Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Nagorno-Karabakh fighting: Azerbaijan 'calls truce'


  • 5 minutes ago

Breaking News image
Azerbaijan has announced a "unilateral ceasefire" in fighting with Armenian forces over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
A defence ministry spokesman said the Azeris were acting in response to international calls to halt violence.
Firing had continued into Sunday, after clashes left 30 soldiers dead and caused civilian casualties.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been in the hands of ethnic-Armenian separatists since a war that ended in 1994.

'It was a mistake': Trump regrets retweet of Cruz wife

03 April 2016 - 06H05


    © AFP/File | Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has been engaged in an increasingly personal war of words with Ted Cruz, his nearest challenger in the Republican race

    NEW YORK  - 


              
    Donald Trump says he regrets retweeting an unflattering picture of the wife of arch-rival Ted Cruz, in a rare act of contrition from the Republican presidential frontrunner.
    Trump is in pole position to seize the Republican nomination but is doing poorly nationwide among women voters, polls show, and faced stern criticism from all sides in recent days after saying women who have illegal abortions should be "punished," before he backtracked.
    The billionaire real-estate mogul has been engaged in an increasingly personal war of words with Cruz, his nearest challenger in the Republican race for the White House, that even drew in their wives.
    An anti-Trump political group unveiled a controversial campaign ad ahead of votes in Arizona and Utah last month that used a GQ magazine photograph of Trump's wife Melania lying naked and handcuffed to a briefcase.
    Cruz denied being behind the ad, which was accompanied by the words: "Meet Melania Trump, your next first lady."
    Trump then retweeted a photo compilation of an unflattering photo of Cruz's wife Heidi next to Melania, a Slovenian-American jewelry designer and former model.
    "Yeah, it was a mistake," Trump said of the retweet, talking to The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, in a column published Saturday.
    "If I had to do it again, I wouldn?t have sent it."

    Saturday, April 2, 2016

    Greece challenges IMF over 'debt transcript leak'


    • 30 minutes ago

    A Greek and EU flag are waved in AthensImage copyright EPA
    Image caption Hard-fought talks over Greek debt between Athens, the EU and IMF brought a deal last year
    Greece has demanded an explanation from the IMF over a leaked conversation in which top officials allegedly discuss the Greek bailout.
    A transcript, published by Wikileaks, shows the officials discussing ways of putting pressure on Greece, Germany and the EU to get them to wrap up talks.
    One of those quoted suggests a crisis "event" may be needed to force a conclusion.
    Further negotiations between Athens and its lenders are due next week.
    Last year Greece agreed a multi-billion dollar bailout with the EU and IMF that was needed for the country to avoid bankruptcy and stay in the eurozone.
    Greek debt: What's the deal?
    Debt jargon explained
    The Wikileaks conversation purportedly involves Poul Thomsen, head of the IMF's Europe department, and Delia Velculescu, leader of the IMF team in Greece, the senior officials in charge of Greece's debt crisis.
    Mr Thomsen is quoted as complaining about the pace of talks on reforms Greece has agreed to carry out in exchange for the bailout.
    "What is going to bring it all to a decision point?" he asks.
    "In the past there has been only one time when the decision has been made and then that was when they were about to run out of money seriously and to default."
    Mr Velculescu later agrees "we need an event, but I don't know what that will be".
    Migrants hold a protest in GreeceImage copyright AFP
    Image caption One official expresses surprise a deal has not yet been reached amid a pressing migrant crisis
    Mr Thomsen also appears to suggest the IMF could pull out of the bailout to force German Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to debt relief.
    Such a move could be politically difficult for Mrs Merkel, the key figure in the crisis.
    "Look..., Mrs Merkel, you face a question, you have to think about what is more costly: to go ahead without the IMF, would the Bundestag say 'the IMF is not on board?' or to pick the debt relief that we think that Greece needs in order to keep us on board? Right?" Mr Thomsen says.
    He adds that, if Greece were to default, talks could be further delayed by Britain's referendum on EU membership.
    The IMF would not comment on the purported leaks but said its public position on the matter was clear.
    Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said: "As WikiLeaks revealed today, the IMF is planning to stall until July to bring Greece to its knees [again!] in order to force Angela Merkel's hand.
    "It's time to stop Greece's fiscal waterboarding by an incompetent, misanthropic troika."

    India temple ruling: Protesters block entry to women

    • 3 April 2016




    Indian activists try to enter the Shani Shingnapur Temple, 2 AprImage copyright AFP
    Image caption Activist leader Trupti Desai, centre bottom, vowed they would try again

    Protesters in India have defied a court order and prevented a group of female activists from entering a Hindu shrine in western Maharashtra state.
    Several temples in India preserve the tradition of barring entry to women.
    However, the Mumbai high court ruled women have the fundamental right to enter temples, with a six-month jail term for those preventing them.
    The activists say they will try again to enter the Shani Singhnapur's inner sanctum, calling for police protection.
    Some 100 villagers, including many women, blocked the attempt by activists from the Bhumata Ranragini Brigade (Women Warriors of Mother Earth) to enter the shrine on Saturday.
    The Shani Singhnapur temple has for centuries been open only to men, one of the few in India to preserve the tradition.
    The activists said they were testing Friday's ruling by the Mumbai court, which affirmed the right of women to enter and pray inside temples.
    The Shani Singhnapur temple, 2 AprImage copyright AFP
    Image caption The Shani Singhnapur temple has barred women from the inner sanctum for centuries
    The court ordered the government to protect their right to do so and the activists say they will make a fresh attempt to enter the temple, using police protection if necessary.
    Trupti Desai, the leader of more than 20 activists at the site, told TV: "The honourable court has recognised our right to pray. Police must provide us protection and allow us to enter the shrine. We will not leave without entering the [area where the Shani idol is kept]."
    Ms Desai had gone to court arguing the ban breached a 1956 law on Hindu worship and was "a symbol of gender inequality".
    Last year, priests at the Shani Singhnapur temple carried out an elaborate ritual cleansing after a woman managed to gain entry and offer prayers.

    More on this story

    Anti-apartheid veteran Kathrada calls for Zuma to resign


    • 2 April 2016

    Media captionJacob Zuma apologises for "frustration and confusion"
    A South African anti-apartheid veteran has called on President Jacob Zuma to resign following a scandal over improper spending at his private home.
    Ahmed Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela, said that Mr Zuma's resignation would end a "crisis of confidence" in the government.
    Mr Zuma said on Friday he would repay the money but would remain in his post.
    He has faced widespread calls for his resignation from South Africa's opposition.
    South Africa's highest court ruled that Mr Zuma had failed to uphold the constitution by ignoring instructions to repay some of the $16m in state funds spent on renovations at his private residence.
    In a televised address on Friday, Mr Zuma made no reference to the calls for his resignation.
    Can Zuma survive after apology?
    The leadership of Mr Zuma's party, the African National Congress, said it was united behind its leader, but the intervention of 86-year-old Mr Kathrada, a party veteran, may carry weight.
    Along with Mr Mandela, Mr Kathrada was among eight ANC activists sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of trying to overthrow the apartheid government during the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial.
    In an open letter published in South African media, Mr Kathrada said: "In the face of such persistently widespread criticism, condemnation and demand, is it asking too much to express the hope that you will choose the correct way that is gaining momentum, to consider stepping down?
    "I know that if I were in the president's shoes, I would step down with immediate effect."
    A composite image showing South African President Jacob Zuma and his Nkandla residenceImage copyright AFP
    Image caption The Nkandla residence has become a political headache for President Zuma
    The scandal is arguably the biggest yet to hit Mr Zuma, who has fended off accusations of corruption and cronyism since before he took office in 2009.
    The public protector, an anti-corruption body, ruled in 2014 that $23m of public money had been improperly spent on Mr Zuma's rural home in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, and ordered him to reimburse part of the expense.

    South African media reacts - BBC Monitoring

    South African papers are abuzz with reactions to President Jacob Zuma's apology for improper spending on his rural home, and speculation about what he will do next.
    The Johannesburg Star's Janet Smith says Mr Zuma must be observing events in Brazil , where there are growing calls for the resignation of President Dilma Rousseff over corruption charges.
    The Sowetan's report about Mr Zuma's apology is overshadowed by the ongoing saga involving the president and the Indian-born Gupta family, which has allegedly been allowed undue influence. The paper's front-page comment yesterday was headlined "It's official: he's a failed president"
    In the Mail and Guardian, Carien du Plessis foresees difficulties for the ruling ANC if Mr Zuma were to resign, saying: "In a party split down the middle in more or less equal factions... things are more likely to fall apart."
    Business Day's reports about the apology includes opposition Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane's description of it as an insult, and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe's efforts to discourage calls for the president to step down.

    The president claimed he had acted "in good faith" and "never knowingly and deliberately set out to violate the constitution".
    "Any action that has been found not to be in keeping with the constitution happened because of a different approach and different legal advice," he said, before issuing an apology for the "frustration" caused.
    The case had been brought by two opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
    They have launched impeachment proceedings against Mr Zuma, but these are unlikely to be successful because of the ANC's large majority in parliament.

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    South Africa's Jacob Zuma 'sorry' over Nkandla scandal


    • 2 April 2016

    Media captionJacob Zuma apologises for 'frustration and confusion'
    President Jacob Zuma has apologised to South Africans in an effort to end a long-running scandal over improper state spending at his private home.
    "The matter has caused a lot of frustration and confusion, for which I apologise," he said in a TV address.
    He said he would abide by a court ruling that he must repay government money spent on upgrading his rural home with a swimming pool and amphitheatre.
    The case was brought by the opposition, which urged him to stand down.
    The public protector, an anti-corruption body, ruled in 2014 that $23m (£15m) of public money had been improperly spent on Mr Zuma's rural home in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, and ordered him to reimburse part of the expense.
    In Thursday's unanimous judgement, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that Mr Zuma's failure to repay the money violated the constitution.
    In his live address on Friday, Mr Zuma said: "I respect the judgement and will abide by it."
    A composite image showing South African President Jacob Zuma and his Nkandla residenceImage copyright AFP
    Image caption The Nkandla residence has become a political headache for President Zuma
    The president added that he had acted "in good faith" and "never knowingly and deliberately set out to violate the constitution".
    "Any action that has been found not to be in keeping with the constitution happened because of a different approach and different legal advice," he said, before issuing an apology for the "frustration" caused.

    Analysis: Pumza Fihlani, BBC News, Johannesburg

    He has been described as the quintessential escape artist, and he has done it again. South Africans were glued to their TV screens awaiting an address. Speculation was rife that the president would resign. Instead people got an apology, the first since the Nkandla saga erupted six years ago.
    The immediate reaction for many is disappointment. Remember though that Mr Zuma is a master tactician who rose to the highest office against all odds. He is not about to let that go without a fight.
    Mr Zuma peppered his address with denials and promises to never allow this to happen again. He even spoke about how this could only make the country stronger.
    The man that has been the cause of anger for many presented himself as a victim of unclear rules, but said that he now knows better and that the country should forgive him and move on. It takes a lot of charm and confidence to display such boldness, and the president lives to fight another day.

    Mr Zuma has been in office since 2009, and his government has been widely accused of corruption and cronyism.
    The case had been brought by two opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
    The EFF urged Mr Zuma to step down and the DA called for his impeachment.
    Following the president's address, Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general of Mr Zuma's ANC party, described the calls as an "overreaction" by the opposition.

    More on this story

    Friday, April 1, 2016

    Israeli soldier filmed shooting Palestinian placed under arrest

    01 April 2016 - 20H45


      © AFP/File | Israeli citizens hold banners reading in Hebrew: "fighters the people are with you" (L) and "the people want the liberation of the soldier" during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on March 31, 2016 to support Israeli soldier who shot a wounded Palestinian

      JERUSALEM - 


               
      An Israeli soldier caught on video shooting and killing a wounded Palestinian assailant will be kept under arrest at his base until his next court appearance, a military court ruled Friday.
      A new hearing of a military appeals court is scheduled for Tuesday, the army said in a statement.
      The decision to place the soldier under arrest at his base is seen as less serious than holding him in a military prison.
      It follows a favourable ruling on Thursday, when military prosecutors announced that the 19-year-old soldier would be investigated for manslaughter, rather than murder.
      Under Israeli law, manslaughter signifies an intentional but not premeditated killing.
      Video of the soldier, whose identity is under a gag order, shooting the Palestinian in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on March 24 spread widely online.
      Filmed by a Palestinian volunteer for Israeli rights group B'Tselem, it showed 21-year-old Abdul Fatah al-Sharif -- who along with another man had allegedly stabbed a soldier minutes earlier -- lying on the ground, apparently after being shot.
      The soldier then shoots Sharif in the head without any apparent provocation.
      Israel's supreme court on Thursday ruled the family of the slain Palestinian would be allowed to have a pathologist of their choosing present at his autopsy, which is expected in the coming days.
      Top military and government officials have strongly condemned the soldier's behaviour, but far-right politicians and protesters have reacted angrily to his arrest and demanded his release.
      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a former special forces officer, appeared on Thursday evening to walk a line between backing the military justice system and showing some empathy for the tough conditions soldiers face.