Don't Arm Ukraine, Russia Tells The West

Topless Protesters Climb On Strauss-Kahn's Car

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 10 Februari 2015 | 23.12

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been confronted by topless protesters shortly before telling a court he had no idea women at sex parties he attended were prostitutes.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund faces 10 years in jail and a £1.1m fine if found guilty of organising women to attend the orgies.

The economist was ambushed as his car approached the building in Lille, with activists climbing on to the roof and shouting insults.

Many of the women had "guilty" scrawled on their half-naked bodies.

Police handcuffed the demonstrators and removed them from the scene, throwing coats over their exposed chests.

Strauss-Kahn is accused along with 13 others of running a prostitution ring out of luxury hotels in Paris, Washington DC, Lille and Brussels.

In his first testimony, he affirmed his defence that he did not know the women were prostitutes.

"I had a very hectic life, with just a few outlets for recreation, and these sessions were part of that," Strauss-Kahn told the court.

He said he had believed the women were "a group of friends", and if he had known they were prostitutes "I would have totally stopped participating in these soirees".

"I am horrified at the practice of using prostitutes," he added.

Strauss-Kahn said the orgies were rare and there was none of the "wild activity" he has been accused of.

Some of the prostitutes questioned have described the evening as sexual "carnage".

They claim the parties were going on between 2009 and 2011, when the IMF chief was dealing with the depths of the global financial crisis.

One former prostitute, Mounia, has claimed Strauss-Kahn made her commit a sex act that was "against nature" - something the former IMF chief strongly denies.

Strauss-Kahn's friend, businessman Fabrice Paszkowski, who is accused of financing and organising the parties, said he never told him he had paid the women to attend.

In a separate 2011 case, a maid accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault at a luxury hotel in New York.

It was eventually settled in a civil suit, but wrecked his ambitions of running for the French presidency.

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Picasso Electrician On Trial Over Art Cache

A former electrician who worked for Pablo Picasso before his death has gone on trial with his wife accused of stealing 271 works by the artist.

Pierre Le Guennec, now in his 70s and retired, says the world-famous artist and his wife Jacqueline gave him the oil canvases, drawings and Cubist collages when he was doing work on the last property they lived in before the artist died in 1973.

But some of Picasso's family members, including his son Claude, dispute this and filed a complaint against the couple, who were charged in 2011.

Le Guennec is standing trial in the southeastern city of Grasse with his wife Danielle.

Claude, who runs the Picasso Administration which authenticates the Spanish art legend's works of art, is one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Others include Paloma, Claude's sister, another child Maya, two grandchildren and Catherine Hutin-Blay, the daughter of Picasso's last wife Jacqueline.

Le Guennec claims that when he was working on Picasso's home in Mougins, an upmarket town in the hills outside Cannes on the French Riviera, the artist often invited him to have some cake and drink coffee.

"We talked about everything and nothing," he told AFP in 2010.

"One evening when I left work, Madame gave me a small packet and said 'this is for you'," he said.

"When I came home, I saw sketches, pencil drawings. I didn't know anything about all this. If Madame had given me a painting, then that would have been weird."

He put the present in his garage, but when he went to Paris in 2010 to get the works authenticated at the Picasso Administration, the artist's heirs filed an official complaint.

"They don't remember a thing, whether they received this gift in 1970, 1971, 1972," said Jean-Jacques Neuer, Claude Picasso's lawyer.

"If someone gives you 271 Picasso works, you remember that."

The works were all created between 1900 and 1932.

"You would have to imagine Picasso keeping them for 70 years and all of a sudden wanting to give them away," Mr Neuer said.

The couple's lawyer Charles-Etienne Gudin, meanwhile, said there were only a dozen works of value and that the rest was "very mediocre," insisting that Picasso never tried to sell them.

They face up to five years in prison and a €375,000 fine if convicted for concealing stolen goods.

The trial, which is likely to be closely scrutinised by the art world, is expected to last three days.

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Russia Looks With Envy At China's Economy

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent, in Blagoveshchensk

Blagoveshchensk translates as the "city of good news", but there has been precious little of that for the Russian economy lately.

The value of the rouble has plummeted and the country is heading into recession, hit by the falling oil price and Western sanctions.

Russia's sovereign credit rating has been downgraded to one notch above junk level.

The government says inflation could reach 17% this year, but people we spoke to on the streets of Blagoveshchensk in the Russian Far East said prices in shops were already spiralling.

"The prices have really jumped here," said 75-year-old Valentina Kirrilova.

"It's awful, horrible. I can come to a shop with 1,000 roubles (approximately £10) and it's not enough to buy anything."

An elderly couple said prices were rising "for everything".

From the riverside in Blagoveshchensk, they can look across to the gleaming towers of Heihe City in China.

The two great powers are separated by just a few hundred metres, the breadth of the frozen Amur River.

There were plans to build a bridge to make this a trade gateway between Russia and China.

But, as with so much of the Russian economy, the promised development has so far failed to materialise.

Instead, you take an old bus over a temporary pontoon bridge - in summer everything has to go by boat.

This time last year Russians found shopping on the Chinese side cheap, but now it's the other way around - the rouble buys you half as much.

Lubov Pikolova moved here from Russia five years ago. She works in one of Heihe's hotels and sees better prospects in China.

"We have non-stop crises in Russia," she explained.

"We always have to pay for this or for that. It's not easy economically to live in Russia, so many people are trying to leave it."

Others are coming for health care. In a Chinese dental clinic we found a number of Russian patients.

"Many Russians are coming here for dentistry because it's high quality," patient Inna Sergienko said.

"The prices are low and they are excellent doctors."

Back on the Russian side, we met businessman Dmitry Gudzovskiy, who runs two Chinese restaurants in Blagoveschensk.

He outlined the problems of doing business in Russia - the endless battle with bureaucracy, and to stay on the right side of the many laws.

"Not a single businessman will tell you on camera that he is paying bribes, but you should guess yourself," he said.

"You cannot do everything correctly in business, it's just impossible. If you will act as it is written in law you should stop your business right now and just go home.

"I think that the biggest problem of the Russian economy is that there is no dialogue between the Russian government and businessmen, they don't talk to us, they treat us as vassals."

Down by the Amur River, a bronze Soviet border guard stands to attention, a monument to a lost empire.

While the oil price was high, it was easy to believe President Vladimir Putin was rebuilding that power, reclaiming Russia's place in the world, but it doesn't feel so convincing here now.

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Charles Urged To Address Human Rights In Saudi

Prince Charles has held informal talks with Saudi Arabia's new King Salman after he arrived in Riyadh on the latest leg of a six-day tour of the Middle East.

The Prince of Wales shared a lunch with the monarch and hundreds of guests at a palace in the capital.

He has been under pressure from Amnesty International UK to raise humanitarian concerns with King Salman, particularly the case of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who faces 1,000 lashes and at least ten years in jail after he was convicted of insulting Islam.

It was unclear whether Prince Charles raised Mr Badawi's case at the lunch.

The prince and the king talked privately through an interpreter before the lunch and then sat together for the 40-minute meal.

Guests dined on a range of dishes including longface emperor fish, traditional lamb dishes and qursan - a popular Saudi dish of meat and vegetables.

Prince Charles knows the Saudi royal family well and was among the world figures who travelled to the country to pay his respects last month following the death of King Abdullah at the age of 90.

When he met with the late monarch's son Prince Miteb, he told Charles: "The whole family were very grateful. It meant a lot when you came on the first day (after the funeral), it meant a great deal to us."

Simon Collis, Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said: "Royal to royal links have a particular value... these kinds of visits are capable of having significant impact.

"Any conversation that does happen is not just going to be an exchange of platitudes, because they are past that."

Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK director, said: "We don't expect Prince Charles to give up the red carpets and state banquets and become a human rights campaigner, but as a man who knows the Middle East well we hope that he will use this visit to pass on a few well-chosen words to his royal hosts.

"We know that freedom of religion is an issue close to the Prince's heart, and in Saudi Arabia he will surely want to raise the outrageous case of Raif Badawi. We still need the UK government to do more on Raif's case, but Charles' diplomatic intercession could help secure this man's freedom."

Amnesty has also called on the Prince to highlight the plight of foreign workers employed to build the infrastructure of the 2022 World Cup when he goes to Qatar.

Charles, and Prime Minister David Cameron, were criticised last month after visiting Saudi Arabia to pay respects following the death of King Abdullah.

The decision following the King's death to fly flags at half-mast on key public buildings in London, including Downing Street, drew sharp criticism from prominent politicians.

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Delhi: Anti-Corruption Party Romps To Victory

By Neville Lazarus, India Reporter

The Aam Aadmi, or Common Man's Party, has scored a resounding victory in Delhi's state elections.

The party, formed just two years ago by anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal, has won 67 of the 70 available seats.

The remaining three went to the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), while the Congress Party, which ran the capital for 15 years until 2013, drew a complete blank.

The result is a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, who had a spectacular win in last May's general elections.

Mr Modi and many of his cabinet ministers had campaigned extensively on the Delhi elections.

Since taking office, Mr Modi has had a dream run and his saffron brigade was viewed as unstoppable. He has hosted meetings with the leaders of China, Russia and the United States, while being feted overseas.

Political analysts said the scale of the Congress Party's defeat in Delhi was a wake-up call for the government.

"Modi came to power in May making promises to people. But he has nothing to show on the ground even though eight months have passed," said Zoya Hasan, of New Delhi's Jawarhalal Nehru University.

Mr Kejriwal, a 46-year-old former tax man, admitted he was overwhelmed by the scale of his party's victory.

In a speech to his supporters, he said: "The people of Delhi have achieved something spectacular. It is very scary, the kind of support the people have given us.

"But don't get arrogant - the Congress and the BJP were defeated because of arrogance."

This is Mr Kejriwal's second stint as Chief Minister of Delhi. A year ago he resigned after 49 days in office because of his minority government's inability to pass anti-corruption legislation.

He later apologised for giving up the fight too easily and vowed not to do it again.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was born from an anti-corruption movement in October 2012.

Corruption is an issue that affects every Indian. All political parties have vowed to tackle it but the AAP took the issue head on and has caught the imagination of the lower and middle classes.

It is the only political party that lists its donors on its website and is campaigning to make others do the same.

With its army of volunteers the party meticulously went about wooing people through grass-root campaigns.

It has attracted young people, who spread its message via social media. One of its pledges is to make Delhi the first free WiFi city in the country.

Mr Kejriwal will take his oath as Chief Minister of Delhi on 14 February - ironically, the same day he quit office last year

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Girl, 11, Charged With Beating Baby To Death

By Sky News US Team

An 11-year-old girl has been charged with murder in the beating death of a two-month-old girl.

The girl, her mother and the infant, Zuri Whitehead, were on a couch at the house in Wickliffe, a suburb of Cleveland in Ohio, when the mother fell asleep at about 3am on Friday, police said.

Less than an hour later, the woman was awakened by her daughter, who was holding the badly injured child.

Zuri was bleeding and her head was badly swollen, Wickliffe police Chief Randy Ice said.

Police reported "massive brain injuries" as well as damage to her kidneys and liver, and extensive internal bleeding

The 11-year-old's mother immediately called 911, Chief Ice said. Zuri was flown to a children's trauma centre in Cleveland, but she died there.

Chief Ice said the girl did not appear to show remorse.

"I'm not sure she appreciated the gravity of what she did," he said.

"We're having a hard time getting (our) heads around this."

The police chief said the mother of the 11-year-old and Zuri's mother, Trina Whitehead, have known each other for five or six years but are not related.

Trina Whitehead has three other children and had the girl's mother keep Zuri overnight to give her a break.

Judge Karen Lawson entered a not guilty plea for the girl at a detention hearing on Monday and ordered that she undergo a competency hearing.

The girl, who entered the court in shackles, answered yes when she was asked if she understood her rights.

Media have not identified the girl because she is a minor.

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Kayla Mueller: Aid Worker Who Helped Syrians

Kayla Mueller was an aid worker from a small town in Arizona, who, from a young age had a single-minded determination to help others.

The 26-year-old was taken prisoner in Aleppo, Syria, on 4 August 2013, after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital.

She was thought to be Islamic State's last remaining American hostage.

Other aid workers kidnapped at the same time are thought to have been released, but according to a CBS report last year, IS was demanding a $6.6m (£4.3m) ransom to set her free.

Ms Mueller had been helping Syrian refugees on the Turkish border since December 2012, working with aid agencies including Support to Life and the Danish Refugee Council.

In 2013, she described the desperate situation in a refugee camp, including how she helped reunite a six-year-old with his relative after the camp was bombed.

"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal," she told Prescott's Daily Courier.

"(I will not let this be) something we just accept."

"This story is not rare in Syria," she added. "This is the reality for Syrians two and a half years on.

"When Syrians hear I'm an American, they ask, 'Where is the world?' All I can do is cry with them, because I don't know."

Ms Mueller - from Prescott, 100 miles north of Phoenix - had also campaigned on behalf of genocide victims and volunteered for three years with the Save Darfur Coalition in her late teens.

A 2007 interview for the Daily Courier describes how she called and wrote to members of the US Congress, and took part in silent walks to raise awareness.

"I love cultures and language and learning about people's cultures," she told the paper as she prepared to start university in Flagstaff.

After graduating in 2009, she spent around a year living and working with humanitarian aid groups in northern India, Israel and Palestine.

Heading back to Arizona in 2011, she worked at an AIDS clinic and volunteered at a women's shelter at night.

The US government and Ms Mueller's family had kept her name secret until IS claimed she had been killed, fearing any publicity would put her in more danger.

Her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, said in a statement earlier this month: "Kayla found this (aid) work heart-breaking but compelling; she is extremely devoted to the people of Syria.

"When asked what kept her going in her mission, she said, 'I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine, if this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you'."

She is the fourth American to die while being held by IS.

The others, journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig, were beheaded by the group.

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Don't Arm Ukraine, Russia Tells The West

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Moscow has hit out at calls for the West to arm Ukraine in the fight against rebels in the east of the country.

A Kremlin spokesman said it would be regarded as an attempt to destabilise the situation - as would an extension of sanctions against Russia.

The warning came ahead of further talks on Wednesday aimed at ending the 10-month Ukraine conflict, which has cost more than 5,300 lives since April.

The meeting, in the Belarussian capital Minsk, follows last week's discussions between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko, led by Germany and France.

According to Russia's RIA news agency, the talks will focus on withdrawing heavy weapons, creating a demilitarised zone in eastern Ukraine and starting a dialogue between Kiev and the rebels.

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Gallery: Ukraine Crisis: Fighting Intensifies

A destroyed Ukrainian Army tank outside Uglegorsk, 6km (4m) southwest of Debaltseve

Pro-Russian separatists' ammunition and an armoured vehicle in Uglegorsk. The EU has put fresh sanctions against Moscow on hold ahead of further talks to thrash out a lasting peace deal

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A pro-Russian separatist fighter. President Barack Obama said the United States had no desire to "weaken" Russia, but the West had to impose a penalty for Moscow's aggression in Ukraine

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Part of a Ukrainian Army tank destroyed in fighting

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Pro-Russian separatist fighters ride on the top of an armoured vehicle

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RIA quoted a source in Minsk as suggesting the main sticking point would be the demilitarised zone.

Europe's security watchdog, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), France and Germany want Russia to oversee it., but Moscow wants the OSCE to take control, the source was quoted as saying.

US President Barack Obama has come under increasing pressure to provide military aid to Ukraine amid claims Russia has been arming the rebels with heavy weaponry - claims denied by Moscow.

After meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington on Monday, Mr Obama said he had ordered his team to see "whether there are additional things we can do to help Ukraine bolster its defences in the face of Russian aggression".

Britain has said it will keep its decision not to arm Ukraine under review as it "could not allow" its armed forces to "collapse".

"It is a national decision of each country in the NATO alliance to decide whether to supply lethal aid to Ukraine," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs.

"The UK is not planning to do so but we reserve the right to keep this position under review."

He added: "We share a clear understanding that while there is no military solution to this conflict we could not allow the Ukrainian armed forces to collapse."

A peace deal was reached last Autumn but it has been repeatedly been violated by both sides, and bloodshed has increased significantly in the past two weeks.

On Tuesday at least 20 people were killed in heavy fighting and rocket strikes on Ukraine's military headquarters in the east and a nearby residential area.

Regional police said at least six civilians had been killed and 21 injured in the strike on the town of Kramatorsk, about 50km (30m) from the front lines.

Officials said the rockets had been fired from the rebel-controlled Horlivka area, some 50km from Kramatorsk.

Earlier, the Ukrainian national guard reportedly launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists near the strategic south-eastern port city of Mariupol.

The day before, a powerful explosion rocked a chemical plant in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk after shelling by government forces.

Ukraine says fighting has been particularly intense around the town of Debaltseve, a major rail and road junction northeast of Donetsk.

Meanwhile, about 2,000 Russian reconnaissance troops have started month-long exercises in southern Russia, Interfax news agency has reported.

More than 600 are said to be in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.

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'Heartbroken' Family Told IS Hostage Is Dead

By Sky News US Team

The family of an American aid worker held hostage by Islamic State has received confirmation of her death.

"We are heartbroken to share that we've received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life," the 26-year-old's parents said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace."

The White House also issued a statement on Tuesday confirming Ms Mueller's death.

She was taken prisoner in Aleppo, Syria, on 4 August 2013, after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital.

The native of Prescott, Arizona, was thought to be the terrorist group's last remaining American hostage.

According to the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors extremists, IS said Ms Mueller died on Friday after Jordanian warplanes struck the building where she was being held.

The Jordanian government initially dismissed the claims as "criminal propaganda" and US officials said they could not confirm the report.

But over the weekend, Ms Mueller's family received a private message from her IS captors that contained "additional information", said Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.

President Obama said: "No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla's captivity and death.

"ISIL is a hateful and abhorrent terrorist group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla.

"On this day, we take comfort in the fact that the future belongs not to those who destroy, but rather to the irrepressible force of human goodness that Kayla Mueller shall forever represent."

More follows...

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Letter From Captivity: 'I'm Not Breaking Down'

By Sky News US Team

The family of Kayla Mueller, the US aid worker held hostage by the Islamic State, have released a letter she wrote them from captivity.

They released the text on the day they announced they had received confirmation the 26-year-old had been killed.

Kayla's message reads as follows:

"Everyone, If you are receiving this letter it means I am still detained but my cell mates (starting from 11/2/2014) have been released. I have asked them to contact you + send you this letter.

"It's hard to know what to say. Please know that I am in a safe location, comple4ly unharmed + healthy (put on weight in fact); I have been treated w/ the utmost respect + kindness. I wanted to write you all a well thought out letter (but I didn't know if my cell mates would be leaving in the coming days or the coming months restricting my time but primarily) I could only but write the letter a paragraph at a time, just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears.

"If you could say I have 'suffered' at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through; I will never ask you to forgive me as I do not deserve forgiveness.

"I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else.... + by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.

"I have been shown in darkness, light + have learned that even in prison, one can be free.

"I am grateful I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it I pray each each day that if nothing else, you have felt a certain closeness + surrender to God as well + have formed a bond of love + support amongst one another...

"I miss you all as if it has been a decade of forced separation. I have had many a long hour to think, to think of all the things I will do w/ Lex, our first family camping trip, the first meeting @ the airport I have had many hours to think how only in your absence have I finally @ 25 years old come to realize your place in my life.

"The gift that is each one of you + the person I could + could not be if you were not a part of my life, my family, my support I DO NOT want the negotiations for my release to be your duty, if there is any other option take it, even if it takes more time.

"This should never have become your burden. I have asked these women to support you; please seek their advice. If you have not done so already, [REDACTED] can contact [REDACTED] who may have a certain level of experience with these people. None of us could have known it would be this long but know I am also fighting from my side in the ways I am able + I have a lot of fight left inside of me.

"I am not breaking down + I will not give in no matter how long it takes. I wrote a song some months ago that says, 'The part of me that pains the most also gets me out of bed, w/out your hope there would be nothing left...' aka-The thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. Please be patient give your pain to God. I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I + by God's will we will be together soon.

"All my everything,

Kayla"

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Popular Posts Today

Topless Protesters Climb On Strauss-Kahn's Car

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 10 Februari 2015 | 23.12

Picasso Electrician On Trial Over Art Cache

Russia Looks With Envy At China's Economy

Charles Urged To Address Human Rights In Saudi

Delhi: Anti-Corruption Party Romps To Victory

Girl, 11, Charged With Beating Baby To Death

Kayla Mueller: Aid Worker Who Helped Syrians

Don't Arm Ukraine, Russia Tells The West

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