Hundreds of ethnic Albanians have been pepper sprayed and around 70 arrested amid clashes with riot police in Kosovo’s Pristina. The violence came as Parliament approved an EU-brokered agreement aimed at normalizing ties with neighboring Serbia.

Demonstrators aimed at preventing lawmakers from entering the Parliament building prior to voting threw cans of pink paint at police. Some 17 officers were wounded in a scuffle in front of the government and parliament buildings in the capital, according to local police.

The protest has been called by Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), an opposition nationalist party which fiercely opposes the implementation of the 15-point pact which was signed in Brussels in mid-April. The party insists the pact will create an autonomous Serb region within Kosovo and would therefore undermine the young country's sovereignty. The movement also fears the deal will cement ethnic partition, which currently exists in Kosovo between the Albanian majority and about 50,000 Serbs who live in the northern town of Mitrovica.

Serbia approved normalizing ties with the breakaway region on April 22. More than two months later, the deal has been passed by Kosovo’s 122-seat assembly with 84 votes in favor. 

Kosovo’s prime minister, Hashim Thaci, has admitted that achieving normal relations with Serbia will be difficult and complicated, but insisted he would pursue talks with Belgrade.

Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani)

"The independence road is irreversible and the process of normalizing relations between the two independent countries is unavoidable," he told legislators.

On June 17, Serbia and Kosovo exchanged liaison officers – a step which should assist in the implementation of the EU-brokered deal.

The agreement, which was reached during the EU-mediated negotiations between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci, calls for the merger of the four Serb municipalities in the north - North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic. The urban district would have power over economic development, education, healthcare and town planning. Under the deal, Serbs in northern Kosovo will have their own police and appeals court.

Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani)

 The agreement is widely regarded as a step toward Serbia’s entry into the European Union. Both Belgrade and Pristina have agreed not to block each other's efforts to seek EU membership. So far, Kosovo has been Serbia’s main obstacle to joining the bloc

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and is now officially recognized by 100 nations - including the United States and 22 of the EU's 27 members.

Kosovo Police detain a demonstrator following clashes in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani)

Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani)

Riot police clash with demonstrators during a protest near the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, June 26, 2013 (Reuters / Hugo Cordeiro)

In the wake of ongoing nationwide protests that have left Brazil’s government scrambling to appease demonstrators’ demands, the country’s senate has fast tracked a new law that will increase the penalties for corruption.

The legislation, which will still need to be ratified by a second congressional chamber, is expected to sail through and become law. Once enacted, those individuals prosecuted for acts of corruption could face up to 12 years in jail. The bill had not made much headway since its introduction in 2011, but was approved within 48 hours following president Dilma Rousseff’s push for approval.

Additional measures to toughen the state’s punishment include the loss of amnesty for those convicted of corruption, and will make obtaining bail and parole more difficult.

The ongoing protests that have seen well over a million gather in cities across the country were triggered by proposed public transport fare hikes, but quickly grew to encompass a host of complaints, the majority of which revolved around corruption long ingrained in Brazil’s political life.

In addition to harsher treatment of corruption, Brazil’s congress has also voted to use all royalties from the country’s recent oil finds - which are expected to yield tens of billions of barrels of crude oil - directly into education and health services.

Anti-government demonstrators run during clashes with the police outside the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte, on June 26, 2013 (AFP Photo / Christophe Simon)

President Rousseff, once a Marxist guerrilla who fought against the country’s former military dictatorship, now finds herself in the unenviable position of listening to protesters’ demands, while avoiding becoming a target herself.

On Monday, Rousseff met with state governors and mayors to agree on plans for additional public hospitals, as well as prioritizing public transportation projects. On the agenda was also the congressional action to use all royalties from new oil fields for public services.

The Brazilian leader also proposed on Monday a plan to hold a public referendum to directly enact political reforms. The move was lauded as a bold plan, and likely an attempt by a popular president to bypass the country's unpopular Congress with a direct appeal to the people. Brazil’s  legal experts, however, said that was unconstitutional.

According to Reuters, the president of Brazil's Supreme Court, Joaquim Barbosa, weighed into that issue after meeting with Rousseff.

Violent demonstrators clash with the police in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on June 26, 2013 (AFP Photo / Christophe Simon)

 "Proposals have been sitting for years in Congress, which has shown no interest in reforming the political system. And that lack of interest, in part, has led to the crisis of legitimacy we have now," said Barbosa.

Beyond the president’s initiatives, the president of Brazil’s senate, Renan Calheiros, has also proposed free transport for all students, in an apparent attempt to reach out to the Free Fare Movement, a key organizer in the mass protests that erupted several weeks ago.

Despite political moves to appease public unrest some 40,000 protesters gathered in a march to a stadium in the city of Belo Horizonte during a Brazil-Uruguay Confederations Cup match on Wednesday. Police responded by firing tear gas as demonstrators attempted to break through barricades. About 2,000 people also marched through the northeastern city of Recife.

In Brasilia, demonstrators were seen kicking soccer balls over a police blockade towards congress, in a statement against the billions that have been spent by Brazil in preparation for the Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup.

Kimberly McCarthy

Despite pleas from thousands of protesters, prison officials administered a single dose of pentobarbital and pronounced McCarthy dead at 6:37 pm local time Wednesday. McCarthy, a 52-year-old African-American, had been convicted for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of Dorothy Booth, her 71-year-old white neighbor.

McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist who became addicted to crack cocaine, reportedly cut off Booth’s finger in an attempt to steal the retired college professor’s wedding ring. She blamed the crime on drug dealers but was also linked by DNA to the murders of two other senior citizens.

She was first woman to be put to death in the US since 2010 and only the fifth in Texas since 1854. Texas has carried out nearly 40 per cent of America's executions, with more than 1,300 since the Supreme Court resurrected the dormant law in 1976. Governor Rick Perry alone has overseen more than 250 executions during his time in office, according to human rights-focused journalist Rhania Khalek, the most of any governor in history.

“I just wanted to say thanks to all who have supported me over the years,” McCarthy wrote in her last statement. “Thank you everybody, this is not a loss, this is a win. You know where I am going.”

Her final meal was pepper steak, mashed potatoes with gravy along with mixed vegetables and cake.

She became the eighth person to be put to death in Texas in 2013 alone, although after Wednesday 282 more inmates will remain on Texas’ death row. Seven Texan men are scheduled to die in the coming months, according to the Associated Press. McCarthy, the Death Penalty Information Center noted, is the 17th person in America to be put to death in the first six months of 2013.

McCarthy was granted a retrial in 2002 after proving that the original prosecution intentionally excluded African-American jurors. She was again convicted and returned to death row. She was granted a stay of execution in January and then April of this year.

Other states have altogether stopped administering lethal injections. Oregon has not executed a single person since 1997, and California, despite having the nation’s largest death row population at 727, has not carried out an execution since 2006.

Sixty-one per cent of all Americans responded in the affirmative when asked in a 2013 Gallup poll if they support capital punishment. A 2012 Texas Tribune poll indicated that a mere 21 per cent of Texans were opposed to the death penalty, evidence of which came during Governor Perry’s 2011 run for the presidency, when he was roundly applauded for overseeing so many executions.

“I’ve never struggled [to sleep at night] at all,” he said. “In the state of Texas when you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you are involved in another crime that killed one of our citizens – you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas.”

The nationwide decline in executions is, at least in part, attributable to unearthed evidence that has exonerated wrongfully convicted Americans across the country. Earlier this year the National Registry of Exonerations revealed that Texas – and Dallas County, in particular, where McCarthy was convicted – is the national leader in exonerations.

A probe, ordered after that study and published April 2013, revealed that at least 117 people in Texas were imprisoned over the last 25 years for crimes they did not commit.

“Texas has been showcased as the number on state in the nation for wrongful convictions,” state Rep. Ruth McClendon told the Houston Chronicle. “Each conviction of an innocent person reveals a tragic failure of the justice system.”

Speaking to a conference hall lined with cabinet ministers and officials of his Muslim Brotherhood party, President Mohamed Morsi announced an all-party committee to reform the constitution in a bid to defuse the opposition and looming mass protests.

Pledging to introduce "radical and quick" reforms into state institutions, Morsi seemed to strike a conciliatory note against vocal insurrection from the political opposition, announcing that his government would form a second committee to address “national reconciliation.”

"I stand before you as an Egyptian citizen, not as the holder of an office, who is fearful for his country,” said Morsi. He then vowed to review his first year in office, which began June 30 of 2012. Protesters have chosen to mark the upcoming anniversary with mass demonstrations aimed at the embattled leader’s resignation.

"Today, I present an audit of my first year, with full transparency, along with a road map. Some things were achieved and others not," Morsi said. "I have made mistakes on a number of issues.”

Hundreds of Egyptian anti government protesters shout political slogans against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt's landmark Tahrir square as they watch Morsi's speech protesting against government and the Muslim Brotherhood on June 26, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt (AFP Photo / Gianluigi Guercia)

 While acknowledging errors during his term, Morsi pointed the finger at unspecified "enemies of Egypt" for sabotaging the country’s young democratic system, which was haphazardly raised following the ouster of his predecessor Hosni Mubarak. The former leader was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2011, despite decades of support from the West.

"Political polarization and conflict has reached a stage that threatens our nascent democratic experience and threatens to put the whole nation in a state of paralysis and chaos," said Morsi. "The enemies of Egypt have not spared effort in trying to sabotage the democratic experience," he added.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Wednesday for Morsi’s national address. According to Ahram Online, demonstrators carried placards bearing pro-army slogans, including “the people and the army are one hand” – a motto which was often seen during Egypt’s tumultuous 2011 uprising.

Clashes were reported in Alexandria, where supporters and opponents of Egypt’s Morsi threw rocks and fired shotguns in the early hours of Thursday during the leader’s keynote speech in Cairo. Just hours prior, at least two people were killed and over 200 wounded as hundreds clashed in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

Hundreds of demonstrators also gathered in front of the country’s defense ministry headquarters in eastern Cairo, demanding that defense minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi take over power from President Morsi.

Opponents of Morsi’s government want him to resign and continue to call for an early election, charging that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood are consolidating power while failing to solve Egypt's pressing problems - including a serious economic recession and a more recent fuel shortage.

An Egyptian man holds a placard as hundreds of Egyptian anti-government protesters shout political slogans against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt's landmark Tahrir square as they watch Morsi's speech protesting against government and the Muslim Brotherhood on June 26, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt (AFP Photo / Gianluigi Guercia)

Wednesday’s unrest seemed to be a harbinger of things to come. Speaking from Cairo, RT correspondent Bel Trew reported that Egyptians were preparing themselves for another wave of increased violence.

“Definitely the fear here is that violence is going to escalate. We’ve seen a number of clashes around the governorate. People are even reaching out to private security firms to secure their homes and businesses. The military released a statement this week saying that they will have to step in if violence continues.”

 Facebook says it has not provided any user data to Turkish authorities in response to protest-related requests. It comes after a Turkish minister said the social media site has been cooperative “for a long time,” and that Twitter will likely comply too.

“Facebook has not provided user data to Turkish authorities in response to government requests relating to the protests,” the company said in a statement. “We reject all government data requests from Turkish authorities and push them to formal legal channels unless it appears that there is an immediate threat to life or a child.”

Facebook has expressed concerns over a draft bill on social media which would require companies to share data with Turkish authorities. Executives plan on raising the issue during this week’s meeting with Turkish officials in the US.

Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, Binali Yildirim, said the country’s government was satisfied with Facebook’s assistance.

“Facebook has been working in coordination with the Turkish authorities for a long time. They have a unit in Turkey. We don’t have any problem with them,” Yildirim said. The statement sparked outrage among Turkish social network users.

Turkish protesters stand in Red Crescent square during a 'duranadam' (standing person) protest in Ankara (AFP Photo / AdemM Atlan)

  Yildirim added that Twitter has not shown such “positive approach” despite “necessary warnings” from Turkey. He said that the Turkish government has asked Twitter, along with other social media sites, to set up a representative office inside the country.

“We have told all social media that...if you operate in Turkey you must comply with Turkish law…When information is requested, we want to see someone in Turkey who can provide this...there needs to be an interlocutor we can put our grievance to and who can correct an error if there is one,” he said.

“Twitter will probably comply too. Otherwise, this is a situation that cannot be sustained,” Yildirim stressed. His statement was presumably referring to social media’s role in the country’s recent anti-government protests. He added that the government seeks only to “turn down the volume of the social media,” rather than restricting it.

Another ministry official told Reuters that Turkey has asked Twitter to reveal the identities of users who posted messages which were considered insulting to Prime Minister Erdogan or the Turkish government. It was not immediately clear if Twitter responded.

Prime Minister Erdogan called social networking sites a “nuisance” during the anti-government protests in June, after local media reported that dozens were arrested for “inciting unrest” via social media.

The country's interior minister previously announced that Ankara was working on new regulations that would target so-called "provocateurs" on social media. A source told Reuters that the justice ministry had proposed that any Turk wishing to open a Twitter account would have to enter his or her national identification number. This was reportedly turned down by the transport ministry for being technically infeasible.

Turkey has a long record of legislative moves which rights groups believe fall under internet censorship. Ankara banned YouTube for more than two years in 2008 after a video clip ‘insulted’ the Turkish Republic’s founder, Ataturk.

Russia’s upper house, the Federation House, has approved a bill introducing fines for propaganda of non-traditional sex relations to minors, including in the media, on the internet and via viral adverts.

Some 137 senators voted for the draft law which introduces administrative liability and fines of up to a million roubles (over US$ 30,000) for promotion of homosexuality among children. One senator abstained from voting and no one voted against the legislation.

The controversial bill – which critics fear may spark a wave of homophobia in the country – was approved by the lower house, the State Duma, on June 11. The vast majority of the population – 88 % - is also in favor of the introduction of the ban, according to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM).

The draft law is not discriminative against LGBT people and is only aimed to protect minors, Federation Council speaker, Valentina Matvienko, emphasized on Wednesday, ahead of voting.

Unlike in the Soviet times, people with non-traditional sexual orientation are no longer prosecuted in Russia, she reminded.

“They are ordinary equal members of the society. As adults, they are entitled to decide how they want to live. But when it comes to minors [the ban on propaganda] is not someone’s whim, but a demand from the society,” Matvienko said.

Under the bill, individuals will be fined up to 5,000 roubles ($US 152) for such propaganda, officials will have to pay up to 50,000 roubles (about US$ 1,500) and companies – up to 500,000 roubles (about $US 15,000).

If law violators use the media or the internet for the promotion of non-traditional sex relations, they will face even harsher punishment. For instance, individuals will have shell out up to 100,000 roubles (about US$ 3,000), while organizations – a million roubles or face a 90-day suspension of activities.

Foreign citizens or stateless persons who violate the ban will face a fine or an arrest for up to 15 days followed by a deportation from Russia.

The law also defines what is considered the gay propaganda of non-traditional relations. It is the distribution of information aimed at forming non-traditional sexual concept in children, describing such ties as attractive, promoting the distorted understanding of social equality of traditional and non-traditional relations and also unwanted solicitation of information that could provoke interest in such relations.

The bill was slammed as “anti-gay” by gay rights activists both in Russia and abroad. The issue was raised again earlier in the week. The Russian president called on Western countries not to interfere with Russian internal affairs, speaking at a media conference during his trip to Finland.  He reiterated that the draft law is not about introducing any sort of sanctions on homosexuality and does not violate rights of sexual minorities.

“Some countries ... think that there is no need to protect children from this. We Do. We are not going to interfere,” he said. “But we are going to provide such protection the way that State Duma lawmakers have decided.”

To come into force, the bill has yet to be signed by the president.

Brazil’s legislative body has thrown out a proposed constitutional amendment, which was a key grievance of protesters across the country. The government is also planning to introduce a range of political reforms to appease demonstrators.

In what in being seen as a victory for people power, the measure was defeated on Tuesday by Congress by 430 votes to nine; with the Rio Times saying the protests were “largely fueled by social media and citizen journalists.”

The amendment, known as PEC 37, would have limited the power of state prosecutors to investigate crimes.

The protesters had argued that PEC 37 might have opened the way to more corruption; a problem which is endemic in Brazil.

Brazil ranks 69 out of 174 countries on the 2012 Transparency International index, a score that indicates significant problems with corruption.

The defeat of PEC 37 will keep public prosecutors at the forefront of the fight against corruption. If the amendment had become law, it would have granted power to carry out criminal investigations exclusively to the police.

Critics to the bill argued that it would have prevented prosecutors from conducting fair, impartial and effective criminal investigations, particularly into organized crime and corruption, in which the police themselves have been embroiled. In December last year 63 police officers were arrested after a yearlong bribery investigation.

The police in Brazil are amongst the most corrupt in the world and have been mired in recent years in a number of corruption scandals.

Congress also voted Tuesday to funnel all revenue and royalties from newly-discovered oil fields off the Brazilian coast into education and health.

The new fields are among the largest finds in recent years and, once fully operational, are expected to produce tens of billions of barrels of oil; although they are located deep on the ocean floor and extracting the oil will require expensive new technology and carries huge risks.

Protestors also voiced their anger at other issues, which they say the government is mishandling, including soaring levels of corruption, poor public services and the huge cost of staging the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, both to be held in Brazil.

The government, though, has promised a range of initiatives, which they say will combat corruption and improve public services.

A referendum proposing political reform is meant to address campaign financing and political representation, and the government says a vote may take place as soon as September 7.

A controversial plan to bring in foreign doctors to reverse a shortfall in the country is being pushed through despite the objections of Brazilian medical practitioners and an increase in public transport fares in many cities has also been scrapped. The President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, has even proposed free transport for students.

Yet it is still unclear whether or not these hasty political concessions are having an impact. Protests are due to continue in the city of Belo Horizonte Wednesday, with tens of thousands of people expected to take part.

In a security nightmare for police, the demonstration will take place at the same time as the semifinal of the Confederation Cup between Brazil and Uruguay. One protest group has said it plans to protest outside the national team’s hotel.

Last Saturday there were violent clashes in Belo Horizonte during another protest and President Rousseff has warned against a repeat of violence.

AFP Photo / Mark Ralston

 Jeff Olson, the 40-year-old man who is being prosecuted for scrawling anti-megabank messages on sidewalks in water-soluble chalk last year now faces a 13-year jail sentence. A judge has barred his attorney from mentioning freedom of speech during trial.

According to the San Diego Reader, which reported on Tuesday that a judge had opted to prevent Olson’s attorney from "mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial,” Olson must now stand trial for on 13 counts of vandalism.

In addition to possibly spending years in jail, Olson will also be held liable for fines of up to $13,000 over the anti-big-bank slogans that were left using washable children's chalk on a sidewalk outside of three San Diego, California branches of Bank of America, the massive conglomerate that received $45 billion in interest-free loans from the US government in 2008-2009 in a bid to keep it solvent after bad bets went south.

The Reader reports that Olson’s hearing had gone as poorly as his attorney might have expected, with Judge Howard Shore, who is presiding over the case, granting Deputy City Attorney Paige Hazard's motion to prohibit attorney Tom Tosdal from mentioning the United States' fundamental First Amendment rights.

"The State's Vandalism Statute does not mention First Amendment rights," ruled Judge Shore on Tuesday.

Upon exiting the courtroom Olson seemed to be in disbelief.

"Oh my gosh," he said. "I can't believe this is happening."

Tosdal, who exited the courtroom shortly after his client, seemed equally bewildered.

"I've never heard that before, that a court can prohibit an argument of First Amendment rights," said Tosdal.

Olson, who worked as a former staffer for a US Senator from Washington state, was said to involve himself in political activism in tandem with the growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

On October 3, 2011, Olson first appeared outside of a Bank of America branch in San Diego, along with a homemade sign. Eight days later Olson and his partner, Stephen Daniels, during preparations for National Bank Transfer Day, the two were confronted by Darell Freeman, the Vice President of Bank of America’s Global Corporate Security.

A former police officer, Freeman accused Olson and Daniels of “running a business outside of the bank,” evidently in reference to the National Bank Transfer Day activities, which was a consumer activism initiative that sought to promote Americans to switch from commercial banks, like Bank of America, to not-for-profit credit unions.

At the time, Bank of America’s debit card fees were among one of the triggers that led Occupy Wall Street members to promote the transfer day.

"It was just an empty threat," says Olson of Freeman’s accusations. "He was trying to scare me away. To be honest, it did at first. I even called my bank and they said he couldn't do anything like that."

Olson continued to protest outside of Bank of America. In February 2012, he came across a box of chalk at a local pharmacy and decided to begin leaving his mark with written statements.

"I thought it was a perfect way to get my message out there. Much better than handing out leaflets or holding a sign," says Olson.

Over the course of the next six months Olson visited the Bank of America branch a few days per week, leaving behind scribbled slogans such as "Stop big banks" and "Stop Bank Blight.com."

According to Olson, who spoke with local broadcaster KGTV, one Bank of America branch claimed it had cost $6,000 to clean up the chalk writing.

Public records obtained by the Reader show that Freeman continued to pressure members of San Diego’s Gang Unit on behalf of Bank of America until the matter was forwarded to the City Attorney’s office.

On April 15, Deputy City Attorney Paige Hazard contacted Freeman with a response on his persistent queries.

"I wanted to let you know that we will be filing 13 counts of vandalism as a result of the incidents you reported," said Hazard.

Arguments for Olson’s case are set to be heard Wednesday morning, following jury selection.

Aidge Patterson of the LA Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant leads a protest rally outside a pretrial hearing for Johannes Mehserle, the former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Grant in Oakland, California last year, at the Criminal Courts Building in Los Angeles on March 26, 2010. (AFP Photo)

 The City of Oakland and Alameda County have agreed to settle a class action lawsuit by paying out $1.025 million to 152 people arrested in 2010 while protesting the leniency of sentence for a white transit officer who shot dead an unarmed black man.

City Council members voted to approve a settlement of $850,000, Oakland City attorney's spokesman Alex Katz said, while Alameda County will pay out $175,000 to put a class action lawsuit filed by the National Lawyers Guild to rest.

The deal received preliminary approval from District Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco on June 13, but must clear a final approval hearing slated for September.

The settlement of the case potentially brings to conclusion one of three class action lawsuits resulting from the Oakland Police Department’s (OPD) reaction to protests stemming from the Oscar Grant case and Occupy Oakland.

The arrests were made at a November 2010 rally staged to protest the lenient sentencing of Johannes Mehserle, a Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] police officer who fatally shot Oscar Grant on a train platform on New Year day in 2009.

Mehserle received a two-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter after shooting Grant in the back, as he was allegedly resisting arrest while unarmed and lying prostrate on the platform. The shooting drew nationwide media attention and a dramatization of the last 24 hours of Grant’s life premiered earlier this year.

According to the lawsuit, both the city and county failed to follow state law or their own rules during the detention and arrest of protesters after police intervened to halt a planned march to a nearby BART station on November 5, 2010.

Protesters then said after being detained, they were forced to sit in Alameda County Sheriff's Office buses and later in holding cells for up to 24 hours without ever being formally booked.

One of the plaintiffs, National Lawyers Guild legal observer Dan Spalding, said in a statement the protesters were never given a warning or an opportunity to leave.

“I tried to tell the officers that I was a legal observer, but they handcuffed me and put me on a sheriff’s bus,” local affiliate CBS San Francisco cites Spalding as saying.

"We brought the lawsuit in order to protect the constitutional right to dissent in Oakland," said Rachel Lederman, lead attorney in the case for the National Lawyers guild.

The four named plaintiffs in the case will receive $9,000 under the settlement, Lederman said. Others in the class action suit can apply to receive around $4,500 apiece. The attorneys will get $300,000.

In the other two cases related to both the slaying of Grant and Occupy Oakland, police have been accused of using excessive force and unlawful mass arrests during demonstrations on October 25, 2011, November 2-3, 2011, and January 28, 2012.

In the January 28 incident, police arrested more than 400 people outside the Downtown Oakland YMCA.

In July, the Oakland City Council is set to consider a proposed settlement resulting from police violence during the November 2011 protest.

Shortly before 1am on November 3, Scott Campbell was shot by police with a less-lethal round while filming a stationary police line during an Occupy Oakland protest. The shooting, incidentally, was documented from a point-of-view perspective by Campbell’s own camera. University of South Carolina criminal justice Professor Geoffrey Alpert told the Oakland Tribune that, "Unless there's a threat that you can't see in the video, that just looks like absolute punishment, which is the worst type of excessive force."

Following weeks of mass protests nationwide that persisted into the weekend, Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff has proposed a referendum for political reform in a bid to subdue public dissatisfaction that has brought a million Brazilians onto the streets.

On Monday, Rousseff pledged to invest 50 billion reais ($25 billion) on public transportation projects, holding discussions with state governors and mayors to find ways to defuse the demonstrations that have sprouted in some 80 municipalities across Brazil.

Protesters planned to continue gatherings in Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, while small pockets of violence were reported over the weekend in smaller cities, such as Salvador.

A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest for better public services, a new political system and against the Brazilian PEC37 draft law, a proposed constitutional amendment that would take away the power of independent public prosecutors to probe crimes making it harder to combat corruption, in Rio de Janeiro downtown on June 24, 2013.(AFP Photo / Yasuyoshi Chiba)

In a bid to appease the major demands at play among the protesters, Rousseff met with representatives of the Free Pass Movement, a group that advocates for free public transport and which was instrumental to organizing initial protests triggered by proposed hikes to bus and subway services across the country.

In Sao Paulo, many of the throngs of demonstrators complained of insufficient investment in underground rail, currently a very limited service in relation to the size of the bustling metropolis, the largest city in Brazil and the world’s seventh-largest city by population.

Over the weekend, the more than 250,000 protesters that took to the streets voiced their opposition to legislation known as PEC 37, which would transfer power from federal prosecutors to investigate crimes.

Those proposed reforms were seen as a symptom of endemic corruption for the country, on the heels of an investigation that unraveled the biggest corruption case in Brazil's history - the "mensalão" cash-for-votes scheme that came to light in 2005, and ensnared the highly popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The timing of that legislation meant that it was added to an already lengthy list of demands by protesters, which all focus on what is seen as misdirected public spending on glitzy sporting events like the 2014 World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup, at the expense of public services. 

Thousands of people march during a protest on Consolação Street in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 22, 2013 .(AFP Photo / Daniel Guimaraes)

 Rousseff has been quick to welcome peaceful protests, and on Monday announced her government’s intention to focus on five policy “pacts” for the country, including fiscal stability, a public referendum to form a Constituent Assembly for reform, and investment in education, health and public transportation.

Just prior to the nationwide protests Rousseff’s government had introduced a plan to hire medical professionals from abroad, a plan that was not well received by Brazil’s medical community as it was seen to introduce unfair competition for available positions. In response, the president stressed that Brazil’s doctors would always be considered ahead of international applicants.

It remained unclear whether the latest announcements would be seen as resolving the demands of protesters, many of which have vowed to stay on the streets until they feel concrete measures are being taken to reform Brazil’s political system and tackle corruption.

During her remarks on Monday, Rousseff pointed out that Brazil’s demonstrations were a reflection of social inclusion, and that “now the people on the streets want more.”

The documents about provocateurs, organizers and managers of the Turkish protests will be published soon, said Prime Ministerial advisor Mustafa Şentop, the person in charge of drafting the new Turkish Constitution, told RT.

Sentop is a law professor, and Deputy Chairman of the Justice and Development Party, member of the Constitution drafting committee, and MP for Istanbul. He told RT how the ‘interest-rate lobby’ had been preparing the coup since 2009, why the main street cannot change power in Turkey, and why exactly the media are to blame. 

Q: What is the new Constitution all about? Do you have any agreement with the US on revamping it?

A: Let me first say that Turkey does not tolerate any foreign interference whatsoever, including the US, into these matters. Under no circumstances can the draft Constitution be discussed with the United States or the European Union.
The new Constitution is a need that the JDP has recognized since it came to power in 2002. On May 27, 1960, Turkey saw a military coup, which ushered in a new constitutional order. In this order, most decisions were taken by the military and bureaucracy rather than politicians. They would do what they wanted behind the back of the elected politicians, who were, in fact, figureheads. The politicians themselves raised little objection.
Ever since the JDP came to power in 2002, it has been working hard to turn the tide. If national sovereignty rests with the people, and the people vest the powers to exercise this sovereignty to politicians by electing them, these politicians must stand for these powers, whatever happens.

Q: Is it true that Erdogan referred to Turkey's constitution as a document written by “two drunks”?

A: He was not talking about the Constitution. The Parliament had passed a law to limit alcohol sales at certain times of the day – a restriction that is in fact far more lenient than in Europe, let alone several American states. What we wanted is stop people from buying and selling spirits at night, as well as outside mosques and schools. When we put forward a bill, you speak against it, but when some MPs suggest discussing other laws on free sales of alcohol, you adopt them – that’s what the Prime Minister was saying. He used the popular expression ‘the two drunks’ here.

Q: Let’s go back to the Constitution that will make the President electable by a popular vote…. 

A: The JDP is an unyielding advocate of national sovereignty. This is why we came up with a new draft Constitution. Since 2002, we have initiated a whole number of political reforms to transform the system founded back in 1960, after the coup. 
Another important step was marked by the 2010 referendum, which adopted quite a few constitutional amendments.
The new draft is supposed to be an upgraded and updated version of the Constitution. It will draw a legislative line under what we have achieved so far.
The new Constitution draws from the premise that if the sovereignty belongs to the people, everyone in power has to lean on it. No constitutional powers can be….
Those who are appointed to their offices must be accountable to those who are elected. Our goal is to give politicians control over bureaucrats, not vice versa. We believe this is what true democracy looks like.  

Q: Do the events at Taksim have anything to do with the new Constitution? 

A: About three or four months ago we started receiving reports that something like that was under way. There are foreign governments directly engaged into this – we can tell that by the media coverage. For instance, on June 16 Kazlıçeşme Square saw a rally of around 1.5 million JDP supporters – one of the biggest rallies in human history. They had gathered to back the ruling party and the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, CNN covered the event, calling it an anti-government protest in Turkey. Just like the BBC, Reuters, the German media, they spread false rumors about our country. We are free to call most of these media the Israeli lobby, because they are funded by Israel. They all offer a rather one-sided, negative coverage of the events in Turkey. When 52 people were killed in Reyhanlı, the CNN only briefly mentioned it in its news ticker. But when the initially peaceful events at Taksim started unfolding, the CNN gave non-stop live broadcasts from the place. It was a clearly an orchestrated scheme. 

Q: Is this scenario aimed at distracting Turkey’s attention from Syria or involving it even more? Or, perhaps, there is another objective? 

A: I think there is another objective. Turkey became stronger throughout the rule of the JDP under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The GDP growth of Turkey is 3 per cent, and this is the result of the year’s first quarter only. For instance, the average growth rate across Europe is negative.  So Turkey has a stable economy against the background of economic decline in a number of countries. Another issue is that Turkey has become a strong regional player in international relations. That is why I believe that by causing turmoil and instability inside the country they were trying to make Turkey focus on its domestic affairs so that it wouldn’t be able to participate in the settlement of the Syrian crisis. Turkey is concerned about a successful resolution of the problems in Syria, which is obvious – it is our neighbor we share our longest common border with, and in some places this border cuts across villages. Yesterday I got a phone call from my former student who had gone to the wedding of his relatives that took place in Mardin. Part of the relatives live on the Turkish territory and they were detained by the military police while crossing the border with Syria for they didn’t have their passports with them. I called their boss, told him about the wedding and explained the situation asking him to help. I hope they finally made it to the wedding. So the relations between Turkey and Syria are extremely different from relations with the USA, Russia or Germany. The long frontier implies security problems. Turkey is a country that is directly affected by the Syrian problems, so we are more than others looking forward to their soonest settlement. If there is an international conference to be held on the issue – Turkey must be granted the greatest voting power.  The clashes take place right before the Geneva talks between the envoys of the UN, Russia and the USA, so they are aimed at weakening the positions of Turkey. 

Q: In this case, since you know Russia participates in the talks and has a different viewpoint on the Syrian problem as compared to the West, do you consider it as one of the instigators?

A: No, we don’t think Russia has a hand in the Taksim unrest. 

Q: Then who are the instigators in your opinion? 

A: External forces have their branches inside Turkey. The growth and stabilization of the Turkish economy had a negative impact on those groups that had raised money on high interest rates on the national debt. Financial speculators are no longer able to make mega-profits. In 2002 they gave us loans at 63 per cent. Since then, we’ve pulled down interest rates to 4.6 per cent in May 2013. If we had continued taking money at those high rates, we would have paid this “interest-rate lobby” some 642 extra billion dollars. Thanks to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that money was invested and not given away for paying the interest rates. Surely, there are some groups that can’t earn as much as they used to, so they are dissatisfied with the JDP’s and Erdogan’s course. 

Q: Why did this “interest-rate lobby” – as Erdogan put it – decide to take action now?  

A: We know that the first preparations for the Taksim events cropped up in 2009. How can you overthrow the JDP? The JDP came to power after the election in November 2002 with 34 per cent of the votes. In 2003 the Ergenekon organization made its first attempts to overturn Turkey. In April 2007 the parliament was to elect Abdullah Gül president, but the military interfered and posted an “E-memorandum” on their website, after which the Constitutional Court scrapped the results of the election. The JDP responded with a statement as well, in which it said that the army should obey the government and the president elected by the people. It was an unprecedented case in Turkish history – as the government used to resign after such statements before. That was a positively stubborn policy of the JDP, which was not typical for the established political relations in the country. Moreover, we carried out two reforms back then. First, we introduced amendments to the Constitution, according to which the president was elected by the people – not by the parliament. Second, we decided to hold snap elections in July this year, which is four months earlier than usual. Many people in media, business, military, and banks believed that the JDP won just by chance, and expected it to lose in the next election. However in summer 2007 the JDP won 47 percent of the vote; and then the president was elected. In 2008, the Constitutional Court attempted to close the JDP. Six people voted for, and five people, against. They were just one vote short of overthrowing the legitimately elected party. 

 By telling this I just want to demonstrate that the struggle against our party never stopped since its very first victory. In 2010 our party continued working on democratizing Turkey, and proposed the constitutional reforms to the referendum. The main thing that changed was that from then on, the army and the bureaucracy would be headed by those popularly elected. Another amendment was that four out of 17 Constitutional Court members are now elected by the Grand National Assembly, whereas in the past, they had been appointed by the president. Consequently, today’s Taksim events are an attempt of overthrowing the JDP’s authority by those who had been trying to disrupt it all these years. In 2011, the party won almost 50 percent of the vote. Its opponents cannot win by supporting other political parties in the elections. Powers within the state such as army and bureaucracy have also lost their positions so they no longer can compete with us. So the decision was made to use revolutionary technologies. They put forward the groups not supported by any political parties so that they would cause unrest, make an appearance of instability, and disrupt the JDP. I recently read a study that described an experiment on group management. In a group of 20 strangers, there are 3 people who know each other and how they were given a particular task by the organizers. They end up easily leading all the others in just 10 minutes. In campaigns like that, people with good, naïve intentions don’t even notice that they are easily managed by organized individuals who have clear political objectives. In this country, they decided to try out the Arab spring scenario of the Middle East, or the Velvet revolution scenario of the post-Soviet space. But it will not work in Turkey; we will not let it happen.  

 Q: What’s the difference between the situation of Turkey and that of the Arab countries?

A: Unlike Turkey, those countries never had democracy, and their people could never change the authorities by elections. So they went out into the streets and used those methods because they had no other means. But Turkey is a democracy. We have free elections, and since 1950 there haven’t been any doubts in their fairness. Those unhappy with authorities can change them by elections. It is absolutely wrong to see any relationship to the events in Egypt or Tunisia. The Gezi Park rally can be compared to environment activists campaigns in Western countries. Arguably, the environment was the pretext to start it. At the same time, our situation is different from such countries as Spain or Greece where people protest because of the economic recession and unemployment. We don’t have such problems in our country. There are no common or individual problems which would make people feel the need to go out in the streets of Turkey. Essentially, the announced rally objectives and their real implementation strongly contradict each other. For the sake of six trees, they already caused $100 mln worth of damage, and ruined plants, flowers, and landscaped areas. They burned municipal buses, destroyed banks, broke windows, and so on. This is no longer a peaceful protest when people throw stones, balls studded with nails, and Molotov cocktails at police. For instance, last week there were protests against the G8 summit in London where police also used force and detained 52 people even though demonstrators carried neither stones nor Molotov cocktails. This way we can see that campaigns have been organized by those domestic and international circles that aren’t happy with the JDP policies and with the fact that Turkey’s growing stronger. We have the corresponding documents which will be presented in court. 

Q: What documents do you have?

A: We have information about those who provoked and organized these protests, and provided logistics, funds and other resources. As an example, New York Times published an ad on protests. A campaign was organized to pay for it, and $40.000 out of $100.000 was covered by Rafagen, a US pharmaceutical company of Israeli origin. This information was found in open sources. The documents we have will be made public in the near future. In conclusion I want to say that Turkey has already survived military coup attempts, the “E-memorandum”, presidential election deadlock, and the JDP closure cases. The same way, we will survive this phase as well. Turkey is strong enough to make it.

Q: President Morsi terminated Egypt’s diplomatic relations with Syria. Many consider it a declaration of war. How does Turkey view it?

A: Egypt is an important actor in this region, along with Turkey and Iran. Egypt could’ve been more strongly involved in the Syrian conflict had it not been so busy with its own domestic issues. We believe Egypt has taken the right position which would be able to impact on the situation. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

The Ecuadorian government is analyzing NSA leaker Snowden’s asylum bid as he attempts to elude extradition to the US, said Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino. The whistleblower is allegedly in Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport after fleeing Hong Kong.

"We are analyzing it with a lot of responsibility," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he is currently on an official visit. He added that the decision has to do “with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."

“We always act in the name of principles not in our own interests. There are governments who make decisions more according to their own interests, we don’t do that. Our main focus is human rights,” said Patino, when asked how granting Snowden asylum could affect Ecuador’s relations with the US.

A car with diplomatic license plates of Ecuador is at the Moscow's Sheremetyevo airpor at the moment.

According to Interfax news agency, Snowden, who is accompanied by WikiLeaks representative, Sarah Harrison, has rented a suite at the airport’s «V-Express» Capsule Hotel. If he’s going to fly to Ecuador it won’t happen until Monday, June 24.    Russian NGO Golos has announced it plans to liquidate and re-register after the Justice Ministry insisted on registering it as a foreign agent even though financing from abroad stopped last year.

The dissolution procedure will start soon, deputy executive director of the Golos Association, Grigoriy Melkonyants told the RSN radio on Friday.

The decision came after the Justice Ministry replied to an enquiry from Golos about the registering procedure, and said the NGO should file an application to be put on the foreign agents list even though it had not received foreign sponsorship since last November, when the new law came into force.

“We are filing a request to liquidate our organization and start the procedure to register a new organization, this was the decision. The law reads that the registration as a foreign agent must happen before the organization gets engaged in fund raising and political activities. The procedure to getting out of this register is not described at all,” Melkonyants said.

Last week a court in Moscow refused to overturn an earlier decision to fine the head of the Golos Association Liliya Shibanova 100,000 roubles (just over $3000) for refusing to register her NGO as a foreign agent. Earlier, the court ruled as lawful the decision to fine the NGO 300,000 roubles (under $10 thousand) for the same offense.

The law on foreign agents makes failure to register an administrative offence punishable by fines of up to 300,000 roubles for officials and up to 500,000 roubles (over $16 thousand) for organizations.

Russian media and activists have voiced concern over the law when it was just introduced and a short time later when the Justice Ministry and prosecutors launched a major nationwide inspection checking if the “Foreign Agents Law” was duly observed. Foreign Human Rights groups and some governments also criticized the practice saying it was pressuring activists and threatening the existence of their groups.

Russian officials always replied that the law did not include any sanctions against the foreign-sponsored groups, but only sought to better inform Russian citizens about possible motives and backgrounds of those who took part in the political process.

The independent elections monitor Golos Association was the first group the courts recognized as having broken the law. According to Russian Financial Monitoring agency, over its work period the association received 675,000 roubles from Switzerland and 3.7 million roubles from Norway (about 21,000 and $115,000 respectively).

At the same time, Russia’s top politicians, including President Vladimir Putin said the foreign agents law could still be altered and that Russian legislators were open for suggestions. On Friday the question was raised again and the deputy head of the Lower House’s committee for public organizations, Yaroslav Nilov, told the State Duma that his committee had received no suggestions so far.

“We agree that any legal rules call for improvement and we are ready for this. Come talk to us, write to us, the doors of our committee are always open. But we only see the discussion in the mass media and not where the real efforts are taken to improve this law,” the MP complained.

Nilov also admitted that problems often arose due to the exuberance by regional officials who wanted to demonstrate their loyalty to the federal center.