The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- China pressured U.S. university to make him leave, dissident says
- State Department to name lawyer Cliff Sloan to close Guantanamo
- Obama, Putin face tough talks on Syria at G8 summit
| China pressured U.S. university to make him leave, dissident says Posted: 16 Jun 2013 06:40 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident who fled his home country to become a visiting scholar at New York University, accused the school on Sunday of asking him to leave because of "unrelenting pressure" from China.
NYU denied the claim, saying that it had said last year before the blind dissident arrived that his fellowship would last up to a year and end sometime this summer. Chen sparked a diplomatic crisis between the United States and China after he fled house arrest last year and sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. NYU helped Chen come to the United States after he expressed fears for his family's safety if they were to remain in China. In a statement, Chen thanked NYU for its hospitality and "good support," but accused it of giving in to the Communist Party of China. "In fact, as early as last August and September, the Chinese Communists had already begun to apply great, unrelenting pressure on New York University, so much so that after we had been in the United States just three to four months, NYU was already starting to discuss our departure with us," he wrote. Chen, who was born blind and taught himself law, was a campaigner for farmers and disabled citizens. He exposed forced abortions in China before he was placed under house arrest in Shandon province. He has continued to be critical of China's human rights record since his arrival in New York in May 2012 with his wife and two children. TV INTERVIEW Chen said he believed the Chinese government wanted "to make me so busy trying to earn a living that I don't have time for human rights advocacy, but this is not going to happen." NYU pointed to a PBS television interview in May 2012 with Jerome Cohen, an NYU law professor and friend of Chen who helped broker his departure from China. Cohen said Chen would be at NYU for a year at most while he adjusted to a new country. Chen could not be reached for comment on Sunday. John Beckman, an NYU spokesman, described Chen's claims as "both false and contradicted by the well-established facts." "Mr. Chen's fellowship at NYU and its conclusion have had nothing to do with the Chinese government. All fellowships come to an end," Beckman said in a statement. NYU said Chen had received offers from two other academic institutions. Fordham University Law School in New York said on Friday it was in talks with Chen, and the identity of the second institution has not been made public. Beckman said NYU had started talking with the Chens about changes in living arrangements months ago. The school has provided them services that include housing, food, insurance and healthcare, English lessons and family support, he said. NYU has been building a campus in Shanghai, and received final approval from China's education ministry to begin construction and student recruitment last autumn. (Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Eric Walsh) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| State Department to name lawyer Cliff Sloan to close Guantanamo Posted: 16 Jun 2013 06:14 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department on Monday is expected to announce the appointment of Washington lawyer Cliff Sloan to oversee the closure of the controversial Guantanamo detention camp, sources familiar with the decision said on Sunday. Sloan is a partner with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, who has served in all three branches of government and litigated cases in state and federal courts. In a statement, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sloan possessed the "intellect and skill as a negotiator respected across party lines." "I appreciate his willingness to take on this challenge," Kerry said. "Cliff and I share the president's conviction that Guantanamo's continued operation isn't in our security interests." The Guantanamo tribunals were established by the Bush administration and revised by the Obama administration to try suspected al Qaeda operatives and their associates on terrorism charges. More than 100 of the 166 prisoners in the camp have joined a hunger strike to protest the failure to resolve their fate after more than a decade of detention. In January, the State Department reassigned the special envoy who had been in charge of trying to persuade countries to take Guantanamo inmates approved for release, Daniel Fried, and did not replace him. "Our fidelity to the rule of law likewise compels us also to end the long, uncertain detention of the detainees at Guantanamo," Kerry said in the statement. "We can do it in a way that makes us more secure, not less. It will not be easy, but if anyone can effectively navigate the space between agencies and branches of government, it's Cliff." (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Obama, Putin face tough talks on Syria at G8 summit Posted: 16 Jun 2013 04:01 PM PDT LOUGH ERNE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will seek the help on Monday of Russia's Vladimir Putin, Syria's most powerful ally, to bring Bashar al-Assad to the negotiating table and end a two-year civil war.
At their first private face-to-face meeting in a year, Obama will try to find common ground with Putin on the sidelines of a G8 summit in Northern Ireland after angering the Kremlin by authorising U.S. military support for the Syrian president's opponents. During talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on the eve of the summit, Putin renewed his criticism of the West's position in startling tones, describing Assad's foes as cannibals. "I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines, in front of the public and cameras," Putin said at a joint news conference with Cameron. "Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?" Cameron conceded London and Moscow remained far apart. Russia does not buy the West's assertion that Assad's forces have used chemical weapons and crossed a red line in doing so, saying U.S. military support for Syrian rebels would only escalate violence. Washington said on Saturday it would keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles in Jordan at Amman's request, prompting Moscow to bristle at the possibility they could be used to enforce a no-fly zone inside Syria. Putin's rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Western since he regained the presidency last year but he appeared upbeat in London, stressing several areas of cooperation between Russian and Britain. At the Lough Erne golf resort in Northern Ireland, Cameron will bring together leaders of the United States, Japan, Canada, Russia, Germany, France and Italy - representing just over half of the $71.7 trillion global economy. Syria will inevitably dominate the Monday-Tuesday talks but persistent worries about the global economy will also be central to the discussions. MARKET TURMOIL TO FOCUS MINDS Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders will likely discuss the role of central banks and monetary policy. They are likely to say they are not content with progress so far in fixing their economies in the wake of the global financial crisis, according to a draft communiqué seen by Reuters. Japan's Abe will use the opportunity to explain his cocktail of fiscal and monetary stimulus known as 'Abenomics' to the leaders as investors try to absorb the implications of a signal by the U.S. Federal Reserve that it may start to slow its money-printing. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will not attend. He and his colleagues hold a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bond yields have climbed and share prices have sagged globally since Bernanke shocked investors on May 22 by saying the bank might ‘take a step down' in the pace of bond purchases - a blow to a global economy still growing well below trend due to the after effects of the great financial crisis. "Japan's decisive moves to reflate its economy will support growth in the near term, but it will need to manage the twin challenge of providing near-term stimulus and achieving longer-term sustainability," the draft communiqué said, although the version circulated by Britain and seen by Reuters was put together before the recent market turmoil. The leaders of the European Union and United States are likely to announce the start of formal negotiations on a free trade deal that could be worth more than $100 billion a year to each economy. EU and U.S. negotiators aim to finish their work by the end of next year. TREASURE ISLAND TAX Cameron has made tackling tax avoidance - which campaigners say costs about $3 trillion a year - one of the key parts of the formal agenda at the summit. He has turned up the pressure to clamp down on secretive money flows by pressing Britain's overseas tax havens into a transparency deal and announcing new disclosure rules for British firms. "It is important we are getting our house in order," Cameron said on Saturday after representatives of overseas tax havens linked to Britain agreed to sign up to an international transparency protocol. Aid campaigners said Britain's action will count for little if the rest of the G8 does not follow suit. G8 leaders will probably shy away from adopting a measure aimed at curbing tax avoidance by highlighting when companies channel profits into tax havens, and will include a watered-down alternative, according to the draft communiqué. Tackling corporate tax avoidance has become a political goal internationally following public anger about revelations over the past year that companies like Apple and Google had used structures U.S. and European politicians said were contrived to minimise the amount of taxes paid. But the draft summit text suggested there will be no agreement on a rule that would force companies to publish their profits, revenues and tax payments on a country-by-country basis. Global tax evasion could be costing more than $3 trillion a year, according to researchers from Tax Justice Network while as much as $32 trillion could be hidden by individuals in tax havens. (Writing by Maria Golovnina, editing by Mike Peacock) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: World Updates To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan