Early Thursday, after law enforcers searched the home of Vasily Kuzmin – the head of the Moscow branch of the Left Front movement – he was detained and taken to the Investigative Committee. During the search, law enforcers seized a “large amount of electronic data storage devices, Left Front leaflets and symbols, as well as alleged smoke flares,” the Committee’s press service reported. RosUznik – a volunteer project that provides legal help to activists detained at protest rallies – sent a lawyer to the Committee to represent Kuzmin’s interests during the investigation. It was highly likely that the activist would be charged in the ‘Bolotnaya Square case,’ RosUznik wrote on its website.However, later that afternoon Kuzmin left the Committee building “in the status of a witness” in the case, Left Front leader Sergey Udaltsov wrote on Twitter. Udaltsov, who has been under house arrest since February, was earlier charged with conspiracy to organize mass disorder.Police also searched the Moscow house of Udaltsov’s former security guard, boxer Denis Kuraishi. Kuraishi appealed for help from the ‘For Human Rights’ movement, and told them that the search was conducted while he was not at home, Interfax reported. The Left Front activist formerly provided security during mass opposition rallies.A day earlier, Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin confirmed the indictment in the ‘Bolotnaya Square case’ and submitted the files to a Moscow court. The trial is expected to start in June.So far, 12 people have been charged in the investigation, accused of “calling to disorders and taking active part in them” during the May 6 protest. Some 82 police officers were injured as a result of the violence. The total damage caused by the clashes is estimated at over 28 million rubles (US$900,000), the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.An investigation into “other participants of the crime” is ongoing; in total, 27 people are involved in the case, 15 of whom are being kept in pretrial detention centers, according to RosUznik.So far, two people were convicted in court in the Bolotnaya case. In November, Maksim Luzyanin was sentenced to 4.5 years behind bars for participating in the clashes. And in April this year, leftist opposition activist Konstantin Lebedev was sentenced to 2.5 years for inciting the mass disorder that took place during the rally on May 6 – the day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as Russian president.The protesters have maintained that police provoked the clashes. … Read More
US war crime whistle-blower Manning starts pre-trial hearing
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The first day of the final pre-trial hearing in the case against WikiLeaks whistle-blower PFC Bradley Manning has begun.
Manning has returned to Fort Meade, where he has pleaded guilty to reduced charges and faces up to 20 years in prison. Military prosecutors are aiming to convict him of the greater offense of “aiding the enemy” which carries a maximum life sentence.
Manning, 25, has said he leaked the documents because he thought Americans had a right to know “the true cost of war”.
During the pretrial hearing, the court will discuss how to handle classified material that will be used as evidence in the trial so that the court can remain open to the press and public. Options could include giving unclassified summaries of classified material and using code words to refer to classified information.
The army private, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, shared around 700,000 secret documents with WikiLeaks, including the controversial video known as “Collateral Murder” that shows the killing of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists.
Speaking to the court in February, Manning said “I believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information…this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general.”
Protests were held outside Fort Meade by supporters of Manning.
Since Manning’s arrest there has been much controversy regarding his treatment during his incarceration. An organisation supporting the soldier claims he was kept in solitary confinement for 10 months, stating: “During this time, Bradley was denied meaningful exercise, social interaction, sunlight and on a number of occasion he was forced to stay completely naked”. In 2011 over half a million people signed a petition calling on President Obama to end the “isolation and torture of Bradley Manning”.
Manning’s case has also attracted the support of several high-profile personalities including film-maker Michael Moore, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky and most recently fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who wore a Bradley Manning badge saying “truth” to the recent MET ball.
The main trial is set to begin on June 3 and is expected to run for a month.
More about: American army, USA, WikiLeaks
Copyright © 2013 euronews
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European cinema in crisis ?
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The fizz has long come off the European Film industry, even if the champagne corks are popping in Cannes.
The financial crisis of 2007 has hit the business hard, subsidies being cut, even in countries which previously feather bedded the industry. Spain for example has seen state aid go from 124 million euros down to just 55 million.
It’s not just the present that is the concern. The industry may also be setting up problems for the future. The number of films made in the European Union is falling. This may not matter right now, but it will do in the coming months and years.
The only bright star at the moment is the UK. The now reliable banker, James Bond, saw huge success with the franchise’s latest outing, Skyfall. It notched up a box office of more than a billion dollars worldwide.
But fewer people are going to the movies ….. after a slight increase in 2011, a downward trend can be seen for 2012. This may be a reflection of the economic times.
Even in France, the cold winds of recession are blowing. State-run France Televisions, which runs a group of national TV networks, will reduce its movie investment by three million euros this year.
Euronews interview with Claude-Eric Poiroux, Director General of Europa Cinemas
Euronews:
The film industry is not just festivals, it is also a business, there are cinemas which need to make money. Given the crisis how are they performing ?
C-E. Poiroux:
The attendance figures for 2012 are quite a bit lower which therefore means that there is still a slowdown and there may be the beginning of a crisis. We do not know exactly what will be the outcome. What is happening across Europe is also quite uneven, not all countries are in the same situation. Spain, for example, is experiencing a real crisis for two reasons …. there is a crisis in the country as a whole, then there is an additional crisis in cinema. It has suffered from two or three decisions taken by the government, including that of increasing VAT, from 8 to 21 per cent. And at the same time there is a crisis in production because what we seeing today, may not be what is actually happening in terms of creation, production, investment, the type of movies that is, and also the number of being being made in Europe we’ll see the effects of those in a few months or years.
Euronews:
In times of crisis there are some styles of films that work better than others?
C-E. Poiroux:
We used to say in general cinema is not a victim of [economic] problems because it is a safe haven. We take refuge in the theatre [it’s where] we go to forget what is happening outside. This is what happened in the past several times. Now there is always a little more luck compared to other [sectors of the economy] they’re more affected. Now we also think that [going to] the movies also costs. Fortunately we can go into a cinema and not pay very much. This is not the most expensive hobby and [get] a performance of great quality. So we can say the relationship between quality and price is still something [that is] attractive to the public. If we want the public to continue to come and find escapism well there will be perhaps a change in the type of films. The movies may have to become [more] entertainment. Maybe a little less a place of reflection more where is a certain pleasure to be found.
Euronews:
So how we can summarize the crisis of European cinema in two or three words?
C-E. Poiroux:
I think that today there are still questions asked because many countries do not really have the choice to understand culture is essential as a response to the crisis. One of the concerns we feel in some countries, particularly Spain, Italy as well, and in some Central European countries: [in] Hungary, it is clear that today there are still things which threaten the existence of a cinema that Europe knows. …arthouse cinema which Europe is very good at, which can influence the public. The movies are really powerful, and should not be hampered, should be allowed to express itself.
More about: Cinema, Economic crisis, European Union
Copyright © 2013 euronews
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Two elite FBI agents killed during training
Special agents Christopher Lorek, 41, and Stephen Shaw, 40 died in off the coast of Virginia Beach area on Friday, the FBI said Sunday. The bureau offered few details of the deaths. The case remains under investigation.Local TV station WAVY quoted a Navy spokesman as saying that the accident happened aboard a Military Sealift Command ship that the FBI had leased for training.Both agents were brought by helicopter Friday to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, the leading trauma center for the area, a spokesman for Sentara Healthcare said. He offered no details on their treatment or the injuries they sustained.An investigator in the Virginia medical examiner’s office for the Tidewater District, where the accident happened, said the cause of death may not be obtained before Monday.”We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said in a statement. “Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational missions, to keep our nation safe. Our hearts are with their wives, children, and other loved ones who feel their loss most deeply. And they will always be part of the FBI Family.”Lorek joined the FBI in 1996, the bureau said. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, aged 11 and eight. Shaw has been with the FBI since 2005. He is survived by his wife, a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son.The deaths bring to at least four the number of fatalities in the elite counterterrorism team during training since its creation in 1983 in preparation for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. In April 1986, James K. McAllister died after falling from a helicopter and in December 2006, Gregory J. Rahoi was accidentally shot and killed during a live-fire training exercise.The Hostage Rescue Team is part of the Critical Incident Response Group based at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and is prepared to respond to the “most complex and urgent FBI cases in the United States and abroad,” the bureau’s website says. Over the three decades it has participated in hostage situations more than 800 times, in the US and elsewhere. … Read More
Tehran ready to allow experts to Parchin in exchange for deal with IAEA – Iran’s ambassador to Russia
The protocol should contain all IAEA’s concerns about Parchin and all other objects which the agency suspects of being nuke-oriented, Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi has told the Russian media. “And if they don’t find anything, let’s close Iran’s nuclear file and remove it from the UN Security Council.”The ambassador recalled that Parchin, which the Agency suspects could have been the site of high-explosives tests related to nuclear weapons, had been fully inspected by the IAEA, but then, he said, the agency wanted to undertake further inspections.“We agreed with a condition that such a protocol would be signed,” the diplomat said. “We displayed flexibility. We offered – let’s sign a protocol and spell out in detail all accusations.” But international experts want to visit the suspected facility prior to signing the protocol – “this is a game,” the ambassador said. “We did not see sincerity in the way that IAEA and Yukiya Amano, director-general of the UN nuclear watchdog behaved,” Sajjadi said. Besides Parchin, the IAEA has suppositions over another Iran’s facility – Fordo uranium enrichment plant – and demands its closure. Speaking to journalists, Sajjadi noted that Iran was not obliged to close the facility and stop uranium enrichment.”Have you read the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons? Does it say that we have no right to enrich uranium to 20 percent?” Sajjadi asked. He said the demand to shut down Fordo and stop uranium enrichment was “unfair and ridiculous” and Iran has become a victim of double standards of the IAEA and the US.”We doubt the sincerity of the West, because in the past they have done to us illogical proposals, including the closure of Fordo, and promised to allow us to buy gold and metals, as well as to authorize export of petroleum products. But it is unfair and ridiculous proposal ,” said Sajjadi.”The IAEA was designed to safeguard that no one is developing nuclear weapons. But Israel has a nuclear bomb, and no one cares,” said the Iranian ambassador.He assured that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made a decision not to build nuclear weapon. “Religious fatwa is above the law”, Sajjadi stressed. Moreover, nuclear weapons would not ensure security for Tehran, but “on the contrary would bring risk”, he said. “Now Iran can develop two or three bombs from the materials it possesses. But if you had a gun with two bullets, would you really go to war against an army?” said Sajjadi. The Islamic Republic insists it has no interest in nuclear weapons, and says it is enriching uranium for purely peaceful purposes, such as nuclear power. There have been attempts from both sides to find common ground in the issue, but negotiations have yielded no results. The latest Iran’s nuclear talks in Kazakhstan in April also brought no breakthrough with negotiators going back to their capitals declaring “positions remain far apart”. Since then no date or place has been set for new talks. Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is expected to visit Moscow on July 1-2 as Russia hosts a forum of gas exporting countries. “The Iranian president has been invited, and so we are expecting his visit,” Sajjadi said at a meeting, stressing that Ahmadinejad still will be acting president. … Read More
Eric Holder: idiot zen master
His own agency, the US Dept. of Justice, had spied secretly on reporters. But he, Holder, the head of that agency, decided to remain entirely ignorant about the whole fiasco, once he discovered the vague outline of what was going on. … Read More
Pentagon Papers Attorney: U.S. Likely Already Has Secret Indictment Against WikiLeaks Julian Assange
http://www.youtube.com/v/tvcuEt0DzNQ?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Original source: Pentagon Papers Attorney: U.S. Likely Already Has Secret Indictment Against WikiLeaks Julian Assange
