Thousands march for sacked Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro

Supporters of Mr Petro say an unelected prosecutor should not have the powers to dismiss an elected mayor

 

Tens of thousands of people in Colombia have been taking part in a demonstration in support of the sacked mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro.

Colombia's Inspector General, Alejandro Ordonez, announced on Monday that Mr Petro would have to leave office over the alleged mismanagement of the capital's rubbish collection service.

Mr Petro was also banned from holding public office for 15 years.

He says he will fight to reverse the decision. He is allowed to appeal.

Bolivar square in central Bogota was packed, in the biggest demonstration in support of the mayor so far.

Mr Petro, a former left-wing rebel, said he had been the victim of a "right-wing coup" by the Inspector General's Office.

Supporters of Mr Petro say an unelected prosecutor should not have the powers to dismiss an elected mayor

"Here we will define whether peace is possible or not, whether democracy is possible or not," Mr

Petro told supporters on the square.

He was a member of the M-19 rebel group, which signed a peace agreement with the government and gave up its armed struggle in 1990.
 
'Blow to peace'

The inspector general said the mayor had violated the principles of the free market and endangered people's health with a series of changes to the rubbish collection system.

In 2012, rubbish was left uncollected in Bogota for several days due to failures in the system.

The Colombian constitution gives the Inspector General's Office the power to oversee the performances of those holding public office.

Mr Petro's term started in 2012 and was supposed to end in 2016. He was a potential candidate for presidential elections in 2018.

The decision to remove him from office may have a negative impact on the peace talks the

Colombian government is holding with the country's largest rebel group, the Farc, says the BBC's

Arturo Wallace.

In a statement, the Farc called the decision "a serious blow" to the government's credibility.

The peace talks are aimed at ending five decades of conflict, with the rebels agreeing to join the legal political process.

 

Gunman dead after Centennial, Colorado, school shooting

Arapahoe County sheriff Grayson Robinson: "The suspect... has deceased as a result of what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound"

 

A student at a Colorado school shot and wounded two students, one seriously, before dying of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say.

The gunman brought a shotgun to the school and was looking for a specific teacher when confronted by a classmate, the Arapahoe County sheriff said.

The teacher left the school after learning he was a target.

The attack took place a day before the anniversary of a US primary school shooting which left 20 children dead.

Six adults were also murdered when Adam Lanza attacked Sandy Hook elementary school in

Newtown Connecticut. Small ceremonies are due to take place in the town on Saturday.
 

'Active shooter'

The suspect entered Arapahoe High School in Centennial at 12:33 local time (19:33 GMT), according to officials.

The BBC's Jonny Dymond: "The school is just eight miles from Columbine"

The school and others in the area were placed on lockdown.

Upon the initial reports of a shooting, heavily armed police trained in "active shooter" scenarios stormed the building, ordering students outside with their hands over their heads.

The 15-year-old female student who confronted and was shot by the suspect was in serious condition and undergoing surgery in hospital, the sheriff said.
Inside, they found another student who had apparently suffered a minor gunshot wound.

Authorities also found the student believed to be the gunman, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.

"That individual is currently deceased and he apparently killed himself," he added.

Police have not yet released the name of the suspect but believe that he acted alone. Sheriff Robinson said they knew his identity.

He added that the shooting appeared to be an attempt at revenge following a disagreement between the suspect and the teacher he was looking for.

Two petrol bombs were also found inside the school.

The school has more than 2,200 students and 70 classrooms.

One student told a local CBS affiliate she heard three shots and hid in a locked room as teachers attempted to comfort those inside.

A school caretaker told local media he saw a student dressed in military-type clothing running through the school and took the threatened teacher outside.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper praised authorities' quick response to the incident on Friday.

Our "prayers are with the entire... community," he said.

The school is just eight miles (13km) east of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the site of a mass school shooting in April 1999 which left 14 students dead.

A report last month found that Adam Lanza, who carried out last year's Sandy Hook murders, had an obsession with mass killings, particularly the Columbine shootings.

 

China ready to land robot rover on Moon

The Jade Rabbit, seen in this artist's impression, will be the first wheeled vehicle on the Moon since the 1970s

 

China is set to land a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon, a major step in the Asian superpower's ambitious programme of space exploration.

On Saturday afternoon (GMT), a landing module will undergo a powered descent, using thrusters to perform the first soft landing on the Moon in 37 years.

Several hours later, the lander will deploy a robotic rover called Yutu, which translates as "Jade Rabbit".

The touchdown will take place on a flat plain called the Bay of Rainbows.

The Chang'e-3 mission launched on a Chinese-developed Long March 3B rocket on 1 December from Xichang in the country's south.

"On the evening of December 14, Chang'e-3 will carry out a soft landing on the lunar surface," said a post on the mission's official blog on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

The task was described as the mission's "most difficult" in the post, written by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on behalf of the space authorities.

It is the third robotic rover mission to land on the lunar surface, but the Chinese vehicle carries a more sophisticated payload, including ground-penetrating radar which will gather measurements of the lunar soil and crust.

The 120kg (260lb) Jade Rabbit rover can reportedly climb slopes of up to 30 degrees and travel at 200m (660ft) per hour.

Its name - chosen in an online poll of 3.4 million voters - derives from an ancient Chinese myth about a rabbit living on the moon as the pet of the lunar goddess Chang'e.


According to translated documents, the landing module will begin actively reducing its speed at about 15km from the Moon's surface.

When it reaches a distance of 100m from the surface, the craft will fire thrusters to slow its descent.

At a distance of 4m, the lander switches off the thrusters and free-falls to the lunar surface.

The Jade Rabbit is expected to be deployed on Saturday evening, driving down a ramp lowered by the Chang'e-3 landing module.

Reports suggest the lander and rover will photograph each other at some point on Sunday.

According to Chinese space scientists, the mission is designed to test new technologies, gather scientific data and build intellectual expertise.

Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank in Washington DC, said China's space programme was a good fit with China's concept of "comprehensive national power". This might be described as a measure of a state's all-round capabilities.

Space exploration was, he told BBC News, "a reflection of your economic power, because you need spare resources to have a space programme. It clearly has military implications because so much space technology is dual use".

He added: "It reflects your scientific and technological capabilities, it supports your diplomacy by making you appear strong.

"China is saying: 'We are doing something that only two other countries have done before - the US and the Soviet Union."

Mr Cheng explained that the mission would provide an opportunity to test China's deep-space tracking and communications capability.

"The rover will reportedly be under Earth control at various points of its manoeuvres on the lunar surface," Mr Cheng wrote in a blog post.

"Such a space observation and tracking system has implications not only for space exploration but for national security, as it can be used to maintain space surveillance, keeping watch over Chinese and other nations' space assets."

The European Space Agency said it would provide communications support on the mission. Erik Sorenson, head of ground facilities at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, said Esa's tracking facilities would be able to reconstruct the craft's trajectory during descent and determine its precise location on the Moon.

China has been methodically and patiently building up the key elements needed for an advanced space programme - from launchers to manned missions in Earth orbit to unmanned planetary craft - and it is investing heavily.

The lander's target is Sinus Iridum (Latin for Bay of Rainbows) a flat volcanic plain thought to be relatively clear of large rocks. It is part of a larger feature known as Mare Imbrium that forms the right eye of the "Man in the Moon".

After this, a mission to bring samples of lunar soil back to Earth is planned for 2017. And this may set the stage for further robotic missions, and - perhaps - a crewed lunar mission in the 2020s.
"[Chang'e-3] is probably laying some of the groundwork for a manned mission," said Mr Cheng.

 

Japan and Asean nations seek 'freedom of overflight'

China's unilateral declaration of an air defence zone over the East China Sea - which includes disputed islands - has made its neighbours' hackles rise

 

Japan and SE Asian leaders have pledged to work together to ensure "freedom of overflight" in the region, in a move seen as a mild rebuke to China.

The announcement came at a summit in Tokyo, weeks after China's declaration of a new air defence zone overlapping areas claimed by Japan and South Korea.

Japan has been rallying support from 10 Asean nations, some of whom also have territorial disputes with China.

Earlier, PM Shinzo Abe unveiled a $20bn (£12bn) package of aid and loans.

It is part of Japan's apparent efforts to court its southern neighbours against a backdrop of Chinese expansion in the region.

The Tokyo summit marks 40 years of Japan's ties with the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

Indonesia said good China-Japan ties were "critical" for the region.
'Unimpeded commerce'
Japanese and Asean leaders "agreed to enhance co-operation in ensuring freedom of overflight and civil aviation safety", said a passage in their statement quoted by AFP news agency.

The statement does not single out any particular country but is thought to be an allusion to the air defence zone above the East China Sea - the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) - unilaterally declared by China last month.

China had said that aircraft flying through the ADIZ - which covers an area containing disputed islands not controlled by China - must follow its rules, including filing flight plans and identifying themselves.

But it insists the ADIZ is not a no-flight zone.

The statement also refers "to the importance of maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region and promoting maritime security and safety, freedom of navigation, unimpeded commerce, exercise of self-restraint and resolution of disputes by peaceful means".

Commentators say Japan is trying to court its southern neighbours in an apparent bid to counter China's growing economic and military might

Mr Abe's financial package will be spread over five years, and will mostly take the form of concessional loans.

It will focus on development in the Mekong river region, which stretches from China in the north down through south-east Asia, and fund transport projects.

He said he wanted to build a future of Asia "where laws, rather than power, rule".

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said good relations between China and Japan were "critical to the future" of the region.

"Indonesia is deeply concerned at the prospect of the disputes erupting into open conflicts, which will have adverse impacts on all countries in the region," he said.

The Philippines, which is involved in an ongoing row with China over islands in the South China Sea, said it was committed to freedom of flight in international airspace without specifically mentioning China.

Zone defied

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the summit on Thursday, said the relevant countries should work to maintain regional stability.

The countries "in developing their relations, should not target third parties or hurt third-party interests", he said.

Military aircraft from the US, Japan and South Korea have defied the ADIZ, flying unannounced through the area.

Washington has called China's declaration of an ADIZ a bid to unilaterally change the status quo in the region. There are fears a similar zone will be declared above the resource-rich South China Sea, which China largely claims as its own.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

 

Mandela goodbye for ANC members ahead of state funeral

Members of the African National Congress have been paying final tributes to Nelson Mandela at a ceremony ahead of Sunday's funeral.

President Jacob Zuma and other ANC leaders attended the ceremony at a Pretoria airbase.
Mr Mandela's coffin, draped with the ANC flag, was taken there from a mortuary in the city.

After the farewell ceremony, the coffin will be taken to Mr Mandela's ancestral home in Qunu, in the
Eastern Cape

More than 1,000 ANC members attended the memorial

At least 100,000 people saw the former South African president's body lying in state in Pretoria over the last three days, but some had to be turned away.

The 95-year-old former leader died on 5 December.

'Human chain'

More than 1,000 members of the ANC, which Mr Mandela once led, attended the ceremony at the Waterkloof air base.

US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and Ireland's Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams were among the foreign guests invited.

US Congress cross-party budget deal reached

Senator Patty Murray (right) and Congressman Paul Ryan (left) were picked to head a cross-party budget committee in the wake of an October government shutdown

A cross-party Congressional budget committee convened after an October government shutdown has reached an agreement to fund federal services.

The proposed deal finances the government for two years and reduces the federal deficit by $23bn (£14bn).

It also avoids another government shutdown on 15 January when government funding is scheduled to run out.

The new deal "cuts spending in a smarter way," Republican Congressman Paul Ryan said on Tuesday.

'Gridlock'

The budget deal also offsets $63bn in previously enacted automatic military and domestic spending cuts triggered in January when Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a budget compromise.

Mr Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray, the respective chairs of the House and Senate budget committees, were called on to reach a cross-party budget deal in the wake of October's partial government shutdown over federal spending.

"We have broken through the partisanship and gridlock," Ms Murray said of the new deal.

Mr Ryan said he was optimistic the new budget agreement could pass both sides of the highly politically divided Congress.

The measure is expected to come to a vote before the House recesses for several weeks beginning on Friday.

According to the Congressional budget chairs, the new deal does not raise taxes but requires newly hired federal workers to make larger contributions to their pensions.

A federal airport security fee adding $5 to the cost of a typical return flight is also included.

Nature of compromise.

House Speaker John Boehner has publicly backed the cross-party budget deal (file photo)

Following the announcement on Tuesday, Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the "modest" cross-party deal a "positive step forward".

US President Barack Obama issued a written statement labelling the agreement "balanced" and "designed in a way that doesn't hurt our economy".

"This agreement doesn't include everything I'd like - and I know many Republicans feel the same way. That's the nature of compromise," he said.

But, "because it's the first budget that leaders of both parties have agreed to in a few years, the American people should not have to endure the pain of another government shutdown for the next two years," he added.

Government officials say the deal, totalling an estimated $85bn over the next decade, aims to carve $20bn out of the nation's $17 trillion debt.

Political rancour

The deal is expected to pass both houses of Congress, despite attempts by Conservative groups to persuade Republicans to oppose it.

Democratic lawmakers have also expressed frustration over a failed bid to extend benefits for people unemployed longer than 26 weeks.

That program will expire on 28 December, cutting off benefits to more than one million individuals.

But many have praised the cross-party deal as a crucial step forward after political rancour led to a 16-day government shutdown in October which halted many federal services across the country.

The manoeuvre is said to have cost the US economy $24bn, as projected by financial services company Standard & Poor's.

Under a temporary deal reached to end that political standoff, the newly-formed budget conference committee was given until 13 December to come up with a new deal or face triggering further automatic spending cuts.

Those cuts, estimated at $20bn, would come largely from the Pentagon, according to media reports.

 

 

Uruguay becomes first nation to legalise marijuana trade

The Senators debated the bill for nearly 12 hours before granting it final approval

 

Uruguay has become the first country in the world to make it legal to grow, sell and consume marijuana.

After nearly 12 hours of debate, senators gave the government-sponsored bill their historic final approval.

The law allowing registered Uruguayans over 18 to buy up to 40g (1,4oz) of the drug a month is not expected to come into force before April.

The government hopes it will help tackle drug cartels, but critics say it will expose more people to drugs.

Dozens of supporters of the bill proposed by the left-wing President Jose Mujica gathered outside the Congress in Montevideo to follow the vote.

Presenting the bill to fellow Senators, Roberto Conde said it was an unavoidable response to reality, given that the "war" against drugs had failed.

"We have the duty as the state to give a specific answer to an open territory, small and non-producing," Mr Conde said, adding that Uruguay's borders are used by cartels to smuggle drugs into neighbouring countries.

'Experiment on people'

But many senators also spoke out against the bill, before it was passed by 16 votes to 13 on Tuesday.
The opposition member Alfredo Solari said Uruguay should not "experiment" on its people.

"This project envisages a social engineering experiment and respects none of the ethic safeguards of experimentation on human beings, and these are important in the case of a substance like marijuana, which causes damage to human beings," Senator Solari told Reuters news agency.

The project had already been approved by Uruguay's lower house in July.

It had also drawn international criticism. The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned the law would "be in complete contravention to the provisions of the international drug treaties to which Uruguay is party".

Uruguayan marijuana users will have to register to buy the drug

The INCB is an independent body of experts established by the United Nations to monitor countries' compliance with international drug treaties.

The historic approval comes amid growing debate over drug legalisation in Latin America.

A group of former presidents and influential social figures, including Brazil's Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mexico's Ernesto Zedillo and Colombian ex-leader Cesar Gaviria, have called for marijuana to be legalised and regulated.

But President Mujica recently asked during an interview why the former leaders only spoke out about the legalisation of marijuana after they had left office.

In July, without naming Uruguay directly, Pope Francis criticised drug legalisation plans during a visit to Brazil.