Former Guatemala dictator Rios Montt convicted of genocide

By Mike McDonald

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was found guilty on Friday of genocide and crimes against humanity during the bloodiest phase of the country's 36-year civil war and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Hundreds of people who were packed into the courtroom burst into applause, chanting, "Justice!" as Rios Montt received a 50-year term for the genocide charge and an additional 30 years for crimes against humanity.

It was the first time a former head of state had been found guilty of genocide in his or her own country.

Rios Montt, now 86, took power after a coup in 1982 and was accused of implementing a scorched-earth policy in which troops massacred thousands of indigenous villagers thought to be helping leftist rebels. He proclaimed his innocence in court.

"I feel happy. May no one else ever have to go through what I did. My community has been sad ever since this happened," said Elena de Paz, an ethnic Maya Ixil who was two years old in 1983 when soldiers stormed her village, killed her parents and burned her home.

Prosecutors say Rios Montt turned a blind eye as soldiers used rape, torture and arson to try to rid Guatemala of leftist rebels during his 1982-1983 rule, the most violent period of a 1960-1996 civil war in which as many as 250,000 people died.

He was tried over the killings of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil indigenous group, just a fraction of the number who died during his rule.

A throng outside the court chanted "Justice! Justice!" when the guilty verdicts were handed down on Friday.

"They convicted him, they convicted him. I can't believe it," said Marybel Bustamante, whose brother was 'disappeared,' a euphemism for kidnapped and murdered, the day that Rios Montt took power.

The human rights group Amnesty International hailed it as the trial of the decade.

'FULL KNOWLEDGE'

"He had full knowledge of everything that was happening and did not stop it," Judge Yasmin Barrios, who presided over the trial, told a packed courtroom where Mayan women wearing colorful traditional clothes and head-dresses closely followed proceedings.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu was among them.

"Today we are happy, because for many years it was said that genocide was a lie, but today the court said it was true," she said.

Barrios called a hearing for Monday to discuss compensation for the victims of Rios Montt's rule.

Rios Montt's intelligence director, Jose Rodriguez Sanchez, also stood trial, but he was acquitted on both charges.

During the trial, which began on March 19, nearly 100 prosecution witnesses told of massacres, torture and rape by state forces. At one point, the trial hung in the balance when a dispute broke out between two judges over who should hear the case.

Rios Montt denied the charges in court on Thursday, saying he never ordered genocide and had no control over battlefield operations.

"I am innocent," he told the courtroom, sporting thick glasses and a gray mustache. "I never had the intent to destroy any national ethnic group.

"I have never ordered genocide," he added, saying he took over a "failing" Guatemala in 1982 that was completely bankrupt and full of "subversive guerrillas."

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan provided support for Rios Montt's government and said in late 1982 that the dictator was getting a "bum rap" from rights groups for his military campaign against left-wing guerrillas during the Cold War.

He also once called Rios Montt "a man of great personal integrity".

Defense attorneys said earlier they would appeal if Rios Montt was convicted. They argued that prosecution witnesses had no credibility, that specific ethnic groups were not targeted under Rios Montt's 17-month rule and that the war pitted belligerents of the same ethnic group against one another.

DIVISIVE CONFLICT

Rios Montt has been under house arrest for more than a year. The right-wing party that he founded changed its name this year to distance itself from its past.

Guatemala's civil war ended with peace accords signed in 1996 but the Central American nation remains a deeply divided society with very poor indigenous areas.

President Otto Perez, a former army general during the civil war, says he was part of a group of captains that stood up to Rios Montt.

Declassified U.S. documents from the civil war years suggest Perez was one of the Guatemalan army's most progressive officers and that he played a key role in an ensuing peace process.

But Perez was himself implicated in war crimes during the trial when one prosecution witness testified that soldiers under his command had burned down homes and executed civilians during Rios Montt's rule.

Perez has argued that genocide did not take place during the war, underlining the divisions that persist in Guatemala over the conflict, which pitted leftist insurgents against a string of right-wing governments.

Perez, who took office in 2012, is the first military man to run the country since the war ended, and rights groups were concerned he could interfere with human rights trials.

Courts in Guatemala have only recently begun prosecutions for atrocities committed during the conflict.

Until August 2011, when four soldiers received 6,060-year prison sentences for mass killings in the northern village of Dos Erres in 1982, no convictions had been handed down for massacres carried out during the war.

A judge who initially presided over pre-trial hearings cast a new shadow of doubt over the Rios Montt case on Friday when she confirmed a decision she had announced on April 18 to wind back proceedings to November 2011, and void all developments since then.

Prosecutors insist that decision is illegal and are preparing legal challenges to the ruling, while defense attorneys have argued that the decision is binding and the trial should never have proceeded.

(Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Kieran Murray, Peter Cooney and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-guatemala-dictator-rios-montt-found-guilty-genocide-003356834.html

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Crime-fighting, Twitter and the Boston Bombing

• Author: Dr Alyce McGovern
• Posted: 10th May 2013

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OPINION: Social media has profoundly changed the ways in which police are now able to communicate ? unmediated ? with the public.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have become essential communications tools for police, and the events surrounding last month?s Boston Marathon bombing indicate just how far police have come in engaging proactively with social media to achieve operational (and non-operational) outcomes.

With pressure on police to increase public confidence and reduce community concerns over crime, social media has emerged as a valuable tool for improving communication between organisations and their ?customers? ? the public.

And as we witnessed in Boston, social media is now the site for breaking news.

But increasingly it is the police, not the media, who are providing real-time crime news to an ever-interested audience.

In the aftermath of the bombings, and the ensuing pursuit of the alleged attackers, social media played a critical role.

For example, social media served as a channel for disseminating police information about the bombings, and facilitated ?citizen policing? during the hunt for the prime suspects in the attack ? with sometimes negative results, such as the wrongful identification of one missing student as a suspect.

But while the Boston case has brought attention to the nexus between police and social media, the intersection of social media and police work is not an entirely new phenomenon.

Over the last five years, police organisations around the world have been developing skills in using social media as investigative and public relations tools.

What my own research into this phenomenon has shown is that police are more than happy to take a lead role in defining crime events for the public, bypassing the traditional media platforms that have filtered much of the public communications work of law enforcement.

Dr Alyce McGovern is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at UNSW.

Read the full opinion piece on The Crime Report.

Back to News & Events

Source: http://jmrc.arts.unsw.edu.au/news-events/crime-fighting-twitter-and-the-boston-bombing-2044.html

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Symantec shares sink on weak 1Q forecast

Symantec Corp.'s shares fell Wednesday after the computer security company issued a weak revenue forecast for its fiscal first quarter.

THE SPARK: Symantec said late Tuesday that restructuring costs, impairment charges and other special items weighed on its fourth-quarter performance but its results beat expectations on an adjusted basis.

Its net income fell 66 percent to $188 million, or 26 cents per share, for the period from $559 million, or 76 cents per share, in the fourth quarter last year. It earned 44 cents per share excluding one-time items, up from 38 cents per share last year. Revenue increased 4 percent to $1.75 billion.

Analysts were anticipating earnings of 38 cents per share on revenue of $1.73 billion.

However, the company said on a conference call that it expects its revenue for the current quarter to come in between $1.61 billion and $1.65 billion due to pressure from the weak yen. Analysts were anticipating revenue of $1.67 billion.

THE BIG PICTURE: Symantec recently launched a reorganization that included cutting executive and middle-management jobs to make the company more nimble and able to adapt to customer needs. The company said that this streamlining, as well as a reallocation of its resources to focus on its most promising products, should deliver improved performance this fiscal year.

THE ANALYSIS: While shares fell, Cowen & Co. analyst Gregg Moskowitz reiterated his "Outperform" rating on the company's shares, saying that concerns about the first-quarter forecast are overdone.

The analyst said he recognizes the near-term transition from the restructuring, and the substantial yen depreciation but said he believes the outlook may be somewhat conservative. And more importantly, he remains confident in the company's longer-term prospects.

SHARE ACTION: Shares fell 82 cents, more than 3 percent, to $24.28 by midmorning. The stock, however, has been climbing all year, so the drop still left Symantec at the upper end of its 52-week trading range of $13.06 to $25.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/symantec-shares-sink-weak-1q-161658518.html

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Internet Business for Old Age ? Secure Your After Retirement Life ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]There is no better option than an internet business for retired ones. Online business is always popular and well-known for its comfortable job. You can work online by sitting at your home and can start your work anytime as per ...

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Top Senate Dems face decisions on gun curb push

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate Democrats are approaching decision time on whether they should try to get Republican support for expanding background checks for firearms sales or will follow the shakier path of pursuing the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's gun control effort on their own.

Democrats were holding a lunchtime meeting Tuesday to assess whether Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., had reached an acceptable compromise ? or had a realistic chance of getting one ? with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. Party leaders were giving Manchin until later Tuesday to complete the talks, and a decision by Democrats seemed likely in the next couple of days.

An agreement between the two senators, both among the more conservative members of their parties, would boost efforts to expand background checks because it could attract bipartisan support. Abandoning those negotiations would put Democrats in a difficult position, making it hard for them to push a measure through the Senate and severely damaging Obama's gun control drive.

The decision was coming as the Senate prepared to debate gun restrictions, an issue catapulted into the national arena by December's gruesome slaying of 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn.

Obama's proposals ? headlined by background checks for more gun buyers and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines ? have hit opposition from the National Rifle Association and are struggling in Congress. Conservatives say they will use procedural tactics to try preventing the Senate from even debating firearms restrictions.

The administration was continuing its efforts to pressure Republicans, with Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder making remarks Tuesday at the White House, joined by law enforcement officials.

On Monday it was Obama's turn, encouraging voters to press Congress in remarks at Connecticut's University of Hartford, about 50 miles from where the killings occurred at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"If you want the people you send to Washington to have just an iota of the courage that the educators at Sandy Hook showed when danger arrived on their doorstep, then we're all going to have to stand up," the president said.

Some Newtown families were spending time in the Capitol this week lobbying senators to support gun restrictions, including 11 relatives Obama ferried back to Washington on Monday aboard Air Force One.

In a preview of the Senate's debate, 13 conservative Republicans delivered a letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. They promised to try blocking lawmakers from beginning to consider the measure, a procedural move that takes 60 votes to curtail, a difficult hurdle in the 100-member chamber.

The conservatives, who included Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the Democratic effort would violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms, citing "history's lesson that government cannot be in all places at all times, and history's warning about the oppression of a government that tries."

"Shame on them," Reid responded as he brought Democratic gun legislation to the Senate floor, though debate did not formally begin.

"The least Republicans owe the parents of those 20 little babies who were murdered at Sandy Hook is a thoughtful debate about whether stronger laws could have saved their little girls and boys," Reid said.

Reid could try beginning Senate debate on legislation that has already been approved by the Judiciary Committee. It would extend the background check requirement to nearly all gun purchases, strengthen laws against illegal firearms purchases and modestly boost aid for school safety.

If Reid does that, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will join conservatives' efforts to prevent the measure from being debated, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said.

In hopes of enhancing the prospects for Senate approval, Reid has been hoping a bipartisan deal could be struck. There are 53 Senate Democrats and two independents who lean toward them, meaning GOP support ultimately will be needed to reach 60 votes to move ahead.

Manchin has been hoping for a deal with Toomey that would expand the requirement to sales at gun shows and online while exempting other transactions, such as those between relatives and those involving private, face-to-face purchases.

Currently, federal background checks are required for sales by licensed gun dealers but not for other transactions. The system is aimed at preventing criminals, people with severe mental health problems and others from getting firearms.

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., has also continued working for a bipartisan deal. Kirk, though, is considered too moderate to bring other GOP senators with him.

Efforts by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to reach a background check compromise with conservative Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., foundered over Schumer's insistence that records of private transactions be kept. Schumer said records are the only way to assure the checks were actually performed, while Coburn opposed them as a step toward government files on gun owners.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/top-senate-dems-face-decisions-gun-curb-push-070825965--politics.html

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India use drones to protect rhinos from poachers

GAUHATI, India (AP) ? Wildlife authorities are using aerial drones to oversee a sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers.

Security officers conducted flights of the unmanned aircraft over the Kaziranga National Park on Monday and will fly drones at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park in the remote Indian state of Assam.

The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve.

"Regular operations of the unmanned aerial vehicles will begin once we get the nod of the Indian defense ministry," said Rokybul Hussain, the state's forest and environment minister.

The drones will also be useful during the annual monsoon season when large areas in the Kaziranga reserve are flooded by the mighty Brahmaputra River and three other rivers that flow through the game park, park officials said.

Hussain said the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the FBI, will soon begin investigations into the steep rise in rhino poaching this year.

Poachers armed with automatic rifles killed 22 rhinos last year, but have killed 16 rhinos already this year.

Rhino horn is in great demand in China and Southeast Asia where it is believed to have medicinal properties.

A rhino census conducted in Kaziranga reserve two weeks ago put their number at 2,329, up from 2,290 in 2012.

In recent weeks, wildlife authorities in Assam have deployed 300 armed guards to protect the rhinos in Kaziranga but they have been no match for organized gangs of poachers who have been managing to strike at the rhinos with increasing regularity.

"What worries us is the use of automatic weapons like Kalashnikovs by the poachers," said Assam police chief Jayanta Narayan Choudhury.

Also on Yahoo! News:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-drones-protect-rhinos-poachers-033350543.html

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'Don't Get Sick' Bill: Missouri Rep. Steve Cookson Proposes Punishing Students Who Miss School (VIDEO)

HuffPost Live:

Missouri GOP Rep. Steve Cookson is sponsoring a bill that says the children of welfare recipients must attend public school at least 90 percent of the time in order to receive medical benefits. Students who miss more than 10 percent of class will be ineligible for aid. Cookson was also behind a controversial bill introduced last year that sought to eliminate any mention of sexual orientation in the state's schools.

Read the whole story at HuffPost Live

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/dont-get-sick-bill-missouri-steve-cookson_n_3046773.html

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