Photo: AP Kyrgyz officials say at least 40 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in clashes between police and anti-government protesters in the capital, Bishkek.
Attempts to contact 4 missing miners prove fruitless. Workers drill a new ventilation hole at site where 25 men were killed Monday; governor says there's only 'a sliver of hope' of finding survivors.
Washington Post (blog) - Charles Lane - 25 minutes ago
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's proclamation declaring April Confederate History Month notes that in April 1861, “the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America.
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By Al Bello, Getty Images By Douglas Robson, Special for USA TODAY Martina Navratilova, the pioneering paragon of fitness who played competitively on the women's pro tour until nearly 50, is being treated for breast cancer.
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OSLO – A Catholic bishop in Norway who resigned last year did so after admitting he had molested a child about 20 years earlier, when he was a priest, church officials said Wednesday.
The announcement came after a Norwegian newspaper pressed for an explanation for why Georg Mueller, a 58-year-old German, had stepped down unexpectedly as bishop in the western city of Trondheim in June 2009. At the time, Vatican and Norwegian church officials gave only vague reasons for Mueller's departure.
It was the first case in the current wave of sexual abuse allegations — and accusations of cover-ups — against Catholic clergy in which a bishop stepped down after admitting to having molested minors.
The revelation rocked the small Catholic community in Norway, a predominantly Lutheran country, and follows scandals in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark that are erupting after decades of abuse cases in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and other countries.
Mueller's successor, Bishop Bernt Eidsvig, said in a statement that the details surrounding the case had been kept quiet at the request of the victim. Church officials said it happened at "the beginning of the 90s" — before Mueller became a bishop in 1997 — and no other allegations had come to light.
Mueller was removed from all pastoral duties and underwent therapy after he admitted the abuse, Eidsvig said.
"He will never again be given a position in the church," Eidsvig told Adresseavisen, the Trondheim daily newspaper that broke the story.
Adresseavisen said the victim was an altar boy. Eidsvig didn't give any details, saying only that the victim was now "well over age."
The church in Norway said it made the case public at the request of Cardinal William Levada, who oversees the office that handles cases of alleged abuse by priests.
Adresseavisen wrote Wednesday that it has for the past year repeatedly requested details about Mueller's resignation, which the church had explained only in vague terms.
It's too late for the case, which came to the Vatican's attention in January of last year, to be tried in civil court because the statute of limitations in Norway has passed, Eidsvig said.
Mueller, who first took up a post in Trondheim in 1981, quit his post on June 8, 2009, and relocated to Rome, according to the Web site of the German branch of his order, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The site said his resignation cited a section of canon law that allows a bishop to quit early if he is unable to carry out his duties for health or other reasons.
Father Heinz-Josef Catrein confirmed that the order, whose German section he heads, was aware of the reason for Mueller's resignation, but said it had no power to handle the case.
"As a bishop, he was and is under the jurisdiction of the Holy See," Catrein told The Associated Press by telephone from Lahnstein, north of Frankfurt.
Since Mueller left Norway, he spent time in Germany and Italy — foremost in Rome — Catrein added. This included several weeks of psychiatric care in a German clinic that Catrein declined to identify.
"I don't know where he is now. I get the feeling he doesn't want to be found," he said.
A priest at the order's monastery in nearby Arnstein also was unaware of Mueller's whereabouts.
At the Rome headquarters of Mueller's order, the Rev. Alfred Bell said the bishop had "spent some time in Jerusalem" after resigning. Bell said he didn't know Mueller's current whereabouts but added that the bishop hadn't done any kind of ministry work since resigning.
Bell is the order's postulator, the official who promotes the sainthood cause of members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Bell shepherded the cause of the Rev. Damien de Veutser, a 19th-century Belgian missionary from the Congregation who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii and became a saint last year.
Addresseavisen reported that the church paid the victim between 400,000 and 500,000 kroner ($67,000-$84,000) in reparations. Andreas Dingstad, a spokesman for Norway's Catholic Church, told The Associated Press he didn't know whether the church had paid reparations.
The Catholic Church in Norway had previously said it had investigated two separate claims of abuse from the 1950s.
Church officials estimate there are more than 100,000 Catholics in Norway, a mostly Lutheran country of 4.9 million people.
In neighboring Denmark, also predominantly Lutheran, the Catholic Church launched an investigation this week into claims of clerical abuse dating back several decades. The panel is looking into 17 cases mostly dating to the 1960s and 70s.
AP – People carry an injured man near the main government building in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Wednesday, April …
By PETER LEONARD, Associated Press Writer Peter Leonard, Associated Press Writer – 20 mins ago
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Thousands of protesters furious over corruption and spiraling utility bills seized internal security headquarters, a state TV channel and other levers of power in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday after government forces fatally shot dozens of demonstrators and wounded hundreds.
A revolution in the Central Asian nation was proclaimed by leaders of the opposition, who have called for the closure of a U.S. air base outside the capital that serves as a key transit point for supplies essential to the war in nearby Afghanistan.
The U.S. State Department said transport operations at the Manas base were "functioning normally."
This mountainous former Soviet republic erupted when protesters called onto the streets by opposition parties for a day of protest began storming government buildings in the capital, Bishkek, and clashed with police. Groups of elite officers opened fire.
The Health Ministry said 40 people had died and more than 400 were wounded. Opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva said at least 100 people had died after police opened fire with live ammunition.
Crowds of demonstrators took control of the state TV building and looted it, then marched toward the Interior Ministry, according to Associated Press reporters on the scene, before changing direction and attacking a national security building nearby. They were repelled by security forces loyal to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whose whereabouts were a mystery.
The opposition and its supporters appeared to gain the upper hand after nightfall, and an Associated Press reporter saw opposition leader Keneshbek Duishebayev sitting in the office of the chief of the National Security Agency, Kyrgyzstan's successor to the Soviet KGB. Duishebayev issued orders on the phone to people Duishebayev said were security agents. He also gave orders to a uniformed special forces commando.
Duishebayev told the AP that "we have created units to restore order" on the streets. He said Bakiyev may have fled to Osh, the country's second-largest city, where he has a home.
Since coming to power in 2005 on a wave of street protests known as the Tulip Revolution, Bakiyev had ensured a measure of stability, but many observers say he has done so at the expense of democratic standards while enriching himself and his family. He gave his relatives, including his son, top government and economic posts and faced the same accusations of corruption and cronyism that led to the ouster of his predecessor.
Over the past two years, Kyrgyz authorities have clamped down on free media, and opposition activists say they have routinely been subjected to physical intimidation and targeted by politically motivated criminal investigations.
Many of the opposition leaders once were allies of Bakiyev, in some cases former ministers or diplomats.
The anti-government forces in Kyrgyzstan were in disarray until recent widespread anger over the 200 percent hike in electricity and heating gas bills helped unify them and galvanize support. Many of Wednesday's protesters were men from poor villages, including some who had come to the capital to live and work on construction sites. Already struggling, they were outraged by the utility bill hikes and were easily stirred up by opposition claims of corruption in Bakiyev's circle. Kyrgyz are secular Muslims, and Islamist sentiments do not appear to have played a role in the uprising.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. deplored the violence and urged all to respect the rule of law.
"We identify with the concerns that the people of Kyrgyzstan have about their future," but those concerns should be dealt with peacefully, Crowley said, adding that the Manas base was operating normally.
Opposition leaders have said they want it shuttered because it could put their country at risk if the United States becomes involved in a military conflict with Iran. Closing it would also please Russia, which has opposed the basing of U.S. troops on former Soviet turf.
Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov on Wednesday morning accused the opposition of having Russia's support. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denied any involvement in the uprising.
"Russian officials have absolutely nothing to do with this," he said in the city of Smolensk. "Personally, these events caught me completely by surprise."
The unrest began Tuesday in the western city of Talas, where demonstrators stormed a government office and held a governor hostage, prompting a government warning of "severe" repercussions for continuing unrest.
The opposition called nationwide protests for the next day and police in Bishkek at first used rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and concussion grenades to try to control crowds of young men clad in black who were chasing police officers, beating them up and seizing their arms, trucks and armored personnel carriers.
Some protesters then tried to use a personnel carrier to ram the gates of the government headquarters, known as the White House. Many of the protesters threw rocks, but about a half dozen young protesters shot Kalashnikovs into the air from the square in front of the building.
"We don't want this rotten power!" protester Makhsat Talbadyev said, as he and others in Bishkek waved opposition party flags and chanted: "Bakiyev out!"
Some 200 elite police began firing, pushing the crowd back from the government headquarters.
Protesters set fire to the prosecutor general's office in the city center, and a giant plume of black smoke billowed into the sky.
Police often appeared outnumbered and overwhelmed, sometimes retreating when faced with protesters — including many armed with rocks and others who appeared to be carrying automatic weapons as they marched.
At one point police fled across the square from a large group of stone-throwing demonstrators. In another street, a small group of police took refuge behind their shields as one of their colleagues lay unconscious at their feet, his face smeared with blood.
In another area, two policemen, their faces bloodstained, tried to escape as a protester aimed kicks in their direction.
Groups of protesters then set out across Bishkek, attacking more government buildings.
An Associated Press reporter saw dozens of wounded demonstrators lining the corridors of one of Bishkek's main hospitals, a block away from the main square, where doctors were unable to cope with the flood of patients. Weeping nurses slumped over dead bodies, doctors shouted at each other and the floors were covered in blood.
Opposition activist Shamil Murat told the AP that Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev had been beaten to death by a mob in Talas. The respected Fergana.ru Web site reported later that Kongatiyev was badly beaten but had not died, saying its own reporter had witnessed the beating.
Unrest also broke out for a second day in Talas and spread to the southern city of Naryn.
Another 10,000 protesters stormed police headquarters in Talas. The protesters beat up the interior minister, Kongatiyev, and forced him to call his subordinates in Bishkek and call off the crackdown on protesters, a correspondent for the local affiliate of U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said.
Some 5,000 protesters seized Naryn's regional administration building and installed a new governor, opposition activist Adilet Eshenov said. At least four people were wounded in clashes, including the regional police chief, he said.
In the eastern region of Issyk-Kul, protesters seized the regional administration building and declared they installed their governor, the Ata-Meken opposition party said on its Web site.
At least 10 opposition leaders were arrested overnight and were being held at the security headquarters in Bishkek, opposition lawmaker Irina Karamushkina said.
At least one of them, Temir Sariyev, was freed Wednesday by protesters.
The leaders of the four other former Soviet republics in the region were certain to be watching events in Bishkek with concern, but the authoritarian, and in some cases dictatorial, natures of their governments would likely allow them to squash any attempts to challenge their rules.
Live online debate: Germany Germany's current-account surplus contributes to the strains that threaten the stability of the euro. Should Germany rethink its economic model? Tell us what you think and cast your vote Full article
NEWSNIGHT - Wednesday 7 April 2010 at 10.30pm on BBC Two Topic: the economist, biodun iginla, bb
============================================================ by Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London, UK ============================================================
------------------------------------------------------------ Presented by Jeremy Paxman ------------------------------------------------------------
The great wash up clean up is underway with the leaders of all three main parties using day two of the campaign to outline how they would reform a scandal-hit parliament.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would overhaul the system, introducing fixed term parliament and promising to hold a referendum on changing how MPs are elected and a replacement chamber for the House of Lords.
Conservative leader David Cameron said his party would go further in giving voters the right to kick out MPs who break the rules.
And Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's proposals include a cap on political donations.
But for the electorate is such talk a case of too little too late?
How can the politicians build up public trust while at the same time tussling for votes, and will the proposals really take the heat out of public anger over the expenses scandal?
Tonight in the studio we bring together three senior politicians and three members of the public, who feel ignored by politicians and not served by the system, for a live debate.
We will also examine the apparent rift between Afghanistan's government and the West.
Today President Hamid Karzai's spokesman was forced to give assurances that Afghanistan is committed to the fight against the Taliban, denying published reports that the Afghan leader threatened to join the Taliban unless the US and its allies ease up on pressure to reform.
Mark Urban takes a look at the rising tensions and we will be talking to the US state department.
And, move over Alan Partridge - we have the first film from our very own Motorway Man, Stephen Smith, as he moves into the Donington Park services on the M1 - a surprising election battleground.
17 are dead after clash between Kyrgyz protesters, police
A clash between anti-government protesters and police in Kyrgyzstan's capital of Bishkek turned violent today, leaving a reported 142 wounded and at least 17 dead, as Kyrgyz soldiers opened fire on demonstrators. Protesters had already taken control of some government buildings and briefly held a state-run television station. Reuters (4/7) , BBC (4/7)
He's prone to tirades, he can be very emotional, act impulsively. In fact some of the palace insiders say that he has a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan's most profitable exports."
Former UN Deputy Special Representative to Afghanistan Peter Galbraith. Read the full story.
"These next few weeks are a marathon of activity in nuclear security and non-proliferation. The new American Nuclear Posture Review dropped yesterday, which for the first time specifically renounced the development of new nuclear weapons and as their use as a deterrent against chemical and biological attacks."
Ban to push for end to nuclear weapons United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will push world leaders to endorse complete nuclear disarmament at an upcoming summit in Washington, D.C. Ban believes a new agreement between Russia and the U.S. to reduce nuclear stockpiles and new limitations of nuclear weapon use by U.S. President Barack Obama will help pave the way. The Washington Post/Reuters (4/6)
Rogue uranium mines worry UN Dozens of countries continue to ignore a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at restricting the trade in uranium. UN officials consider the noncompliance as a major gap in efforts to minimize the threat of nuclear terrorism and limit worldwide nuclear proliferation. The Washington Post/The Associated Press (4/4)
Iran sanctions are not on Security Council's April agenda Though U.S. President Barack Obama said that he hoped to see new sanctions against Iran approved within weeks, the UN Security Council failed to include sanctions on its agenda for April. Experts say that it may take weeks to work out the language of a resolution, presuming that China can be persuaded not to veto any sanctions against Iran. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (4/6)
Ban calls for calm in Central Asian dam dispute UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for Central Asian countries to dial back the debate surrounding a hydroelectric dam project in Tajikistan. Anger over the project has led Uzbekistan to impose a block on rail shipments into Tajikistan. Tajikistan, the region's poorest country, has said that it will move ahead with plans -- though the dam would reportedly block water from reaching cotton crops in Uzbekistan. Google/Agence France-Presse (4/7)
Building a new Haiti out of the ruins Aid groups and foreign companies are pushing forward efforts to help Haiti recover from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. The provision of solar-powered water pumps and the country's first spinal rehabilitation center are among the projects already operating on the ground. BBC (4/4)
Cap-and-trade comes to Tokyo Japanese governor Shintaro Ishihara has introduced a cap-and-trade program for Tokyo that will force thousands of businesses to reduce their carbon emissions under a mandatory carbon-trading plan. Emissions in Tokyo's most energy-intensive buildings must be cut by 6% to 8% over the next 5 years under the plan. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (4/7)
Egypt arrests pro-reform demonstrators Security forces in Cairo arrested dozens of reform-minded protesters, who turned out to support of constitutional reform and an end to the use of an emergency law that curtails personal freedoms. The altercation came amid growing political uncertainty in the country ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections. The Washington Post (4/6)
ASEAN takes issue with Myanmar elections Myanmar's upcoming elections will be high on the agenda as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meet this week in Vietnam. Myanmar has faced broad international criticism over its election plans, including provisions that prevent political prisoners such as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from contesting the poll. Reuters (4/7)
Thai protesters storm Parliament Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in Bangkok after Thai protesters stormed the Parliament building, granting authority to security forces to tackle the red-shirt protesters. Government officials fled by helicopter and other means as thousands of protesters -- many of them supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- barged onto the grounds. There were no reports of violence, though Thai security forces have not begun enforcing the new implementation of an act that curbs certain civil liberties, including the freedom to assemble in public in groups larger than five people. BBC (4/7) , The New York Times (free registration) (4/7)
Spirit of civil resistance takes hold in West Bank The Palestinian Authority, joined by the West Bank business community, is trying a new tack in its ongoing efforts to receive freedom and recognition from Israel: peaceful gathering and civil disobedience. Having tried both diplomacy and violence, Fatah leaders and former militia commanders are joining protest marches and burning Israeli goods in public demonstrations. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has refocused on neglected villages and humanitarian projects that call for "sumud," or steadfastness, as billboards spring up asking Palestinians to boycott settlers' goods. The New York Times (free registration) (4/6)
U.S. government marks U.S.-born imam for "targeted killing" The Obama administration has authorized the targeted killing of radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is said to have encouraged and even participated in attacks against the U.S. -- and who remains a U.S. citizen. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico but now operates from Yemen, is linked to two figures who struck against the U.S.: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at an army base in Texas, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian would-be terrorist who attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day. The order was issued earlier this year but only recently revealed. The New York Times (free registration) (4/6) , BBC (4/7)
Jordan's Abdullah seeks pressure on Israel for peace talks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy of continued construction in contested areas is damaging Jordanian-Israeli relations and raising questions over Netanyahu's commitment to peace negotiations with Palestinians, Jordan's King Abdullah II warns. The Jordanian leader intends to ask U.S. President Barack Obama to apply increased pressure on Israeli officials to jump-start peace talks. The Wall Street Journal (4/6)
Rhetoric rises as Galbraith fires back at Karzai Former UN Deputy Special Representative to Afghanistan Peter Galbraith suggested that Afghan President Hamid Karzai abused drugs in comments questioning his mental fitness to serve as Afghanistan's leader. Galbraith's comments came in response to wide-ranging accusations by Karzai that Galbraith and other Western authorities were responsible for election fraud in last year's highly disputed elections. The Guardian (London) (4/7)
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Large-scale protests appear to have overthrown the government of Kyrgyzstan, an important American ally in Central Asia, after violence between riot police officers and opposition demonstrators on Thursday killed at least 17 people.
The country's president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, fled the capital, Bishkek, on his plane, and the opposition declared that it was forming its own government.
Earlier in the day, the police used bullets, tear gas and stun grenades against a crowd of thousands massing in front of the presidential office in Bishkek, according to witness accounts. At least 17 people were killed and others were wounded, officials said.
The upheaval raised questions about the future of an important American air base that operates in Kyrgyzstan in support of the NATO mission in nearby Afghanistan. American officials said that as of Wednesday evening the base was functioning normally.
An appalling slaughter signals the inadequacy of India’s counter-insurgency effort
Apr 7th 2010 | From The Economist online
FOR those who consider India’s Maoist insurgency a grave and urgent threat, the evidence keeps mounting. On Tuesday April 6th several hundred Maoist guerrillas attacked a convoy in a forest in eastern Chhattisgarh state, killing 76 paramilitary policemen. This was reckoned to be the worst loss in the history of a stuttering, four-decade-long conflict.
It was also an emphatic response from the rebels to the central government’s latest offer of peace talks. Encouraged by an ostensible Maoist ceasefire proposal, India’s home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, has repeatedly declared the government ready to talk—provided the insurgents first lay down their arms. On April 4th, on a visit to Lalgarh, a Maoist-infested area of West Bengal, one of six eastern states most affected by the insurgency, Mr Chidambaram asked, “Why do they not come for talks by just shunning violence?” There seems to be little prospect of this.
With roots in a 1967 peasant uprising in the West Bengali village of Naxalbari—hence their name, Naxalites—the Maoists have recently grown more potent. They have an estimated 14,000 full time fighters and loosely control a broad swathe of central and eastern India, albeit in jungle areas where the state is hardly present. India-wide, they are considered to be found in over a third of the country’s 626 districts. Last year 998 people were killed in Maoist-related conflict. With almost 300 killed this year, it could be even bloodier.
Three main factors explain the Naxalites’ rise. Since merging their two main factions in 2004—to form the Communist Party of Indian (Maoist) under Muppala Lakshmana Rao, known as “Ganapathi”—they have minimised the internal conflict that always plagued them. Second, many festering grievances among the tribal communities who live in India’s poor eastern states have provided them willing hands. And rapid economic growth there, especially in mining, has given the Naxalites new targets for extorting cash, from both foreign and state-owned mining companies.
The official response to this has been pitifully weak. Despite calls to action from the central government—in 2006 the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, described the insurgency as the “single biggest internal-security challenge” India had ever faced—most state governments, though primarily responsible for law and order, have hardly stirred. Complacency is partly to blame: until recently few state-level politicians seemed to share Mr Singh’s grave assessment. Political expediency also plays a part: Shibu Soren, chief minister of Maoist-wracked Jharkhand, won an election last year with the guerrillas’ support and is predictably reluctant to fight them.
Perhaps most worrying, with the exception of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the worst-affected states are also among India’s least capable. Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were founded in 2000 as off-cuts from two of India’s poorest states. Chhattisgarh’s most notable counter-insurgency ploy, arming an anti-Maoist tribal militia, known as Salwa Judum or Peace March, was predictably a violent failure: displacing over 50,000 villagers and acting as a recruiting sergeant for the Maoists. Yet, to be generous, it was at least partly a response to the inadequacy of the state police.
For the same reason, Mr Chidambaram is now deploying an additional 15,000 centrally trained troops to the worst-affected states, taking the total to around 75,000. Yet, for a vast area home to 450m people, this is still a tiny force. Moreover, properly trained state-level officers, who know the local language and conditions, have a much better counter-insurgency record. The clearest example is in Andhra Pradesh where, through a combination of improvements in policing and generous development schemes, the insurgency has been greatly weakened in recent years.
To achieve similar results, other states will in the end have to take similar measures. After all, the latest slaughter in Chhattisgarh shows how hapless outsiders can be. Most of the dead men came from Uttar Pradesh and were killed by cunningly placed land mines after they rushed to take cover from the Maoists’ opening attack. As Mr Chidambaram said, “They seem to have walked into a trap.”
The Associated Press 
