Gay protest broken up in Moscow

Gay protest broken up in Moscow

Police in Russia have broken up a protest by gay rights activists in Moscow, staged to coincide with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

BBC

Some 30 campaigners had gathered near a university in defiance of a ban on their march and many were dragged away by police when they shouted slogans.

British gay rights activist, Peter Tatchell, was among those detained.

A counter-demonstration by nationalist and religious groups was allowed to go ahead elsewhere in the Russian capital.

Equal rights

The gay rights group had been waving flags and chanting slogans demanding equal rights and condemning the treatment of gays and lesbians in Russia.

At least 20 were arrested as police moved in to disperse the protest.

As he was being taken away by police, Mr Tatchell shouted: "This shows the Russian people are not free."

Speaking from a police station, he later told the BBC: "The way the police violently broke up our peaceful protest is an indication of a drift toward authoritarianism that is affecting all Russians."

'Satanic'

The organiser of the gathering and leading campaigner, Nikolai Alexeyev, was also detained at the event, which took place in the south-west of the city.

The Eurovision Song Contest traditionally has a large gay following and activists in Russia had seen its staging in Moscow as a great opportunity to highlight what they say is deep prejudice, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent, Richard Galpin.

There have been many attacks on members of the gay community - they also say they risk being sacked by their employers and shunned by their families.

The Moscow mayor Yuri Luzkhov has described gay parades as "satanic".

Anti-gay groups had threatened to take matters into their own hands if the police failed to stop the protest.

Several dozen nationalist and religious protesters earlier staged an anti-gay march near central Moscow.

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Peru 'bar gay people from police'

Peru 'bar gay people from police'

Peru has announced that it will ban homosexuals from the police force for damaging the image of the institution.

The law is one of several new regulations put forward by the Interior Minister, Mercedes Cabanillas.

Ms Cabanillas is trying to shake up the institution, which has a dismal reputation among the general public.

But critics say some of the new laws, especially those regarding sexual orientation or activity, are unconstitutional.

The law states that any police officer who has sexual relations with someone of the same gender will be indefinitely suspended from the police force.

The same applies to officers who have extra-marital relations - their actions are also deemed to cause scandal and denigrate the institution's image.

They are among a raft of new regulations, which also include provision for sacking police officers who accept bribes, organise or take part in strikes and protest marches.

Ms Cabanillas' strong-arm tactics have earned her some public backing and the nickname "Thatcher" in the Peruvian media, after the former Conservative British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Traditional machismo means openly homosexual police men are extremely scarce, but gay rights activists are growing in strength and this new law will provoke a debate.

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Obama defends abuse photos U-turn

Obama defends abuse photos U-turn

The release of more photos of prisoner abuse by US soldiers is "of no benefit" and may inflame opinion against the US, President Barack Obama has said.

The pictures were not "sensational" and every case of abuse had been dealt with by the military, with action taken where appropriate, he said.

The White House previously said it would not fight a court ruling ordering the release of the pictures.

US civil liberties activists accused Mr Obama of adopting Bush-era policies.

The pictures were due to be released by 28 May, according to the court order.

The order was issued by an appeals court in September 2008, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

'Mockery'

Barack Obama explains why he doesn't want the release of the photos

The US defence department had been preparing to release the images, reportedly taken in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the dispute could now end up before the US Supreme Court.

Speaking outside the White House, Mr Obama said he would not tolerate the abuse of prisoners.

However, he had, he said, directed his legal team to fight the court-ordered release of the photos because he was concerned they might "inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in greater danger".

The Pentagon had not sought to conceal anything, he added, and appropriate action had been taken against individuals involved in abuses. The president had been advised against publication by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Centcom commander Gen David Petraeus and the commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno, a Pentagon official said.

The ACLU said the president's "decision not to release the photographs makes a mockery of President Obama's promise of transparency and accountability".

"It's absolutely essential that these photos be released so the public can examine for itself the torture and abuse that was conducted in its name," ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said.

The human rights group Amnesty International also criticised the president's decision, saying human beings had been "tortured and denied basic rights".

But the switch was welcomed by Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent.

"The fact that the president reconsidered the decision is a strength not a weakness," they said in a joint statement.

The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says that although President Obama has insisted on the need for open government, it appears that on this issue he has been persuaded that - for now at least - such transparency risks doing more harm than good.

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Leaders meet over power plant row

Leaders meet over power plant row

The presidents of Brazil and Paraguay are meeting to try to resolve a dispute over the Itaipu hydro-electric plant, one of the biggest in the world.

The two countries run the project jointly. But Paraguay uses less power than Brazil.

It says it is obliged to sell its surplus to Brazil at an unfair price.

President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay wants to renegotiate the deal, a demand opposed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Source of tension

Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America and its president comes to Brazil keen to resolve what has been a long-running source of tension between the two sides.

The Paraguayan government believes it is not getting a fair share of the profits from the massive power project.

As the smaller of the two countries it only takes a limited amount of the electricity produced at the plant.

Under the terms of the Itaipu treaty which was negotiated in the 1970s, Paraguay says it is obliged to sell its surplus energy to Brazil at prices well below what it could get on the open market.

The Brazilians say they covered most of the cost of constructing this vast project, and argue that their smaller neighbour has to pay its fair share.

However the debt is huge and Paraguay has threatened to pursue an international court case to dispute the amount involved.

In recent weeks Brazilian ministers have been working on proposals to resolve these contentious issues, but so far there is no sign that what is on offer is enough to bridge the gap between both sides.

President Lugo made it a key part of his election campaign that his country would renegotiate the treaty of Itaipu, arguing that control over the country's energy was a question of national sovereignty.

For the moment talks are continuing, but with little sign of agreement, it may be one for the lawyers after all.

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Deadly floods strike northern Brazil

Deadly floods strike northern Brazil

SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNN) At least 18 people have died in heavy flooding across 11 states in northern and northeastern Brazil, according to a statement Tuesday from Brazil's national civil defense service.

Severe rains and mudslides prompted Brazil's Ministry of National Integration to distribute more than 1,100 tons of food across six states -- Amazonas, Piaui, Maranhao, Para, Paraiba and Acre.

In Maranhao, 22,000 people have been left homeless and 25,000 had to flee their homes, authorities said. Forty-two municipalities in the state have declared a state of emergency. Seven people in the state have died in flooding, according to a statement from the Maranhao civil defense authority.

In Ceara the death toll was at seven, authorities said. More than 11,000 people are in public shelters and another 15,000 fled to friends' or relatives' homes. Six municipalities have declared a state of emergency, according to a statement from Ceara civil defense authority.

In Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, four people died Tuesday in flooding, authorities said. They were killed when three buildings collapsed after a landslide in the Piraja area.

In Para, at least 1,000 people had to flee their homes. A statement from the Para civil defense authority said 28 municipalities have declared a state of emergency.

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Obama hails unity over al-Qaeda

Obama hails unity over al-Qaeda

US President Barack Obama has said after meeting his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts that they are united in the goal of defeating al-Qaeda.

Da BBC

Speaking in Washington, Mr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies.

He also pledged greater resources to help civilians in both countries and try to avoid civilian casualties.

Dozens of civilians are thought to have died in US air strikes on Taleban targets in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she "deeply, deeply" regretted the deaths, adding that the US would work hard to avoid such "loss of innocent life".

Meanwhile, Pakistan's army was engaged in bloody operations to reverse a Taleban advance in its northern provinces on Wednesday.

The bottom line at the summit was more American troops for Afghanistan and more aid for Pakistan, with the Obama administration deepening its involvement in the search for stability, the BBC's Kevin Connolly reports from Washington.

'Solid support'

Mr Obama said his counterparts fully appreciated the gravity of the security threats posed by militants.

America, he said, was on the side of people in Pakistan and Afghanistan and had a comprehensive strategy for the region, with civilian and military components.

He said he expected more setbacks and violence to come, but there was a lasting commitment to defeat al-Qaeda.

The US would, he added, offer unwavering support to the governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"We have learned time and again that our security is shared," Mr Obama added. "It is a lesson that we learned most painfully on 9/11, and it is a lesson that we will not forget."

Senior US officials have expressed uncertainty over the commitment of the military in Pakistan, a nuclear power, to defeating militants based in its border region.

Speaking earlier after talks with Mrs Clinton, President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan would help Afghanistan and the US to fight the threat posed by the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

"For no matter how long it takes and what it takes, democracies will deliver, my democracy will deliver," he told reporters.

"People of Pakistan stand with the people of the United States and the people of Afghanistan."

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Argentina priests in drug protest

Argentina priests in drug protest

Hundreds of priests in Argentina have highlighted their concern after two of their number received death threats.

Some 353 Catholic priests in Buenos Aires signed a document in support of the men, who work with addicts in some of the city's poorest neighbourhoods.

The Church last month published a report highlighting a huge increase in drug addiction and dealing in the city.

The report said hard drugs, like Paco - a kind of crack cocaine - are sold openly and often near schools.

The report added that there was is a lack of political will to deal with the results.

"The drug trade has been like a tsunami breaking over us," said Padre Pepe de Paola, one of the priests who has received death threats.

"Heavy drug trafficking started in 2001 when the Argentine economy crashed and we haven't been able to cope."

One dose of Paco costs around $1.50 (£1) and children as young as 12 are becoming addicts, taking up to 40 doses a day.

The Church says there is a lack of spending on education and decent schooling where children can develop their own way in life.

It adds that Argentina as a whole has a disregard for the problems of the young and poor.

Most of those who are making money from drug trafficking, the document says, do not live in poor neighbourhoods but in rich ones.

Two years ago, government figures said there were 27,000 addicts in greater Buenos Aires, but recent research estimates this figure has doubled.

"It's going to take a long time, and it's not just one government who will need to work on this, it's got to be a long-term approach," said Padre Pepe de Paola.

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