Million join latest Brazil protests

21 June 2013 Last updated at 00:17 ET

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The protests continue to grow larger and angrier

More than a million people are reported to have taken part in protests in about 100 cities across Brazil, the latest in a wave of demonstrations.

Violence erupted in many places and an 18-year-old man died when a car drove through a barricade in Sao Paulo state.

Protests began more than a week ago over high transport fares but are also highlighting corruption and the cost of next year's football World Cup.

President Dilma Rousseff called off a trip to Japan to deal with the crisis.

She has called an emergency meeting of her cabinet for Friday to discuss the unrest.

The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, citing official figures, said that more than one million people had taken part in Thursday's demonstrations.

Brazilian media said there were protests in more than 100 cities.

In Rio de Janeiro riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at groups of masked young men trying to approach the City Hall late on Thursday. At least 29 people were reported injured.

Rio authorities sealed off the state legislature building, the state governor's office, Guanabara Palace and the mayor's office.

TV images showed gangs looting shops in the city centre - although many Rio shopkeepers and banks had put up wooden hoardings to protect their premises.

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Julia Carneiro "It is not yet known how this will end"

In the capital, Brasilia, demonstrators started a small fire at the entrance to the foreign ministry and were driven back by police using rubber bullets and tear gas.

Other government buildings in the city were attacked and riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to scatter the crowds. About 26 people were reported injured.

There were also clashes outside a football stadium in Salvador ahead of a Confederations Cup match between Nigeria and Uruguay.

More clashes were reported in Porto Alegre in the south, Campinas north of Sao Paulo and in the north-eastern city of Salvador.

The 18-year-old man killed in the city of Ribeirao Preto was the first person reported to have died in the protests. The motorist who drove through the barricade is said to have fled the scene.

In Sao Paulo, police said 100,000 people had gathered on the city's landmark Avenida Paulista.

Members of the city's Free Access Movement (Movimento Passe Livre) - which has been campaigning for better public transport - earlier pledged to take to the streets "to celebrate" the reversal of a public-transport fare increase.

The protests, originally triggered by the increase on 2 June, have since grown into a much wider movement.

Protesters are angry at corruption and poor public services as well as the huge cost of next year's football World Cup, saying the government should also invest in education and healthcare.

Continue reading the main story

The controversy over bus and metro fares was only the issue that got the marchers on to the streets - it all seems much bigger than that now.

The objectives of this diverse protest movement are very broad, such as demanding better education and health services. A sluggish economy and inflation that is affecting the lives of ordinary Brazilians every day can be added to the mix.

Politicians with high salaries giving jobs and flights to relatives are widely scorned. Inequality and the huge cost of hosting the World Cup and the Olympics are key issues raised by demonstrators alongside corruption, crime and police brutality.

Previous Confederations Cup matches have drawn protests, with demonstrators expressing their anger at steep ticket prices and the money spent on the Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad said Wednesday's reversal of the fare rise was a "big sacrifice", which meant other investments would have to be cut.

Sao Paulo and Rio are the latest two cities to reverse such increases after similar moves by the authorities in Cuiaba, Recife and Joao Pessoa.

The fare rollback, while welcomed by many, has so far failed to quell the protests.

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Brazil's UK ambassador says despite the protests, Brazilians have a positive view of the future

"This means that our politicians have begun to hear our voices. This is something that has never happened before - in a non-election year, at least," Daniel Acosta from Sao Paulo told the BBC.

"It's a start. What happens now, nobody knows yet, but it gives us hope," he added.

But 18-year-old student Camila Sena said the protests had become much wider and the concession on fare prices would not change much.

"It's not really about the price [of transport] any more," she said while taking part in a protest in the city of Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, on Wednesday.

"People are so disgusted with the system, so fed up that now we're demanding change."

The current unrest is the biggest since 1992, when people took to the streets to demand the impeachment of then-President Fernando Collor de Mello.

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New record as haze chokes Singapore

21 June 2013 Last updated at 06:04 ET

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Ashleigh Nghiem in Singapore: "This is the fourth day of choking smoke"

Pollution levels reached a new record high for a third day in a row in Singapore, as smoky haze from fires in Indonesia shrouded the city state.

The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit 401 at 12:00 on Friday (04:00 GMT) - the highest in the country's history.

The haze is also affecting Malaysia, with another 100 schools closed in the south of the country.

Indonesia has prepared helicopters and cloud seeding equipment to try to tackle the fires.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong warned on Thursday that the haze could remain in place for weeks.

"We can't tell how this problem is going to develop because it depends on the burning, it depends on the weather, it depends on the wind," he said.

"It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly it could last longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra which may be September or October."

'Life threatening'

A PSI reading above 300 is defined as "hazardous", while Singapore government guidelines say a PSI reading of above 400 over 24 hours "may be life threatening to ill and elderly persons".

"Healthy people [may also] experience adverse symptoms that affect normal activity," the government says.

Continue reading the main story

The PSI dropped down to 143 at 17:00 (09:00 GMT), although this is still classed as "unhealthy".

Before this week's episode, the previous air pollution record was from September 1997 during the 1997-1998 South East Asian Haze, when the PSI peaked at 226.

Singapore resident Nicole Wu told the BBC that she had stayed indoors for the past two days.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I can't even see what's happening outside my house due to the smog"

End Quote Nicole Wu Singapore resident

"It's terrible. In my flat the windows are all closed with the air conditioning on," she said. "My mother has to wear a mask to go shopping."

"I can't even see what's happening outside my house due to the smog. You can't see birds [or] moving objects," she added.

Philip Koh, a doctor, told AFP news agency that the number of medical consultations he had had in the past week had increased by 20%.

"My patients are telling me they are worried about how long this is going to last and how much higher this is going to go," he said.

In Indonesia's Riau province, where the fires are concentrated, the chief of the health department Zainal Arifin said there was an "increasing number of asthma, lung, eye and skin problems due to higher CO2 levels".

"I call for residents to stay at home and reduce outdoor activities," he said.

Diplomatic strain

Singapore's National Environment Agency has started providing hourly PSI updates on its website, in addition to the three-hourly updates it previously provided.

Around 300 schools in southern Malaysia have now been closed as a result of the smog. Schools in Singapore are currently closed for the holidays.

There are also reports of flight delays in both Singapore's Changi airport and Riau province in Indonesia.

The fires are caused by illegal slash-and-burn land clearance in Sumatra, to the west of Singapore.

The smog has strained diplomatic relations between Singapore and Indonesia - two countries that usually share good relations, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta reports.

Mr Lee said Singapore had provided satellite date to Indonesia to help it identify companies involved and said that if any Singapore firms were involved, that would be addressed.

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency said it would deploy two helicopters to conduct "water-bombing" operations, as well as planes with cloud seeding equipment.

More than 100 Indonesian firefighters are attempting to put out the fires in Sumatra.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We have been fighting fires 24 hours a day for two weeks"

End Quote Ahmad Saerozi Natural resources conservation agency

However, an official in Riau province said they were "overwhelmed and in a state of emergency".

"We have been fighting fires 24 hours a day for two weeks," Ahmad Saerozi, the head of the natural resources conservation agency in Riau, told AFP news agency.

He added that the fires were in peat around three or four metres below the ground, making it particularly hard to fight them.

"It is still burning under the surface so we have to stick a hose into the peat to douse the fire," he said.

"We take one to two hours to clear a hectare, and by then another fire has started elsewhere."

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said "all the country's resources" would be mobilised to extinguish the fires.

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Row cancels Merkel's Russia event

21 June 2013 Last updated at 06:13 ET

A fresh dispute over German art seized by the Soviet Union as war reparations threatens to overshadow Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Russia.

Mrs Merkel had been due to open a new exhibition jointly with President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, after an economic forum in the city.

But the Friday evening ceremony was cancelled at short notice.

It appears Mrs Merkel was planning to mention German claims in her speech and the Russian side objected.

News of the cancellation came just before Mrs Merkel's flight from Berlin to St Petersburg, where she is due to address the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

'Soviet blood'

The two countries are in dispute over whether works of art taken by Soviet forces in the last war should be returned to Germany, the BBC's Steve Evans reports from Berlin.

Nobody quite knows how much art was looted from German collections as the Soviet Army closed in on Berlin but it certainly runs into thousands of paintings and sculptures, our correspondent says.

One gallery alone in Berlin lost 441 pictures, including masterworks by Rubens and Caravaggio.

The new exhibition at the Hermitage Museum includes work previously in German museums.

The Russian position has in the past been that the works were paid for with the blood of Soviet soldiers, our correspondent says.

Russian officials have also pointed out that Napoleon's troops looted works from Russian collections, works which ended up in the Louvre.

Furthermore, Nazi forces destroyed or looted Russian art treasures during the invasion of the USSR.

Art taken from Nazi Germany has been shown in Moscow on several occasions in recent years such as a display at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in 2007 and a Moscow Museum of Architecture event in 2003.

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Spain arrests 'Syria jihadists'

21 June 2013 Last updated at 06:48 ET

Eight people have been arrested in the Spanish territory of Ceuta on suspicion of recruiting jihadist fighters to go to Syria and elsewhere, police say.

Those detained in the raids on Friday morning are accused of being part of a network linked to al-Qaeda.

They are suspected of funding, indoctrinating and facilitating travel for would-be fighters.

Police say the network was based in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta and the Moroccan city of Fnideq.

Interior Ministry Jorge Fernandez Diaz called the operation a "hard blow" against international terrorism.

All the detainees are Spanish citizens, Spanish media reported.

In a statement, the ministry of interior said dozens of people, some of them under 18, had left both Ceuta and Moroccan territory under the cover of the al-Qaeda-linked network.

Some of them had taken part in suicide attacks, while others had joined training camps to prepare for armed action, the ministry said.

Several groups of jihadists were still expecting to travel from Spain to Syria, the ministry statement said, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.

"We are aware that they facilitated the travel of a number of persons from Ceuta, Morocco and other places in Spain, via Turkey," Mr Fernandez Diaz said.

He said he would give more details on Saturday at a news conference.

Investigation

The National Police and the Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) began separate investigation in 2009 and 2011 but began working together earlier this year.

Details about those arrested were not immediately available.

The ministry of interior said the case had been registered with a court for investigation.

The presence of foreign combatants amongst those fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad is causing anxiety in Western countries, as well as in Syria itself.

In April, EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator Gilles de Kerchove told the BBC that an estimated 500 Europeans were fighting with rebel forces in Syria.

Last year, three people from Ceuta who went to fight in Syria were killed in separate battles, the Spanish news agency Efe reported.

And in May, a family from Ceuta reported the disappearance of a young man who they suspected might have been picked up by a militant network to fight in Syria, Efe said.

Since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, at least 93,000 people have been killed, the UN said on 13 June.

Among the other foreigners killed in Syria were two Britons and an American woman.

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U-turn fails to end Brazil protests

20 June 2013 Last updated at 01:07 ET

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Alastair Leithead reports on a night of unrest around Brazil

Brazilian authorities have failed to halt nationwide protests, despite reversing the public-transport fare increases that sparked the unrest.

Crowds blocked main roads in Sao Paulo and Brasilia, and protesters confronted police in Rio de Janeiro state shortly after the U-turn was announced.

Earlier, there were clashes before Brazil's football team played Mexico in Fortaleza in the Confederations Cup.

Protesters are angry at corruption and high spending on next year's World Cup.

Activists say they have not changed their intention to hold the biggest demonstrations yet on Thursday.

The BBC's Julia Carneiro, in Sao Paulo, says hundreds of thousands are expected on the streets there before another round of matches in the Confederations Cup.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Just as in 1989, when we found that people in East Europe preferred individual freedom to communism, today capitalism is becoming identified with the rule of unaccountable elites"

End Quote

The continued protests come after the authorities in the two biggest cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, said they would reverse the public-transport fare increases.

Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad said the reversal would be a "big sacrifice" and said other investments would have to be cut.

Rio mayor Eduardo Paes made a similar point, saying the lower transport prices would cost the city 500m reals ($225m; £145m) a year.

The mayors of Cuiaba, Recife, Joao Pessoa and other cities have already announced a reduction in bus fares in response to the protests.

But the protesters were unmoved by the gesture.

"It's not really about the price [of transport] any more," said 18-year-old student Camila Sena, at a protest in Rio de Janeiro's sister city of Niteroi.

"People are so disgusted with the system, so fed up that now we're demanding change."

One demonstration in the city of Belo Horizonte continued for more than 10 hours.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in the north-eastern city of Fortaleza on Wednesday after at least 30,000 people rallied there.

Clashes erupted when a protest march was stopped by police. Several people were injured, including police officers.Access to the stadium was blocked for at least 30 minutes, but police later allowed people to get in ahead of the game which started at 16:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

The BBC's Ben Smith in Fortaleza says that during the protest some demonstrators carried banners reading: "A teacher is worth more than Neymar", in a reference to Brazil's star footballer who played and scored against Mexico.

Before the match, Neymar spoke in favour of the protesters, saying in a message on Facebook: "I'm Brazilian and I love my country. I have a family and friends who live in Brazil. For that reason, I want a Brazil which is more just, safer, healthier and more honest.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

The controversy over bus and metro fares was only the issue that got the marchers on to the streets - it all seems much bigger than that now.

The objectives of this diverse protest movement are very broad, such as demanding better education and health services. A sluggish economy and inflation that is affecting the lives of ordinary Brazilians every day can be added to the mix.

Politicians with high salaries giving jobs and flights to relatives are widely scorned. Inequality and the huge cost of hosting the World Cup and the Olympics are key issues raised by demonstrators alongside corruption, crime and police brutality.

"The only way I can represent and defend Brazil is on the pitch, playing football. From now on, I will enter the field inspired by this movement."

Football legend Pele urged demonstrators to end the protests. "Let's forget all this commotion happening in Brazil, and let's remember how the Brazilian squad is our country and our blood," he said.

The current unrest is the biggest since 1992, when people took to the streets to demand the impeachment of then-President Fernando Collor de Mello.

Vice-President Michel Temer cut short a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday to return to Brazil.

President Dilma Rousseff has said she was proud that so many people were fighting for a better country.

Many of the demonstrators have complained of the huge sums spent on construction for the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, which will be hosted by Rio de Janeiro.

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Afghans reject Taliban talks moves

20 June 2013 Last updated at 05:23 ET

Afghan officials have said the removal of the flag and nameplate from the Taliban's Qatar office is not enough.

Afghan peace negotiators say the office is meant only for peace talks and they are unhappy with Taliban statements.

"It is a kind of Taliban establishment which we don't want," Muhammad Ismael Qasemyar, a member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, told the BBC.

The comments come after US Secretary of State John Kerry rang President Hamid Karzai to defuse tensions.

He told the president the Taliban's office in Qatar was removing the flag, and that the sign designating the building as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be replaced by one saying Bureau of Peace Talks.

On Wednesday Mr Karzai said Afghan negotiators would boycott the Qatar talks until "foreign powers" allowed the process to be run by Afghans. He also suspended security talks with the US on the American presence in Afghanistan after Nato leaves in 2014.

In a separate development, a Taliban spokesman in Doha has told the Associated press news agency that the militants are ready to hand over a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five senior Taliban members held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Fraught process

Mr Qasemyar said negotiators objected to the statement made by the Taliban when the office was established, which had indicated they would have relations with external bodies such as the UN.

"Unless our demands are accepted, we are not going to take part in Qatar talks," he said.

Continue reading the main story

Some Western officials, with barely concealed frustration, often dismiss what they see as a prickly paranoia. But in this latest upset, the president's anger seemed justified."

End Quote

Correspondents say that the Qatar office, which was opened on Tuesday, means the Taliban are no longer only a fighting group, but have a political arm too.

However this current dispute centres on the precise nature and powers of this office, and is just one indication of how fraught with difficulty this fledgling talks process will be.

The first formal meeting between US and Taliban representatives is expected to take place in the coming days but it is now unclear what role Afghan officials will play in this.

The opening of the Taliban office happened on the same day that Nato handed over security for the whole of Afghanistan to the Afghan government for the first time since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

This was something analysts said was necessary before talks could become a realistic possibility. But the Taliban have long insisted on the complete withdrawal of foreign forces as a pre-condition to becoming part of a political settlement.

Nato's combat troops are due to leave the country by the end of 2014, but the US plans to station a few thousand forces after that as part of a bilateral security agreement.

Details about this are still to be agreed by Kabul and Washington.

Afghan peace attempts

The US met the Taliban secretly in 2011 in Qatar, but these would be the first open talks between them.

The White House has demanded - and the Taliban accepted - two preconditions for the talks: that the Taliban make a statement supporting a peace process, and that it oppose the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries.

The BBC's Jonathan Beale, in Kabul, has said that the Afghan government clearly thinks one precondition should have been a commitment to talk to the Afghan government and to acknowledge the country's constitution.

For his part President Karzai opposes bilateral peace talks between the Taliban and the US and has long called on the Taliban to join an Afghan-led peace process.

In late 2008 he even offered to provide security for the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Omar, if he agreed to peace talks - but this was not incentive enough for the militants.

In 2010 the Afghan High Peace Council was established and tasked with contacting the Taliban and convincing them to join the peace process.

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Singapore smog 'could last for weeks'

20 June 2013 Last updated at 06:59 ET

Singapore's prime minister has warned that the haze engulfing the city could last for weeks, as air pollution in the city-state soared to record levels.

At 13:00 local time (05:00 GMT) Singapore's pollution standards index reached 371, breaking previous records and well above hazardous levels.

The haze is caused by illegal forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra island.

The issue has sparked accusations between the two neighbours over who is responsible for the smog.

Environment officials from the two nations are holding an emergency meeting in Jakarta on Thursday.

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Rico Hizon: Haze envelops Singapore

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister, wrote on his Facebook wall that he would demand "definitive action" from Jakarta.

"No country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and wellbeing," he said.

However, Indonesian Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said that Singapore was "behaving like a child".

"This is not what the Indonesian nation wants, it is because of nature," he said.

Continue reading the main story 'Cloud seeding'

Continue reading the main story

Regional press review

• Straits Times, Singapore: "The truth, sadly, is that rogue firms thrive in permissive regimes where commercial interests overshadow environmental concerns. That situation can be changed only by an act of political will and faithful implementation of laws with sufficient bite."
• The Star, Malaysia: "We need solutions. It is worth remembering that a ground-breaking Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution was signed here in Kuala Lumpur more than 10 years ago, in 2002... But Indonesia, despite stating many times that it will ratify the agreement, has yet to do so."
• The Online Citizen, Singapore: "The haze situation has revived an old thorn in Singapore-Indonesia relations. The government's response so far has been strongly worded, and rightly so. But Singapore's response needs to go further. We believe that a unified national response is necessary as the haze is an issue that affects and concerns all Singaporeans."
• Utusan Melayu, Malaysia: "Co-operation between neighbouring countries has to be more vigorous. It is meaningless to be able to control open burning in one country if it is widespread in another. The strengthening of relevant laws is also very necessary so we don't have to keep breathing in a hazy space in years to come."

Since the haze arrived, Singapore's buildings have been obscured by the polluted air and the smell of burnt wood has permeated the city-state.

A PSI reading above 200 indicates "very unhealthy" air, while a PSI score above 300 is "hazardous". Readings are being posted on the website of the National Environment Agency.

At a press conference, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the haze could "easily last for several weeks and quite possibly longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra".

Mr Lee asked Singaporeans to "stay indoors where possible and avoid heavy outdoor activities".

He also announced that the Singaporean government will hold daily press conferences on the haze situation.

Air traffic controllers in Singapore have been told to work with extra caution given the poor visibility, while McDonald's has temporarily cancelled its delivery service.

The Singaporean military has also reportedly suspended all outdoor training.

The poor air quality has prompted widespread buying of disposable face masks, leading shops to run out of stock.

Parts of Malaysia have also recorded "hazardous" pollution levels, with over 200 schools in the country's south ordered to shut.

Malaysia's Department of Environment has also banned open burning in some states.

Transboundary pollution

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Philippa Fogarty BBC News, Singapore

---

The haze blew into Singapore late last week and pollution levels started to soar on Monday. Skyscrapers disappeared into a dense white gloom and a smell of burning enveloped the city.

On Thursday, as haze levels hit a new record peak, visibility was even further reduced. From our office downtown, we cannot make out the shoreline less than a kilometre away. At the port, big container ships emerge ghost-like out of the haze to berth.

People are complaining of dry throats, itchy eyes and a bad taste in their mouths. Laundry hung outside to dry smells like it was left next to a bonfire.

Joggers have disappeared from the waterfront routes and outdoor restaurants appear emptier. Children and the elderly are being advised to stay indoors until conditions improve - but it is not clear how soon that will be.

Indonesia's forestry ministry said it intended to use cloud seeding to try to induce rain on Sumatra, AFP news agency reported.

The fires are started to clear land for plantations and generate smoke, particularly in the dry season.

Indonesian officials have suggested that foreign palm oil investors, including Singaporean companies, may bear some responsibility for the fires.

However, several major Singapore-based palm oil companies have denied any involvement.

Singapore's prime minister said the city-state had provided satellite data to Indonesia to help identify who was responsible for the fires.

He added that if any Singaporean companies, or companies with a presence in Singapore played a part in the fires, they would be held responsible.

In 1997 and 1998, many countries in the region were affected by the South East Asian haze, which was caused by smog from Indonesian fires.

Road and air traffic was disrupted, and reports said the smog made around 20 million people ill.

The haze led to an agreement on transboundary haze pollution being approved by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2002.

However, Indonesia has yet to ratify the agreement.

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Kenyatta trial moved to November

20 June 2013 Last updated at 07:06 ET

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has pushed back the trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to 12 November.

The decision was taken to give Mr Kenyatta's defence enough time to prepare for his trial, the ICC said.

Mr Kenyatta is accused of orchestrating violence after the 2007 election, an allegation he denies.

The African Union has called for the trial to be halted, saying the ICC was "hunting" Africans.

'Murder charge'

The ICC has refused to drop the charges, saying it pursues justice impartially.

It had rescheduled Mr Kenyatta's trial from 9 July to 12 November after judges ruled that defence lawyers should be given more time to prepare for his trial "due to the delays by the prosecution in disclosing its evidence", the ICC said in a statement.

Mr Kenyatta is charged with crimes against humanity, including murder and rape.

The ICC accuses him of being an "indirect co-perpetrator" in the violence that killed about 1,200 people and left more than 500,000 homeless after the disputed 2007 election.

Mr Kenyatta was elected president in March, beating then-Prime Minister Raila Odinga by 50.07% to 43.28%.

He used the charges to bolster his campaign, accusing the ICC of interfering in Kenya's internal affairs.

Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto is due to go on trial in September on similar charges.

On Tuesday, the ICC agreed that Mr Ruto only needs to be "physically present" at key sessions of his trial.

He had requested to participate in the trial via video link.

Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta were on opposite sides of the 2007 election, but formed an alliance for this year's election.

Mr Kenyatta backed his predecessor, Mwai Kibaki, in the 2007 election, while Mr Ruto supported Mr Odinga.

The names of key suspects involved in violence after the 2007 poll were handed over to the ICC by Kofi Annan, who brokered a power-sharing deal.

He did so after Kenyan politicians failed to set up a tribunal as promised to try those accused of instigating the violence.

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Obama 'to call for nuclear cuts'

19 June 2013 Last updated at 07:17 ET

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This is Barack Obama's first visit to Berlin as US president

US President Barack Obama is to use his public speech in Berlin to propose cuts of one-third in American and Russian nuclear arsenals, US officials say.

They say he will also call for reductions in the number of tactical warheads deployed in Europe.

He met Chancellor Angela Merkel, who criticised the broad scope of the US surveillance programme known as Prism.

Mr Obama's visit comes after G8 leaders backed calls for holding Syrian peace talks in Geneva "as soon as possible".

'Call to action'

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

President Barack Obama is seeking to revive the process of nuclear disarmament which figured prominently during his first term but which has largely disappeared from the agenda since then.

Reducing the stock-piles of strategic or long-range nuclear weapons further is one thing - though without a resolution of US-Russian differences over missile defence, it may be difficult to make headway. Bringing shorter-range- so-called tactical nuclear weapons - into the picture could also be problematic.

Russia has an overwhelming preponderance of these weapons in Europe and has often seen them as tied to imbalances in conventional weaponry. Opening up that whole can of worms could be difficult.

There are, of course, ancillary benefits to arms reduction talks between Washington and Moscow. This is something they can engage in as equals, and success might have a broader positive impact upon their relationship. And as nuclear arsenals get smaller, how long will it be before those of the smaller nuclear players need to be counted in the mix?

This is Mr Obama's first visit to Berlin as American president.

US officials say he will seek cuts in US and Russian nuclear arsenals of one-third from the levels agreed in the New Start treaty in 2010.

Under New Start, each side is allowed a maximum of 1,550 warheads and no more than 700 deployed launchers.

The new limit on delivery systems is less than half the ceiling of 1,600 specified in the original Start treaty from 1991.

Mr Obama also wants to reduce the number of tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe - a move Russia has resisted in the past.

Such weapons are not covered by existing treaties.

Mrs Merkel criticised US phone and internet surveillance programmes, saying: "We do see the need for gathering information, but there is a need for due diligence and proportionality."

She acknowledged that the internet "enables enemies of a free liberal order to use and abuse and bring threats to all of us", but "an equitable balance must be struck".

Mr Obama said he was confident that the US had struck the appropriate balance between intelligence-gathering and civil liberties.

He said the surveillance programmes applied within narrow limits to do with national security.

"This is not a situation where we simply go into the internet and begin searching any way we want," he told a news conference in Berlin.

Mr Obama's address to students and government officials at the Brandenburg Gate comes almost 50 years after John F Kennedy's celebrated "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.

In his speech at the Brandenburg Gate, Mr Obama is expected to make what US officials describe as "a call to action", for the West to engage in major global issues.

He is also likely to speak in detail about ways of promoting democracy and ending conflicts as well as tackling climate change and nuclear proliferation.

Continue reading the main story

New Start treaty

• US and Russia allowed 1,550 nuclear warheads each, maximum
• No more than 700 launchers each (including submarines and heavy bombers)
• Each side able to make on-site inspections to verify how many warheads a missile is carrying

The head of America's electronic spying agency, Gen Keith Alexander, said on Tuesday that the programmes had helped thwart 50 attacks since 2001.

When Mr Obama was last in Berlin in 2008, he spoke to ecstatic thousands of America's "mistakes" and how the Afghan people needed "support to defeat the Taliban".

He may now take the opportunity to explain why he has ordered peace talks with the enemy America has fought for 10 years, says the BBC's North American editor Mark Mardell.

After the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland, President Obama described the planned Taliban talks as "a very early step" towards reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Mr Obama did not comment on the summit's communique on Syria. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes acknowledged that there were "difficulties ahead" in resolving the issue.

But speaking to reporters on the flight to Germany, Mr Rhodes added: "Given the various ways the G8 could have gone, we believe that on the key issues of political transition, humanitarian support and chemical weapons investigation, it's very helpful to have this type of signal sent by these eight countries".

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who hosted the summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, said the G8 managed "to overcome fundamental differences" on the raging Syrian conflict.

However, no timetable for the Geneva talks was given, and the G8 communique did not mention what role Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could play in the future.

This remains a key stumbling block, with Russia backing President Assad, while the US and its European allies are supporting the rebels.

The communique is largely a reaffirmation of what was said at the Geneva Conference in June 2012, reports the BBC's Jonathan Marcus at the summit in Enniskillen.

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Brazil sends force to quell protest

19 June 2013 Last updated at 05:43 ET

Brazil's government says it will deploy a national security force to five major cities after a wave of protests which has seen almost a quarter of a million people demand better public services.

The national force will be sent to Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Fortaleza and the capital, Brasilia.

All of the cities are hosting games in Fifa's Confederations Cup.

The announcement comes after riot police and protesters clashed in fresh protests on Tuesday in Sao Paulo.

Wave of protest

Brazil's ministry of justice said that Recife was the only Confederations Cup host city not to request the support of the National Public Security Force (FNSP).

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• Created in 2004 as a joint co-operation of various Brazilian public safety forces
• Led by the police commissioner of Brazil's Federal Police
• Deployed in cases of "social unrest and exceptional situations in Brazilian states when public order is challenged"

Source: Brazilian Government website

A source in the ministry said it would be up to local governments to decide how long the FNSP would stay.

Shops and banks in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, were vandalised on Tuesday by groups of masked activists, who fought other demonstrators trying to stop the violence.

The protest was the latest in a wave of demonstrations engulfing at least a dozen cities.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was proud that so many people were fighting for a better country.

The protests were sparked by anger at a rise in public transport fare prices in Sao Paulo on 2 June but have since mushroomed into much broader discontent with high levels of corruption, the poor state of the health and education services and the high cost of living.

They are the largest since 1992, when people took to the streets to demand the impeachment of then-President Fernando Collor de Mello.

Discontent

Scuffles broke out between police and protesters outside the office of Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad on Tuesday after a march attended by more than 50,000 people had wound its way through the city centre.

Police officers sought refuge inside the building as protesters threw stones, and students tried to break down the door to Mr Haddad's office.

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Footage shows Sao Paulo police taking shelter in the mayor's office after being attacked by protesters

Brazilian TV showed images of a small group of people involved in looting at nearby offices and shops.

Mr Haddad has indicated he is open to the idea of reversing the price increase in transport costs if that is possible, says the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo.

The mayors of Cuiaba, Recife, Joao Pessoa and other cities have already announced a reduction in bus fares in response to Monday's protests, which saw more than 200,000 people take to the streets in more than a dozen cities.

The dilemma for the country's political leadership is how to answer so many different concerns among a vast group of people with momentum and social media on their side, our correspondent reports.

Demonstrations also took place in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.

The protests come as Brazil is hosting the Confederations Cup, a curtain-raiser event for next year's football World Cup.

Many of the demonstrators have complained of the huge sums spent on construction for the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, which will be hosted by Rio de Janeiro.

On Wednesday, two Confederations Cup matches are due to take place in north-eastern Brazil, between Brazil and Mexico in Fortaleza, and Italy and Japan in Recife.

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