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.

UN climate talks in Peru end with deal

UN climate talks in Peru end with deal

Latest update : 14/12/2014

 
 
 
 

© Chris Bouroncle, AFP | UN climate talks in Peru

Article text by NEWS WIRES

About 190 nations agreed on Sunday the building blocks of a new-style global deal due in 2015 to combat climate change amid warnings that far tougher action will be needed to limit rising world temperatures.

Under the Lima deal, governments will submit national plans for reining in greenhouse gas emissions by an informal deadline of March 31, 2015 to form the basis of a global agreement due at a summit in Paris in a year’s time.

The texts, breaking deadlock among weary delegates almost two days into overtime after two weeks of talks, appeased developing countries led by China and India, concerned that previous drafts imposed too heavy a burden on emerging economies compared to the rich.

“We’ve got what we wanted,” said Indian Environment Minister Prakash Javedekar, who said the text preserved the notion enshrined in a 1992 climate convention that the rich have to lead the way in making cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

It also satisfied rich nations led by the United States who say it is time for fast-growing emerging economies to rein in fast-rising emissions. China is now the biggest greenhouse gas emitter ahead of the United States, the EU and India.

“This is a good document to pave the way to Paris,” EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete told Reuters at the end of two weeks of talks about limiting more floods, desertification, heat waves and rising sea levels.

Some environmental groups, however, said the deal, reached at a tent city on a military base in Lima, was far too weak.

“We went from weak to weaker to weakest,” Samantha Smith of the WWF conservation group said of successive drafts at the Lima talks. “This leaves a huge amount for governments and everyone else to do in the next 12 months.”

New style

The idea of a UN deal with obligations for all nations marks a shift from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obliges only the rich to cut emissions.

“What we are seeing is a new form of international cooperation on climate change where all countries participate with a new set of rules,” said Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute think-tank.

But it leaves a lot of work for 2015.

“I am not going to say it will be a walk in the park in Paris,” said Ed Davey, British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat say that the combined pledges by all nations likely in Paris will be too weak to achieve a goal of limiting warming to an agreed goal of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahreneit) above pre-industrial times.

Under the Lima deal, national pledges will be added up in a report by Nov. 1, 2015, to assess their aggregate effect in slowing rising temperatures.

But, after opposition led by China, there will not be a full-blown review to compare each nation’s level of ambition. In a deal with the United States last month, China agreed to cap its emissions by around 2030.

And the text lays out a vast range of options for the Paris accord, including the possibility of aiming for zero net global emissions by 2100 or earlier in a drastic shift from fossil fuels towards renewable energies such as wind and solar power.

(REUTERS)

Haiti’s prime minister resigns amid political unrest

Haiti’s prime minister resigns amid political unrest

Latest update : 14/12/2014

 
 
 
 

© Hector Retamal, AFP | Haiti's Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe (pictured right)

Article text by NEWS WIRES

Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe announced early Sunday that he was resigning along with several ministers in the wake of violent anti-government protests and a commission’s call for him to step down.

In a speech that was delayed past midnight, Lamothe said he was leaving “with a sense of accomplishment,” adding, “This country has undergone a deep and dynamic transformation and a real change in benefit of its people.”

President Michel Martelly said earlier he accepted the findings of the commission that had recommended Lamothe’s replacement, though he did not explicitly say the prime minister would resign.

Martelly appointed Lamothe as prime minister in 2012, and some political analysts believe Lamothe might seek the presidency in upcoming elections.

Haiti’s capital has endured a growing number of violent demonstrations demanding long-delayed elections and the resignations of Lamothe as well as Martelly.

On Saturday, one man was found dead in a protest in Port-Au-Prince during clashes with police who were firing tear gas. It was not immediately clear how the man died, although he was shot at least once in the wrist. Demonstrations also spread to other towns, including Gonaives and Cap-Haitien.

The unrest followed a demonstration Friday in which UN peacekeeping troops opened fire on a crowd that marched through Port-au-Prince, set tires on fire and skirmished with troops and police.

Martelly has been under pressure to call elections, which have been expected since 2011. His administration blames the delay on six opposition senators who contend legislation that would authorise the vote unfairly favours the government.

The commission set up to break the impasse recommended that Lamothe resign, along with the head of the Supreme Court and current members of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council. It also called for the release of several “political prisoners.”

Speaking to the nation late Friday, Martelly said he accepted the commission’s findings and that Lamothe was prepared to make a sacrifice and resign. Lamothe was at the announcement but did not speak.

Martelly said he would meet Monday with government officials to discuss the commission’s report.

Administration officials have insisted the government wants to hold the elections. The terms of 10 senators expire in mid-January and Parliament will be dissolved, meaning Martelly would rule by decree.

Lamothe’s resignation further complicates the political situation because nominations of a prime minister require approval from Parliament and it is unclear whether someone would be nominated before Parliament is dissolved, said Michael Deibert, author of “Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti.”

He noted that Lamothe was Martelly’s third nomination for prime minister during a drawn-out selection process.

“Without a functioning Parliament and without a prime minister, I’m afraid it could be a tumultuous time in January,” Deibert said in a phone interview from Cap-Haitien.

He warned that political instability would undermine confidence in the government and the confidence that the international community has in Haiti in terms of investment.

“That’s not an image that Haiti wants to project to the world,” Deibert said.

(AP)

Haiti president pressures PM to resign amid protests

Haiti president pressures PM to resign amid protests

Latest update : 13/12/2014

 
 
 
 

© Hector Retamal, AFP | Demonstrators march during a protest against the government of President Michel Martelly in Port-au-Prince, on December 12, 2014

Article text by NEWS WIRES

Haitian President Michel Martelly agreed to seek the resignation of his prime minister on Friday, after accepting the recommendations of a special commission appointed to resolve a long-running political dispute that has blocked elections.

Martelly made the announcement in a national address from the presidential palace, his second in three days, after talks with a special envoy from the U.S. State Department, as well as mounting street protests complaining about the lack of elections and government corruption.

It was not clear when the recommendations would take effect, or when a new prime minister would be sworn in, but it appeared to mark the end of a close alliance between Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, who are friends and business partners.

While sacrificing Lamothe to appease his critics, Martelly praised his hard work, adding Lamothe had agreed to step down.

“He is willing to make that sacrifice,” Martelly said, with Lamothe seated in the audience.

“I recognize his determination to help the country,” he added.

Lamothe, who attended university in Miami, is highly regarded by the international community, including the major international lending banks, and is expected to run for president next year.

Other recommendations to break the political deadlock include the resignation of the head of the Supreme Court and the interim electoral council, as well as the release of “political prisoners”.

‘To reunite Haiti’

Haiti has a long history of convulsive elections and is still recovering from an earthquake five years ago that leveled much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Martelly said he hoped the commission’s recommendations would reunite Haiti, adding that he would discuss their implementation with officials next week.
International pressure has been mounting on Martelly, after a series of street protests, including another on Friday.

Legislative and municipal elections have been held up by a dispute between the government and a group of opposition senators over details of a proposed electoral law.

The parliament will shut down due to a lack of elected members if elections are not held before Jan. 12.

Opposition leaders have accused Martelly, a popular singer known as "Sweet Mickey", of scheming to rule by decree during the final year of his term in order to manipulate presidential elections late next year. They say the government has not seriously engaged the opposition or offered reasonable concessions.

For its part, the government has accused the opposition of trying to sabotage democratic rule.

(REUTERS)

China plans to bid again for Mexico high-speed rail project

Mon, Dec 1 2014

SHANGHAI/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - China plans to tender again for Mexico's $3.75 billion high-speed rail project after the Latin American nation abruptly canceled its earlier win, one of the firms in a Chinese-led consortium that had bid and a source close to the bid said.

Mexico revoked the contract awarded to the consortium made up of China Railway Construction Corp (601186.SS: Quote, Profile,Research, Stock Buzz) (1186.HK: Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), CSR Corp (601766.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (1766.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and four other Mexican firms on Nov. 7 after opposition lawmakers claimed it was fixed. The consortium's bid was uncontested.

The Latin American nation said it would re-run the tender in late November under the same terms.

Local media also later reported that one of the Mexican firms in the consortium, Grupo Higa, owned a $7 million house that the Mexican president's wife was in the process of acquiring. Mexico's first lady said she would give up the house.

"Whether we will continue to bid with CRCC, that's a definite yes," said the official from CSR's publicity department, who only wanted to be identified by his surname Xu, on Friday.

A separate source close to the Chinese bid said CRCC was definitely going to tender again.

Xu declined to say whether the Mexican partners would remain in the consortium, but said "small adjustments made to consortiums are very normal".

CRCC did not reply to calls for comment from Reuters on Monday. The company said after the cancellation of the contract that it was "exceptionally shocked" by the decision and that it was looking at taking legal action to protect its rights.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI and Gabriel Stargardter in MEXICO CITY; Additional reporting by SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Brazil targets Petrobras contractors as corruption probe expands

5:10pm EST

By Brad Haynes

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's comptroller general opened cases on Wednesday against eight engineering conglomerates suspected of bribery and fraud in deals with Petrobras, holding them accountable for their role in a widening corruption scandal at the state-run oil company.

If found responsible for the alleged graft scheme, some of Brazil's biggest infrastructure and construction firms could be blocked for years from taking government contracts, complicating President Dilma Rousseff's push to expand investments in roads, bridges, rail lines and energy projects.

Executives at Camargo Correa, Engevix, Galvao Engenharia, Iesa, Mendes Junior, OAS, Queiroz Galvao and UTC-Constran were arrested last month as police investigated allegations of overcharging the oil company, known formally as Petroleo Brasileiro SA, in return for kickbacks to politicians and executives.

The comptroller general's office said that testimony from the police investigation, along with documents, emails, phone records and wire transfers had provided evidence to open proceedings against the companies.

Lawyers for the companies have approached Brazil's top prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, to propose a plea deal, he told reporters on Wednesday. Janot said, however, that the implicated executives would have to admit involvement in the graft scheme as part of any settlement.

The case is dominating Brazil's political landscape and overshadowing Rousseff's plans for a second term starting in January. She was chair of Petrobras' board of directors from 2003 to 2010, when many of the alleged bribes and kickbacks happened, but has denied knowledge of or involvement in the corruption scheme.

The scandal has also intensified scrutiny of corporate governance at Petrobras, where some minority shareholders have complained of lax oversight and outsized government influence.

Securities watchdog CVM said on Wednesday that Petrobras CFO Almir Barbassa violated shareholders' rights by letting state development bank BNDES and state-led pension funds vote on board members who should be elected solely by minority investors.

Without admitting to any wrongdoing, Barbassa agreed to pay a fine of 250,000 reais ($98,000), CVM said, while BNDES and its subsidiary BNDESPAR each agreed to pay 500,000 reais.

Petros, the pension fund for Petrobras workers, also faces a fine of 400,000 reais and the CVM said it warned two other pension funds for their conduct.

At a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, a former executive who helped to uncover the bribery and kickbacks said political parties have dominated the appointment of senior management at Petrobras for years, highlighting the need for independent oversight.

(Additional reporting by Aluisio Alves, Caroline Stauffer and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Alan Crosby and Christian Plumb)

President pushes reforms: 'Mexico must change'

By Dana Ford, Fidel Gutierrez and Jason Hanna, CNN

updated 7:20 PM EST, Thu November 27, 2014

11 bodies found in mass grave in Mexico

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: President Enrique Peña Nieto proposes giving the state control over local police
• NEW: He also wants to set up a nationwide emergency number, like 911
• NEW: Peña Nieto has come under fire for his response to the disappearance of 43 students
• 11 bodies found in southwestern Mexico as search for students continues

(CNN) -- Mexico's leader proposed a series of reforms Thursday that he hopes will help combat widespread crime and corruption.

President Enrique Peña Nieto has come under fire for what some saw as his slow reaction to the disappearance of 43 college students, and for traveling abroad as protests spread across the country.

In September, a group of students boarded buses and vans bound for the nearby city of Iguala, intending to protest about a lack of funding for their school. They have not been heard from since.

"After Iguala, Mexico must change," Peña Nieto told a group of politicians and lawmakers.

He proposed more than a dozen reforms, including a constitutional change that would give the state control over local police. The plan would be worked out in stages, starting with the states of Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán and Tamaulipas, he said.

The President also proposed setting up a nationwide emergency number, like 911 in the United States, and said he wants to boost development by creating three special economic zones in the country's impoverished south.

Bodies found in southwestern Mexico

Photos: Missing Mexican students

Peña Nieto spoke the same day authorities announced that 11 partially burned bodies of young adults have been found in southwestern Mexico, just an hour's drive from where 43 missing college students went to school.

Police haven't publicly identified the remains, and officials have not said whether there is any connection between the bodies and the September disappearances of the 43 students -- a case that has led to unrest over allegations that police abducted them, on order of a mayor, and turned them over to a gang that killed them.

The 11 bodies were discovered near Chilapa, about an hour's drive west of Escuela Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa, a small college devoted to training students to become teachers in Mexico's impoverished countryside.

Some of the 11 bodies were decapitated, according to Guerrero state officials.

Search for students continues

Authorities say the 43 students intended to protest a speech by the wife of Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca. Prosecutors allege that Abarca ordered police to round up the students.

Authorities say they believe the students were captured by Iguala police, turned over to a gang, and then executed in Cocula, 14 miles away. The gang burned the bodies and dumped them in a river, authorities say, but investigators have yet to link any remains to the missing students.

Mexican prosecutors have called Abarca the "probable mastermind" in the disappearances, charging him with six counts of aggravated homicide and one count of attempted homicide, authorities said.

In all, at least 75 people have been arrested in connection with the disappearances.

Earlier this month, authorities investigating the case said human remains were found in at least one garbage bag in the San Juan River. Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said DNA tests were needed to identify the remains; no results have been announced.

The Iguala incident sparked protests across Mexico, some of them violent. The governor of Guerrero state, who was criticized for not acting quickly enough after the abductions, has taken a leave of absence.

CNN's Michael Martinez, Mariano Castillo, Shasta Darlington, Rafael Romo and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

Protesters over missing students in Mexico burn state assembly

CHILPANCINGO Mexico Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:48am EST

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Protesters set fire to Mexico's Guerrero congress over missing students

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(Reuters) - Demonstrators set fire to the local legislature building on Wednesday in the capital of the southwestern state of Guerrero in protests over the apparent massacre of 43 students by corrupt police and thugs from drug gangs.

Violent demonstrations rocked several other states, where protesters blocked an airport and damaged the local office of President Enrique Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

In Guerrero's capital of Chilpancingo, members of a teachers union set fire to the session hall in the state assembly building while also torching several cars outside.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and no injuries were reported. Protesters also set a fire at administrative offices of the state's education department.

Anger has intensified in Mexico since Attorney General Jesus Murillo said last week that evidence suggests 43 missing trainee teachers were murdered by gangsters, incinerated in a bonfire at a garbage dump and their ashes thrown in a river.

The students were abducted by corrupt police in September, Murillo said.

The protests have led to mass cancellations this week in the hotelsof Acapulco, the famous beach resort, ahead of a long holiday weekend. On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters scuffled with riot police and burned PRI offices in Chilpancingo.

"God willing, this type of vandalism does not repeat itself, this is not the way," said resident Constantino Garcia. "I think that this is not what society hopes for when demanding justice."

Tens of thousands of Mexicans have taken to the streets in recent weeks in peaceful protests over the government's handling of the case of the missing students, which has become the biggest challenge yet to Pena Nieto.

The president is on a trip to China this week, which infuriated protesters and relatives of the students. They believe he cares more about Mexico's business interests than trying to deal with the gang violence that has ravaged much of the country for years.

In neighboring Michoacan state, which has also been a focal point of drug gang violence, students blocked the main entrance to the state capital's airport, a state police spokesman said.

Another group of demonstrators broke windows, furniture and computers at local PRI offices in the capital of Morelia, according to police.

Local media also showed images of masked people, purportedly student teachers, looting trucks in the state of Oaxaca, while another group took over a toll booth station in the state of Chiapas and burned several cars.

(Reporting by Alberto Fajardo in Chilpancingo and Michael O'Boyle in Mexico City; Editing by Ken Wills)