About 500 Chinese people are said to live in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan’s second city. Many work in the new Kawa Mall where Chinese flags, lucky cats and paper lanterns present an incongruous scene on the Kurdish landscape. Such immigration and foreign investment is becomming more prominent in the semi-autonomous area run by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Al Jazeera’s Rhodri Davies reports.
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Click here to view this media The jury in Shawna Forde’s trial for the murders of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul, spent nine hours deliberating the case before delivering its verdict today in Pima County Superior Court, and it was clear there was little doubt in their minds: Forde was found guilty of all eight counts in the case, including two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder for the shooting of Brisenia’s mother, and an assortment of burglary, robbery and aggravated assault charges. enlarge Credit: Presente.org I was there to observe. The jury’s verdict came in relatively short time this morning in Tucson, and it was an efficient affair: Forde, wearing a light plaid suit jacket and pants, entered with her attorneys, looking confident and smiling. The jury then filed in, and delivered their verdicts to the judge. The court clerk then read them aloud, along with the jury’s findings: guilty, guilty, guilty, with no doubts at all about any of the qualifying issues. Strangely, Forde was almost perfectly emotionless: She looked straight ahead, chatted with her attorneys, and even smiled occasionally. Indeed, she continued to exude the bravado that has been her style from the outset — even as she was led back out of the courtroom to her awaiting prison cell. There were plenty of emotions flowing, though — much of it directly in front of me. As the verdicts were announced, Brisenia’s mother, Gina Gonzalez — who not only survived the shootings, but delivered damning testimony in the trial — began weeping softly, as did her sister and mother, who accompanied her. Now the trial heads to the penalty phase, with a hearing tomorrow to discuss mitigating factors in the sentencing, which will be followed by deliberations to determine whether or not she ends up on Arizona’s death row . (Arizona currently has only one other woman facing the death penalty — Wendi Andriano, convicted in 2004 of murdering her husband. (Arizona’s preferred method of execution is by lethal injection.) As Presente observed in its press release praising the verdict: Though we received a verdict that condemned these atrocious murders, we also recognize that the Brisenia Flores’ case is not the isolated incident that some media reports make it out to be. Rather, it has galvanized the attention of the entire Latino community across the country as it reflects the anti-immigrant, anti-Latino hatred organized by extremist groups. Latinos – the fastest-growing and largest ethnic minority group in the U.S. – understand and experience the phenomenon of hatred that has rapidly expanded in the nation. In fact, Latinos are closely watching media outlets that provide a platform for hatred promoted by extremist groups like MAD and the Federation for American Immigration Reform – a group Forde represented on a PBS show, for instance. Latinos are closely watching those media outlets that irresponsibly allow hateful groups attack to Latinos and immigrants, fanning the flames of fear and violence in our communities. The details revealed in the murder trial have touched us all in a deep and unique way. These important details reflect the deepening and mainstreaming of the most noxious and dangerous strands of hatred in the United States. They move us to continue efforts to make sure there are no more hate-crimes and to take action in condemning media outlets that help disseminate hatred. Kim Smith at the Arizona Daily Star has the complete wrapup.
Continue reading …Egyptian officials’ assets to be traced by Serious Organised Crime Agency
February 14, 2011 No Comment
Following Egypt’s request to freeze assets of Hosni Mubarak and his cabinet, Soca will investigate UK-based bank accounts Officers from Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency are expected to begin tracing the bank accounts of Hosni Mubarak’s cabinet after the Egyptian government made a formal request for a freeze on the assets of the ousted president and his former colleagues. The foreign secretary, William Hague, said Soca would take charge of the hunt for accounts in London, though the timing and extent of the investigation would be decided by EU finance ministers following discussions in Brussels. Hague said UK rules prevented the police from freezing bank accounts without “evidence of illegality or misuse of state assets”. He stressed that if evidence became available the government would take “firm and prompt action”. His stance disappointed opposition MPs, who argued the government should move more quickly to support the new Egyptian government in its efforts to repatriate illicit funds sent overseas. The shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, demanded to know why the government had failed to authorise an immediate investigation to prevent funds leaving the UK for less regulated offshore tax havens. He said the government needed to move quickly to prevent Mubarak, his family and cronies who benefited from the corrupt regime from avoiding scrutiny. The Egyptian government demand follows reports that the former president used his position as leader over 30 years to amass a fortune in cash, gold bars and other assets inside Egypt and overseas. It is understood Mubarak and his sons, Gamal and Alaa, are each billionaires with properties in London, Paris, the US and the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Protesters in Cairo and Alexandria have demanded the return of assets they believe were the result of corrupt deals between the Mubaraks and foreign investors. To impose an asset freeze on an outgoing leader, the EU needs the backing of all 27 member states and usually co-ordinates its actions with the incoming government. Last week, the bloc announced a freeze on the assets of 48 ex-Tunisian officials, including former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife. Switzerland said it would freeze that assets of Mubarak family members in a statement over the weekend. Swiss bank accounts are a favourite with disgraced dictators as they have provided security and secrecy from investigations by foreign governments. It is not known if the Swiss authorities have any records of accounts held by the family, which are more likely to be in impenetrable trusts or in the names of obscure companies. The Foreign Office is expected to notify the Soca of the identities of the named Egyptian officials over the next 24 hours, according to police. Soca would then circulate their names amongst banks and financial institutions and would notify City of London police or the Serious Fraud Office of any possible offences. Gamal Mubarak, 47, has lived for many years in a £6m house in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, west London, according to neighbours. The house is ultimately owned by the Duke of Westminster. Last week, builders could be seen working on the property’s basement. Friends of the Mubaraks have claimed that the family have lived in a number of desirable properties in Mayfair, central London, which were owned by offshore companies. Gamal was a director of the London based medical firm Medinvest Associates for seven years until 2001, according to Companies House. Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Crime Phillip Inman Rajeev Syal guardian.co.uk
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In the west, we tie shoes to the cars of newly married couples. But in the Middle East, they lob them at their enemies Shoe-waving as a form of protest first grabbed the attention of a wider public in 2008, when Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi famously lobbed a pair of black lace-ups at President George Bush during a
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Iranians defy government ban to join rally in Tehran, with demonstrations and street clashes in Bahrain and Yemen Egypt’s uprising has sent powerful shockwaves across the Middle East , with demonstrations and street clashes as far afield as Iran, Bahrain and Yemen. As protests and strikes erupted across Egypt, thousands of Iranians defied a government ban and volleys of teargas to join a rally in Azadi Square in the centre of Tehran. The protests were the biggest since those that erupted following the disputed 2009 presidential elections. Mir Hossein Mousavi, leader of the Green movement, was placed under house arrest, as was Mehdi Karroubi, another prominent opposition figure. Protest rallies were also held in Isfahan and Shiraz. Iran’s Islamic regime has hailed the uprisings in both Egypt and Tunisia, though neither involved organised activity by Islamist opposition movements, but instead were led by young people seeking political freedoms and an end to autocracy – just like many Iranian demonstrators. Large numbers of police and security forces, wearing riot gear and many mounted on motorbikes, were stationed around Tehran’s main squares. Mobile phone connections were down in the area of the protests. Unrest in the Gulf island state of Bahrain on a “day of rage” organised by activists using Twitter and Facebook appeared to be similarly inspired by events in Cairo and Tunis but rooted in local factors, especially anger at discrimination against the Shia majority by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty. It was the first sign of post-Egypt unrest anywhere in the wealthy Gulf states. Riot police fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators demanding the release of Shia detainees. “Our movement is peaceful and our demands are legitimate,” read one slogan. At least 14 people were injured in Newidrat village in the south-west of the kingdom — a key western ally that hosts the US fifth fleet. “We are only asking for political reforms, right of political participation, respect for human rights, stopping of systematic discrimination against Shias,” activist Nabeel Rajab told al-Jazeera. Rajab later reported that one person had died of injuries sustained during the protests. In the Yemeni capital Sana’a protesters marched for a fourth consecutive day, demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh, who has ruled the Arab world’s poorest country since 1978, pledged recently not to run again for the presidency in 2013, but opposition forces are demanding that he emulate Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and step down at once. They faced attacks by government supporters wielding broken bottles, daggers and rocks. Police were unable to control the crowds in Taiz, where thousands of Yemeni protesters had held a night-long rally. The disturbances occurred while Saleh and the main opposition group were preparing for talks that the government hoped would help avert an Egyptian-style revolt. In the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, sacked his entire cabinet in what was widely interpreted as a gesture intended to satisfy growing calls for reform across the Arab world – though there too, local political factors are at work. Middle East Egypt Iran Bahrain Yemen Protest Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Words of wisdom from a Greek restaurant owner who employed me in my youth after I messed up an order for moussaka or souvlaki — once OK, twice stupid! Associated Press reporter Liz Sidoti might want to take this advice to heart. In a CPAC roundup story written yesterday and picked up by The Huffington Post, Sidoti wrote this, initially referring to post-Tucson calls for civility — [Video after page break] The brief political time out is over — if it really ever existed. “All right, sit down and shut up,” Cheney said after being greeted by hecklers when he made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
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The Central Bank of Venezuela has announced that produce prices went up nearly 70 per cent in 2010. Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, blames the jump on vendors. However, they say they have no choice but to raise prices. Al Jazeera’s Craig Mauro reports from the capital, Caracas.
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Ruling military council also appeals for end to political protests while seeking to reassure youth leaders Egypt’s new military government has appealed for an end to the strikes sweeping the country as workers use their new-found freedom to demand pay increases after years of rising food prices. Transport, bank and tourism employees were joined by steel, oil and gas workers in stoppages that undermined the army’s attempts to return Egypt to normality after the three weeks of unrest that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The ruling military council called on Egyptians to go back to work, saying that strikes “damage the security of the country”. “Noble Egyptians, see that these strikes, at this delicate time, lead to negative results,” it said in a statement read on state television. Reuters reported that the army was considering using martial law to ban work stoppages, although that may prove difficult to square with its promises of democratic liberalisation. In the statement, the army also called for an end to political protests, having forced out the last few hundred remaining demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, who had refused to leave until the military stepped aside in favour of an interim civilian administration. Soldiers barred foreign television cameras from filming the operation. The army sought to reassure youth leaders, who played a leading role in the protests, that it is serious about democratisation by telling them that it will hold a referendum on constitutional changes within two months. But it is not clear who will be making the changes or to what extent they will free Egyptian politics. The most immediate challenge for the military regime, though, is the unleashing of years of pent-up frustration and anger among workers about rising prices. More than half of Egypt’s population lives on less than £1 a day. They are heavily reliant on subsidised foods, particularly bread, after sharp increases in the price of staples such as rice and pasta in recent years. Egypt’s military rulers declared Monday a bank holiday after bank employees went out on strike along with workers in the state-run oil and gas industries, ambulance drivers, textile- and steelworkers and post office employees. Police officers and employees of the culture and health ministries joined the strikes. Hundreds of Bank of Alexandria workers demonstrated outside its branch in central Cairo urging their bosses to “leave, leave” – the same slogan used in mass protests against Mubarak. Striking workers in the state-owned Cairo transport authority took to the streets to demand a pay increase and benefits such as free hospital care. Among them was Ahmed Said, who has worked as a driver for the company for 18 years. His take-home pay is about £60 a month, of which more than half goes on rent. He feeds a family of five on the rest. “There is just enough money for food. We have meat once a week but not all weeks. Some days we do not eat dinner. If a child goes to the hospital and we have to pay for that, then me and my wife do not have a meal,” he said. “This is wrong. How can Mubarak be worth so much and we have so little?” He said that after years of staying silent out of fear of the pervasive secret police under Mubarak’s rule, he would not now be intimidated. “Before, we had to be careful. We would be arrested. But now we can talk. We need food. We have been on strike four days. The army cannot stop us,” he said. Another transport worker, Hatem Saleh, waved a wage slip that showed he earned E£238 (£25) in basic pay last month, with E£225 (£24) in overtime and bonuses. Again, more than half goes on rent. Saleh entered the flat he shares with his wife and two teenage daughters, and opened the fridge. “We have a big fridge, but look, it is empty. What is there? Some vegetables. Not enough vegetables for more than two days. We have some bread. We have not had meat in two weeks because we had to pay some money for my daughter’s school. If we buy clothes, we eat less. How can this be when I have worked for nearly 20 years?” he said. The food crisis stalked the Mubarak regime for years. Egypt’s attempts to reform its system of subsidised food for the poor, which ate up more of the national budget than health and education, and the government’s decision to encourage the growth of crops for export in place of wheat, contributed to a surge in food prices in recent years. It came just as demand for subsidised foods increased because people were less able to afford such staples as rice and pasta owing to surging oil and crop prices. Three years ago, activists organised a series of food protests that in some ways presaged this year’s uprising. A strike and protests were partly organised by emails, text messaging and the internet, but the government was able to outmanoeuvre them with a 30% pay rise for state workers, and by rounding up some of the organisers and through intimidation. But Egypt’s new military government faces workers who are no longer so afraid of authority. Egypt Protest Middle East Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
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Soldiers attempt to get traffic moving in central Cairo – but prohibit TV crews from filming. James Bays, Al Jazeera correspondent, reports.
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