Sudan poll draws to close

Huge turnout in south Sudan referendum expected to back secession from the north of the country. Last Modified: 15 Jan 2011 14:34 GMT

The UN says 180,000 southerners have returned from the north since November last year [AFP] A handful of South Sudanese have been voting on the final day of a week-long referendum on whether to split from the north of the country. There were few people left to vote on Saturday after the 60 per cent voter turnout threshold set for the referendum to be valid was achieved on Wednesday after just four days of polling. Mohammed Ibrahim Khalil, the chairman of the organising commission, said that by the close of polling on Friday, 3,135,000 ballots had been cast in the south, which represents 83 per cent of registered voters. He added that 53 per cent of southerners registered in the north had voted, while 91 per cent had done so in the diaspora. "This a good result by any international standards," he said. "I have watched a number of elections in this country and this has been the most peaceful, the most orderly, the quietest." Overseas voting from Brisbane, Australia, has been extended for several days as a result of flooding in that region. Secession expected Referendum organisers are now faced with the massive task of collating the results of the poll. UN helicopter crews will assist organisers in picking up ballot papers from the remote countryside of a vast, underdeveloped region which has just 40km (25 miles) of paved road for an area the size of France and Belgium combined. "Preliminary results will be announced on January 31st. Those figures will then have to be verified in Khartoum. If there are no appeals, officials say a final result will be announced on February 6," reported Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa from Juba. Observers have said that they are confident that the result will favour secession from the north. If the planned timeline is adhered to, south Sudan could secede by July. "They have technically until the 9th of July, [which is] when the comprehensive peace agreement expires," reported Mutasa. Jimmy Carter, a former US president who is in the country to observe the poll, said he expected that the north would "recognise the results immediately". The referendum marks the culmination of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement, which ended a civil war in the country. Emotional referendum Georg Charpentier, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, said a total of 180,000 southerners had returned from the north since November, with more than 15,000 arriving in the week-long polling period alone. He said the UN was expecting between 500,000 and 600,000 people to arrive by August. "Obviously the emotions around the referendum have prompted many southerners to come home," he said, speaking at Juba's river port on the White Nile where many of the returnees arrive. On the streets of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, there was a sense of rueful resignation that the nearly nine million people of the south were poised to break away - and take with them some 80 per cent of Sudan's oil reserves - leaving the north's 32 million people to go it alone. "I feel sad," Mustafa Mohammed, a young tax officer, said. "I am not for secession." Rally in north Meanwhile, thousands of Sudanese demonstrated in the Nuba mountains in the north, demanding free and fair elections ahead of a planned move toward greater autonomy. Kauda, a remote mountain town, is a stronghold of the Sudan's People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the biggest political party in the south, but falls in the northern state of South Kordofan. Large crowds gathered in the town, chanting anti-government slogans and waving SPLM flags. The protesters claimed that the election process was not going as planned in their area. "The government wants to use the old list of voters. But the list does not include all the population here. Many people can't find their names on the list," Sadiq Said, one of the demonstrators, said. The election is part a "popular consultation" process that many in the area believe will help them achieve independence from the north..

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Flood-hit Brazil faces more rain

Death toll likely to rise above 545 bodies already found as rescue teams are still to reach isolated areas. Last Modified: 15 Jan 2011 14:38 GMT

The renewed rains will make the task of finding survivors increasingly difficult [EPA] Further catastrophic landslides are feared in Brazil after forecasters warned of several more days of wet weather in an area where nearly 550 people were killed when muddy waters tore through their homes earlier in the week. As rescue teams and residents combed the wreckage of hillside communities near the city of Rio de Janiero, forecasters said that the rain in the mountainous Serrana region could contine until Wednesday. "We are predicting a light but steady rain, which is not good because it could lay the conditions for more landslides," Luiz Cavalcanti, the head of the national weather institute, said on Friday. He said such conditions were particularly dangerous because there is nowhere for it to flow away and "it accumulates until the earth gives way under its weight and swallows up the hillside". Isolated areas Rivers of mud tore through towns in the region on Thursday, levelling houses, throwing cars atop buildings and leaving thousands of people seeking shelter. Flood deaths The total death toll in Serrana region has reached 537, with the following towns hardest hit: Teresopolis: 223 deaths Nova Friburgo: 246 Petropolis: 39 Soumidouro: 19 The renewed rainfall threatened to further complicate efforts by rescue teams to reach survivors trapped in isolated areas. Groups of rescue workers made their way on foot as a difficult terrain and washed out roads prevented the use of vehicles. "The rain did not stop at dawn and is continuing in the morning, which is making the rescue efforts more difficult," Lieutenant Rubens Placido, a fireman in the hard-hit town of Nova Friburgo, said. "The number of deaths is going to rise quite a bit. There are still a lot of people buried." Sergio Cabral, the governor of Rio state, repeated his call for residents to abandon their homes in the disaster zones and move to safer ground. "The forecast of more rains is not reassuring," he said. Marise Ventura told the AFP news agency that said she and others had no choice but to leave Nova Friburgo, where at least 246 people had been killed. "I'm going because there's no electricity anywhere, no water, no food... So I'm going to a relative's place," she said. Looting reported Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Teresopolis, one of the worst affected towns, said there had been reports of looting on Friday. "The security situation is deteriorating," he said. "There are reports of looting; according to local officials here they are calling the city of Rio de Janeiro asking for more police officers to be sent here." At least 223 people are believed to have died in Teresopolis, where hundreds more are feared buried under the rubble of their homes after the equivalent of a month's rain fell in less than 24 hours. An abandoned building was being used as a morgue to house the hundreds of bodies being brought there. The military said on Friday that it was sending 11 helicopters and 500 personnel to help approximately 800 rescuers from fire departments and the state civil defence agency. The army and navy also pledged heavy digging machinery, ambulances and generators. Heavy rains, common during Brazil's summer wet season, were intensified this week by a cold front which doubled the usual precipitation.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

India investigates deadly stampede

Officials say at least 104 people were killed during pilgrimage to the Hindu shrine of Sabarimala in Kerala state. Last Modified: 15 Jan 2011 13:34 GMT A judicial probe has been ordered into a stampede that killed scores of Hindu pilgrims in the southern Indian state of Kerala in, the state government says. Jaya Kumar, home secretary for Kerala, said on Saturday that 104 people had been confirmed dead and dozens more injured, some of them seriously. The tragedy unfolded in a remote, mountainous area of southern Kerala on Friday evening as pilgrims made their way home from an annual ceremony at the hill shrine of Sabarimala that draws up to four million people every year. Police officials said a jeep had lost control and ploughed into a crowd of devotees packed onto a narrow road in a hilly and densely forested area 10km from the shrine. "The accident caused a mass panic and triggered a stampede on the hillside," Rajendra Nair, the police commissioner, said. Search for bodies Indian television showed pictures of the injured being passed over the heads of tightly packed crowds of pilgrims during rescue efforts that lasted through the night. Families of the missing thronged local hospitals on Saturday, as officials attempted to identify the bodies being brought in from the site of the stampede. Most of the victims were from the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The search for bodies and survivors had been hampered by the remote location, heavy mist and the thick forest terrain. The annual two-month Maravilakku festival attracts millions of worshippers to the remote temple of the Hindu deity Ayyappan. Under the customs of the pilgrimage, hundreds of thousands of men and women set off on foot in groups for the Sabarimala temple, each carrying a cloth bundle containing traditional offerings. Many of the elderly, or those in a hurry, opt to cram into buses and jeeps to travel as close as possible to the temple. It is thought that it was one of these jeeps that prompted the initial accident. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said his thoughts are with the relatives of the victims, and announced compensation payments of Rs100,000 ($2,200) to the families of the victims. RS Gavai, the governor of Kerala, expressed his sadness at the loss of life. "I am deeply shocked and saddened at the tragic accident," he said. "I share my profound grief of the bereaved families and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured." Congested areas Defence Minister AK Antony termed the stampede "a tragedy beyond anyone's imagination. He said the Southern Naval Command had dispatched an emergency medical team to the accident site. Deadly stampedes have previously occurred at temples in India, where large crowds - sometimes hundreds of thousands of people - gather in congested areas with no real safety measures. R Prasanan, a journalist with The Week magazine, told Al Jazeera that Friday night's stampede was an "administrative tragedy", because there were "no arrangements by the police or temple authorities" at the spot where the accident happened. He said the authorities had provided adequate arrangements at the main site for the pilgrimage, but had ignored a separate area where pilgrims went to get a better view of a site where they believe a miraculous apparation will appear. He said that there will be little expectation of change, even after the investigation is carried out. "[In India] tragedy happens and immediately after that there is an inquiry but no arrangements are made even after that." In March last year, police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh blamed lax safety for the deaths of 63 people in a stampede outside another Hindu temple. At least another 10 people died in a stampede at a temple in the state of Bihar in October. In 2008, more than 145 people died in a stampede at a remote Hindu temple at the foothills of the Himalayas. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Army on streets amid Tunisia unrest

Military struggles to contain looting and violence following the ousting of the country's president. Last Modified: 15 Jan 2011 15:12 GMT

The president's departure has failed to quell unrest in Tunisia [Reuters] Soldiers have been deployed on the streets of Tunisia amid chaotic scenes following the popular ousting of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the president. Troops were patrolling Tunis, the capital, on Saturday and a state of emergency was in force after Ben Ali, president for more than 23 years, fled the country in the wake of widespread protests. The main train station in Tunis has been torched, while gunfire was heard as soldiers intervened in attempts to stop looting in the city. The Reuters news agency reported that squads of men in civilian clothes were driving through Tunis at high speed, shooting randomly at buildings and people. Soldiers and plainclothes security personnel dragged dozens of suspected looters out of their cars at gunpoint and took them away in lorries, according to a report from the AFP news agency. "The army is all over the place in Tunis, they are trying to check cars and control people going by," Youssef Gaigi, a blogger and activist based in Tunisia, said. 'Militia' fears There are fears that some of the violence is being carried out by a armed factions allied to Ben Ali, with Reuters quoting an unnamed military source as saying: "Ben Ali's security is behind what is happening." Gaigi, who had been part of the protests that brought down Ben Ali, indicated that the army's presence was required because the police force had broken down. "Several militias, which are actually doing some of the looting are part of the ministry of the interior, or police members, and they are co-ordinated by heads of police and intelligence in Tuisia," he said. "We heard the army have captured some of these people but there is still a lot of work to be done." Elsewhere in Tunisia, at least 57 inmates at a prison in Monastir, eastern Tunisia, were killed when a prisoner started a fire at the facility. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that other prisoners had escaped, meanwhile breakouts were reported at two other prisons in the country. 'Historic events' In the past month, protests have swept across the country over unemployment, food price rises and corruption. Ben Ali conceded power on Friday after a giant rally against him in Tunis but his departure, a key demand of the demonstrators, has failed to calm the unrest. Public television station TV7 broadcast phone calls from residents of working-class neighbourhoods on the capital's outskirts who described attacks on their homes by knife-wielding assailants. Thousands of tourists have been evacuated from the Mediterranean nation following the unrest. The president fled to Saudi Arabia amid the protests and Fouad Mebazaa, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, has taken over as caretaker president. Arab nations have been largely silent on the Tunisian protests, but the Arab League on Saturday released a statement calling for calm an unity in the country. "These are historic events by any standard," Hesham Youssef, the chief of cabinet for the Arab League's secretary-general, told Al Jazeera. "The important thing is that the current period will be a transition period, and we hope that the political forces in Tunisia will unite in the call for change in order for them to have elections as soon as possible, in order to move ahead."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Tunisia swears in interim leader

Parliament speaker assumes power a day after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees the country amid a mass uprising. Last Modified: 15 Jan 2011 14:55 GMT

Ben Ali fled amid violent demonstrations and protesters who rejected his last-minute concessions [AFP] Tunisia's speaker of parliament has temporarily assumed power in the country a day after president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled amid a mass uprising. The country's constitutional court, the highest legal authority on constitutional issues, announced the transition on Saturday, saying Fouad Mebazaa had been appointed interim president. Mebazaa took the oath in his office in parliament, swearing to respect the constitution in the presence of his senate counterpart Abdallal Kallel and representatives of both houses. He said outgoing prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi would be tasked with forming a new coalition government, adding that "a unity government is necessary in the greater national interest". "All Tunisians without exception and exclusion must be associated in the political process," he said after taking the oath. Mebazaa has up to 60 days to organise new presidential elections under the Tunisian constitution, Fethi Abdennadher, the head of the court, said. "The Constitutional Council announces that the post of president is definitively vacant," Abdennadher said in an address on state television earlier. "We should refer to article 57 of the constitution, which states that the speaker of parliament occupies the post of president temporarily and calls for elections within a period of between 45 and 60 days." 'Mixed feelings' Youssef Gaigi, a blogger and activist based in Tunisia, said Tunisians had "mixed feelings" about Mebazaa. "They don't know if they can trust this guy because he was also part of the establishment. He was part of the political party that ruled over Tunisia for the past 23 years," Gaigi told Al Jazeera. "He was heavily involved in the previous government, which is known now as a dictatorship." Mebazaa's swearing-in came a day after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, delegating prime minister Ghannouchi to act as head of state. In an interview later with Al Jazeera, Ghannouchi said that because the current circumstances did not allow for Ben Ali's return to Tunisia, he would act as the president until elections could be held. Follow Al Jazeera's complete coverage But the court negated that decision with its ruling on Saturday, saying the president had left the position for good. The Arab League on Saturday called on Tunisians to unite and bring back peace, saying the events in Tunisia were "historic". "This was the will of the people. The people of Tunisia have spoken and the message has been received," Hesham Youssef, chief of the cabinet of Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, told Al Jazeera from Cairo. "We hope that the political forces in Tunisia will unite in their call for change and have elections as soon as possible in order to move ahead." Ben Ali, who has ruled Tunisia since coming to power in a bloodless coup in 1987, fled the North African country on Friday after protesters rejected his last-minute raft of concessions aimed at bringing several weeks of violent demonstrations to an end. Saudi Arabia confirmed on Saturday that he and his family had been welcomed into the kingdom due to "exceptional circumstances" in Tunisia. 'Unwelcome' in France Initially, it was rumoured that Ben Ali was en route to Paris, but Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from the French capital, said Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had refused to welcome the president following crisis negotiations with his prime minister. "Although during his years in power Ben Ali had acted in French and western European interests in terms of cracking down on anything resembling radical Islam and also his fight to control illegal migration from Africa," she said. "He probably thought those policies would win him refuge in France, but Sarkozy [considered the] large North African community in France, including a large number of Tunisians, most of them opponents of Ben Ali. "Sarkozy has difficult relations with the North African citizens in France. He figured that to allow Ben Ali to come to Paris would have exacerbated those relations would have provoked outrage among Tunisians in Paris." The unrest in Tunisia began on December 17, after a 26-year-old unemployed graduate set himself on fire in an attempt to commit suicide. Mohammed Bousazizi's act of desperation set off the public's growing frustration with rising inflation, unemployment, and corruption and prompted a wave of protests across the country.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Amazing Jiuzhaigou Valley in winter

2011-01-14 12:25:46 GMT2011-01-14 20:25:46(Beijing Time) China Daily

The northwestern Sichuan Plateau is noted for its picturesque natural beauty. One of its best scenic areas is Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Eulogized as a world of magical fairytales, Jiuzhai Valley has for years enchanted tourists with its mountains and luxuriant forests, colorful lakes, gushing waterfalls and abundant wildlife. [Photo by Liu Guoxing]

The northwestern Sichuan Plateau is noted for its picturesque natural beauty. One of its best scenic areas is Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Eulogized as a world of magical fairytales, Jiuzhai Valley has for years enchanted tourists with its mountains and luxuriant forests, colorful lakes, gushing waterfalls and abundant wildlife. [Photo by Liu Guoxing]

The northwestern Sichuan Plateau is noted for its picturesque natural beauty. One of its best scenic areas is Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Eulogized as a world of magical fairytales, Jiuzhai Valley has for years enchanted tourists with its mountains and luxuriant forests, colorful lakes, gushing waterfalls and abundant wildlife. [Photo by Liu Guoxing]

The northwestern Sichuan Plateau is noted for its picturesque natural beauty. One of its best scenic areas is Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Eulogized as a world of magical fairytales, Jiuzhai Valley has for years enchanted tourists with its mountains and luxuriant forests, colorful lakes, gushing waterfalls and abundant wildlife. [Photo by Liu Guoxing]

The northwestern Sichuan Plateau is noted for its picturesque natural beauty. One of its best scenic areas is Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Eulogized as a world of magical fairytales, Jiuzhai Valley has for years enchanted tourists with its mountains and luxuriant forests, colorful lakes, gushing waterfalls and abundant wildlife. [Photo by Liu Guoxing]

The northwestern Sichuan Plateau is noted for its picturesque natural beauty. One of its best scenic areas is Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Eulogized as a world of magical fairytales, Jiuzhai Valley has for years enchanted tourists with its mountains and luxuriant forests, colorful lakes, gushing waterfalls and abundant wildlife.

Michael Douglas honored with Icon Award

2011-01-14 15:08:00 GMT2011-01-14 23:08:00(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

Actor Michael Douglas receives the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actor Michael Douglas waves to the audience during a question and answer segment before he receives the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actor Michael Douglas waves to the audience during a question and answer segment before he receives the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actor Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones smile as they arrive for Douglas to receive the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actor Michael Douglas arrives to receive the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actors Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones pose as they arrive for Douglas to receive the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones smiles as she arrives for her husband Michael Douglas to receive the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Actor Michael Douglas receives the Icon Award at the 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala in Palm Springs, California January 13, 2011.