NEWS IN BRIEF
RIGA (Reuters) - As the buses carrying European finance ministers left for a gala dinner in the Latvian capital on Friday night, one of the party hung back at the hotel and then wandered off alone into the dusk.
Greece's Yanis Varoufakis had other dinner plans, he said, after a bruising first day of meetings in Riga that underlined his isolation as he tries to avert national bankruptcy.
While other ministers were feted by their entourages with food and warm clothing during the meeting in Riga, Varoufakis was seen alone at almost every turn, eschewing aides or any security detail.
"He is completely isolated," a senior euro zone official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "He didn't even come to the dinner to represent his country," the official said of the event where ministers, serenaded by a Latvian choir, ate salmon and sea bass.
At breakfast before the meeting, Varoufakis and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi avoided eye contact as they picked up food at the buffet, Reuters reporters observed.
The hardening of the mood against Varoufakis risks deepening the divide that Greece must bridge with its creditors if Athens is to avert default.
After three months of largely fruitless negotiations, euro zone ministers warned him on Friday that the radical leftist Greek government will get no more aid until it agrees a complete economic reform plan, before the end of June.
DOHA (PRESS TV) – French construction giant Vinci faces allegations of using forced labor on building projects in Qatar, which is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup.
French prosecutor Catherine Denis said on Saturday that a preliminary investigation has been launched into the claim, which has been put forward by the non-governmental lobby group Sherpa.
The NGO has filed a claim in a French court against Vinci and its Qatari subsidiary QDVC for "forced labor,” "servitude” and "concealment.”
"The on-site investigations found the use by these companies of various threats to force vulnerable people into scandalous working and living conditions for a paltry salary,” Sherpa said.
The group added that the company has confiscated the workers’ passports and threatened them not to claim their right to better working conditions, housing, or seek to quit or change their employer.
The construction firm has dismissed all the allegations, filing a defamation claim in Paris against Sherpa in response.
Denis, meanwhile, said a wider query involving investigations in Qatar is possible to be subsequently launched if necessary.
Migrant workers account for nearly 75 percent of Qatar’s tiny population of nearly 2.2 million, but many of them have been employed under the so-called "kafalah” system, which stipulates that laborers cannot change jobs or leave Qatar without permission from their sponsor.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Indiana university gave the all clear early on Saturday after being locked down for several hours over a reported armed person, possibly with explosives, near the school's administration building, officials said.
Manchester University spokeswoman Anne Gregory said in an email that police had swept all the buildings and residence halls on its North Manchester campus and found no credible threats or injuries.
The university had advised students at the campus, 36 miles (58 km) west of Fort Wayne, to shelter in place late on Friday night. "Barricade yourself in a room, stay away from windows. Be quiet, silence cell. Wait for police or All-Clear," the school said in a campus alert.
Gregory said the administration building on the 120-acre campus of the liberal arts school, which has some 1,500 students, was locked and usually unoccupied so late at night.
Greece's Yanis Varoufakis had other dinner plans, he said, after a bruising first day of meetings in Riga that underlined his isolation as he tries to avert national bankruptcy.
While other ministers were feted by their entourages with food and warm clothing during the meeting in Riga, Varoufakis was seen alone at almost every turn, eschewing aides or any security detail.
"He is completely isolated," a senior euro zone official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "He didn't even come to the dinner to represent his country," the official said of the event where ministers, serenaded by a Latvian choir, ate salmon and sea bass.
At breakfast before the meeting, Varoufakis and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi avoided eye contact as they picked up food at the buffet, Reuters reporters observed.
The hardening of the mood against Varoufakis risks deepening the divide that Greece must bridge with its creditors if Athens is to avert default.
After three months of largely fruitless negotiations, euro zone ministers warned him on Friday that the radical leftist Greek government will get no more aid until it agrees a complete economic reform plan, before the end of June.
DOHA (PRESS TV) – French construction giant Vinci faces allegations of using forced labor on building projects in Qatar, which is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup.
French prosecutor Catherine Denis said on Saturday that a preliminary investigation has been launched into the claim, which has been put forward by the non-governmental lobby group Sherpa.
The NGO has filed a claim in a French court against Vinci and its Qatari subsidiary QDVC for "forced labor,” "servitude” and "concealment.”
"The on-site investigations found the use by these companies of various threats to force vulnerable people into scandalous working and living conditions for a paltry salary,” Sherpa said.
The group added that the company has confiscated the workers’ passports and threatened them not to claim their right to better working conditions, housing, or seek to quit or change their employer.
The construction firm has dismissed all the allegations, filing a defamation claim in Paris against Sherpa in response.
Denis, meanwhile, said a wider query involving investigations in Qatar is possible to be subsequently launched if necessary.
Migrant workers account for nearly 75 percent of Qatar’s tiny population of nearly 2.2 million, but many of them have been employed under the so-called "kafalah” system, which stipulates that laborers cannot change jobs or leave Qatar without permission from their sponsor.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Indiana university gave the all clear early on Saturday after being locked down for several hours over a reported armed person, possibly with explosives, near the school's administration building, officials said.
Manchester University spokeswoman Anne Gregory said in an email that police had swept all the buildings and residence halls on its North Manchester campus and found no credible threats or injuries.
The university had advised students at the campus, 36 miles (58 km) west of Fort Wayne, to shelter in place late on Friday night. "Barricade yourself in a room, stay away from windows. Be quiet, silence cell. Wait for police or All-Clear," the school said in a campus alert.
Gregory said the administration building on the 120-acre campus of the liberal arts school, which has some 1,500 students, was locked and usually unoccupied so late at night.