15 Around the World
guyanatimesgy.com
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013
U.S. warns of Snowden consequences
U
Edward Snowden
.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said it would be “disappointing” if Russia and China had helped U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden evade U.S. attempts to extradite him from Hong Kong. Speaking during a visit to India, Kerry said there would inevitably be “consequences” to such a move. Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday.
A seat was booked in his name on a flight to Cuba on Monday morning, but he is not thought to have boarded. He has applied to Ecuador for political asylum, but the country’s foreign minister has implied he is still in Russia. And speaking at a news briefing later on Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: “It is our understanding that he
(Snowden) is still in Russia.” He added that senior U.S. officials were briefing President Barack Obama regularly about all the developments. Snowden, 30, is wanted by the U.S. for revealing to the media details of a secret government surveillance programme, which he obtained while working as an information technology contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). He is charged with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence. Speaking during a visit to Delhi in India, Kerry told reporters it would “be obviously disappointing if he was wilfully allowed to board an airplane”. (Excerpt from BBC News)
Pakistani PM calls for Musharraf to be tried for treason
P
akistan’s premier said Monday that the military ruler who ousted him in a coup over a decade ago should be tried for treason, but the government stopped short of pressing official charges. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spoke in parliament as the Supreme Court held a hearing on a possible treason case against Pervez Musharraf. The former military ruler can only be tried for treason if the federal government presses charges against him.
F
idency announced that Mandela had become critical, after Zuma visited him in hospital. Zuma said on Monday he had found Mandela asleep, but had spoken to his wife and medical teams. “All of us in the country should accept the fact that Madiba [Nelson Mandela’s clan name] is now old. As he ages, his health will... trouble him and I think what we need to do as a country is to pray for him.” Mac Maharaj, Zuma’s spokesman, told the BBC’s Newshour on Sunday this was a stressful time for the Mandela family. (Excerpt from
M
ilitants killed eight Indian army soldiers and wounded six others in an ambush in India-administered Kashmir on Monday, authorities said. The attack came just a day before Indian Prime
President Jacob Zuma
BBC News)
Berlusconi sentenced to prison in “Rubygate” sex trial
A
Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi
Milan court on Monday convicted former Italian Premier
Silvio Berlusconi of paying for sex with an underage prostitute during infamous
parties at his villa and then using his influence to try to cover it up. Berlusconi, 76, was sentenced to seven years in prison and barred from public office for life – a sentence that could mean the end of his two-decade-long political career. However, there are two more levels of appeal before the sentence would become final, a process that could take months. Berlusconi holds no official post in the current Italian government, but remains influential in the uneasy cross-party coalition that emerged after inconclusive February elections.
Sharif said the government agrees with the Supreme Court’s decision
(Excerpt from France24)
Militants ambush soldiers in Kashmir; eight dead
Nelson Mandela’s still critical in hospital, says Zuma ormer South African President Nelson Mandela remains in a critical condition in hospital, President Jacob Zuma said. Zuma said the doctors were doing everything they could to make the former leader comfortable, but he could not give any more medical details. South Africa’s first black president, 94, was taken to hospital in Pretoria earlier this month for the third time this year, with a lung infection. A senior official said South Africans should not hold out “false hopes”. On Sunday, the pres-
General Pervez Musharraf
that Musharraf committed treason under Article 6 of the constitution when he declared a state of emergency in 2007 and suspended the constitution. Trying Musharraf for treason could set up a clash with the country’s powerful army. “The prime minister is under oath to protect, preserve and defend the constitution and it is implicit in his oath that his government ensures that persons guilty of acts under Article 6 are brought to justice,” Sharif said in parliament.
Both he and the Moroccan woman at the centre of the scandal have denied ever having sex. His lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, immediately announced an appeal and said the sentence was as expected as it was unjust. “This is beyond reality,” Ghedini told reporters outside the courthouse. The sentence was even stiffer than the six-year prison term and lifetime ban on public office that prosecutors had originally requested. “I’m calm because I’ve been saying for three years that this trial should never have taken place,” Ghedini said. (Excerpt from France24)
Minister Manmohan Singh is due to arrive in Kashmir on a two-day visit. He will review the progress of various development projects and commission a rail tunnel billed as India’s longest – an entity that is to connect landlocked Kashmir with
the rest of India. Kashimi separatists have called for a strike Tuesday against the visit. The disputed region has been beset with violence for years and its status is a major bone of contention between India and Pakistan. (CNN)
Lebanese army storms Islamist mosque as Syrian crisis spreads
L
ebanese soldiers stormed a complex holding gunmen loyal to a radical Islamist cleric in the city of Sidon on Monday and arrested dozens of his supporters, security sources said, in a second day of clashes fuelled by neighbouring Syria’s civil war. The fighting is the deadliest outbreak in Lebanon since Syria’s two-year conflict began. The army said 12 soldiers were killed in the southern Mediterranean port city, while security sources gave a higher army toll of 18 dead and 128 wounded. A medic told Reuters that 22 bodies had been pulled from the mosque complex but he expected the final death count to be higher. He said 94 wounded had been treated by the Red Cross.
The violence has strained fragile sectarian relations across Lebanon and residents fear that Syria-related clashes could drag their country back into civil war. Lebanon is still struggling to heal the wounds of 15 years of war between 1975 and 1990. Fighting spread to a second city on Monday, with Sunni fighters in the northern city of Tripoli opening fire on the military and blocking roads with cement blocks and burning tires. By nightfall, clashes there had injured two soldiers and three gunmen. Hardline Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, who has accused the army of backing the interests of the Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah, was still at large after the battle in Sidon. (Excerpt from Reuters)
U.S. five-year-old girl shoots self in head
A
five-year-old girl in New Orleans died Sunday after, police believe, she accidentally shot herself in the head. The case will be reviewed by the district attorney’s office and charges may be forthcoming, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement. Earlier, they had said that the girl’s mother faced a charge of second-degree murder. Officers responded to a report of a child shot late Sunday morning. They found the girl in a bedroom, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. She was transferred to a hospital but
later died from her injury. “A preliminary investigation indicates the child was home alone and had somehow come into contact with a .38-caliber revolver and accidentally shot herself in the head,” police said in their statement. They said the mother told them she locked her daughter in the home while she went to the store. Upon her return, she found the girl in the bedroom with the gunshot wound. The gun was recovered. Police have not released the girl’s name, pending notification of family members. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday morning. (CNN)