Tensions rise in SAfrican white supremacist case

A racially charged standoff outside a courthouse where a teenager and another black farm worker were charged with killing a leading white supremacist ended peacefully Tuesday — a victory for democracy in South Africa.
The older suspect was walked out of the courthouse hours later to a rapturous welcome from blacks outside who screamed, ululated and whistled their support.
"Hero! Hero! Hero!" they chanted.
"We are celebrating the death of the man who has abused us so much," one woman in the crowd shouted.
The brutal bludgeoning of Eugene Terreblanche, once convicted of beating a black farm worker so badly the man was left brain damaged, has focused attention on simmering racial tensions less than 10 weeks before South Africa hosts the World Cup.
In a musical duel outside the courthouse, whites and blacks sang competing national anthems from South Africa's racist past and its new reality. Then the whites sang "The baboon climbs the mountain," — a flagrant insult to blacks.
A violent confrontation easily could have erupted after a middle aged white woman sprayed an energy drink on blacks singing "God Bless Africa."
Instead, police officers rushed to separate the two groups yelling at each other and the only apparent blow struck was thrown by a black police officer whose fist grazed the jaw of a white man.
Police set up coils of razor wire to separate the two groups — whites waving old flags signifying white rule in support of Terreblanche's family and blacks supporting the family of the 15-year-old suspect and his 28-year-old co-worker.
Afterward, the militant whites apologized for the woman's behavior.
Community leader Bomber Matinyane said the display of racist flags was angering people. He said whites should stop waving them and blacks should stop singing the inciting song with lyrics that include "kill the farmer."
Blacks outside the courthouse sang other songs dating from the struggle for majority rule that finally came in 1994 after years of state-sponsored violence by the white minority regime and urban guerrilla warfare waged by the African National Congress.
Brenda Abrams, a 30-year-old black businesswoman outside the courthouse complained that a "big fuss" was being made about Terreblanche's death.
"But nobody says anything when black farmworkers are killed by farmers," Abrams said.
Authorities say Terreblanche, 69, was bludgeoned to death Saturday in his bed. The 15-year-old's mother told AP Television News that the suspects killed the farmer because he hadn't paid them since December. When they asked for their money, she said, he threatened to kill them.
Police have not identified the accused by name.
Inside the magistrate's court, the case proceeded. Prosecutor George Baloyi said the suspects were formally charged with murder, housebreaking with intent to rob, attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances, and criminal injury.
"We will aver that after assaulting the deceased they pulled down his pants to his knees and exposed his private parts," Baloyi told reporters.
Zola Majavu, the attorney defending the 15-year-old for no charge, said he knew nothing of any confession and that "my client remains innocent until the due process of law" concludes.
Majavu said the teenager is overwhelmed and fearful for the safety of his family.
"The family are traumatized, scared," Majavu said. "The mother is sitting in court right now because she is afraid to go home."
A new hearing was set for April 14. Baloyi said investigations until then would include trying to establish whether the suspects were capable of standing trial.
Fears of violence had risen after Terreblanche's Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging movement, better known as the AWB, threatened to avenge their leader's death and members swaggered around town with pistols on hip holsters.
But spokesman Pieter Steyn retreated from those threats Monday, saying they had been made "in the heat of the moment" and that the movement renounces all violence. There were no pistols in evidence Tuesday.
Analyst Steven Friedman, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, said the fears were overblown, especially since Terreblanche led such a small, fringe group of extremists.
"It's quite clear that there are a lot of tensions, problems, but this kind of notion that South Africa is a powder keg waiting to ignite is clearly untrue," Friedman said.

David Mikael Taclino
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25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

A huge underground explosion blamed on methane gas killed 25 miners in the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1984, and rescuers on Tuesday began a dangerous and possibly futile attempt to rescue four others still missing.
Crews were bulldozing an access road so they could drill 1,000 feet into the earth to release gases and make it safe to try to find the missing miners. They were feared dead after the Monday afternoon blast at a mine with a history of violations for not properly ventilating highly combustible methane.
Rescuers were being held back by poison gases that accumulated near the blast site, about 1.5 miles from the entrance to Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine.
They had to create an access road above it before they could begin drilling four shafts to release methane and carbon monoxide. Gov. Joe Manchin said at a news briefing Tuesday that it could be Wednesday night before the first hole is drilled, but rescuers had to try.
"I don't want to give anybody any false hope, but by golly if I'm on that side of the table and that's my father or my brother or my uncle or my cousins, I'm going to have hope," he said.
It had already been a long day for grieving relatives, some angry because they learned their loved ones were among the dead from government officials, not from Massey Energy executives.
"They're supposed to be a big company," said Michelle McKinney, who found out from a local official at a nearby school that her 62-year-old father, Benny R. Willingham, died in the blast. He was due to retire in five weeks after 30 years mining, 17 with Massey. "These guys, they took a chance every day to work and make them big. And they couldn't even call us."
Manchin said a Massey official apologized to family members Tuesday morning in response to complaints that they were not notified of the deaths.
U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., who talked with a widow of a miner who had not heard from the company Monday evening, took a harsher stance at a press briefing.
"I think it's overdue," he said. "I think this contact is needed."
Three members of the same family were among the dead. Diana Davis said her husband, Timmy Davis, 51, died in the explosion along with his nephews, Josh Napper, 27, and Cory Davis, 20.
The elder Davis' son, Timmy Davis Jr., said his brother, Cody Davis, and an uncle, Tommy Davis, survived the blast. His brother was taking it particularly hard because he and their father were best friends.
Timmy Davis Jr. described his dad as passionate about the outdoors and the mines.
"He loved to work underground," the younger Davis said. "He loved that place."
President Barack Obama offered his condolences at an Easter prayer breakfast in Washington on Tuesday and said the federal government is ready to assist with whatever the state needs. He also asked the audience to pray for those still in the mine.
Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the situation looked grim for the missing miners.
"All we have left is hope, and we're going to continue to do what we can," he said.
Officials hoped the four were able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for them to live for four days, but rescue teams checked one of two such chambers nearby and it was empty. The buildup of gases prevented teams from reaching other chambers.
A total of 31 miners were in the area during a shift change when the explosion rocked the mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston.
"Before you knew it, it was just like your ears stopped up, you couldn't hear and the next thing you know, it's just like you're just right in the middle of a tornado," miner Steve Smith, who heard the explosion but was able to escape, told ABC's "Good Morning America."
Massey Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that a carbon monoxide warning was the first sign of trouble. Mine crews were checking on the alarm when they discovered an explosion had occurred deep inside the mine.
"I don't know that we know what happened," he said.
Some of those killed may have died in the blast and others when they breathed in the gas-filled air, Stricklin said. Eleven bodies had been recovered and identified, but the other 14 have not. Names weren't released.
Manchin said investigators still don't know what ignited the blast, but methane likely played a part.
The death toll is the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s mine in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing bring the total to 29, it would be the most killed in a U.S. coal mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co., in Hyden, Ky.
"There's always danger. There's so many ways you can get hurt, or your life taken," said Gary Williams, a miner and pastor of New Life Assembly, a church near the southern West Virginia mine.
Though the situation looked bleak, Manchin said miracles can happen and pointed to the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that killed 12. Crews found miner Randal McCloy Jr. alive after he was trapped for more than 40 hours in an atmosphere poisoned with carbon monoxide.
In Monday's blast, nine miners were leaving on a vehicle that takes them in and out of the mine's long shaft when a crew ahead of them felt a blast of air and went back to investigate, Stricklin said.
They found seven workers dead. Others were hurt or missing.
Massey Energy, a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va., has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee. It ranks among the nation's top five coal producers and is among the industry's most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.
In the past year, federal inspectors fined the company more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch.
Methane is one of the great dangers of coal mining, and federal records say the Eagle coal seam releases up to 2 million cubic feet of methane gas into the Upper Big Branch mine every 24 hours.
In mines, giant fans are used to keep the colorless, odorless gas concentrations below certain levels. If concentrations are allowed to build up, the gas can explode with a spark roughly similar to the static charge created by walking across a carpet in winter, as at the Sago mine, also in West Virginia.
The Eagle seam produced 1.2 million tons of coal in 2009, according to the mine safety agency, and has about 200 employees.

David Mikael Taclino
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Nearly 2,700 call German church abuse hot line

Nearly 2,700 people have called the church's sexual abuse hot line in Germany in the first three days it was operating, a Catholic church spokesman said Tuesday.
A team of psychologists and other experts had conversations with 394 people so far, ranging from several minutes up to an hour, Trier Diocese spokesman Stephan Kronenburg said.
"Most callers report cases of sexual abuse," he told The Associated Press.
The hot line — which began operating March 30 — received around 13,300 calls total in its first three days. Kronenburg said this worked out to about 2,670 people, as many called several times.
In addition, around 100 people used an online form to contact the service.
Most of the callers are people who say they were victims of sexual abuse or their relatives, with some callers also reporting cases of physical abuse, he said.
"The boundaries between both are often loose," Kronenburg added.
The Catholic Church in Pope Benedict XVI's homeland has been rocked by a widening scandal of physical and sexual abuse in recent weeks, with hundreds of people who say they were victims coming forward.
The church decided to set up a national hot line as pressure mounted and many victims seemed reluctant to report abuse cases to the diocese where they had been abused.
Most cases date back years, if not decades, and the statute of limitations may have passed, Kronenburg said.
"The hot line shall give the victims an opportunity to talk about what has happened to them. From there, we decide what to counsel them," Kronenburg told the AP.
Should the hot line experts learn of an alleged child abuse case involving a priest currently on duty, they would alert the diocese and also prosecutors, Kronenburg said.
In the past, the Catholic Church was accused of covering up abuse cases. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger for instance spoke of a "wall of silence" surrounding the church.
During the Easter holidays, however, several prominent bishops — among them the dean of the bishops' conference, Robert Zollitsch — called for a "renewal" of the church and condemned the abuses cases as "heinous crimes."
In Munich, meanwhile, an independent lawyer hired by the church wrapped up his investigation of abuse allegations at the southern Ettal monastery.
"The investigation clearly shows a system of abuse that lasted for decades," Thomas Pfister told the AP.
There are some cases of sexual abuse, but most of the victims who came forward were physically abused, Pfister said in a telephone interview. Most cases happened before 1990, he added.
The lawyer declined to cite exact figures or release more details on the reported cases as his final report is due to be published next week.

David Mikael Taclino
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Protesters clash with police in Kyrgyzstan

Baton-wielding police dispersed an anti-government demonstration in former Soviet Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, but protesters fought through tear gas and flash grenades to regroup, burning police cars and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.
By late Tuesday hundreds of protesters angry over rising heat and power prices had overrun a government office on the main square of Talas, a town of 30,000 people west of the capital, Bishkek — just hours after police had forced them out of the area.
The clashes began after the demonstrators in the impoverished Central Asian nation assembled on the central square armed with rocks and flammable liquids, residents told The Associated Press by telephone. Some of the protesters gathered at the local police station and threw Molotov cocktails at President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's portraits.
Special forces stormed the square and government office, freeing a regional governor who had been taken hostage by the demonstrators. But the forces quickly lost control as the crowd swelled. Toward nightfall the protesters thinned out.
A correspondent for the local affiliate of U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Talas said one person was shot with a rubber bullet fired from inside the police precinct.
Interior Ministry spokesman Rakhmatillo Akhmedov in Bishkek confirmed to The Associated Press that police had used tear gas and said several officers were injured by stones in Talas. The ministry insisted the situation in the town had been brought under control.
The clashes occurred three days after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Kyrgyzstan and repeatedly criticized it for human rights problems in a strong rebuke to the country once regarded as former Soviet Central Asia's "island of democracy."
In Bishkek on Tuesday, Almazbek Atambayev, the country's most popular opposition politician, barricaded himself inside his home, according to Irina Karamushkina, another politician who said she was with him. Karamushkina said in a telephone interview that police were trying to enter the building and had threatened to arrest them both.
Other opposition activists were arrested in the capital, according to local reports. Access to the Internet was disabled, but it was unclear how far the electronic disruption reached.
Nationwide rallies are planned for Wednesday, and the unrest could spread through the country. The government warned of "severe" repercussions, and the main opposition party said U.S. and Russian diplomats should urged the government to refrain from violence.
On Tuesday, Ban, who is still traveling in central Asia, expressed concern about the situation in Talas.
"He emphasizes that while freedom of assembly is an essential element of any democratic society the rule of law must be respected," the U.N. spokesman's office in New York said in a statement. "He calls on all concerned to show restraint and appeals for dialogue."
Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov said about 100 policemen had been dispatched to Talas, which is a six-hour drive west of the capital, Bishkek, as backup.
"I urge the organizers of these actions to desist from what they are doing. For those that do not listen, measures will be severe," Usenov said. He said there would be no curfew.
Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous country of 5 million people, hosts a U.S. air base that supports military operations in neighboring Afghanistan and serves as an important transit point for coalition troops and supplies.
Since coming to power on a wave of street protests in 2005, Bakiyev has ensured a measure of stability, but many observers say he has done so at the expense of democratic standards.
Over the past two years, Kyrgyz authorities have clamped down on free media, and opposition activists say they have routinely been subjected to physical intimidation and targeted by politically motivated criminal investigations.
Anti-government forces have been in disarray until recently, but widespread anger over soaring utility bills has galvanized the fractious opposition.

David Mikael Taclino
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Britain's election finally set for May 6

Britain is bracing for a May 6 general election that may alter the landscape of its politics — a race that offers at least three unpredictable outcomes and one of the most dramatic since Tony Blair defeated the Conservatives in 1997.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the long-awaited election date Tuesday as the resurgent Conservatives prepared for battle against the bedraggled Labour incumbents with the nation drowning in debt after a golden age of economic prosperity.
Youthful and charismatic Conservative leader David Cameron once seemed certain to grab power after 13 years of Labour rule — but tightening polls and quirks of the British election system leave the outcome uncertain. Whoever wins, Britain could well become an altered state with higher taxes, fewer services, tougher business regulations and less willingness to join expensive U.S.-led military campaigns.
"Last year, I didn't care at all about this election," said Jacob McDonald, a 24-year-old business graduate who has been on a job hunt for nearly a year. "But now I think this could actually be big — so big that it could to make or break my life in the next five years. I plan on voting, but haven't made a choice yet."
The election comes at a bruising time for Britain's main political parties — all three were stung in a scandal about expenses that exposed lawmakers who filed claims for everything from pornography to chandeliers at their country estates. Voters, meanwhile, lost jobs and homes as Britain struggled with the worst recession since World War II and the largest deficit among the Group of Seven nations.
In the end, voter disillusionment may help. But polls suggest it's more likely that for the first time since 1974, neither party will win an absolute majority in Parliament.
Polls have given Cameron's Tories a slight lead — between 4 and 10 percentage points — but Britain has an election system that at times has been stacked against the Conservatives because of voting districts. It is the majority of districts won — not the majority of votes — that will determine which party will lead the next government.
The Conservatives need to capture about 130 more seats in the House of Commons from Labour and other parties to win a majority. Labour now holds 345 of the House of Common's 646 seats. A party needs 326 seats to win a majority in government.
Recent district changes to reflect population shifts will give the Tories an estimated 12 more seats while Labour loses seven, according to the University of Plymouth. The recent changes and the expected gains may still be too few to give the Tories a majority lead, although polls indicate more people may be voting Tory this election.
Like U.S. congressional districts, district seats are allocated according to population, but Britain's system has been slow to catch up to massive shifts of population.
If the election result gives neither party a majority, a government could be delayed and parties forced to scramble for a coalition. It could also spell another election this year.
Brown, who has often been criticized for his wooden persona but admired for his intellectual prowess, promised Tuesday to "fight on behalf of hard working families on middle-class and modest incomes," and said only Labour, not the Conservatives, could be trusted to keep the economy out of a downturn.
A Labour defeat would bring to a close a British political era that began with Blair's landslide 1997 election victory, which saw unprecedented three successive electoral triumphs for the center-left party. But it would also be a crushing personal blow to the 59-year-old Brown, who waited until 2007 for Blair to step aside.
If the Conservatives beat their image as being the so-called "nasty party" of privilege, the 43-year-old Cameron could be the youngest prime minister in nearly two centuries since Lord Liverpool was elected at 42. Blair became prime minister days before his 44th birthday.
Cameron, who has been criticized by Labour for a lack of substance, has sought to replace his party's stuffy image with a more modern brand of "compassionate Conservatism," appointing more women and ethnic minorities as candidates for an organization long dominated by affluent white men like himself.
With his bicycle riding, informal "call-me-Dave" manner and young family — his wife Samantha is expecting their fourth child in September — Cameron appears best placed to benefit from a U.S.-styled personality-centered contest. Some see a parallel with Labour's former savior Blair.
"It's the most important election for a generation, and it comes down to this: You don't have to put up with another five years of Gordon Brown," he said Tuesday, urging that Tory was "voting for the fresh start our country so badly needs."
The third place Liberal Democrats' leader Nick Clegg said the election would be anything but the "two-horse race" between Labour and Conservatives.
"It is a very exciting opportunity for everyone in Britain who wants fairness and real change, who wants something different," Clegg said Tuesday, blaming Labour for what he called the illegal invasion of Iraq, corruption in Parliament and the failure to regulate the banks.
Labour lost a significant share of its seats in 2005 when voters blamed them for joining the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq.
An ICM poll published late Sunday by The Guardian newspaper showed Labour closing in on its main rival — climbing to within a few percentage points of the Tories. Other polls, however, showed larger Tory leads. The forecasts are based on the parties' current seats and how a significant swing in votes could alter the outcome.
Britain's struggling economy and enormous debt will dominate the campaign. Both Labour and the Conservatives say they will trim spending and slash the country's 167 billion pound ($250 billion) deficit — but they differ on how deep, and how soon, to make cuts.
The Tories have pledged to reverse Labour's planned increase to national insurance, a payroll tax, and implement about 6 billion pounds in spending cuts this year. Labour says major cuts should be deferred until 2011 to give the economy more time to recover.
Cameron's party also plans to cut the number of lawmakers, offer tax breaks to married couples and overhaul Britain's education system. Brown promises a public referendum on changing Britain's voting system, improved cancer treatment and a new high-speed national rail network.
The major parties agree on international issues — both would keep British troops in Afghanistan and seek to preserve the so-called "special relationship" with the U.S.
The campaign will also include the first U.S.-styled TV debates among the leaders of Labour, the Conservatives and the third-placed Liberal Democrats.
Parliament will shut Monday for the start of campaign. Brown met with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to ask her to dissolve Parliament.
While voter turnout in the election is likely to hover around 60 percent, Britain's enthusiasm for political betting remains strong.
Bookmakers say 20 million pounds ($30 million) will rest on the election.
Bookmaker Paddy Power said the Conservatives were 1-6 favorites to win, with Labour at 7-2. The odds of a hung Parliament were 13-8.
Spokesman Darren Haines said for bookies "the most favorable outcome would be a Lib-Dem win" — a 200-1 longshot.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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