Reuters - March 30th, 2005

SEOUL (Reuters) - The world caught a rare glimpse of mob violence in North Korea Wednesday when soccer fans in the highly controlled state hurled bottles, rocks and chairs as the home team lost a World Cup qualifier to Iran.

North Korea is a land where sporting celebrations involve hundreds of thousands of people, with every detail finely choreographed. The Stalinist state limits what the outside world can see of it, and it always makes sure the little that is put in front of television cameras is seen in the best possible light.

But that was not the case at Kim Il-sung stadium.

North Korean soldiers and police stepped in to try to restore order after defender Nam Song-chol was sent off for shoving Syrian referee Mohamed Kousa during the match seen on international satellite television.

The unrest continued after the final whistle, with match officials unable to leave the pitch for about 20 minutes as more projectiles rained down.

The violence spilled over outside the stadium where thousands of angry North Koreans prevented Iran's players from boarding the team bus.

Riot police finally pushed back the crowd far enough for the Iranian squad to depart two hours after the end of the game.

``The atmosphere on the pitch and outside the pitch was not a sports atmosphere,'' said Iran's Croatian coach, Branko Ivankovic.

``It is very disappointing when you feel your life is not safe. My players tried to get to the bus after the game but it was not possible -- it was a very dangerous situation.''

``North Korea is an organized society and that kind of behavior will not be tolerated,'' said a North Korean defector in Seoul who was once a soccer official in his homeland.

``I have never seen anything like this myself,'' he said. ``The people responsible are likely be tracked down and severely punished.''

North Korean official media had nothing to say about the violence in Pyongyang. The KCNA news agency carried a two-sentence report on the game that simply said Iran won 2-0.

Editor's commentary: What did you expect in a match between two terrorist states where referee is also from a terrorist state?

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia could see many of its closest allies topple like dominoes and its own regional clout inexorably shrunken following the swift overthrow of the man who ruled Kyrgyzstan for 15 years, an event that has turned up the heat on other autocratic rulers across the ex-Soviet landscape.

This week's overthrow of the government in Kyrgyzstan was the third uprising in Russia's sphere of interest in less than two years. Unlike Georgia and Ukraine, however, the tussle between the government and the opposition had nothing to do with a wider, East-West competition for influence.

Instead, it centered on a previously weak and divided opposition capitalizing on the deep unpopularity of an increasingly autocratic president. Russia has depended on such leaders to promote its strategic interests.

Already, the ripples of revolution have been felt far beyond the small, mountainous nation of 5 million people in Central Asia. In Belarus on Friday, on Russia's western edge, police clashed with demonstrators calling for President Alexander Lukashenko's resignation.

``Today's gathering must send a signal to the West, Russia and our own bureaucrats that Belarus is ready for a serious change,'' said Andrei Klimov, an opposition leader. ``Our aim is to start the Belarusian revolution and force the resignation of Lukashenko, the last dictator of Europe.''

In tightly controlled Uzbekistan, which borders on Kyrgyzstan, opposition leaders from various movements issued a joint statement of admiration for the Kyrgyzstan coup.

``We are sure that the process of democratic reforms that started in Kyrgyzstan will highly influence all parts of Central Asia,'' they said.

The domino effect would have deep ramifications for Russia.

Moscow wants desperately to form a free-trade zone that could restore some of its Soviet-era economic power, but that requires cooperation from Kazakhstan and Belarus. Today, those countries are in safe hands from Moscow's point of view, but the opposition might not see such an alliance in their nations' interest.

The fourth partner in the project, Ukraine, has already suggested it could pull out if new President Viktor Yushchenko's government decides it is not in the national interest.

Moscow needs oil- and gas-rich Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to help maintain its status as a top energy transporter, and Tajikistan and Armenia, which both host Russian bases, as outposts for its military in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

New, opposition-led governments in any of those nations could cut into Russia's strategic sway.

After losing its stake in last fall's political battle in Ukraine, the Kremlin has taken a careful approach to Kyrgyzstan, making no visible effort to help keep its longtime leader from losing power.

``The Kremlin has never recovered from the Ukrainian trauma and apparently decided to stay away out of fear that an attempt to influence events there will backfire again,'' Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, told The Associated Press. ``It was simply following the events.''

Under President Askar Akayev, Kyrgyzstan hosted both U.S. and Russian military air bases just 20 miles away one from another -- another reason why neither Moscow nor Washington seemed to be overtly backing either side.

``No one needs destabilization in Kyrgyzstan. It's a rare case when the interests of Moscow and Washington converge,'' Lukyanov said.

The Bush administration pledged to work jointly with Russia to promote a ``sense of order'' in Kyrgzstan, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Friday in Washington.

Gleb Pavlovsky, a leading Russian political strategist linked to the Kremlin who took part in Ukraine's election campaign, said Moscow failed to keep ex-Soviet nations in its orbit because its efforts were belated and badly organized.

``We were late in launching this policy, and we have received a good beating,'' he said during a television talk show.

Stanislav Belkovsky, another top Russian political analyst with reported connections in the Kremlin, said Russia's passivity in Kyrgyzstan demonstrated that Moscow had abandoned its ambitions to play a dominant role in the region.

``The revolution in Kyrgyzstan has shown that Russia can't and doesn't want to control the post-Soviet space,'' Belkovsky said.

President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned against placing excessive hopes in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 12 former Soviet nations that Moscow has sought to dominate. With surprising candor, Putin said that the CIS was merely a discussion forum that couldn't bring forth serious economic cooperation -- what he called a forum created for the ``civilized divorce'' of the former Soviet republics, in contrast to the European Union, which was built to foster real cooperation.

``All disappointments come from excessive expectations,'' Putin said.

MINSK, Belarus (AP) -- Belarusian demonstrators tried to rally outside the office of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday to demand his ouster in a self-declared attempt to emulate a popular uprising in Kyrgyzstan, but they were beaten back by riot police swinging truncheons.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, harshly assailed the Kyrgyz opposition, warning that protests that drove longtime leader Askar Akayev from power this week could destabilize the entire region.

Lukashenko, who has largely retained the Soviet system and hasn't changed the name of the KGB in his country of 10 million, has stifled dissent, persecuted independent media and opposition parties, and prolonged his power through elections that international organizations say were marred by fraud.

He also pushed through a referendum in October that will allow him to seek a third term in 2006 and run in subsequent elections.

Showing he will not tolerate demonstrations like those that drove the presidents of Georgia, Ukraine and now Kyrgyzstan from power, Lukashenko sent police into the streets Friday to disperse an estimated 1,000 protesters who chanted ``Down with Lukashenko!'' and ``Long Live Belarus!''

Police chased demonstrators along the streets of the capital, beating some with the night sticks. Minsk police spokesman Oleg Slepchenko said 34 protesters were detained for participating in an unsanctioned rally.

Andrei Klimov, an opposition leader who organized the protests, said his goal was to help spark a revolution similar to those that have swept the other ex-Soviet republics.

``Today's gathering must send a signal to the West, Russia and our own bureaucrats that Belarus is ready for a serious change,'' Klimov said. ``Our aim is to start the Belarusian revolution and force the resignation of Lukashenko, the last dictator of Europe.''

Friday's protest was one of the biggest in the Belarusian capital in recent months.

``By using force, Lukashenko shows he's terribly scared,'' said Vyacheslav Sivchik, an opposition leader later detained by police for taking part in the demonstration.

The protests that ousted the Kyrgyz leader have raised questions about which of the ex-Soviet strongmen might be the next to fall.

Only Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, who has been declared president-for-life, rivals Luskashenko for total control among the post-Soviet leaders in 12 former republics. The three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have moved quickly toward democracy.

A hand-picked assembly of more than 2,000 top officials and elders headed by Niyazov makes laws in Turkmenistan. His book ``Rukhnama'' sets moral and spiritual guidelines for the country's citizens. It is held as a sacred text.

Kazakhstan, a vast, energy-rich nation where Western oil firms have invested billions of dollars, is seen by many analysts as the next target for a popular uprising. Its President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a former Communist boss who has been in power since 1989, will be seeking another seven-year term next year.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- President Askar Akayev's government collapsed Thursday after opposition protesters took over the presidential compound and government offices, throwing computers and air conditioners out of windows in a frenzy of anger over corruption and a disputed election.

The popular uprising in this impoverished Central Asian nation of 5 million forced Akayev to flee, was breathtaking in its speed and resulted in only a few dozen injured. The government was the third in a former Soviet republic -- after Georgia and Ukraine -- to be brought down by people power over the past year and a half.

One immediate challenge for the new rulers was rampant looting in government buildings and shops in the capital, Bishkek.

Whooping and whistling protesters took over the Soviet-era presidential headquarters, and groups of them took turns sitting in Akayev's chair. Outside, people tore up portraits of Akayev and stomped on them.

``It's not the opposition that has seized power, it's the people who have taken power. The people. They have been fighting for so long against corruption, against that (Akayev) family,'' said opposition activist Ulan Shambetov, one of the protesters who sat in the president's chair.

The upper house of the parliament that held power before a disputed election met Thursday night and elected a former opposition lawmaker, Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, as interim president until a new presidential vote, perhaps as early as May or June.

Two prominent opposition leaders, Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Felix Kulov, were named to top posts in an interim government, lawmakers said. The lower House of parliament early Friday appointed Bakiyev acting prime minister, and the upper House tapped Kulov, who was released from prison Thursday, to take charge of all law enforcement agencies.

The whereabouts of the 60-year-old Akayev -- who had led Kyrgyzstan since 1990, before it gained independence in the Soviet collapse -- were not known. U.S. officials said they could not confirm reports by the opposition and Russian news agencies that he had left the country.

The takeover of government buildings and state television in Bishkek followed similar seizures by opposition activists in the impoverished southern region, including the nation's second-largest city, Osh. Those protests began even before the first round of parliamentary elections Feb. 27 and swelled after March 13 run-offs that the opposition said were seriously flawed.

Politics in Kyrgyzstan depends as much on clan ties as on ideology, and the fractious opposition has unified around calls for more democracy, an end to poverty and corruption, and a desire to oust Akayev.

There was no sign the new leadership would change policy toward the West or Russia. Unlike the revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, foreign policy has not been an issue.

Both the United States and Russia have military bases near Bishkek. About 1,000 U.S. troops are stationed at Manas air base outside the capital. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday he didn't believe they would be adversely affected by the turmoil.

Kyrgyzstan's role as a conduit for drugs and a potential hotbed of Islamic extremism, particularly in the south, makes it volatile. There is no indication, however, that the opposition would be more amenable to Islamic fundamentalist influence than Akayev's government has been.

``The future of Kyrgyzstan should be decided by the people of Kyrgyzstan, consistent with the principles of peaceful change, of dialogue and respect for the rule of law,'' U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

Neighboring regimes in Central Asia studiously ignored Thursday's uprising but their opposition parties were jubilant, hoping the seeds of democratic change had been sown in the region. After the ``Rose Revolution'' in Georgia in 2003 and the ``Orange Revolution'' in Ukraine last year, authorities have been increasingly nervous about their grip on power.

The takeover in Kyrgyzstan began with a rally Thursday morning on the outskirts of Bishkek, where about 5,000 protesters roared and clapped when Bakiyev said they soon would control the entire country.

Interior Minister Keneshbek Dushebayev urged demonstrators to obey the law, but he said no force would be used against peaceful protesters.

About 1,000 people surged toward the building housing Akayev's offices, meeting little resistance from helmeted riot police standing next to a protective fence with truncheons and shields. About half the crowd entered through the front. Others smashed windows with stones.

Some demonstrators were injured during a clash with a group of truncheon-wielding men in civilian clothes and blue armbands -- the color of Akayev's party. One protester had a serious head injury and a broken leg, and another had broken ribs, said Iskander Shamshiyev, leader of the opposition Youth Movement of Kyrgyzstan.

Vincent Lusser, a Red Cross spokesman in Geneva, said its staff saw ``a few dozen wounded'' in Bishkek hospitals -- most with injuries from falls or fist-fights.

Hundreds of police watched from outside the fence, where thousands more protesters remained. Neither side visibly carried firearms.

Officials left through a side door, protected by Interior Ministry troops. Some camouflage-clad troops also left peacefully.

Many demonstrators wore pink or yellow headbands signifying their loyalty to the opposition -- reminiscent of the orange worn by protesters who helped elect a pro-Western president in Ukraine and the rose hues worn in the Georgian revolution.

At one point, a protester charged through the square on horseback, a yellow opposition flag waving, and protesters chanted, ``Akayev, go!''

Dozens of youths rampaged inside the building, some smashing furniture and looting supplies, ignoring protest organizers who urged them to stop. Broken glass littered the floors and a drugstore in the building was ransacked.

``It's the victory of the people. But now we don't know how to stop these young guys,'' said Noman Akabayev, an unsuccessful legislative candidate.

Several hours after the takeover, thick plumes of black smoke rose from two burning cars nearby.

After nightfall, thousands milled peacefully in Ala-Too Square outside the presidential headquarters, occasionally breaking into cheers. A large store on a main street was looted, with mostly young men carting out crates of food, juice and cookies, as well as mattresses, mirrors and coat hangers.

``You have to understand, people are living in poverty,'' Kulov said.

Kulov's release from prison could be a key element in unifying the opposition, which until now has lacked a single clear leader.

He had been serving 10 years for embezzlement and abuse of power -- charges he says were fabricated by the Akayev regime. A former vice president, interior minister and mayor of Bishkek, Kulov was arrested after announcing his candidacy for president in 2000.

``It is a revolution made by the people,'' Kulov said on state television, adding, ``Tomorrow will come, and we must decide how to live tomorrow.''

Akayev was long regarded as a reform-minded leader, but in recent years he turned more authoritarian. In 2002, his reputation was tarnished after police killed six demonstrators protesting the arrest of an opposition lawmaker.

``I am very happy because for 15 years we've been seeing the same ugly face that has been shamelessly smiling at us,'' said Abdikasim Kamalov, holding a red Kyrgyz flag outside the presidential building. ``We could no longer tolerate this. We want changes.''

On Thursday night, thousands stayed on the main square outside the presidential headquarters. An elderly man and woman in a clearing in the crowd danced to imaginary music as a man pretended to beat drums.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Kojo Annan, the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, received at least $300,000 from a Swiss company that was awarded a contract from the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, almost double the amount previously disclosed, two newspapers reported in Wednesday's editions.

The London-based Financial Times and the Italian business newspaper Il Sole 24 said the payments ``were arranged in ways that obscured where the money came from or whom it went to.''

The two papers, which conducted a joint investigation, also reported that the secretary-general met top executives of the company, Cotecna Inspection S.A., twice before the oil-for-food contract was awarded in December 1998 and once afterwards.

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who is conducting an independent investigation of alleged corruption in the oil-for-food program, is scheduled to release an interim report on March 29 detailing his findings about whether or not Kofi Annan and Kojo Annan committed any wrongdoing.

The secretary-general, his son, and Cotecna, all deny any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for Cotecna said the company has been cooperating fully in assisting the Volcker inquiry ``to clarify any and all outstanding questions concerning payment to Kojo Annan.''

Robert Massey, Cotecna's chief executive, met with Volcker and his investigators in New York on Monday to discuss the discrepancies in the reported payments to Kojo Annan and the company's ongoing audit to determine the correct amount, the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The spokesman confirmed the three contacts between Cotecna executives and the secretary-general and said they were reported to Volcker and other bodies investigating the $64 billion U.N. humanitarian program in Iraq.

The papers reported that Annan met in January 1997 with Massey and his father, Elie-Georges Massey, Cotecna's founder and chairman, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The elder Massey also met Annan at U.N. headquarters in September 1998 and sought him out at a public event in Geneva in January 1999, the papers said.

A U.N. spokesman and Cotecna were quoted in the papers as saying the meetings with Annan had nothing to do with the contract to certify the import of goods under the oil-for-food program. The papers said the oil-for-food contract was ultimately worth about $60 million to the Swiss company.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard had no immediate comment on the reports in the two papers. Both papers said Kojo Annan declined to comment.

Also Tuesday, Eckhard said that the United Nations agreed to reimburse Benon Sevan, the suspended head of the U.N. oil-for-food program, for legal fees he incurred during the investigation.

He said Sevan's fees are to be reimbursed with Iraqi oil funds set aside to help administer the program. That means Iraq oil money would essentially pay for Sevan to defend himself against charges that he bilked the program.

Eckhard said the United Nations had agreed to pay reasonable legal expenses up to Feb. 3, when Volcker's probe accused Sevan of a conflict of interest.

The plan to reimburse Sevan, first reported in the New York Sun on Tuesday, is almost certain to raise new questions about the United Nations' handling of the oil-for-food program and draw new criticism from U.S. Congressional investigators also examining its operation.

Annan's son, Kojo, worked for Cotecna in West Africa from 1995 to December 1997 and then as a consultant until the end of 1998, according to the company.

In November, Eckhard said Kojo Annan's lawyer had informed the Volcker investigation that the younger Annan continued to receive $2,500 a month -- $30,000 a year -- from Cotecna for more than five years through February 2004.

The secretary-general said at the time he was ``very disappointed and surprised'' that his son continued to receive money after 1998. Cotecna said the payments were made under a ``non-compete'' contract to prevent Kojo Annan from working for a competing company.

According to the Financial Times and Il Sole 24, Kojo Annan's non-compete contract did not appear to adhere to Swiss law which says such agreements cannot exceed three years, except in certain circumstances, and must be limited geographically -- which his wasn't. The papers also reported that records provided by Cotecna and Kojo Annan to U.S. and U.N. investigators showed that the method of paying him changed several times.

The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, allowed the former Iraqi government to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods, as an exemption from UN. sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

In a bid to curry favor and end sanctions, Saddam allegedly gave former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit.

MADRID (Reuters) - Communist Cuba is holding at least 71 prisoners of conscience, often in cruel and inhumane conditions with abuse by prison guards, Amnesty International said on Friday.

Two years after the harshest wave of repression since the wake of the 1959 revolution, Cuba's government continues to fiercely suppress freedom of expression despite international pressure, the human rights watchdog said in a report.

``All you have to do in Cuba to spend months or even years in jail is to disagree with the authorities,'' Amnesty said.

Its report coincides with the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, which will discuss Cuba, one of the last communist governments in the world.

Amnesty said cooperation with human rights groups, writing press articles, talking with the media, meeting U.S. officials or talking with exiles in the United States were all motives for lengthy prison sentences of up to 28 years.

Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty researcher for Cuba, said there were almost certainly more than 71 prisoners of conscience in Cuba but it had not been possible to review judicial records of more cases. Amnesty has been denied access to Cuba since 1988.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro has criticised Forbes magazine for the "infamy" of listing him among the world's richest people, with a net worth of $550 million (290 million pounds).

Castro, 78 and in power since a 1959 revolution, said he was considering suing. It was the second straight year Castro was on the Forbes list. Last year, the magazine put his worth at $150 million.

Forbes on Tuesday published a story on the fortunes of rulers and heads of state, which included Castro, the Queen and the sultan of Brunei, saying none were "exemplars of capitalism" and did not qualify for the world billionaires list.

The weekly financial magazine said the estimates were "more art than science."

"In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune," Forbes explained.

"This year, we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies," it said.

The magazine said Castro derived his fortune from a web of state-owned companies that included retail and pharmaceutical businesses and a convention centre.

Full story here.

A senior Russian diplomat has said that a Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect who was recently transferred to The Hague could have lived illegally in Russia.

His remarks came as the top UN official in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, asked Moscow to look into reports that Russian secret services had sheltered suspects.

London's Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday that Gojko Jankovic had lived in Moscow for the past four years.

The newspaper quoted Mr Jankovic's wife as saying that he had been given Russian citizenship and a pseudonym, and was escorted by an FSB bodyguard.

The wife and son of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial in The Hague, are thought to be either residents in or frequent visitors to Russia.

Full story here.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former world champion Garry Kasparov said on Friday he had retired from competition chess to devote himself to Russian politics and oppose President Vladimir Putin.

The world's number one chess player is a leading member of a liberal grouping known as Committee 2008, set up by liberals after their disastrous showing in the 2003 parliamentary election.

``I have done everything I could in chess and more. Now I plan to use my intellect and strategic thoughts in Russian politics,'' Kasparov said in a statement, quoted by Interfax news agency.

Kasparov, 41, announced his departure after winning a prestigious tournament in the southern Spanish town of Linares for the ninth time on Thursday.

He said he would still dabble in the game, but at a strictly non-professional level.

``I believe that at the moment the country is moving in the wrong direction, therefore it is necessary to help Russia, to help Russian citizens to make the country comfortable, just and free,'' he said in the statement.

``I will do everything possible to oppose Putin's dictatorship,'' he said.

Committee 2008, whose members include well-known reformists Irina Khakamada and Grigory Yavlinsky, aims to install a new liberal leader to replace Putin -- serving his second and final term -- at the next election in 2008.

Putin has been criticized by the West for becoming increasingly autocratic after introducing a series of reforms that tighted his grip on power.

Putin rejects the criticism and says he needs to reign in Russia's unruly regions, especially after the Beslan school siege last year, in which more than 330 people died, half of them children.

In his statement, Kasparov said he would also spend time writing books about chess, life and politics.

But some insiders wondered whether he would stick with his decision to retire.

A spokesman for World Chess Federation (FIDE) chief Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told Reuters the professional chess world may not have seen the last of the Azeri-born Kasparov, who at the age of 22 became the youngest world champion in chess history.

``Garry is the greatest ever chess player,'' Ilyumzhinov's spokesman Berik Balgabayev said. ``Unfortunately we know that Garry is a pretty emotional person and it is totally possible that his decision was taken on a wave of emotional impulse.

``I think that in one form or another he will be present. It's his profession, his bread. If he really is going to stick to his decision then it is a only a great pity.''

Kasparov lost his world title in 2000 to Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, but is still ranked number one by the FIDE.

Ever since President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao formally took power more than two years ago, they have called on officials to put people's interests first and help build a civil and harmonious society. Achieving "harmony", however, seems to have meant that any dissenting voices are dealt with swifter and harsher than ever before.

Ding Zilin is a retired university professor in her 70s. For the past 16 years, she and a few others who lost sons and daughters during the 1989 Tiananmen massacre have been calling on the government to apologise. But in response, these women, known as the Tiananmen Mothers, have faced imprisonment, house-arrest, phone-tapping and constant surveillance.

Since late February this year, as Beijing got ready for the annual meeting of China's parliament, it was almost impossible to get through to any of the known dissidents inside China. Their home numbers were either "no longer in service" or answered by a middle-age male voice, who responded: "Sorry, there is no such a person here."

When the BBC finally reached Mrs Ding at a secret mobile number supplied by another dissident, the conversation lasted only a few minutes. Mrs Ding first asked whether it was true that the EU would soon lift its arms embargo on China, imposed following the Tiananmen crackdown.

"France and Germany have always put their business interest first," said Mrs Ding. "I hope that Britain will stand up for principle and I call on Mr Blair not to lift the embargo," she said.

Rule of Law

China's government says it wants to "introduce the rule of law" as part of its drive to create a more harmonious society.

Last week, Guo Guoding, a Shanghai lawyer who became known for defending dissidents and the more vulnerable members of society, had his office ransacked by police. He was accused of unspecified "illegal" dealings and of violating the constitution.

Many in the Chinese legal profession know this fate all too well. Some even joke that there are more lawyers in prison than criminals.

Lawyer Gao Zhicheng runs his own practice. He told the BBC that he was not surprised at all at his fellow lawyer's plight.

"Well, he's made a name for himself and thus attracted a lot of attention," said Mr Gao. "Many lawyers are thrown into jail each year in China, because the more attention they attract, the more likely they'd expose the inherent evils in the current legal system," he said.

Mr Gao said that in a Chinese court, winning a case for the "weaker party" - namely an individual or a non-governmental client - was an anomaly.

Full story here.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Bolivian President Carlos Mesa announced Sunday he would submit his resignation, in a nationally televised speech that came amid growing protests and frustration with his government.

Mesa took office in October 2003, succeeding President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who resigned in the wake of bloody street protests that took the lives of at least 56 people. Mesa's government has struggled with a push for greater political autonomy in Bolivia's most prosperous region.

``Tomorrow, I will submit my resignation to the president of Congress, so Congress can make a decision,'' Mesa said in a nationally broadcast address.

In February, he shuffled his cabinet after massive street protests calling for regional autonomy and objecting to a planned increase in the price of fuel oil.

An autonomy drive by Santa Cruz, the nation's richest province, had earlier forced Mesa to grant concessions clearing the way for provinces to elect their own governors, who are now appointed by the president.

Mesa, a historian and journalist turned politician, said the recent protests by a variety of political and social organizations were ``blocking the country.''

Mesa blamed Indian legislator Evo Morales and social leader Abel Mamani of the neighboring city of El Alto for what he called an atmosphere of instability in the Andean nation.

As the president made his emotional address, scores of people gathered in front of the presidential palace to express support for the historian turned politician.

A woman demonstrator, tear in her eyes, told a local television station that she supports mesa ``because he's our president. We do not want to fall in the hands of coca growers, thieves, communists.''

Mesa made clear that a final decision on whether his resignation will be accepted will be made by Bolivia's Congress.

Whether Congress will accept his resignation remains uncertain. Mesa is an independent without a political party supporting him in congress. If Congress accepts the resignation its president, Sen. Hormando Vaca Diez, would become Mesa's constitutional successor.

It was not immediately known when congress would meet to vote on the president's resignation. The next regular session was scheduled for Tuesday, but given the new events a special session may be convened for Monday.

Morales, a congressman who is also the leader of the nation's coca leaf growers, has announced a nationwide roads blockade unless congress passes legislation increasing taxes levied on foreign oil companies from 15 to 50 percent of their sales.

Mesa said ``the international community rejects such a law.''

Morales appeared surprised by Mesa's announcement, which he called ``a blackmail by the president.'' He said his party, the Movement Toward Socialism, was to meet on Monday to make a decision on Mesa's announcement.

U.S.-backed eradication of Bolivia's coca leaf, the base ingredient of cocaine, depends on a moderate government like Mesa's. Many of the president's would-be challengers decry meddling by the United States and say the coca crackdown has deprived thousands of poor farmers of their livelihoods.

Mesa's government has faced continued protests in recent weeks from groups backing as series of demands, ranging from constitutional amendments to the establishment of rural schools.

KIEV (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko, linked to the murder of an investigative journalist, apparently committed suicide on Friday, police said.

President Viktor Yushchenko has accused the administration of his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, of covering up the murder in 2000 of reporter Georgiy Gongadze, the most famous criminal case in post-Soviet Ukraine.

Interfax news agency, quoting security sources, said Kravchenko left a note saying he took his own life because of ``Kuchma and his entourage.'' His action, the note said, was intended to shield his family.

Kuchma, on an extended holiday in the Czech Republic, restated his innocence in the affair and said he was returning home on Saturday to end all speculation.

Kravchenko's body was found at his country home outside the capital Kiev. Investigators said initial findings pointed to suicide and a senior Interior Ministry official said the body had two gunshot wounds, but offered no further explanation.

Kravchenko was interior minister when Gongadze was killed and he had been due to give evidence to prosecutors on Friday.

``If he truly took his own life, it means he was afraid of responsibility for those acts connected with Gongadze's murder,'' Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told reporters.

``If it is not suicide ... then I believe it was an attempt to conceal information on the murder.''

PROTECTION FOR KUCHMA

Tymoshenko said Kuchma, accused by rivals of being linked to Gongadze's murder, might need to be put under guard to ensure he could testify in the case.

``The question now arises -- does Kuchma need to be guarded? If he asks for protection, under Ukraine's laws, he will be provided with it,'' Tymoshenko said.

The murder of Gongadze, 31, became a turning point in the 10-year term of Kuchma. Gongadze wrote for an Internet journal and was a harsh critic of Kuchma and top businessmen.

Kuchma, intercepted by journalists while on holiday in the Czech resort of Karlovy Vary, told Czech state television: ``Before God, before the people, I have a clear conscience.''

He said he was returning to Kiev on Saturday.

Kuchma, who lost office when Yushchenko was inaugurated in January, was linked to the murder by a former bodyguard who fled Ukraine with hundreds of hours of tapes he recorded secretly in his office. In one excerpt, a voice similar to Kuchma's was heard giving an order to ``deal with'' the reporter.

No conclusive evidence implicating Kuchma has ever been presented.

Yushchenko, speaking in televised remarks, said the minister's action showed he had chosen to avoid consequences.

``Everyone has a choice -- to cooperate with the court, the prosecutor's office, give testimony, expose oneself to a public trial and defend one's rights and honor,'' he said.

``And there is another option -- to sentence oneself.''

Yushchenko declared the murder solved this week and said the conduct of the investigation was a matter of ``personal honor.'' Three policemen have been detained and a fourth is being sought.

Ukraine's chief prosecutor this week said Gongadze had been abducted in Kiev by high-ranking officers, suffocated at a site outside the city and his body doused in petrol and set ablaze.

He said the investigation was focusing on establishing which security officials had ordered the murder. Gongadze's body remains unburied, kept in a Kiev mortuary.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Cuban dissidents in a telephone hookup from Havana told a congressional panel on Thursday that allowing American tourists to visit the island would bring corruption, not democracy.

As members of a House of Representatives International Relations subcommittee praised them for defying Cuban President Fidel Castro, the dissidents endorsed U.S. policies to isolate his government.

``We are supporting what you are doing there because we have a lot of people suffering in jail. We need democracy,'' said Martha Beatriz Roque, leader of the Cuban Dissident Working Group.

Castro ``could present it as a great political victory'' for himself if the United States opened contacts, said Felix Bonne, another leading dissident who was imprisoned along with Roque and Rene Gomez, who also testified.

Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who chairs the subcommittee, said the hearing was arranged to demonstrate the communist government's ``atrocious'' human rights record. He said the three Castro opponents, all of whom had been imprisoned by the government, were taking great risks in speaking openly.

Roque said most Cubans accepted the tighter restrictions the United States imposed last year on money and visits to the island from Cuban-Americans.

She also backed the ban on American tourist travel, saying an influx of tourists would ``increase our pain'' by pushing Cubans out of beaches and hotels and bringing money that would increase the drug and prostitution trades.

``We are not going to get in touch with democracy. We are going to get in touch with corruption,'' Roque said.

Republicans on the House panel criticized the European Union for working to open communications with Castro's government after Cuba freed 14 of the 75 dissidents it imprisoned in a March 2003 crackdown.

Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, a bitter opponent of Castro who also testified, said the administration had expressed its concerns on the EU's policy. He said Washington was worried how the EU would respond ``when the next crackdown happens'' on pro-democracy Cubans.

Democrats charged the Bush administration has failed to develop a coherent Latin American policy, and said its effort to isolate Cuba while engaging with other nondemocratic government was inconsistent.

Rep. Diane Watson of California suggested initiating ``strategies to talk with Fidel Castro,'' and said the United States needs ``to clean our act up'' in dealing with many other nondemocratic countries.

A court in Italy has sentenced a member of the left-wing militant group the Red Brigades to life in prison.

Laura Proietti was convicted for her involvement in the killing of a government advisor in 1999.

A second member of the group, Cinzia Banelli, received a 20-year prison sentence for her part in the shooting of Massimo D'Antona.

He was killed at a time when Italy was introducing new reforms aimed at creating greater flexibility in the labour market.

Three years later, a second labour consultant, Marco Biagi, was gunned down in Bologna.

Full story here.