Hezbollah leader slams Saudi intervention in Yemen

March 27, 2015

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group unleashed a tirade against Saudi Arabia on Friday over its intervention in Yemen, calling it "surprising and painful," and suggesting Riyadh would suffer a "humiliating defeat" if it didn't resolve the conflict through negotiations.

Hassan Nasrallah rejected Riyadh's claim that it had assembled a coalition to conduct airstrikes against Shiite Houthi rebels in order to save Yemen, an operation named "Decisive Storm." He said that since Israel was created in 1948 "there has been no decisive storm or even a decisive breeze" to help the Palestinians.

Hezbollah, like Yemen's Houthi rebels, is supported by Iran, which Saudi Arabia views as its main regional rival. Iran has openly armed and assisted Hezbollah since its creation, but both Iran and the Houthis deny it has sent arms to the Yemeni rebels.

"The real reason (for the war) is that Saudi Arabia lost its control and dominance in Yemen and the aim of war is to restore control and hegemony over Yemen. Period," Nasrallah said. He condemned what he called a "Saudi-American aggression on Yemen, its people, army, installations, present and future." The Hezbollah leader called for a political solution in Yemen, warning Saudi Arabia that it will not win the war.

"Throughout history, invaders were defeated and the invaders were humiliated," Nasrallah said. "The rulers in Saudi Arabia still have an opportunity in order not to face a humiliating defeat." Nasrallah said the countries taking part in the military campaign should review their policies. "Should the region go to war because of Saudi money?" he asked.

In some of his harshest comments to date, Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of sending suicide attackers to Iraq and of creating the Islamic State group. Addressing Saudi Arabia, he said Iran had expanded its influence in the region because "you are lazy, losers, and you don't take responsibility."

Uzbekistan's election sees turnout at 91 percent

March 29, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — Uzbekistan's election commission said 91 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday's presidential election, where victory by longtime authoritarian leader Islam Karimov is a foregone conclusion.

The 77-year-old Karimov has led the former Soviet republic in Central Asia since the late 1980s and ruthlessly quashed all opposition to his rule. While Uzbekistan is untroubled by any immediate signs of unrest, the future of the country of 30 million people is colored with uncertainty amid a troubled security situation in neighboring Afghanistan and the lack of a clear succession plan should Karimov suddenly leave office.

Economic woes could also be in store as a knock-on effect of the looming recession in Russia, where around 3 million Uzbeks live and work. Russian news agencies, citing the Uzbek Central Election Commission, said turnout was 91 percent. Results will be released Monday.

Karimov faced three purely nominal rivals. In the previous election in 2007, he won 91 percent of the vote. A Russian parliament member who served as an election observer, Ilyas Umakhanov, said the citizens of Uzbekistan were voting for "further guarantees of stability and the social-economic development of the country," the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Since gaining independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has pursued a policy of economic self-reliance and sought to balance its diplomatic relations with the West and Russia, playing them against each other. The United States installed a military base in the country after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was forced to abandon that facility in 2005 as relations between the countries soured following a violent government crackdown on rioters in the Ferghana Valley city of Andijan that is believed to have left hundreds dead.

Almost all Western media have been barred from reporting inside the country since that time. Independent journalists and activists face sustained harassment.

Greek prime minister: Debt needs restructuring for repayment

March 30, 2015

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece will be unable to repay massive bailout debts without eventually restructuring them, the prime minister said, as pressure from lenders mounted on Athens to produce viable cost-cutting reforms to unlock emergency funds and prevent default.

Alexis Tsipras told Greek lawmakers late Monday that his two-month-old government had not abandoned its pledge to seek a debt settlement and push for more generous deficit targets. "There is the recognition (from lenders) of the need to finally begin a debate on the necessary restructuring of the Greek debt," he said.

"Because without such an intervention it is impossible to repay it." Greece's reserves are running low on money needed to repay debts and keep the country running after troubled negotiations with lenders and early general elections in January stalled the payout of more than 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) left in bailout funds for months.

In Brussels, EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said a deal with Greece "requires a lot of technical work" even after hours of meetings to discuss the Tsipras government proposals over the weekend.

Athens faces debt repayments and rollovers of nearly 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in April, mainly in the middle of the month, with obligations rising further in the coming months. Not being able to raise money on international bond markets, Greece depends on bailout creditors for the money to meet those obligations.

Germany, the biggest individual creditor to Greece's bailouts, insists a lot more still needed to be done. Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said the talks were "to be honest a little hard to evaluate — clearly not an officially submitted comprehensive reform list."

The Commission's Schinas appeared a bit more optimistic, saying the continuation of the discussions "is a positive sign that shows willingness and seriousness of all sides to constructively engage." So far, Greece says reworked reforms for 2015 would yield 3 billion euros from measures it argues wouldn't depress economic activity in Greece — cuts to salaries and pensions are out.

An official in Athens said last week that the reforms had been cost-assessed and would still leave Greece with a primary budget surplus — what's left after debt payments — of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2015 and growth of around 1.4 percent.

Raf Casert reported from Brussels. Elena Becatoros in Athens, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.

Greek energy minister to visit Moscow, hits out at Germany

28 March 2015 Saturday

Greece's Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis will meet his Russian counterpart and the CEO of energy giant Gazprom in Moscow on Monday, as he hit out at the EU and Germany for tightening a 'noose' around the Greek economy.

Outspoken Lafazanis, on the left wing of Greece's co-ruling Syriza party, will meet Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller as well as other senior government officials, the energy ministry said on Saturday.

But as Athens battles to have a list of reforms accepted by its EU partners in order to secure much-needed funds to stave off bankruptcy, Lafazanis criticized Berlin and said the government must not roll back on its commitments.

"No list should go over the will and sovereignty of the people," he told Kefalaio newspaper in an interview on Saturday.

Greece will run out of money by April 20, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, unless it manages to unlock aid by agreeing on a list of reforms with EU-IMF partners with Lafazanis opposed to several energy privatizations.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/157101/greek-energy-minister-to-visit-moscow-hits-out-at-germany.

France's far-right wins 62 seats but not a local council

March 30, 2015

PARIS (AP) — Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen couldn't hide her disappointment Monday not to have won one single local council in France's election, but insisted she was satisfied with her party's performance.

Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party and its allies won 46 percent of Sunday's vote, taking control of 66 of the 98 local councils, mostly at the expense of the left, which lost 25 of them, according to the Interior Ministry. The left captured 32 percent of the vote and the National Front won 22 percent, the agency said. Turnout was 49.98 percent.

In an interview Monday with radio RTL, Le Pen reminded her audience that that her party won just a single seat in 2011, and 62 of the 4,108 available on Sunday. "I obviously express my satisfaction. We have multiplied by 62 our number of elected councilors," she said.

It's the latest in a series of elections that have expanded the National Front's presence in French politics, part of Le Pen's strategy toward a 2017 presidential campaign. Le Pen herself is looking ahead to France's regional election in December.

"I believe that we have serious hopes of success in 4 to 5 regions (out of 13 total)," she said. France's governing Socialists are facing their fourth electoral defeat since President Francois Hollande took power in 2012, reflecting the government's unpopularity due to its failure to boost the lagging economy and lower the 10 percent unemployment rate.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls had called on voters to choose anyone running, even a rival conservative, to block National Front candidates. Conservatives gained spectacular victories in Correze in central France and Essonne near Paris, the electoral homes of Hollande and Valls. They also won some councils governed by the left for decades, including as Bouches-du-Rhone — Marseille and its surroundings — that had been continuously led by Socialists for over 60 years.

Candidates were elected by pairs —one man, one woman— to ensure that 50 percent of council members are women.

Campaign begins for most unpredictable UK election in years

March 30, 2015

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron paid a courtesy call on Queen Elizabeth II, then launched a most uncourteous attack on his main political rival as campaigning formally began Monday in the most unpredictable U.K. election in decades.

The royal audience — possibly Cameron's last as prime minister — came as Britain's Parliament was officially dissolved ahead of the May 7 vote. Polls, bookmakers and politics-watchers say the election is too close to call, and no party is expected to win a majority of seats in the House of Commons.

Some form of coalition government is likely, and smaller parties — such as the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, the Greens and the anti-Europeans — could hold the balance of power. "This is the most unpredictable election we have seen in our lifetimes," said Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-Europe U.K. Independence Party, which is currently running third in popular support. "All bets are off."

While issues such as the European Union and immigration will play a big role in the campaign, both Cameron's Conservatives and their main opposition, the Labor Party, are focusing their pitches on the economy.

Cameron said a Labor victory would bring "economic chaos" and threaten Britain's recovery from the Great Recession. "Debt will rise and jobs will be lost as a result," he said. Speaking outside his 10 Downing St. office after meeting the queen at Buckingham Palace, Cameron said when he took office in 2010, "Britain was on the brink."

Now, he said, "Britain is back on her feet again," and growing faster than other G-7 economies. But Labor leader Ed Miliband argued that for many voters, that recovery "feels like it's happening to someone else, somewhere else." He kicked off campaigning with a speech aimed at reassuring business that Labor won't increase tax and red tape.

And he called the Conservatives' vow to hold a referendum on whether Britain should leave the 28-nation EU a "clear and present danger" to British businesses. Britain's electoral system means only Labor or the Conservatives, as the country's two biggest parties, can hope to lead the next government.

But voters are defecting in droves to alternatives, including the pro-independence Scottish National Party and UKIP, which wants to leave the EU and impose tough controls on immigration. UKIP, which has just two lawmakers of 650 in the House of Commons, launched its campaign with a photo-call near Parliament. It unveiled five election promises, including exiting the EU and cutting foreign aid spending.

Farage called foreign aid "a waste of money" and said the funds would be used instead to cut the deficit and strengthen the armed forces. Cameron's visit to the palace was a courtesy, since this election ends the historic practice of prime ministers asking the monarch to dissolve Parliament. That is now done automatically. The same law set election dates to be the first Thursday in May every five years, unless the government loses a confidence vote in Parliament.

Associated Press writer Gregory Katz contributed to this report.

UK prime minister rallies party before 'knife edge' election

March 28, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that Britain's election campaign is on a knife edge, as he rallied the Conservative party with a personal attack on his main rival.

Cameron told a party rally that "this isn't any election. This is a high-stakes, high-risk election." "This is a knife-edge election and can only be cut two ways: Conservative or Labor," Cameron said. "Britain on the rise or turning the clock back."

The campaign officially kicks off Monday, when Parliament is dissolved before the May 7 vote. Polls suggest neither the Conservatives nor Labor will win a majority of seats. In a sign the close-fought battle will be bruising, Cameron launched a personal attack on Labor leader Ed Miliband.

"I know what this role needs — and frankly, I don't think Ed Miliband has it," Cameron said. "Some people might say, 'Don't make this personal,' but when it comes to who's prime minister, the personal is national."

Cameron slammed Miliband's left-of-center party as a "bunch of hypocritical, holier-than-thou, hopeless, sneering socialists." Miliband launched his election campaign Friday from the top of London's Orbit tower, promising to preserve the cash-strapped National Health Service.

Cameron also made the NHS a key issue, vowing that his government would ensure people had access to doctors and hospital services seven days a week. "With a future Conservative government, we would have a truly seven-day NHS," Cameron said — though he didn't outline how he would pay for it.

Cameron's coalition government has cut billions in spending in a bid to curb the country's deficit, and he says austerity measures will continue in a second term.

Crimean Tatar channel faces shutdown by Russian authorities

Mar. 30, 2015

It's the only television channel that broadcasts in the Crimean Tatar language, and soon it might be off the air forever. ATR, which broadcasts from Simferopol, could be shut down by the Russian authorities controlling the Crimean Peninsula. Its temporary license expires on April 1, and there is no sign that Russia's broadcast regulator will renew it. The Crimean Tatar channel is one of the last independent voices on the peninsula following Russia's annexation last year.

Ibraim Umerov, a spokesman for Crimean Tatars in Kyiv, worked for several years for Crimean media outlets, including ATR. He stopped by the Ukraine Today newsroom to explain why the channel is so important for the Crimean Tatar community and for the right to independent media.

Ibraim Umerov, Spokesman for Kyiv Crimean Tatar community: "ATR is not an oppositional channel..."

Umerov said the Russian authorities who seized the peninsula have cracked down of freedom of speech. Umerov said ATR is more than a news channel. It's an important part of Crimean Tatar culture, showing documentaries and Crimean Tatar films as well as other specialty programs.

ATR has applied for a broadcast license under Russian law, but authorities have rejected their attempts citing murky administrative rules. Umerov and ATR journalists see it another way.

The Crimean Tatars, who make up about 10 percent of the peninsula's population, have faced harassment under Russian occupation. Properties have been seized and activists have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, a former Soviet dissident and longtime leader of the Crimean Tatar community, was banned from re-entering Crimea after travelling to mainland Ukraine last year. Human rights groups, including Freedom House, have called the situation alarming.

Source: Ukraine Today.
Link: http://uatoday.tv/geopolitics/crimean-tatar-channel-faces-shutdown-by-russian-authorities-418577.html.

100 Russian military units created in Crimea – defense minister

March 30, 2015

The Russian military has put together nearly 100 units and organizations in the Crimea last year as part of the program of deploying a self-sufficient group of forces at the peninsula, Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s Defense minister, said.

"In accordance with the presidential order, we were instructed to deploy a self-sufficient combined group of forces in the Crimean Peninsula capable of effectively protecting the interests of Russia in this area. That task had been fulfilled by the end of 2014,” Shoigu was cited as saying by Tass news agency.

The minister said that “96 units and organizations were formed” by the military in the Crimea, which last March was reunited with Russia.

“The force grouping created in the Crimea not only defends Russia's interests in the Black Sea area and in the Crimean Federal District, it can also successfully accomplish missions in the offshore maritime zone,” he said.

Shoigu reminded that the forces of the Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet as well as Northern and Baltic Fleets provided a permanent presence for Russia in the Mediterranean.

Russia is “organized full military training for the Crimean Air Force grouping, boosting the number of personnel involved in air defense,” he said.

The Russian Aerospace Defense Forces will also have presence at the Crimean peninsula as “a separate command and measuring center in the city of Eupatoria is being equipped with state of the art hardware, which will enables to control all types of military spacecraft,” Shoigu said.

 The re-equipment of the Crimean facility with 20 new systems is scheduled to be completed in 2016, he added.

According to the minister, new barracks, warehouses and parks are being constructed at five garrisons on the peninsula, while the existing buildings undergo major repairs.

This spring will see the first Russian Army draft in the Crimea and the strategic port city of Sebastopol, he said.

“About 500 recruits will serve in military units, including those stationed on the Crimean peninsula,” Shoigu said.

Crimea rejoined Russia in March 2014 as the people on the peninsula refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power a month before via a violent coup.

During a referendum 96 per cent of the Crimean residents voted in favor of returning to Russia after over two decades of separation.

Kiev and the West refused to recognize the Crimean referendum and labeled Crimea's secession from Ukraine illegal, which led to several waves of sanctions imposed against both Crimea and Moscow.

Source: Russia Today (RT).
Link: http://rt.com/news/245305-russian-military-crimea-shoigu/.

S. Africa: Opposition accuses president of security meddling

March 30, 2015

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Jacob Zuma is putting the country on a "road directly to dictatorship," said an opposition leader who on Monday accused the president of manipulating state security.

Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, said Zuma has compromised the country's police and intelligence services to maintain political power. In recent months, South Africa's police ministry, intelligence agency, National Prosecution Authority and tax revenue service have all been embroiled in political scandals, with opposition leaders accusing Zuma of using these departments to settle political scores.

"These issues ... happen as a result of the big elephant in the room, which is called the president," said Malema, who accused the president of trying to cover up his own graft. "This corrupt thief is the one that tampers with every single institution of the state."

Now known for his caustic criticism of South Africa's president, Malema was once one of Zuma's most vocal supporters. As the militant president of the ruling party's youth league, Malema said in 2008 that he would kill for Zuma, who was then the country's deputy president facing hundreds of corruption charges, which were later dropped.

"It was the most stupid thing I did, in my life, in the revolution, to support Zuma," said Malema, who formed the Economic Freedom Fighters when he was expelled from the African National Congress for ill-discipline.

Now the third largest party in parliament known for red berets to symbolize the party's leftist ideology, Malema said his party would continue to raise questions about upgrades worth about $20 million to Zuma's personal residence, because it is a symbol of the corruption that has come to characterize Zuma's rule.

Speaking to journalists, Malema also said he expected little from a forthcoming report from a judicial commission tasked with investigating the shooting and killing of more than 40 striking miners in 2013, because the commission was appointed by Zuma. He said he believed the report will be suppressed if it reflects negatively on Zuma's government.

Buhari extends lead in tight Nigerian election

Mon Mar 30, 2015

ABUJA
By Tim Cocks and Alexis Akwagyiram

(Reuters) - Nigerian opposition contender Muhammadu Buhari built a lead of over 2.5 million votes with only six states uncounted on Monday, raising the prospect of a stunning ballot box victory for a man who first came to power three decades ago via a military coup.

The 72-year-old general who has campaigned as a born-again democrat intent on cleaning up the corrupt politics of Africa's most populous nation notched up 12.9 million votes, according to a tally collated by Reuters from 30 of Nigeria's 36 states.

This compared to 10.2 million votes for President Goodluck Jonathan, a one-time zoology professor whose five years at the helm of the continent's biggest economy and top oil producer have been plagued by corruption scandals and a bloody insurgency by Islamist Boko Haram militants.

For table of latest results, click on.

There is still time for a reversal of fortunes, with one of Jonathan's big support bases in the oil-producing Niger Delta yet to report. Announcement of the results will resume at 0900 GMT on Tuesday, the election commission said.

In Rivers state, the volatile and hotly contested home of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, Jonathan won a massive 95 percent of the vote.

Such results prompted suspicion among diplomats, observers and sympathizers of Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC), some of whom took to the streets in protest.

In the oil city of Port Harcourt, police fired tear gas at a crowd of 100 female APC supporters demonstrating outside the regional offices of the INEC election commission.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/30/us-nigeria-election-idUSKBN0MQ0MJ20150330.

Hope, fear as Nigerians await results of presidential vote

March 30, 2015

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerians are waiting in hope and fear for results of the tightest and most bitterly contested presidential election in the nation's turbulent history. Collation of results starts at noon (1100 GMT) and winner could be named later Monday or Tuesday, electoral officials say.

One radio station played the song written by entertainment star 2Face Idibia in Nigeria's colloquial English: "Vote not fight; Election no be war!" In relative peace, millions voted on Saturday and tens of thousands Sunday despite technical glitches, deadly attacks on northeastern polling stations by Islamic extremists and political thuggery in the south.

Police fired tear gas Monday morning in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil capital, at thousands of women supporters of the opposition coalition demanding the cancellation of the election in Rivers State. The opposition coalition is demanding new elections in the oil-rich southern states of Rivers and Akwa Ibom, alleging irregularities including missing and false results sheets and electoral officials being replaced by government officials loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan. The Independent National Electoral Commission says it is investigating numerous complaints.

The big fear is that violence may erupt once results are announced in the high-stakes contest to govern Africa's most populous and richest nation. The election has come down to a race analysts say is too close to call between Jonathan and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari.

More than 1,000 people died and some 65,000 were forced from their homes in northern riots after Buhari lost to Jonathan in 2011, according to the National Human Rights Commission.

Uguru reported from Port Harcourt.

Nigerians vote Sunday despite violence, technical hitches

March 29, 2015

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Boko Haram fighters attacked poll stations in northeast Nigeria and a governor demanded elections be canceled in an oil-rich southern state Sunday as the count started for a presidential election too close to call.

Two electoral workers were killed Saturday in Boko Haram's campaign to disrupt the elections, chairman Attahiru Jega of the Independent National Electoral Commission told reporters. Voting continued in certain areas on Sunday after technical glitches with new biometric card readers prevented some people from casting ballots on Saturday.

The high-stakes contest to govern Africa's richest and most populous nation has come down to a critically close contest between President Goodluck Jonathan, a 57-year-old Christian from the south, and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, 72, from the predominantly Muslim north.

Results are expected by late Monday. If there is no clear winner, a runoff must be held. Suspected Boko Haram extremists attacked polling stations and destroyed election material in two northeastern towns Sunday, then advanced on Bauchi city, according to fleeing residents.

Soldiers engaged them in heavy gunfire, and a jet fighter patrolled skies above the city, they said. Police spokesman Haruna Muhammad said security forces had halted the convoy of 10 vehicles holding "unidentified gunmen" at Dindima village, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Bauchi.

But gunshots erupted in Bauchi before nightfall Sunday, and authorities declared a curfew. Muhammad said the gunmen attacked polling stations in Kirfi and Alkaleri towns earlier in the day. Boko Haram extremists killed at least 41 people, including a legislator, and scared hundreds of people from polling stations in three states in the northeast on Saturday.

Voters also are electing 360 legislators to the House of Assembly, where the opposition currently has a slight edge over Jonathan's party. Voting for 13 constituencies was postponed until April because of shortages of ballot papers, electoral officials said.

Nigeria's political landscape was transformed two years ago when the main opposition parties formed a coalition and for the first time united behind one candidate, Buhari. Dozens of legislators defected from Jonathan's party, including Rivers State Gov. Rotimi Amaechi.

Since then, Rivers has become a hotbed of political thuggery. On Sunday, thousands took the streets of the state capital of Port Harcourt to protest alleged killings of opposition campaign workers and voting irregularities. Police in riot gear and armored cars moved in but the demonstration ended peacefully.

Police reported the electoral commission's office in Port Harcourt was bombed Sunday, and that three people, including a soldier, were shot dead Saturday. But the opposition coalition said scores of its members have been killed and blames "ethnic militias" working for Jonathan's party.

It also alleged that about 100 opposition members were detained by police on Saturday. Police did not immediately respond to those charges. "We are concerned about what seems to be happening in Rivers State (where) there are many alleged cases of malpractices," electoral chairman Jega told a news conference. He said they were investigating and would respond to a party request for the elections there to be cancelled and rescheduled.

Jonathan's party charged that the card readers failed mostly in its strongholds and asked if this was contrived. "Sadly the damage that the failure of the card readers has caused to the fortunes of our supporters and party is immense," media director Femi Fani-Kayode said.

Jega said the commission had been "alarmed" by the number of card reader failures, but that the actual percentage was only 0.5, or 374 of more than 150,000 readers. He told a news conference that other irregularities being investigated include electoral officials disappearing with results sheets and electoral officials being substituted in Rivers and Lagos states.

While voting has generally been relatively peaceful there are fears that violence will erupt when results are announced, as happened after 2011 elections when Jonathan defeated Buhari. More than 1,000 people died in violence between Muslims and Christians in the north.

The International Criminal Court has sent warnings to Nigeria that it is watching the elections and could prosecute anyone who incites violence. Contested election results have led to mass ethnic bloodshed in Kenya and brought civil war to the capital of Ivory Coast.

Many Christian Nigerians attended Palm Sunday church services in which they prayed for a peaceful outcome for the elections. Nearly 60 million Nigerians have cards to vote and for the first time there is a possibility that a challenger can defeat a sitting president in the high-stakes contest to govern Africa's richest and most populous nation.

A major campaign issue has been Boko Haram's Islamic insurgency. The failure of Jonathan's administration to curb the rebellion, which killed about 10,000 people last year, has angered many Nigerians.

International outrage has grown over another failure — the government's inability to rescue 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram nearly a year ago. The extremists have abducted hundreds more people since then, using them as sex slaves and fighters.

Nigeria's military declared on Friday it had cleared Boko Haram out of its strongholds in northeast Nigeria, a claim that could not be verified and seemed unlikely. The Islamic uprising has exacerbated relations between Christians like Jonathan, who dominate the oil-rich south, and Muslims like Buhari, who are the majority in the agricultural and cattle-herding lands of the north. Nigeria's population of 170 million is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

Saulawa reported from Bauchi. AP Writer Hilary Uguru contributed from Port Harcourt.

Nigerian opposition in early poll lead

29 March 2015 Sunday

Early official results from much of the northern and southwestern regions show the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) leading the presidential race against the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).

Nine in ten official results announced at polling units across the states in northwest and northeast place Muhammadu Buhari in clear lead ahead of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.

"In Bolori ward/sofon Maipanu Polling Unit 001, the APC polled 237 against PDP's 5; at Sofon Maipanu 2, APC got 237 while PDP garnered 13," Mahmoud Aliyu, an APC polling agent, told in northeastern Maiduguri, the provincial capital of Borno State, displaying his copy of the result signed by agents of the other parties, including the ruling PDP.

The law empowers the polling official to count and announce results at the polling unit level.

Millions of Nigerians went to the polls Saturday to elect a new president, 360 House of Representatives members and 109 senators.

The presidential race is largely between Jonathan and Buhari, a former military ruler.

A total of 56,431,255 eligible voters were casting their ballot at 119, 973 polling centers across the country.

Election would hold on Sunday at some areas of the country, especially in southeast, where voter card reader failed to function probably.

Collation of results at ward and local government, meanwhile, continues through the night and to Sunday morning.

Final results for the presidential poll are not expected until Monday.

In Ali Fika, Bulabulin ward, APC polled 259 with the PDP claiming 3 votes while in Shehu Garbai old GRA polling unit, APC polled 504 while PDP got 60, according to result from the polling officer in Borno.

In Waziri Ibrahim Shehuri, APC boasted 157 while PDP polled 4, the results showed.

APC also won by wide margin in Lamisula/Jabamari and Maisandari, the largest ward in Maiduguri metropolis, among other places.

In Bauchi Club Polling Unit in northeastern Bauchi State, APC won with 352 as against PDP's 54.

"In Sakwari Tilden Filani polling unit, APC won with 486 votes," AA's Ogbodo Ndidi said, quoting official result from the polling unit level.

"In Jibril Aminu polling unit, the opposition polled 326 against 96 for the PDP," added our correspondent.

In northwest Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, Zamfara and Kaduna, similar trend has been reported in favor of the opposition APC.

In Polling Unit 022 at Giginyu ward in Kano State's Nassarawa local government area, Buhari polled 324 as against 17 for Jonathan," according to official result sighted by AA's Muhammad Tijjani in the northwestern Kano, deemed to be Buhari's stronghold.

Similar trend is reported in the southwest which is the stronghold of the opposition party.

Official results from Lagos and Ogun states point at a huge win for Buhari, at least at the moment.

Results from much of north central, southeast and south south are not clear yet, partly because of crisis of the card reader in many areas there.

In north central Kwara State, many official results at polling units showed political shellacking in favor of Buhari.

Observers say the trend in the southwest and northwest, the country's two most populous regions, may point at danger for the president except an upset is recorded as more results come in.

The winner of the presidential race must clinch more than 50 percent of all valid votes plus a mandatory 25 percent in two-thirds of the country's 36 states.

If no candidate is able to win outright, the two frontrunners will compete for a simple majority in a runoff vote.

Aggrieved parties have 30 days from the election to legally challenge final poll results.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/157129/nigerian-opposition-in-early-poll-lead.

Boko Haram kills 41, prevents hundreds voting in Nigeria

March 29, 2015

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Boko Haram extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, and scared hundreds of people from polling stations in the northeast, but millions voted across Nigeria Saturday in the most closely contested presidential race in the nation's history.

In electoral violence elsewhere, three people including a soldier were shot and killed in political thuggery in southern Rivers state, and two car bombs exploded at polling stations in the southeast but no one was injured, according to police.

All the Boko Haram attacks took place in northeastern Nigeria, where the military Friday announced it had cleared the Islamic extremists from all major centers, including the headquarters of their so-called Islamic caliphate.

Nearly 60 million people have cards to vote, and for the first time there is a possibility that a challenger can defeat a sitting president in the high-stakes contest to govern Africa's richest and most populous nation.

The front-runners among 14 candidates are President Goodluck Jonathan, a 57-year-old Christian from the south, and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, 72, from the predominantly Muslim north. Voters also are electing 360 legislators to the House of Assembly, where the opposition currently has a slight edge over Jonathan's party. Voting for 13 constituencies was postponed until April because of shortages of ballot papers, electoral officials said.

Nigeria's political landscape was transformed two years ago when the main opposition parties formed a coalition and for the first time united behind one candidate, Buhari. Dozens of legislators defected from Jonathan's party.

Polling will continue Sunday in some areas where new machines largely failed to read voters' biometric cards, said Kayode Idowu, spokesman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. That includes some areas of Lagos, a megacity of 20 million and Nigeria's commercial capital on the Atlantic coast.

Even the president was affected. Three newly imported card readers failed to recognize the fingerprints of Jonathan and his wife. Biometric cards and readers are being used for the first time to discourage the kind of fraud that has marred previous votes.

Afterward, Jonathan wiped sweat from his brow and urged people to be patient as he had been, telling Channels TV: "I appeal to all Nigerians to be patient no matter the pains it takes as long as if, as a nation, we can conduct free and fair elections that the whole world will accept."

Nigerians exercised extraordinary restraint, waiting hours in heat that rose to 100 degrees (37 degrees Celsius) in some places. Many remained for more hours after voting ended to witness the ballot count, determined to do their part to try to keep the elections honest.

"The high voter turnout and the dedication and patience of Nigerian voters is, in itself, a triumph of Nigerian democracy," said the national counter-insurgency spokesman, Mike Omeri. He praised the bravery and commitment of military and security agencies that he said made the elections possible.

Struggling with blackouts that are routine, some officials counted ballots by the light of vehicles and cellphones. Earlier, before dawn, Boko Haram extremists invaded the town of Miringa in Borno state, torching people's homes and then shooting them as they tried to escape the smoke. Twenty-five people died in the attack, Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima told a news conference in the city of Maiduguri.

"They had sent messages earlier warning us not to encourage democracy by participating in today's election," said Mallam Garba Buratai, a Miringa resident who witnessed the attack. Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremists say democracy is a corrupt Western concept and point to the endemic corruption as a reason to do away with it in favor of an Islamic caliphate.

Another 14 people were killed in extremist attacks on the town of Biri and Dukku, in Gombe state, according to police and local chief Garkuwan Dukku. Among the dead was a Gombe state legislator, Umaru Ali, said Sani Dugge, the local campaign director for the opposition coalition.

Two voters were killed in Boko Haram attacks on polling stations in the twin Gombe towns of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani, according to police. Witnesses said the gunmen yelled that they had warned people to stay away from polling.

In four other northeast towns in Yobe state, gunmen drove in and fired into the air, frightening people to flee into the bush and disrupting any voting, police said. Thousands of people, among more than 1.5 million forced from their homes by the Islamic uprising, lined up to vote at a refugee camp in Yola, capital of northeast Adamawa state and home to as many refugees as its 300,000 residents.

Refugee Elzubairu Ali does not know when she will be able to return to her home. "We have to wait for the time when the Nigerian army will totally wipe them (Boko Haram) out before we can go back," she said after voting.

Yola resident and university lecturer Abdullahi Sani said, "I'm longing for a change, a positive change to affect the life of humanity, to protect their reputation, their lives and property . and to eradicate corruption finally."

The failure of Jonathan's administration to curb the insurgency, which killed about 10,000 people last year, has angered Nigerians in the north. International outrage has grown over another failure — the inability to rescue 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram nearly a year ago. The extremists have abducted hundreds more people since then, using them as sex slaves and fighters.

Nervous foreign investors are watching as Nigeria is Africa's largest destination for direct foreign investment though its oil-dependent economy is hurting from slashed petroleum prices. The Islamic uprising has exacerbated relations between Christians like Jonathan, who dominate the oil-rich south, and Muslims like Buhari, who are the majority in the agricultural and cattle-herding lands of the north. The population of 170 million is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

Some 1,000 people were killed in rioting after Buhari lost to Jonathan in the 2011 elections. Thousands of Nigerians and foreign workers have left the country amid fears of post-election violence. In 2011, there was no doubt that Jonathan had swept the polls by millions of votes.

Now the race is much closer. Results are expected 48 hours after voting ends. If no clear winner emerges, a runoff will be held.

Umar reported from Maiduguri. Associated Press writers Jerome Delay in Kaduna, Shehu Saulawa in Bauchi, Adamu Adamu in Potiskum, Lekan Oyekanmi in Yola, Hilary Uguru in Port Harcourt, and Ben Curtis in Daura, also contributed to this report.

Nigerian leader urges peaceful vote as elections loom

March 28, 2015

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan urged his nation to vote peacefully and accept the results of Saturday's presidential elections, which analysts say will be the most tightly contested in the history of Africa's richest nation and its largest democracy.

"No political ambition can justify violence or the shedding of the blood of our people," Jonathan, who is running for re-election, said Friday in a televised broadcast. In a country steeped in a history of coups, bloodshed caused by politics, ethnicity, land disputes and, lately, the Boko Haram Islamic uprising, the election is important as Africa's most populous nation consolidates its democracy.

"It's just healthy that they approach this as an exercise of the rights of Nigerians to choose their government and not as a war," the U.N. Secretary General's special envoy to West Africa, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Nigeria's political landscape was transformed when the main opposition parties formed a coalition two years ago and for the first time united behind one candidate, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari who is Jonathan's main challenger.

The election is only the eighth since independence from Britain in 1960 and the first ever to raise the possibility of a democratic transfer of power through the ballot box, a high-stakes contest in Africa's biggest oil producer where patronage and corruption are rife. No incumbent has ever lost an election.

It should be "cause for celebration," said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission. But he noted it has spawned "the most extraordinary form of hate speech, incendiary vituperations, ethnic bating; all the things you are not supposed to do."

His state-sponsored but independent organization reported at least 58 killings by Feb. 13 and there have been many more since then, Odinkalu told AP. He also complained that politicians have done little to dampen tensions.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's military announced it had destroyed the headquarters of Boko Haram's so-called Islamic caliphate, in the northeastern town of Gwoza, in fighting Friday that left several extremists dead. It claimed the recapture of Gwoza has cleared insurgents from strongholds in all three northeastern states, which seems unlikely. There was no way to verify the report. Critics of Jonathan have said recent military victories after months of ceding territory to the Islamic extremists are a ploy to win votes — a charge the presidential campaign denies.

Appeals for a peaceful election came from the U.S. White House and from the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who urged Nigerians to vote in "large numbers" and resolve any disputes through peaceful means.

At the gold-domed Abuja National Mosque, chief Imam Musa Muhammad appealed at Friday prayers for people to follow the tenets of Islam, to vote peacefully and accept, even congratulate the winner, no matter who he is.

Outside, veiled women searched other women wearing hijabs with metal detectors. Boko Haram has used women and girls as young as 10 in its suicide bombing campaign that has killed hundreds. "Wage peace not war," is a campaign long promoted by the National Orientation Agency which is working with bloggers and other social media popular among millions of Nigerians, according its director general, Mike Omeri. The idea is to "create a lot of buzz" and build "a community of people that will be driven by a passion for peace."

Entertainment star and musician 2Face Idibia wrote a song aimed at young voters called "Vote not Fight: Election no be war" in Nigerian colloquial English. But some people are so fearful of election violence that they are leaving for a while, going as far as the United States and Canada. Flights are packed, with airlines turning away standby passengers this week at Lagos international airport.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah said he will not tolerate any disruptions, warning this week that "whoever wants to invoke or provoke violence will meet organized violence" from security forces. Jonathan in his broadcast reminded Nigerians that the world is watching. Chambas, the U.N. envoy, said Nigeria's elections are especially important on a continent where contested results brought Ivory Coast to the brink of civil war and led to hundreds of deaths after Kenya's 2007 elections.

U.S. President Barack Obama sent a video message this week, saying "Today, I urge all Nigerians -- from all religions, all ethnic groups and all regions -- to come together and keep Nigeria one." Jonathan's party has governed since decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999. His insistence on running has caused many defections to the opposition by politicians who say Jonathan is breaking an unwritten party rule to rotate power between the mainly Christian south, where he is from, and the predominantly Muslim north that is Buhari's stronghold.

Buhari's loss to Jonathan in 2011 elections sparked riots in his northern stronghold that killed more than 1,000 people, according to the human rights commission. A complaint before the International Criminal Court at The Hague accuses Buhari of instigating the violence, a charge the retired general denies.

In recent days, the church of a pastor who backed Jonathan has been burned down in northern Kaduna state, the opposition governor of a southern state was shot at as he campaigned, and there has been nightly gunfire in Lagos, the commercial capital in the southwest where Odinkalu said there is an "arms race" getting weapons to ethnic militias.

Jonathan and Buhari signed peace pledges Thursday and urged their supporters to avoid violence. Both men promise to address the major problems of Africa's giant by creating jobs for millions of youths and homes with reliable electricity and clean water. Buhari has said he would tackle corruption, which Jonathan downplays even though his administration is accused of losing some $20 billion in oil revenues.

Rampant corruption is keeping millions in abject poverty in a nation rich in oil, minerals, precious stones and agriculture. Jonathan's government has succeeded in a mini-revolution in agriculture, galvanizing farmers to triple production of staples like rice.

Associated Press writers Jerome Delay and Josphat Kasire in Abuja, Cara Anna at the United Nations and Hilary Uguru in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, contributed to this report.

Russia & US agree to build new space station after ISS, work on joint Mars project

March 28, 2015

In a landmark decision, Russian space agency Roscosmos and its US counterpart NASA have agreed to build a new space station after the current International Space Station (ISS) expires. The operation of the ISS was prolonged until 2024.

“We have agreed that Roscosmos and NASA will be working together on the program of a future space station," Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov said during a news conference on Saturday.

The talks were held at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The two agencies will be unifying their standards and systems of manned space programs, according to Komarov. “This is very important to future missions and stations.”

The ISS life cycle was to expire in 2020. “Under the ISS program the door will be open to other participants,” Komarov told reporters.

The next goal for the two agencies is a joint mission to Mars, NASA chief Charles Bolden told journalists.

Roscosmos and NASA are working with each other and other partners on a global roadmap of space exploration, Bolden said. “Our area of cooperation will be Mars. We are discussing how best to use the resources, the finance, we are setting time frames and distributing efforts in order to avoid duplication.”

NASA is currently committed to commercializing space activities. “We are consciously moving away from government financing of low-orbit missions,” Bolden said, adding that sometimes NASA “has been criticized” for that.

At the same time, he stressed that the US has not abandoned its goal of returning to the moon. In the future, NASA is planning “to attract more private developers to our joint exploration projects of the Moon and Mars,” Bolden said.

Source: Russia Today (RT).
Link: http://rt.com/news/244797-russia-us-new-space-station/.

Astronauts board space station for 1-year mission

March 28, 2015

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — Two Russians and an American floated into the International Space Station on Saturday, beginning what is to be a year away from Earth for two of them.

Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly are to spend 342 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, about twice as long as a standard mission on the station. Russia's Gennady Padalka is beginning a six-month stay.

The three astronauts entered the station about eight hours after launching from Russia's manned space facility in Kazakhstan. They were embraced by American Terry Virts and Russia's Anton Shkaplerov who along with Italian Samantha Cristoforetti have been aboard since late November.

The trip is NASA's first attempt at a one-year spaceflight; four Russians have spent a year or more in space, all on the Soviet-built Mir space station. The stay is aimed at measuring the effects of a prolonged period of weightlessness on the human body, a step toward possible missions to Mars or beyond.

Kelly's identical twin Mark, a retired astronaut, agreed to take part in many of the same medical experiments as his orbiting sibling to help scientists see how a body in space compares with its genetic double on Earth. They are 51.

Kelly and Kornienko, 54, will remain on board until next March. During that time, they will undergo extensive medical experiments, and prepare the station for the anticipated 2017 arrival of new U.S. commercial crew capsules. That means a series of spacewalks for Kelly, which will be his first.

The two men also will oversee the comings and goings of numerous cargo ships, as well as other Russian-launched space crews and an expected September visit from singer Sarah Brightman on a "space tourist" trip.

Doctors are eager to learn what happens to Kelly and Kornienko once they surpass the usual six-month stay for space station residents. Bones and muscles weaken in weightlessness, as does the immune system. Body fluids also shift into the head when gravity is absent, putting pressure on the brain and the eyes, impairing vision for some astronauts in space.

The yearlong stint will allow doctors to assess whether such conditions are aggravated by a long spell in space or whether they reach a point of stasis or even taper off. As space officials look to longer missions, the International Space Station's future appears ensured until at least 2024.

Last year, as tensions between Russia and the United States grew amid the dispute over Russia's role in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin had said Moscow aimed to exit the project in 2020.

But Russian space agency director Igor Komarov told a post-launch news conference in Baikonur that his agency and NASA have agreed to continue using the station until 2024. In addition, "Roscosmos and NASA will work on a program for a future orbiting station. We will think about discuss joint projects," he said. Just last month, Roscosmos said it foresaw creating a Russian station for use after 2024.

NASA has never flown anyone longer than seven consecutive months. The Russians hold the world record of 14 months in space, set by Valery Polyakov aboard the former Mir space station in 1994-95. Several other Russians spent between eight and 12 months at Mir. All but one of those long-timers are still alive.

A year in space will carry not only physical challenges, but emotional ones as well. A day before the launch, Kornienko said he would long for the sights of nature. Even on his mission in 2010, which was half as long, he said he had asked to be sent a calendar with photos of rivers and woods.

Kelly said he thought one of the biggest challenges would be to pace himself mentally so he could remain energetic during the year aboard the laboratory. But he joked that he wouldn't miss his sibling.

"I've gone longer without seeing him, and it was great," he said.

Heintz reported from Moscow.

Australians march to protest refugees policies

29 March 2015 Sunday

An estimated 15,000 people rallied in Melbourne on Sunday, walking for compassion and justice for asylum seekers and demanding an end to offshore processing.

People in 19 cities spanning six continents joined the ‘Australians and Allies Overseas Against Mandatory Detention’ rallies in solidarity with the Palm Sunday marches in Australia, calling for asylum seekers’ release from the detention centers on Nauru and Manus islands.

Marches were held simultaneously across Australia, with the largest gathering taking place in Melbourne.

Chris Breen, a Refugee Action Coalition spokesman and the march’s co-chair, told "this offshore processing regime is brutal and unsustainable and it has to change."

Stressing that "seeking asylum by boat or plane is not illegal" but a human right, Breen said the march was a "coalition of about 30 different groups -- churches, unions, amnesty, refugee advocates, religious groups, community groups -- all who came together to say, enough is enough."

The marches were designed to add to pressure on the Abbott government following a report commissioned by the Immigration Department that uncovered both human rights violations and sexual abuse against asylum seekers.

The Moss Report is among others that have revealed violations -- including against women and children -- at detention centers in recent months.

While the Australian Human Rights Commission’s "The Forgotten Children" report found disturbing evidence of psychological and physical harm being inflicted on minors on Nauru, the United Nations concluded that Australia's treatment of asylum seekers breaches international anti-torture laws.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has referred to the commission report on children in detention as a "political stitch-up," while also hitting out at the U.N.'s special rapporteur on torture by saying Australians are "sick of being lectured to by the United Nations."

People of all ages and faith participated in the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees -- an interfaith, cross-political event held for the first time last year.

For Breen, one the most moving moments from the event was listening to a speaker, a former worker on Nauru, challenge Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s statement last week that hospital facilities on the island are better than some in Australia while schools are of the same standard.

"The hospital on Nauru is asbestos ridden and partly burnt, and has no doctors that would meet Australian standards," the ex-Nauru worker told the crowd. "School buildings look like they should be demolished. Teachers are mostly past retirement age."

Earlier this week, Pamela Curr of Melbourne’s Asylum Seeker Resource Centre told AA of the reports of abuse out of Nauru, including that of children being hit by guards and yelled at by their Australian teachers.

"Australia tries to distance itself from the running of the camps but these are our rules, our people and this is going on right now and the government is trying to wash its hands," she said.

She explained that while those who sought asylum had known what to expect from the areas they had fled, whether it be the Taliban in Afghanistan or militias in Iraq, "they did not expect to be treated like this in Australia."

This year’s Palm Sunday rally drew 5,000 more people than last year's event.

"The message from thousands who turned up was, we are not going away. We are building a movement and we are determined that we won't be silenced. We are taking on the lies that are being spread about asylum seekers," Breen said.

"There are crocodile tears shed over deaths at sea. It would be so much more humane and cost effective to process them in the community than it is to send them to far flung islands."

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/157132/australians-march-to-protest-refugees-policies.

Arab League unveils joint military force amid Yemen crisis

March 30, 2015

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — A two-day Arab summit ended Sunday with a vow to defeat Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and the formal unveiling of plans to form a joint Arab intervention force, setting the stage for a potentially dangerous clash between U.S.-allied Arab states and Tehran over influence in the region.

Arab leaders taking turns to address the gathering spoke repeatedly of the threat posed to the region's Arab identity by what they called moves by "foreign" or "outside parties" to stoke sectarian, ethnic or religious rivalries in Arab states — all thinly-veiled references to Iran, which has in recent years consolidated its hold in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and now Yemen.

The summit's final communique made similarly vague references, but the Arab League chief, Nabil Elaraby, was unequivocal during a news conference later, singling out Iran for what he said was its intervention "in many nations."

A summit resolution said the newly unveiled joint Arab defense force would be deployed at the request of any Arab nation facing a national security threat and that it would also be used to combat terrorist groups.

The agreement came as U.S. and other Western diplomats were pushing to meet a Tuesday deadline to reach a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

The Saudis and their allies in the Gulf fear that a nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran will free Iran's hands to bolster its influence in places like Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, which has a Shiite majority. They believe the air campaign in Yemen and a joint Arab force would empower them to stand up to what they see as Iran's bullying. The United States has sought to offer reassurances that a nuclear deal does not mean that Washington will abandon them, but they remain skeptical.

The Houthis swept down from their northern strongholds last year and captured Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September. Embattled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a close U.S. ally against a powerful local al-Qaida affiliate, first fled to the southern city of Aden before fleeing the country last week as the rebels closed in.

Speaking at the summit on Saturday, Hadi accused Iran of being behind the Houthi offensive, raising the specter of a regional conflict. Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though both acknowledge the Islamic Republic is providing humanitarian and other aid.

On Sunday, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir, said the Lebanese Hezbollah militia was also supporting the Houthis. The Saudi-led campaign, he said on NBC's "Meet the Press," is to protect Yemen's "legitimate government from a group that is allied and supported by Iran and Hezbollah."

A Saudi-led coalition began bombing Yemen on Thursday, saying it was targeting the Houthis and their allies, which include forces loyal to Yemen's former leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemeni military officials have said the campaign could pave the way for a possible ground invasion, a development that Egyptian military officials say would likely commence after the airstrikes significantly diminish the military capabilities of the Houthis and their allies.

Yemen's foreign minister, Riad Yassin, said the air campaign, code-named Operation Decisive Storm, had prevented the rebels from using the weaponry they seized to attack Yemeni cities or to target neighboring Saudi Arabia with missiles. It also stopped Iran's supply line to the rebels, he told a news conference Sunday.

Military experts will decide when and if a ground operation is needed, Yassin said. "This is a comprehensive operation and (any ground offensive) will depend on the calculations of the military," he said.

Iran has condemned the airstrikes against its Yemeni allies but so far has not responded with military action, though diplomatic and military officials said Iranian retaliation could not be ruled out.

"Iran for the first time in a very long time is basically seeing a counterattack. The Iranians were not expecting that Gulf monarchies, like Saudi Arabia, would be so bold as to confront this head on," one Gulf official said.

The Saudi-led airstrikes "tore to pieces their game plan with regard to the Houthis, and they are not going to accept that," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

At the summit's closing session, Elaraby said the Saudi-led air campaign would continue until all Houthi militias "withdraw and surrender their weapons," and a strong unified Yemen returns. "Yemen was on the brink of the abyss, requiring effective Arab and international moves after all means of reaching a peaceful resolution had been exhausted to end the Houthi coup and restore legitimacy," Elaraby said, reading from the final communique.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said the leaders from 22 nations also agreed to create a joint Arab military force whose structure and operational mechanism will be worked out by a high-level panel under the supervision of Arab chiefs of staff.

Elaraby said the chiefs of staff would meet within a month and would have an additional three months to work out the details before presenting their proposal to a meeting of the Arab League's Joint Defense Council. Preparations for the force will be under the auspices of Kuwait, Egypt and Morocco — the former, present and next chairs of the Arab League.

"It is an important resolution given all the unprecedented unrest and threats endured by the Arab world," Elaraby said. "There is a political will to create this force and not to leave its creation without a firm time frame," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a news conference.

The Egyptian military and security officials have said the proposed force would consist of up to 40,000 elite troops backed by jet fighters, warships and light armor and would be headquartered in either Cairo or Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

However, it is unlikely that all 22 member nations of the often-fractious Arab League will join the proposed force. Creation of such a force has been a longtime goal that has eluded Arab nations in the 65 years since they signed a rarely used joint defense agreement.

Iraq, whose Shiite government is closely allied with non-Arab and Shiite Iran, has said more time is needed to discuss the proposed force. Now in its fourth day, the Saudi-led air campaign has pushed Houthi rebels out of contested air bases, Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed bin Hasan Asiri told reporters. Airstrikes hit Houthi targets throughout Sunday, including air defenses, ammunition depots, and heavy weapons and vehicles the rebels had taken from government forces.

"The coalition operations in the coming days will increase pressure on the Houthi militias by targeting them. Whether it's individual or group movement, there will no longer be any safe place in Yemen for the Houthi militias," he told a news conference in Riyadh.

On Saturday, he said the strikes had targeted Scud missiles in Yemen, leaving most of their launching pads "devastated," though he warned that the rebels could have more missiles. Meanwhile, Pakistan dispatched a plane Sunday to the Yemeni city of Hodeida, to try to evacuate some 500 citizens gathered there, said Shujaat Azim, an adviser to Pakistan's prime minister. Azim told state-run Pakistan Television more flights would follow as those controlling Yemen's airports allowed them. Pakistan says some 3,000 of its citizens live in Yemen.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj also tweeted Sunday: "We are doing everything to evacuate our people from Yemen at the earliest by all routes — land, sea and air."

Associated Press writers Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi and Jon Gambrell in Cairo contributed to this report.

Laos Facilitates Wildlife Poaching for Chinese Elites

March 21, 2015

A city-sized resort complex in Laos is facilitating large-scale wildlife trafficking for Chinese tourists, exacerbating commercial poaching in the Southeast Asian nation and providing cover for the trade in tiger parts, warns a new report published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GT SEZ) was established in 2007 as a joint venture between Kings Romans Group, a Chinese company, and the Lao government. It includes a casino, a hotel, shops, restaurants, and facilities catering to underground activities, including prostitution and exotic wildlife products, according to investigative work by EIA and Education for Nature Vietnam.

“Visitors can openly buy endangered species products including tigers, leopards, elephants, rhinos, pangolins, helmeted hornbills, snakes and bears – smuggled in from Asia and Africa,” said EIA in a statement. “Restaurants [offer] endangered species on their menus, from “sauté tiger meat” and bear paws to reptiles and pangolins; one business kept a live python and a bear cub in cages, both of which were available to eat on request.”

The report says the business plans to manufacture tiger bone wine, dramatically scaling up its number of captive tigers.

“EIA/ENV found four tigers at the GT SEZ in mid-2014 but by February 2015 the number had risen to 35; a senior keeper revealed the goal is to acquire a total of 50 females for breeding to increase the population to 500 tigers within three years and to 1,000 in the long term to produce tiger bone wine for consumption at the GT SEZ and for export to China, via Yunnan.”

The report adds that tiger breeding would increase demand for tiger parts, putting more pressure on wild populations.

Given these concerns, EIA urges both the Chinese and Lao governments to take action to reign in the illegal wildlife trade. For example, it calls on Laos to establish an illegal wildlife task force and China to investigate links between traffickers and businesses operating at GT SEZ. It says the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) could be an instrument for applying pressure on governments.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1293388-laos-facilitates-wildlife-poaching-for-chinese-elites/.

Iraqi forces push on to Tikrit as IS destroys ancient site

March 06, 2015

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces pressed their offensive against the Islamic State group Friday, expecting to reach the outskirts of the militant-held city of Tikrit within hours, a day after the extremists reportedly "bulldozed" a famed archaeological site in the area.

The battle to wrest Tikrit — Saddam Hussein's hometown — from the Islamic State is a major test for the Iraqi forces and allied Shiite militias fighting on heir side. The governor of Salahuddin, Raed al-Jabouri, said that Iraqi forces expect to reach Tikrit later Friday. He told The Associated Press they still have not made it to Tikrit's east airport as some reports have suggested.

Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, has been under the control of the Islamic State group since June, when the Sunni militants made a lightning advance across northern Iraq, prompting Iraqi troops to flee and abandon their weapons.

On Monday, Iraqi security forces launched a large-scale operation in an effort to retake the city from the militant group, but the offensive was stalled somewhat, with military officials saying the militants strategically lined roads leading to the city with explosives and land mines.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said late Thursday that the IS militants "bulldozed" the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq. The destruction is part of the group's campaign to enforce its violent interpretation of Islamic law, destroying ancient archaeological sites it says promoted apostasy.

The ministry's report could not be immediately independently confirmed. Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 B.C., partially in present-day Iraq, and became a great regional power. The city, which was destroyed in 612 B.C., is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by IS in June.

Earlier this week, a video emerged on militant websites showing Islamic State militants with sledgehammers destroying ancient artifacts at the museum in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city that also fell into IS hands last year.

The IS extremists' rampage against priceless cultural artifacts has sparked global outrage. Also Thursday, the IS militants set fire to some oil wells outside Tikrit, an Iraqi oil official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media. The smoky fires were apparently meant to obscure targets from government bombing runs, part of the wide-scale operation that began Monday.

The Ajeel oil field, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Tikrit, was one of at least four fields seized by the militants as a source of crude oil to sell to smugglers to finance their operations.

IS readies for Tikrit last stand but 'expands' to Nigeria

By W.G. Dunlop and Ammar Karim
Albu Ajil, Iraq (AFP)
March 13, 2015

Thousands of Iraqi forces have laid siege to jihadists holed up in Tikrit but the Islamic State group shrugged off setbacks by welcoming Nigeria's Boko Haram group into its "caliphate".

After making major gains in and around the city Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad's biggest victory yet against IS was only a matter of time.

"Now we are moving to the second phase of our plan," Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi told reporters in Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital.

"We are very keen for our losses to be as low as possible. Time is on our side, we have the initiative," he said Thursday, the 11th day of the offensive.

No one involved has provided casualty figures since the start of this latest and largest operation to retake Tikrit, which has been in IS hands since June.

But dozens of bodies are being driven south to Baghdad and the Shiite holy city of Najaf almost every day and, while government forces have had the upper hand, IS has done damage with suicide car bombs, booby traps and snipers.

"We don't want to be rushed because we want to avoid casualties," police Staff Major General Bahaa al-Azzawi told AFP in Albu Ajil, a village from which Tikrit can be seen across the Tigris River.

"Tikrit is sealed off from all sides," he said.

All towns and villages on the river's eastern bank were under the control of anti-IS forces Thursday.

Black and white IS flags on walls had been painted over with slogans cursing the jihadist group or praising Shiite militia groups.

Tikrit is on the west bank and, until sappers throw floating bridges across the river, the nearest bridge is in Samarra, nearly 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south.

- Sunni tribes fighting -

Tikrit was the hometown of dictator Saddam Hussein, remnants of whose Baath party collaborated with the jihadists when they took over almost a third of the country last June.

With crucial military backing from neighboring Iran and a 60-nation US-led coalition, Baghdad has rolled back some of the losses.

It started with operations to secure the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf and bolster Baghdad's defenses, then worked its way north, retaking Diyala province earlier this year.

Commanders see the recapture of overwhelmingly Sunni Arab Tikrit as a stepping stone for the reconquest of second city Mosul further north, which once had a population of two million.

Analysts say the battle for Tikrit is also a key test of how well the regular army can work with the myriad of militia groups and prevent reprisals against Sunnis.

The defense minister, himself Sunni, said he was impressed with the level of cooperation and played down concerns that victory in Tikrit could further alienate the minority community.

"What caught my attention and was very positive, was that I met a number of fighters, maybe more than 250, who are all sons of Tikrit," he said.

"It sends a very positive message to the Iraqi people and lifts the spirit of the security forces."

US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to discuss the ongoing fight against IS with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of an investment conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt later Friday.

- Boko Haram accepted -

IS has countered every military loss lately by ramping up its propaganda war with ever more shocking videos of child fighters executing prisoners or of the destruction of some of the world's most precious heritage sites.

On Thursday, the group released an audio recording presented as a speech by top IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani in which he formally welcomes Boko Haram into the IS fold.

Boko Haram had pledged allegiance to IS on Saturday but the move had yet to be formally accepted by IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for the Nigerian extremist group to become part of the "caliphate".

"We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa," Adnani said.

He insisted the group was "sure of its victory" regardless of the challenges.

"God is on our side and give us the strength to combat this armada of Crusader countries," he said.

The group also released a video in which eight men from the region along the Euphrates River straddling Iraq and Syria are beheaded.

The video gives their names and accuses them of spying for a Syria-based rebel group opposed to IS, of supplying intelligence to the Iraqi forces and of torturing an IS member.

In Syria, where IS has also seized swathes of territory, more than 50 regime soldiers and jihadists were killed in heavy fighting in Latakia, President Bashar al-Assad's home province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/IS_readies_for_Tikrit_last_stand_but_expands_to_Nigeria_999.html.

EU moves ahead with Bosnia membership

16 March 2015 Monday

The European Union gave the green light on Monday to a long-awaited pact with Bosnia, a first step towards possible membership of the bloc after years of political and economic stagnation.

The move is part of a new drive, led by Germany and Britain, to spur reform and address the anger and frustrations among ordinary Bosnians that fueled unprecedented civil unrest in February last year.

The Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) is a pre-accession pact that brings much-needed EU funds and a framework for further integration.

Bosnia, which is still trying to overcome the legacy of a 1992-95 war in which 100,000 people died, languishes behind its ex-Yugoslav peers on the road to EU accession. Its development has been stifled by a highly decentralized post-war system of government that divided power along ethnic lines and spawned huge networks of political patronage.

The SAA was originally signed in 2008, but sat gathering dust until Germany and Britain offered a plan for its formal adoption in exchange for a written commitment from leaders of Bosnia's Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats to press ahead with reform.

Foreign ministers of the 28-nation EU said they had agreed to "proceed with the conclusion and entry into force" of the SAA.

They called on Bosnia's leadership "to fully uphold its commitments and obligations ... and to remain engaged with the European Union under the renewed approach and maintain the positive momentum by developing an initial agenda for reforms in consultation with the European Union."

Brussels first wants to encourage economic reform to address high unemployment and widespread poverty, before tackling the thorny issues of political reform.

Progress may result in a formal application to join the EU.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/156639/eu-moves-ahead-with-bosnia-membership.

Popular protests against electricity crisis in Gaza

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Hundreds of Palestinians from all levels of society have taken to the streets several times this week in protest at the severe electricity crisis hitting the Gaza Strip, QudsNet reported on Tuesday. Most of the demonstrators headed for the headquarters of the sole electricity plant in the center of the coastal enclave, which has been targeted several times by the Israel Defense Forces since 2006.

The protesters called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah to take responsibility for solving the problem of severe electricity shortages. They also called for the PA to deal with the Gaza Strip in the same way that it deals with the occupied West Bank.

According to the Head of Rafah municipality, Sobhi Abu-Ridwan, the shortages affect the work of local councils across the whole territory. "We are unable to run the sewage plants and water wells to fulfill the need of the residents," he said. "This has led to massive problems in the service sector, and a lot of vital equipment has stopped working."

Abu-Ridwan called for Abbas to step in immediately to put an end to the electricity crisis. He stressed that Gaza has been the victim of several Israeli wars and has been living under siege for eight years. "As such," he insisted, "fuel for the electricity plant must be exempt from taxes."

Representatives of several Palestinian factions were among the protesters. Fatah official Jalal Sheikh Al-Eid said that he took part to register his protest at the 20-hour electricity cuts every day in Gaza.

The leader of the Democratic Front, Nafeth Ghoneem, added: "If there is a political problem between Egypt and Gaza, its effect must not be extended to the livelihood of the people."

The Egyptian city of Rafah supplies Gaza's Rafah with a small amount of electricity. Last week, though, the Egyptian authorities cut the power line, only to reconnect it a few days later.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17699-popular-protests-against-electricity-crisis-in-gaza.

Qassam Brigades marks 11th anniversary of Sheikh Yassin's assassination

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Hamas military wing Al-Qassam Brigades organised a military parade in the center of the Gaza Strip on Monday to mark the 11th anniversary of Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Felesteen newspaper reported.

Hundreds of Al-Qassam fighters took to the streets holding pictures of Sheikh Yassin, while Gaza residents watched the parade.

The anniversary was also marked with the launch of the official Hamas website. Deputy Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh announced the launch of the Arabic website from the former home of Sheikh Yassin, which is now a small museum.

Hamas is to launch an official English website on 18 April, to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Hamas leader Abdul-Aziz al-Rantisi.

Sheikh Yassin was born in 1936 in Al-Jorah Village in Askalan, which is now known as the Israeli city of Ashkelon. He was forced to flee to Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza.

He began his anti-occupation activities in the 1960's and was sent to prison on many occasions as a result.

Yassin and a group of his close friends founded Hamas in 1987, the start of the first Palestinian Intifada.

On March 22 2004, the Israeli military targeted the elderly and wheelchair bound Yassin with three rockets just 70 meters away from a mosque. The attack also killed around 12 other residents.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17682-qassam-brigades-marks-11th-anniversary-of-sheikh-yassins-assassination.

Hamas seizes spying Israeli electronic insects in Gaza

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas have seized electronic insects that were flying the skies of the Gaza Strip, according to Al-Majd, a security website close to Hamas.

Al-Majd reports that the devices are used by the Israeli authorities for spying and monitoring the positions and bases of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

It is also believed they are being used to search for Israeli soldiers reportedly kidnapped during the latest Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

An informed source told Al-Majd that Hamas electronic security units disassembled these insects and found pictures of the soldiers kidnapped during the war stored in their memories. They also revealed that they are being run and monitored via satellites.

"The electronic insects are the size of small birds and look as birds from far distances," the informed source said. "They can easily fly and enter into buildings and other facilities through very small holes and fly easily inside them."

The Israeli military launched a wide-scale offensive against the Gaza Strip last summer which resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 Palestinians. Around 73 Israelis were also killed, including six non-combatants. Two Israeli soldiers are reported to have been kidnapped by Hamas fighters in Gaza during the ground operation. However, the Israeli military have said that they were killed.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17681-hamas-seizes-spying-israeli-electronic-insects-in-gaza.

Jordan and Russia sign $10 billion agreement for nuclear power plant

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Jordan and Russia signed a framework agreement on Tuesday for the construction and operation of the first nuclear power plant in the kingdom at a cost of $10 billion. The deal, which came after nearly a year and a half of talks, is "important" because it constitutes the legal and political framework of support for the kingdom's nuclear power plant project and determines the general principles of cooperation between Amman and Moscow in this regard, said the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC).

The agreement was signed by the President of the JAEC, Khaled Toukan, and the General Manager of Russia's state-owned Rosatom Company, Sergei Kiriyenko. The two sides had initialed the agreement in late November, and it was approved by the Jordanian cabinet recently.

Jordan chose Rosatom in October 2013 as the best placed company among those who had tendered for the contract. When built, the power plant will produce 2,000 megawatts. The JAEC statement revealed that Rosatom will pay 49.9 per cent of the total cost; the Jordanian government will pay the remaining 50.1 per cent. The two 1,000-megawatt reactors will be built in Amra, in the north of Jordan.

Toukan said that the agreement preserves Jordan's sovereignty, and Jordanian law will be in force during the 60 years expected lifespan of the plant. He stressed that the agreement protects the state investment, ensures the supply of fuel for the reactor, and gives a future option for the Jordanian government to return the used fuel to Russia. The deal will be submitted to the cabinet in Amman before being presented to parliament.

According to Kiriyenko, the Russians will employ their 70 years of experience in the field of nuclear power in the project. He referred to the high degree of professionalism employed by Jordan's nuclear experts, which has won the respect of Russian technicians. He added that Russia is currently training Jordanian staff to work in the nuclear program which will pave the way for strategic cooperation and scientific research.

Russian technology is currently being used to construct at least 20 nuclear reactors, around half of which are in Russia itself. Kiriyenko stressed that they are built with the capability to withstand the devastating earthquakes which affect the region.

Russia was among the first countries with which the Jordanian government signed a nuclear cooperation agreement. Amman and Moscow signed a deal on 22 May 2009 for the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

In an earlier statement, Toukan said that the total amount spent by Jordan since the start of the project in 2008 up to 2013 was $93.2 million. Just under half of the $98.7 million borrowed from South Korea for this purpose was spent between 2001 and 2013.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17697-jordan-and-russia-sign-10-billion-agreement-for-nuclear-power-plant.

Kuwaiti police break up opposition protest calling for political reform

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Kuwaiti riot police have dispersed hundreds of Kuwaiti opposition activists who gathered outside parliament in the capital Kuwait City to demand the release of political prisoners and press for democratic reforms in the country.

The head of the Civil Democratic Movement, Tareq Al-Mutairi, said that: "everyone must assume his responsibilities towards reform... We are not asking the elected government for favors, only for our just rights. All we want is to run our own affairs, and we do not argue with the ruling party because we have democratic system in Kuwait."

Activist Nawaf Alhandal said he was beaten by the Special Forces while the Ministry of Interior prevented the protesters from using chairs, carpets, microphones or banners at the protest venue.

The protest organizing committee said that the Interior Ministry attacked them and that the political forces will meet and issue a statement later.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17669-kuwaiti-police-break-up-opposition-protest-calling-for-political-reform.

Pro-Ukraine demonstrators in Belarus assail Russian policy

March 25, 2015

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — About 2,000 opposition activists marched Wednesday through the Belorussian capital to condemn Russia's policy and express solidarity with Ukraine.

Demonstrators carried a placard reading "Russia is War," a reference to Moscow's support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The rally in Minsk was approved by the authorities and police didn't intervene.

Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko has forged close economic, political and military ties with Russia, which has supported the ally with cheap energy and other subsidies. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 10 million with an iron hand for more than 20 years, drawing Western criticism for his relentless crackdown on dissent and independent media.

But Belarus' ties with the West have improved recently as Minsk hosted crucial Ukraine peace talks, and Lukashenko has openly criticized some of Moscow's moves. The Belorussian leader recently accused Moscow of violating the rules of the Eurasian Economic Union, a newly created alliance of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. He warned that Belarus could leave the union if the agreements on forming the alliance aren't observed.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich, who unsuccessfully challenged Lukashenko in 2006, said that the rally reflected fears of Russia's intentions. "We are seriously worried and are seeing our historic chance only with the European Union," he said.

Inga Shakhnovich, a 19-year old student waving Ukrainian flag, said she fears that Belarus could become Russia's next victim. "Ukraine is fighting for our independence too," she said.

2 Ukraine officials arrested on live TV during gov't meeting

March 25, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian police officers charged into a televised government meeting Wednesday and detained two top officials on suspicion of extorting bribes.

Police snapped handcuffs onto emergency services chief Serhiy Bochkovsky and his deputy and calmly marched the pair out of the Cabinet meeting. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Bochkovsky and his deputy, Vasiliy Stoyetsky, were suspected of extorting bribes from fuel suppliers.

"This was not a show, this was not theater," Avakov said. "We decided it was necessary to do it this way, during the Cabinet meeting, as inoculation, as a preventative measure against corrupt officials, of whom we unfortunately have many."

Avakov said the offices of the emergency services were being raided as part of investigations. The government in Ukraine has vowed to take firm action to stamp out rampant corruption and the highly public nature of the detentions appeared designed to convey the impression that anti-graft measures are picking up pace.

Ukraine's economy, already hamstrung by crippling bureaucracy and corruption, has been further burdened by a war in the east with Russian-backed separatists. The government has successfully negotiated a $17.5 billion credit program with the International Monetary Fund against the promise of deep and exhaustive reforms.

Speaking after Bochkovsky and Stoyetsky's detention, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he would ask Western governments to assist in tracking down any funds salted away in foreign accounts by the officials.

Ukraine's president dismisses powerful regional governor

March 25, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko dismissed the billionaire governor of an eastern region Wednesday following a rancorous dispute pitting the tycoon against the government.

Poroshenko's office said in a statement that Ihor Kolomoysky had asked to be released from his duties as governor of Dnipropetrovsk. The government last week followed through on its plans to dilute the power of Ukraine's ultra-rich business elite by pushing a law through parliament that led, in effect, to control over an oil and gas company being wrested from Kolomoysky.

Kolomoysky reacted by ordering armed groups of men to seize the offices of two energy companies in the capital, Kiev. The episode has threatened to spark renewed political instability in Ukraine, which is battling Russian-backed separatists in eastern regions neighboring Dnipropetrovsk, as well as a sinking economy.

Kolomoysky is a contentious figure in Ukraine — unafraid to use heavy-handed tactics in his business activities but also strongly committed to protecting Ukraine's territorial integrity. Over the past year, he has tapped into his wealth, which Forbes magazine estimates stands at $1.3 billion, to finance volunteer battalions waging war against separatist militias. Those battalions have since been subordinated to central government control, although it is believed Kolomoysky still retains considerable sway over them.

While there is concern about how the showdown between Kolomoysky and the government could play out, many are greeting the move against him with relief. "(His) behavior was simply a slap in the face to the legitimate authorities," said Serhiy Leshchenko, an investigative journalist-turned-parliamentary deputy.

Poroshenko said that Dnipropetrovsk should continue to serve as a defensive line for eastern Ukraine. "We must ensure peace, stability and tranquility. Dnipropetrovsk region should remain a bastion for Ukraine in the east, to protect the peace and tranquility of citizens," Poroshenko said.

When then-President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown last year in a mass street revolt fueled in part by anger over corruption, many hoped business would no longer continue as usual. Chief among the figures distrusted by the public are the tycoons that earned their riches in the chaos of the post-independence period. The hyper-rich in the former Soviet Union influence politics and government more brazenly and openly than their Western counterparts, earning them the label of oligarchs.

In a move transparently designed to cut Kolomoysky down to size, the parliament last week adopted a law requiring only 50 percent of shareholders of joint stock companies to attend company meetings before decision could be taken. The threshold was previously 60 percent. Poroshenko signed off on the law overnight Tuesday, around the time he was meeting with Kolomoysky to discuss the governor's dismissal.

That measure had the most immediate ramifications for Kolomoysky, whose Privat Group conglomerate holds a 43-percent stake in oil and gas company Ukrnafta. Although the government-owned energy company Naftogaz controls just over 50 percent of Ukrnafta, Privat Group had — until now — been able to obstruct any policies going against Kolomoysky's interests.