Romanian PM Warns UK: We're Not Second-Rate

Romania's Prime Minister has called on Britain not to treat Romanians as "second-rate citizens" when work restrictions for Romanian and Bulgarian workers are lifted in January.

It follows Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge to toughen welfare rules for migrants from the European Union, amid concern in the UK that people from Romania and Bulgaria will exploit the British welfare system.

Mr Cameron has said one million people from Central and Eastern Europe are living in Britain, with migration at a level not seen since wartime.

Some fear a rise of Romanian camps, like the 400 estimated sites in France

Romanian leader Victor Ponta said people should be punished for abusing Britain's welfare system, but restrictions should not be used to "generate or justify abuse or discrimination toward European citizens".

"We will not accept being treated as second-rate citizens," Mr Ponta said.

He added that research showed "there is no reason for concern regarding a migrant wave" from Romania to Britain.

Millions of Romanians had already chosen to work abroad in "southern Latin states", referring to Spain and Italy, which have a Latin-based language like Romanian.

Ford has closed facilities in the UK and moved some to Romania

He said he hoped Mr Cameron was not trying "to attack the fundamental principles of the EU, among which the freedom of movement is one of the most important values".

Mr Cameron's comments were criticised on Wednesday by European employment commissioner Laszlo Andor as an "unfortunate over-reaction".

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea: Detained American 'Admits Crimes'

An American veteran of the Korean war detained for "hostile acts" against the communist North has released an apology allegedly confessing to his alleged crimes.

Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old from California, was held in October after entering North Korea "under the guise of a tourist", the country's official KCNA news agency said.

The alleged four-page confession with thumb prints

It is the first time the reclusive state has officially admitted holding Newman, whose family said he was detained on October 26 shortly before take-off from Pyongyang following a 10-day tour.

KCNA said Newman had committed crimes both as a tourist and during his participation in the Korean War six decades ago and published an apology running to nearly 600 words in which the American allegedly confessed to his crimes.

Mr Newman reading the alleged apology

Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing statements from detainees, but it was riddled with stilted English and grammatical errors, such as "I want not punish me."

Mr Newman, a retired financial executive who served three years during the war, has been accused of infringing upon the "dignity and sovereignty" of the secretive state and "slandering its socialist system, quite contrary to the purpose of the tour", the report said.

The American had also masterminded espionage and subversive activities during the 1950-53 Korean War and was involved in the killing of North Korean soldiers and innocent civilians, it said.

"I realise that I cannot be forgiven for my offensives but I beg for pardon on my knees by apologising for my offensives sincerely toward the (North Korean) government and the Korean people and I want not punish me," Mr Newman was quoted as saying by KCNA.

The Korean War veteran had intended to meet surviving soldiers and pray for the souls of the dead, KCNA said, adding he had asked his guide for help.

He had also criticised North Korea during his trip, it said.

North Korean released an undated photo of lleader Kim Jong Un on Saturday

"I will never commit the offensive act against the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) government and the Korean people again," Mr Newman said in his apology.

North Korea released video showing Newman reading his apology, which was dated November 9.

Officials also showed an email printout dated April 19 which allegedly showed Mr Newman was formerly a military advisor to a special forces unit known as Donkey 6 who tried to meet with survivors of the guerilla United Nations Partisan Forces-Korea (UNPFK).

According to the US Special Operations Forces Handbook, the so-called Donkeys - nicknamed after the Korean word for liberty - operated behind enemy lines on missions that remained classified for 30 years.

North Korea issued an alleged email from Mr Newman dated April

It said: "From tiny islands off the Korean coast, the Donkeys conducted raids, rescued downed airmen and maintained electronic facilities.

"Under the guidance of the special forces and other US cadre, (UNPFK) eventually numbered 22,000 and claimed 69,000 enemy casualties."

According to Mr Newman's son, Jeff, his father was on an organised tour and detained due to a "misunderstanding".

"My father is a veteran, and wanted to see the country and culture he has been interested in for years," he said.

North Korea is also holding US national Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old tour operator arrested a year ago who was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour on charges of seeking to topple the government.

The State Department recently issued an updated travel advisory urging Americans to avoid North Korea, which was reportedly "arbitrarily detaining US citizens and not allowing them to depart the country".

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bulgaria Builds Fence To Keep Out Immigrants

Bulgaria is building a razor wire fence on a 30-kilometre (19-mile) stretch of the country's border with Turkey, which it claims is to try to stop illegal immigration.

The three-metre-high fence is expected to be ready by February. It it will run mainly through forested, hilly areas where visibility for border patrols is limited.

During the Cold War, Bulgaria's barbed-wire borders prevented its citizens from fleeing to the West, but after the country joined Nato in 2004 all fences were removed.

Turkey's border with Bulgarian is 170-miles long

"The number of incoming illegal immigrants in Bulgaria has now been reduced several times," Defence Minister Angel Naydenov told a news conference in the border village of Golyam Dervent.

"We have enhanced the border patrols, had additional activities in border surveillance, backed by the presence of the troops right here (in the village of Golyam Dervent).

"I'd like to add something else. No illegal immigrants have entered Bulgarian territory in that particular controlled area."

Border controls have been increased

The authorities have denied claims that the fence is intended to stop refugees from Syria and other war-ravaged countries from entering the country.

More than 11,100 refugees, most of them Syrian, have entered Bulgaria illegally this year, crossing the porous 170-mile border with Turkey, and the country has faced an influx of migrants that far outnumbers its capacity.

Grozyo Milushev Georgiev, a villager from Golyam Dervent, said the flow of refugees has been "really big".

More than 11,000 refugees have crossed the border this year

"In early summer, it periodically started to rise, five to 10 people, then to 20, 40, 50, and finally reached 100 people a day," Mr Georgiev said.

"Mothers with young children, pregnant women, elderly men and women, all kinds of people - but since the authorities took urgent measures, this flow has stopped."

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

China Scrambles Fighter Jets In Islands Row

China Island Strategy 'Risky'

Updated: 2:13pm UK, Friday 29 November 2013

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Politically, nothing happens by accident in China.

It was no co-incidence that as China sent its fighter jets into the newly declared 'air defence identification zone', President Xi Jinping was visiting a site connected with the country's war-time struggle against Japan.

Mr Xi was quoted as saying "though life is becoming better, history can't be forgotten and those who made sacrifices for the new China's founding must be remembered".

Every few months the issue of islands in the East China Sea disputed by both China and Japan raises its head.

This is probably the first time since Mr Xi was made China's new leader that the country has flexed its muscles over the islands.

It is Mr Xi sending a message that China will not roll over when it comes to ownership of the islands.

The issue has become a hot topic in various (state-controlled) newspapers. 

The Global Times praised the government for its "calm response in the face of provocations". 

This kind of comment article doesn't appear by chance.

It means the Communist Party wants to send a message to the world and in particular to Japan and Japan's allies in the Pacific region, America.

Ties between China and Japan have become increasingly fraught over recent years. 

The deep-rooted mistrust and regional rivalry goes back to Japan's occupation of part of China and the perceived lack of contrition by Japan over war-time atrocities.

But by raising the stakes over the islands China may have put itself in an awkward position.

It has informed the world that foreign aircraft passing through the new air defence zone - including passenger planes - would have to identify themselves to Chinese authorities. 

Japan's two biggest airlines have defied the identification order. South Korea and the US have also flown through the zone.

China's Defence Ministry has said it would be "incorrect" to suggest China would shoot down aircraft which entered the zone without first identifying themselves. 

But quite how China will respond and police its unilaterally declared zone appears unclear.

China wants to annoy its neighbours and assert its power in the region - particularly with America looking on.

There is a lot at stake - both in an economic sense but crucially also in terms of prestige.

With the islands come seabed resources which need to be explored along with local fisheries stocks.

But it is a risky strategy. Things can easily spiral out of control in the fast-moving air zone - and mistakes happen.  If that is the case China will need to show it is no paper tiger. That could be dangerous.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia Shark Attack: Teen Bodyboarder Dies

A teenager has died after being attacked by a shark on Australia's east coast, just one week after a surfer was fatally mauled in the nation's west.

New South Wales police said they were called to a popular surf beach near Coffs Harbour, about 280 miles north of Sydney, after reports of the attack.

"A man, believed to be aged 18, was bodyboarding with friends around 100 metres off shore when he was bitten on the legs by what is believed to be a shark," police said in a statement.

Onlookers were stunned after the attack at a popular surfing spot

"His friends managed to get him to the beach where he was treated by paramedics. He was pronounced dead a short time later."

An ambulance spokeswoman said the victim had severe leg injuries, but he is understood to have died from a traumatic cardiac arrest following the attack.

Police said the boy was sitting upright on his boogie board off secluded Riecks Point when he was bitten on both legs.

"A struggle has taken place and he has managed to break free," Coffs Harbour police inspector Joanne Reid told Sky News.

The teen's body was taken away by rescue helicopter

"It has taken a bit of time to get him to shore and he lost a fair amount of blood on the way."

She commended his friends for going to his aid and bringing him to shore.

"It's just a tragic, tragic incident," she said.

Locals said the sharks were rarely seen in the area and incident had shocked the community.

The death comes a week after a 35-year-old surfer was killed by a shark near Gracetown, about 160 miles south of the Western Australian capital of Perth.

His friends witnessed the attack and were interviewed by police

Sharks are common in Australian waters but deadly attacks are rare, with only one of the average 15 incidents a year typically proving fatal.

Until last week there had not been a fatality since July 2012 when a surfer was bitten in half off the coast of Western Australia, capping an unprecedented spate of five deadly attacks by the marine predators that sparked calls in that state for a cull.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Berlusconi Addresses Fans Ahead Of Senate Vote

The Italian Senate will vote later on whether to expel Silvio Berlusconi from Parliament over his tax fraud conviction.

Berlusconi is widely expected to lose his seat as both Prime Minister Enrico Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and former comedian Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment Five Star Movement have indicated they will vote against him.

Fans of the former Italian prime minister have gathered in front of his Rome palazzo, some carrying flags and wearing Berlusconi masks.

A banner hung from one of the windows of the palazzo read "It's a coup". 

A supporter wearing a mask outside Berlusconi's Rome palazzo

In August, Berlusconi was convicted of manipulating tax bills for his television empire Mediaset, but the billionaire claims he didn't receive a fair trial and the judges were trying to "eliminate" him from public office. 

The court heard how he was behind a scheme to purchase the rights to broadcast US movies on Mediaset television networks through a series of offshore companies, and had falsely declared the payments to avoid taxes.

The former prime minister was sentenced to four years in jail, which was reduced to one year and will likely be served as community service, and banned from holding public office for two years.

Supporters gather for a planned rally outside Berlusconi's Rome palazzo

Under a law passed last year, politicians convicted of serious criminal offences are ineligible for parliament, but his expulsion must first be voted on by the Senate.

Berlusconi sent a letter to opposition senators this week warning that removing him from Parliament would reflect badly on Italy's public image. He said the move would "shame you in front of your children, your electors and all Italians".

Losing his seat will deprive Berlusconi, who is fighting a conviction for paying for sex with a minor among other legal cases, of his parliamentary immunity from arrest.

Dancer Karima El Mahroug, known as Ruby the Heart Stealer

In June, the three-time prime minister was found guilty of paying for sex with underage prostitute, Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby the Heart Stealer.

During his trial, the court in Milan heard dozens of young women, including Miss El Mahroug, who was 17 at the time, were paid with cash and cars to attend Berlusconi's so-called "bunga bunga" parties and dance semi-naked for him.

Berlusconi's lawyers said it's "completely unrealistic" he will be arrested over the case.

The expulsion is expected to do little to affect Mr Letta's government which survived a confidence vote on the 2014 budget.

Berlusconi is a 20-year veteran of Italian politics

The vote was supported by a group of senators who broke away from Berlusconi's party.

Berlusconi pulled his party out of Mr Letta's ruling coalition earlier this year, accusing opponents of a "coup d'etat" to get rid of him.

However, even outside parliament, many believe the 20-year political veteran could still remain a nuisance to Mr Letta's government.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bring Back Brian: Thousands Sign Online Petition

Thousands of people have signed an online petition to bring back Brian the dog after he was killed off in the long-running TV show Family Guy.

The talking family pet met his end under the wheels of a car in an episode entitled Life Of Brian.

Viewers have taken to Twitter to express their outrage, and the change.org petition aimed at resurrecting him has now reached 75,000 signatures.

Brian even had royal connections

Brian had been part of the animated show since it was launched in 1999, and his demise came as a surprise to many given his starring role.

The production team had revealed they were going to kill off a member of the Griffin family and replace them with a new character, but few expected it to be the articulate canine.

There was initially some doubt whether Brian's death was genuine, but the show confirmed it with a tweet from its official account: "RIP Brian. #familyguy."

Brian, voiced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, bid farewell to the family in an emotional scene after being run over.

Seth MacFarlane

He has since been replaced by a new dog named Vinnie, voiced by Tony Sirico from The Sopranos.

Family Guy's executive producer Steve Callaghan said once Brian's departure had been mooted the idea "caught fire".

"We thought it could be a fun way to shake things up," said.

"We got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters."

Family Guy is now in its 12th series.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Haitian Refugees Cling To Capsized Freighter

The US Coast Guard is trying to rescue nearly 100 Haitian refugees whose overloaded vessel capsized off the Bahamas.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force says at least 20 migrants may have been killed after the 40ft freighter grounded and capsized about 15 nautical miles southwest of Staniel Cay.

The vessel ran aground on Monday night. Pic: US Coast Guard

Interviews with migrants suggested the death toll could reach as many as 30 people.

Video and images released by the Coast Guard shows the migrants clinging to the hull of the boat.

Officials say at least 10 refugees have died. Pic: US Coast Guard

The Royal Bahamian Defence Force, which first reported the incident, is aiding in the rescue effort.

Helicopters hoisted 13 people from the water after deploying a mass rescue raft, the Coast Guard said.

Rescue teams have dropped rafts and supplies. Pic: US Coast Guard

Food, supplies and an additional eight life rafts were dropped to provide immediate relief for the refugees.

Staniel Cay is in the Exumas, a Bahamian island chain east of Nassau.

Haitian migrants have long passed through the archipelago east of Florida on overloaded vessels seeking to settle in the Bahamas or reach the US.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Saudi Arabia Deports 50,000 Ethiopian Workers

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

Up to 50,000 Ethiopians have been deported from Saudi Arabia in the past three weeks as part of a crackdown on illegal workers.

Ethiopian workers stranded in Yemen last year after fleeing Saudi Arabia

Thousands of Egyptians, Indonesians, Malaysians and others have also been flown out of the country as the Saudi government seeks to create jobs for local people by deporting some of the estimated nine million foreign workers.

An amnesty for people working in the country without proper permits expired on November 4 and, since then, planes have been taking off around the clock to get the workers to their home countries.

The crackdown has involved tens of thousands of people being rounded up and has led to disturbances in which three Ethiopians have been killed. Almost one million illegal workers had left voluntarily over the past few months.

A Paris protest in support of Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia may be one of the richest countries in the world but it has an unemployment rate of 12.5% in a population of 27 million.

The Government not only wishes to get more locals into the workforce, it also wants to diversify the economy.

Interior minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is overseeing the operation and says the campaign has "so far led to the deportation of more than 60,000 violators of the residency and labour system, while procedures are on-going to deport others".

The Ethiopian government charted 70 planes just to deport its citizens who are thought to constitute the biggest group of people leaving.

Foreign workers from numerous countries are affected by the crackdown

The foreign ministry in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said it expected the final total, once the airlift had finished, to be 80,000. 

Foreign minister Tedros Adhanom said the government was in "around the clock crisis management" to help get its citizens home.

A majority of them are thought to be women who were employed as domestic workers.

Saudi employers are now responsible for 'sponsoring' their workers

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria, and also one of the poorest. This leads large numbers of its 91 million citizens to leave to try to find work abroad, many in the Middle East. 

There are consistent and numerous reports alleging the ill treatment of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, especially those from developing countries.

In many cases, people's passports are taken from them when they begin a job.

This has exacerbated the problem of illegal working, as employees sometimes simply keep the worker on, but do not bother to return their passport, or fill in the correct paperwork.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Simon Gittany Guilty Of High-Rise Murder

A man has been found guilty of throwing his fiancee off the balcony of their high-rise apartment in central Sydney.

Ms Harnum was planning to leave Gittany

Simon Gittany was accused of hurling Lisa Harnum from their 15th floor home in a fit of "apoplectic" rage in July 2011 after discovering she planned to leave him and return to her native Canada.

Gittany, 40, who was supported in court by his new girlfriend Rachelle Louise, had maintained throughout the trial that Ms Harnum, 30, had slipped and fallen after climbing over a railing.

He said he had tried to save Ms Harnum, a former ballerina.

But Justice Lucy McCallum said the lack of Ms Harnum's fingerprints on the glass barrier made his claim implausible.

"At many times in his evidence, the accused struck me as being a person playing a role, telling a story which fitted with the objective evidence, but which did no more than that," she said.

Gittany barely reacted in court as the verdict was read out.

Gittany with his new girlfriend, Rachelle Louise, who screamed at the judge

His current girlfriend screamed at the judge "You're wrong", and stormed out of the packed courtroom. Ms Louise's outburst continued after she left the court.

Delivering the verdict in the judge-only trial, Justice McCallum said witness Josh Rathmell, who had been walking past the apartment building on his way to work when he saw Ms Harnum fall, gave a compelling account.

At the time, Mr Rathmell thought he had seen Gittany "unload" a piece of luggage or rubbish and continued on his way. It was only later he realised it was a body and contacted the police.

Justice McCallum said while Gittany and Ms Harnum had loved each other, there was no doubt the accused was "controlling, dominating and at times abusive".

"I am satisfied by the end of July 2011, those tensions had reached a point of crisis," she said.

Gittany and Ms Harnum's apartment was in central Sydney

The New South Wales Supreme Court heard that Gittany had secretly monitored Ms Harnum's phone and had installed CCTV cameras inside and outside their apartment.

One of the cameras showed Gittany restraining Ms Harnum outside the flat and then dragging her back inside on the night she died. Ms Harnum was heard yelling: "Please help me, help me, God help me."

Ms Harnum's mother said there were no winners in the case. Her only hope was that her daughter's death would be a powerful wake-up call to other young women.

"Young women who are caught up in situations like my daughter found herself in need a voice," Joan Harnum said.

Gittany, who was held in custody for the final weeks of the trial, will be sentenced in February.

22.57 | 0 komentar | Read More