Colombia's Farc Rebels Release Video Of French Reporter

Colombia's left-wing Farc rebels have released the first images of French journalist Romeo Langlois since he was captured a month ago.

On a video broadcast by Venezuelan TV channel Telesur, the journalist appears in good health and good spirits.

The tape was released the day after the Farc set a date to release Mr Langlois.

He is due to be handed over on Wednesday to a international committee that has been mediating with the rebels.

The tape shows Mr Langlois, 35, in a camp in the jungle, probably in southern Colombia, where he was captured.

He was on a reporting trip for international broadcaster France 24, filming the destruction of cocaine laboratories by army soldiers in the Caqueta region.

The army said he was wounded in the arm when the group came under attack.

He then ran towards the rebels who later declared him a "prisoner of war".

In the video, he appears with bandage around his left elbow and is also shown being treated for his wound.

Mr Langlois also discusses the reporting trip and says he expected the operation to last no more than a couple of hours.

"You know what you are exposed to when you undertake this kind of activity, but the truth is I didn't think it was going to get so big," he says.

The French journalist says he did not know the area was a danger zone.

It is not clear when the video was recorded.

In a statement published on the internet on Sunday, the Farc says Mr Langlois will be handed over to a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a French government envoy and a peace group led by former Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba.

The French envoy, who has not been named, was due to arrive in the Colombian capital, Bogota, on Monday.

The French ambassador to Bogota, Pierre-Jean Vandoorne, said they could only hope that "everything goes well on the day."

The head of the ICRC in Colombia, Jordi Raich, says security arrangements are in place for Mr Langlois' release on Wednesday.

In previous hostage releases, the Colombian armed forces agreed to cease all operations in the designated area.

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Nepal Parties Resign As Constitution Deadline Passes

Three political parties have resigned from Nepal's Maoist-led government as fears grow that the country is descending into constitutional chaos.

Nepal's prime minister called fresh elections in six months after politicians failed to meet a deadline on Sunday to agree a new constitution.

Baburam Bhattarai said he was left with no choice after four years of deadlock.

Nepal no longer has a sitting parliament or a constitution and some are questioning the PM's legitimacy.

After two days of protests, the streets were quiet on Monday.

Parliament has been extended four times since 2008 while a special assembly has struggled to reach consensus over the drafting of a new constitution.

Political parties were unable to agree on the issue of whether states in a new federal system should be along ethnic lines.
Elections 'unconstitutional'

When the latest deadline was missed, Baburam Bhattarai said there was "no alternative" but polls in November and that he would form a caretaker government.

"Though we were unable to promulgate the constitution, we have decided to seek a mandate through elections for a new Constituent Assembly on 22 November," the prime minister announced in a televised address to the nation.

The move came after a cabinet meeting decided to hold elections rather than declare a state of emergency, which would have allowed parliament to be extended for six months.

But political parties disagree on his right to call elections and take this position- and three of them have now resigned from government. Some political parties within the coalition also argued elections were unconstitutional.

The prime minister argues that the Supreme Court supports this stance, because it had ruled earlier that if the constitution was not drafted in time "the alternative would be to hold another election".

Mr Bhattarai, who is a member of Nepal's Maoist party and led the national unity government made up of Nepal's four major parties, blamed rival groups within the coalition for the breakdown of talks.

There is acrimonious debate over the ethnic identity of states and this has sparked violent protests in recent weeks.

The Maoists want state boundaries which reflect different ethnic groups and are named after them. They say this would bolster the groups' sense of identity and give them more autonomy.

Those who disagree say that such ethnic divisions could cause instability and could sow the seeds of disintegration.

Nepal's interim constituent assembly was elected for a two-year term when the country became a republic in 2008.

The assembly's formation came two years after pro-democracy protests forced Nepal's king to give up his authoritarian rule and restore democracy in the country.

One of the assembly's first decisions was to abolish the centuries-old monarchy and convert Nepal into a republic.

Its tenure has been extended four times, as political parties have repeatedly failed to draft a new constitution. Recently, the Supreme Court rejected any further extensions.

Political parties have been able to resolve some differences in the past, such as the future of Maoist rebel fighters who were confined to camps after they gave up arms in 2006.

But the ethnic issue has proved intractable.

Meanwhile, correspondents say that many ordinary Nepalis are fed up of the stalemate and political in-fighting.

They want a government which can start addressing issues such as economic growth and the desperate need for development.

Source: BBC News 

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Sudan To Withdraw Troops

Sudan will begin pulling its troops out of the disputed border region of Abyei on Tuesday, an army spokesman has said.

Abyei is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, which became independent in 2011 after a long civil war. Sudan's forces seized Abyei in May 2011.

Its status was left undecided in the 2005 peace deal between the sides, and a referendum on the issue has been postponed indefinitely.

Peace talks between the two states are scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

In the talks due to be held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the two countries are expected to cover several border disputes that have caused friction, including Abyei.

Sudan has decided to redeploy its troops out of Abyei in order to "offer a good environment for the talks", military spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

He said Khartoum was responding to a request from the talks' mediator, former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

It has also asked for a "guarantee" recognising that Abyei is part of its territory, the spokesman added.

On Sunday, former US President Jimmy Carter said after meeting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that Khartoum was ready to pull its forces out of Abyei.

Tens of thousands of civilians were displaced when the Sudanese army took control of the region in three days of clashes with South Sudanese troops in May 2011.

The dispute in Abyei is rooted in ethnic conflict between farmers from the pro-South Sudan Dinka Ngok community and the pro-Sudan Misseriya nomads.

In April, cross-border clashes centred on the neighbouring oil-rich region of Heglig brought Sudan and South Sudan close to all-out war.

South Sudan says Sudanese warplanes bombed several locations on its border, although Khartoum denies this.

The same month, the South's troops occupied Heglig for a week. It said it pulled out in response to international pressure, but Sudan said it reconquered the territory.

The UN Security Council has called on both countries to cease all bombing and cross-border fighting, and to return to talks aimed at resolving their outstanding disputes.

Source: BBC News 

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Blast In Kenya Capital Nairobi

Kenya's police say an explosion which injured 33 in the capital, Nairobi, may have been caused by a bomb, after initially blaming an electrical fault.

The blast tore apart a shopping complex on Moi Avenue at lunchtime.

A witness has said a bag was abandoned next to her just before the explosion.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said the blast had a terrorist link. Militant group al-Shabab has repeatedly threatened to stage revenge attacks after Kenya sent troops to Somalia.

There has been a string of grenade and bomb blasts across Kenya in recent months, killing several people.
Shoes and clothes scattered

Five of those injured are said to be in a critical condition.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told the BBC he no longer believed an electrical fault had caused the blast, as police commissioner Mathew Iteere had initially suggested.

A man injured during an explosion is assisted from the scene in Kenya"s capital Nairobi, May 28, 2012. Some 28 people are said to have been injured by the blast

In a statement, Mr Kiraithe said the cause of the explosion had not been established.

"The investigating team is exploring the possibility that the blast was caused by criminals using an improvised explosive device," he said.

"Initial examination of the scene indicates that the possibility of a conventional bomb is remote."

Mr Odinga told reporters at the site of the blast: "This is terrorism... this is a heinous act, we are under threat, but we will not be cowed."

Kenya Power, the country's sole electricity distributor, has also ruled out any electrical malfunction as the cause of the blast.

The BBC's Kevin Mwachiro says glass and shoes and clothes from the small shops inside the building were scattered across the street.

TV pictures have shown people pouring into the streets from nearby buildings to get away from the scene of the fire, the AP news agency reports.

Moi Avenue is a major road which would have been busy during the lunch hour, AP says.

According to an eyewitness, there was a huge blast and debris flew in different directions injuring people in the vicinity, the Nation newspaper reports.

The powerful explosion shook buildings in the surrounding area and the evacuation process began, the Nation says.

Source: BBC News 

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Blaze At Qatar Shopping Mall Kills 19

A fire at a shopping centre in the Qatari capital Doha has killed at least 19 people, local officials have said.

The interior ministry said 13 of the victims at the Villaggio centre were children. Four were Spanish nationals, diplomats say.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

The Villaggio mall, which opened in 2006, is one of the most popular shopping and recreational complexes in the small Gulf state.

Its facilities include a cinema, a hotel and a Venice-styled theme park.

The blaze started at about 11:30 local time (08:00 GMT) on Monday, Qatari Interior Minister Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

It is believed to have started at the centre's Gympanzee nursery, and firefighters reportedly had to break through the roof to get to trapped children when a staircase collapsed.

But the firefighters were too late to save seven young girls and six boys who died with four of their teachers, reports say.

Four of the children who died were Spanish, foreign ministry officials in Madrid said, without giving further details.

Two civil defence officials - believed to be firefighters - were also among the victims, the interior ministry said.

Eyewitnesses spoke of thick black smoke billowing from the centre.

Police were sent to the scene to evacuate the complex, while medics were treating the injured.

"There don't seem to have been any fire alarms or sprinklers at the mall," a relative of one of the victims told Reuters.

The fire was later extinguished, Mr Thani said.

Source: BBC News 

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Massive Cyber-attack Discovered

A complex targeted cyber-attack that collected private data from countries such as Israel and Iran has been uncovered, researchers have said.

Russian security firm Kaspersky Labs told the BBC they believed the malware, known as Flame, had been operating since August 2010.

The company said it believed the attack was state-sponsored, but could not be sure of its exact origins.

They described Flame as "one of the most complex threats ever discovered".

Research into the attack was carried out in conjunction with the UN's International Telecommunication Union.

They had been investigating another malware threat, known as Wiper, which was reportedly deleting data on machines in western Asia.

In the past, targeted malware - such as Stuxnet - has targeted nuclear infrastructure in Iran.

Others like Duqu have sought to infiltrate networks in order to steal data.

This new threat appears not to cause physical damage, but to collect huge amounts of sensitive information, said Kaspersky's chief malware expert Vitaly Kamluk.

"Once a system is infected, Flame begins a complex set of operations, including sniffing the network traffic, taking screenshots, recording audio conversations, intercepting the keyboard, and so on," he said.

More than 600 specific targets were hit, Mr Kamluk said, ranging from individuals, businesses, academic institutions and government systems.

Iran's National Computer Emergency Response Team posted a security alert stating that it believed Flame was responsible for "recent incidents of mass data loss" in the country.

The malware code itself is 20MB in size - making it some 20 times larger than the Stuxnet virus. The researchers said it could take several years to analyse.

Mr Kamluk said the size and sophistication of Flame suggested it was not the work of independent cybercriminals, and more likely to be government-backed.

He explained: "Currently there are three known classes of players who develop malware and spyware: hacktivists, cybercriminals and nation states.

"Flame is not designed to steal money from bank accounts. It is also different from rather simple hack tools and malware used by the hacktivists. So by excluding cybercriminals and hacktivists, we come to conclusion that it most likely belongs to the third group."

Among the countries affected by the attack are Iran, Israel, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

"The geography of the targets and also the complexity of the threat leaves no doubt about it being a nation-state that sponsored the research that went into it," Mr Kamluk said.

The malware is capable of recording audio via a microphone, before compressing it and sending it back to the attacker.

It is also able to take screenshots of on-screen activity, automatically detecting when "interesting" programs - such as email or instant messaging - were open.

Kaspersky's first recorded instance of Flame is in August 2010, although it said it is highly likely to have been operating earlier.

Prof Alan Woodward, from the Department of Computing at the University of Surrey said the attack is very significant.

"This is basically an industrial vacuum cleaner for sensitive information," he said.

He explained that unlike Stuxnet, which was designed with one specific task in mind, Flame was much more sophisticated.

"Whereas Stuxnet just had one purpose in life, Flame is a toolkit, so they can go after just about everything they can get their hands on."

Once the initial Flame malware has infected a machine, additional modules can be added to perform specific tasks - almost in the same manner as adding apps to a smartphone.

Source: BBC News

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Two Tibetan Buddhist Monks Set Themselves On Fire

Two Tibetan Buddhist monks have set themselves on fire in Lhasa, US-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia said, in the first-ever reported self-immolations in the capital of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

The monks reportedly set themselves on fire on Sunday outside the Jokhang temple, a renowned centre for Buddhist pilgrimage in Lhasa, which has been under heavy security since deadly riots broke out in 2008.

Radio Free Asia said the two were believed to be among a few Tibetan youths who gathered to protest against Chinese rule outside the temple, and that they appeared to have died in the blaze.

“The security forces arrived immediately and put out the fire and all the tourists in the area were cordoned off from the site,” a witness told the broadcaster.

“Within 15 minutes, the area was cleaned and not a trace of the incident was left.”

Radio Free Asia quoted a source as saying the situation in Lhasa was now “very tense” and the city was filled with police and paramilitary forces.

One Lhasa resident contacted by AFP on Monday also reported an increased police presence in the city, adding officers were carrying out identity checks in the street and the mobile signal was blocked.

However, security authorities in Lhasa contacted by telephone refused to comment on the incident.

“We are not clear about the situation yet. Wait until the media makes an announcement,” said an official who declined to give his name.

More than 30 people have set themselves on fire in China’s Tibetan-inhabited regions since the start of March 2011 in protest at what they say is religious and cultural repression by the Chinese authorities.

Robbie Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University in New York, said Sunday’s incident marked the first protest in Lhasa since anti-Chinese government riots broke out 2008, before spreading to other Tibetan areas.

“This is the first incident of any significance in four years. It’s a big setback for the authorities,” he told AFP by telephone from New York.

“These self-immolations are very troubling for the Chinese because it is a new method of protest that it very hard to prevent.”

Tibetans have long chafed under China’s rule over the vast Tibetan plateau, accusing Beijing of curbing religious freedoms and eroding their culture and language.

The tensions have intensified over the past year, but Beijing insists that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have benefited from improved living standards brought on by China’s economic expansion.

Most of the suicide attempts have taken place around the Kirti monastery in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, which has become a flashpoint for the mounting anger at Chinese domination over Tibet.

The only previous case in Tibet itself was in December, when a former Buddhist monk set himself alight in Changu prefecture shouting anti-Chinese slogans. He was taken to hospital and later died of his injuries.

Chinese media made no mention of the latest immolations. Internet searches for the Chinese name of the temple where they reportedly occurred, Dazhaosi, were blocked in China on Monday.

Source: Vancuver Sun

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Crowds Gather For Golden Gate Bridge Celebration

Thousands of people flocked to San Francisco's waterfront and onto Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday to celebrate the famous span's 75th birthday.

The daylong party attracted pleasure boats, tug boats and other vessels to the water as people on shore enjoyed a number of events stretching from Fort Point south of the bridge to Pier 39 along The Embarcadero. Many walked and biked across the bridge before capping the day by watching a fireworks display over the city's enduring symbol.

The bridge was shrouded in fog during part of the day, but skies were clear by nightfall for the 18 minute-long fireworks show.

"It's such an iconic structure, depending on the day or the hour, it just looks like it changes continuously," San Francisco resident Daniel Sutphin said as he walked through the Fort Point area with his wife and their three young children.

Since it opened in 1937, more than two-billion vehicles have crossed the 1.7-mile-long bridge named after the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance of water to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, and championed by engineer Joseph Strauss in the 1920s.

In a stark contrast to the thousands of celebrants, members of the group the Bridge Rail Foundation, an organization dedicated to stopping suicide jumps from the bridge, erected a display of 1,558 pairs of shoes, representing the number of people who died in leaps form the bridge since it opened in 1937.

"It's a symbol of how deep and serious this problem has been," said Paul Muller, a spokesman for the group. "We're still losing 30 to 35 a people a year off the bridge," he said.

Meanwhile on the water, Golden Gate ferries were running again after a one-day strike disrupted service across San Francisco Bay on Saturday.

Workers represented by the Inlandboatmen's Union walked off the job on a day strike, forcing the cancellation of ferries operated by Golden Gate between Larkspur, Sausalito and San Francisco.

The strike was called after nearly a year of negotiations over workloads and other matters, said Marina Secchitano, the union's regional director.

California Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement Saturday evening, saying that he was appointing a board to investigate the strike, which, he claimed, created a disruption to public service.

Secchitano disputed the governor's claim, questioning the motivation to call for an investigation after a one-day strike. "(This is) an action to try to silence us," she said.

"They're counting on this process to back our membership off the issue," she said.

Service resumed Sunday when workers returned to work.

Source: Boston News

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Tropical Storm Beryl Threatens U.S. Holiday Traffic

Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall early Monday in northeast Florida, bringing drenching rains and driving winds to the southeastern U.S. coast on the country's Memorial Day holiday, forecasters said.

The storm hit Florida around 12:10 a.m. with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph (113 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was expected to continue dumping rain over parts of Florida and Georgia on Monday, before weakening as it moves inland Monday and Tuesday and then heads out into the Atlantic Ocean.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect early Monday for coastal areas of Florida and South Carolina, and it was expected to tangle holiday traffic after forcing the cancellation of some events and causing shoreline campers to pack up and head inland.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott urged Florida residents in the affected areas to "stay alert and aware."

"Tropical Storm Beryl is expected to bring heavy rain and winds, and it is vital to continue to monitor local news reports and listen to the advice of local emergency management officials," Scott said in a statement Sunday evening.

Campers at Cumberland Island, Georgia, which is reachable only by boat, were told to leave by 4:45 p.m. Sunday. The island has a number of undeveloped beaches and forests popular with campers.

However, many people seemed determined to make the best of the soggy forecast Sunday.

In Georgia, at Greyfield Inn, a 19th-century mansion and the only private inn on Cumberland Island, the rooms were nearly full Sunday and everyone was planning to stay put through the wet weather, said Dawn Drake, who answered the phone at the inn's office on the Florida coast.

In Jacksonville, Florida, Sunday's jazz festival and Memorial Day ceremony were cancelled. Workers were also out clearing tree limbs and debris that could be tossed about by the storm's winds. Winds had already knocked down tree limbs and power lines in parts of coastal Georgia, leaving hundreds without electricity.

But business was booming at the Red Dog Surf Shop in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where customers flocked to buy boards and wax in anticipation of the storm's high waves. Officials along the coast warned of rip currents, waves and high tides - all of which can be dangerous but also tend to attract adventurous surfers. The waters had already become dangerous in South Carolina, where rescuers were searching for a missing swimmer.

The Coast Guard said crews in Charleston Harbor rescued three people and a dog from a sinking recreational vessel late Sunday morning.

Source: CTV

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Police In Miami Shot Dead A Man While Chewing The Face Of Another Man

Officers were called around 2pm local time on Saturday by drivers who saw two naked men fighting on a bike track next to the city's MacArthur Causeway.

When they arrived at the scene they drew their weapons and ordered the man to stop biting at the other man's face. He ignored them, prompting officers to open fire.

Even after being shot, the man continued and the officers fired again, killing him.

Police are still trying to work out what caused the confrontation that led to the shooting.

"During this confrontation an officer did discharge his weapon striking one of the individuals that individual has lost his life right now," said Detective Willie Moreno, spokesperson for Miami police.

The police refused to give full details on the record but sources have given graphic accounts to CBS news channel in Miami.

With the attacker dead, lying nude on the pavement, officers and paramedics were able to get to his victim and rush him to Jackson Memorial hospital. Police sources say the man had virtually no face and was unrecognisable.

The surviving man is in serious condition.

Police have not released the identity of either men.

Source: The Guardian

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Mali Tuareg And Islamist Rebels Agree On Islamist State

Two rebel groups that seized northern Mali two months ago have agreed to merge and turn their territory into an Islamist state, both sides say.

The Tuareg MNLA, a secular rebel group, and the Islamist group Ansar Dine signed the deal in the town of Gao, spokespeople said.

Ansar Dine, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has already begun to impose Sharia law in some towns.

The groups took advantage of a coup in March to seize the territory.

Correspondents say the deal is yet another worrying development for Mali and may complicate efforts to stabilize the country.

Capt Amadou Sanogo seized power in March after claiming the then president, Amadou Toumani Toure, was not doing enough to quash the rebellion.

Faced with mounting international pressure and sanctions, he was forced to step down only three weeks later, but is still thought to wield power behind the scenes.

Two rebel groups that seized northern Mali two months ago have agreed to merge and turn their territory into an Islamist state, both sides say.

The Tuareg MNLA, a secular rebel group, and the Islamist group Ansar Dine signed the deal in the town of Gao, spokespeople said.

Ansar Dine, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has already begun to impose Sharia law in some towns.

The groups took advantage of a coup in March to seize the territory.

Correspondents say the deal is yet another worrying development for Mali and may complicate efforts to stabilise the country.


Capt Amadou Sanogo seized power in March after claiming the then president, Amadou Toumani Toure, was not doing enough to quash the rebellion.

Faced with mounting international pressure and sanctions, he was forced to step down only three weeks later, but is still thought to wield power behind the scenes.

 Source: BBC News  

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Iran To Launch New Nuclear Plant Project

Iran is to build a new nuclear power plant, alongside its sole existing one in the southern city of Bushehr, by early 2014, state television reported on Sunday, quoting the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation.

"Iran will build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr next year," the television quoted Fereydoon Abbasi Davani as saying. He was referring to the Iranian calendar year running from March 2013 to March 2014.

The Mehr news agency suggested the timeline could be longer, quoting Abbasi Davani as saying: "We will begin plans for a 1,000-megawatt plant in Bushehr next year." He said foreign contractors would be needed for its construction.

The Mehr and ISNA news agencies both reported another nuclear plant was also planned and could be built in coming years.

ISNA quoted Abbasi Davani as saying that designs for a 360-megawatt facility in Darkhovin, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan near the border with Iraq, "have been finished and we are reviewing it."

He did not elaborate.

Darkhovin, a project initiated by France but abandoned after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has been stalled because of European sanctions against Tehran.

In September 2011, deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Ahmadian said Iran was seeking foreign help to finish the project.

The current Bushehr nuclear plant was started by German engineers in the 1970s and was completed by Russia, which continues to help keeping it running and provides fuel for it. Inaugurated in 2010, it is due to come fully on-line in November this year.

In addition, Iran has a research reactor operating in Tehran that is used to make medical isotopes for patients with cancer and other illnesses.

A new Bushehr plant would boost electricity production in Iran, which has some of the world's biggest reserves.

State television made its announcement in the wake of talks in Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday between Iran and world powers that focused on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

Those talks almost collapsed because of the very different positions held by the two sides, but agreement was finally reached to hold another round in Moscow on June 18-19.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful and aimed at producing energy and medical isotopes.

The world powers -- the Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- suspect the programme could include work towards developing a nuclear weapons capability, and they have backed UN Security Council resolutions demanding Iran curb its activities.

Source: AFP

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Medvedev Chosen To Boost Russia Ruling Party

Russia's ruling party on Saturday approved Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as its new chief in a bid to reverse flagging popularity that stoked opposition protests against the Kremlin.

A United Russia congress in Moscow overwhelmingly confirmed by a show of hands Medvedev's candidacy to take over from President Vladimir Putin as party leader, with no apparent opposition and no other candidate contesting the post.

Medvedev's move to become a card-carrying party leader is a key plank in Russia's new power structure that saw him cede the Kremlin to Putin earlier this month after serving four years as president.

In a highly-orchestrated event, Putin formally announced Medvedev's candidacy at the central Manezh hall next to the Kremlin to a crowd of 3,000 guests and delegates.

"I consider United Russia my key ally and partner," said Putin, dispelling speculation that the party has been sidelined by the Kremlin and could even be disbanded after it lost support in December parliamentary elections.

Putin has been the leader of the party since 2007, although curiously never joined. He decided to fully step aside in April after announcing that leading the party is inappropriate for the president.

Medvedev -- who previously criticised United Russia and compared it to political stagnation of the Soviet Union's Brezhnev era -- this week formally joined the party and vowed to reform it from the inside.

He said during the congress that the party should undergo "revolutionary" changes in order be "more understandable to people" rather than seem "imposed from above" and vowed to cleanse it of unworthy members.

"United Russia has been in power for a considerable amount of time," Medvedev said. "There is a factor of tiredness beginning to play out against it."



United Russia would not have success if it was just seen as a "voting machine", Medvedev said.

But after suggesting more democracy in party ranks and using social networks in its work, he made clear that the party's target was to win the next parliamentary elections in late 2016.

"In five years, when there are new elections into the State Duma, United Russia must win," he said to roaring applause as a Russian flag waved slowly behind him on a giant screen.

Dominating the Russian parliament since 2003, the party supported Putin in his second election into the presidency in 2004 and has essentially been a rubber-stamping tool of the Kremlin.

But its lavish congresses, unattainable campaign promises and adulation of Russia's executive leaders earned it comparisons with the Soviet-era Communist party that monopolised political life in the country for decades.

Last year the opposition waged a campaign ahead of the parliamentary polls asking voters to cast their ballots for any party but United Russia, dubbing it the "party of crooks and thieves" and inundating Internet blogs with videos and posters discrediting the faction.

A growing popular perception of United Russia as arrogant and corrupt fuelled the protests against Putin that broke out in December over claims the parliamentary polls were marred by ballot-rigging.

Faced with loss of popularity of the majority party, Putin created a new coalition, the All-Russia People's Front, which he relied on in his presidential campaign.

United Russia received only 49.3 percent of the popular vote in the December 4 elections, hanging on to more than half of the parliament seats only by a quirk of Russia's electoral law.

The party is also likely to face more resistance in regional and city elections as the notoriously disjointed opposition learns to better mobilise over the Internet, even holding primaries to select unified candidates.

Source: AFP

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Difficult Pentecost For Pope As Butler Probe Hurts

A saddened Pope Benedict marked a difficult Pentecost Sunday as the Vatican braced for a possible widening of the scandal that has seen his butler arrested on charges of stealing private documents in the "Vatileaks" affair.

The pope looked weary as he celebrated a mass in St Peter's Basilica to mark the day when the Church teaches that the Holy Spirit descended on Christ's apostles, or disciples.

Although the day is regarded as the birthday of the Church, earthly celebration was likely to be far from the minds of the 85-year-old pope and the cardinals who flanked him at the basilica's papal altar.

On Saturday his personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, 46, was formally charged with stealing confidential papal documents.

The pope made no reference during his two public appearances on Sunday to the scandal or the arrest, which aides said had "saddened and pained" him.

But Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the former archbishop of Milan and himself once a candidate for the papacy, seemed to speak for many when he said the scandal should prompt the Church "to urgently win back the trust of the faithful".

The atmosphere in the walled city-state was glum as Vatican sources said they could not rule out more arrests, particularly if Gabriele named any accomplices.

Gabriele is suspected of leaking highly sensitive documents, some of which allege cronyism and corruption in Vatican contracts with Italian companies.

The scandal, which has been brewing for months, has now hit the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church because Gabriele - now known in Vatican statements as "the defendant" - was until Wednesday night the quiet man who served the pope's meals, helped him dress and held his umbrella on rainy days.

PERSONAL BETRAYAL OR BIGGER PLOT?

Cardinal Martini, writing in an Italian newspaper, said the pope had been "betrayed" just as Jesus was betrayed 2,000 years ago, and that the Church would have to emerge from the latest scandal cleaner and stronger.

Still, few believed that Gabriele, a shy and private man, could have acted on his own and some said he may have been an unwitting pawn in a Vatican power struggle.

"Either he lost his mind or this is a trap," a friend of Gabriele's in the Vatican told the newspaper La Stampa.

"Whoever convinced him to do this is even more guilty because he manipulated a simple person."

While news of Gabriele's arrest has filled pages and pages of newspapers in Italy and beyond, the Vatican's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has ignored the story.

Some say this may be because the paper itself has been an instrument in a power struggle involving reciprocal mud-slinging between allies and enemies of the Vatican's "prime minister", Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

"This is a strategy of tension, an orgy of vendettas and pre-emptive vendettas that has now spun out of the control of those who thought they could orchestrate it," Church historian Alberto Melloni wrote in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The scandal involves the leaking of a string of documents to Italian media in January and February, including personal letters to the pope.

They included letters by an archbishop who was transferred to Washington after blowing the whistle on what he saw as a web of corruption and cronyism; a memo that put a number of cardinals in a bad light; and documents alleging internal conflicts about the Vatican Bank.

On Thursday night the Italian president of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was ousted by the board of external financial directors.

He said he was paying for his efforts to make the bank more transparent, but board members said he had been an ineffective, incompetent and divisive manager.

Source: Reuters

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NATO Airstrike Kills Eight Family Members in Afghanistan

A NATO airstrike killed eight members of a family, including children, according to Afghan officials who claim that such attacks damage the civilian population’s trust in international troops who have been fighting in the country for more than a decade.

The U.S.-led coalition said it was aware of the allegation and was investigating the attack late Saturday in a remote part of Paktia province.

The killings of civilians by foreign forces has been a major irritant in President Hamid Karzai’s relationship with his international partners. The Afghan leader warned earlier this month that civilian casualties could undermine a strategic partnership with the U.S. that is to govern long-term relations after most international troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

NATO also reported Sunday that four coalition service members were killed in separate roadside bomb attacks Saturday in southern Afghanistan, bringing to 166 the number of NATO deaths so far this year.

The British Ministry of Defence said one of its soldiers was killed Saturday in an explosion in the Nahr-e Saraj region of southern Helmand province. The nationalities of the others killed were not released.

Rohullah Samon, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said Mohammad Shafi, his wife and their six children died in an airstrike around 8 p.m. in Suri Khail village of Gurda Saria district.

“Shafi was not a Taliban. He was not in any opposition group against the government. He was a villager,” Mr. Samon said. “Right now, we are working on this case to find out the ages of their children and how many of them are boys and girls.”

Mr. Karzai said he has sent a delegation to the village to investigate the incident.

NATO also said it was investigating.

“We acknowledge that coalition forces were conducting an operation in Paktia province against a large number of insurgents last night and we also are aware of the media reports today of civilian casualty allegations in that area,” Army Lieutenant-Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a coalition spokesman, said.

Taliban attacks have killed more civilians than foreign forces, but public anger over the issue is usually directed at the international community.

Tensions spiked after Afghan officials reported that 18 civilians had died recently in four airstrikes in Logar, Kapisa, Badghis and Helmand provinces. That led Mr. Karzai to issue his warning earlier this month.

“If the lives of Afghan people are not safe, the signing of the strategic partnership has no meaning,” Mr. Karzai’s office said.

Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents ratcheted up violence with suicide attacks and roadside bombs, the United Nations said in its latest report on civilian deaths. The UN attributed 77 per cent of the deaths to insurgent attacks and 14 per cent to actions by international and Afghan troops. Nine per cent of cases were classified as having an unknown cause.

Elsewhere, two civilians were killed Sunday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Marjah district of Helmand province in the south, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.

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Alarm Over Iran Uranium Enrichment

Iran has enriched uranium closer to the level required to arm nuclear missiles, according to evidence discovered at an underground facility by United Nations nuclear inspectors.

In its latest report on Iran's nuclear activity, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 per cent at the Fordow enrichment plant near Qom.

That is substantially below the 90 per cent level needed to make the fissile core of nuclear arms, but above Iran's highest-known enrichment grade of 20 per cent, the level from which uranium can quickly be turned into weapons-grade material.

Diplomats shown the report, which was distributed among the agency's 35 member states on Friday, said it was possible the centrifuges may have initially ''over-enriched'' at the start of their output. The IAEA said Iran claimed the higher-grade enrichment may have happened ''for technical reasons beyond the operator's control''.

However, the finding will intensify concerns Iran is using the round of international talks to play for time while it pursues its nuclear ambitions.

The IAEA's report also confirmed Iran had added a further 350 centrifuges - capable of churning out 20 per cent uranium - this year at the Fordow facility, in addition to 700 installed previously.

The disclosures came the day after the conclusion of the first direct meeting between Iran and the international community in years and will undermine confidence that a breakthrough can be reached when negotiations resume in Moscow on June 17.

The main bone of contention was - and will remain - whether or not the Islamic republic would meet demands to stop 20 per cent enrichment and hand over its stockpile of uranium of that grade.

In exchange, Tehran expects some of the tough sanctions it is under to be relaxed.

Alarmed Tehran is moving towards building a nuclear bomb, the United States and European Union have targeted Iran's oil exports and effectively barred the country from international banking networks.

The EU is due to ban all Iranian fuel imports on July 1, shutting the door on almost one fifth of Iran's market.

But the concessions offered are unlikely to satisfy the Iranians, who have always maintained their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Source: SMH

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Pope's Butler Charged Over Leaks Scandal

Vatican magistrates formally charged Pope Benedict’s butler with illegal possession of secret documents on Saturday and said a wider investigation would take place to see if he had any accomplices who helped him leak them.

Paolo Gabriele is suspected of leaking highly sensitive documents, some alleging cronyism and corruption in Vatican contracts, in a scandal which has come to be known as “Vatileaks”.

A statement referred to Gabriele, 46, who was until his arrest on Wednesday night serving the pope meals and helping him dress, as “the defendant”.

It said a preliminary investigation had been upgraded to a “formal investigation,” meaning he had been formally charged, and had chosen two lawyers to defend him.

Because the Vatican has no jail, Gabriele was being held in one of the three so-called “secure rooms” in the offices of the Vatican’s tiny police force inside the walled city-state.

The Vatican promised that he would have “all the juridical guarantees foreseen by the criminal code of the State of Vatican City.”

The Vatican said the upgraded, formal investigation “would continue ”until a sufficient framework of the situation is acquired,“ which a Vatican official said meant magistrates wanted to determine if Gabriele acted alone or with others.

The pope was said to be ”pained“ that someone in his domestic household had betrayed him. Gabriele lived in the Vatican with his wife and three children.

Commentators in Italian newspapers said they doubted that Gabriele could have acted alone and some speculated that he may have been a pawn in a larger, internal power struggle.

”Never has the sense of disorientation in the Catholic Church reached these levels,“ Church historian Alberto Melloni wrote in Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. ”But now there is something even more - a sense of systemic disorder.“

UP TO 30 YEARS IN JAIL

If convicted, Gabriele could face a sentence of up to 30 years for illegal possession of documents of a head of state. He would likely serve any time in an Italian jail because of an agreement between Italy and the Vatican.

The scandal involves the leaking of a string of documents to Italian media in January and February, including personal letters to the pope.

Some of the documents involved allegations of corruption, mismanagement and cronyism in the awarding of contracts for work in the Vatican and internal disagreement on the management of the Vatican bank.

Gabriele worked in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace, serving at the papal tables, handing rosaries to visiting dignitaries and riding in the first seat of the popemobile at papal audiences.

He was privy to the goings on in the most reserved and private rooms in the Vatican.

The pope had ordered several investigations, including one headed by Vatican police and another by a commission of cardinals.

The leaked documents included letters by an archbishop who was transferred to Washington after he blew the whistle on what he saw as a web of corruption and cronyism, a memo which put a number of cardinals in a bad light, and documents alleging internal conflicts about the Vatican Bank.

In January, an Italian television investigation broadcast private letters to Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the pope from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former deputy governor of Vatican City and currently the Holy See’s ambassador in Washington.

The letters showed that Vigano was transferred after he exposed what he argued was a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to Italian contractors at inflated prices.

In one letter, Vigano wrote of a smear campaign against him by other Vatican officials who were upset that he had taken drastic steps to clean up the purchasing procedures. He begged to stay in the job to finish what he had started.

Bertone responded by removing Vigano from his position three years before the end of his tenure and sending him to the United States, despite his strong resistance.

Source: TorontoSun

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Ex-Mubarak PM Vows Not To Recreate Old Regime

The last prime minister of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is denying claims that he's trying to recreate the old regime.

Former air force general Ahmed Shafiq appeared to be trying to cast off his image as hardline military supporter as he spoke to reporters Saturday, a day after state media confirmed that he and Muslim Brother candidate Mohammed Morsi will face off in a runoff vote, to be held June 16-17.

Results from the first round of voting showed Mursi ended up with 25.3 per cent of the votes, while Shafiq won 24.9 per cent.

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday said a win for Shafiq would put Egypt's revolution in "danger," something Shafiq denies.

"I extend my hand to all Egyptians. I accept dialogue with all politicians. I am not in the race for the sake of authority," Shafiq said Saturday.

Shafiq was booted out of office by a wave of street protests shortly after Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, 2011.

More than a year later, the face-off for the presidency is pitting two opposing forces that have battled each other for decades.

Each side has die-hard supporters but is also loathed by significant sectors of the population who reject both Shafiq for his military background and Morsi for his Islamist organization's goal of implementing religious law. A large chunk of the vote — more than 40 percent — went to candidates who were seen as more in spirit of the revolution that toppled Mubarak, that is, that they were neither from the Brotherhood nor from the old autocratic regime. In particular, those votes went to leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who narrowly came in third in a surprisingly strong showing of 21.5 percent, and a moderate Islamist who broke with the Brotherhood, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh.

Source: CBC

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Car Bomb In Turkey Wounds 10, Kills Militants

Two militants set off a bomb inside their car by a police headquarters in the central Turkish province of Kayseri yesterday, killing themselves and wounding at least ten others, Turkey's interior minister said.

Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants — including Al Qaida — as well as groups on the far left and right have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's blast.

Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said security forces had followed the car from Goksun district in Kahramanmaras province to Pinarbasi — about 100 kilometres — after it passed a checkpoint in the road without stopping.

Police opened fire as it passed the police headquarters in the town of Pinarbasi and the bomb went off, Sahin said. Pinarbasi lies east of the city of Kayseri, which is about 325 kilometres southeast of the capital Ankara.

It was not immediately clear why police did not stop the car sooner, and Sahin said investigators did not think, as yet, that the target was the police station.

"From what can be seen inside the vehicle, there are two suicide bomber militants inside. They are of course in pieces and the car is destroyed. This is a sad event," Sahin told reporters from the Aegean city of Izmir.

"We were not expecting the terror organisation to stop. We have seen how they continue to carry out crazy acts," Sahin said, using a common term to describe the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who are waging a war against the state.

Turkish media earlier reported that the car had tried to drive into the police station moments before the blast and that 19 people had been wounded in the attack, six of them seriously.

Source: Gulfnews

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Russian Arms Shipment En Route To Syria

A Russian cargo ship loaded with weapons is en route to Syria and due to arrive at a Syrian port this weekend, Al Arabiya television said in a report that Western diplomats in New York described on Friday as credible.

Syria is one of Russia's top weapons customers. The United States and European Union have suggested the U.N. Security Council should impose an arms embargo and other U.N. sanctions on Syria for its 14-month assault on a pro-democracy opposition determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But Russia, with the support of fellow veto power China, has prevented the council from imposing any U.N. sanctions on Syria and has refused to halt arms sales to Damascus.

"Al Arabiya have learned that a Russian cargo ship carrying a large amount of weapons plans to unload its cargo in the Syrian port of Tartus," the broadcaster said on its website on Thursday.

The report said the ship left a Russian port on May 6 and cited a "Western source" as saying that it will dock at Tartus on Saturday.

"The ship is trying to conceal its final destination in a suspicious way," Al Arabiya said.

Western diplomats said the report was credible.

One diplomat told Reuters that the vessel, which is called "Professor Katsman," is owned by a Maltese firm, which itself is owned by a Cypriot company that is owned by Russian firm.

Diplomats said the Russian firm might have been acting on behalf of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, though that was not clear.

"I don't have any information on this ship, but our policy is not to comment on individual shipments, regarding contents or timing," a spokesman for Rosoboronexport, Vyacheslav Davidenko, said in Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it did not have information that a ship was headed to Tartus with weapons and declined to comment further.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was asked about the Al Arabiya report at her daily briefing in Washington.

"I had not seen that report," she told reporters. "You know how strongly we feel that no country should be delivering weapons to the Assad regime now."

U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has urged countries not to supply weapons to either side in the Syrian conflict. Annan plans to visit Damascus soon, his spokesman said on Friday.

Source: Reuters

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