More than 3,000 Chinese evacuated from Vietnam after violence: Xinhua

A portrait of the late Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh is displayed on a sign reading, ''Love Vietnam'' at a gate of food company Uni-President in Vietnam's southern Binh Duong province May 16, 2014.

(Reuters) - More than 3,000 Chinese nationals have been evacuated from Vietnam, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday, following deadly rioting that stemmed from an outpouring of rage over Chinese oil drilling in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
The violence was triggered by China's positioning of a $1 billion oil rig in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi, a move described by the United States as provocative. It is the worst breakdown in ties between the two Communist neighbors since a short border war in 1979.
The evacuation followed days of clashes between Vietnamese rioters and Chinese workers. Crowds of thousands massed as rioters turned against Chinese workers and Chinese-owned businesses, or those thought to be Chinese, smashing windows, gates and walls and torching vehicles and factories.

 

 

The trouble broke out in Vietnam's south on Tuesday after nationalist rage boiled over during protests around industrial parks near Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.
Two Chinese nationals were killed in the violence and more than 100 others injured, Xinhua said, citing China's foreign ministry.
China is to send five ships to Vietnam on Sunday to evacuate more Chinese nationals, Xinhua said, citing the transport ministry In Beijing.
Sixteen critically injured Chinese nationals were evacuated from Vietnam early on Sunday aboard a chartered medical flight arranged by the Chinese government, the foreign ministry said in a separate statement.
Workers from the China 19th Metallurgical Corporation, a contractor for an iron and steel plant being built by Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan's biggest investor in Vietnam, were evacuated back to China early on Sunday, Xinhua said.
On Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry advised Chinese nationals to hold off from traveling to Vietnam and told its citizens in Vietnam to avoid leaving their premises.
Separately, China's Spring and Autumn Airline said it plans to suspend all charter flights from Shanghai to Vietnam from Monday, according to Xinhua.
The airline said it would suspend nine flights carrying 350 passengers to Vietnam over the next month.
Also on Saturday, China's Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng told Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang that he strongly condemned the violent attacks against Chinese nationals and companies in Vietnam.
Gao called on Hanoi to "improve the country's trade and investment environment", the commerce ministry said on Saturday.
In a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting held in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, Gao also made "solemn representations" to Vietnam and urged authorities to "bring the relevant issues under control" and create a favorable environment for trade and investment.
Vietnam's lead police investigator has defended security forces and has said "illegal acts" would not be tolerated. Hoang Kong Tu has said adequate measures would be taken to make sure there is no repeat of the violence.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Paul Tait)

Families evacuate Benghazi as renegade general vows more attacks

General Khalifa Haftar speaks during a news conference at a sports club in Abyar, a small town to the east of Benghazi. May 17, 2014.

(Reuters) - The self-declared Libyan National Army led by a renegade general told civilians on Saturday to leave parts of Benghazi before it launched a fresh attack on Islamist militants, a day after dozens were killed in the worst clashes in the city for months.
Families could be seen packing up and driving away from western districts of the port city where Islamist militants and LNA forces led by retired General Khalifa Haftar fought for hours on Friday.
Dressed in military uniform, Hafter - whom the speaker of parliament accused of plotting a coup - said his troops had temporarily withdrawn from Benghazi for tactical reasons.
"We'll come back with force," he told reporters at a sports club in Abyar, a small town to the east of Benghazi.
"We've started this battle and will continue it until we have reached our goals," he said.
He said government and parliament had no legitimacy as they had failed to achieve security. "The street and the Libyan people are with us," he said, adding that his troops were spread out in several parts of eastern Libya.
In Tripoli, parliamentary speaker and military commander-in-chief Nuri Abu Sahmain said Hafter was trying to stage a coup.
"(LNA) members who have carried out the clashes in Benghazi are out of the control of the state of Libya and they are trying to attempt a coup for their own interests," Abu Sahmain said in a televised news conference.
A Health Ministry official said the death toll had risen to 43, with more than 100 wounded. Haftar said 60 militants and six of his soldiers were killed, and 250 militants and 37 of his men wounded.
Libyan news website Ajwa Belad said late on Saturday 75 people had been killed and 141 wounded, citing official data.
A worker in a hospital that received at least 40 corpses said: "More bodies are coming in from areas outside Benghazi.
Authorities extended the closure of Benghazi's Benina airport on Saturday. Egyptair halted flights to Benghazi until the security situation improved, an Egyptian security official said.
The Libyan army declared a no-fly zone after Haftar's forces used at least one helicopter during Friday's fighting, according to a statement on the chief of staff's website.
FRAGILE GOVERNMENT
Since the 2011 civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi after 42 years of one-man rule, Libya has been unable to impose authority over brigades of former rebels who refuse to disarm and have carved out regional fiefdoms.
Benghazi, the cradle of the NATO-backed uprising against Gaddafi, in particular has struggled to curb violence and stem attacks blamed on Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist group that Washington designates as a terrorist organization.
Haftar, a leading figure in the 2011 uprising that ousted Gaddafi, stirred rumors of a coup in February by appearing in military uniform to call for a presidential committee to be formed to govern until new elections.
Libya's government is fragile and the parliament almost paralyzed by rivalries, with little progress to full democracy made since 2011. A planned new constitution is still unwritten and the country is on its third prime minister since March.
U.S. and European countries are helping build up the regular army but Libya's armed forces and government cannot control the brigades of ex-rebels and militants who once fought Gaddafi.
The North African nation's vital oil industry has suffered badly and is often targeted by armed protesters seeking a greater share of oil wealth, federalist power for the regions or just better basic services.
Since last summer, armed protesters have repeatedly closed down ports and oilfields, bringing production down to around 200,000 barrels per day from the 1.4 million bpd that the OPEC member state produced before the protests erupted
(Reporting by Feras Bosalum, Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Warfalli and Ulf Laessing; Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in Cairo; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

West Africa leaders vow to wage 'total war' on Boko Haram

French President Francois Hollande (C) poses for a familly photo with (LtoR) Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou, Chad's President Idriss Deby, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Cameroon's President Paul Biya, Benin's President Thomas Yayi Boni, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman during a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 17, 2014.

(Reuters) - West African leaders on Saturday agreed to work together to wage "total war" on Boko Haram saying the Nigerian Islamist group had become a regional al Qaeda that threatened all of them.
Nigeria's neighbors Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, and Western officials, met in Paris to flesh out a plan enabling them for the first time to share intelligence, coordinate action and monitor borders.
Although Boko Haram has been fighting for five years, carrying out bombings and attacks on civilians and the security forces, the kidnapping last month of more than 200 girls from a school in the northeast has focused world attention on them.
"Boko Haram is no longer a local terrorist group, it is operating clearly as an al Qaeda operation, it is an al Qaeda of West Africa," Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan told a news conference in Paris following the meeting.
"We have shown our commitment for a regional approach. Without West African countries coming together we will not be able to crush these terrorists," he said.
Outrage over the mass abduction has prompted Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan - criticized at home and abroad for his government's slow response - to accept U.S., British and French intelligence help in the hunt for the girls.
British Foreign Minister William Hague, speaking before the start of a meeting, said the Nigerian military was not organized in a way to deal effectively with the group, and offered military advisers to help structure them.
"There is determination to tackle this situation head on ... to launch a war, a total war on Boko Haram," Chad's President Idriss Deby said.
The countries agreed to launch coordinated patrols and rescue operations, share intelligence, put in place a mechanism to prevent weapons' smuggling and monitor borders.
Intelligence services and army heads would also meet soon to come up with a region-wide strategy to fight terrorism.
"The threat is serious and dangerous for the region, Africa and Europe," French President Francois Hollande said, although no concrete operational measures were announced.
SPREADING INSTABILITY
With 6,000 French troops operating in either Mali to the northwest or the Central African Republic to the east, Paris has an interest in preventing a deterioration in Nigeria's security.
Like its Western allies, Paris has ruled out any military operation saying it was primarily for Nigeria to take the lead, although Hollande said Rafale fighter jets based in the Chadian capital N'Djamena - just 60 km from the Nigerian border - would be used for reconnaissance missions.
Paris fears Boko Haram could spread north into the Sahel and beyond Cameroon into the Central African Republic. Boko Haram has already targeted French interests in Nigeria, kidnapping a French family in northern Cameroon last year.
Suspected Boko Haram rebels also attacked a Chinese work site in northern Cameroon on Friday, killing at least one Cameroonian soldier, and at least 10 people are believed to have been kidnapped, the regional governor said.
"We have affirmed our solidarity and determination to vigorously fight Boko Haram," Cameroon President Paul Biya said. "They have committed one more attack, attacked businessmen and this comes after the French hostages were kidnapped. As we speak we are searching for an Italian priest and a Canadian nun. The problem has become regional, if not a Western problem."
The group has killed more than 3,000 people in its war to establish an Islamic state in mostly Muslim northeast Nigeria.
Biya said he would send more means and troops to the north, but that Boko Haram had been picking soft targets and outnumbering his troops.
Nigeria has complained the far north of Cameroon is being used by Boko Haram militants to shelter from a Nigerian military offensive and to transport weapons, and has urged Cameroon to tighten border security.
Jonathan said there was a "misconception" in the relation between the two countries over crossing each others borders and that this would now be ironed out.
"The main outcome is that the region is now aware of a problem that for a long time was considered an internal Nigerian problem. Abuja has accepted to go beyond its borders," a Western diplomatic source said.
Highlighting that, the source said Nigeria, which sits on the 15-member U.N. Security Council, had agreed in principle to ask for Boko Haram and its key members to be placed on a U.N. sanctions list, as has been the case with other militant groups such as al Qaeda.
"The world is aware of these young school girls who were abducted, but quite frankly Boko Haram has been creating havoc for sometime," U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told Reuters.
"We are all coordinated, we are all focused, this doesn't stop at borders, terrorism does not know borders and so we're going to work in a collective manner to get the job done."
(Editing by Alison Williams)

Boko Haram kills one Chinese, 10 missing: police (Latest news about missing children in Nigeria and Boko Haram )

Yaounde, May 17 (AFP) A Chinese national was killed and 10 others were feared kidnapped after an overnight attack in northern Cameroon believed to have been carried out by Boko Haram militants from Nigeria, a police said today.

"Boko Haram Islamists attacked a camp (of road workers).

A Chinese was killed. Ten Chinese cannot be found since the attack. We think they have probably been kidnapped," a local police chief said on condition of anonymity.

China to work with new Indian govt for closer partnership- Indo - China latest news

Beijing, May 17 (PTI) China today expressed hope that relations with India under Narendra Modi government will get a boost and said it has always attached great importance to developing the bilateral ties.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China is willing to work with India's new government to maintain high-level visits, strengthen cooperation in all fields and upgrade their partnership to a higher level.

India's Modi gets hero's welcome as he brings new era to New Delhi

Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi (L), the prime ministerial candidate for India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gestures to his supporters during a road show in New Delhi May 17, 2014.

(Reuters) - Hundreds of Indians thronged the leafy streets of New Delhi on Saturday to greet Narendra Modi's triumphant march into the capital after he decimated the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the ruling Congress party in the biggest election victory the country has seen in 30 years.
Modi leaned far out of his car, waving a victory sign to jubilant supporters, in a drive from the airport to the headquarters of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the center of town.
A Hindu nationalist who critics fear will be divisive and autocratic, Modi toned down religious issues in his pitch to India's 815 million voters and won the world's biggest ever election with promises of economic development for all.
The three-times chief minister of the western state of Gujarat is an outsider to Delhi's power circle. The low-caste son of a tea stall-owner, his rise to power signals the end of an era dominated by the descendants of India's first prime minister, independence hero Jawaharlal Nehru.
"Four to five generations have been wasted since 1952, this victory has been achieved after that," Modi said, in a jibe at the Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress it dominates.
Describing himself as a "worker", he hailed grass-roots campaigners who showered him with pink rose petals as he arrived at party headquarters. There he met other party leaders and was expected to start discussions about forming a cabinet. Modi will not formally take office until after Tuesday, the party said.
Modi has given India its first parliamentary majority after 25 years of coalition governments, with his party winning more than six times the seats garnered by Congress.
With almost all 543 seats declared by Saturday morning, Modi's BJP looked set to win 282 seats, 10 more than the majority required to rule. With its allied parties, it was heading for a comfortable tally of around 337 - the clearest result since the 1984 assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son Rajiv to office.
During the campaign Modi was explicit about wanting to end the dominance of the Nehru-Gandhi family on Indian politics. He may have achieved the goal, with Congress reduced to just 44 seats, less than half of its previous worst showing.
Modi's landslide win gives him ample room to advance reforms started 23 years ago by current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but which have stalled in recent years.
Despite his party's pasting, 81-year-old Singh was magnanimous in his final address to the nation on Saturday, wishing the incoming government success. Later, he tendered his resignation.
"I am confident about the future of India," he said in his televised message. "I firmly believe that the emergence of India as a major powerhouse of the evolving global economy is an idea whose time has come."
Unlike Singh and his predecessors, Modi will not have to deal with unruly partners to implement reform. That could usher in profound economic changes, with some supporters imagining him as India's answer to former British leader Margaret Thatcher.
U.S. REACHES OUT
The desire for change among the youthful electorate after a slump in economic growth, years of policy drift and a spate of corruption scandals overrode concerns about a spasm of violence against Muslims that occurred on his watch in Gujarat 12 years ago, as well as worries his pro-Hindu leanings would sideline minorities.
In his victory speech on Friday, 63-year-old Modi struck an inclusive tone, declaring that "the age of divisive politics has ended - from today onwards the politics of uniting people will begin".
"No words will be enough to salute the youth of India. They led from the front in the elections & rose above non-issues like caste & creed," Modi wrote on his Twitter page late on Friday.
In Washington, the Obama administration congratulated Modi, and said he would be granted a visa for U.S. travel. Washington denied Modi a visa in 2005 over the sectarian riots three years previously in Gujarat state, where he was chief minister.
Modi is expected to try to replicate his success in attracting investment and building infrastructure in Gujarat, the state he has governed for more than 12 years.
Betting on a Modi win, foreign investors have poured more than $16 billion into Indian stocks and bonds in the past six months and now hold over 22 percent of Mumbai-listed equities - a stake estimated by Morgan Stanley at almost $280 billion.
But with India's economy suffering its worst slowdown since the 1980s and battling high inflation, it will not be an easy task to meet the hopes of millions of Indians who have bought into the idea that Modi will quickly push their country onto the top table of global economic powers.
His party also lacks strength in the upper house of parliament, where backing is needed for legislation to pass.
When Indira Gandhi was prime minister it was often said that she was so dominant that "India is Indira, Indira is India". The Economic Times echoed that on Saturday, with a headline: "India is Modi. Modi is India."
"Modi's ability to rise from nothing to everything has demonstrated that Indians are no longer willing to accept credentials such as belonging to a dynasty or assertion of past scholarly accomplishment abroad as a substitute for persuasive argumentation: you have to perform to command respect," Jagdish Bhagwati, an eminent Indian-born economist who has positioned himself to advise the new prime minister, told Reuters in an email exchange.
(Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

China urges Vietnam to crack down on rioting, issues travel advice

. A mob walks through a damaged office of a factory during an anti-China protest in Vietnam's southern Binh Duong province, in this May 13, 2014 picture provided by Tuan Khanh on May 17, 2014.

(Reuters) - China's public security chief urged Vietnam on Saturday to take tough measures to stem anti-China violence and punish rioters following deadly attacks there earlier this week, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Vietnamese government has said one person was killed in the rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday night, but a doctor at a hospital near one area of clashes said he had seen 21 dead bodies and that at least 100 people were wounded.
"The Vietnamese government should be accountable for the violent attacks on Chinese companies and staff," China's Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun was quoted saying in a telephone call with Vietnam's minister of public security Tran Dai Quang.
"We are strongly dissatisfied by the Vietnamese side failure to respond effectively to curb an escalation of the situation," he said, adding that there had been large numbers of casualties.
Thousands of Vietnamese attacked businesses and factories on Monday and Tuesday in the country's industrial parks, targeting Chinese workers and Chinese-owned businesses. Many Taiwanese-owned firms bore the brunt because the crowds believed they were owned by mainland Chinese, and Hong Kong firms were also hit.
China's Foreign Ministry advised Chinese nationals to hold off from travelling to Vietnam and told Chinese citizens in Vietnam to avoid leaving their premises, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website on Saturday.
According to Xinhua, Tran assured Guo that Hanoi has mobilized large numbers of police to restore calm and suspects had been arrested.
Vietnamese anger erupted after China parked an oil rig in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi. It is the worst breakdown in ties between the two Communist neighbors since a brief but bloody border war in 1979.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that China's "provocative" actions in maritime disputes were dangerous and had to stop, and China's relations with its neighbors were straining ties with the United States.
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Niu Shuping; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys stake in Verizon, adds to Wal-Mart

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett reacts at the trade show during the company's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska May 3, 2014.

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) bought a new stake of 11 million shares in Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) in the first quarter and added to its holding in Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Shares of Verizon rose 1.6 percent to $48.75 in after-hours trading following the disclosure, in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, detailing Berkshire's U.S. common stock investments as of March 31.
Shares of companies often rise after Berkshire reveals new stakes because some investors consider it a vote of confidence by Buffett and try to copy him.
Verizon "has shown that with several changes in leadership, the company performs and is a premium provider, if not the premium provider in the market," said analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics in Boston.
Buffett "likes people who can execute," Entner added.
Investor Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC also opened a new stake in Verizon, buying 3.5 million shares.
Verizon declined to comment.
Berkshire's regulatory filing did not say whether the Verizon investment was made by Buffett himself, or by one or both of his portfolio managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
U.S. regulators require large investors to disclose their stock holdings every quarter, and the disclosures can offer a window into their investment strategies.
Berkshire, a conglomerate with over 80 businesses ranging from ice cream to insurance, added to stakes in other companies, as well, including DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (DVA.N) and IBM Corp (IBM.N), among others.
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in several companies, among them DirecTV (DTV.O) and General Motors Co (GM.N).
It also reported a 17.3 percent boost in its stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer, to 58.1 million shares, for a total of $4.44 billion.
Though Berkshire owns several retail businesses such as Fruit of the Loom and the Nebraska Furniture Mart, Buffett is not known for specializing in that sector.
Asked at Berkshire's annual meeting on May 3 about when he goes out of his "circle of confidence" when investing, Buffett said "I've gone out of it more often in retail."
The Omaha, Nebraska-based company's book value per share, Buffett's preferred measure of growth, grew 2.6 percent from January to March this year.
The conglomerate ended the first quarter with $118.5 billion in stock, more than half of which was in four companies: American Express Company (AXP.N), Wells Fargo (WFC.N), IBM and the Coca-Cola Company (KO.N).
While Buffett has said he makes Berkshire's largest investments, some investments are made by Combs and Weschler, who oversee several billion dollars each.
In afternoon trading, Berkshire's Class A shares slipped 1.07 percent to $189,371 and its Class B shares dipped 0.92 percent to $126.36.
(Reporting by Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Stempel; additional reporting by Marina Lopes in New York and Bangalore newsroom; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Tom Brown)

Modi wins India's election with a landslide, partial results show

Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate for India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gujarat's chief minister, attends the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) national convention in New Delhi February 27, 2014.

(Reuters) - Opposition candidate Narendra Modi will be the next prime minister of India, with counting trends showing the pro-business Hindu nationalist and his party headed for the most resounding election victory the country has seen in thirty years.
Modi's landslide win was welcomed with a thundering rally on India's stock markets and raucous celebrations at offices across the country of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where supporters danced, exploded fireworks and handed out sweets.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose Congress party headed for a crushing defeat, telephoned Modi to congratulate him on his success, the prime minister's office said.
Crowds surged around Modi's car after he visited his mother's home in the western state of Gujarat. He sent a message saying "India has won," that instantly set a record as the country's most retweeted Twitter post.
"I'm so happy because all of India wanted a strong government," said software engineer Vinod Rai as he embraced friends and shouted in joy at the BJP's Delhi headquarters, his forehead smeered with vermillion red.
The party was headed for a majority in parliament, giving Modi the most decisive mandate for any leader since the 1984 assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son to office. Since 1989, India has been governed by coalitions.
The BJP was winning in 277 seats of the 543-seat parliament, counting trends showed. An alliance led by the party was ahead in 336 seats, TV channel NDTV said.
Responding to the news Indian markets got off to a roaring start, with the rupee breaking below 59 to the U.S. dollar, an 11-month high, and the benchmark stock index jumped 6 percent before paring its gains.
Betting on a Modi win, foreign investors have poured more than $16 billion into Indian stocks and bonds in the past six months and now hold over 22 percent of Mumbai-listed equities - a stake estimated by Morgan Stanley at almost $280 billion.
Unlike his predecessors, Modi will not have to deal with unruly partners as he implements reform. That could usher in profound economic changes, and he will try to replicate his success in attracting investment and building infrastructure in Gujarat, the state he has governed for 12 years.
"He can afford to have a smaller but stronger cabinet, that means a far more decisive government. He has been saying less government and more governance, we are really likely to see that," said Navneet Munot, Chief Investment Officer at SBI Funds management in Mumbai.
But with India's economy suffering its worst slowdown since the 1980s and battling high inflation, it will not be an easy task to meet the hopes of millions of Indians who have bought into the idea that Modi will quickly push their country onto the top table of global economic powers.
"People will not give him much time to deliver," said Neerja Chowdhury, a political analyst and a former political editor of the Indian Express newspaper. "On the economic reform agenda, I think he will move very quickly ... he's a doer and he's very focused."
DESIRE FOR CHANGE
The 63-year-old's promises of job creation and clean, efficient government resonated with many of the half a billion people who braved blistering summer heat to vote in the world's biggest election over the last five weeks.
Since being named as his party's candidate last September, Modi has flown 300,000 km and addressed 457 rallies in a slick, presidential-style campaign that has broken the mould of Indian politics.
Modi's media-savvy, modern campaign ran circles round his slow-footed rival, Rahul Gandhi, 43, from the Congress party. The Congress, which led India to independence from Britain, was headed for its worst-ever result after two terms in office marred by corruption and a floundering economy.
Prime Minister Singh, who as finance minister launched reforms in 1991 that brought an end to decades of economic isolation, has already bid farewell to his staff after ten years in office marked by mounting policy paralysis.
The desire for change has been so strong that voters put aside concerns about Modi's Hindu-centric politics. A dark chapter of violence against Muslims on his watch has mattered less and less to many, including a bulging middle class alarmed by dwindling purchasing power and job opportunities as the economy slumped to sub-five percent growth in the last two years.
Gandhi was leading by a slender margin in his seat of Amethi, a family bastion that has been held in turn by his uncle, father and mother, Sonia. A loss there would spell disaster for the great grandson of India's independence leader.
Modi has promised that, if elected, he would take decisive action to unblock stalled investments in power, road and rail projects to revive economic growth.
Tax and labor market reforms, backed by a gradual opening up to foreign investment, would seek to create the 10 million jobs that Asia's third-largest economy must create every year to employ young people entering the workforce.
Modi watched the results on TV at his home in Gujarat then met his mother, 95-year-old Hiraben, at his brother's modest government flat in the state capital, Gandhinagar. He touched her feet and she put a red stripe on his forehead as a blessing, while crackers burst outside amid chants of "Modi, Modi."
He was later expected to embark on a victory tour to his local constituency of Vadodara, while party workers in New Delhi hoped he would go there later for what could be a hero's welcome.
(Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Aditya Kalra, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Malini Menon and Tommy Wilkes in NEW DELHI, and by Sanjeev Miglani in AHMEDABAD, India; Writing by Douglas Busvine and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by John Chalmers and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Crime gangs launder $140 billion through sports betting: report

A Premier League football is seen during the English Premier League soccer match between Newcastle United and Manchester United in Newcastle, northern England March 4, 2009.

(Reuters) - Criminals are using betting on sports events to launder $140 billion each year, a report said on Thursday, exposing a lack of effective regulation that allows match-fixing to spread.
Soccer and cricket were identified as the sports most threatened by criminals seeking to rig the gambling market but tennis, basketball, motor racing and badminton were also affected, according to the report.
"The rapid evolution of the global sports betting market has seen an increased risk of infiltration by organized crime and money laundering," said Chris Eaton of the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS).
The report, compiled by the ICSS and the Sorbonne in Paris, said that 80 percent of global sports betting was being carried out on illegal markets, placing it beyond the reach of regulators and investigators.
A number of soccer leagues have been hit by match-fixing scandals in recent years and three Pakistani cricketers were jailed for a plot to deliberately bowl no balls during a test match against England at Lord's in 2010.
Technology and live television have transformed the sports betting market in recent years, allowing viewers to bet on a wider range of events and gamble in real time as a match progresses.
Eaton, a former head of security at FIFA, said the changes have made suspect betting patterns harder to spot.
Among solutions, the report recommended a sports betting tax to finance investigations into match-fixing and closer cooperation between betting companies and sporting bodies.
(Writing by Keith Weir, Editing by Ed Osmond)

Winfrey's OWN to air TV docu-series on football's Michael Sam

(Reuters) - Oprah Winfrey's OWN television network said on Wednesday that it will produce a documentary series about St. Louis Rams football player Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL.
The network, which is jointly owned by Winfrey and Discovery Communications Inc, said the series will follow Sam as he prepares for a career in professional football and tries to make the Rams roster.
The Rams selected Sam, 24, on Saturday in the seventh round of the NFL Draft three months after the defensive end from the University of Missouri came out publicly.
Sam's story attracted wide attention in the lead-up to the annual draft, and his tearful embrace of his boyfriend when drafted has quickly become an emblematic moment for the sport.
A start date for the series, its title or the number of episodes OWN planned to air were not announced.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Andre Grenon)

(Reuters) - Oprah Winfrey's OWN television network said on Wednesday that it will produce a documentary series about St. Louis Rams football player Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL.
The network, which is jointly owned by Winfrey and Discovery Communications Inc, said the series will follow Sam as he prepares for a career in professional football and tries to make the Rams roster.
The Rams selected Sam, 24, on Saturday in the seventh round of the NFL Draft three months after the defensive end from the University of Missouri came out publicly.
Sam's story attracted wide attention in the lead-up to the annual draft, and his tearful embrace of his boyfriend when drafted has quickly become an emblematic moment for the sport.
A start date for the series, its title or the number of episodes OWN planned to air were not announced.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Andre Grenon)

Twitter takes aim at 'retail politics' in Latin America

The Twitter logo is shown at the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California October 4, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

(Reuters) - After seeing explosive growth across Latin America, Twitter Inc is now tapping into the region's other big passion besides soccer - politics.
The company dispatched its top political strategist to Brazil this week to give senators in one of its biggest global markets a pep talk on tweets and how to use the social network ahead of the October general election.
"The Latin American market is growing, and elections are good opportunities for Twitter," Adam Sharp said in an interview.
A former congressional aide in Washington, Sharp's job is to promote the use of Twitter as an indispensable work tool for governments and politicians.
In a year when Brazil, Colombia and half a dozen other Latin American nations are holding elections, the microblog allows politicians to increase the scope and speed of campaigns and profit from "scalable retail politics," Sharp told Reuters.
"Authenticity is the most critical tactic when it comes to using Twitter in politics," he said, adding that some Latin American leaders have been quick in recognizing the power of the platform for enabling direct communication with voters.
"I would encourage engaging more, using it less as just a broadcast platform and more for two-way dialogue," Sharp said.
Twitter was instrumental in the organization of massive anti-government demonstrations that rocked Brazil President Dilma Rousseff's popularity last year. She learned the lesson quickly, however, reactivating her own dormant Twitter account (@dilmabr) and even pioneering Q&A sessions with her 2.3 million followers.
As with celebrities and athletes, politicians are often followed by millions of people on Twitter, an audience the San Francisco-based company can monetize through advertisement.
With still low Internet penetration and rapid adoption of smartphones, Latin America is a fast-growing market for Twitter and other social networks like Facebook. Brazil is the company's fifth-largest global market, Mexico ranks in the top 10 and Colombia and Chile are not far behind.
No Latin American politician gets even close to U.S. President Barack Obama's online flock of 42.9 million, but the region is home to prolific users like Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (@juanmansantos) with 2.8 million followers, Argentina's Cristina Fernandez (@cfkargentina) with 2.7 million and Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto (@epn) with 2.6 million.
In Venezuela, where government critics complain of limited or no access to mass media, opposition leader Henrique Capriles (@hcapriles) uses Twitter to reach 4.4 million people.
Sharp said politicians often ask what Twitter stood to gain from the growing intersection between politics and social media.
"What I tell them is, let's focus on making you successful because our success comes indirectly from that," he said.
(Editing by Todd Benson and Tom Brown)

Ex-reporter tells UK court he hacked William and Kate's phones nearly 200 times

Clive Goodman, former royal editor of the News of the World, arrives at the Old Bailey in central London March 19, 2014.

(Reuters) - The former royal editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid admitted to a London court on Wednesday he had repeatedly hacked the voicemails of Princes William and Harry, and William's wife Kate Middleton.
Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007 for illegally accessing voicemails on the mobile phones of royal aides, said he had hacked Queen Elizabeth's grandsons almost a decade ago in search of stories while working at the now-defunct tabloid.
From late 2005 until his arrest the following year, Middleton's phone was hacked 155 times despite her often changing the PIN number to access her voicemails, William's was hacked 35 and Harry's nine times, the court was told.
Goodman targeted Middleton, known as the Duchess of Cambridge since her marriage to William three years ago, on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2005. The last time was on August 7, 2006, the day before police arrested Goodman.
Despite the regular royal hackings, Goodman said detectives had never before asked him about the tapping of the princes' phones and it had not been publicly disclosed before the trial.
The Old Bailey jury has previously heard how recordings of the royals' messages had been discovered, including one in which William called Kate "Babykins", but not who was responsible.
"I'm quite happy to get everything out there and in the open," Goodman told the court. "I don't want anyone to think I'm not ashamed of what we did."
Goodman and private detective Glenn Mulcaire, who worked for the paper, were jailed in January 2007, although the ex-royal editor's involvement was then said to have been limited to three aides to the princes.
At the time, Murdoch's British newspaper arm News International said phone-hacking was limited to a "rogue reporter" but police reopened their investigation when new information emerged in 2011.
The subsequent scandal rocked the British establishment and led Murdoch to close the 168-year-old News of the World. Three of the paper's former news editors have admitted phone-hacking offences.
Goodman, 56, is now on trial accused with the paper's former editor Andy Coulson, later Prime Minister David Cameron's media chief, of authorizing illegal payments to police officers to obtain royal telephone directories.
Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, another former editor and later chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper arm are also on trial accused of phone-hacking offences. They and four other defendants on trial deny the charges.
SPEAKING FREELY
Goodman had been absent from court since falling ill in March part-way through cross-examination from Coulson's lawyer Timothy Langdale.
In earlier testimony, he said Coulson had agreed a project to fund a private detective to hack the phones of staff working for William and Harry.
Asked why he was now admitting hacking the royals themselves, Goodman said he could speak freely as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had made it clear he would not be facing any further action over hacking.
"I'm happy to give a full account of every single one of these (hackings)," Goodman told the court. He said he had also hacked the phones of a personal assistant to Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and Michael Fawcett, an aide to heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles.
Langdale queried why he had not disclosed these details in response to questions put to him weeks ago, when he only recalled hacking five royal aides and the son of Camilla Parker Bowles, the second wife of Prince Charles.
"Had you really forgotten that you had been hacking him (Prince William)?" Langdale asked.
"I didn't recall specifics," Goodman replied. "I have not been asked it before."
The trial continues.
(Editing by Andrew Roche)

More than 20 dead, doctor says, as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam

Workers wave Vietnamese national flags during a protest at an industrial zone in Binh Duong province May 14, 2014.

(Reuters) - More than 20 people were killed in Vietnam and a huge foreign steel project set ablaze as anti-China riots spread to the centre of the country a day after arson and looting in the south, a doctor and company officials said on Thursday.
A doctor at a hospital in central Ha Tinh province said five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in rioting, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.
"There were about a hundred people sent to the hospital last night. Many were Chinese. More are being sent to the hospital this morning," the doctor at Ha Tinh General Hospital told Reuters by phone.
Local media has, however, said only person was killed.
Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan's biggest investor in Vietnam, said its upcoming steel plant in Ha Tinh was set on fire after fighting between its Vietnamese and Chinese workers. One Chinese worker was killed and 90 others injured, it said in a statement in Taipei.
It was not immediately clear if the casualties were among those admitted to the Ha Tinh hospital.
The plant is expected to be Southeast Asia's largest steel making facility when it is completed in 2017. No details of fire damage or financial losses were immediately available, the company said.
The Ha Tinh industrial park, estimated to cost more than $20 billion, is more than half complete. When finished in 2020, it will have a port, a 2,100-MW power plant and six furnaces, Vietnamese media say.
MAINSTAY OF ECONOMY
Such industrial zones are the backbone of Vietnam's $138 billion economy. The country has 190 registered industrial parks employing about 2.1 million people. They manufactured products worth $38 billion in exports last year, or 30 percent of Vietnam's total export revenue.
The anti-China riots erupted in industrial zones in the south of the country on Tuesday after protests against Beijing placing an oil rig in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi.
The brunt of the violence has been borne by Taiwanese firms, mistaken by the rioters as being owned by mainland Chinese.
China expressed serious concern over the violence in Vietnam
and urged it to punish criminals and compensate victims. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying suggested Hanoi had turned a blind eye to the protesters.
"The looting and stealing that has taken place at Chinese businesses and to Chinese people has a direct relationship with Vietnam's winking at and indulging law breakers there."
Although the two Communist neighbors have close economic and political ties, Vietnamese resentment against China runs deep, rooted in feelings of national pride and the struggle for independence after decades of war and more than 1,000 years of Chinese colonial rule that ended in the 10th century.
The dispute in the South China Sea has sparked anger on both sides. Dozens of vessels from the two countries are around the oil rig, and both sides have accused the other of intentional collisions, increasing the risk of a confrontation.
Vietnamese are also angered by what they call exploitation of its raw materials and resources by Chinese firms, and say although bilateral trade is over $50 billion annually, Chinese investment in Vietnam is only around $2.3 billion.
China faces similar accusation in other emerging markets, especially in Africa. Some 85 percent of China's exports from Africa are raw materials, such as oil and minerals, and Beijing has been accused of holding back the continent's economic development by ignoring the creation of local jobs and markets.
GETTING OUT
Thousands of Vietnamese set fire to foreign factories and rampaged through industrial zones in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces near Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, officials said. Protests continued on Wednesday.
Hundreds of Chinese working in the zones have fled, most to neighboring Cambodia and others by air.
"Yesterday more than 600 Chinese people from Vietnam crossed at Bavet international checkpoint into Cambodia," Cambodian National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith told Reuters.
Bavet is on a highway stretching from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial centre, to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.
At Ho Chi Minh City airport, scores of Chinese were arriving in large groups, queuing to grab tickets or get on the first flights to Malaysia, Cambodia, Taiwan, Singapore and China.
"People don't feel safe here, so we just want to get out of Vietnam," said Xu Wen Hong, who works for an iron and steel company and bought a one-way ticket to China.
"Even to Thailand and Cambodia. If there are no more tickets to China, they think just leaving Vietnam is enough.
"We're scared, of course. With all the factories burning, anyone would be scared in this situation."
In Binh Duong province alone, police said 460 companies had reported some damage to their plants, local media reported.
"More than 40 policemen were injured while on duty, mainly by bricks and stones thrown by extremists," the state-run Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said.
About 600 people were arrested for looting and inciting the crowd, the newspaper quoted Vo Thanh Duc, the police chief of Binh Duong province, as saying.
The United States has called on both sides for restraint.
Such disputes "need to be resolved through dialogue, not through intimidation," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a regular briefing. "We again urge dialogue in their resolution."
The U.S. State Department said it was monitoring events in Vietnam closely, and urged restraint from all parties, while adding: "We support the right of individuals to assemble peacefully to protest."
The crisis erupted soon after a week-long visit to Asia by President Barack Obama in late April in which he pledged that Washington would live up to its obligation to defend its allies in the region.
(Reporting by Nguyen Phuong Linh, Martin Petty, Phnom Penh Bureau, Rachel Armstrong in Singapore, Faith Hung in Taipei and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Indian Venture capitalist Khosla in court over ending California beach access

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla arrives at San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, California May 12, 2014 to testify over the ongoing legal battle over public access to Martin's Beach, a property which he purchased and subsequently closed the only access road to the private property.

(Reuters) - Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and now a prominent venture capitalist, on Monday testified about his cutting access to a popular beach in a court case that calls into question a California tradition of open access to the state's famed coastline.
The lawsuit makes Khosla the latest in a line of Californian billionaires to clash with locals over their properties. Their dispute stems from Khosla's closure of an access road to a northern California property known as Martin's Beach, which is about 30 miles west of San Jose.
Khosla, known for his investments in clean technology, testified before Judge Barbara Mallach in San Mateo County Court on Monday that he could not recall whether he knew public access to the beach must be preserved at the time he bought it.
"I had no particular plans for the property," Khosla said, responding to questions from Joe Cotchett, a lawyer for the Surfrider Foundation. The coastal-protection group brought suit last year against Khosla, arguing that closing the approach to the beach amounted to a violation of the California's Coastal Act, a state law that governs issues such as shoreline access.
"The California Coastal Act is very clear," said Cotchett before Monday's proceedings got under way. "One individual cannot come along and buy it and say, 'The beach is now closed.'"
In California, unlike in many other states, all beaches are open to the public under the constitution. But private landowners are not always required to allow access to the coastline across their properties.
Many disputes have arisen over the years, often involving wealthy beachfront homeowners. In the case of Martin's Beach, the previous owner had allowed locals to access the beach for a fee. But Khosla, who owns the land via limited liability corporations, closed off the access road and hired guards to keep people out, infuriating locals.
Lawyers for Surfrider say California's Coastal Act calls for permits around activities that change the use or intensity of use at a beach - permits that Martin's Beach LLC failed to acquire.
The dispute echoes record mogul David Geffen's long battle to prevent use of a walkway near his Malibu home. In 1983, Geffen agreed to allow a pathway to Carbon Beach when he sought permits for a pool and other additions, but he later filed suit to fight the access. In 2005, Geffen settled the suit and allowed the public walkway.
Dubbed "Billionaire's Beach," Carbon has been home to titans such as Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison and movie and television stars John Travolta, Courtney Cox and David Arquette.
The tiff also evokes some other neighborly disputes in recent years involving wealthy technology executives including late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Ellison.
Jobs fought a bitter battle with neighbors in Woodside, California, over a 1920s-era house he owned but wanted to tear down and replace with something sleeker. He twice won demolition permits that were contested by preservationists; the wrecking ball finally came down in 2011, months before his death. The property is now vacant.
That same year, Ellison settled a case he had filed against his neighbors over trees he said blocked views of the bay from his house in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood.
In 2012, special-effects pioneer George Lucas, the creator of "Star Wars," got so fed up with his development-fighting neighbors in Marin County, California, that he scrapped plans to expand his Skywalker Ranch and said he would instead sell it to a developer to build low-income housing.
Khosla Ventures has backed companies ranging from Jawbone, maker of the "UP" health wristband, and payments companies Stripe and Square.
(Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Stephen Coates)

U.S. confirms second case of MERS(a deadly virus)

The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus is seen in an undated transmission electron micrograph from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

(Reuters) - U.S. health officials confirmed the country's second case of MERS, a deadly virus first discovered in the Middle East, and said the patient was in good condition in an Orlando, Florida hospital.
The patient, 44, is a healthcare worker who lives and works in Saudi Arabia and traveled to the United States to visit relatives. He was admitted to the Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Orlando on May 9.
The case is the second "imported" instance of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, reaching U.S. soil. The first case was confirmed late last month in Indiana, raising fears about the global spread of the virus that has no treatment and kills about one-third of infected patients.
The two cases are not related, said Dr Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new patient traveled on May 1 from Jeddah to London on Saudi Airlines Flight 113, then changed planes at Heathrow airport and flew from London to Boston, Public Health England said in statement. From Boston, the patient took a flight to Atlanta, and then flew to Orlando. The CDC did not release U.S. flight numbers.
Schuchat said the patient was feeling ill on the flight from Jeddah, but did not feel sick enough to seek treatment until last Friday. The CDC confirmed the presence of MERS virus on May 11.
It is not clear in which hospital the patient worked, but Schuchat said it was likely a facility that was caring for people with MERS.
The CDC said it is not clear whether the person was infectious on the plane, but it is now contacting some 500 people who traveled on the same U.S. flights as the health worker "out of an abundance of caution," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters on a conference call.
"We think at least some of the increase in the cases we're hearing about from the Middle East does have to do with better monitoring and tracking, and that's a good thing," he said.
The Florida hospital, which is located near the Disney theme park, is tracking down any of its workers who might have come in contact with the patient. So far, 16 have been placed in home isolation.
"We do believe there is a low risk the virus is being spread," hospital spokesman Geo Morales said, noting the patient's symptoms were mild when he arrived and that he did not have a cough.
NO CHANGES DETECTED IN VIRUS GENOME
MERS, which causes coughing, fever and sometimes fatal pneumonia, is a coronavirus from the same family as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed around 800 people worldwide after first appearing in China in 2002.
The MERS virus first emerged in September 2012 and has since infected almost 500 people in Saudi Arabia. There have been sporadic cases across the Middle East, as well as in Europe and Asia.
Frieden said the latest U.S. case of MERS was "unwelcome but not unexpected news," and added it now falls to the U.S. hospital and healthcare workers in general to observe meticulous infection control procedures to keep the virus contained.
The CDC now has a team in Saudi Arabia working with "international partners" to try to help contain the spread of the virus and better understand how it is transmitted, he said.
So far, an analysis of the genetic sequences of the virus suggest it has not changed in the past two years.
"That is reassuring," Frieden said.
According to Dr Kevin Sherin, director of the Orange County Health Department in Orlando, the man, who traveled from Saudi Arabia alone, should make a full recovery given his mild symptoms.
Sherin said the patient arrived at the hospital emergency room at 12:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon, and doctors quickly began considering MERS because the he is a healthcare worker in Saudi Arabia. He would not say whether the patient is a physician.
Sherin said the man felt poorly for about a week during his stay at the home of relatives before he brought himself in, and that any exposure to the general public was minimal.
"He didn't come here to go to theme parks," Sherin added.
(Reporting by Michele Gershberg and Julie Steenhuysen, additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London and Barbara Liston in Orlando; Editing by Michele Gershberg, Andre Grenon)

Conflict follows Russia, Ukraine into Eurovision song contest

Conchita Wurst, representing Austria, performs the song ''Rise Like a Phoenix'' during the second semi-final at the 59th annual Eurovision Song Contest at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, May 8, 2014

(Reuters) - Singers from 26 nations will compete on Saturday in the kitschy cocktail of pop and politics that is the Eurovision song contest, with a bearded Austrian drag queen battling twin sisters from Russia and a 21-year-old crowd darling from Ukraine.
Swedish Sanna Nielsen's new-age pop song "Undo" is the bookmakers' favorite. A win by her would be the second in three years for Sweden. Overall, Sweden has won the contest five times, mostly notably with ABBA's Waterloo in 1974.
But the geopolitical echoes of Russia's conflict with Crimea may dominate the song contest, which launched the careers of ABBA and Celine Dion. Many in the Copenhagen audience booed on Tuesday when Russia's, the 17-year-old Tolmachevy twin sisters, qualified for the final.
Adding to controversy, the contest's organizers said votes from Crimea - annexed by Russia - would count as Ukrainian votes, because tallies are based on existing national telephone codes.
It has been widely speculated that Russia's entry could suffer for its annexation of Crimea and intransigence on gay rights. The event is hugely popular in the gay community.
The Tolmachevy sisters, Anastasia and Maria, who won the Junior Eurovision in 2006, have not commented on the politics.
Ukrainian singer Mariya Yaremchuk, who got huge cheers when she was also voted through on Tuesday, said her preparation for the contest has been affected by the crisis in her country.
"Actually, when I was preparing in Ukraine I even couldn’t focus on working because we all were influenced by that," she told Reuters television.
In a Nordic region that prides itself on social liberties, the Danish organizers have declared tolerance a main theme for the event and the rainbow-colored flag symbolizing gay pride has been waved many places in Copenhagen.
Austria's contestant, drag queen Conchita Wurst - sporting high-heels, butterfly eyelashes and a full beard - was voted through at the second semi-final on Thursday. The audience in Copenhagen cheered loudly, and the bookmakers see her grandiose ballad "Rise Like a Phoenix" as a runner-up.
"The beard is a statement to say that you can achieve anything, no matter who you are or how you look," Wurst told Reuters.
Online petitions were started in Belarus, Armenia and Russia - whose government passed a law last year banning "gay propaganda" among minors - to have Wurst removed or edited out of broadcasts in their countries.
The contest was started in the 1950s to help foster unity after World War Two, but geopolitics have played a role in the voting before. Points are now awarded half by professional judges and half by the public via phone and SMS.
When Russia made a military intrusion in neighboring Georgia in 2009, Georgia wanted to compete with a satire over Russia's President Vladimir Putin called 'We don't wanna Put In'.
The organisers said Georgia's song was too political and asked the country to either to change the lyrics or participate with another song. Georgia withdrew from the contest.
(Additional reporting by Annabella Nielsen; Editing by Alistair Scrutton, Larry King)

Putin marks Victory in Crimea as Ukraine violence flares

A man holds a flag, which reads 'Lugansk Republic', during celebrations to mark Victory Day in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk May 9, 2014.

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin flew in to Crimea on Friday for the first time since it was annexed by Moscow, proclaiming as he marked the Soviet victory in World War Two that incorporating the former Ukrainian territory had made Russia stronger.
In east Ukraine, where pro-Moscow rebels plan a referendum on Sunday to follow Crimea in breaking from Kiev, at least seven people were killed and dozens were wounded in chaotic fighting in the center of the port of Mariupol.
One of the most serious clashes yet between Ukrainian forces and separatists, it edged the former Soviet republic closer to civil war.
The head of NATO, locked in its gravest confrontation with Russia since the Cold War, condemned Putin's visit to Crimea, whose annexation in March has not been recognized by Western powers. He also renewed doubts over an assurance by the Kremlin leader that he had pulled back troops from the Ukrainian border.
The pro-Western government in Kiev, labeled "fascist" by Moscow, said Putin's visit was intended to escalate the crisis.
Watching a military parade in Sevastopol on the Black Sea, Putin said: "There is a lot of work ahead but we will overcome all difficulties because we are together, which means we have become stronger."
Earlier in the day, he had presided over the biggest Victory Day parade in Moscow for years. The passing tanks, aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles were a reminder to the world - and Russian voters - of Putin's determination to revive Moscow's global power, 23 years after the Soviet collapse.
"The iron will of the Soviet people, their fearlessness and stamina saved Europe from slavery," Putin said in a speech to the military and war veterans gathered on Red Square.
The United States said the trip to Crimea was provocative, the European Union said Putin should not have used the World War Two commemoration to showcase the annexation and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the visit "inappropriate".
The head of the U.S.-led defense pact was speaking in formerly Soviet Estonia, one of a host of east European nations that joined after the collapse of communism, seeking refuge from the power of Moscow, which many in the region regarded as having enslaved them following its victory in World War Two.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, in office since an uprising overthrew the Kremlin-backed elected president in Kiev in February, rejects Russian allegations that his power is the result of coup backed by neo-Nazi Ukrainian nationalists.
"Sixty-nine years ago, we, together with Russia, fought against fascism and won," he said after a Victory Day church service in the capital. Now, he added, "history is repeating itself but in a different form".
Where Russia and Ukraine stood shoulder to shoulder in the past against Germany, now Germany was "standing shoulder to shoulder with us", along with the United States and Britain.
Ukraine's SBU security service accused Russian saboteurs of setting a fire that briefly disrupted state broadcasts.
FIGHTING, BLAZE
In Mariupol, eastern Ukraine's main port on the Sea of Azov, regional authorities said seven people had been killed and 39 wounded in the course of an "anti-terrorist operation" - the term Kiev uses for its fight against the separatists.
Journalist Tetyana Ignatchenko said there was fierce fighting outside the police headquarters and video showed armored cars smashing barricades and soldiers exchanging fire with a gunman on the street while crowds milled around.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said about 20 "terrorists" were killed when pro-Russian militants tried to seize the city's police headquarters. A figure he gave earlier this week of 30 rebel dead in another city was not confirmed.
A member of Ukraine's parliament, Oleh Lyashko, gave a different account of Friday's events, saying eight rebels had been killed in clashes when Ukrainian forces attacked Mariupol's police headquarters to try to drive out pro-Russian militants.
A local photographer in Mariupol told Reuters the building was ablaze and that two bodies were lying in the street outside.
"One of them is definitely a police officer," he said.
Ukrainian forces later withdrew from the town, a major industrial center with a population of about half a million.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a telephone call with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday that Moscow hoped Washington would work with Kiev to end Ukraine's military operation against the separatists.
CRIMEAN DELIGHT
In Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet previously had to lease its base from Ukraine, servicemen and veterans marched in a parade before Putin's arrival that also included armored vehicles and anti-aircraft missiles. Banners read "Sevastopol without Fascists" and "It's our duty to remember".
"I'm here to prevent any provocations from the fascists. I served in a self-defense unit during March, and I consider it my duty to be here," said Natalya Malyarchuk, 52.
The ethnic Russian majority among Crimea's two million population broadly welcomed the Russian takeover that came in the wake of the Kiev uprising. Given by Soviet leaders to Ukraine only in the 1950s, many Russians long saw it as rightfully theirs. Western powers have imposed sanctions against Russia in response, but reactions have been muted.
Moscow says it has no direct control over the armed rebels in eastern Ukraine running Sunday's referendum on secession from Kiev for the mainly Russian-speaking region.
The European Union is likely to strengthen its targeted sanctions against Russia on Monday, Janusz Lewandowski, a member of the EU's governing commission, said on Friday. Diplomats said they would target about 15 people and several Crimean branches of Ukrainian companies taken over by Russians.
While Putin's redrawing of European borders has sparked great alarm across the continent, U.S. and European leaders are concerned not to harm their own economies by isolating Moscow.
And there is little popular support in the West for an armed conflict with Russia on behalf of Ukraine, a country that is not a member of NATO and where successive leaders have left a legacy of corruption, poverty and feeble state institutions.
In Sevastopol, factory worker Vasily Topol, 31, wearing a white T-shirt with an image of Putin in sunglasses and the words "Russia's Army", said life was better since Crimea became Russian.
"We have the greatest admiration for Putin, we are morally and materially better off since Crimea became part of Russia," he said, speaking on an embankment overlooking Russian warships.
EASTERN PARADE
In Slaviansk, the military stronghold of the separatists in eastern Ukraine, separatist "people's mayor" Vyacheslav Ponomaryov and a guard of militiamen led a march of around 2,000 people to lay flowers at a memorial to the World War Two dead.
Veteran Anatoly Strizhakov said: "Look at all these people - the children, the women, the pensioners... Today shows we've got the spirit to stand up to whatever the Ukrainians are planning."
Ponomaryov, who fired a pistol three times in the air during the ceremony, reassured people it would be safe to vote on Sunday. Voters in the two regions, with a combined population of over 6 million, will be asked to vote Yes to the secession of self-styled "People's Republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Opinion polls in recent months have indicated that support for such a move is far from solid and it is unclear how many people will actually take part in voting. A referendum in Crimea in March, which many boycotted, backed secession by 97 percent.
(Additional reporting by Nigel Stephenson and Katya Golubkova in Moscow, David Mardiste in Tallinn, Ralph Boulton, Pavel Polityuk, Aleksandar Vasovic and Elizabeth Piper in Kiev and Alessandra Prentice in Slaviansk; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Giles Elgood)