The Serbian parliament declared its respect for the Srebrenica massacre victims, but lawmakers continued to squabble over whether the 1995 killings should be labelled genocide.

Marija Ristic

BIRN Belgrade

Serbia’s national assembly said in a statement to mark the 18th year since the 1995 massacres that it “extends its deepest respect to the innocent Bosniak victims and condolences to their families on the anniversary of their ordeal in Srebrenica”.

“Serbia and its parliament are forever committed to keeping alive the memory of the victims of the brutal armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s,” said the statement issued on Thursday.

“The national assembly also extends its sympathy and condolences to the families of the innocent civilian victims of Serbian nationality in the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it said.

But the Serbian Liberal Party immediately criticised the statement, saying that it downplayed the significance of the massacres and “demonstrated Serbia’s unwillingness to tell the truth about what happened 18 years ago”.

The party said that the government should schedule a special session to prove “not just by words, but by deeds” that its members no longer supported war crimes suspects like Ratko Mladic.

The conservative Democratic Party of Serbia also criticised the statement, saying that other alleged war crimes also merited parliamentary declarations.

“We are wondering why parliament expressed respect only for the innocent victims of Srebrenica, and why not on another anniversary, for example when Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognised by the United States and the West on April 7, 1992, which was the source of crimes against peace from which originated all subsequent crimes [during the war],” MP Slobodan Samarzdic said a letter to the speaker of parliament.

In 2010, the Serbian parliament adopted a resolution in which it condemned the Srebrenica massacres and extended an apology to the families of the victims for not doing everything possible to prevent the massacre, but it did not define the killings as genocide.

The League of Vojvodina Social Democrats on Thursday asked for the declaration to be included in school textbooks.

It also called on MPs and politicians not to show a lack of respect to the victims on anniversary of the killings.

“At least today, out of respect to the victims, don’t argue if genocide or war crimes took place in Srebrenica and, at least today, accept that International Court of Justice defined it as genocide,” its statement said.

By Steve Scherer

ROME (Reuters) – A senior parliamentarian in the anti-immigration Northern League party has likened Italy’s first black minister to an orangutan.

1. Cecile Kyenge, an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been the target of repeated racial slurs since her appointment as integration minister in April.

Roberto Calderoli, vice president of Italy’s Senate, said on Saturday at a political rally in the northern town of Treviglio, “I love animals – bears and wolves, as everyone knows – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I’m not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan.”

He said the success of Kyenge encouraged “illegal immigrants” want to come to Italy, and she should be a minister “in her own country”, according to media reports.

Most of the racist taunts – “Congolese monkey”, “Zulu” and “the black anti-Italian” – have come from far-right groups.

Last month, a Northern League member in the European parliament was expelled from the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group for making racist remarks about her.

Mario Borghezio had attacked Kyenge for wanting to impose “tribal traditions” in Italy as member of a “bonga bonga” government, an apparent play on the so-called “bunga bunga” parties of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Opposition politician Calderoli, twice a cabinet minister under Berlusconi, is often offensive.

In 2006, he was forced to resign as reform minister after displaying a T-shirt mocking the prophet Muhammad during a state news broadcast. Later the same year, after Italy won the Football World Cup, he made racist comments about the French team.

While Italy had won the cup with ethnic Italians, France had lost because its players were “niggers, Muslims and communists”.

On Sunday, politicians, including some from his own party, lambasted Calderoli, with some calling for him to resign as Senate vice president. In an official statement and on Twitter, Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the comments were unacceptable.

“They go beyond all limits. Full solidarity and support to Cecile. Forward with your and our work,” Letta said.

Kyenge is campaigning to make it easier for immigrants to gain citizenship, and she backs a law that would automatically make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen.

Calderoli said he had no intention of resigning and offered only a qualified apology, saying it was “immediately clear to everyone present” that his comment was made in the context of a political rally, Ansa news agency reported.

“I did not mean to offend and if minister Kyenge was offended I am sorry, but my comment was made within a much broader political speech that criticised the minister and her policies,” he said.

Kyenge has not made an official statement, but she told AGI news agency that Calderoli should reflect on how he wanted to represent Italy as a senior Senate member.

“I don’t want to address Calderoli the person, but as a representative of an institution: Reflect on what you want to represent through your language,” she said.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Literally translated Mordida means "bite." In Mexico, it means bribe - the backhander, normally involving the greasing of palms via a small exchange of cash to avoid a traffic infraction or to untie red tape.

It's the thin edge of the wedge in bribery and corruption, which certainly isn't confined to Mexico, but has, by all accounts, held this country back for far too long.

Independent experts outside official circles say that the bane of corruption is being tackled and isn't anywhere near as rampant as it was in years past. Yet it still lingers in small form and also as grand larceny.

One story that recently made the headlines was the so-called Lady Profeco case. The Head of Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Office (Profeco) Humberto Benitez Treviño was fired because his daughter Andrea threw a tantrum about not being allocated a table in a swanky restaurant.

Denied what she insisted was her rightful place, she threatened to call Daddy and get the establishment closed. Soon inspectors from Profeco arrived and alleged that rules had been violated.

A firestorm of criticism and outrage ensued. Mexico's Minister of the Interior Miguel Angel Osorio Chong waded in and announced that Benitez was fired. He stressed that although the hapless parent had no direct involvement in this sorry chapter, the whole inedible incident had tarnished the image of the agency. So Dad carried the can and was obliged to swallow the consequences.

Corruption culture

Antonio Luigi Mazzitelli, who's based in the Mexico branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, focuses on corruption and ways to combat it.

"On the one side, there's increased institutionalization. On the other, society scrutiny of VIP behavior goes in the same direction - namely, corruption is not acceptable any more. And the political cost related to impunity is becoming so costly that no one wants to bear it. The culture of citizenship, democratic participation in the handling of public affairs is increasing. This is one of the most important features of contemporary Mexico."

Another considerably more significant case on a much larger scale of corruption concerns boxes stuffed with more than 90 million pesos ($7 million) found in an office of Jose Sainz who was finance secretary during the 2007-2012 Administration of Tabasco State Governor Andres Granier. This is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged vast embezzlement.

Current Governor Arturo Nuñez has announced that an audit of his predecessor's Administration identified that 1.9 billion pesos are missing.

After returning from the United States, the former governor complained of chest pains and checked himself into a plush hospital for almost two weeks. A judge ordered his detention for 30 days while further investigations are launched. He’s now been charged with money laundering and embezzlement and transferred to the prison Reclusorio Oriente in Mexico City. This is the man who once boasted he went shopping in Beverly Hills, buying hundreds of suits and pairs of shoes. He later tried to retract this statement, claiming he was drunk when he made it.

Eduardo Bohorquez, Executive Director of Transparencia Mexicana, points out that corruption and impunity are illicit twins with the one expanding the perception of the other. He says that access to information regarding accountability is considerably better nowadays, but in many ways this is a tool and not an end in itself.

"In the past 10 years some 25,000 public servants have been sanctioned because of corruption in administrative procedures. But you still have the perception of the big ones operating freely in the system and that only certain levels of public servants are being punished."

Public perception

The Mexican public would like to believe that the overall situation is improving but is still often faced with the unpalatable everyday realities. Laura Patricia Venegas Medina says that corruption permeates all social levels. "Corruption is a crime, irrespective of the amount involved. The robbing of a single peso is the same action as that of a thousand pesos. It's the actual process which is involved."

Mario Camacho says he does believe that the government is trying to improve institutions but he also says that people who offer bribes have to share a significant portion of the blame because it's not easy for those in positions of power being offered that cash to say no. "We have to be hopeful there will be a solution, if not in the immediate future, then maybe in the medium term."

Measuring any form of corruption anywhere isn't easy. Those who perpetrate it tend not to leave a contract or a receipt behind. But Bohorquez explains that studies in Mexico show petty corruption is an ever-present problem. It gobbles up around 14 percent of the average family's income - the equivalent of $32 billion annually.

However, he has identified a silver lining. "In Mexico we now have a Congress that is independent and exercising pressure over the Executive branch. This is not working at the speed Mexicans would love to see, but it is working. This is not anymore a society that is waiting quietly for things to happen."

Mazzitelli agrees. "I would say that rather than looking at a half-empty glass, I prefer to look at a half-full glass. Probably 10 years ago none of these cases would have been under public scrutiny, which means that the situation has changed. The important thing is that they are starting to be addressed by Mexican institutions at federal but also increasingly at state level. And civil society is taking a stand with respect to corruption and corrupt behavior, making it more and more unacceptable."

Source: DW 

The journalist who broke the story about an intelligence leaker says he has even more damaging information about US spying activities. He said this would be released if something were to happen to Edward Snowden.

Glenn Greenwald, a journalist with Britain's Guardian newspaper, which first published Snowden's revelations, told Argentina's La Nacion that the former National Security Agency contractor and Central Intelligence Agency employee had so far elected to withhold much of the information he has.

"Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the US government in a single minute than any other person has ever had," Greenwald said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro published in the Saturday edition of the paper.  

"The US government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare," Greenwald added.

He also said among the documents Snowden had hid away in several different locations were some that detail how US spy programs conduct surveillance in Latin America.

"One way of intercepting communications is through a telephone company in the United States that has contracts with telecommunications companies in most Latin American countries," Greenwald said, without naming the company.

Stranded in Sheremetyvo

Snowden, 30, has been stranded in the transit area of one of Moscow's international airports since he left Hong Kong three weeks ago. It was while he was in Hong Kong that the Guardian first published his revelations.

Since then, US authorities have been seeking to get Snowden extradited so that he can be put on trial on espionage charges.

On Friday, Snowden told activists who visited him at Sheremetyvo Airport that he planned to apply for temporary asylum in Russia until it was safe for him to travel on to a permanent destination in Latin America.

On Saturday, Russian authorities said that they had not yet received such an application from Snowden. Meanwhile, Bolivian President Evo Morales reiterated his offer of asylum to Snowden while at the same time pledging that La Paz would adhere to all "diplomatic norms and international accords."

pfd/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Egypt's interim prime minister has filled several key ministerial positions as efforts continue to assemble a new cabinet. Meanwhile opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei has been sworn in as interim vice president.

Former ambassador to the United States, Nabil Fahmy, accepted the post of foreign minister on Sunday. His appointment is widely considered a symbol of the emphasis the new government places on relations with the United States, which offers $1.3 billion (995.3 million euros) a year in military aid.

Meanwhile, news agency Reuters reported that liberal economist Ahmed Galal agreed to take on the role of finance minister and senior Judge Mohamed Amin el-Mahdy was appointed as justice minister.

The appointments came as caretaker Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi (pictured above left) held a second day of meetings with candidates for his new army-backed cabinet. It is expected to have around 30 ministries and is likely to be unveiled within the next few days.

It will replace Egypt's first democratically elected government under President Mohammed Morsi who was ousted by the military almost two weeks ago. The military has pledged to hold parliamentary elections in around six months.

Earlier, Egyptian reform advocate Mohammed ElBaradei, who led the country's main opposition group, the National Salvation Front (NSF), took the oath of office before interim president Adli Mansour.

Under the 71-year-old Nobel laureate, the secular NSF led opposition to former President Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

According to NSF spokesman Khaled Dawoud, ElBaradei no longer heads the coalition.

"He is now a vice president for all Egyptians," Dawoud said.

ccp/jm (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

Francois Hollande has said France needs to ensure upkeep of train lines after a derailment left six people dead. Earlier on Sunday, African troops marched alongside France’s military in the Bastille Day parade.

A main point in the French president's interview with top television journalists on Bastille Day was the train wreck that killed six outside of Paris on Friday.

"We must do much more to maintain traditional lines, existing lines," Hollande said during the interview. "The first conclusion we will draw is to ensure that, in the significant investments being made in the coming years, the priority is on traditional intercity lines," he added.

On Saturday afternoon, Pierre Izard, the SNCF railway's general manager responsible for infrastructure, had told reporters that investigators found that a joint had moved from its normal position, which may have caused the train wreck. However, officials also found that another train had traveled through the station without incident just before the wreck, and a further investigation would be carried out to determine why the joint may have malfunctioned when it did.

With his popularity at rock-bottom, Hollande, a socialist, used the interview to defend his 14 months in office since taking over from the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.

'Recovery is here'

"The economic recovery is here," Hollande said during the television interview. "I will increase taxes only if necessary, ideally as little as possible," he added.

Hollande also used the interview to address economic issues such as how France would handle EU-mandated budget cuts planned for this year. These include proposed changes to France's pension schemes, which have already sparked calls from unions for general strikes.

No fracking

"As long as I am president, there were will be no exploration for shale gas," Hollande said. "We can see some consequences in the United States" from the technique, he added.

Hollande said that France would maintain its ban on the exploration for shale gas throughout his five-year term. He said the fracking technique used to extract shale gas presented too many "risks to groundwater."

Since 2011, France has banned energy companies from exploiting shale gas over fears of environmental risks from the potential air and water pollution involved in fracking.

And a parade

As France mourned the six killed near Paris, Hollande also commented on what he called the success of the country's first military intervention since he took office a year ago. "Their presence is a tribute to those who actively helped to banish terrorism of the Malian territory," Hollande said of the African troops marching in Paris.

"It's a victory that was won," Hollande said in the interview with the France 2 and TF-1 television stations in the garden of the presidential Elysee Palace. "Look at what happened. It was a victory for Africa, a victory against terrorism, and pride that
we must have."

 "I was saluted in Africa, not for what I said but for what I did," Hollande said of his visits to the continent this year.

In all, 4,800 troops marched past the presidential stage in central Paris, where Hollande stood next to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Bastille Day marks the July 14, 1789, storming of a prison that helped spark the French Revolution. This year, 241 horses, 265 vehicles, 58 planes and 35 helicopters participated. Among the assembled soldiers were German troops from Donaueschingen's 292nd Battalion and the German-French Brigade.

mkg/jm (Reuters, AFP)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Iran was getting closer to the "red line" he set for its nuclear program and warned the international community not to be distracted by the crises in Syria and Egypt.

Tehran was continuing enrichment activities and building inter-continental ballistic missiles, which could give it a military nuclear capability, he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

At the United Nations in September, Netanyahu drew a red line across a cartoon bomb to illustrate the point at which Iran will have amassed enough uranium to fuel one nuclear bomb. He said Iran could reach that threshold by mid-2013.

"They haven't yet reached it but they're getting closer to it and they have to be stopped," Netanyahu told CBS. He said the West's sanctions against Tehran needed to be intensified and backed up with the threat of a credible military option.

Netanyahu also said Iran was building faster centrifuges that could allow it to speed up its enrichment activities.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, has issued veiled warnings for years that it might attack Iran if international sanctions and diplomacy fail to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Israel has long insisted on the need for a convincing military threat and setting clear lines beyond which Iran's nuclear activity should not advance.

"I think it's important to note that we (Israel) can't allow it to happen. Our clocks are ticking at a different pace. We're closer than the United States, we're more vulnerable, and therefore we'll have to address this question of whether to stop Iran before the United States does," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli prime minister said he was concerned that the military conflict in Syria and the political crisis in Egypt had pushed the Iran nuclear issue lower on the international agenda.

"There are many important issues that we have to deal with and I have a sense that there is no sense of urgency on Iran and yet Iran is the most important and the most urgent matter of all," he said.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Doina Chiacu)