NEWS,02.06.2013

Police fire tear gas as protests spread

Turkish police fired tear gas at protesters in Ankara on Sunday while thousands of people occupied Istanbul's main Taksim Square on the third day of mass demonstrations against Turkey's Islamist-rooted government.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said more than 1 700 people had been arrested in the unrest that has spread to 67 cities nationwide, though most have since been released.

In Istanbul, a sea of protesters from across Turkey's political spectrum flooded Taksim a day after police pulled out of the area, waving flags and chanting "Government, Resign!" and "Istanbul is ours, Taksim is ours!"

From a nearby rooftop, a banner with the words: "Do not surrender" was unfurled.

Taksim has been at the heart of a wave of protests that have spread across the country in the biggest public outcry against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government since it took power in 2002.

Rights groups have complained about what they said were a "disgraceful" heavy-handed response by police to the demonstrations while Turkey's Western allies appealed for restraint.

The unrest began as a local outcry against plans to redevelop Gezi Park near Taksim, but after a heavy-handed police response quickly snowballed into broader protests against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

Routine

After two days of violence, the situation appeared to have calmed in Istanbul on Sunday after police pulled out of Taksim and officials adopted a more conciliatory tone.

But in Ankara police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse about 1 000 protesters who were attempting to march on the prime minister's high-security office, images that were shown live on a television network.

Amnesty International said some protesters had been left blinded by the massive quantities of tear gas and pepper spray used by police.

Amnesty's Europe director John Dalhuisen said police excesses had become routine in Turkey "but the excessively heavy-handed response to the entirely peaceful protests in Taksim has been truly disgraceful."

Human Rights Watch said the number of injured was higher than official figures suggested and that one protester had lost an eye.

Turkey's Nato allies Britain, France and the United States have all urged the Erdogan government to exercise restraint.

German protesters clash with cops

German police used pepper spray and batons against thousands of anti-capitalist demonstrators from the Blockupy movement on Saturday during a second day of protests in Frankfurt against Europe's austerity policies.
Planned rallies in struggling euro zone members Spain and Portugal drew fewer people than expected, but in Germany's financial capital around 7 000 protesters marched with signs reading "Make love, not war" and "IMF - get out of Greece".
The protest was initially peaceful but small groups of masked protesters then hurled stones and smoke bombs at the police who responded with force.
Several protesters and police officers were hurt before the action died down later in the evening. Police at the scene said several arrests had been made, but could not say how many.
A first day of protests on Friday in Frankfurt succeeded in paralysing some of the city's financial institutions, cutting off access to the ECB's iconic tower office building and Deutsche Bank's headquarters.
Police anger
Police angered marchers on Saturday by halting them before they could pass close to the ECB building after protesters let off firecrackers.
In a statement, Blockupy accused the police of wanting to "escalate" tensions and of blocking a legitimate protest.
"This is scandalous," spokesperson Ani Diesselmann said. "The (original) route was approved by several legal institutions."
Police said officers had been repeatedly attacked by the small group of demonstrators, making it necessary for them to use force and pepper spray.
Protests against the "troika" of international lenders that has bailed out struggling euro zone states - the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Union - were planned in several countries on Saturday.
Europe's Blockupy movement was formed after the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. They blame the budget cuts and labour market reforms supported by the ECB, the IMF and European financial and political leaders for driving the continent into a recession that has left more than a quarter of Greeks and Spaniards out of work and millions of Europe's poor worse off.
Germany's own economy has been fairly resilient to the crisis and many in Europe's struggling southern states blame Chancellor Angela Merkel for enforcing the painful policies in exchange for EU funds which largely come from Germany.
As well as the ECB, on Friday the Blockupy demonstrators targeted several large commercial banks, stores and Frankfurt airport.

Central Europe hit by floods

Authorities in parts of central Europe issued disaster warnings and scrambled to reinforce flood defences on Sunday as rivers swollen by by days of heavy rain threatened to burst their banks.

Several people have died or are missing in the floods in Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Czech officials warned that the waters of the Vltava river could reach critical levels in Prague late on Sunday.
Interim mayor Tomas Hudecek said authorities were considering whether to shut down parts of the capital's subway network and called on people not to travel to the city.
In the nearby city of Trebenice a woman was found dead in the rubble after a summer cottage collapsed due to the raging water, Czech public television reported.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said 200 soldiers had been deployed so far to help local authorities.
In Germany, where at least four people have died or are missing, Chancellor Angela Merkel promised federal support for affected areas and said the army would be deployed if necessary.
Several cities, including Chemnitz in the east and Passau and Rosenheim in the south issued disaster warnings.
Passau, which is located at the confluence of three rivers, could see waters rise above record levels of 2002, said mayor Juergen Dupper.
A German news agency reported that large stretches of the Rhine, Main and Neckar rivers have been closed to shipping.
Evacuations are also taking place in neighbouring Austria and Switzerland.
Meteorologists are predicting the rainfall will ease in the coming days.

14 die in US storms

Tornadoes and floods in the United States killed at least 14 people, including two children, officials said on Saturday, with most of the fatalities in Oklahoma where a monster twister struck last month.
Friday night's storms battered areas in and around Oklahoma City with high winds, heavy rain and hail, much of it near where 24 people were killed in the 20 May tornado.
The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office announced nine fatalities in the state and said five of the victims have not been identified, while the sheriffs' offices in towns east of Oklahoma City confirmed two other people had died.
In Missouri, authorities said three people died from severe flooding in the wake of the storms.
Streets turned into rivers, with stranded cars submerged in water as high as their door handles in some places. CNN said a massive sink hole off a major road developed due to the deluge, halting traffic.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma, warned that the severe weather was shifting eastward again Sunday, with damaging winds and heavy downpours and possibly small hail and isolated tornadoes expected to threaten northern Virginia through Maine.
And northern Mexico was also bracing for severe thunderstorms, strong winds, and possibly hail and tornadoes.
Local broadcaster KOCO reported that 77 people had been admitted to hospitals with storm-related injuries.
Power company OG&E, meanwhile, reported 65 000 outages by late on Saturday, down from a high of 120 000, and the American Red Cross has opened shelters for those in affected areas.

Southern California's wildfire explodes

A fire that destroyed at least five structures and threatened hundreds of others exploded in size overnight, burning dangerously close to two communities north of Los Angeles.

Erratic wind spread the blaze in the Angeles National Forest to nearly 106km² on Sunday, triggering the evacuation of nearly 1 000 homes.

Matt Corelli of the Forest Service said that five structures had been razed by the fire and at least 10 other structures were damaged.

Crews working in steep terrain expected cooler weather after temperatures above 38ºC on Saturday.

The wind pushed the fire up and down steep slopes, creating embers that sparked spot fires in different directions.

The fire was about 20% contained.

A huge plume of smoke could be seen from various parts of northern Los Angeles county and air-quality officials warned against strenuous outdoor activity.

The blaze broke out near a hydro-electric plant near the Los Angeles aqueduct on Thursday, forcing about 200 evacuations in the mountain community of Green Valley.

Evacuations remained in effect for the Cottonwood campground and two youth probation camps along Lake Hughes Canyon Road.

The flames were chewing thick, dry brush that hasn't been burned in about a dozen years.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

NEWS,21.05.2013

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's Former President, Barred From Running In May Election

Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.
Their exclusion from the June 14 presidential ballot gives establishment-friendly candidates a clear path to succeed Ahmadinejad, who has lost favor with the ruling clerics after years of power struggles. It also pushes moderate and opposition voices further to the margins as Iran's leadership faces critical challenges such as international sanctions and talks with world powers over Tehran's nuclear program.
The official ballot list, announced on state TV, followed a nearly six-hour delay in which the names were kept under wraps. That raised speculation that authorities allowed some time for appeals by the blackballed candidates and their backers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say in all matters.
But the official slate left off two prominent but divisive figures: former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad protege Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The decision also appeared to remove many potential surprise elements in the race, including whether Rafsanjani could revitalize the reform movement or if Ahmadinejad could play a godfather role in the election with his hand-picked political heir.
Instead, the eight men cleared by the candidate-vetting Guardian Council included high-profile figures considered firm and predictable loyalists to the ruling Islamic establishment, such as former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.
Just one approved candidate, Mohammad Reza Aref, might draw some moderate appeal because of his role as vice president under former reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
The rest of the choices, at the very least, would create a possibly seamless front between the ruling clerics and presidency after years of political turmoil under Ahmadinejad, who tried to challenge the theocracy's vast powers to make all major decisions and set key policies. Iran's presidency, meanwhile, is expected to convey the ruling clerics' views on the world stage and not set its own diplomatic agenda.
Mashaei called the decision unfair and said he will appeal to Khamenei. "God willing this will be resolved," semiofficial Fars news agency reported late Tuesday.
Rafsanjani did not comment, but his supporters denounced the decision on social media.
While the election is not expected to bring major shifts in Iran's position on its nuclear program which Tehran insists is peaceful despite Western fears it could lead to atomic weapons it could open opportunities to renew stalled talks with a six-nation group that includes the U.S.
On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said Iran's nuclear stance will "not change either before or after the election."
The ballot rejection of Mashaei brought little shock.
He has been badly tarnished by Ahmadinejad's feuds with the ruling clerics. Hard-liners have denounced Mashaei as part of a "deviant current" that seeks to undermine the country's Islamic system which made ballot approval highly unlikely.
This leaves Ahmadinejad politically orphaned going into the final weeks in office. He still has significant public support and could try to bargain with other candidates or break away and start his own political movement.
Few powerful voices came to Mashaei's defense in a sign of Ahmadinejad's fallen fortunes. But the case for Rafsanjani was more complicated.
His unexpected decision for a comeback bid 16 years after leaving office jolted hard-line foes and was cheered by beleaguered reformists and liberals after years of crackdowns.
Rafsanjani faced a barrage of attacks in the past week from powerful critics who suggested the 78-year-old does not have the stamina for the presidency and is disgraced for criticizing the heavy-handed tactics used to crush protests following Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.
Rafsanjani's youngest daughter, Faezeh, was released from jail in March after serving a six-month sentence in connection with the postelection chaos. His middle son, Mahdi, also is to stand trial in coming weeks for his alleged role in the riots.
Late Monday, authorities closed down the Tehran headquarters of Rafsanjani's youth supporters.
But Rafsanjani still carries a legacy with a sweeping reach.
Moderates see him as a pragmatist who can deal deftly with the West and use his skills as patriarch of a family-run business empire to help repair Iran's economy, battered by sanctions and mismanagement. Others, even ideological foes, respect his high-profile role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution as the closest confidant of its spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In a sign of possible lobbying on Rafsanjani's behalf, he received apparent support from some influential members of the Assembly of Experts the only group with the power to dismiss the supreme leader. Rafsanjani was pushed out as the group's chairman after failing to get enough support to leverage possible concessions from Khamenei on the 2009 postelection clampdowns.
One member, Ayatollah Mohieddin Haeri Shirazi, sent a letter to Khamenei saying "omitting a prominent figure from the election was incompatible" with giving wide choices to voters, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.
Another assembly member, Ayatollah Mohammad Vaez Mousavi, told the semiofficial ILNA news agency that Rafsanjani's age is not a weak point and many Iranian leaders "accepted responsibilities when they were quite old."
Prominent political analyst Saeed Leilaz said the "intensified defamation campaign" suggested worry among hard-liners that Rafsanjani had a real potential to rally moderates and others and win the election.
"What matters today is who can save the country's economy," he said, "Who has a plan to take Iran away from isolation and improve living conditions."

North Korea Releases Chinese Fishing Boat; Owner Says Captain Beaten

Gunmen wearing North Korean military uniforms released a Chinese fishing boat Tuesday after holding its crew for two weeks, beating up the captain and stealing the vessel's fuel, the boat's owner said. He added that the hijackers did not get the 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom they had demanded.
The seizure May 5 in what boat owner Yu Xuejun said were Chinese waters was the latest irritant in relations between North Korea and a Chinese government increasingly frustrated with its neighboring ally over tests of its nuclear and rocket technologies in defiance of U.N. bans. One of China's North Korea watchers said rogue border guards were probably responsible, rather than the Pyongyang government itself.
Yu said in an interview that the men were allowed to move around the boat while they were held captive, but were locked in a room at night. He said the captain suffered an arm injury when he was beaten, but he has since recovered, and that no other crew member was harmed. They now planned to stay out at sea for another 10 days.
"The North Koreans only left the crew with one sack of rice and one sack of flour. But this shouldn't be a problem as there are a lot of boats in that region now, all from Dalian," he said, referring to the northeast China port where his boat is based. "With their help, the crews will do OK for the next 8 or 10 days."
Yu publicized the boat's capture over the weekend on the Twitter-like Tencent Weibo as a ransom deadline neared. China then publicly demanded that North Korea release the men, though Chinese officials have not said whether they believe the armed captors were operating on their own or under North Korean government authority.
No ransom was paid, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a news briefing Tuesday.
"We demand North Korea investigate this case fully and furnish China with details, and take measures to stop such cases repeating themselves," Hong said.
Yu also said he hadn't paid any ransom. "We were working in our country's waters why should I pay them?" he said. He had earlier written online that he couldn't afford it.
He said the captors "looked like soldiers, and the captain said they had guns and used force to take over the boat."
Yu posted coordinates on his microblog indicating the seizure took place about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the westernmost point of North Korea and about 190 kilometers (120 miles) from Dalian.
That area is outside both countries' territorial waters defined as 12 nautical miles from their shores but within their overlapping Exclusive Economic Zones, which give them rights to resources including fishing. Jurisdictions in overlapping zones are not always clear.
Yu said the North Koreans took about five tons of light diesel oil and six barrels of gasoline and food, but navigation and communication equipment that was initially taken was returned, Yu said.
Yu's pleas for help and his frets that his crew might be mistreated were forwarded thousands of times on the Internet, and a high-ranking Chinese military officer, Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, wrote on Sina Weibo of his fury over the detention.
"North Korea has gone too far! Even if you are short of money, you can't grab people across the border and blackmail," wrote Luo, who has more than 300,000 followers.
A similar abduction a year ago of Chinese fishermen by armed North Koreans caused an uproar in China. After their release, those fishermen said they had been starved and beaten, and some had been stripped of everything but their underwear.
Hong, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, had declined to answer a question Monday about who exactly China believed was behind the boat seizure, but he made clear that Beijing was looking for the North Korean government to secure the release of the boat and crew.
An expert on North Korea at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences in northeast China said he doubted the North Korean government would have had any knowledge of the incident when it happened.
"This incident is purely about a lawless act by the North Korean border police to blackmail our fishermen," said Lu Chao, adding that such things frequently happen to Chinese fishermen working near border waters.
"Sometimes, if the amount they are asking for isn't too high, the boat owner would just pay it," he said. This time, it might be related to spring food shortages, "so they are asking for a huge ransom."

Xi Jinping, China's President, To Meet Obama At California Retreat In June

China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier than expected, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea.
The June 7-8 meeting at a retreat southeast of Los Angeles, announced Monday by the White House, underlines the importance of the relationship between the countries as they work out ways for the U.S.-led world order to make room for a China that is fast accruing global influence and military power.
President Xi has said China wants its rise to be peaceful, but that Beijing will not compromise on issues of sovereignty a stance that has aggravated disputes over contested East and South China Seas islands with several countries, including staunch U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines.
Among the other pressing items on the presidents' agenda: the spotty global economic recovery, U.S. allegations of persistent Chinese cyberattacks and espionage and Washington's desire for China to do more in international efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear program.
Washington has also criticized Beijing, along with Russia, for blocking tougher U.N. Security Council measures aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria. China, for its part, has repeatedly lashed out at the U.S. military's ongoing strengthening of its presence in Asia, what it considers Washington's support for Japan in its island dispute with Beijing, and the U.S. questioning of China's human rights record and military buildup.
The meeting will be "of great significance to strengthening strategic communications, increasing strategic mutual trust ... properly handling disputes, developing cooperative relations and building a new type of big-power relationship," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
The issues are so many that the agenda was becoming crowded for any Obama and Xi meeting.
The two leaders have spoken by telephone since Obama was re-elected and Xi elevated to Communist Party chief in November. Xi was named China's head of state in March for the first of what are expected to be two five-year terms.
The two met previously in February 2012, when Xi traveled to the U.S. as vice president and leader-in-waiting.
But before Monday's announcement, their first face-to-face meeting as leaders of their respective nations had not been expected until September in Russia, on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of 20 large economies.
"They needed more than 20 minutes on the sidelines of another meeting," said Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "If they want to see U.S.-China relations on a solid footing, to manage the differences and find issues to cooperate on North Korea, Iran, climate change it has to start at the top. U.S.-China relations are not managed from the bottom up but from the top down."
The White House, in its statement, said the two presidents will "discuss ways to enhance cooperation, while constructively managing our differences, in the years ahead."
The decision to hold a working visit instead of a pomp-filled state summit underscores the government's decision to put protocol aside to focus on substance. Xi will make the stop-off in California after traveling to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico.
"The engagement has become more flexible, and that helps keep the contact at the highest levels, which is conducive to understanding each other's viewpoints and taking more effective measures," Zhu Feng, deputy director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University.
The Foreign Ministry's Hong pointed to cooperation on issues including climate change, energy security, North Korea, and Iran. Disputes also exist, he said, without offering details, and require "proper handling and active controlling by both sides."
U.S. diplomats have said that Chinese officials had wanted Obama to come to Beijing late this year or early next. His last visit was in 2009. Xi's predecessor as president, Hu Jintao, was given a formal White House welcome in 2011.
To prepare for the California meeting, Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, will go to Beijing on May 26-28, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.