Altruistic marijuana grower is guilty but goes unpunished

DutchNews, October 30, 2015

A Frisian man has been found guilty of cultivating marijuana by the appeal court in Leeuwarden but will not be punished because he had done all he could to ensure a safe, legal supply to licenced coffee shops. 

Doede de Jong, who is 66, was sentenced to two months in jail by a lower court and the public prosecution department called for a €230,000 fine on appeal. 

Despite finding De Jong guilty on all counts, the appeal court judges said he had grown the marijuana plants in the open air, using organic pesticides, the NRC reports. ‘There was no question of fire safety issues or electricity theft,’ the court said. Nor was De Jong involved with criminals who produce cannabis. 

The fact he only supplied licenced coffee shops and the quality of his marijuana was better than that from ‘normal’ plantantions also counted in his favour, the court is quoted as saying by the NRC 

De Jong is the second ‘altruistic’ marijuana grower who has been found guilty in court but escaped punishment. A Groningen couple were found guilty by a lower court last year and escaped punishment. However, they were sentenced to three month suspended prison sentences on appeal. 

Thursday’s ruling may have considerable impact on future cases involving marijuana production, the NRC says. 

The government is under increasing pressure to allow regulated production to supply the cafes and remove the grey area between licenced sales and illegal production.

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Global drugs conference delegates urge UN to publish leaked paper backing drug legalisation https://t.co/yRIB43Q73w pic.twitter.com/dPbi9l0sKR

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 21, 2015

Brazil's Marin agrees to US extradition in FIFA corruption case

Jose Maria Marin, who led the organizing committee for World Cup 2014 in Brazil, has agreed to relocation to the US pending trial. He's wanted on racketeering charges and could face up to 20 years.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Oct 2015

Switzerland's justice ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the 83-year-old Marin "must be placed in the custody of a US police escort and taken to the USA within 10 days." The ministry did not provide further details of the handover.

Marin was among the FIFA officials arrested on May 27 in the FBI's dawn raids that were the precursor to Sepp Blatter's re-election as president, and then his announcement that he would step aside days later.

The former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, who coordinated the country's 2014 World Cup preparations, is accused of taking "bribes worth millions of dollars from sports marketing companies" in connection with four Copa America tournaments and the Copa do Brasil from 2013 through 2022. Marin agreed to extradition at a judicial hearing in Geneva on Wednesday.

Marin's World Cup dreams crumbled
with Neymar's injury, then Germany's goal
rush in the semifinal

"He is alleged to have shared these bribes with other football officials," according to the Swiss justice ministry. Marin could face up to 20 years if convicted.

Of the seven officials arrested in May at FIFA's annual conference, Marin was the last to decide whether or not to fight the US extradition order. Cayman Islands banker Jeffrey Webb agreed to cooperate in May, and pleaded not guilty in July; the remaining five all intend to challenge extradition in Swiss courts.

Marin succeeded Ricardo Teixera, himself implicated in a previous FIFA scandal concerning kickbacks on World Cup broadcasting deals, as the president of Brazil's CBF in 2012. He also took over the World Cup 2014 committee as Teixera resigned. He's one of 14 football and marketing officials indicted by US officials in one of the major investigations into FIFA currently underway. Most suspects in the FBI probe - which began with a focus purely on FIFA dealings in the US - hail from either North or South America.

At the time of his arrest, Marin was working on preparations for the football tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics, to be held in Rio de Janeiro.

msh/rd (AP, Reuters)

Obama vetoes $612 bn defense bill citing Gitmo, 'gimmicks'

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Oct 2015

US President Barack Obama vetoes the National Defense Authorization Act in the

 Oval Office of the White House on October 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama vetoed a $612 billion defense spending bill Thursday, saying it prevented the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison and wasted money on unwanted programs.

Making a rare public show of rejecting a law, Obama said the text agreed by the Republican-controlled Congress "falls woefully short" in key areas.

Obama said the bill did "a number of good things," including reforming military retirement and funding cyber security, but "resorts to gimmicks" and funded unwanted programs.

He zeroed in on provisions that would restrict the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay on the tip of Cuba, to the United States.

Speaker of the House John Boehner holds 

a news conference on October 21, 2015

(AFP Photo/Chip Somodevilla)

"This legislation specifically impedes our ability to close Guantanamo," he said.

"Guantanamo is one of the premier mechanisms for jihadists to recruit, it is time for us to close it. It's outdated, it's expensive."

After embarrassing false starts, Obama is making a final push to close Guantanamo prison.

But to fulfill that glaringly incomplete campaign promise he faces unpalatable compromises and internal resistance.

But the fate of those deemed too dangerous to release -- but too difficult to prosecute -- has stymied his efforts.

The administration is looking at military facilities like Fort Leavenworth, Kansas or the Navy Brig in Charleston, South Carolina as possible destinations for inmates.

But Congress wants to have control of any transfer and to ensure that prisoners do not have full rights afforded to American civilians.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has campaigned for the prison's closure, welcomed the move.

"The president clearly did the right thing by rejecting the bill's restrictions on transferring Guantanamo prisoners who have been locked up without charge or trial for years on end," said executive director Anthony Romero.

"Now Congress needs to send back the president a bill that will let him close Guantanamo and end indefinite detention, and he needs to take decisive action to make his promise to close the prison a reality.

"He needs to do this soon, before his legacy is irreparably tarnished by the stain of Guantanamo."

Obama also said the budget "prevents a wide range of reforms that are necessary for us to get our military modernized."

"We have repeatedly put forward a series of reforms eliminating reforms that the Pentagon does not want, Congress keeps stuffing 'em back in," he said.

"We end up wasting money, we end up diverting resources from things that we do need."

House Speaker John Boehner instantly lambasted Obama as "placing domestic politics ahead of our troops."

He added: "President Obama has put America's national security at risk."

Former UN General Assembly president indicted on bribery charges

Prosecutors have formally charged the ex-UN official with accepting more than a million dollars in bribes. The case has raised concerns about corruption within the international governing body.

Deutsche Welle, 21 Oct 2015

Former UN General Assembly President John Ashe was formally indicted by New York prosecutors on Wednesday for enaging in a corruption ring that also involved a billionaire Macau real estate developer.

Originally from Antigua and Barbuda, the 61-year-old Ashe presided over the General Assembly from 2013 to 2014. He is accused of accepting more than $1.3 million (1.14 million euros) from various real-estate developers between 2011 and 2014 in exchange for promoting the construction of a UN conference center in Macau.

Four other people were also charged with participating in the bribery scheme, including the Macau-based real estate developer Ng Lap Seng and a suspended UN diplomat from the Dominican Republic named Francis Lorenzo.

Ashe was arrested two weeks ago and is now free on bail.

Concerns over corruption

UN officials reacted with shock after the arrest, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman insisting Ashe's actions were not representative of the intergovernmental organization's practices.

"Corruption is not business as usual at the UN," Stephane Dujarric told following the arrest.

Prosecutors said members of the corruption ring relied heavily on Ashe, who allegedly failed to report gifts and money he had received for particpating in the scheme.

In response to the scandal, Secretary-General Ban launched an audit on two of the organizations allegedly involved in bribing Ashe.

blc/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Bogota, FARC rebels reach agreement on Colombia missing

The Colombian government and the leftist guerilla group FARC have reached a deal on searching for the thousands missing and presumed dead in their conflict. A definitive peace deal might be signed within six months.

Deutsche Welle, 18 Oct 2015

Armed FARC-rebels in Columbia (Photo: dpa)

It is estimated that about 51,000 people went missing during the decades-long conflict between the FARC rebels and the Colombian government. The two sides reached an agreement that launches steps to search for and locate those missing, as well as identify and return their remains, Cuban diplomat Rodolfo Benitez told reporters in Havana.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), the largest leftist guerilla group still active in the country, and the Colombian government began peace talks in the Cuban capital in November 2012.

The new agreement also sets up a special unit to focus on the task with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Benitez added.

The work of this special unit would be "humanitarian and extrajudicial", diplomats in Havana announced.

Bogota and the rebels plan to share information about those missing and the places where unidentified victims have been buried.

In September, negotiators from both sides signed a deal on justice for crimes committed during the conflict that erupted in 1964 in the aftermath of a peasant uprising in Columbia and killed more than 220,000 people.

Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos vowed that a definitive peace deal with the FARC rebels would be signed within six months.

das/se (AFP, EFE)

Chile declares huge Easter Island marine reserve

Yahoo – AFP, Dave Clark, 6 Oct 2015

With its new marine reserves Chile now has a million square kilometers of sea

 under protection from commercial fishing -- "one of the biggest in the world"

(AFP Photo/Todd Essick)

Viña del Mar (Chile) (AFP) - Chile declared huge new marine reserves in the Pacific in water off Easter Island on Monday as it hosted a major conference on protecting the world's oceans and fisheries.

The host's announcement came as the United States unveiled two smaller protected areas and a major global initiative to better police over-fishing and track illegal catches.

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet opened the Our Ocean conference by declaring a 243,630-square-mile (631,368-square-kilometer) sanctuary around iconic Easter Island.

Taken together with its existing marine reserves, Bachelet said, Chile now has a million square kilometers of sea under protection from commercial fishing -- "one of the biggest in the world."

Easter Island's waters are a spawning ground for tuna, shark, marlin and swordfish and a food source for the Rapa Nui people of the island, who were involved in designing the reserve.

It joins reserves declared by the United States, Britain and New Zealand off the US Pacific Islands, Pitcairn and the Kermadecs, as areas protected from the depredations of unregulated fishing.

A member of the Easter Island delegation dances next to US Secretary of State 

John Kerry (C) and English businessman Richard Branson (L) during the "Our Ocean" 

summit in Vina del Mar, Chile, October 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Martin Bernetti)

Charitable institutions the Pew Charitable Trusts and The Bertarelli Foundation welcomed the decision, which they said would protect 27 endangered species and the people who fish there.

And Pedro Edmunds Paoa, the mayor of Easter Island's Rapa Nui community, came to the mainland to thank the conference and welcome the news that his people would be involved in the plan.

"We must think of optimizing our resources. Our resource is the sea and the future of Rapa Nui is the sea," he said.

Chile hosted Our Ocean in the picturesque Pacific port city of Valparaiso, a second annual day-long get-together for states and foundations to pledge support for the marine ecosystem.

President Barack Obama addressed the meeting in a video message to announce two new US National Marine Sanctuaries.

An 875-square-mile (2,300-square-kilometer) area of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin that holds dozens of historic wrecks will be protected, US officials said.

Mallows Bay on the Potomac River in Maryland, a tidal wetland and a graveyard for scuttled warships since the Revolutionary War, will also become a reserve.

"And, in the coming months, I will look for even more opportunities to protect our waters," Obama said.

"We will leave our children a planet as full of possibilities as the one we inherited."

Several more countries and foundations pledged funds and proposed initiatives to fight pollution, overfishing and the acidification of the ocean by carbon emissions.

Last year's conference in Washington saw $800 million pledged to support various environmental initiatives and this year's host Chile hoped for similar success.

But perhaps the initiative with the most long-term potential is a US plan to regulate the world fish trade.

According to a 2014 study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 29 percent of the world's fish stocks which have been adequately studied are overexploited.

Regulation and quota systems vary wildly around the world and some countries -– particularly in Southeast Asia -– have been accused of allowing large-scale unregulated fishing.

Fishing regulation and quota systems vary wildly around the world and some

 countries -– particularly in Southeast Asia -– have been accused of allowing

large-scale unregulated fishing (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)

Targeting 'hot spots'

Part of the US plan, dubbed Sea Scout, will seek to unite governments around the world in the fight to identify illegal fishing vessels and fleets and bar them from landing catches.

Under the plan, experts will identify regional fishing "hot spots" and target them for enforcement by member states' fisheries protection teams, the White House said.

The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration will track suspicious fishing boats by satellite and alert authorities in Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries.

Meanwhile, Washington will make its own fishing industry and importers serving its huge market –- Americans eat 4.6 billion pounds of seafood per year -– track products from their origin.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Chile to present the US plan, and took the time to talk to a group of students about the challenge of allying technology and law enforcement.

"The problem is there are people fishing illegally, unregulated, vast areas of the ocean where people use fishing methods that have been prohibited," he said.

Kerry said governments need "the technology, the armed forces of countries, the navies, coast guard; we need police and major commitment by countries to come together to focus on enforcement."

The conference will also take on the problem of pollution from the land -- such as agricultural pesticide and fertilizer run-off and waste plastics -- hurting the sea.

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The Mysteries Revealed of Rapa Nui (5) - Oct 18-21, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Cameron rejects reparations for Britain's past in the Caribbean slave trade

British Prime Minister David Cameron said his administration would not make reparations for the country's role in the Caribbean slave trade. Instead he pledged over half a billion dollars in aid.

Deutsche Welle, 1 October 2015

British Prime Minister David Cameron made the controversial remarks during his visit to Jamaica - the first for a British prime minister in 14 years. The BBC reported that Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller had said she had broached the issue of reparations with Cameron.

"I do hope that, as friends who have gone through so much together since those darkest of times, we can move on from this painful legacy and continue to build for the future," Cameron told Jamaica's parliament. He added he wanted to focus on the future, not historical wrongs, and Britain's longstanding position was "that we do not believe reparations is the right approach."

Cameron promised a roughly $455 million (407 million euros) aid package to upgrade bridges, ports and other infrastructure across the Caribbean and reinvigorate Britain's relationship with the region dotted with its dependencies and former colonies. He also pledged an additional $180 million (161 million euros) to improve health facilities and boost economic growth. He said that this support would make Britain the largest bilateral donor to the region.

The push for reparations

Caribbean leaders in 2014 approved a 10-point plan to seek reparations from the former slave-owning states of Europe. The Caribbean countries said European governments in addition to being responsible for conducting slavery and genocide, also imposed 100 years of racial apartheid and suffering on freed slaves and the survivors of genocide.

Slavery ended throughout the Caribbean in the 1800s in the wake of various slave revolts, and left many of the region's plantation economies in tatters. Caribbean leaders have said that the region continues to suffer today from the effects of slavery.

Governments in the Caribbean have estimated that reparations for the slave trade could cost trillions of dollars and some have floated the idea of debt relief.

Some 46,000 British slave-owners, including a distant relative of Cameron's, were among those compensated a current-day equivalent of 17 billion pounds for "loss of human property" after the country emancipated its slaves in 1833.

ss/bw (Reuters, AP)

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