Global News Blog

Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks to the media following a leadership ballot for the Labour Party at parliament in Canberra, Australia, June 26. Rudd announced Friday that all asylum seekers arriving in the country by boat will be sent to Papua New Guinea. (Rick Rycroft/AP)

As elections loom in Australia, prime minister shuts door on refugees

By John Zubrzycki, Contributor / 07.19.13

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Friday that all asylum seekers arriving in the country by boat will henceforth be turned away and instead processed in neighboring Papua New Guinea, solidifying his hardline stance on immigration ahead of upcoming elections. 

But no sooner had he made his announcement, news broke of a major riot on the remote Pacific island of Nauru where more than 150 asylum seekers have been protesting for weeks over delays in having their applications for refugee status in Australian assessed.

There were conflicting reports as to whether Mr. Rudd’s announcement triggered the riot. Quoted by local media, guards at the processing center where asylum seekers are held, said 300 of the 500 detainees had escaped and that parts of the complex were on fire. There were reports that at least 15 guards have been injured and that a number of interpreters and medical staff were held hostage for an hour before being released. 

With local police overwhelmed by the scale of the disturbance, one Nauruan politician went on television calling for any able-bodied volunteers to head for the processing center.

Australians have grown used to seeing riots at detention centers for asylum seekers such as the those on Nauru and the Australian territory of Christmas Island, the main disembarkation point for boat people sailing from Indonesia. The debate over how to stop the arrivals has polarized the electorate.

Refugee advocates see the latest riot on Nauru as a taste of things to come, now that Australia will be sending asylum seekers to the small island of Manus, off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, for processing. Those found to be genuine refugees will be settled in that country. Those rejected will be sent home or to a third country.

“If Papua New Guinea wants to see into the future, it should look at what is what is happening on Nauru right now,” says Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

Mr. Rintoul says the prime minister’s announcement today that Australia was closing the door for good on asylum seekers was a sign that “he would do absolutely anything to gain electoral advantage over the opposition." Rudd is expected to call an election on Sunday, using his new hardline approach to dealing with boat arrivals as one of his signature policies.

Under pressure from refugee advocacy groups, Australia’s immigration department earlier this month agreed to remove women and children from the detention facility on Manus Island because it was deemed to be "too remote" and under-resourced. Now the facility on Manus will be expanded from its current capacity of 600 to 3,000 people under a deal reached between Rudd and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill this week.

But if today’s riot on Nauru is any indication, such a policy is fraught with danger. Papua New Guinea suffers from entrenched poverty, high levels of crime, rampant corruption, and poor standards of healthcare. Burdening the country with the added problem of resettling thousands of refugees is likely to harm the host country as well as those whose desperation led them to flee their homelands in the first place.

The gamble may pay off for Rudd by securing him a second term as prime minister, but it could come at a high cost for Australian foreign relations in years to come. 

A Muslim carries a placard protesting against the fatal shootings of four villagers by government troops on Thursday, in Jammu, India, Friday, July 19. Authorities have imposed a curfew in most parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday following a strike call and a protest rally by separatists to protest the killing of four villagers in the Himalayan region. (Channi Anand/AP)

Kashmir locked down amid strikes, protests over deadly shooting

By Jeremy Ravinsky, Correspondent / 07.19.13

The streets of Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, were mostly empty today and in towns across the region, businesses, and government buildings closed their doors. But the quiet belied tensions simmering across Jammu and Kashmir following the killing of four protesters by Kashmir’s paramilitary Border Security Forces (BSF) on Thursday.

Clashes between residents and police prompted authorities to issue curfews in several of the largest towns, while separatist leaders called for a three-day strike in response to the incident.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani called for a regionwide shut down, while most other prominent separatists were arrested to stop them from leading rallies against the government, according to Agence France-Presse. 

In the town of Doda, in Chenab valley, demonstrations drew hundreds of people today before turning violent, reports The Hindu. The clashes with police left 20 people injured, including five police officers.

Elsewhere, security forces allegedly drove off protesters in several areas, including Nowhatta and Rajouri Kadal, according to The Hindustan Times. Meanwhile, cities and towns across the region have answered the call to strike. Even Kashmir University has postponed exams that were due to be held today, reports the Express Tribune.

In order to preempt further protests, a curfew has been imposed in all major towns across Kashmir. The decision to enact a curfew was made Thursday night in Srinagar by top security officials, and has also been put into effect in Shopian, Pulwama, and Kulgam, among other places. The Times of India has reported that restrictions on public assembly have been imposed in the rest of Kashmir valley.

In Srinagar, hundreds of paramilitary forces have been mobilized, and barricades and police checkpoints have been set up to prevent further unrest. Internet services, however, have been restored, according to The Hindustan Times.

The tensions followed the killing of four protesters in Ramban district on Thursday by paramilitary forces. Protests outside a BSF camp were sparked by rumors of the police desecrating a Quran and assaulting an elderly Mosque caretaker. BSF authorities, in an attempt to disperse the crowd, fired of shots, killing four and injuring dozens more.

The incident is one of many violent altercations to have broken out this year in Kashmir, a state whose sovereignty is contested by both India and Pakistan. After years of war between the two nuclear rivals, a stalemate was reached and the region was bifurcated by a “Line of Control” in 1972.

A Kashmir independence insurgency began in the 1990s and raged for more than a decade, traumatizing the region. Tensions between Kashmir Muslims, about 95 percent of the population, and Indian occupying forces, could be on the rise after a number of years of relative peace.

As the Christian Science Monitor reports:

Now, people are worried that the violence of the ‘90s may be returning. In March, heavily armed rebel militants attacked police headquarters in Srinagar, resulting in seven deaths. And in June, rebels attacked a military convoy, killing eight soldiers and injuring 14 more.

The BSF troops in Ramban where the shooting took place were removed before the funeral of the victims, reports The Hindu, and replaced by a police contingent. The funerals took place without any interruptions, and Ramban district has remained relatively calm in the wake of the incident.

Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has publicly condemned the shooting and has ordered an official inquiry into the matter, writes the Hindustan Times.

"It is unfortunate that in spite of costly lessons learnt in 2008 and 2010, some amongst us are determined to repeat past mistakes and use force against unarmed protesters. Such incidents risk throwing the entire peaceful atmosphere in jeopardy," he said.

Missy Franklin executes a backstroke start at the US National Championships. (Michael Conroy/AP)

Good Reads: From raising champions, to Norway’s slow TV, to making real friends

By Jenna Fisher, Staff writer / 07.19.13

A true champion

Missy Franklin isn’t your ordinary teenager. Not only does the 18-year-old four-time Olympic medalist get straight A’s and spend her free time visiting children’s hospitals, she’s known to be one of the nicest elite gold medal athletes out there. So how did her parents raise such a well-adjusted champ? 

“There is no blueprint,” writes ESPN The Magazine’s Wayne Drehs. “More often than not, parents are making mistakes without even realizing it. In [the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State’s] 2005 study of elite youth tennis players ... roughly 30% of parents were unintentionally acting in a way that troubled their children. It could be as simple as the way a father holds his face in his hands after his son strikes out, or as complex as an up-and-coming tennis star, seeing the money his parents are shelling out for coaching and travel, feeling pressure to deliver on the investment.”

But the Franklins’ effort to not get caught up in the race to athletic insanity seems to have worked: “If it’s one thing my parents have taught me it’s to follow my heart,” says Ms. Franklin in a related ESPN video.

Is it that simple? “By many standards, Missy is spoiled. Her parents have built their lives around her needs and her schedule,” writes Mr. Drehs. “But somehow, Missy hasn’t devolved into a self-centered egomaniac. Instead, she’s the exact opposite.”

What Americans do best

Empathy is spreading in Kyrgyzstan, and just in time, writes Emily Canning for Registan.net, with the introduction of a new TV show called “Dorm,” funded in part by the United States. (Think a Russian “Friends” with a sentimental moral in each episode.) The show confronts pressing social issues that include racism, corruption, and cross-border tensions with neighboring Uzbekistan. While Ms. Canning laments the US government cutbacks for research and education in Central Asia, a critical area as American troops pull out of Afghanistan, “Dorm” serves as a good reminder of what she says Americans truly do best: entertainment.

Norway’s ‘slow TV’ movement

While many networks around the Western world are vying for viewers with short attention spans and a hunger for the latest exciting concept, a rather odd thing is happening in Norway, writes Mark Lewis for TimeWorld.

“More than 3 million people out of a population of 5 million tuned in to ‘Hurtigruten: Minutt for Minutt,’ the five-day, nonstop cruise program, at some point during its marathon broadcast.” That’s right. They tuned in to stare at a live feed showing people enjoying a cruise. Not an MTV-drama-filled cruise, mind you, just a rather normal cruise that your grandma might take, without the scripts that have taken over “reality” TV. Building on that success as well as that of an evening-long program about firewood, the network has plans to release a minute-by-minute knitting program this winter. The producers are already swamped with e-mails and calls from viewers wanting to be involved in some way.

Why? Part of it, Mr. Lewis writes, is that these “slow TV” programs “hark back to a simpler time when people enjoyed the more spartan pleasures of stoking fires, enjoying the landscape and knitting warm clothes for the freezing Nordic winter.” But ultimately this is something that’s different, and strange – and that is exciting. 

Growing real, local friends

It’s no secret that processed foods are out, and local, organic foods are in. The logic behind why now extends to digital friendships as well, writes Alexis C. Madrigal in The Atlantic Monthly. “Processed relationships get scare quotes: Facebook ‘friends.’ Processed relationships can’t be as genuine or authentic or honest as real life friendships.... So the solution is to make local friends, hang out organically, and only communicate through means your Grandma would recognize. It’s so conservative it’s radical!”

The theory behind this emerging trend is that “by stripping away the trappings of modern life, we reach a place where humans naturally fall into deep and honest relationships with each other,” says Ms. Madrigal.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been mused about by everyone from Henry David Thoreau to Naturalists in the 1960s and ’70s. Today it may seem more pertinent than ever: It’s hard to think when our phone is always making noises. 

But Madrigal cautions that just as any individual’s dietary habits don’t solve global agriculture’s issues, “the biggest technological problems of our time ... are collective problems that will require collective action based on serious critique.”

Productive people are early risers  

Ever wonder why productive people get up insanely early? Paul DeJoe, writing in an op-ed for Fast Company, may have figured it out: Morning is the one time in the day when there is no pressure and no expectations. “The second you check email or LinkedIn, an internal clock of new items immediately starts in our minds – a vicious cycle. Planning your day the night before allows you to feel on top of your day and even look forward to it.”

– Jenna Fisher / Staff writer

People gather in support of opposition figure Alexei Navalny who was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison, in the center of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, July 18. Navalny was convicted of embezzlement Thursday and sentenced to five years in prison, a harsh ruling his supporters called an obvious attempt to shut down a top foe of President Vladimir Putin and intimidate other opposition activists. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Opposition leader Navalny joins growing roster of jailed opponents of Putin (+video)

By Fred Weir, Correspondent / 07.18.13

The conviction and sentencing today of anticorruption blogger Alexei Navalny has focused minds around the world on something that's allegedly been going on in Russia since Vladimir Putin came to power and accelerating over time: the selective application of criminal charges and Kremlin-controlled courts to smear and immobilize political actors who refuse to play by the rigged rules of "managed democracy."

For many people, especially those who respect Mr. Putin as a leader who rescued Russia from a catastrophic downward spiral in the 1990s, it's not exactly obvious that is what's happening. After all, no one in Russia today is being explicitly prosecuted, Soviet-style, for their political opinions. 

The charges against Mr. Navalny, that he embezzled the equivalent of $500,000 from a state timber company while acting as advisor to a regional governor, sound plausible enough. And he was convicted, in a court of law. "Navalny. . . committed a grave crime," said Judge Sergei Blinov as he passed a five year prison sentence on Navalny Thursday.

Yet increasing numbers of people insist that they have no faith in Russia's courts, nor in the law enforcement bodies that choose which investigations to pursue and what evidence to admit. 

They include US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who issued a distinctly undiplomatic Tweet after hearing of the verdict: "We are deeply disappointed in the conviction of @Navalny and the apparent political motivations in this trial." Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who has repeatedly lambasted Mr. Putin for hijacking Russia's democratic experiment, posted a comment on his foundation's website contending that the conviction of Navalny "is proof that we do not have independent courts" in Russia.

The key reason that many long-term observers of Russia have arrived at this conclusion is that Navalny, who is one of Russia's best-known opposition figures due to his highly-effective anticorruption blogging, is far from the only anti-Kremlin politician to have been targeted with elaborate criminal charges.

One of the first was oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who may have made his fortune through dubious methods in the 1990s along with numerous other "oligarchs," but was only arrested and charged with tax evasion 10 years ago after he refused to stop supporting opposition politicians and funding critical civil society groups. Legal experts have disputed the state's case against Mr. Khodorkovsky, and a court clerk told journalists that his second trial in 2011 was thoroughly stage-managed by the Kremlin, but he remains defiant and – some say therefore – is kept in prison. Many recent signals suggest that the Kremlin's powerful Investigative Committee is preparing a third trial against Khodorkovsky to keep the renegade oligarch in his Siberian penal colony after his second term expires next year.

A surprisingly large number of leaders lifted to prominence by the street protest movement that appeared after mass electoral fraud was alleged in December 2011 Duma elections have since found themselves charged with a variety of crimes. They include Navalny, who will probably have to drop his bid to challenge pro-Kremlin incumbent Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin in September elections.

The leader of the Left Front, which dominates the left flank of the protest movement, Sergei Udaltsov, is under house arrest and, along with several associates, charged in an elaborate foreign-funded conspiracy to overthrow the Russian government using street protests as a springboard for revolution. At least two dozen people who attended a rally on Bolotnaya Square on the eve of Putin's third-term inauguration last year are awaiting trial for allegedly attempting to stage "mass disturbances" planned by Mr. Udaltsov.

Two parliamentarians who supported the protest movement, Gennady Gudkov and Ilya Ponomaryov, have faced endless legal woes. Among other things, Mr. Gudkov was expelled from the Duma last year, while Mr. Ponomaryov has been named by the Investigative Committee in a still-developing corruption scandal that may expand to include government figures who failed to crack down on the protest movement.

Early this month Yevgeny Urlashov, the popular mayor of Yaroslavl, one of Russia's largest cities, was arrested and charged with soliciting a bribe of about $500,000. Mr. Urlashov, who had defeated a candidate of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, taking almost 70 percent of the vote, was planning to head an opposition slate for September regional elections.

No one assumes that liberals or leftists in power are necessarily any less corrupt than pro-Kremlin politicians, and Urlashov's case might not be remarkable if he were the only one. But according to a study by political scientist Mikhail Tulsky, about 50 independent mayors, or over 90 percent of all non-United Russia mayors elected to lead Russian municipalities, have been arrested or removed from office on a variety of criminal pretexts over the past three years.

Kremlin supporters have two responses to all this. First, they argue, criminals always shout "political persecution" when they get nabbed. Second, they say, critics like Mr. McFaul and Mr. Gorbachev are motivated by political animus against Putin and Russia. It's in their interests to transform people like Navalny into martyrs.

Opinion polls show that Putin remains extremely popular, with public approval ratings that routinely top 60 percent. Opposition figures, including Navalny, have little name recognition among the Russian population – at least outside of Moscow and other large cities – and miniscule support even among those who know of them. 

Hence, Kremlin supporters argue, why on Earth should Russian authorities want to fabricate cases against them?

That question still can't be definitively answered, though grounds for skepticism are growing by the day.

But before anyone concludes that such skepticism about the state of Russia's institutions is the invention of ill-intentioned Western journalists and diplomats, joined by Russia's beleaguered liberals, consider this May public opinion survey by the independent Levada Center in Moscow, which clearly shows that it's far-and-away the majority view among ordinary Russians.

When asked "Do you think that the trial of Alexei Navalny is the result of his political activities and his opposition views?" 59 percent of Russians answered "yes" while just 19 percent said "no."

Kashmiri protesters throw stones at Indian paramilitary soldiers during a protest against the killing of four villagers Wednesday night, in Srinagar, India, Thursday, July 18. Police in the Indian portion of Kashmir say government forces have killed at least four people and injured dozens more who were protesting the alleged desecration of the Muslim holy book by border guards. (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

In Kashmir, police open fire on protesters

By Jeremy Ravinsky, Correspondent / 07.18.13

Indian paramilitary forces opened fire on demonstrators today, killing at least four people and injuring dozens more, after protests erupted at a security base in Kashmir. The incident, which took place in Ramban district, marks yet another confrontation between Kashmiris and Indian occupying forces this year in the contested Himalayan region.

The protests started in response to an incident yesterday, when Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) allegedly entered a mosque looking for militants, according to The Associated Press. Protesters claim the BSF troops assaulted a caretaker and desecrated a Quran.

BSF Inspector General Rajive Krishan denied that the incident happened, saying protests began because of “antinational elements,” reports Reuters.

[Mr. Krishan] told a news conference the deaths occurred when his men and police fired to disperse a violent mob trying to get into a post where arms and ammunition were stored.

"Our men used the force for self defence," Krishan said.

After rumors of the allegations spread, protesters gathered in front of BSF headquarters when shots were fired into the crowd. Tensions have since been high in Ramban, where a group of angry demonstrators tried to set the district magistrate’s office on fire, writes the Times of India.

Local authorities have imposed a curfew in Ramban, reports NDTV. They have also shut down mobile Internet access.

Kashmir has a long and troubled history with curfews. In 2010, nonviolent demonstrations were violently put down by police forces and curfews were subsequently imposed, reports The Christian Science Monitor. In response, young men started pelting stones at authorities. Members of the community worried that the retaliatory cycle could renew violence in the war-torn northern region.

Kashmir, whose population is majority Muslim, has been the subject of numerous wars between India and Pakistan, which both claim sovereignty over the territory. Today, a de facto border called the “Line of Control” divides the areas of Indian and Pakistani authority.

In the 1990s, militants from Pakistan joined with Kashmiri separatists, and a bloody guerrilla war broke out that lasted more than a decade. In recent years the violence has petered out as Kashmiris turned to nonviolent tactics for gaining independence. But India still maintains an enormous counterinsurgency force in Kashmir, effectively creating a police state.

Now, people are worried that the violence of the ‘90s may be returning. In March, heavily armed rebel militants attacked police headquarters in Srinagar, resulting in seven deaths. And in June, rebels attacked a military convoy, killing eight soldiers and injuring 14 more.

The shooting in Ramban today has only aggravated tensions. Protests broke out as far away as Srinagar today, 110 miles' distance, reports Reuters. Other demonstrators blocked a main highway.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is appealing to people to maintain calm, according to the Hindustan Times.

In New Delhi, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde ordered an inquiry into the firing incident in Ramban district and said any excessive use of force will be dealt with strictly.

"I have ordered an inquiry to be conducted without any loss of time to ascertain the circumstances leading to the firing. I assure that any use of excessive force or irresponsible action shall be dealt with strictly," he said in a statement.

The empty space where Henri Matisse' painting 'La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune' was hanging is seen at Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands, last October. A Romanian museum is analyzing ashes found in a stove to see if they are the remains of seven paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and others that were stolen last year from the Netherlands, an official said Tuesday. (Peter Dejong/AP/File)

Did Romanian mom torch Monet, Matisse, and Picasso along with her slippers?

By Arthur Bright, Staff writer / 07.18.13

Did a cache of priceless stolen art go up in smoke in a Romanian village?

That's what the art world is afraid of, amid reports that museum forensic specialists from Romania's National History Museum are analyzing ashes found in an oven in the village of the mother of the suspected heist ringleader.

The Associated Press reports that according to Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, the museum's director, investigators found "small fragments of painting primer, the remains of canvas, the remains of paint" and copper and steel nails, some of which pre-dated the 20th century, in an oven in the village of Caracliu where Olga Dogaru lives. Mrs. Dogaru's son was arrested in January in connection with the theft of seven paintings – including works by Matisse, Monet, and Picasso – from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum last October.

Olga Dogaru says she first buried the art in an abandoned house and later in a cemetery in the village. But in February, when investigators began searching the village, she says she dug them up and burned them, reports BBC News.

"I placed the suitcase containing the paintings in the stove. I put in some logs, slippers and rubber shoes and waited until they had completely burned," the Romanian Mediafax news agency reported her as saying.

Six Romanians have been charged with involvement in what was the biggest art theft in the Netherlands since 20 works disappeared from Amsterdam's Van Gogh museum in 1991. They go on trial next month.

Mr. Oberlander-Tarnoveanu said that investigators "discovered a series of substances which are specific to paintings and pictures," including lead, zinc, and azurite, in the oven. And while he would not say whether the ashes belonged to the stolen paintings, he said that if they did, it was "a crime against humanity."

The stolen works were Pablo Picasso's 1971 "Harlequin Head"; Claude Monet's 1901 "Waterloo Bridge, London" and "Charing Cross Bridge, London"; Henri Matisse's 1919 "Reading Girl in White and Yellow"; Paul Gauguin's 1898 "Girl in Front of Open Window"; Meyer de Haan's "Self-Portrait" of around 1890; and Lucian Freud's 2002 work "Woman with Eyes Closed." The BBC writes that they were worth between $130 million and $260 million.

The pieces were taken last October in a daring theft from the Kunsthal, which was showing them as part of an exhibition called Avant-Gardes, a selection of 150 works from the Triton Foundation Collection, privately assembled by wealthy Dutch entrepreneur Willem Cordia and his wife, Marijke.

The museum had “state-of-the-art" security, according to its director, though it was purely technological – no guards were present on site. Ton Cremers, a consultant on museum security, told the Monitor at the time that the works of art, which could easily be seen from outside through the windows, were perhaps too visible. “You want works of such value in the heart of your building, in a separate space,” Mr. Cremers said.

Cremers also warned that chances of recovery were slim.

“For paintings, that chance is around 30 to 40 percent. On average it takes about seven years,” he says. But he notes that there is no guarantee of recovery, pointing to two works by Vincent van Gogh that were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in December 2002. Two thieves were sentenced for that crime in 2005, but the stolen paintings have never been recovered.

Chris Marinello of the Art Loss Register, which specializes in tracking down stolen artworks, told the AP that if Dogaru did indeed destroy the paintings, "this isn't the first time the mothers of art thieves have come to the rescue of their son."

One case involved a prolific French criminal named Stephane Breitwieser, who stole more than 200 works from small museums across Europe in the late 1990s.

His mother admitted to destroying dozens of the works after police began investigating her son. She cut up paintings, stuffed the remnants down her garbage disposal, and threw valuable jewels and other antiquities into a canal.

She was arrested after some of the items resurfaced. "Old Masters were washing up on the bank," Marinello said.

British Open pairings: Fred Couples of the US tees off on the 15th hole during a practice round ahead of the British Open golf championship at Muirfield in Scotland Wednesday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

British Open pairings: Former champions hold special place at Muirfield

By Pat Murphy, Staff / 07.17.13

The 142nd British Open golf championship gets underway Thursday at Muirfield. This will be the 16th time the Scottish course has hosted the Open Championship.

As with any golfing major, former winners hold an esteemed place of honor at the British Open. This year, no fewer than 17 former Open champions will tee it up in the first two rounds. And the R&A (formerly The Royal & Ancient Golf Club) has set up some interesting groups for the large British golf crowds to follow the first two days.

Former three-time champion Nick Faldo of Britain will be paired with American and former five-time champion Tom Watson. Former Masters champ Fred Couples rounds out the threesome that will tee off at 4 a.m. Eastern time Thursday.

Two-time defending champion Ernie Els of South Africa will play with current US Open champion Justin Rose of Britain and American Brandt Snedeker. This group will start their round at 4:11 a.m. Eastern Thursday.

Phil Mickelson, the recently-crowned Scottish Open champion, is paired with former US Open and PGA champion Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, a threesome that will tee off at 4:44 a.m. Eastern.

While Mickelson was winning last week in Scotland, 19-year-old Jordan Spieth won his first PGA Tour event at the John Deere Classic. The Texas teenager, whose sparkling play at last year's US Open opened eyes, will play the first two rounds of his very first British Open with British amateur Matthew Fitzpatrick and Russell Healy of the US. They will tee off at 7:50 a.m. Eastern time.

Another threesome packed with star power hits the Scottish links at 9:12 a.m. Eastern. Defending Masters champion Adam Scott of Australia will go out with England's Luke Donald, No. 9 in the world this year, and American Matt Kuchar, who has won twice on the PGA Tour this season.

Last but not least, former three-time Open champion Tiger Woods will be joined by another former champion, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, and former US Open champ Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. This group will begin play at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time.

The British Open is scheduled to be televised by ESPN, beginning at 4 a.m. Eastern time, Thursday through Sunday.

An Indian cook distributes free school lunches to children at a government run school in Patna, India, Wednesday, July 17. On Tuesday, at least 21 children died and more than two dozen others were sick after eating a free school lunch that was tainted with insecticide, in Gandamal village in Masrakh block, 50 miles north of Patna. (Aftab Alam Siddiqui/AP)

Indian school lunch tragedy reveals problems with food safety

By Jeremy Ravinsky, Correspondent / 07.17.13

• A daily roundup of global news reports.

The usually busy markets closed early today, and traffic is almost nonexistent in the town of Chapra, in India’s Bihar Province. But the streets are far from quiet. A bandh, or demonstration, has been called and protesters are out on the street, demanding answers for the tragedy that struck this small provincial city some 550 miles from New Delhi.

As of midday on Wednesday, 22 children – all under the age of 12 – have died after eating tainted government school lunch program meals, while dozens more are reported to be seriously ill. The deaths have shed light on serious problems with India's school meal programs, which are designed to increase attendance and combat India’s high rates of child malnutrition.

According to the Indian Express, the incident took place at a public elementary school in the Saran district of Bihar, about 15 miles away from Chapra. Traces of organophosphorus, an organic compound used in pesticides, were found in the meal served to students. One of the cooks is also reported to be ill.

The meals were part of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, a government program aimed at encouraging school attendance by offering free food to pupils, reports the BBC. The program impacts some 120 million children across the country – making it one of the largest in the world – and is intended to not only increase literacy but also put a dent in India’s chronic malnutrition problem.

Despite India’s impressive economic growth, it is still home to approximately one third of all malnourished children in the world, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). That’s more than all of sub-Saharan Africa.

Progress has been made on the issue. According to a report released in January 2012, India’s child malnutrition rate fell more than 10 points to 42 percent. While the figures are still alarmingly high, the government is starting to make attempts to fight child malnutrition, reports The Washington Post. India has seen large expansions in child welfare services and efforts to improve education in rural parts of the country.

Since the Mid-Day Meal Scheme was implemented in the 1960s it has been seen as a success overall, writes BBC’s Soutik Biswas. But gains made by the program have been marred by reports of corruption, negligence, and poor food inspection and hygiene, reports The Wall Street Journal:

“Staff had not been trained properly and lack the capacity to carry out proper monitoring,” said Yamini Aiyar, director of the Accountability Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think-tank that carried out the study. The study was published in June.

State government officials monitor the quality and delivery of meals to schools, but only district authorities can implement changes to the system and this can take considerable time, Ms. Aiyar said.

There have been other cases of children dying after eating school food. Two children from Panipat, in Haryana state, died in March after eating a free meal under the program. And in May, 18 girls from another district in Bihar state fell ill after eating a meal at school, according to the Hindu.

Still, none of the cases have been as grave as the recent tragedy in Bihar, where, according to the Times of India, students and parents have often complained about the quality of the food, having found dead lizards, insects, and a rat in the school-distributed meals.

Bihar’s chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has ordered an investigation, reports Reuters. He has also offered 200, 000 rupees ($3,400) to the families of victims as compensation.

This has done little to satisfy community members in Chapra, where violent protests have broken out amid speculation of foul play, reports the Telegraph.

The Telegraph's South Asia editor Dean Nelson said that allegations that the authorities took 15 hours to hospitalise the sick children led to dozens of residents taking to the streets in Chapra, pelting a police station with stones and setting ablaze buses and other vehicles.

"There have also been allegations that the cause of these death may have been deliberate, the government education minister in Bihar is saying this is not normal food poisoning," he added.

RTR TV shows a document purportedly written by Edward Snowden that reads, 'To: Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation, From: Edward Joseph Snowden, United States citizen APPLICATION I hereby request you considering the possibility of granting to me temporary asylum in the Russian Federation. 15 July 2013.' (RTR TV/AP)

Lawyer: Edward Snowden could be free to walk Russian streets in days

By Fred Weir, Correspondent / 07.17.13

Russia's Federal Migration Service is processing Edward Snowden's hand-scrawled application for temporary asylum in Russia, and the former National Security Agency contractor's Russian lawyer says he might be able to walk out of Sheremetyevo airport – where he's been holed up for over three weeks – holding Russian refugee papers within a few days.

"The question of giving him temporary asylum won't take more than a week. I think that in the near future he will have the possibility to leave the Sheremetyevo transit zone," the independent Interfax agency quoted the lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who's treated Mr. Snowden's forced presence in the Sheremetyevo transit area as an "unwelcome gift," also appeared resigned to having the former CIA employee as a guest of Russia for the foreseeable future in remarks made to reporters during a visit to Siberia Wednesday.

"I won’t give you any details. We have warned Snowden that any activity of his that could damage US-Russian relations is unacceptable for us," Russian news agencies quoted Mr. Putin as saying.

"As I understand it, Snowden didn’t aim to spend his whole life in Russia. I don’t understand how a young man decided to do what he did, but it’s his choice," Putin added.

International tensions

Besides the fact that the former KGB spy probably detests everything Snowden stands for, Putin is under considerable pressure from the Obama administration to hand him back to the US.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney hinted that failure to satisfactorily resolve the Snowden affair might result in "long-term problems" for US-Russia relations.

Moscow and Washington have recently been "engaging on a number of important issues, both economic and security related issues, and we want to continue that relationship unimpeded by this issue," Mr. Carney said. If Russia were to turn Snowden over, or at least expel him from the country, that would "resolve this situation that they have been dealing with now for three weeks," he added.

Carney didn't spell out the nature of the "problems" Snowden's continued presence in Russia might generate. But it's not hard to guess what they might be.

President Obama is slated to visit Russia in September to attend a G20 summit in St. Petersburg, and both sides have pinned hopes for a warming of the deepest diplomatic chill since the cold war on planned sideline meetings between Obama and Putin. It's hard to predict a positive outcome for that if Snowden is still being harbored in Russia at that point.

Another vulnerable point for Russia – where memories of the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games are still painfully alive – could be a similar move to shun the upcoming Sochi Winter Games, into which Russia has invested over $50 billion and much Russian prestige, over the Snowden issue.

That very threat was explicitly floated Tuesday by US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, who told NBC news that the US should consider leading a Sochi boycott to let the Russians know that "enough is enough" if they won't hand Snowden over.

"I love the Olympics, but I hate what the Russian government is doing throughout the world," Senator Graham is quoted as saying. "If they give asylum to a person who I believe has committed treason against the United States, that's taking it to a new level."

There seems little doubt that Putin is sensitive to such talk. In his remarks to journalists Wednesday he reiterated that Russia would take steps to ensure that Snowden will inflict no harm on the US during his stay in Russia, and he seemed to dismiss the whole matter as a minor tiff between spy agencies that shouldn't be allowed to interfere with serious politics.

"International relations, in my opinion, are more important than the special services' hassles," the official RIA-Novosti quoted Putin as saying.

A home in Russia?

In a lengthy interview with the Kremlin-funded English-language TV network Russia Today, which prefers to be called RT, Snowden's lawyer Mr. Kucherena said that his client had told him that Putin's demand that he do no further damage to US interests was "attainable."

"I believe that [Snowden] will be true to his word," said Kucherena, who has met three times with the ex-NSA contractor in Sheremetyevo, and says he questioned him deeply about his motives, beliefs, and intentions.

"From his replies, I can understand that he is an adamant human rights activist and when he says that his past employment duties blatantly violated universal human rights, he says it sincerely. Because he, unlike someone else, understands that he used certain methods to spy on people, to read their communication."

Kucherena said Snowden refuses to return to the US because he does not believe he will be treated humanely or get a fair trial.

"He fears for his life and well being.... [H]e is also afraid of torture, and that he could get executed. And what he says sounds quite convincing, because the US still administers capital punishment and torture," he said.

Political asylum in Russia would provide Snowden with documents enabling him to live in Russia and enjoy many privileges of a Russian citizen, and be renewable annually, he added.

"I’m not eliminating [the possibility that he might remain permanently] because he told me that he would like to stay in Russia. [In this case] he will become a citizen with all rights and privileges," Kucherena told RT.