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Ecuador issued a ‘safe pass’ for Snowden
2 hurt as protesters, police clash in Brazil
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Pak panel to probe high treason case against Musharraf
Special to the tribune
Rudd sworn in Oz PM
29 mail-order Filipina brides to South Korea rescued
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Ecuador issued a ‘safe pass’ for Snowden
Washington, June 27 Quito had denied that it had provided the fugitive with any travel documents, following comments by WikiLeaks, which is helping Snowden avoid US capture, that he left Hong Kong on a refugee document supplied by Ecuador. Snowden spent a fifth day at a Moscow airport today, with his travel plans still a mystery. Washington has revoked his passport and is demanding that Russia extradite him to the United States. The document Univision posted was issued on June 22 from Ecuador's general consulate in London. The text is in both English and Spanish. "The General Consul of Ecuador in London grants this SAFE PASS to the below mentioned citizen. This document is granted to allow the bearer to travel to the territory of Ecuador for the purpose of political asylum. "It is requested to the relevant authorities of the transit countries to give the appropriate help, so that the bearer of this document may continue his trip to Ecuador." The single-page document, which includes the coat of arms of Ecuador, then lists Snowden's name, date of birth and place of birth, hair and eye color, height and marital status. "Place and date of Issue: London, 22 June 2013," the document reads. The document ends with the name of Fidel Narvaez, identified as "Consul of Ecuador in London". Ecuador's embassy in London is where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations. Yesterday, Galo Galarza, a senior foreign ministry official in Quito, denied that Ecuador had given a travel document to Snowden. — AFP Shouldn't have to talk to Xi, Putin: Obama
US President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had not spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin about the US request to extradite Edward Snowden because he "shouldn't have to". |
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2 hurt as protesters, police clash in Brazil
Belo Horizonte, June 27 Brazil's Senate voted to increase penalties for those found guilty of corruption, responding to a key demand made by protesters across the country. Anti-government protesters in part angered by the billions spent in the World Cup preparations picked up tear gas canisters and lobbed them back at the police, along with a shower of rocks. A dense fog of the acrid gas enveloped the mass of protesters, who were about 2 km away from the stadium where Brazil was playing Uruguay in a semifinal match of the warm-up tournament for the next year's World Cup. Two protesters were hurt, including a 21-year-old man who fell from an overpass and was in critical condition. The police set up a 2-km perimeter around the stadium, normal procedure for international tournaments. Mounted police and riot units maintained another security line about 1 km from the stadium. "The protesters started this when they tried to break through our outer barrier," said police Capt Flavio Almeida. "We had no choice but to respond." — AP
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Pak panel to probe high treason case against Musharraf
Pakistan has formed a high-level panel to probe the high treason case against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for imposing emergency rule in 2007, the government said on Thursday.
Musharraf faces high treason charges for holding the Constitution in abeyance, imposing emergency in the country and sacking many judges of the superior courts. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced during Thursday’s National Assembly session that a four-member committee of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been constituted to probe treason charges against the former military dictator. Nisar said the team would complete its investigation against Musharraf and submit a report to the government soon, he added. Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the treason case against Musharraf for an indefinite period to hold consultations over setting up of a special court to hear the case.The apex court also rejected a plea to order the formal arrest of Musharraf citing that no formal charges against the former president had been put before the court.
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Fire safety a big issue among Indian garment makers
Shyam Bhatia in London Fire safety is a major issue among Indian garment manufacturers where audits have raised fire safety concerns at 42 per cent of factory sites. So says the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) that maintains a database of ethical audit information comprising almost 30,000 buyers and suppliers around the world. A Sedex official explained that his organisation’s mission is to improve responsible business practices and ethical standards in global supply chains. “The way we work at Sedex is to enable the transfer of information from buyers to suppliers and vice versa. Our database contains information about the key issues raised in audits around the world.” Sedex latest research focuses on responsible business practices and safety risks in the supply chain of clothing-producing countries including China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey. In India, building site and maintenance issues affect 27 per cent of the sites and 25 per cent of factories lack proper hygienic facilities for workers. According to Sedex experts, these are the top concerns that are not being fully addressed in garment-producing countries. “India is a key garment producing country that supplies Western brands all over the world,” said Sedex spokesman Mark Robertson. “It is where many big companies get their garments produced.” India’s fire safety statistics are the same as Turkey, but higher than China (40 per cent) and Sri Lanka (39 per cent). Fire safety infringements are worse in Pakistan and worse still in Bangladesh where 57 per cent of factories are thought to have broken fire safety regulations. Sedex’s findings come only a few months after the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh when more than 1,100 garment workers in Dhaka died after their building collapsed, making it the world’s worst industrial disaster since 1984. “Fire safety concerns are at the top of risk issues. If a building is vulnerable in any way, it not only endangers the lives of workers but is also a big risk to suppliers, companies and investors,” Robertson explained. He told the Tribune, “In India and beyond, there are some excellent examples of brands and suppliers working together to tackle these risks among our global membership. We need more companies to work collaboratively, use audits to identify key risks and engage with suppliers to build capacity and encourage them to take ownership of their own activities to drive improvements.”
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Melbourne, June 27 Rudd was sworn in as the country's 28th Prime Minister by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at a short official ceremony at the Government House in Canberra, returning back to his role that was taken away from him by Gillard in 2010. In his first address today in Parliament, he called on MPs to be a "little kinder and gentler" with each other. "Political life is a very hard life, a very hard life indeed," he told Parliament. "Let us all remember particularly on days like this that in this Parliament, and in this place, we are all human beings, we all have families and we all have emotions, so let us try - just try - to be a little kinder and gentler with each other in the further deliberations of this Parliament," he said apparently referring to bickering within his party that led to his showdown with 51-year-old Gillard. Rudd is considered more popular than Gillard, and while the conservative opposition is still expected to win the next election, his leadership may save the Labor from a crushing defeat. — PTI
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29 mail-order Filipina brides to South Korea rescued
Manila, June 27 The police raided a house in Bacoor, near Manila, yesterday following a tip-off from a government agency that documented complaints by earlier victims, said Chief Superintendent Reginald Villasanta. "We have rescued 29 (Filipinas) who were duped into promises of an instant wealthy life through marriage with Korean gentlemen," Villasanta, head of a police organised crime task force, said in a statement. "(In) most cases, they ended up (on) the losing end after becoming victims of grave abuses," he added. The act of matching Filipinas for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail-order basis was outlawed by The Philippines in 1990, with jail terms of up to eight years for those convicted of the crime. A 2003 statute later classified the crime as human trafficking, with jail terms of up to 20 years for violators. However, Villasanta said many Filipinas are still swift to enter into whirlwind marriages with strangers in a bid to leave their impoverished country for job opportunities abroad. Nearly 10 million Filipinos, or about a tenth of the population, live and work abroad. The women are displayed in catalogues in South Korea, some of them online, Villasanta said. In many cases, however, victims were fed false information about the background of their future spouse and family and suffered abuse after the marriage. These led to "abandonment of the marital home, separation and divorce", the task force statement said. It said the Philippine embassy in Seoul had received many complaints from Filipinas who had married through mail-order. —AFP
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US Senate backs border amendment to immigration Bill American held in China leaves after payout Maldives judge blackmailed over sex tape Hindu temple in Canada vandalised US ambassador to China goes to Tibet
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Washington, June 27
Brazilian protesters and the police clashed on Wednesday near a stadium hosting a Confederations Cup soccer
match.
