Category: Current Affairs
At least 38 people were killed and more than 60 injured in two suicide bomb attacks on the Moscow Metro during the morning rush hour, officials say.
Female suicide bombers are believed to have carried out the attacks on trains that had stopped at two stations in the heart of the Russian capital.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for being behind the attacks.
But Russian security services believe the bombers are linked to militant groups in the North Caucasus region.
Past suicide bombings in the capital have been carried out by or blamed on Islamist rebels fighting for independence from Russia in Chechnya.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cut short a visit to the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and said a crime that was “terrible in its consequences and heinous in its manner” had been committed.
“I am confident that law enforcement bodies will spare no effort to track down and punish the criminals. Terrorists will be destroyed,” he added.
President Dmitry Medvedev echoed his words after laying a wreath at the site of one of the attacks, saying: “They are animals. I have no doubt that we will find and destroy them all.”
‘Panic’
The first explosion tore through the second carriage of a train at 0756 (0356GMT), as it stood at central Lubyanka station waiting for morning rush hour commuters to board.
The station, on both the busy Sokolnicheskaya and Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya lines, lies beneath the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
“I was moving up on the escalator when I heard a loud bang, a blast. A door near the passageway arched, was ripped out and a cloud of dust came down on the escalator,” an eyewitness named Alexei told Rossiya 24 TV channel.
“People started running, panicking, falling on each other,” he said.
The second blast at Park Kultury, which is six stops away from Lubyanka on the Sokolnicheskaya line, came at 0838 (0438 GMT). It struck at the back of the train as people were getting on board.
“I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body,” one passenger told the RIA news agency.
“People were yelling like hell,” he said. “There was a lot of smoke and within about two minutes everything was covered in smoke.”
The security services said the bomb that went off at Lubyanka station had an equivalent force of up to 4kg of TNT, while the bomb at Park Kultury was equivalent to 1.5-2kg of TNT.
The devices – believed to have been made with the powerful explosive, hexogen, which is more commonly known as RDX – were filled with chipped iron rods and screws for shrapnel.
“The whole city is a mess, people are calling each other, the operators can’t cope with such a huge number of calls at a time,” said Olga, a BBC News website reader in Moscow. “Those who witnessed the tragedy can’t get over the shock.”
Moscow’s Metro is one of the most-used underground railways in the world, carrying about 5.5 million passengers a day.
The system was partially disrupted following the attacks, but damage to the stations was minimal and both had reportedly reopened by the evening rush hour.
President Medvedev asked officials to increase security on the public transport system nationwide.
“What was being done needs to be substantially strengthened,” he said. “Look at this problem on the scale of the state, not only as it applies to a particular type of transport and a particular city.”
Deadliest attack
In a meeting with President Medvedev, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said its investigators believed the attacks had been carried out by “terrorist groups related to the North Caucasus”.
“This is likely to be our main conclusion, because fragments of the bodies of two female suicide bombers were found earlier at the scene of the incident and examinations show that these individuals came from the North Caucasus region,” he said.
Federal prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into “suspected acts of terrorism”.
The co-ordinated attacks were the deadliest in Moscow since February 2004, when 40 people were killed by a bomb on a packed metro train as it approached the Paveletskaya station.
Six months later, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside another station, killing 10 people. Both attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels.
Federal security forces have scored a series of successes against militants in the North Caucasus in recent weeks.
In February, at least 20 insurgents were killed in an operation by troops in Ingushetia.
Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned in February that “the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia… the war is coming to their cities”.
Last November, he said his Caucasian Mujahadeen had carried out a bombing that killed 26 people on board an express train travelling from Moscow to Russia’s second city of St Petersburg.
The attack came six months after President Medvedev declared an end to Russia’s “counter-terrorism operations” in Chechnya, in a bid to “further normalise the situation” after 15 years of conflict that claimed more than 100,000 lives and left it in ruins.
Despite this, the mainly Muslim republic continues to be plagued by violence, and over the past two years Islamist militants have stepped up attacks in neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), says it will not take part in the country’s first polls in two decades.
An NLD spokesman said the party had decided not to register because of “unjust” electoral laws.
The laws recently announced by the junta required the NLD to expel its detained leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, because she has a criminal record.
Its refusal to register means the NLD will no longer be legally recognised.
No date has been set for the elections, but the military has pledged to hold them this year.
The NLD won the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
The BBC’s South East Asia correspondent, Rachel Harvey, says the party’s decision to boycott the coming election, rather than ousting its charismatic leader in order to participate, was largely expected.
But the move will do nothing to ease international concern about the country’s already heavily-criticised political standards, she adds.
No compromise
The NLD’s decision followed a meeting of more than 100 party members in Rangoon.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the party had agreed that it could not participate in the elections under the new laws, which were announced in early March.
“After a vote of the committee of members, the NLD party has decided not to register as a political party because the election laws are unjust,” Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
The decision did not come as a surprise – last week Nyan Win said Ms Suu Kyi had told him the party should “not even think” of taking part in the polls because of the nature of the election laws.
If the NLD had chosen to take part, it would have implied its acceptance of the military’s constitution – something it has so far refused to do.
Some senior NLD leaders had argued the party risked rendering itself irrelevant if it chose not to contest the polls, even though that participation would be constrained by the military.
Win Tin, a veteran NLD member and one of Burma’s longest-serving political prisoners, described the meeting as a “life-or-death issue”.
“If we don’t register, we will not have a party and we will be without legs and limbs,” he said ahead of the announcement.
But Tin Oo, the party’s recently-released deputy leader, said that the decision did not signal the end for the NLD. “There are many peaceful ways to continue our activities,” he said.
The new election laws have been condemned by the UN, US and UK, among others.
The laws state that parties cannot have any members with criminal convictions – which rules out many top NLD leaders who have been jailed because of their political activism.
The laws also ban members of religious orders and civil servants from joining political parties. Buddhist monks were the driving force behind anti-junta protests in 2007.
Critics say both the election laws and the constitution under which the elections will be held are designed to ensure that the military retains a firm grip on power in Burma.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have agreed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty after months of negotiations.
The final agreement came in a phone call between the two leaders.
The deal replaces the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December. It will be signed in Prague on 8 April, the White House said.
Both sides agreed to cut their arsenals last year, but disagreements on verification have held up a deal.
In a speech in Prague last year Mr Obama set out his vision of moving towards a world without nuclear weapons.
The US is said to have more than 2,000 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, while Russia is believed to have more than 2,500.
The new agreement limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each.
The cuts are substantial – well over 30% for the Russians and around 25% for the Americans, whose current arsenal is smaller, says BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.
The timing and symbolism are crucial, enabling both countries to claim some moral high ground going into next month’s Washington Summit on nuclear security, and the critical talks in May aimed at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons around the world, our correspondent says.
Presidents Obama and Medvedev hope the new deal will increase pressure on Iran, in particular, to abandon any ambition to develop nuclear weapons, he adds.
“This landmark agreement advances the security of both nations, and reaffirms American and Russian leadership on behalf of nuclear security and global non-proliferation,” the White House said in a statement.
The agreement – called the Measures to Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms – replaces the Cold War-era Start treaty signed in 1991 and the Moscow Treaty signed in 2002.
It furthers Mr Obama’s commitment to “reset” relations with Moscow, the statement added.
President Obama explains how the reform bill he signed into law earlier in the morning will make a positive impact in the lives of Americans at an event at the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC. March 23, 2010.
An Indian boy runs across a parched field on World Water Day in Berhampur, Orissa state, India. Clean Water for a Healthy World is the theme for World Water Day 2010.
Photo; Biswaranjan Rout/AP
A man dives into the pollution section of the River Yamuna, in Delhi, India, to scavenge for ornaments and coins left by Hindu rituals. Officials say factories are ignoring regulations and making the water toxic
Replacing saturated fats with healthier options can cut the risk of heart disease by a fifth, a US study says.
The Harvard Medical School reports adds weight to the growing evidence about polyunsaturated fats, found in some fish and vegetable oils.
The team analysed the findings from eight previous studies, covering more than 13,000 people, in their research.
Experts said cutting down on saturated fats, found in butter and meat, was just one part of a healthy diet.
It is recommended that adults get no more than 11% of their energy from saturated fats.
This is because the fats raise the levels of bad cholesterol that block the arteries to the heart.
In comparison, polyunsaturated fats have the opposite effect by increasing the levels of good cholesterol.
The Harvard analysis suggested that for every 5% increase in polyunsaturated fat consumption there was a 10% fall in heart disease.
The average rise in uptake of such fats was 10% giving the overall figure of a fifth lower risk over a period of just over four years.
Replacement
Lead researcher Dariush Mozaffarian said there was always a risk cutting down on saturated fats meant they were replaced with other bad options such as trans-fats which are found in processed foods such as biscuits and cakes.
He added: “Our findings suggest that polyunsaturated fats would be a preferred replacement for saturated fats for better heart health.”
Victoria Taylor, from the British Heart Foundation, said the research reinforced existing recommendations to reduce saturated fats.
But she added: “What this study doesn’t consider is whether substitution with monounsaturated fats, such as olive and rapeseed oils, would have similar benefits so more research is needed to understand this area fully.
“While the fat content and profile of your diet is clearly important, it must also be seen as just one part of a heart healthy diet where a low saturated fat and salt intake is combined with the consumption of oily fish and at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.”
China says Google’s decision to stop censoring search results is “totally wrong” and violates its promise to abide by Chinese laws.
It came after the US-based giant said users in mainland China were redirected to an uncensored Hong Kong-based site.
Beijing said the decision should not affect US-China ties. And its firewalls are now censoring sensitive searches.
Google threatened to leave the Chinese market completely this year after cyber attacks which it traced back to China.
Google’s move to shut its mainland Chinese search service is a major blow to China’s international image, the BBC’s Damian Grammaticas reports from Beijing.
It means one of the world’s most prominent corporations is saying it is no longer willing to co-operate in China’s censorship of the internet, our correspondent says.
China has moved to further limit free speech on the web – Google’s own websites and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists have recently come under cyber attack.
‘Politicisation of commercial issues’
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters that Google’s move was an isolated act by a commercial company and should not affect China-US ties “unless politicised” by others.
The government would handle the Google case “according to the law”, he added.
Earlier an official in the Chinese government office which oversees the internet said: “Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks.”
“This is totally wrong. We’re uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Chen Yafei, a Chinese information technology specialist, told Reuters that Google should have accepted Chinese regulation if it wanted to operate in the country.
“Any company entering China should abide by Chinese laws,” he said.
“Google has its own credos. The fighting between Google and the Chinese government is their own business. Chinese internet users will have no regrets if Google withdraws.”
Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, said earlier that providing uncensored searches through the Hong Kong-based google.com.hk website was was “entirely legal” and would “meaningfully increase access to information for people in China”.
“We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services,” he wrote in a blog post.
The White House said it was dismayed that Google and China had not been able to resolve their differences.
Sophisticated censorship
One cause of the row was Google’s revelation on 12 January that it – and more than 20 other companies – had been the victim of a cyber attack that originated inside China.
During the attack Google lost some intellectual property and discovered that the attack was aimed at the GMail accounts of human rights activists. This attack led Google to “review the feasibility” of its Chinese operations.
In the blog entry posted on 22 March, Google said it would maintain an R&D and sales presence in China.
It said the size of its sales team would depend on how many Chinese people can get at the Hong Kong-based site. Currently about 700 of Google’s 20,000 strong workforce are based in China.
On Sunday, state media in China attacked Google for what they described as the company’s “intricate ties” with the US government.
Google provided US intelligence agencies with a record of its search engine results, Xinhua said.
While Google is the world’s most popular search engine, it is a distant number two in the Chinese market, which is dominated by Baidu.
However, because of the size and growth rate of China’s internet population, any loss of business there is likely to harm Google’s future growth prospects.
Analysts said that initially Google’s prospects would not be dented by shutting down Google.cn as it is responsible, at most, for 2% of its annual $24bn (£15.9bn) revenue.
China operates one of the most sophisticated and wide-reaching censorship systems in the world.
Thousands of police officers are employed to monitor web activity and many automated systems watch blogs, chat rooms and other sites to ensure that banned subjects, such as Tiananmen Square, are not discussed.
The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to pass a landmark healthcare reform bill at the heart of President Barack Obama’s agenda.
The bill passed by 219 votes to 212, with no Republican backing, after hours of fierce argument and debate.
It extends coverage to 32 million more Americans, and marks the biggest change to the US healthcare system in decades.
“We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things,” Mr Obama said in remarks after the vote.
“We proved that this government – a government of the people and by the people – still works for the people,” he added.
Mr Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.
The president has pulled off the most significant victory since his election 16 months ago, the BBC’s Paul Adams reports from Washington.
Historic vote
Lawmakers held two votes into the late hours of Sunday – the first on procedural issues, and the second to pass the Senate-approved version of the health reform bill.
When the vote count hit the magic number of 216 – the minimum needed to pass the bill – Democrats hugged and cheered in celebration and chanted: “Yes we can.”
Under the legislation, health insurance will be extended to nearly all Americans, imposes new taxes on the wealthy, and bars restrictive insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
The Republicans have vowed to continue resisting it.
They say the measures are unaffordable and represent a government takeover of the health industry.
“We have failed to listen to America,” said Republican party leader John Boehner.
Speaking moments before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the health care reform honoured the nation’s traditions.
“We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, healthcare for all Americans,” she said, referring to the government’s pension program and health insurance for the elderly established nearly 50 years ago.
Although Democrats pushed the measure through with three votes to spare, 34 members joined Republicans in voting against the bill, worried about paying a political price in the November mid-term elections.
In a last-minute move designed to win the support of a bloc of anti-abortion lawmakers, Mr Obama earlier on Sunday announced plans to issue an executive order assuring that healthcare reform will not change the restrictions barring federal money for abortion.
Next steps
The House must now vote on a package of reconciliation “fixes” sought by some Democrats to the legislation.
If the House approves the package of changes to the Senate bill, the Senate would take it up next week using a procedure known as reconciliation.
That would allow budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes – rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the final version of the Democrats’ healthcare plan will cut the federal deficit by $138bn (£92bn) over 10 years.
The non-partisan body said the proposed legislation would cost about $940bn (£626bn) over a decade.
The reforms will increase insurance coverage through tax credits for the middle class and expansion of the Medicaid programme for the poor.
They represent the biggest change in the US healthcare system since the creation in the 1960s of Medicare, the government-run scheme for Americans aged 65 or over.
From the BBC News.Watch the video report here.
A new ruling has made it easier for US companies to provide access to instant messaging, chat and social networking internet sites to Cuba.
It follows the Obama administration’s easing of internet sanctions against Cuba, Iran, and Sudan to help boost free speech and information.
However for many Cubans, internet access remains limited and expensive.
Michael Voss reports from Havana.
