360post: 2017 at 11:57PM

Showing posts with label 2017 at 11:57PM. Show all posts

Saturday, 25 February 2017

US seeks extradition of ex-Guatemalan vice president on drug charges

Guatemalan former vice-president Roxana Baldetti (L) was indicted in US federal court in Washington on drug trafficking charges PHOTO: AFP/JOHAN ORDONEZ

The United States embassy said Friday it will seek the extradition of Guatemala’s former vice president Roxana Baldetti and ex-interior minister Mauricio Lopez on drug trafficking charges.

Baldetti and Lopez were indicted in US federal court in Washington on Wednesday on charges of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine from January 2010 to May 2015, knowing it would ultimately be imported illegally into the United States.

“The US Department of Justice has not yet forwarded an extradition request to the US embassy,” a statement from the mission in Guatemala City read.

The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry responded on Twitter by saying it was not aware of the charges against the pair, who served in the government of former president Otto Perez (2012-2015) and had not yet received an extradition request.

Baldetti is already in prison in Guatemala, serving time on tax fraud and other corruption charges, along with Lopez, who is accused of embezzlement.

The ex-vice president was arrested in August 2015, three months after resigning her post.

The Guatemalan prosecutor’s office has identified her as the alleged leader of a customs fraud network, for which Perez is also being tried and detained.

Lopez has also been accused of giving lavish gifts, including a helicopter bought with illicit funds, to Perez.

Guatemalan politics have been upended by a string of scandals that culminated in Perez’s resignation and arrest in September 2015.

Among other charges, he is accused of money laundering, illegal campaign financing and masterminding a massive customs fraud scheme.

The charges have stoked outrage in a country where more than half the 15.8 million people live on less than $1.50 a day. In October 2015, angry Guatemalans elected a political outsider, TV comedian Jimmy Morales, to replace Perez.

But Morales’s administration has also become ensnared in scandal. His son and brother were arrested earlier this month on corruption charges over suspected fraud in a state food contract.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2la117b

Friday, 24 February 2017

Qwote Ft Trina & Rick Ross – Love Again [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Qwote New Song Release Called “Love Again” Featuring Trina & Rick Ross fourth album Still Da Baddest has been pushed from a February 12th release date to April 1st. The album features production from Jim Jonsin, J-Roc, and Scott Storch and collaborations with Missy Elliott, Keyshia Cole, and Pitbull

DOWNLOAD
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Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kTjsSr

Monday, 20 February 2017

Malaysia summons North Korea envoy as Kim killing row deepens

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Royal Malaysian Police deputy inspector-general Noor Rashid Ibrahim (L) consults with Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat (R) during a press conference at the Bukit Aman national police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on February 19, 2017, following the February 13 assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Malaysian police said on February 19 they were seeking four more North Korean suspects in the February 13 assassination of Kim Jong-Un's half-brother at Kuala Lumpur's main airport, but the four had already left the country. PHOTO: MOHD RASFAN / AFP

Malaysia summoned the North Korean ambassador on Monday for a dressing-down over Pyongyang’s attack on its investigation into the assassination of leader Kim Jong-Nam’s brother, deepening a diplomatic row.

Five North Koreans are in the frame for last week’s airport killing, drawing a furious response from Pyongyang which has accused Kuala Lumpur of conspiring with “hostile forces” to damage its reputation.

Malaysia recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and summoned the North Korean ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, who was told his accusation was “baseless”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The ministry emphasised that as the death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Malaysian government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death,” it said.

The row erupted when Malaysian police rejected North Korean diplomats’ demands to hand over the body of Kim Jong-Nam after he was apparently poisoned at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport.

Ambassador Kang Chol last week told reporters outside the morgue where Jong-Nam’s body is being held that Malaysia was being pressured by South Korea in a bid to defame its northern neighbour.

Seoul has pointed the finger of blame for the attack at the North, citing a “standing order” from Kim Jong-Un to kill his elder sibling and a failed assassination bid in 2012 after he criticised the regime.

“The Malaysian government takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation,” the statement said, after the ambassador’s meeting with Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin.

Chol spent around 90 minutes at the ministry.

The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has also been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations, the statement said.

– Slumped in a chair –

Police said Sunday they believed five North Koreans were involved in the killing, with four having fled the country on the day of the murder.

Officers have already arrested one North Korean living in Kuala Lumpur, an Indonesian woman and her Malaysian boyfriend, as well as a Vietnamese woman.

Three other North Koreans were wanted for questioning, police said.

At least three of four North Korean men at large took a flight from Jakarta to Dubai on the evening of the murder, an Indonesian immigration official said.

They had travelled from Malaysia to Jakarta and after Dubai returned to Pyongyang via Russia, Malaysian media quoted official sources as saying.

The drama erupted last week as Jong-Nam waited in the check-in area of Kuala Lumpur International Airport to board a plane to Macau, where he has been living in recent years.

Footage broadcast on Japanese television, apparently from airport CCTV cameras showed two women approaching a portly man dressed in light trousers and a jacket, with one of them grabbing him from behind.

The man is then seen approaching airport staff and apparently explaining to them what had happened, gesturing to his head.

The staff then lead him to the airport clinic.

Photographs showing a man slumped in a chair at the clinic, consistent with the CCTV images of the attack, were published in the Malaysian press over the weekend.

Jong-Nam suffered a seizure and was rushed to hospital but was dead before he arrived, police said.

He was once thought to be the natural successor to his father, the then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

But after Jong-Il’s death in 2011 the succession went instead to his younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un.

Reports of purges and executions have emerged from the current regime as Jong-Un tries to strengthen his grip on power in the face of international pressure over his nuclear and missile programmes.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2kYBsGN

Monday, 30 January 2017

WATCH VIDEO: Ma-E – Ngawe

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Ma-E presents us with the music video for his recently released single Ngawe. The song was released a week to Christmas.

Watch Ma-E confess his feelings to his love interest below.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kimONF

Toyota loses top-selling automaker crown in 2016 (Read full details)

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Brand new Toyota cars sit on the forecourt of Currie Motors Toyota dealership in Twickenham, west London, on January 26, 2017. Britain's car industry reached its highest production level of the 21st century last year, but with Brexit talks imminent manufacturers are facing uncertain times ahead of the country's EU exit. Car production has driven through economic downturns in the UK and taken off in recent years, with this decade set to be the best the sector has seen since the 1970s. There has been a wave of investment in the country from foreign carmakers, notably Japanese firms Nissan, Toyota and Honda, which between them produce half the cars made in Britain. PHOTO: Adrian DENNIS / AFP

Toyota lost its crown as the world’s top-selling automaker in 2016, company figures showed Monday, with the Japanese giant overtaken by Volkswagen as the industry prepares for an uncertain trade environment under Donald Trump.

The German automaker moved back into the top spot despite being hit by a massive emissions cheating scandal that rocked its reputation.

The carmaker, once a paragon of German industry, was plunged into its deepest-ever crisis after it emerged in September 2015 that it installed emissions-cheating software in millions of diesel engines worldwide.

However, the crisis seemed to have little effect on the firm’s standing with drivers as it announced this month that annual sales rose 3.8 percent in 2016.

The results were boosted by strong performance in China which helped push total sales to 10.3 million, after slipping to 9.93 in 2015. VW group also includes the brands Audi, Porsche and Skoda.

On Monday Toyota said it sold 10.175 million vehicles worldwide last year, a 0.2 percent increase.

The annual figures come as the industry faces an uncertain outlook year with President Trump threatening punitive tariffs on imports into the United States in a bid to force them to manufacture and hire there.

Trump targeted Toyota in one his fiery tweets, criticising its ongoing project to build a new factory in Mexico and threatening it with painful tariffs.

He has also pledged to review several trade deals that he says are detrimental to American workers.

Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported Monday that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, ahead of the latter’s scheduled summit next week with Trump.

Toyota said it could not comment on the report, while Japan’s chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga would not confirm it.

Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to installing so-called “defeat devices” in 11 million vehicles worldwide, after their existence was revealed by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The software caused engines to reduce emissions of harmful nitrogen oxide when they were undergoing regulators’ tests

VW agreed this month to plead guilty to fraud and pay fines amounting to $4.3 billion in the United States to close its emissions cases with the Department of Justice.

Toyota loses top-selling automaker crown in 2016