W O R L D

Russians protest against Putin, elections
Rallies a test of Opposition’s ability to turn public anger into mass revolt
Moscow, December 10
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Russia today to demand an end to Vladimir Putin's rule and a re-run of a parliamentary election in the biggest opposition protests since he rose to power more than a decade ago.

Kremlin lifts media curbs
Moscow: So far mum, the Russia's state-controlled media on Saturday started airing news about mass protests in the country against alleged fraud and ballot rigging at last Sunday's State Duma polls, after Kremlin lifted the curbs.

Pak forces take control of Shamsi airbase
Islamabad, December 10
Pakistani security forces today took control of a strategically important airbase in the country's southwest after US military personnel vacated the facility in line with a demand from the Pakistan government.

Russians protest against Putin, elections
Rallies a test of Opposition’s ability to turn public anger into mass revolt

Activists of Opposition parties take part in a rally at Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square on Saturday. — AFP

Moscow, December 10
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Russia today to demand an end to Vladimir Putin's rule and a re-run of a parliamentary election in the biggest opposition protests since he rose to power more than a decade ago.

Protesters waved banners such as "The rats should go!" and "Swindlers and thieves - give us our elections back!" in cities from the Pacific port of Vladivostok in the east to Kaliningrad in the west, nearly 7,400 km away.

The Riot police was out in force with dogs and in trucks, but did little to try to put down protests that showed a groundswell of discontent with Prime Minister Putin as he prepares to return to the presidency next year and anger over an election on December 4, which the opposition says was slanted in his party's favour.

"Today 60,000, maybe 100,000 people, were at this rally," former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov said in a speech to flag-waving and chanting protesters packed into Bolotnaya Square across the Moscow River from the Kremlin.

"This means today is the beginning of the end for these thieving authorities," said Kasyanov, who now leads an opposition movement which was barred from the election. The rallies, many of them held in freezing snow, were a test of the opposition's ability to turn public anger into a mass revolt on the scale of the Arab Spring rebellions that brought down rulers in the Middle East and North Africa.

Most Russian political experts say the former KGB spy who has dominated the world's largest energy producer for 12 years is in no immediate danger of being toppled and that protests are hard to keep going across such a vast country.

But they say Putin's authority has been badly wounded and may gradually fade away when he returns as the President unless he answers demands ranging from holding fair elections to reducing the huge gap between rich and poor.

People protested in dozens of cities such as Vladivostok in Russia's far east, Perm in Siberia, Arkhangelsk in the Arctic north, in Kaliningrad and St Petersburg in the west, and Karelia in the northwest.

The only initial report of police cracking down was in Kurgan, east of Moscow on Russia's border with Kazakhstan, where an unsanctioned protest of about 400 people was dispersed, Interfax news agency said.

About 20 people were detained in Khabarovsk near Russia's border with China, RIA news agency said. Other reports put the number of detentions at dozens. In Vladivostok, where Putin's United Russia party was beaten by communists in the parliamentary election, about 1,000 people protested under banners saying "We are against mass falsifications!" and insulting Putin, witnesses said.

In Moscow, people of all ages gathered, many carrying white carnations which they said was the symbol of their protest. They waved pictures of Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev declaring: "Guys, it's time to go."

The protesters were angered by the election in which United Russia won only a slim majority in the State Duma lower house, widely seen as a growing sign of discontent with Putin's rule.

Putin and Medvedev have both said that Russians have a right to protest but only within the bounds of permission granted by local authorities who normally allow demonstrations only at specific locations and limit turnout. — Reuters

Kremlin lifts media curbs

Moscow: So far mum, the Russia's state-controlled media on Saturday started airing news about mass protests in the country against alleged fraud and ballot rigging at last Sunday's State Duma polls, after Kremlin lifted the curbs.

Shortly after the beginning of the mammoth rally in Moscow, 'Rossiya 24' news channel and Vesti FM radio started giving detailed coverage of the anti-Kremlin protests across the country seeking fresh elections and a thorough probe into all the cases of irregularities and ballot rigging .

Earlier, there was a news black out in the state-controlled electronic media and the opposition websites and foreign services of news agencies were the only source of information for the general public. — PTI

Pak forces take control of Shamsi airbase

Islamabad, December 10
Pakistani security forces today took control of a strategically important airbase in the country's southwest after US military personnel vacated the facility in line with a demand from the Pakistan government.

Pakistan had asked the US to vacate Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province after a cross-border NATO attack on two border posts killed 24 soldiers on November 26.

The US had been using the airbase since late 2001 for military operations in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt, according to American and Pakistani media reports.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had said last week that the US had been asked to vacate the airbase by December 11.

Troops from the Frontier Corps took control of the airbase late this evening after most of the US personnel left the airfield. Only one US transport plane was parked at the airbase to transfer remaining personnel and equipment, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying.

Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority too arrived at the airbase to take full control of it after the remaining American officials leave the facility.

The United Arab Emirates had leased the airbase in 1992 for use by members of the country's royal family who travel to Pakistan every year for hunting expeditions. The UAE gave the US access to the airbase after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Shamsi airbase was originally built to operate small aircraft and the US extended the runway so that larger military aircraft could be based there. — PTI

Pak Taliban confirm peace talks

Peshawar, December 10
The Pakistani Taliban is in peace talks with the Pakistani government, a senior commander in the militant group said today. He said negotiations were “progressing well” and could soon end in a formal agreement.

The statement by Maulvi Faqir Mohammad is the first time a named Taliban commander has confirmed that the group is negotiating with the Pakistani government.

But it is unclear whether he speaks for entirety of the network, which is believed to have splintered into different factions over the last year.

Mohammad, said to be the deputy chief of the Pakistani Taliban, said his men had held “peace talks with relevant government officials.” “They are progressing well, and we may soon sign a formal peace agreement with the government,” he said in a telephone conversation.

Government officials were not available for comment. They have previously denied earlier reports of talks. Despite pushing for peace talks to end a related insurgency in Afghanistan, Washington is unlikely to support similar efforts to strike a deal in Pakistan.

US forces and their NATO and Afghan allies regularly come under attack from Afghan militants and Al-Qaida operatives, who live alongside Pakistani Taliban militants in the border region.

Previous peace deals there didn’t last long, and gave militants time to rest and regroup. — AP

13 killed in Philippine plane crash

Manila, December 10
A four-seater cargo plane today crashed over a crowded Philippine slum, sparking a fire that killed 13 persons, including three children, and left at least another 20 injured, officials said.

The crash killed the pilot and co-pilot, while the rest of the victims are thought to be residents of the shanty town, said police chief inspector Enrique Sy. "The plane struck one house but the others also went up in flames. These are informal settlers, packed into rows of houses," the police chief told reporters. — AFP

The remains of a plane that crashed over a slum near the Philippine capital Manila on Saturday. — Reuters

Seven killed in Iraq attacks

Baghdad, December 10
A spate of gun and bomb attacks across northern and central Iraq today killed seven people and left four others wounded, security officials said. In the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, a Shiite Turkman chemicals specialist for the state-owned North Oil Company was killed by a magnetic "sticky bomb" attached to his car.

Hussein Mohsen Maqsud, a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa Party, had just left his home when the explosion occurred, a police officer and a party official said. Also in Kirkuk, a civilian was killed in a gun attack in the north of the city, 240 kilometres north of Baghdad, the police officer said.

In the Iraqi capital, an anti-Qaida militiaman was killed and a policeman was wounded by a gun attack on a checkpoint in Saidiyah, south Baghdad, an interior ministry official said. — PTI

Pak forces take control of Shamsi airbase

Islamabad, December 10
Pakistani security forces today took control of a strategically important airbase in the country's southwest after US military personnel vacated the facility in line with a demand from the Pakistan government. Pakistan had asked the US to vacate Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province after a cross-border NATO attack on two border posts.

The US had been using the airbase since late 2001 for military operations in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt, according to American and Pakistani media reports.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had said last week that the US had been asked to vacate the airbase by December 11. — PTI