11/11 International News

China Injects Million Into $349 Million Into Ethiopia's Road Link

Ethiopia became one of the first beneficiaries of the new China-Africa development funding when it signed a $349 million loan agreement to build the country's first modern highway road. The road that will cover almost 80km [50 miles] will link Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa with Nazeret, the country's second largest city. Ethiopia has other financing deals with China, focusing on the water, energy and telecommunications sectors.

Beating Rattles Cuban Bloggers

Yoani Sánchez (pictured), Cuba's most prominent dissident blogger, was walking along a Havana street last Friday along with two other bloggers and a friend when two men she says were Cuban agents in civilian clothes forced her inside an unmarked black car and beat her, telling her to stop criticizing the government. The assault, believed to be the first against the growing blogger movement on the island, has cast a spotlight on the country's record of repression, highlighting how little change there has been in political freedoms during the nearly three years since Raúl Castro took over as president from retired dictator Fidel Castro (hat tip: Black & Right).

The Inter American Press Association, a watchdog group, said Cuba has 26 journalists in jail, and it cited 102 incidents against Cuban journalists in the past year, including beatings, arbitrary arrests and death threats. Until now, Cuba's growing blogger movement has been tolerated by the government, mostly because Internet access is restricted on the island. But the attack on Ms. Sánchez could signal that tolerance is waning. The U.S. State Department on Monday condemned the alleged beating and called on Cuba to respect its citizens' rights.

Denmark To Muslim Immigrants: "If You Can't Or Won't Assimilate, Here's $20,000 To Return To Your Home Country"

Denmark's center-right government is boosting cash incentives to entice immigrants to return to their homelands if they "can't or won't" assimilate into society (hat tip: Black & Right). The offer now on the table is close to £12,000 [US$19,800] for every person who takes up the offer to leave.The financial carrot is ten times more than that previously offered under a scheme which as been law since 1997. "We thought it was important to substantially increase this aid so that immigrants who want to return home because they are not able to adapt to Danish society have a strong financial basis to start a new life," said foreign affairs spokesman Soeren Espersen of the populist conservative Danish People's Party.

The center-right minority government reached an agreement on the financial incentive with the DPP as part of its 2010 budget negotiations. In addition, 20 million kroner [US$4 million] will be set aside for city councils in charge of integrating immigrants to "motivate" foreigners to return to their homelands. Opposition parties are shocked by the news, and fear it sends the message "that foreigners are not welcome in Denmark."

Since 1997, around 2,524 immigrants have voluntarily repatriated to their home countries. Most of them were from the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Somalia and Turkey. Immigrants account for about 7.3% of Denmark's population of 5.5 million.