Police break up Russian protests

Witnesses said at least 100 people were detained by police

Russian riot police have forcibly broken up a rally being held in the eastern city of Vladivostok.

About 500 people had gathered in the city's central square to demonstrate against a new tax on imported cars.

Witnesses said police officers kicked protesters, damaged journalists' equipment and made dozens of arrests.

Vladivostok, one of several cities holding protests, depends heavily on car imports from Japan and critics say the tax could push prices up by 50%.

The tax is intended to help prop up Russia's domestic car industry and prevent people buying cheaper, imported products.

Protests against it began a week ago and have also been held in at least nine other cities in far eastern Russia, said localRussian media.

Most of the demonstrations were dispersed by police, said the independent Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy.

More are planned for Moscow and other cities.

Economy fears

Witnesses said the several hundred people who had gathered in central Vladivostok were singing and dancing but that the rally was peaceful with no sign of political placards.

Very many people were taken into vans, just thrown there Yevgeniy Makarov

Some of the protesters were reported to have been shouting slogans against the Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin.

The protesters were ordered to disperse by police who told them the rally was unauthorised, before members of the Omon riot police began to arrest people, hauling them into waiting vans, said witnesses.

Several journalists were detained and there were reports that others were injured or had their cameras and recording equipment damaged by the police.

"They ran into the crowd, grabbed people and started pushing them to the ground, taking them into cars," protester Yevgeniy Makarov told Russian media.

"If someone started struggling ... they started twisting their arms, kicking them in the back. Very many people were taken into vans, just thrown there."

A 62-year-old woman who saw the incident said the police were also arresting passers-by.

"They started taking people away without any sort of comment," she said.

The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says protests against the new tax have been fuelled by the severe impact of the global economic crisis on Russia.

The country's industrial output dropped 10.8% during November and its reliance on raw material exports means it has been been hit by falling oil prices and a reduction in demand.

But such open displays of anger are an unusual sight in Russia, where the government keeps tight control of the public and the media, says our correspondent.

State loan charge plan criticised

The proposals would see credit unions taking control of crisis lending

Politicians from all parties have criticised a government proposal to charge interest on emergency state loans given to the UK's poorest people.

Among them were senior Labour MP John McFall, who called it "a joke" and former-Labour leader Lord Kinnock, who said the idea was "going nowhere".

Conservative William Hague said it was "astonishing and outrageous" and the Lib Dems branded it "harsh".

The government said the loans, run by credit unions, would be "affordable".

The social fund currently extends

Goa bans Christmas beach parties

Goa's beach parties attract thousands of tourists every year

Christmas and New Year beach parties in tourist resorts in the Indian state of Goa have been banned because of security concerns, say the authorities.

No specific details have been given but officials said there was "obviously" a security threat.

The decision follows the attacks in Mumbai last month in which more than 170 people were killed.

The ban will be a major blow to Goa, which relies on the thousands of tourists attending the famous parties.

"Taking into consideration all the aspects, we have decided that beach parties would not be allowed from December 23 to January 5," Goa chief minister Digamber Kamat told reporters.

He said traditional ceremonies and parties being held in hotels will be unaffected.

Kishan Kumar, Goa's police inspector general, told Reuters: "Obviously there is a security threat, but we cannot say anything more specific at the moment".

Security has been tightened around India's coast following the attacks in November and several foreign governments have advised their citizens against travel to the country.

Goan business leaders said tourism was a "lifeline" and the decision would seriously affect trade.

US states braced for winter storm

Traffic was disrupted by snow falls on Friday

A winter storm continued to sweep across north-eastern US after heavy snow and strong winds disrupted transport, power and schools.

Storm warnings were in place in a dozen states, with the National Weather Service warning of power outages and dangerous travel conditions.

Minnesota could face some of the worst of the blast, with 15 inches of snow forecast, and "impossible" road travel.

It comes after a storm on Friday grounded planes and closed schools.

Among other warnings, the National Weather Service said that in South Dakota there would be a fast-moving Arctic front during the weekend, with bitterly cold winds of up to 40mph (64km/h) creating widespread blizzard conditions.

Extreme weather

The National Weather Service warned New Hampshire residents they could face "greater extremes" on Sunday than they experienced during Friday's blizzard.

Power remained cut to several thousand homes and businesses in New Hampshire after last week's storm.

The forecast said up to 11 inches of wet snow was likely, leading to more power cuts in the state.

The greater danger was the combination of high winds and temperatures falling well below zero.

In the midst of Friday's storm more than 200 flights were cancelled at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, and more than 650 at three New York City-area airports, with others facing long delays.

In Illinois about 60,000 customers lost power, with a further 35,000 in Ohio and 180,000 in Indiana.

Schools were closed across the north-east region.

In Las Vegas residents and tourists were shocked to see the rare site of palm trees along the Las Vegas strip covered in a thick coating of snow.

More than 3.5 inches (9cm) of snow fell across the city, its heaviest snowfall in nearly 30 years, cancelling flights and closing roads.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick asked non-essential state employees to stay home in a bid to prevent traffic jams on Friday, but New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged people to get out of their houses and go shopping.

In Seattle 11 people were hurt when two buses slid down an icy street, and broke through a guardrail above a motorway.

One dangled for several hours before being towed back from the brink.

New Hariri investigator appointed

Mr Hariri's assassination triggered huge protests in Lebanon against Syria

An Egyptian-born Australian policeman is to head investigations for a UN special tribunal to try suspects in the killing of ex-Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri.

The police officer, Nick Kaldas, is an Arabic speaker who is deputy police commissioner and counter-terrorism chief in the state of New South Wales.

In the past five years, he has also spent time in Iraq advising police and the judicial authorities there.

Mr Hariri and 22 others were killed by a massive truck bomb in Beirut in 2005.

'Major challenge'

Mr Kaldas, 51, will start work at the Dutch-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon in March next year.

He described his appointment as a "great honour".

"Working for the UN is the closest a police officer could come to representing their country, so it is a role I take on with a great sense of responsibility.

"It will be a major challenge," he told the Australian newspaper The Age.

UN investigators have said a likely motive for the killing was the role of Mr Hariri, who became a prominent critic of Syria, in support of a 2004 UN resolution demanding that Syrian and other foreign troops withdraw from Lebanon.

Mr Hariri's assassination triggered huge demonstrations in Lebanon against the Syrians.

Despite its denial of involvement, Damascus eventually bowed to international pressure, pulling out its troops after nearly 30 years of military presence.

Ethiopian ex-PM freed from prison

Tamerat Layne was a key ally of current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Tamerat Layne has been released after spending 12 years in prison for corruption and abuse of power.

He was dismissed from government in 1996 and convicted by the Ethiopian Supreme Court four years later.

He was sentenced to 18 years in prison but state media said he was freed early after showing good behaviour.

He was a key ally of current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi; their coalition ousted the military regime in 1991.

The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in the capital, Addis Ababa, says they were among three men at the top of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition.

The third was Seye Abreha, who went on to become defence minister but was also jailed for corruption not long after Tamerat.

Last year, Seye was also given early release from prison.

Our reporter says that while people do not dispute the corruption allegations against the two men - they also feel the it was to do with a power struggle within the ruling coalition.

Mr Meles assumed the post of prime minister in 1995.

The military regime - known as the Derge - was headed by Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose 17-year rule was known as the Red Terror because of the thousands of people killed in that period.

Rwandan genocide jailing hailed

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The International Criminal Tribunal sentences Theoneste Bagosora to life in prison

Survivors of Rwanda's genocide and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have welcomed the life sentence given to its mastermind Theoneste Bagosora.

Bagosora and two co-defendants were found by a UN tribunal to have led a committee that plotted the massacre of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Mr Ban said the sentences were a "major step in the fight against impunity".

It is the first time the Rwanda tribunal has convicted anyone of organising the killings.

More than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda's genocide.

Along with Bagosora, former military commanders Anatole Nsegiyumva and Alloys Ntabakuze were also found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and given life sentences.

RWANDA'S 1994 GENOCIDE 6 April: Rwandan Hutu President Habyarimana killed when plane shot down April-July: An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed July: Tutsi-led rebel movement RPF captures Rwanda's capital Kigali July: Two million Hutus flee to Zaire, now DR Congo Rwanda verdict: Your views Rwanda's 100 days of genocide

The head of Rwanda's genocide survivors' association Ibuka Benoit Kaboyi said the convictions showed the criminal masterminds would not go unpunished.

However, the BBC's Geoffrey Mutagoma in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, says many ordinary genocide survivors were unaware of the case.

Mr Kaboyi told the BBC this was because many had little faith in the justice system.

"The justice which cannot compensate them, the justice which only takes a few people to be prosecuted."

Earlier, the Rwandan government said it was "satisfied" with the court's decision to impose a life sentence on Bagosora.

Bagosora, 67, and the two senior military officers were found to have organised, trained and armed the Interahamwe militia, which was responsible for most of the killing.

They were also responsible for drawing up a list of Tutsis and moderate Hutus who opposed their vision of an ethnically pure Rwanda.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Tanzania, rejected the defence's argument that the killing was not organised, and therefore not genocide.

Bagosora's lawyer, Raphael Constant, said his client would appeal against the verdict.

Brigadier Gratien Kabiligi, the former chief of military operations, who was on trial with Bagosora and the two other men, was cleared of all charges and ordered to be released from custody immediately.

Mr Kaboyi said he hoped the prosecutors would appeal against this decision.

'Principal enemy'

In another verdict on Thursday, the tribunal sentenced Protais Zigiranyirazo, 57, to 20 years in jail for his part in the genocide.

Mr Zigiranyirazo, a brother-in-law of former President Juvenal Habyarimana, was accused of ordering Hutus to kill 48 people in two incidents.

BAGOSORA TRIAL Theoneste Bagosora on trial with three others 409 trial days 30,000 pages of transcripts 242 witnesses heard 1,600 exhibits 300 written decisions Most material translated into French, English and Kinyarwanda Profile: Col Theoneste Bagosora

Prosecutors said Bagosora assumed control of military and political affairs in Rwanda when President Habyarimana's plane was shot down in 1994 - the catalyst for the genocide.

However, the indictment alleges that he began planning the massacre as far back as 1990.

The following year, Bagosora helped draft a document circulated within the army that described Tutsis as "the principal enemy".

Bagosora has been in custody since 1996, when he was arrested in Cameroon where he was in self-imposed exile.

The tribunal, which has come to play a key part in the process of justice and reconciliation, has so far convicted 34 people and acquitted six others.

Twenty-three remain on trial and eight trials have yet to begin before the tribunal winds up next year.

The effects of the genocide are still being felt in the region, in particular across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some of the Hutu militias involved in the genocide fled to DR Congo, where Tutsi rebels, allegedly with some Rwandan backing, refuse to lay down their arms, saying they are being attacked by the Hutu fighters.

Some 300,000 people have fled their homes in DR Congo this year because of this conflict.