Egypt buries Coptic Church leader

20 March 2012 Last updated at 18:10 GMT The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says there were "almost hysterical scenes" at the funeral

The funeral of Coptic Pope Shenouda III has taken place in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

St Mark's cathedral was packed with mourners paying their respects to the 88-year-old pope who died on Saturday.

He was the spiritual leader of Egypt's Copts, who make up 10% of the country's population and are the Middle East's largest Christian community.

Pope Shenouda's body was then flown to the Nile Delta northwest of Cairo and buried in a remote desert monastery.

Thousands of people greeted the motorcade carrying his body when it arrived just before sunset, and military police struggled to control the mourners trying to get into the monastery.

The patriarch spent more than three years in exile there in the 1980s when the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat accused him of fomenting sectarian strife.

Two months ago he asked to be interred at St Bishoy monastery on his death - he was laid to rest in a white marble tomb with a cross on top.

The ceiling of the chamber is covered with pictures of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints, and it also has small windows to let in some light.

Copts were given time off work to prepare for the funeral, and a national day of mourning has been declared.

Global tributes Continue reading the main story Jon Leyne BBC News, Cairo

Outside St Mark's Cathedral the monastic bell tolls the parting of Pope Shenouda. A guard of honour greets the long procession of dignitaries.

The chanting of priests is broadcast to the huge crowd gathered to pay their respects echoing round this Cairo neighbourhood. The gates of the cathedral were locked early in the day as the massive church filled up.

Many thousands of Coptic Christians stand in silence outside, some praying some weeping at the loss of a pope who led them through four turbulent decades.

Tens of thousands of people queued to see Pope Shenouda, whose body had been on display in the cathedral since his death.

Dressed in embroidered vestments and a golden mitre and holding a gold-tipped staff, his body was laid in a coffin before being placed on a ceremonial throne.

"The Holy Pope was able to gain the love of even those who held different opinions and I believe this will be a difficult thing to replace," said a mourner named as Samir.

"But God protects the Church and he will find a suitable patriarch."

Thousands of mourners who were unable to get into the cathedral followed the service on a huge television screen outside.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says the massive crowds bear witness to the huge love and respect for Pope Shenouda.

As the white coffin was carried out from the cathedral there were almost hysterical scenes, with some women wailing and fainting.

The Pope was seen as a leader who did his best to protect Coptic Christians at a time when Islamism was on the rise, our correspondent says.

Continue reading the main story Born Nazeer Gayed 3 August 1923 in Asyut, Upper EgyptBecame a monk in 1954, as Father Antonios el-SyrianiEnthroned as pope of Alexandria in 1971, after death of Pope Cyril VIBanished to desert monastery after row with then President Anwar SadatReleased in 1985 by President Hosni MubarakBut his deep conservatism - including his opposition to divorce - was not always popular with younger Christians.

There is no timetable yet for finding a successor, who will be elected by a conclave of senior bishops.

The first challenge for the new leader will be to reassure Copts of their place in a country whose largest political party is now the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, our correspondent adds.

Tributes have come in from around the world, with Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI offering prayers and US President Barack Obama praising Pope Shenouda as an "advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue".

Egypt's military rulers expressed the hope on their Facebook page that his wish of "preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric" would be achieved.

And a senior Muslim cleric, the Grand Imam of the prestigious al-Azhar university Ahmed al-Tayeb, expressed sorrow and said he "greatly remembers his vision towards Jerusalem and its history".

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How Your Faith Makes You a Leader

PRLog (Press Release) - Mar 18, 2012 -
Significant Faith Ministries announces the release of the revolutionary new book, “The Christian Leadership Experience: How Your Faith Makes You a Leader.” (Also available to enhance your study is “The Christian Leadership Experience Workbook.)

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Hugh Whitmore is an author and businessman from Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Hugh is the author of "The Christian Leadership Experience," "The Christian Leadership
Experience Workbook," and the voice project "How to Get to Heaven." Hugh is also the founder of Significant Faith Ministries, at: www.SignificantFaith.com.

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Direct purchases can be made through Amazon for the paperback and for the Kindle and for author signed copies and mp3 downloads go to http://www.SignificantFaith.com

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DR Congo bounty for rebel leader

9 September 2011 Last updated at 13:05 GMT Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have offered a reward of $100,000 (£63,000) for information leading to the capture of a top militia leader who broke out of jail.

More than 960 inmates were freed on Wednesday when armed men attacked the prison in Lubumbashi, Katanga province.

Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga, a former commander of the Mai Mai militia movement, remains on the loose.

Smaller bounties have been posted for other fugitive inmates.

Two guards were killed when the masked gunmen drove into Kassapa prison in a minibus - apparently unnoticed - and launched their assault.

Of the 967 prisoners who escaped, about 230 have been recaptured, among them Mutanga's wife, provincial interior minister Dikanga Kazadi told Agence France-Presse news agency.

Mutanga was sentenced to death in 2009 for his role in the long-running conflict in eastern DR Congo.

The governor's chief of staff said that the authorities did not regard Mutanga as a direct security threat, but were offering the high reward as a signal that they would not condone impunity.

As well as the bounty offered for his recapture, a reward of $10,000 has been offered for a woman member of the Co-ordination for a Referendum on Self-Determination for Katanga (Corak), a secessionist group said to be behind an attack on Lubumbashi airport in February in which a civilian died, AFP said.

The other fugitives have $500 bounties on their heads.

Escapes and mutinies are common in DR Congo's prisons, analysts say, with the east largely lawless as rival militias battle for power.

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Russian crime gang leader gets life in jail

MOSCOW — A court in Moscow sentenced the leader of a notorious Russian organized crime gang Tuesday to life in prison for involvement in at least 20 killings.

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The Moscow City Court judge said 46-year old Sergei Butorin posed a grave danger to society and should be incarcerated for the rest of his life.

ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the judge as ruling Butorin had been behind 20 murders and nine attempted killings.

Butorin headed the Orekhovskaya gang, an organized criminal group that reached the height of its powers in Moscow in the 1990s. He was arrested by Spanish authorities in 2001 on charges of trading in illegal weapons and extradited to Russia last year.

Russian criminal groups flourished in the chaotic years that followed the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

One of Butorin's best-known victims was Alexander Solonik, who came to prominence in the early 1990s for a string of contract killings and the fatal shooting of four policemen. Solonik fled a Moscow penitentiary in 1995, but his dismembered remains were found in a forest outside the Greek capital, Athens, two years later.

Butorin's bodyguard, Marat Polyansky, was also sentenced to a 17-year jail sentence Tuesday.

Butorin is believed to have risen to the top of the Orekhovskaya gang after the murder in 1994 of founder Sergei Timofeyev. Prosecutors say Butorin assembled former special services officers and athletes to form a group of killers. It is a common practice across the former Soviet Union for criminal organizations to draw on martial arts fighters to fill their ranks.

The Orekhovskaya gang made its money from protection rackets, and prosecutors said it was common for gang leaders to kill fellow members in whom they had lost trust.

Russia media reported that Butorin had undergone plastic surgery and organized his own funeral in Moscow in order to elude arrest.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Ex-French leader Chirac can skip corruption trial

PARIS — Former French President Jacques Chirac won't have to attend his long-awaited corruption trial, a judge ruled Monday, after Chirac's lawyers said the 78-year-old is suffering from severe memory lapses.

Judge Dominique Pauthe said he took into account a written appeal and four-page medical report sent Friday by Chirac's defense team, and decided that the trial will be allowed to go ahead without the ex-president in court.

"In light of the items received in support of this letter, the personal appearance will not be ordered," Pauthe said after deliberating for less than an hour. "Jacques Chirac will thus be judged in his absence."

France's first trial involving a former head of state since World War II involves the alleged creation of more than two-dozen fake City Hall jobs used to fund Chirac's conservative party while he was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.

Chirac, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, enjoyed immunity from prosecution during his subsequent 12 years as head of state.

The trial was suspended in March shortly after it began to allow consideration of an appeal by one of his co-defendants. On trial Monday with Chirac were two of his former chiefs of staff at City Hall and seven others said to have benefited improperly from the graft.

Ahead of France's presidential election next year, the trial is shaping up as a glimpse of the unseemly underworld of kickbacks, corruption and embezzlement that has long roiled the French political system.

Judge Pauthe on Monday read from the defense letter, which said Chirac wanted to be heard because his testimony would be "useful for our democracy" and show that "all French people are equal under the law."

Chirac's legal team issued a statement Saturday arguing that he no longer has the full capacity to participate in court proceedings, and asking that he be allowed to skip them.

The letter, Pauthe said, came accompanied by four pages of medical records, including a Chirac brain scan in April and a medical report drawn up in July.

"It's my belief that he isn't in any condition to remember events that date back 20 years," Chirac defense lawyer Jean Veil told the court.

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Veil said Chirac suffers from "severe memory lapses" linked to an "irreversible condition." He said Chirac's condition was not a sickness but a "symptom" possibly linked to his 2005 stroke or "other origins."

Jerome Karsenti, a lawyer for the anti-corruption group Anticor, urged an independent medical exam to make sure Chirac's alleged medical trouble is not just an "umpteenth delay" and an attempt at "running away."

Chirac's wife, Bernadette, denied rumors earlier this year that he had Alzheimer's disease, but she acknowledged he was experiencing problems that were either linked to a 2005 stroke or his age.

Georges Kiejman, another Chirac lawyer, gave some of the most intimate details yet of Chirac's mental and physical condition, but declined to state the precise medical diagnosis.

"He can still have charming conversations like he's always had. He can speak in general terms and discuss broad issues — often interesting ones," he said. "But he cannot concentrate on specific points, which are at the heart of this investigation."

The case is among many scandals to hound Chirac over his years as mayor — including claims that he and his family improperly ate some €2.1 million worth of food from 1987 to 1995 at the city's expense. Those cases were rejected either for lack of evidence or because they had surpassed the statute of limitations.

A prison term for Chirac, who famously rallied against George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, is seen as very unlikely. But on paper, if convicted, Chirac could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined €150,000 ($215,000).

Many critics have decried the trappings of presidential immunity in France.

"This is without a doubt a two-track justice system," Eva Joly, leader of the Green Party and a former high-profile judge, said Monday on France-Info radio. "Having to wait a decade for a verdict isn't right."

Chirac is the first of a former French head of state on trial since the World War II era, when Marshal Philippe Petain, the leader of France's Nazi collaborationist regime, was convicted of treason and shipped into exile.

While Chirac has retired from day-to-day politics, he remains a huge presence on the political landscape. The party of Nicolas Sarkozy, Chirac's successor as president, has its roots in the political machine that Chirac built.

The popular, avuncular former president made headlines in June after appearing in public with Socialist presidential hopeful Francois Hollande, and saying that he would vote for him — which resonated as a dig against Sarkozy. Chirac's office later said it was a joke.

___

Pierre-Antoine Souchard contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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MUNTING HEREDERA IS THE TRUE LEADER IN MEGA MANILA!

Here are the comparative People/Individual Ratings of ABS-CBN, TV5, and GMA-7 programs from August 16 to 18, 2011 based on the overnight ratings of AGB Nielsen Phils. among Mega Manila households:USI: Under Special Investigation Replay (TV5) 0.1%; Gising Pilipinas (ABS-CBN) 0.2%; I Witness Replay (GMA-7) 0.6%Umagang Kay Ganda (ABS-CBN) 1.6%; Sapul 5: Sapul Sa Singko (TV5) 0.8%; Unang Hirit (GMA-7) 1.9%Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (TV5) 2.1%; Spongebob Squarepants (ABS-CBN) 1.5%; Handy Manny (TV5) 2.3%; Pokemon (GMA-7) 3.1%Mr. Bean (ABS-CBN) 1.6%; Batibot (TV5) 1.7%; Powerpuff Girls Z (TV5) 1.5%; Banana Split Daily Servings (ABS-CBN) 1.8%; Detective Conan (GMA-7) 5.3%The Powerpuff Girls (TV5) 1.1%; One Piece (GMA-7) 5.3%; Kris TV (ABS-CBN) 2.7%; Ben 10 (TV5) 1.3%; Slamdunk (GMA-7) 5.4%; Juicy! Express (TV5) 1%Kapuso Movie Festival: Mukhang Bungo Da Coconut Nut (GMA-7) 6.4%; Face To Face (TV5) 3.6%; Showtime (ABS-CBN) 3.8%; Balitaang Tapat (TV5) 2.8%Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) 11.9%; Sinetanghali: Pedring Taruc (TV5) 1.4%; Happy Yipee Yehey (ABS-CBN) 2.5%; Stitch (TV5) 1.5%Reputasyon (ABS-CBN) 3.6%; Phineas and Ferb (TV5) 2%; Pahiram ng Isang Ina (GMA-7) 6.3%; Batibot (TV5) 2.1%Dexter's Laboratory (TV5) 2.4%; Kapamilya Blockbusters: Hindi Pa Tapos ang Laban (ABS-CBN) 3.9%; Ben 10 (TV5) 2.7%; Sinner Or Saint (GMA-7) 7.1%Super Sine 5: Dracula Dead and Loving It (TV5) 4.6%; Sisid (GMA-7) 7.9%; The Fierce Wife (ABS-CBN) 3.3%Gourmet (GMA-7) 4.8%; I Dare You (ABS-CBN) 4.1%Aksyon (TV5) 3.7%; Maria La Del Barrio (ABS-CBN) 6.9%; Futbolilits (GMA-7) 7%24 Oras (GMA-7) 11.3%; TV Patrol (ABS-CBN) 8.9%; Wil Time Bigtime (TV5) 6.9%100 Days To Heaven (ABS-CBN) 10.4%; Amaya (GMA-7) 13.4%Guns And Roses (ABS-CBN) 10.2%; Munting Heredera (GMA-7) 15.1%; Bangis (TV5) 3.7%Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin (ABS-CBN) 12.6%; Time of My Life (GMA-7) 12.9%; The Sisters (TV5) 1.3%Iskul Bukol (TV5) 1.7%; The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition (ABS-CBN) 7.3%; Big Thing (GMA-7) 11.3%Temptation of Wife (GMA-7) 5.8%; Pure Love (ABS-CBN) 6%; Aksyon Journalismo (TV5) 1.9%SNN: Showbiz News Ngayon (ABS-CBN) 3.4%; Saksi (GMA-7) 3.8%; Journo (TV5) 0.7%Bandila (ABS-CBN) 2%; Reporter's Notebook (GMA-7) 1.7%; Juicy Replay (TV5) 0.4%Patrol ng Pilipino (ABS-CBN) 1.1%; Medyo Late Night Show With Jojo A. All The Way (TV5) 0%; Music Uplate Live (ABS-CBN) 0.6%Totoo TV Replay (TV5) 0.1%; Gising Pilipinas (ABS-CBN) 0.1%; Journo Replay (TV5) 0.2%; Reporter's Notebook Replay (GMA-7) 1%Sapul 5: Sapul Sa Singko (TV5) 0.8%; Umagang Kay Ganda (ABS-CBN) 1.8%; Unang Hirit (GMA-7) 2.2%Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (TV5) 2.1%; Spongebob Squarepants (ABS-CBN) 1.7%; Handy Manny (TV5) 2.1%; Pokemon (GMA-7) 2.5%Mr. Bean (ABS-CBN) 1.5%; Batibot (TV5) 2%; Detective Conan (GMA-7) 4.3%; Powerpuff Girls Z (TV5) 1.9%; Banana Split Daily Servings (ABS-CBN) 1.4%One Piece (GMA-7) 4.7%; The Powerpuff Girls (TV5) 1.9%; Kris TV (ABS-CBN) 2.7%; Ben 10 (TV5) 1.9%; Slamdunk (GMA-7) 5.4%; Juicy! Express (TV5) 1.4%Kapuso Movie Festival: Pangako ng Kapahon (GMA-7) 5.6%; Face To Face (TV5) 3.2%; Showtime (ABS-CBN) 4.6%; Balitaang Tapat (TV5) 2.5%Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) 12.2%; Sinetanghali: Order To Kill (TV5) 1.8%; Happy Yipee Yehey (ABS-CBN) 2.3%; Stitch (TV5) 1.6%; Reputasyon (ABS-CBN) 2.9%; Phineas and Ferb (TV5) 2%Pahiram ng Isang Ina (GMA-7) 6.9%; Batibot (TV5) 1.9%; Kapamilya Blockbusters: Isang Bala Ka Lang (ABS-CBN) 4.3%; Dexter's Laboratory (TV5) 2.2%; Ben 10 (TV5) 2.6%; Sinner Or Saint (GMA-7) 6.9%Super Sine 5: Yes Man (TV5) 2.6%; Sisid (GMA-7) 8.2%; The Fierce Wife (ABS-CBN) 2.8%Gourmet (GMA-7) 6.2%; I Dare You (ABS-CBN) 3.3%Aksyon (TV5) 3.6%; Maria La Del Barrio (ABS-CBN) 5.7%; Futbolilits (GMA-7) 6.6%24 Oras (GMA-7) 10.7%; TV Patrol (ABS-CBN) 9.4%; Wil Time Bigtime (TV5) 6.8% 100 Days To Heaven (ABS-CBN) 11.3%; Amaya (GMA-7) 13.1%Guns And Roses (ABS-CBN) 10.4%; Munting Heredera (GMA-7) 13.9%Bangis (TV5) 4%; Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin (ABS-CBN) 12.8%; Time of My Life (GMA-7) 12.7%The Sisters (TV5) 2%; The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition (ABS-CBN) 7.6%; Big Thing (GMA-7) 10.6%Star Confessions (TV5) 2.8%; Temptation of Wife (GMA-7) 5.2%; Pure Love (ABS-CBN) 5.7%Aksyon Journalismo (TV5) 1.4%; SNN: Showbiz News Ngayon (ABS-CBN) 3.4%; Saksi (GMA-7) 3.3%Dokumentado (TV5) 0.4%; Bandila (ABS-CBN) 1.8%; Born To Be Wild (GMA-7) 1.9%Juicy Replay (TV5) 0.3%; Storyline (ABS-CBN) 1%; Medyo Late Night Show With Jojo A. All The Way (TV5) 0.2%; Music Uplate Live (ABS-CBN) 0.7%Lupet Replay (TV5) 0.1%; Gising Pilipinas (ABS-CBN) 0.2%; Born To Be Wild Replay (GMA-7) 0.7%Umagang Kay Ganda (ABS-CBN) 1.5%; Sapul 5: Sapul Sa Singko (TV5) 0.7%; Unang Hirit (GMA-7) 2.4%Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (TV5) 1.7%; Spongebob Squarepants (ABS-CBN) 1.7%; Handy Manny (TV5) 1.6%; Pokemon (GMA-7) 3.2%Batibot (TV5) 1.7%; Mr. Bean (ABS-CBN) 1.7%; Powerpuff Girls Z (TV5) 1.8%; Detective Conan (GMA-7) 4.6%; Banana Split Daily Servings (ABS-CBN) 1.6%The Powerpuff Girls (TV5) 2.1%; One Piece (GMA-7) 4.9%; Kris TV (ABS-CBN) 2.6%; Ben 10 (TV5) 2.3%; Slamdunk (GMA-7) 5.4%; Juicy! Express (TV5) 1.3%Kapuso Movie Festival: Oh My Ghost (GMA-7) 5.7%; Showtime (ABS-CBN) 4.1%; Face To Face (TV5) 3.6%; Balitaang Tapat (TV5) 3.1%Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) 11.8%; Happy Yipee Yehey (ABS-CBN) 2.3%; Sinetanghali: Magiting at Pusakal (TV5) 2.2%; Stitch (TV5) 2.3%; Reputasyon (ABS-CBN) 3.5%; Phineas and Ferb (TV5) 2.9%Pahiram ng Isang Ina (GMA-7) 6.5%; Batibot (TV5) 3%; Dexter's Laboratory (TV5) 3.1%;Kapamilya Blockbusters: Isang Bala Ka Lang Part II (ABS-CBN) 4.4%; Sinner Or Saint (GMA-7) 7.3%; Ben 10 (TV5) 3%Super Sine 5: The Nanny Diaries (TV5) 4%; Sisid (GMA-7) 8.5%; The Fierce Wife (ABS-CBN) 2.9%Gourmet (GMA-7) 5.2%; I Dare You (ABS-CBN) 4.8%Aksyon (TV5) 4.2%; Futbolilits (GMA-7) 6.2%; Maria La Del Barrio (ABS-CBN) 6.8%TV Patrol (ABS-CBN) 9.4%; 24 Oras (GMA-7) 10.8%; Wil Time Bigtime (TV5) 8.1%100 Days To Heaven (ABS-CBN) 11.3%; Amaya (GMA-7) 13.2%Guns And Roses (ABS-CBN) 10.5%; Munting Heredera (GMA-7) 14%Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin (ABS-CBN) 14.2%; Bangis (TV5) 4.2%; Time of My Life (GMA-7) 12.9%The Sisters (TV5) 3.1%; The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition (ABS-CBN) 9.1%; Big Thing (GMA-7) 10.8%Untold Stories Mula Sa Face To Face (TV5) 3%; Pure Love (ABS-CBN) 6.8%; Temptation of Wife (GMA-7) 5.2%SNN: Showbiz News Ngayon (ABS-CBN) 3.7%; Aksyon Journalismo (TV5) 1.6%; Saksi (GMA-7) 4%Bandila (ABS-CBN) 2.2%; Public Atorni (TV5) 1.2%; Rescue (GMA-7) 2.3%Krusada (ABS-CBN) 1.3%; Juicy Replay (TV5) 0.7%; Medyo Late Night Show With Jojo A. All The Way (TV5) 0.5%; Music Uplate Live (ABS-CBN) 0.4%

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Russia describes Georgian leader as "pathological"

MOSCOW/MOLKINO, Russia — Russia marked the third anniversary of its war with Georgia on Monday by saying it would not renew ties with Tbilisi as long as its "badly brought up" and "pathological" president was in power.

Russian news bulletins were dominated by footage of the 2008 war and showed President Dmitry Medvedev inspecting the Molkino military base in southern Russia, where he praised troops who fought in the conflict for repelling the Georgian "aggressor."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went further, saying that Moscow would have no direct dealings with Tbilisi while President Mikheil Saakashvili was president.

"We will have no dealings with a man who gave the criminal order to kill peacekeepers and ordered the death of peaceful civilians, including Russian citizens," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

"Saakashvili is of course a pathological case and an anomaly among the Georgian people. He is clearly very badly brought up ... We do not associate the Georgian with this persona."

Lavrov accused Saakashvili of "dreaming up fairy tales" about what happened in the run-up to the war, which each side accuses the other of starting.

His comments echoed remarks made by Medvedev last week in his first interview with Georgian media since the war. The president said he was open to future ties with Georgia but would "never forgive" Saakashvili.

In the Georgian capital, Saakashvili and Orthodox Patriarch Ilia II laid a wreath at a hilltop cemetery for servicemen killed during the 2008 war. Dozens of soldiers stood to attention holding red and white Georgian flags.

Saakashvili spoke to relatives of the war dead, but made no comment to waiting reporters.

THINK-TANK CALLS FOR DIRECT TALKS

Relations between the two former Soviet republics remain fraught long after Russia crushed a Georgian assault on the breakaway region of South Ossetia which followed months of tension. Tbilisi says Moscow provoked the conflict.

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Since then, Moscow and Tbilisi have been in a political stalemate over South Ossetia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia, which Russia recognizes as independent states.

Disputes over spying allegations and Georgia's objections to Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization have also fueled tensions.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank said in a report that direct Russian-Georgian talks were needed to dispel a "potentially explosive" situation.

The Kremlin sent an agreement on establishing military bases in Georgia's two breakaway territories to parliament for ratification on Monday, it said in a statement on its website.

The deal was reached last year with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where Russia already has de facto bases, and the bill is likely to sail through the lower house.

Despite a ceasefire calling for the withdrawal of troops from the rebel regions, Moscow has stationed soldiers there, drawing widespread condemnation from Western governments.

Georgia has said 228 Georgian civilians and 169 servicemen were killed in the war. Russia said at least 64 Russian servicemen were killed in the conflict.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Bodyguards kill Colombian gang leader

BOGOTA — The leader of one of Colombia's most powerful criminal groups was gunned down by his own bodyguards Monday in the drug-plagued Antioquia province, police said.

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New criminal gangs -- whose composition and numbers are hotly debated in Colombia -- are seen as a major new security threat in the Andean nation which has battled drug-linked guerrillas and gangs for decades.

Police said Angel de Jesus Pacheco, the leader of the Rastrojos criminal gang, was shot dead by his bodyguards who then reported the killing to authorities.

Los Rastrojos are one of the most powerful of the six main criminal gangs in Colombia, which have a total of more than 4,000 members.

The Colombian think-tank Indepaz put the total number of direct gang members for 15 bands at around 7,000 and said they operated in all 32 of Colombia's provinces last year.

While bloodshed from Colombia's long guerrilla and drug wars has dropped since a U.S.-backed offensive at the beginning of the century, bombings, murders and combat continue, mainly in Colombia's frontier areas and traditional conflict zones.

Criminal gangs are seeking to expand their influence in an upcoming local vote in October and could reverse a decade-long trend of falling electoral violence, the International Crisis Group said.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Yemeni leader eludes assassination

 

Anti-govenment protestors demonstrate in Sanaa on July 18 2011, the 33rd anniversary of Ali Abdullah Saleh's presidencySomeone fired bullets at Mohammed YadoumiThe incident took place in SanaaOther opposition forces deplored the attack

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- The leader of Yemen's largest opposition party escaped an assassination attempt on Wednesday, the Islah party said.

Bullets were fired at Mohammed Yadoumi, president of the Islah party. The incident comes amid widespread tensions in the country, where anti-government forces have been demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh from his position.

The Joint Meeting Parties, an umbrella group of six opposition parties of which Islah is a member, condemned the assassination attempt, which took place in Sanaa, the capital. The JMP blamed the government and said the act will deepen the country's political crisis.

Hasan Zaid, the secretary general of the Haq party, another opposition movement, also condemned the act and said Yadoumi has been a main pillar in efforts to forge a political solution in Yemen.

Efforts by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to develop a plan that would end the political stalemate between the government and opposition forces have failed.

"Any attack on any senior opposition leader is a direct attack at all the leaders of the JMP," said Zaid, whose group is one of the six entities in the Joint Meeting Parties.

Saleh himself survived an assassination attempt last month and has been in neighboring Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

Along with a countrywide, grass-roots anti-government movement, the Yemeni government has been fighting militant groups, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

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