UN chief begins Latin American tour in Honduras

UN chief begins Latin American tour in Honduras

Ban Ki-moon will meet with Central American leaders to discuss security, human rights and other key issues in the region

World Bulletin/News Desk

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stopped in Honduras on Wednesday as part of a tour in which he will address security, human rights and other key issues in the region.

Ban met with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, members of Congress, the governmental National Human Rights Commission, and non-governmental organizations.

Human rights and violence were among the top concerns discussed during Ban’s visit as Honduras has the highest per capita homicide rate in the world outside of an active war zone.

The Secretary-General emphasized the need to protect migrant children after tens of thousands of unaccompanied children arrived at the U.S’s southern border in 2014, fleeing poverty and violence. Honduras was the main country of origin, followed by El Salvador and Guatemala.

“Like people everywhere, Hondurans want good schools for their children,” Ban said, according to the UN News Service.

“They want transparent, accountable and strong institutions that listen and respond to the people. They want communities free of violence.” 

Casa Alianza, a Honduran non-governmental organization dedicated to the rights of children and youth, highlighted the inequality, violence and state human rights violations that prompted the mass migration of children.

“Social breakdown has been a constant in recent years in the country and instead of seeking a humane and sustainable solution to the problem, the measures adopted by successive governments have worsened it,” the organization said in a press release following a meeting with Ban.

The UN chief also told lawmakers that a new United Nations office on human rights will be established in Honduras later this year. Honduras has had a Human Rights Advisor as part of its UN presence for the past few years but the government has been requesting a country office.

Ban continues his trip Thursday and Friday in El Salvador and it includes meetings with Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Cerén and UN agency representatives in the country.

Ban will also take part in ceremonies commemorating the 1992 Peace Accords.

Friday marks the 23rd anniversary of the agreement that ended a 12-year civil war in which an estimated 75,000 people were killed.

David Cameron and Barack Obama in anti-terror push

Barack Obama described Mr Cameron as "a great friend"

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Britain and the US are to share expertise on preventing radicalism and tackling domestic "violent extremism".

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the move following talks with President Barack Obama at the White House, warning that they both faced a "poisonous and fanatical ideology".

The taskforce will report back to the two leaders within six months.

Mr Cameron also said Britain would deploy more unarmed drones to help ground forces tackle Islamic State.

The prime minister is on a two-day visit to Washington for talks with President Obama, likely to be his final Washington visit before the UK general election in May.

At a press conference in the White House, Mr Obama hailed Mr Cameron as a "great friend" while the British prime minister said the US was a "kindred spirit".

The talks between the two leaders come a week after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris which killed 17 people.

Concerns over additional attacks by Islamic extremists intensified on Thursday, after two people were killed during a targeted anti-terror raid by police in Belgium, to pre-empt what officials there called a major impending attack.

'Fanatical ideology'

UK police have said there is "heightened concern" about the risk to the UK's Jewish communities in the wake of last week's attacks and are considering stepping up patrols in certain areas.

At a press conference in the White House, Mr Cameron said: "We face a poisonous and fanatical ideology that wants to pervert one of the world's major religions, Islam, and create conflict, terror and death.

"With our allies we will confront it wherever it appears."

David Cameron said the UK and US have been "kindred spirits" for almost two centuries

David Cameron said Britain and America's national security was at threat from people "who hate what our countries stand for"

President Obama said the US, UK and its allies were "working seamlessly to prevent attacks and defeat these terrorist networks".

Asked whether an attack was "imminent" in Britain, Mr Cameron said the terror threat level, set independently by the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre, was currently at "severe" - meaning an attack is "highly likely".

'Long struggle'

He warned that the fight against terrorism "is going to be a long, patient and hard struggle" but added that he was "quite convinced we will overcome it" due to the strength of the West's values.

However, he stressed that "everyone" had a role to play in keeping communities safe, warning: "You cannot simply rely on policing and security."

As the press conference took place, it emerged that counter-terrorism officers have arrested an 18-year-old woman at Stansted Airport on suspicion of terrorism offences.

The UK prime minister also announced that the UK will send an additional 1,000 troops to take part in NATO military exercises in the Baltic states and eastern Europe amid heightened tensions in the region following Russia's conflict with Ukraine.

Mr Cameron cautioned against applying further sanctions to Iran over its nuclear programme, warning that it would be "counter-productive" and could undermine efforts for a diplomatic solution.

He said the UK and US remained committed to ensuring Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon, but added: "The best way to achieve that now is to create the space for negotiations to succeed."

Mr Cameron said he had called "a couple" of US senators earlier in the day to make the case against further economic penalties while talks are ongoing.

Six world powers want Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

An interim deal was struck in November 2013 but deadlines for a comprehensive deal have since been missed. Negotiators have a March deadline to reach agreement.

Ahead of the talks, which lasted just over an hour, it was announced that the UK and US are to carry out "war game" cyber attacks on each other as part of a new joint defence against online criminals.

New US-Cuba travel and trade rules come into effect

Many Cubans say the new measures will improve their living standards

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New travel and trade rules between the US and Cuba have come into effect in the biggest policy shift between the two countries in more than 50 years.

Measures include allowing US citizens to use credit cards in Cuba and for US businesses to export some technologies.

Americans will be able to take home up to $100 (£66) in alcohol and tobacco from Cuba.

The move implements last month's agreement to re-establish ties severed since 1961.

Although the latest moves put a large dent in the US trade embargo against Cuba's communist government, only Congress can lift it completely.

Earlier this week, US officials said Cuba had completed the release of 53 political prisoners agreed as part of the historic deal.

Policies 'out of date'

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the changes would "immediately enable the American people to provide more resources to empower the Cuban population to become less dependent upon the state-driven economy".

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Tomas Bilbao: "Failed policy of isolation and confrontation"

While ordinary tourism is still banned, the new regulations will allow US citizens to travel to Cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons without first obtaining a special licence from the government.

United Airlines announced on Thursday plans to begin flying to Cuba from its terminals in Houston and Newark.

US credit and debit cards can be used there and there will be no more limits on how much money US citizens can spend in Cuba each day.

About 170,000 authorised US travellers went to Cuba last year, according to the US Department of Commerce.

US firms will also find it easier to export mobile phones and software to Cuba, as well as provide internet services there.

Cuba currently has one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world - estimated at about 5% by the White House.

A change in the regulations will also allow US investments in some small businesses and agricultural operations.

'Repression against Cubans'

The thaw in relations between the two countries was announced last month in simultaneous televised speeches by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.

Americans will be able to bring home small numbers of Cuban cigars after a ban of more than 50 years

Some of the 53 prisoners released by the Cuban authorities last week gathered to celebrate in Havana

Next week, US Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson will lead a delegation to Cuba to discuss migration issues.

They will be the first high-level talks since the easing of relations was announced.

President Obama used his executive powers to ease the embargo, defying hardline critics. Analysts say Congress is unlikely to agree to lift the embargo completely any time soon.

Cuban-American Republican Senator Marco Rubio said Mr Obama's policy would harm ordinary Cubans.

"This is a windfall for the Castro regime that will be used to fund its repression against Cubans," he said in a statement.

IS group sympathiser arrested over US Capitol 'terror plot'

An Ohio man claiming sympathy with so-called Islamic State militants was arrested and charged on Wednesday in connection with a plot to attack the US Capitol with guns and bombs, court documents disclosed.

Christopher Cornell, 20, of Cincinnati researched the construction of pipe bombs, purchased a semi-automatic rifle and 600 rounds of ammunition and made plans to TRAVEL TO WASHINGTON to carry out the plot, according to an FBIinformant’s legal testimony.

Court documents showed that Cornell indicated on Twitter that he supported the Islamic State group under the alias Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah.

According to the documents, in instant messages to the undercover FBI informant, Cornell indicated that while he did not have support to conduct an attack on behalf of any group “we already got a thumbs up from the Brothers over there and Anwar al Awlaki before his martyrdom and many others.”

Awlaki was killed by the United States in Yemen in 2011. In a November meeting with the informant, Cornell said he considered members of Congress to be his enemies, and he outlined a plan to place pipe bombs at and near the U.S. Capitol and use firearms to kill employees and officials inside, according to the documents.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge John Barrios noted that the public was not in danger during this investigation.

Spokesmen for congressional leaders in both parties of Congress said they had no information beyond what was publicly disclosed in court documents.

Cornell has been charged in a federal court in Ohio with attempting to kill a U.S. government officer and possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence.

(REUTERS)

One dead as smoke fills Washington DC rush-hour subway

A woman died after thick smoke filled a subway tunnel in the US capital on Monday during the evening rush hour, officials said.

A spokeswoman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) confirmed the incident, which caused rush-hour mayhem in the nation’s second-busiest mass transit system after New York.

The Washington Post reported that several people were taken to hospital, including two with critical INJURIES.

Smoke filled the L’Enfant Plaza subway station in the center of the city, forcing the evacuation of startled passengers and forcing afternoon rush-hour commuters to find other ways to get home.

Emergency workers escorted smoke inhalation victims to MEDICAL AID buses to receive oxygen.

WMATA said on its website that the “source of the smoke has not been determined” and that the National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation.

Photos posted on social media showed passengers crammed into smoke-filled trains covering their mouths and eyes, while the subway tunnel was engulfed with thick gray fog.

The station was temporarily closed. Service on two of the main city lines was partially
suspended.

WMATA said emergency crews were deployed and that the station was being aired out.

“Metro Transit Police and fire department personnel are on scene at L’Enfant Plaza for smoke in the station,” the metro system said on its website.

“Metro has activated tunnel fans to ventilate the area.”

The station is near several government buildings, office complexes and restaurants.
Washington’s Metro system serves five million people in a 1,500-square-mile (3,885-square,kilometer) area, which includes transport to neighboring Virginia and Maryland states.

The trains and buses provide about 2.3 million trips per year, according to WMATA.

US eases travel and trade restrictions on Cuba 

Latest update : 2015-01-15

The United States rolled out a sweeping set of measures on Thursday to ease the half-century-old embargo against Cuba, opening up the country to expanded travel, trade and financial activities.

Defying hardline critics in Congress, President Barack Obama made good on a commitment he made a month ago to begin loosening some US economic sanctions against the communist-ruled island as part of an effort to end decades of hostility.

The Treasury and Commerce Departments issued a package of new rules that will allow US exports of telecommunications, agricultural and construction equipment, permit expanded travel to Cuba and authorize some kinds of banking relations.

It was the first tangible US step to implement the changes Obama pledged on Dec. 17 when he and Cuban President Raul Castro announced plans to restore diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes.

“Today’s announcement takes us one step closer to replacing out-of-date policies that were not working and puts in place a policy that helps promote political and economic freedom for the Cuban people,” US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement.

The new regulations will allow Americans to travel to Cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons, including family visits, education and religion, without first obtaining a special license from the US government.

The revamped rules will also make it easier for US companies to export mobile phone devices and software as well as provide Internet services in Cuba.

In addition, there will be a change in the definition of “cash in advance” payment required by Cuban buyers, which could help a variety of business interests, most notably US agriculture, in gaining greater access to Cuban markets.

The rollout comes days after Cuba completed the release of 53 prisoners it had promised to free and a week before high-level US-Cuba talks in Havana aimed at starting to normalize ties.

While Obama is using executive powers to poke holes in trade barriers with Cuba, only Congress can lift the longstanding embargo. With Republicans controlling the Senate and the House, there is little chance of that happening any time soon.

(REUTERS)

20 STATE OFFICIALS INVESTIGATED IN MEXICO MILITARY SLAYINGS

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- At least 20 Mexico state officials are under investigation in the cover-up of threats and torture of women who were witnesses to the alleged killing of prisoners by soldiers last year, state authorities said Wednesday.

State attorney for Mexico state, Alejandro Gomez, said the officials under investigation include prosecutors, forensic investigators and state police.

On June 30, soldiers killed 22 alleged gang members at a warehouse in Tlatlaya. The army first said they died during a shootout, but it was discovered that some were executed.

Federal investigators have said eight people were killed after surrendering to the soldiers, but the National Human Rights Commission put the number between 12 and 15.

The commission also said the state attorney's office tried to cover up the torture and sexual threats endured by at least two of the three women who survived.

"None have been removed from duty yet because there is a presumption of innocence," Gomez said at a news conference. He said it was not clear when a determination would be made about the officials' involvement.

Argentine president accused of cover-up

A prosecutor investigating a 1994 bomb attack, one of the worst in Argentina's history, has accused President Cristina Fernandez of secretly negotiating with Iran to avoid punishing those responsible.

The bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires remains unsolved, but Argentina and Iran reached an agreement in 2013 to investigate the attack that killed 85 people and wounded 200.

Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman in 2013 released an indictment accusing Iran and Hezbollah of organising the blast. Iran denies any involvement.

Nisman on Wednesday accused Fernandez and other senior Argentine officials of agreeing not to punish at least two former Iranian officials in the case.

Five years on, Haiti still crippled by quake – and political deadlock

Haiti marked the fifth anniversary on Monday of the massive earthquake that ravaged an already desperately poor nation, even as it sought a way out of its latest debilitating political crisis.

Five years after the unprecedented category seven quake killed at least 300,000 people and left more that a million homeless, the nation paused for a “Day of Reflection and Commemoration.”

President Michel Martelly led the official tributes, calling for unity to better prepare Haiti for its next challenge, but the government’s three-year failure to organize elections has undermined his authority.

Laying flowers at a monument in Place St Christophe in the still damaged capital, he paid tribute to the sacrifice of Haitian and foreign rescuers who flocked to Port-au-Prince in 2010.

“Five years later, are we ready to face other catastrophes that could strike Haiti?” he asked.

Haiti’s most immediate challenge is not another natural disaster, however, but institutional breakdown combined with persistent poverty.

As of Monday, parliament’s mandate ended with no date set for a new election, raising the prospect that Martelly might be left ruling by decree like the country’s former dictators.

A last-minute accord signed Sunday to resolve the institutional impasse was not ratified by parliament before its authority expired, creating a perilous political and institutional vacuum.

RR SOURCES 1/16

Title of Article and Source Used (i.e. AP/Reuters/CNN, Etc.)	Submitted By
US no-show at Paris unity march sparks criticism (France 24)	Kayla Kilfeather
Cuba begins releasing ‘political’ prisoners, says US (France 24)	Kayla Kilfeather
Mexico to try wife of mayor linked to student disappearances (Reuters)	Kayla Kilfeather
Five years on, Haiti still crippled by quake--and political deadlock (France 24)	Emily Forbes
Argentine president accused of cover-up (Al Jazeera)	Emily Forbes
20 STATE OFFICIALS INVESTIGATED IN MEXICO MILITARY SLAYINGS	Emily Forbes
US eases travel and trade restrictions on Cuba (France 24)	Alex Jacobsohn
One dead as smoke fills Washington DC rush-hour subway (France 24)	Alex Jacobsohn
IS group sympathizer arrested over US Capital Terror plot (France 24)	Alex Jacobsohn
New US-Cuba travel and trade rules come into effect (BBC)	Jess Kamienski
David Cameron and Barack Obama in anti-terror push (BBC)	Jess Kamienski
UN chief begins Latin American tour in Honduras (World Bulletin)	Jess Kamienski

Mexico to try wife of mayor linked to student disappearances

Mexico to try wife of mayor linked to student disappearances 

(Reuters) - The wife of a Mexican politician suspected of helping to plot the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers in September will be tried for engaging in organized crime, the federal courts authority said on Monday.

The event rocked the government, which says the students were abducted by corrupt police in the southwestern city of Iguala on the night of Sept. 26, then probably incinerated by members of local drug gang Guerreros Unidos.

The remains of only one of the 43 students have been identified, and the government blames former Iguala mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda for masterminding their disappearance, along with the gang.

Later on Monday, security forces in Iguala clashed with students from the same teacher training college and other protesters trying to break into a local military base, a police spokesman said. Four people were injured, media reports said.

The courts authority said it believed Pineda had been working with Guerreros Unidos since at least 2005, and accused her of engaging in crimes against health, which includes drug trafficking, and managing illicit funds.

Her lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

The statement made no specific reference to Iguala.

President Enrique Pena Nieto is facing his deepest crisis over the government's handling of the investigation.

A federal judge found evidence that Pineda acted as a financial intermediary for Guerreros Unidos and helped protect the gang, the courts authority said.

Between 2009 and 2014, she took deposits probably originating with the drug gang worth about 13.7 million pesos ($936,016) in four bank accounts, the court said.

Pineda and Abarca fled Iguala a few days after the abduction of the students, and were captured in November by police.

($1=14.6365 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein; Editing by Simon Gardner, Dave Graham and Clarence Fernandez)

Cuba begins releasing ‘political’ prisoners, says US 

Latest update : 2015-01-12

Cuba has completed the release of 53 political prisoners that was part of last month’s historic deal between the United States and Cuba, the U.S. said Monday.

The prisoners had been on a list of opposition figures whose release was sought as part of the U.S. agreement last month with the Cuban government. They had been cited by various human rights organizations as being imprisoned by the Cuban government for exercising internationally protected freedoms or for their promotion of political and social reforms in Cuba.

The U.S. has verified the release, according to an official traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Islamabad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.

Last month, Cuba and the U.S. agreed to work to restore normal diplomatic relations as part of a deal in which Cuba freed an imprisoned U.S. aid worker along with an imprisoned spy working for the U.S. and the imprisoned dissidents. The U.S. released several Cuba intelligence agents. The deal came after 50 years of hostility between the two countries.

“Certainly, for those 53 prisoners, it’s a great deal. We don’t know who they are,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in an appearance Monday on “CBS This Morning.”

Rubio said he supports improving ties with Cuba but said he’s worried that the Cubans are getting virtually everything they want from the United States for “these minimal changes.”

He said he wants to be certain that improved relations between Washington and Havana provides equal benefits to the U.S.

“My interest in Cuba is freedom and democracy,” he said. Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who’s considering a run for the presidency, said there is “no current example” around the world where a “government of resistant tyranny” has moved to greater freedom and democracy as a result of changes in international relations that are based on economic incentives.

(AP)

Date created : 2015-01-12

US no-show at Paris unity march sparks criticism 

Latest update : 2015-01-12

The United Sates government has come under fire for failing to send a senior official to join dozens of world leaders at Sunday’s unity march in Paris after last week's terrorist attacks, with the White House conceding Monday that it made a mistake.

“I think it’s fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday, adding that President Barack Obama would have liked to have attended.

“That said, there is no doubt that the American people and this administration stand foursquare behind our allies in France as they face down this threat.”

US administration officials cited security requirements as a central reason why neither Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden made the trip, saying their security needs can be distracting from such events.

French President François Hollande was joined by more than 50 heads of state and top envoys, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, at the march, held to show solidarity after Islamist militants killed 17 people in three days of attacks in the French capital last week.

But the most senior US official to take part in the rally, which saw around 1.5 million people pour onto the streets of Paris, was the country’s ambassador to France, Jane Hartley – a fact that has been met with incredulity among many Republicans and some parts of the US media.

‘You let the world down’

On Monday, the The New York Daily News front page featured a photo of the packed rally along with head shots of Obama, Biden, Kerry and Holder and the admonition: “You let the world down”.

“The absence is symbolic of the lack of American leadership on the world stage, and it is dangerous,” Republican Senator Ted Cruz wrote in an opinion piece on the Time magazine website.

“Our president should have been there, because we must never hesitate to stand with our allies,” he wrote.

“I thought it was a mistake not to send someone,” another Republican senator, Marco Rubio, said on CBS “This Morning.”

CNN journalist Jake Tapper, one of the television news channel's main anchors covering the attacks in Paris, spoke of his "shame" at the lack of high-ranking US representation.

"I say this as an American – not as a journalist, not as a representative of CNN – but as an American: I was ashamed," Tapper wrote in a blog on CNN's website.

Adding to the sense of dismay among some American pundits and lawmakers, US Attorney General Eric Holder had been in Paris for a meeting on terrorism, but even he did not join the rally.

Earnest said it was the White House’s responsibility to ask high officials to attend such events and said blame did not belong with Holder or others in the administration.

A spokesman for Holder said he had to return to the United States on Sunday afternoon but “was proud to join the world leaders gathered in Paris at a summit convened by President Hollande before the unity rally.”

France ‘moved’ by US reactions

Criticism of the American absence was not echoed in France, however.

“As far as the reactions of the US authorities are concerned, we have been overwhelmed and very moved by them since the beginning of the crisis,” the French Embassy in Washington said on Monday.

While the US did not send any high-ranking officials to the march, Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he would travel to Paris after wrapping up his tour of South Asia.

US officials pointed out that Kerry was on a longstanding trip to India that made it impossible to attend on Sunday.

Marie Elizabeth Harf, the deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State, tweeted: “@JohnKerry traveling to Paris Thurs; reminds people relationship w/France not about 1 day or 1 particular moment but an ongoing friendship.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

Date created : 2015-01-12

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