China Adopts Measures to Stop Domestic Violence
Chinese authorities of the Shenyang province joined the neighborhood resident committees to stop domestic violence and if the initiative succeeds, it will be extended to other regions of the country.
According to reports on Monday, the practice has been effective due to neighbors intervention, because in most cases women do not report violence against them, since they depend economically on their husbands, feel ashamed or think the incident will not happen again.
In a country where that crime does not appears in the legislation, police intervention is vital, but the authority can only come when the victim calls.
A long report in the China Daily newspaper that includes interviews with victims, volunteers, police agents and experts said that in Liaoning, capital of Shenyang, an intervention center was established jointly with the resident committee and it has assisted 50 cases since August.
This program was successfully extended to 124 neighborhoods, said Yang Xiaodan, president of the Chinese Women’s Federation, on the occasion on Sunday of the International Day for the Eradication of Violence against Women.
Police spokespersons said that in recent years, 20 percent of the emergency calls were due to attacks against women, and before creation of these centers, the attackers kept on beating women after the police left, because they considered it a family problem.
Arab League Criticizes U.S. for Postponing Nuclear Meeting
The Arab League (AL) issued a communiqué criticizing the U.S. government”s decision to postpone the conference on nuclear disarmament by imposing preconditions that were described as unnecessary.
The conditions set by Washington contradict international commitments on the agreements reached at the 2010 conference on the revision of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In Washington, official spokespersons said that the delay of the meeting is caused by the situation in the Middle East, referring to political tensions that involve several States in the region.
However, many think that the U.S. sponsors took the decision to postpone the conference due to the Arab countries’ intention to denounce Israel’s growing nuclear arsenal, estimated at 200-400 atomic bombs.
Tel Aviv has never admitted the possession of weapons of mass destruction, a fact that became known after one of the scientists who participated in Israel’s nuclear program with military ends made undeniable revelations.
New Attempt in Eurozone to Resolve Greek Issue
With the heavy weight of a total absence of effective agreements overshadowing the Finance Ministers for the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), meetings begin again today to deal with the subject of Greece´s debt.
In the third such meeting in fifteen days, officials are trying to unblock a second rescue package for Greece; that is, the 31.2 billion euros pending since last June.
However, first they must agree on whether part of the official loans to Athens may be erased in order to reduce its debt.
According to experts, another option that might reduce the debt level by almost 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), would be to defer interest payments for ten years on loans to Greece sourcing from the temporary rescue fund.
The main problem is that not all the central banks in the Eurozone, among them those of Germany, are disposed to renounce their benefits.
The IMF wants the Hellenic nation to reduce its public debt by 120 percent of GDP in 2020, but the Europeans believe that the best option is to delay this objective until 2022.
Via PL