Thursday, February 26, 2015

Brazil GM Strike

Workers at a General Motors Co (GM.N) car factory in Brazil ended a six-day strike on Thursday after the company dropped plans to lay off 800 employees, the union said, ending the latest labor standoff in the troubled Brazilian auto industry. Later on Thursday the metalworkers union of Sao Jose dos Campos re-elected its leadership by a three-to-one margin, highlighting the appeal of more confrontational union tactics that are gaining steam across the country. The re-elected leadership, which also organized a strike against planemaker Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA) last year, credited its hardline reputation and consistent criticism of President Dilma Rousseff for the decisive win over their opponents, who were backed by a national union with close ties to the ruling party. Rousseff's popularity has slumped to an all-time low as the Brazilian economy founders and she pushes to close a federal budget gap with tax increases and stingier pension policies. "The country is fed up with the president. When she went after the pensions, that was checkmate for us," said Wagner Morais de Oliveira, an Embraer employee backing union leaders. The strike at GM followed labor disruptions for the Brazilian operations of Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and Mercedes Benz (DAIGn.DE) as workers revolted at payroll cuts after losing 7 percent of colleagues in the industry last year. In a compromise with the union, GM agreed to furlough 650 workers for five months, with a guarantee they will get their jobs back, said the metalworkers' union of Sao Jose dos Campos, which sits about 55 miles (90 km) outside Sao Paulo. GM representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Workers brought production to a standstill last week to protest GM's proposal to furlough nearly 800 workers for two months before laying them off in April. Stoppage days will not be deducted from wages and the company vowed not to retaliate against workers who walked off the job in the longest strike GM has faced in Brazil in the last 12 years, the union said. GM has cut its payrolls at the factory from about 7,500 workers in 2012 to about 5,200 currently.

Case Dropped Against Argentine President

An Argentine judge on Thursday dismissed allegations against President Cristina Fernandez that she tried to cover up Iran's purported involvement in a deadly bombing of a Jewish center in 1994. The judge ruled he would “discontinue” the case, which was first brought by state prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in January the day before he was to appear in Congress to discuss his criminal complaint. The scandal plunged the president's final year in office into turmoil and hurt the government's credibility ahead of October's presidential election. The decision by judge Daniel Rafecas sparked divided opinions on whether the government had a hand in the ruling. About 400,000 Argentine marched last week to demand an independent judiciary. The allegation that Fernandez sought to whitewash the investigation into the truck bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was first made by Nisman in mid-January. Four days later he was found dead, spawning a torrent of conspiracy theories and raised long-festering questions about interference and intimidation in the justice system. Thursday's ruling will alleviate some of the political pressure on Fernandez, whose popularity has been hurt. "The judge's decision certainly favors Fernandez, but it will probably not have an impact on the October elections," said Ignacio Labaqui, who analyses Argentina for Medley Global Advisors. "The damage caused by the Nisman case is already there," he added. "According to polls, the bulk of public opinion believes that Nisman's accusation was true and that he was murdered." The case was picked up by another prosecutor, Gerardo Pollicita, earlier this month. "The judge held that the ... complaint was not strong enough to initiate criminal proceedings because it did not support the alleged cover-up or obstruction of the investigation" into the AMIA bombing, said a statement from the judiciary branch's CIJ information service. Pollicita's office said no decision had yet been made on whether to appeal. Fernandez called Nisman's cover-up claims "absurd" and said he had been duped into making them by rogue security agents. She said she believed the agents then killed Nisman after using him to smear her. Iran has consistently denied the allegations. Nisman's body was found in his apartment, a bullet in his head, a day before he was to detail his evidence against Fernandez and her foreign minister, Hector Timerman. Rafecas also threw out the case against Timerman. On Buenos Aires's leafy boulevards on Thursday, opinion was split over whether the judge had come under pressure to sling out the case. "The judge must be pretty sure that there is not enough incriminatory evidence to throw this out. It has been such an important case for the country," said telecoms worker Edith Gallante. But 26-year-old kiosk owner Leonardo Venega said: "I think the government had a hand in this, as always. The judge should not have thrown this out." Congress gave final approval to a bill on Thursday creating a new spy agency that will incorporate personnel from the soon-to-be dismantled Intelligence Secretariat, whose reputation had been pummeled by the Nisman scandal. The government says the Federal Intelligence Agency will include tighter oversight.

Potentially Murderous Canadian Misfits Caught

A group of "murderous misfits" planned to massacre as many people as possible in a Valentine's Day shooting spree that police foiled after an anonymous tipoff, Canada's justice minister said on Saturday.

Police arrested three people, including an American woman, before the attack in the eastern city of Halifax could take place. A fourth man linked to the plot was found dead in a house in Halifax, police said.

"Based on what we know so far, it would have been devastating, mass casualties would have been a real possibility," Justice Minister Peter MacKay told reporters.

"The attack does not appear to have been culturally motivated, therefore not linked to terrorism."

MacKay said a 19-year-old Canadian man and a 23-year-old American woman, believed to have been in contact online, allegedly planned to open fire at an unidentified public venue.

"This appeared to be a group of murderous misfits that were coming here, or living here, and were planning to wreak havoc and mayhem on our community," MacKay said.

"To be clear, all suspects are either dead or in custody." Extra security measures have been taken at the public venue, he said.

Police said on Friday they obtained information that suggested the two had access to firearms and intended to kill people, and then themselves.

Nova Scotia RCMP Commanding Officer Brian Brennan told CBC News on Friday that the alleged attackers were "a group of individuals that had some beliefs and were willing to carry out violent acts against citizens".

Evidence suggested two other Nova Scotia males, aged 20 and 17, were involved, though their roles had not yet been determined, police said.

Police said they found the 19-year-old male dead at a residence early on Friday and the 20-year-old male and 23-year-old female were arrested at Halifax airport. The 17-year-old male was arrested elsewhere.

(REUTERS)

Paris mayor says much to learn from US melting pot

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Wednesday at the White House that promoting “a more inclusive city” would help counter radicalisation. She also confirmed a defamation suit against Fox News for saying areas of Paris were "no-go zones" for non-Muslims.

Hidalgo is among representatives of 60 countries attending the three-day summit on countering violent extremism, which has been in the pipelines for months but acquired greater significance after recent terrorist attacks in Parisand Copenhagen.

On Wednesday, she told delegates in the US capital that cities such as Paris should aim for “the exact opposite of the no-go zones dreamed up by certain parties”, referring to last month’s widely ridiculed claim by Fox News that there are parts of Paris where police and non-Muslims fear to tread.

Hidalgo, 55, later confirmed that the French capital had filed a legal complaint against the US television channel for defamation. “I cannot let a lie of such gravity go unpunished,” she told reporters. “Paris is a city of opportunities, progressive and humanist.”

Venezuelan intelligence agents smashed into the office of opposition leader and Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma on Thursday to arrest him, witnesses said, amid accusations of his involvement in a coup attempt against President Nicolas Maduro.

The agents took him from his office in the banking district of Caracas, without giving a reason, according to witnesses including an opposition legislator and Ledezma’s wife.

“I just saw how they took Ledezma out of his office as if he were a dog,” wrote opposition legislator Ismael Garcia via Twitter. “They broke down the doors without an arrest warrant.”

Al Shabaab threatens attacks on Western shopping centres

Caracas Mayor Involved in Planning Coup

Americas

Caracas mayor arrested over alleged coup plot

Argentine judge dismisses case against President Fernandez

Police arrested and charged Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, with three counts of first-degree murder Tuesday for the shooting deaths of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in what police said appeared to be a dispute over parking.

Hicks, who is being held at the Durham County Jail in North Carolina, was expected to make his first court appearance on Wednesday morning.
The victims – a man, his wife and her sister – were found after police responded to a report of gunshots at around 5:15pm on Tuesday. The three, who were identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; Yusor Mohammad, 21; and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene.
“Our preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbour dispute over parking,” police said in a statement. “Hicks is cooperating with investigators and more information may be released at a later time.”

Tens of thousands of people demanding justice marched Wednesday in Buenos Aires to mark a month since the suspicious death of a prosecutor who accused the Argentine president of involvement in a cover-up over a 1994 bombing.

“I am here because I want to see justice done for someone who gave his life for the truth,” said teacher Marta Canepa, 65, among those traipsing the 1.7 kilometres (just over a mile) under the banner “Homage for Prosecutor Alberto Nisman.”
Drenched in driving rain and led by prosecutors and opposition figures, the rally is the first major public show of defiance in a murky case that has ignited a political firestorm in Argentina and piled the pressure on President Cristina Kirchner, 61, in her last year in office.
Nisman was found in his Buenos Aires apartment with a bullet through his head on January 18, the day before he was to go before a congressional hearing to testify that Kirchner and her foreign minister plotted to shield Iranian officials implicated in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish-Argentine charity federation.
Eighty-five people were killed and more than 300 injured in the attack, the deadliest in Argentina’s history—and one that has yet to be solved 21 years later.

A Brooklyn court charged three men Wednesday with conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organisation for planning to join the Islamic State group. One suspect had threatened US President Barack Obama in comments online.

Two men arrested on charges of plotting to help the Islamic State group were vocal both online and in personal conversations about their commitment and desire to join the extremists, with one of them threatening to shoot President Barack Obama to “strike fear in the hearts of infidels,” federal authorities said.
The men were among three charged Wednesday with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, was arrested at Kennedy Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, with plans to head to Syria, authorities said. Another man, 24-year-old Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, had a ticket to travel to Istanbul next month and was arrested in Brooklyn, federal prosecutors said. The two were held without bail after a brief court appearance.
A third defendant, Abror Habibov, 30, is accused of helping fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts. He was ordered held without bail in Florida.
If convicted, each faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Accident in Haiti carnival

At least 15 people were killed and around 40 injured early on Tuesday when a float in a carnival parade hit power lines in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, officials said.

China Just Made A $20B Investment In Venezuela

Venezuela is suffering from plummeting oil prices, runaway inflation and shortages of basic foodstuffs, but it now has at least one lifeline: a $20 billion investment package from China, announced by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this week. But with Venezuela facing a recession, inflation over 60 percent and widespread predictions of a default on its debt this year, some analysts say it’s hard to pinpoint China’s incentive for handing over the funds.

Venezuela has been particularly hard hit by declining oil prices, which fell by 50 percent in the second half of 2014 and have dipped below $50 a barrel. The hit to Venezuela’s primary export has taken its toll on the country’s foreign reserves, and Bloomberg estimates Venezuela’s risk of default this year at 90 percent. President Nicolas Maduro, who has vehemently denied that the country would default on its debt, traveled to China this week to negotiate more economic cooperation, a visit that many observers interpreted as a last-ditch effort to secure emergency assistance from Beijing.

Dead Argentine prosecutor "feared body gaurds"

A tense Diego Lagomarsino (pictured above), his voice breaking at times, recounted at a news conference in Buenos Aires how Nisman had pleaded for the .22-caliber revolver that later killed him. Investigators are still looking into whether his death was murder or a suicide, as an initial inquiry found.

Lagomarsino, a computer expert and the last person known to have seen Nisman alive, said the prosecutor was desperate for the gun, saying: "I no longer trust even my guards."

"He told me that he was not going to use the weapon," Lagomarsino said.

According to Lagomarsino, Nisman told him that he also feared for the safety of his two daughters, who are 7 and 15 years old and who were on vacation in Spain at the time.

"Do you know what it is like that your daughters don't want to be with you because they are afraid something will happen to them?" Lagomarsino quoted Nisman as saying.

Lagomarsino, who had been reluctant to hand the gun over, said Nisman badly wanted it to "carry it in the glove compartment in case some crazy person came by shouting, 'You traitor!'"

"This was a weapon that was truly on its last legs," he added.

After Nisman's death, Lagomarsino was charged with giving a firearm to someone other than its registered owner. He is the only person to be charged so far in the murky case.

Security chief under investigation

Nisman's security chief has been suspended and is under investigation along with two other members of his guard detail, a court source said.

Ruben Benitez, a Nisman confidant who has been suspended, coordinated a security team of 10 officers who protected the prosecutor.

According to a leaked statement made to the investigation's head prosecutor, Benitez said he advised Nisman against buying a gun just days before his death.

But the suspended officers have come under scrutiny for contradictory statements to the investigating prosecutor, Viviana Fein.

The 51-year-old special prosecutor was found dead at his home January 18, a day before he was to go before a congressional committee to testify that President Cristina Kirchner and her foreign minister helped shield Iranian officials who were implicated in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in which 85 people were killed and 300 injured.

Argentina fails to find ex-spy chief tied to dead prosecutor case

(Reuters) - Argentine investigators failed on Thursday to track down a former spymaster wanted for questioning over the death of a prosecutor who had accused President Cristina Fernandez of covering up Iran's alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center.

Prosecutors were unable to locate ex-counterintelligence boss Antonio Stiusso at three different addresses held in his name. One top official acknowledged the government did not know if Stiusso, who had been regarded as one of the most powerful operatives in Argentina's leading spy agency, was even in the country.

Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 18, a day before he was due to testify about his claim that Fernandez sought to whitewash his findings that Iran was behind the attack on the Jewish center, run by the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires.

"He was not at any of the properties registered as his own," Oscar Parrilli, head of the Intelligence Secretariat (SI), told reporters.

Stiusso's lawyer also appeared to be in the dark.

"I assume he is in the country, but I don't know," Santiago Blanco Bermudez told local TV station Channel 26.

Iran has vigorously denied involvement in the bombing and Fernandez has dismissed Nisman's findings as absurd. She said Nisman was duped by rogue agents involved in a power struggle and killed when he was no longer of value to them.

One of those spies was Stiusso, Fernandez's government has said. Fired during a December shake-up of the SI, Stiusso had helped Nisman with his investigation of the bombing.

"I have no doubts that Stiusso is behind all this, after the decision of (President Fernandez) to fire him from the SIDE," Anibal Fernandez, the president's chief of staff, said on Twitter on Tuesday, referring to the top spy agency by its former name.

Parrilli said secrecy laws would be lifted so that investigators could grill Stiusso fully about the mysterious events leading up to Nisman's death. He said the president wanted "the whole truth to be known."

Stiusso's spy career spanned four decades. He was one of the most feared men in the intelligence agency, which played an important role in the military government's "dirty war" against suspected Marxist rebels, union leaders and other leftists in the 1970s.

Since democracy was restored in 1983, successive governments are widely believed to have continued to use the agency to snoop on opponents. Stiusso, whose name is often spelled Stiuso in Argentina, is believed to have been at the heart of its wiretapping operations.

"(Stiusso) is a key man given his ties to Alberto Nisman," Gerardo Young, author of a book titled "The Secret Argentina" on the intelligence community, told television channel TN. "He knew perfectly what Nisman had been working on and surely knew of his state of mind."

It remains unclear whether Nisman killed himself or was murdered. Conspiracy theories abound, with some pointing directly at the president.

No arrests have been made since Fernandez's remark two weeks ago that renegade spies were behind the prosecutor's death.

The scandal has dented the government's credibility ahead of October's presidential election, polls show. Fernandez is barred from running for a third term.

Cuba Releases photos of Fidel Castro

Cuban state media late Monday released the first photographs of former president Fidel Castro in nearly six months in a bid to quiet rumors that his health is failing.

The images showed the 88-year-old Castro at his home along with his wife Dalia during a meeting with the leader of a students' union, and were published in the state-run newspaper Granma and other official media.

Castro had remained quiet publicly after the United States and Cuba announced in December that they were going to restore diplomatic relations after a half century of enmity stemming from the Cold War.

That silence prompted chatter on social media and in foreing media that Castro was sick or even had died.

The article accompanying the new photos said the meeting took place January 23. The headline says, "Fidel is extraordinary." The photos show Castro wearing a blue sweat-suit with a blue-checked collared shirt.

The images come after weeks of feverish speculation concerning the Cuban revolutionary leader's medical condition after he appeared to disappear from the public eye.

The last time he was seen in public was January 8, 2014, when he attended an art gallery opening near his home.

Swirling rumours of Castro's demise have cropped up often since he stepped down from office during a health crisis in 2006.

Raul Castro, the longtime armed forces chief, took his brother's place at Cuba's helm.

The Granma article said that the meeting between Castro and the student leader came four days before Castro finally broke his silence on the diplomatic breakthrough with the US and said that, although he was wary of his old enemy Washington, he did not oppose it and viewed the historic change as a "positive step."

Perdomo said his talks with Castro were as if he were talking to an old friend.

He said he got a call the night before from Castro and was moved when he finally heard a voice he had often heard from afar.

"How are you, Randy,?" said Castro, according to Perdomo.

He said they talked about the articles that Castro has published in Granma, and about astronomy and the importance of science in human advancement.

Last week the communist leader met with a Brazilian theologian, Frei Betto, who advocates liberation theology – the idea that it is the Catholic church's responsibility to help the poor.

"The commander is in good health and in good spirits," Betto said the next day. But no photos of the meeting were published.

Castro took notes on what Betto said, according to the Brazilian.

Betto said he found the former Cuban leader "in good health, thin but lucid."

In mid-January Castro sent a letter to Argentina football legend Diego Maradona – a friend of his – and this also eased fears that he was on his last legs.

Obama requests $1 billion dollars to curb illegal immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants to spend $1 billion to help curb illegal immigration from three Central American countries, according to the president's budget request.

The request was outlined in the president's $4 trillion budget request sent to Congress Monday.

The administration first proposed financial aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala last year after more than 51,000 children from those countries were caught crossing the border alone. At the same time, more than 69,000 people traveling as families, mostly young mothers and children from Central America, were also apprehended at the Mexican border.

The spike in children apprehended at the border caught the Obama administration off guard, despite years of increasing numbers of unaccompanied children found trying to sneak across the border. The situation strained resources within the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments, both of which are responsible for dealing with children caught crossing the border alone.

Obama described the situation last spring and summer as a humanitarian crisis.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, will be responsible for providing Congress with a strategy "to address the key factors in the countries in Central America" where the child immigrants have fled, according to Obama's proposed State Department budget. The budget request said the money would be spent on helping improve border security and economic and social development and make improvements to law enforcement and judicial systems in those countries, among other things.

Some of the money would also be used to support repatriation facilities to help process immigrants deported by the United States.

The State Department budget request also includes $142 million to help Mexico bolster its southern border.

US Welcomes Letter from Castro

US welcomes letter from Fidel Castro on thaw in relations

The United States welcomed Tuesday former Cuban leader Fidel Castro's belated response to the thaw in ties between the Cold War foes as a sign that change is under way in Havana.

US bars Venezuelan officials over alleged rights abuses

Fraught relations between the US and Venezuela turned openly hostile on Monday as Washington slapped new visa restrictions on Venezuelan officials involved in alleged human rights abuses and public corruption.

US 'looking at options' to arm Ukraine against separatists

“It’s getting a fresh look,” a White House source told reporters following deliberations among Obama administration officials on whether to send defensive weapons to prop up Ukrainian forces. “Where things will end up, we don’t know.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Kiev on Thursday for talks with Ukraine’s government, the same day NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels.

The policy rethink reflects what US officials say is a frustration with Moscow’s continued support for rebels despite months of international economic sanctions, and the collapse of the latest attempt at peace talks at the weekend.

It also coincides with a report released by Washington-based Atlantic Council which said the US should immediately authorize $1 billion in military assistance to Kiev and coordinate it with Poland, Baltic States, Canada and Britain.

Russian 'costs outweigh gains'

Steven Pifer, a former US ambassador to Ukraine and one of the report’s authors, told FRANCE 24 that increasing military assistance to Ukraine in the form of “lethal defensive weapons” would make Russian President Vladimir Putin realise that “the costs outweigh the gains” in his country’s “egregious” support of separatist rebels.

Asked if arming the rebels would lead to escalation of the conflict, Pifer responded that while he and the “US government wish this situation wasn’t as it is, there is the question of how to respond to Russian aggression”.

“Russia has provided men, leadership, heavy weapons and units of the Russian army,” Pifer said. “But Moscow is hugely sensitive to casualties in Ukraine, forbidding wounded soldiers to say they had fought there or risk losing their pensions, or worse.”

Pifer denied that any move to strengthen Ukraine’s fighting capabilities would lead to a proxy war between Russia and the West: “Ukrainians are trying to defend their own country and we don’t advocate sending US troops to Ukraine.

“But the risks of inaction are far greater than the risks of escalation.”

Authors of the report included officials with close ties to the White House, including the former number-three-ranking civilian at the Pentagon, Michele Flournoy, and the former US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder.

"The West needs to bolster deterrence in Ukraine by raising the risks and costs to Russia of any renewed major offensive," said the report, published by the Atlantic Council, the Brookings Institution and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Calgary, Canada, has the 'best mayor in the world'

The London-based City Mayors Foundation lauded the popular leader, a Muslim whose parents emigrated to Canada from Tanzania four decades ago, as “a role model for decisive management, inclusivity and forward planning”.

“His vision of how a city should plan for its future has attracted the attention of urban thinkers from across North America,” the philanthropic foundation's website said.

Murdered Mexican students 'mistaken for rival gang'

Forty-three Mexican students who disappeared four months ago were murdered on the orders of a drug cartel who mistook them for members of a rival gang, the government said on Tuesday, finally confirming the deaths of the trainee teachers.

Their disappearance on the night of Sept. 26 in the southwestern city of Iguala led to massive street protests in Mexico and international condemnation of its security situation.

It embarrassed President Enrique Pena Nieto and plunged his administration into its biggest crisis.

Until now, the government had said only that the students were almost certainly murdered after clashing in Iguala that night with corrupt police officers, who handed them over to members of local drug gang Guerreros Unidos.

Cuban President Raul Castro set out conditions Wednesday before moves to normalise relations with the United States would go ahead, demanding an end to the US embargo, the return of Guantanamo Bay and the removal of Havana from a terror blacklist.

Cuba has long blamed the decades-long US embargo for the communist island's economic woes, with billboards in the country equating the sanctions to a "genocide".

Speaking at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Belen, Costa Rica, Castro said Wednesday that Cuba's "main problem" remains the US "blockade" and that improved relations were not an option without an end to them.

"The establishment of diplomatic relations is the beginning of a process towards the normalisation of bilateral relations, but this won't be possible as long as the blockade exists," he said.

Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman drafted an arrest warrant for President Cristina Kirchner which was recovered from the trash at the investigator's apartment following his mysterious death last month, officials said Tuesday.

Prosecutor Viviana Fein -- who on Monday had denied the existence of the document -- admitted the 26-page warrant for Kirchner's arrest, dated June 14, 2014, was discovered after Nisman's death from a gunshot wound on January 18.

Nisman, 51, died on the eve of an appearance before Argentine lawmakers in which he was expected to accuse Kirchner of mounting a cover-up over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center which left 85 people dead and 300 wounded.

It was the worst terror strike on Argentina's soil in its modern history.