0 Court Lifts Media Ban on Delhi Gang Rape Trial: Lawyer

An Indian court overturned a gag order on Friday that prevented media access to the trial of four men charged over the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi last December, lawyers said. The case has led to months of soul-searching over endemic sex crime, resulted in new tougher laws to punish rapists and focused global attention on violence against women in India. Amid conflicting reports about the ruling, Meenakshi Lekhi, a Supreme Court lawyer who filed the plea to overturn the ban in the Delhi High Court, explained that access would be limited and come with safeguards. 

"The Delhi High Court has allowed one person from a national TV channel and one person from a national news agency or print media to cover the proceedings," the lawyer said in a phone interview. Restrictions include not naming the student or her family -- in accordance with existing Indian law that protects the identity of rape victims and not naming witnesses who are being offered protection. The Press Trust of India news agency quoted the presiding judge as saying that "one representative journalist of each of the accredited national dailies" as well (as) domestic news agencies would be allowed in. 

Dayan Krishnan, the special prosecutor in the gang-rape case who had opposed the plea in court, told AFP that only one reporter would be allowed in, but admitted he had not yet read the full judgment. "We are fine with (the judgment)... because of the safeguards," he said. Lawyer Lekhi called the ruling "a very balanced judgment", adding: "It balances the right of the media to report with the right to protection for the victim, her family and the witnesses." Five men and a juvenile were arrested shortly after the crime and were charged with gang-rape, robbery and murder following the death of the 23-year-old victim, who succumbed to horrific internal injuries. 

One of the suspects, the alleged ringleader and driver of the bus used in the assault, died on March 11 after he was found hanging in Tihar Jail in a major embarrassment for prison authorities. The trial, in a special fast-track court in the south of the capital, has been underway since January with the media restricted to reporting occasional comments from lawyers involved in the case outside the court room. The December 16 gang-rape of the student led to sometimes violent protests in India and brought simmering anger among women about rising rape and harassment to the boil. 

The victim was returning home from the cinema with a male friend when she boarded a private bus, according to her and police statements. Once inside, a gang of six men beat up her friend and took turns in sexually assaulting her, inflicting fatal internal injuries with an iron bar before dumping them by a road on the way to Delhi's international airport. India's parliament cleared new legislation on Thursday that provides for a minimum 20-year prison sentence for gang-rape, which can be extended to life in jail. The gang-rape of a Swiss cyclist last Friday again highlighted the dangers facing women in India while a British woman suffered leg injuries earlier this week as she escaped her hotel over fears of a sex attack by the manager.

Agence Frence-Presse
source : the jakarta globe

0 Golf: Rose Blooms in Woods Pairing for Palmer Lead

Justin Rose, thriving in the spotlight that comes with playing alongside Tiger Woods, fired a seven-under 65 on Thursday to seize a two-shot lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. England's Rose had an eagle and six birdies in his tour of Bay Hill. He held a two-stroke first-round lead over American John Huh. John Rollins and Canadian Brad Fritsch shared third place on four-under 68, with 14-time major champion Woods in a group of 10 players four off the lead on three-under 69. 

Rose said the marquee pairing with Woods "elevates the day" and he made the most of it despite their early tee time that had them heading off the 10th tee in chilly conditions. "Starting out this morning, the first six, seven, eight holes felt a grind," Rose said. "It was cold. It was windy." He warmed up plenty on the greens where his putter was "really, really hot". Rose said that's an area of his game that's been lacking in recent months. 

"Today was probably the first real hot day I've had with the blade in a long, long time," he said. Rose rebounded from a bogey at the 11th with a birdie at 13. He eagled the par-five 16th and added another birdie at 17 before stringing together four birdies in a row from the par-five fourth. "I'm surprised by that number," he said. "If you had said I would shoot a 65 on the range this morning, I would have probably said how many holes have I played?" Woods also eagled the 16th, but was unable to build on that as he bogeyed 17 and 18. 

Even with three birdies in a row from the fourth he couldn't keep pace with Rose, and he added one more bogey at the par-three seventh. "I didn't drive it well, didn't hit my irons well and didn't control my distances or trajectory well," Woods said. Woods won his seventh Bay Hill title last year, and a successful defence could see him supplant Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy atop the world rankings. 

Woods has won five titles in the past 12 months, a run that began at Palmer's event last year. This year, Woods has already collected triumphs at Torrey Pines and Doral to put himself in position to reclaim the No. 1 ranking he once owned. Woods has spent a record 623 weeks atop the world list, but none since October of 2010. Among those alongside Woods on three-under 69 were Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, who had six birdies and three bogeys, and American Bill Haas, who was six-under through 12 holes but bogeyed three of his last five holes to fall back. "It's disappointing," said Haas, who is playing with pain from a neck injury suffered at Riviera in February. "I had a really, really good round of ball-striking."

Agence France-Presse
source : the jakarta globe

0 Bank Indonesia Official to Become IMF Executive Director

An official with Indonesia’s central bank, Wimboh Santoso, has been appointed a new executive director at the International Monetary Fund. Wimboh currently serves as Bank Indonesia’s chief representative officer in New York. “Pak Wimboh will become the IMF’s executive director for the Southeast Asia [voting] group,” BI director for strategic planning and public relations Difi Ahmad Johansyah told journalists on Friday in Jakarta. 

“Pak Wimboh will be based at the IMF headquarters in Washington DC, starting from April 2013,” he added. The position at the IMF was held in 2009 by Perry Warjiyo, who was recently elected to become a new deputy governor at BI. The position was also previously occupied by World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati from 2002 to 2004, before she left it to become Indonesia’s finance minister in 2005. 

Wimboh was BI’s executive director for banking research and regulation before he departed for New York in March 2012. He has been noted for issuing the regulation on the prime lending rate for the Indonesian banking sector, which took effect in March 2011 and has since led to the decrease of interest rates at Indonesian banks.

Investor Daily, JG
source : the jakarta globe

0 Football: Injuries Robbed Me of My Lethal Speed, Says Retiring Owen

Michael Owen enjoyed a stellar career as a prolific striker for England and Liverpool but said he would reflect in retirement on "what might have been" had he not been robbed of his incredible speed due to injury. Owen, who said on Tuesday he would hang up his boots at the end of the season, burst onto the scene at Liverpool as a 17-year-old and also played at Real Madrid, Newcastle United and Manchester United before signing for Stoke City last year. 

Owen regularly terrorised defences with his breathtaking speed, most memorably with a stunning goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, although in the latter part of his career he has been plagued by injuries. The 33-year-old, who scored 40 times for England in 89 appearances, said he would look back on his long and successful career with pride. "The second emotion that lives with me is a sense of 'what might have been' had injuries not robbed me of my most lethal weapon - speed," Owen wrote on his website (www.michaelowen.com) on Thursday. 

"Many of my highlights were early on in my career and I can only wonder what more I would have achieved had my body been able to withstand the demands that I was making of it," added Owen, the 2001 European Player of the year. "I was almost too quick. I have no doubt that had I not suffered those 'pace depriving' injuries, I would be sat here now with a sack full of awards and a long list of records," said Owen, who tore his hamstring aged 19. Owen scored 158 goals for Liverpool in 297 appearances, the club at which he said he felt "most at home." 

"Winning virtually every trophy at club level is the stuff of dreams but in amongst all that there were some incredible days," said Owen, who won the FA Cup, Owen added a first Premier League winner's medal with United in 2010/11 and said his goal after the current season comes to a close would be to set up a management company in his name on July 1 to help young players in a career "full of pitfalls." "I have seen so many horror stories during my own career and have learnt plenty from my own experiences," said Owen. "The representation of players is an area I believe I can excel in."

Reuters
source : the jakarta globe

0 Japan's No. 2 Yakuza Jailed For Extortion

A "one-eyed" gangster, the number-two man in Japan's biggest yakuza crime organization, was convicted of extortion on Friday, winning a high--profile victory for the country's anti--mob police. Kiyoshi "Mekkachi" Takayama, 65, who reputedly lost the use of his eye in a swordfight early in his career, was jailed for six years. His underworld nickname of "Mekkachi" means "one-eyed" in the dialect of western Japan. 

Takayama is second in command of the Yamaguchi-gumi, a vast organized crime syndicate that had 27,700 members at the end of 2012, according to the National Police Agency. He had been on 1.5 billion yen ($15.7 million) bail for treatment of an illness since June last year. The details of his illness were not reported. It was one of the highest bonds ever set by a Japanese court. 

The highest was 2 billion yen in a case of fraud by a meat importer. Throughout his trial in the western city of Kyoto, the mobster had denied extorting 40 million yen from a local construction company with the help of an affiliated gang boss, reports have said. Presiding judge Akihiro Ogura told the court: "The constructor's testimony that he had been the victim of extortion by the defendant is credible." 

The judge added it was proven that Takayama "implicitly demanded protection money" through the local gang boss. Like the Italian mafia or Chinese triads, the yakuza engages in activities ranging from gambling, drugs and prostitution to loan sharking, protection rackets, white-collar crime and business conducted through front companies. The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities, although there are periodic clampdowns on some of their less savory activities.

Agence France-Presse
source : the jakarta globe