Cuban opposition group Ladies in White collect prize

Several Ladies in White made the trip to Brussels to collect the award

Members of the Cuban opposition group Ladies in White have collected the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in Brussels.

They were awarded the prize by the European Parliament in 2005, but Cuba barred them from leaving the communist-run island to collect it.
The abolition of exit permits by the Cuban government in January made it possible for the women to travel.
They were given the prize for their campaign to free 75 jailed dissidents.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded annually by the European Parliament to individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom. It is named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.
In 2012, it went to Iranian activists Jafar Panahi and Nasrin Sotoudeh.
As she accepted the award on behalf of the group, Lady in White Laura Labrada said they had never lost faith that one day they would be able to collect the prize.
"We are mothers, wives, daughters and sisters of Cubans who find themselves in prison in Cuba for exercising the most sacred human right: to live according to one's own conscience," she said.
Ms Labrada collected the prize on behalf of her mother, co-founder of the Ladies in White Laura Pollan, who died in 2011

She was joined by other Ladies in White at the ceremony.

"You are the symbol of resistance against the Cuban government, and thousands of Cubans support you inside and outside the country," said the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.
But in Havana, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister, Abelardo Moreno, suggested that other Cubans were more worthy of the award.
"I ask myself, would it not be worth giving prizes to the work of Cuban doctors in Haiti, for example?" he said.


'No change'
The Ladies in White was founded by the wives, sisters and friends of 75 jailed Cuban activists, who were rounded up and sentenced to long prison terms in 2003 as part of a crackdown on the opposition movement.
Dressed in white, the women march in silence in the Cuban capital, Havana, every Sunday, defying Cuba's ban on organised opposition and street demonstrations.
They are routinely detained and their protests broken up, but they say their protests have yielded results. All 75 prisoners they campaigned for have been released.
The Ladies continue their protest, now demanding that the convictions of the 75 be officially overturned.

Before travelling to Brussels to collect the prize, Ms Labrada told the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Havana that they still suffered harassment at the hands of the Cuban police.
"The arrests continue. It's true the time in detention is less, but we're still repressed, still detained - and in big numbers. Just for thinking differently... This has not changed," she said.
The Cuban authorities say that the group is in the pay of the United States and forms part of Washington's "decades-old effort to undermine Cuba's socialist revolution".

Lloyds' branch sale to Co-op falls through.

   Lloyds' branch sale to Co-op falls through.

The planned sale of 632 UK bank branches by Lloyds Banking Group to the Co-op group has fallen through.


The Co-op blamed the continued economic downturn and tougher regulatory environment imposed on banks.
Lloyds said it will now seek to sell the branches as a stand-alone bank through a stock market listing.
It had been hoped that the Co-op's purchase of the branches would create a bigger competitor to the main high street banks.
Lloyds' chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said: "We are disappointed that the Co-operative Group is unable to complete this transaction."

The sales of the branches, known as Project Verde, was demanded by European regulators as the price for being bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis.
The Lloyds statement said: "The Co-operative Group's board has decided that they can no longer proceed with a purchase of the Verde business given their view of the impact of the current economic environment, the worsened outlook for economic growth and the increasing regulatory requirements on the financial services sector in general."


During the summer the branches will be branded as TSB Bank, and the group will operate as a separate business within Lloyds ahead of a sale.
The Co-op's chief executive, Peter Marks, said: "After detailed and thorough consideration of all aspects of the Verde transaction, we have decided, at this time, that it is not in the best interests of our members to proceed with the transaction.

"Against the backdrop of the current economic environment, the worsened outlook for economic growth and the increasing regulatory requirements on the financial services sector in general, the Verde transaction would not currently deliver a suitable return for our members within a reasonable timeframe and with an acceptable level of risk."

The BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, said the Co-op's decision was a blow for the Treasury, which has been backing attempts to create powerful competitors to the UK's big high street banks. He said that the Co-op will now review the future of its banking business.


Challenger banks Lloyds, which is 39%-owned by the government, had a deadline of November 2013 to complete the sale in order to meet European Commission competition rules. But there have been reports over the past few months that the Co-op was going cool on the acquisition.
A flotation is unlikely to be possible until the second half of 2014, which would mean the UK government and Lloyds asking Brussels to extend its end-2013 deadline for the sale.
Co-op agreed in 2012 to buy the branches.
This involved the potential transfer of 4.6 million customers, including 3.5 million in England and Wales and the remainder in Scotland.


Customers in England and Wales had already received letters telling them of the move and giving them the option to stay with Lloyds. This information is still relevant, as customers of the branches being sold will still become customers of the new TSB Bank.
The aborted takeover would have created Britain's seventh-biggest bank with about 5% of personal current accounts and mortgage market and about 10% of the branch network.
A Treasury spokesman described the Co-op's move as "a commercial matter." However, he stressed that government remained committed to encouraging so-called "Challenger" banks to increase competition on the high street.

Afghanistan peace deal with Taliban needed, say MPs

The start of an Afghan-led peace deal with the Taliban is needed to secure the future of Afghanistan after British troops leave, a group of MPs has said.

The Defence Select Committee warned that failure to do so could lead to civil war in Afghanistan.
The UK had a responsibility to use its influence to "make Afghanistan work" after 2014, the MPs added.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK would help Afghans to reach "a sustainable political settlement".
The MPs' report focused on the planned withdrawal of UK combat troops at the end of 2014 and the transfer of responsibilities to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
The committee said it wanted to see:

• Open and free elections
• An appropriately trained and equipped ANSF with continuing financial support
• A strong judicial system that protects human rights
• Continued development aid
• Effective measures to tackle corruption and the drug trade

'Starkly opposing' The committee highlighted significant gaps in the capabilities of the ANSF in areas such as helicopters and close air support and medical care.
Committee chairman James Arbuthnot, said: "We have received starkly opposing predictions for Afghanistan's outlook, post 2014.

“Start Quote

The fact that Afghan security forces are now leading on more than 80% of all security operations across the country shows we are well on the way”

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond

"The fact is that the UK has limited influence. Indeed, it is for the Afghan people themselves to determine their own future.

"However, the UK and its international partners must show the Afghan people that they will abide by their obligations to continue to support them in their efforts."
The MPs said they had received "very little" information about the involvement of the Ministry of Defence and the UK Foreign Office in Afghanistan beyond 2014.


Viable State
There are currently 9,000 British service personnel in Afghanistan, reducing to 5,200 by the end of 2013.
The committee called on the government to provide detailed plans and costs for withdrawal to ensure the protection of military personnel.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "I welcome the publication of this report which shares our vision of an Afghanistan that can maintain its own security and never again be a safe haven for international terrorism.
"The fact that Afghan security forces are now leading on more than 80% of all security operations across the country shows we are well on the way to achieving that aim."
He added: "The UK is dedicated to helping the Afghan government make progress towards a sustainable political settlement and a stable regional environment, and to help the Afghan people build a viable Afghan state.
"We will continue to support governance and development in Afghanistan through the next decade, with £178m per year of development aid agreed until 2017, to ensure that the progress made will not be lost."

The fact that Afghan security forces are now leading on more than 80% of all security operations across the country shows we are well on the way”

                                                                        ......Defence Secretary Philip Hammond

Why did daddy kill that girl? Backpacker murder suspect's wife tells of children's disbelief

Sarah Groves, 24, was stabbed 40 times in Kashmir on Saturday morning

Dutch national Richard de Wit has confessed to the brutal murder

Wife of de Wit says he had become 'increasingly paranoid and irrational'

De Wit abandoned wife and two children to go travelling six months ago.    

    

                                                                                                                                              

The wife of the Dutch tourist accused of murdering a British backpacker in India yesterday told how her children had asked her: ‘Why has daddy killed that woman?’
Thai bride Uma Rupanya said her husband of ten years, Richard de Wit, had become increasingly paranoid and psychotic before abandoning the family six months ago to go travelling.
The first she learned of her husband’s alleged crime was when Dutch officers arrived to tell her that de Wit, 43, had confessed to the murder of former public schoolgirl Sarah Groves, 24, on a houseboat.
Miss Groves, a fitness instructor from Guernsey, was stabbed 45 times in a frenzied 15-minute knife attack at Lake Dal, near Kashmir’s capital Srinagar.
Yesterday Miss Rupanya, who is blind in one eye and suffers from multiple sclerosis, said she does not know what to say to her two daughters, aged 12 and ten.
‘I want to protect them but don’t know how,’ she said.
Jobless de Wit, said to be 7ft tall, fled the murder scene in a stolen rowing boat, which capsized before he swam to shore.
He was arrested by police, dripping wet, with £2,000 stuffed in his underwear and wearing no shoes, 50 miles away.
According to Indian police, he later said he murdered Miss Groves after being taken over by the devil.
Yesterday, Miss Rupanya, 31, said she was in a state of shock and felt immense sorrow for Miss Groves’s family. She told the Daily Mail: ‘My husband left us in November. He was seeing a psychiatrist but had become increasingly irrational and paranoid.

 

More...

• 'We begged her not to go': Tears of Sarah's father as he reveals he pleaded with her to stay away from Indian houseboat where she was stabbed to death
• 'The devil took over my body'... says the 7ft Dutchman accused of stabbing to death 'wonderful' British tourist, 24, on Indian houseboat
• British backpacker fought desperately for her life as 'Dutch killer' knifed her 45 times, doctors reveal

‘He believed the Government was out to get him, that spies were following him, that the house was bugged.
‘He had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication also.
'He said he had to leave for his and our safety. I was very worried about him but never expected something like this to happen.
‘It’s just so awful. He was a good father to our children, he was never violent towards me and he did not take drugs, although I have heard that he started to smoke cannabis after he left us.

‘I feel angry as he left me with a few thousands euros to live on, he knew I couldn’t work or provide for the children myself because of my disability. 

'I just have to try to be strong and be a good mother the best I can but it is a very dark time for us.

‘My children are very angry too. They ask me “why has daddy killed that woman?” I don’t know what to say. I want to protect them but don’t know how.’

De Wit, a former councillor for an extreme right-wing party in his home town of Ridderkerk, met his wife while on holiday in Thailand 13 years ago when he went into her brother’s clothes shop where she worked as a sales assistant.

They had their two daughters before marrying in November 2002.  At the time, Miss Rupanya was seriously ill after giving birth to their second child so the ceremony took place from her hospital bed in Rotterdam’s Erasmus Hospital.

Speaking from the tiny apartment they shared together in the town of Capelle aan den Ijssel, she said: ‘Richard never worked. He stayed at home and played on the computer. 

'At the weekend he would take our children to the museum.
‘After he left us, he would phone and email to see how we were. But I felt very let down.
‘The last time I spoke to him was two days before the murder. He seemed OK and said he was enjoying India. I still can’t believe this has happened.’
De Wit, who has two children from a previous relationship, posted a rambling video online shortly before he left for India detailing his delusional fears that the Dutch authorities were after him and were trying to frame him for a fictitious bomb plot.
He remains in custody in India.

Deadly quake in south-west Iran's Bushehr province

 

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 37 people and injured 850 in south-west Iran, officials say.

Rescue teams have been sent to the affected area, but darkness is hampering rescue operations.
The quake struck 90km (60 miles) south of the country's only nuclear power station in Bushehr, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.
However, the nuclear plant has not been affected and is working normally, officials have said.
The quake was felt across the Gulf in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
Some 10,000 people are thought to live in the affected area in more than 50 villages, two of which have reportedly been completely levelled.
Bushehr's governor says 700 houses have been damaged and 200 families affected.
The governor's office has sent generators to the area so rescue operation can continue overnight, the BBC's Mohsen Asgari in Tehran reports.
Seismologists said the quake struck at 16:22 (11:52 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) near the town of Kaki, south of Bushehr - a Gulf port city that is home to Iran's first and only nuclear power plant.
Iran's seismological centre in Bushehr province, linked to Tehran University, registered the quake at a magnitude of 6.1.

Continue reading the main story

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It was a very strange sensation, rather like being on a rocking boat”

Phil Stevens Office worker in Abu Dhabi

Tens of aftershocks - the strongest measuring a magnitude of 5.4 - struck within an hour, sending many people into the streets for safety.

State media reported that phone lines had been brought down by the quake and its aftershocks.
The earthquake shook buildings across the Gulf.
"Our entire building started to wobble from side to side for around 30 seconds or so," Phil Stevens, working on the 10th floor of a building in Abu Dhabi, told the BBC.
"It was a very strange sensation, rather like being on a rocking boat. We evacuated our office and quickly learned of the earthquake in Iran."

Fault line
The governor of Bushehr, Fereydoun Hassanvand, told Iranian state TV that the nuclear plant was not damaged.
An official with the Russian firm Atomstroyexport told Russian media that the quake "in no way affected the normal situation at the reactor".
"Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm," the official was quoted by Russian state news agency Ria as saying.
Iran's nuclear programme has roused concern among major powers that Tehran wants to build nuclear weapons - a charge Iran strongly denies.
Iran straddles a major geological fault line, making it prone to seismic activity. In 2003, an earthquake in the city of Bam left more than 25,000 people dead.