The two politicians, who were visiting the Volkswagen exposition at the time the activists launched their protest, noticed them, but mostly ignored the stunt. Guards detained the young women.But speaking later at a joint media conference, Vladimir Putin admitted he liked the performance.“We knew it was coming. You should thank the Ukrainian girls for helping you promote the fair,” he said.He added he had failed to notice whether the activists were blondes or brunettes, yet alone discern their slogans, and advised them to be properly dressed next time they want to come for a political debate.Angela Merkel said such actions are part of what being a democracy is, but voiced doubt that a protest should be voiced in the form that Femen choose for it. She added that German authorities will investigate whether the topless action should have any legal ramification for the activists.Femen has targeted Putin several times previously. In December 2012 they caught his arrival at a Brussels airport. And in March 2012 they barely missed his arrival at a polling stating during the Russian presidential election and proceeded to attempt stealing the box containing his ballot.The last semi-naked protest staged by Femen group was against Tunisian authorities over what they call an Islamist attack on women’s rights. … Read More
Al Jazeera World – Walls That Speak
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‘Cyprus loan deal is like planting a bomb in the financial system’
He added that the government’s plan is like planting a bomb in the structure of the financial system itself. Adamides’ thoughts were echoed by thousands of high school and university students on Tuesday, as they marched to the presidential palace in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia. The demonstrators chanted slogans and said their future had been stolen. Cyprus’ bailout plan has angered the island nation, as the government threatens to take a 40 per cent tax from accounts held in the country’s two largest banks. Financial institutions across the country are shut down until Thursday to prevent a massive run on accounts.RT: You’re in the Cypriot capital – how are people responding to the financial turbulence? And how much patience do you think they have left?Chrysostomos Adamides: The people are shocked because at the end of the day they did not expect these decisions from the Eurogroup. I don’t think it’s correct to speak for a bailout. This is not a bailout. It can be best described as an overnight assassination. Because with the decision that the Eurogroup has taken, they have pretty much destroyed 40% of the economy and now they will also add on top of the debt problem that we already have, another loan, and you have to understand that the math will not work.RT: You talk about 40% of what they call taxes, 40% being taken out of certain various bank accounts with more than 100,000 euros. Not just the big players, the little average people are also being hurt by this. The banks are closed until Thursday – how are people expected to survive?CA: Obviously we’re facing a new paradigm in the EU. This is the first time that this has been done but obviously you do understand it’s like planting a bomb in the structure of the financial system itself. Therefore I can’t see how any investor or people can keep their money in the banks when now that we will have a debt problem twice or more as bad as it was before. Obviously they will be afraid for a new levy on bank deposits so how are they expected to keep their deposits in the bank and if they are not, how do the banks expect to continue?RT: The head of the largest Cypriot bank resigned after it was announced that the Bank of Cyprus will inherit billions of toxic assets from Laiki bank. Do you believe that the country’s banking system will withstand such a challenge?CA: This has been done elsewhere, we all know the example of Greece. And the head of the bank of Cyprus has resigned for a very good reason because he obviously acknowledges that they cannot go on with these terms and conditions demanded by the Troika. Therefore, there is no other solution. They should have said no to these demands from the beginning and if they would like us to continue as partners in the EU, then obviously we need to remain partners and not just be pushed around because of our political position and because of the problems we’ve been facing since 1974 and the illegal occupation of Turkey.RT: A lot of the bankers on Cyprus have been pressured from Brussels by the EU politicians there. However, at the end of the day, do you trust the bankers now?CA: That is a very funny question. Who can trust the bankers? Don’t forget that this whole debacle started from the banks themselves. Now we are being asked to trust the banks. This is a joke. It cannot be asked of the people to do that. What the regulators should have done is have the mechanisms in place since obviously they cannot control the market, to actually have a face save mechanism when things go wrong, to be able to control it somehow. Instead, in the EU they are still discussing about the mechanisms and every single bailout has new terms and conditions. We have seen this five times. No two bailouts are exactly the same in the Eurozone. And obviously this is not something that has started now. It’s been going on since the 70s. … Read More
Anonymous protests outside Ohio court as rape trial begins
A 16-year-old girl from Weirton, West Virginia says a group ofhigh school athletes from a neighboring town in Ohio raped her lastAugust, but it wasn’t until a social media campaign spearheaded bymembers of the Anonymous movement elevated the incident into thespotlight months later in December. Now as the case finally goes totrial, the activists who helped draw international attention to asmall town in Ohio are once again aligning themselves with thecase.Outside of the Jefferson County Juvenile Court in Steubenvilleon Wednesday, protesters donned in the Anonymous movement’strademark Guy Fawkes mask held signs reading slogans such as “Stopblaming the victim. The world is watching,” “Stop Sexual Violence”and “This is something you just can’t get away with.”When Anonymous brought the story into the spotlight last year,the group led a series of demonstrations throughout JeffersonCounty in hopes of raising awareness. The Occupy Wall Streetoffshoot Occupy Steubenville soon helped out, and now both groupsare back to show their support.“I hope and pray she knows we support her,” one Anonymousmember, clad in a Fawkes mask, told the Pittsburg Tribune Review.“Many of us are also Jane Does,” she said. “It’s time toend the rape culture and stop blaming the victim.”The plaintiff in the case, who has not been identified by namesince she is a minor, says the 16-year-old quarterback of theSteubenville high school football team, Trent Mays, and widereceiver Ma’lik Richmond, also 16, sexually assaulted her lastsummer. She was attending a party in Steubenville and becameunconscious after drinking in excess. The defendants, she thenalleges, dragged her from party to party throughout town, abusingher en route to different get-togethers.In his defense, Richmond says the only crime that occurred thatnight was underage drinking.”People had Bud Light Platinum, and different variety ofbeers and vodka. Everybody was drinking,” he tells ABC.The girl’s attorneys say much more occurred, though, claimingthat both boys penetrated the victim digitally — an act included inthe definition of rape in Ohio — although the plaintiff was passedout during the incident and says she doesn’t recall what happenedat the parties. Only when tweets, Instagram photos and other socialmedia dispatches were made the following day did she learn of theabuse.”The state doesn’t have to prove that she was flat-lined, butit’s clear during both of these digital penetrations she was not inthe state to consent,” Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter said at aprobable cause hearing last year after charges were filed.Defense attorneys have argued that the case has already beentried in social media and that the Anonymous-led initiatives todraw attention to the case have harmed the changes of a fair trial.Hacktivists say their work has only raised awareness to theincident, though, when the mainstream media elected to ignore theincident.As members of the Anonymous movement rallied late last year tobring the case to the public periphery, a website named LocalLeaksbegan releasing documents that they say highlighted a history ofmisconduct and abuse in Steubenville. In one posting on the site,hacktivists with the Anonymous sect Knight Sec leaked a cell phonevideo of another Steubenville athlete who jokingly mocked thevictim after the assault, calling her “dead” and “soraped.”“The video was shot so soon after the attack, that one personpresent becomes disgusted and actually leaves to go check on thecondition of the victim,” writes LocalLeaks.LocalLeaks updated their website on the eve of this week’s trialwith hacked voicemail messages that they say “shed morelight” on a group of Steubenville athletes that have beendubbed the “Rape Crew.” Additionally, LocalLeaks says they haveuncovered a history of police corruption in the town, and claim tohave linked Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla with a member ofthe Gambino organized crime family.The Steubenville rape trial is likely to go into the weekend,with as many as 40 witnesses expected to testify.“We just want this over with and out of our lives,” themother of the victim tells the New York Times. … Read More
Tens of thousands protest in Bulgaria amid political uncertainty (PHOTOS)
Anti-government slogans and demands to end monopoly powers wereagain in evidence on the streets of Bulgaria following thegovernment’s failed attempts to negotiate with the public and itseventual resignationlast Wednesday.Bulgarian cities of Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Blagoevgrad, Ruse,Sliven and Varna saw crowds of people protesting against thecorruption, poverty and high energy prices that consume theirwages. The largest demonstration took place in the Black Sea cityof Varna, with about 50,000 people taking part, according to thelocal media.Outgoing prime minister Boiko Borisov was reportedlyhospitalized with “high blood pressure and general weakness”amid the mass protests. Borisov pledged to cut electricity pricesby 8 percent and even promised to revoke the license of the Czechpower supplier CEZ just before his resignation.Although Borisov and his rightist GERB party have lost a lot ofsupport over the last year, the opposition Socialist Party is nottrusted either, according to polls.“It is obvious that the protesters are not united and thiscould very quickly destroy the enthusiasm of the people,”Georgi Trendafilov, a demonstrator in Sofia told Reuters.President Rosen Plevneliev meanwhile stated that the interimgovernment would implement the previous commitments and stick tothe 2013 budget.However, the president’s latest initiative to ease public angerfailed on Saturday. Representatives of the protesters refused toparticipate in the establishment of a public council intended torepresent people’s interests, saying that they could not “sit atthe same table with those they were fighting.”For three weeks Bulgaria has been rocked by demonstrations,sometimes violent, which began as a small group of young peopleprotesting against high electricity bills. Soon they were joinedby thousands outraged by the overall low living standards.Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, but it is stillbehind other member states with wages, at about half the EUaverage. Public services are also poor despite having the lowestpublic debt in the bloc. The country is also excluded from the freetravel Schengen zone over graft and corruption concerns. … Read More
Clashes break out as Tunisian politician is laid to rest
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Zaur Sadayev and Gabriel Kadiev, Muslim Chechens, Join Beitar Jerusalem Amid Protests
JERUSALEM — An Israeli soccer club with an unofficial tradition of not signing Arab or Muslim players is welcoming two Muslim-Chechen players amid rising tensions from its fans.
Beitar Jerusalem’s fans, known for being anti-Muslim, chanted anti-Muslim slogans at a game last week and unfurled a sign protesting the arrival of Zaur Sadayev and Gabriel Kadiev. Three fans were arrested for the behavior.
