokesperson for the British government defended the arrangements for the gathering, taking place on June 17-18 at the Lough Erne golf resort in Enniskillen:

«It would be unprecedented for a G8 nation to foot the bill for the entire cost of delegations attending a Summit.

«We are paying for the accommodation of each G8 leader and their lead official. That’s what we did at Gleneagles (where Britain hosted a G8 summit in 2005). And it’s more than previous summits – for example, at the G8 summit hosted by France in 2011 only the cost of accommodation for the leader was met by the hosts.»

Any perceived difference was «an administrative one», the spokesperson added.

«Delegations have been asked to settle the costs for accommodation and transport directly with us, and that’s because we secured these early to ensure we could meet the needs of our visitors.»

The G8 brings together Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, while the European Union also attends the meeting, sending two representatives.

The summits have been held every year since 1975, when six countries first got together in Rambouillet, France.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Philadelphia: Crews search for survivors a day after building collapse

Felipe Jun 7, 2013

Rescue crews clawed through rubble searching for more survivors the day after a building collapsed in downtown Philadelphia, killing six people and injuring 14 others.

Investigators, meanwhile, tried to determine what caused a four-story building that was being demolished to collapse onto a neighboring Salvation Army Thrift Store at 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT) on Wednesday, burying shoppers in concrete and debris.

In a round-the-clock search, rotating fire companies picked through the heaps of concrete chunks and splintered wood at the scene on Philadelphia’s busy Market Street, partially blocked off since the disaster, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Fire Department said.

Mayor Michael Nutter suggested at a late night news conference on Wednesday that the number of casualties could rise.

«We still do not know how many people were inside the thrift store or possibly on the sidewalk» at the time of the collapse, Nutter said. «If someone else is in that building, they will find them.»

Shortly after the mayor concluded his press briefing, a 61-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble alive, more than 12 hours after the collapse, and taken to a hospital in critical condition.

«They were digging, they felt her, and then she was able to respond and squeeze their hand,» Michael Resnick, Philadelphia’s public safety director, told media.

«She was talking to the firefighters who were pulling her out,» Resnick said. «It feels outstanding to pull out somebody who is alive.»

The overnight search by dozens of police and firefighters was lit by large spotlights as residents watched. Several streets remained blocked off.

Authorities declined to identify the dead other than to say that they included one man and five women who had all been inside the thrift store when the building next door came down.

Most of the injured were also thought to have been inside the store or on the sidewalk in front of it at the time. Aside from the last woman rescued, most were said to be in stable condition.

Authorities say the cause of the sudden collapse, which occurred at 22nd and Market streets in the heart of Philadelphia’s busy Center City district, was still under investigation.

One witness, 31-year-old Dan Gillis of Cinnaminson, New Jersey, a construction worker on a job across the street, said he saw a crane remove a supporting beam from the front of the building and then the wall next to the thrift store started to sway.

Jeffrey Fehnel, 48, of Philadelphia, said a backhoe hit the rear side of the building at about the same time.

«The building came down. It was like a big blast,» Fehnel said.

According to a witness, the building collapse shook the ground and knocked a man off his feet on the sidewalk outside the thrift store.

«It was ground-shaking. The shaking of the ground made the man fall down,» said Jordan McLaughlin, 18, of Philadelphia.

Authorities said the building that was being demolished had housed an X-rated book and video store.

They said it was owned by Richard Basciano, a well-known owner of adult entertainment properties including Philadelphia’s last X-rated movie house, which closed in 2012, and a New York Times Square pornography emporium known as Show World, which closed in 2004.

Basciano could not be reached for a comment.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Michael Jackson’s teen daughter attempts suicide

Felipe Jun 7, 2013

Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of late pop star Michael Jackson, was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital on Wednesday after an apparent suicide attempt, her mother, Debbie Rowe, told entertainment TV program «Entertainment Tonight.»

Paris, the second of Jackson’s three children, had «a lot going on (lately),» Rowe told «Entertainment Tonight.»

«We appreciate everyone’s thoughts for Paris at this time and their respect for the family’s privacy,» an attorney for Rowe said in a statement.

Messages left with representatives of the singer’s estate were not immediately returned.

Celebrity website TMZ.com, which first reported the suicide attempt, said Paris had been taken from her home in Calabasas, California, by ambulance at about 2 a.m. time, citing unnamed sources.

Jackson, who died in 2009 from a lethal dose of surgical anaesthetic propofol, was married to Rowe from 1996 to 1999, and the couple had two children together, Prince Michael in 1997 and Paris in 1998. Jackson later had a third child, Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket.

Rowe turned over full custody of the children to Jackson as part of their divorce but she had recently rekindled her relationship with Paris.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

British author Tom Sharpe dies aged 85

Felipe Jun 7, 2013

British comic novelist Tom Sharpe, known for his «Wilt» series about a harassed and hen-pecked university lecturer, has died aged 85, his publisher said.

The London-born author, whose last and 16th novel «The Wilt Inheritance» was published in 2010, died in Spain where he had a home in the northeastern coastal town of Llafranc.

«Tom Sharpe was one of our greatest satirists and a brilliant writer: witty, often outrageous, always acutely funny about the absurdities of life,» Susan Sandon, Sharpe’s editor at Random House, said in a statement.

Sharpe, the son of a preacher from the northeastern English county of Northumberland, was educated at Cambridge University’s Pembroke College and spent his national service during World War Two in the Royal Marines.

At a writing festival in 2010, Sharpe recalled that he did not set out to be a comic writer but wanted his first novel to attack the apartheid regime in South Africa, where he lived for 10 years before being expelled for sedition in 1961.

In South Africa he did social work before teaching in Natal.

«It just happened. Before that I’d been reading Thomas Mann, and Sartre, and Kafka and Kirkegaard,» he said.

The result was his first novel in 1971, «Riotous Assembly,» which lampoons South Africa’s apartheid system and the police followed by a 1973 sequel, «Indecent Exposure».

In 1974 he wrote «Porterhouse Blue» which sent up the inner workings of an ancient university loosely based on Cambridge which was made into a television mini-series with David Jason.

Sharpe’s 1975 novel «Blott on the Landscape», about the construction of a motorway in rural England, was made into a BBC television series in 1985 starring David Suchet as Blott.

Back in Britain, Sharpe taught apprentices at a technical college in Cambridge which inspired him to create the character Henry Wilt, a lecturer accused of murdering his wife after he was seen trying to hide a blow-up doll.

He went on to write four more Wilt novels. A film version was released in 1989 with Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith in the lead roles.

«I found that Wilt was such a good character, and the book itself was sufficiently funny, even I laughed at parts of it, and then I wrote another one, and another, and in each case he is an innocent,» he said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

UK queen’s husband, in hospital for operation

Felipe Jun 7, 2013

Queen Elizabeth’s 91-year-old husband Prince Philip has been taken to a London hospital for «an exploratory operation following abdominal investigations», Buckingham Palace said.

The British monarch’s husband is expected to spend two weeks at the London Clinic, the palace statement said. It gave no further details and said further updates would be issued when appropriate.

Philip has needed hospital treatment four times now since Christmas 2011, including for a bladder infection during the queen’s Diamond Jubilee a year ago which took some of the gloss off nationwide celebrations for the generally popular monarch.

The longest-serving consort in British history has won admirers for his charity work and steadfast support of his 87-year-old wife, but he is also prone to verbal gaffes that have caused embarrassment over the years.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Strauss Kahn, con nueva novia y otra denuncia de acoso

Felipe Jun 6, 2013

Se mostró radiante junto a su flamante pareja en Cannes. Una periodista italiana afirma que DSK intentó abusar de ella en los 90.

Se los vio radiantes en la alfombra roja de Cannes: el ex titular del FMI y dueño de varios escándalos sexuales, Dominque Strauss Kahn, y de su brazo, su flamante novia Myriam L’Aouffir, la experta en redes sociales de France Télévision. El, de smoking, y ella, de inmamculado negro Gaultier, posaron sonrientes y felices ante las cámaras.

Casi como para arruniar el momento, el semanario ‘Le Point’ publicó un nuevo caso de acoso que apunta a DSK. Cita las declaraciones de una periodista italiana llamada Myrta Merlino que asegura que Strauss Kahn intentó abusar sexualmente de ella en los años 90.

Según dijo la presentadora, la escena habría tenido lugar en el Foro de Davos (Suiza), en la época en que él era ministro de Economía de Mitterrand.

Merlino contó que durante una conferencia, ella le pidió al entonces ministro una entrevista, que el aceptó gustoso en el bar del hotel donde se alojaba, sin cámaras ni fotógrafos.

«Entonces me dijo que le gustaban mucho los periodistas y yo repliqué que su esposa era también periodista y me parecía una mujer maravillosa. Me levanté hacia la puerta y él me empujó violentamente contra la pared, tratando de besarme. Me revolví y le di una bofetada, forcejeamos y logré escapar con gran dificultad». relató Merlino.

En tanto, DSK estrena nueva novia de 45 años, nacida en Marruecos, diplomada en Letras Modernas y en Ciencias Audiovisuales, de Información y de Comunicación por las Universidades de Montpellier y de París VIII. Entró en France Télévisions en los años ’90.

Aunque DSK tiene una casa en Marruecos, no fue allí donde se conocieron. Según la revista Gala, fue a través de una asociación humanitaria hace algunos años. Ella asegura que coincidieron en unas vacaciones en Córcega gracias a un amigo común, François Pupponi, alcalde de Sarcelles.

Fuente: Clarín

Building collapse in Philadelphia injures 12, traps others

Felipe Jun 6, 2013

A building collapsed in downtown Philadelphia and rescue workers pulled 12 people from the rubble and were trying to reach two others trapped beneath it, fire officials said.

A four-story building under demolition collapsed onto a neighbouring two-story Salvation Army Thift Store at 2140 Market Street at 10:45 a.m., trapping people under mountains of crushed concrete and splintered wood, said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.

In addition to those rescued, «we located two others and are in the process of extricating both of those people,» Ayers said.

Those pulled from the rubble suffered minor injuries and were taken to area hospitals where they were in stable condition, he said.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said rescue workers were searching for more survivors. The incident occurred at 22nd and Market streets in the heart of Philadelphia’s Center City.

Witnesses told CNN that the building collapse shook the ground, knocking people off their feet on a nearby sidewalk.

«You felt it shake. There were people who actually fell over. People started screaming, they ran across the street,» one witness told media.

Police urged the public to stay away from the area while rescuers dug through the rubble.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

IMF admits it lowered own standards for Greek programme

Felipe Jun 6, 2013

The International Monetary Fund admitted it had to lower its normal standards for debt sustainability to bail out Greece, and its projections for the Greek economy may have been overly optimistic.

The IMF was one of a trio of international lenders who in 2010 stepped in to keep the euro zone country from defaulting on its debt and departing the common currency bloc. The IMF pledged about 30 billion euros ($39 billion) to Greece at the time, out of a total package of 110 billion euros.

Some IMF board members and others criticized the fund for giving Greece so much money in comparison to the size of its economy, accusing the fund of being overly swayed by its European members.

An evaluation released on Wednesday said the IMF’s support was necessary to prevent Greece’s problems from spilling over into the rest of the euro zone and the global economy.

«There was, however, a tension between the need to support Greece and the concern that debt was not sustainable with high probability,» according to the evaluation.

«In response, the exceptional access criterion was amended to lower the bar for debt sustainability in systemic cases.»

After the Greek program was approved, the IMF and the other lenders, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, required Greece to immediately cut some of its debt and implement structural reforms.

But there were «notable failures» in the results, the IMF said. Greece remained in the euro zone and cut some of its debt, but it failed to restore market confidence and the economy plunged into one of the worst recessions to ever hit an economy in peacetime, with output falling 22 percent from 2008 to 2012.

The evaluation said the IMF’s assumptions for the Greek economy can «be criticized for being too optimistic.»

The Washington-based lender, according to the evaluation, may have been overly constrained by working with its European partners within a monetary union, and not focused enough on ensuring political support existed within Greece for the rapid adjustments.

«Other lessons drawn concern the need … for Fund staff to be more skeptical about official data during regular surveillance,» the report said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Rusia: 4500 personas evacuadas del subte inundaron las calles de Moscú

Felipe Jun 5, 2013

MOSCU.- No alcanzaban los rincones de las estaciones, los vagones y los rieles del subte en Moscú para albergar a la toda la gente que se acumuló en hora pico cuando un incendio paralizó el servicio y obligó a 4500 personas a evacuar, además de dejar unos 50 heridos.

El incendio comenzó luego que un cable eléctrico se prendiera fuego en un túnel entre las estaciones de Okhotny Ryad y Biblioteka Imeni Lenina (Biblioteca Lenin), en el centro de la capital, cerca del Kremlin, durante la hora más ajetreada de la mañana, señaló el Ministerio de Manejo de Emergencias.

El fuego fue controlado rápidamente, aunque los pocos minutos de desesperación obligaron a unas 50 personas a ser atendidos, de los cuales 11 fueron hospitalizados, la mayoría por inhalación de humo. Miles de personas fueron evacuadas.

Mientras los bomberos combatían el incendio, las autoridades cerraron una de las líneas del subte que cruza el centro de Moscú, lo cual obligó a miles de personas a salir caminando desde donde estuvieran. Testigos dijeron que las calles céntricas de la capital se llenaron de personas que tuvieron que caminar a sus trabajos y otros destinos.

El subte reanudó el servicio al mediodía local, pero media hora después las autoridades volvieron a cerrar partes del recorrido tras descubrir un cable humeante en otro túnel cerca de la estación de Okhotny Ryad. El servicio fue normalizado dos horas después.

Fuente: LA Nación

Colapsó un edificio en Philadelphia

Felipe Jun 5, 2013

Un edifico colapsó en el barrio Center City de Philadelphia esta mañana, atrapando a varias personas entre los escombros.

La estructura de cuatro pisos sucumbió en la esquina de la calle 22 y Market St. cerca de las 10.45 hora local. Bomberos dijeron a la cadena ABC que entre ocho y 10 personas están atrapadas. Y que al menos unas tres personas fueron rescatadas.

Aún no se saben las causas del derrumbe. Hay equipos de socorristas en el lugar.

Fuente: Clarín

Woman in red becomes leitmotif for Istanbul’s female protesters

Felipe Jun 5, 2013

In her red cotton summer dress, necklace and white bag slung over her shoulder she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party; but before her crouches a masked policeman firing teargas spray that sends her long hair billowing upwards.

Endlessly shared on social media and replicated as a cartoon on posters and stickers, the image of the woman in red has become the leitmotif for female protesters during days of violent anti-government demonstrations in Istanbul.

«That photo encapsulates the essence of this protest,» says math student Esra at Besiktas, near the Bosphorus strait and one of the centres of this week’s protests. «The violence of the police against peaceful protesters, people just trying to protect themselves and what they value.»

In one graphic copy plastered on walls the woman appears much bigger than the policeman. «The more you spray the bigger we get», reads the slogan next to it.

The United States and the European Union as well as human rights groups have expressed concern about the heavy-handed action of Turkish police against protesters.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan branded the protesters on Monday extremists «living arm in arm with terrorism», a description that seems to sit ill with the image of the woman in red.

There were others dressed in more combative gear and sporting face masks as they threw stones, but the large number of very young women in Besiktas and on Taksim Square where the protests began on Friday evening is notable.

With swimming goggles and flimsy surgical masks against the teargas, light tasseled scarves hanging around their necks, Esra, Hasine and Secil stand apprehensively in the Besiktas district on Monday evening, joined by ever growing numbers of youngsters as dusk falls and the mood grows more sombre.

They belong, as perhaps does the woman in red, to the ranks of young, articulate women who believe they have something to lose in Erdogan’s Turkey. They feel threatened by his promotion of the Islamic headscarf, symbol of female piety.

CAREERS FOR WOMEN

Many of the women point to new abortion laws as a sign that Erdogan, who has advised Turkish women to each have three children, wants to roll back women’s rights and push them into traditional, pious roles.

«I respect women who wear the headscarf, that is their right, but I also want my rights to be protected,» says Esra. «I’m not a leftist or an anti-capitalist. I want to be a business woman and live in a free Turkey.»

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular republic formed in 1923 from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, encouraged women to wear Western clothes rather than headscarves and promoted the image of the professional woman. Ironically, Erdogan is seen these days as, for better or worse, the most dominant Turkish leader since Ataturk.

Erdogan was first swept to power in 2002 and remains unrivalled in popularity, drawing on strong support in the conservative Anatolian heartland.

The weekend demonstrations in dozens of cities suggest however his popularity may be dwindling, at least among middle classes who swung behind him in the early years of political and economic reform that cut back the power of the army and introduced some rights amendments.

«Erdogan says 50 percent of the people voted for him. I’m here to show I belong to the other 50 percent, the half of the population whose feelings he showed no respect for, the ones he is trying to crush,» says chemistry student Hasine.

«I want to have a future here in Turkey, a career, a freedom to live my life. But all these are under threat. I want Erdogan to understand,» she adds.

Erdogan, a pious man who denies Islamist ambitions for Turkey, rejects any suggestion he wants to cajole anyone into religious observance. He says new alcohol laws, also denounced by the women, have been passed to protect health rather than on religious grounds.

Protesters are coming better prepared now than when the unrest first began. Some have hard-hats, some are dressed all in black, most wear running shoes. But many are dressed as femininely as the girl in the red dress snapped on Taksim Square.

«Of course I’m nervous and I know I could be in danger here. But for me that is nothing compared to the danger of losing the Turkish Republic, its freedoms and spirit,» said 23 year-old economics student Busra, who says her parents support her protest.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

UN rights team believes chemical weapons used in Syria

Felipe Jun 5, 2013

United Nations human rights investigators said today they had «reasonable grounds» to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria and warned that the shattered country was in «free-fall».

In their latest report, they said they had received allegations that Syrian government forces and rebels had used the banned weapons, but most testimony related to their use by state forces.

Increasing reports from the battlefield of the use of chemical weapons have sounded alarm bells in the West, lending urgency to a new diplomatic push to end the war. US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that the use of chemical weapons was unacceptable.

The UN commission said it examined four reported toxic attacks in March and April but could not determine which side was behind them.

«There are reasonable grounds to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals were used. It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator,» Paulo Pinheiro, who chairs the U.N. commission of inquiry, told a news conference in Geneva.

«The witnesses that we have interviewed include victims, refugees who fled some areas, and medical staff,» Pinheiro said, declining to be more specific for reasons of confidentiality.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government and its opponents have accused each other of using chemical weapons.

Syria’s ambassador, Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, in a debate at the UN Human Rights Council today, questioned the «neutrality and professionalism» of the panel.

Russian Ambassador Alexey Borodavkin called for sending UN experts to Khan al-Assal in the northern Aleppo province, where an alleged chemical weapon strike took place on March 19, one of the four cited by the inquiry.

«In this connection, we should recall that Damascus is ready to accept this group,» he said.

A UN team of inspectors has so far been denied access to Syria and has been unable to establish whether chemical weapons have been used.

The UN rights team of more than 20 investigators conducted 430 interviews from January 15 to May 15 among refugees in neighboring countries and by Skype with people still in Syria.

But findings remained inconclusive and it was vital that a separate team of experts be given full access to Syria to collect samples from victims and sites of alleged attacks, the rights investigators said.

In any case, atrocities committed with conventional weapons far outweighed any casualties from the use of chemical agents, Pinheiro said, noting the absence of a large-scale toxic attack.

source: Buenos Aires Herald

Explosion on New York college campus injures seven faculty members

Felipe Jun 5, 2013

A possible natural gas explosion blew out windows of a historic building at Nyack College near New York City today, injuring seven faculty members, a Rockland County sheriff’s spokesman said.

«The whole first floor got blown out – shrapnel and glass flew everywhere,» William Barbera, chief of the sheriff’s patrol, told Reuters.

After the explosion, which occurred at about noon, fire and bomb investigators rushed to the campus in Nyack, about 30 miles north of New York City.

Members of the Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc., which is owned by Con Edison Co., also were on the scene to shut off the gas, Barbera said.

«It appears to be a natural gas explosion, but it’s still under investigation,» Barbera said.

Seven faculty members in the building, built in 1930 and called Sky Island Lodge, were hurt, although none of their injuries was considered life threatening, Barbera said. They were rushed to Nyack Hospital.

The campus was relatively empty as most students had left following graduation last month, he said.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

US says WikiLeaks soldier driven by ‘arrogance’

Felipe Jun 4, 2013

Military prosecutors said arrogance drove the US soldier who went on trial accused of the biggest leak of classified information in US history through the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website three years ago.

But at the opening of the court-martial of Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, his defense lawyer portrayed him as a naive young soldier who had leaked the documents, combat videos and other data because he wanted to reveal the human cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Manning case has pitted civil liberties groups who want more transparency in military and diplomatic affairs against the government, which accuses Manning of endangering lives and damaging diplomacy by leaking classified information.

Manning, a former intelligence analyst, faces a possible life sentence without parole if convicted at his court-martial in Fort Meade, Maryland, for leaking more than 700,000 secret documents in 2010.

«This is a case of what happens when arrogance meets access to classified networks,» lead prosecutor U.S. Army Captain Joe Morrow said in his opening statement. «This had great interest to our adversaries and to our enemies.»

The slightly built Manning, wearing dress uniform, sat between his lawyers at the defense table. He faces 21 counts, including the most serious one of aiding the enemy, and prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917. Manning pleaded guilty in February to 10 lesser charges, but prosecutors rejected the pleas and are pursuing their original charges.

Kerry says time running out to revive Mideast peace

Felipe Jun 4, 2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israel and the Palestinians to revive stalled peace talks, warning that the alternative was a «negative spiral of responses.»

«We’re running out of time. If we do not succeed now, we may not get another chance,» Kerry said in a speech to the American Jewish Committee in which he urged American Jews to support peace efforts to revive stalled peace talks. «The status quo is simply not sustainable.»

Kerry said the best way to ensure Israel’s security was by ending «once and for all conflict with the Palestinians by summoning the courage to achieve peace and by reaching a negotiated resolution.»

«The absence of peace is perpetual conflict. … We will find ourselves in a negative spiral of responses and counter-responses that could literally slam the door on a two-state solution,» he said.

Kerry, who has visited Israel four times in his four months in office to try to restart peace talks, acknowledged skepticism that the two sides could resolve their differences.

U.S.-brokered peace efforts broke down in 2010 in a dispute over Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinians want a settlement construction freeze, while Israel insists talks should be held without preconditions.

«I fully recognize the challenges and predicament in which Israel finds itself, but I also firmly believe this is a hopeful time if we choose to make it so. This can actually be a time for possibility, a time for promise,» Kerry said.

«I still believe peace is achievable,» he added.

Kerry said a stable Palestinian state and a flourishing economy would strengthen Israel’s security. During a visit to Jordan last month, he announced a plan to spur Palestinian growth with up to $4 billion in private investment.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is leading a group working to identify opportunities in tourism, construction, energy, agriculture and high-tech industries in the Palestinian territories.

Earlier on Monday, Kerry said he would decide at some point whether to return to Israel and the Palestinian territories to push for decisions by the two sides on reviving talks.

«I will make a judgment at some point whether I need to go and push a little bit, or help that process, and I am certainly willing to. I am open to that possibility but we are not raising any expectations about an American plan,» Kerry told reporters at a news conference with the Polish foreign minister.

Kerry said he looked forward to working with new Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, who was appointed on Sunday to replace Western-favored economist Salam Fayyad, who quit in April.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Revuelo en Israel por las fotos en tanga de cuatro jóvenes soldados

Felipe Jun 3, 2013

Las muchachas, de 18 años, han recibido un castigo sin especificar del Ejército israelí, pero han vuelto a colgar más instantáneas ligeras de ropa

Barcelona (Redacción).- Cuatro jóvenes soldado del Ejército de Israel (Tsahal) de 18 años han publicado fotos en la red social Facebook en ropa interior y el revuelo mediático alrededor de las nalgas de las muchachas ligeras de ropa ha sido monumental en el país hebreo.
El Tsahal ha tomado medidas disciplinarias con las jóvenes, cuyas instantáneas han corrido como la pólvora por internet. Sus posaderas han llegado a la portada del diario sensacionalista y uno de los más vendidos de Reino Unido, The Sun.
Las fotos han suscitado un intenso debate en Israel acerca del «daño» que se haya podido hacer al Ejército después de la publicación de estas instantáneas. Al parecer, el «castigo» sin especificar del Tsahal no ha surtido mucho efecto en las soldado, dado que han subido tres nuevas fotos, en esta ocasión con sus armas reglamentarias en mano y en ropa interior.

Fuente: La Vanguardia