Mumbai attack 'leader' wins Pakistan appeal

The alleged leader of the 2008 militant attacks on Mumbai has won an appeal against his detention in Pakistan.

Lawyers for Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi said a government detention order issued last week infringed his rights, as he had been granted bail by another court.
Analysts say he could be freed as soon as the paperwork is completed.
India says a Pakistani militant group carried out the attacks, which killed 165. Pakistan has not convicted anyone suspected of planning the attacks.
Mr Lakhvi is among seven suspects who have been in jail awaiting trial for six years. Nine others have been charged in absentia.
Analysts say the decision to grant him bail came at an embarrassing time for the Pakistani government.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently promised to crack down on militancy after the Taliban killed 141 people at a school in Peshawar
Mr Lakhvi was granted bail by an anti-terror court on 18 December, but hours later the government imposed a three-month detention order and said it would appeal against the bail decision.
Mr Lakhvi's lawyers argued in Islamabad's High Court that the detention infringed his rights.
The judge accepted the arguments and quashed the detention order.
The suspect is now technically free to leave jail, but has been ordered to appear in court for every hearing concerning his case.

 

 

Mr Lakhvi was accused of heading the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was blamed for the Mumbai attacks.

Correspondents say the charges brought against Mr Lakhvi and other suspects held in Pakistan were mainly based on a confession given by the only gunman captured alive after the attacks.
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab was executed in 2012.
The attacks severely strained relations between India and Pakistan.
India has repeatedly criticised Pakistan for failing to prosecuted any of the suspects, and has summoned the Pakistani high commissioner to discuss Mr Lakhvi's case.

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Taliban declares 'defeat' of Nato

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have declared the "defeat" of the US and its allies, a day after the coalition officially ended its combat mission.

A Taliban statement said the US-led force had "rolled up its flag" without having achieved "anything substantial".
Nato formally ended its 13-year mission on Sunday, but about 13,000 troops will stay to train the Afghan army.
Meanwhile, officials said four Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack in Helmand province on Monday.
Three other soldiers were injured during the attack on an army checkpoint in Sangin district. Eight insurgents were said to have been killed.
The US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) marked the end of its mission by lowering its flag at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday.
Mission commander Gen John Campbell said the Nato force had "lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future".
'Demoralised' But in a statement on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Nato ceremony was "a clear indication of their defeat and disappointment".
He said the Taliban would establish "a pure Islamic system by expelling the remaining invading forces," adding that Western troops were "demoralised".
Nato's Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.
At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.
But from 1 January, the force will consist of about 13,000 mostly-American troops and will shift to a training and support mission for the Afghan army.
The US will also have an additional force of a few thousand troops whose focus will be counter-terrorism operations.
While the US and its allies say the Afghan security forces have been able to prevent a Taliban offensive, violence has increased in recent months.
This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces having been killed.
Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission in 2001, including about 2,200 American troops.

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Obama suggests Putin 'not so smart'

President Barack Obama has said Vladimir Putin made a "strategic mistake" when he annexed Crimea, in a move that was "not so smart".

Those thinking his Russian counterpart was a "genius" had been proven wrong by Russia's economic crisis, he said.
International sanctions had made Russia's economy particularly vulnerable to changes in oil price, Mr Obama said.
He also refused to rule out opening a US embassy in Iran soon.
"I never say never but I think these things have to go in steps" he told NPR's Steve Inskeep in the Oval Office.
'Reliant on oil' Mr Obama was giving a wide-ranging interview with NPR shortly before leaving for Hawaii for his annual holiday.
He criticised his political opponents who claimed he had been outdone by Russia's president.
"You'll recall that three or four months ago, everybody in Washington was convinced that President Putin was a genius and he had outmanoeuvred all of us and he had bullied and strategised his way into expanding Russian power," he said.
"Today, I'd sense that at least outside of Russia, maybe some people are thinking what Putin did wasn't so smart."
Mr Obama argued that sanctions had made the Russian economy vulnerable to "inevitable" disruptions in oil price which, when they came, led to "enormous difficulties".
"The big advantage we have with Russia is we've got a dynamic, vital economy, and they don't," he said. "They rely on oil. We rely on oil and iPads and movies and you name it."
Following a disputed referendum in Crimea, Russia unilaterally annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in March. It did so weeks after a revolution ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.
The US, EU and other countries then implemented a series of economic sanctions against Russia.
The Russian currency has since lost half its value against the dollar and the economy has begun to contract.
Mr Obama also said that sending US troops to fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria would be counter-productive.
"If we do for others what they need to do for themselves - if we come in and send the Marines in to fight ISIL [IS], and the Iraqis have no skin in the game, then it's not going to last," he said.

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Smoke spotted during AirAsia search

Indonesian officials say they are sending teams to investigate reports of smoke on an island in the area where AirAsia flight QZ8501 has gone missing.

The multinational search for the plane has entered a third day, with the operation area now widened to cover 13 zones over land and sea.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.
The pilot's last contact was a request to divert around bad weather.
Indonesian officials say air traffic control had approved one request, to veer left, then gave clearance to a second request for permission to climb two to three minutes later.
No reply was received and the plane then disappeared from radar. No trace has yet been found.
Countries around the region as well as the US, France and Australia have joined the search over the Java sea.
On Tuesday, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue officials in Banka Belitung province told the BBC they were deploying teams to investigate reports of "billowing smoke" on Long Island, just south of Belitung island, inside the search zone.
Andriandi said the smoke was spotted on Monday by a Chinese television crew, about 29 miles from Manggar in East Belitung.
"There is a possibility that it might be from the missing AirAsia plane but we are still doing further verification," he said.
Experts have cautioned the smoke could be unrelated to the plane. Reports of a possible oil slick spotted in the seas off Belitung island on Monday turned out to be reefs just below the surface.
Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency, also said on Tuesday that officials would be speaking to two fishermen who had reported hearing a loud bang on Sunday.
But he said no signal had been detected from the plane yet. On Monday, he had said he suspected the aircraft was at the bottom of the sea.
US destroyer en route On board the plane were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew.
Most were Indonesian but the passengers included one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans.
Pilot Capt Iriyanto had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia. The co-pilot was French national Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
At least 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters joined the operation when it resumed at 06:00 local time, said Indonesian officials, with the search now covering 13 different areas across land and sea.
The multinational operation, led by Indonesia, has been joined by Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, with other offers of help from South Korea, Thailand, China and France. The US destroyer USS Sampson is on its way to the zone.
The BBC's Alice Budisatrijo at Surabaya's Juanda airport says those offers come as welcome news to the relatives, who understand the limited technical capabilities of the Indonesian authorities to locate and retrieve the plane, especially if it is underwater.
'Then no reply' The plane had left Surabaya at 05:35 Jakarta time and had been due to arrive in Singapore two hours later.
Wisnu Darjono, AirNav safety director, said Capt Iriyanto requested permission to bank left at 06:12 to avoid a storm. The request was immediately granted and the plane changed course.
According to state navigation operator AirNav Indonesia, the pilot then asked to take the plane from 32,000ft (9,800m) to 38,000ft but did not explain why he wanted to do so.
Indonesian air traffic control staff told the pilot he could take the plane to 34,000ft but no higher because another AirAsia airliner was flying at 38,000ft.
"It took us around two to three minutes to communicate with Singapore," Mr Darjono said. "But when we informed the pilot of the approval at 06:14, we received no reply."
The plane was officially declared missing at 07:55.
It is unclear what happened next but one report suggests the plane may have tried to climb through the storm.
Former pilots say a climb could have led to reduced stability and possibly a fatal stall, as cross winds and down draughts battered the plane.
The AirAsia plane was delivered in 2008, has flown 13,600 times, completing 23,000 hours, and underwent its last maintenance in November.
AirAsia previously had an excellent safety record and there were no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.

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Nato marks Afghan mission change

Nato has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan - heralding the start of a new phase of support for local Afghan troops.

Commanders lowered the flag during a ceremony in Kabul - raising the flag of the new mission named Resolute Support.
"We have lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future," mission commander Gen John Campbell said.
Nato's Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.
From 1 January the alliance's role will shift to a mainly training and support mission for the Afghan army.
Sunday's ceremony was low-key - held inside a gymnasium at the alliance headquarters away from the public.
A military band played as the flag of the International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) was lowered in the presence of senior military personnel from both sides.
Unfurling the new flag, Gen Campbell said the mission "will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership" between Nato and Afghanistan.
"We honour coalition and Afghan fallen in this mighty struggle, those who paid the price for Afghanistan's freedom," he said, adding: "The road before us remains challenging but we will triumph."
At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.
But from 1 January, it will bring together around 12,000 men and women from Nato allies and 14 partner nations.
"The security of Afghanistan will be fully in the hands of the country's 350,000 Afghan soldiers and police. But Nato allies, together with many partner nations, will remain to train, advise and assist them," said Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a statement.
More than a decade after this long and expensive mission began, the Taliban are still active and gaining in strength, launching a number of attacks in recent months, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul.
This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces dying in the fight against the Taliban.
It underscores the challenges that lie ahead of the Afghan security forces, our correspondent says.
Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission.

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Cameroon air strikes on Boko Haram

Cameroon has carried out its first air strikes against militant Islamist group Boko Haram after it over-ran a military base and attacked five villages, an army spokesman has said.

The military repelled the attacks and regained control of the base, he added.
The spokesman did not confirm local media reports that the militants had killed at least 30 people.
The Nigeria-based group is increasingly carrying out cross-border raids, threatening Cameroon's security.
'Training camp dismantled' The latest fighting was the most intense, lasting for three days along several fronts, reports the BBC's Jean-David Mihamle from Cameroon's capital Yaounde.
About 1,000 militants attacked five villages, including Amchide, and seized the nearby Achigachia military base.
"After that, the head of state ordered the air force to carry out strikes. With the bombardment, the fighters were forced to decamp from Achigachia," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
Last week, Cameroon said it had dismantled a Boko Haram training camp on its territory, and had seized 84 children who were being trained there.
More than 40 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting with Boko Haram this year, according to Reuters.
Boko Hara

m launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009, saying it wanted to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
It recruits mainly unemployed youth and has seized large swathes of territory in Borno state, raising fears that it could launch an assault on its main city, Maiduguri.
At least 2,000 civilians have been killed by the group in Nigeria this year.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in April from the town of Chibok in Borno state sparked international outrage.

• Founded in 2002
• Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
• Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
• Some three million people affected
• Declared terrorist group by US in 2013

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The Interview makes $15m in online release

Controversial comedy The Interview has become film studio Sony's most-downloaded title of all time, just four days after its release on 24 December.

It was downloaded more than two million times as of 27 December, making back a third of its $44m (£28m) budget.
The film, about a fictional American plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had previously been pulled from release over security fears.
It angered North Korea and may have triggered a cyber attack on Sony.
The hack, from a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace, led to the leaking of confidential information including upcoming movie scripts, confidential emails and actors' salaries.
Sony halted the release after unspecified threats of attacks against cinemas.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later said its investigation into the hacking attack pointed the finger at North Korea. The country denied involvement, but described the hack as a "righteous deed".
Sony said in a statement on Sunday that the movie was made available in the US and Canada through Google services YouTube and Play, Microsoft's Xbox Video and its dedicated website in HD versions for 48-hour rental at $5.99 and for purchase at $14.99.
It made $15m (£9.6m) in its first three days on sale.
There was also a "strong turnout" for the movie's limited theatre release, after major US chains backed out of screening it.
Sony's move to cancel the film's release had garnered criticism in the US including from President Barack Obama, who said it meant freedom of expression was under threat.

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한국은 북한에 대한 높은 수준의 회담을 제공합니다

한국은 "평화 통일"을 준비하기 위해, 문제의 범위에 북한과 다음 달에 높은 수준의 회담 재개를 제공하고있다.

통일부 장관 류 Kihl - 재 그는 특히 60 년 전 한국 전쟁으로 이산 가족의 상봉을 논의하기를 희망했다.

북한에서 아직 응답이 없었다.

북한은 이전에를 인수하기위한 시도로 한국의 통일 계획을 보았다.

"남한과 북한이 평화 통일을위한 계획을 그리는 얼굴을 충족해야한다"고 류는 기자 회견에서 말했다.

"이 목적을 위해, 우리는 북한 정부가 내년 1 월에 남북 간 상호 관심사에 대한 대화를 공식 제안을합니다."

장관은 그가 북한이 제안에 "긍정적으로 응답"희망했다.

그는 서울, 평양 또는 다른 남한이나 북한의 도시에서 북한 관리들과 합의에 맞게 제공했다.

마지막으로 공식적인 높은 수준의 회담 한국 가족 드문 상봉을 선도 월에 있었다.

북한이 풍선 국경을 넘어 안티 북부 전단지를 보내는 활동가를 중지시키기에 충분한 일을하지 않는다고의 남쪽을 비난 한 후 10 월에 계획보다 회담 떨어졌다.

1950-53 년 한국 전쟁이 휴전 협정이 아닌 평화 조약에 종료 이후 남북한은 기술적으로 전쟁이었다.

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South Korea offers high-level talks to North Korea

South Korea has offered to resume high-level talks next month with North Korea on a range of issues, to prepare for a "peaceful unification".

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said he especially hoped to discuss the reunion of families separated by the Korean War more than 60 years ago.
There has been no response yet from Pyongyang.
The North has previously seen the South's unification plans as an attempt to take it over.
"North and South Korea should meet face to face to draw up a plan for a peaceful unification," Mr Ryoo told a news conference.
"For this purpose, we make an official proposal for the North Korean government to have a conversation about mutual concerns between North and South in January next year."
The minister said he hoped North Korea "responds positively" to the suggestion.
He offered to meet in Seoul, Pyongyang or any other South or North Korean city agreed with North Korean officials.
The last formal high-level talks were in February, leading to rare reunions for Korean families.
More talks planned in October were dropped after North Korea accused the South of not doing enough to stop activists sending anti-Northern leaflets across the border on balloons.
The two Koreas have technically been at war since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

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Greece parliament holds crucial presidency vote

Greece's parliament is holding a third and final vote on whether to approve a president nominated by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, in a move that could trigger a snap election.

The candidate, Stavros Dimas, has so far failed to get the constitutionally required majority.
Failure to elect him would force a fresh general election.
Opinion polls give a lead to the left-wing Syriza party, which has pledged to renegotiate the country's bailout deal.
This would put Greece on a collision course with its EU and IMF creditors, who have loaned the country billions of euros in exchange for deep cuts in government spending.
Syriza has vowed to keep Greece within the eurozone but wants to roll back some of the reforms imposed as part of the bailout deal.
"Syriza's victory in elections will jumpstart a massive national effort to save society and restore Greece," Syriza's leader Alexis Tsipras said in an article in Avgi newspaper.
Samaras warning In the second round of voting last week, Mr Dimas obtained 168 votes, 32 short of the 200 he required.
Greece's two-party governing coalition has 155 seats and needs support from opposition or independent lawmakers to ensure a win for former EU Environment Commissioner Mr Dimas.
In the final round, he needs the support of only 180 MPs to be appointed president - a largely ceremonial role.
But few believe he has it, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Athens.
If he does not get the votes required, parliament will be dissolved within 10 days and general elections will be called within a month, either in late January or early February.
"The Greek people don't want early elections. The Greek people understand where this adventure could lead," Prime Minister Samaras told Greek television.
Although polls suggest Syriza would win early elections, it is not clear they would win a majority.
The Greek economy has begun to show signs of recovery after years of contraction.
But unemployment remains over 25%, and many people have had wages and benefits cut.

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Bangalore blast kills Indian woman

A home-made bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, killing a woman who was passing by and injuring five others.

The blast on Sunday night took place in a busy area and the police have described it as a "terrorist attack".
Bangalore has been on alert since earlier this month when an engineer was arrested for allegedly running a pro-Islamic State Twitter account.
Since then, police have received several threats of retaliation.
Mehdi Masroor Biswas's Twitter account had tens of thousands of followers worldwide.
The blast took place on Church Street in the central business district at 20:38 India time (15:38GMT), reports BBC Hindi's Imran Qureshi in Bangalore.
Bhavani, the woman who died, was walking past the popular restaurant when the bomb placed outside its gate exploded.
Her nephew received shrapnel injuries on his left shoulder and is being treated in hospital.
"It is a professional job. The IED [improvised explosive device] and the timer is not the handiwork of an amateur. It is a terrorist organisation but we are yet to identify the group," a senior police official told BBC Hindi.
The blast has prompted a security alert in other Indian cities.
Bangalore, home to hundreds of IT companies including multinationals like IBM, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, is considered a soft target for terror attacks and has had several low-intensity blasts in the past few years.
Last year, 16 people were injured in an explosion near the office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In April 2010, the Indian Premier League cricket semi-finals were moved from Bangalore to Mumbai after two devices exploded outside Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In July 2008, one woman was killed and several others injured when seven bombs hit crowded areas of the city.

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AirAsia plane 'at bottom of sea'

 The missing AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 is likely to be at the bottom of the sea, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency has said.

Bambang Soelistyo said the hypothesis was based on the co-ordinates of the plane when contact with it was lost.
The search is continuing for the aircraft, a day after it disappeared with 162 people on board, but no trace has been found so far.
The Airbus A320-200 was on a flight to Singapore.
The pilots had requested a course change because of bad weather but did not send any distress call before the plane disappeared from radar screens.
"Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Jakarta.
The front page of the Beijing Times says: "Only three days before the New Year - where is the road to home?"
The reactions are similar in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Many on board were travelling to see their families for the year-end holiday season.
Media reports say the families are united in their prayers, hoping against hope for a miracle.
Many newspapers have published personal stories. One that has moved many people is about the Facebook post from the daughter of one of the pilots. It simply reads: "Papa come home."
Some are also calling 2014 a "year of tragedies" for the aviation industry, linking it with the flight MH370 that disappeared in March and hasn't been found yet.
Beyond the emotional coverage, commentators have been asking questions about aviation safety in the region.
South-East Asia has a fast-developing aviation sector with many carriers fighting for space, observers say. Most welcome the competition, but say safety norms have to be strengthened.
As the search continued on Monday, Indonesia air force spokesman Hadi Tjahnanto said it was being focused on an area where an oil spill had been spotted but it was not clear if it had been caused by the plane.
Meanwhile the Associated Press news agency quoted an Indonesian official as saying that objects had been spotted in the sea near Nangka island by an Australian search plane.
Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said later there was "no sufficient evidence" to link this to the missing plane.

He said that 30 ships and 15 aircraft were taking part in the search, and that "even fishermen" were being asked to join in.
AirAsia's share price fell 7% in morning trading on Monday in Kuala Lumpur.
Storm clouds Flight QZ8501 had left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 on Sunday (22:35 GMT Saturday) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).
The pilot radioed at 06:24 local time asking permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m) to avoid the dense storm clouds.
Indonesian officials said the request could not be immediately approved due to traffic, but the plane disappeared from the radar screens before the pilots gave any further response.
AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes said this was his "worst nightmare".
Mr Fernandes flew to Surabaya and later said: "We are very devastated by what's happened, it's unbelievable."
Oceanographer Simon Boxall told the BBC the plane should not be too difficult to find if it went into the water.
The sea floor is within diver depth, he says, and it would be "likely that they'll get answers within a few days".
Difficult year The AirAsia Indonesia plane was delivered in 2008, has flown 13,600 times, completing 23,000 hours, and underwent its last maintenance in November.
The captain, Iriyanto, had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia, Mr Fernandes said. The co-pilot is French national Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
The AirAsia group has previously had no fatal accidents involving its aircraft. The airline has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801.
Special centres were set up at both Singapo
e's Changi airport and Juanda international airport in Surabaya.
There were 155 passengers on board, the company said in a statement:

• 137 adults, 17 children and one infant
• Most were Indonesian but also one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans
• The BBC understands that the British national is Chi-Man Choi
• Two pilots and five crew were also on board - one French, the others Indonesian

This has been a difficult year for aviation in Asia - Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two losses - flights MH370 and MH17.
Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in the southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located.
MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.

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Pakistan's Ajmal to miss World Cup

Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has withdrawn from Pakistan's World Cup squad as his bowling action is yet to be cleared by the International Cricket Council.

Ajmal, 37, Pakistan's top wicket-taker for the past three years, was suspended from bowling by the ICC in September.
Banned Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is to undergo checks before potentially applying to the ICC for an official test on his bowling action.
Teams have to name their final 15-man World Cup squads by 7 January.
Ajmal, who had been named in Pakistan's preliminary squad, will continue remedial work on his action and play domestic cricket until he has satisfied himself he can take the ICC test.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said: "Ajmal withdrew himself.
"We were aware that if he took the official ICC test in a bid to make the World Cup squad and failed it he could be suspended from playing for one to two years and that would mean the end of his career."
Ajmal was Worcestershire's leading wicket-taker last season with 63 wickets to help them win promotion from Division Two of the County Championship.
Meanwhile, Naveed Akram Cheema has been appointed Pakistan's team manager for a second time for their upcoming tours, including the World Cup, in place of Moin Khan, who will remain as the chief selector.
The 2015 cricket World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March.

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Pakistan bomb hoax man gets 26 years

A Pakistani man has been given a 26-year jail term for making two hoax bomb threats in two public places in Punjab province in July, prosecutors say.

The threats were made against a crowded market and children's park in the central city of Multan on the first day of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Police managed to track the man, named Rana Yousuf, via the sim card he used, which belonged to one of his friends.
They said Yousuf was trying to set up his friend over a business rivalry.
The hoax phone calls led police, bomb disposal experts and emergency workers to rush to the scene and search the area for several hours before discovering the warnings were fake.
Over 2,000 people were gathered in Shams park at the time of the call, Pakistan's Express Tribune reports.
The other man, whose sim card was used, was reportedly cleared of all charges due to lack of evidence.
In addition to the jail term, Yousuf was also fined 100,000 Pakistani rupees ($993; £638).

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Hitler's secret Indian army

In the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were driving Hitler's now demoralized  forces from France, three senior German officers defected.

Legionnaires were recruited from German POW camps

 
The information they gave British intelligence was considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released until the year 2021.
Now, 17 years early, the BBC's Document programme has been given special access to this secret file.
It reveals how thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined Britain in the fight against fascism swapped their oaths to the British king for others to Adolf Hitler - an astonishing tale of loyalty, despair and betrayal that threatened to rock British rule in India, known as the Raj.
The story the German officers told their interrogators began in Berlin on 3 April 1941. This was the date that the left-wing Indian revolutionary leader, Subhas Chandra Bose, arrived in the German capital.
Bose, who had been arrested 11 times by the British in India, had fled the Raj with one mission in mind. That was to seek Hitler's help in pushing the British out of India.

He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered Lieutenant Barwant Singh

Six months later, with the help of the German foreign ministry, he had set up what he called "The Free India Centre", from where he published leaflets, wrote speeches and organised broadcasts in support of his cause. By the end of 1941, Hitler's regime officially recognised his provisional "Free India Government" in exile, and even agreed to help Chandra Bose raise an army to fight for his cause. It was to be called "The Free India Legion".
Bose hoped to raise a force of about 100,000 men which, when armed and kitted out by the Germans, could be used to invade British India.
He decided to raise them by going on recruiting visits to Prisoner-of-War camps in Germany which, at that time, were home to tens of thousands of Indian soldiers captured by Rommel in North Africa.
Volunteers
Finally, by August 1942, Bose's recruitment drive got fully into swing. Mass ceremonies were held in which dozens of Indian POWs joined in mass oaths of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

Chandra Bose did not live to see Indian independence

These are the words that were used by men that had formally sworn an oath to the British king: "I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose." I managed to track down one of Bose's former recruits, Lieutenant Barwant Singh, who can still remember the Indian revolutionary arriving at his prisoner of war camp.
"He was introduced to us as a leader from our country who wanted to talk to us," he said.
"He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered."
Demoralised
In all 3,000 Indian prisoners of war signed up for the Free India Legion.
But instead of being delighted, Bose was worried. A left-wing admirer of Russia, he was devastated when Hitler's tanks rolled across the Soviet border.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that after Stalingrad it became clear that the now-retreating German army would be in no position to offer Bose help in driving the British from faraway India.
When the Indian revolutionary met Hitler in May 1942 his suspicions were confirmed, and he came to believe that the Nazi leader was more interested in using his men to win propaganda victories than military ones.
So, in February 1943, Bose turned his back on his legionnaires and slipped secretly away aboard a submarine bound for Japan.

Rudolf Hartog remembers parting with his Indian friends

There, with Japanese help, he was to raise a force of 60,000 men to march on India. Back in Germany the men he had recruited were left leaderless and demoralised. After much dissent and even a mutiny, the German High Command despatched them first to Holland and then south-west France, where they were told to help fortify the coast for an expected allied landing.
After D-Day, the Free India Legion, which had now been drafted into Himmler's Waffen SS, were in headlong retreat through France, along with regular German units.
It was during this time that they gained a wild and loathsome reputation amongst the civilian population.
The former French Resistance fighter, Henri Gendreaux, remembers the Legion passing through his home town of Ruffec: "I do remember several cases of rape. A lady and her two daughters were raped and in another case they even shot dead a little two-year-old girl."
Finally, instead of driving the British from India, the Free India Legion were themselves driven from France and then Germany.
Their German military translator at the time was Private Rudolf Hartog, who is now 80.
"The last day we were together an armoured tank appeared. I thought, my goodness, what can I do? I'm finished," he said.
"But he only wanted to collect the Indians. We embraced each other and cried. You see that was the end."
Mutinies
A year later the Indian legionnaires were sent back to India, where all were released after short jail sentences.
But when the British put three of their senior officers on trial near Delhi there were mutinies in the army and protests on the streets.
With the British now aware that the Indian army could no longer be relied upon by the Raj to do its bidding, independence followed soon after.
Not that Subhas Chandra Bose was to see the day he had fought so hard for. He died in 1945.
Since then little has been heard of Lieutenant Barwant Singh and his fellow legionnaires.
At the end of the war the BBC was forbidden from broadcasting their story and this remarkable saga was locked away in the archives, until now. Not that Lieutenant Singh has ever forgotten those dramatic days.
"In front of my eyes I can see how we all looked, how we would all sing and how we all talked about what eventually would happen to us all," he said.

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Malaysia flooding: Najib Razak to tour inundated areas

Malaysia is battling some of the worst floods in decades along its east coast, which have killed at least five people.

More than 100,000 people have been forced from their homes, and Prime Minister Najib Razak has returned early from holiday in the US.
He is due to visit the worst-hit areas of northern Kelantan state.
Eastern states are often flooded during the monsoon season, but this time officials say heavier rain and stronger winds have made things worse.

In some areas, entire towns have been submerged.
Darius Dramburg, an eyewitness in the flooded region, told the BBC World Service that his entire village was under water and there was no electricity running in some parts.
"Because there is no electricity there's no water either. The shops have all closed down so we don't know how much food we could get.
"I decided to leave the place now and go down to Kuala Lumpur."
Rescue workers are struggling to bring in enough food and supplies for families sleeping in relief centres.
BBC Malaysia correspondent Jennifer Pak, in Kuala Lumpur, says Mr Najib cut short his holiday after the media published pictures of him golfing with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii.
The images reinforce the belief of some Malaysians that the government has not been doing enough to prevent these annual floods, our correspondent says.

PM Najib was criticised as photos emerged of him playing golf with President Obama on Christmas Eve

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Turkey teenager accused of insulting president released

A court freed the 16-year-old, listed only by the initials MEA, but he still faces trial and a possible four-year sentence if found guilty.
He was arrested after criticising the ruling Islamic-rooted AK Party during a speech in the central city of Konya.
The opposition condemned the arrest but PM Ahmet Davutoglu defended it, saying that respect had to be shown.
"Everyone must respect the office of president whoever he is," Mr Davutoglu said.
Turkey's penal code makes it a crime to insult the president.
As he left the courthouse in Konya, the boy said: "There is no question of taking a step back from our path, we will continue along this road."
There has been growing concern amid rights groups in Turkey at what they see as a clampdown on freedom of speech.
'Thieving owner' The boy was arrested at school on Wednesday and taken for questioning.
His speech, given to commemorate the killing of a Turkish soldier by Islamists in the 1920s, was recorded on video and broadcast by Dogan News Agency.
In it, he defended secularism and the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic.
He reportedly called Mr Erdogan the "thieving owner of the illegal palace", referring to a controversial 1,150-room palace inaugurated by the president in October.
Speaking to prosecutors, the boy said: "I've made the statement in question. I have no intent to insult."
He denied being linked to any political movement.
His release came after dozens of lawyers had signed a petition on his behalf. He was met by his parents at the courthouse.
The arrest sparked fierce criticism of Mr Erdogan, with Attila Kart, a member of opposition party CHP, saying the president was creating "an environment of fear, oppression and threat".
Mr Erdogan, who was elected president in August after serving as prime minister for 11 years, has faced several corruption allegations in recent years.
He insists they are baseless and part of a "dark plot" to oust him from power by influential cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in the US.
Earlier this month, police arrested more than 20 journalists working for media outlets thought to be sympathetic to the Gulen movement.

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