Press photographer is shot in the leg as sectarian violence erupts in the east of the cty for a second night A 20-year-old woman has been arrested on a weapons charge after the most serious rioting for years in Belfast. A press photographer was shot in the right leg by a rioter and police fired more than 60 baton rounds as sectarian rioting flared up in the east of the city for a second night. Up to 700 people attacked officers with petrol and paint bombs, masonry and laser pens. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) deployed both its helicopters, and officers brought in water cannon after bricks and bottles hit their lines. A PSNI spokesman said: “A 20-year-old female was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and assault on police. She remains in police custody.” Northern Ireland’s first minister, Peter Robinson, and his deputy, ,Martin McGuinness, have condemned the riots, as well as a separate bomb attack aimed at police in west Belfast. Robinson said: “At this time, when many are working hard to build a better and brighter future for all in Northern Ireland, it is disappointing and deeply concerning to see this level of violence return to our streets. “We have given clear commitments to continue to deliver progress for all within the community, including in those areas most at need. This type of behaviour damages the local economy and unfairly mars the reputation of the community.” McGuinness said: “A small minority of individuals are clearly determined to destabilise our communities. They will not be allowed to drag us back to the past. “I call on all those involved to take a step back and to remain calm. I support the efforts of community leaders on all sides, who have been working on the ground to restore calm in east Belfast.” The unrest followed similar disturbances on Monday night, in which two men were shot. . Several hundred people gathered near the Newtownards Road, and masked youths pelted each other with stones and fireworks. Police said around 700 people had congregated in the area, some of them carrying petrol bombs. The PSNI warned the media to stay away from the area for their own safety, shortly before the Press Association confirmed that one of its photographers had been shot in the leg and had been taken to hospital. A spokeswoman for the PSNI said three shots had been fired: “One male has been injured and taken to hospital, but the extent of his injuries is not known. Water cannon has been deployed.” Two men were also reportedly injured, suffering burn wounds, police said. “Police are continuing to engage with local community representatives and are working to restore calm. The Albert Bridge road and Temple Bridge road are now closed,” the spokeswoman added. Police said 11 shots were fired during the riot on Monday, six by nationalists and five by loyalists. Two shots fired at police vehicles were being treated as attempted murder. Petrol and smoke bombs, fireworks, bricks and stones were thrown by an estimated 500 men in masks and crash helmets as violence broke out at about 9pm in the Lower Newtownards Road and Short Strand area of the city, a mainly nationalist area. For four hours, missiles were hurled at homes on both sides of the sectarian divide along the main routes into Belfast’s city centre. The shooting happened just before 1am. Two Protestant men, both shot in a leg, were taken to hospital. One officer suffered a serious eye injury when rioters targeted police with laser pens. The PSNI confirmed that officers had fired a number of stun grenade rounds, and said the service was investigating a report of an attempted hijacking of a bus. Police said members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had planned the violence. Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said: “There certainly were people masked up and there were certainly people wearing surgical gloves … There was some planning around this event. It just didn’t spirit itself out of the ether.” One nationalist resident, who asked not to be named, said he had seen a gang gathering at about 3pm. “I saw all these men, not young lads, massing outside a local loyalist drinking den, all wearing crash helmets. I thought they were going on an outing, just messing around. But it was the same gang who came down later on … It’s the worst I’ve seen in years and years.” Chief Superintendent Alan McCrum of the PSNI said members of the east Belfast UVF had been involved in planning the disorder. McCrum, who appeared to rule out IRA splinter group involvement in the shooting of the two Protestants, admitted that his officers had been outnumbered on Monday but said the violence had been unexpected. “We had additional resources in the Short Strand on Monday night,” he said, “but no one could have anticipated the scale of the disorder that took place.” Northern Ireland Police Peter Robinson Martin McGuinness guardian.co.uk
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More than $9m of online currency was stolen in weekend attack on Bitcoin currency exchange that could cost members of Anonymous and LulzSec thousands of dollars each A rogue member of hacker group LulzSec is suspected to have been responsible for a hack last weekend which resulted in the theft of $9m worth of online currency. The hack focussed around a “currency exchange” called MtGox , which provides a method for swapping Bitcoins – an untraceable, cryptographically-created online-only currency favoured by online activists and hackers – for real US dollars. The attack – which could cost members of Anonymous and LulzSec thousands of dollars each – suggests other, more profit-focused hacking groups may be stepping up activity in response to the more high-profile politicised groups. LulzSec has denied any involvement in the Bitcoin hack. The group has also denied any link to attacks on the websites of games company Sega and the UK Office for National Statistics . Late on Sunday evening, MtGox was compromised when a hacker tried to sell more than 400,000 Bitcoins – 6% of all the virtual currency presently in circulation – for an initial price of $17.50 each, which would have netted $7m at a constant price. But the attempt to sell such a large volume of coins at once drove the value of the currency down almost to zero, before trading on the site was suspended. More than 60,000 users’ details were compromised in the attack and have since been posted publicly in dozens of places across the internet. Trading on the MtGox site has still not been reinstated since the attack, leaving the future of the fledgling currency in doubt. Bitcoins are produced without the involvement of any governments or banks; instead, they are generated by using software (also called Bitcoin). The idea was created in 2009 by a Japanese programmer. Bitcoins are not issued by a central authority, but instead generated by a mathematical algorithm after computers complete a certain number of complex calculations. Some of most experienced members of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacker collectives are believed to have botnets of more than 100,000 compromised computers. If that many machines were set to work generating Bitcoins, they could create up to $7,500 worth a day for as long as Bitcoins trade at current levels – meaning members of the hacker collectives could be among the biggest losers if Bitcoins’ value does not recover as and when MtGox reopens. In the hours before the hack, the total value of the currency in circulation was more than $150m. Anonymity and security are the central propositions of the currency, which has attracted controversy after being used in sites selling drugs and pornography. High-profile organisations accepting the coins include WikiLeaks and the US lobby group Electronic Frontiers Foundation, who have suspended their acceptance of Bitcoins in the wake of the hack. MtGox says access to its site was gained after a financial auditor’s computer was hacked, and insists its site was not compromised. However, Amir Taaki, who runs the rival Bitcoin exchange Britcoin.co.uk , disputes this chain of events. Developers working on his site, which runs on much of the same software as MtGox, found a security hole several days before the hack was carried out. He says MtGox was notified publicly and privately of the issue. “Due to the recent events at MTGox.com, we at Britcoin have decided to move our servers to a new location,” read a Britcoin statement. “MTGox suffered an SQL injection [a form of hacking attack that creates direct access to databases and files] which means access to the site’s funds were in the hands of the malicious hacker. As such, until we see evidence to the contrary, for security reasons we are assuming that MTGox has none of its clients’ bitcoins.” Other senior coders in the Bitcoin community claim to have been offered the full database of MtGox users days before the hack was carried out. Though they had not verified whether the database was genuine, it came from the same intermediary who has been testing interest in selling or distributing details from the Sega Pass hack. Members of Lulzsec, the hacker group whose alleged member Ryan Cleary was arrested in Essex on Tuesday , denied responsibility for the Sega Pass hack, as did several members of Anonymous. The recent spate of hacks denied by both groups – neither of which usually seeks to hide from the limelight – raises the possibility of a third, as yet unnamed, group of hackers carrying out the attacks. Lulzsec and Anonymous members stand to lose a significant amount of money if Bitcoins fail. Several members of both groups – speaking directly and through intermediaries – claim to know of others using thousands of hacked computers to generate Bitcoins. LulzSec Hacking Computing Internet Currencies Economics James Ball guardian.co.uk
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Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, 29, expected to return home after being held by security services since US raid on compound Osama bin Laden’s youngest wife is expected to leave Pakistan for her homeland, Yemen, within days. Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, 29, has been held by security services since US special forces killed Bin Laden, whom she married in 1999. Sadah was wounded in the operation and detained by Pakistani authorities in the compound in the northern garrison town of Abbottabad where her husband was hiding. She is believed to have been questioned by US intelligence services . Reports in newspapers in the Yemen and Saudi Arabia, confirmed by officials in Riyadh, indicate that arrangements have been finalised between Yemeni and Pakistani diplomats for the return of Sadah and her 12-year-old daughter, Safiya, who was also injured in the raid. Bin Laden’s third and fourth wives were also found at the compound by Pakistani authorities after the US operation. Both were born in Bin Laden’s home town of Jeddah, on the southern Red Sea coast, and are Saudi citizens. The oldest, Khairiah Sabar, married the former Taliban leader in 1985. The third wife held by the Pakistanis, Siham Sabar, was married in 1987. Both women are college graduates. Officials in Riyadh told the Guardian that, at least theoretically, there was no objection to their return to Saudi Arabia. Their husband was stripped of his Saudi Arabian citizenship in 1994 after he turned against the rulers of the kingdom, which he eventually fled, after the first Gulf war. Hamza, a 22-year-old son of Bin Laden, who was 57 when he died, was killed in the raid. The bodies of both men were buried at sea. The women and about 10 of Bin Laden’s children and grandchildren were handcuffed by special forces who then left. Sadah’s brother, Zakria al-Sadah, told the Yemen Times this week that Yemeni diplomats in Pakistan had told him his sister would ” arrive in the coming days ” after the completion of legal formalities. Negotiations over the exact arrangements for the journey had been long and complicated, the newspaper said. Sadah’s family has repeatedly called for her repatriation. Shortly after Bin Laden’s death they spoke to a reporter from the Associated Press news agency in their home in Ibb, an agricultural town in the mountains about 100 miles south of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. They said they had seen Sadah only once since her wedding in 2000, when she was 17. Since then, communication was largely limited to messages delivered by couriers. Sadah fled from Afghanistan with her daughter in the months after the September 11 attacks and is believed to have told investigators she had spent five years in the compound in Pakistan without leaving the gates. Their location in the intervening period is unknown. Bin Laden’s two other wives – two earlier marriages ended in divorce – fled the al-Qaida leader’s base near Kandahar in late 2011 and were driven by a trusted associate into Pakistan, according to interrogation files from Guantánamo recently released by WikiLeaks and published by the Guardian. Sadah, whose father is a minor civil servant, had told her friends and family she wanted to “go down in history” , according to her cousin Waleed Hashem Abdel-Fatah al-Sadah. Weeks after the proposal, a dowry of $5,000 (£3,000) was wired by Bin Laden and, accompanied by an intermediary, Sadah travelled through Dubai and Pakistan to Afghanistan to meet her bridegroom for the first time. When the family learned through a courier that she had given birth to a daughter, a group of relatives travelled to Afghanistan, where they spent a month. On the final day of the visit, a cousin recalled Bin Laden telling the young mother she could stay with him in Afghanistan or return home with her family. “I want to be martyred with you and I won’t leave as long as you’re alive,” he recalled her saying. Osama bin Laden Yemen Pakistan United States Global terrorism Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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Military court finds eight campaigners guilty of plotting coup during protests in Sunni-ruled kingdom Eight Bahraini rights activists have been given life sentences by a military court, which found them guilty of plotting a coup against the government during two months of unrest that rattled the country earlier this year. Another 13 demonstrators were given sentences of between two to 15 years, as the government attempts to crush dissent that has erupted in the tiny kingdom in February following popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. The verdicts were immediately condemned by rights groups who said all those found guilty had been campaigning to end discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty. Almost all activists who took to the streets of Manama in February and March were Shia Muslims, who make up 70% of Bahrain’s population, but feel largely disenfranchised. Bahrain’s ruling dynasty had instead claimed that the men were part of a “sedition ring”, backed by Iran and Hezbollah, who were trying to topple the regime. Among those given life sentences were leading members of opposition political groups. Leading rights activist Adbul Hadi al-Khawaja, whose daughters Zainab and Maryam are prominent members of the Bahrain human rights movement, was one of those condemned to life in prison. Zainab was reportedly removed from the courtroom after protesting against the sentence Among those who received lesser sentences was Ibrahim Sharif, a secular leftist Sunni, who was accused by a state-run newspaper of having links to “a foreign country” – a veiled reference to Iran. The Guardian spoke to Sharif at the former focal point of the rights demonstrations in Manama in February where he said he was the only prominent member of the Sunni community to be campaigning more openly for equal rights for the kingdom’s majority Shia base. “Things have to change here, or else the country will suffer and the kingdom could be imperilled,” he said at the time, standing in Pearl roundabout, a landmark in the central city that was later demolished under government orders . As verdicts were read in a military court this morning, members of the public gallery chanted “solidarity, solidarity, we shall overthrow the regime”. Bahraini security officers were congratulating each other inside the courthouse, according to bystanders present. The trials were held despite the government pronouncing the end of three months of martial law earlier this month, which had given the exclusively Sunni security forces extra powers of detention and arrest. Activists called for protesters to again take to the streets in Manama on Wednesday in defiance of the verdicts and the government, which has vowed to continue a crackdown on dissent. Up to 30 doctors and nurses from key city hospitals were last week also put on trial accused of subversion and if using government facilities for political purposes. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Human rights Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Military court finds eight campaigners guilty of plotting coup during protests in Sunni-ruled kingdom Eight Bahraini rights activists have been given life sentences by a military court, which found them guilty of plotting a coup against the government during two months of unrest that rattled the country earlier this year. Another 13 demonstrators were given sentences of between two to 15 years, as the government attempts to crush dissent that has erupted in the tiny kingdom in February following popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. The verdicts were immediately condemned by rights groups who said all those found guilty had been campaigning to end discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty. Almost all activists who took to the streets of Manama in February and March were Shia Muslims, who make up 70% of Bahrain’s population, but feel largely disenfranchised. Bahrain’s ruling dynasty had instead claimed that the men were part of a “sedition ring”, backed by Iran and Hezbollah, who were trying to topple the regime. Among those given life sentences were leading members of opposition political groups. Leading rights activist Adbul Hadi al-Khawaja, whose daughters Zainab and Maryam are prominent members of the Bahrain human rights movement, was one of those condemned to life in prison. Zainab was reportedly removed from the courtroom after protesting against the sentence Among those who received lesser sentences was Ibrahim Sharif, a secular leftist Sunni, who was accused by a state-run newspaper of having links to “a foreign country” – a veiled reference to Iran. The Guardian spoke to Sharif at the former focal point of the rights demonstrations in Manama in February where he said he was the only prominent member of the Sunni community to be campaigning more openly for equal rights for the kingdom’s majority Shia base. “Things have to change here, or else the country will suffer and the kingdom could be imperilled,” he said at the time, standing in Pearl roundabout, a landmark in the central city that was later demolished under government orders . As verdicts were read in a military court this morning, members of the public gallery chanted “solidarity, solidarity, we shall overthrow the regime”. Bahraini security officers were congratulating each other inside the courthouse, according to bystanders present. The trials were held despite the government pronouncing the end of three months of martial law earlier this month, which had given the exclusively Sunni security forces extra powers of detention and arrest. Activists called for protesters to again take to the streets in Manama on Wednesday in defiance of the verdicts and the government, which has vowed to continue a crackdown on dissent. Up to 30 doctors and nurses from key city hospitals were last week also put on trial accused of subversion and if using government facilities for political purposes. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Human rights Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Military court finds eight campaigners guilty of plotting coup during protests in Sunni-ruled kingdom Eight Bahraini rights activists have been given life sentences by a military court, which found them guilty of plotting a coup against the government during two months of unrest that rattled the country earlier this year. Another 13 demonstrators were given sentences of between two to 15 years, as the government attempts to crush dissent that has erupted in the tiny kingdom in February following popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. The verdicts were immediately condemned by rights groups who said all those found guilty had been campaigning to end discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty. Almost all activists who took to the streets of Manama in February and March were Shia Muslims, who make up 70% of Bahrain’s population, but feel largely disenfranchised. Bahrain’s ruling dynasty had instead claimed that the men were part of a “sedition ring”, backed by Iran and Hezbollah, who were trying to topple the regime. Among those given life sentences were leading members of opposition political groups. Leading rights activist Adbul Hadi al-Khawaja, whose daughters Zainab and Maryam are prominent members of the Bahrain human rights movement, was one of those condemned to life in prison. Zainab was reportedly removed from the courtroom after protesting against the sentence Among those who received lesser sentences was Ibrahim Sharif, a secular leftist Sunni, who was accused by a state-run newspaper of having links to “a foreign country” – a veiled reference to Iran. The Guardian spoke to Sharif at the former focal point of the rights demonstrations in Manama in February where he said he was the only prominent member of the Sunni community to be campaigning more openly for equal rights for the kingdom’s majority Shia base. “Things have to change here, or else the country will suffer and the kingdom could be imperilled,” he said at the time, standing in Pearl roundabout, a landmark in the central city that was later demolished under government orders . As verdicts were read in a military court this morning, members of the public gallery chanted “solidarity, solidarity, we shall overthrow the regime”. Bahraini security officers were congratulating each other inside the courthouse, according to bystanders present. The trials were held despite the government pronouncing the end of three months of martial law earlier this month, which had given the exclusively Sunni security forces extra powers of detention and arrest. Activists called for protesters to again take to the streets in Manama on Wednesday in defiance of the verdicts and the government, which has vowed to continue a crackdown on dissent. Up to 30 doctors and nurses from key city hospitals were last week also put on trial accused of subversion and if using government facilities for political purposes. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Human rights Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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Greek prime minister George Papandreou won a crucial vote of confidence on Tuesday night but he still needs to push new spending cuts through parliament The head of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond trader, has warned that Greece is still likely to default on its debts, despite prime minister George Papandreou winning a crucial vote of confidence late on Tuesday night. Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, ratcheted up the pressure on Europe’s leaders by predicting that other eurozone members could also follow Greece into default territory. “For the next three years, we’re going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default,” El-Erian told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday via a video conference, according to Reuters. The warning came as shares slid across Europe, as attention shifted to Papandreou’s next challenge – persuading the Greek parliament to approve a new package of asset sales and spending cuts next week. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 20 points in early trading and the euro also sagged, as experts warned that Papandreou’s narrow victory did little to address the wider eurozone crisis. Papandreou won Tuesday’s vote of confidence by 155 votes to 143, with every member of the governing socialist party supporting him. “The result shows that Papandreou has the backing of his party. We now expect that the unity shown last night will be repeated in next week’s austerity vote,” said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index. Raymond added that Wednesday’s lacklustre market reaction was understandable, after traders pushed the FTSE 100 up by 1.5% on Tuesday amid optimism that Papandreou would survive. Greece must approve Papandreou’s austerity plan next week to qualify for an immediate €12bn (£10bn) lifeline, and then a second bailout worth over €100bn. There is doubt, though, over whether the measures can be imposed on an increasingly unhappy population . “Everything depends on Greece implementing the measures,” Lord Brittan, the former vice president of the European Commission, told the BBC’s Today Programme. “Legislating is one thing, implementing is another, and Greece’s history of implementation is not a happy one,” Brittan added. Jane Foley of Rabobank International agreed, saying there was “widespread scepticism” in the bond markets about the ability of the Greek political system to implement the reform. Crowds gathered outside the Greek parliament ahead of the vote of confidence, with some shouting “we give a vote of no confidence” at the lawmakers gathered inside. There were some clashes between protestors and riot police, who reportedly deployed tear gas at one point. European debt crisis Greece Europe Europe Bonds Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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Greek prime minister George Papandreou won a crucial vote of confidence on Tuesday night but he still needs to push new spending cuts through parliament The head of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond trader, has warned that Greece is still likely to default on its debts, despite prime minister George Papandreou winning a crucial vote of confidence late on Tuesday night. Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, ratcheted up the pressure on Europe’s leaders by predicting that other eurozone members could also follow Greece into default territory. “For the next three years, we’re going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default,” El-Erian told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday via a video conference, according to Reuters. The warning came as shares slid across Europe, as attention shifted to Papandreou’s next challenge – persuading the Greek parliament to approve a new package of asset sales and spending cuts next week. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 20 points in early trading and the euro also sagged, as experts warned that Papandreou’s narrow victory did little to address the wider eurozone crisis. Papandreou won Tuesday’s vote of confidence by 155 votes to 143, with every member of the governing socialist party supporting him. “The result shows that Papandreou has the backing of his party. We now expect that the unity shown last night will be repeated in next week’s austerity vote,” said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index. Raymond added that Wednesday’s lacklustre market reaction was understandable, after traders pushed the FTSE 100 up by 1.5% on Tuesday amid optimism that Papandreou would survive. Greece must approve Papandreou’s austerity plan next week to qualify for an immediate €12bn (£10bn) lifeline, and then a second bailout worth over €100bn. There is doubt, though, over whether the measures can be imposed on an increasingly unhappy population . “Everything depends on Greece implementing the measures,” Lord Brittan, the former vice president of the European Commission, told the BBC’s Today Programme. “Legislating is one thing, implementing is another, and Greece’s history of implementation is not a happy one,” Brittan added. Jane Foley of Rabobank International agreed, saying there was “widespread scepticism” in the bond markets about the ability of the Greek political system to implement the reform. Crowds gathered outside the Greek parliament ahead of the vote of confidence, with some shouting “we give a vote of no confidence” at the lawmakers gathered inside. There were some clashes between protestors and riot police, who reportedly deployed tear gas at one point. European debt crisis Greece Europe Europe Bonds Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Greek prime minister George Papandreou won a crucial vote of confidence on Tuesday night but he still needs to push new spending cuts through parliament The head of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond trader, has warned that Greece is still likely to default on its debts, despite prime minister George Papandreou winning a crucial vote of confidence late on Tuesday night. Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, ratcheted up the pressure on Europe’s leaders by predicting that other eurozone members could also follow Greece into default territory. “For the next three years, we’re going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default,” El-Erian told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday via a video conference, according to Reuters. The warning came as shares slid across Europe, as attention shifted to Papandreou’s next challenge – persuading the Greek parliament to approve a new package of asset sales and spending cuts next week. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 20 points in early trading and the euro also sagged, as experts warned that Papandreou’s narrow victory did little to address the wider eurozone crisis. Papandreou won Tuesday’s vote of confidence by 155 votes to 143, with every member of the governing socialist party supporting him. “The result shows that Papandreou has the backing of his party. We now expect that the unity shown last night will be repeated in next week’s austerity vote,” said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index. Raymond added that Wednesday’s lacklustre market reaction was understandable, after traders pushed the FTSE 100 up by 1.5% on Tuesday amid optimism that Papandreou would survive. Greece must approve Papandreou’s austerity plan next week to qualify for an immediate €12bn (£10bn) lifeline, and then a second bailout worth over €100bn. There is doubt, though, over whether the measures can be imposed on an increasingly unhappy population . “Everything depends on Greece implementing the measures,” Lord Brittan, the former vice president of the European Commission, told the BBC’s Today Programme. “Legislating is one thing, implementing is another, and Greece’s history of implementation is not a happy one,” Brittan added. Jane Foley of Rabobank International agreed, saying there was “widespread scepticism” in the bond markets about the ability of the Greek political system to implement the reform. Crowds gathered outside the Greek parliament ahead of the vote of confidence, with some shouting “we give a vote of no confidence” at the lawmakers gathered inside. There were some clashes between protestors and riot police, who reportedly deployed tear gas at one point. European debt crisis Greece Europe Europe Bonds Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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Swoop on José de Jesús Méndez Vargas is big blow to organised crime, says President Felipe Calderón Mexican authorities say they have dealt a debilitating blow to major organised crime in the west of the country after apprehending the leader of the cult-like, pseudo-Christian La Familia cartel. José de Jesús Méndez Vargas, known as El Chango, or The Monkey, was arrested in the central state of Aguascalientes without confrontation or casualties, according to federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire. President Felipe Calderón lauded the arrest on Twitter, calling it a “big blow” to organised crime. After the death of La Familia founder and leader Nazario Moreno González in December, Poire said Méndez Vargas was the last remaining head of a criminal group responsible for homicides, kidnappings, extortion and corruption. The Mexican attorney general’s office said Méndez Vargas was “responsible for the transfer and sale of cocaine, marijuana, crystal methamphetamine in various states of Mexico and the US”. He is also accused of having masterminded the kidnappings and killings of rival gang members. The government had offered a $2.5m reward for information leading to his capture. La Familia first appeared four years ago when it rolled five severed heads into a Michoacán nightclub, vowing to protect local citizens from rival cartels. La Familia was part of the Gulf Cartel but later became an independent drug-trafficking organisation, which ignited a rivalry between the two gangs. Moreno, the leader, set a code of conduct for its members that prohibited the use of hard drugs or dealing them within Mexican territory, even as they gruesomely decapitated foes and sold huge amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine. “They believe they are doing God’s work, and pass out Bibles and money to the poor,” according to a US drug enforcement administration profile. “La Familia Michoacána also gives money to school and local officials.” Moreno was killed in December during two days of shootouts between La Familia and federal police. After his death, La Familia split into warring factions, causing increased bloodshed in western Mexico. Poire told reporters that with Méndez Vargas’s arrest, 21 of the country’s 37 top drug traffickers have been apprehended or killed since 2009. More than 35,000 people have died in drug violence since, according to government figures. Local media say the number is closer to 40,000. Meanwhile, officials in the northern Mexican city of Durango say they have found 14 more bodies in a mass grave, adding to the 250 corpses discovered since April. Police have revealed no motives for the killings, but officials say the mass murders are the result of an internal power struggle within the Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexico’s most powerful gang. Mexico Drugs trade US foreign policy guardian.co.uk
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