Trial of 73-year old father starts

A man in Austria was arrested last year because it turned out that he had held his daughter captive for 24 years. Josef Fritzl’s trial, that seems to be one of the biggest cases in recent Austrian judicial history, started today and is expected to end on Friday. 

The charges against the 73-year old father are the followings: rape, incest, coercion, enslavement, deprivation of liberty and murder. According to the lawyers Mr Fritzl can be accused of murder as he neglected to look after the child of his daughter and as a result of that the boy died soon after birth. Mr Fritzl was captured because one of his children had become seriously ill and had been taken to hospital last year. Obviously, questions were asked about how he had treated his child and the police decided to search the family’s home where the daughter was found. 

Dozens of journalists were rallying in front of the court building just before the start of the trial. 100 could get inside but the judge ordered them to leave as the trial started. The reason for the decision is that in order to respect the family all the evidence will be given behind closed doors therefore neither the press nor the public can be present in the court room during the trial. 

Mr Fritzl could face life sentence if found guilty. When he entered the courtroom he hid his face behind a blue file. A recorded testimony of the daughter will be in the centre of the case as it represents a very significant – if not the most significant – piece of evidence. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7940564.stm

Swiss “gigolo” faces allegations

A Swiss citizen has been accused of blackmailing several women so that he could get millions of dollars from his victims. Mr Sgarbi, or as the media calls him the “Swiss Gigolo”, videotaped some of his customers without their knowledge and later used these tapes to blackmail them. As the customers are amongst the rich and famous in Switzerland he expected that he could get millions of dollars for the recorded materials in return. 

Unfortunately for him, one of the blackmailed women, Susanne Klatten reported him to the police. Mrs Klatten gave Mr Sgarbi 9 million dollars for his services, but when the latter told her that he needed another 18 millions or a secret videotape would go to public, the former decided to inform him to the police. 

Mrs Klatten is the heiress of BMW and also a mother of three children. According to BBC she does not normally appear in public, and if she has to testify against Mr Sgarbi in case he denies the allegations, she will do so. It seems the media attention is extremely big on the case which is regarded as “one of the most remarkable and sensational in German judicial history.” 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7931925.stm

Economic crisis to affect women

The global economic downturn first affected jobs in the world’s richest countries, particularly those jobs that were mainly dominated by men. We are talking about sectors such as finance, insurance, real estate, construction and manufacturing, according to BBC News. However, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warns that soon women will be reached as the crisis will spread to sectors mainly dominated by them: wholesale retail trade, service-oriented sectors etc. The ILO drew the conclusion after thoroughly assessing employment trends for women. 

The ILO predicts that the figures for the unemployed worldwide will increase to 51 million people this year which will include 22 million women. The organisation expressed its concerns about women living in developing countries and working in the agriculture or as domestic servants, waitresses and shop assistants. Also, the ILO asks governments to make sure to find a way in order to create economic stimuli as well as other methods to give social protection to those who are in desperate need of them. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7927503.stm

Billions to be raised to help rebuild Gaza

During the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza Conflict, the Palestinian city suffered a lot of destruction. Thousands became homeless as their homes had been destroyed and according to official sources approximately 1,300 Palestinian citizens died in the conflict that started in December 2008 and ended January 2009. 

Now, donors from 75 nations of the world are to meet in Egypt – one of the neighbouring countries of Palestine – to help raise billions of dollars in order to rebuild Gaza after the devastating conflict. Sharm el-Sheikh is the Egyptian city – situated on the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula – where the teams meet one another to discuss the way the aid should be given to the Palestinians. Some say that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will commit 900 billion dollars to the cause. 

Unfortunately, supplies still cannot reach those in desperate need of food and water because there are blockades at many very important crossing points. Donors try not to channel the aid through the Hamas, which is regarded as a terrorist organisation; therefore it will not be allowed to attend the international conference. The same applies for Israel that started the three-week long offensive last year; to appear as an attendee is out of the question. 

Overall, the amount of money the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expects to be raised is almost 3 billion dollars and he expects it to be raised very quickly. He wants the aid to be channelled through by using only Palestinian areas. Mrs Clinton is to meet not only the Palestinian but the Israeli leader, as well. Meanwhile, Palestine awaits Saudi Arabia to fulfil its promise of raising 1 billion dollar for Gaza. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7918105.stm

Fear of fire still exists in Australia

As there are still some blazes to be extinguished out there, Australian government decided to give the order of shutting down approximately 200 schools in the South-Eastern regions of the country. It comes as a warning to the citizens since because of the high winds and temperature as well as the low humidity everybody is in danger in these areas. Recently, there has been no rain at all and the weather forecasts were not in favour of the people, therefore many have already decided to leave their homes. 

The fire that started almost three weeks ago is regarded as the worst in Australian history that claimed the most human lives and caused the largest destruction to the nature as well as the infrastructure of the continent. Hundreds died and thousands were forced to leave their homes. According to BBC there are still thousands of people out there – not only firemen but volunteers, as well – who are desperately trying to extinguish the remaining fires that can still spread very fast because of the unfortunate weather conditions. Meanwhile, the police continue to search for those who may have caused some of the fires. Investigation is in progress so as to find the possible arsons. 

David Spooner, who is a volunteer fire-fighter and who has lost his wife and son in the fires told BBC that he would leave now if he was to live in the nearby, endangered areas. All the trees and bushes are too dry; therefore he thinks that these are the worst possible conditions that can only help the fires spread. There are towns where one does not really have the possibility to escape from the area as only one road leads to the town – in and out. The decision on whether to leave the homes or try to protect one’s properties should be made quickly as time is of the essence. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7914059.stm

EU desperate to solve global crisis

As we are constantly getting into a worse and worse position in terms of our economies, our leaders, the leaders of the European Union, are desperate to find a solution to the financial crisis. All of them have agreed on that a solution is necessary. Now it is time they found the exact method which, if carried out properly and efficiently, will be the cure for one of the major diseases our globe has been suffering from for a while. 

Soon our leaders will gather around a table to discuss the problem in question as the next G20 meeting, held in April 2nd, is approaching. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that whatever solution they would come up with at the meeting that would create a "historical responsibility". He added: "We have to succeed and we cannot accept that anything or anyone gets in the way of that summit. If we fail there will be no safety net.” 

The problem is that the opinion of the various presidents and prime ministers of the member states of EU differ greatly. As current Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said: “If I put it very tenderly, the divergence in opinions was rather big. It was obvious that the four countries representing the EU in the G20 [France, Germany, Britain, Italy] do not have the same opinion on a number of issues.” Despite the differences they all agreed on that the role of the international institutions, such as the IMF, in a desperate time as this is extremely important. Also the aid these institutions can give should not come only in the form of grants. And let us not forget, as Chancellor Angela Merkel said, that it is very important for all of these institutions who play an important role in the global economy to be as transparent as it is necessary. With adequate transparency it will be easier to supervise their activities. It is a must as even in such a terrible economic downturn several managers of various companies and banks receive a decent bonus for their work even though their firms cannot really afford it since they have had a very poor performance lately. 

To find a solution during the next summit will not be easy. European leaders can only speak on behalf of the entire European Union or the globe itself if they give priority to these problems instead of the problems their own countries face. Some governments have already made decisions that questioned the "union" between the member states as they have decided to move the production of the automotive industry out of Eastern-European countries. Such protectionist decisions could result in retaliation instead of friendly round table discussions which are essential to an appropriate stragegy. 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7904300.stm

Saint Valentine stimulates the economy

The chocolate industry in America seems to do well despite the worldwide economic downturn reports VOA News. 

The reason could be that those people who might have been planning to buy something more expensive to their loved one may have chosen to go for something less extraordinary and less expensive such as chocolate. 

The average American consumer spends about a hundred dollars buying Valentine's day gifts, but even foreigners staying in the USA, what is more millions of people in distant parts of the world observe the holiday by overwhelming their loved ones with gifts. 

The holiday is celebrated differently in every country. There are places where people buy gifts to their whole family and others where it is more about couples. 

According to the legend, the Valentine's day holiday was originally started to honour a priest, Saint Valentine, who secretly married couples despite the emperors order. As it was a time of war, the emperor did not want his soldiers to be distracted by marriage and women in general, so he banned marriage completely. Saint Valentine did not obey and ended up in prison for not doing so. The couples he had married secretly gathered in front of his prison cell and threw flowers and gifts at his window. This is how it all started apparently. 

What it has become may be very different, but as long as this is not the only day of the year when we love each other I do not mind. 

Fire spreads through Australia

Almost 100 people died in Australia because of the fire that have spread through the state of Victoria recently. 

The fires, that had started as bush fires, have already destroyed more than a 100 square miles of forests, farms and entire towns. Firemen are fighting with the flames desperately but they are afraid that their effort will not be enough to win the battle. Officials claim that in order to get the situation under control heavy rains are needed. 

Witnesses, when asked of the fires, said that they had seen walls of flames reaching up to four-storeys and they had seen trees exploding and ash had been raining from the skies. 

It is said that arsonists were responsible for the start of some fires or for the restart of those that had already been put out. Police officials said that it was unlikely that the fires had been started by natural causes and that if those responsible for the catastrophe are caught could face even 20 years in prison. Of course, to prove the crime origin investigators should be sent to severals key locations to collect evidence when all the fires are extinguished. 

Thousands of firefighters have been trying to put out the flames with water hoses as well as with the aid of water-bombing aircraft. Many people have volunteered to help the work of the fire brigades. 

Officials said that this tragedy will go down in history as the worst related to bush fires since the one in 1983. Back then 75 people were killed by the blazes. 

Bob Brown, leader of the Green Party, said that summer fires would only get worse unless the country [Australia] and other nations showed more commitment towards the reduction of gas emissions. 

BBC quoted the opinion of the politician: "It's a sobering reminder of the need for this nation and the whole world to act and put at a priority our need to tackle climate change." 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7877178.stm

Sri Lanka succeeds over its enemies

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is quite confident that the enemies of the small island country are finally on the brink of defeat. 

Yesterday the Sri Lankan president gave a speech as the South-Asian country was celebrating its 61th anniversary of independence. 

Although he was talking about unification, he is very well aware of the fact that there will be more battles against the Tamil Tiger insurgents. 

Some suggested that at this state of the war the rebels, often referred to as terrorists, could be given an opportunity to surrender, however, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa found this suggestion ridiculous. 

Battles have been taking place in the Northern parts of Sri Lanka where the strongholds of the remaning Tamil forces can be found. Tamils, who have been fighting for their own independence since 1983, form the largest ethnic minority on the island and are concentrated in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. 

Humanitarian groups expressed their concern as almost a quarter of a million citizens are trapped in the area between the two fighting sites. 

According to CNN the last remaining hospital in Pudukkudiyiruppu had to be closed down. 

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/sri.lanka.victory/index.html

No solution to the crisis of capitalism

According to BBC the latest World Economic Forum discussions did not end in success. The issue was to find answers to the recession that had started in the US and had been going on for more than a year; unfortunately, only descriptions were given of the problems, a solution is yet to be found. 

More than 2,000 leaders, both political and business, attended the Forum in order to find the cure to nowadays' major economic disease often referred to as "the crisis of capitalism". The idea was to find a way to "reform banking, regulation and corporate governance". 

The situation seems to be desperate as many of the participants expressed their pessimism on the issue and their inability to see a way out of the recession in the near future. 

Archbishop Demond Tutu from South Africa said "we worshipped in the temple of cutthroat competition, and so some cooked the books, because the treasure is so great". He also noted that "we spend billions on banks when we know that a fraction of this money could save all the children in the world". 

Nouriel Roubini, one of the economists participating in the Forum said "capitalism is the worst system except for all those others that have been tried". 

Speeches of China's Premier Wen Jiabao and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin strengthened the belief that the economic crisis is indeed a global one that causes harm to the entire world. 

Although the next time where leaders of the world can discuss this problem and explain the feasible solutions they have come up with will be during the G20 meetings, expected to be held in London, Professor Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, already claimed "the G20 will not solve everything; it won't address the totality of the issue." 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/davos/7863684.stm