BBC - Friday, 29 October, 2004

Russia's parliament has approved a bill to give the Kremlin more control over the country's regions, ending direct elections of the 89 regional governors.

Instead they will be nominated by the president, then confirmed by regional legislatures.

An independent liberal member of parliament, Vladimir Ryzhkov, said the vote amounted to a vote of no confidence in the Russian people.

"By holding it they declare that the people are not ready for democracy," he said.

Full story here.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Final election results Thursday showed John Howard becoming Australia's first prime minister in 24 years to control both houses of parliament, clearing the way for the conservative leader to push through reforms including relaxing media ownership laws.

Howard overcame widespread anger at his decision to send troops to Iraq last year to win a landmark fourth term in the Oct. 9 election. Australia's robust economy under Howard's leadership trumped concerns about the war.

Howard secured a majority in House of Representatives, a victory that was clear from the start. Results for the Senate took until Thursday to calculate because of a voting system that is more complex than that of the lower house.

Thursday's results showed the coalition government of the Nationals, the junior coalition partner, and Howard's Liberal Party landing 39 of the Senate's 76 seats.

The prime minister said he would not abuse the new power.

``I want to assure the Australian people that the government will use its majority in the Senate very carefully, very wisely and not provocatively,'' Howard told reporters in Sydney.

He added, ``We intend to do the things we've promised the Australian people we would do but we don't intend to allow this unexpected but welcome majority in the Senate to go to our heads.''

Key priorities of Howard were blocked during his first three terms in office because his conservative coalition government did not have a majority in parliament's upper chamber, the Senate.

The results announced Thursday made it likely Howard would succeed in his long-delayed plans to sell off the government's $22.4 billion majority stake in the national telecommunications giant Telstra.

Opposition lawmakers have long resisted the sale, arguing it would lead to a deterioration in services, particularly in the remote Outback, where line maintenance is expensive.

The Senate majority also means that the chamber will no longer be an obstacle in moves to loosen restrictions on foreign ownership of Australian media and on ownership of multiple media, for example a newspaper and television station, within the same state.

Opposition parties fear relaxation of the laws will reduce diversity in the media.

Costello said the government also would push other legislation that the Senate rejected during the government's first three terms, including deregulating the labor market and reducing constraints on small businesses that want to fire staff.

It will be the first time a government has held such dominance since the government of Malcolm Fraser in the 1970s.

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared a "fight to the death" on Thursday against corruption and urged supporters to give up material possessions a day after the oil-rich nation was criticized as among the most graft-ridden in the world.

In a survey of 146 countries released this week, the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked Venezuela 114th, noting oil producers especially suffered serious levels of corruption.

Critics of Chavez, a left-winger who won a referendum on his rule in August, accuse ministers, generals and aides who surround him of amassing wealth far above their nominal salaries as his government enjoys an oil export windfall.

They call his self-styled "revolution," which has introduced social programs to help the poor, a "robolution" to denounce what they say is rampant corruption in his administration.

Opponents say the president's state-paid personal expenses have rocketed during his nearly six years in power. They point to his purchase of a multimillion-dollar presidential plane, numerous foreign trips and his penchant for designer suits.

Full story here.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro tripped and fractured a knee and an arm in a tumble captured on live television that raised new questions about the political future of the communist-run country he has led for 45 years.

Castro, 78, stumbled on a step and fell on his left knee on Wednesday night as he returned to his seat after a graduation ceremony speech at the mausoleum holding the remains of fellow revolutionary Che Guevara at Santa Clara in central Cuba.

Helped to a chair, he quickly recovered and asked for a microphone to reassure the stunned crowd of 30,000, some of whom burst into tears, that he was "intact" and would be able to continue working even in a plaster cast.

A brief government statement issued after a medical examination said Castro broke his left knee and suffered a hair-line fracture in his right arm. "His general health is good and spirit excellent," it said.

Chavez, a former paratrooper, told supporters in southwest Venezuela he had phoned Castro early on Thursday and the Cuban leader had joked about his fall by saying: "'Chavez, I think I would have made a good parachutist."'

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: The real question here is whether Castro can continue to work from a coffin. And regarding (as usual) stupid Chavez commentary all we can reply is that majority of people in Cuba and Venezuela would like to see two of them jump together from a plane without a parachute. Let people live in freedom.

MINSK, Belarus (AP) -- A journalist working for an opposition newspaper was stabbed to death in her home in the Belarusian capital Minsk, her family said Thursday.

Veronika Cherkasova, 44, had worked for independent media outlets for the past 15 years. She wrote most recently for the newspaper Solidarnost, which she joined in May 2003.

Cherkasova's stepfather, Vladimir Melezhko, discovered her body Wednesday night after she didn't show up for work or answer the phone. He said she had many stab wounds around the throat.

The evidence suggested she had opened the door to her killer, Melezhko said.

Investigators have not yet announced any of the motives under consideration.

MINSK, Belarus (AP) -- Riot police on Wednesday broke up a protest by several dozen students denouncing the police beating of a top opposition leader during a demonstration against a referendum that allows authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to stay in power.

Protesters carried portraits of beaten opposition leader Anatoly Lebedko and banners that read ``You can spend your entire life under dictatorship if you remain meek and weak!''

In questioning the weekend referendum, some students wore papers pinned to their chests that read ``I voted against. Will you kill me?''

They chanted slogans in Minsk's central square before police in riot gear moved in. An Associated Press reporter saw at least 10 students grabbed by police and pushed into nearby buses.

``I support a free Belarus, which Lukashenko has tried to deprive me of,'' an 18-year-old man who gave only his first name, Mikita, said.

The rally was the second in as many days against Sunday's referendum, which was widely seen as fraudulent. The vote allows Lukashenko to seek a third term in power and continue 10 years of iron-fisted rule.

Electoral officials said 77 percent of Belarusian voters supported the referendum to scrap the two-term limit on presidents.

International observers and an independent exit poll suggested the voting was neither free nor fair.

The Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism Wednesday, saying the observers had been pressured by the United States and the European Union.

Also Wednesday, Lukashenko fired the head of the state security service, the KGB, for meeting with opposition leaders from Youth Front, a source in Lukashenko's administration told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, police released seven minors detained during Tuesday's demonstration, during which police beat opposition leader Lebedko.

Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov said 46 people were detained in Tuesday's demonstration. Riot police beat many of the protesters as they marched through Minsk shouting ``Lukashenko lost!''

Belarusian television and radio, which Lukashenko controls, showed little of the protests and suggested they had been funded by foreigners.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it had asked Belarus for an explanation for the mistreatment of two Russian television crews at Tuesday's protest. One of NTV's cameras was destroyed in the melee.

Lebedko was hospitalized in serious condition after his beating, said Yekaterina Tkachenko, a spokeswoman for the United Civil Party.

The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent 270 election observers, criticized the beatings and arrests as an affront to freedom of expression.

MINSK (Reuters) - Police broke up an opposition rally in Minsk on Tuesday protesting against the results of a referendum, which allowed President Alexander Lukashenko to extend his rule after more than a decade in power.

About 500 protesters chanting ``Shame on Lukashenko!'' and ``Long live Belarus!'' marched from Minsk's main square down the capital's central street carrying a banner ``Down with tyranny!.''

As the crowd of mainly young people and students approached the headquarters of the presidential staff, helmeted riot police broke up the rally, a Reuters witness said.

Police wielding batons beat demonstrators. About 20 protesters were detained, witnesses sa