Court upholds election of Kenya's Kenyatta

KENYA'S Supreme Court has upheld the victory of Uhuru Kenyatta in the March 4 presidential election.

The court unanimously ruled that the election had been conducted in a "free, fair, transparent and credible" manner and that Kenyatta and his running mate had been "validly elected", Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said.

"It is the decision of the court that the third and fourth respondents (Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto) were validly elected."

The six judges dismissed petitions filed by Raila Odinga, outgoing prime minister and Kenyatta's main rival in the presidential race, and by civil society groups, over what they said was a series of irregularities that skewed the election results.

The petitioners had called for fresh elections to be ordered.

Kenyatta faces trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague over his alleged role in planning the violence that followed the 2007 elections and left more than 1100 people dead.

There was tight security at the Supreme Court as the judgment was read out on Saturday.

The presidential, legislative and municipal elections held on March 4 were the first since the 2007 poll.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mandela 'breathing without difficulty'

NELSON Mandela is comfortable and breathing without difficulty on his third day in hospital after the anti-apartheid hero was treated for pneumonia, South Africa's presidency says.

Messages of concern for the ailing 94-year-old, one of the towering figures of modern history, have poured in since his admission late Wednesday for what was confirmed as "a recurrence of pneumonia".

Mandela had a build-up of fluid that had developed from a lung infection, known as a pleural effusion or "water on the lungs", drained from his chest.

"This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty," said President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement on Saturday.

"He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable."

On Friday, Mandela was said to be in good spirits and making steady progress.

"He sat up and had his breakfast in bed," Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj, who was jailed with Mandela during apartheid, told AFP.

There were no details on Saturday on how long he would remain at an undisclosed hospital.

Mandela's recent health troubles have triggered an outpouring of prayers but have also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of the revered Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The former president is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of South Africa's peaceful transition from white minority-ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994, the first black president remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

It is the second time this month that Mandela has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for check-ups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when he was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery.

He was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 during his 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and has long had problems with his lungs. He has also had treatment for prostate cancer and has suffered stomach ailments.

Keertan Dheda, professor of respiratory diseases at the University of Cape Town medical department, said a pleural effusion was the accumulation of water between the lining covering the lung and that of the chest wall.

Having the fluid tapped was a minor procedure, he said.

"One can drain the fluid with a needle and a catheter and in some cases that's all that's needed," he said.

Other cases required the fluid to be chemically broken down if it had formed pockets or a small operation if infected.

"The older you are, the longer pneumonia takes to get better," said Dheda, adding that mortality was also higher.

"It takes a bit longer, everything is a bit slower and a bit more complicated the older you get."

While Mandela's legacy continues to loom large over South African politics, he has long since exited the political stage and for the large young population he is a figure from another era, serving as president for just one term.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa's football World Cup final in 2010.

Labour unrest, high-profile crimes, grinding poverty and corruption scandals have effectively ended the honeymoon enjoyed after Mandela ushered in the "Rainbow Nation", but his decades-long struggle against apartheid still resonates.

"The whole country is not happy about the old man's health. He is not so well, but we wish him a speedy recovery," Soweto handicraft seller Nhlanhla Ngobese told AFP on Saturday.

"We want him back, even though he's an old man, he's an icon to us, a hero to us, we still want his diplomacy."

Away from the public eye, Mandela has grown increasingly frail.

His December hospital stay was his longest since he walked free from jail in 1990.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tanzanian building collapse toll hits 19

THE death toll from a building collapse in Tanzania's economic capital Dar es Salaam has risen to 19, officials say.

"Two more bodies were found this afternoon," regional commissioner Saidi Mecky Sadicky told AFP, updating an earlier toll of 17 in the disaster that happened on Friday.

Several dozen people are still missing around the site, which was littered with huge chunks of concrete.

"The operation is still going on but we have very little hope to find anyone alive," Sadicky said.

Eighteen people have been rescued alive from the remains of the 16-storey building, he said. However it is almost 24 hours since the last survivors were pulled out.

Hundreds of rescuers worked through the night in search of those still trapped in the rubble from the shell of the tower, which was being built near a mosque in the Kisutu area of Dar es Salaam.

Rescue work was slowed on Saturday afternoon after it started to rain.

Sadicky said between 60 and 70 people were reported to have been at or near the construction site on Friday morning, meaning that between 25 and 35 people could still be trapped.

Hundreds of people, including residents and army rescuers, clawed through piles of rubble in the hunt for survivors, alongside earthmovers and excavators.

"I thought there was an earthquake and then I heard screaming. The whole building fell on itself," witness Musa Mohamed told AFP on Friday shortly after the collapse

Sadicky said the rescue team was boosted on Friday night after the Chinese embassy told Chinese construction firms to provide additional earthmoving equipment.

Dozens of Chinese construction workers were at the site on Saturday instructing operators of excavators and forklifts that were sifting through the rubble.

Local residents turned out to supply rescuers with food, water and medication.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete visited the scene of the disaster in the coastal city and posted messages of condolence on his Twitter account.

"We pray for those who have been afflicted by this tragedy," he said. "We pray for togetherness in this time of need."

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two dead, hundreds rescued off Italy

TWO migrants have died at sea while trying to reach Italian shores from North Africa, while hundreds more were rescued and taken to the island of Lampedusa.

The victims were on a rubber dinghy with 88 other would-be migrants. They were spotted on Saturday struggling with rough seas by an Italian military patrol ship and were later picked up by the Italian coastguard. They died, presumably from hypothermia, before arriving in Lampedusa.

The coast guard said it had rescued 106 more people from another boat, bringing to around 500 the number of migrants taken to Lampedusa this week. Another 82 Somali migrants were rescued on Friday by Maltese authorities.

Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini said her island was struggling to cope with the latest arrivals. About a hundred migrants have been transferred to another detention centre in mainland Sicily, Italian authorities said.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Body found as Tibet mine disaster kills 83

Eighty-three workers have been buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet. Source: AAP

RESCUE teams have found the first body almost 36 hours after a giant landslide in Tibet buried 83 mine workers.

Xinhua news agency said rescuers "found the first body at 5.35 pm (8.35pm AEDT)", after two million cubic metres of earth buried a copper mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, at 6 am on Friday.

The report came after officials said at a press conference Saturday that no survivors or bodies had been found.

About 2,000 rescuers battled difficult terrain in the hunt for survivors after a vast three-kilometre-long section of land, with a volume of two million cubic metres, crashed down a slope, covering the miners' camp.

The rescuers braved bad weather as an emergency response team attempted to prevent a secondary disaster.

One rescue worker had earlier described the chance of survivors being found as "slim", Xinhua reported.

China's new president Xi Jinping and new premier Li Keqiang had ordered "top efforts" to rescue the victims, Xinhua said.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

SAC Capital funds manager arrested in US

A SENIOR portfolio manager for one of America's largest hedge funds has been arrested, accused of making $US1.4 million ($A1.35 million) illegally in a widening insider trading probe involving an investment company founded by billionaire Steven A. Cohen.

Michael Steinberg, 41, was arrested at his Manhattan home on insider trading charges lodged in an indictment unsealed in US District Court in New York City.

A senior portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors, he was scheduled to appear in court later on Friday.

His lawyer, Barry Berke, said in a statement that Steinberg "did absolutely nothing wrong."

He said Steinberg's trading decisions were based on detailed analysis along with other information he properly obtained.

"Caught in the crossfire of aggressive investigations of others, there is no basis for even the slightest blemish on his spotless reputation," he said.

In a statement, SAC Capital said Steinberg "has conducted himself professionally and ethically during his long tenure at the firm. We believe him to be a man of integrity."

George Venizelos, head of the FBI's New York office, said the arrest was the latest in an FBI probe that has resulted in more than 70 arrests.

"Mr Steinberg was at the centre of an elite criminal club, where cheating and corruption were rewarded," he said.

"Research was nothing more than well-timed tips from an extensive network of well-sourced analysts."

At least four other people associated with the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm have been arrested over a period of about four years.

The arrest of Steinberg and the January arrest of a former hedge fund portfolio manager for an affiliate of Cohen's firm has increased speculation that the US government is taking a hard look at the practices of the billionaire hedge fund owner.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Over 80 migrants rescued off Malta

A PREGNANT woman and a baby were among a group of 82 African migrants rescued from a dinghy off the coast of Malta.

The migrants were spotted some 110km south of the Mediterranean island after they had sent out an SOS via satellite phone. Officials said they had left Libyan shores.

The group, made up of 82 Somalis, including 10 women, were taken into custody upon their arrival in Malta. Their condition is unknown.

Three other boats with 260 people on board were intercepted by Italian coastguards early on Friday and taken to an immigration centre on the island of Lampedusa.

Several asylum-seekers are believed to be taking advantage of improved weather conditions to cross from Libya to neighbouring European Union states.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

83 buried in a Tibet mine area landslide

EIGHTY-THREE workers have been buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet, China's state media reports.

The landslide took place about 0900 (AEDT) on Friday in Maizhokunggar County in Tibet's capital Lhasa, and trapped workers from a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corporation, a mining firm, said Xinhua.

No deaths have been announced, and a local official confirmed that the landslide had occurred, but could not state the number of casualties.

State-run broadcaster CCTV quoted a member of China's People's Armed Police on the scene as saying that "the situation looks serious, the collapsed area is three or four square kilometres".

Rescuers have so-far found no signs of the trapped, the policeman added.

The landslide affected an area three kilometres long, Xinhua said, citing a local government department. The agency added that more than 1000 rescuers are working at the site, which is at an altitude of 4600 metres.

The buried include two Tibetans, Xinhua said, without mentioning the ethnicities of the other workers. Many members of the Han Chinese ethnic group have moved to Tibet in recent decades to work in state-run mines.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iraq, Afghan wars 'to cost US $6 trillion'

THE Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost the United States between $US4 trillion ($A3.85 trillion) and $US6 trillion in the long term, constraining the government's budget for decades to come, a study said.

Harvard University scholar Linda Bilmes concluded that the United States will face increasing costs to care for an estimated 2.5 million veterans, and to pay down debt incurred by borrowing to pay for the wars.

"As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development and new military initiatives," said the report.

"In short, there will be no peace dividend, and the legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan wars will be costs that persist for decades," it said.

Bilmes, who served in government under former president Bill Clinton, calculated that the United States has already spent nearly $2 trillion directly for the two wars launched by former president George W Bush.

But Bilmes' study said the biggest cost would be medical care and disability benefits, saying more than half of the 1.56 million troops discharged from service have already been granted benefits for life.

Bilmes, who called the numbers unprecedented, said costs will climb over decades. She wrote that the peak year for disability payments over World War I, which ended in 1918, was 1969, as veterans became elderly.

"The magnitude of future expenditures will be even higher for the current conflicts, which have been characterised by much higher survival rates, more generous benefits and new, expensive medical treatments," she said.

Bilmes also factored in debt, finding no precedent for a time when the United States went to war while lowering taxes, with the possible exception of the Revolutionary War, when US colonies borrowed from France.

The study also looked at social costs, with families burdened with the effects of the deaths or injuries of service members.

The United States is expected to maintain a limited military presence in Afghanistan after 2014, when President Barack Obama plans to withdraw combat troops first sent after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Opinion polls show that most of the US public has grown weary of the longest US war, in Afghanistan, and is critical of Bush's decision to invade Iraq a decade ago.

Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary under Bush, said before the invasion that the Iraq war would cost around $50 billion and called higher estimates "baloney."

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Five dead as Islamists clash in Bangladesh

AT least five people have been killed and scores others injured in clashes between Islamist activists and security officers in Bangladesh.

Police said that three of the deaths occurred in northern Chapai Nawabganj district after officers fired their guns in self-defence as they were being attacked by activists from Jamaat-e-Islami, an opposition Islamist political party.

District police chief Bashir Ahmed said Friday's attack took place as officers were attempting to arrest individuals who participated in a wave of vandalism following the sentencing of an Islamist leader for war crimes last month.

"We were forced to shoot in self defence after at least 17 policemen were injured in Friday's attacks," he said.

Ahmed added 25 people were detained for their alleged involvement in attacks on a power plant and other public facilities in the district on March 1.

Leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami called a daylong strike in the district for Sunday to protest "police excesses."

Two more people were killed in similar clashes in Sirajganj district, some 195km northwest of Dhaka, police inspector Faruk Ahme said.

The government deployed additional forces, including members of the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh, in the northern districts to help halt the escalating violence.

Bangladesh has experience an outbreak of violence following the February 28 sentencing of an Islamist leader to death for war crimes during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

At least 95 people were killed after Delawar Hossai Sayedee - vice president of the Jamaat-e-Islami party - was convicted of murder, rape, looting and the forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam during the war that left an estimated three million people dead.

The opposition criticised the trial as being politically motivated.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Newtown gunman's weapons arsenal revealed

DETECTIVES searching the Newtown school shooter's house found he and his mother kept a startlingly large arsenal of rifles, pistols and other weapons, including swords, newly released details show.

The results of search warrants executed after the Newtown school massacre were released on Thursday after public pressure for information about the investigation into Adam Lanza's shooting of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

Parts of the five warrants were blacked out by prosecutors and the information that remained gave little new insight into Lanza's motivation for the bloodbath, which began with the 20-year-old shooting his mother in the head and ended when he shot himself.

Although detectives list Lanza's journal and other documents among evidence seized, nothing about the contents is revealed.

However, the warrants show that Lanza, an academically gifted, but mentally troubled man, and his middle-class mother Nancy Lanza, kept a huge collection of weapons at home in their affluent Newtown neighbourhood.

The warrants note that Lanza burst into the elementary school with a Bushmaster military-style rifle carrying a 30-round magazine. He ended his own life, as police responded to the massacre, with a Glock 10mm handgun. He was also carrying a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was found in the car he used to get to the school.

However, that was only the beginning of the mother-and-son weapons collection.

In their home, the search warrants reveal, there were multiple firearms and boxes of ammunition, including Winchester rifle rounds, an Enfield bolt-action rifle and a Luger pistol. There were also three Samurai swords, a bayonet, and a long "pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the opposite side".

The search warrants also list numerous documents that are likely to be under close scrutiny. They include Adam Lanza's "journal", and a multitude of computer equipment and violent video games, such as Call of Duty.

In addition, according to one warrant, "investigators also noted a smashed computer hard drive on top of a desk in what is believed to be Adam Lanza's bedroom".

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

India's current account deficit hits 6.7%

INDIA'S current account deficit hit a record 6.7 per cent of GDP in the last quarter, official figures show, underscoring the nation's weak finances.

The worse-than-expected deficit for the three months to December stemmed mainly from large oil and gold imports and weaker exports amid the global economic downturn.

The figures were more bad news for the Congress-led government, which is struggling to stimulate India's economy, whose growth for the financial year to March 31, 2013 is expected to be five per cent - the weakest pace in a decade.

The hefty current account deficit, the gap between inflows of foreign currency and outflows, totalled $US32.6 billion ($A31.4 billion) or a record 6.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

That was up from $US22.3 billion in the previous financial quarter to September representing 5.4 per cent of GDP.

Analysts had expected a current account deficit of around six per cent of GDP.

Last weekend, India's finance minister P Chidambaram loosened debt market rules to draw more overseas investment to finance the current account deficit, noting it "can be financed only through foreign inflows".

India is seeking to narrow its current account deficit and boost growth in order to avoid the threat of a sovereign debt rating downgrade by global credit ratings agencies.

In September, the government initiated a string of liberalisation measures to open up sectors such as retail, insurance and aviation to foreign investors and jump-start growth before it faces voters in 2014.

Chidambaram has promised a "next generation" of reforms to further pry open the still heavily regulated economy and return it to high growth.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Damascus University attack kills students

MORTAR fire has killed at least 15 students at Damascus University, with state media blaming "terrorists", its term for Syrian rebels, who are increasingly targeting President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.

The attack came as battles between insurgents and loyalist troops raged in several districts on the edges of the city, and as warplanes targeted rebel enclaves in Irbin and other towns east of Damascus.

"A total of 15 students were killed in a mortar attack launched by terrorists targeting the architecture faculty," unversity dean Amer Mardini was quoted by the official SANA news agency as saying.

The agency added that six others were wounded by "mortars that targeted the faculty cafeteria".

Al-Ikhbariya, a pro-regime television channel, ran footage showing a bloodied patio filled with broken glass and upturned chairs. One image showed an architect's ruler abandoned on a cafeteria table.

The broadcaster also showed doctors treating seriously wounded young people, some of them unconscious.

The attack comes as rebels fighting to oust Assad's regime have escalated mortar attacks on central Damascus, including Umayyad Square in the middle of the capital, which houses state television's headquarters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group that relies on sources on the ground for its information, also reported Thursday's attack, although it put the toll at 13 people dead.

Director Rami Abdel Rahman said the recent escalation of mortar attacks on Damascus has instilled terror in the capital.

"Because of the regular mortar attacks on Baramkeh and other areas in Damascus, residents no longer feel safe to walk in the streets or to go about their daily lives," he told AFP.

Meanwhile, despite an all-out army attempt to crush the insurgency there, battles raged in several areas on the edges of Damascus, the Observatory said.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brazil Central Bank expects 3.1% growth

BRAZIL'S Central Bank says it expects the economy to grow 3.1 per cent this year, up from just 0.9 per cent in 2012, with inflation of 5.7 per cent.

In its quarterly report, the bank said inflation is forecast to be 5.3 per cent in 2014 - above the centre of the official target range, which is 4.5 per cent, but below the upper limit of 6.5 per cent.

In its previous report, the bank forecast consumer prices would rise 4.8 per cent this year and 4.9 per cent in 2014.

Meanwhile, President Dilma Rousseff sparked controversy on Wednesday when she said from South Africa she did not agree with an inflation-fighting policy that curbs economic growth.

Financial markets interpreted this as a sign of a wavering commitment to controlling inflation. But Rousseff, who was attending a summit of five emerging powers in Durban, insisted this was not the case.

The Central Bank on Thursday stressed it was determined to rein in inflation, warning that "high inflation rates reduce the growth potential of the economy and job creation".

It said the pace of economic activity gained momentum in the fourth quarter of 2012 and that consumer demand would remain strong in the coming months in reaction to the government's tax incentives, interest rate cuts and measures to boost consumption and production.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dexia recap drives up Belgium deficit

BELGIUM'S 2.9 billion euro ($A3.6 billion) share of a state recapitalisation of failed Franco-Belgian bank Dexia has driven up its 2012 public deficit to 3.9 per cent of GDP, well above the EU limit, the central bank says.

The government's public deficit target for 2012 was 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product, within the EU 3.0 per cent ceiling.

Belgium is negotiating with the European Commission to raise its current 2013 target from 2.15 per cent of GDP to a figure closer to 2.5 per cent.

France, whose share of the Dexia rescue amounted to 2.5 billion euros, is heading for a similar overshoot this year and is seeking extra leeway from Brussels to extend its deadline to conform until next year.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Flat year for US music industry: survey

US music industry sales held nearly steady in 2012 as gains from digital subscription services offset further declines in physical disc sales, an industry survey showed on Wednesday.

Overall recorded music sales revenues for 2012 were $US7.1 billion ($A6.80 billion), down 0.9 per cent, after a slight increase in 2011, according to data from the Recording Industry Association of America.

The RIAA report showed revenues from digital formats rose 14 per cent to $4 billion, making up 59 per cent of sales. Digital sales crossed the 50 per cent threshold for the first time in 2011.

Most of the digital growth was from "access models," where users listen from large libraries of music rather than purchasing individual songs or albums.

These include services such as Rhapsody and paid versions of Spotify, as well as online radio services like Pandora.

Digital download revenues, including albums, single tracks, videos, and kiosk sales rose 8.6 per cent to $2.9 billion in 2012, RIAA said.

Physical sales of compact discs and other formats meanwhile slumped 16.5 per cent to $2.8 billion in 2012, with shipment volumes down 11.7 per cent.

The report was less upbeat than a survey released last month by the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which showed overall music sales up 0.3 per cent at $16.5 billion, the first increase since 1999.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic firefighters to assess damage

FIREFIGHTERS will get their first look on Thursday at the destruction caused by a fire that ravaged the community of Dereel in Victoria's west.

The fire broke out just after 11.30am on Wednesday and spread rapidly to cover 1300 hectares, causing residents to pack up and head for safety.

A State Control Centre spokeswoman told AAP there were reports of 12 properties affected by the blaze but was unable to confirm the number while the fire was raging.

It is hoped, with the fire now under containment, authorities and residents will be able to return to the area to assess the damage.

Victoria Police will also be interested in inspecting the fire ground in an effort to discover how the fire started.

Overnight, a blaze in Victoria's east was downgraded to watch and act after wind conditions eased.

It had been threatening the communities of Allambee South and Allambee East but just before midnight on Wednesday, firefighters got the 510ha blaze under control.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russia raids HRW office amid EU concern

RUSSIAN authorities have searched the Moscow offices of New-York based Human Rights Watch as they step up raids against pro-democracy groups despite growing concern from top European states.

Germany said the inspections risked affecting the two allies' relations while France sought an explanation from the Russian embassy about a check into the activities of its Alliance Francaise cultural outreach organisation.

HRW's Europe and Central Asia department head Rachel Denber said three representatives from the prosecutor's office and a tax official had undertaken what they called "an unplanned inspection" of the Moscow office.

She said the Moscow headquarters of the Civic Assistance refugees centre and of the Transparency International corruption watchdog had been raided in a similar manner.

"This is part of a massive, unprecedented wave of inspections of NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in Russia that is intensifying pressure on civil society in the wake of the adoption of a number restrictive laws last year," Denber said by email.

"The scale of these inspections serves to reinforce the menacing atmosphere for civil society created by the adoption of last year's laws."

The raids followed President Vladimir Putin's signature of a law that labelled Russian political organisations with Western funding as "foreign agents" that required more rigorous checks.

The raids have already raised eyebrows in Europe and threatened to further complicate ex-KGB agent Putin's uneasy relations with the West.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday called the inspections and searches "worrisome since they seem to be aimed at further undermining civil society activities in the country."

Germany also expressed its "concern" to the number two envoy of the Russian embassy in Berlin over an inspection of the offices of Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) - a political think tank with ties to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.

A spokesman for Merkel warned on Wednesday that "any action that interferes with or criminalises (the NGO's) main activities will degrade the relationship" between Russia and Germany.

Activists estimate that at least 100 organisations have been inspected already in Moscow and Saint Petersburg as well as other parts of Russia.

They complain that the checks effectively paralyse their activities because staff are forced to dig through old documents and compile huge stacks of material for the myriad of Russian agencies with which they have to register.

One rights group posted a photograph on Twitter on Tuesday showing a pile of documents requested by the authorities that came out to more than a metre in height.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

US top court tackles law on gay marriage

THE US Supreme Court is tackling same-sex unions for a second day, hearing arguments for and against the 1996 US law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

After the nine justices mulled arguments on a California law outlawing gay marriage on Tuesday, they took up a challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The 1996 law prevents couples who have tied the knot in nine states - where same-sex marriage is legal - from enjoying the same federal rights as heterosexual couples.

The plaintiff is Edie Windsor, 83, who was ordered to pay federal inheritance taxes of $US363,000 ($A347,750) following the 2009 death of Thea Spyer, her partner of more than 40 years. The couple had married in Canada in 2007.

The surviving half of a heterosexual couple would not have faced the same tax demand. Windsor is challenging Section 3 of DOMA on the grounds it is discriminatory because it defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Up to 800 people gathered outside the court on Wednesday, with a majority shouting slogans and carrying placards in support of marriage equality. On the opposing side, a poster read: "God hates gay marriage."

President Barack Obama's administration had opposed Windsor's bid to repeal Section 3 as it progressed through the lower courts, where the legislation was twice ruled as unconstitutional.

But the White House has since switched sides. Now it is calling for the law to be overturned, leaving DOMA to be defended by a group of Republican mPs, along with a coalition of religious and conservative groups.

"The case is pretty simple. It's about discrimination," said James Esseks, one of Windsor's lawyers.

"It doesn't make sense in America for a federal government to treat two different people, married under the same state law, different ways. That is unfair, it is un-American and it should be unconstitutional."

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bersani scambles to form Italy govt

CENTRE-LEFT leader Pier Luigi Bersani says only a mentally ill person would want Italy's top job as he scrambles against the clock to secure enough support to form a government in the recession-hit country.

His comments came during last-minute talks with political parties before time runs out for Bersani, who was asked by Italy's president last week to try to forge a coalition but has been unable to strike a deal with his rivals.

"Only a mentally ill person could have an itching desire to govern right now," Bersani said during talks with the anti-politics 5-Star movement, which he has repeatedly tried - and failed - to woo.

"I want things to be clear: I am ready to assume a huge amount of responsibility, but I ask everyone else to all take on a little bit themselves," he said.

Business leaders and trade unions sounded the alarm this week over the parlous state of the eurozone's third largest economy.

Italy is suffering its longest recession for 20 years and young people have been hit particularly hard, with unemployment rates hitting almost 39 per cent in January while the economy is forecast to shrink by 1.3 per cent this year.

"It is clear that the political instability is not helping," Marcello Messori, economics professor at the Luiss University in Rome told AFP.

He said he was "very concerned" that the country's economic health would be neglected as Italy's politicians wrangled.

Bersani has hoped to persuade individual members of other parties to give their support, proposing a limited program of urgently-needed reforms in exchange for their backing at a confidence vote.

Proposals on the table include a cut in taxes and expenses of political parties, and a reform to the complicated electoral law which has been blamed for landing the parties in the current crisis.

The parties have been at loggerheads since a February 24-25 vote which saw the centre-left win by a whisker but without the majority in the upper house necessary to govern.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kenya court orders presidential recount

KENYA'S Supreme Court has ordered a recount of votes cast at 22 polling centres, after presidential elections in which a second-round run off was only avoided by the narrowest of margins.

"Retallying is to be done in 22 polling stations," said Supreme Court Judge Smokin Wanjala.

The counting of the March 4 ballots - a fraction of the total votes cast in some 32,000 centres nationwide - is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

Official election results showed president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta won 50.07 per cent of the vote, only just breaking the first-round threshold by some 8000 ballots.

He was, however, around 800,000 votes ahead of his closest rival, outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Odinga's party and civil society groups have filed separate legal challenges in Kenya's highest court alleging widespread irregularities in the polls.

The panel of six judges have until Saturday to decide whether Kenyatta should be confirmed as Kenya's new president or whether new elections should take place - a high-stakes test for a country still traumatised by deadly violence after the last polls five years ago.

The court also ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to provide the voter registration list it used in the tally of the presidential vote after an electronic system failed.

The elections in 2007 were marred by similar complaints of fraud and descended into tribal bloodshed that killed more than 1100 people and caused hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Odinga claims the poll was marred by irregularities, including changes to the voter register, inflated numbers of registered voters and technical incompetence by the electoral commission.

He has urged supporters to stay calm while he challenges the outcome, and has promised to abide by the court's decision - which is expected this week.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Killer Spanish bull called Mouse dies

SPAIN'S most feared bull, who killed three people and injured dozens of others at bullfighting fiestas, has died, with its owner wanting to have the half-tonne beast embalmed and put on display at a museum.

"It all happened within 24 hours. We found him a bit sickly and we gave him antibiotics but he died yesterday afternoon," Gregorio de Jesus, the owner of the bull named Raton, or Mouse in English, said by telephone from his breeding farm near the village of Sueca in the eastern region of Valencia.

The black bull, which had a distinctive triangular white marking between its horns, was given its name because he was so small when he was born 13 and a half years ago.

But he grew into a fearsome half-tonne beast whose record in the ring made him a legend and a big draw for spectators.

Raton killed three men at bullfighting fiestas in 2005, 2006 and 2011, according to de Jesus, who charged around 10,000 euros ($A12,500) for appearances in bull runs by Raton.

The most recent death took place at a bull run held as part of traditional annual fiesta in the town of Xativa in Valencia.

Video images show Raton lifting the victim, a man in his 30s, with his horns and tossing him to the floor before goring him with his horns.

"He had suffered from arthritis due to old age during the past few months but the animal was doing alright," de Jesus said of Raton, before adding the bull had last performed in the ring 10 days ago in Valencia.

De Jesus said he plans to have Raton embalmed and put on display at a museum he intends to set up on his breeding farm or in a nearby village.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dutch must compensate Srebrenica soldier

THE Dutch state must compensate a former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after his deployment to the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in 1995, a top judicial body has ruled.

The Centrale Raad van Beroep (CRvB), the Netherlands' highest administrative court, held the Dutch defence minister responsible, saying not enough was done to look after the soldier on and after his return to the Netherlands.

The soldier was identified in Dutch media as former corporal Dave Maat, and in court documents as the "Dutchbatter".

The name comes from the peacekeeping battalion of Dutch soldiers charged with protecting civilians at Srebrenica during Bosnia's brutal 1992-95 war.

As Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces on July 11, "a mortar landed close to the Dutchbatter ... which led to psychological complaints", the CRvB said.

The soldier's lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops hailed a "landmark ruling for Dutch soldiers, but also for the rights of soldiers from other UN (peacekeeping) countries because the judicial boundaries of governments' health obligations for their soldiers are broadened."

Some 450 Dutch peacekeepers, charged with protecting Bosnian Muslim civilians in the "safe" enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995 were overrun by the Bosnian Serb army under command of General Ratko Mladic.

There followed the slaughter of almost 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys who were rounded up, murdered and dumped in mass graves in the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II.

The incident continues to reverberate in the Netherlands and led to the Dutch government's resignation in 2002, when a report was published laying much of the blame on Dutch politicians.

Mladic is currently on trial before the Yugoslav war crimes court in The Hague.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nazi submarine found off Norway

THE wreck of a German World War II submarine that was sunk with 48 people on board has been found off Norway's coast during work on an oil pipe, a maritime museum official says.

The U-486 was torpedoed and broken in two by a British submarine in April 1945, shortly after leaving the western Norwegian town of Bergen, according to Arild Maroey Hansen of the Bergen maritime museum.

There were no survivors.

Lying at a depth of some 250 metres, the wreck was found when Norwegian oil company Statoil was scouting the area as a possible location to lay down an oil pipe.

"The submarine had a special coating on the hull. It was a synthetic rubber coating designed to significantly reduce its radar signal," Maroey Hansen told Norwegian public radio NRK.

The U-486 lies some two kilometres from the German U-864 submarine, which was also sunk in 1945 with dozens of tonnes of mercury on board, a dangerous cargo which has caused politicians headaches for years.

They have been examining how to best limit the environmental risks posed by the mercury, hesitating between whether to lift the wreck - it is also broken in two parts - or to cover it in a hard sarcophagus.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

EU suspends most Zimbabwe sanctions

THE European Union has suspended most of its sanctions against Zimbabwe following a "peaceful, successful and credible" referendum on a new constitution earlier this month.

However, 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe remained among 10 Zimbabweans still targeted by an EU travel ban and assets freeze, a European diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

An EU statement welcoming the March 16 referendum said the 27-nation bloc had agreed to "immediately suspend" restrictive measures against 81 people - on a 91-name list - as well as eight of 10 firms or utilities also blacklisted.

"The EU congratulates the people of Zimbabwe on a peaceful, successful and credible vote to approve a new constitution," a statement said, adding that this "represents a significant step" towards general elections.

Elections to end a shaky unity government formed four years ago between Mugabe and his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, are expected later this year, with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa calling for polls before the end of June.

Details on those who remain on the list would be released in the next few days, said the source, who added that the controversial mining firm, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, also remained on the EU blacklist.

NGOs and diplomats claim the state-owned ZMDC, a major diamond and gold mining company which operates five diamond mines in the controversial Marange fields, was channelling money to Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The targeted sanctions were first imposed in 2002, with the EU citing political violence, human rights abuses and the failure to hold free and fair elections in the southern African nation.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brit in India 'shouted for help for hour'

A BRITISH woman who jumped from a hotel balcony in India fearing a sexual assault says she shouted for help for more than an hour before she fled.

Jessica Davies, 31, from London, says she barricaded the door of her hotel room in Agra with furniture to stop two men from entering.

"I held my key in the lock and I could feel them turning it from the other side," she told the BBC.

Davies, a dental hygienist, injured both legs in the jump but said her ordeal could have been a lot worse.

The manager of the hotel and another member of staff appeared in court on Wednesday accused of harassing Davies, with their lawyer saying they denied the charges.

Davies said she wanted to talk about her experience "because the shame of sexual assault makes many people too scared to speak out".

She also said it was "disgusting" that her fellow hotel residents had failed to help.

The incident came just days after a Swiss cyclist was allegedly gang-raped in the central state of Madhya Pradesh by a group of villagers, while on a cycling trip with her husband that was meant to include a stopover in Agra.

Davies, who is now back in Britain, told the BBC her ordeal began when she was "surprised" by a knock at her door at 3.45am.

She denied claims by the hotel manager's lawyer that she had asked for a wake-up call, saying she had set her phone alarm for 4.30am to catch a taxi for a train to Jaipur.

"By hook or by crook this person - or persons - were going to get into my room. I'm 100 per cent certain. And there was only one way out, to jump two floors."

She said a passing rickshaw driver took her to a police station where he stayed with her for hours and acted as translator.

"He was amazing," she said, but added: "I don't know his name and I don't know how to thank him."

She said she had not been put off from returning to India, but was "never going to travel alone again".

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spain paper retracts Merkel Hitler column

SPANISH newspaper El Pais has retracted a column that compared German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Adolf Hitler and apologised for its "inappropriate" content after sparking an indignant internet outcry.

In the column, published on the paper's website and in its Andalusia regional edition, economist Juan Torres Lopez of the University of Seville wrote that "Angela Merkel, like Hitler, has declared war on the rest of the continent, this time to guarantee (Germany) its vital economic space".

"She punishes us to protect her large companies and banks and also to hide from her electorate the shameful model that has seen the poverty rate in her country rise to its highest level in 20 years, 25 per cent of employees earn less than 9.15 euros an hour and half the population represent ... a miserable one per cent of all the nation's wealth."

After the column provoked shocked reactions online, the newspaper took it down from its website and apologised.

"El Pais has withdrawn the article 'Germany against Europe' ... because it contained statements that this newspaper considers inappropriate," it said.

"El Pais regrets that a supervisory error allowed the publication of this material. The opinions expressed by Torres Lopes are his alone."

The article had set media commentators and German Twitter users aflutter.

"Bitter. Now El Pais has also published an editorial, in which Merkel is compared to Hitler," wrote Robin Alexander, a journalist with German daily Die Welt, on Twitter.

"To put Merkel's policies on a level with Hitler's is as loco (crazy) as it gets," Mathieu von Rohr, Paris bureau chief for German weekly Der Spiegel, wrote on Twitter.

"Of course Merkel's (and everybody's) stance may be criticised. But to use Hitler is incendiary, stupid and irresponsible."

But the retraction also drew criticism.

"Shameful El Pais censoring an article by J. Torres Lopez for criticising Merkel," wrote Twitter user Adrian Arcas Munoz.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

French gay marriage foes stage protest

TENS of thousands opposed to French legislation allowing gay marriage have protested on a route leading to the Champs Elysees after police banned them marching on the famed Paris avenue.

The hugely controversial bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption has been comfortably adopted by the lower chamber of parliament and will go to the Senate for examination and approval in April.

The upper house is unlikely to prevent the groundbreaking reform from becoming law.

The protestors want the government to withdraw the project and put it to a referendum.

The demonstrators highlighted France's flagging economy, beset by mass layoffs and spiralling unemployment, attacking Socialist President Francois Hollande's government of ignoring pressing issues while pushing ahead with his election pledge of "Marriage for All".

Banners held up from balconies read "We want work not gay marriage" and "No to gayxtremism".

The Paris police had turned down a request from the protest organisers to march on the Champs-Elysees on the ground it would be a threat to public order, partly because it borders the French presidential palace.

The demonstrators lined a five-kilometre route from the Paris business district of La Defence to the roundabout where the Arc de Triomphe is located.

Police sprayed teargas to keep up to 200 protesters from trying to march on the Champs Elysees, AFP photographers said.

The movement against gay marriage has given France a new celebrity in the form of its public face, Virginie Tellenne, a Parisian socialite who goes by the name of Frigide Barjot.

Her assumed name - a play on the name of French film star Brigitte Bardot - translates as Frigid Loony.

"We want the president to deal with the economy and leave the family alone," Tellenne said on Sunday.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

NY mayor to pour millions into gun control

NEW York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will invest $US12 million ($A11.5 million) in a nationwide ad campaign to counter the powerful US gun lobby and rally support for background checks in gun sales.

"We're running ads around the country. We have people manning phone banks and calling. We're trying to do everything we can to impress upon the senators that this is what the survivors want," Bloomberg told NBC's Meet the Press.

"I don't think there's ever been an issue where the public has spoken so clearly where Congress hasn't eventually understood and done the right thing."

He added: "If 90 per cent of the public wants something and their representatives vote against that, common sense says they are going to have a price to pay."

Wayne LaPierre, head of the powerful National Rifle Association, brushed off the billionaire mayor's plans, telling the same news program his group's members had already mobilised to oppose new gun control legislation.

Bloomberg is "going to find out this is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people. And he can't spend enough of his $US27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public," LaPierre said.

"We have people all over, millions of people, sending us $US5, $US10, $US15 cheques, saying stand up to this guy."

He said the NRA would support a better system of keeping records on the mentally ill and convicted criminals, as well as harsher penalties for individuals who use firearms to commit crimes.

Bloomberg has said he will focus his campaign on legislation to expand background checks, which is seen as having a much better chance of succeeding than an outright ban on assault weapons or high-capacity magazines.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Swedes mystified by seal pup in forest

A SEAL pup has been found in a forest in eastern Sweden almost six kilometres from the closest body of open water, raising questions as to how it got there.

"A somewhat confused person called and said he was out walking in the woods where he had found a seal pup. I thought he was joking at first," Uppsala police inspector Henrik Pederson told news agency TT.

Hunter Robert Sandefors, who was asked by police to take care of the pup, said the seal had probably made its way into the woods on its own, based on tracks visible in the snow.

Police said the seal had probably crawled three kilometres over sea ice and three kilometres into the woods.

"He must have gotten separated from his mother and gotten lost and gone in the wrong direction," Sandefors told public broadcaster Swedish Radio.

The seal was taken to the nearby Dalaelven river, where it was released and swam away.

23.46 | 0 komentar | Read More