Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been found guilty of negligence by a French court over a massive payout to a tycoon when she was the country's finance minister, but will not be fined or face prison.
Lagarde was found to be at fault on Monday for failing to challenge a 404 million euro ($420m) compensation payout to businessman Bernard Tapie over the sale of the Adidas sports brand to Credit Lyonnais bank.
She was put on trial over her 2007 decision to allow the dispute to be resolved by a private arbitration panel, and then failing to challenge the result.
The court cleared her of negligence over her decision to refer the matter to arbitration but upheld the charge over her failure to contest the award.
"The context of the global financial crisis in which Madame Lagarde found herself in should be taken into account," said Martine Ract Madoux, the main judge, in explaining the absence of any sentence.
She also cited Lagarde's good reputation and international standing as reasons why the court did not hand down a punishment in a case that could have carried a sentence of up to a year in prison.
Lagarde, who was France's finance minister between 2007 and 2011, was not in the Paris court to hear the decision. Her lawyer said that she was in Washington, where the IMF is based.
The French government pledged confidence in Lagarde after her conviction was announced.
The IMF board was to meet on Monday to discuss the implications of the guilty verdict against IMF chief Christine Lagarde in a French court, a spokesman for the organisation said Monday.
"The Executive Board has met on previous occasions to consider developments related to the legal proceedings in France. It is expected that the Board will meet again shortly to consider the most recent developments," fund spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Saudi Arabia using UK-made cluster bombs in Yemen, Fallon to confirm
The Government is to confirm Saudi Arabia is using British-made cluster bombs in Yemen, Sky sources say.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is expected to make a statement on the issue in the House of Commons later.
A spokesman for No 10 said that the Government was taking allegations that British cluster bombs were being used "very seriously" and that the issue had been raised with the Saudi-led coalition.
Last week, the new Prime Minister of the controversial rebel Houthi government which has been set-up in Yemen accused the UK of war crimes.
"They have sold cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia," Abdulaziz bin Habtour told Sky News in his office in the capital Sana'a. "They know the Saudis are going to drop them on Yemen ... in Sa'adah and in Sana'a and other provinces.
"I don't think they are guilty of war crimes, I believe so. They are participating in the bombing of Yemen people."
An international treaty signed by Britain bans cluster bombs, which carry extraordinary risks to civilians because they contain groups of smaller bombs that explode over a wide area and can go off much later.
The words of the Convention on Cluster Munitions state that signatories will "never under any circumstances assist, encourage or induce" anyone to use such munitions.
However, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are believed to have British-made cluster bombs bought in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yemen's war began when the Houthis and their allies seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Gulf Arab nations launched a campaign in March 2015 against the Iran-backed rebels.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is expected to make a statement on the issue in the House of Commons later.
A spokesman for No 10 said that the Government was taking allegations that British cluster bombs were being used "very seriously" and that the issue had been raised with the Saudi-led coalition.
Last week, the new Prime Minister of the controversial rebel Houthi government which has been set-up in Yemen accused the UK of war crimes.
"They have sold cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia," Abdulaziz bin Habtour told Sky News in his office in the capital Sana'a. "They know the Saudis are going to drop them on Yemen ... in Sa'adah and in Sana'a and other provinces.
"I don't think they are guilty of war crimes, I believe so. They are participating in the bombing of Yemen people."
An international treaty signed by Britain bans cluster bombs, which carry extraordinary risks to civilians because they contain groups of smaller bombs that explode over a wide area and can go off much later.
The words of the Convention on Cluster Munitions state that signatories will "never under any circumstances assist, encourage or induce" anyone to use such munitions.
However, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are believed to have British-made cluster bombs bought in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yemen's war began when the Houthis and their allies seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Gulf Arab nations launched a campaign in March 2015 against the Iran-backed rebels.
Child tweeter Bana Alabed safely evacuated from Aleppo
Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl who has been tweeting about life amid the devastation of eastern Aleppo, has been safely evacuated from the city.
President of the Syrian American Medical Society Ahmad Tarakji tweeted a picture of a smiling Bana in a woolly hat.
The tweet said: ".@AlabedBana and many children arrived to #Aleppo countryside. @sams_usa @UOSSM and partners arr coordinating the response plan there."
@AlabedBana and many children arrived to #Aleppo countryside. @sams_usa@UOSSM and partners arr coordinating the response plan there. pic.twitter.com/k3iAohYbFY— Ahmad Tarakji, MD (@tarakjiahmad) 19 December 2016
The messages from the account, which she shares with her mother Fatemah, had become increasingly desperate.
They detailed how they narrowly escaped death when their home was destroyed and how people were killed around them as bombs rained down.
Their future appeared uncertain after the girl's most recent tweets said: "This is my last moment to either live or die" and "Please save us now."
Her mother added: "Final message - people are dying since last night. I am very surprised I am tweeting right now & still alive. - Fatemah #Aleppo."
Last night, she posted again, begging "please please please make this ceasefire work & get us out now. We are so tired".
Bana's tweets had given an insight into the terrifying daily struggle of people in Aleppo as they endured bombs, airstrikes and ground battles.
In one message from the war-torn city, she wrote: "Tonight we have no house, it's bombed & I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died - Bana #Aleppo."
Another said: "My friends this is not the moon, the is bomb falling now. Please pray for us tonight. I am afraid. - Bana #Aleppo."
She also commented on the dreadful conditions inside the city's cut-off eastern neighbourhoods: "I am sick now, I have no medicine, no home, no clean water. This will make me die even before a bomb kill me."
But the seven-year-old also shared some lighter moments, such as a photo of her smiling when she lost two teeth.
Bana's escape from the city comes as tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from Aleppo to rebel-held areas of the countryside west of the city.
It is part of the ceasefire agreed after the regime and its allies intensified attacks in Aleppo and all but wiped out the rebels' territory.
Trump has no idea 'how to lead superpower' - China newspaper
Chinese media are lashing out against Donald Trump amid a diplomatic spat over a US underwater drone seized by Beijing, with one newspaper saying the President-elect has no idea "how to lead a superpower".
The seizure of the US Navy's unmanned underwater glider in the South China Sea is one of the most serious incidents between the world's two largest military powers in years.
China's foreign ministry said on Monday that the two militaries are having "unimpeded" talks about the return of the drone, but tensions remain high.
The Global Times, a newspaper with close ties to the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial that "Trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the White House in a month.
"He bears no sense of how to lead a superpower".
The state-owned China Daily newspaper said Mr Trump's behaviour "could easily drive China-US relations into what Obama portrays as 'full-conflict mode'."
A separate article quoted experts as calling Mr Trump's behaviour "diplomatically inept".
The drone, known as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), was taken on Thursday in waters off the coast of the Philippines, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory.
The US said China's "unlawful seizure" came in international waters. It said the device was collecting scientific data such as temperatures.
China said the drone had been snatched since it might pose a safety hazard to other vessels and pointedly accused the US of sending ships "in China's presence" to conduct "military surveying."
China's ministry of defence on Saturday had slammed alleged American "hyping" of China's capture of the drone as "inappropriate and unhelpful".
Beijing said it would give it back, but Mr Trump said Beijing should be told "we don't want the drone they stole back" and "let them keep it!"
In one of those tweets, he had called China's move an "unpresidented (sic) act", with the misspelled word going viral, to much ridicule, before he deleted it and tweeted the same thing again without the error.
"What is truly amazing about this tweet, was the soon-to-be US president completely misrepresented what had actually happened - that is more dangerous than funny," China Daily said.
Mr Trump has already infuriated Beijing by questioning longstanding US "One China" policy on Taiwan, calling Beijing a currency manipulator and threatening punitive tariffs on Chinese imports.
The seizure of the US Navy's unmanned underwater glider in the South China Sea is one of the most serious incidents between the world's two largest military powers in years.
China's foreign ministry said on Monday that the two militaries are having "unimpeded" talks about the return of the drone, but tensions remain high.
The Global Times, a newspaper with close ties to the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial that "Trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the White House in a month.
"He bears no sense of how to lead a superpower".
The state-owned China Daily newspaper said Mr Trump's behaviour "could easily drive China-US relations into what Obama portrays as 'full-conflict mode'."
A separate article quoted experts as calling Mr Trump's behaviour "diplomatically inept".
The drone, known as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), was taken on Thursday in waters off the coast of the Philippines, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory.
The US said China's "unlawful seizure" came in international waters. It said the device was collecting scientific data such as temperatures.
China said the drone had been snatched since it might pose a safety hazard to other vessels and pointedly accused the US of sending ships "in China's presence" to conduct "military surveying."
China's ministry of defence on Saturday had slammed alleged American "hyping" of China's capture of the drone as "inappropriate and unhelpful".
Beijing said it would give it back, but Mr Trump said Beijing should be told "we don't want the drone they stole back" and "let them keep it!"
In one of those tweets, he had called China's move an "unpresidented (sic) act", with the misspelled word going viral, to much ridicule, before he deleted it and tweeted the same thing again without the error.
"What is truly amazing about this tweet, was the soon-to-be US president completely misrepresented what had actually happened - that is more dangerous than funny," China Daily said.
Mr Trump has already infuriated Beijing by questioning longstanding US "One China" policy on Taiwan, calling Beijing a currency manipulator and threatening punitive tariffs on Chinese imports.
Pardon Edward Snowden, a whistleblower who acted in the public interest
Edward Snowden blew the whistle on illegal government surveillance, but faces decades in jail for it
When Edward Snowden shared US intelligence documents with journalists in June 2013, he revealed the shocking extent of global mass surveillance. He showed how governments were secretly hoovering up huge chunks of our personal communications, including private emails, phone locations, web histories and so much more. All without our consent.
His courage changed the world. He sparked a global debate, changing laws and helping to protect our privacy. For the first time in 40 years, the USA passed laws to control government surveillance. Globally, technology companies including Apple and WhatsApp are now doing more to protect our personal information.
None of this would have happened without Edward. A former US Attorney General admitted that his revelations “performed a public service”. Even President Obama said that this debate about surveillance “will make us stronger”.
Edward is a human rights hero. Yet he faces decades in prison, accused of selling secrets to enemies of the USA. With no guarantee of a fair trial in his home country, he is living in limbo in Russia.
Sign the petition to President Obama:
I urge you to grant a Presidential Pardon to Edward Snowden as a whistleblower who spoke out to defend our human rights.
When he shared US intelligence documents with journalists, Edward revealed how governments were scooping up our personal data, including phone calls, emails and much more. His actions sparked a global debate which changed laws and protected our privacy. Yet he’s forced to live in exile and faces decades in prison.
President Obama, you yourself have said that the debate he triggered on surveillance “will make us stronger”. Edward Snowden is a human rights hero. Please treat him like one.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Post Office staff join wave of strikes with five-day walkout
Post Office staff are the latest to join those taking part in a wave of strikes that will hit several industries in the run-up to Christmas.
The Communication Workers Union said around 3,500 workers would take part in its industrial action, hitting hundreds of Crown Post Offices.
They will join rail and air workers in disputes about issues such as jobs, pay, pensions and safety.
The five-day CWU strike is in protest at job losses, the closure of a final salary pension scheme and the franchising of Crown Post Offices.
The strike is due to get under way today with a demonstration outside the headquarters of the Government's Business Department.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union working for Southern Railway will strike on Monday and Tuesday in a long-running dispute over the role of conductors.
The firm's Aslef members are also working to rule in an ongoing dispute, the effects of which have caused chaos for Southern's 300,000 passengers.
Meanwhile, British Airways cabin crew who are members of the Unite union are due to strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
That action is due to a row over pay although talks aimed at resolving the dispute will be held at Acas today.
Other Unite members employed as baggage handlers and other ground staff by Swissport are set to walk out on Friday and Saturday over pay.
Acas is due to hold talks to resolve that dispute on Tuesday.
Union officials have denied the strikes have been co-ordinated in an attempt to bring down the Government.
The Sunday Times claimed that RMT president Sean Hoyle says unions are aiming to "bring down this bloody working-class hating Tory government".
Footage obtained by Sky News of Mr Hoyle addressing a Socialist Party rally shows him quoting former RMT general secretary Bob Crow in saying "if you spit on your own, just wipe it away, but if we all spit together, we can drown the ********".
RMT general secretary Mick Cash told the Press Association: "We are a serious trade union dealing with serious issues around safety on the railways. That is our absolute priority.
"RMT is not party to any Trotskyist conspiracy to bring down the Government. Our conductor members on Southern are on strike this week in defence of the safety of the travelling public and that remains the focus of the entire union."
CWU General secretary Dave Ward said his members were striking because a continuing closure programme which would mean that the Post Office will cease to exist on high streets.
Kevin Gilliland, Post Office, group network and sales director, said the action would affect fewer than 300 branches.
He said: "We are disappointed that, whilst we've been holding discussions with the union throughout this week and have made it clear we remain open to further, formal talks at the most senior level, they are continuing to cause concern to customers during the festive season."
The strikes do not involve Royal Mail staff, but the Daily Telegraph reported that some Royal Mail staff may refuse to cross picket lines.
Virgin Atlantic pilots will also work "strictly to contract" from 23 December and Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association and RMT on London Underground are continuing with an overtime ban.
The Communication Workers Union said around 3,500 workers would take part in its industrial action, hitting hundreds of Crown Post Offices.
They will join rail and air workers in disputes about issues such as jobs, pay, pensions and safety.
The five-day CWU strike is in protest at job losses, the closure of a final salary pension scheme and the franchising of Crown Post Offices.
The strike is due to get under way today with a demonstration outside the headquarters of the Government's Business Department.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union working for Southern Railway will strike on Monday and Tuesday in a long-running dispute over the role of conductors.
The firm's Aslef members are also working to rule in an ongoing dispute, the effects of which have caused chaos for Southern's 300,000 passengers.
Meanwhile, British Airways cabin crew who are members of the Unite union are due to strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
That action is due to a row over pay although talks aimed at resolving the dispute will be held at Acas today.
Other Unite members employed as baggage handlers and other ground staff by Swissport are set to walk out on Friday and Saturday over pay.
Acas is due to hold talks to resolve that dispute on Tuesday.
Union officials have denied the strikes have been co-ordinated in an attempt to bring down the Government.
The Sunday Times claimed that RMT president Sean Hoyle says unions are aiming to "bring down this bloody working-class hating Tory government".
Footage obtained by Sky News of Mr Hoyle addressing a Socialist Party rally shows him quoting former RMT general secretary Bob Crow in saying "if you spit on your own, just wipe it away, but if we all spit together, we can drown the ********".
RMT general secretary Mick Cash told the Press Association: "We are a serious trade union dealing with serious issues around safety on the railways. That is our absolute priority.
"RMT is not party to any Trotskyist conspiracy to bring down the Government. Our conductor members on Southern are on strike this week in defence of the safety of the travelling public and that remains the focus of the entire union."
CWU General secretary Dave Ward said his members were striking because a continuing closure programme which would mean that the Post Office will cease to exist on high streets.
Kevin Gilliland, Post Office, group network and sales director, said the action would affect fewer than 300 branches.
He said: "We are disappointed that, whilst we've been holding discussions with the union throughout this week and have made it clear we remain open to further, formal talks at the most senior level, they are continuing to cause concern to customers during the festive season."
The strikes do not involve Royal Mail staff, but the Daily Telegraph reported that some Royal Mail staff may refuse to cross picket lines.
Virgin Atlantic pilots will also work "strictly to contract" from 23 December and Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association and RMT on London Underground are continuing with an overtime ban.
Russian plane crashes in Siberia with 16 injured
An IL-18 aeroplane belonging to the Russian defence ministry has crashed in Yakutia in Siberia with 39 people on board.
The defence ministry said 16 people were seriously injured, correcting earlier reports that 27 had died.
The plane was carrying 32 passengers and seven crew when it came down near Tiksi in the Bulun district of Russia's far east.
Weather conditions were reportedly bad in the area when the crash happened.
The plane was carrying out a scheduled flight from Kansk when it came down about 30km (18 miles) short of Tiksi at 04:45 (19:45 GMT Sunday).
The plane broke into three pieces in what appears to have been an emergency landing.
Three Mi-8 helicopters were despatched to the crash site by Russia's Emergency Ministry.
As well as the 16 seriously injured, another seven people on board the plane required hospital treatment.
The defence ministry said 16 people were seriously injured, correcting earlier reports that 27 had died.
The plane was carrying 32 passengers and seven crew when it came down near Tiksi in the Bulun district of Russia's far east.
Weather conditions were reportedly bad in the area when the crash happened.
The plane was carrying out a scheduled flight from Kansk when it came down about 30km (18 miles) short of Tiksi at 04:45 (19:45 GMT Sunday).
The plane broke into three pieces in what appears to have been an emergency landing.
Three Mi-8 helicopters were despatched to the crash site by Russia's Emergency Ministry.
As well as the 16 seriously injured, another seven people on board the plane required hospital treatment.
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