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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's odds of holding power "are slipping away" as the nearly 2-year-old revolt against his rule grinds on, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Medvedev distanced Moscow from its longtime Middle East client. But he repeated Russia's longtime insistence that outside powers shouldn't be picking Syria's leaders.

"From the outset, the Russian Federation was not an exclusive ally of Syria or President Assad," Medvedev said. "We used to have good relations with him and his father, but he had much closer allies among the Europeans."

Russia has "never said that our goal was to preserve the current political regime, or making sure that President Assad stays in power," he added. "That decision has to be made by the Syrian people."

It's the latest in a series of grim assessments of al-Assad's chances from Russia, which has been Syria's leading arms supplier since the days of the Cold War. President Vladimir Putin said in December that Moscow won't support al-Assad "at any cost," and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted a few days earlier that the Kremlin "can't exclude a victory by the opposition."

When the Arab Spring revolts erupted across the region in early 2011, Syrians took to the streets to demonstrate against al-Assad's rule. The Syrian leader quickly responded with a crackdown by police and the army that soon exploded into a civil war. The United Nations says the conflict has now killed more than 60,000 people, and opposition activists said more than 100 were killed Sunday.

Rebel forces -- many of them led by former soldiers, others by jihadists linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network -- are now regularly battling government troops in the capital, Damascus, and the country's commercial hub of Aleppo.

Medvedev said he blames both the opposition and al-Assad's government for refusing to negotiate. He said he personally lobbied al-Assad to open up his regime to reform and that his resistance was an "important, if not fatal" mistake.

"The chances for him surviving are slipping away as days and weeks go by," Medvedev told CNN. "But once again, it should not be up to us. It should be up to the Syrian people."

Russia has criticized Western powers, including the United States, that have recognized the opposition as Syria's rightful leadership. Russia and China have blocked U.N. Security Council attempts to take action to end the conflict and force al-Assad to step down.

Medvedev spoke to CNN at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. His comments contrasted with those of Jordan's King Abdullah II, who said Friday that al-Assad is not likely to fall for months.

"Anyone who says that Bashar's regime has got weeks to live really doesn't know the reality on the ground," he said during a panel appearance with Zakaria at the World Economic Forum. "They still have capability. ... So (I expect) a strong showing for at least the first half of 2013."

But Medvedev warned that if al-Assad's rule is "swept away" by the revolt, the result could be a conflict among its successors that could last "for decades." Asked about concerns that jihadists could use a successful campaign in Syria to spread into southern Russia, where Islamic militant groups have been battling Moscow for more than a decade, he said that prospect should alarm the West as well.

"They can travel to Europe. They tried to. And in the U.S.," Medvedev said. "So it is alarming for all of us. It does not mean, though, that we should bring to power radical opposition leaders. It should be a difficult process, led by civil society."


(CNN)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A major blaze at a nightclub in southern Brazilian town of Santa Maria has left at least 245 people dead, according to local police. The fire happened in the city center, with the area remaining isolated.

All effective fire brigades in the city took part in putting out the blaze engulfing the Kiss Nightclub in Andradas Street.

The local governor tweeted, “Sad Sunday. We are taking appropriate action and possible. I'll Be in Santa Maria in the late morning.”

According to reports in the local media citing police, more than 200 people died of those 500 who were at the club when the blaze broke out.

Emergency workers are still counting the dead and removing the bodies.

At least 50 other people were injured in the fire, security forces indicated.

The blaze reportedly began when a performing band started a fireworks display. Acoustic insulation caught fire, and thick smoke filled the club, causing many to die from inhaling the toxic fumes.

There was no emergency exit available and people rushed to the only way out of the building in panic, local officials said. Some people died of asphyxiation, others from being trampled, they added.

Firefighters had to use sledgehammers and axes to open up a breach exit in the exterior wall, according to local TV.

Emergency medical supplies are being sent from all over the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff had to break her Chile visit and fly back to Brazil following the accident, according to her spokesperson.

Just over eight years ago, a fire at a disco in Buenos Aires, Argentina, left 194 people dead and over 700 injured. Five to six thousand people were at the club, and the blaze was triggered by several youths who started throwing Bengal fires into the ceiling. All the fire exits turned out to be blocked.

And in 2009, a Russian club called ‘Lame Horse’ caught fire in the city of Perm, with 156 people were killed in the blaze which began when a pyrotechnics display ignited the nightclub’s wooden and straw ceiling.
 

China's economy will pick up pace a little in 2013 and inflationary pressures will increase, the deputy governor of the country's central bank said Saturday.

"I think China's growth rate will be about 8% this year," Yi Gang said during a debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He said consumer price inflation could reach 3% or slightly higher.

 The world's second-biggest economy grew by 7.8% last year, well below the average 10% growth seen in the past three decades but better than the government's own target of 7.5% and above analyst expectations.

The annual figure was boosted by a recovery in industrial production and exports in the fourth quarter, which grew 7.9%, prompting economists to forecast a slow but steady recovery in 2013

The acceleration in the last three months of 2012 followed seven quarters of slowing growth as China felt the impact of weak activity in the United States and Europe, as well as its own efforts to control a real estate boom and contain inflation.

China's manufacturing sector showed more signs of improvement this month, with a preliminary reading of purchasing managers' sentiment rising to its highest level in two years.

Inflation rose to 2.5% in December, as a spurt of extremely cold weather drove food prices higher. That compared with 2% in November, but still represents tame inflation -- the government aims to keep annual inflation below 4%.

 China is trying to rebalance its economy, placing greater emphasis on consumption. Yi said domestic demand was playing an ever more important role in the economy as growth in incomes outpaced GDP growth.

"Consumption is very robust," he said.

China would continue to aim for a reduction in its current account surplus as a percentage of GDP, he said. The figure stood at 2.8% of GDP in 2012.
 

North Korea's sole major ally China will decrease aid to Pyongyang if it goes ahead with a planned nuclear test, state-run media said in an unusually frank warning on Friday, AFP reports.

A far-right political party is distributing thousands of knives to women in a western Indian state to help them protect themselves after a fatal gang-rape last month alarmed the country, AFP reports.

Russia's parliament has given initial backing to a bill banning homosexual "propaganda" among children that could lead to gays being fined for demonstrating or kissing in public, a move condemned by the United States and rights groups, AFP reports.

American David Headley sentenced in Chicago for reconnaissance work on sites chosen in 2008 attack which left 166 dead.

An American has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for helping plan the 2008 attack on Mumbai which left at least 166 people dead.

David Coleman Headley, 52, pleaded guilty in the case and co-operated to avoid the death penalty and extradition to India.

Prosecutors in Chicago had pressed for leniency as credit for Headley's co-operation with investigators, such as sharing intelligence about networks, including the Pakistani-based group that mounted the attack.

Rewarding Headley with the hope of at least a few years of freedom, they said, would encourage future suspects to talk.

Judge Harry Leinenweber said the Mumbai assault was so unfathomable and terrifying that "perhaps the lucky ones were the ones who didn't survive".

"I don't have any faith in Mr Headley when he says he's a changed person and believes in the American way of life," he said.

Headley's meticulous scouting missions helped facilitate the operation by 10 gunmen from Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Many of the victims of the attack said they were disturbed and upset that Headley did not get the maximum life sentence he faced.

Headly showed no emotion when the sentence was announced.

Hatred of India

The attackers arrived by boat on November 26, 2008, carrying grenades and automatic weapons, and fanned out to hit multiple targets, including a crowded train station, a Jewish centre and the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel.

Television cameras captured much of the three-day rampage live.

The attack had heightened the strain in a historically antagonistic relationship between India and Pakistan, which have fought three major wars.

Indian officials accuse Pakistani intelligence of helping to plan the assault - an allegation Pakistan denies.

Prosecutors said Headley, who was born in the US to a Pakistani father and American mother, was motivated in part by a hatred of India going back to his childhood.

Mapped targets

Headley changed his birth name from Daood Gilani in 2006 so he could travel to, and from, India more easily to do reconnaissance without raising suspicions, videotaping and mapping targets for the gunmen.

The 12 counts Headley pleaded guilty to included conspiracy to commit murder in India and aiding and abetting in the murder of six Americans.

Prosecutors praised Headley for testifying against Tahawwur Rana, the Chicago businessman convicted of providing aid to Lashkar-e-Taiba and backing a failed plot to attack a Danish newspaper for publishing depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Rana, sentenced last week to 14 years in prison, claimed his friend Headley had duped him.

Late last year, India secretly hanged the lone gunman who survived the Mumbai attack, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab.
 

Russia's Bolshoi Theatre has appointed a former prima ballerina as a temporary replacement for its artistic director who is recovering from an acid attack.

Galina Stepanenko joined the ballet company in 1990, retiring last year.

Award-winning ballet star, Sergei Filin was walking home in central Moscow when a masked man threw acid in his face.

Stepanenko said she would fulfil Filin's plans and stick to his chosen repertoire, beginning with the opening of La Bayadere on Thursday.

Stepanenko and Filin, who are both aged 42, danced together for many years.

She has been described as "a virtuoso of classical dance."

Announcing his temporary replacement, the Bolshoi's executive director, Anatoly Iksanov said Stepanenko was Filin's choice to serve as acting artistic director and he supported the decision.
Infighting

Filin had suffered months of threats prior to the attack outside his apartment complex on Thursday.

It was suspected that he was the victim of infighting and rows between different groups of dancers at the Bolshoi.

Asked about infighting, the award-winning dancer Stepanenko said the ballet company was composed of many "brilliant, very diverse, very talented people."

"I think that we will now respect, value and especially take care of one another," she said.

Filin had surgery on his face on Tuesday and is scheduled to have a second operation on Wednesday. Doctors are most concerned about saving the sight in his right eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iksanov said Filin would return to his position at the Bolshoi, although it was not clear when that would be.

Tensions at the Bolshoi over its artistic programme have been widely reported in Russian media.

In 2011, two ballet stars - Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev - resigned in protest at the Bolshoi's new repertoire.

Following the attack, Iksanov told Russian television that Mr Filin was "uncompromising" in his management style.

"If he thought a performer was unready to play a certain role, or incapable of it, he would not let the performer do it," he said.
 

India's rape crisis grew yet deeper today when it emerged a schoolgirl died two weeks after a boy who tried to rape her set her on fire - with the help of his parents.
 
The 15-year-old, from Jigna village in northeast India, was rushed to hospital after the January 6 attack with horrific burns to 80 per cent of her body.
 
Despite doctors battling for two weeks to keep her alive, she died of her injuries on Sunday.

Police have charged Gyan Singh and his parents with murder following her death and say all three face the death penalty if found guilty.

It is claimed the three doused her in petrol and lit a match because they were afraid she might lodge a complaint against Singh who had tried to sexually assault her the previous day.
 
'With the girl's death we have enough evidence to press for death penalty for Singh and his parents who had been arrested immediately after she was admitted to hospital,' Senior Superintendent of Police of Allahabad Mohit Agrawl said.

It is the latest in a chain of high-profile rapes in recent months that have shaken India to its core, triggering nationwide self-reflection and soul searching.

The first, on December 16 last year, saw a 23-year-old medical student gang raped on a private bus by five men in New Delhi before she was thrown, fatally injured and unclothed, into the road and left to die.
 
Thirteen days later she died in hospital. The men alleged to have attacked her are awaiting trial for her rape and murder.

There has been a groundswell protest in India ever since, with mass demonstrations for women's rights, tougher rape laws and calls for sex attackers to be hanged.
 
Meanwhile last week, a fast-track court set up exclusively to deal with cases of crime against women has imposed the death penalty on a 56-year-old man for raping and murdering a minor.
 
The act was termed 'heinous' and included in the category of rarest of the rare.

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat, who heads the recently-created fast-track court at Dwarka court complex, awarded capital punishment to Bharat Singh, a guard at a farmhouse in West Delhi.

 
As well as the death sentence, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Singh under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On January 15, hundreds of people surrounded a school in the city of Vasco da Gama in Goa to protest after a seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped in the toilets next door to the headmistress's office.
 
A day earlier, six men were arrested after another alleged gang rape of a woman on a bus in New Delhi.
 
The victim had been travelling to her in-laws house in Punjab on Friday when she was allegedly snatched and to a district bordering Amritsar, the Sikh holy city.
 
Five men joined the driver and conductor, who had taken her by motorbike to an unknown address, and took turns to rape the 29-year-old.
 
But these are just a handful of cases that have reached public attention in recent months.

In 'rape capital' New Delhi, police data revealed as many as 706 cases of rape - almost two per day - were registered in 2012, which is around 24 per cent more than the 572 cases reported in 2011.

Even worse, the city witnessed 45 rapes (three in a day) and 75 cases of molestation (five in a day on an average) in 15 days after the December 16 gang rape of the 23-year-old paramedic in a moving bus in South Delhi.


RAPE IN INDIA
 

• Rape is the one of the most common crimes against Indian women.

• So common, in fact, that there is a euphemism coined for the public sexual molestation of women.

• In reference to the biblical 'Eve', 'Eve teasing' implies that women are responsible for the behaviour of their attackers.

• Rape victims rarely press charges because of social stigma and fear they will be accused of inviting the attack.

• Many women say they structure their lives around protecting themselves and their daughters from attack.

• New Delhi is the rape capital of India with a rape reported on average every 18 hours.

• Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.
   

Brazilian auto workers on Friday failed to talk General Motors out of cutting 1,598 jobs as the two sides agreed to meet again next week, AFP reports citing the union.

Air surveillance and monitoring systems equipped with Sunkar-2 drones (Russian name Irkut-10) built under license in Kazakhstan may begin service in Kazakhstan’s army, Interfax-Kazakhstan reports citing President of Russian-Kazakhstan joint company YAK ALAKON Aleksandre Toporov.

A public kiss between two men could be defined as illegal 'homosexual propaganda' and bring a fine of up to £10,000 if a bill that comes up for a first vote this month becomes law in Russia.
 
The legislation being pushed by the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church would make it illegal to tell minors information that is defined as ‘propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism.’
 
It includes a ban on holding public events that promote gay rights.

The bill is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values as opposed to Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to a wave of protest against President Vladimir Putin's rule, Fox News reported.

Other laws that the Kremlin says are intended to protect young Russians have been adopted in recent months, including some that allow banning and blocking web content and print publications that are deemed ‘extremist’ or unfit for young audiences.

Denis Volkov, a sociologist with the Levada Center, an independent pollster, says the anti-gay bill fits the ‘general logic’ of a government intent on limiting various rights.
 
But in this case, the move has been met mostly with either indifference or open enthusiasm by average Russians.

Levada polls conducted last year show that almost two thirds of Russians find homosexuality ‘morally unacceptable and worth condemning.’

About half are against gay rallies and same-sex marriage; almost a third think homosexuality is the result of ‘a sickness or a psychological trauma,’ the Levada surveys show.
 
Russia's widespread hostility to homosexuality is shared by the political and religious elite.
 
Lawmakers have accused homosexuals of decreasing Russia's already low birth rates and said they should be barred from government jobs, undergo forced medical treatment or be exiled.

Orthodox activists criticised U.S. company PepsiCo for using a ‘gay’ rainbow on cartons of its dairy products.
 
An executive with a government-run television network said in a nationally televised talk show that homosexuals should be stopped from donating blood, sperm and organs for transplants, while after death their hearts should be burned or buried.
 
The anti-gay sentiment was seen Sunday in Voronezh, a city south of Moscow, where a handful of gay activists protesting against the parliament bill were attacked by a much larger group of anti-gay activists who hit them with snowballs.

In a gay rights protest in December, Pavel Samburov, founder of gay-rights group the Rainbow Association, was pelted with eggs by militant activists with the Orthodox Church seconds after he and his boyfriend kissed.
 
He was arrested by police, fined £10 and detained for 30 hours first in a frozen van and then in an unheated detention centre.
 
The Orthodox activists were also rounded up, but were released much earlier.
 
Those behind the bill say minors need to be protected from ‘homosexual propaganda’ because they are unable to evaluate the information critically.

The bill reads: ‘This propaganda goes through the mass media and public events that propagate homosexuality as normal behavior'.

Russian cities started adopting anti-gay laws in 2006. Only one person has been prosecuted so far under a law specifically targeted at homosexuals: Nikolai Alexeyev, a gay rights campaigner, was fined the equivalent of £100 after a one-man protest last summer in St. Petersburg.
 
In November, a St. Petersburg court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trade Union of Russian Citizens, a small group of Orthodox conservatives and Putin loyalists, against pop star Madonna.
 
The group sought £6.7million in damages for what it says was ‘propaganda of perversion’ when Madonna spoke up for gay rights during a show three months earlier.
 
The federal bill's expected adoption comes 20 years after a Stalinist-era law punishing homosexuality with up to five years in prison was removed from Russia's penal code as part of the democratic reforms that followed the Soviet Union's collapse.
 
Most of the other former Soviet republics also decriminalised homosexuality, and attitudes toward gays have become a litmus test of democratic freedoms.

While gay pride parades are held in the three former Soviet Baltic states, all today members of the European Union, same-sex love remains a crime in authoritarian Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
 
In Russia, homosexuals have been subject to official pressure and persistent homophobia.

There are no reliable estimates of how many gay men and women live in Russia, and only a few big cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg have gay nightclubs and gyms. Even there, homosexuals do not feel secure.