Indians debate role of juvenile crime laws in gang-rape case
By ,
NEW DELHI — The gang rape of a young woman and her resulting death last month sparked a national outcry and calls for harsh punishment for the five people charged with the crime. Now the case of another suspect, a young man who police say is 17, is generating a divisive new debate about whether India’s juvenile crime laws should apply to particularly brutal offenses.
Police have charged five adults with rape, murder, abduction and robbery in the assault. The case of the teenager — who investigators say participated in the rape and wielded the metal rod that caused the young woman’s fatal internal injuries — is being pursued separately.
Yet although police have said they will seek the death penalty for the adults, the teenager, if charged, would face a maximum sentence of three years in a juvenile correctional facility. Police say he claimed to be six months shy of his 18th birthday when the assault occurred.
POLITICS
Muslim cleric calls off Islamabad protest
Pakistan's government has agreed to make some of the electoral reforms demanded by Muslim cleric Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri. Elections are now expected to take place before the original date set for May as part of the deal.
Thousands of protesters near the parliament in Islamabad cheered as ul Qadri announced that the four-day mass demonstration was officially over.
"We have reached an agreement," the Muslim cleric told supporters early Thursday morning in Pakistan's capital city. "I congratulate you. Today is the day of victory for the people of Pakistan. You should go home as peacefully as you came here."
The information minister also congratulated the crowd, following the announcement.
Corrupt-i-stan: Kazakh Massacre Fuels Rising Mistrust
By Christian Neef
The shocking murder of 15 soldiers in Kazakhstan led to a dubious trial and the sacking of the chief of the border guards. Now the suspicious airplane death of his reform-minded replacement has compounded widespread mistrust of the government.
The courtroom in Taldykorgan, a small city 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the border with China, is small and stuffy, with less than 30 seats.
Akhmetzhanov reads off the articles in the criminal code under which the slight young man in the black Armani shirt is being convicted: "murder, theft, betrayal of state secrets, misappropriation of weapons, malicious destruction of military property, desertion." The sentence isn't surprising: life imprisonment in a labor camp. "There are no mitigating circumstances," Judge Akhmetzhanov says.
The Irish Times - Friday, January 18, 2013
Sustainable biofuels could replace oil in EU
FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor
The EU could effectively replace oil with renewable energy in transport “without resorting to harmful biofuels”, according to a report by Dutch research institute CE Delft, commissioned by environmental groups.
Sustainable Alternatives for Land-based Biofuels in the European Union recommends a major policy shift, prioritising energy efficiency, renewable electricity and sustainable biofuels produced from waste and residues.
Under current EU obligations, 10 per cent of the European transport sector should be powered by renewable sources by 2020, while fuel suppliers are also required to reduce the carbon intensity of transport fuels by 6 per cent.
THURSDAY, 17 JANUARY 2013 00:00 EDITOR
ALGERIAN forces Thursday launched an air and ground assault on a desert gas complex where Islamists were holding hostages in the south-eastern part of the country with world leaders on edge over the offensive.
According to conflicting official and media reports, some foreigners were freed but a number of people, especially foreign hostages, were killed in the military operation.
Britain, France and Norway – three countries, which have citizens among the hostages seized on Wednesday at the BP-operated In Amenas gas field in southeast Algeria – said they had received confirmation of the operation from Algerian authorities.
French President Francois Hollande said that events at the desert gas plant showed his intervention in Mali to combat Islamist rebels was justified.
Also, Reuters reported that 25 foreign hostages escaped and six were killed when Algerian forces launched an operation to free them at the remote plant, as one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades unfolded.
Got sugar? Venezuela faces shortages of staple foods
The increased difficulty in finding basic consumer goods in Venezuela is raising concerns about the viability of Chávez's socialist economic policies at a time when the country is already on edge due to his prolonged absence.
By Andrew Rosati, Correspondent
While President Hugo Chávez convalesces in Cuba following his fourth cancer operation, Venezuelans face a struggle of a different kind in the midst of shortages of basic food products
Consumers are having to scour markets for staples such as sugar, milk, chicken, and harina pan, a corn flour used to make arepas – corncakes that predominate the Venezuelan diet.
"We're replacing one product with another," says Rosa Garcia, a real estate agent who was on a three-day hunt for meat across various Caracas neighborhoods. "First there was no beef, now no chicken. Last night I made eggs for my family's dinner."
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