• Female tourists shun India after gang rape, murder

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    The number of female tourists visiting India has fallen by more than a third since the gang-rape in which a 23-year-old student died, according to business leaders there.

    Visitor numbers have dropped in all parts of the country, not just in New Delhi, where December’s attack took place, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said Monday.

    The brutal assault was shocking even to a nation inured to sexual crimes against women, and thousands of protesters took to the streets in the weeks that followed to demand tougher action.

    Four days later, a British woman in Agra jumped from a second-floor hotel room when she feared the manager was trying to break in, while in another case a Swiss man was held at gunpoint while his wife was gang-raped in Madhya Pradesh.

     “From December 2012 onwards the inflows of women foreign tourists to the country have gone down by 35 percent and the overall tourism being affected by 25 percent,” said Assocham’s secretary general, DS Rawat, in a press release.

    Tour operators have reported that canceled bookings -- “especially from women” -- were mostly from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia, Rawat said.

    He said the string of high-profile sex crimes “raised concerns about the safety of female travelers to the country,” adding that the cases attracted “international attention.”

    He called on his country to strengthen security at major tourist spots, warning that India’s unsavory reputation could inflict “long-term” damage on its $17 billion annual tourism revenues.

    About 6.6 million international tourists visited India last year, India’s tourism ministry estimates.

    In the Dec. 16 attack, police say the gang lured the 23-year-old victim onto a bus in New Delhi, where they repeatedly raped and assaulted her with a metal bar before throwing her bleeding onto a highway. She died of internal injuries two weeks later.

    Related:

    5 accused men plead not guilty in India gang rape

    India gang-rape victim's father: Hang the 'monsters' responsible

    Authorities: Alleged ringleader in India gang rape hangs himself

     

  • Judges: WikiLeaks' Assange can appeal against extradition

    By msnbc.com wire services

    Updated at 5:45 a.m. ET: Judges decide WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal  to the U.K.'s Supreme Court against lower court rulings that he should be extradited to Sweden over allegations of rape and molestation, The Associated Press reports.

    Published at 4:20 a.m. ET: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to ask British judges Monday to let him continue his legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations.

    Assange will ask high court judges to let him take his case to Britain's Supreme Court. If they refuse the request, he could be extradited to Stockholm within 10 days.

    The 40-year-old Australian behind the anti-secrecy website has spent almost a year on bail in Britain fighting extradition for questioning over claims of rape and molestation made by two Swedish women. Assange, who has been living in Britain since his arrest here in December last year, denies wrongdoing.

    Two courts have ruled against him so far.

    For his case to be considered by Britain's Supreme Court, Assange's lawyers must persuade two High Court judges that it raises a question of "general public importance."

    Assange spent nine days in London's Wandsworth prison after his arrest last year. He was freed a week before Christmas on bail and has since been living at the country house of a wealthy supporter in eastern England.

    His arrest came shortly after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that included unflattering views of world leaders and candid assessments of security threats.

    Assange says the allegations are politically motivated.

    The application to take the case to the Supreme Court rests on two legal questions: Is the warrant for Assange's arrest valid, and can he be considered an "accused" person as required under extradition laws when no decision has been taken over whether he will be prosecuted.

    If his appeal fails, Assange could still take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, further prolonging his stay in Britain.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.