Every Wednesday, the Sifter posts top-line summaries to current events around the globe. All news articles are from Reuters and BBC News.
Egypt: Mubarak and sons detained amid corruption probe [BBC News]
- Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak, ahead of an investigation into corruption and abuse allegations. Mubarak, 82, is in hospital after reportedly suffering heart problems. His detention order will be in place for 15 days, state TV reported
- His sons Alaa and Gamal have also been detained amid allegations of corruption and violence, police say. Mr Mubarak stood down in February after a popular uprising against his rule. Since then, tens of thousands of protesters have staged weekly Friday protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, demanding that he stand trial
- The former Egyptian leader had been keeping a low profile in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort, after fleeing to his holiday villa there when he was overthrown. Mubarak, along with his sons and their wives, have been banned from leaving the country. The family’s assets have been frozen
Libya contact group to meet in Qatar [BBC News]
- International delegates are set to begin talks in Qatar on the conflict in Libya, amid calls for Nato to intensify its campaign there. Rebels seeking to topple Col Gaddafi are making their first high-profile diplomatic appearance and will meet the newly formed “contact group” on Libya
- Ahead of the meeting, the French and British foreign ministers said Nato should be doing more in Libya. The talks come amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the rebel-held city of Misrata, where pro-Gaddafi forces have continued to launch fresh attacks. The last rebel-held area in the west, Misrata has been under siege for more than six weeks, with rights groups warning of a shortage of food and medical supplies
- Earlier this week the rebels’ Transitional National Council (TNC) rejected an African Union proposal for a ceasefire in Libya, because it did not provide for Col Gaddafi’s immediate departure from power. The Transitional National Council, which attended on the sidelines of the London conference, has been invited to address the meeting in Qatar as it continues its campaign to gain international recognition as the voice of the Libyan people
Japan’s government downgrades its outlook for growth [BBC News]
- The Japanese government has downgraded its assessment of the economy in the wake of the devastation caused by last month’s earthquake and tsunami. It said key areas of the economy would suffer, including industrial production and exports. The decision marks the first time in six months that the government has downgraded its assessment. The disaster affected many companies which had operations in the north-east of Japan, destroying factories and blocking supply chains
- Electricity shortages caused by the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are likely to continue into the summer. The power shortfall has resulted in rolling blackouts, affecting production at some of the country’s biggest companies. Japan estimates rebuilding will cost up to 25 trillion yen ($295bn)
- The true human cost of the disaster is still unclear one month on. The official death toll is 13,333, with more than 15,000 people still unaccounted for. More than 150,000 people have been made homeless. On Tuesday, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raised the severity of the crisis at the plant to the highest level, seven. Level seven previously only applied to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, where 10 times as much radiation was emitted. There have been no fatalities resulting from the leaks at Fukushima, and risks to human health are thought to be low
Brazil lawmakers to propose referendum on gun law [BBC News]
- Brazilian lawmakers say they will propose a national vote on whether to ban the sale of guns, after a deadly shooting at a school last week. The Senate leader said legislators would rush through a bill to allow a referendum to be held this autumn. A similar proposal in 2005 was rejected by voters and kept gun sales legal
- Brazil observed three days of mourning after the attack on 7 April, in which a gunman shot dead 12 children in a school in Rio de Janeiro. Four students remain in hospital, two of them in critical condition. Officials say Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, a 23-year-old former pupil at Tasso da Silverira school, went into a classroom with two revolvers. The 12 children killed were between 10 and 13 years old, and all but two were girls
- The bill would have to be approved by both the Senate and the House before going on the ballot. The leader of Brazil’s Senate, Jose Sarney, said any referendum would be held at the beginning of October – the earliest possible date for the bill to pass and the referendum to be called. Brazil held a similar referendum in 2005 under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but 64% voted against a ban
Ivory Coast: ‘Ouattara must stop reprisal attacks’ [BBC News]
- Ivory Coast’s new President Alassane Ouattara must put a stop to reprisal attacks against followers of his rival, Amnesty International has said. The UK-based rights group said armed men in uniforms were conducting house-to-house searches in Abidjan looking for Laurent Gbagbo’s supporters
- Ouattara’s men captured Mr Gbagbo on Monday after he failed to stand down. During the four-month stand-off between Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara about 1,500 people were killed and a million forced from their homes. Tensions have been exacerbated by news that Gbagbo’s Interior Minister, Desire Tagro, has died. The BBC’s John James in Ivory Coast says there are differing accounts as to whether he was beaten to death, assassinated or committed suicide
- The rights group also called for Mr Gbagbo and his family to be treated impartially before the law. Immediately after his arrest, Gbagbo and his wife Simone were taken to Mr Ouattara’s headquarters at Abidjan’s Golf Hotel. Until a 2002 rebellion split the country in two, Ivory Coast – the world’s largest cocoa producer – was the most developed economy in West Africa
India ‘telecoms scam’: Andimuthu Raja in court [BBC News]
- India’s former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja has appeared in court in connection with a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal. Mr Raja is accused of selling mobile phone licenses to firms at a fraction of their real value in exchange for bribes in 2008. He denies wrongdoing
- Auditors estimate his actions could have cost the country nearly $40bn in lost revenue. The issue of corruption has become a major talking point in India. Mr Raja was forced to resign as telecommunications minister last year. He was arrested in February and has been in prison since
- Mr Raja is on trial along with eight others, including two former bureaucrats. The special court is expected to hold daily hearings in one of the most high-profile trials in India. The former minister has been charged with conspiracy, forgery and abuse of power. If convicted, he faces seven years in prison. India has the world’s fastest growing mobile market, with about half a billion subscribers
Portugal starts bailout talks; deal seen [Reuters]
- Portugal launched talks on Tuesday with European authorities and the IMF on a bailout the caretaker government says is needed to cover the country’s financing from June, as politicians jostled ahead of a general election. They will decide on additional austerity measures they deem necessary for Lisbon to reduce its budget deficit in return for a three-year loan that could reach 80 billion euros ($115.7 billion)
- Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos acknowledged Lisbon only had its financing needs covered for this month and next, and will need the bailout loans from June onwards. The country has to pay off 4.9 billion euros in maturing bonds in June
- The negotiations now will be complicated by the fact that a snap general election is scheduled for June 5 and all parties want to avoid blame for the bailout. The IMF expects Portugal’s economy to contract 1.5 percent this year and 0.5 percent in 2012
Belarus opposition to be quizzed over bomb: Lukashenko [Reuters]
- Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered law enforcers Wednesday to question local “political actors” — a reference to the opposition — over a metro station bomb attack which killed 12 people. A total of 12 people were killed and about 150 injured in the explosion at a central metro station in the capital, Minsk
- Lukashenko said the detained suspects had confessed to carrying out the attack Wednesday morning and also admitted to earlier bomb explosions. “The detained criminals have confessed not only to carrying out the terrorist act in the Minsk metro, they are also responsible for the previous Independence day and Vitebsk terrorist acts,” he said, referring to two explosions in 2008 and 2005 respectively
- Lukashenko, an autocratic leader who has led Belarus since 1994, frequently uses the terms “political actors” and “the fifth column” to refer to Belarus’ weak and fragmented opposition. A law enforcement source told Reuters earlier Wednesday two people had been detained in connection with the bombing and at least one of them was a Belarussian citizen
At least 4 killed in clashes in Yemen [Reuters]
- Rival Yemeni forces clashed in the capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing two people, as the opposition awaited clarification from Gulf Arab mediators on the timeframe for a proposed transfer of the president’s powers. Clashes also erupted in the southern port city of Aden when security forces tried to break up a protest march demanding an immediate end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule
- Gulf Arab foreign ministers have said they would invite Saleh and his opponents to mediation talks on a transfer of power in the Arabian Peninsula state to end a standoff after two months of street protests. Opposition sources said they were expecting an answer from the Gulf on Wednesday on the timeframe and details of the plan, and could respond immediately. An opposition source has said talks could start as early as Saturday in Riyadh
- More than 100 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces since late January, and there are fears the violence could escalate in the impoverished country where half the 23 million people own a gun. South Yemenis, who complain of marginalization after a civil war with the north led by Saleh in 1994, insist any deal must give them a say in government
Apple to stay ahead in tablet boom: Gartner [Reuters]
- Apple’s iPad will continue to dominate the surging media tablet market for years, with Google playing catch-up, research firm Gartner said on Monday. Gartner said it expects 70 million media tablets to be sold this year and 108 million in 2012, compared with just 17.6 million in 2010
- Apple’s share of the market will gradually decline to 47% in 2015 from 69% this year, while Google’s share will rise to 39% from 20% now. Google’s Android has stormed the smartphone market, where it will become the No 1 platform this year, and it has emerged as the only viable solution for tablet-makers who do not own their own operating system
- Research In Motion’s QNX platform, used in its soon-to-be-launched PlayBook tablet, will take the No.3 position on the market this year, with a 5.6 percent share. Gartner sees that rising to 10 percent in 2015. Apple is estimated to have sold about 1 million iPad 2′s in the first weekend of its U.S. launch early last month. By comparison, its closest rival in hardware, Samsung Electronics may have sold a similar number of Galaxy Tabs in the past three months and sales growth is expected to remain weak
Weekly News Oddity: Maine legalizing switchblades for one-armed people [Reuters]
- Maine lawmakers on Wednesday approved legalizing switchblades for people with one arm, moving close to becoming the first state to make such an exception to laws that ban use of the spring-action knives
- Backers of the measure say legalizing switchblades would eliminate a need for one-armed people to be forced to open folding knives with their teeth in emergencies
- The Maine bill requires that the knives have a blade that is three inches or shorter. Governor Paul LePage is expected to sign the measure into law in the next couple of days
Photograph by REUTERS/Stringer
Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo (L) and his wife Simone sit in a room at Hotel Golf in Abidjan, after they were arrested, April 11, 2011. Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo was arrested by opposition forces on Monday after French troops closed in on the compound where the self-proclaimed president had been holed up in a bunker for the past week.
Gbagbo refused to step down when Alassane Ouattara won November’s presidential election, according to results certified by the United Nations, reigniting violence that has claimed more than a thousand lives and uprooted a million people. The hotel is where his rival Ouattara has his headquarters.
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