Category: World

Cubans show pride in their rainbow nation

More than 1,000 gay, lesbian and transgender Cubans marched through Havana on Saturday, proudly displaying their truest selves for a day in a society where they still endure discrimination.

The Eighth Annual March against Homophobia and Transphobia took on extra meaning this year for about 20 couples who participated in a “Celebration of Love,” symbolically exchanging vows as same-sex marriage remains illegal in Cuba.

Religious figures from Cuba and abroad huddled with couples in a crowded pavilion in a ceremony inspired by the mass wedding of more than 100 couples at the World Pride event in Toronto last June.

“Our family accepts us but society doesn’t,” said Raul Orta, who “married” his partner of 13 years, Yaimel Medina. “If one us is no longer here tomorrow, the other one loses everything. That’s not right.”

The parade, with the beat of conga drums and the waving of rainbow-colored banners, gave gay Cubans and their supporters a rare opportunity to celebrate without fear.

“For eight years we’ve been living a dream we never thought would have been possible,” Orta said of the parade.
For Cubans from the provinces, the open display in Havana was even more liberating.

“In the interior of the country, you couldn’t even dream about an event like this,” said Raiza Marmol, who moved from Camaguey two years ago and exchanged vows with her partner of two years, Yatiana Garcia. “It’s a unique event and surprising for gays who can show their faces without having to hide from anyone.”

Cuba once sent gays to labor camps in the early years after the 1959 revolution, which retired leader later Fidel Castro admitted was wrong.

Cuban gays have made great strides in recent years with help from Mariela Castro, the daughter of current President Raul Castro and niece of Fidel. She is a member of the National Assembly and head of the National Center for Sex Education.

The National Assembly last year approved a labor law that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. But Mariela Castro voted against the law in an extremely rare and possibly unprecedented dissenting vote because the law did not also ban discrimination based on gender identity.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina and Uruguay have legalized same-sex marriage, as has Mexico City, but in Cuba marriage remains a distant goal.

“It’s not important for us to be first. It’s important to get there,” Mariela Castro told reporters.

Source: Reuters

Necklacing reaches Burundi

Protesters burned a man alive in Burundi’s capital yesterday, saying he was a member of the ruling party’s youth wing, which had attacked them during their demonstrations against the president’s bid for a third term, a witness said.

Protesters have been on Bujumbura’s streets for almost two weeks, often hurling stones at the police, whom they say have fired live rounds at them. The police deny this.

Opponents of the government say the June 26 presidential election should be delayed by a few weeks because of the unrest.

President Pierre Nkurunziza’s spokesman said a delay was unnecessary because most of the country was calm.

The violence has plunged the nation into its worst crisis since the end of a civil war in 2005 that pitted the ethnic Hutu majority against the powerful Tutsi minority.

“They put tyres around his neck and then burnt him,” a witness said in the Nyakabiga district of Bujumbura.

Local media also reported the incident and the Red Cross said a man was killed in Nyakabiga but, in line with its usual practice, did not say how he died. It said a woman was killed in another area yesterday.

Protesters said the victim of the burning was a member of the Imbonerakure youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, which they say has attacked them. The government has repeatedly dismissed charges that Imbonerakure is fomenting violence.

Activists say at least 14 people have been killed since the protests erupted. Police gave lower figures.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, called on her supporters to burn political opponents alive.

She is often called ‘Mother of the Nation’, but was personally responsible for the murder, torture, abduction and assault of numerous men, women and children, as well as indirectly responsible for an even larger number of such crimes.

In Munsieville on 13 April 1986, she openly endorsed the practice of necklacing (burning people alive using tyres and petrol) by saying: “[W]ith our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country.”

Source: Reuters/Wikipedia

Zimbabwe will need more food aid in the south as crisis looms

Zimbabwe, ruled by the despotic Robert Mugabe installed as leader by Great Britain in 1980, is still experiencing food shortages, mainly as a result of its anti-white policies which saw most white commercial farmers ethnically cleansed from the country.

According to Famine Early Warning Systems Network, an NGO, “food security is expected to deteriorate to Crisis and Emergency levels between October 2015 and March 2016 in the southern region. Outcomes will be significantly better if typical assistance is delivered, though Crisis and Stressed food security would still be likely due to the above-average retail maize prices expected in the southern cereal-deficit areas”.

While lauded for his anti-white policies by liberals and leftists all over the world, Robert Mugabe has plunged his own country into prolonged famine and disorder. According to the World Food Programme, “One third of Zimbabwe’s children are stunted, or short for their age.” The international agency also states on its website:
Rural poverty has increased from 63 percent in 2003 to 76 percent in 2014. Most households in the rural areas are net food buyers: they do not (for a number of reasons) produce enough food to meet their needs through to the next harvest season. Consequently, they rely on markets and other non-farm sources such as casual labour to bridge the food gap to the next season. As such, a number of people in rural areas will struggle to meet their daily food needs.

The state-run Herald is reporting that the country needs to import at least 700,000 tonnes of maize between now and the next harvest early next year to avert a food crisis.

Zimbabwe also receives electricity from South Africa, where years of neglect by the radical ANC regime has equally led to power cuts and shortages.

Hundreds march in Britain, Israel against ‘racism’

Hundreds of people marched through Brixton to protest police brutality and racism, and to show solidarity with the people of Baltimore, US. Baltimore has been seeing a surge in protests after a 25-year-old African American died in police custody.

At least 500 signed to attend the event on its Facebook page and video footage showed hundreds moving down Brixton streets in South London.

“No justice, no peace”, “Africans have a right to resist” and “Reclaim Brixton”, the banners read. The protest was addressed by speakers from families, whose members died in police custody, the London Black Revs, Latin American solidarity groups and others.

Brixton is a multiethnic community, with a large portion of its population being of African and Caribbean descent. It has seen a number of riots over the years. Brixton was one of the scenes of the 2011 riots in the UK capital.

In Baltimore, a curfew was lifted on Saturday after scores of arrests were made over the week, with over 3,000 security forces on the ground, backed up by the National Guard.

The tensions there eased after six policemen involved in Freddie Gray’s death were arrested and charges were brought against them.

Meanwhile in Tel Aviv security forces fired pepper spray, stun grenades during a protest against racism and police violence, staged by Jews of Ethiopian descent in Tel Aviv. Some 23 policemen and at least 23 protesters have been injured in the clashes.

Thousands gathered and protesters tried to break into the City Hall, according to Haaretz. Demonstrators also overturned a police car and threw bottles and stones at officers in riot gear at central Rabin Square.

At least 26 protesters were arrested following clashes, according to Israeli Police Foreign Press Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. At least 46 people were injured, including 23 police officers, Haaretz reports.

They shouted “not black, not white, we’re all human beings” and “a violent cop should be jailed.”

“Being black, I have to protest today. I never experienced police violence against me personally, but it is aimed at my community which I have to support,” 34-year-old protester Eddie Maconen told AFP.

This is the second such protest in a week: On Thursday, hundreds of demonstrators blocked streets and the Jerusalem Light Rail, and marched on the prime minister’s home.

Kenyan deputy president riles against homosexuality

Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, has told worshippers at a church service in Nairobi that homosexuality is not welcome in the east African nation.

Ruto’s comments came on the day US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kenya promoting rights, alongside discussions on security and terrorism.

“We will not allow homosexuality in our society as it violates our religious and cultural beliefs,” Ruto reportedly told a cheering congregation at the Jesus Winner Ministry Church near the capital.

“We will stand with religious leaders to defend our faith and our beliefs,” he said. “There’s no room for homosexuality in this country. That one I can assure you.”

Homosexuality remains illegal in many countries, including Kenya where it was outlawed under British colonial legislation.

Ruto, who is on trial at the International Criminal in The Hague accused of crimes against humanity, said his stance was about morality not politics.

“When we say this, we are not saying so as to get votes but to protect what we all believe is right,” he said, according to The Star newspaper.

Conservative Christian and Muslim countries in Africa reject open homosexuality.

In Uganda the anti-gay bill has been watered down and in Nigeria and Gambia tough new anti-gay laws have been introduced, with Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, calling homosexuals “ungodly, Satanic… vermins [sic]” in a speech last year.

Homosexuality is illegal in 36 out of 54 African countries and punishable by death in four, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

In Kenya, too, a cross-party parliamentary group is seeking stricter application of existing anti-gay legislation.

Russians claim royal baby birth a fake

Kate Middleton could not have just given birth when she emerged from the Lindo Wing on Saturday, according to Russian media.

The Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda carried the claims which were made by various Russian women.

They said that it was “impossible” for the Duchess of Cambridge to look the way she did immediately after the birth, also questioning whether the baby was in fact born days before.

One woman said: “If she really gave birth naturally, it was surely some days ago.

Another added: “She gave birth three days ago. They reported it only now. Look at the baby – she does not look like a newborn at all.

“She is at least three days old. There is nothing which would help a woman, even if she gave birth with the help of best doctors, stand up five hours after giving birth – and leave the clinic on her feet.”

Others claimed that Kate Middleton had not given birth to the new princess herself.

One said: “It was a surrogate mother who gave birth but not her. Kate must have been wearing a fake belly showing to the people that she was pregnant.

“It is just not real to walk yourself several hours after birth and wave to the public in white dress.

“If you ever gave birth, try to recall yourself in three or four hours later.

“Even if the birth was easy, women just want to sleep and sleep for several hours. This is a fairy tale of a family of show offs.”

“She did not give birth, I am sure,” said one.

“There is no special maternal look in her eyes – this natural thing is not visible. Look at Diana. This Kate is just an actress from Buckingham Palace theatre. She never gave birth!.

Another said: “I thought this too – that the baby is at least 7-10 days old.

“First of all, she is too big for a newborn, and secondly, the face is smooth and pale.”

Actually, a few days earlier, on 28 April, or Tuesday night, a tweet announcing the birth of new baby “Princess Charlotte” was later denounced by Kensington Palace as a “fake”.

Despite no news having been announced of the Duchess of Cambridge going into labour, news organisations and well-wishers alike then leapt upon the “fake” news, adding more credibility to the Russian claims.

One news source even elaborated, saying: “Four days overdue with her second child, the Duchess of Cambridge was induced but fortunately the delivery was without complications.”

Seattle teacher, Oz doctor recruiting for ISIS

A Twitter account with over 8,000 followers actively engaged in recruiting new people for the Islamic State group and transporting them to Syria may have been operated by a twenty-something girl from Seattle, Channel 4 reported.

The British news network investigated the @_UmmWaqqas account, which had been promoting the cause of the Islamic State (ISIS) until it was shut down on April 17. The woman behind the account is believed to be European.

Some early posts not related to IS or radical Islamism tweeted by @_UmmWaqqas indicated a passion for the Denver Broncos football team and take-out pizzas.

Channel 4 says it briefly contacted @_UmmWaqqas in March while working on the story and that the account was accessed from an IP address located in Seattle. But it couldn’t verify that Rawdah was actually writing, considering that several people may have access to the popular account. Her friends said she was no longer living in Seattle and named Saudi Arabia’s Medina or Denver, Colorado, as her possible whereabouts.

In an IS ‘travel guide’ for potential IS recruits who travel to Turkey to cross the border to Syria @_UmmWaqqas is listed as one of primary contacts, the report said.

In addition to advocating traveling to Syria and Iraq and joining the Islamic State, the account justified atrocities committed by the group, such as the execution by burning of a captured Jordanian pilot, saying it was ‘an eye for an eye’ retribution.

A white Australian doctor also appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video calling on medical “brothers and sisters” from around the world to come to Syria to join the “Jihad for Islam” against the West.

“My name is Abu Yusuf. I’m one of the medical team here. I came from Australia to the Islamic State to live under the khalifah,” the blue-eyed man with a distinctive Australian accent states in the YouTube video, which comes complete with a logo for the ‘Islamic State Health Service’.

He says he’s a doctor who traveled to Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa, about 160km east of Aleppo, to offer his medical services.

According to news.com.au, the young doctor has been identified as former Adelaide University student Tareq Kamleh, believed to be in his late 20s, who completed his medical studies and later moved to Perth.

Australian Medical Association (AMA) Vice-President Stephen Parnis said the most influential membership organization representing registered medical practitioners and medical students of Australia has been outraged by ‘Abu Yusuf’s’ video.

Violence erupts in Burundi

The UN Security Council has echoed calls by the Secretary General urging all parties in Burundi to refrain from acts of violence and intimidation as tempers flare over a decision that will see President Pierre Nkurunziza seeking a third term.

Demonstrations in the capital Bujumbura have been building for a number of months with opposition groups arguing that a third term would violate both the Arusha Peace Accord and the country’s constitution.

Thousands have already fled across the border to Rwanda while the UN has warned that 400 000 people could be affected as violence erupts.

While the African Union has urged patience for a Constitutional Court ruling on the legality of a third term, concerns from Security Council members about rising political tensions, Council President for April, Jordan’s Mahmoud Hmoud explains, ”They called on all parties to refrain from acts of violence and intimidation and for the need to restore calm and peace in Burundi.

Council members reiterated the importance of the freedom of expression and assembly in Burundi and expressed concern regarding the restrictions being placed on those freedoms.”

Opposition parties have expressed doubts that the Constitutional Court will be a fair arbiter on the third term’s legality. Presidential elections in Burundi are due on June 26th.

Iran urges Israel to give up nuclear weapons

Iran has demanded that Israel give up its nuclear weapons, as it spoke on behalf of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif said the bloc also wants a nuclear free-zone in the Middle East.

Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking at the United Nations for the non-aligned group of countries. Israel has never admitted or denied the widespread assumption it has nuclear weapons. However, Zarif says Israel’s assumed nuclear arsenal was a threat to regional security.

The Iranian Foreign Minister said the non-aligned movement regards Israel’s nuclear program as, “a serious and continuing threat to the security of neighboring and other states, and condemned Israel for continuing to develop and stockpile nuclear arsenals,” according to Reuters.

Israel has not signed up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), though it has sent an observer to the month long conference for the first time in 20 years.

Zarif added that the non-aligned bloc are looking to create a nuclear free-zone in the Middle East “as a matter of high priority,” which will only be possible, if Israel abandons its nuclear stockpile.

“Israel, [is] the only one in the region that has neither joined the NPT nor declared its intention to do so, (…) renounce possession of nuclear weapons,” AFP cited Zarif as saying.

Russian court jails dancers for twerking near monument

A Russian court has jailed three women for performing a twerking dance in front of a World War Two memorial.

The court in Novorossiysk gave two of the dancers 10 days in jail each, a third 15 days and two others received fines on charges of petty hooliganism.

Prosecutors had said their “erotic and sexual twerk dance” was disrespectful to historic memory and unacceptable.

Earlier this month, Russian officials closed a dance school after a similar dance video emerged on the internet.

The latest incident involves six dancers – one of them a minor who was not convicted – who had posted a video on YouTube.

“This incident of disrespect for the memory of war history is unacceptable and any attempts to desecrate sites of military glory will be stopped immediately,” prosecutors said.

The sentences come as Russia prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of the World War Two victory.

They also follow the incident early in April when a video clip from the Orenburg dance school on YouTube was viewed millions of times.

The video clip, entitled Winnie the Pooh and the Bees, showed a group of teenage girls dancing on stage in striped leotards, long socks and mini-skirts,

They perform hip-thrusting moves characteristic of twerking.

A committee is investigating whether the performance amounts to negligence or even “debauched action”, which is punishable by a range of sanctions from community service to three years behind bars. – bbc.com

Independent Scotland ‘feels inevitable,’ says Murdoch

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch says Scottish independence “feels inevitable” and predicts a hung parliament following the UK general election next week.

In a series of Tweets the chairman of News Corp, which owns The Times and The Sun, expressed a range of opinions on British politics, Scottish self-rule, and rising inequality in the UK and US.

Murdoch, 84, suggested “dirty” deals would be made between the political parties after the general election if no party wins a clear majority.

He also predicted Prime Minister David Cameron would be dropped by the Conservative Party if he failed to gain a majority against Labour leader Ed Miliband. He said this was “open talk” among Tories.

The Australia-born press baron has been viewed as a kingmaker in British politics because of the influence he wields through his newspaper outlets.

Murdoch’s tabloid the Sun had a weekly readership of 5.4 million in the UK last year.

Murdoch has previously backed Alex Salmond, former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), praising him as a cunning politician.

Salmond’s close ties with Murdoch were first revealed in 2012, when private documents were released detailing the extent of their relationship.

Letters published shortly after Murdoch shut down his popular tabloid News of the World exposed how Salmond had more than two dozen meeting with Murdoch or his executives.

The media mogul also commented on the likelihood of no political party wining the general election, a situation known as a hung parliament.

Murdoch also indicated the SNP were “cleverly hurting Miliband” by hinting at their support of Labour in the election.

Cameron’s future as leader of the Conservative Party is at stake in this election, Murdoch suggested.

In a surprise comment for a man estimated to be worth over $14 billion (US), Murdoch also weighed in on the Sunday Times 2015 Rich List, published on the weekend.

His claim that the economic turmoil gripping “advanced” economies has been caused by “regulations and power crazed lawyers” received a barrage of responses on Twitter.

Nepal quake death toll rises

Some 3218 people have been killed in the 7.9 magnitude quake, which hit Nepal on Saturday.

It is Nepal’s worst quake since 1934 when 8 500 people died.

Nepal’s record of earthquakes dates to at least the 13th century, with significant temblors striking every 75 years.

The quake struck the heavily populated Katmandu Valley, near the capital and it was felt as far as Tibet, Bangladesh and India.

Five South Africans who had been reported missing in the quake have meanwhile been found.

It is also been reported that a group of eight Pretoria schoolgirls visiting the country, were unharmed and accounted for.

Russia, Argentina sign energy deals worth billions

Russia and Argentina signed agreements which amounted to an “all-encompassing strategic partnership” during Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s visit to Moscow.

Russia and Argentina signed a number of deals on developing hydroelectric, nuclear and fossil-based energy and announced intentions to use each other’s currencies in trade.

The memorandums are a massive breakthrough for economic relations between Russia and Argentina. Russian President Putin called the negotiations rich and fruitful.

“There were important long-term deals made in economic and political spheres. Russia and Argentina are entering a new stage of cooperation,” the head of Argentina’s Foreign Ministry Timerman Hector told Sputnik.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the two sides agreed to conduct thorough consultations on using national currencies in trade calculations instead of US dollars.

Argentina’s New Power Sources

A $2 billion memorandum was signed to build a new hydroelectric dam and will consider switching to national currencies for mutual deals. Russia’s VEB bank will provide $1.2 billion of the total investments needed, 35 percent of which will be used to pay Argentine subcontractors.

In addition, Russia will provide Argentina with access to Russian nuclear power technology. The deal will be prepared by the end of the year. The head of Russian nuclear power plant company Rosatom declined to give an estimate to the deals, saying that one bloc costs “billions of dollars.”

“Rosatom has joined the project to build the sixth bloc of the Atucha nuclear power plant,” Putin said.

Russian energy giant Gazprom signed a memorandum to explore and develop gas fields with Argentine state gas company YPF. The deal may amount to $1 billion in investments according to Argentina’s Minister of Industry.

Russian company Uralmash will also construct a plant which will manufacture oil extraction equipment, which will amount to an additional $1.9 billion in Russian investments.

Putin also said that Russia and Argentina will cooperate in the military-technical sphere and pledged to accelerate the construction of GLONASS satellite navigation systems in Argentina.

In the mutual statement, Kirchner and Putin agreed that the situation in Ukraine can only be solved by peaceful means. Putin added that Russia supports Argentina in the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands dispute.

“Russia supports Argentina’s striving for direct talks with Britain to achieve prompt resolution to the Malvinas Islands dispute,” Putin added.

The Eurasian Economic Union and the Latin American MERCOSUR bloc also plan to sign a cooperation memorandum.

Source: Sputnik News

Japan invesigates drone ‘containing radiation’

Japanese authorities have launched an investigation after a small drone reportedly containing traces of radiation was found on the roof of the prime minister’s office, sparking concerns about drones and their possible use for terrorist attacks.

No injuries or damage was reported from the incident on Wednesday. The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who is at present in Indonesia, works at the building during the day and commutes from his own private home roughly 15 minutes away.

Police said it was not immediately known who was responsible for the drone.

The significance was not immediately clear, but a Japanese court on Wednesday approved the restart of a nuclear power station, rejecting nuclear power safety worries in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima radiation disaster.

The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said the incident was a wakeup call to the potential dangers of drones, including possible terror attacks when Japan hosts the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

It was not clear when the drone landed. It was found on Wednesday by an official who was reportedly taking new employees on a tour of the prime minister’s office in central Tokyo.

Source: The Guardian