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Pakistan news

Power blackouts have become a regular part of everyday life in Pakistan with some areas going without electricity for up to 20 hours a day.

The country's new Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has promised to make easing the crisis one of his top priorities.

A major cause of the problem is thought to be residents - both rich and poor - who illegally connect their homes to their city's power grid by attaching metal hooks to nearby electricity lines.

Comment: We think that it’s unfair to others who pay electricity legally, so many residents want to connect their homes to the city power grid, they end up having a power blackouts. 

COLOMBIA: 

Colombia kidnapping: Spanish tourists freed by police

Two kidnapped Spanish tourists have been rescued by police in Colombia, while two people suspected of trying to collect a ransom have been held in Spain.

Spain's interior ministry said two officers from its kidnapping, unit had travelled to Colombia and taken part in the release of the tourists. It is not known whether anyone was arrested in Colombia. It is unclear who was responsible for the kidnapping. The Spanish interior ministry said it was ruling out Colombia's main rebel group, Farc, amid indications that a criminal gang was behind the crime. The ministry said that a Syrian national and a Spanish citizen had been arrested in Madrid. Spanish radio network Cadena SER reported that one of Spain's leading judges identified the freed tourists as one of his relatives, Maria Concepcion Marlaska, 43, and Angel Sanchez Hernandez, 49. The two, from the northern city of Aviles, were kidnapped last month in the province of La Guajira as they drove towards a tourist attraction near the Venezuelan border.  They were in good health, National Court Judge Fernando Grande Marlaska told the radio station.

Comment: We think that they need to watch out who goes in or out of the country. So, it wouldn't give more troubles. 

BRASIL:

Brazil to invest $1.2bn in Rio de Janeiro's favelas

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has announced an investment of more than $1.2bn (£770m) in favelas, or shanty towns, in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Ms Rousseff said the money would be spent improving three areas - Rocinha, Jacarezinho and the Lins complex.  They will be integrated with the rest of the city as Rio prepares to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Sewage and water facilities are scarce in most Brazilian favelas and access to utilities is poor.  The investments are part of the Growth Acceleration Programme (PAC) launched by Ms Rousseff's predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Ms Rousseff has implemented the $742bn second phase, PAC 2, which focuses on six major initiatives - "better city"; "citizen community"; "my house, my life"; "water and light for all"; transportation and energy.     Brazil will also host next year's football World Cup.

The investments in the favelas are part of the Growth Acceleration Programme

Comment: We think that it's good for the people who live around the city and it's for the best of the country. 

EL SALVADOR:
El Salvador: A dangerous place to be a woman

El Salvador is a country long blighted by violence, and the abuse of women is a particular problem, with the highest murder rate of women in the world.
But now women are starting to speak out about their treatment in the hope that tackling the issue of violence against women will become a priority for the country's authorities. 

link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20514370 

Comment: Men have to be punish when they kill or hit a woman. 

Camerun:

Former CAR leader Francois Bozize leaves Cameroon

The ousted president of the Central African Republic, Francois Bozize, has left Cameroon, where he fled in March after rebels seized power.

The BBC's Jean-David Mihamle reports from Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, that he took a flight to Kenya. Sources said Mr Bozize was bound for South Africa. It was unclear whether he was leaving Cameroon for good. Authorities in CAR issued an international arrest warrant for Mr Bozize last week. Public prosecutor Alain Tolmo said the former leader was accused of kidnappings, murder, crimes against humanity, and economic crimes. During his stay in Yaounde, Mr Bozize had been transferred with some of his family from a well-known hotel to a villa in the Golf neighbourhood, near the presidential palace, our correspondent says. He boarded a commercial flight to Nairobi late on Sunday evening. Mr Bozize, 66, took power in CAR following a coup in 2003, winning two subsequent elections that were widely seen as fraudulent. He fled as rebels from the Seleka alliance advanced on the capital, Bangui. He later accused Chad of backing the rebels - a charge denied by the government in Ndjamena. An interim government headed by Seleka leader Michel Djotodia has pledged to hold elections after an 18-month transition. The Agence France-Presse news agency reported continuing violence in CAR on Monday, including a deadly attack by men claiming to be Seleka rebels in the central town of Bouca, and a hostage taking in Baboua in the west. CAR's neighbours said in April they would send 2,000 troops to help restore security.

Francois Bozize took power in 2003, and fled in March as rebels advanced on Bangui

Comment:  He should be more responsible to his country. 

FILIPINES:

Two Swedes jailed for life over Philippine cybersex den

Two Swedish men, arrested in 2009, have been jailed for life for running a cybersex operation in the Philippines.

A court in the southern Philippines found Bo Stefan Sederholm, 31, and Emil Andreas Solemo, 35, guilty of trafficking charges. The life sentences are unprecedented both for their severity and for the spotlight they cast on cybersex dens. These involve naked women chatting and performing sexual acts in front of webcams for internet clients. Three Filipinos were given 20-year jail sentences for helping the Swedes, who had set up the internet and payment systems, to run the business. Regional court clerk Nelison Salcedo was quoted by AFP as saying judge Jeoffre Acebido had stressed the need to protect women. "Disrespect for Filipino women and violations of our laws deserve the strongest condemnations from this court," Ms Salcedo quoted from the judge's ruling. "It will not shirk from its duty to impose the most severe of penalties against anybody, be he a foreign national or a citizen of this country, who tramples upon the dignity of a woman by taking advantage of her vulnerability."

Young women and girls are often forced to work as cybersex chat girls

Comment: The police of the Phillippines should control more the websites to have more respects to the women. 

ECUADOR:
Ecuador minister meets Wikileaks founder Assange in London

Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, has met the founder of the Wikileaks website, Julian Assange, at his country's embassy in London. Mr Assange, who has been living in the building for a year was "in good spirits" despite the "limitations of his accommodations", Mr Patino said. The Wikileaks founder has been granted political asylum by Ecuador, but will be arrested if he leaves the building. He is wanted for questioning over two sexual assault allegations in Sweden.  But Mr Assange denies the claims and fears he will be handed over to the US authorities, who are investigating Wikileaks for publishing confidential US diplomatic documents.

Julian Assange and Ecuador's Foreign minister, Ricardo Patino met at the London embassy.

Comment: The police in Ecuador should control the websites and the men who is in the building.

URUGUAY:

Uruguay president 'sorry' for Fernandez 'old hag' quip

The President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, has apologised for apparently referring to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as an "old hag".

In a radio interview he offered "heartfelt apologies" and blamed the quip on his "rough language skills". Last week, President Mujica was overheard saying: "This old hag is even worse than the cross-eyed man." It was claimed that he referred to Ms Fernandez and her late husband, whom she succeeded as president. Ms Fernandez's husband, Nestor Kirchner, had a lazy eye. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 2010. The comments, meant to be private, were accidentally caught and recorded by a nearby open microphone. Mr Mujica's words caused outrage in the neighbouring country and led to an official protest.  In an interview to radio M24 on Thursday, he put the comments down to his "rough" past life in an armed group. "We can't avoid that our daily and intimate manner of speaking is sometimes rough," he said, adding that it has been shaped by spending many years in prison cells and detention. "This kind of language is miles away from public speeches, from the press. It has only to do with intimate relationships between very few."

President Jose Mujica (left) is reported to have an uneasy relationship with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

Comment: The president of Uruguay should control what he says because he is an important person and everything he says could affect himself.

PERÚ:

Peru's Shining Path leader jailed for life for terrorism

A court in Peru has sentenced the last of the original leaders of the Shining Path rebels to life in prison.

Judges in the Peruvian capital, Lima, found Florindo Flores, who's known as Comrade Artemio, guilty of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $183m (£117m).  The Shining Path rebels were severely weakened in the 1990s after failing to install a Communist state, but some remain active in southern Peru. After hours of sentencing, Judge Clotilde Cavero said: "It was proven that he (Artemio) ordered the execution of a number of civilians, police and soldiers.  "It was proven that he belonged to the Central Committee of the Shining Path.  "It was proven that he was the top leader in the (Alto) Huallaga (Valley)," she said.

Florindo Flores raised his fist in defiance as the sentence was read out

Comment: Florindo Flores have to go to the jail for everything he done. 

REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA:
Appeal to free Nicole Reyes from Dominican Republic jail



The family of a woman held without charge in the Caribbean on suspicion of killing her husband has appealed for help to free her from jail.

Nicole Reyes, 37, from Cardiff, was locked up last July after husband Jorge Quintanilla, 38, died in a road crash in the Dominican Republic. He was riding his motorcycle alongside Ms Reyes' Toyota SUV when she said she accidentally ran him over. The Foreign Office said "appropriate" consular assistance had been given. Ms Reyes moved to the Caribbean country in 2004 with her children Luke, then seven, and eight-year-old Leah, and parents, Michael and Jeanette Clements, all from Rumney in Cardiff. She met and married former coconut seller Mr Quintanilla and found work as a rep with holiday travel company Thomas Cook. But her children moved back to Wales in 2007, aged 10 and 11, with their grandparents because they did not like the country.

No helmet

Then on July 10 last year Ms Reyes was driving home from a night out with friends at a hotel along an unlit road while her husband rode his motorbike alongside her. Mrs Clements said her daughter told her husband, who was not wearing a helmet, to move away from the middle of the road.  But Ms Reyes said she touched the back of his bike with her car and he came off. Mrs Clements said: "She was looking for him but couldn't find him and then realised he was under the jeep and was screaming to people standing nearby for help." But Mrs Clements said the culture on the island is not to help or become involved in traffic accidents for fear of being blamed. An ambulance took Mr Quintanilla to hospital but he was found to be dead.  Ms Reyes was taken to a police station and has never been charged or released. She was first kept in the Puerto Plata part of the island and then transferred to Santiago, where she is due to stand trial on Thursday. Mrs Clements said: "It's horrendous. She's not been charged, she's living in the most appalling conditions and she has quite a few health problems. "I just want her out of there but we just don't know what to do anymore."

Nicole Reyes has been held in jail since husband Jorge Quintanilla died in a road crash

Comment: We think that Nicole Reyes have to complete her jail sentence.