The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Papua New Guinea reinstates death penalty after gruesome sorcery killings, rapes
- China army to conduct first "digital" exercise
- Obama, NATO's Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan at White House on Friday
| Papua New Guinea reinstates death penalty after gruesome sorcery killings, rapes Posted: 28 May 2013 08:19 PM PDT CANBERRA (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea has reinstated the death penalty and repealed controversial sorcery laws after a string of gruesome "witch" killings and gang-rapes, with capital punishment to be used for some corruption cases and possibly even growing marijuana. PNG is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world, with rampant graft a major hindrance to the South Pacific nation's ability to develop vast reserves of natural resources. The PNG parliament voted on Tuesday to extend death penalty laws, unused since 1954, to make murder, rape and robbery punishable by measures ranging from hanging to a firing squad, as well as "medical death by deprivation of oxygen". The vote followed a spate of violent sorcery-related crimes, including murders and beheadings that have drawn condemnation from the United Nations. In February, a 20-year-old mother was accused of witchcraft, then stripped and burned alive in a crowded market near Mount Hagen in the forbidding, jungle-clad central highlands. However, rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned the reinstated laws as an "horrific and repressive" way to deal with crimes that had been largely committed against women. "We are horrified that the government is attempting to end one form of violence by perpetuating state-sanctioned violence," said Amnesty's Asia-Pacific Deputy-Director Isabelle Arradon. Police Minister Nixon Duban said the government also wanted to apply the death penalty to producers of home-brewed alcohol, which is widespread, as well as marijuana growers because they also contributed to deteriorating law and order. "People who produce homebrew and cultivate marijuana will be put to death. People who spy around on our mothers and young girls will be hanged or face firing squads. There are too many lawless people in the country. This will teach them a lesson," Duban told a meeting in Madang, The National newspaper said. A 32-year-old U.S. academic was gang-raped by a group of men as she walked with her husband in a forest on Karkar Island in Madang province last month, an attack condemned as a "cowardly act of animals" by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. O'Neill is trying to lure multi-billion dollar resources investments with a promise of better security. The government said the new laws would extend the death penalty to include corruption and the theft of amounts of more than 10 million PNG Kina, or $4.5 million. Lesser amounts of more than $438,000 would attract 50-year prison terms without possibility of remission or parole. Sorcery laws repealed in 1971 had criminalised witchcraft and allowed suspicions of sorcery to be used as a defence in murder trials. The new laws will make revenge killings over black magic punishable by death. PNG, a nation of around 6.5 million people, is going through a resources boom and is home to a $15.7 billion Exxon Mobil gas export project, which is due to start production in 2014 and boost GDP by around 20 percent. There is also the vast Lihir gold mine operated by Newcrest Mining and the OK Tedi copper mine run by Glencore Xstrata. But successive governments have been unable to deliver infrastructure or services to the people, around 80 percent of whom eke out subsistence livings of cash crops on village farms. (Editing by Paul Tait) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| China army to conduct first "digital" exercise Posted: 28 May 2013 07:20 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China will next week conduct its first "digital" technology military exercise, state media said on Wednesday, against growing concern in Washington and elsewhere about Chinese hacking attacks. A brief report by the official Xinhua news agency said the exercise, in north China's remote Inner Mongolia region, will "test new types of combat forces including units using digital technology amid efforts to adjust to informationalised war". "It will be the first time a People's Liberation Army exercise has focused on combat forces including digitalised units, special operations forces, army aviation and electronic counter forces," the brief English-language report added. President Barack Obama will discuss cyber security with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in California next week, as Washington becomes increasingly worried about Chinese hacking of U.S. military networks. The Pentagon underscored its concerns in a report to Congress earlier this month, accusing China of using cyber espionage to modernize its military. It said the U.S. government has been the target of hacking that appeared to be "attributable directly to the Chinese government and military". In Australia this week, a report by Australia's ABC Television said hackers linked to China stole the floor plans of a new A$630 million headquarters for the Australia Security Intelligence Organization, the country's domestic spy agency. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacking attacks, even as it steps up defence spending and develops new technologies such as aircraft carriers and stealth fighters. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Obama, NATO's Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan at White House on Friday Posted: 28 May 2013 04:42 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the White House on Friday to discuss Afghanistan and other security concerns, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. The meeting comes as NATO and the United States prepare to withdraw most troops from Afghanistan, ending a lengthy war that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
More than 60,000 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan. Obama is due to announce in the coming weeks how many combat troops the United States will leave in the country next year, and how many forces will stay behind to train and support Afghan forces and carry out some operations. "The President looks forward to discussing global and regional security concerns with the Secretary General, to include ending the war in Afghanistan while building an enduring partnership with the Afghan government," Carney said in a statement. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Eric Beech) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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