Spain in Recession
Spain's economy has slumped into a recession.
Spain's National Statistics Institute data showed Monday that the country's economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2012, after a similar contraction in the final three months of last year.
The news comes as Standard & Poor's agency downgraded the ratings of several top Spanish banks, including BBVA and Santander.
Other downgraded banks include Banesto, Banco Sabadell, Ibercaja, Banca Civica, Kutxabank, Bankinter and BBSA.
Last week, S&P cut Spain's credit rating two notches, saying the outlook is negative.
In reducing the country's sovereign debt rating from “A” to “BBB+,” S&P cited what is calls the risk that Spain's debt could expand while the economy shrinks.
The financial rating agency predicted that the Spanish economy will contract 1.5% this year after previously forecasting a slight growth.
S&P says falling personal incomes, less investment by businesses, and cuts in government spending to balance the national budget are dragging down the Spanish economy.
Suicide Bombing Kills 5 in Eastern Nigeria
Authorities in eastern Nigeria say a suicide bombing targeting a police official has killed at least five people.
Officials said the explosion Monday in Jalingo, the capital of the largely peaceful Taraba state, was triggered near the state ministry of finance and police headquarters. The police official was not harmed.
The attack comes a day after gunmen in northern Nigeria killed at least 15 people in an assault on a university theater used for church services.
Security officials said the gunmen threw small explosives into the site at Bayero University in Kano on Sunday, then fired on worshippers as they ran outside.
A faculty member at the university, Dr. Nasir Fagge, told VOA the killings happened at two locations at the school, and that security had been increased in the days leading up to the attack in light of other deadly incidents in the city.
He also said three professors were among those killed.
One of at least 22 people wounded in the Sunday's attack described the assault as coming just before service began.
“We were about to start the mass, then we start hearing gunshots, pah pah pah, and I ducked down because I am a retired soldier, and I said I will not run away to anywhere.”
Authorities said the attackers fled before security officers arrived, prompting police to cordon off the area.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which resembled others carried out by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram.
The group claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on Thursday at the offices of This Day newspaper in the northern city of Kaduna and the capital, Abuja.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin” in the Hausa language, is trying to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state. It has killed more than 1,000 people since 2009.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been under increasing international pressure to bring an end to the violence.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is split between the majority-Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.
Source-VOA
Al-Qaida Offers Hostage Release for Freeing of Cleric
A statement on a militant website says al-Qaida's north African branch has offered to release a British man abducted in Mali if Britain frees radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada.
The statement attributed to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which could not be verified, said the group would release Stephen Malcolm, who was taken from the northern Mali town of Timbuktu last November along with two other Westerners.
But the message also warned Britain not to deport Qatada to his native Jordan, where he was convicted in absentia in 1998 of terrorism charges related to two bomb plots.
Britain re-arrested Qatada earlier this month, renewing efforts that began in 2001 to send him back to Jordan. The move has been repeatedly blocked by the courts, including in January when the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the deportation, because evidence used against the cleric in Jordan may have been obtained using torture.
Jordan's justice minister has said Qatada would be entitled to a new trial.
British officials have described Qatada as former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's top European deputy. He has been detained for most of the past decade under the country's anti-terrorism laws.
Gunmen Kill 15 During Christian Service in Northern Nigeria
Gunmen in northern Nigeria attacked a university theater used for church services, killing at least 15 people.
Security officials say the gunmen threw small explosives into the site at Bayero University in Kano on Sunday, then fired on worshippers as they ran outside.
A faculty member at the university, Dr. Nasir Fagge, told VOA the killings happened at two locations at the school, and that security had been increased in the days leading up to the attack in light of other deadly incidents in the city.
He also said three professors were among those killed.
One of at least 22 people wounded in the Sunday's attack described the assault as coming just before service began.
“We were about to start the mass, then we start hearing gunshots, pah pah pah, and I ducked down because I am a retired soldier, and I said I will not run away to anywhere.”
Authorities said the attackers fled before security officers arrived, prompting police to cordon off the area, keeping out even emergency personnel for a time.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which resembled others carried out by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram.
The group claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on Thursday at the offices of This Day newspaper in the northern city of Kaduna and the capital, Abuja.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin” in the Hausa language, is trying to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state. It has killed more than 1,000 people since 2009.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been under increasing international pressure to bring an end to the violence.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is split between the majority-Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.
Burma Opposition Ends Boycott
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday she and her fellow opposition lawmakers have ended their boycott of parliament and will pledge to “safeguard” the constitution, accepting a term that created the dispute.
Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the National League for Democracy party will attend Burma's parliament for the first time Wednesday. They had objected to the words “safeguard the constitution” in the swearing-in oath, and wanted them replaced with “respect the constitution.”
But, the Nobel Peace laureate said the NLD members are yielding to “the desires of the people” who elected them to parliament and who have been upset the lawmakers had not taken their seats in the legislative body.
Aung San Suu Kyi's decision meant she was not present in parliament Monday in the administrative capital Naypyidaw to witness the landmark speech by visiting U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – the first such address by a visiting foreign dignitary.
Before his address, the U.N. chief met with Burmese President Thien Sein in a show of support for the sweeping changes in the long-isolated state. The visit is Mr. Ban's first trip to Burma since the government introduced a series of political and economic reforms over the past year.
The U.N. secretary general is scheduled to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday.
Mr. Ban signed an agreement Monday offering U.N. technical assistance for Burma's first census in 31 years. The population and housing census is to be conducted in 2014.
The U.N. chief said the census personnel need to have access to the whole country. He said he hoped the “current and future cease-fires will make this possible.” He said the involvement of minorities and civil society will be “crucial” to the success of the census.
Mr. Ban is also set to travel to northern Shan state, a key opium growing region, where a U.N. poppy eradication program has been established.
Charles Taylor Convicted of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor has been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a special tribunal in The Hague.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone ruled Thursday that Taylor aided and abetted severe human rights abuses carried out by rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war.
Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said Taylor was guilty on all 11 counts of an indictment that included charges of murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruitment of child soldiers, and enslavement.
“The trial chamber unanimously finds you guilty of aiding and abetting the commission of the following crimes, pursuant to article 6/1 of the statute during the indictment period and planning the commission of the following crimes, in the attacks on Kono and Makeni in December 1998, and in the invasion of and retreat from Freetown between December 1998 and February 1999.”
Taylor, wearing a dark blue suit, was calm as he stood and listened to the verdict.
Taylor is the first head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremberg trial in 1946 of Karl Doenitz, who briefly ruled Nazi Germany after the death of Adolf Hitler.
Lussick said Taylor will be sentenced on May 30. Taylor had pleaded not guilty to the charges and has the right to appeal the verdict.
The United States and international rights groups welcomed the verdict, saying it will serve as an example to others who would commit similar crimes.
The White House issued a statement Thursday, saying the conviction of the former Liberian leader sends a powerful message about accountability. The statement says that with Taylor behind bars, the people of Liberia and Sierra Leone are building the strong institutions and the bright future to which they so deservedly aspire.
Prosecutors had said Taylor masterminded Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s, arming and assisting Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels in exchange for “blood diamonds,” mined in eastern Sierra Leone.
The court found Taylor did not have command and control of the rebels but was aware of their activities and provided them with weapons and other supplies.
Taylor was arrested and handed over to the court in 2006, three years after his indictment and subsequent resignation as president. The trial, which opened in 2007, was transferred from Freetown to The Hague amid regional security concerns.
During the trial, the court heard testimony from 94 prosecution witnesses and 21 defense witnesses, including Taylor.
The tribunal was established to try the most serious cases of war crimes rising from the Sierra Leone conflict. The Taylor case is expected to be the court's last major trial.
UN’s Ban: Syria Violating Pledge to Pull Weapons From Civilian Areas
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has accused Syria of violating a pledge to withdraw heavy weapons from population centers and demanded that the government comply with that commitment “without delay.”
In a statement released Thursday, Mr. Ban says U.N. observers in Syria have reported a continued presence of heavy weapons, military equipment and troops in civilian areas “in contravention” of an April 12 truce backed by government and rebel forces. The U.N. chief says he is “deeply troubled” by the observers' findings.
Mr. Ban also condemned violence by all sides in Syria's year-long conflict and urged the parties, particularly the Syrian government, to ensure that the 15 unarmed U.N. truce monitors can operate effectively.
A spokesman for international envoy Kofi Annan said Thursday U.N. monitors inspected the site of an explosion that flattened a block of houses in the central city of Hama on the previous day, killing at least 16 people. Ahmad Fawzi said he had no immediate word on what the observers saw.
The Syrian government blamed the Hama incident on “terrorists” whom it said were preparing explosives that detonated prematurely. But, opposition activists blamed government forces, saying artillery shells destroyed the homes. Activists also reported at least seven people killed in violence related to the Syrian conflict on Thursday.
Syria has said it will honor the truce and other elements of Mr. Annan's peace plan for the country, but will respond to attacks by foreign-backed “terrorists” whom it says are behind the 13-month opposition uprising. Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said Thursday that terrorists have breached the cease-fire more than 1,300 times since April 12.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said it blames most of Syria's violence on armed opposition groups, accusing them of resorting to regional terrorism. Moscow is a longtime ally of autocratic Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria's main exiled opposition group, the Syrian National Council, called for the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to focus on protecting Syrian civilians from government attacks.
The SNC suffered a setback in its efforts to unite Syria's opposition factions when the son of a former Syrian prime minister announced the formation of a rival government-in-exile on Thursday.
Nofal al-Dawalibi made the declaration in Paris, saying his group will be more representative than the SNC, which he described as being dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. He also showed a video of several Syrian rebel commanders pledging allegiance to him. Dawalibi said his group wants the international community to carry out air strikes and set up no-fly zones and humanitarian corridors to protect civilians.
Dawalibi is the son of Maarouf al-Dawalibi, who served as Syria's prime minister before Bashar al-Assad's family took power in the 1960s. It is not clear how much influence the new opposition group has inside Syria. Several SNC members criticized Dawalibi's announcement as unhelpful to the opposition cause.
Meanwhile, U.N. officials said they are working to expand the observer mission in Syria to about 300 personnel in the coming weeks. But, Carnegie Middle East Center Director Paul Salem told VOA that Syria's continued violence will make it clear to observers that the cease-fire is not being implemented.
“I think it will be clear to the monitors very soon that this cease-fire is certainly not holding in a significant and final way.”
Salem also said the planned contingent of 300 monitors may not be enough to calm the situation.
“Syria is a very large country. The violence has moved from one location to another. It will be a challenge for the monitors to try to be in all places all the time. It's also the case, I think, that the government will claim that when violence does erupt, they will claim that it started from the rebels and they are just responding.”
The United Nations estimates that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown on the uprising, while activist groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.
ADDITIONAL UK FUNDING FOR TCI SIPT COSTS
The FCO has made an additional £4.5m (c.$7.2m)contribution to the TCI Government to help meet the costs of the SIPT investigation and Civil Recovery programme for financial year 2011/12, it was announced by Minister Henry Bellingham today, Thu, 26 April 2012.
This is in addition to £6.6m of UK support for TCIG for the same purpose in financial year 2010/11. The costs of the SIPT to date have been 2010/11 $6,856,724 and 2011/12 $7,621,389.
The full PQ and Answer are attached below:
Q: What spending has been incurred on the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Special Investigation and Prosecution Team by the (a) Government and (b) TCI government.
A: In 2009, Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry report concluded that there was a high probability of systemic corruption in the former Turks and Caicos Islands Government.
I am pleased to be able to inform the House that the special investigation into issues raised by this report is making good progress and 13 people have been charged with corruption, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.
In financial year 2010-11 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office made a discretionary grant of £6.6m to reimburse the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for some of the exceptional costs of the criminal investigation, including the work of the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team, and related civil recovery and police work.
In financial year 2011-12 the Turks and Caicos Islands Government report that expenditure for the Special Investigation and Prosecution team was US$7.6m. This represents over 4% of expenditure and a significant funding challenge for the Turks and Caicos Islands Government. The Turks and Caicos Islands Government has introduced a range of new taxes and cut overall expenditure significantly in order to address its structural deficit and put it on course for a sustainable fiscal surplus in financial year 2012-13.
In view of the exceptional situation, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon Friend Member for Richmond (Yorks (Mr Hague) agreed to make a further grant of £3.8m in financial year 2011/12 to reimburse the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for a proportion of the costs associated with the continuing criminal investigation and associated prosecutions. The Foreign Secretary also approved an additional £745,000 contribution to the cost of setting up a suitable courtroom for the trials which will be held as a result of the investigation.
In addition to these grants, the British Government spent approximately £86,000 on costs in the UK relating to the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team in financial year 2011-12.
His Excellency Governor Ric Todd said: “I stated in December 2011 that we would approach our colleagues in the UK to determine if further financial support for this investigation would be available to us here in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I am extremely pleased, therefore, that we were able to make a successful case.”
The Minister was responding to a Parliamentary Question received by Conservative Andrew Rosindell MP, representative for Romford. He is the Chair of the TCI All-Party Parliamentary Group, Chair of the Overseas Territories All-Party Parliamentary Group and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Further details on Mr Rosindell’s interests can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/andrew-rosindell/1447.
Question and answer
Why should UK fund an investigation in an Overseas Territory?
Normally it is for Overseas Territory governments to fund criminal investigations within their jurisdiction. However, the cost of the SIPT investigation in FY 2011-12 was US$7.6m. This represents over 4% of TCI government annual expenditure and a significant funding challenge for them.
In view of this exceptional situation, the UK Government decided to reimburse the TCI government for a proportion of the costs associated with the continuing criminal investigation and associated prosecutions.
Why has the cost of the investigation been so high?
This remains a difficult and complex investigation working across international borders, and dealing with law enforcement and judicial authorities in a number of countries. The SIPT has had offices in both the UK and the TCI, although the UK office has now closed. There has been a significant travel element moving and rotating individual officers and investigative teams between the UK and TCI.
Ultimately, the costs of the SIPT and the separate Civil Recovery programme need to be looked at against the recoveries of money and land by the SIPT and the Civil Recovery Team. The SIPT has agreed a civil recovery order with one individual who has paid the sum of US$1.25m. The Civil Recovery team has made in excess of 40 separate recoveries of money and/or land. The monetary element is US$12m including payments already made, judgements obtained and still to be collected and agreements to pay. More than 900 acres of land have also been returned to the Crown with a value of tens of millions of dollars.
What is the cost so far?
The approximate expenditure by the UK and TCI Governments is as follows:
|
|
UK Government (US$m) |
TCI Government (US$m) |
|
2009-10 |
1.1 |
|
|
2010-11 |
0.3 + 10.6 grant* |
6.9 |
|
2011-12 |
0.2 + 6.1 and 1.1 grants** |
7.6 |
* Grant covered some of the costs of the SIPT, civil recovery work and the RTCIPF
** Grants covered proportion of criminal investigation and prosecutions, together with a contribution towards costs of setting up a courtroom
How long will the investigation and prosecutions take?
To date, 13 people have been charged with corruption, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. Sufficiency (preliminary) hearings have started in the High Court in TCI and in ten of the cases the judge has ruled that there is a case to answer. Further hearings for the remaining three cases will take place in May. Whilst the size of the investigation team has been considerably reduced, the investigation is ongoing. The focus will now turn to the prosecution of the cases that are passed to the Supreme Court for trial.
Why not leave the investigation to the TCI police force rather than go to the expense of bringing in a team from the UK?
The RTCIPF is an experienced and dedicated force. This would be an exceptionally difficult and complex investigation for any police force. It is even more difficult for a small jurisdiction such as TCI, where the RTCIPF still has carry out its day to day policing of the Territory.
If this was an investigation in the UK, it would be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office, because it would need to have a team of officers with specialist fraud squad and major investigation experience. The investigation team consisting of former police officers from the UK provide that experience.
It is important that the investigation is completely independent and that it is seen to be so. The TCI is a very small jurisdiction and an investigation into prominent public figures would raise exactly the same concerns anywhere in the world. In a similar situation in the UK, an outside police force would be brought in to investigate and there is plenty of precedent for this.
The investigation team were sworn in as Special Constables under the Royal TCI Police Ordinance.
The elections should be delayed until all those being investigated have been tried?
The Joint FCO/DFID Written Ministerial Statement of 9 December 2010 set out the milestones that Ministers judged would need to be met before elections could take place in TCI. They said that they wanted to see “Significant progress with the civil and criminal processes recommended by the Commission of Inquiry, and implementation of measures to enable these to continue unimpeded”.
It would not be right to delay restoration of democracy longer than necessary.
PRESS STATEMENT FROM CARLOS W. SIMONS QC RE: SIPT FUNDING
I welcome the news this morning of the announcement by Minister Henry Bellingham to the UK Parliament of an additional contribution of $7.2 million by the British Government to help meet the cost of the SIPT investigation and the Civil Recovery Programme.
It will be recalled that on Monday of this week on the Expressions Radio talk show with Robert Hall I was very critical of the burden this placed on TCIG resources in a period of economic decline and against a background of widespread lay-offs in the public service.
My comments, though harsh were true and reasonable and I wish to thank those who stood with me in the face of the wave of denunciation that my statement attracted.
We do ourselves a disservice when the important issues of justice and fairplay are trivialized into personalities. I have every intention of pressing the case for the TCI people until the British Government fully acknowledges its responsibilities and also its mistakes.
Once again I urge the people of the TCI to be hopeful and not lose faith.
Carlos W. Simons QC
Candidate for Leader
Progressive National Party.
24 Hour Crime Report
The following is an update from the Royal Turks & Caicos Police Force for crime in PROVO.
TWO Acer laptop computers and an LG flat screen television were stolen from United Multi Cultural Institute sometime between 10pm on Monday and 8.30am on Tuesday.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the police on 911 or Crimestoppers on 1-800-8477. Tips can also be left in English, French or Spanish at www.crimestoppers.tc or by becoming a friend of Crimestoppers TCI on Facebook. Crime prevention tips are also available by visiting www.tcipolice.tc
AN IWOA radio and CD player were taken by burglars who broke into a property in Dove Close Kew Town, sometime during the day on Wednesday.
POLICE arrested two men on suspicion of fighting in a public place.