AP - December 28th, 2008

MOSCOW (AP) -- Television viewers have voted Soviet dictator Josef Stalin -- who sent millions to their deaths in the Great Purge of the 1930s -- Russia's third-greatest historical figure.

Rights activists have blasted Stalin's inclusion in the 90-day, nationwide project by the state-run Rossiya channel. They say authorities are trying to gloss over Stalin's atrocities and glorify his tyranny.

The project, called ''The Name of Russia,'' culminated with the announcement Sunday night that Russian medieval leader Alexander Nevsky had been voted the greatest Russian, with more than 524,000 Internet and SMS votes. Stalin garnered more than 519,000 votes, and even led in early voting.

Nevsky defeated various European invaders during his 13th-century reign and was subsequently canonized.

In second place was Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister early in the 20th century under Czar Nicholas II. Stolypin was recognized for land reform but gained notoriety for his brutal quashing of leftist revolutionaries. He saw to it that thousands were hanged for attempting to overthrow the imperial rulers. Stolypin received more than 523,000 votes,

The 12-person shortlist for Sunday's final vote featured various historical heavyweights from writers Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor Dostoyevsky to Soviet father Lenin and Ivan the Terrible.

Similar votes have been run by television channels in a number of other countries.

The rules excluded any living person, including Russia's popular ruling tandem of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In presenting Stalin, the project's Web site, www.nameofrussia.ru, refers to the terror he imposed, and acknowledges that millions died of starvation and in the large network of hard labor camps he created to punish so-called ''enemies of the people'' and scare the population into obedience.

It goes on to say, however, that: ''For all the defects of the Stalin modernization, it should be recognized that all the tasks set before the country were completed.''

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki human rights watchdog, has called Stalin's inclusion a ''requiem for humanitarian education.''

Medvedev and Putin, who was previously president, have faced constant criticism for gradually reintroducing authoritarian policies that many associate with the repressive society of the former Soviet Union.

In the latest such move, a bill that Putin's cabinet submitted earlier this month calls for a redefinition of state treason. If the law is passed by the subservient chambers of parliament, any act or inaction that is considered to have harmed the state can be classified as treason -- punishable by 20 years in prison.

Editor's commentary: What a horrible message Putin has just sent to the world. His future policies are going backwards to the days of Stalin, days of terror and darkness. Stalin already used Nevsky war against Teutonic Knights in movie propaganda "Alexander Nevsky" to drive hard bargain with Nazi Germany. Released in 1938, just few months before Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Stalin won Baltic republics and half of Poland in 1939-1940. Today's message is that Russian foreign policy will be policy of further confrontations with NATO, Vatican (Teutonic Knights were part of Holy Roman Empire and Nevsky refused openly to fight Mongol threat requested by Roman Curia, administrative apparatus of the Holy See) and further support for Iran, Syria and other terrorist states like North Korea. It also indicates renewed claims for Baltic republics and possibility of forceful annexation as Stalin did in 1940. Russians living in those countries will serve as an excuse for invasion and their "protection". Internal policies are explained in choice of Pyotr Stolypin, hard core fascist lunatic who murdered thousands mercilessly. He was known as the one who established network of courts-martial to try rebels and terrorists. They used “Stolypin's necktie” (the noose) to execute several thousand defendants. He was assassinated in 1911. Putin administration recently passed laws against treason and terrorism and establishment of similar courts-martial to try those accused of terrorism and rebellion without jury. Recent brutal suppression of any protest against government in Moscow and Vladivostok are another proof that Putin's policy of fascist terror is very real.

Italian police say they have arrested nearly 100 people in anti-Mafia raids across the southern island of Sicily and in the central region of Tuscany.

They say the operation targeted the bosses of local clans who were planning to rebuild the Sicilian Mafia - also known as Cosa Nostra.

A police statement said the raids involved some 1,200 police officers.

The Sicilian Mafia was dealt a huge blow with the arrest in 2006 of its boss Bernardo Provenzano.

The police operation, codenamed Perseus, involved the use of helicopters and dogs in a vast sweep across Italy, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome.

Police said it was the result of a nine-month operation that included the use of phone taps.

Those being held are accused of extortion, arms dealing and drugs trafficking.

Full story here.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Lawmakers chose an opposition leader as Thailand's prime minister Monday in a bid to end months of political chaos, as supporters of the previous government unsuccessfully tried to halt the result by blockading Parliament.

The articulate, Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva, who heads the Democrat Party, gathered 235 votes against 198 by former national police chief Pracha Promnok, a loyalist of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The lower house vote followed six months of instability caused by anti-government and anti-Thaksin demonstrations that culminated last month with a weeklong takeover of Bangkok's two airports.

The selection of a new prime minister was expected to calm the country's politics, at least temporarily. However, several hundred Thaksin supporters tried to block the gates of Parliament in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the outcome. Riot police later cleared a path for lawmakers to leave the compound.

The demonstrators hurled rocks at vehicles and abuse at lawmakers inside but most dispersed peacefully, saying that they would gather again later Monday in the capital's old historic section.

Following the vote, Abhisit -- at 44, one of the world's youngest heads of state -- thanked fellow lawmakers and the public but said he would not talk about politics until he was officially endorsed as prime minister by the constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The chamber normally has 480 members, but because of vacancies currently numbers 437. One MP died on the eve of the voting.

Despite Monday's protest outside Parliament, analysts foresee relative stability in coming months following political chaos and the airport siege which ended after a court ruling on Dec. 2 dissolved the ruling People's Power Party and two coalition partners. It also handed a five-year political ban to former premier Somchai Wongsawat, who is Thaksin's brother-in-law.

The remnants of the PPP regrouped as the Phuea Thai Party, which were also seeking a majority in Monday's session.

The anti-Thaksin protest movement seeks to purge politics of the influence of Thaksin -- who was ousted by a 2006 coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power -- and has threatened new but unspecified activities if Parliament elects a leader with links to him.

Full story here.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- The case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not just making headlines in America. It is also top news in Serbia, the country of Blagojevich's ancestors.

Pictures of Blagojevich have been dotting the main pages of Serbian newspapers since the FBI accused him of attempting to sell the Senate seat of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

''The Governor Defying Entire America,'' announced a headline Friday in the daily newspaper Blic after Blagojevich refused to step down in the face of mounting pressure.

Illinois has the largest Serbian community in the U.S. Serb newspapers say the Blagojevich family originated in Serbia and moved to the United States after World War II.

Reports about Blagojevich appear prominently on local television stations. State TV's prime-time news Wednesday evening had live coverage from Chicago.

Blic reported this week that the villagers in Velike Krcmare, which it called the home village of the family in central Serbia, refuse to believe that Blagojevich could be guilty.

''We watched the news and could not sleep all night. He must have been framed, it's all politics,'' Dragan Blagovic, described as a cousin of the governor, was quoted as saying.

Cousin Dragan appeared again in Friday's Blic, saying his famous relative still owns some land in the village so ''he can come to Serbia if he cannot take it any more in America.''

''He can have a cow or a pig or two, a chicken. ... He is always welcome.''

Some Serbs referred jokingly to their own country's record of widespread corruption following decades of Communism and the rule of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia wants a closer relationship with the 27-nation European Union, but the bloc has said Serbia must first do something to root out corruption.

A Blic headline this week read ''American Corruption the Serbian Way.''

''Naturally, a Serb comes up with a scheme to make money,'' laughed Svetlana Ciric, a 39-year-old book seller in Belgrade. ''Only, it doesn't work there like it does here.''

Dragan Blagojevich said the governor had never visited the village, but that the family in U.S. sends Easter postcards every year.

In 1999, Blagojevich, the only member of Congress of Serbian extraction, accompanied Rev. Jesse Jackson to Yugoslavia to negotiate the release of three American POWs.

Blagojevich, who turned 52 on Wednesday, is charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit bribery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and 10 years, respectively.

Editor's commentary: What no one mentioned recently is that numerous death threats to the president of Serbia Boris Tadic and attorney general Vukcevic regarding war criminals were sent by mail from Serbs living in Illinois. Not a single one was found until Blagojevich was indicted. There is a strong link between Blagojevich and war criminals Karadzic and Mladic. No one is talking about that but that seems far more condemning than corruption charges. It is now more likely that Mladic will be finally arrested. Without strong support from Serb war criminals mafia from Chicago, Mladic is out of options. Millions of dollars from Chicago helped Mladic and others avoid justice for years. FBI and local law enforcement authorities were unable to do their job thanks to Blagojevich that fully protected criminals in exchange for cold hard cash. Indictment and arrest of Blagojevich is turning point in stomping out Serb war criminals mafia for good. Blagojevich is innocent as Karadzic and Mladic are.

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The unrest that has gripped Greece is spilling over into the rest of Europe, raising concerns the clashes could be a trigger for opponents of globalization, disaffected youth and others outraged by the continent's economic turmoil and soaring unemployment.

Protesters in Spain, Denmark and Italy smashed shop windows, pelted police with bottles and attacked banks this week, while in France, cars were set ablaze Thursday outside the Greek consulate in Bordeaux, where protesters scrawled graffiti warning about a looming ''insurrection.''

At least some of the protests were organized over the Internet, showing how quickly the message of discontent can be spread, particularly among tech-savvy youth. One Web site Greek protesters used to update each other on the locations of clashes asserted there have been sympathy protests in nearly 20 countries.

More demonstrations were set for Friday in Italy, France and Germany.

Still, the clashes have been isolated so far, and nothing like the scope of the chaos in Greece, which was triggered by the police killing of a teenager on Saturday and has ballooned into nightly scenes of burning street barricades, looted stores and overturned cars.

Nevertheless, authorities in Europe worry conditions are ripe for the contagion to spread.

As Europe plunges into recession, unemployment is rising, particularly among the young. Even before the crisis, European youths complained about difficulty finding well-paid jobs -- even with a college degree -- and many said they felt left out as the continent grew in prosperity.

In Greece, demonstrators handed out fliers Thursday listing their demands, which include the reversal of public spending cuts that have brought more layoffs, and said they were hopeful their movement would spread.

''We're encouraging nonviolent action here and abroad,'' said Konstantinos Sakkas, a 23-year-old protester at the Athens Polytechnic, where many of the demonstrators are based. ''What these are abroad are spontaneous expressions of solidarity with what's going on here.''

Across the continent, Internet sites and blogs have popped up to spread the call to protest.

Several Greek Web sites offered protesters real-time information on clash sites, where demonstrations were heading and how riot police were deployed around the city. Protest marches were arranged and announced on the sites and via text message on cell phones.

In Spain, an anti-globalization Web site, Nodo50.org, greeted visitors with the headline ''State Assassin, Police Executioners'' and told them of hastily called rallies Wednesday in Barcelona and Madrid.

''We stand in solidarity'' with the Greek protesters, the site said.

Elsewhere in Europe, reports about the clashes in Greece were quickly picked up online by citizen journalists, some of whom posted details of confrontations on Twitter. At the Independent Media Center, photos and video of the demonstrations were uploaded and plans were listed for ''upcoming solidarity actions'' in London, Edinburgh and Berlin.

One writer on the site london.indymedia.org exhorted people to follow the Greek example and ''reclaim the streets. Burn the banks that robbed you ... It is a great opportunity to expand the revolution in all europe.''

''What's happening in Greece tends to prove that the extreme left exists, contrary to doubts of some over these past few weeks,'' French Interior Ministry spokesman Gerard Gachet told The Associated Press.

But, he added, the coming days and weeks would determine whether ''there's a danger of contagion of the Greek situation into France.''

In cities across Europe, protests flared in solidarity with the demonstrations in Greece.

One rally outside the Greek Embassy in Rome turned violent on Wednesday, damaging police vehicles, overturning a car and setting a trash can on fire. In Denmark, protesters pelted riot police with bottles and paint in downtown Copenhagen; 63 people were detained and later released.

And in Spain, angry youths attacked banks, shops and a police station in Madrid and Barcelona late Wednesday. Some of the protesters chanted ''police killers'' and other slogans. Eleven people -- including a Greek girl -- were arrested at the two rallies, which drew a total of about 200 protesters.

Daniel Lostao, president of the state-financed Youth Council, an umbrella organization of Spanish youth groups, said young people in Spain face daunting challenges -- soaring unemployment, low salaries and difficulty in leaving the family nest because of expensive housing.

Still, he said he doubted the protests in Spain would grow.

''We do not have the feeling that this is going to spread,'' Lostao said. ''Let's hope I am not wrong.''

In France, protesters set fire to two cars and a garbage can filled with flammable material outside the Greek consulate in Bordeaux Thursday and scrawled graffiti threatening more unrest, Greek Consul Michel Corfias said.

Graffiti reading ''solidarity with the fires in Greece,'' was scrawled on the consulate and the word ''insurrection'' was painted on the doors of neighboring houses.

''The events in Greece are a trigger'' for French youth angry by their own lack of economic opportunity, Corfias said.

Editor's commentary: The main reason for all of this is removal of conservative government in Greece that has narrow majority. Unable to convince voters to support Socialist bloc in Greece, left leaders are staging violent protests around Greece. This is undemocratic and uncalled for. Killing of 15-year old boy can't be fault of government. Both police officers are under investigation and results will arrive soon. If they are guilty they will be punished, not lynched by mob of anarchists and terrorists that plunder stores and burn properties. This is similar to what happened in Spain when Zapatero came to power. Moscow staged terrorist attacks in Madrid just days before election that brought him in power. Until this day there is not a single proof or conviction of any Al-Qaeda members and Zapatero accusations seem ridiculous.

International protests against Greece started in Moscow when disguised FSB agent threw Molotov on Greek Consulate. This was a sign for international resurrection of anti-globalist movement created and financed by Moscow to stop American and European capital investment in third world countries. Culmination of those acts of violence and lunacy was September 9/11 attack. But this is only the tip of an iceberg. Moscow is already planning new terrorist attacks against America. Since 1990, when ever new president takes office in Washington, attacks on WTO happen and worse. It was case with Bill Clinton in '93 attack on WTO and 2001 attacks on WTO and Pentagon when Bush became president. As soon as Obama becomes president attacks will follow. They are infuriated by his moderate policies and placing Hillary Clinton as State Secretary. They though that Obama is American Hugo Chavez or drug entrepreneur Morales. They want to destroy America like they did with Venezuela and Bolivia. Didn't work with Kennedy and Carter and for sure won't work with Obama. Desperation in Kremlin is growing because oil prices are down, who is going to pay their terrorism business? Two clowns Putin and Medvedev thought they were on top of the world in August when oil prices were close to $150 a barrel, when they bullied small Georgia and imagined Obama as next Fidel Castro. Wake up morons!

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges he brazenly conspired to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder as part of what federal prosecutors called a "political corruption crime spree." A federal judge later ordered Blagojevich released on his own recognizance.

Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in an attempt to strong-arm the newspaper into firing editorial writers who had criticized him.

The 51-year-old Democrat was also accused of engaging in pay-to-play politics — that is, doling out jobs, contracts and appointments in return for campaign contributions.

"We were in the middle of a corruption crime spree, and we wanted to stop it," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said, calling the charges against Blagojevich "a truly new low." He added: "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."

Federal investigators bugged the governor's campaign offices and tapped his home phone, capturing conversations laced with profanity and tough-guy talk from the governor. Chicago FBI chief Robert Grant said even seasoned investigators were stunned by what they heard, particularly since the governor had known for three years was under investigation for alleged hiring fraud.

Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero had no immediate comment on the charges but issued a statement saying the "allegations do nothing to impact the services, duties or function of the state."

The charges do not identify by name any of the political figures under consideration for the Senate seat, calling them only "Candidate 1," "Candidate 2," and so on. However, those being considered for the post include: Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr., Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutierrez; Illinois Senate President Emil Jones; and Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth.

The scandal leaves the Senate seat in limbo. In Washington, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said the state should hold a special election to fill the seat instead of letting Blagojevich pick someone. "No appointment by this governor, under these circumstances, could produce a credible replacement," Durbin said.

The FBI said in court papers that the governor was intercepted on wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell the Senate seat for campaign cash or plum jobs for himself or his wife, Patti. He spoke of landing a job with a nonprofit foundation or a union-affiliated group, and even held out the possibility of a Cabinet appointment or ambassadorship for himself.

"I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden," he said of his authority to appoint Obama's replacement, "and I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing. I'm not gonna do it."

Blagojevich also considered appointing himself to the Senate seat, telling his deputy governor that if "they're not going to offer me anything of value, I might as well take it," prosecutors said.

He said becoming a senator might remake his image for a possible presidential run in 2016, according to court papers. And he allegedly said that he would have access to greater resources if he were indicted while in the Senate.

Prosecutors said Blagojevich also talked about getting his wife placed on corporate boards where she might get $150,000 a year in director's fees.

In court papers, the FBI said Blagojevich expressed frustration at being "stuck" as governor. "I want to make money," the governor, whose salary is $177,412, was quoted as saying in one conversation.

The head of the FBI's office in Chicago said he phoned Blagojevich at 6 a.m., telling him of a warrant for his arrest and that there were two FBI agents at his door of his Chicago home. Blagojevich's first comment was, "Is this a joke?" said agent Robert Grant.

The conversations took place between Election Day and as recently as last week.

Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama, is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. And Blagojevich's chief fundraiser goes on trial next year on obstruction charges.

The court papers also outline Blagojevich conversations related to Tribune Co., which has been hoping for state aid in selling Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs. Blagojevich was quoted as telling his chief of staff, John Harris, in a profanity-laced Nov. 4 conversation that Tribune executives should fire the editorial writers "and get us some editorial support."

Harris is later overheard telling the governor on Nov. 11 that an unnamed Tribune owner, presumably CEO Sam Zell, "got the message and is very sensitive to the issue."

Blagojevich was elected governor in 2003 as a reformer promising to clean up former Gov. George Ryan's mess.

Full story here.

An Iraqi court has sentenced to death Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, for his role in crushing a Shia uprising in 1991.

It is the second death sentence passed on Majid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein.

The court also condemned a senior Baath Party official, Abdulghani Abdul Ghafour, to hang for the same crime.

In February, Majid was condemned to hang for genocide over the killing of 100,000 people during the 1988 Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds.

The latest verdicts were issued after a trial which heard harrowing testimony of how the Iraqi army crushed the rebellion by Iraq's Shia community.

The uprising followed Saddam Hussein's defeat by US-led forces in the first Gulf War in 1991.

Witnesses told of mass executions and family members being thrown from helicopters.

The judge said the court had decided to execute Majid "by hanging for committing wilful killings and crimes against humanity".

It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people were killed as troops carried out massacres around the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and shelled towns and villages across southern Iraq in the campaign.

Often considered to be Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, Majid served as Iraq's defence minister.

And as a member of the decision-making Revolutionary Command Council, he was regularly called upon to crush regional uprisings.

He was given the nickname "Chemical Ali" for orchestrating the Anfal campaign and ordering poisonous gas attacks in a brutal scorched-earth campaign of bombings on Kurdish towns and villages in northern Iraq in 1988.

He has also been accused of ordering the gassing of 5,000 Kurds in the Kurdish village of Halabja, also in 1988.

He was first sentenced to hang in June 2007 for his role in the Anfal killings but his execution was held up by legal wrangling. He remains in American military custody.

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: Will someone please hang this filthy murderer before the year ends? How many death sentences he has to get to be finally executed?

BANGKOK, Thailand – A court dissolved Thailand's top three ruling parties for electoral fraud Tuesday and banned the prime minister from politics for five years, bringing down a government that has faced months of strident protests seeking its ouster.

The nation's Constitutional Court ruling set the stage for thousands of protesters to end their weeklong siege of the country's two main airports, but also raised fears of retaliatory violence by supporters of the government, which could sink the country deeper into crisis.

Government spokesman Nattawut Sai-kau said Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his six-party coalition would step down. Somchai, who has been working from the northern city of Chiang Mai since Wednesday, accepted the ruling with equanimity.

Protest leaders said they would end their airport protests — which have stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers — on Wednesday.

Officials at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport said some passenger flights would resume on Friday. The airport reopened to cargo flights Tuesday.

Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy, occupiers of the international airport, cheered and hugged after they heard news of the ruling, which was read from a protest stage outside the main terminal.

"This is a blow for corruption," said Nong Sugrawut, a 55-year-old businessman at Suvarnabhumi.

The case stems from an earlier Supreme Court conviction of a PPP executive committee member, Yongyuth Tiyapairat, who was found guilty of buying votes. Under Thai law, an entire party can be disbanded if one executive member is found guilty of electoral fraud. Similar individual cases brought down the other parties.

The court dissolved the parties "to set a political standard and an example," said Court President Chat Chalavorn. "Dishonest political parties undermine Thailand's democratic system."

The ruling sends Somchai and 59 executives of the three parties into political exile and bars them from politics for five years. Of the 59, 24 are lawmakers who will also have to resign their parliamentary seats.

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: Recently convicted former PM Thaksin was known as media muzzler that shut down numerous papers and media outlets and send many journalists and reporters to prison. He also organized storm troopers squads that were beating his opponents and immigrants around Thailand. This is good decision because there is no need for corrupt fascist regime to thrive in Thailand.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand entered a new era of conservative rule Sunday, with incoming Prime Minister John Key promising to be a moderate amid fears some of the country's policies on global warming and indigenous people could be rolled back.

Voters on Saturday elected the wealthy former currency market trader to lead them through a recession worsening because of the global financial meltdown, handing long-serving Prime Minister Helen Clark and her central-left Labour Party a crushing defeat.

Key said Sunday he hoped his National Party and coalition partners would be sworn into government within about a week so he can attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Peru on Nov. 22-23. The financial crisis will top the summit agenda.

In nine years in power, Clark helped build New Zealand's reputation as one of the world's greenest and most socially progressive societies, based around the South Pacific nation's rugged ''Lord of the Rings'' landscape and strong indigenous Maori culture.

Key campaigned as a moderate, but his policies include plans to eventually abolish special parliamentary seats for Maori and making the country's greenhouse gas emission trading scheme more favorable to business.

On Sunday, he promised to follow through on tax cuts and pro-business, tough-on-crime policies that include registering the DNA of any suspect arrested for an imprisonable crime.

''I don't believe we need to be radical,'' Key told the TV One network in one of a round of media appearances Sunday. ''I've made it quite clear I want to run a center-right government, a moderate government.''

Key says the economy, dependent on farming exports and tourism, is the top priority, and that the worldwide downturn will mean a ''tough road ahead'' for New Zealand.

He has promised to establish a group of cost-cutters to review and trim departmental budgets, and spending for infrastructure such as Internet broadband, and to make it easier for other big private-sector projects to go ahead.

''New Zealand voters took a major swing to the right yesterday,'' the Sunday Star Times newspaper said on its front page, calling Key's reform plans ''major and controversial.''

National's win was emphatic, but under New Zealand's proportional voting system Key requires minority party support to get a majority in the 122-seat Parliament.

Key's small party allies include the rightist ACT that wants to slash taxes, reduce public services and privatize state-owned enterprises, but also the United Future Party that says it will rein in ACT's hard-right tendencies.

''The last thing New Zealand needs now with a new government is an outburst of extremism,'' United Future Party leader Peter Dunne said.

Key also hopes to win support from the Maori Party, which represents the 15 percent indigenous minority in the nation of 4.3 million and won five seats in Parliament. Some pre-election opinion polls indicated Maori could hold the balance of power, but that did not occur.

Clark announced she would quit as Labour leader, effectively ending her 15 years in the public eye, though she will remain in Parliament as a backbencher.

She congratulated Key on his win, but said she had one fear: that all her government had worked to put in place might ''go up in flames on the bonfire of right-wing politics.''

Foreign affairs and trade policies are unlikely to change much under Key -- including the long-standing ban on nuclear-powered ships entering New Zealand ports that has rankled Washington.

New Zealand's small number of troops doing reconstruction work in Afghanistan will remain. New Zealand has no troops in Iraq.

MOSCOW (AP) -- An accident aboard a Russian nuclear-powered submarine making a test run in the Sea of Japan killed at least 20 people, officials said Sunday.

The nuclear reactor aboard the submarine was operating normally and radiation levels were normal after the accident Saturday, Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said.

The accident occurred when a fire-extinguishing system went into operation in error aboard the submarine, Dygalo and other officials said. The system is designed to release Freon coolant when activated, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency, which cited an official with Russia's top investigative agency.

It was unclear what activated the fire-extinguishing system.

The official, Sergei Markin, said 14 civilians and six sailors were killed and 22 others were hospitalized after being evacuated to a destroyer that brought them to the Pacific port of Vladivostok, ITAR-Tass reported.

Earlier, Dygalo said more than 20 people were killed, including sailors and workers from the shipyard that built the submarine, and that 21 were injured and hospitalized. He said there were 208 people aboard, including 81 servicemen. Officials did not reveal the name of the submarine.

It was Russia's worst naval accident since torpedo explosions sank another nuclear-powered submarine, the Kursk, in the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 seamen aboard. In 2003, 11 people died when a submarine that was being taken out of service also sank in the Barents Sea.

Saturday's accident came as the Kremlin flexes its military muscle and seeks to restore Russia's naval reach, part of a drive to show off the nuclear-armed country's clout amid strained ties with the West. A naval squadron is headed to Venezuela for joint exercises this month in a show of force near U.S. waters.

Dygalo said the casualties resulted from the ''unsanctioned activation'' of the firefighting system in the two sections of the submarine closest to the bow, and that the nuclear reactor that powers it was not threatened.

The submarine was not damaged and was heading back toward shore on its own power, escorted by a rescue vessel, Dygalo said.

Markin said authorities have opened an investigation into violations of rules for operating military vessels, suggesting human error was likely involved.

The state-run RIA-Novosti news agency cited an unnamed official at the Amur Shipbuilding Factory as saying the sub was built there and is called the Nerpa. Testing on the submarine began last month and it submerged for the first time last week, according to the agency.

Construction of the Nerpa, an Akula II class attack submarine, started in 1991 but was suspended for years because of a shortage of funding, RIA-Novosti reported.

Despite a major boost in military spending during Vladimir Putin's eight years as president, Russia's military is still hampered by decrepit infrastructure, aging weapons ad problems with corruption and incompetence.

First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Kolmakov and navy chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky were heading for the Pacific Coast in the wake of the accident, Dygalo said.

The Kremlin said President Dmitry Medvedev had been informed about the accident immediately by his defense minister and was receiving frequent updates, Russian news agencies reported. Medvedev ordered a thorough investigation.

Putin, now prime minister, was criticized for his slow response to the Kursk disaster, which marred the first of his eight years as president.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Serbia's Foreign Ministry says the government has expelled Malaysia's ambassador after his country recognized the independence of Kosovo.

The ministry says the Malaysian envoy Saw Ching Hong has 48 hours to leave the country.

The move follows the expulsion earlier this month of Montenegrin and Macedonian ambassadors over their countries' recognition of Kosovo.

The former Serbian province declared independence in February with the support from the United States and most EU nations.

But Serbia refuses to endorse the split. It has asked for a U.N. court's opinion on whether the secession was legal.

Editor's commentary: Constantly breaking diplomatic relationships with foreign countries is sign of broken leadership of Serbia. Unlike during Tito's days when Yugoslavia had relationships with almost all countries of the world, Serbia today looks more like former Stalinist Albania. Blackmailing foreign countries with expelling their ambassadors will not help reverse fact of life that Kosovo is independent. UN court opinion will be just that, an opinion with no legal consequences. More than 50 countries have already established full diplomatic relationship with Kosovo and no opinion will change that. The best thing right now is that president and his foreign minister resign immediately as being incapable of leading the country.

BRUSSELS, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The European Parliament has decided to award its top human rights prize to Chinese activist Hu Jia, who was jailed after testifying to the EU assembly, its biggest political party said on Thursday.

Robert Fitzhenry, spokesman for the European People's Party, said Hu had been selected for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by party leaders of the EU assembly.

The announcement of the award later on Thursday will come a day before EU leaders are due to meet Chinese counterparts at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Beijing and is likely to anger China.

The Chinese government described Hu as an undeserving criminal when he was seen as a candidate for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

It said awarding him the Nobel, which eventually went to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, would be seen as meddling in China's domestic affairs, judicial independence and sovereignty.

Hu, a campaigner for civil rights, environmental protection and AIDS advocacy, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in China in April. Hu, in his mid-30s, had already spent many months under house arrest with his wife and child.

He was arrested and charged with "inciting subversion of state power" following his testimony on human rights in China via conference call to the European Parliament's Human Rights Subcommittee on Nov. 26 last year.

Hu's jailing drew condemnation from Washington, across Europe and from human rights advocates.

MOSCOW (AFP) – A Russian troop convoy was attacked Saturday in the volatile Caucasus province of Ingushetia and an opposition website said around 50 soldiers had been killed, though officials confirmed only two dead.

Around 100 interior ministry troops were in vehicles travelling on a road near the village of Galashki when they were attacked with grenade launchers and automatic weapons by the gunmen, officials said.

A website run by opponents of Ingushetia's Moscow-backed administration, www.ingushetia.org, quoted unnamed local interior ministry and medical sources as saying that "around" 50 Russian soldiers were killed in that attack.

If confirmed, that figure would represent one of the most deadly strikes against Russian federal forces in the north Caucasus since the end of major combat operations in neighboring Chechnya several years ago.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The Chechen rebel website www.kavkazcenter.com however also reported the attack and, quoting sources in Ingushetia, said it had resulted in the deaths of 50 "infidels."

The ingushetia.org website is considered by independent observers a reliable source of information about events in Ingushetia that are not reported by Russia's state-controlled media.

During the course of two wars in Chechnya between 1994 and 2004, Russian officials and state-run media regularly omitted reporting on serious losses sustained by Russian troops until long after the fact, if ever.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian human rights lawyer whose clients have included leading Kremlin opponents said on Tuesday she had found poisonous mercury in her car in France and believed it may have been a warning to her.

Karina Moskalenko told Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station the incident had prevented her from traveling to Moscow to take part in the trial of three suspected accomplices in the 2006 murder of journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya.

"People do not put mercury in your car to improve your health," Moskalenko, who spends much of her time in the French city of Strasbourg, told the radio station. "I am very concerned because there were children in that car."

Mercury is an element that occurs naturally but exposure to high levels can damage the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, immune and nervous systems.

A high level of exposure in metallic form -- most commonly by breathing in vapor -- can lead to death, said the U.S. government's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

"I think it may have been a demonstration because there was lots of it (mercury.) How could you not notice it?" She did not say who she thought might have been responsible.

Strasbourg assistant prosecutor Claude Palpacuer said an investigation had been opened. He said Moskalenko and members of her family had been invited to undergo a medical examination to check if they had been contaminated.

"The circumstances as well as her background are such that she is concerned," he told Reuters.

Moskalenko's clients have included Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of a major oil company who is serving a prison sentence for fraud and tax evasion. He said his prosecution was punishment for challenging the Kremlin's power.

Prosecutors applied to the Moscow Bar Association to have Moskalenko stripped of her right to practice as a lawyer, a step she said was designed to weaken Khodorkovsky's defense.

She has also represented several Russian plaintiffs who have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The court has handed down dozens of rulings accusing Russia of human rights abuses and failures of its justice system.

Anna Stavitskaya, a lawyer representing Politkovskaya's family, said her legal team would ask for the trial to be postponed because Moskalenko was unavailable. The trial is scheduled to start in a Moscow military court on Wednesday.

Alexander Litvinenko, an emigre Kremlin critic living in London, died in 2006 from radiation poisoning. British police have named a Russian former security agent as a suspect. He says he is innocent.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been won by peace negotiator Martti Ahtisaari, the Nobel Foundation has announced in Norway's capital, Oslo.

Finland's ex-president has been the UN special envoy for talks on the final status of Kosovo, and mediated a 2005 accord in Indonesia's Aceh province.

Mr Ahtisaari told Norwegian broadcaster NRK he was "very pleased and grateful" to receive the award.

The laureate wins a gold medal, diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.42m).

The Nobel committee commended Mr Ahtisaari, 71, "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".

The citation continued: "He has figured prominently in endeavours to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts," mentioning his roles in Namibia, Aceh, Kosovo and Iraq.

"He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia and on the Horn of Africa," it said.

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