Media access to neo-Nazi trial stirs outrage

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Created on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 00:00

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Media access to neo-Nazi trial stirs outrage

27 March 2013

The trial of accused NSU terrorist Beate Zschäpe begins in Munich on April 17. Although eight of the NSU's victims were Turks, no space has been reserved for the Turkish media in the courtroom.

Some Turkish journalists could not believe their eyes when they saw the list: Among the media that have a guaranteed place in the courtroom during the NSU trial, not one is Turkish. "I find that surprising and disappointing," journalist Mustafa Görkem of the "Deutsch-Türkisches Journal" in Berlin said in an interview with DW. "It would have been good for the credibility of the court to create transparency here."

Eight of the ten murder victims of the right-wing extremist "National Socialist Underground" (NSU) terrorist cell were of Turkish origin, so the interest in the trial, among Turks, both in Germany and in Turkey, is very great.

Strict formal requirements

Only 50 journalists will be allowed into the courtroom when the proceedings against Beate Zschäpe and accused supporters of the xenophobic NSU begin before the Munich Superior Court on April 17. Most major German newspapers, news agencies and broadcasters have a reserved seat. There are few representatives from international media; among others, the BBC and the New York Times were not admitted.

Applications for accreditation were considered "in the order they were received" the press office of the court announced. A total of 123 journalists have received accreditation, but only 50 have a permanent seat in the courtroom. The others will only be allowed in if a seat becomes available. Politicians and journalists' associations criticized this as bureaucratic, insensitive and incomprehensible.

First-hand reporting

For Görkem, this is about much more than just reporting on a criminal trial. The racially motivated murders of the NSU terror cell are unique in the history of postwar Germany. "Many Turks have lost faith in the German security authorities. They feel aggrieved and betrayed," he said.

Given this background, it was important that Turkish journalists could watch the trial and even cover it from their perspective, helping to restore this lost confidence, he said. If they are not in the courtroom, the Turkish media will have to work with second-hand information. This is not conducive to proper reporting, he said.

Great interest, little room

There are far too little space in light of the vast national and international interest in this trial, the German Journalists' Association (DJV) said. "We think it's absurd that only 50 media representatives are accredited," DJV deputy spokeswoman Eva Werner told DW. "This does not put the German justice system in a good light." She called upon the court to seek new options. One possibility would be to allow proceedings to be televised into another room. But the court has so far rejected this.

Even many calls to relocate the trial to a larger building are considered unlikely because the original courtroom has already been remodeled and enlarged to 230 seats. Half of these are occupied by the many plaintiffs and their lawyers; in addition, seats have also been set aside for the general public. This has already led to some dispute, because the court did not save seats for the Turkish ambassador and the human rights ombudsman of the Turkish parliament. This drew criticism from the chairman of the parliamentary NSU investigation committee, Social Democrat Sebastian Edathy. It would be unacceptable for the Turkish ambassador to have to wait in the queue, possibly together with neo-Nazis.

Justice versus the media

For the court, this is not only a question of space, but also of safety. Ultimately, the matter at hand is the right-wing extremist, xenophobic, "National Socialist Underground," whose alleged member Beate Zschäpe is on trial. Her two alleged accomplices committed suicide in 2011, when police were closing in on them. The trio is suspected of carrying out ten murders, numerous bombings, bank robberies and serious arson attacks. Zschäpe, who has remained silent, is accused of forming a terrorist organization. Prosecutors intend to show her complicity in the crimes of the NSU. According to the court, safety at the trial has priority.

For the foreign media following the case, however, transparency is more important. For them, the trial is an indication of how the German state is dealing with the xenophobic killings and what conclusions its draws from them. After the serious errors of the security services, which failed to detect the terror trio for many years, the expectations for a credible explanation are now understandably very high.

Date 27.03.2013

Author Nina Werkhäuser / sgb

Editor Gregg Benzow

Source: Deutsche Welle

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UN expands North Korea sanctions after US warning over nuclear threat

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Category: Current Issues

Created on Thursday, 07 March 2013 00:00

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07 March 2013

UN expands North Korea sanctions after US warning over nuclear threat

UN resolution condemns third nuclear test 'in the strongest possible terms' and warns the North against further provocations

Tania Branigan in Beijing and Ewen MacAskill in Washington

The United Nations security council has voted unanimously to punish North Korea for last month's nuclear test with a toughened sanctions regime, hours after Pyongyang threatened to unleash a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}Secretary general Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, said the resolution "sent an unequivocal message to [the North] that the international community will not tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons".

The decision by the 15-member council followed lengthy negotiations between the United States and China, the North's main ally. Measures range from tightened financial restrictions to cargo inspections and an explicit ban on exports of yachts and racing cars to the North, but experts say the real issue is enforcement.

China's UN ambassador Li Baodong said Beijing, Pyongyang's main trading partner, wanted to see "full implementation" of the resolution.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, told reporters that the measures would "bite hard". She added: "North Korea will achieve nothing by continued threats and provocations."

A foreign ministry spokesman in Pyongyang threatened to launch "pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the headquarters of the aggressors" because Washington was pushing to start a nuclear war against it, in a statement hours before the UN vote.

Experts do not believe the North has managed to produce a warhead small enough to be mounted on a missile that could reach the US. They also pointed out that the original Korean language version referred to "invaders" rather than merely the "aggressors" of the English translation.

Jennifer Lind, assistant professor of government at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, said that while the statement was disturbing, "North Korea has a long history of bluster and issuing threats that of course it does not carry out, [such as] its long term threats of turning Seoul into a sea of fire."

Earlier this week the North threatened to cancel the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

Thursday's resolution condemns the North's third nuclear test "in the strongest possible terms" as a flagrant breach of previous resolutions, which bar it from testing or using nuclear or ballistic missile technology and importing or exporting material for the programmes.

It aims to hinder those programmes but also targets the ruling elite. A ban on luxury exports was introduced in 2006, but countries could decide what fell under that rubric; this time, specific items are identified.

The resolution warns the North against further provocations and demands its return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But it also stresses the council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution" and urges a resumption of six-party talks.

All countries are required to freeze financial transactions or services that could contribute to the North's nuclear or missile programmes. Public financial support for trade deals that could assist the programmes is outlawed.

Countries must expel agents working for blacklisted companies from the North. They must inspect aircraft or vessels with suspect cargo and deny entry to those that refuse inspection.

Hazel Smith, an expert on the North at Cranfield University, said the key question was how rigorously the US implemented financial sanctions, citing tough measures taken by Washington towards the end of the Bush administration.

"They did have a major effect; they also paralysed diplomacy. But there is no diplomacy happening now," she said.

Analysts suggest the immediate reaction of the North is likely to be further angry rhetoric and possibly another nuclear test, as Pyongyang hinted earlier. South Korean government sources cited by Seoul news agency Yonhap said on Wednesday that the North had imposed no-fly and no-sail zones off its coasts, apparently preparing for military drills.

"North Korea will throw their usual histrionics about the resolution," said Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul in an interview prior to the latest threat.

"Every time there's an escalation the risk of confrontation increases. But neither side wants anything to happen."

At a Senate foreign relations committee hearing on North Korea, chairman Robert Menendez described the nuclear strike threat as "absurd and suicidal".

Menendez, a Democrat, was holding the hearing as the UN security council voted for the resolution. He welcomed the new sanctions but said the US needed to do more to combine sanctions and military countermeasures with strong and realistic diplomacy aimed at North Korea and China.

"There should be no doubt about our determination, willingness, and capability to neutralise and counter any threat that North Korea may present," Menendez said. "I do not think the regime in Pyongyang wants to commit suicide, but that, as they must surely know, would be the result of any attack on the United States."

Glyn Davies, the State Department's special representative on North Korea, warned of "costly consequences" for the country.

Its 12 February nuclear test, he said, represented "an even bolder threat to US national security, the stability of the region and the global non-proliferation regime".

Davies told the committee the Pentagon was working with its counterparts in Japan and South Korea to ensure protection against an attack.

The US would continue to look at unilateral sanctions against banks and other North Korean-linked bodies and seek to harmonise existing sanctions with other countries, he added.

The US will not engage in negotiations unless there is a fundamental change in attitudes in North Korea. "The DPRK leadership must choose between provocation or peace, isolation or integration," Davies said.

Source: The Guardian UK

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Japan aims to win new allies in Africa with aid

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Category: The World

Created on Monday, 25 March 2013 00:00

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Japan aims to win new allies in Africa with aid

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UBS 'rogue' trader Kweku Adoboli jailed for seven years

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Category: Law & Justice

Created on Tuesday, 20 November 2012 00:00

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UBS 'rogue' trader Kweku Adoboli jailed for seven years

Jury convicts Adoboli of two counts of fraud in relation to £1.5bn trading loss at one of world's best-known banks

Peter Walker

A rogue City trader who almost brought down the banking giant UBS by recklessly gambling huge sums in secret, off-the-book deals has been jailed for seven years for committing what police describe as the UK's biggest ever fraud.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Kweku Adoboli, 32, ended up costing UBS more than £1.5bn. At one point the potential liabilities of his illicit trades totalled more than £7bn, a sum described by prosecutors as sufficient to bring down the bank.

A jury at Southwark crown court convicted the Ghanaian-born, British educated former private schoolboy on two counts of fraud, one by a unanimous verdict the other on a majority. He was acquitted on four separate charges of false accounting. The judge, Mr Justice Brian Keith, jailed Adoboli for seven years.

The detective chief inspector who led the investigation, Perry Stokes from City of London police, said after the Adoboli was a sophisticated fraudster.

"To all those around him Kweku Adoboli appeared to be man on the make whose career prospects and future earnings were taking off. He worked hard, looked the part and seemingly had an answer for everything.

"But behind this facade lay a trader who was running completely out of control and exposing UBS to huge financial risks on a daily basis. Rules put in place to protect the bank's position and the integrity of the markets were being bypassed and broken by a young man who wanted it all and was not willing to wait."

Adoboli was arrested on 14 September 2011 after back-office accountants began to press him on apparent anomalies in his trading records. Walking out of UBS's London headquarters, Adoboli went home to compose an email accepting "full responsibility for my actions and the shit storm that will now ensue" and apologising for putting the bank at risk.

The prosecution portrayed Adoboli, whose combined salary and bonus rose from £30,000 to £360,000 during eight years with UBS, as a reckless gambler obsessed with his status as a rising star and desperate to boost his bonus. From late 2008 he began making secret deals on the exchange traded futures desk, exceeding his daily limits and failing to make matching hedged trades, a requirement that restricts profits but, crucially, caps possible losses.

Adoboli initially accrued substantial profits, which were lodged in a secret account he called his "umbrella" and drip-fed back on to the regular books. But as European markets hit turmoil in the summer of 2011 the trades began to make a loss, which he desperately attempted to recoup with ever-bigger punts.

Giving evidence, Adoboli insisted his colleagues knew about the umbrella – an account supported in part by emails and electronic chats with fellow traders – and said UBS bosses placed him under enormous pressure to increase profits, whatever the means.

But Stokes, from City police's economic crime directorate, said Adoboli was "a rogue trader who committed systematic unauthorised trading".

"When challenged by colleagues within UBS, he tried to cover his tracks and lied about the true nature of his activity. He was trusted. He abused that trust. He lied and cheated to his colleagues but eventually justice caught up with him."

Adoboli's sentencing is by no means the end of the story for UBS, for whom the trial has been a PR disaster.

The bank's chief executive, Oswald Gruebel, stepped down in the wake of Adoboli's losses and a subsequent restructuring of its investment banking activities could result in the loss of more than 10,000 jobs. UBS is also being investigated by the Financial Services Authority and the equivalent Swiss watchdog, Finma, over how the bank's controls allowed a single trader to lose so much money.

At the dramatic nine-week hearing, Adoboli was described as a gambling obsessive who worked long hours and devoted much of his leisure time to financial spread-betting. He lost £123,000 in the year before his arrest and, despite his huge income, was forced to take out a series of short-term payday loans.

Adoboli, who sat with his legal team rather than in the dock so he could advise them on the many technical terms used, wept repeatedly when he first gave evidence, saying he had been devoted to UBS and only wanted to help the bank survive market turmoil.

But prosecutors described him as someone who "believed he had the magic touch" and endlessly increased his bets. Sasha Wass QC said: "On 14 September last year his system crashed like a car hitting a wall at high speed. Due to a series of events that had been building up over the previous few weeks, Mr Adoboli's pyramid of fraud collapsed. He was left with no choice but to admit exactly what he had been up to."

Source: The Guardian UK, Tuesday 20 November 2012

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