Victim Of South Africa's 'Rich Man's Justice'

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

There are two types of justice in South Africa: one for the rich and another for those without money and privilege, a human rights group in Johannesburg has claimed.

The Wits Justice Project, which investigates miscarriages of justice within the criminal system, has discovered that a paraplegic man accused of fraud waited in jail for 28 months before being given bail.

Ronnie Fakude was finally granted bail of 10,000 Rand (about £500) on April 12 and became the country's first remand detainee to be electronically tagged.

Mr Fakude is still waiting for a date for his trial

Mr Fakude, who is paralysed from the waist down, claims that during his time awaiting trial he has suffered a string of human rights abuses.

"The South African justice system has failed me," he said.

Mr Fakude, who is still waiting for a date for his fraud trial, says he endured so many indignities during his incarceration in Bloemfontein's Grootvlei Prison that he longed for death.

"Death was the best I could come up with. It was the same thing ... I was dead while I was alive."

He says the prison authorities failed to provide him with a wheelchair for the first year of his confinement and he had to drag himself through the jail using crutches, or relying on the help of other prisoners.

This extended to begging for help from other detainees for help in changing the adult nappies he has to wear.

Mr Fakude with Sky's Alex Crawford

"I believe I was tortured ... tortured in many ways," he said.

"I couldn't go to the toilet. I couldn't climb into bed by myself. I have to have a special diet and I couldn't get the right food."

Carolyn Raphaely, from the Wits Justice Project, said she was shocked when she heard Mr Fakude's story.

"This case is symptomatic of what is increasingly being called 'a rich man's justice' in this country'."

She said her investigations showed how those with money and privilege appeared to fare far better under the South African justice system.

She compared the Fakude case with that of the Olympian Oscar Pistorius.

Pistorius was granted 1 million Rand bail within days of being accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. His trial was set just over a year after the shooting. It is due to resume on Monday.

Official national statistics show about a third of South Africa's estimated 157,394 prisoners are on remand or awaiting trial.

About 15 to 20% of them are in jail because they cannot afford bail.

Most have been accused of relatively petty crimes but will be housed with murderers or rapists in overcrowded, desperately difficult conditions, according to the Wits Justice Project.

Mr Fakude is now determined to fight for the many others with disabilities who are languishing in South Africa's prisons.

The government's department of correctional services insists it has a clear policy for prisoners with disabilities, but has admitted to the Wits Justice Project that it has no idea of the numbers incarcerated with disabilities.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Far-Right Dutch MP Seeks Tie-In With UKIP

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

A Dutch MP who leads a far-right party in the Netherlands has said he hopes to join forces with UKIP and Marine Le Pen's Front Nationale in the European Parliament.

Geert Wilders, founder of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), told Sky News: "I hope that after the elections in May ... Mr Farage and my party ... can work together because I know one thing: if we really want to be a good advocate of all those millions of voters (who) cast their vote not against Europe but against the European Union, that they would benefit more if we were able to overstep our shadows and work together."

The 50-year-old politician is the subject of a fatwa and death threats from al Qaeda affiliates for his comments on Islam, has already proposed a deal with Ms Le Pen, who runs the Front Nationale, to unite their parties.

Both propose reigning in immigration, leaving the single currency and taking their respective countries out of the EU altogether, while continuing to access the single market.

It is an uncompromising position which appears to have chimed with many voters.

Polls in France and the Netherlands put the parties in either first or second place of those intending to vote in this month's parliamentary elections.

Front Nationale's Marine le Pen has also been approached

Ms Le Pen and Mr Wilders have also tried to convince other populist, EU critical parties around Europe to join forces including Vlaams Belang in Belgium, Finland's Finns Party and the relatively new Alternative for Germany.

All are expected to make significant gains in this year's elections, although polls across Europe suggest left-leaning pro-EU parties are expected to edge a small majority.

The same surveys suggest a move to the extremes from the centre ground after years of recession and austerity brought about by the global recession and sovereign debt crisis.

Mr Wilders has been mired in controversy again after he asked supporters at a rally in March whether they wanted "more or fewer" Moroccans in the Netherlands.

When the audience started chanting "fewer, fewer," the PVV leader said "we will take care of that".

That remark prompted several people to leave the party and 5,000 complaints to the public prosecutors accusing him of inciting racial hatred.

Mr Wilders said: "I believe that our culture which is based on Christianity and Judaism and humanism is better than the Islamic culture.

"I've nothing against the people but I have a problem with the culture. I'm not afraid of that.

"In the world today, in the Netherlands today, Europe today, you pay a very high price to say that: you get taken to court you get a fatwa, you get called a bigot and a racist. Once again it's not true."

The UKIP leader has said he is "not interested" in the offer of joining forces with Mr Wilders.

Mr Farage already chairs an anti-EU grouping in the European Parliament called the Europe of Freedom and Democracy, and it is clear he sees any association with Mr Wilders or Ms Le Pen as potentially damaging.

But the UKIP leader may face renewed pressure to strike deals with the biggest EU critical parties if he wants to make waves in Brussels and Strasbourg.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

India Election Sees Fatal Shootings In Assam

By Neville Lazarus, India Producer

Election violence has claimed the lives of at least 30 people within 24 hours in India's remote northeastern state of Assam.

The killing of Bengali-speaking Muslims by tribal separatists has caused hundreds to flee the area.

A curfew has been imposed and the Indian Army has been called in to keep the peace in the face of threatened retaliation for the killings.

This four-year-old was among those injured in the indiscriminate violence

The deadly attacks in the Baksa district are reported to have been carried out because the large Muslim population did not vote for the candidate loyal to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland - a separatist group fighting for autonomy in the northern part of the state.

In one incident, militants raided a village and fired indiscriminately at a house killing three women instantly and wounding two others.

Another attack saw 12 people shot dead near Manas National Park, where 30 thatched homes were also burnt down.

Appealing for calm, chief minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi said: "We request people not to flee their homes.

"We will do everything possible to frustrate the designs of the insurgents and apprehend them at the earliest."

Ethnic violence is not new to the area, with tensions simmering for decades between the indigenous Bodo people and the migrant Bengali-speaking Muslims from Bangladesh.

It is claimed migrant numbers have been on the rise, leading to increased competition for jobs and land.

Widespread violence in 2012 left more than 100 people dead.

And during the 1983 state elections more than 3000 people were killed in days of ethnic cleansing and violence.

Around 815 million people have registered to vote in India's general election - a number exceeding the population of Europe and a world record.

The results of the mammoth exercise, which concludes on May 12, are due on May 16.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fans And Policeman 'Shot' Before Football Final

At least three fans and one police officer have reportedly been shot ahead of the Italian Cup final between Napoli and Fiorentina in Rome.

One of the wounded football supporters was believed to have been hit in the chest and is in a serious condition, while the police officer was shot in the hand.

The shootings reportedly happened in an area where fans were gathering for the match at the Olympic Stadium.

There were also reports of serious crowd trouble in the Tor di Quinto area close to the venue.

'Shootings' took place before the final at Rome's Olympic Stadium

At least three Napoli supporters were said to have been injured in the clashes, as rival supporters threw firecrackers and other objects at each other.

Fans of Roma, one of the capital's clubs, were also reportedly seen throwing bottles and stones.

Inside the stadium, Napoli captain Marek Hamsik was seen going over to talk with the fans and calm them down before kick-off, which was delayed by 45 minutes.

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was at the match

Napoli overcame the dramatic scenes to claim their second Italian Cup trophy in three years with a 3-1 win over Fiorentina.

There was more chaos at the final whistle when Napoli fans invaded the pitch to celebrate, although they were quickly brought under control.

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Senate President Piero Grasso were present at the game.

Mr Grasso, who presented the trophy to Napoli at the end of the match, described those responsible as "delinquents, not supporters".

"A game of football cannot be turned into a war between rival gangs," he said.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brazilian Fan Killed By Flying Toilet Bowl

A football fan in Brazil has been killed after he was struck on the head by a toilet bowl hurled from a stadium in the World Cup host city of Recife.

The man died on Friday night after a large fight erupted following a match between Santa Cruz and Parana at the Arruda Stadium, across town from a brand new World Cup venue.

A police officer at the scene said fans inside the stadium ripped out three toilets from a lavatory and threw them from the stands at rivals on the streets below.

He said one hit and instantly killed the fan.

Brazil's Tribunal for Sporting Justice has opened an investigation and ruled the stadium be closed pending its outcome.

A toilet seat from one of the ripped out bowls

The death comes six weeks before Brazil hosts the World Cup.

Recife has built a new stadium, the Pernambuco Arena, for four World Cup matches in June and July on the northeastern city's outskirts.

The country is scrambling to get ready to host the tournament but preparations have been marred by delays, costs and several fatal accidents.

Fifa President Sepp Blatter has told fans to be optimistic that Brazil's hosting of the event will be a success, despite growing concerns over security and public unrest.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Landslide Buries Village: Rescuers Lose Hope

Rescue teams have abandoned the search for survivors after a landslide buried a hillside village in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 350 people under a tide of rock and mud.

Local people and emergency workers using shovels tried in vain to find victims trapped under the massive landslide that engulfed Aab Bareek village in Badakhshan province.

There are fears of further landslides in the area

Officials said that the final death toll could rise as high as 500 after Friday's disaster, updating earlier information that 2,500 people were feared dead.

"Based on our reports, 300 houses are under the debris," Badakhshan governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb said at the scene.

"We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud. We will offer prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave."

Thousands of people have been displaced

The tragedy came after heavy rain earlier in the week.

The community in Badakhshan province which borders Tajikistan in the country's northeast, has been buried in more than 300ft of mud (100 metres).

Gul Mohammad Bedar, the deputy governor of Badakhshan, said: "The first figure (of 2,500 feared dead) that we announced was obtained from local people, not from our technical team.

"We think the death toll will not rise beyond 500."

Local people and dozens of police officers equipped with only basic digging tools began searching for survivors from first light on Saturday.

But it quickly became apparent there was no hope of finding anyone.

Afghan National Army troops in Kabul load supplies for survivors

The United Nations says the focus is now on the thousands of people who have been displaced by the disaster.

A memorial service was planned, and the site is expected to be designated as a mass grave, according to UN spokesman Ari Gaitanis.

He added the survivors need water, medical support, counselling, food and emergency shelter.

British charities are mobilising teams to help with the rescue effort. Save the Children sent five ambulances to the scene and are planning to distribute blankets and give medical assistance.

Other charities are monitoring the situation and stand ready to provide assistance if necessary.

The US and the Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan have offered to send help

There are also fears that another section of the mountainside could collapse, threatening the homeless and hundreds of rescue workers.

The Afghan military flew rescue teams to the search area on Saturday because the remote mountain region is served by only narrow, poor roads that have been damaged by more than a week of heavy rain.

Nato-led coalition troops are ready to assist, but have not yet been asked for help by the Afghan government.

US President Barack Obama has also offered to send help.

Seasonal rains and spring snow melt have brought destruction to large parts of northern Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Obama Jokes About Putin's Bare Chest In Speech

Nothing appeared off the comedy agenda during President Barack Obama's humorous but pointed speech to the White House Correspondents' Dinner, including jokes about his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Mr Obama also poked fun at himself and his troubled health care plan at the annual black-tie event.

In the face of a continuing Cold-War-style standoff with Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, Mr Putin featured in part of the US President's comic turn.

Mr Obama said: "Last year Pat Buchanan (conservative politician and columnist) said Putin is headed straight for the Nobel Peace Prize, he said this, now I know it sounds crazy but to be fair they give those to just about anybody these day.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner is an annual event

"So it could happen. But it's not just Pat, Rudy Giuliani (former New York mayor) said Putin is what you call a leader, Mike Huckabee (Republican politician) and Sean Hannity (television host and conservative political commentator) keep talking about his bare chest, which is kind of weird.

"Look it up. They talk about it a lot."

He also joked about Obamacare and the website woes that turned the launch of the health programme into a fiasco.

Mr Obama said: "Of course we rolled out healthcare.gov. That could have gone better. In 2008 my slogan was 'yes we can'. In 2013 my slogan was 'control-alt-delete'".

He also touched on the controversy surrounding the US government's secret surveillance programmes, revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Michelle appeared to enjoy her husband's jokes

Mr Obama said: "Colorado legalised marijuana this year, an interesting social experiment. I do hope it doesn't lead to a whole lot of paranoid people who think that the federal government is out to get them and listening to their phone calls. That would be a problem."

The annual charity dinner has become a tradition attracting an array of journalists, government officials, politicians and media personalities.

The Correspondents' Association, which represents the White House press corps, celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thirty-Seven Al Qaeda Militants Killed In Yemen

Thirty-seven al Qaeda militants have been killed in fighting in Yemen, the country's state news agency Saba is reporting.

A military source was quoted as saying most of those killed in the southern province of Shabwa were Saudis, Afghans, Somalis, Chechens and other nationalities.

The army destroyed a number of vehicles and weapons belonging to the fighters in the town of Meyfaa, the source added.

AQAP gained a foothold in Yemen after an uprising in 2011

Yemeni forces launched a major offensive against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants last week.

On Friday, soldiers and warplanes killed five suspected militants in the same area as Sunday's fighting.

General Ahmed al-Yafie, commander of the Third Military Region, was quoted by Saba as saying the army is "unprecedentedly ready to face this terrorist organisation".

Soldiers stationed in Shabwa province

He added the "al Qaeda elements will not escape death" and soldiers will fight them "until they are uprooted from Yemen which cannot be a home for terrorism".

It is also being reported that a suicide car bomber has killed six Yemeni soldiers and wounded 20 more in the province.

Attacks against the army and security forces in the south have increased sharply since the launch of the offensive.

Defence Minister Major General Muhammad Nasir Ahmad on a visit to Mayfaa

AQAP took advantage of the 2011 uprising that forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office to seize large parts of southern and eastern Yemen.

The group is a merger of al Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi branches.

The United States considers it to be the deadliest branch of the organisation's global network.

Washington has used drones to kill members and leaders of the group in recent years.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kenya: One Dead After 'Bombs Thrown At Buses'

At least one person has been killed and several others hurt after bomb attacks against two buses in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The vehicles were being driven along a busy highway when explosive devices, possibly grenades, were thrown at them.

The blasts happened in the Thika Road area, close to the city centre, and the scene was quickly sealed off, witnesses said.

Images on Kenyan TV showed a large red passenger bus with a large hole ripped out of its side, and a green bus with its roof and sided buckled by an explosion.

It comes a day after two explosions rocked the port city of Mombasa, killing four people.

They died after attackers threw a grenade at passengers at a busy bus station in Mwembe Tayari, near the city centre.

A second blast went off outside a luxury hotel after the device was found on a beach - but no-one was killed.

At the bus terminal, victims were sprawled in a pool of blood and the road was littered with shattered glass from a bus.

"I didn't see who threw the object, but I heard a loud explosion before I fell to the ground. I then felt my legs go numb," Halima Sidi, 26, who works at a local supermarket, told Reuters at a hospital as nurses bandaged her wounded legs.

Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa said: "What happened is a grenade was thrown at passengers.

"The attackers were riding on a motorbike, and lobbed the grenade at the crowd of people at the bus terminus."

An unattended bag was found on the beach, which was abandoned at the gate of the hotel after it was found to contain what turned out to be an explosive device, which then went off.

Hotelier Mohammed Hersi told Sky News there had been no injuries and all the guests were safe.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks.

But Kenya has blamed similar assaults on al Qaeda-linked Somali group al Shabaab, which killed at least 67 people at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pro-Russian Rebels Storm Police HQ In Ukraine

Thousands of pro-Russian militants have stormed a police headquarters in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa.

The mob shouted "fascists, fascists" as they demanded the release of supporters arrested on Friday, when 42 people were killed in Ukraine's worst day of violence since its revolution.

Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was visiting the city on Sunday, told Sky News his country is facing a "well-planned and well-plotted" Russian operation.

"It seems to me that the entire world is facing a new type of war," he said.

"This is the new war, with the military, with no insignia on their uniforms, with agents that have a well-organised terrorist plot network.

"With the diplomatic pressure on Ukraine, with the tough and rude Russian propaganda, with playing on Ukrainian sentiments and not only Ukrainian.

A rebel blockade burns in the city of Kramatorsk

"And with the real threat to the global security and mainly to the European one."

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian government said its armed forces had reclaimed a television tower in Kramatorsk.

Insurgents torched buses in the city on Saturday in an effort to ward off attacks.

Separatists in Luhansk have been bolstering barricades, fearing an attack

Russian television claims 10 people have already died in the violence.

Armed personnel carriers were seen driving through Kramatorsk on Saturday but appeared to later return to their airfield base on the edge of the city.

Rebels have seized government buildings in around a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine as they push for autonomy from Kiev.

A wrecked tanker blocks the road in Kramatorsk

The deadly fire in Odessa on Friday pushed tensions to a new high.

At least 31 pro-Russian activists died when a trade union building was petrol-bombed during fighting with groups loyal to Kiev.

Russia said it was "outraged" and denounced the "criminal irresponsibility" of the pro-Western authorities in Kiev.

Flowers at the scene of the deadly fire in Odessa

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Odessa, said people are still bringing flowers to lay outside the building during a second day of official mourning.

"There are real fears about where this goes from here," said Stallard.

"There is already talk of pro-Russian separatists publishing names and contact details of who they say are pro-Ukrainian protesters, who they accuse of being involved in the violence."

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More