US man charged in Haiti sex case

24 June 2011 Last updated at 19:50 GMT Many impoverished children in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince are forced to live on the streets A US man who ran a centre for impoverished boys in Haiti has been charged over claims that he forced them to perform sex acts for food and shelter, prosecutors have said.

Matthew Andrew Carter, who operated the Morning Star Center, has been charged with four counts of child sex tourism.

Investigators said the 66-year-old "preyed upon" impoverished boys and performed acts that "defy belief".

Mr Carter was arrested in Miami on 8 May and pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

Mr Carter, who also went by the names William Charles Harcourt and Bill Carter, had operated the Morning Star Center in Port-au-Prince since the mid-1990s and lived there with Haitian boys, according to court documents.

"The acts that the defendant is charged with committing, quite simply, defy belief," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a news release.

He added: "As charged in the indictment, he preyed upon and terrorized impoverished Haitian children who were in dire need of the services offered by the Morning Star Center - the very children he was purporting to help."

The facility was originally established to provide shelter, food and education to Haitian minors, court documents said.

Mr Carter is charged with four counts of child sex tourism, or travelling in foreign commerce to engage in illicit sex with minors.

'Preying upon children'

At the time of his arrest in May, 14 boys were living at the Morning Star Center, with three spending their weekends at the facility.

The court documents claimed that Mr Carter had sex with at least eight boys, sometimes for years until they became adults and left the centre.

Carter also allegedly forced the boys to shower with him and asked them to perform sexual acts on him in his bedroom, according to a US investigator who interviewed several of the youths from the facility.

Prosecutors said those who agreed to his requests were given schooling, clothing, books, compact disc players and cash.

"This defendant preyed on innocent Haitian children living in severely depressed conditions, making his conduct particularly deplorable," said Attorney Wifredo Ferrer.

Mr Ferrer added that instead of using the facility to "provide sanctuary to needy children", the Michigan resident used the facility to "manipulate, abuse and sexually exploit them".

"Few crimes are as despicable as the ones committed against these children in Haiti," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Director John Morton.

A public defender assigned to represent Mr Carter has not commented on the case.

If convicted, Mr Carter faces up to 105 years in prison.

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US to increase drugs war spending

23 June 2011 Last updated at 07:11 GMT Hillary Clinton urged businesses in the region to pull their weight in the fight against drug-related violence US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged more foreign aid to fight drug cartels in Central America.

Mrs Clinton told a regional security conference in Guatemala that the US would increase its aid by more than 10% to nearly $300m (?187m).

Analysts say the figure is still small, given that more than two-thirds of cocaine sent from South America to the US now passes through Central America.

In total, some $1.8bn was promised to support the region's security.

The World Bank is to provide $1bn in the coming years, said Pamela Cox, the bank's vice preident for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Inter-American Devleopment Bank (IADB) will also offer $500m over two years.

Announcing the increased US funding, Mrs Clinton said Washington was committed to helping the region.

"Everyone knows the statistics, the murder rates surpassing civil war levels," she said in remarks to the Central American Security Conference (SICA).

Mrs Clinton said funding to tackle transnational organised crime in the region would be increased from $260m in 2010 to almost $300m this year.

But she stressed she expected Central American nations to pull their weight.

"We will be your ready partners but it must begin with you and led by you," she told leaders from across the region.

Fight across borders

Mrs Clinton said governments had to work together to beat the drug cartels, which are behind much of the violence blighting the region.

Mexican gangs are increasing their operations in Central America

"The cartels and criminals are not contained by borders and so therefore our response must not be either," she said.

But Mrs Clinton did not only call on governments to increase their efforts to fight crime. She said businesses also had a role to play.

"Businesses and the rich in every country must pay their fair share of taxes and become full partners in a whole of society effort. True security cannot be funded on the backs of the poor," she stressed.

Efforts by presidents in Central America to raise taxes have faced opposition in the past.

El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes' plan to impose a new tax to raise money for security programmes has been opposed by many in El Salvador.

Central America has long been used to smuggle drugs from producer countries such as Colombia and Peru to the main drug markets in the United States.

But with Mexican President Felipe Calderon declaring war on drug gangs in his country, Mexican cartels have increasingly been moving into Central America and running smuggling operations there.

In March, police in Honduras for the first time uncovered a cocaine laboratory in the country.

Security officials said it was a first-rate facility, probably run by Mexican gangs, which they said indicated that some of the cocaine production was being moved there.

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Argentine president to run again

22 June 2011 Last updated at 01:02 GMT Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said she would "keep going" Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner says she will stand for re-election in October.

Speaking on television, she said she wanted to continue to drive her government's plans forward.

Ms Fernandez was elected in 2007, succeeding her husband, Nestor Kirchner, in the post.

Mr Kirchner had been widely expected to run again this year, when he would once again have been eligible as a candidate, but he died in October.

Ms Fernandez ended months of speculation about whether she would stand for another term when she went on national television and said: "I always knew what I should do, and what I had to do."

It was widely acknowledged that Ms Fernandez and Mr Kirchner made a formidable team. They were often described as Argentina's power couple.

But Mr Kirchner's death robbed President Fernandez of her closest political confidant.

And until Tuesday there had been rumours that health concerns or family pressures might persuade her not to run again.

But, still wearing black in memory of her husband, she said: "How could I give up and not keep going?"

Economic legacy

Since she came to power, Ms Fernandez has broadly continued her husband's policies.

She renewed contacts with the International Monetary Fund, after years of hostility.

But inflation in the country remains high, and many say, underreported.

The president faced her biggest challenge in 2008, when farmers protested for months against her plan to raise taxes on farm exports.

The protests led to food shortages in Buenos Aires and the proposal was finally defeated in Congress.

Analysts say a growing economy and lower unemployment have helped the president regain some of the popularity she lost during the stand-off with the farmers.

The presidential election is scheduled for 23 October.

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Mexico-US border death sparks row

23 June 2011 Last updated at 10:01 GMT The shooting happened at a heavily patrolled part of the border Mexico's government has condemned the fatal shooting of a Mexican man who was allegedly throwing stones at US agents across the Tijuana-San Diego fence.

The Mexican foreign ministry said the use of firearms to repel stone-throwing was "disproportionate".

San Diego police said the man had struck one agent and was about to hit another when he was shot.

There have been several fatal border shootings in recent years, increasing the controversy over the use of force.

The shooting happened late on Tuesday near the San Ysidro crossing point between Tijuana and San Diego.

According to US authorities, three men were trying to get over the border when they were stopped by two agents.

Two of the men fled back across the fence and began pelting the agents with stones, they said.

When one of the officers was hit, the other opened fire.

Mexican police said the man, identified as Jose Alfredo Yanez, was shot twice and died on the Tijuana side of the border.

Serious injury

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on his Twitter account that he had raised the issue with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Guatemala, where both were attending a security conference.

"I demanded that those guilty be punished," Mr Calderon wrote.

The Mexican authorities and rights groups say the US Border Patrol uses excessive tactics to deter migrants.

"We simply cannot allow our law enforcement agents to use lethal force when confronted by rock throwers," said Kevin Keenan of the American Civil Liberties Union.

But the Border Patrol says rock attacks on its agents are frequent and capable of causing serious injury.

"Agents don't shoot their weapon unless they fear for their lives or the lives of their partners or innocent third persons," Justin De La Torre, acting assistant chief patrol agent in San Diego, told the Los Angeles Times.

In one of the most high-profile shootings, agents last June shot dead a Mexican teenager at the border crossing between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. The FBI concluded that the agent fired while fending off a rock attack.

This latest shooting is being investigated by the San Diego police and the FBI. The Mexican authorities are also conducting their own inquiry.

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LulzSec hits Brazilian websites

22 June 2011 Last updated at 15:19 GMT By Daniel Emery BBC Technology reporter The attack in Brasil illustrates LulzSec's global reach The websites of the Brazilian government and President have fallen victim to hacker group Lulz Security.

In a Twitter posting, LulzSec said "Tango Down" and linked to the two sites.

Both are thought to have been taken offline by distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS).

LulzSec recently signalled its intent to target the systems of governments and associated organisations around the world.

In the past month, it has attacked the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency, the US Senate, Sony, and the broadcaster PBS, as well as a number of games companies.

DDoS attacks are regarded more as malicious activity than hacking, because the sites' computer systems are not broken into.

Instead, they are deliberately overloading with traffic, such as communication requests or so-called 'e-mail bombs'.

The group tweeted "Our Brazilian unit is making progress. Well done @LulzSecBrazil, brothers!" shortly after the two sites went down.

LulzSec has significantly increased its activity in recent months. Arrest

LulzSec also commented on the case of 19-year-old Ryan Cleary who was arrested in Essex on 21 June on suspicion of hacking websites.

The group said that he was not part of their organisation.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, described Mr Cleary's arrest as "very significant".

Although he declined to discuss the details of the case, the Commissioner added: "The challenges around cyber-crime are extremely significant and deeply worrying across the gamut of cyber-crime from personal information to how a paedophile can enter a child's bedroom."

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Ready to run

22 June 2011 Last updated at 09:07 GMT By Daniel Schweimler BBC News, Buenos Aires President Fernandez was elected in 2007, succeeding her husband in the post President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has finally announced what most Argentines were expecting.

She would, she said at a televised event, be running for a second term as president in elections on 23 October.

The announcement, just days before the Saturday deadline to submit declarations, came as a surprise to almost no-one, having been long anticipated in political circles and the Argentine media.

But leaving it so late gave rise to speculation she might have had doubts.

It had been expected her husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner, would try to be her successor.

But his death last October, of a heart attack at the age of 60, put paid to any such plans.

Key backers

There have been rumours about President Fernandez's own state of health after she pulled out of a number of official engagements.

Her daughter, Florencia, was said to be reluctant for her mother to stand again.

And analysts say Mr Kirchner's death left a huge hole in Argentine politics, felt by his allies and his enemies alike, but most profoundly by his still grieving widow.

Even before she declared her intention to run, President Fernandez was comfortably ahead in the opinion polls.

Such was the control and influence she and her late husband exerted on the governing Peronist Party that no credible alternative leaders have risen through their ranks.

Even if Ms Fernandez had been reluctant to stand, her supporters would not have allowed her to entertain such thoughts for long since they believe her victory to be a near certainty.

The president is unpopular in the capital, Buenos Aires, where her party rarely does well, but she enjoys greater support in the populous industrial belt around the city.

Ms Fernandez can also count on the backing of several key provincial governors.

She has won praise for her continued battle for human rights and for social programmes in the fight against poverty.

However, she has a poor relationship with the media, especially the powerful Clarin group, and critics say the government is sometimes ineffectual in conveying its message to the public.

Failure to unite

The opposition is split six ways.

Eduardo Duhalde is a former president, and Ricardo Alfonsin, of the opposition Radical Party, the son of a former president.

Alberto Rodriguez Saa is the brother of an ex-president who lasted just a week in office.

Power couple: Nestor Kirchner's death robbed the president of her closest adviser

Hermes Binner is the left-wing governor of Santa Fe province, while Jorge Altamira is uniting a number of other leftist groups.

Making up the numbers is Elisa Carrio, a regular presidential candidate and the only other woman in the field.

The opposition candidates have been criticised in the Argentine media for not being able to unite against the president after months of negotiation and rumours about possible alliances.

"We don't have a party political party system," said consultant Federico MacDougall.

"And because of that our society votes for individuals and not for long-term politics. We don't know what [Cristina] Kirchner, Alfonsin or Binner think or are planning to do if they're elected, but the people vote for them because they see the public administration as a bad thing that must be administered by someone and not by themselves."

There are always scandals bubbling in Argentine politics. But it is in the run-up to elections that their impact is most keenly felt, as opponents use them for political gain.

President Fernandez is faced with several. None of them involve her directly, but they all have the potential to harm her indirectly.

The most worrying for the government involves the human rights group, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

The government has given it millions of dollars to build housing for the poor, without requesting any kind of guarantees or accountability.

The organisation, with which the president and her husband had close ties, is being investigated on counts of money-laundering and fraud.

Rising prices

The Argentine economy is growing, mostly thanks to the export of soya, primarily to China and India.

Some rural regions are booming, but the governments of the Kirchner couple have never enjoyed good relations with the powerful farming lobby, which resents the high taxes levied on their produce.

The other awkward issue still waiting to be tackled is inflation.

Many question official inflation figures and say the true rate is much higher

Many analysts, and shoppers, question the official figure of about 10% a year, saying the real rate is probably nearer to 30%.

Wage rises generally keep pace with inflation and Argentine High Streets and shopping malls, as well as car showrooms, continue to do a booming trade.

But economists say inflation is an issue the next administration will have to tackle early.

Another issue keeping the analysts and newspapers columnists guessing is who President Fernandez will choose as her running mate.

Her last choice, opposition politician Julio Cobos, was widely perceived as a disaster. They fell out early on and then he cast the deciding vote against the government in a bitter dispute with the farming lobby.

He remained in office, but they do not speak.

With all the candidates now declared, the election race will begin in earnest.

President Fernandez is the clear front-runner, but that does not mean she faces an easy ride to the finish line.

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Circus from the slums

22 June 2011 Last updated at 09:37 GMT For many years, the Colombian city of Cali was a byword for drugs and was best-known for the notorious Cali cartel.

There is still poverty and gang violence but today Cali has a vibrant cultural scene.

It is home to Colombia's national circus school - Circo Para Todos, or Circus for Everyone, set up by British unicyclist Felicity Simpson 16 years ago.

Its circus troupe Circolombia is now touring internationally with its latest show, Urban. Circolombia will perform at the UK's Glastonbury festival this weekend, and then at the Edinburgh Festival in August.

Continue reading the main story To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed. Images courtesy of Ben Hopper, Carlos Arias, and AFP. See captions for full credits.

Audio by Alicia Trujillo, first broadcast on BBC World Service. Slideshow production by Cordelia Hebblethwaite. Publication date 22 June 2011.

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More audio slideshows:

Audio slideshow: Cowgirls in Colombia

Audio slideshow: Faces of the favelas

Audio slideshow: Argentina at 200

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