Finnish anti-euro party makes election gains

Ruling National Coalition party remains biggest party with 43 seats, but nationalist True Finns up from six to 39 seats. Last Modified: 17 Apr 2011 19:14

Timo Soini, leader of the True Finns party, celebrates the election results [EPA] Finland's anti-euro True Finns party has made big gains in parliamentary elections, threatening the pro-European government and raising the risk of disruption to an EU bailout of Portugal. With 99 per cent of votes counted, the largest vote-winner was the conservative National Coalition party (NCP), part of the current centre-right government and a strong advocate for European integration. But with 43 seats it had only one more than the opposition Social Democrats, while the True Finns had taken 39 seats in the 200-member parliament, up from six in the previous election in 2007. As the votes were counted, Timo Soini, the leader of the True Finns, said: "This is really good. This is a historic change.'' Finland, unlike others in the eurozone, can put requests for bailout funds to a majority vote in parliament, meaning that the election outcome may affect EU plans to shore up Portugal and stability in debt markets. "This result will give Europe gray hairs,'' political analyst Olavi Borg said. "It will cause them problems over the bailout funds." Some analysts said the NCP could work with the True Finns if the nationalist and anti-immigration party party backed down from their opposition to EU bailout plans. Jan Vapaavuori, an NCP minister, played down on Friday fears of a new anti-euro government, saying any coalition that is formed would support the EU. The True Finns, he said, would probably tone down its rhetoric as a condition of joining government. The Social Democrats, who are critical of the bailout plan but supportive of the EU, would be even easier to get on board, he said. The True Finns have said they have no intention of backing down from their opposition to the bailout plan, but political analysts said the party and Soini would probably compromise if needed. Finland is presently governed by an EU-friendly four-party coalition led by Mari Kiviniemi's, the prime minister, Centre party and the NCP. Kiviniemi's party dropped 15 seats and a quarter of the support it had in the last election. "It would appear to be a crushing defeat for us,'' she said, adding her party would go into opposition. A scandal over political funding had hurt the Centre party, and unemployment has also driven voter angst. The economy's recent rebound from the global financial crisis had also done little to increase the number of jobs.

Source: Agencies

Soldiers rampage through Burkina Faso town

Mutinous troops loot shops in Po, south of the capital, in protest against president over housing and food allowances. Last Modified: 17 Apr 2011 15:58

Anti-riot gendarmes have been deployed in Ouagadougou, the capital, where a curfew was announced on Sunday [AFP] Mutinous soldiers have rampaged through a southern town in Bukina Faso as the revolt against Blaise Compaore, the West African nation's ruler, enters its fourth day. Soldiers at a military garrison in Po, near the Ghana border, fired in the air, looting and seizing private vehicles, residents told the AFP news agency. Two people were injured in the firing, a hospital source said. Po, about 140km south of Ouagadougou, the capital, houses a training school for Burkinabe military officers. The government said the soldiers were protesting over payment of housing and daily food allowances. "These were young soldiers and there were at least 300 of them," another resident of the town told the Reuters news agency. "They are moving through town and they continue to fire in the air. They are taking people's motor bikes and cars and breaking up shops," he said. Burkina Faso's government warned on Sunday that it would take action against anyone using illegal arms with "the full force of the law". "For several days, soldiers and civilians ... have been using firearms in violation of regulations," the security ministry said in a statement. "This state of affairs will not be tolerated in a state with the rule of law." The ministry said it was demanding "strict respect for rules on the use of military and civilian arms and munitions" and warned that "all offenders will face the full force of the law". Curfew Soldiers in Ouagadougou began shooting at the presidential compound late on Thursday, sparking two nights of looting by soldiers. Hundreds of traders rioted and set fire to the headquarters of Burkina Faso's ruling party on Saturday, in protest against the soldiers looting their shops. The defence ministry announced a curfew in Ouagadougou from 7pm on Saturday to 6am on Sunday, while France warned its citizens not to travel to the country. "The situation in Burkina Faso, especially Ouagadougou, is currently marked by tension due to the soldier's protest," the French foreign ministry said, adding that travellers also faced an increased risk of highway robbery and kidnapping. The mutiny prompted the president to sack his government, the army chief and his head of presidential security. Compaore, who came to power in a 1987 military coup, has faced a series of protests since February, staged first by students and then by soldiers. He won a new five-year term in office after taking 80 per cent of the votes in November elections. Tens of thousands of people marched in Ouagadougou last week against the high cost of living. The country ranks 161 out of 169 countries on the UN Human Development Index, a composite measure of the quality of life. Shops, banks and petrol stations have remained shut since Thursday.

Source: Agencies

Dozens dead as storms batter southern US

Storms and tornadoes leave trail of devastation across southern states and more than 200,000 without electricity. Last Modified: 17 Apr 2011 20:00

Employees document the damage at a hardwarse store after a tornado in Sanford, North Carolina [Reuters] Three days of severe storms and tornadoes in the southern US have killed at least 39 people, downing power lines and wrecking hundreds of buildings along its path. North Carolina accounted for the bulk of casualties and property losses, with 22 people killed and more than 80 others injured, officials said on Sunday. Significant damage was reported in at least 15 counties and power was out to more than 200,000 people. Seven people died as a result of the storms in Alabama, seven died in Arkansas and one died in Mississippi, and two people were killed in Oklahoma when a tornado flattened buildings. It appeared to be the deadliest US storm since February 2008, when 57 people died from tornadoes in the south and Ohio Valley, said AccuWeather.com meteorologist Andy Mussoline, who said the 39 death toll may change. "I would expect that total to rise, unfortunately," Mussoline said. The storms began in Oklahoma on Thursday and then moved through the South and hit the East Coast by Saturday. There were 241 tornadoes reported, with 50 confirmed. Nuclear safety concern Dominion Virginia Power said the two nuclear reactors at its Surry Power Station in southeastern Virginia shut down automatically on Saturday when an apparent tornado touched down and cut off an electrical feed to the station. Backup generators operated normally and both units "are in safe and stable condition," the utility said in a statement. "No release of radioactive material has occurred beyond those minor releases associated with normal station operations. These minor releases are below federally approved operating limits, and pose no threat to station workers or the public," the Dominion Resources Inc. company said. North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency on Saturday night and the National Weather Service confirmed at least eight tornadoes in the state. Statewide, high winds destroyed 60 houses and damaged 400 others, said Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management. "Many communities have downed trees, downed power lines and a significant amount of debris on the roadways," Doug Hoell, the head of emergency services, said late on Saturday. Progress Energy, the main utility in eastern North Carolina, said 220,000 customers were without electricity at the peak of the storm, with 78,000 homes and utilities still without power on Sunday morning. The storm snapped hundreds of power poles and 30 transmission structures were damaged, company spokesman Mike Hughes said. In some areas, twisters swept up poles and wires and dropped them elsewhere. "There are some parts where a tornado took the utility structure away and we cannot find it," Hughes said.

Source: Agencies

Nigeria's Jonathan takes big poll lead

Incumbent president fares well in mainly Christian south as vote count continues and violence is reported from north. Last Modified: 17 Apr 2011 17:44

video Early results in the Nigerian presidential polls show the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, leading in southern areas, while Muhammadu Buhari, the country's former military ruler, has attracted support from the country's Muslim north. Results continue to trickle in from what has largely been a peaceful presidential election, though violence has been reported from the north, where Buhari's supporters have expressed anger over perceived vote rigging. Early results on Sunday showed Jonathan had done well in much of the predominantly Christian south, including areas such as the most populous city of Lagos, where the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) had struggled in a parliamentary election a week ago. Reuters news agency said Jonathan had an "an unassailable" lead, having won a sufficient share of votes across the states by late afternoon to avoid an election runoff, assuming he also got the overall majority of the votes. So far, there has been no official reaction from other cadidates. The PDP has won every presidential vote since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting the capital, Abuja, said: "It's safe to say that the cat is out of the bag, and that Jonathan has won this election." She reported earlier on Sunday that rioting had broken out in four of the country's 36 states, with the offices of the PDP being burnt down in one state after some voters suspected the party of vote rigging. "We're also told the official of the ruling party in another state had his home burnt down when some ballot boxes were found in his house," our correspondent said. "In Kano state, not far from Abuja, we're hearing that many voters refused to leave the polling stations, wanting to see all the votes counted. That caused some minor skirmishes." Crowd teargassed Al Jazeera's Ndege said that in the state of Taraba, police fired tear gas at a crowd that insisted on following the electoral commission's staff to a vote-collating centre to ensure results were not overturned. She also said that people speaking to Al Jazeera at polling stations were frustrated about living in a country that is the world's sixth largest exporter of oil, but where many still remain without basic services, such as electricity and clean water. "Corruption is also a major problem, and that's why people are acting and behaving so fervently, in terms of making sure that the vote is transparent, making sure it's free and fair," she said. Analysts say they are heartened by the fact that the poll is being taken seriously, but concerned at the possible repercussions of a north-south divide emerging in the results. "There's good news in this Nigerian presidential election: we're counting actual votes and people are interested in the count," Chidi Odinkalu, of the Open Society Justice Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, said. "And quite bad news: the country is badly divided, north vs south." 'Orderly and transparent' Festus Mogae, a former president of Bostwana and head of the Commonwealth observer mission monitoring the vote, told Al Jazeera he was "very impressed" with what he had seen, and described the elections as "orderly and transparent and therefore a pleasant surprise given that fact that is country has been notorious for flawed elections." He also said that the public has been "very, very patient and orderly". "Of course, I'm crossing my fingers, because the polls are not totally out, not all of them, and there have been isolated reports of violence but ... at the vast majority of polling stations, polling went very well," Mogae said. "Across the country it will be close," Nasir el-Rufai, a former government minister and Buhari supporter, told Reuters at a vote-counting centre in the capital Abuja. "My only fear is it will become a north-south issue if we see a situation where Buhari sweeps the north and Jonathan does well in the south. We may have to go to a runoff," he said. To win in the first round, a candidate needs a simple majority and a quarter of the vote in two thirds of the 36 states. There are more than 73 million registered voters and 120,000 polling stations. Final results could take days. A runoff between Jonathan and Buhari could risk polarising voters along regional lines in the country of 150 million, where ethnic and religious rivalries bubble near the surface. While international observers were positive about the elections, there were some reports of irregularities, including an Associated Press report that said boys who appeared to be under 18 - the voting age in Nigeria - were seen queuing to vote. Elsewhere, party officials helped people ink their fingers and mark their ballots. One party worker accompanied an elderly woman to drop off her ballot in the box despite regulations banning party workers from voting stations. And at one collation center in Lagos, volunteers carried blank ballots without supervision from election officials. Security forces were on high alert after an explosion at a police station in Maiduguri, in the country's northeast, early on Saturday before the polls were due to open - the second such attack in 24 hours.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Deaths reported as protests continue in Syria

Two people reportedly killed near the city of Homs, a day after the president vowed to lift emergency law within a week. Last Modified: 17 Apr 2011 21:06

Protests have spread across Syria after first erupting in the southern city of Daraa one month ago [AFP] At least two people have been killed in protests near the central Syrian city of Homs, witnesses and activists say. Government sources told Al Jazeera that two policemen were killed in the town of Talbiseh on Sunday while other reports said protesters were killed. Our correspondent Cal Perry, in Damascus, reported that more than a dozen people had been wounded in what officials said was a "co-ordinated attack from both rooftop sniper fire and fire from the ground". He said it was unclear who was behind the firing. Officials blamed "foreign elements" while protesters said it was security forces dressed in civilian clothes. "The situation is incredibly chaotic", he said. The official news agency SANA reported that one policeman was killed in Talbiseh when "a group of armed criminals opened fire" on security personnel. It said a military unit "returned fire" and killed three members of the armed groups and wounded 15. Online activists told Al Jazeera that two civilians had been killed and many injured in Talbiseh. They said security forces opened fire as mourners gathered for a funeral for a person killed in protests a day earlier. Many people were arrested, they said. They also said five protesters, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed when security forces and "government thugs" broke up a rally in Homs, using live ammunition. Officials said "unknown assailants" were shooting from vehicles at people on the streets in Homs. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the differing accounts. Protesters beaten Earlier on Sunday, about 300 anti-government protesters took to the streets in the southern city of Suweida. Witnesses said they were attacked and badly beaten by government supporters. Mazen Darwish, an activist in Damascus, said two people had been injured and taken to hospital. "Protesters were sitting in the square, chanting slogans for political freedom," he told Al Jazeera. "After a few minutes, people in civilian clothes attacked them." There were also reports of demonstrations in Aleppo, Syria's second biggest city, in the coastal city of Baniyas, and in Homs. Click here for more of our special coverage Suhair Atassi, a rights activist, said on Twitter that 400-500 people were protesting in Aleppo, chanting slogans for national unity. In the town of Hirak, outside the southern city of Daraa, thousands of mourners at the funeral of a soldier reportedly chanted slogans calling on the president to step down, Reuters news agency reported. A relative of the 20-year-old soldier said his family was told he was accidentally electrocuted at his military unit near Damascus but mourners believed he had been tortured by security forces. Sunday's demonstration came a day after Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, said the country's decades-long emergency laws would be lifted within a week and also promised a number of other reforms. Activists had called for protests across Syria on Sunday, which is Syria's Independence Day, commemorating the departure of the last French soldiers 65 years ago and Syria's proclamation of independence. The Damascus Declaration, an opposition umbrella group, called for peaceful protests in all Syrian cities and abroad to "bolster Syria's popular uprising and ensure its continuity". 'Blood of martyrs' In a statement posted on its website, the Damascus Declaration said the government was responsible for killing and wounding hundreds of Syrians who have been calling for their legitimate rights in the past month. "The regime alone stands fully responsible for the blood of martyrs and all that will happen next in the country,'' the statement said. Other activists also called for protests through social network sites. Assad promised on Saturday to end the emergency law, which had been a key demand of the protests which began one month ago. But the president coupled his concession with a stern warning that further unrest will be considered sabotage. An activist posted this picture online, saying it showed a protest in Baniyas on Sunday He warned there will no longer be "an excuse" for organising protests once Syria lifts emergency rule and implements a spate of reforms, which he said will include a new law allowing the formation of political parties. "After that, we will not tolerate any attempt at sabotage," Assad said in a televised address to his newly appointed cabinet. George Jabbour, a former member of the Syrian parliament who was an adviser to Assad's father, the former president Hafez al-Assad, said he thought the proposed reforms should be enough to quell anti-government demonstrations. "It was greeted with, I suppose, satisfaction, by most people, maybe all. I'm glad he [said in his speech] that the lifting of emergency law will strengthen rather than weaken the security of Syria," he told Al Jazeera. But our correspondent said what is more likely to keep protesters from the streets is gangs of armed pro-Assad protesters. "The security forces by and large have been replaced by pro-Assad individuals who carry various instruments of destruction - pipes, sticks, at times AK47s," he said. "On Friday, when I drove through a section of Damascus, there were a variety of individuals, two dozens perhaps, standing in the streets with pipes, and it was clear they were doing that to send a message - if you're going to protest, you're taking the risk to run into these forces and being beaten up." Relatives' release urged Within hours of Assad's speech on Saturday, about 2,000 protesters staged a sit-in in the suburb of Douma, demanding the release of relatives arrested on Friday during a major day of nationwide protests, activists said. The official SANA news agency also reported around 2,000 people demonstrated in the southern protest hub of Daraa late on Saturday, chanting slogans for "freedom" and the lifting of emergency laws. The laws - in force since 1963 - restricts public gatherings and movement, authorises the interrogation of any individual and the monitoring of private communications and imposes media censorship. Assad has said armed gangs and a "foreign conspiracy" were behind the unrest, not true reform-seekers. SANA said on Sunday that security forces seized a large quantity of weapons hidden in a lorry coming from Iraq. It reported that the weapons were confiscated at the Tanaf crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border. It said the shipment included machine-guns, automatic rifles, night vision goggles and grenade launchers.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Libyan rebels resist Ajdabiya assault

Anti-government forces hold sway in key town but frontline fighters complain of lack of supplies and fear infiltrators. Evan Hill Last Modified: 17 Apr 2011 20:59 Ajdabiya, LIBYA - Rebel fighters in eastern Libya fought off an attack by government troops in the town of Ajdabiya on Sunday, a day after retreating from a key oil facility around 100 kilometres further west. Forces loyal to longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi advanced on Ajdabiya under a heavy artillery barrage in the morning and fought at close range with rebels on the town’s southern outskirts before a counterattack forced them back, witnesses said. With the help of NATO air strikes along the main coastal road on Saturday, rebels reached the outskirts of Brega, the site of a major oil and petrochemical port west of Ajdabiya. But a sandstorm that began overnight hampered air cover, and by Sunday morning rebels had retreated. Dozens of civilian vehicles, many of them carrying families, fled Ajdabiya throughout the morning, though some rebels also appeared to join the withdrawal. Two fighters were injured in the battle, suffering superficial shrapnel wounds during the bombardment, but none were seriously injured or killed, doctors at Ajdabiya Hospital said. Keep up with all the latest developments here In response to the advance by Gaddafi’s forces, the opposition Transitional National Council issued orders that casualties should not longer go to Ajdabiya Hospital and should instead be sent directly to Benghazi, the seat of the rebel government around 160 kilometres to the north, the doctors said. Some of the wounded already at the hospital were also evacuated. At least five ambulances with flashing lights and sirens blaring could be seen driving north out of Ajdabiya before noon. Dozens of explosions from incoming artillery fire could be heard from south of the town, and fighters said there were at least 100 blasts throughout the morning. The rebels responded with a barrage of Grad rockets, their flames streaming upward against the backdrop of a sky darkened by the sandstorm, which often reduced visibility to just a few hundred metres and gave Gaddafi’s troops cover to advance rapidly on Ajdabiya. The bombardment from regime forces hit near the town’s large, green western gate - a landmark and rallying point for rebel forces - but shells also landed on residential areas, said Muhammad Barwuin, a rebel fighter. No civilians were reported to have been hurt in the attack. While families and re-opened shops had begun to appear in town just a week ago, on Sunday Ajdabiya was deserted – no businesses were open, and rebel fighters were the only presence on the shattered streets. Rebels have arrested those they claim are collaborating with Gaddafi forces [Evan Hill] Shortly after noon, more than 30 vehicles carrying rebel reinforcements streamed into Ajdabiya, delivering a by-now familiar assortment of jury-rigged weaponry: machine guns, recoilless rifles, anti-aircraft batteries, and dismounted helicopter rocket pods, all welded to the back of pick-up trucks. After the bombardment lifted, small arms fire echoed from deeper inside the town, as the government troops involved in the attack apparently withdrew. Rebels took up defensive positions around Ajdabiya and erected roadblocks made of rocks and metal sheets at most major intersections. At the roundabout connecting two main roads, Tripoli and Bridge streets, rebels standing on the back of pickups stared attentively down the barrels of their machine guns and an array of mounted rocket launchers pointing west. A look at Libyan rebels' workshop: Making do and making war Fighters also organised a defensive line along the southern edge of town, where they feared a counterattack from another major road that connects Ajdabiya to oil fields and towns where regime forces are rumoured to assemble. Some fighters wore new, black body armour, and others have been seen carrying more advanced communications equipment, apparently supplied by the United Kingdom and Qatar, but there was no evidence of any new weaponry, despite reports that rebels have begun using MILAN anti-tank rockets, and a pledge from Qatar to provide them with similar weapons. Supplies for the rebel army apparently remained tenuous. Several fighters said they were still primarily using rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s. Some men have not eaten a full meal in days, and the frontlines needed fresh bread and water, one fighter on Bridge Street said. There are also fears that Gaddafi’s forces, in the form of paid collaborators and ex-regime informants, continue to infiltrate rebel lines. Around midday, rebel cars arrived at a checkpoint east of Ajdabiya carrying a man who fighters said had been caught trying to steal a rebel vehicle. They claimed the man wasn’t from Libya – like many suspected mercenaries and others singled out for arrest and violence by Libyans in the east, he was accused of coming from a neighbouring sub-Saharan country. The rebels claimed two others had been arrested on Saturday, and that they confessed to being paid 500 to 1,000 Libyan dinars ($414-$827) a day by Gaddafi’s forces to steal rebel cars, provide their location to loyalist troops, and sometimes open fire on them to sow chaos. Several of the assembled fighters punched and kicked the man as he was loaded into the back of a sport utility vehicle that eventually drove off. The rebels said he would be sent to Benghazi and would be appointed a lawyer by the opposition council. Misurata besieged Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from Ajdabiya In western Libya, fierce fighting continued for control of the country's third-largest city, Misurata. At least six people were killed there in artillery fire on Sunday morning, with some 47 more injured. In the previous day's fighting, Misurata's food industry facilities were reportedly damaged. "They are trying to starve us to death, attacking the dairy, the water purification plant," Jiraal, a Libyan who returned from Britain to join anti-Gaddafi fighters, told the AFP news agency. Some 99 Misurata residents were transported out of the besieged city overnight by the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), arriving in the southern Tunisian port of Zarzis. The group comprised of people injured in shelling and street fighting. It also included 64 people with serious injuries, and 10 patients in critical condition. An International Committee of the Red Cross team is now in the city to assess the situation there, nearly a week after Libyan officials reportedly said that opening an aid corridor to the city would constitute "an act of war". Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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