rithu gossip: 07/12/17

Qatar-US terrorism funding deal insufficient, Saudi-led bloc says

The four Arab states leading a boycott of Qatar say it will continue despite a deal between Washington and Doha to combat the financing of terrorism.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt said the deal brokered by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday was "not enough".

Qatar's government "cannot be trusted", they added, citing previous agreements.

The four have accused the emirate of supporting terrorist groups across the region. It has denied any wrongdoing.

Qatar was presented with a list of demands two weeks ago that included shutting down the Al Jazeera news network, closing a Turkish military base, cutting ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and downgrading relations with Iran.

But after receiving what they called a "negative" response last week, the four states said they would take further "political, economic and legal measures".

Mr Tillerson flew to Doha on Tuesday to sign a memo of understanding between the US and Qatar on terrorism financing that was proposed when President Donald Trump attended the Arab Islamic American Summit in the Saudi capital in May.

"The agreement which we both have signed on behalf of our governments represents weeks of intensive discussions between experts and reinvigorates the spirit of the Riyadh summit," Mr Tillerson told a joint news conference with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani.

"The memorandum lays out a series of steps that each country will take in coming months and years to interrupt and disable terror financing flows and intensify counter-terrorism activities globally," he added.

Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar was the first country in the region to sign such an agreement with the US and called on the "siege" nations to follow suit.

Qatar has acknowledged providing assistance to Islamist groups designated as terrorist organisations by some of its neighbours, notably the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas movement. But it has denied aiding militant groups linked to al-Qaeda or so-called Islamic State.

Later on Tuesday, the Saudi-led bloc issued a joint statement saying that while it appreciated US efforts to combat terrorism, more needed to be done.

"It must be stressed that this step is not enough and the four countries will closely watch how serious the Qatari authorities are in their fight against all forms of funding, supporting and embracing terrorism," the statement said.

The Qatari authorities needed to do show their "seriousness in getting back to the natural and right path" and "comprehensively implement the just demands" of its neighbours, it added.

Mr Tillerson, who has said the demands must be "reasonable and actionable" and called for "constructive dialogue", held talks on Wednesday with the foreign ministers of the four states in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

Nabila Rifo: Chile court cuts jail term of attacker

Chile's Supreme Court has sparked an outcry after reducing the sentence of a man who gouged out his partner's eyes in a notorious case.

Mauricio Ortega had his term shortened from 26 to 18 years.

The court ruled he was not attempting to kill Nabila Rifo when he attacked her.

He beat Ms Rifo until she passed out. Then he gouged out her eyes and left her in the street, where she suffered hypothermia.

The ruling sparked a protest outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday and the story has been trending on Chilean social media, with thousands drawing attention to what they see as an unjust decision.

The Minister for Women's Rights and Gender Equity, Claudia Pascual, told reporters she accepted the court's decision, but did not agree with it.

"When one person strikes another with injuries as serious as is the case of Nabila, it is difficult to think that there was not an intention to kill," she said.

The attack on Ms Rifo in southern Chile last year became a huge symbol of the country's uphill battle against domestic violence.

After she was found in a bloodied heap on a road in Coyhaique, shocked neighbours held a protest calling for "respect and justice".

News spread and soon there were sister demonstrations, 1,500km (900 miles) further north in the capital, Santiago.

President Michelle Bachelet visited her in hospital and when Ortega was sentenced in May 2017, she said justice had been served. "It is fundamental that the country defends women against violence," she tweeted.

Ortega was found guilty of causing serious injury and "attempted femicide" (a legal term in the country, meaning the killing of a woman because of her gender).

However, his defence lawyer, Ricardo Flores, then launched a fight for a retrial in order to reduce the sentence.

Mr Flores said last month: "From the legal point of view, it would have been simpler to have killed her than simply to have left her alive."

President Bachelet tweeted on 21 June: "Outrageous statements from the lawyer of Nabila Rifo's attacker. They stem from deep violence. This can not be tolerated."

The court rejected the appeal for a retrial, but reduced the jail time after overruling the prosecution for "attempted femicide".

During the trial, Ms Rifo, then 28, told the court: "He harassed me for every little thing, for the food that I cooked 'badly'. He told me I was a whore. Sometimes he even dragged me down the stairs."

Ortega is the father to two of her four children.

She told the Chilean press she had shared her story as an example to others.

In a Facebook video statement before the Supreme Court's decision was made, she thanked people for their support and expressed a wish for an outcome that showed women were valued as much as men.

n Twitter, some people expressed frustration that the story was being overshadowed by news that Chilean footballer Alexis Sánchez had a new girlfriend.

The verdict is not open to appeals.

Grégory Villemin case: Former French judge found dead

A former judge who played a leading part in one of France's biggest murder inquiries has been found dead at home with a plastic bag over his head.

Police are investigating Jean-Michel Lambert's death but no signs of a struggle have been reported.

He was in his first job when given the task of investigating the 1984 murder of four-year-old Grégory Villemin.

Mr Lambert had admitted making mistakes and the case was reopened last month when new evidence came to light.

The judge was 32 when he was given the role of investigating a case that was to be a cause celebre for decades to come.

What happened to Grégory Villemin?

Grégory Villemin's body was found with his hands and feet bound in the Vologne river in the north-east of France on 16 October 1984.

Three held in French child murder mystery

His murder became a tale of family rivalries, poison-pen letters and false leads, and his killer has never been found.

A cousin of the boy's father, Bernard Laroche, was soon arrested when his sister-in-law, Muriel Bolle, testified against him. Laroche was released the next year when she retracted her statement, but he was shot dead by the boy's father weeks later.

The father went to jail for Laroche's murder and within months Judge Lambert had turned the inquiry towards the boy's mother, Christine Villemin. She was accused of carrying out his murder in 1985 but eventually cleared in 1993.

By 1987 Judge Lambert had been replaced by another judge, Maurice Simon, whose devastating criticism of his predecessor's work emerged on Wednesday.

According to French news channel BFMTV, Judge Simon wrote at the time in his personal notebooks of Mr Lambert's "intellectual disorder".

"I am in the midst of a miscarriage of justice in all its horror," he wrote of the accusations made against Grégory Villemin's mother.

Mr Lambert had himself admitted he was unprepared for the enormous interest in the case at the time, and had complained of the poor judicial support he had been given.

"I didn't devote the full attention I should have given to the case from the outset," he conceded.

Why has the case been reopened?

Since the collapse of the case, police have been able to take advantage of advances in DNA technology to shed further light on the murder

Last month, three members of the murdered boy's father's family were held by police on suspicion of being accomplices. The boy's great-uncle Marcel Jacob and his wife Jacqueline were placed under formal investigation for kidnapping resulting in death. They were later released from custody.

Then came the arrest of Muriel Bolle amid similar allegations. Fifteen at the time of the murder, it was her testimony that led to the arrest of her brother-in-law Bernard Laroche in 1984. She retracted the evidence but prosecutors believe she was forced to do so by relatives.

Declaring her innocence she went on hunger strike and ended it on Tuesday, the same day the former judge was found dead.

Nigeria's President Buhari to return 'soon' - Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari is "recuperating fast" and will return home "very soon", says Nigeria's acting head of state Yemi Osinbajo.

He made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday morning, after visiting Mr Buhari at the London hospital where he is being treated for an unspecified illness.

Mr Osinbajo, now back in Nigeria, said he had discussed a wide range of issues during the hour-long meeting.

Mr Buhari has been in London since May.

The 74-year-old leader was elected to power in 2015, becoming the first Nigerian opposition leader to win an election.

It is his second period of medical leave in the UK, the first began in January and he returned home in March.

His long absence has led to speculation about whether he will be able to resume his presidential duties.

Africa Live: Updates on this and other stories

Earlier this week, Nigeria's first lady Aisha Buhari launched a cryptic attack, apparently aimed at powerful ruling party politicians suspected of manoeuvring for the presidency or deputy presidency while her husband was ill.

In a Facebook post, Mrs Buhari warned that "hyenas and jackals" would be banished.

The vice-president has been acting in Mr Buhari's place while he is out of the country, but there is no suggestion he is part of any plot against the leader, says the BBC's Naziru Mikailu.

Mrs Buhari's comments came in response to a post from Senator Shehu Sani, who warned that people were "scheming... so that they can be kings".

"Prayers for the absent Lion King has waned," he wrote. "Now the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not."

But Mrs Buhari appeared to calm any concerns - suggesting her husband, positioned as the defender of the "weaker animals", was on the mend.

"God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals, the hyenas and jackals will soon be sent out the kingdom."

Canadian father struck by lightning at daughter's wedding

No one likes a dull wedding, but one father-of-the-bride's speech was a little too electrifying at his daughter's ceremony last weekend.

JP Nadeau was reportedly struck by lightning mid-sentence in his apple orchard in New Brunswick, Canada.

"And just as I told my new son-in-law 'You're a lucky guy' - Boom!" he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Aside from a small scar on his thumb, Mr Nadeau says he was unscathed and the wedding proceeded.

Storm clouds had gathered behind him at the ceremony on 8 July, he said, and his daughter saw lightning strike the ground nearby.

"I had the microphone and the shock jumped into the sound system and my hand just lit up and I saw the spark," he told the CBC.

"And I'm looking at my hand and it's all flared up… It was like I was holding a lightning bolt in my hand, it was amazing."

Everyone was stunned at first, but that didn't stop the happy couple from continuing with the festivities.

"It was a beautiful wedding," Mr Nadeau's wife, Maggy Thomas, told the CBC.

"But that was pretty terrifying for a second."

Mr Nadeau says he's a lucky-unlucky man - in 2015, a cruise ship he was working on near the Falkland Islands caught fire, and he was rescued by the British Royal Air Force.

"I've had lots of brushes with death," said Mr Nadeau. "But death keeps ignoring me."

Brexit: EU negotiator Barnier firm on citizens' rights

The EU's top Brexit negotiator has said there are still major differences between the EU and UK on the rights of EU citizens living in Britain.

"The British position does not allow those persons concerned to continue to live their lives as they do today," Michel Barnier said.

Mr Barnier said the European Court of Justice (ECJ) must have jurisdiction to guarantee citizens' rights.

He also said it was essential that the UK recognise its financial obligations.

If Britain did not accept it had some financial obligations, there would be no basis to discuss other issues, he said.

Ahead of the second round of talks next week, Mr Barnier said the EU had made its stance on the issues clear and was waiting on Britain to do the same.

"Our team is ready," he said. " I'm ready. I'm very prepared and willing to work on this very quickly - night and day, the weekend."

"We want EU citizens in Britain to have the same rights as British citizens who live in the EU," he told a news conference.

That would require the ECJ to be the "ultimate guarantor" of those rights, he said, because Britain could simply change its laws later, creating uncertainty.

UK law also imposes restrictions in areas such as reuniting families across borders, he said - something which was not applied to UK citizens living in Spain, for example.

Analysis: Charm and menace

Adam Fleming, BBC News, Brussels

Michel Barnier's message to the UK was: it's time to get a move on, to provide more clarity about the British position on a range of issues.

"As soon as possible," was his request, with the EU's chief negotiator joking that he was willing to work over the weekend and on Friday, which is a bank holiday in his native France.

The biggest sticking point appears to be the EU's insistence that Britain settles its outstanding financial obligations. Asked about Boris Johnson's suggestion on Tuesday that the EU could "go whistle", he joked that the only sound he could hear was a clock ticking.

There was copious evidence of the Barnier charm - but he was happy to turn on the menace, repeating several times that the UK would have to face the "consequences" of its choice to depart the EU.

Trying to sound eminently reasonable, he denied that his demand for a financial payment was a "ransom" or a "punishment."

Mr Barnier also said that those rights - along with the "divorce payment" and border issues - must be dealt with before future UK-EU trade could be discussed.

The financial payment the EU says will be owed to cover the UK's commitments is also a key point for Mr Barnier. Estimates have put the amount at anywhere from €60bn to €100bn (£53-89bn).

Asked about UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's comment that the EU could "go whistle" over the demand, Mr Barnier replied: "I'm not hearing any whistling. Just the clock ticking."

He denied that the EU was holding the UK government to ransom, and said it was simply a matter of "trust".

"It is not an exit bill, it is not a ransom - we won't ask for anything else than what the UK has committed to as a member," he said.

Mr Barnier also announced he would meet other key politicians on Thursday who were not part of Theresa May's government - including opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, representatives from the House of Lords, and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales.

"I have always made clear that I will listen to different points on view in the British debate," he said.

"Of course, I will only negotiate with the UK government," he added.

Trump defends 'innocent' son Donald Jr over Russia meeting

Donald Trump has defended his son over a meeting with a Russian lawyer during his presidential campaign, calling him "open, transparent and innocent".

He tweeted hours after Donald Trump Jr spoke to Fox News about the meeting he was told would offer Kremlin-linked information about Hillary Clinton.

Critics accuse Mr Trump Jr of intent to collude with the Russians, and believe he may have broken federal laws.

Mr Trump Jr told Fox News the meeting was "such a nothing".

However, he accepted he should have handled it differently.

Earlier in the day Mr Trump Jr had released the email exchange that brought about the meeting, after being informed the New York Times was about to publish it.

US officials are investigating alleged Russian meddling in the US election.

Since he was elected, President Trump has been dogged by allegations that Russia tried to sabotage Mrs Clinton's campaign.

He has denied any knowledge of this and Russia has also repeatedly denied interfering.

What do the emails reveal?

Mr Trump Jr received an email from an intermediary, British music publicist Rob Goldstone, promising documents from Russia that would incriminate Mrs Clinton.

At that time, his father was the presumptive Republican nominee and heading towards an election fight against his Democratic rival.

The meeting was reportedly arranged by Russian businessman Aras Agalarov and his son Emin, a pop star who was managed for a time by Mr Goldstone.

One email from Mr Goldstone said the information they had been promised was "obviously very high-level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr Trump".

Mr Trump Jr's response to it was: "If it's what you say I love it."

Mr Trump Jr, his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and then campaign chairman Paul Manafort met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York in June 2016.

It became apparent, Mr Trump Jr later said, that Ms Veselnitskaya wanted to discuss a suspended programme for Americans to adopt Russian children.

Why was this British guy emailing Trump Jr?

What did Trump Jr say about the meeting?

Donald Trump Jr told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he did not tell his father about last year's meeting: "It was such a nothing. There was nothing to tell.

"I mean, I wouldn't have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame."

In retrospect, he would have done things a little differently, Mr Trump Jr told Fox News, but he defended his actions.

"This is before the Russia mania, this is before they were building this up in the press. For me this was opposition research, they had something you know maybe concrete evidence to all the stories I'd been hearing about."

But the meeting went nowhere, he said, and it was apparent Mrs Clinton was not the subject.

He could not vouch for the information he was sent, he said.

"Someone sent me an email. I can't help what someone sends me. I read it, I responded accordingly, and if there was something interesting there, I think that's pretty common."

But his father promised to give a "major speech" about Mrs Clinton just hours after Mr Trump Jr set up the meeting with Ms Veselnitskaya.

In a speech on 7 June, 2016 - the same day Mr Trump Jr offered a meeting with the Russian lawyer - the then-Republican candidate said he would discuss "all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons" on the following Monday.

"I think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting," Mr Trump added.

A day before the meeting, the website DCLeaks, which US intelligence officials say Russians used in their election interference, began publishing documents related to Clinton donors.

A week later, DCLeaks released internal Clinton campaign documents.

In July the anti-secrecy website Wikileaks would publish thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

What has the other reaction been?

President Trump has defended his son twice now in tweets. His most recent says Donald Trump Jr did a "good job" on Fox News and called it "the great Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!"

On Tuesday, he described his son as a "high quality person", something that spawned a number of memes on social media.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any link to the Russian lawyer, and Ms Veselnitskaya herself has said she was never in possession of information that could have damaged Mrs Clinton.

Mr Goldstone has also denied any knowledge of involvement in the election by the Russian government.

Trump Jr's habit for headline-making

Could a prosecution follow?

Legal experts say that Mr Trump Jr could fall foul of campaign finance laws, which prohibit accepting anything of value from a foreign government or foreign national.

His apparently enthusiastic response to the offer of information about Mrs Clinton could also breach conspiracy laws.

But journalist and USA Today contributor Michael Wolff told the BBC's Newsnighton Tuesday that that there was no evidence of criminal activity.

"There's no crime that we know of yet," he said. "But we certainly are a big step forward to the circumstance in which there could be collusion in the commission of a crime. And that's important because just to establish collusion, as the Trump people are desperately saying today, is not a crime."

The idea that Mr Trump Jr could fall foul of electoral law was also downplayed by Mr Wolff.

"I think that's a kind of a sideshow at this point. One of the other aspects... is the media response to this which is a paroxysm of glee and delight and I-told-you-so and game over."