The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	42 killed in Ukraine riot and fire Pro-Russian rebels free OSCE monitors after eight days in captivity Odessa/Slaviansk, May 3 At least 42 persons were killed in street battles between supporters and opponents of Russia in southern Ukraine that ended with dozens of pro-Russian protesters incinerated in a burning building, bringing the country closer to war. Pro-Russian rebels in the east freed seven European military observers on Saturday after holding them hostage for eight days, while Kiev pressed on with its biggest military operation so far to reclaim rebel-held territory in the area. The riot in the Black Sea port of Odessa, ending in a deadly blaze in a besieged trade union building, was by far the worst incident in Ukraine since a February uprising that ended with a pro-Russian president fleeing the country. It also spread the violence from the eastern separatist heartland to an area far from the Russian frontier, raising the prospect of unrest sweeping more broadly across a country of around 45 million people the size of France. The Kremlin, which has massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the Ukraine's eastern border and proclaims the right to invade to protect Russian speakers, said the government in Kiev and its Western backers were responsible for the deaths. Kiev said the violence was provoked by foreign demonstrators sent in from Transdniestria, a nearby breakaway pro-Russian region of Moldova where Moscow has a military garrison. It said most of the dead who had been identified so far were from there. On Saturday morning, people placed flowers near the burnt-out doors of the trade union building, lighting candles and putting up the yellow, white and red flag of the city. The burnt remains of a tented camp of pro-Russian demonstrators nearby had been swept away. People spoke of their horror at what happened. About 2,000 pro-Russian protesters gathered outside the burnt-out building, chanting: "Odessa is a Russian city". At the nearby hospital, residents queued up to offer blood and others tried to find out what medicine was needed so they could go out to buy it. Oleg Konstantinov, a journalist covering the events for a local Internet site, said bullets had flown in the melee before the blaze: "I was hit in the arm, then I started crawling, and then got hit in the back and leg." The Odessa bloodshed came on the same day that Kiev launched its biggest push yet to reassert its control over separatist areas in the east, hundreds of kilometres away, where armed pro-Russian rebels have proclaimed a "People's Republic of Donetsk". The rebels there aim to hold a referendum on May 11 on secession from Ukraine, similar to one staged in March in Ukraine's Crimea region, which was seized and annexed by Russia in a move that overturned the post-Cold War diplomatic order. On Saturday the government said it was pressing on with the offensive in the area for a second day, and had recaptured a television tower and a security services building from rebels in Kramatorsk, a town near the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk. "We are not stopping," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a post on Facebook. Meanwhile, Russia said on Saturday it would be "ludicrous" to hold presidential elections in Ukraine amid the rising tension and growing violence in the country. "After what happened in Odessa, against the background of the unwinding spiral of confrontation in the country's southeast, we do not understand what elections Kiev, European capitals and Washington are talking about," Xinhua quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. — Reuters Diplomatic issue resolved * The release of the military monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe resolves a major diplomatic issue for the West. * The separatists had captured the team on April 25 and described them as prisoners of war. One Swede was freed earlier on health grounds while four Germans, a Czech, a Dane and a Pole were still being held until Saturday.
	Toll in Korea ferry disaster rises to 236 Seoul, May 3 Eight more bodies were recovered today from the ferry that sank off South Korea last month, reports said, amid concern that some of the missing may never be found. Seventeen days after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank, 236 people have been confirmed dead with 66 still unaccounted for, according to Yonhap news agency. Earlier today, the search had been suspended due to fast currents and high waves whipped up by gusty winds, according to a coastguard spokesman. Dive teams have been working in challenging and sometimes hazardous conditions. They have to grope their way down guiding ropes to the sunken ship, laying on its side on the seabed at a depth of 40 metres. They have to struggle through narrow passageways and rooms littered with floating debris in silty water. Park Seung-Ki, spokesman for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said bedding materials from the ship were found as far as 30 kilometres from the disaster site yesterday. As days go by, personal belongings and debris from the ship have been spotted further and further away, fuelling concerns that strong currents may have swept some bodies into the open sea. One body was retrieved yesterday by a fishing vessel four kilometres away from the recovery site, and another was found two kilometres away on Wednesday. As a precaution, recovery workers put rings of netting around the site days ago. The relatives of those still missing are insisting that all the bodies be recovered before efforts begin to raise the sunken ferry. The Sewol capsized on April 16 with 476 people on board, more than 300 of them from the same Danwon High School in Ansan city, just south of Seoul. It is one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters but public anger has been amplified due to greed and irresponsibility being blamed for the poor handling of the catastrophe. — AFP
	Nepal Maoists vandalise school over Mahatma Gandhi photos Kathmandu, May 3 Student activists aligned to the CPN-Maoist have vandalised a school and set a bus on fire in western Nepal after the school allegedly published photos of Mahatma Gandhi on the cover of its magazine. The activists vandalised the school and torched the school bus yesterday after learning that authorities at the International Public Higher Secondary School in Mahendranagar in Kanchanpur district allegedly published photos of Indian leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, on the cover of the school magazine, the Himalayan Times reported. Classes were on when the activists barged into the office chamber and started smashing computers, telephones and furniture at around 8 am, the national daily said. Two activists headed towards the parking lot and smashed the windows of the school bus with iron rods before sprinkling petrol and setting it on fire, the daily said quoting the managing director of the school Maha Sharma Neupane. Students and teachers put off the fire, according to school sources. The vandals attacked the school as part of their protests against the use of Indian leaders' pictures in the magazine and hike in school fees, said sources close to the All Nepal National Independent Student's Union-Revolutionary affiliated to CPN-Maoist led by hardliner Mohan Vaidya. Meanwhile, the police have arrested two activists for their suspected involvement in the arson. Prakash Japrel and Birendra Bista were arrested by the police and search for the rest is on, according to SSP Rajendra Chaudhary. Last year, several Indian schools in Nepal were targeted with one being attacked by activists of CPN-Maoist, breakaway faction of the Unified CPN-Maoist, for teaching subjects under India's CBSE curriculum. The Maoists have claimed that using the Indian educational system is against Nepal's interests. CPN-Maoist had also banned the screening of Indian movies and the entry of vehicles with Indian number plates into Nepal. — PTI
	'Top Gear' host gets warning over racism row London, May 3 Television presenter Jeremy Clarkson said he had received a final warning from Britain's publicly-funded broadcaster, the BBC, over using racist language while filming "Top Gear", one of the world's most popular TV programmes. Clarkson, 54, was called before BBC bosses this week after the Mirror newspaper reported he was heard using the word "nigger" as he recited an old version of the rhyme "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" to choose between cars in filming two years ago. The newspaper did not say how it got hold of the footage, which was not aired, but the revelation led to calls for Clarkson to resign or be sacked from the BBC, which is funded by a licence fee paid by all UK households who own a television. The presenter, known for his humorous but blunt style, apologised in a video on Twitter on Thursday, saying he tried to avoid the racist expression by mumbling over that part of the rhyme in two takes and replacing it with "teacher" in a third. But in a regular column in the Sun newspaper on Saturday, Clarkson admitted he was on his final warning from the BBC after the latest controversy to hit the outspoken but highly profitable presenter. "I've been told by the BBC that if I make one more offensive, remark, anywhere, at ay time, I will be sacked," wrote Clarkson, insisting he had not used the 'n' word that he found "extremely distasteful". Series of controversies The furore comes just days after Top Gear producers apologised for a "light-hearted" joke by Clarkson in Myanmar and Thailand in which he referred to a "slope" on a bridge as an Asian man crossed a makeshift structure built by the presenters. The show prompted complaints of racism and producer Andy Wilman apologised, saying they were unaware it was a racially offensive term for Asians used in countries like Australia and the US and regretted any offence caused. — Reuters In line of fire Television presenter Jeremy Clarkson (pic) known for his humorous but blunt style, apologised in a video on Twitter on Thursday, saying he tried to avoid the racist expression by mumbling over that part of the rhyme in two takes and replacing it with "teacher" in a third.
	Egypt: 102 Morsi supporters get 10 years in jail Cairo, May 3 An Egyptian court today sentenced 102 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison, and two others to seven years, on charges of murder and rioting. The defendants were arrested in July last year following a protest in a district in Cairo after the powerful army ousted Morsi, who belongs to the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. They were charged with attempted murder, inciting murder, rioting, threatening violence, and sabotaging private and public property, ahramonline reported. The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 102 supporters of Morsi to 10 years in prison and two others to seven years, in the latest mass sentencing raising fears of tension ahead of the crucial Presidential elections later this month. — AFP
	Afghanistan landslide toll now put at 300 Aab Bareek, May 3 Rescue teams abandoned the search for survivors today after a landslide buried a hillside village in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 300 persons under a fast-moving tide of rock and mud. Local people and emergency workers using shovels tried in vain to find victims trapped under the massive landslide that engulfed Aab Bareek village in Badakhshan province. Officials said that the final death toll could rise as high as 500 after yesterday’s disaster, updating earlier information that 2,500 persons were feared dead. "Based on our reports, 300 houses are under the debris," Badakhshan Governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb told reporters at the scene. "We have a list of around 300 people confirmed dead. "We cannot continue the search-and-rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud. We will offer prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave," he said. Relief teams arrived at first light today to be confronted by the enormous scale of destruction and hundreds of homeless families who had spent a night in the open. "The first figure (of 2,500 feared dead) that we announced was obtained from local people, not from our technical team," Gul Mohammad Bedar, Deputy Governor of Badakhshan, said. "We think the death toll will not rise beyond 500." Many villagers were at Friday prayers in two mosques when they were entombed by the torrent of debris, and a second landslide hit people who had rushed to assist those in need. — AFP
	Samsung to pay Apple $120m San Jose, May 2 A US jury on Friday ordered Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to pay $119.6 million to Apple Inc, far less than Apple had sought and marking a big loss for the iPhone maker in the latest round of their globe-spanning mobile patent litigation. During the trial in a San Jose, California, Apple accused Samsung of violating patents on smartphone features, including universal search, while Samsung denied wrongdoing. On Friday, the jury found the South Korean smartphone-maker had infringed two Apple patents. Jurors awarded the iPhone maker $930 million after a trial in San Jose, but Apple failed to persuade the judge to issue a permanent injunction against the sale of Samsung phones.— Reuters
	ANC suspends Indian-origin leader for racist remarks Johannesburg, May 3 South Africa's ruling ANC has suspended a senior party leader for allegedly branding his fellow Indian-origin citizens as "whiners" and telling them to "go back to India". Visvin Reddy, Chairman of the African National Congress (ANC) branch in the predominantly Indian-origin suburb of Chatsworth, near Durban, chided local Indian voters who complained about the ANC government, in a Facebook post. "The ANC will still rule this country. You whiners should leave. Go to India and you will see what a good life we have here. Continue with your garbage and marginalise yourself further. Don't blame the ANC, blame yourself. Only a foolish Indian in South Africa will not engage the majority constructively," Reddy wrote in the Facebook comment. — PTI