Kyrgyz government ousted in violent revolt

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 7 April 2010 - 11:43pm

Anti-government demonstrations in Kyrgyzstan have escalated even further, as the government struggles to retain power. Officials say at least 40 people have died and 400 have been injured in the capital, Bishkek, after a day of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters. Opposition followers say the death toll is at least 100.

A key opposition leader, Temir Sariyev, has said the government has resigned but there is no official confirmation. Mr Sariyev said Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov had agreed to tender the government's resignation and that President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had fled the capital. On state television, it was announced that a new government, led by former foreign minister Roza Otoenbajeva, is being formed.

A French news agency has quoted an employee at Bishkek's international airport as saying that 60-year-old President Bakiyev had fled aboard a small plane bound for the southern town of Osh. However, a Russian news agency quoted a government source which said the president was still in the capital.

Earlier on Wednesday, protesters seized the parliament building. Rioters also attacked the offices of President Bakiyev, but were held back by security forces. In the town of Talas, demonstrators allegedly kidnapped Deputy Prime Minister Akylbek Zhaparov. Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev, who was believed to have gone to Talas to placate opposition followers, was reportedly to have been badly beaten. The rioters also stormed the state television and radio headquarters and programmes briefly went off air earlier on Wednesday.

Unrest broke out in Talas on Tuesday and spread to Bishkek and another town, Naryn, on Wednesday. The protests were sparked by the arrests of three opposition members, former prime minister and presidential candidate Almazbek Atambajev, the former parliamentary speaker and one of his associates.

Kyrgyzstan has been in the grip of political unrest for a month. The riots are a culmination of spiralling protests in the Central Asian nation with the opposition accusing the government of human rights violations, authoritarianism and economic mismanagement.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is shocked by the violence. Russia and the US embassy in Bishkek have called on the Kyrgyz government not to use excessive force against the protesters.

Both Russia and the US have military bases in Kyrgyzstan. The US base is strategically important for supplies to Afghanistan.

Pope gives Obama his blessing

The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press, Vatican City | Tue, 01/20/2009 9:28 PM  

Pope Benedict XVI is giving Barack Obama his blessing and prayers as the American becomes president. 

The Vatican released the text of a telegram Benedict sent Obama a few hours before the presidential swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday. 

In the telegram, the pope told Obama he was praying that God would grant him "unfailing wisdom and strength" in carrying out his responsibilities. Benedict also urged Obama to stick to his resolve in promoting understanding and peace among peoples. 

The pontiff also expressed hope Obama's leadership would help Americans use ethical principles and spiritual values in building a just society. 

Benedict said attention must be paid to the poor, the outcast, the hungry and "those who have no voice."

Avoid wrong crisis lesson, invest in poor: Clinton

Michelle Nichols, Reuters 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton warned rich countries on Friday that they should not learn the wrong lesson from the financial crisis and said it can be profitable to help the poor. 

While Congress debated a $700 billion bailout to save the U.S. financial system, Clinton said as he wrapped up his philanthropic summit that the turmoil could also be seen as an opportunity to invest in developing nations. 

He warned governments to avoid just "looking inward" as they sought to fix the financial system. 

"The people who have these microcredit operations, who are investing in poor people around the world where there was no market and you create one because there are smart people, they are not the cause of these financial problems," he said. 

"They are all making money in the old-fashioned way, with a real economy based on real people doing real things for a real rate of return," Clinton said to applause at his fourth annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting. 

Microfinance initiatives, which grant tiny loans to the poor, are separate from national economic and market trends. They have also been much less affected than conventional lenders by the global credit crunch. 

"Poor people in poor countries, well governed, are good investments," Clinton said. 

More than 130 chief executives have spent the past three days mixing with world leaders, humanitarians and celebrities at the summit, which addresses global issues in education, energy and climate change, health care and poverty. 

Experts have said the financial crisis would likely pressure charitable efforts by individuals and corporations. 

Clinton said 250 new commitments to address some of the world's problems were made at his 2008 summit. This takes the total number made during the past four years to nearly 1,200, which Clinton said were valued at a total of $46 billion and would improve more than 200 million lives in 150 countries. 

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Vancouver is 'best place to live'

BBC News

Vancouver is the world's best place to live, a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has found.

The EIU ranked 127 cities in terms of personal risk, infrastructure and the availability of goods and services.

All the cities that fell into the top "liveability" bracket were based in Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

The worst places were Algiers in Algeria, and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea because "many aspects of daily life present challenges", the EIU said.

Safe havens?

Canadian cities scored well, as did Austria's Vienna and Switzerland's Geneva, because they are not seen as targets for terror attacks.

TOP TEN

Vancouver
Melbourne
Vienna
Geneva
Perth
Adelaide
Sydney
Zurich
Toronto
Calgary

Source: EIU

The main uncertainty for people living in those cities was climate-related, the EIU said.

"In the current global political climate, it is no surprise that the most desirable destinations are those with the lower perceived threat of terrorism," said Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU report.

The survey has produced a mixed picture of the world's cities. London was ranked in the 10th group, on a par with Dublin and Los Angeles, but one place below Manchester, four behind Berlin, five lower than Tokyo, and six off Helsinki, Frankfurt and Stockholm.

Bottom 10 cities

Tehran
Douala
Harare
Abidjan
Phnom Penh
Lagos
Karachi
Dhaka
Algiers
Port Moresby

Source: EIU

In Latin America, "no city manages to present ideal living conditions, neither do any fall into the category where extreme difficulties are faced", the EIU said.

Montevideo in Uruguay, Santiago in Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina offer the region's best conditions. Bogota in Colombia and Caracas in Venezuela score the least favourably.

In Asia, cities in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan all score well, as do Australia's main hubs.

Africa and the Middle East fare less well, with the EIU citing concerns about terror attacks, and economic and political instability.

Some of the worst performing cities include Harare in Zimbabwe and Lagos in Nigeria.

Military earns praise for role in democracy

Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A U.S political analyst has lauded the Indonesian Military (TNI) for helping to improve the country's democracy by staying out of active politics for the past nine years.

Alfred C. Stepan, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Tolerance and Religion at Columbia University in New York, said Monday he was impressed by the TNI's commitment to remain out of political activities, and this commitment had contributed to the country's progress toward democracy.

"During nine years of this transition era, it is good that the TNI has never attempted to take back their power like they used to have during the New Order era. There were moments of temptation, but they never did that because they know it would be dangerous for them," Stepan said after speaking at a seminar on the role of the military in countries making the transition to democracy.

"In a democratic country, the people do not want any state institution to take over the entire state affairs.

"The fact that the military gave away their seats at the House (in 2004) and that they accepted the military's dual-function concept being erased and the police being separated from them (in January 2001) is impressive."

During the New Order regime, the then Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) were provided 100 seats in the House.

Besides active involvement in politics, ABRI functioned to safeguard the nation and also undertook the task of "building the nation", a role that was open to interpretation.

Despite the progress, Stepan said more effort was needed by the TNI to help establish safety and security in the country, including reforming its relationship with the police.

He did not touch on the issue of the TNI's involvement in business.

To improve the professionalism of the military, the government has prohibited military personnel from involvement in business activities, as stipulated in the 2004 law on the TNI.

The law also says the military should give up its business interests and activities and turn over all assets to the government.

The TNI has said it will hand over its business units to the government, but wants the government to be responsible for fulfilling all the military's budgetary needs.

Military analyst Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said he agreed the military should not be involved in business, because it could divert their focus from safeguarding the nation.

"In fact, TNI businesses only contribute 1 percent to their budgetary needs. It is therefore unreasonable if the TNI does not want the government to take over its businesses, as it may indicate illegal dealings behind their real businesses," Kusnanto said.

Moroccan globe-trotters heading for Indonesia

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA (Antara): Two Moroccans - Abdelkrim Rachek and Youssef Abdennaim, are on a tour around the Muslim world on foot since February 2007 and will be completing their globe-trotter trip in Indonesia, a Moroccan Embassy press release said Monday.

According to the release, the Moroccan globe-totters would be heading for Indonesia from Malaysia on Oct. 31.

Their tour, as indicated by the title of their program, is to follow the steps of the famous Moroccan traveler Ibnu Batouta around the Arab and Islamic world on foot.

Under the slogan "Love, Peace, Religious Tolerance and Cultural Heritage Sharing," the two Moroccan globe-totters are touring Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, India, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

China communists 'falling short'

Chinese President Hu Jintao has said in a keynote speech that the Communist Party he leads has fallen short of the people's expectations.

"We must guard against arrogance and rashness, preserve plain living and struggle hard"

By Michael Bristow, BBC News, Beijing

Speaking at the start of the party's 17th congress, he also lashed out at officials who were extravagant, wasteful and corrupt.

President Hu's criticism came as he assessed the party's recent performance in front of senior leaders.

The gathering is held every five years to decide policies for coming years.

Heads bowed

President Hu said: "While recognising our achievements, we must be well aware that they still fall short of the expectations of the people."

Some of the problems faced by ordinary people relate to employment, housing, social security and education, he said.

He was particularly critical of party leaders who used their position to provide for themselves, a theme President Hu has often spoken about.

"A small number of party cadres are not honest and upright," he told more than 2,200 delegates.

"[Their] extravagance, waste, corruption and other undesirable behaviour are still serious problems with them," he said.

The congress began when the country's top leaders filed out on to the podium in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, which was bedecked in red flags.

In an indication of how much sway former President Jiang Zemin still holds, he emerged immediately after President Hu and sat next to him on the podium.

A military band than played the national anthem before party leaders bowed their heads to remember the party's founding fathers.

To polite applause and with a hammer and sickle symbol behind him, President Hu then began his speech.

As well as criticising the party's performance over the previous few years, he also laid out its future plans.

One of the main goals is to build a "moderately prosperous society" by 2020.

Short on specifics

Later on Mr Hu defined that task as quadrupling the country's year 2000 per capita gross domestic product by 2020.

Mr Hu also had a warning for Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing considers part of China. The two sides split in 1949.

He said the forces of "Taiwan independence" were stepping up their efforts to separate the island from China.

"[We] will never allow anyone to separate Taiwan from the motherland in any name or by any means," he warned.

Mr Hu's speech was typical of those delivered by senior Chinese officials at these well-orchestrated gatherings.

It was laced with well-worn official phrases such as "socialism with Chinese characteristics".

It was long, but short on specifics.

Mr Hu, for example, promised to "expand socialist democracy", but did not explain exactly what that means.

On Sunday, Li Dongsheng, the spokesman for the 17th congress, said China would never adopted Western-style democracy.

But one thing appears clear. President Hu has cemented his position at the top of the party hierarchy.

His personal contribution to party theory - scientific development - was placed on a par with contributions from other top leaders.

In the speech it ranked alongside Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and ex-President Jiang's Three Represents.

Little is known about Hu Jintao beyond the brief, official biography.

But in his closing remarks, he perhaps revealed something of the man he hopes the public see him as.

"We must guard against arrogance and rashness, preserve plain living and struggle hard," he said.

MAJOR THEMES OF THE CONGRESS

promoting 'social harmony'
'scientific development'
building a 'well-off society'
consolidation of President Hu's position

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