01Mar

Rutgers spycam case: why it’s not open and shut

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Dharun Ravi faces charges of, among other counts, invasion of privacy and witness and evidence tampering. The most serious charge ? bias intimidation ? could draw a 10-year sentence.

Jury selection continued Wednesday in the highly charged webcam spying case of a former Rutgers?University student accused of cyberbullying his gay roommate, who days later leaped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

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Dharun Ravi has not been charged in the 2010 death of his roommate,?Tyler Clementi. But he faces 15 counts of invasion of privacy, witness and evidence tampering, hindering prosecution, and the most serious charge ? bias intimidation, a hate crime that could draw a 10-year sentence.

The case, now before Middlesex County, N.J., Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman, has become a national symbol of antigay cyberbullying.

Mr. Ravi is alleged to have used a friend’s computer to view an intimate encounter between Mr. Clementi and another man in the dorm room Clementi and Ravi shared. Ravi is also alleged to have invited friends to watch streaming video of another encounter a day later. The second viewing never took place and the invitation has been described by defense lawyers as just a joke.

As the digital trail of tweets, texts, and Web chats has been unearthed and parsed by defense lawyers and prosecutors since Clementi’s death, what appeared at first to be an open-and-shut case has turned out to be anything but, legal experts say.

Prosecutors will rely on a mountain of electronic data to prove their case ? but it is the interpretation of what was communicated digitally that will determine the outcome.

And proving bias intimidation may be even harder for the prosecution.

“A jury has to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of intimidating someone because of their sexual orientation,” says Chris Adams, a Roseland, N.J., criminal defense attorney. “But that may be difficult given some of Clementi’s comments in which he didn’t seem to care that he had been seen ? and still other comments by Ravi that indicate he really didn’t care that his roommate was gay. That could create a lot of uncertainty for jurors.”

Clementi and Ravi were both freshmen and knew each other only for about three weeks before the cascading series of events ? mostly played out on social media with curiously few face-to-face exchanges ? inextricably linked the two young men.

Clementi requested a new roommate on Sept. 21, 2010, the day after he became aware that he had been allegedly spied on two days earlier. Then, on the night of Sept. 22 he updated his Facebook status to, “Jumping off the gw bridge, sorry.” His wallet and cellphone were found on the bridge.

Almost instantly after Clementi’s death, media and pundits seized on the case as another example of a gay man being bullied to death ? this time using cyber techniques. Early reports falsely claimed that video of Clementi having sex was broadcast over the Internet for viewing by anyone.

Defense lawyers are expected to argue that prosecutors were overzealous in seeking an indictment. They will say that evidence from witnesses and social media records show that Ravi was not homophobic, and that the events of Sept. 19 were grossly distorted when prosecutors presented their case to the grand jury.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/1-kuCde7IeA/Rutgers-spycam-case-why-it-s-not-open-and-shut

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15Jan

Death Spiral Alert (talking-points-memo)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/185986121?client_source=feed&format=rss

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07Jan

Hermit kingdom North Korea seals itself off

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DANDONG, China?? North Korea’s anointed heir Kim Jong Un led a solemn procession of mourners Tuesday to the glass coffin of his father and longtime ruler ? a strong indication that a smooth leadership transition was under way in the country known for secrecy and unpredictability.

Weeping members of North Korea’s elite filed past the body of Kim Jong Il, which was draped in red cloth and surrounded by stony-faced honor guards and dozens of red and white flowers.

State media fed a budding personality cult around his youngest known son, hailing him as a “lighthouse of hope” as the country was awash in a “sea of tears and grief.”

In a dreamlike scene captured by Associated Press Television News, Kim’s coffin appeared to float on a raft of “kimjongilia” ? the flowers named after him ? with his head and shoulders bathed in a spotlight as solemn mustic played. Various medals and honors were displayed at his feet.

The bier was located in a hall of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, a mausoleum where the embalmed body of Kim Jong Il’s father and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung has been on view in a glass sarcophagus since his death in 1994.

Kim Jong Il’s 27-year-old son and heir, Kim Jong Un, wore a black Mao-style suit, his hair cropped closely on the sides but longer on top, as he walked with much older officials in suits and military uniforms.

Stepping away from the group, Kim Jong Un bowed deeply, his expression serious, before circling the bier with other officials.

North Korea was in seclusion on Tuesday, with the country in an 11-day period of official mourning, flags were at half-staff at all military units, factories, businesses, farms and public buildings.

The streets of Pyongyang were quiet, but throngs gathered at landmarks honoring Kim.

The hermit kingdom closed its border with China for trade and visitors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

State workers were called back from the China side to help focus on Kim’s Dec. 28 funeral.

  1. The death of Kim Jong Il

    1. Mourning in North Korea, worries in South

    2. Analysis: Opportunities, dangers loom over N. Korea

    3. Slideshow: The life of Kim Jong ll

    4. Even in death, details of Kim Jong Il’s life elusive

    5. Kim Jong Il’s youngest son dubbed ‘great successor’

    6. Kim Jong Il remembered as ‘Team America’ star

    7. Officials: US may delay re-engagement with N. Korea

    8. Cartoons: The life and death of Kim Jong Il

    9. China remembers troublesome neighbor’s leader

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged North Korea to follow a “path of peace,” diplomats and commentators were struggling to understand what would happen as it transitions from Kim Jong Il’s 17-year iron rule to that of his untested son Kim Jong Un, in his late 20s.

Will younger Kim’s aunt, uncle be N. Korea puppet masters?

North Korean media lauded Kim Jong-il, 69 when he died, as the “Great Father of the People” and reported that he had made several public appearances in the past week.

Pyongyang has said foreign officials will not be invited to the funeral.

Jong-un, the youngest son and successor to the ruling dynasty started by his grandfather, was described as the “eternally immovable mental mainstay of the Korean people” by KCNA, the state news agency.

Few cross border
In a sign the hermit state was sealing itself off from the outside world even more after the “Dear Leader’s” death, few people crossed the Dandong border with China. China is the North’s only major ally and one of the few states with which it actively trades.

“We can’t go in now, because of the death of Kim Jong-il,” Yu Lu, a Chinese trader in Dandong who does business with the North, told Reuters. “It’s all closed off, and basically all the North Koreans are heading back. It’s very tightly closed today.”

Story: In Kim’s death, an extensive intelligence failure

Chinese business people in Dandong said that while it was still possible to travel across on Tuesday, many canceled trips, fearing the border could be closed.

“We’re worried that it could be shut down at any time, because of the mourning activities, and nobody wants to be stuck in North Korea with the border closed,” said Yu Lu.

The elder Kim was reported to have died on Saturday of a heart attack, prompting South Korea – with whom the North remains technically at war after a 1953 armistice ended a conflict – to put its forces on full alert.

South Korean media reported that the North test-fired at least one short-range missile on Monday, sparking a fresh round of tension, although government officials in Seoul said they did not necessarily believe the launches were linked to Kim’s death.

Seoul was calm on Tuesday, a sunny winter day, and there appeared to be no sense of any crisis.

One Chinese businessman with close links to North Korea, who could not be identified due to the sensitive nature of his relationship with the Pyongyang elite, said that the Wongjong border crossing with Russia was open, but that no one was using it to enter the country.

“(As) many foreigners are leaving as possible,” he said.

In Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao offered his condolences Tuesday as the government hinted at an early invitation for a visit by his son and successor.

Surrounded by scores of security officers, Hu made an early morning trip to North Korea’s sprawling embassy in Beijing’s leafy Jianguomenwai diplomatic district, where the national flag was flying at half-staff. The official Xinhua News Agency reported the visit but offered no other details.

That followed a meeting Monday evening between the embassy’s second-highest-ranking official and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who called Kim a “close friend” who would be remembered forever by the Chinese people. The ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, China’s top policy-setting body, hailed Kim’s son and successor Kim Jong Un on Monday as North Korea’s new leader.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin left the door open for an invitation to the younger Kim, noting that China maintains high-level exchanges with North Korea.

“We would welcome North Korea’s leaders to visit China at their convenience,” Liu told reporters at Tuesday’s daily briefing. The words Liu used could refer to one leader or more than one leader.

China has been expected to push for an early visit by the younger Kim to cement ties with the new leadership, in contrast to the six-year gap between his father’s rise to power and his first trip to Beijing. The younger Kim is believed to have already visited China at least once as part of his father’s retinue.

U.S. hopes for peace
North Korea, with one of the largest armies in the world, has been recently trying to re-engage the United States in a bid to win food aid. But there has been little progress.

The United States, a close ally of South Korea, wants North Korea first to abandon its attempts to become a nuclear weapons power.

“It is our hope that the new leadership of (North Korea) will choose to guide their nation onto the path of peace by honoring North Korea’s commitments, improving relations with its neighbors, and respecting the rights of its people,” Clinton said in a statement.

“The United States stands ready to help the North Korean people and urges the new leadership to work with the international community to usher in a new era of peace, prosperity and lasting security on the Korean Peninsula.”

South Korean financial markets, which initially plunged on the news of Kim’s death, recovered their poise on Tuesday, posting small gains. Other Asian markets were also calm.

Close to the border, life in the vibrant and prosperous South, the world’s 13th largest economy, appeared to be going on as normal. Few saw Kim’s death as particularly worrying.

“I don’t think any crisis will happen because veteran soldiers are advising the young Kim. Even if he wants to provoke, they will persuade Kim not to do,” said Oh Seok-hyun, a 84-year old retired soldier who fought in the Korean war.

“We are, I think, still safe because we have the Eighth United States Army,” said Oh, a tourist at the “unification observatory” in the South Korean city of Paju, 3 km (2 miles) from the fortified border.

More related stories:

Story: Kim Jong Il’s youngest son dubbed ‘great successor’ Story: Mourning in North Korea, worries in South after Kim Jong Il’s death Story: ‘This could be a turning point for North Korea’: World reaction to Kim Jong Il’s death Story: Kim Jong Il’s youngest son dubbed ‘great successor’

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45741008/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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22Dec

Kim’s death viewed with wary optimism

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FILE – In this Oct. 10, 2010 photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il applauds following a massive military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the communist nation’s ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

FILE – In this Oct. 10, 2010 photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il applauds following a massive military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the communist nation’s ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

BERLIN (AP) ? World governments are viewing the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il with wary optimism ? a possibly destabilizing moment for the region as power passes to his son but also an opportunity for a new diplomatic start.

North Korea’s past behavior has been notoriously erratic, making it difficult to predict the course it will choose. Japan and South Korea quickly held emergency meetings, and world leaders tried to convince the isolated country to open up more to the rest of the world about its nuclear intentions.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed his condolences but added “this could be a turning point for North Korea” as Kim Jong Un takes over as supreme leader.

“We hope that their new leadership will recognize that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving the lives of ordinary North Korean people,” Hague said in a statement, encouraging the country to resume international talks on its nuclear capabilities.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it has “clear expectations” of North Korea’s new leadership.

“It is, of course, an opportunity that things there will change,” spokesman Dirk Augustin told reporters. “We have clear demands to North Korea: It must abandon its nuclear program; the catastrophic situation of the people must improve; and political and economical reforms must be implemented.”

Kim’s death was announced Monday by North Korean state television, two days after he died at age 69 of a heart attack.

During his 17 years in power, Kim’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and his military’s repeated threats to South Korea and the U.S. stoked fears that war might again break out or that North Korea might provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorist movements.

South Korea put its military on “high alert” and President Lee Myung-bak convened a national security council meeting. The Korean peninsula remains technically in a state of war more than 50 years after the Cold War-era armed conflict ended in a cease-fire.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held an emergency national security council with top Cabinet members soon after hearing the news.

He “instructed us to be best prepared in case of any unexpected development” while top officials meet to discuss the situation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told journalists in Tokyo.

Fujimura expressed condolences and said Japan hoped Kim’s death would not affect the region adversely.

“First of all we hope that this sudden development would not give adverse impact on the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

The White House said it was in constant contact with South Korea and Japan, but offered no substantive comment on the implications of Kim’s death, saying only that President Barack Obama “reaffirmed the United States’ strong commitment to the stability of the Korean peninsula and the security of our close ally, the Republic of Korea.”

The news jolted financial markets, raising the specter of more instability. European stock markets fell slightly in early trading and Wall Street was set to open lower while South Korea’s Kospi index dived nearly 5 percent but later recouped some losses to close 3.4 percent lower. Other Asian stock markets also fell.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Kim’s death brings the situation to “one of those critical junctures” and “an exceptionally difficult period of transition.”

“It is critical that everybody exercises appropriate calm and restraint in what is a important development in terms of the overall stability of the region and the security of us all,” Rudd said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency had no immediate comment on how nuclear talks might proceed under a new government.

In China, a key North Korean ally, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu called Kim a “great leader” and said China believes the North Korean people will “turn their grief into strength, unite as one, and continue to advance the cause of North Korean socialism.”

But he also added that Beijing would continue to offer its support and make “active contributions to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in this region.”

China has long sought to convince North Korea of the need for economic reform, and Kim’s death raises hopes that Pyongyang might now take heed of such advice, said Korea expert Lu Chao at China’s Academy of Social Sciences in Liaoning province, which borders North Korea.

“There will definitely be change, good and positive change,” Lu said. “North Korea will work more closely with the global community toward the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.”

China is also expected to take a strong behind-the-scenes role to help retain its influence, which is seen as important no matter which direction North Korea takes, said U.S. Naval Academy China scholar Yu Maochun.

“If North Korea continues to be an international pariah, China will continue to benefit from its current leverage,” Yu said. “If North Korea becomes less intransigent and slightly more open, then China will be greatly worried about the possible warming-up, or even reunification, between North and South Koreas.”

Moscow said it hoped for continued good relations with Pyongyang.

“We have friendly relations with North Korea,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. “We hope that this loss that the Korean people have suffered will not have a negative impact on the development of our relations.”

With so many questions in the air at the moment, most countries are waiting to see what comes next.

“The death of a dictator is always a period of uncertainty for a dictatorship,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Twitter. “And North Korea is the hardest dictatorship in our time.”

___

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-19-Kim-Jong-Il-World-Reacts/id-e064bb91704143568ce06a40f556ae6b

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