Taiwan ex-leader jailed for life
Mr Chen chose to stay in detention rather than hear the verdict in person
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Taiwan's former President Chen
Shui-bian has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty
of corruption by a court in Taipei.
Mr Chen was charged with
embezzlement, taking bribes and money laundering, involving a total of
$15m (£9m) while in office from 2000-2008.
Mr Chen had denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated.
His wife, Wu Shu-chen, already jailed for perjury in the case, was also sentenced to life for corruption.
'Illegal' sentence
Taipei District Court convicted Mr Chen on six charges and Mrs Wu on seven charges. The were also fined $15m.
"Chen
Shui-bian and Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in prison because Chen
has done grave damage to the country and Wu because she was involved in
corruption deals as the first lady," said court spokesman Huang
Chun-ming.
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CHEN SHUI-BIAN SENTENCES
Life sentence for embezzling $3.15m from a presidential fund
Eight years for money laundering
Lesser sentences for taking $12m in bribes and kickbacks
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A spokesman for Mr Chen said the sentence was "illegal", pointing to
a decision to replace the judges in mid-trial. The former president has
said he will appeal.
Mr Chen has previously said the charges
were constructed by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) government in a
political vendetta. He has admitted accepting money but said it was
campaign contributions.
Several dozen of his supporters were
outside the court on Friday as the verdict was given, waving placards
declaring his innocence.
Unprecedented trial
Mr Chen and his wife were both sentenced to life for embezzling $3.15m (£1.9m) from a special presidential fund.
They
received lesser sentences on the charges related to accepting at least
$9m in bribes from a Taiwanese company to help it sell a piece of land
to the government and of accepting nearly $3m more in kickbacks for
helping a contractor gain a government project.
Mrs Wu had already been sentenced on 2 September to one year in prison for perjury for asking her children to lie in court.
Mr Chen's supporters say he is being persecuted
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The three-year case also involved close family members of the couple, as well as former aides and government officials.
Their
son and daughter-in-law received sentences ranging from 20-30 months
for money laundering. Other relatives received suspended sentences. Two
former advisors were given sentences of 16 and 20 years in prison.
The
case, involving revelations of corruption at the highest levels, has
gripped the nation, says the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei.
It is
unprecedented in Taiwan's short history as a democracy. Direct
presidential elections were first held in 1996, after one-party rule
ended in the 1980s.
Many expected a guilty verdict but some believed the trial was political revenge on the part of the new ruling party.
Mr
Chen and his Democratic Progressive Party favoured Taiwan's
independence from the Chinese mainland, angering Beijing as well as the
pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) in Taiwan.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei have been improving since the KMT, under President Ma Ying-jeou, took office last year.
Taiwan
has been ruled separately from China since the end of the Chinese civil
war in 1949, when the defeated Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan to create
a self-governing entity.
But Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province which should be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Child mortality drop 'too slow'
Unicef says preventable diseases are the biggest killers of children
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The UN children's agency says child mortality is decreasing, but the rate of decline is not enough.
A
new report says more than eight million children under five died last
year with pneumonia and diarrhoea the two leading causes of death.
Unicef says 40% of under-five deaths take place in just three countries - Nigeria, India and DR Congo.
The report singled out Malawi and Eritrea as success stories, but said in South Africa child mortality had risen.
Unicef
says the world is failing to reach the UN's target of a two-thirds
reduction in under-five child mortality between 1990 and 2015.
In 1990, 12.5 million children under the age of five died.
"Compared to 1990, 10,000 fewer children are dying every day," said Unicef Executive Director Ann Veneman in a statement.
"While progress is being made, it is unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday."
'Improvement possible'
Unicef says the tools are there to significantly reduce child mortality.
They include bed nets to stop malaria, improved water and sanitation and increased vaccination programmes.
Those
countries that use these tools - even some of the poorest nations -
have seen big improvements in child survival rates, Unicef says.
But in some countries progress is at best slow and at worst non-existent.
In South Africa, under-five mortality has actually increased since 1990.
The reason, Unicef says, is the high rate of HIV and Aids among mothers.
Uganda moves to prevent rioting
Police fired tear gas at the protesters who hurled stones and burned tyres
A planned trip by a local Ugandan king to Kampala will not go ahead, police say, after deadly riots in the city.
At
least seven people died in clashes between security forces and the
king's supporters, who say the government tried to prevent Saturday's
visit.
Officials denied interfering with King Ronald Muwenda
Mutebi II's plans, saying that the king had ignored their attempts to
help arrange the visit.
The king is hugely influential, but is barred from taking part in politics.
He was planning to visit Kayunga district just outside of Kampala, which is populated by Banyala people.
The
government feared it could have led to violence because the Banyala say
they have seceded from the Buganda Kingdom and see the planned visit by
the King of Buganda as an affront to them.
President rebuffed?
In
a pre-recorded speech broadcast after the violence, President Yoweri
Museveni said the visit could have gone ahead if the king had agreed to
two conditions.
The protesters fought police from behind burning barricades
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He said he had asked the king to send delegates to meet community
leaders before the visit, and had also requested that media outlets
loyal to the king stop criticising the government.
"I told [the
king] that the meeting in Kayunga would not take place until some
conditions that will be communicated to him by the minister of internal
affairs are met," said the president.
"My reaction to these
issues is to ring the king and we sort them out as mature people. But
he could not pick or return my calls for the last two years."
Police
spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba told the BBC's Network Africa programme
that the police had not been surprised by the riots.
But she says they had not expected violence to spread across Kampala's suburbs.
She said the king's visit would definitely not be going ahead.
Witnesses in Kampala said the city was relatively quiet on Friday - although sporadic gunfire could still be heard.
On Thursday police fired tear gas at the protesters who hurled stones and burned tyres.
Reports on the number of fatalities varied - with some news agencies reporting as many as 10 people killed.
Correspondents
say there has been a long history of tension between the king and
central government - particularly over land reform proposals that the
Baganda say threaten their community.
Buganda is one of four ancient kingdoms in Uganda. It was abolished in 1966 but then restored in the 1990s.
China's exports see sharp decline
China's exports have been falling as world demand has slowed
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China's exports continued to decline in August, down 23% from the same month last year.
Official
figures show exports fell to $103.7bn, from $134.9bn in August 2008.
Exports of almost all major industrial products saw double-digit drops.
The trade surplus fell 45% from August 2008 to $15.7bn, but was up from July.
Recent
signs that recession has ended in some major economies, including
China's major trading partner Japan, suggest that exports may pick up
again.
But separately, Japan's economy grew 0.6%
in the third quarter from the previous three months, less than the 0.9%
originally estimated.
This was due to fewer private-sector inventories than previously estimated, Japan's finance ministry said.
Japan is the world's second-largest economy.
'Not yet steady'
The Chinese export figures were worse than expected by economists.
So far this year, China's total trade with the US fell 16.4% and its trade with Japan fell 22%.
Trade with the European Union dropped nearly 21%, the government said.
"The
stabilisation and recovery of the Chinese economy is not yet steady,
solid and balanced," Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday.
"Some of the stimulus measures will see their effect wane, and it will take time before those long-term policies show effect."
China,
which is targeting 8% economic growth this year after 10% annual growth
over the past few years, has relied on its $586bn stimulus plan to
boost spending this year.
A separate survey showed investments
in urban fixed assets rose 33% in the first eight months of the year,
suggesting that the Chinese government is the main driver of economic
growth.
New loans from Chinese banks also rebounded in August,
rising to 410.4bn yuan ($60bn; £36bn) after falling to 355.9bn yuan in
July.
Li Xiaochao, a spokesman for the National Bureau of
Statistics, said the country remained on track for its 8% annual growth
target.
"So far, the main reason why the overall economy is
stabilising and starting to recover is that we adopted the stimulus
package to expand domestic demand," he said.
In search of a Burmese rebel leader
The Pao say they must fight to keep their own cultural identity
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After flying half-way across the world I finally arrived at a
rebel camp on the Thai-Burmese border on my quest to track down the
elusive leader of the Pao National Liberation Army, Khun Thurein.
It took months of planning to meet the man, who with his force of just 100 men, is taking on the might of the Burmese military.
The
men who follow him are all from a small ethnic minority group called
the Pao. They have their own language, music, customs and traditional
dress.
But they say the Burmese government is trying to destroy
their culture. That's why two years ago Khun Thurein and his men dusted
off their arms and began fighting once again.
In one recent ambush, Khun Thurein's men say they killed 12 Burmese soldiers.
The
Pao are one of more than 100 different ethnic minorities in Burma. Most
of them negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government
more than two decades ago.
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He was hanged from a tree, his stomach was cut open, his genitals were severed and stuffed in his mouth
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Despite the Pao's own ceasefire agreement with the Burmese
government in 1994, the Pao feel their culture is gradually
disappearing.
As I waited to meet the elusive Khun Thurein, I decided to visit some rebel outposts inside Burma.
At one of the Pao rebel camps high in the mountains, I came across Khun Tun Kyaw.
He said he witnessed his dad being brutally murdered by Burmese soldiers and pro-government militias in 1993.
He
vividly described how his father was "hanged from a tree, his stomach
was cut open, his genitals were severed and stuffed into his mouth, and
two bullets were pushed into each of his ears".
It's not the first time I've heard of such atrocities, but on this occasion I was lost for words.
Refugees
Many Pao felt they had no choice but to flee across the border to Thailand.
Many of them have ended up at the Ban Nai Soi refugee camp which was a couple hours drive away.
Some people have been living there for 15 years or longer, but several told me that they still missed Burma.
Many people have fled Burma and are living in this refugee camp in Thailand
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They might eventually find their way to another country, but it
seems they will not find their way back to Burma where they really
belong - simply because it is not safe, even in areas where the
ceasefire still holds.
During my visit to the camp I met Ma San Thu, who explained why she joined Khun Thurein's army as a medic.
She told me about a nine-year-old girl who she treated who had been raped by a Burmese government soldier.
She
said: "We complained but our leaders stopped us from speaking out. So
the resentment just grew. This kind of thing happens very often, so we
started to think why can't we defend our people."
The rebel leader
By this time I had received my long-awaited summons to meet the man himself - Khun Thurein.
His jungle headquarters was just on the other side of the border inside Burma.
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The Burmese government is a fraction of the strength of the British Empire. So I believe that we can beat them
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I was the first journalist to be invited into Khun Thurein's camp, and he was anxious to take me on a tour.
As we headed out he explained that the Burmese government has been trying to establish a "Burmese mono-culture" in the country.
"Our
leaders wanted peace and democracy. They wanted to sort out the
political problems by political means. We never had a chance to sort
the problems politically, so I thought the Burmese government would
eliminate us."
Khun Thurein told me that he was well aware of the risk he was taking.
Ko Ko Aung meets Pao rebel leader Khun Thurein
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"We were under British colonial rule for 100 years. We fought them
to reclaim our independence. The Burmese government [is a] fraction of
the strength of the British Empire. So I believe that we can beat
them."
Khun Thurein's wife admitted that she was very worried, and didn't know what would happen.
After all, it would take just one successful strike to wipe out Khun Thurein's entire force of just 100 men.
But,
he said, "I would rather die fighting than bowing down to the pressure
of the Burmese military regime to lay down arms without a political
solution."
Iran leader vows 'harsh response'
Ayatollah Khamenei has staunchly defended the election result
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Iran's supreme leader has vowed to
confront those who threaten national security, amid continuing disputes
over the presidential election.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was
leading Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since June, when he
defended President Ahmadinejad's re-election.
He said that "resisting the system" would bring "a harsh response".
Iran says 36 people died in violence after the 12 June polls; the opposition says double that number were killed.
This
week the Iranian authorities arrested two prominent opposition figures
and closed down the offices of Mehdi Karoubi, who was a presidential
contender.
Palestinian protest
Ayatollah Khamenei's sermon was closely watched for indications of further moves against opponents.
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We must stand firm for our rights. If we give up our rights, whether nuclear or other rights, this will lead to decline
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In it he said: "Confronting the system, confronting the tenets of
the system, standing up to and drawing a sword against the system will
get a harsh response."
The ayatollah also sounded a note of conciliation, saying that "differences of views should not lead to conflicts".
But
he added: "If opposition groups have ideas that are against the
nation's security and the principles of the regime, they will be
confronted."
The ayatollah urged Iranians to attend next
Friday's annual pro-Palestinian protests in Tehran, but cautioned that
there may be those who wished "to create discord".
On the
nuclear issue, Ayatollah Khamenei said: "We must stand firm for our
rights. If we give up our rights, whether nuclear or other rights, this
will lead to decline."
He also berated the US and UK for "200 years of wicked attitude towards Iran. So be it. This will not intimidate anyone".
Continuing crackdown
The government in Tehran has come through a period of intense political upheaval since the elections.
Days of clashes followed the disputed 12 June presidential poll
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There has been a continuing crackdown on the opposition by
government hardliners, and serious infighting within the establishment.
Analysts say that President Ahmadinejad is now in a more
comfortable position, having had all but three members of his new
cabinet approved by parliament in a vote of confidence last week.
Thousands
of people were arrested in June following the mass street protests in
Tehran that ended in violence as security forces moved to stop them.
Many have been released but Iran is currently trying a number of detainees over their alleged involvement in the protests.
They include opposition figures accused of conspiring with foreign powers to organise the unrest.
Both
the Iranian parliament and judiciary have established committees to
investigate the post-election unrest and the government's response.
UN patience wears thin in S Lanka
Sri Lanka says it needs money to help displaced Tamils
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The UN says it cannot continue to
indefinitely fund the main refugee camp in Sri Lanka where the
government is keeping nearly 300,000 people.
The Menik Farm camp holds the Tamils who fled the fighting in the months before the civil war ended in May.
Sri Lankan authorities say they are still screening everyone for possible links with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
The UN says the civilians living there should be allowed to leave as soon as possible.
Since the war ended in May, the Sri Lankan authorities have refused to
let anyone leave this vast camp apart from some young children, elderly
people and priests.
UN agencies help fund and run the camps but there are signs the UN is running out of patience.
"The best solution is obviously that as many people leave as soon as
possible," the UN's Sri Lanka chief, Neil Buhne, told the BBC.
"And that the site can become - for the people who have no place else to go - that it becomes an open site."
'Concerned'
Mr Buhne also criticised the fact that the International Red Cross was
being denied access to 10,000 of the Tamils whom the government calls
Tiger suspects.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said this week
that it could still take six months or a year to work out how many of
the displaced were to be prosecuted.
Separately, a UN
spokeswoman in New York said the world body was "extremely concerned"
about two of its Sri Lankan staff members arrested in June near the
camps and still in detention.
She said there were allegations
they had been mistreated at the hands of the authorities, adding that
they should be released unless the government had charges to lay
against them.