Greece approve austerity as protesters, police clash

 

Greek lawmakers approved a new round of drastic austerity measures late Sunday after a long day of street battles between police and protesters left Athens buildings ablaze and the streets in chaos.

 

The deputies defied the 100,000-strong turnout in Athens and Thessaloniki and approved another round of stringent budget measures requested by Greece s international creditors in return for a multi-billion rescue fund.

 

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos denounced the violence in the debate leading up to the vote, saying the street battles around the parliament building had no place in a democracy.

 

Deputies “will assume their responsibility” and make the most important choice of “advancing with Europe and the single currency”, Papademos said shortly before the vote took place.

 

The fire brigade said 10 buildings were set ablaze in central Athens, most of them by petrol bombs hurled by masked protesters who have been a common presence at anti-austerity marches since the crisis began in 2010.

 

The health ministry said 54 people were injured in the day s events.

 

Fire engines were initially unable to intervene because of the size of the protest and the chaos that filled the streets around the parliament building, where lawmakers debated the austerity plan ahead of a late-night vote.

 

When protesters wearing gas masks tried to break through the riot police cordon around parliament, the standoff broke out into running battles, with tear gas canisters and rocks flying in opposite directions.

 

An estimated 80,000 protesters gathered in Athens, police said, matching the biggest turnouts achieved against earlier austerity packages last year, while around 20,000 also demonstrated in the second city of Thessaloniki.

 

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament it had to back the government-approved plan to unlock a 130 billion euro ($171 billion) rescue fund from the EU and the IMF, or Greece would be forced to default.

 

“The situation is very clear. Tonight at midnight before the markets open the Greek parliament must send the message that our nation can and will (support the debt deal),” Venizelos said.

 

The pressure on Greece is huge as leaders in the eurozone core countries express their exasperation with Athens and increasingly minimise the wider dangers of the country stumbling out of the single currency.
 

Afghan forces kill two Pakistanis

Some two dozen Afghan security force officers crossed the border on Friday and kidnapped the two Pakistanis, taking them back into Afghanistan, secretary of tribal affairs Naseebullah Bazai told AFP.

 

“Two Pakistanis were taken away by Afghan forces and shot dead inside Afghanistan,” Bazai said, adding that the government had called an immediate meeting with the Afghan Consulate General in Quetta.

 

“We have demanded immediate return of bodies and we shall lodge a strong protest with Afghanistan on Monday,” he said and added that the foreign ministry had been alerted about the incident.

 

Local intelligence officials confirmed the incident.

 

The southwestern Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital, borders Afghanistan and Iran and is rife with domestic insurgency as well as violence blamed on Taliban militants. –AFP
 

Pakistan textiles expect good gains after WTO trade waiver

 

It makes a change, but Pakistani textiles boss Asghar Hussain is pleased. A year ago, recession, power cuts and poor security forced him to sack most of his workers.

 

Now he s hoping for a major improvement in garment sales after the World Trade Organization approved unprecedented waivers allowing 75 Pakistani products duty free access to markets in Europe for two years.

 

The European Union is Pakistan s largest trading partner, receiving nearly 30 percent of its exports — worth almost 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion).

 

“It means we should expect good gains… as Europe is a huge market for Pakistani readymade garments,” said Hussain.

 

The signs are so good that Hussain has re-hired some workers, bringing his total staff to 50.

 

It is a fraction of the number he employed before devastating floods in 2010, but he expresses hope it could be a pointer to rosier times ahead.

 

The WTO passed the waivers as an unprecedented concession in order to help Pakistan recover from the floods, yet in 2011, the business climate had already started to improve.

 

Cotton prices rose to an all-time high of 229.67 cents a pound in March, and although they have since retreated to a modest 87 cents a pound, it is good news for Hussain, who says he exports 25 percent of his goods to Britain and Germany.

 

There was also a fall in Islamist and sectarian violence in the second half of 2011 and power cuts also diminished owing to priorities being given to industry.

 

“The situation isn t ideal. Cotton prices have decreased again, but power supply is better and industrial peace is there,” said Hussain.

 

Textiles dominate Pakistan s trade with the EU, accounting for more than 70 percent of its exports to the trading bloc.

 

The products chosen for the waiver, which needs to ratified at the WTO general council meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, would amount to around 900 million euros in import value, about 27 percent of EU imports from Pakistan.

 

Pakistani textiles are currently hit with a 7.19 percent import duty in the European Union. If approved, the waiver will apply until end-2013.

 

“Such concessions will bring life to our dying industry,” said Shehzad Salim, Chairmen of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA), without providing precise figures.

 

“Our value-added textile industry s exports have suffered a lot because of electricity and gas shortages, devaluation of rupee and many other factors. The EU s package is promising and seems a breather for a choked economy.”

 

Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, textiles advisor to the prime minister, revised down an initial estimate that the EU package may increase exports by 400 million euros, agreeing with independent analysts who forecast a slightly lower figure.

 

Most believe the waiver will equate to a 0.7 percent increase in Pakistan s overall exports and a 1.5 percent increase in its textile exports.

 

“This package would increase Pakistan s exports by $175 million a year,” said Furqan Punjani of Equity Research, a market research firm.

 

The package includes over 30 products of non-value added textiles — items such as gray cloth, cotton yarn and fabric — 23 of textile garments and the rest made up of home textiles, value-added leather, footwear, raw leather and ethanol and vegetables.

 

“We estimate an increase of 0.7 percent in Pakistan s overall $25 billion exports for the year while it would contribute 1.26 percent to our $13.8 billion textile exports,” said Baig.

 

“The increase is a good positive for our economy, yet it should not be called significant given the fact that a ceiling has been imposed on our 15 quality products.”

 

A.B. Shahid, an independent analyst, was more cautious.

 

“The WTO waiver is a positive development, yet it is too little to handle the increasing negatives the economy is accumulating,” he told AFP.

 

That caution is something that skilled garment worker Mohammad Wahid understands only too well. When he was sacked two years ago, he struggled to feed his family of five until he was rehired 10 months later.

 

“Life is better now,” he said.

 

“Concessions in Europe are good, yet no-one knows how long this job lasts. In Pakistan, the feeling of insecurity never bites. It stings fatally.”
 

More than 80 killed in Syria, most in Homs: activists

 

More than 80 people died in violence across Syria on Thursday, activists said, with the majority killed in a fierce assault by regime forces on the flashpoint central city of Homs.

 

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that of the 83 deaths nationwide, 63 people were killed in shelling and other violence in Homs province.

 

Fifty-three were killed in Homs city, which has been under a relentless bombardment by regime forces for the past six days, he told AFP.

 

Of these, Abdel Rahman said 35 civilians died in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs and 11 were killed when a shell slammed into their house in the protest hub s Inshaat district.

 

He added that seven other people died in the city s Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun neighbourhoods.

 

Ten more people, five from the same family, died in shelling and heavy gunfire as regime troops pushed forth with a more than week-long assault on the town of Zabadani near the Syrian capital, Abdel Rahman added.

 

“They are trying to choke the town before storming it,” he said. “Residents are fleeing to Bludan and other nearby villages.”

 

Elsewhere, seven security forces members were killed when rebels ambushed two buses near the southern town of Daraa, cradle of the revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

 

Among other deaths in the armed forces, a military colonel was killed at his home in Rastan, in Homs province.

 

Four other civilians, including a young woman, were killed in the northwestern province of Idlib, and a man died of wounds he suffered the day before in Daraa.
 

Ex-leader’s supporters seize some Maldives posts

 

The violence occurred Wednesday after the new president appealed for an end to the political turmoil roiling this Indian Ocean nation.

 

Residents told local reporters that as many as 10 police stations on small islands may have been seized. The Maldives is made up of nearly 1,200 scattered islands, some of which have just a few hundred residents.

 

Former leader Mohamed Nasheed Nasheed resigned Tuesday and later said he was forced out in a coup at gunpoint.–AP
 

Russia pushes Syria reforms as bloodshed mounts

 

Days after blocking a U.S.-backed peace plan at the U.N., senior Russian officials pushed for reforms Tuesday during an emergency meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, promoting a settlement to end the uprising without removing him from power.

 

Thousands of flag-waving government supporters cheered the Russians in the Syrian capital of Damascus, while to the north, Assad s forces pounded the opposition city of Homs underscoring the sharp divisions propelling the country toward civil war.

 

The violence has led to the most severe international isolation in more than four decades of Assad family rule, with country after country calling home their envoys.

 

France, Italy, Spain and Belgium pulled their ambassadors from Damascus, as did six Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia. Germany, whose envoy left the country this month, said he would not be replaced. The moves came a day after the U.S. closed its embassy in Syria and Britain recalled its ambassador.

 

Turkey, once a strong Assad supporter and now one of his most vocal critics, added its voice to the international condemnation, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying his country cannot remain silent about massacres in Syria. He said Turkey would “launch a new initiative with countries that stand by the Syrian people instead of the regime.”

 

His comments reflect a growing movement by the U.S., Europe and countries in the region to organize a coalition of nations to back Syria s opposition, though what kind of support remains unclear. Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for “friends of democratic Syria” to unite and rally against Assad s regime.

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew into Damascus on Tuesday, accompanied by his foreign security chief, to try to boost a plan that would keep Assad in power, even though many prominent members of the opposition reject that entirely.

 

“It s clear that efforts to stop the violence should be accompanied by the beginning of dialogue among the political forces,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass. “Today we received confirmation of the readiness of the president of Syria for this work.”

 

The visit was also a sign that Moscow wanted to get a firsthand assessment of the situation on the ground in Syria
 and the raucous welcome the diplomats received from thousands of regime supporters appeared aimed at showing that Assad s grip is firm, at least in Damascus.

 

Syria has been a key Russian ally since Soviet times, and Moscow remains a major arms supplier to Damascus even as Assad unleashes his forces to crush not only peaceful protesters, but army defectors who are fighting the regime.

 

The U.N. estimates the government crackdown has killed more than 5,400 people since March, making Syria s conflict one of the deadliest of the Arab Spring. Hundreds more are believed to have died since the U.N. released that figure in January, but the chaos in the country has made it impossible for the world body to update its figures.

 

Tuesday s visit by Lavrov and intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov was evidence that Russia does not want to be seen as giving Assad a free hand to crush his opponents in the wake of Saturday s veto at the U.N. Security Council.

 

Both Russia and China blocked a Western- and Arab-backed resolution supporting calls for Assad to hand over some powers as a way to defuse the 11-month-old crisis.

 

Russia has opposed any U.N. call that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or regime change. Russia and China also used their veto powers in October to block an attempt to condemn the violence in Syria.

 

On Tuesday, Moscow delivered its own message to Syria, calling on all sides to hold a meaningful dialogue.

 

“Necessary reforms must be implemented in order to address legitimate demands of the people striving for a better life,” Lavrov told Assad, according to ITAR-Tass.”
 

Assad’s wife ‘defends’ Syria crackdown

LONDON: The British-born wife of Syria’s president has spoken in support of her husband for the first time since the 11-month uprising against his regime began, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.

“The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role,” The Times quoted Asma al-Assad as saying in an email sent via an intermediary from her office.

The email is her first communication with the international media since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime began, The Times said.

“The First Lady’s very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities she has long been involved with and rural development as well as supporting the President as needed,” the email reportedly continued.

“These days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. She listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence.” it added.

The statement came after Syrian forces pounded protest hubs with rockets and shells, killing 79 civilians on Monday, according to activists, and as Britain recalled its ambassador to Syria “for consultations”.

Unlike her husband, a minority Alawite, the 36-year-old First Lady is a Sunni Muslim who originally hails from Homs — the central Syrian city rocked by some of the worst carnage since the revolt began in March last year.

Stylish and charismatic and with a degree from King’s College in London where she was raised, the former investment banker had helped promote the soft side of an iron-fisted regime.

But she has virtually disappeared from the public eye since the revolt broke out and had drawn criticism for her silence on a crisis that has left more than 5,000 people dead in her country.

Last month she appeared with two of her children to support her husband of 12 years as he spoke at a pro-regime rally, but did not speak herself. AGENCIES

Egypt speeds up preparation for presidential vote

 

Egypt s military leader has told electoral officials to speed up preparations for presidential elections after a new eruption of street protests demanding that the ruling generals move more quickly to hand power to an elected government.

 

The military rulers had previously promised to hold presidential elections for their successor by the end of June. But Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council, on Monday asked election commission officials “to quickly finish legal procedures for presidency nominations,” according to Egypt s state-run news agency MENA.

 

Election Commission Chief Abdel-Moez Ibrahim told The Associated Press that based on Tantawi s orders, nominations for president would be accepted March 10, a month earlier than the original date. He didn t give a date for elections, but it was an indication that the vote may be held about a month ahead of schedule.

 

The ruling council pledged “to hand power to an elected civilian authority in a democratic, transparent and honest way.”
Relations between the pro-democracy movement behind Egypt s uprising last year and the ruling generals who took power from ousted President Hosni Mubarak have grown increasingly hostile, punctuated by bouts of rioting, clashes and killings. The protesters have long called for an immediate transfer of power to a civilian authority and accuse the generals of bungling what was supposed to be a transition to democracy.

 

Egypt has already held parliamentary elections which were the freest and the fairest in decades and propelled Islamists to dominance.

 

The protests against the military rulers erupted anew after a deadly riot at a soccer stadium in Port Said on Thursday, when 74 people were killed. Protesters accused the police of doing nothing to stop the violence and that set off a new cycle of clashes that has killed 13 people in five days. One protester was killed Monday in Cairo, said Dr. Malek el-Assal at a field hospital.

 

On top of the domestic turmoil, Egypt is also embroiled in a new crisis with the United States, which is threatening to cut off $1.5 billion in annual aid because of a crackdown on Egyptian and foreign nonprofit groups promoting democracy and human rights. The ruling military accuses the groups of using foreign funding to foment unrest.

 

The crisis escalated on Sunday when authorities referred 43 employees of nonprofit groups, including 19 Americans, to trial. On Monday, they released names of the 19 Americans who will be tried, including the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Out of the 19, only six are in the country.

 

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday that several more activists have joined the ones who sought shelter at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo as the crisis developed. She said the embassy is extending an invitation to all who are affected “to give them some time to consider their options with their lawyers.” She did not say how many activists are at the embassy.

 

Washington has reacted angrily to the case, which started with raids last month on the offices of the groups. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has warned it could jeopardize U.S. aid to Egypt, which amounts to more than $1 billion a year.

 

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said the Americans involved in the dispute have been working to build a more democratic society in Egypt and “have done absolutely nothing wrong.”

 

She told “CBS This Morning” that U.S. officials have been in close touch with the Egyptian government, including “in the last days and hours.” She said the situation “has serious consequences for our bilateral relationship.”

 

Laws requiring local and foreign civil society groups to register with the government have long been a source of contention, with rights activists accusing authorities of using legal provisions to go after groups critical of their policies. Offenders can be sentenced to prison if convicted.

 

Legally, the Social Solidarity Ministry must approve any foreign funds funneled to local or foreign civil society groups in Egypt.

 

The investigation into the work of the nonprofit groups is closely linked to the political turmoil that has engulfed the nation since the ouster one year ago of Mubarak, a U.S. ally who ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years.

 

The military rulers charge that the groups fund and support anti-government protests and claim “foreign hands” are behind the opposition to their rule. They frequently depict the protesters as receiving funds from abroad in a plot to destabilize the country.

 

In unrest on Monday, witnesses and field hospital doctors said police escalated their crackdown on protesters starting at dawn. Armored vehicles with police swept through streets near the Interior Ministry in downtown Cairo, shooting at protesters with birdshot and tear gas, witnesses said. One protester was killed and nearly 200 were injured by birdshot.

 

During a heated parliament session, a lawmaker held an empty case of bullets to show police was firing at protesters despite top security officials  denials.

 

At midday, volunteers formed human cordons at the entrances of streets leading to the ministry, which the military had already blocked with concrete walls to prevent renewed clashes. The Interior Ministry oversees the hated police and has been a frequent target of protests.

 

Crime rate climbs amid Brazilian police strike

 

Troops locked down the Brazilian city of Salvador on Sunday as an elite unit prepared to besiege the legislature and arrest armed police officers whose strike action has sent homicides spiraling.

 

A force of 2, 600 army, navy and federal police was ordered to quell unrest in the northeastern state of Bahia after leading police officers went on strike on Wednesday demanding higher pay, weeks before the annual Carnival.

 

Homicides have skyrocketed since the strike. State officials said 81 murders were reported over the past five days, more than twice the number for the same period last year. Assaults and store lootings also increased.

 

“There are 40 men of an elite group that arrived to capture the strikers,” a state government source said, as soldiers patrolled key intersections in the city and kept watch over its popular beaches.

 

The head of the state legislature, Marcelo Nilo, urged the strikers to leave the building before midnight Sunday. The site “cannot be used as a refuge for those fleeing justice,” Nilo said.

 

Scores of armed policemen demanding an amnesty have been occupying part of the building since the strike began, Bahia state government spokesman Robinson Almeida told AFP.

 

“The government knows that 99 percent of us are armed. If they try to evict us there will be a bloodbath,” an unidentified police officer told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

 

One strike leader was arrested on Sunday on charges of “incitement to violence, forming gangs and theft of public property,” officials said. Arrest warrants were outstanding against 11 other leaders.
Local residents were fearful.

 

“For the last two days I have not left my apartment,” Italian businessman Marco Baghin told reporters. “It made no sense to risk being attacked or robbed.” Bahia Governor Jaques Wagner has declared the strike illegal and asked for federal help.

 

Brazil s top army commander, General Enzo Martins, told the Agencia Brasil that 900 more soldiers were being deployed to Bahia to help provide additional security.

 

The strike and the spike in violence came just two weeks before millions of tourists were expected to arrive for Brazil s premier tourist event, the Carnival.

 

Bahia, Brazil s fourth most populous state with a population of 13.6 million, is an important center for Carnival celebrations.
“This strike, in the way it is being carried out, is unacceptable,” Brazilian Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said.
Crime fears were having a dire economic affect.

 

Pedro Galvao, president of the Association of Travel Agencies of Bahia, told Brazil s O Globo newspaper that 10 percent of tourists had already canceled their air and hotel reservations for the Carnival.

 

Some 10,000 police officers, or one third of the Bahia police force, were on strike, demanding a 50 percent pay raise,

 

better work conditions, and no retaliation, the state Public Safety Department said. The average wage for a state officer is about $867 a month.

 

Bahia police also went on strike in 2001 for one week demanding a pay raise.
 

PM Gilani leaves for 3-day Qatar visit

 

Gilani heads to Qatar to discuss Afghan peace efforts in the ultra-rich Gulf state where the Taliban and US officials have begun preliminary contacts.

 

Pakistan, which last week sought to reach out to Afghanistan following a period of particularly bad relations over violence plaguing both countries, insists that any process to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan be Afghan-led.

 

President Hamid Karzai is believed to have felt sidelined by contacts between the United States and the Taliban, who are leading an increasingly deadly insurgency against his government and 130,000 US-led foreign troops.

 

Islamabad has officially billed Gilani s three-day visit to Qatar as an opportunity to boost ties and maximise trade.

 

“He will meet among others the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said.

 

“The prime minister s visit is aimed at opening new vistas for enhanced mutual cooperation and activating the existing structured mechanisms and institutional linkages,” he added.

 

 

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