Buenos Aires Fire Rages Near City Centre

A huge fire in Argentina's capital has engulfed an ecological reserve just a few hundred metres from the city's political and financial centre.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri said there were suspicions that arsonists were to blame for the inferno, which began on Wednesday.

Authorities say at least eight fire crews fought to bring the blaze under control after flames raged more than 30ft (10m) in the air.

The ecological reserve is on the banks of the Rio de la Plata

No injuries have been reported.

The Ecological Reserve covers more than a square mile (300 hectares) bordering the Rio de la Plata.

Mr Macri said it had not yet been determined how much of the park had been destroyed.

The reserve is considered the "lung" of Buenos Aires, and its vegetation is home to lizards, snakes, turtles, frogs, bats, voles and weasels.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Zimbabwe Poll 'A Huge Farce, Null And Void'

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed the country's national elections as a "huge farce" and the results invalid because of intimidation and ballot-rigging by President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, which has claimed victory.

"In our view, that election is null and void," he said, after a senior Zanu-PF source earlier claimed a resounding victory for President Mugabe in Zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections.

The unnamed senior official said the outcome was already clear and told Reuters news agency: "We've taken this election. We've buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win."

The opposition, Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), immediately claimed the elections had been "a monumental fraud" and held an emergency meeting.

A woman with a child casts her vote in Domboshava, north of Harare

"Zimbabweans have been taken for a ride by Zanu-PF and Mugabe, we do not accept it," a senior source told Reuters.

Releasing results early is illegal, and the police had warned they would arrest anybody making premature claims before the official five days the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had said it could take to announce the result.

Riot police took up positions outside the Zanu-PF party's headquarters in central Harare and other key locations in the capital, including an MDC office.

The party later withdrew what it said was an unauthorised message on its Twitter feed claiming a landslide win, and insisted that it was awaiting the release of the official count.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) - the country's leading domestic election monitoring agency - said the credibility of the vote was "seriously compromised" by irregularities on polling day.

A police officer keeps watch as Zimbabweans queue to cast their votes

It said as many as one million eligible voters were not on the electoral roll, and urban voters, who mainly favour Mr Tsvangirai, had been turned away from polling stations in their thousands.

Conversely, only a small number had been prevented from voting in the countryside, where President Mugabe has most support.

It also cast doubt on the authenticity of the voters' roll, noting that 99.97% of voters in the countryside were registered, compared to 67.9% in urban areas.

"It is not sufficient for elections to be peaceful for elections to be credible," ZESN chairman Solomon Zwana said. "They must offer all citizens ... an equal opportunity to vote."

Separate reports claimed key MDC members had lost their seats, even in the capital, and that the election was looking like a "disaster" for Mr Tsvangirai.

Polling rivals Robert Mugabe (L) and Morgan Tsvangirai cast their votes

To win an outright victory, one of the candidates has to secure more than 50% of the vote.

Half the country's 12.9 million population was eligible to vote at the more than 9,000 polling stations nationwide.

The dispute erupted as polling stations closed and counting got under way amid fears of a repeat of the violence that marred the 2008 election.

Turnout was high, particularly in urban areas where the polling stations stayed open late into the evening to allow everyone in the queues to cast their votes.

The presidential contest pit the 89-year-old incumbent President Mugabe against his main rival Mr Tsvangirai, who his supporters believed a big turnout would favour, blunting the impact of any manipulation of the vote.

A ballot paper with the images of all the presidential candidates

Zimbabweans voted in large numbers despite concerns about the credibility of the electoral process, and the vote was relatively peaceful compared to disputed and violent polls in 2008.

However, the fiercely contested election was dogged by claims of intimidation and vote rigging, despite assurances by official poll monitors of "a peaceful, orderly and free and fair vote".

It is the third time Mr Tsvangirai has tried to unseat President Mugabe, who denies vote rigging and said he would step down if he failed to extend his 33-year grip on power for another five years.

Sky Correspondent Emma Hurd, in South Africa, said: "Analysts inside Zimbabwe say it was going to be close anyway - that Robert Mugabe was not going to be wiped out in a landslide victory by the opposition.

"But what all independent observers seem to agree on is that there will have been some element of rigging in the process.

"The question remains how much, and whether Robert Mugabe really needed to do it in the first place to win."

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Zimmerman Pulled Over For Speeding In Texas

George Zimmerman, the neighbourhood watch volunteer cleared over the killing of Trayvon Martin, has been stopped for speeding on a highway in Texas.

A police dashcam video shows an officer interacting with Mr Zimmerman and letting him go with a warning.

Some of the officer's comments suggested Mr Zimmerman had a gun, though no weapon can be seen in the video.

"Just take it easy. Go ahead and shut your glove compartment. Don't play with your firearm," the officer tells him.

Mr Zimmerman had a concealed weapons permit in Florida that would be also recognised under Texas law.

The gun used in Trayvon's shooting remains in the custody of the federal government, which is looking into a possible civil rights case.

Tryvon Martin was visiting his father when he was shot in February 2012

The officer, who stopped Mr Zimmerman in Forney outside Dallas, asked him where he was headed.

After an unintelligible response, the officer asks, "Nowhere in particular? Why you say that?"

"You didn't see my name?" Mr Zimmerman replies.

"Nuh-uh," the officer says.

"What a coincidence!" the officer adds. "Are you clear of warrants and stuff?"

"Absolutely sir," Mr Zimmerman says.

The speed limit on that stretch of road is 60mph (96kph), but police records do not show how fast Mr Zimmerman was driving.

Rallies were held across the US after Mr Zimmerman's acquittal

On July 13, Mr Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon, a black, unarmed 17-year-old, in Florida.

The case prompted rallies nationwide calling for a civil rights probe and federal charges against him.

Mr Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, rejected accusations he had racially profiled Trayvon, saying he fired his weapon in self-defence during a confrontation in a gated community in Sanford.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Uruguay Moves To Make Marijuana Legal

Uruguay could soon be the first country in the world to create a legal market for cannabis after a bill passed its first stage on Wednesday.

The controversial issue was debated for 14 hours before it was approved in the lower house by a margin of 50 votes to 46.

If the bill makes it through the Senate, it will make the South American country the world's first nation to take charge of the entire process of marijuana.

Possession and personal use of cannabis is already legal in some countries, such as the Netherlands, but cultivation and distribution is still very much illegal.

The Uruguayan government would assume control of all stages if the law was successful, including importation, planting, harvesting and the marketing and distribution of the drug.

Registered users would be able to grow up to six plants, gain access through marijuana-growing clubs, or purchase up to 40g per month at a dispensary.

However, it has faced some criticism, including from pharmacists who would be in charge of selling it to users.

Virginia Olmos, president of the Association of Chemists and Pharmacists of Uruguay, said: "We disagree with the sale of an abusable drug in a pharmacy, which is considered a health centre."

Plans for legalisation were unveiled last June after a series of efforts to combat rising violence, but a recent survey shows that 63% of people in Uruguay oppose the plan, fearing it will attract tourists for the wrong reasons.

Politician Sebastian Sabini, who helped draft the legislation, said at the beginning of the debate: "The regulation is not meant to promote consumption.

"Consumption already exists."

It is estimated that there are nearly 200,000 regular users of cannabis in the country, generating a trade worth up to $40m (£26m) a year.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Texas Execution: Douglas Feldman Put To Death

A former financial analyst has been executed for the shooting deaths of two truck drivers in Texas 15 years ago.

Douglas Feldman, 55, received lethal injection for gunning down Robert Everett and Nicholas Valesquez during a fit of road rage in 1998.

Feldman died 13 minutes after the lethal drug was injected at 6:28 pm local time.

Before his death, he mimicked the announcement a judge or jury makes when announcing a verdict, declaring he had found the victims guilty of crimes against him.

"I have sentenced them both to death. I personally carried out their executions," he said in a loud voice, adding that he carried out their executions in August 1998.

"As of that time, the state of Texas has been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years.

"I hereby protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief."

John Everett witnessed the execution of his brother's killer.

"His statement just showed more of the heart of the man," Mr Everett said.

"Very dark and very evil and very unremorseful."

Feldman's attorney, Robin Norris, filed a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that was turned down on Monday.

Feldman, from Richardson, was riding his motorcycle the night of August 24, 1998, and said Everett cut him off on a Dallas highway so he took out his gun, pulled up alongside the truck and shot him.

Feldman testified at his capital murder trial that he was still angry about 45 minutes later when he spotted Valesquez, a gas tanker driver, at a Dallas service station and shot him.

"A security camera catches him shooting the man in cold blood," Jason January, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted him, said.

"Several counties were frightened as this unidentified motorcyclist was out acting like 'The Terminator'."

Feldman was arrested more than a week later, after shooting and wounding a man at a fast food outlet and driving off.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brazil: Protesters Invade Rio Council Chamber

Demonstrators have managed to enter a council building in Rio de Janeiro during clashes in the Brazilian city.

About 50 out of 700 people accessed the building through a side door as they protested against state governor Sergio Cabral.

The demonstrators, who accuse Mr Cabral of corruption and are calling for his impeachment, were moved off by police using tear gas and pepper spray.

More protests are planned with one set for the biggest shanty town in Rio's tourist area, Rocinha, where 42-year-old construction worker Amarildo de Souza has been missing for two weeks since he was allegedly picked up by police.

"Where is Amarildo?" is a chant that observers say is often heard.

Last month, more than one million Brazilians took the streets across the country to demand better public services and an end to endemic corruption.

They also protested against the high cost of hosting next year's World Cup.

The unrest began in Sao Paulo with young militants objecting furiously to the increase in public transport fares, a call picked up in several other major cities.

The fare increases were subsequently cancelled.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan: Deputy PM Retracts 'Nazi' Remark

Japan's deputy prime minister has retracted comments suggesting his country should learn from Nazi tactics when changing the constitution.

Taro Aso sparked outrage by asking whether his country should follow the example of Hitler-led Germany, which amended its constitution ahead of the Second World War before anyone had realised.

But after protests from neighbouring countries and human rights activists, Mr Aso, who is also the country's finance minister, insisted he was misunderstood and only meant to say that loud debate over whether Japan should change its postwar constitution was not helpful.

"It is very unfortunate and regrettable that my comment regarding the Nazi regime was misinterpreted," he told reporters.

"I would like to retract the remark about the Nazi regime."

He added that he was referring to the Nazis "as a bad example of a constitutional revision that was made without national understanding or discussion".

Mr Aso made the comments during a speech in Tokyo organised by an ultra-conservative group.

Hitler's Nazi Party oversaw the killings of an estimated six million Jews

"I don't want to see this done in the midst of an uproar," he said, according to a transcript of the speech.

He said that since revisions of the constitution may raise protests, "doing it quietly, just as in one day the Weimar constitution changed to the Nazi constitution, without anyone realising it, why don't we learn from that sort of tactic?"

Critics of the ruling Liberal Democrats are uneasy over the party's proposals for revising the US-inspired postwar constitution, in part to allow a higher profile for Japan's military.

Japan and Nazi Germany were allies in the Second World War, when Japan occupied much of Asia and Germany much of Europe.

Japan's history of military aggression, which included colonising the Korean Peninsula before the war, is the reason its current constitution limits the role of the military.

According to the transcript of Mr Aso's speech, he decried the lack of support for revising Japan's pacifist constitution among older Japanese, saying the Liberal Democrats held quiet, extensive discussions about its proposals.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "in no way looks positively at the Nazi regime. Since the end of the war, our nation has consistently built up a society which thoroughly advocates peace and human rights."

It is not the first time Mr Aso has been in the spotlight for controversial remarks.

He has previously apologised for accusing the elderly of being a burden on society, joking about people with Alzheimer's disease, saying the ideal country would be one that attracts "the richest Jewish people," and comparing the opposition Democratic Party of Japan to the Nazis.                 

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a group dedicated to keeping alive the history of the Holocaust, said: "What 'techniques' from the Nazis' governance are worth learning? How to stealthily cripple democracy?"

In South Korea, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said: "I believe Japanese political leaders should be more careful with their words and behaviour."

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fugitive Edward Snowden Leaves Moscow Airport

Fugitive Edward Snowden has been granted a year's asylum in Russia after more than a month inside an airport terminal.

The wanted US intelligence whistleblower left Moscow airport in a taxi, although his intended destination is not clear.

"Over the past eight weeks we have seen the Obama administration show no respect for international or domestic law, but in the end the law is winning," he said in a statement posted on WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website.

"I thank the Russian Federation for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations."

Snowden is wanted by the US on felony charges after leaking details of vast surveillance programmes, but Russia has refused to extradite him.

His lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said he would not reveal the 30-year-old's travel plans "for security reasons", adding: "He is the most pursued man on the planet. He himself will decide where he will go."

Snowden had been stuck in the transit zone of the Sheremetyevo airport

Mr Kucherena said President Vladimir Putin approved Snowden's asylum request on condition the American stopped leaking US secrets, adding that his client had agreed to the condition.

Interviewed by Rossiya 24 television, the lawyer held up a scanned copy of his client's certificate, allowing him to stay in Russia for 12 months.

"He has gone to a safe place. I hope you will be understanding about this information," he told the TV station.

Snowden had been stuck in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport outside Moscow since he flew in from Hong Kong on June 23.

WikiLeaks, which provided the whistleblower with a legal adviser during his stay at the airport, said Russia had "done the right thing" by granting him temporary asylum.

Julian Assange, who founded the website, said: "This is another victory in the fight against Obama's war on whistleblowers. This battle has been won, but the war continues.

"The United States can no longer continue the surveillance of world citizens and its digital colonisation of sovereign nations. The public will no longer stand for it.

"Whistleblowers will continue to appear until the government abides by its own laws and rhetoric."

Russia's decision to grant Snowdon temporary asylum comes two days after US soldier Bradley Manning was convicted of spying for leaking US secrets to WikiLeaks.

Snowden's case has further strained US-Russian ties already tense amid differences over Syria, US criticism of Russia's human rights record and other issues.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama on Thursday is attending a private meeting with lawmakers to discuss surveillance programmes run by the National Security Agency (NSA).

The previously scheduled meeting in the Oval Office is to discuss concerns about privacy by lawmakers who are pushing to rein in the NSA's authority.

Mr Obama's national security team is trying to keep its surveillance powers intact while acknowledging some limitations appear inevitable.

The White House says the president wants to hear from Congress directly, including from critics.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syria's Homs Explosions: At Least 40 Dead

A series of giant explosions ripped through a weapons depot killing at least 40 and injuring scores after it came under rocket fire by Syrian rebels.

Video of the blast was posted on YouTube by activists opposing the Bashar al Assad regime. It showed a giant fireball blasting hundreds of feet into the air followed by a number of smaller explosions.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: "At least 22 people, including civilians, were killed and dozens wounded, some seriously, when an ammunitions depot blew up in the pro-regime Wadi al-Zahab district after rocket fire, most probably by rebels."

The rebels have been blamed for the explosions

The explosions, at the munitions depot which is operated by pro-regime militias, caused a significant amount of damage to the neighbouring area.

Those living nearby said They said that the attack hit a sports hall in the district of southeastern Wadi al-Dhahab, which the army has taken over.

The area is majority Alawite, the same sect as Assad. Sunni Muslim insurgents have targeted Alawite areas, especially military positions, around the country with bombs and mortars.

The shelling of the depot came as President Assad made a speech in the town of Daraya, south west of Damascus, saying he was confident of a victory against rebels.

Mr Assad said: "If we were not sure that we were going to win in Syria, we would not have the ability to resist and the ability to continue fighting for more than two years against the enemy."

UN inspectors will inspect three sites of alleged chemical weapons attacks

Daraya was a symbolic choice for Mr Assad as it the town was once overrun by insurgents but has in the main be retaken by the regime's army.

It comes as a United National weapons chemical weapons investigations team announced they will visit three sites in the country where alleged Sarin gas attacked have occurred.

Both sides have claimed the other has used chemical weapons, a claim largely acknowledged by the international community.

However, it is hoped the UN weapons inspectors will be able to establish whether chemical agents banned under international laws have been used in the two-and-a-half-year conflict.

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ohio Kidnap: Victim Confronts Castro In Court

Ohio kidnapping victim Michelle Knight has confronted her former captor in court, telling Ariel Castro he faces "an eternity in hell".

"I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning," Ms Knight read from a prepared statement during Castro's sentencing hearing.

The 32-year-old Knight was the first woman abducted by Castro in 2002 after he lured her into his house with the promise of a puppy for her son.

Earlier, Castro apologised to the three woman he kept captive, subjecting them to years of sexual and physical abuse.

A model of Ariel Castro's home is displayed in court

The 53-year-old made a brief statement at the beginning of his sentencing hearing.

"I would like to apologise," he told the judge, adding that he would speak more later in the day.

Castro, a former school bus driver, has pleaded guilty to 937 charges, including kidnapping, rape, assault and aggravated murder.

Prosecutors are expected to detail Castro's daily assaults on the women, recounted in diaries that compared the women's experience to that of prisoners of war.

He stands to get life in prison plus 1,000 years.

A police photo shows chains used to restrain the women inside the home

"Mr Castro does accept full responsibility for his conduct," defence lawyer Craig Weintraub told the court.

The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old - and were held captive for a decade.

The three, Ms Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, escaped in May, and Castro was arrested within hours.

For years, Castro chained his captives by their ankles, fed them only one meal a day and provided plastic toilets in their bedrooms that were infrequently emptied, prosecutors said.

He locked all of them in a vehicle in his garage for three days when someone visited him, prosecutors said.

Castro said he did not have an exit strategy from his complicated double life and finally gave the women a chance to escape by leaving a door unlocked, court documents showed.

At the sentencing hearing, witnesses, including a police officer who was among the first ones to arrive at the scene, described the desperate condition of the three victims.

Cleveland Police Officer Barbara Johnson said the three were "thin, pale, scared" and were asking what had happened to them.

Ms Knight was "very, very scared", and was having a hard time breathing, the officer testified.

Throughout the hearing, Castro listened and frequently talked to his lawyers.

Ms Knight sent police a handwritten letter thanking them for their help collecting cards and gifts for the women.

In the note, she wrote: "Life is tough, but I'm tougher!"

:: Ariel Castro Sentencing In Court: Live Updates

23.31 | 0 komentar | Read More