NEWS IN BRIEF

Date: 26 November 2014 - 20:38

News ID: ۷۸۶۲

OUAGADOUGOU (PRESS TV) – Two dozen people have been killed and over 620 others injured in violent protests held during the uprising that toppled the longtime president of Burkina Faso on October 31.
Two days of protests that led to the resignation of Burkina Faso’s former president, Blaise Compaoré, in late October resulted in 24 deaths, whose causes included gunshot wounds, serious burns or suffocation, said a committee appointed by Prime Minister Lieutenant Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida on Wednesday.
The revolt witnessed heavy damage of property, including 14 public buildings which were destroyed, while shops were pillaged, said Clarisse Merindol-Ouoba, head of the government-appointed committee probing the violence.
Demonstrators raided the parliament building and other buildings, ransacking offices and setting fire to cars.
An initial death toll was put at 30 by the opposition, while diplomatic sources said 15 people were killed.
On October 31, the military took control in the power vacuum after Compaoré resigned following nearly 30 years in power.
The former president was forced to step down following mass protests against his attempts to change the constitution to extend his rule for a fifth term. Compaoré first took power in a coup in 1987 and emerged victorious in the next four elections.

STRASBOURG, France  (Reuters) - The European Commission presented a plan on Wednesday for some 300 billion euros ($375 billion) of largely private new investment in the European Union, saying it was time to kick-start growth without adding to public debt.
Underlining the need to pursue structural reforms to ailing economies and pare back debt and deficits run up during the financial crisis, the EU's new chief executive said his plan was the third leg of a strategy to get Europeans back to work.
"Europe needs a kick-start and today the Commission is applying the jump leads," Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a conservative former prime minister of Luxembourg who took office this month, told the European Parliament.
He acknowledged criticism that the plan lacks a major new public spending component. The EU is setting aside just 8 billion euros and the European Investment Bank 5 billion to help provide 21 billion euros of capital for a special fund to be managed with the EIB.
The cash is to unlock 300 billion euros of investment over the next three years to create a million jobs.
The parliament's main political groups cautiously welcomed the plan, saying that while they would have liked the capital of the investment fund to be higher, it was still a good start.
But far right and left-wing deputies and the Greens criticised it, saying the leverage effect of 15 times was a fantasy and that it made risks public and profits private.

HARARE (Press TV) – Zimbabwe’s Vice President Joice Mujuru, who has been accused of plotting a coup against President Robert Mugabe, has reportedly been disqualified for running for membership in the central committee of the country’s ruling party.
Mujuru’s election papers were rejected by a provincial executive committee ahead of a key congress of the ruling ZANU-PF party, which will be held next week, media reported on Wednesday.
Mujuru’s home district "rejected her application in elections that saw a number of other ZANU-PF bigwigs linked to her nefarious activities to oust… Mugabe also failing to make it,” the reports said.
Pro-government newspapers have continuously attacked Mujuru, as factions within the ruling party struggle to take power after the death or resignation of 90-year-old Mugabe.

On November 17, Mujuru defended herself against allegations that she masterminded a plot to assassinate Mugabe. Rejecting the claims as "entirely untrue”, Mujuru said in a statement she was ready to defend herself against accusations in a court of law.