Meiktila (Myanmar) March 22
Myanmar declared a state of emergency today for a riot-hit town where 20 people have been killed in Buddhist-Muslim violence that has sparked fears of spreading unrest.

Swathes of Meiktila, located 130 kilometres north of the capital Naypyidaw, have been reduced to ashes as the authorities struggle to establish control after three days of clashes and arson.

"At least 20 people have been killed. We estimate that it could be higher but it is also difficult for us to gather all the figures," said a police officer who did not want to be named. The president's office said the state of emergency would enable the military to help restore order.

The situation was extremely tense today with groups of men -- including Buddhist monks -- armed with knives and sticks prowling the streets. Many of the town's Muslim residents have fled their homes.

"The situation is getting worse," a local resident said. "People are destroying buildings. Many people have been killed. We are scared and trying to stay safe at home." A group of reporters was stopped at knife-point by a gang of young men and monks and forced to hand over their camera memory cards, according to one of the journalists.

It is the worst communal violence since a wave of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year that left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced. A local lawmaker said that about 25 people had been killed in Meiktila, where more than one-third of the population of about 80,000 people is Muslim, but it was not possible to verify his figures.

"The situation is not good... although the government has said everything is under control," parliamentarian Win Htein of the opposition National League for Democracy party, said. — AFP

Bordeaux (France), March 22
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged with taking financial advantage of France's richest woman, as part of a probe into illegal party funding that could shatter his hopes of a political comeback.

His lawyers said they would appeal against the decision to formally investigate Sarkozy over allegations he took advantage of elderly L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt when she was weakened by poor health.

He was unexpectedly summoned yesterday to the Bordeaux offices of Jean-Michel Gentil, the judge in charge of the case, for face-to-face encounters with at least four former members of Bettencourt's staff.

The surprise confrontation came over claims he had accepted envelopes stuffed with cash from the world's richest woman to fund his 2007 election campaign.

Gentil was seeking to establish how many times Sarkozy had visited Bettencourt during his successful campaign.

Sarkozy, 58, has always maintained that he visited Bettencourt's residence only once during the campaign, to meet her late husband. Members of the multi-billionaire's staff have, however, contradicted his version of events.

Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog lambasted the decision to pursue his client as "legally incoherent and unfair". He said he would immediately initiate proceedings to have the charges dropped. — AFP

India may be one of the world’s newest and hottest economic power houses, but not when it comes to assessing and eradicating the country’s poverty.

In fact, according to a new report from Oxford University, India lags significantly behind such immediate neighbours as Nepal and Bangladesh when it comes to poverty reduction.

Both Nepal and Bangladesh are among star performers in the report that indicates a decline in some global poverty levels. These nations are among 18 out of 22 countries that have reduced poverty significantly.

Researchers participating in the Oxford Poverty and Human development Initiative (OPHI) measured poverty by including nutrition, education and sanitation - as well as income - in a new term called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

During the period of research, India measured impressive GDP growth rates of between 8 and 10 per cent, but its MPI dropped only 1.2 per cent per year between 1999 and 2006.

But Bangladesh’s poverty levels were down 3.2 per cent and Nepal’s 4.1 per cent per year.

Nepal scored highly in areas like nutrition, child mortality, electricity, improved flooring and assets, whereas Bangladesh scored best in improving sanitation and school attendance.

If ‘star’ performers like Nepal and Bangladesh continue reducing poverty at current rates, these nations could halve MPI in less than 10 years and eradicate it in 20.

Dr Sabina Alkire and Dr Jose Manuel Roche were the researchers who carried out the study.

Commenting on the significance of the MPI, Dr Alkire commented, “Using this measure, we found that reductions in intensity - the percentage of deprivations people experience at the same time - were strongest in relatively poorer countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi and Senegal.”

Dr Roche added, “At the current rate of reduction, it will take Ethiopia 45 years to halve multidimensional poverty. In other words, to achieve poverty levels equivalent to those Nigeria has now.

“Based on the same assumptions, it will take India 41 years and Malawi 74 years to eradicate acute poverty as measured by the MPI.

“But we hope that by providing a more complete and balanced picture, these measures will help spur the eradication of multidimensional poverty.”

The 2013 Oxford report analysed some 104 countries and discovered that more than 30 per cent of their combined populations - 1.6 billion people - were living in multidimensional poverty.

The report also found that 51 per cent of the world’s MPI poor live in South Asia and 29 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. Most MPI poor people - 72 per cent - live in middle-income countries.