Senegalese banned from carrying arms over electoral period

Senegal's Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom on Friday banned the carrying of firearms for a period of four months which will include presidential elections, after recent violent political clashes.

"Between January 4, 2012 and April 30, 2012 the carrying of arms, ammunition and explosive devices of all categories is banned across the national territory," read a decree issued by Ngom.

"During this period, no weapon regardless of its category or nature, may be transported outside of homes or workplaces. This ban applies to nationals and foreigners holding permits to carry or hold arms," said the decree.

An interior minister official, speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that carrying a weapon under normal circumstances was permitted with special authorisation from the ministry, while another permit allowed gun-owners to keep weapons at home or in their office.

He said the measure would apply only to civilians, and not defence and security forces who use their arms as part of their work.

Senegal holds a first-round presidential election on February 26 in which President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking a controversial third term which the opposition says is unconstitutional.

Considered one of Africa's most democratic nations, Senegal has been riven by tensions in recent months and clashes between opponants and ruling party supporters left one dead and three injured on December 22.

Maryland abortion doctors charged with murder

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Two doctors have been charged with murder after an investigation into a botched abortion uncovered 35 fetuses in a Maryland clinic's freezer, authorities said on Friday, calling the case the first of its kind in the state.

The doctors, Steven Chase Brigham, 55, and Nicola Irene Riley, 46, were arrested on fugitive warrants on Wednesday, police in Elkton, Maryland said.

"They have been indicted based upon a fetal homicide statute. This is probably the first case that Maryland has ever seen with this factual scenario using this statute. It's a unique situation," Cecil County State's Attorney Ellis Rollins told Reuters in an interview.

Brigham is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, Elkton police said.

Riley is charged with one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Brigham was arrested on Wednesday in Voorhees, New Jersey, according to a statement by the Elkton Police Department.

Riley was arrested at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, without incident, according to Lt. Justin Hoyal, spokesman for the Unified Police of Greater Salt Lake.

Prosecutors were expected to seek their extradition back to Maryland.

The investigation began in August 2010, when a young woman sought an abortion from the pair.

The abortion was induced in New Jersey, and the patient was then transported across state lines into Maryland, according to the Elkton police statement.

FETUSES FOUND IN FREEZER

The operation was botched with both Brigham and Riley present, Elkton police said, although the statement did not elaborate on the nature of complications.

Riley took the woman to a nearby hospital, police said. The woman, who was not identified by authorities, survived and was later moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Rollins declined to say why he believed the frozen fetuses were being kept at the clinic or what specifically led to the murder charges, saying that his office would not comment on pending litigation.

Riley had her medical licenses suspended by the state of Maryland, according to the Maryland State Board of Physicians.

Brigham was ordered in 2010 to cease and desist from practicing medicine in the state of Maryland without a license, according to the state medical board.

Documents show that Brigham also had his license suspended by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners in October 2010 after officials found that he had performed second- and third-trimester abortions without authorization.

The board further noted that Brigham was not an obstetrician-gynecologist, and that his actions had endangered his patients.

The board's stated decision for the revocation "focused on his practice of starting late-term abortions in New Jersey, where he was not authorized to perform them, and finishing them in Maryland, where he was not licensed to practice medicine," according to a report by the state attorney general.

Brigham has performed approximately 50 such cross-state abortions, according to documents on the Maryland state medical board's website.

Officers who searched the Elkton clinic found several fetuses in a freezer, police said.

A source who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said there were 35 fetuses found in the clinic freezer.

An Elkton Police spokesman deferred further questions to Kerwin Miller, the assistant state's attorney for Cecil County who is prosecuting the case.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

Attorneys for Riley and Brigham also could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

'Synthetic' marijuana is problem for US military

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high, is hard to detect and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.

The abuse of the substance has so alarmed military officials that they've launched an aggressive testing program that this year has led to the investigation of more than 1,100 suspected users.

So-called "synthetic" pot is readily available on the Internet and has become popular nationwide in recent years, but its use among troops and sailors has raised concerns among the Pentagon brass.

"You can just imagine the work that we do in a military environment," said Mark Ridley, deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, adding, "you need to be in your right mind when you do a job. That's why the Navy has always taken a zero tolerance policy toward drugs."

Two years ago, only 29 Marines and sailors were investigated for Spice. This year, the number topped 700, the investigative service said. Those found guilty of using Spice are kicked out, although the Navy does not track the overall number of dismissals.

The Air Force has punished 497 airmen so far this year, compared to last year's 380, according to figures provided by the Pentagon. The Army does not track Spice investigations but says it has medically treated 119 soldiers for the synthetic drug in total.

Military officials emphasize those caught represent a tiny fraction of all service members and note none was in a leadership position or believed high while on duty.

Spice is made up of exotic plants from Asia like Blue Lotus and Bay Bean. Their leaves are coated with chemicals that mimic the effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, but are five to 200 times more potent.

More than 40 states have banned some of its chemicals, prompting sellers to turn to the Internet, where it is marketed as incense or potpourri. In some states, Spice is sold at bars, smoke shops and convenience stores.

Sellers based in the United States and Europe advertising the incense on the Internet did not respond to emails or calls seeking comment.

The packets often say the ingredients are not for human consumption and are for aromatherapy. They are described as "mood enhancing" and "long lasting." Some of the sellers' Web sites say they do not sell herbal mixes containing any illegal chemicals and say they are offering a "legal high."

Service members preferred it because up until this year there was no way to detect it with urine tests. A test was developed after the Drug Enforcement Administration put a one-year emergency ban on five chemicals found in the drug.

Manufacturers are adapting to avoid detection, even on the new tests, and skirt new laws banning the main chemicals, officials say.

"It's a moving target," said Capt. J.A. "Cappy" Surette, spokesman for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

The military can calibrate its equipment to test for those five banned chemicals "but underground chemists can keep altering the properties and make up to more than 100 permutations," Surette said.

Complicating their efforts further, there are more than 200 other chemicals used in the concoctions. They remain legal and their effects on the mind and body remain largely unknown, Navy doctors say.

A Clemson University scientist created many of the chemicals for research purposes in 1990s. They were never tested on humans.

Civilian deaths have been reported and emergency crews have responded to calls of "hyper-excited" people doing things like tearing off their clothes and running down the street naked.

Navy investigators compare the substance to angel dust because no two batches are the same. Some who smoke it like a marijuana cigarette may just feel a euphoric buzz, but others have suffered delusions lasting up to a week.

While the problem has surfaced in all branches of the military, the Navy has been the most aggressive in drawing attention to the problem.

It produced a video based on cases to warn sailors of Spice's dangers and publicized busts of crew members on some of its most-storied ships, including the USS Carl Vinson, from which Osama bin Laden's was dropped into the sea.

Two of the largest busts this year involved sailors in the San Diego-based U.S. Third Fleet, which announced last month that it planned to dismiss 28 sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

A month earlier, 64 sailors, including 49 from the Vinson, were accused of being involved in a Spice ring.

Many of the cases were discovered after one person was caught with synthetic pot, prompting broader investigations.

Lt. Commander Donald Hurst, a fourth-year psychiatry resident at San Diego's Naval Medical Center, said the hospital is believed to have seen more cases than any other health facility in the country.

Doctors saw users experiencing bad reactions once a month, but now see them weekly. Users suffer everything from vomiting, elevated blood pressure and seizures to extreme agitation, anxiety and delusions.

Hurst said the behavior in many cases he witnessed at first seemed akin to schizophrenia. Usually within minutes, however, the person became completely lucid. Sometimes, the person goes in and out of such episodes for days.

He recalled one especially bizarre case of a sailor who came in with his sobbing wife.

"He stood their holding a sandwich in front of him with no clue as to what to do," he said. "He opened it up, looked at it, touched it. I took it and folded it over and then he took a bite out it. But then we had to tell him, 'you have to chew.'"

An hour later when Hurst went back to evaluate him, he was completely normal and worried about being in trouble.

"That's something you don't see with acute schizophrenic patients," he said. "Then we found out based on the numbers of people coming in like this, that OK there's a new drug out there."

Hurst decided to study 10 cases. Some also had smoked marijuana or drank alcohol, while others only smoked Spice.

Of the 10, nine had lost a sense of reality. Seven babbled incoherently. The symptoms for seven of them lasted four to eight days. Three others are believed to now be schizophrenic. Hurst believed the drug may have triggered the symptoms in people with that genetic disposition. His findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in October.

He said there are countless questions that still need answering, including the designer drug's effects on people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or traumatic brain injuries.

What the research has confirmed, he said, is: "These are not drugs to mess with."

Islamic school attack in Nigeria's south wounds 7

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Attackers threw homemade explosives inside an Islamic school in a predominantly Christian city where some 50 children had gathered for an Arabic class, wounding six pupils and a teacher, authorities said Wednesday.

The rare attack in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta comes just days after radical Islamist militants launched a series of explosions across the country on Christmas, leaving at least 39 dead and dozens wounded.

Analysts say it is too early to speak of retaliation following the attacks by Boko Haram, but worry about what such violence could mean. The school was attacked Tuesday in Sapele, Delta State police spokesman Charles Muka said.

"Sapele just seems like the most unlikely place for a retaliatory attack to take place," criminologist Innocent Chukwuma said. "But if it is, this would play right into Boko Haram, which has been looking to escalate the conflict to make the country ungovernable."

Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous nation, is largely divided into a Muslim north and Christian south, though members of the two faiths live everywhere across the country, do business together and intermarry.

Thousands, though, have died in recent years in communal fighting pitting machete-wielding neighbors against each other. Earlier this year, at least 800 were killed across Nigeria's north in postelection violence after a Christian candidate was elected president.

Tensions are particularly high in the nation's "middle belt," where the two regions meet. On Tuesday night, authorities say assailants shot a Christian couple and their 1-year-old child Tuesday night, said Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba.

Authorities believe the attack in a village near the city of Jos was carried out by Muslim herdsmen.

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

While initially targeting Islamic and Christian clerics, politicians, policemen and soldiers via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.

Senegal presidency appeals for calm ahead of polls

Senegal's presidency said Wednesday that deadly political clashes in the capital last week should lead to soul-searching and called for calm with presidential polls only two months away.

Clashes between the ruling party and opposition last Thursday which left one dead were "a sign that must lead us to reflect and realise that violence does not solve any problem," said presidential spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye.

Ndiaye said "panic" had gripped the country ahead of February 26 elections but all efforts were being taken to ensure the day after the vote "we shake hands and return to work."

The clashes erupted on the eve of rival rallies by supporters of President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, and opposition protesters angered by his bid for a third term.

According to opposition Socialist Party spokesman Abdoulaye Wilane, five vehicles filled with armed Wade supporters attacked a local council in a Dakar neighbourhood.

The party's youth wing leader, Barthelemy Dias, returned fire and fatally shot one man, but was acting in self-defence, Wilane said.

Wade's third term bid has raised tensions in the capital of a country long considered one of Africa's most democratic nations.

Wade's first term lasted seven years, and he was reelected in 2007 for five years after a constitutional reform shortened presidential terms.

The seven-year stint was reintroduced in another constitutional amendment in 2008, prompting the opposition to argue that Wade's fresh bid was illegal and that he had exhausted the two-term limit.

U.S. Fifth Fleet says won't allow disruption in Hormuz

DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it will not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the strategic oil route.

"The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity," a spokesperson for the Bahrain-based fleet said in a written response to queries from Reuters about the possibility of Iran trying to close the waterway.

"Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated."

Asked whether it was taking specific measures in response to the threat to close the Strait, the fleet said it "maintains a robust presence in the region to deter or counter destabilizing activities," without providing further detail.

Nigeria: Boko Haram Militants Strike on Christmas Day

Nigeria's Christmas from hell began around 7:30 a.m. at St. Theresa's Church in Madalla, a suburb of the capital Abuja, just as worshippers spilled outside from the popular service. "A man with a motorbike dropped a bag just outside the church," a church member told TIME. "One of our officials went to check what was in the bag and at the same time he reached it -- that was when there was an explosion. Everybody started running. You can imagine how many people were running around. We thought the explosion was from one car that was parked outside, but we now discover it was actually the bag that my colleague went to check." The blast partially destroyed the church roof and shattered glass in nearby buildings. It turned out to be part of a wave of bomb blasts striking packed churches and towns across Nigeria as Islamist militants launched a Christmas Day bombing spree that left at least 39 dead and scores more wounded in Africa's most populous nation.

"With my own two eyes, I saw a whole family, five of them, perish in their car which was next to the explosion," Idriss, a 43-year-old truck driver, told TIME over the phone. "I counted 27 bodies. Not only in the church, outside there were two drivers dead on top of their okadas [the local motorcycles used to navigate the area's choked streets]." Among the dead were three policemen stationed to guard the church, the police area commander told TIME. Security has been beefed up in churches nationwide amid repeated threats from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. (See photos of Boko Haram's August bombing in Nigeria.)

Angry Christian youths, furious over the attack, initially refused to let the dead bodies be cleared away from the smoldering rubble, demanding that President Goodluck Jonathan personally see what had taken place. Officials from the National Emergency Management Agency struggled with a shortage of ambulances. Policemen eventually cordoned off the area and dispersed the mob by reportedly firing live rounds into the air.

It was not the first bombing in the capital region. Boko Haram members allegedly detonated Nigeria's first ever suicide bombing in August at the U.N. compound, killing 24. The group, which draws inspiration from Afghanistan's Taliban movement, is fighting for a strict interpretation of Shari'a across Nigeria's 160 million–strong population, which is roughly split between Muslim and Christian. Boko Haram (which -- in Hausa, a language in northern Nigeria -- roughly means Western Education Is Sacrilege) is believed to have been behind four subsequent explosions.

On Christmas Day, a person claiming to speak on behalf of Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the Madalla church attack and another attempted explosion that struck the central city of Jos -- an ethnic and religious melting pot that has borne the brunt of Nigeria's sectarian violence. "A police patrol car sighted three men on a motorbike. There was exchange of gunfire and the men threw the bomb into the church compound," a Jos state official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the policeman died on the way to hospital, but no other casualties were reported. In Jos, traditional celebrations and planned family reunions had already been scrapped in the run-up to Christmas amid painful memories of a Christmas Eve bomb that killed some 32 people last year, residents said. "The streets are so empty it's like it's not even Christmas. Nobody wants to go out even to buy cigarettes because of all this fear," said Chidi Emweku, 31, a university student.

Meanwhile explosions struck two other towns in Yobe, one of the impoverished northeastern states where Boko Haram traditionally operates. One was in a church in Damaturu, according to residents. The police commissioner said details were not immediately available. (See why Boko Haram is al-Qaeda's new friend in Africa.)

Earlier in the week, the Nigerian chief of army staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, said three soldiers were killed when police raided a suspected Boko Haram bombmaking factory in Damaturu. "There was a major encounter with the Boko Haram in Damaturu," Ihejirika said. "In the encounter, we lost three of our soldiers, seven were wounded. But we killed over 50 of their members." Hospital and morgue workers who spoke to TIME said almost all the 50 bodies they saw were civilians. Critics say the army's frequent incursions into areas where Boko Haram has popular support has fueled the cycle of violence. The group's fierce antigovernment rhetoric has also earned support in the arid, predominantly Muslim northeastern states of Yobe and Borno, where unemployment and poverty far exceed that in the oil-rich south, where Christians abound.

Experts are anxiously monitoring Boko Haram's ability to strike regularly beyond Yobe and Borno, amid claims from the group that its members have traveled to neighboring Chad and as far east as Somalia for training and financing. A December 2011 report from the U.S. Congress said the organization -- along with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates just north of Nigeria's Sahel desert -- posed a growing threat to American interests.

Activist Shehu Sani, president of Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, said several attempts to broker a cease-fire between the group and the government collapsed amid mutual mistrust. "The only option is dialogue. For as long as the group has foot soldiers willing to use their bodies, using force will not work against them," he said. The violence prompted condemnations from around the world, including a statement from the White House, which called the attacks "senseless" and pledged to work with Nigerian officials to bring those responsible to justice.

President Jonathan said there was "no reason" for what he called "an ugly incident." "This is one of the challenges of this Administration. This will not be forever, it will end one day," he said in a statement. But many Nigerians wonder when it will end. Idriss, standing amid the wreckage in Madalla, said he had fled Jos earlier in the week after news of gun battles day after day in the north of the country filtered through. "I just wanted to be somewhere safe, but look what happened," he said as sirens wailed in the background.

$3bn Chineses Loan Crucial For Dev - CEPA

The Executive Secretary of CEPA, Dr Joseph Abbey, was reacting to the unanimous endorsement by the Executive Board of the IMF of a new borrowing limit for Ghana in Accra Thursday.

He told the Daily Graphic in an interview that pledges made in the 2012 Budget needed to be followed with commitment in the best interest of the country.

“It is important to put our gas reserves to good use because natural gas is a major substitute for oil which is bought at a high cost to run the thermal plants that generate electricity for the country,” he said.

He noted that natural gas would complement LPG supplies which sometimes fell short of demand, a situation which had become a bane for the country in recent times, adding that natural gas would help reduce the reliance on firewood, whose production had a negative impact on the country’s forest reserves.

On Wednesday, December 14, 2011, the Executive Board of the IMF unanimously endorsed a limit of US$3.4 billion on non-concessional borrowing for Ghana. That decision was part of the board’s completion of the fifth review of Ghana’s economic and financial programme under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.

The implication of that decision is that Ghana can source for non-concessional loans up to a limit of US$3.4 billion, which is unprecedented in the history of the fund’s programmes with Ghana and with several other countries.

During an IMF staff mission to Ghana in October 2011, the government requested its Executive Board to modify the initial conditionality of limiting non-concessional borrowing by Ghana from the current limit of US$800 million to US$3.4 billion.

Dr Abbey said the government, after going into a new agreement with the IMF in 2009, sought to ensure that the economy was better managed to place it in a better stead to make it more attractive to the rest of the world.

To him, the approval was to be expected, in view of the country’s position as a lower middle-income country and the major projects that the government intended to undertake.

“The IMF knows that under the present circumstance of the government, it will not be the best to keep a lower cap on the country when it has demonstrated an ability to pay back non-concessional loans,” he said.

Dr Abbey maintained that it was in the interest of the country to borrow at non-concessional rates to be able to undertake major projects.

“The issue still remains that while we borrow, we only need to ensure that the funds are used for their intended purposes to benefit taxpayers whose money will be used to defray the cost,” he said.

He said the performance of the economy in 2011 had been good because, among other things, the huge arrears were reduced, the country’s import cover was increased drastically, while interest rates, among other macroeconomic indicators, including inflation, had remained on a downward trend.

Dr Abbey said staying with such agencies as the IMF was necessary and noted that any attempt to wean the country off the fund’s conditionalities would be detrimental to the state.

Veep orders investigation into missing cocaine exhibits

The Vice President of Ghana, John Mahama has directed the Inspector General of Ghana Police to initiate an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a missing cocaine exhibit.

The exhibit tendered in as evidence in court turned into sodium bicarbonate under controversial and mysterious circumstances.

The suspect under prosecution over the said cocaine has thus been acquitted and discharged.

The police and court officials have since been playing the blame game with each institution trumpeting its own integrity and blaming the other for the mysterious swap.

It is not the first time such an incident has occurred. In 2007, cocaine exhibits locked up at the Police Headquarters was also swapped with powdered Kokonte.

At a ceremony to present patrol vehicles to the police administration, the Vice President said a thorough investigation must be conducted to bring all perpetrators to book.

The Police Administration is scheduled to organize a press conference to officially react to the missing exhibit.

Joy News' Jefferson Sackey who is attending the conference lamented the two hour delay in the start of the conference but said prior information he had picked up indicated the police would not take responsibility for the swap.

The police administration had earlier argued that at the time the exhibit was sent to the court, it was verified to be cocaine and cannot therefore be responsible for the exhibit turning into washing powder.

Human Parts For Sale - Four Arrested

Ghana Telescope
New York - Accra - London


Four persons, including a 23-year-old woman, were last Sunday arrested by the Half-Assini Police for allegedly attempting to sell human parts to the priest of a reputed shrine in the Jomoro District in the Western Region.

The suspects — Juliet Nyamekeh, Charles Kweku, 30; Ebenezer Osei Yaw, 26, and Kwasi Dickson, 26, were said to have initially offered the parts, comprising two hands, two legs, a head and a waist, for GH¢100,000 but they later settled for GH¢60,000.

The victim is said to have been killed in the Eastern Region, from where the body was transported to the Western Region for sale.

Luck, however, eluded the suspects when the fetish priest, who had feigned interest in the transaction, tipped the police off, leading to their arrest.

The scene of the arrest is said to have been turned into a display of spiritual powers as the leader of the suspects, on seeing the police, started some incantations, ostensibly to facilitate their disappearance.

According to the Jomoro District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) John F. Dzineku, the human parts were packed in a bag, with the hands and the legs tied together, while the head and the waist were separated from the remaining parts.

He told the Daily Graphic that it was clear from interrogations so far carried out that the suspects knew the victim whose body parts they were offering for sale.

The district commander said the lady among the suspects told the police that although she was not among those who killed the victim, she had been asked to look for a buyer for the human parts.

According to the commander, Juliet had told the police that knowing very well that human parts were sometimes needed for ritual purposes, she had contacted the priest if he could buy the parts for ritual.

Mr Dzineku said the suspects were being prepared for court, while the body parts of the unidentified victim have been deposited at the Half-Assini Government Hospital.

Shoplifter chops off security guard's ear

Ghana Telescope
New York - Accra - London

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Police in Washington state say a shoplifter with a hatchet sliced off most of a store security guard's ear.

Longview police Sgt. Doug Kazensky tells The Daily News that the shoplifter pulled a small hatchet out of his waistband Monday afternoon and swung, chopping off nearly the entire ear.

The guard was taken to a Portland hospital for emergency plastic surgery in an attempt to reattach the ear.

The attacker remained at large.

The assault took place just outside the garden center entrance of a Fred Meyer supermarket. Kazensky says two security officers were trying to apprehend the man, who was suspected of taking CDs, bike chains and other small items.

The man apparently brought the hatchet to the store with him.

Saudi Arabia executes woman convicted of 'sorcery'

Ghana Telescope

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery.

The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place Monday, but gave no details on the woman's crime.

The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 per session.

The paper said a female investigator followed up, and the woman was arrested in April, 2009, and later convicted in a Saudi court.

It did not give the woman's name, but said she was in her 60s.

The execution brings the total to 76 this year in Saudi Arabia, according to an Associated Press count. At least three have been women.

South Korean coastguard "killed by Chinese fisherman"

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean coastguard was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman Monday in an operation to apprehend a Chinese vessel operating illegally near South Korean waters, a South Korean official said.

Two South Koreans were stabbed in the operation in the Yellow Sea off the west coast near the border with North Korea, the coastguard said.

Chinese fishing boats are frequently caught fishing in South Korean waters, sometimes leading to violent clashes with South Korean maritime police.

"One officer is dead. There is another one injured. There are no other injuries," a coastguard officer said. "It happened in the EEZ (exclusive economic zone), outside the territorial waters, but it's still illegal fishing."

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the coastguard had seized the vessel and nine sailors on board.

There was no immediate comment from Beijing.

South Korea last month vowed a crackdown on illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats in its EEZ.

Some 2,600 Chinese fishing boats have been caught illegally fishing in the South Korean EEZ since 2006 and nearly 800 Chinese fishermen have been arrested, Yonhap reported.

In the first 11 months of this year, some 440 Chinese fishing boats were caught illegally fishing in South Korean waters, up 46 percent from a year earlier, it said.

Israel PM plans Africa trip over migrant issue

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Africa to discuss illegal migration from the continent to the Jewish state, he said on Sunday, as his cabinet approved new measures to combat the problem.

Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting to approve ways to deal with an influx of illegal migrants, Netanyahu announced "I intend to travel to Africa later to discuss and advance procedures for returning them (migrants) to Africa."

The Israeli premier gave no indication of which countries he would visit or when he would travel, but he stressed that he considered the arrival of illegal migrants a serious issue.

"This is a national calamity, in every field," he said. "We have no obligation to accept illegal infiltrators, and I distinguish between them and the question of refugees, who are but a minuscule component of this human deluge."

On Sunday, the cabinet approved the allocation of 630 million shekels ($167 million, 124 million euros) for new measures to tackle the issue.

The programme approved includes stepped-up measures against Israelis employing illegal migrants and expedited construction of a security barrier along the border with Egypt.

It also provides funds for the construction of a new detention facility and extends the period that illegal migrants can be detained to three years.

According to data presented to the cabinet, there are currently 52,487 illegal economic migrants in Israel.

Netanyahu stressed his plan wasn't aimed at refugees, rather "entire populaces that are moving toward Israel, which is a very developed and humane country."

"If we don't stop this illegal flood, we'll be washed away by it," he warned.

Activists argue that the government figures misrepresent the number of migrants who are legitimate asylum seekers and accuse the authorities of turning away those in need.

But communities most affected by the influx, including the southern town of Eilat, have long lobbied the government to take stronger measures to stem the arrivals.

Iran says it will not return US drone

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will not return a U.S. surveillance drone captured by its armed forces, a senior commander of the country's elite Revolutionary Guard said Sunday.

Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guard, said in remarks broadcast on state television that the violation of Iran's airspace by the U.S. drone was a "hostile act" and warned of a "bigger" response. He did not elaborate on what Tehran might do.

"No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country," Salami said.

Iranian television broadcast video Thursday of Iranian military officials inspecting what it identified as the RQ-170 Sentinel drone.

Iranian state media have said the unmanned spy aircraft was detected over the eastern town of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225 kilometers) from the border with Afghanistan. U.S. officials have acknowledged losing the drone.

Salami called its capture a victory for Iran and a defeat for the U.S. in a complicated intelligence and technological battle.

"Iran is among the few countries that possesses the most modern technology in the field of pilotless drones. The technology gap between Iran and the U.S. is not much," he said.

Officers in the Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, had previously claimed that the country's armed forces brought down the surveillance aircraft with an electronic ambush, causing minimum damage to the drone.

American officials have said that U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that Iran neither shot the drone down, nor used electronic or cybertechnology to force it from the sky. They contend the drone malfunctioned. The officials had spoken anonymously in order to discuss the classified program.

But Salami refused to provide more details of Iran's claim to have captured the CIA-operated aircraft.

"A party that wins in an intelligence battle doesn't reveal its methods. We can't elaborate on the methods we employed to intercept, control, discover and bring down the pilotless plane," he said.

Medvedev orders Russia poll inquiry after protests

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation Sunday into allegations of fraud in Russia's parliamentary election, one day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded it be annulled and rerun.

Medvedev responded on his Facebook site to the protesters' complaints that the December 4 election was slanted to favor of his and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, but did not mention their calls for an end to Putin's rule.

"I do not agree with any slogans or statements made at the rallies. Nevertheless, instructions have been given by me to check all information from polling stations regarding compliance with the legislation on elections," Medvedev said in a post on the social media site.

"Citizens of Russia have freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. People have a right to express the position that they did yesterday. It all took place within the framework of the law," he added.

His statement was a sign that the Russian leadership feels under pressure after the biggest opposition protests since Putin rose to power in 1999. The protesters themselves used social media to organize their rallies.

In a further sign of recognition that the people's mood has changed after years of tight political control by Putin, city authorities across Russia allowed Saturday's protests to go ahead and riot police hardly intervened.

State television and other Russian channels also broadcast footage of a huge protest in Moscow, breaking a policy of showing almost no negative coverage of the authorities.

But Medvedev had already indicated before the protests that he would call an inquiry, and a statement from Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, gave no indication that the prime minister was about to make big concessions to the protesters.

"We respect the point of view of the protesters, we are hearing what is being said, and we will continue to listen to them," Peskov said in a statement released late Saturday.

That is unlikely to appease protesters who issued a list of demands at the Moscow rally, which police said was attended by 25,000 people and the organizers said attracted up to 150,000.

PROTESTERS LIST THEIR DEMANDS

The demands included much more than just an investigation in the conduct of the election, which international monitors and the United States said was slanted to help United Russia secure a majority in the State Duma lower house.

The protesters demanded a rerun of the election, the sacking of Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov and the release of people they define as political prisoners. The organizers also called for a new day of protests on December 24.

"I am happy. December 10, 2011 will go down in history as the day the country's civic virtue and civil society was revived. After 10 years of hibernation, Moscow and all Russia woke up," Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader, wrote in his blog.

"The main reason why it was such a big success is that a feeling of self-esteem has awakened in us and we have all got so fed up with Putin's and Medvedev's lies, theft and cynicism that we cannot tolerate it any longer ... Together we will win!"

It may not be that simple. The opposition has long been divided, most mainstream parties have little or no role in the rallies and keeping them up across the world's largest country is hard at the best of times but especially in winter.

Most Russian political experts say Putin, the former KGB spy who has dominated the world's largest energy producer for 12 years, is in little immediate danger of being toppled, despite anger over widespread corruption and the gap between rich and poor.

But they say the 59-year-old leader's authority has been damaged and may gradually wane after he returns as president in an election next March that he is still expected to win.

Although opinion polls show he is Russia's most popular politician, the protests indicate how deep feelings are over the December 4 election. The biggest were in Moscow and St Petersburg, the two biggest cities and the main centers of Russia's middle class, but smaller rallies took place across the country.

TOUGH TASK AHEAD

"Putin has a formidable task. He has lost Moscow and St Petersburg, crucial cities where everything usually starts," said political analyst and author Liliya Shevtsova. "He looks out of touch."

Putin, as president for eight years until 2008 and as prime minister since then, built up a strongman image by restoring order after the chaos in the decade after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. But he no longer seems invincible.

He could release the state's purse strings to satisfy the financial demands of some critics but many of the protesters in Moscow are middle-class people demanding more fundamental changes, including relaxing the political system he controls.

His charges last week that the United States encouraged the protesters and financed them provoked scorn on the Internet.

Answering calls to protests on social media sites, a huge crowd gathered in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square Saturday, many carrying white carnations as a symbol of protest. Some waved pictures of Putin and Medvedev saying: "Guys, it's time to go."

Felix, 68, a retired military officer who declined to give his surname, said in Moscow he wanted Putin out, but had no hope this could be accomplished through elections. "There is no way to change those in power within the electoral system they have set up, so we need to use other methods," he said.

DR Congo election: Joseph Kabila 're-elected'

President Joseph Kabila has won the Democratic Republic of Congo's election, provisional results show.

He obtained 49% of the vote against 32% for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, the election commission chief said.

The announcement has been delayed since Tuesday, with election officials blaming logistical problems.

The opposition has complained of fraud and security is tight in the capital, Kinshasa, amid fears of violence.

Riot police are patrolling the streets of the capital, which is seen as an opposition stronghold.

In the eastern city of Goma, people started to celebrate as soon as the results were announced on national TV and radio, reports the BBC's Joshua Mmali in the city.

The results still have to be ratified by the Supreme Court.

India hospital fire in Calcutta kills dozens

At least 73 people have been killed in a fire that broke out in a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta (Kolkata), officials say.

Most of the victims were patients who were trapped after the flames spread through the AMRI hospital.

The fire started in the multi-storey hospital's basement, where flammable materials were stored. Firefighters took five hours to control the blaze.

Six board members of the hospital have been arrested.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the licence of the six-storey hospital in Dhakuria in the southern part of the city had been cancelled.

She said the fire was an "unforgivable crime" and that those responsible would be given the harshest punishment.

A Upadhay, a senior vice-president of the AMRI hospital company, told Associated Press there were 160 patients in the 190-bed hospital.

A spokesman for Manmohan Singh said the prime minister had "expressed shock and anguish over the loss of lives".

Chaotic scenes

West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said many of the patients who died had suffocated on fumes.

A number were rescued. "We have taken 50 patients to an adjacent hospital. The situation is grim at the moment," fire brigade chief Gopal Bhattacharya told Agence France-Presse news agency.

The BBC's Amitabha Bhattasali in Calcutta says bodies of patients wrapped in white sheets have been brought out by rescue workers.

Local people climbed into the hospital compound to rescue patients before fire engines arrived, our correspondent says.

The narrow surrounding streets made it difficult for the rescue services to arrive quickly.

There were chaotic scenes when Ms Banerjee arrived.

Relatives of patients complained that her convoy had blocked the passage of ambulances in the hospital complex.

Police resorted to a baton charge as the crowds moved forward to Ms Banerjee's car.

"Stop it. What is this? No baton charge! Have you come here to beat up people?" the Times of India newspaper quoted Ms Banerjee as telling the officers.

Police told AP the six hospital officials arrested were being questioned on charges of culpable homicide and that they had surrendered voluntarily.

'A lot of bodies'

The fire had spread swiftly from the basement to the upper floors of the private hospital.

Television pictures showed patients being carried out on stretchers.

One rescued patient said: "The attendants woke me up and dragged me down the stairs. I saw 10-15 patients at the top of the stairs trying to get down."

Ananya Das, 35, who underwent surgery at the hospital on Thursday, said she was recovering when the fire broke out.

"I managed to walk towards an exit and then climb out of a window. I saw a lot of bodies," she said.

One relative, Khokon Chakravathi, told AFP: "My mother is in the intensive care unit. She's 70 years old. I don't know if she is alive or not."

Fires in high-rise buildings are fairly common in the city. There have been at least 10 major incidents since 2008.

Electrical short circuits have been responsible for most of these fires.

More than 40 people died in a huge fire in a historic building in Calcutta in March last year.

Armed Nigeria militia marches through largest city

Unidentified members of Oodua People's Congress militia ride on buses carrying guns and machetes during a protest against Boko Haram in Lagos, Nigeria,Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011. The militia group from Nigeria's southwest walked through the streets of the commercial capital firing rifles as police and security forces fled. The group said they were protesting the rise of Boko Haram, a violent Muslim sect in the country's northeast which they claim are responsible for bombings and assassinations




LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The armed militia marched unstopped through Nigeria's largest city, firing shotguns and rifles in the air in what they called a protest against a radical Muslim sect responsible for killings across the oil-rich country.

The demonstration Thursday by members of the Oodua People's Congress highlighted the growing sense of insecurity and widening distrust among Nigeria's more than 160 million people and its major ethnic groups. Men armed with shotguns, rifles and machetes freely roamed the streets of Lagos without a sign of police, while passers-by shouted that their region of Nigeria should be protected — rather than the country as a whole.

"We don't want them to fight here in our Lagos because Lagos is for everybody, not for Yoruba alone, but for everybody," said Chief Orebiyi Ebenezer, a militia leader. "We need peace here in Lagos."

The Oodua People's Congress is a militia made up of Nigeria's Yoruba ethnic group, which dominates the country's southwest. The party takes its name from Oduduwa, the ancestor of the Yoruba race, and formed after military ruler Ibrahim Babangida annulled a presidential election in 1993 that many believe a wealthy Yoruba businessman won.

The group evolved into a quasi-political organization and likely receives the implicit support of major politicians in the region, though its members have been implicated in political violence and thuggery. Rumors abound in Nigeria's southwest that the group maintains a stockpile of firearms in a country where those weapons are strictly regulated by law, if not practice.

Those rumors appeared true as about 100 armed members riding in minibuses and marching by foot came into Lagos on Thursday, home to 15 million people. They fired long rifles and locally made shotguns into the air, unstopped by police as they ended up at Teslim Balogun Stadium, which hosted FIFA's Under-17 World Cup in 2009.

Leke Akintayo, a militia leader, said their protest was a show of force against Boko Haram, a Muslim sect in Nigeria's northeast that has killed at least 388 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja as part of its campaign for the implementation of strict Shariah law across the nation.

"We OPC, we still exist," Akintayo said. "They should not fall (under) our hand. ... This is our father's land."

He added: "We are going to retaliate if there is any bomb blast hitting any place. We are ready for them. Anytime, any moment."

How the group would retaliate remains unclear, but Lagos remains a melting pot city for Nigeria's more than 250 ethnic groups. At risk would be those belonging to the Hausa Fulani ethnic group, Muslims who dominate the country's north.

Such ethnic-based violence remains all too common in Nigeria. Since the nation became a democracy in 1999, tens of thousands have died in communal violence that cuts across religious and ethnic lines, but often takes root in political or economic issues.

Different groups in Nigeria's south have claimed they would fight Boko Haram if the government fails to stop the group, including militants in the country's oil-rich and restive Niger Delta. However, Thursday's march represented the first time a militia took the street armed to display and threaten using force to end the violence.

That threat mixed with theater at one point as one man holding a pump-action shotgun walked by journalists and said in Yoruba: "Should we shoot it for you?" He racked a shell into the shotgun and fired as he walked down the busy street filled with uniformed school children trying to get home.

Iran releases video of downed U.S. spy drone–looking intact

Iran's Press TV on Thursday broadcast an extended video tour of the U.S. spy drone that went down in the country--and it indeed appeared to look mostly intact.

American officials have acknowledged that an unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane was lost on a mission late last week, but have insisted that there is no evidence the drone was downed by hostile acts by Iran. Rather, they said, the drone likely went down because of a malfunction, and they implied the advanced stealth reconnaissance plane would likely have fallen from such a high altitude--the RQ-170 Sentinel can fly as high as 50,000 feet--that it wouldn't be in good shape.

But Iranian military officials have claimed since Sunday that they brought down an American spy drone that was little damaged. And now they have provided the first visual images of what looks to be a drone that at least outwardly appears to be in decent condition, in what is surely another humiliating poke in the eye for U.S. national security agencies.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the released images Thursday, a Defense Department spokesman told Yahoo News. But military analysts said it appeared to them to be the American drone in question.

"I have been doing this for thirty years, and it sure looks like" a stealthy U.S. drone to me," Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute and consultant to the RQ-170's manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, told Yahoo News in a telephone interview Thursday. "I think we are going to face the high likelihood that Iran has an intact version of one of our most important intelligence gathering tools."

Still, Thompson went on, the intelligence "windfall" to Iran from obtaining the advanced U.S. stealthy drone may be mitigated.

"I don't think the Iranians get as much out of it as they might hope," he said. "It probably came into their hands as a result of a technical malfunction. What that means is they still don't have a real defense against the U.S. flying other vehicles that have similar capabilities, without much fear of interception."

Analysts also noted that the video of the drone released by Iran did not show the drone's underside. "Pretty intact," the Center for Strategic and International Studies' James Lewis said by email. "Interesting that they covered the underside."

The New York Times reported Thursday that--unsurprisingly--the RQ-170 was lost while making the latest foray over Iran during an extended CIA surveillance effort of Iran's nuclear and ballistic weapons program.

"The overflights by the bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel, built by Lockheed Martin and first glimpsed on an airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2009, are part of an increasingly aggressive intelligence collection program aimed at Iran, current and former officials say," the Times' Scott Shane and David Sanger wrote. "The urgency of the effort has been underscored by a recent public debate in Israel about whether time is running out for a military strike to slow Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon."

Iran in turn has complained that the drone overflights represent an act of aggression and violation of its sovereignty, and summoned the Swiss envoy--who represents U.S. interests in Iran--on Thursday to lodge a protest.

However, while the images of the U.S. drone surely allowed Iran to score another public relations blow against Washington, Iran may find it tough to generate much in the way of international sympathy for being the target of U.S. surveillance.

Last week, Iranian hardliners ransacked the British embassy in Tehran, prompting the United Kingdom to recall its diplomatic staff from Tehran and order Iran's embassy in London closed. Last month, the UN atomic watchdog agency issued a report raising concerns about research Iran is suspected by some nations to have conducted before 2003 on military aspects of its nuclear program. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes. In October, the United States accused elements of Iran's Qods force of plotting to assassinate the Saudi envoy to the United States. The United Nations General Assembly voted last month in favor of a resolution condemning the Iranian plot.

Amid its growing international isolation, Iran, unsurprisingly, seemed intent to play up the drone incident for all it could.

"China, Russia want to inspect downed U.S. drone," proclaimed a headline from Iran's Mehr news agency Thursday.

The RQ-170 Sentinel, however, reportedly did not use the latest U.S. surveillance technology on board, in part because as a single-engine aircraft, it was thought more likely to occasionally go down.

"The basic principles of stealthy aircraft are fairly well known," Thompson said. "In terms of [the drone's] on-board electronics and information systems, it is fairly routine in combat to require authentication codes to make them hard to unlock."

Partial results give Congo's Kabila 14-point lead

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Partial results issued by Congo's electoral commission overnight make it all but certain that President Joseph Kabila will be declared the winner, setting the stage for possible clashes between his backers and those loyal to the main opposition candidate.

Supporters of longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi have vowed to take to the streets if Kabila is declared the winner.

Just before midnight Tuesday, election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda announced that the commission will require another 48 hours to issue the final provisional results. The delay, he said, is due to the fact that tally sheets from numerous provinces have still not been turned in. Helicopters have been dispatched to try to collect them in this vast largely roadless central African nation.

With 89.2 percent of precincts counted, Kabila had 8.3 million out of the 17.3 million votes, or 48 percent. Tshisekedi was trailing with 5.9 million votes, or 34 percent. The results were published Wednesday on the website of a United Nations-backed broadcaster, Radio Okapi.

Late Tuesday, members of Kabila's ruling party crowded inside Kinshasa's Grand Hotel for a festive celebration.

The threat of unrest hung over this troubled capital and international airlines canceled their flights. The U.S. Embassy ordered its staff and their families not to leave their homes until further notice. The American School of Kinshasa will be closed.

Last week's voting was marred by technical glitches, including the late delivery of ballots, some of which didn't reach polling stations until three days after the vote was supposed to take place. Even though it was clear that the election commission was not prepared for last week's ballot, the government rushed ahead with the election because the current president's five-year term expired Tuesday at midnight.

The 48-hour delay means that Kabila will be staying in office past his legal mandate. Analysts say the country could slide into a situation of unconstitutional power which could stoke tension in Congo.

"As we haven't yet been able to receive the tally sheets from all 60,000 polling stations in the country, we decided to push back the publication by 48 hours," said Matthieu Mpita, the spokesman of the National Independent Electoral Commission. "It was our objective to make the deadline," he said, "but we need all the elements."

On state television, coverage of a soccer match was interrupted so a statement from the election commission announcing the 48-hour delay could be read.

Congo is staging only its second democratic election and the process has been flawed at every step, from the late printing and delivery of ballots, to the chaotic counting centers where trucks were dumping containers filled with ballots and frequent power cuts interrupted the entry of data.

Over 3 million people registered to vote in the capital, Kinshasa, and observers say that only two of the four vote tabulation centers there had finished compiling results by Tuesday afternoon. Even at those two hubs, poll workers had misplaced results from hundreds of polling stations, said observers.

They were sorting through mountains of rice sacks containing ballots desperately trying to find them, said David Pottie of the Carter Center, the Atlanta-based observation mission established by former President Jimmy Carter.

Near the headquarters of the main opposition party, police fired tear gas and blasted water cannons to disperse supporters of 78-year-old Tshisekedi, witnesses said.

Election violence has already left at least 18 dead and more than 100 wounded, with most of the deaths caused by troops loyal to Kabila, according to Human Rights Watch.

Congo's back-to-back civil wars in the 1990s consumed the region. The country is ranked dead last on the United Nations' global survey of human development.

Although observers said they have not witnessed systematic fraud, only widespread irregularities, the impression among opposition supporters is that the vote is being manipulated in Kabila's favor.

Protest in Libya capital against former rebels

Square in a rally organised by the city council and backed by the interim government.

"Safety comes when there are no weapons," teacher Salwa Lamir, dressed in a black hijab, told AFP as she held a banner reading: "No weapons in Tripoli."

"We're protesting against weapons and people using weapons. I want the militias who came from outside Tripoli to leave. They have to go back to their homes and continue with their studies," she said.

Around her the crowd chanted "The people want safety!"

On Tuesday, the interim government gave its firm support to a two-week deadline for militias to quit Tripoli, backing up a threat from the capital's council to lock down the city if they fail to do so by December 20.

The militias, mostly from the cities of Misrata and Zintan, took part in the liberation of Tripoli in August and have been in the city ever since, often occupying buildings to use as their headquarters.

They have manned checkpoints on key roads and also at installations such as the capital's international airport.

Pressure to disarm the former rebels in Tripoli has mounted after local media reported several skirmishes between various factions in recent weeks.

On October 5, the country's new leaders ordered all heavy weapons removed from Tripoli, warning that their prolonged presence risked giving a bad image to the revolution which ousted Kadhafi who was later killed on October 20.

"These militias even intervene in police work, often asking us to free comrades of theirs held by us. This obstructs the application of the law," said one agitated policeman, Mustafa Salem, on Wednesday.

Behind him dozens of officers walked in the square shouting "Libya is free now, the militias must leave!" as others sounded the horns of police vehicles.

Another resident, Mohammed Seghaier, said the capital was becoming dangerous.

"They are causing problems. We want the rebels from outside Tripoli to go as the city is becoming dangerous," he said, adding that security must now be in hands of the national army and police.

When asked if the police and army can guarantee security, he said: "Yes. With the help of Tripoli rebels, the police can offer security."

But a rebel from Misrata, the third largest city in Libya, blamed the recent incidents on members of "Kadhafi's fifth column" who he said had infiltrated some militias.

"It is the fifth column which is creating these problems, not us," said Hamza Ghanem, whose comrades from Misrata captured and killed Kadhafi in the dictator's hometown Sirte on October 20.

Ghanem, himself a veteran of the Sirte battle, said he and other Misrata fighters in Tripoli were helping protect the city.

"Our group is protecting the National Oil Company building and offering security to employees there. We are ready to leave Tripoli the moment our commanders tell us," he said, denying he had weapons as he roamed the streets in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

Dozens of lawyers and judges also protested earlier on Wednesday outside Tripoli's main courthouse, calling for protection.

"We demand protection for judges and lawyers. These militias must leave Tripoli," said Abdelhakim al-Arabi, a judge in the city.

On Tuesday, witnesses said dozens of armed men and civilians forced their way into the courthouse and office of the attorney general, Abdelaziz al-Hasadi, calling for an ex-rebel allegedly involved in a murder to be freed.

The prosecutor fled before being caught by angry demonstrators who demanded that he sign a release order for the accused.

One Tripoli rebel on Wednesday expressed doubts about the ability of the police to offer security by themselves.

"Libya is free and it is a country belonging to all Libyans. Anybody can come to Tripoli," said Abdulmonam Binzena as he stood guard at the square and defended the presence of former rebels from outside the capital.

Mexico says foiled plan to smuggle in Gaddafi son

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico uncovered and stopped an international plot to smuggle late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi into the country using fake names and false papers, authorities said Wednesday.

A Canadian woman, a Danish man and two Mexicans were arrested on November 10 and 11 over an elaborate plan to bring Saadi Gaddafi, who is now in Niger, and his family to Mexico using forged documents, safe houses and private flights, they said.

Mexican officials acted on a tip in September about the network, which planned to settle the family near the popular tourist spot of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast, Interior Minister Alejandro Poire said.

In preparation for the family's arrival, the criminal ring bought properties around Mexico and opened bank accounts. It also arranged for private flights to smuggle in the family and set up identities under assumed names, including Moah Bejar Sayed and Amira Sayed Nader, authorities said.

The plotters themselves used a network of flights between Mexico, the United States, Canada, Kosovo and the Middle East to plan the route and organize the logistics for Saadi's arrival, Poire said.

"Mexican officials ... succeeded in avoiding this risk, they dismantled the international criminal network which was attempting this and they arrested those presumed responsible," he told a news conference.

The plan was to bring Saadi - a businessman and former professional soccer player - and his family to a multimillion-dollar estate in Punta Mita, the Canadian newspaper National Post reported.

Punta Mita is a swanky area with luxury hotels about 25 miles from Puerto Vallarta.

'YOU CAN GET AWAY'

The Canadian woman, Cynthia Ann Vanier, was the ringleader of the plot and directly in touch with the Gaddafi family, Mexican authorities said.

They said the Danish man, Pierre Christian Flensborg, was in charge of logistics. The Mexican suspects were identified as Jose Luis Kennedy Prieto and Gabriela Davila Huerta, also known as de Cueto.

Mexico, fighting to contain raging drug-related violence, has broken some major cartels into smaller criminal gangs that may be willing to help international criminals and militants, said one academic who specializes in regional security issues.

"Mexico ... has a reputation deservedly or not for lawlessness and so it was probably a calculation that if you go to Mexico ... you can get away and hide out," said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.

Saadi Gaddafi's lawyer Nick Kaufman said his client was still in Niger, where he fled as his father's 42-year rule crumbled in August. Niger has said he would remain in the West African nation until a United Nations travel ban is lifted.

"He is fully respecting the restraints placed on him presently by the international community," Kaufman told Reuters.

Like many senior members of the Gaddafi regime, Saadi was banned from traveling and had his assets frozen by a U.N. Security Council resolution when violence erupted in Libya earlier this year.

Interpol has issued a "red notice" requesting member states to arrest Saadi with a view to extradition if they find him in their territory.

Mikhail Gorbachev calls for a new vote in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities should annul the results of the parliamentary vote and hold a new one, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged Wednesday as popular indignation grew over widespread allegations of election fraud.

The call for an entirely new vote by the last president of the Soviet Union was a remarkable development for an election that had not generated much interest during the campaign. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had wanted to see his United Russia party do well to pave the way for his return to the presidency, but few Russians seemed to care about the vote, with many saying they assumed the results would be manipulated anyway.

United Russia won less than 50 percent of Sunday's vote, a steep fall from the 64 percent it won four years ago. But opposition parties and independent observers say even that result was inflated by vote-rigging, including alleged ballot-box stuffing and false voter rolls.

Gorbachev told the Interfax news agency that authorities must hold a fresh election or deal with a rising tide of discontent.

"More and more people are starting to believe that the election results are not fair," he told Interfax. "I believe that ignoring public opinion discredits the authorities and destabilizes the situation."

Surprisingly, thousands of Russians have rallied in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the last two days, facing off against tens of thousands of police and Interior Ministry troops. Hundreds of protesters have been detained in both cities. The unusually sustained protests suggests Putin's drive to regain his old job may not go as smoothly as he had expected.

The malaise revealed in Sunday's parliamentary election suggested Russians are tiring of Putin and his United Russia party, which has dominated all other political forces in Russia for the past dozen years and earned a reputation for corruption.

Gorbachev added that authorities "must admit that there have been numerous falsifications and ballot box stuffing."

He spoke on the same day that Putin officially registered to run for the presidency in a March vote.

Putin served as president from 2000 to 2008, when he moved into the prime minister's office because of a constitutional limit of two consecutive presidential terms. A constitutional amendment pushed through parliament by United Russia extended the presidential term from four to six years. Under it, Putin, 59, could theoretically serve as Russia's leader until 2024.

The 80-year-old Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until its breakup in 1991, has long had tense relations with Putin, but until recent years had refrained from directing his criticism of Russian politics at Putin.

Putin has been extremely critical of Gorbachev's legacy, including his concession to what many Russians saw as Western pressure to pull Soviet troops out of Germany, and has blamed him for the Soviet Union's demise.

Thousands of security forces were out in the Russian capital and helicopters roamed the sky Wednesday, a show of force following two days of protest. More opposition rallies were expected later in the day.

The Interior Ministry said Tuesday at least 51,500 police officers and 2,000 paramilitary troops have been deployed in Moscow since the election.

About 1,000 people gathered at a pro-Putin concert Wednesday afternoon in central Moscow. The crowd of mainly young people waved Russian flags and danced as organizers spoke on a stage adorned with a banner reading "The Future is Ours."

Someone dressed as a giant white bear — United Russia's mascot — danced among the crowd. He stopped occasionally to hug supporters — but kept right on dancing when someone ran out of the crowd to kick him in the rear.

College student Ivan Samburov, 17, said he had no interest in the protest rallies.

"I prefer just to stand like this and dance, to have fun and improve my mood, to feel that everything is good," he said.

The Russian Union of Journalists condemned police violence against protesters and called for an investigation into the dozens of attacks and arrests of journalists, describing them as "an attempt to gag and intimidate society."

On Wednesday, two video journalists working for the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency were briefly detained outside the Central Election Commission building where Putin was handing in his application to run.

The allegations of election fraud have fired up the opposition, which has long seen its protests crushed and its pleas ignored by the Kremlin-dominated media.

On Facebook, almost 15,000 people signed up to a page announcing an opposition rally for Saturday — and many of them have never taken part in political demonstrations

Mariya Boyarintseva, a 24-year-old event manager, said she has never been to a political rally before but she was going to Saturday's protest.

Boyarintseva said she didn't go to the rallies on Monday or Tuesday — which ended with clashes with police and hundreds detained — because "it felt a bit scary."

"Now, I have a feeling that I ought to go," she said.

Blagojevich gets 14 years in prison for corruption

CHICAGO (AP) — Rod Blagojevich, the ousted Illinois governor whose three-year battle against criminal charges became a national spectacle, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday, one of the stiffest penalties imposed for corruption in a state with a history of crooked politics.

Among his 18 convictions is the explosive charge that he tried to leverage his power to appoint someone to President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat in exchange for campaign cash or land a high-paying job.

Judge James Zagel gave Blagojevich some credit for taking responsibility for his actions — which the former governor did in an address to the court earlier in the day — but said that didn't mitigate his crimes. Zagel also said Blagojevich did good things for people as governor, but was more concerned about using his powers for himself.

"When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired," Zagel said.

As the judge announced the sentence, which includes a $20,000 fine, Blagojevich hunched forward and his face appeared frozen. Minutes later, his wife, Patti Blagojevich, stood up and fell into her husband's arms. He pulled back to brush tears off her cheek and then rubbed her shoulders.

On his way out of the courthouse, Blagojevich cited author Rudyard Kipling and said it was a time to be strong, to fight through adversity and be strong for his children. He said he and wife were heading home to speak to their daughters, and then left without answering any questions.

The twice-elected Democrat received by far the harshest sentence among the four Illinois governors sent to prison in the last four decades. He is the second in a row to go to prison; his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, currently is serving 6 1/2 years. The other two got three years or less.

Blagojevich, in a last plea for mercy, tried something he never had before: an apology. After years of insisting he was innocent, he told the judge he'd made "terrible mistakes" and acknowledged that he broke the law.

"I caused it all, I'm not blaming anybody," Blagojevich said. "I was the governor and I should have known better and I am just so incredibly sorry."

But Zagel gave him little leeway.

"Whatever good things you did for people as governor, and you did some, I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers ... to do things that were only good for yourself," Zagel said.

The judge said he did not believe Blagojevich's contention, as his lawyers wrote in briefings, that his comments about the corruption schemes were simply "musings." Zagel said the jury concluded and he agreed that Blagojevich was engaged in actual schemes, and the undeniable leader of those schemes.

"The governor was not marched along this criminal path by his staff," Zagel said. "He marched them."

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 15 to 20 years, which Blagojevich's attorneys said was too harsh. The defense also presented heartfelt appeals from Blagojevich's family, including letters from his wife and one of his two daughters that pleaded for mercy.

But the judge made it clear early in the hearing that he believed that Blagojevich had lied on the witness stand when he tried to explain his scheming for the Senate seat, and he did not believe defense suggestions that the former governor was duped by his advisers.

The 54-year-old was ordered to begin serving his sentence on Feb. 16. In white-collar cases, convicted felons are usually given at least a few weeks to report to prison while federal authorities select a suitable facility. Blagojevich is expected to appeal his conviction, but it is unlikely to affect when he reports to prison.

Most of the prisons where Blagojevich could end up are outside Illinois. One is in Terre Haute, Ind., where Ryan is serving his own sentence. In prison, Blagojevich will largely be cut off from the outside world. Visits by family are strictly limited, Blagojevich will have to share a cell with other inmates and he must work an eight-hour-a-day menial job — possibly scrubbing toilets or mopping floors — at just 12 cents an hour.

According to federal rules, felons must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence a judge imposes — meaning Blagojevich wouldn't be eligible for early release until he serves nearly 12 years.

Going into the sentencing, many legal experts said the governor — who became a national punch line while doing reality TV appearances such as "Celebrity Apprentice" while his legal case unfolded — was likely to get around 10 years. A former Blagojevich fundraiser, Tony Rezko, recently was sentenced to 10 1/2 years, minus time served.

Prosecutors have said Blagojevich misused the power of his office "from the very moment he became governor." He was initially elected in 2002 on a platform of cleaning up Illinois politics in the midst of federal investigations that led to the prosecution and conviction of Ryan.

Defense attorneys have said Blagojevich has already paid a price in public ridicule and financial ruin, and had proposed a term of just a few years.

Blagojevich's sentencing came just days before his 55th birthday on Saturday, and nearly three years to the day of his arrest at dawn on Dec. 9, 2008, when the startled governor asked one federal agent, "Is this a joke?" In a state where corruption has been commonplace, images of Blagojevich being led away in handcuffs still came as a shock.

It took two trials for prosecutors to snare Blagojevich. His first ended deadlocked with jurors agreeing on just one of 24 counts — that Blagojevich lied to the FBI. Jurors at his retrial convicted him on 17 of 20 counts, including bribery and attempted extortion.

FBI wiretap evidence proved decisive. In the most notorious recording, Blagojevich is heard crowing that his chance to name someone to Obama's seat was "f---ing golden" and he wouldn't let it go "for f---ing nothing."

Blagojevich clearly dreaded the idea of prison time. Asked in an interview before his retrial about whether he dwelled on that prospect, he answered: "No. I don't let myself go there."

In the same interview, Blagojevich also explained that the family dog Skittles was bought after his arrest in to help his school-age daughters, Amy and Annie, cope with the stress of his legal troubles. He said he joked with them that, "If the worst happens (and I go to prison), you can get another dog and call him 'Daddy.'"

Russian police block new anti-Putin rally

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Plans for big new protests against Vladimir Putin fizzled on Wednesday after a show of force by Russian police who have detained more than 1,000 people in a crackdown since a parliamentary election dismissed by Kremlin foes as a fraud.

It was a setback for government opponents seeking to channel public anger over the election, widely seen as slanted in favour of Prime Minister Putin's ruling United Russia party, into a powerful protest movement.

Putin pressed ahead with his bid to return to the presidency next year, filing papers to register his candidacy, while former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev suggested the official results of Sunday's vote were a "lie" and called for a new election.

A day after police dispersed protesters in central Moscow and seized others before they could even reach the rally, detaining more than 300, opposition activists had planned a new demonstration at the same site 24 hours later.

But hundreds of helmeted riot police blocked off the square after nightfall, pushing back reporters and shouting through loudspeakers: "Respected citizens, please do not stop, walk on your way so as not to hinder others."

Three youths emerged near a subway station entrance, chanting: "We want free elections!." Riot police marched them off to one of the dozens of police buses and truck that lined the streets nearby.

In St Petersburg, about 250 people protested, most of them youngsters, shouting "Shame!" Police detained about 70.

Kremlin opponents are trying to maintain momentum after 5,000 people turned out on Monday night for the largest opposition protest in Moscow in years, demanding fair elections and chanting "Russia without Putin!."

Police and Putin's spokesman have said unapproved protests will be stopped. The Interior Ministry said some 50,000 officers and 2,000 ministry troops remained in Moscow after the election.

A test of the drive to pressure Putin with street protests will come on Saturday, when opponents hope for a big turnout at a rally near the Kremlin.

LOCKED UP

Two protest leaders arrested after Monday's rally will still be in jail then. A judge on Wednesday rejected appeals filed by Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin against the 15-day jail terms they received the previous day.

Monday's protest, fanned by fraud accusations that spread on the Internet, underscored anger at United Russia and unhappiness among some Russians at the prospect of Putin's almost certain return to the Kremlin in a March presidential vote.

Voters bruised Putin in Sunday's election by sharply reducing his party's majority in the State Duma lower house.

Undeterred, Putin filed candidacy papers for the March 4 presidential vote, submitting the documents in a brief, nearly silent visit to the Central Election Commission headquarters.

Registration as a candidate is a formal step towards what could be another 12 years in the top job for Putin, 59, who was president from 2000 to 2008 and is now prime minister but remains Russia's paramount leader.

Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, the protege he tapped as successor when the constitution barred him from a third successive term in 2008, said in September they plan to swap jobs next year, with Medvedev taking over as prime minister.

Putin remains Russia's most popular politician and is likely to win a six-year presidential term, after which he could run again, potentially serving until 2024.

But the sharp decline in support for his ruling party was a sign of frustration with the political system he has put in place, in which many Russians feel they have no influence.

United Russia received 49.4 percent of the votes in Sunday's election and will have 238 seats in the 450-member Duma, down from 315 now. Rival parties that won seats and the marginalized politicians leading street protests say even that result was inflated by fraud such as ballot-box stuffing.

GORBACHEV WANTS NEW ELECTIONS

"With each day, more Russians do not believe that the declared results are honest," Gorbachev was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency, adding that ignoring public opinion discredited the authorities and destabilized the situation.

"And so I think it is necessary to annul the results of this vote and announce new elections," he said.

Grigory Yavlinsky, whose liberal Yabloko party fell short of the 5 percent of votes needed to win Duma seats, said those who won seats should force a new election by refusing to take them.

"If you think that vote-rigging was substantial, then get out of the State Duma ... then we can have new elections that will pass off better," Yavlinsky told reporters.

The Communist Party will have 92 seats, the left-leaning Just Russia will have 64 and the nationalist LDPR 56. Kremlin critics say all three parties are part of a system managed by the Kremlin and present no real threat to Putin's rule.

The election and the police crackdown has increased tension between Russia and the West, already wary about Putin's planned return to the Kremlin.

International observers said the campaign was slanted in favour of United Russia. The United States and the European Union voiced concern about the conduct of the election and the treatment of protesters. Russia called the U.S. criticism "unacceptable."

China's Hu urges navy to prepare for combat

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday urged the navy to prepare for military combat, amid growing regional tensions over maritime disputes and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.

The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security," he said.

Addressing the powerful Central Military Commission, Hu said: "Our work must closely encircle the main theme of national defence and military building."

His comments, which were posted in a statement on a government website, come as the United States and Beijing's neighbours have expressed concerns over its naval ambitions, particularly in the South China Sea.

Several Asian nations have competing claims over parts of the South China Sea, believed to encompass huge oil and gas reserves, while China claims it all. One-third of global seaborne trade passes through the region.

Vietnam and the Philippines have accused Chinese forces of increasing aggression there.

In a translation of Hu's comments, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the president as saying China's navy should "make extended preparations for warfare."

The Pentagon however downplayed Hu's speech, saying that Beijing had the right to develop its military, although it should do so transparently.

"They have a right to develop military capabilities and to plan, just as we do," said Pentagon spokesman George Little, but he added, "We have repeatedly called for transparency from the Chinese and that's part of the relationship we're continuing to build with the Chinese military."

"Nobody's looking for a scrap here," insisted another spokesman, Admiral John Kirby. "Certainly we wouldn't begrudge any other nation the opportunity, the right to develop naval forces to be ready.

"Our naval forces are ready and they'll stay ready."

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: "We want to see stronger military-to-military ties with China and we want to see greater transparency. That helps answer questions we might have about Chinese intentions."

Hu's announcement comes in the wake of trips to Asia by several senior US officials, including President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

US undersecretary of defence Michelle Flournoy is due to meet in Beijing with her Chinese counterparts on Wednesday for military-to-military talks.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month warned against interference by "external forces" in regional territorial disputes including those in the South China Sea.

And China said late last month it would conduct naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean, after Obama, who has dubbed himself America's first Pacific president, said the US would deploy up to 2,500 Marines to Australia.

China's People's Liberation Army, the largest military in the world, is primarily a land force, but its navy is playing an increasingly important role as Beijing grows more assertive about its territorial claims.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon warned that Beijing was increasingly focused on its naval power and had invested in high-tech weaponry that would extend its reach in the Pacific and beyond.

China's first aircraft carrier began its second sea trial last week after undergoing refurbishments and testing, the government said.

The 300-metre (990-foot) ship, a refitted former Soviet carrier, underwent five days of trials in August that sparked international concern about China's widening naval reach.

Beijing only confirmed this year that it was revamping the old Soviet ship and has repeatedly insisted that the carrier poses no threat to its neighbours and will be used mainly for training and research purposes.

But the August sea trials were met with concern from regional powers including Japan and the United States, which called on Beijing to explain why it needs an aircraft carrier.

China, which publicly announced around 50 separate naval exercises in the seas off its coast over the past two years -- usually after the event -- says its military is only focused on defending the country's territory.

Thousands protest against Putin in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — Several thousand people protested Monday night against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his party, which won the largest share of a parliamentary election that observers said was rigged.

It was perhaps the largest opposition rally in years and ended with police detaining some of the activists. A group of several hundred marched toward the Central Elections Commission near the Kremlin, but were stopped by riot police and taken away in buses. The total number of those detained was not immediately available.

Estimates of the number of protesters at the rally ranged from 5,000 to 10,000. They chanted "Russia without Putin" and accused his United Russia party of stealing votes.

United Russia took about 50 percent of Sunday's vote, a result that opposition politicians and election monitors said was inflated because of ballot stuffing and other vote fraud. It was a significant drop from the last election, when the party took 64 percent.

Pragmatically, the loss of seats in parliament appears to mean little; two of the three other parties winning seats have been reliable supporters of government legislation. But, it is a substantial symbolic blow to a party that had become virtually indistinguishable from the state itself.

It has also energized the opposition and poses a humbling challenge to the country's dominant figure in his drive to return to the presidency. Putin, who became prime minister in 2008 because of presidential term limits, will run for a third term in March and some opposition leaders saw the parliamentary election as a game-changer for what had been presumed to be Putin's easy stroll back to the Kremlin.

Also Monday, more than 400 Communist supporters gathered to express their indignation over the election, which some called the dirtiest in modern Russian history. The Communist Party finished second with about 20 percent of the vote.

"Even compared to the 2007 elections, violations by the authorities and the government bodies that actually control the work of all election organizations at all levels, from local to central, were so obvious and so brazen," said Yevgeny Dorovin, a member of the party's central committee.

Putin appeared subdued and glum even as he insisted at a Cabinet meeting Monday that the result "gives United Russia the possibility to work calmly and smoothly."

Although the sharp decline for United Russia could lead Putin and the party to try to portray the election as genuinely democratic, the wide reports of violations have undermined that attempt at spin.

Boris Nemtsov, a prominent figure among Russia's beleaguered liberal opposition, declared that the vote spelled the end of Putin's "honeymoon" with the nation and predicted that his rule will soon "collapse like a house of cards."

"He needs to hold an honest presidential election and allow opposition candidates to register for the race, if he doesn't want to be booed from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad," Nemtsov said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

Many Russians came to despise United Russia, seeing it as the engine of endemic corruption. The election showed voters that they have power despite what election monitors called a dishonest count.

"Yesterday, it was proven by these voters that not everything was fixed, that the result really matters," said Tiny Kox of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, part of an international election observer mission.

Other analysts suggested the vote was a wake-up call to Putin that he had lost touch with the country. In the early period of his presidency, Putin's appeal came largely from his man-of-the-people image: candid, decisive and without ostentatious tastes.

But, he seemed to lose some of the common touch, appearing in well-staged but increasingly preposterous heroic photo opportunities — hunting a whale with a crossbow, fishing while bare-chested, and purportedly discovering ancient Greek artifacts while scuba-diving. And Russians grew angry at his apparent disregard — and even encouragement — of the country's corruption and massive income gap.

"People want Putin to go back to what he was in his first term — decisive, dynamic, tough on oligarchs and sensitive to the agenda formed by society," said Sergei Markov, a prominent United Russia Duma member.

The vote "was a normal reaction of the population to the worsening social situation," once Kremlin-connected political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Only seven parties were allowed to field candidates for parliament this year, while the most vocal opposition groups were barred from the race. International monitors said the election administration lacked independence, most media were biased and state authorities interfered unduly at different levels.

"To me, this election was like a game in which only some players are allowed to compete," Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said.

Tagliavini said that of the 150 polling stations where the counting was observed, "34 were assessed to be very bad."

Other than the Communist Party, the socialist Just Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party led by mercurial nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky are also expected to increase their representation in the Duma; both have generally voted with United Russia, and the Communists pose only token opposition.

Two liberal parties were in the running, but neither got the 7 percent of the national vote needed to win seats. Nemtsov's People's Freedom Party, one of the most prominent liberal parties, was denied participation for alleged violations in the required 45,000 signatures the party had submitted with its registration application.

About 60 percent of Russia's 110 million registered voters cast ballots, down from 64 percent four years ago.

Social media were flooded with messages reporting violations. Many people reported seeing buses deliver groups of people to polling stations, with some of the buses carrying young men who looked like football fans, who often are associated with violent nationalism.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. has "serious concerns" about the elections.

Russia's only independent election monitoring group, Golos, which is funded by U.S. and European grants, has come under heavy official pressure in the past week. Golos' website was incapacitated by hackers on Sunday, and its director Lilya Shibanova and her deputy had their cell phone numbers, email and social media accounts hacked.