New World News, May 2009

Bangladesh

Nearly 200 people have been killed by a cyclone that ripped through Bangladesh and eastern India, while millions remained marooned by floodwater or forced to live in shelters. The death toll in Bangladesh rose to more than 130 following recovery of dozens of bodies on Tuesday, according to reports, while Indian officials said at least 64 people had died. Cyclone Aila slammed into parts of coastal Bangladesh and eastern India on Monday, triggering flooding that forced people from their homes. "Millions of people have been affected by the cyclone", a disaster control official told Reuters in Dhaka. Officials in both countries said they feared the death tolls would rise.

Pakistan

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani civilians trapped by an offensive against the Taliban in Swat face catastrophe, a rights group said on Tuesday. The offensive has sparked an exodus of 2.3 million people, according to provincial government figures, but about 200,000 people are believed to be still in the valley. Severe shortages of food, water and medicine are creating a major humanitarian crisis for the trapped civilians, the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said. "People trapped in the Swat conflict zone face a humanitarian catastrophe unless the Pakistani military immediately lifts a curfew that has been in place continuously for the last week", Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, said in a statement.

Mexico

Mexican troops Tuesday rounded up ten mayors and a string of police chiefs suspected of links to drug gangs in a western state, one of the biggest single corruption sweeps in the government's drug war. Soldiers burst into police stations and town halls to arrest 27 officials in the State of Michoacan. The officials included a judge and a former police chief who is an aide to the state governor. The attorney general's office said all were suspected of links to drug smugglers. President Felipe Calderon has staked his presidency on crushing drug gangs whose turf wars have killed some 2,300 people so far this year.

Ireland

Reeling from a report cataloguing decades of rapes and beatings of children by priests, the Roman Catholic order of Christian Brothers bowed to pressure yesterday and said it would review compensation paid to victims. Irish religious orders had refused to renegotiate the deal despite pressure from church leaders and politicians after last week's report into abuse at institutions the order ran from the 1930s to the 1990s. Their total contribution to a redress scheme for thousands of victims that is expected to top $1.5-billion was capped at $198-million under a 2002 agreement. Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister, said he hoped other orders would follow the Christian Brothers' example.

Georgia

As more than 50,000 opposition supporters rallied in Tbilisi yesterday in a bid to oust Georgia's leader, the authorities cancelled a major state holiday military parade for fear of clashes. the demonstrators packed the city's huge soccer stadium in a mass protest against Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian President. The rally marked the culmination of over a month of opposition protests in the ex-Soviet republic aimed at forcing his resignation. "We will fight for this country, Saakashvili cannot stay President," said Nino Burjanadze, the former parliamentary speaker. Opponents accuse Mr. Saakashvili of mishandling last August's conflict with Russia and becoming increasingly autocratic since he came to power after the peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution. The Georgian leader claims Russia is financing the campaign against him.

Turkey

Nedim Gursel, a Turkish-French author, went on trial yesterday, charged with insulting Islam in his book The Daughters of Allah. Court cases against writers and academics have hampered Turkey's bid to join the European Union, which has urged it to guarantee freedom of speech. Mr. Gursel's lawyer, Sehnaz Yuzer, said the charges - insulting the religion and endangering security through inciting hatred - were based on the book's characterization of the Prophet Muhammad and his family. But the writer, who faces up to three years in jail if found guilty, said the passages cited by authorities were not in the novel. "The book has been out for a year", he said. "It's reached 30,000 people - where is the hatred it has incited? Where is the anger?

United Nations

North Korea will "pay a price" if it fails to halt nuclear weapon and missile tests in violation of international law, the United States ambassador to the United Nations warned yesterday. On Monday the Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea for launching a nuclear test and test-firing three short-range missiles. In response yesterday, North Korea test-fired two more short-range missiles in the morning and then another one overnight into the Sea of Japan. North Korea said in a new statement carried by its official news agency

KCNA that it was clear Washington's "hostile policy" towards Pyongyang had not changed.