Nils Muiznieks, the council's commissioner for human rights, said Monday that countries such as Greece and Hungary that have seen members of extremist political parties elected to their parliaments are obligated by treaty to pass and impose laws curbing their influence.

"It worries me deeply that the European community and national political leaders appear not to be fully aware of the serious threat that these organizations pose to the rule of law and human rights," he said.

Muiznieks, in charge of evaluating the human rights situations among the 47 members of the Council of Europe, said the increasing popularity of such parties as Golden Dawn in Greece and Jobbik in Hungary is abetting an upsurge of racist attacks and violence throughout the continent.

For instance, 220 racist attacks were reported in Greece from October 2011 and December 2012, "about one attack every other day," he noted.

The upsurge has reached the point of "an early form of far-right terror," he said.

"The phenomenon is all the more serious as it is paired with an increased influence of racist extremist political parties in national parliaments and governments, and endeavors by these parties to strengthen their position at European level through alliances," he said.

In Hungary, he noted, Jobbik -- a self-described as "radically patriotic" party -- emerged as a political force in 2010 and quickly became the country's third-largest party, while the "neo-Nazi" Golden Dawn and Sweden Democrats have also marked political gains.

Muiznieks reminded European countries they are obligated under the United Nations' 1966 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to eliminate racial discrimination as well as outlaw hate speech and criminalize membership in racist organizations.

He urged governments to update and strengthen their anti-racism laws and to engage in "systematic, continuous anti-racism training" of police, prosecutors and to counter what he called their "low awareness" of the threat posed by racist crimes.

The call came less than a month after Muiznieks issued a report on Greece, in which he said an outright ban on Golden Dawn would be "possible" as lawmakers consider a bill pending since 2011 that would introduce tougher sentences for racially motivated crime and prevent MPs who advocate neo-Nazism from running for office.

Police have alleged Golden Dawn MPs were involved in several cases of racist and violent attacks against immigrants last year.

The Greek anti-racism bill was to be put before Parliament by justice ministers last week but was delayed due to disagreements among governing coalition members, Kathimerini reported.

The newspaper, citing government sources, said the dispute appeared to center on whether it is the best way to counter Golden Dawn, with some contending it would only make the group more popular by casting it in the role of a victim of oppression.

The government, meanwhile, contends it is already battling racist extremism, establishing an anti-racism prosecutor in Athens as setting up 70 anti-racist police units, the EUobserver reported.

In a response to Muiznieks' report, it cautioned that taking measures against groups such as Golden Dawn that have legally been elected to Parliament is "complex" for "obvious reasons related to the function of democratic polity."

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Manila, Philippines (UPI) May 15, 2013 - Former Philippines President Joseph Estrada has been elected mayor of Manila, beating a former presidential rival for the post.

Estrada won the presidential race in 1998, beating Alfredo Siojo Lim, a former police chief and who until this week's local and senatorial elections was serving his fourth term as mayor of Manila.

After losing the 1998 presidential race, Lim, 83, ended up in Estrada's Cabinet until the 76-year-old former film star president was overthrown and jailed in 2001. He was found guilty of plunder in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.

But only months later, Estrada was freed through a pardon by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who had replaced him, and he began his political comeback, albeit successful only at the local level.

He ran for president in the 2010 but came in second to Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

Estrada traded many barbs with Lim on the campaign trail before this week's vote, a report by The Philippine Star newspaper said.

Election officials said around 76 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in what Philippine National Police called a campaign season more peaceful than many others in recent years.

However, there was a series of ambushes and explosions during the weekend that left at least two people dead, the Star reported earlier. Also, the nephew of a mayoralty candidate in South Upi was killed in an ambush and a police officer was killed in Borongan.

Estrada's win was all but official after the latest tally by the Commission on Elections showed him with 338,004 votes to Lim's 304,595, with 5 percent of precincts to come in, the Star report said.

Estrada didn't wait for an official announcement before releasing a statement thanking the people of Manila for showing faith in him.

He thanked "the great people of Manila for putting a true son of Manila at the helm of the Philippine capital city," a report by GMA News Online said.

He asked his "worthy political opponents and the entire 1.6 million people in Manila to finally leave politics behind and to rally behind me in putting Manila back on the pedestal of being one of the greatest cities of the world, the Paris of Asia."

Estrada's election shows the former successful film actor -- he played the lead role in one move about a 1950s Filipino mob boss -- still can draw crowds despite a shady past in real life, a report by the BBC said.

Allegations of involvement in corruption and illegal business transactions played into the hands of his political opponents while he was president and he was impeached and tried by the Senate.

When the trial collapsed, after some prosecution evidence was ruled inadmissible, anger protesters filled the streets.

He was ousted in a popular revolt backed by the Catholic Church and the army in January 2001, the BBC said.

He was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of plundering state funds and accepting millions of dollars from illegal gambling syndicates.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Islamabad (AFP) May 12, 2013 - Imran Khan, Pakistan's cricket hero, made an incredible breakthrough at the polls with his enormous popularity inspiring one of the highest voter turnouts in history.

Loved by millions across the cricket-obsessed nation for winning Pakistan its only World Cup in 1992, the 60-year-old has sporting prowess, rugged good looks and international celebrity in a country lacking glamour.

He may not have achieved his dream, in which a "tsunami" of support would win him the premiership, but his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) looks set to form a government in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He electrified the campaign, addressing enormous crowds and galvanising young voters and an urban middle class fed up with the same old politicians who have ruled for decades on the back of family wealth.

When he plunged off a lift cranking him up to the stage at a rally and fractured his spine in the final days of campaigning, his bedside television addresses were feted as some of the finest Pakistani political oratory in years.

To his detractors, he is a dangerous appeaser of the Taliban, a Muslim conservative weak on women's rights and a naive figure who doesn't understand that America's war against Islamic extremists is also Pakistan's war.

For a party only founded in 1996 and which only ever won one seat, in 2002, the election result is an incredible achievement that will test its governing ability on the frontline of Pakistan's war against the Taliban.

"God will not take me from this world until a new Pakistan is built," he told supporters by video-link from his hospital bed on the last day of campaigning.

Tugging at their heart strings, he spoke about his Muslim faith, the personal sacrifices he has made and his mantra for reform.

"God has given you this golden opportunity. Don't let it go. You should give change a chance," he said from the hospital he founded for the poor.

Khan's campaign slogan was Naya Pakistan -- New Pakistan.

The message was simple -- the parties that have governed for the past two decades have failed and it is time to try something else, time to pay tax, end corruption, fix the power crisis and stand up to America.

His vocal opposition to US drone strikes targeting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda also struck a chord with a deeply anti-American populace.

His face is plastered all over billboards, TV adverts and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party ran a strong Internet campaign with a stylish website, securing @ImranKhanPTI more than half a million followers on Twitter.

Born on November 25, 1952 in Lahore into a comfortable family with origins in the Pashtun northwest, Khan was educated at Aitchison College, the Eton of Pakistan, boarding school in England, and then Oxford University.

He became one of the world's greatest ever all-rounders -- a fearsome fast bowler and dangerous batsman -- whose finest hour came at the 1992 World Cup, where at the age of 39 he led an inexperienced team to the title.

Off the pitch, he had a string of socialite girlfriends and frequented exclusive nightclubs in London until he married Jemima Goldsmith, the daughter of the French-British tycoon James, in 1995.

She converted to Islam and the couple moved in with his family in Lahore.

They had two sons but divorced in 2004, allegedly over the difficulties Jemima faced in Pakistan, where she was hounded for her family's Jewish ancestry and his obsession with politics.

He is also feted for his philanthropy. He founded the best cancer hospital in the country, which provides free care to the poor, and set up a college that awards British university degrees in Mianwali, his family's home town.

His rival Nawaz Sharif cautioned Khan on the campaign trail that politics is more than a game. Khan will now be batting for his life, most likely in opposition at the national level but grappling with power in the northwest.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Washington (UPI) May 10, 2013 - The European Union stands on the edge of a decision that may have profound implications for the continent and on relations between the European Union and Russia, not to mention the United States.

What will the European Union decide? And in particular, will that decision be made on the basis of the fate of one famous individual?

Of all the countries to emerge from the former communist bloc, the most important (besides, obviously, Russia) is Ukraine. The future course of the so-called "borderland" (which is what "Ukraine" means) as a bridge between Europe and Russia is of crucial importance to both sides.

Ukraine's current government under President Viktor Yanukovych hasn't locked in a final commitment to either orientation. Moscow offers Ukraine immediate full membership in a Customs Union comprised of Russia, Belarus (Ukraine's neighbor), and Kazakhstan. The European Union would like to sign an Association Agreement) with Ukraine, as well as a free trade pact -- but only if certain conditions are met before the end of this month.

Of these conditions, the most important is legal reform, especially release of Ukraine's former prime minister and firebrand of the 2004 "Orange Revolution," Yulia Tymoshenko.

Convicted of corruption and embezzlement over a bad natural gas pricing deal with Russia when she was in office, Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year sentence. She also stands accused in the 1996 deaths of Parliament Member Yevhen Shcherban, his wife, and two other people.

At the end of April, the European Union upped the ante when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ukraine violated Tymoshenko's fundamental rights, and that her pretrial detention was arbitrary and politically motivated. That decision came as the end-of-May deadline approaches for Brussels to rule on whether Kiev has met the European Union's conditions for offering to sign the AA and free trade agreement with Ukraine.

It appears that at least some in Europe are prepared to insist on Tymoshenko's release as a take-it-or-leave-it demand to Kiev. In particular, Wilfried Martens, head of the Center-Right "European People's Party" bloc in the European Parliament, has said he and his aligned parliamentarians will support the offer "only if the Ukrainian authorities fulfill the conditions put forward by the European Union, including the end of selective justice and the immediate release of Yulia Tymoshenko."

Some countries, notably Poland, Sweden, and other key participants in the European Union's "Eastern Partnership," want the offer made despite Tymoshenko's continued imprisonment.

As the European Union and member governments consider their next move, it's important for them to consider the relative weight of Tymoshenko versus the European Unions interest in Ukraine. As Marc Champion of Bloomberg notes, "The agreement might enable the country to export its own gas to EU markets and allow Ukraine to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, from which it gets 60 percent of its natural gas. Russia, on the other hand, says it will cut the relatively high price Ukraine pays for gas if it joins a trade bloc with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan."

The ECHR ruling, which isn't binding on Ukraine, dealt only with Tymoshenko's pretrial detention on corruption charges connected with a disadvantage gas pricing deal with Russia. It didn't address the more serious charges relating to the Shcherban killings.

As Renat Kuzmin, chief prosecutor in the Tymoshenko case explained in the U.S.-Ukraine Observer, the Shcherban charges place a moral and legal burden on Ukraine to get to the truth: "There is no doubt that the termination of criminal case concerning the murder of four people would be a great sin before God and man. If this were permitted to occur, we would be committing another crime, showing a new generation that a powerful politician may with impunity act illegally, and even murder people."

Kuzmin, who has been personally vilified and subjected to a U.S. visa revocation for his role in prosecuting Tymoshenko, remains steadfast in his determination to pursue the murder case against her.

Will the European Union be prepared to dismiss out of hand concerns Kuzmin raises -- concerns the ECHR didn't address -- at the risk of permanently alienating Ukraine and, in that event, pushing Kiev into the Moscow-led Customs Union? Absorption of Ukraine into the Customs Union would be a huge windfall for the Russian-led, resurgent neo-Soviet bloc, which still sees the west (not only the European Union but especially the United States) as a strategic adversary.

We will soon see which way the European Union and key European governments will choose. It's a decision they need to weigh very carefully. If the European Union shuts the door on Kiev, as some now predict after the ECHR opinion, the long-term, negative consequences could be irreparable.

(Bruce M. Rickerson formerly served in a professional capacity with the Organization of American States, the U.S. Department of State, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has taught at the university level.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (UPI) May 10, 2013 - Malaysia's election results will stand despite protests that sent thousands of Malaysians onto the streets and filled a soccer stadium.

Prime Minister Najib Razak's governing Barisan Nasional -- National Front -- party won 133 of the 222 seats in Parliament but the result was quickly decried by opposition leaders.

It was the National Front's 13th consecutive general election victory since Malaysia gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.

The Front has held as much as 90 percent of parliamentary seats in the country of 28 million people with Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western cultures.

But the party -- a loose coalition of more than 13 small and regional political parties that was formed in 1973 -- lost its two-thirds majority of seats in 2008 and failed in Sunday's polling to recoup the loses.

The election result brought a swift condemnation from the major opposition coalition of three parties, Pakatan Rakyat -- People's Alliance -- led by Anwar Ibrahim.

Ibrahim defied police warnings that his protest in the MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya near Kuala Lumpur was illegal.

During the night-time protest, he called for rotating demonstrations around the country.

Ibrahim, 65, reportedly told the crowd that "BN has robbed the rights of the people," Malaysia's national news agency Bernama reported. "We will prove that they lied in 30 parliamentary seats."

But Election Commission Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the "unhappy candidate" could apply for a review of the result by making a petition after the result was published officially by the commission.

"After the result is gazetted, he has 21 days to file a petition and if there is proof and the judge admitted the existence of corruption, fraud or illegal acts, the High Court judge will declare the election result invalid.

"Only then a re-election will be called. A rally such as the one tonight won't change anything," Abdul Aziz told Radio24.

Aziz also rejected opposition claims that the commission helped parties to win, Bernama reported.

A report by the BBC said up to 40,000 protesters attended the stadium rally, with many dressed in mourning black.

Their complaints ranged from the use of indelible ink in polling booths. Although it is meant to prevent multiple voting, it could be washed off easily.

Also, there were many accounts of a government scheme to fly tens of thousands of "dubious," possibly foreign, voters to vote in some constituencies, the BBC report said.

In a White House statement, U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Razak on his election victory and the people of Malaysia, who turned out in record numbers to cast their votes.

The statement praised the parties of the opposition coalition on their campaigns that helped to underpin democracy in their country.

But the White House also said "it is important that Malaysian authorities address (polling) concerns that have been raised."

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST College Park (AFP) Maryland (AFP) May 7, 2013 - The Dalai Lama on Tuesday called for the teaching of secular values in education, saying that it was critical for the world to respect all religions -- as well as the right not to believe.

Despite devoting his life to the study of Buddhism, Tibet's spiritual leader said he was convinced that all people -- and often even animals -- shared basic moral values regardless of their religion.

"In the West, there is some connotation that secular means a little negative, or disrespect, towards religion," the Dalai Lama told a packed arena at the University of Maryland at College Park in Washington's suburbs.

"But according to the Indian understanding, secular means respect for all religions -- and respect for non-believers," said the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since 1959.

"That is the only way it can be acceptable to a whole universal level," he said.

The Dalai Lama said he was taking part in a project to craft a curriculum on universal ethics, which could be taught initially at a local level and eventually become part of a United Nations initiative.

"The whole world should in the education field include some sort of education about moral ethics. Not based on religion -- secular," he said.

The Dalai Lama said that he discussed his idea Tuesday with Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley, seen as a rising star in President Barack Obama's Democratic Party. The Dalai Lama greeted O'Malley on stage by pressing their noses together.

Despite his global following, the Dalai Lama's travels are opposed by China, which accuses him of encouraging separatism and violence. The Dalai Lama says he is a pacifist and only seeks greater rights for Tibetans under Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama was delivering an annual lecture in honor of Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president who was assassinated in 1981 by an Islamist militant group at a military parade after he signed a peace accord with Israel.

The Dalai Lama met with Sadat's widow, Jihan, and said he was "one of the admirers of your late husband" for his effort to make peace.

"Violence always creates problems," the Dalai Lama said. "Once you commit violence, even though your motivation is good, your aim is good, but because of the method -- violent method -- it may create unexpected consequences."

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Washington (UPI) May 8, 2013 - This weekend, many tens of millions of some 200 million Pakistanis will elect new national and four provincial governments. The elections are a remarkable milestone due in large measure to President Asif Zardari's political navigational skills in the most roiled of waters.

This is the first time in Pakistan's history that an elected civilian government has completed a full five-year term and will be replaced democratically.

At this stage, the only likely outcome is continued Pakistan Peoples Party control of the Senate and its 104 seats as only one-third of the senators are up for re-election.

Most polls rank Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslin League (N) party as the favorite possibly winning 90-100 out of 342 seats in Parliament, far short of a majority.

Zardari's PPP, led by his son Bilawal, and Cricket hero Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will most likely vie for second or third place. A host of smaller parties will win handfuls of seats.

Voter turnout in the last election in 2008 was about 55 percent. Whether larger numbers of women and youthful voters will swell the ranks is unclear. Conventional wisdom suggests that a surge helps Imran's PTI. However, conventional wisdom in Pakistan is often an oxymoron.

Meanwhile, the Tehrik-iTaliban Pakistan and other militant groups are disrupting the elections killing off candidates largely from PPP and Awami National Party lists.

A few analysts suggest that given the devolution of power to the four provinces, provincial elections may prove more important than the national vote. However, the geostrategic challenges of the region and Afghanistan in particular are so great that while this theory might relate to domestic economic issues, the next government in Islamabad will be crucial in shaping South Asia's security for good or for ill.

Presidential elections are schedules for later in the year. The four provincial assemblies and the two houses of the national government, not popular votes, will decide whether Zardari stays or goes. And recently returned former President Pervez Musharraf is a non-issue currently under house arrest.

Those wanting PPP to go contend that PML-N will win the largest plurality and form a coalition government intent on fixing the myriad economic and social issues threatening Pakistani well-being. The presumption is that Nawaz has learned from his two failed premierships and succeeding what is viewed as a largely unsuccessful PPP government, ultimately will win public support.

But many don't see Nawaz as either reformed or as a reformer. Much as PPP was forced by coalition politics to bring minority parties into a huge and largely dysfunctional cabinet, so too will PML-N face similar realities.

Many also distrust Nawaz's anti-Americanism and pro-Saudi position that could too easily succumb to religious fundamentalist influence, much as did Gen. Zia al-Haq's rule of nearly 30 years ago veered, Pakistan in that unfortunate direction.

Regardless, the army almost certainly will stay out of politics. Selecting the next army chief of staff to replace Gen. Ashraf Kayani, already twice extended, will go smoothly. Several highly qualified candidates are in play including for the post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a position less important in Pakistan than in other countries.

One key question is how the election will affect the Zardari-Nawaz relationship. The presidency is a weak and largely ceremonial office. Zardari maintains power through control of the party.

If PPP loses the Assembly, obviously Zardari will likewise lose authority. However, Nawaz may need PPP to form a coalition government. Under those circumstances, who knows what sort of deal may transpire. After all, Zardari went out of his way in 2008 to bring Nawaz and PML-N into government.

But it is the perils and paradoxes of Pakistani politics that hold greater sway. PTI could make a surprisingly stronger showing. While the religious parties have attracted very minor electoral representation, that might change. And the strength of various PPP candidates could indeed produce a long-shot victory.

The United States has taken an understandably hands off approach. Privately, it views the current government as weak and lacking in competence, preferring to deal with the army. And some in the U.S. State Department say Nawaz would make a better partner.

They are wrong. If the United States wasn't happy with PPP, a PML-N coalition won't prove better.

A hung Parliament is also possible. Under the Constitution, the president can set a deadline for establishing a government. But would that work? As the U.S. Congress seems incapable of governing if the sequester and budget are illustrative, why would Pakistan fare better?

Governance is thus crucial. Given the immense challenges and dangers facing Pakistan from worsening insurgencies to growing economic woes, no matter who is elected, will that team be able to govern with any degree of success? Pakistan is about to find out.

(Harlan Ullman is chairman of the Killowen Group, which advises leaders of government and business, and senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic Council.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Yangon, Myanmar (UPI) May 8, 2013 - Tensions are rising in Rakhine state where the Myanmar government is re-housing Muslims displaced after ethnic clashes with Buddhists last year.

Hundreds of Buddhist residents in Rakhine -- Arakan state -- protested in the streets of their villages this week against resettlement plans for Rohingya Muslims, a report by the news website Democratic Voice of Burma said.

Residents from around 30 ethnic Arakanese villages near Kyaukphyu township where Buddhist mobs razed several Muslim quarters in October protested openly.

Residents from Kyaukphyu, predominately populated by Buddhist Arakanese and Kaman Muslims who, unlike Rohingya, have Myanmar citizenship, say they won't accept the stateless Rohingya minority they view as "illegal Bengali immigrants," the DVB report said.

Many of the displaced Muslims live in poor conditions in makeshift camps in the countryside and jungle in areas liable to flooding, DVB said.

"Local Arakanese people depend on the area for fishing and they won't accept losing their land," an Arakanese local told DVB. "The (Rohingya) have never been here throughout time and we won't accept them."

Around 735,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine state's northern area, close to the Bangladeshi border, as estimated by the human rights organization Arakan Project, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.

Rohingya are related to the Chittagonian Bengali in Bangladesh and are distinct from the majority Buddhist population of Myanmar, who are of Southeast Asian origin.

Myanmar laws restrict citizenship to exclude Rohingya, an issue that has caused concern internationally as the country opens up democratically and seeks foreign investment after decades of military rule.

Violence between Muslims, who make up less than 5 percent of the country's population, and Buddhists has spread outside Rakhine.

Police said they had charged six Muslim men over the death of a Buddhist monk during an outbreak of religious violence in the southern central city of Meiktila in March.

During ensuing riots in which more than 40 people died, police were greatly outnumbered and stood back as Buddhist mobs including monks ransacked shops apparently owned by Muslims.

The violence reportedly started over a dispute in a local shop. But apart from the monk, aggression was mostly by Buddhists directed against the Muslim minority and no Buddhists have been charged, a report by the BBC said.

More than 12,000 Muslims have been displaced from their homes since the clashes began March 20.

In a speech to the nation this week, President Thein Sein, a former junta general and now elected politician, again called for peaceful coexistence and pledged to uphold the rights of Muslims.

"Regarding Rakhine, our government will take responsibility for upholding Muslims' fundamental rights" while not neglecting the rights of other groups, he said.

His speech also comes as neighboring countries grow more concerned about an influx of Rohingya refugees.

Bangladesh has received the majority of Rohingya fleeing by land and thousands remain in crowded refugee camps on the Bangladeshi side of the border.

But more and more Rohingya are fleeing by boat to other countries, including Indonesia as well as Malaysia.

Earlier this year the European Union lifted many economic sanctions against Myanmar because of its moves toward democracy.

But a recent report by a U.S. government commission recommended that Myanmar remains on a U.S. State Department blacklist of 15 governments responsible for "systematic" violations of freedom of religion.

In its annual report, the Commission on International Religious Freedoms, a bipartisan advisory board appointed by the president and Congress, said the Myanmar government continues to persecute and discriminate Muslim groups.

The government's actions are despite its favorable moves toward establishing a more open and democratic society since the ending of more nearly 50 years of military rule with relatively free national elections in 2011.

"Ongoing and important political reforms in Burma (the former name of Myanmar) have yet to improve significantly the situation for freedom of religion and belief," the commission said.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Kuala Lumpur (AFP) May 8, 2013 - Malaysia's premier said in comments published Wednesday that Chinese voters who deserted him in Sunday's election had been deceived by "racial sentiments" stirred up by the opposition.

Prime Minister Najib Razak's remarks were the latest in a series of comments from government supporters directed at the nation's sizeable Chinese minority since the election.

Critics have condemned them as racially provocative.

Chinese voters turned their backs on the 56-year-old ruling coalition in unprecedented fashion, with Najib bitterly saying afterward that a "Chinese tsunami" of voters had opted for "extremism and racism".

"They have been taken for a good ride," Najib said of Chinese voters, according to Wednesday's government-controlled New Straits Times, adding they were taken in by the opposition's "racial sentiments".

The opposition's campaign platform had included calls for greater racial equality in the country.

Najib also hit back at criticism of a Tuesday headline in the pro-government newspaper Utusan Malaysia, which asked after the election, "What more do Chinese want?"

"You can blame Utusan, but what about the Chinese papers?" he said of the nation's Chinese-language media which are occasionally critical of the government.

Malaysia has avoided major conflict between its main races -- the Malay majority, the Chinese and the Indians -- for decades under the authoritarian Barisan Nasional (National Front) ruling coalition.

But tensions are rising as minorities increasingly chafe under Malay dominance.

In particular, impatience is growing with decades-old policies that prop up majority Malays to prevent Chinese dominance. Chinese control much of the economy despite making up just a quarter of the 28-million population.

Influential hardline former leader Mahathir Mohamad, a key architect of the Malay-dominated landscape, said Tuesday the election showed "many Chinese rejected the hand of Malay friendship".

The rhetoric has sparked anger in the active social media world, with users of all races rejecting the comments.

The vote was touted as the first in the country's history in which the opposition had a chance to unseat the ruling coalition, which has ruled since independence in 1957.

However, Barisan retained a firm majority in parliament despite winning less than half of the popular vote, a factor blamed on self-serving gerrymandering and redistricting by Barisan over the years.

Leaders of Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main coalition party, are frequently accused by critics of casting the Chinese as bogeymen in a bid to maintain support from Muslim Malays.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Moscow (AFP) May 08, 2013 - US Secretary of State John Kerry met Wednesday with leading Russian human rights activists amid concerns about a crackdown by Russian authorities on pro-democracy movements and global civil society groups.

"Everybody has great respect for your efforts," Kerry said at the start of the meeting in the residence of US ambassador Michael McFaul.

Among the activists was 86-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyeva, head of Russia's flagship human rights organisation, the Moscow Helsinki Group.

She was joined by Ivan Blokov from Greenpeace Russia, activist Alexander Cherkasov from Memorial, one of the country's most prominent rights groups, human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov from the Agora Association and Tatyana Lokshina, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Russia.

Russian authorities have in recent weeks begun questioning non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and searching their premises after adopting a controversial law requiring activist groups to declare themselves "foreign agents" if their funding comes from abroad.

The main US developmental agency USAID was abruptly expelled from Russia last year, as President Vladimir Putin accused US-funded groups of seeking to foment opposition to his rule.

Kerry met for more than five hours with Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday for talks that focused on Syria and joint counter-terrorism efforts following the Boston bombings blamed on two brothers of Chechen descent.

Kerry told reporters he had also discussed the crackdown on NGOs and a controversial law banning US nationals from adopting Russian children.

But in an apparent bid to soothe months of tensions with Moscow, he suggested such disputes should not cloud ties, arguing that while they were important the two countries should not "get lost in some of these other issues."

"The key is not to let them become so personalised or so much an impediment to the larger goal and to the broader agenda and to our larger interests," he told reporters.

]]> Sat, 18 MAY 2013 00:32:38 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D