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Philippine election killing spree in full swing

Greece is expected to grind to a halt for the second time in a month as hundreds of thousands of state and private workers stage a general strike.

The stoppage is in protest at the country’s austerity measures.

The head of the employers’ federation has accused the strikers of trying to make Greece into a charity case.

More groups of workers are staging industrial action and officers from the police, fire and customs services are planning to join the street protests.

Greece’s links to the outside world have been severed.

Air traffic controllers have closed the country’s airspace for 24 hours and ferries are stuck in harbours as maritime unions join the strike.

The government says it sympathises with public anger over the tax rises and wage cuts, but it is refusing to water down the measures.

Belt tightening

Potential rebels within the governing socialist party who have objected to the belt tightening have been forced to toe the official line.

In his first major public pronouncement, the head of Greece’s employers’ association has denounced the street protests.

Dimitris Daskalopoulos said the government had no alternative but to start again and reform the country.

He condemned what he called the perpetrators of demonstrations, agitation and violence.

He said they wanted to maintain the deplorable conditions that had forced Greece to look for charity from foreign markets.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in India for talks expected to focus on arms and energy contracts.

The two sides are due to sign two deals worth over $10bn in defence and civilian nuclear reactors and Russia will refit an aircraft carrier.

They will also try to boost bilateral trade, which is currently worth $8bn.

The two countries traditionally have had close links since Soviet times, with India remaining a top buyer of Russian weaponry.

However, the relationship faces new challenges, including competition from the West and the growing economic and military might of China.

Mr Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov has told reporters that Russia expects the “signing of 14-15 agreements after the talks and contracts worth over $10bn” during the prime minister’s two-day visit.

He said the two sides would hold talks on civilian nuclear energy, arms and production of telecom equipment.

The two sides also plan to sign agreements on retrofitting a Russian aircraft carrier, supply of additional 29 fighter aircraft and a deal to jointly develop transport aircraft.

Russia will build a number of nuclear reactors in energy-hungry India as well as increase atomic fuel exports to it.

Russia is among a number of countries seeking to expand their activities in India following its landmark nuclear deal with the US in 2005.

That accord ended India’s nuclear isolation after it tested an atom bomb in 1974.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Indian security forces have stepped up their operations against Maoist rebels, officials say.

Thousands of newly-arrived federal forces have joined those already in ground in three eastern states where rebels have a formidable presence.

A major security offensive -Operation Green Hunt- to flush out the rebels is already underway in several states.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels’ 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.

The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India’s 600-odd districts.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India’s “greatest internal security challenge”.

The newly-arrived federal forces are now moving into the jungles of West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand states that may house a number of rebel hideouts.

West Bengal police chief Bhupinder Singh said 6,000 new forces had arrived in the state’s Purulia and West Midnapore districts, which have seen rebel violence.

In neighbouring Jharkhand state, police chief Neyaz Ahmed said that federal forces along with local armed police had begun attacking rebels hideouts in the jungles.

“We have seized a lot of explosives and destroyed a few rebel camps,” he said.

With chances of peaceful negotiations with the government fading, the Maoist military wing chief Koteswara Rao has threatened to attack targets in the cities of Bengal and Orissa.

Mr Rao said his offer of a 72-day ceasefire with government forces stands. He has also named three “intellectuals” to mediate between the government and the rebels.

The federal government has not reacted to the latest demand of the rebels, and called some of their demands “bizarre”.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Election laws announced by Burma’s military rulers have provoked a storm of condemnation.

A United States State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said it made a mockery of the democratic process.

Burma has prohibited political prisoners – including the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi – from participating in forthcoming elections.

However, several offices of her National League for Democracy were re-opened for the first time since 2003.

“Maybe they want to show some flexibility,” said NLD spokesman Nyan Win, adding that about 100 branch offices had been reopened across the country, including several in the main city, Rangoon.

‘Farce’

The government had sealed NLD branch offices with red wax after a deadly attack on Ms Suu Kyi’s convoy by pro-regime elements on 30 May 2003.

“It’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy“

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo

“Yes, it’s a positive step,” he said. “I think they want us to take part in the election, but we still haven’t made up our mind about this. We still need to talk it over among the top leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

But he described the latest laws as “completely unacceptable”. Not only do they bar Ms Suu Kyi, but require participants to follow the 2008 constitution, which the NLD rejects and campaigned against. “It’s completely impossible for us,” Nyan Win said.

Condemnation came from one Asian neighbour, the Philippines, as well as from the US, the UN and Britain.

“Unless they release Aung San Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in elections, it’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo told The Associated Press.

The Philippines is a partner with Burma in Asean, whose 10 members rarely voice criticism of each other.

“The political party registration law makes a mockery of the democratic process and ensures the upcoming election will be devoid of credibility,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

“Our engagement with Burma will have to continue until we can make clear that… the results thus far are not what we had expected and that they’re going to have to do better,” he added.

Mr Obama met the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein on the sidelines of a recent summit of the Association of South East Asean Nations (Asean).

Gun power

The US and Asean had called for the planned elections top be free, fair and “inclusive” – code for the participation of Ms Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy which she leads.

“We’re going to need to study the election laws carefully once they’ve all been released,” British Ambassador Andrew Heyn said.

“So many of us suspected this wasn’t about bringing any real change to Burma, but it is surprising how nakedly they’re going about it“

Sean Turnell of Australia’s Macquarie University

“But it’s regrettable and very disappointing that the laws are not based on a dialogue with a range of political opinion.”

“They’ve used so many devices. It’s like using a machine gun to kill a mosquito,” said Sean Turnell of Australia’s Macquarie University.

“So many of us suspected this wasn’t about bringing any real change to Burma, but it is surprising how nakedly they’re going about it.”

Ms Suu Kyi has been detained on various charges for most of the past 20 years, after winning the last polls in 1990.

She was already excluded from political office by a constitutional bar on people with foreign spouses.

The regime enacted five election-related laws on Monday, two of which have now been made public. Three more are to be unveiled in coming days.

Critics say the elections, the first to be held in Burma for 20 years, will be a sham designed to entrench the military’s grip on power.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Nigerian police say 49 people are to be charged with murder after communal violence left scores of villagers dead.

Most of those facing charges are Muslims from the Fulani group, police spokesman Mohammed Lerama told the BBC.

The number of those arrested since the killings near the city of Jos has risen to 200, he said.

Police say 109 people – thought to be mostly Christians – died in Sunday’s bloodshed. Earlier reports put the toll at more than 500.

The violence followed sectarian killings near Jos in January that left more than 300 dead, most of them believed to be Muslims.

Plateau State, in central Nigeria, sits between the mainly Christian south and the predominantly Muslim north.

International pressure

Officials say police and troops are patrolling the area to prevent further trouble.

Chief of police for Plateau State Ikechukwu Aduba said on Wednesday he had asked for extra help.

“Our urgent patrol efforts after the incident… have yielded good results,” he said.

“We have requested reinforcements, and have been reassured… that reinforcement is on its way.”

However, international pressure is growing on the Nigerian government to take further action.

On Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bloodshed as “atrocious”.

He urged civil and religious leaders “to work towards security and peaceful co-existence”.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called on the Nigerian government to “move swiftly” to prevent further attacks.

Earlier, the governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, said security lapses had worsened the carnage in the three villages targeted.

He said he had warned the army about reports of suspicious people with weapons hours before they attacked, but they failed to take action.

“Three hours or so later, I was woken by a call that they [armed gangs] have started burning the village and people were being hacked to death,” Mr Jang said.

“I tried to locate the commanders. I couldn’t get any of them on the telephone.”

Mercenaries

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the country’s national security adviser, Sarki Mukhtar, in an apparent response to the killings.

But the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said the villages should have been properly protected after the January killings.

The head of the northern area of Nigeria’s Christian Association has said he believed mercenaries were involved.

Saidu Dogo told the BBC that fighters from neighbouring Chad and Niger took part in the violence.

State information commissioner Gregory Yenlong said on Monday that more than 500 people were killed. That figure was also given by religious leaders and rights activists.

But state police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba says 109 people are known to have died.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Two missile strikes by US drone aircraft have killed at least 12 suspected militants in north-west Pakistan, security officials say.

The attacks took place place in the tribal area of North Waziristan.

The identities of those killed in the attack, the latest of more than a dozen this year, are not yet known.

North and South Waziristan are known to provide sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, who are often targeted by drones.

Locals say the attacks have destroyed many training camps and compounds. They have also killed dozens of local and foreign militants, officials say.

Wednesday’s first strike took place at Mizar Madakhel village, some 50km (30 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. This was followed by a second attack in the same area.

The first attack targeted a vehicle and a compound which were being used by suspected militants, killing eight of them, reports say.

The second strike targeted two vehicles, which killed another four.

Correspondents say the United States has stepped up drone attacks in the region since seven CIA officers died in a suicide bomb attack at a US base across the border in Afghanistan last December.

More than 700 people have died in nearly 80 drone strikes since August 2008.

Pakistan has publicly criticised drone attacks, saying they fuel support for militants, but observers say the authorities privately condone the strikes.

The American military does not routinely confirm drone operations, but analysts say the US is the only force capable of deploying such aircraft in the region.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Chilean tycoon Sebastian Pinera is due to be sworn in as president of the country, which was recently devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Mr Pinera not only faces the challenge of reconstruction, but takes over from a highly popular outgoing leader.

Michelle Bachelet leaves office with a record 84% popularity rating despite criticism of the government’s slow reaction to last month’s disaster.

Meanwhile, Chile’s disaster management chief has resigned over the response.

Carmen Fernandez is the second Chilean official to leave her post in the aftermath of the February 27 quake and ensuing tsunami that killed close to 500 people.

On Friday, Mrs Bachelet dismissed the head of the navy’s Oceanography Service for failing to provide a clear warning of the tsunami.

Incoming leader

Mrs Bachelet, Chile’s first woman president, was constitutionally-barred from seeking re-election.

The task of rebuilding now falls to her successor, Mr Pinera, whose presidential win ended 20 years of centre-left rule in Chile.

“We won’t be the government of the earthquake, we’ll be the government of reconstruction,” the 60-year-old billionaire said recently.

Last month, the conservative leader named his cabinet, leaving out any figures linked with the former military ruler, Augusto Pinochet.

In his election campaign, Mr Pinera said he would focus on boosting economic growth and producing jobs while continuing with the outgoing president’s social policies.

Mr Pinera is one of the country’s richest men. He made his fortune introducing credit cards to Chile, then went on to buy a television channel, a stake in Chile’s most successful football club, and millions of dollars in other investments.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim has topped Forbes magazine’s billionaire’s list – the first time since 1994 that an American has not led the rankings.

Mr Slim’s fortune rose by $18.5bn (

Former rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who now serve in the army are running mafia-style extortion rackets in the mines, campaigners say.

The country has some of the world’s richest mines, which provide minerals to the global electronics industry.

Ex-rebels of the CNDP group are said to have gained far greater control of the mines than they did as insurgents.

Campaign group Global Witness says the government and international community have failed to demilitarise the mines.

The ongoing conflict in Eastern Congo, which has claimed some six million lives in a little more than a decade, has long revolved over access to its mineral wealth, not just by DR Congo but also its neighbour Rwanda through its proxy forces.

After last year’s high profile government offensive against one rebel group which controlled many of the mines in Eastern Congo, the military has moved in and transferred power to a competing armed group.

A move to integrate rebels from the CNDP – whose leader Laurent Nkunda has been under house arrest in Rwanda since last year – into Congo’s national army has seen them enjoying more control of the country’s mineral wealth than ever before, according to Global Witness investigators.

In one mine in South Kivu, civilian miners claimed they were being forced to pay $10 each to the military for permission to spend a night working in the mines.

Researchers say that instead of protecting civilians, the military is taxing them illegally, and subjecting them to abuse.

They also claim that high profile international companies are still knowingly sourcing minerals from these militarised mines – a contravention of UN sanctions, which campaigners say are not being enforced.

This article is from the BBC News website.

Office worker David Dai is one of a growing army of Beijing residents returning to two-wheeled transport.

But the 28-year-old does not rely on his own pedal power – like hundreds of thousands of others, he has bought an electric bike.

These battery-powered, and virtually silent, machines have become increasingly common on the streets of the Chinese capital.

With roads often clogged with cars – there are now four million vehicles in Beijing – they offer a speedy way to get around.

But not everyone seems to like them: government officials are unsure about how to deal with this explosion of electric bicycles.

Congested streets

China used to be known as the “kingdom of bicycles”. In the 1980s, four out of five commuters pedalled to work on them in Beijing.

But as the capital’s residents became richer following economic development, they ditched their bikes for four-wheeled transport.

Recent statistics suggest that only one in five city residents now use an ordinary bicycle to travel around.

In a matter of just a few years Beijing has gone from a city with few private cars to one where traffic jams are commonplace.

But many Beijing residents are now buying electric bicycles to avoid wasting time on congested streets.

“It takes only 10 minutes to ride my electric bike from home to work,” said Mr Dai.

“If I took the bus, I’d have to spend time waiting for it, and then I could be trapped in a traffic jam. It could take me half an hour to make the same journey.”

These bikes are on sale everywhere, with shops sometimes clustered together. Their wares are lined up on the pavement in neat rows.

Zhang Zhiyong, the manager of a store selling a brand of electric bike called “Capital Wind”, said it is easy to see why sales are booming.

“Beijing is not like other smaller cities – it’s big. If people ride their bicycles to work, they get really tired. If they drive to work, the roads are often congested,” he told the BBC.

“But an electric bike is environmentally friendly and convenient. Promoting the use of these bikes would benefit us all.”

And they are much cheaper than cars. The most expensive model in Mr Zhang’s shops is only 2,680 yuan ($390: