Containing drug trafficking proving effective but global rise in illicit use of synthetic drugs for ‘legal highs’ cause concern Global opium production fell by 38% in 2010 and cocaine cultivation continued to decline, according to the annual UN report on the world drug market. The report said that while the global markets for cocaine, heroin and cannabis had declined or remained stable, the production and illicit use of prescription opioid drugs and new synthetics known as legal highs, which mimic the effects of traditional drugs, had increased sharply. The UN estimates that 210 million people, about 5% of the world’s population, used some kind of illicit drug last year at least once. The most popular drug remains cannabis, with 170 million users. An estimated 39 million “problem drug users” use heroin, cocaine and other class A substances. Sandeep Chawla, director of policy of the UN office of drugs and crime, said the rise of new synthetic drugs reflected their lack of dependence on plant cultivation. Instead they could be produced from readily available industrial chemicals close to potential consumers without the need to set up global trafficking chains. The sharp decline in opium production to 4,860 tonnes was due to a blight that wiped out most of the opium harvest in Afghanistan last year, the report said, although experts expect it to recover this year. A 20% increase in opium production in Burma did little to compensate. The UN said it was more encouraged by the continuing decline in the area under coca cultivation, which has shrunk by 18% since 2007 to 149,000 hectares. The last decade has seen coca cultivation in Colombia more than halve from 163, 300 hectares in 2000 to 62,000 last year. The UN experts say this decline has not been offset by small increases to 61,200 hectares in Peru, which on one measure has replaced Colombia as the largest producer of coca in the world, and in Bolivia. The UN’s policy director also pointed to successes in containing the emergence of West Africa as a major transhipment point into Europe for cocaine over the past decade. It is estimated that about 21 tonnes of cocaine were trafficked via West Africa to Europe in 2009 – down from 47 tonnes two years earlier. Chawla also cited the fact that the majority of seizures now took place in South America rather than US or western Europe as further evidence of progress. The UN report describes the fall in Colombian coca cultivation, which declined a further 15% last year, as remarkable but sounds a cautious note about the actual impact on production. Chawla said increased yields and changes in the way the leaves are processed meant the jury was still out on whether the decline was reflected in falling cocaine production levels. However, Chawla did say that increased counter-narcotics operations, including fumigation and eradication programmes, and the withdrawal of Farc rebels from parts of the country, contributed to the sharp decline in cultivation. It has taken a decade of US support and more than $5bn (£3bn) in aid through Plan Colombia. In 2009 and 2010, Colombian authorities seized at least 10 times more cocaine than their Peruvian counterparts – and half of it was caught before it even crossed the border. Coca’s traditional home in Peru is in the central jungle valleys on the eastern slopes of Andes cordillera. Around half of Peru’s cocaine comes from one in particular, the Ene-Apurimac river valley. Conditions are perfect for growing coffee and coca but most of the 350,000 population – nearly half of whom live in dire poverty – choose to grow coca. For many families it is their caja chica – a “small box” from which they can get ready cash for school uniforms, extra supplies or just keep something for a rainy day. Drugs trade United Nations Drugs Health Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Yulia Tymoshenko says corruption trial aim is to destroy Ukraine opposition
June 23, 2011 No Comment
Orange revolution leader faces ban from political office if found guilty in case she claims President Yanukovich orchestrated Her distinctive circular braid has been replaced by a loose furl of blond hair, but the unwavering gaze and the stinging rhetoric are those of old. Seven years since she led Ukraine’s orange revolution, Yulia Tymoshenko is back at centre stage as she prepares to stand as the accused in what she calls a show trial orchestrated by President Viktor Yanukovich, her sworn political foe. “Everything that is happening with me now is ordered and controlled by Yanukovich,” she says, as her chauffeur-driven black Mercedes noses through a traffic jam close to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the square that made her an international celebrity. “He believes that if he can destroy the opposition in one fell swoop then it will not rise up again. And that’s why these criminal cases are being opened against me, one after the other … They are the instrument in Yanukovich’s fight against his political opponents, against me – not by democratic, honest and competitive means, but just like Stalin did in 1937.” Tymoshenko’s career has soared and dipped since those heady days in 2004 when she and her ally, Viktor Yushchenko, brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on to the Maidan. Back then, she whipped up the crowds against Yanukovich, a former head of the Donetsk coal mining region, who was accused of fixing the country’s presidential election in his favour with massive vote-rigging. It seemed like a victory of democracy over an old Soviet-style regime when the poll was cancelled and Yushchenko won a rerun in early 2005. But he and Tymoshenko, who became his premier, soon fell to bickering and the orange dream began to evaporate. Last year, Yanukovich made a dramatic comeback – although his hefty support in the Russian-speaking east of the country had never actually dimmed – beating Tymoshenko in presidential elections by just 3.5 percentage points. Soon afterwards, she was ousted as prime minister while Yushchenko faded into political obscurity. Then, in December, Tymoshenko, 50, was indicted for abuse of power for allegedly using $425m (£266m) of “Kyoto money” received by Ukraine for selling carbon emission quotas while she was prime minister to pay for pensions. Another corruption charge of buying overpriced vehicles for use as rural ambulances soon followed. Finally, last month, she was charged with signing a deal with Russia in 2009 for supplies of natural gas that allegedly lost Ukraine $440m – the case that comes to court . The accusations have led to a constant merry-go-round of visits by the former businesswoman to the general prosecutor’s office, accompanied by television crews and her supporters. For now, she is free, but cannot leave Kiev without prosecutors’ consent under strict bail limits. Several of her former government colleagues are already behind bars on charges of fraud, including the former interior minister, Yury Lutsenko. Tymoshenko rejects the accusations against her as fabricated and claims it is the current government that is corrupt. “Yanukovich is running Ukraine as his own personal company,” she says. “His son, a simple dentist, has found his way in to the list of the richest people in the country. How many teeth do you need to pull to do that?” Both men deny any wrongdoing. Tymoshenko adds: “Yanukovich’s ratings are falling fast. He knows that if there is a powerful opposition and honest elections then he will lose power in 2012. He wants to neutralise this threat and make sure that I have no access to the elections.” Her abuse of power charges carry punishments of up to 10 years in jail, but even a suspended sentence could prevent Tymoshenko from taking part in next year’s parliamentary poll, and possibly the next presidential election in 2015. Yanukovich and his allies say they are not involved in the cases. “I wish Yulia Tymoshenko to prove her innocence in court and continue to live, work and do her favourite things,” he said last week. A senior source in the presidential administration said: “The current Ukrainian leadership is trying to be unbiased with regard to law enforcement. No one talks about the 360 [corruption] prosecutions of current members of the government.” But western diplomats say Tymoshenko’s trial looks like a politically motivated attack designed to see off an opponent, and part of a wider backsliding on democracy since Yanukovich came to the presidency last year. That poses a thorny problem as Ukraine wrangles over its future. While often characterised as pro-Moscow , Yanukovich has taken a pragmatic course in foreign policy. He signed off last year on a deal to let Russia keep its Black Sea fleet in Crimea and has ruled out joining Nato, yet his government has also indicated it will sign a free trade agreement with the EU by the end of this year – a snub to the Kremlin’s offer of a customs union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. EU diplomats insist bringing Ukraine “inside the tent” of economic integration will give greater scope to lean on Yanukovich to improve his human rights record. But last week a group of Ukrainian intellectuals called on the EU to stall talks on closer ties until Yanukovich halts political trials and “democratic regression”. Tymoshenko disagrees. “Ukraine needs to be saved,” she said. “If the EU pushes Ukraine away now and leaves it one-on-one with this regime, our country will be thrown back several decades.” Yulia Tymoshenko Ukraine Europe Tom Parfitt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Yulia Tymoshenko says corruption trial aim is to destroy Ukraine opposition
June 23, 2011 No CommentOrange revolution leader faces ban from political office if found guilty in case she claims President Yanukovich orchestrated Her distinctive circular braid has been replaced by a loose furl of blond hair, but the unwavering gaze and the stinging rhetoric are those of old. Seven years since she led Ukraine’s orange revolution, Yulia Tymoshenko is back at centre stage as she prepares to stand as the accused in what she calls a show trial orchestrated by President Viktor Yanukovich, her sworn political foe. “Everything that is happening with me now is ordered and controlled by Yanukovich,” she says, as her chauffeur-driven black Mercedes noses through a traffic jam close to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the square that made her an international celebrity. “He believes that if he can destroy the opposition in one fell swoop then it will not rise up again. And that’s why these criminal cases are being opened against me, one after the other … They are the instrument in Yanukovich’s fight against his political opponents, against me – not by democratic, honest and competitive means, but just like Stalin did in 1937.” Tymoshenko’s career has soared and dipped since those heady days in 2004 when she and her ally, Viktor Yushchenko, brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on to the Maidan. Back then, she whipped up the crowds against Yanukovich, a former head of the Donetsk coal mining region, who was accused of fixing the country’s presidential election in his favour with massive vote-rigging. It seemed like a victory of democracy over an old Soviet-style regime when the poll was cancelled and Yushchenko won a rerun in early 2005. But he and Tymoshenko, who became his premier, soon fell to bickering and the orange dream began to evaporate. Last year, Yanukovich made a dramatic comeback – although his hefty support in the Russian-speaking east of the country had never actually dimmed – beating Tymoshenko in presidential elections by just 3.5 percentage points. Soon afterwards, she was ousted as prime minister while Yushchenko faded into political obscurity. Then, in December, Tymoshenko, 50, was indicted for abuse of power for allegedly using $425m (£266m) of “Kyoto money” received by Ukraine for selling carbon emission quotas while she was prime minister to pay for pensions. Another corruption charge of buying overpriced vehicles for use as rural ambulances soon followed. Finally, last month, she was charged with signing a deal with Russia in 2009 for supplies of natural gas that allegedly lost Ukraine $440m – the case that comes to court . The accusations have led to a constant merry-go-round of visits by the former businesswoman to the general prosecutor’s office, accompanied by television crews and her supporters. For now, she is free, but cannot leave Kiev without prosecutors’ consent under strict bail limits. Several of her former government colleagues are already behind bars on charges of fraud, including the former interior minister, Yury Lutsenko. Tymoshenko rejects the accusations against her as fabricated and claims it is the current government that is corrupt. “Yanukovich is running Ukraine as his own personal company,” she says. “His son, a simple dentist, has found his way in to the list of the richest people in the country. How many teeth do you need to pull to do that?” Both men deny any wrongdoing. Tymoshenko adds: “Yanukovich’s ratings are falling fast. He knows that if there is a powerful opposition and honest elections then he will lose power in 2012. He wants to neutralise this threat and make sure that I have no access to the elections.” Her abuse of power charges carry punishments of up to 10 years in jail, but even a suspended sentence could prevent Tymoshenko from taking part in next year’s parliamentary poll, and possibly the next presidential election in 2015. Yanukovich and his allies say they are not involved in the cases. “I wish Yulia Tymoshenko to prove her innocence in court and continue to live, work and do her favourite things,” he said last week. A senior source in the presidential administration said: “The current Ukrainian leadership is trying to be unbiased with regard to law enforcement. No one talks about the 360 [corruption] prosecutions of current members of the government.” But western diplomats say Tymoshenko’s trial looks like a politically motivated attack designed to see off an opponent, and part of a wider backsliding on democracy since Yanukovich came to the presidency last year. That poses a thorny problem as Ukraine wrangles over its future. While often characterised as pro-Moscow , Yanukovich has taken a pragmatic course in foreign policy. He signed off last year on a deal to let Russia keep its Black Sea fleet in Crimea and has ruled out joining Nato, yet his government has also indicated it will sign a free trade agreement with the EU by the end of this year – a snub to the Kremlin’s offer of a customs union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. EU diplomats insist bringing Ukraine “inside the tent” of economic integration will give greater scope to lean on Yanukovich to improve his human rights record. But last week a group of Ukrainian intellectuals called on the EU to stall talks on closer ties until Yanukovich halts political trials and “democratic regression”. Tymoshenko disagrees. “Ukraine needs to be saved,” she said. “If the EU pushes Ukraine away now and leaves it one-on-one with this regime, our country will be thrown back several decades.” Yulia Tymoshenko Ukraine Europe Tom Parfitt guardian.co.uk
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Agents’ arrival indicates US might make a formal request to extradite teenager accused of cyber-crime FBI agents investigating the activities of the alleged hacker Ryan Cleary have flown into Britain. Cleary, 19, who appeared before magistrates on Thursday, was arrested on Monday as part of an investigation into cyber-attacks in Britain and the US. Hours after his arrest at Cleary’s family home in Wickford, Essex, the FBI agents arrived in the UK, it has emerged, which will add to speculation that Washington is considering a request for his extradition. Cleary has been charged with five offences of hacking that are alleged to have targeted three British based websites. Police and FBI investigations continue. Cleary appeared at City of London magistrates court charged with a cyber-attack on Monday on Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), attacks on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in November 2010, and on the British Phonographic Industry in October 2010. His arrest was linked to a series of cyber-attacks by a group called LulzSec, which investigators believe had targeted websites including ones belonging to the American CIA, the US Senate and the electronics company Sony. Because Cleary has been charged in the UK, that case would take precedence over any extradition request from the US. The FBI, which gives cyber-crime high priority, is expected to be given access to evidence collected by British police from Cleary’s computer equipment recovered from his family home. The FBI is expected to attempt to conduct its own questioning of the teenager. In court, district judge Quentin Purdy told Cleary: “There may be additional charges resulting from the police investigation.” Ben Cooper, defending Cleary, described him as a “vulnerable young man”. The teenager is being detained at Charing Cross police station in central London for further questioning. LulzSec Hacking Crime FBI United States Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Mitch McConnell foolishly says: ‘GOP 2012 slogan should be Obama ‘made it worse’
June 23, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday that if Republicans want to take the presidency from Barack Obama in 2012 then their campaign theme should be “he made it worse.” “I’m confident we’re going to nominate someone who is a credible, believable alternative” to Obama, McConnell said. UPDATE: Steve Benen has more on McConnell at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast here — McConnell trips over his own tax rhetoric : Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spoke to reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast, and talked in some detail about why tax increases won’t be part of any bipartisan deal. Dave Weigel noted one argument, in particular, that stood out. “I, as you recall, negotiated in December an extension of current tax rates. They still had 59 Democrats and a 40-seat majority in the House when the vice president and I negotiated an extension of the current tax rates, and the president went around and said to do otherwise would be bad for the economy. Now, does anybody in this room think the economy is better now than it was in December? I don’t think so. So, look: Taxes aren’t going to be raised.” That sounded to me like an admission that the tax cut deal hadn’t worked — which meant extending Bush rates plus adding sweeteners didn’t work. And that wasn’t what many Republicans were saying in January, when early job numbers pointed to a possible recovery. I asked McConnell to expand on that: If keeping the Bush tax rates wasn’t helping the economy any, why would we expect keeping those rates, or lowering them, would lead to growth? “Well, if borrowing a trillion dollars in spending, largely on government, and over-regulating the economy, is good for the economy, we’d be in a boom time. So my view is: Quit doing what we’ve been doing. You certainly don’t want to raise taxes in the middle of the recession, which the president [agreed with] in December.” If we needed a reminder that Mitch McConnell has no idea what he’s talking about, this ought to do the trick. Read on…
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Just as Viacom took a break from courtroom battles over Time Warner Cable’s iPad app the media giant has filed a lawsuit against Cablevision, claiming the Optimum for iPad app does not have the right to stream its channels. Viacom wants a new agreement before it sees its content appear on new screens , while Cablevision believes the delivery method it uses to get content to the app makes it the same as any cable box in a customer’s house. We’ll have a look at the actual lawsuit in a moment, check after the break for a quick statement from Viacom about why it’s going this route. Continue reading Viacom sues Cablevision over its TV-streaming Optimum for iPad app Viacom sues Cablevision over its TV-streaming Optimum for iPad app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Neil Langmead convicted of killing estranged wife and her friend in attack in Barnstaple house A “controlling and dominating” husband has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years for the murder of his estranged wife and her friend in a frenzied sex attack. Neil Langmead, a builder aged 41, repeatedly stabbed Deborah Langmead and Donna St John, both 35 and both mothers of two children. The women were found almost side by side in the blood-soaked kitchen of a burning house in Barnstaple, Devon, in August last year. Both had been sexually assaulted and Mrs Langmead had been sexually mutilated by her husband, either as she lay unconscious or after she was dead. A 13-day trial at Exeter crowncourt heard that Langmead, who had a history of bullying behaviour towards his wife, had been unable to accept that she was starting divorce proceedings. He had been issued with a warning by police for harassing her a week before the murders. Mrs Langmead also had extra bolts put on the doors of the house to make her feel safer. The jury of nine women and three men rejected his version of events, in which he claimed that he had consensual sex with his wife, leading to an argument between the two women which became violent. He said he killed Mrs Langmead in self-defence after intervening and that she killed her friend. The jury accepted the prosecution claim that he had repeatedly stabbed the women before setting fire to the house to cover his tracks. Crime Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Poor economic news from US, China, UK and eurozone push shares down sharply, while $8 is wiped off oil price World stock markets suffered another bout of heavy losses on Thursday, driven down by fears over the eurozone debt crisis and fresh evidence that global economic growth is faltering. A flood of poor economic news from the US, China, the UK and the eurozone helped to push shares down sharply, and send the euro to record lows. The oil price also slumped, wiping more than $8 off the cost of a barrel of Brent crude at one point, as extra supplies were released in an effort to prevent the world economy stagnating. In London the FTSE 100 shed more than 100 points in afternoon trading to 5666, a fall of more than 1.7%. Wall Street also saw early losses, with the Dow Jones losing 1.8% when trading began to 11,889 points. Across Europe, equity markets were also in retreat as European leaders met in Brussels to discuss creating a new rescue package for Greece. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, set the early direction with his warning on Wednesday night that the US economy would grow more slowly than expected in 2011 , and again next year. Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, raised the stakes by warning that risk signals for financial stability across the eurozone were flashing “red”. “Everyone is running away from any sort of risk today,” explained David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index. “The big cloud is Greece, but every day something else comes along [to knock confidence].” Reports from America that talks to raise the US debt ceiling had collapsed also alarmed traders. The euro lost nearly two cents against the dollar, touching a low of $1.4133. The pound also took a pummelling in the foreign exchange markets, falling by more than one cent against the dollar to $1.594. Economists said that the minutes of the Bank of England’s last meeting, released on Wednesday, had shown that Threadneedle Street was taking a more dovish approach to monetary policy. UK interest rates may now not rise until 2012. The weak state of the UK economy was highlighted by the CBI’s monthly snapshot of the retail sector. For the first time since June 2010, more retailers said that business was deteriorating than those who said it was improving . “After a year of growth, high street sales volumes fizzled out in June,” said Judith McKenna, chair of the CBI’s distributive trades panel. “Consumers are really feeling the pinch as disposable incomes continue to be squeezed by rising prices and weak earnings growth.” In America, the number of new jobless claims rose by 9,000 to 429,000, confounding expectations of a weekly fall to 415,000. China reported that its manufacturing output has barely grown so far in June, an indication that economic growth may have slowed significantly in recent weeks. This was followed by data from the eurozone, where manufacturing and services output slowing sharply to a 20-month low in June. “Tighter fiscal policy is increasingly kicking in across the region, the ECB has started raising interest rates and sovereign debt tensions have intensified, centred on Greece’s woes,” said Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight. The oil price fell after the International Energy Agency announced that it would release 60m barrels of oil on to the market, at a rate of 2m barrels per day. The move was criticised by members of the Opec cartel, who called the move unjustifiable. The cost of a barrel of Brent crude fell as low as $105.72, down more than $8, while US crude dropped to $90 a barrel. Global economy Economics Stock markets Oil Commodities United States FTSE Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …MRC Study: Networks Found Twice as Much Intensity for GOP Foley Scandal in 2006 Than Weinergate In 2011
June 23, 2011 No Comment
As much as liberals might complain the Anthony Weiner scandal was some sort of feeding frenzy, the networks did not attack it, especially the evening news. They seemed to agree with just-departed CBS anchor Katie Couric, who asked on Twitter: “I’m curious if anybody thinks this Anthony Weiner Twitter scandal is a legit news story or just fodder for late-night comedians.” That’s not the way the networks acted in the fall of 2006, when the MRC demonstrated a real feeding frenzy in the case of Republican Rep. Mark Foley, who quickly resigned after ABC’s Brian Ross reported he’d sent lewd AOL instant messages to former congressional pages. In the first 12 days of that story, the networks “flooded the zone” with 152 stories (55 evening stories and 97 morning stories or segments). By contrast, Democrat Weiner’s weeks of trying to avoid resignation didn’t draw a similar flood. In the first 12 days of the Weiner scandal (from May 29 through June 9), the networks filed only 56 stories (just 11 in the evening, 45 in the morning). This includes partial stories, like Brian Williams introducing the scandal in a disdainful 20-second brief near the end of the June 3 newscast, in the midst of a news potpourri from politics to actresses who’d died. Williams lamented it was “the kind of thing that used to be people’s own business.” Williams did find what he thought was a real scandal on June 2: Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey taking a helicopter flight to his son’s soccer game. Before Weiner declared on the afternoon of June 6 that he’d lied in denying the story that he sent lewd Twitter messages to young women, the networks had aired an even smaller sample: one evening news story each (counting NBC’s Williams brief) and 13 morning stories. By the time Weiner resigned on the afternoon of June 16 (after 19 days), the overall number still didn’t quite match our Foley number: 113 (21 evening stories and 92 in the morning.) In fact, MRC analysts found the networks were twice as intense on the Foley story, long after he resigned (152 stories in 12 days is more than 12.6 stories per day) than on the entire Weiner scandal up to the resignation speech (113 stories in 19 days is less than six stories per day). The evening-news producers were noticeably allergic. Four of NBC’s eight updates were the Williams 20-second brief, two occasions on which Lester Holt asked one Weiner question to David Gregory, and a 66-second update from Kelly O’Donnell. CBS only aired five evening stories, and in Scott Pelley’s debut on June 6, he delayed Weiner’s admission of guilt until minute 12. NBC’s Today led the morning shows with 41 segments. CBS aired 29, and ABC lagged in third with 22. The tone of stories in both scandals matched a supportive tone for liberal Democrats. In the Foley case, it was doom from day one. Early on, CBS analyst Gloria Borger told Couric: “One senior House Republican tells CBS News that this scandal could be the congressional equivalent of [Hurricane] Katrina.” But with Weiner, the networks avoided spreading the story to other Democrats, and talked damage control for Weiner. On NBC’s Today June 2, Meredith Vieira insisted Weiner “is a rising star in this state” and wondered “how does he get ahead of this story again or get it behind him?” When Weiner admitted on June 6 that he’d sent the lewd photos on the Internet, CBS reporter Nancy Cordes worried out loud that Weiner was a vital voice tugging at Obama from the left, and “it’s unclear how well he’s really going to be able to perform that role now, a role that even the President has said is very important.” But when the story deepened, with Weiner swapping online messages with a 17-year-old girl and sending semi-nude pictures from the House gym, the Democrats turned. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Weiner had to go. In sync, the network tone changed. ABC Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts began on June 13: “New pictures emerge of Anthony Weiner, this time snapped in the congressional locker room. As he begins treatment at a secret location this morning, will he now accept that his career is finished?” That same morning on NBC, Today co-host Matt Lauer began: “Drip, drip, drip. New photos emerge of a shirtless Congressman Anthony Weiner taken in the House gym, as calls for him to resign grow louder. Will these latest pictures be the final straw?” These two congressional non-sex scandals underline how politicians know the media is liberal. Mark Foley resigned immediately, no doubt in part because he knew the national media exposed him and would eventually drive him out. Anthony Weiner tried to negotiate around the media, since the New Media exposed him and he suspected that if Democrats would let him stay, so would reporters.
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About 100 women attacked in villages near Fizi in Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Médecins sans Frontières At least 60 women were raped and dozens of other people beaten by suspected rebels during a two-day attack on a pair of villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month, according to an aid agency and local officials. The mass rape occurred in Abala and Nyakiele, near the town of Fizi in South Kivu province, during 10-12 June , Médecins sans Frontières said on Thursday. MSF sent a team to the area this week after hearing reports of sexual violence in the villages, which are in a relatively remote area with no mobile phone coverage. “We have seen at this point over 100
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