Putin accused over Nemtsov shooting

MURDERED spy Alexander Litvinenko's widow has said Boris Nemtsov's shooting was the Russian government's way of saying that anyone who spoke out against President Vladimir Putin would be killed.

MARINA Litvinenko described news of the veteran liberal politician's shooting as "absolutely devastating".

She was asked on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House program whether she believed the shooting of Nemtsov near the Kremlin in Moscow was linked to her husband's poisoning.She replied: "It's a different way to kill a person, but a way to present that anybody who will try to say something against (the government) will be killed."Nemtsov was a leading critic of President Putin and the war in Ukraine.He is said to have been hit by four bullets from a passing car as he walked on a bridge, hours after urging Russians to attend a protest rally and march against the "mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine".When asked what effect the high-profile death would have on democracy in Russia, Litvinenko said former deputy prime minister Nemtsov and other people had started to be described as "enemies of Russia".She continued: "Particularly after the war with Ukraine, the atmosphere in Russia is very aggressive. When you see images saying he is an enemy of Russia, Russian people will hate him."Litvinenko agreed with Nemstov's long-time friend, Vladimir Riskov, who said Putin was politically responsible.She concluded: "All what happened in Russia, it's the responsibility of this government and Mr Putin, he built this country that became centre of huge conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and a big problem with all the West, and it's the full responsibility of this person and his government."

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

At least 1,100 killed in Iraq in February

The UN mission to Iraq says violence in the country claimed at least 1,100 Iraqi lives in February. Source: AAP

THE UN mission to Iraq says violence in the country claimed the lives of at least 1,100 Iraqis in February, including more than 600 civilians.

IN a statement, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said 611 civilians were among 1,103 people killed last month. The rest were members of the security forces.

It said at least 2,280 people were wounded, including 1,353 civilians.UNAMI said the most violent city was the capital Baghdad, with 329 civilians killed and 875 wounded.The UN numbers do not include the third of the country held by the Islamic State extremist group.According to UNAMI, last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2006-2007, with a total of 12,282 people killed and 23,126 wounded.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Abbott clawing back ground: Ipsos poll

Tony Abbott is staging an unlikely recovery with a poll showing the Coalition closing in on Labor. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott is staging an unlikely recovery in the polls even as speculation about his leadership rumbles on.

A FAIRFAX-IPSOS poll published on Sunday puts the coalition almost neck-and-neck with Labor in two-party terms at 49-51.

That's the best result since October and a big improvement on the 54-46 split recorded in January.Labor's primary vote dropped four points to sit at 36 per cent, while the coalition has gained four points to hit 42 per cent, the poll of 1406 voters suggests.The results confirm a surge in government support suggested last week by Newspoll, which found primary support for the government rising three points.Yet Mr Abbott continues to lag former leader Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader, losing out in all 10 of the leadership attributes surveyed.A fifth of those polled believe Mr Abbott enjoys the confidence of his party. Half think Mr Turnbull does.Labor leader Bill Shorten remains preferred prime minister, but his margin has been slashed from 16 points to five to sit at 44-39.Mr Abbott laughed off the latest round of leadership speculation on Sunday, amid talk of a second spill motion.He said the matter had been settled by the party room three weeks ago.The poll has a 2.6 per cent margin of error.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Clean Up Australia clears 300,000th tonne

On the 25th Clean Up Australia Day, founder Ian Kiernan is convinced the country is a cleaner place. Source: AAP

A QUARTER of a century after the first Clean Up Australia Day, volunteers have cleared their 300,000th tonne of rubbish.

MORE than half-a-million Australians carted around the signature yellow rubbish bags on Sunday at more than 6000 sites around the country, the organisation says.

On the event's 25th anniversary, volunteers removed an estimated 13,500 tonnes of rubbish.That's in addition to the 288,000 tonnes estimated to have been cleared over the previous 24 years."We should all be proud of our outstanding success," said founder of Clean Up Australia, Ian Kiernan, in Sydney.He told AAP "there's no doubt" Australia is a cleaner place than it was 25 years ago."The support for the event continues to grow as we become more aware of the importance of protecting our local environment," he said.But he said volunteers continue to find "staggering" amounts of cigarette butts, glass, plastics and paper.Around 80 per cent of the rubbish removed each year is recyclable.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thousands in Moscow at Nemtsov march

TENS of thousands of people are marching through central Moscow to mourn opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in a drive-by shooting days earlier.

THE crowd lined the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge near the Kremlin, where the veteran politician was hit by four bullets fired by an unknown gunman on Friday.

Organisers, among them Nemtsov, had originally planned to protest the policies of President Vladimir Putin on Sunday. They had agreed to move the event to a Moscow suburb after the city government did not allow it to be held in the centre.After Nemtsov's killing, however, authorities granted permission for the march to be relocated to the centre.Fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was the first to call for the march, missed the event. He is serving 15 days in detention for allegedly illegally handing out flyers.Nemtsov, who served as Russian deputy prime minister in the late 1990s and was a sharp critic of Putin since 2000, is the most prominent politician to have been assassinated in post-Soviet Russia.Moscow's TV Tsentr state television channel released footage from video surveillance cameras that suggested the killer might have fired the shots from a slow-moving street cleaning lorry as it drove past Nemtsov.The footage, which was recorded from a great distance, shows the lorry driving past the silhouettes of two pedestrians believed to be Nemtsov and his girlfriend.When the vehicle passes, only one pedestrian remains and a person is seen running from the lorry towards a passing car, which stops on the middle of the road, lets the person get in, and quickly drives away.Russia's Investigative Committee, a powerful agency that reports directly to Putin, has suggested that Nemtsov could have been killed by opposition members who want to destabilise the country.Putin had earlier said through his spokesman that the crime was a provocation.The Investigative Committee also said that the crime might be linked to Islamist extremists because of Nemtsov's criticism of the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo, or to "radicals" from either side of the conflict inside Ukraine.Opposition supporters and independent observers dismissed the investigators' claims and expressed fear that the killing will fuel more political violence in the country.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Estonians vote under shadow of Russia

POLLS have opened in Estonia in a general election overshadowed by security concerns sparked by Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

THE conflict in Ukraine has stirred anxiety in the former Soviet republic, with national security issues having dominated the election campaign.

The small Baltic nation, a member of both NATO and the European Union, borders Russia and has an uneasy relationship with Moscow.The country is also home to a Russian-speaking minority that makes up 25 per cent of the population of 1.3 million.However, there is no openly pro-Russian party in Estonia, in contrast to the situation in Latvia, Estonia's southern neighbour.The pro-market Reform Party of Prime Minister Taavi Roivas has led in the opinion polls published in the run-up to the vote.It won 28 per cent or 33 seats in the 101-member parliament in the last election in 2010.Roivas' main opponent is Edgar Savisaar, the 64-year-old mayor of Tallinn and head of the leftist Centre Party.The election commission said preliminary results will be published after polls close on Sunday (0600 AEDT Monday).

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More