Break in rain allows rescuers to step up delivery of supplies to isolated areas of Rio de Janeiro state.
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2011 06:34 GMT
The death toll from floods and landslides in the mountainous area near the Brazilian city of Rio de Janiero has risen to at least 727, officials say.
In towns north of the city, where the deadly mudslides struck, a break in rain allowed rescuers to step up delivery of supplies to isolated areas. They also recovered bodies on Wednesday, increasing the death toll.
Navy officers and doctors hiked up to the devastated neighbourhood of Alta Floresta in the city of Nova Friburgo, where they distributed fresh water and food, and treated the injured.
Last week's rains caused severe landslides and major destruction in at least seven cities in Rio de Janeiro state's mountain region.
Government assistance
The government has approved $5 million in federal funding for Nova Friburgo, $13 million for Petropolis and more than $72 for the stricken city of Teresopolis.
The money will be used to rebuild homes and shore up areas at risk from mudslides.
In addition, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's president, signed a measure last week, sending an additional $461 million to towns in Rio and Sao Paulo states that were damaged during the rains.
The money will go towards repairing infrastructure and preventing future disasters.
Heavy rains, common during Brazil's summer wet season, were intensified this week by a cold front which doubled the usual precipitation.
Deaths reported during raid on military camp in Narathiwat by fighters who also stole arms and ammunition.
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2011 08:07 GMT
A security force of more than 60,000 is stationed in southern Thailand [AFP]
Four Thai soldiers have been killed by suspected fighters in a raid on a military camp in the country's south, according to the army.
In a daring attack, about 50 fighters attacked a unit in Narathiwat province on Wednesday evening, speaking a gun battle, Colonel Banphot Poonpien, an army spokesman, told AFP news agency.
"Four soldiers died in the attack and seven were injured. Of these, four are in a critical condition," he said.
The fighters took more than 50 rifles and about 5,000 bullets during the raid, setting off bombs and burning two houses and a tent within the base before retreating, according to a statement from the southern Thai army headquarters.
The troops killed were said to be aged between 22 and 33.
Suspected separatist fighters have waged a violent campaign in the Muslim-majority region of southern Thailand, that borders Malaysia.
Since early 2004, more than 4,400 people have died in the violence.
Emergency rule extended
The Thai government extended on Tuesday emergency rule in the country's south for another three months, despite rights groups' concerns about the powers given to the military.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the deputy prime minister who oversees national security, said the fighters staged the latest attack to terrify local residents.
"They want to show their capability," he said, a day after he made a visit to the south.
A security force of more than 60,000 is stationed in the region, battling rebels whose precise aims are unclear.
Critics accuse the government of failing to address the grievances of Thailand's Malay Muslim minority, including alleged abuses by the military and a perceived lack of respect for their ethnic identity, language and religion.
Data show inflation moderating but speculative property deals accounting for a big chunk of lending by state-run banks.
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2011 04:52 GMT
The government aims to further boost domestic consmption and reduce reliance on exports [EPA]
China has announced that its economy grew 10.3 per cent in 2010, marking the fastest annual growth since the onset of the global financial crisis, and underlining the country's growing economic clout.
The GDP figure, up from a revised 9.2 per cent growth in 2009, highlighted China's powerful performance in a year when it overtook Japan to become the world's second-largest economy behind the US.
"Currently the economy is in a critical period of transforming from recovery to stable growth," Ma Jiantang, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, said on Thurday.
Ma said China would step up efforts to transform the country's "economic growth pattern" - referring to the government's aim to boost domestic consumption and reduce its reliance on exports and investment.
His comments were echoed by Hu Jintao, the president, who told US business leaders during a visit to Washington on Wednesday that China would boost interior demand and consumer spending.
The country's consumer price index, the main guage of inflation, rose by 4.6 per cent year-on-year in December compared with 5.1 per cent in November, which was the fastest pace in more than two years.
The index rose 3.3 per cent for all of 2010 exceeding the government's full-year target of three per cent as food costs soared.
Inflation still high
Analysts said the still-high inflation figure in December supported the case for further interest-rate increases and bank-lending restrictions.
Output from the country's millions of factories and workshops rose 15.7 per cent for all of 2010, faster than in 2009 as manufacturers cranked up activity to meet growing demand for Chinese-made goods.
Urban fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 24.5 per cent over the 12 months - slower than in the previous year as Beijing started to wind back crisis-stimulus measures.
Retail sales, an important indicator of consumer spending, rose 18.4 per cent in 2010.
As the US and Europe struggle to spur growth, Beijing has been trying to slow its economy and halt a flood of liquidity that is fanning inflation and driving up property prices, straining household budgets.
Last week, the central bank again ordered banks to increase the amount of money they keep in reserve, effectively putting a cap on lending, after raising interest rates twice in the fourth quarter.
Fifty women tell UN they were raped in Fizi town in an incident that appears to be a vengeance for death of a soldier.
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2011 21:03 GMT
Rape is frequently reported in eastern Congo and blamed on a range of armed movements, including the army [EPA]
Seven soldiers and a commander in the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been arrested over allegations that they were involved in a mass rape, according to the United Nations.
Fifty women have told the UN that they were raped in the eastern town of Fizi on the night of January 1 this year.
Madnodge Mounoubai, a spokesman for MONUSCO, the UN mission in DRC, said the atrocities had been committed after a drunken soldier got into a dispute.
"A soldier in a bar got somehow drunk and he fired and shot at a civilian," he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
"He [the civilian] was taken to the hospital. The people thought that he was dead, so they turned against this soldier and actually they killed him.
"After he got killed, his colleagues heard that he was killed and they came and went on a rampage in the village. They started to loot the village, to loot the stores and to rape the women."
A spokesperson for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Southern Kivu said the women had been restrained by ropes or beaten with rifle butts before being attacked - some of them in front of their children.
Lieutenant Colonel Kibibi Mutware has been identified by some victims and witnesses as the commander of the soldiers who allegedly committed the mass rape.
Rape frequent
The UN said the number of victims could rise as more villagers return from the bush to which they fled after the alleged rapes.
Major Vianney Kazarama, a spokesman for the Congolese army, put the number of rapes at 14 and said that eight personnel had been disciplined, including a major.
Rape is frequently reported in eastern Congo and blamed on a range of armed movements, including Congo's regular army.
Amnesty International said the events in Fizi "are another telling example of the consequences of the virtual impunity the Congolese forces benefit from.
"The failure to hold the Congolese army to account when they fail to carry out their protection role or commit crimes themselves in turn encourages further violations."
The rights group said it welcomed the arrests, as well as investigations by South Kivu's military prosecutor.
"More often than not investigations in the DRC are never brought to a conclusion. A recent example of this is the investigation into the mass rapes that occurred in Walikale, North Kivu, in August 2010 which have now stalled," Amnesty said.
Mutware was identified as a former commander in the Tutsi-led CNDP rebel movement that swept across large swaths of eastern Congo at the end of 2008 until a peace agreement was signed in January 2009.
The rebels were speedily integrated into a national army that has become a conglomeration of numerous rebel groups and militias along with mutinous soldiers.
Congo endured back-to-back civil and regional wars that erupted in the aftermath of neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
South and North Korea agreed to hold high-level military talks weeks after tension between them reached fever pitch.
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2011 13:38 GMT
South Korea accepted to hold high-level military discussions amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula [EPA]
South Korea has accepted high-level military talks from North Korea, after Pyongyang requested a meeting to discuss "pending issues" following months of raised tensions.
A defence ministry spokesman said on Thursday that a decision has not been made yet on whether the talks would be held at the ministerial level.
"The government also plans to propose high-ranking talks on denuclearisation," the spokesman said.
Kim Yong-chun, the North's defence minister, sent the proposal to Kim Kwan-Jin, his counterpart in the South, a ministry spokesman told AFP news agency.
Cross-border relations worsened sharply when South Korea accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships last year, killing 46 sailors, a charge Pyongyang denies.
Tensions high
Tensions rose even higher after the North bombarded a South Korean border island in November, killing four people, including two civilians.
However, in a change of tack this year, the North has been calling for talks, but Thursday's offer was the first proposal for a high-level meeting.
Seoul has dismissed previous peace overtures as insincere.
It says the North must take "responsible measures" over past provocations and promise not to repeat them, as well as confirming it is serious about nuclear disarmament, before any dialogue can take place.
At meetings with US counterpart, Chinese leader says "a lot still needs to be done" on human rights in his country.
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2011 05:25 GMT
Hu Jintao, centre, is on a four-day visit to the United States [EPA]
The US and China discussed the contentious issue of human rights amid the pomp and ceremony of a state visit that Barack Obama, the US president, has said will lay the foundation for deeper prosperity between the two nations.
Obama said he had raised various rights issues with Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart, during meetings on Wednesday and that the US and China had agreed to move ahead with a dialogue in that field.
"I have been very candid with President Hu about those issues," he said.
"History shows that societies are more harmonious, nations are more successful and the world is more just when the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all people are upheld."
When a reporter asked Hu about human rights, at first he did not respond, but when a second reporter followed up, Hu blamed translation and technical problems for his initial silence.
"China is always committed to the protection and promotion of human rights," he said.
But Hu also acknowledged that "a lot still needs to be done" and that Beijing was willing to have a dialogue on the issue.
Obama said he had urged China to engage in a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, and officials said he had also raised the issue of Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Nobel peace prize winner.
'Work together'
Although reports of the first day of the four-day visit will be dominated by the human rights remarks, the two leaders sought to highlight the ties between the nations.
"We'll continue to look for the value of China's currency to be increasingly driven by the market to ensure no nation has an undue economic advantage"
Barack Obama, US President
"With this visit we can lay the foundation for the next 30 years,'' Obama said at a grand arrival ceremony outside the White House.
"We have an enormous stake in each other's success. In an interconnected world, in a global economy, nations including our own will be more prosperous and more secure when we work together."
Hu in return said that since Obama took office "our co-operation in various fields has produced fruitful results and our relations have achieved new progress".
He also said co-operation between the US and China should be based on mutual respect, and that the two countries should respect each others' interests and development paths.
In a clear sign of where the mutual interests lie, the White House unveiled a series of commercial deals with China worth $45bn, including a $19bn deal for 200 Boeing air planes. Boeing said the aircraft will be delivered over the three-year period 2011-2013.
The various deals will altogether support up to 235,000 jobs in 12 US states, according to US officials. In addition to the Boeing deal, China will also invest in US exports from agriculture, telecommunications and technology companies, including General Electric, Honeywell and Navistar.
'Resetting relations'
A separate deal was also signed to increase co-operation between the two countries on nuclear security. The deal, signed by officials from both countries, will see the establishment of a jointly financed nuclear security centre in China.
The two leaders discussed difference over the valuation of China's yuam currency [Reuters]
The venture is aimed at training to improve security at nuclear facilities and accounting on nuclear materials. US officials also hope to hold joint exercises on responding to nuclear disasters and to share nuclear detection techology.
Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from the White House, said the presidents' meeting was aimed at "resetting relations", as the two countries were trying to "find their footing in a more equal relationship".
"From the Chinese perspective, they have the argument of 'We hold a lot of your debt, in fact you [US] owe us almost about $900bn'", she said.
"The US argument to the Chinese is 'You need us just as much because you need to be able to sell your goods in our open market place'".
The US exports $100bn of goods and services to China, making the country its largest trading partner after Canada and Mexico.
China is also the largest foreign holder of US debt.
Currency concerns
The two presidents acknowledged "differences" over China's yuan currency, which the US has accused China of deliberately devaluing to secure advantages for itself.
Obama said in news conference that the yuan "remains undervalued and there needs to be further adjustment".
"We'll continue to look for the value of China's currency to be increasingly driven by the market to ensure no nation has an undue economic advantage," he said, adding that this should also be in China's interest, to prevent inflation from looming.
Hu referred without elaboration to "some disagreements" in the economic and trade area, which he said the two countries would aim to resolve.
The US exports $100bn of goods and services to China, making the country its largest trading partner after Canada and Mexico.
China is also the largest foreign holder of US debt.
Ministers quit party of deposed leader Ben Ali in bid to pacify critics as fresh unrest is reported in Tunis.
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2011 13:36 GMT
Many Tunisians are waiting for 'fresh faces' in the new government [EPA]
All of the eight ministers in Tunisia's interim government who had been members of the RCD party of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the ousted president, have quit the party, but they still remain in their cabinet posts.
The move came on Thursday partly in response to the resignations of three members of cabinet who belonged to the main UGTT trade union.
Abdessalem Jrad, secretary-general of the UGTT, had made it clear that the group could not be part of a government "that includes symbols of the old regime".
Ben Ali fled into exile in Saudi Arabia on January 14 amid a popular uprising.
The cabinet started its first session in the capital, Tunis, on Thursday, without the ministers who had pulled out
Meanwhile, the RCD announced that its central committee had been dissolved, as many committee members, who were also government ministers, had quit the party. The party itself would continue to operate, state television said.
In a new blow to the government, the minister of administrative development stepped down on Thursday.
"I am stepping down for the higher interests of the country in this delicate situation to try to bring the country out of crisis and ensure a democratic transition," Zouheir M'Dhaffar, a prominent member of the former ruling party and one of the closest to Bin Ali, was quoted as saying by the official TAP news agency.
Protests continue
The developments come against a backdrop of continued protests against the new government, with many Tunisians angry that several members of the previous government were named in the "unity government" announced on Monday.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reporting from outside the offices of the prime minister and the interim president in Tunis said that, "this government is being undermined by ongoing protests. We just heard some gunshots.
Follow Al Jazeera's coverage of the turmoil in Tunisia
"This is a strong signal to the government which is about to convene in two hours in a last attempt to put together a government, as otherwise Tunisia could descend into chaos."
He said the government offices are bustling with activity as high-level officials try to convince members of the powerful workers' unions to rejoin the cabinet.
"It will be the union's presence that can win this government the public support that it needs," our correspondent said.
"People are saying that it is not a revolt, but it is a revolution and therefore the outcome should be brand new faces."
Earlier on Thursday, Al Jazeera's Nazinine Moshiri said the situation on the streets of the Tunisian capital appeared to be improving.
"I have been out and about in the city this morning and it really does seem like a different city, bustling," she said. "There is more food around, there are no long queues at the petrol stations.
"I spoke to one woman who said that she is very happy with the situation. She feels that calm has been restored."
Referring to the decision by several ministers to quit the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), she said "the hope is that by resigning ... they can find some sort of compromise".
She said the first cabinet meeting has been delayed "as the president and prime minister are trying to get the union members to come back to join the government".
'Total break'
Earlier, Fouad Mebazaa, Tunisia's interim president, promised a "total break" with the past and hailed "a revolution of dignity and liberty".
Hundreds of protesters led a rally in central Tunis on Wednesday, demanding that former allies of the deposed Ben Ali vacate ministerial positions. Later about 30 youths broke a curfew and set up a camp to stage a sit-in near the heavily guarded interior ministry.
Speaking on Tunisian state television - his first public appearance since being sworn into office - Mebazaa said there would be a complete separation between the state and political parties.
Rejecting the ways of the previous government, he said "together we can write a new page in the history of our country".
Mebazaa also vowed to ensure an amnesty for political prisoners, media freedoms and an independent judiciary.
The new government began releasing prisoners on Wednesday, with one government official saying 1,800 non-political prisoners who had less than six months to serve were freed.
Release praised
Amnesty International, the London-based rights organisation, praised the release as a positive step, but said the former detainees should receive reparations.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin meets the mother of the 26-year-old whose suicide sparked the uprising
"The Tunisian authorities now need to show that they are really serious about ending the culture of human rights abuses that has existed for over two decades, and begin to rein in the security apparatus that has harassed and oppressed ordinary Tunisians for so long," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, told the Reuters news agency.
Our correspondent said: "Human rights groups in Tunisia are telling us that there are still some political prisoners, mainly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, being held by the government under Tunisia's anti-terrorism acts."
The interim government has given legal status to three parties barred under the previous administration and freed a dissident journalist, Fahem Boukadous, who was sentenced to four years in prison last year for his work.
The new leadership is due to hold democratic parliamentary and presidential elections in the next six months, although no dates have been set.
Under the constitution, elections should take place in less than two months.
Assets inquiry
In another development, prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the affairs of Ben Ali, including investigations into his assets and the arrest of dozens of family members.
Tunisian investigators have said they will look into the extensive domestic and foreign assets held by Ben Ali.
The Swiss government earlier said it had frozen Ben Ali's funds in Switzerland, as the country "wants to avoid our financial centre being used to hide funds illegally taken from the populations concerned," Micheline Calmy-Rey, the country's foreign minister, said.
Swiss authorities have estimated that Tunisian government officials have put about $620 million into Swiss banks.
The central bank has already taken over a bank owned by Ben Ali's brother-in-law in the first such move against assets controlled by the former president's influential family, which formed the core of Tunisia's business elite.
Tunisian television reported that 33 members of the deposed leader's family had been arrested on suspicion of "crimes against Tunisia".
"Investigations will be carried out in order for them to face justice," a statement read out on state television said, citing an "official source".
It showed footage of gold and jewellery allegedly found in the possession of the arrested members of Ben Ali's family.
