New Zambian president inaugurated

Sat Sep 24, 2011

Michael Sata has been sworn in as the new president of Zambia.

“Corruption has been a scourge in this country and there is a wide link between corruption and poverty,” Sata said during the inauguration ceremony in Lusaka on Friday, AFP reported.

“Corruption is morally unacceptable and must be fought with the vigor that it deserves,” he added.

Sata, the candidate of the Patriotic Front (PF) party, was elected president with 43 percent of the vote after beating incumbent Rupiah Banda, whose Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) had ruled the country for 20 years.

The election was held on Tuesday, but the announcement of the final results was delayed after the government's vote-tallying website was hacked.

The new Zambian president has frequently criticized foreign mining firms, and especially Chinese firms, over labor conditions.

“Foreign investment is important to Zambia, and we will continue to work with foreign investors who are welcome in the country, but they need to adhere to the labor laws,” he said after the swearing-in ceremony.

Last year, Chinese managers opened fire on protesters at a huge coal mine in southern Zambia, but the government dropped charges against them.

China has invested heavily in Zambia's copper, cobalt, and coal mines and in the country's power plants.

Over the past ten years, Chinese citizens have begun running farms, restaurants, shops, hospitals, and clinics dispensing traditional Chinese medicine in Zambia.

Over 60 percent of the citizens of Zambia live on less than two US dollars a day.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/200845.html.

Anti-US protests held in Ghana

Sun Sep 25, 2011

Hundreds of people in Ghana have staged a protest rally against NATO military operations and US involvement in North Africa.

The demonstrators, protesting against the US-led NATO aggression in Libya, started their peaceful march toward the United States embassy in the capital Accra on Saturday, but police confronted them with a prohibition order, blocking the continuation of the demonstrations, the independent website globalresearch.ca, reported.

The protesters, chanting “US, NATO hands off Libya! Hands off Africa,” continued the rally and police arrested 24 people that were later released.

The peaceful march came in defiance of a court order demanding postponement of the demonstration until September 28.

Protest leaders say the action of police shows the extent of US influence over the government in Ghana.

Since March, the United States and NATO have unleashed a punishing United Nations-mandated offensive against the fugitive Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in an alleged attempt to pressure him into giving up power.

Thousands of airstrikes by the alliance have killed many Libyan civilians and revolutionary fighters, who are fighting the government troops.

The development comes as the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Libya has been given a UN seat.

The African Union also recognized the NTC as the legitimate government of the North African nation last week.

The Libyan revolution began on February 17 and on August 22 Tripoli fell and Gaddafi fled from the capital. The revolutionaries are currently making efforts to capture and secure the last Gaddafi bastions in the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/201035.html.

Yemeni women hold demo in Taizz

Sun Sep 25, 2011

Yemeni women have staged a demonstration in the southern city of Taizz to protest against foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.

Thousands of women took to the streets in the flashpoint city on Saturday, shouting slogans against the United States and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.

They also called for support of Yemen's popular revolution and condemned the return of Ali Abdullah Saleh to the country from Saudi Arabia, where he had been receiving treatment for injuries he sustained in an attack on his palace in June.

Yemen has been the scene of deadly violence in recent days, with about 70 anti-government protesters killed and many more injured since Saleh's return on Friday.

Reports say over 50 people have been killed in Sana'a over the past 24 hours.

Earlier in the day, a military commander for the revolutionary forces said Saleh had returned to start a civil war.

Late on Saturday, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed "deep concern" about the deepening crisis in Yemen, asked all parties in the country to end the clashes, and called on Sana'a to respond to the people's demands.

"We urge all parties to cease violence and exercise maximum restraint," Nuland said. "The Yemeni government must immediately address the democratic aspirations of its people," she added.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/201015.html.

Saudis protest police violence on women

Sat Sep 24, 2011

Saudi activists in the eastern city of Qatif have taken to the streets to rally against police harassing female protesters and in support for the ongoing Bahraini revolution, Press TV reported.

Scores of women had earlier on Saturday staged sit-in protests outside the local government office in the eastern province of Dammam, calling for the release of their relatives held in prison for years without any charge.

Protesters in Qatif had also rallied on Friday against the Al Saud regime's brutal military intervention in Bahrain with the aim of crushing the popular uprising in the small Persian Gulf kingdom.

Both demonstrations took place despite the government's strict ban on anti-regime rallies in the country.

Moreover, activists in Saudi Arabia say the country has jailed more than 30,000 political prisoners, most of them prisoners of conscious. Many were arrested merely for appearing suspicious and the majority of them are being held without trials or legitimate charges.

The families of political prisoners have repeatedly pleaded with the ruling monarch to at least give their loved ones a fair trial. However, the king has for years ignored their calls.

Over the past months, Saudi activists in the Eastern Province have staged several anti-government protests, demanding reforms and immediate release of political prisoners.

Their campaign for human rights reform, freedom of expression and political reforms ended with an unexpected outcome: the anti-terror law, which gives the ministry of interior superior powers to detain suspects incommunicado for up to 120 days amendable to indefinite extension.

The law also defines terror crimes as any action endangering national unity, an ambiguous definition which can even be extended to peaceful demonstrations.

Human Rights Watch says more than 160 dissidents have been arrested since February as part of the Saudi government's crackdown on anti-government protesters.

According to the Saudi-based Human Rights First Society (HRFS), the detainees have been subjected to torture both physically and mentally.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/201000.html.

Measles, diarrhea kills 24 Somali kids

Sun Sep 25, 2011

Measles and diarrhea has killed at least 24 children in Somalia while 364 others reported in serious conditions due to the diseases, Press TV reports.

According to doctors, more than 24 Somali children died in Baidoa Hospital on Saturday in southern Mogadishu where cases of waterborne diseases have increased due to unhygienic living conditions.

A combination of poor sanitation conditions, scarcity of safe and clean drinking water, and overcrowding has led to the spread of waterborne diseases in the capital Mogadishu.

According to the World Health Organization, some 75 percent of all cases of highly infectious diarrhea in the famine-stricken African country are among children under the age of five.

Cholera is confirmed in Banadir, Bay, Mudug and Lower Shabelle regions of Somalia, and the number of acute diarrhea cases has increased dramatically in the last few months.

Reports say that aid agencies can take food supplies to only a limited number of people affected by the disaster since insecurity hinders efforts in much of the country's south.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of its former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/201067.html.

Kyrgyz PM to resign to run for president

Sat Sep 24, 2011

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev has announced that he plans to resign in order to run for president.

On Friday, Atambayev said that he would hand his duties over to Deputy Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov to run in the October 30 presidential election, the Associated Press reported.

Atambayev's main challenger seems to be Ata-Zhurt nationalist party leader Kamchibek Tashiyev, who served as a minister under former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Bakiyev was unseated in a popular uprising in April 2010.

“Our government has been working for nine months and three days. In this time, we have seen a trend of economic growth, which is also an indicator of our efforts,” Atambayev said.

Candidates must win more than 50 percent of the vote in October's election to avoid a runoff between the top two vote-getters.

The Kyrgyz presidential campaign is being watched by the international community, and especially the United States and Russia, which both have strategically important air bases in the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/200847.html.

Ecuador grants asylum to WikiLeaks' Assange

August 16, 2012

LONDON (AP) — He's won asylum in Ecuador, but Julian Assange is no closer to getting there.

The decision by the South American nation to identify the WikiLeaks founder as a refugee is a symbolic boost for the embattled ex-hacker. But legal experts say that does little to help him avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Instead, with British officials asserting they won't grant Assange safe passage out of the country, the case has done much to drag the two nations into an international faceoff. "We're at something of an impasse," lawyer Rebecca Niblock said. "It's not a question of law anymore. It's a question of politics and diplomacy."

The silver-haired Australian shot to international prominence in 2010 after he began publishing a huge trove of American diplomatic and military secrets — including a quarter million U.S. Embassy cables that shed a harsh light on the backroom dealings of U.S. diplomats. Amid the ferment, two Swedish women accused him of sexual assault; Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden ever since.

Interpol, the Lyon, France-based international police agency, issued a statement late Thursday saying Assange remains on the equivalent of its most-wanted list, the Ecuadorian decision notwithstanding.

The convoluted saga took its latest twist on Thursday, when Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced that he had granted asylum to Assange, who has been holed up inside the small, coastal nation's embassy since June 19. He said Ecuador was taking action because Assange faces a serious threat of unjust prosecution at the hands of U.S. officials.

That was a nod to the fears expressed by Assange and others that the Swedish sex case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the United States — something disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.

In a message posted to its Twitter account, WikiLeaks said Assange would make a public statement outside Ecuador's embassy on Sunday afternoon — potentially offering British police the chance to arrest him. The secret-spilling website did not immediately respond to attempts to contact it to provide additional details.

Patino said he tried to secure guarantees from the Americans, the British and the Swedes that Assange would not be extradited to the United States, but was rebuffed by all three. If Assange were extradited to the U.S. "he would not have a fair trial, could be judged by special or military courts, and it's not implausible that cruel and degrading treatment could be applied, that he could be condemned to life in prison, or the death penalty," Patino said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she did not accept Assange's claim, or Ecuador's acceptance of it, that he could potentially face persecution in the United States. "With regard to the charge that the U.S. was intent on persecuting him, I reject that completely," she said Thursday.

Under Ecuador's asylum offer, Assange is not permitted to make political statements or grant interviews of a political nature, restrictions that are standard for anyone granted asylum, said an Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Significantly, Ecuador did not grant political but rather diplomatic asylum to Assange. "Political asylum would imply that Great Britain is persecuting him or threatens to persecute him," said Robert Sloane, international law professor at Boston University. By granting diplomatic asylum, Ecuador is keeping the door open to political negotiations. Sloane said that the type of asylum does not confer any diplomatic status or special privileges on Assange.

Ecuador's decision was warmly received by the 41-year-old Assange, who watched the foreign minister announce it from Quito in a live televised news conference. In a statement he praised Ecuador's "courage."

Pro-Assange demonstrators gathered outside the Edwardian-era embassy building, and broke into cheers when the news filtered out onto the street. "It must have been a tough decision for Ecuador because they had pressure," said Alejandra Cazas, an 18-year-old British-Bolivian citizen. "Now they have to watch out that he arrives to Ecuador safely."

But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will not allow Assange safe passage to Latin America. "There is no legal basis for us to do so," he said. He said Assange was wanted in Sweden to answer allegations of "serious sexual offenses" and that the extradition had nothing to do with the work of WikiLeaks or with the United States.

Hague also insisted that Britain did not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum, which he said was not a universal means of granting refuge. Britain's response to Ecuador's offer prompted Peru, the acting chair of the Union of South American Nations, to call an extraordinary meeting for Sunday at Ecuador's request in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to discuss the Assange standoff.

Supporters who have visited Assange say he is living inside a tiny office at Ecuador's embassy, a small apartment of five or six rooms inside a larger building which also houses Colombia's embassy. Assange has a bed, access to a phone and a connection to the Internet. "It's not quite the Hilton," said Gavin MacFadyen, a supporter who has met with Assange at the embassy.

The diplomatic repercussions continued Thursday with an unlikely confrontation between Sweden and Ecuador. In a mark of its anger over the asylum ruling, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Ecuador's ambassador to complain about the decision. The country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said in a message posted on Twitter that "our firm legal and constitutional system guarantees the rights of each and every one. We firmly reject any accusations to the contrary."

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa did not seem to be in any mood for compromise either, posting a tweet that read: "No one is going to frighten us." In Washington, Ecuador asked the Organization of American States to hold a meeting Aug. 23 to discuss the Assange situation. Several nations on the OAS's Permanent Council supported the idea, while the U.S. and Canada opposed it. The council put off a decision until Friday so delegates could consult with their home governments.

The issue already seems to have frayed diplomatic ties between the U.K. and Ecuador. Britain's previous ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Cross, departed earlier this year and had been due to be replaced this month by Patrick Mullee. But his arrival has been delayed.

Ties could fray further if Britain decides to enforce a little-known 1987 law that gives the U.K. the right to enter the embassy to arrest Assange — but most legal experts called such a development unlikely and potentially dangerous.

If Britain carried out such a move, as it suggested it might in a note delivered to Ecuador on Wednesday, "it would threaten their embassy premises around the world," as it could leave them open to reprisals, said Niblock, who practices at London law firm Kingsley Napley.

Many Britons have memories of a dramatic scene in 1980 when British special forces soldiers burst into the Iranian Embassy — at Iran's request — to free hostages captured by gunmen who had broken into the building six days earlier.

Hague insisted Britain had no plan to force entry into Ecuador's mission. "There is no threat here to storm an embassy," he told reporters. Meanwhile, legal experts and diplomatic historians were abuzz with various unlikely scenarios for Assange's escape from Britain — perhaps hidden in a diplomatic car or smuggled in an oversized diplomatic bag.

Some have speculated Britain could revoke the diplomatic status of Ecuador's embassy — a move which would effectively sever friendly links between the two nations, but allow police to walk inside and arrest Assange.

Britain's foreign ministry said diplomats would continue discussions with Ecuador aimed at resolving the case, but Hague warned that he expected the diplomatic stalemate to continue. "This could go on for quite a considerable time as things stand," he told reporters. "There is no time limit for resolving this."

Solano reported from Quito, Ecuador. Associated Press writers Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, Jill Lawless, David Stringer and Raissa Ioussouf in London, Louise Nordstrom and Karl Ritter in Stockholm, and Matthew Lee in Washington all contributed to this report.

Pussy Riot verdict caps Putin's hundred days

August 16, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — The verdict in the trial of the feminist punk rockers Pussy Riot comes barely more than 100 days into Vladimir Putin's new term as Russian president — a notably hard hundred.

Since it began on May 7, Putin's third term in the Kremlin has appeared mostly defensive and downbeat. The swagger and brag of his first two terms is absent; he hasn't even made one of his trademark TV appearances with wild animals or engaged in manly, bare-chested sports.

Instead, the focus has been on opponents, either real or imagined — mostly trying to keep them at bay, but occasionally making awkward attempts to engage them. Some of the highlights of Putin's first hundred days.

CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS One of Putin's first actions as president was to appoint as presidential envoy to the Ural Mountains region a hard-faced tank factory worker named Igor Kholmanskikh, who had no formal qualifications for the job. His main selling point: Kholmanskikh had earned Putin's gratitude by appearing on national television, vowing that he and his co-workers were ready to come to Moscow to fight protesters who had started rising up en masse.

The appointment underlined Putin's characterization of the protesters as a pampered and deluded elite and suggested he could try to exploit class resentments. "He has rejected pretensions of being the president of all Russia ... he has started to work exclusively with the image of 'the leader of the simple people'," author and commentator Boris Akunin wrote in his blog this week.

CONTROVERSIAL LAWS Under one of the signature measures passed during Putin's first 100 days, the maximum fine for participating in unauthorized protests shot up 150 times, to 300,000 rubles (about $9,000). Authorities so far have given permission to hold occasional mass protests, but that leash could be reeled in at any time.

Soon afterward came a law requiring non-governmental organizations engaging in ill-defined "political activity" and receiving money from abroad to register as foreign agents. The law reinforces Putin's repeated claims that the United States and the West are funding efforts against him and plays to the strong streak of nationalism in Russia. But it could also be read as a tacit confession of weakness — that a vast and proud country is nonetheless very vulnerable.

Another new law calls for a blacklist to ban websites that carry content deemed harmful to children. But the list itself will be kept secret and critics say the law could be used to shut down troublesome pro-opposition sites.

CLUMSY CONCILIATION Amid the flurry of tough and ominous measures, Putin has made a couple of small attempts to appear less rigid, though with questionable success. In a visit to a camp for politically active youth, Putin said his notorious remark likening the opposition demonstrators' white ribbon symbol to condoms wasn't intended as an insult. Instead, he said, he meant he was offended that they were using a foreign-inspired political "technology."

Two weeks ago, he said he hoped the punishment for Pussy Riot's guerrilla performance in Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral would not be "too severe." That skirted the question of whether the past five months that the band members have spent in jail wasn't severe.

WHAT'S AHEAD With more than 2,000 days to go in his current term, Putin faces some significant challenges. Most immediately, the opposition will try to revive the mass demonstrations that went on hiatus during the summer vacation season. Organizers have called for the next one in Moscow to be held Sept. 15. There's no word yet on whether city authorities will give permission for it, and whether large numbers of protesters would risk running afoul of the new tough law on unauthorized demonstrations.

Much of Putin's power stems from the prosperity that took hold of Russia during his previous terms. But that hinges to a large extent on oil and gas exports, both of which are vulnerable. Extensive shale gas development outside Russia could reduce revenues for the Kremlin's coffers and deprive Russia of some of the political leverage it has overseas.

But Putin has at least one presumably happy time to look forward to — the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Winning the bid was a standout moment of his previous time in the Kremlin and he's sure to put the full force of his power into holding games that will attract millions of admiring eyes to Russia.

Top Pakistan army commanders meet after US claims

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT - Associated Press
Sun, Sep 25, 2011

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's army chief will convene a special meeting of senior commanders Sunday following U.S. allegations that the military's spy agency helped militants attack American targets in Afghanistan, the army said.

Senior Pakistani officials have lashed out against the allegations of support for the Haqqani militant network, accusing the U.S. of trying to make Pakistan a scapegoat for its troubled war in Afghanistan. The public spat has plunged the troubled U.S.-Pakistan alliance to new lows.

Pakistan's leaders have shown no indication that they plan to act on renewed American demands to attack the Haqqani network in their main base in Pakistan, even at the risk of further conflict with Washington, which has given the country billions of dollars in military and economic aid.

The top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency Thursday of supporting Haqqani insurgents in planning and executing a 22-hour assault on the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan on Sept. 13 and a truck bomb that wounded 77 American soldiers days earlier.

Kayani, widely considered the most powerful man in Pakistan, has dismissed the allegations, saying the charges were baseless and part of a public "blame game" detrimental to peace in Afghanistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also slapped down the accusations in a statement issued late Saturday.

"We strongly reject assertions of complicity with the Haqqanis or of proxy war," said Gilani in a written statement. "The allegations betray a confusion and policy disarray within the U.S. establishment on the way forward in Afghanistan.

Pakistan claimed to have severed its ties with Afghan militants after the 9/11 attacks and supported America's campaign in Afghanistan, but U.S. officials have long suspected it maintained links. Mullen's comments were the most serious yet accusing Pakistan of militant ties, although he didn't cite any specific evidence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has implied that American forces could even carry out unilateral raids inside Pakistan against the Haqqani network, operations that could have explosive implications in Pakistan where anti-American sentiment is widespread.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar warned the U.S. on Saturday against sending American troops into Pakistan, saying there are red lines and rules of engagement that should not be broken.

"It opens all kinds of doors and all kinds of options," she told Pakistan's private Aaj News TV from New York. The comment was in response to a question about the possibility of U.S. troops coming to Pakistan.

Despite the seriousness of the U.S. claims, which appear to accuse Pakistan of state-sponsored terrorism, Mullen and other U.S. officials have said Washington needs to keep engaging with Islamabad, a reflection of its limited options in dealing with the nuclear-armed state.

The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. James Mattis, echoed this sentiment following a meeting with Kayani in Islamabad. In a statement issued Sunday by the U.S. Embassy, Mattis emphasized "the need for persistent engagement among the militaries of the U.S., Pakistan and other states in the region."

Around half of the U.S. war supplies to Afghanistan are trucked over Pakistani soil, and even as it accuses Islamabad of complicity with Afghan insurgents, Washington knows that it will likely need Islamabad's cooperation in bringing them to the negotiating table.

Gilani also called for greater cooperation.

"Let's avoid mutual recrimination and recommit ourselves to working together for eliminating terrorism and for reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan," he said.

____

Associated Press writer Chris Brummitt contributed to this report.

Saudi king allows women to vote in local elections

By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI and MAAMOUN YOUSSEF - Associated Press
Sun, Sep 25, 2011

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi King Abdullah announced Sunday that the nation's women will gain the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections to be held in 2015 in a major advancement for the rights of women in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.

In an annual speech before his advisory assembly, or Shura Council, the Saudi monarch said he ordered the step after consulting with the nation's top religious clerics, whose advice carries great weight in the kingdom.

"We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society and in every aspect, within the rules of Sharia," Abdullah said, referring to the Islamic law that governs many aspects of life in the kingdom.

The right to vote is by far the biggest change introduced by Abdullah, considered a reformer, since he became the country's de facto ruler in 1995 during the illness of King Fahd. Abdullah formally ascended to the throne upon Fahd's death in August 2005.

The kingdom's great oil wealth and generous handouts to citizens have largely insulated it from the unrest sweeping the Arab world. But the king has taken steps to quiet rumblings of discontent that largely centered on the eastern oil-producing region populated by the country's Shiite Muslim minority.

Mindful of the unrest, which reached Saudi Arabia's doorstep with street protests and a deadly crackdown in neighboring Bahrain, King Abdullah pledged roughly $93 billion in financial support to boost jobs and services for Saudis in March.

Seizing on the season of protest in the Arab world, Saudi women's groups have also staged public defiance of the kingdom's ban on female driving. Saudi authorities went relatively easy on the women, who took to the roads earlier this year and gained worldwide attention through social media.

Abdullah said the changes announced Sunday would also allow women to be appointed to the Shura Council, the advisory body selected by the king that is currently all-male.

The council, established in 1993, offers opinions on general policies in the kingdom and debates economic and social development plans and agreements signed between the kingdom and other nations.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, follows deeply conservative social traditions and adheres closely to a strict version of Islam. Despite Abdullah's attempts to push through some social reforms, women still cannot drive and the sexes are segregated in public.

Saudi Arabia held its first-ever municipal elections in 2005.

The kingdom will hold its next municipal elections on Thursday, but women will not be able to vote or run in those contests.

In announcing the reforms, Abdullah sought to ground his decision in religion.

"Muslim women in our Islamic history have demonstrated positions that expressed correct opinions and advice," he said, citing examples from the era of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century.

He said the members of Saudi Arabia's clerical council, or Ulema, praised and supported his decision.

He also acknowledged the yearning for greater social freedoms in the kingdom.

"Balanced modernization, which falls within our Islamic values, is an important demand in an era where there is no place for defeatist or hesitant people," he said.

In January, a group of female activists launched a campaign on social networking websites to push the kingdom to allow women to vote and run in the municipal elections.

___

Youssef reported from Cairo.