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