Christopher Dorner: Cop 'Disturbed' Claims Ex

Details are emerging about the former police officer at the center of a massive manhunt as the high-altitude search for him enters its second day.

Court documents show an ex-girlfriend of Christopher Dorner, the suspect in three murders, called him "severely emotionally and mentally disturbed" after the two split in 2006.

In an online manifesto Dorner, 33, has vowed "warfare" against a list of "high value targets" whom he believes have wronged him.

Police say Dorner is out for revenge against people he sees as involved in his 2008 firing from the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officers have been sent to protect more than 40 potential targets, including police personnel and their families.

A former Navy reservist who served in Iraq, Dorner also goes into detail about how he was fired from the LAPD for whistle-blowing about what he claims was brutal behaviour by other officers.

Dorner's burned-out truck is towed away from Big Bear

He claims the department has not changed since the Rodney King beating incident and that he was out to correct the officers' "moral compass".

On Friday Irvine police officers and US Marshalls served a search warrant on the Las Palmas home of Dorner's mother.

His mother and sister were home at the time and were cooperating, said Irvine Lieutenant Bill Whalen.

Dorner once lived at the home but did not appear to have been there recently, he said.

Police found Dorner's burned-out pickup truck abandoned on a mountain forest road on Thursday, and followed tracks they believed to be his leading away from the scene before losing the trail.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's SWAT officers join the search

The hunt for Dorner continued on Friday in the Southern California ski resort community of Big Bear, even as a winter storm brought fresh snow to the mountain region 80 miles (130km) east of Los Angeles.

The FBI had joined the growing group of local law enforcement agencies searching for the suspect.

There have been no leads since then.

"Here's the bottom line: We don't know if he's on foot or not," said LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. "Is he on foot up on the mountain? Is he down the mountain? We don't know."

The search for Dorner now stretches across California and Nevada and into Mexico.

Monica Quan was killed on Sunday

Court documents obtained on Friday show Dorner unsuccessfully requested a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend after she posted his badge number on a website called Dontdatehimgirl.com.

In the online posting, Ariana Williams called Dorner "twisted" and "super paranoid" and warns other women on the website not to date him.

Williams' attorney could not be reached for comment.

Dorner is wanted for the killings of Monica Quan, the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiance, Keith Lawrence. They were found shot in their car at their condominium in Irvine on Sunday night, authorities said.

Ms Quan, 28, was an assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton. Mr Lawrence, 27, was a public safety officer at the University of Southern California.

Ms Quan's father, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against him at the time of his dismissal in 2008.

Authorities also said Dorner opened fire early on Thursday on police in cities east of Los Angeles, killing an officer and wounding another.

In his Facebook manifesto, Dorner says: "I am here to correct and calibrate your morale (sic) compasses to true north."

He said: "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty. ISR is my strength and your weakness.

An undated photo of Dorner

"You will now live the life of the prey. Your RD's and homes away from work will be my AO and battle space.

"I will utilize every tool within INT collections that I learned from NMITC in Dam Neck. You have misjudged a sleeping giant.

"There is no conventional threat assessment for me."

He also singles out various celebrities for praise, including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Charlie Sheen and Kate Winslet, but does not issue threats against them.

Dorner has a number of weapons including an assault rifle, according to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

Mr Beck said: "Of course he knows what he's doing; we trained him. He was also a member of the Armed Forces," he said. "It is extremely worrisome and scary."

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dozens Hurt In Street Clashes Across Egypt

Protesters have marched in the streets chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in cities across Egypt.

A few hundred people attacked the presidential palace in Cairo with petrol bombs and rocks.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, many of whom had to be taken to hospital after suffering from suffocation.

In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, dozens of protesters threw stones at police.

Earlier on Friday, a few thousand people marched around the city. The clashes took place in front of one of the city's main police stations.

Anti-regime protesters set fire to the presidential palace in Cairo

At least 45 people were hurt during the day across the country, medical sources at the health ministry said.

Two officers and three soldiers of the Republic Guard were wounded in clashes, the state news agency MENA reported.

Protests erupted last month over what demonstrators saw as Mr Mursi's attempts to monopolise power as well as wider political and economic grievances.

The main opposition alliance signed an agreement with the ruling Muslim Brotherhood last week rejecting violence and had not officially called for marches on Friday.

But distrust of Mr Mursi and of the Muslim Brotherhood - as well as a sense of political and economic malaise - continue to bring people into the streets across Egypt, however the number of protests has declined in recent weeks.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Indian Militant Afzal Guru Hanged In New Delhi

By Neville Lazarus, Sky Producer in New Delhi

Afzal Guru, a conspirator in the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, has been hanged in New Delhi.

The Home Minister of India said Guru was hanged at 8am local time at New Delhi's Tihar jail.

In December 2001, five armed terrorists drove into the Indian Parliament complex and opened fire.

Nine people were killed, most of them members of the security forces. All the terrorists were shot dead.

The Indian Government initially accused the Pakistan-based terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) of being involved in the attack. 

In December 2002, four JeM members were caught by Indian authorities and put on trial. All four, including Afzal Guru, were found guilty of playing varying roles in the incident.

The attack brought the two nuclear power countries close to war.

A placard of Afzal Guru is held during a protest in India in December 2011

The Indian government asked Pakistan to apprehend the organisations' leaders and curb the financial assets and the groups' access to their assets.

In response, Pakistani forces were put on high alert the same day.

On December 20, India mobilised and deployed its troops to Kashmir and Punjab in what was India's largest military mobilisation since the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.

World leaders condemned the attack on the Indian parliament and stepped in to calm the situation.

In 2004, Guru was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court.

The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on October 20, 2006, but was stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with the President of India.

The petition was rejected and returned to the Home Ministry on February 3 this year.

Guru is from Kashmir and the government is taking all measures to quell protests in the valley. 

A curfew has been imposed in most towns in the valley in Kashmir. Cable operators have pulled the plug on news channels in some areas to prevent protests.

Many in India believe there is a political motivation for the hanging. The Congress-led government has long been seen dragging its feet on issues of terrorism and want to shun that image.

In November last year, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist from Pakistan who was caught during the Mumbai attacks was executed in a Pune jail.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

China: Mass Exodus Begins For Lunar New Year

By Mark Stone, Asia correspondent

The world's largest human migration is underway this week as China's 1.3 billion people travel home for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

On the country's vast rail network, in its congested skies and along its smog-clogged roads, the country's population is making the annual journey which for most will take at least 12 hours.

Beijing Railway Station is said to be the busiest place on the planet this week, and yet it is just one snapshot of this mass-movement.

A young traveller at Beijing station

There are throngs of people everywhere. Queuing outside the station, at the ticket halls, on the concourse and on the platforms. The departures board shows scores of destinations many of which are more than a thousand miles away.

The whole place is chaos and yet somehow ordered too. Travellers carry what they can and drag the rest. There is a clatter of wheelie suitcases and a loud hum of people; some excited and some frustrated at the journey ahead.

"This past year has been really busy", Liu Xin says. "Now it's time to go home, I'm so excited I couldn't even sleep last night.

"I'm happy, but this will be a tiring journey; such a long journey and with a child, on a crowded train, it is exhausting" another traveller says.

On one train we met the Lou Family. Their home is China's frozen north-east and the journey will last 21 hours.

"It's about 1,500km," Feng Yan says. "I haven't been back home for almost eight years, so it's very important for me."

"This is the only time of the year that everybody can be together," her husband, Luo Xinmin, says.

Chaos: Passengers join the queue for train tickets

"We - the young generation - are all away working hard and if we don't go home for New Year, the love between family members will fade away," he says.

For the Chinese, nothing is more important than their New Year which, this year, falls tomorrow night. Just as Christmas traditionally prompts families to gather together, the Lunar New Year does the same.

But the vast distances in China and the fact that so many of China's workforce are migrant workers creates this mass-movement every year.

It is effectively the urbanisation of China in reverse for one week only. Millions of migrant workers of all types travel back to where they are from.

Tradition dictates that families will gather for a meal at midnight on Saturday. The festivities will then continue throughout next week before the migration process begins again and China slowly cranks back into action for another year.

However, there are signs that as China modernises and its population becomes wealthier and more mobile, tradition is falling away. An increasing number of Chinese are opting out of the journey home, instead choosing to use their new money to go on holiday.

Europe is an increasingly popular destination for wealthy Chinese travellers and there is an expectation of a significant boost to Chinese visitor numbers to European cities over the coming week.

High-end retailers in the UK could see an increase in sales too given the new-found Chinese love-affair with all things luxury.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

EU Budget Deal Plan Set At 960bn Euros

European leaders have agreed the broad lines of a deal on a seven-year budget that would fix total EU spending at 960bn (£820bn) euros.

"We feel pretty confident that we have the framework for a deal," one EU official told reporters.

"The deal is not completely finalised, but we feel sure it will be done today."

The breakthrough came after 15 hours of intense negotiations between countries in the bloc.

The agreement is expected to strike a balance between the demands of northern European countries such as Britain and the Netherlands that wanted a belt-tightening EU budget, and countries in the south and east that wanted sustained spending on farming subsidies and much-needed infrastructure.

Leaders will continue negotiating in the expectation that they can sign off on a final agreement later today, the official added.

Sky News Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones, reporting from Brussels, said: "This is the make or break meeting and leaders, including David Cameron, have been given a draft that lays out the budget."

Officials said around 12bn euros (£10.2bn) would be cut from the last proposal, made at a summit in November when agreement eluded leaders, bringing the headline ceiling for spending down to 960bn over the full 2014-2020 budget.

That represents a decrease of around 3% on the last multi-annual budget - the first time a long-term EU spending plan has seen a net reduction.

While vast in headline terms, in annual terms the budget appropriation amounts to around 140bn euros (£120bn), equivalent to just 1% of total EU economic output.

The draft agreed cuts fell mainly on a new fund for cross-border transport, energy and telecoms projects, which was cut by more than 11bn euros (£9.36bn), and on pay and perks for EU officials - a top target for Britain - which were cut by around 1bn euros (£900m), officials said.

As well as the deal needing to be signed off by all EU leaders today, it must be approved by the European Parliament, an obstacle that could prove difficult.

The European Parliament president has said he will not accept excessive cuts.

Ahead of the summit, France and Britain appeared at sharp odds over the headline numbers, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden lining up on Britain's side and Italy, Spain, Poland and others allied with France. Germany was left in the middle.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bangladesh: Ferry With 100 On Board Capsizes

A ferry carrying more than 100 people on board has capsized in Bangladesh after colliding with another boat.

Police said there were no immediate reports of casualties after the ferry went down on the River Meghna in Munshiganj district, 20 miles (32km) south of Dhaka.

Villagers rescued more than 40 people after the accident and several people were able to swim to shore, local media reported.

The ferry was on a local run from Narayanganj city to Matlab in the south.

More to follow...

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iran: Syria's Assad Regime Ready To Negotiate

Syria's government is ready to sit down with the opposition to bring a two-year uprising against the regime to an end, Iran's foreign minister believes.

Ali Akbar Salehi told the Egyptian state news agency MENA: "I think that the Syrian government is ready to negotiate with the opposition."

Opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib has offered to talk to Syria's rulers about trying to end the conflict - subject to conditions including the release of 160,000 detainees.

But President Bashar al Assad has not yet commented on the offer and a key opposing faction flatly rejected the initiative.

The Syrian National Council, the main component of the opposition, has dismissed the possibility of any negotiations.

It said it was committed to ousting the Assad regime, rejecting dialogue with it, and protecting the revolution.

But Mr Alkhatib, who called on Mr Assad to agree to let Vice President Faruq al Sharaa open peace talks with his coalition, appealed for the opposition to "declare our willingness to negotiate" the regime's departure.

However, he also set a deadline of Sunday for the government to release all women detainees, otherwise he would regard his offer of dialogue as rejected by the president.

The Assad regime has signalled it believes it can still break the military stalemate, as its forces relentlessly pounded rebel lines around Damascus.

Fighting between rebels and the regime continues

"The army has launched a co-ordinated all-out offensive on all of the areas surrounding the capital," a Syrian security official said.

"All entries to Damascus have been sealed," he told the AFP news agency.

Artillery and air strikes have prevented rebels entrenched to the east from advancing despite their capture of army fortifications, opposition activists said.

"We have moved the battle to Jobar," said Captain Islam Alloush of the rebel Islam Brigade. The district links rebel strongholds in the suburbs with the central Abbasid Square.

"The heaviest fighting is taking place in Jobar because it is the key to the heart of Damascus," he added.

Shia Iran is Mr Assad's main backer in the region, and has disagreed with mostly Sunni-led Arab states that have called for him to step down.

Meanwhile, the presidents of Iran, Turkey and Egypt held a meeting on the sidelines of an Islamic summit in Cairo to discuss the crisis.

"There was a three-way summit of Egypt, Turkey and Iran about the crisis and we look forward to it leading to the resolution of this crisis. We are optimistic," Mr Salehi said.

He said Iran had welcomed Mr Alkhatib's remarks. "In the end, the government and the opposition must sit together to negotiate," he said.

The UN has said more than 60,000 people have died in violence since the uprising started in March 2011.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tunisia Dissolves Govt After Politician Killed

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has dissolved the government amid mass protests over the murder of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.

He said he would be forming a non-partisan administration to govern until fresh elections can be held after the failure of negotiations between parties on a cabinet reshuffle.

"I have decided to form a government of competent nationals without political affiliation, which will have a mandate limited to managing the affairs of the country until elections are held," Mr Jebali said in a televised address to the nation.

He said the ministers would not run for office in the next election.

The announcement came amid reports that a police officer had been killed in clashes between the security forces and protesters in the capital Tunis.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets following the murder of Mr Belaid.

The interior ministry said 46-year-old policeman Lotfi Alzaar died after sustaining a chest injury caused by rocks thrown as he attempted to disperse a group of protesters in central Tunis.

"These protesters were in the process of ransacking shops," it added.

Chokri Belaid was a human rights lawyer

Mr Belaid, who headed the opposition Democratic Patriots party and was a harsh critic of Tunisia's Islamist-led government, was shot dead outside his home.

The 48-year-old lawyer's family has accused the ruling Ennahda party of being behind the murder - allegations it denies.

It was the first assassination of a political leader in post-revolutionary Tunisia, and has bolstered fears that the country may face the same chaotic road as other Arab Spring nations transitioning to democracy.

Protesters outside the interior ministry chanted "the people want the fall of the regime".

The secular parties in government have been demanding that key ministries be assigned to independents, a move rejected by Ennahda hardliners, including party head Rached Ghannouchi.

Mr Jebali is considered a moderate within his party and is said to be supportive of the idea the justice and foreign affairs ministries could be allocated to non-political figures.

Planned fresh polls are unable to take place before the adoption of a new constitution - the drafting of which has also failed to make progress because of wrangling within the National Constituent Assembly.

It was tasked with the charge after the Tunisians overthrew long-ruling dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia Sport: Drugs And Crime 'Rife'

The use of performance enhancing drugs is "widespread" among professional and amateur athletes in Australia, according to a government report.

The report was the result of a one-year probe by Australia's leading criminal intelligence organisation into the use of drugs, both performance enhancing and recreational, as well as the association of organised crime with the trade.

"The findings are shocking and they will disgust Australian sports fans," home affairs minister Jason Clare said at a news conference to announce the release of the report.

"(It) has found the use of substances, including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs, is widespread amongst professional athletes.

"We are talking about multiple athletes across a number of codes. We're talking about a number of teams.

"The findings indicate the drugs are being facilitated by sports scientists, coaches, support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists.

"In some cases sports scientists and others are orchestrating the doping of entire teams. In some case players are being administered substances which have not yet been approved for human use."

The report said that organised crime was involved in the distribution of the drugs, which exposes players to the possibility of being co-opted into match-fixing, Mr Clare added.

One such case had been identified and was being investigated, he said, although he did not identify which code was involved.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Several Dead' After Solomon Islands Quake

A major 8.0 magnitude undersea earthquake has damaged dozens of homes in the Solomon Islands, reportedly killing several people and triggering a small tsunami.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck near the Santa Cruz islands, which have been hit by strong tremors over the past week, at a depth of 3.5 miles (5.8km).

"We know that a tsunami has been created," said Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen. "It's a big earthquake anyway in terms of just the shaking."

Evacuations in the Suva district of Fiji

Two powerful aftershocks of 6.4 and 6.6 magnitude were also recorded.

Solomons officials reported two 1.5m (4 foot, 11-inch) waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging around 50 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Many villagers had headed to higher ground as a precaution, Mr Herming said.

Traffic backed-up in Fiji as residents fled to high ground

Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said local police patrols had reported that several people were presumed dead, though the reports were still being verified.

"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "At the moment we potentially know of four, but there may of course be more."

Locals in the island's capital, Honiara, 360 miles (580km) from the epicentre, said the quake was not felt there, but three villages on the Santa Cruz islands were damaged, according to hospital director Augustine Bilve.

"We were told that after the shaking, waves came to the villages," he said. "So far, we are waiting in Lata and are evacuating patients in case there are any casualties."

In Honiara, the capital city of the islands, the warnings prompted residents to flee for higher ground, although most people remained calm.

"People are still standing on the hills outside of Honiara just looking out over the water, trying to observe if there is a wave coming in," Mr Herming said.

"People around the coast and in the capital are ringing in and trying to get information from us and the National Disaster Office and are slowly moving up to higher ground," said another official. "But panic? No, no, no, people are not panicking."

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.

The Solomon Islands are part of the "Ring of Fire", a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific Ocean that is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Madeleine Lookalike Sends DNA Sample To Police

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia correspondent

A New Zealand girl repeatedly mistaken for missing Madeleine McCann has given police a sample of her DNA which will be sent to Scotland Yard.

The girl, who has not been named, is understood to have a similar eye defect to Madeleine, prompting members of the public to believe she is the missing child.

The DNA sample is a conclusive way of proving her identity, said Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis of Dunedin Police.

"The results of this process will not be known for some time," he told New Zealand newspaper The Southland Times.

On New Year's Eve police launched a five-day investigation when a retailer became suspicious of a man and a young girl, who bore a resemblance to Madeleine.

Kate and Gerry McCann say they will maintain their search for Madeleine

However, they said they were "absolutely satisfied" she was not Madeleine, and it was not the first time she had been mistaken for the missing girl.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's Portuguese holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.

Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, have never abandoned their high-profile campaign to find their eldest daughter, who would now be nine.

Sightings have also been reported in Sweden, Belgium and Australia.

It is not the first time a child has been DNA-tested in relation to the case of the missing British girl.

In 2011, a young girl spotted in India with a Belgian man and French woman was tested and was also found not to be Madeleine.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alabama Hostage Drama Ended In Deadly Shootout

A man who held a five-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker for almost a week engaged in a firefight with US agents before he was killed during a rescue operation.

It was also revealed that Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, had reinforced the bunker in Midland City, Alabama, in an attempt to prevent entry by armed Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) officers.

Dykes abducted five-year-old Ethan from his school bus

Bomb technicians later found two explosive devices, one inside the bunker and another inside a plastic pipe through which he had been talking to negotiators trying to secure the boy's release.

Authorities raided the shelter after determining Dykes had a gun, saying he appeared to be increasingly agitated and that negotiations had deteriorated.

They initially declined to elaborate about how they had observed Dykes or how he died.

The rescue ended a hostage drama that disrupted the lives of many in a tranquil town of 2,400 people set amid peanut farms and cotton fields some 100 miles southeast of the state capital of Montgomery

Dykes was understood to have been a decorated US Navy veteran, having spent around five years in Vietnam.

He had had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanour was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbours.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alabama Hostage Siege Ends As Boy Saved

A boy who was held hostage for a week has been found safe and his captor dead after FBI agents stormed an underground bunker in Alabama.

Officials said the raid went ahead after negotiations with 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes deteriorated and he was seen with a gun.

Fearing the child was in imminent danger, agents entered the bunker to rescue the five-year-old.

Officials break the news to gathered media

The boy, who has been named only as Ethan, was taken to hospital nearby. Officials said the child has Asperger's syndrome.

Dykes had been accused of snatching the boy from a school bus last week after killing the driver, Charles Poland.

An ambulance that had been parked near Dykes' bunker was seen driving away. However, it was not clear if anyone was inside and the vehicle did not have its sirens or emergency lights on.

Authorities initially declined to elaborate on how they had observed Dykes or on how he died.

However, an official in Midland City, citing information from law enforcement sources, said police had shot Dykes. 

The scene of the hostage drama

Daryle Hendry, who lives about a quarter of a mile from where Dykes was holed up, said he heard a boom followed by a gunshot.

Officials had been sending food and medicine to Dykes and the boy in the bunker.

Neighbours described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his garden at night with a torch and a firearm.

Government records and interviews with neighbours indicate that Dykes had been in the US Navy, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

He had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanour was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbours.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Malala: Schoolgirl Shot By Taliban Speaks Out

The Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban has spoken out about her recovery for the first time since she was nearly killed.

Malala Yousufzai, 15, underwent successful surgery to reconstruct her skull and restore her hearing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham at the weekend.

She escaped death by a matter of inches when she was shot on a school bus in northwestern Pakistan on October 9 last year - as the bullet entered just above her left eye and ran along her jaw, "grazing" her brain.

The Islamist gunmen said they targeted her because she promoted girls' education and "Western thinking".

In a message recorded by the hospital on Sunday, Malala said she was "feeling alright" and "happy that both the operations were successful".

She said: "I can also walk a little bit, I can talk and I'm feeling better."

Despite having five hours of surgery, Malala added: "It does not feel like I had a very big operation."

Malala on her path to recovery

Her doctors have expressed their delight at her recovery. They hope that the latest procedures - to put a titanium plate on her damaged skull and to fit a cochlear implant - will be the last surgery she needs.

Neurosurgeon Anwen White said that her "brain is healing very well" and she did not expect any long lasting cognitive problems.

She said the teenager would continue with rehabilitation and then "hopefully be discharged home fairly soon".

University Hospitals Birmingham medical director Dave Rosser said Malala was "doing very well".

He added that just a day after the operations Malala was "already talking about resuming her work and furthering her cause for women's education".

"Most of us would be feeling sorry for ourselves 24 hours after an operation like that, not talking about helping other people."

In another video interview, filmed before her surgery on January 22 but only just published, Malala is heard saying that she was "getting better, day by day".

Surgeons operating on Malala

Speaking clearly but with a slight stiffness in her upper lip, she said: "Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone.

"It's just because of the prayers of people. Because all people - men, women, children - all of them have prayed for me. And because of all these prayers God has given me this new life, a second life.

"And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated. For that reason, we have organised the Malala Fund."

Malala was airlifted to Britain from Pakistan in October to receive specialist medical care and protection against further Taliban threats.

She is expected to remain in the UK for some time as her father, Ziauddin, has received a diplomatic post based in Birmingham.

The Malala Fund is a girls' education charity set up in late 2012. It launched with a $10m (£6.4m) donation from Pakistan.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Magdalene Laundries: Victims Await Report

By Vicki Hawthorne, Ireland Correspondent

A report into the running of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland is due to be published.

The religious-run institutions started in the late 1700s as places to rehabilitate so-called "fallen" women.

It is estimated that around 30,000 women, mainly single mothers and teenage girls, were placed in the laundries to work.

There were 10 Magdalene laundries across Ireland and the last one closed its doors in 1996.

In the years since, women who lived in the laundries have spoken out about the harsh and gruelling work they had to carry out.

They also detailed horrendous physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the religious congregations which ran the workhouses.

The Irish government has always denied that the state was involved in the operation of the Magdalene laundries, but survivors' accounts claim the opposite.

The Magdalene Sisters film depicted the struggle of women in the laundries

A committee was set up 18 months ago to investigate exactly what role the Irish state played in the institutions between 1922 and 1996.

It was led by Martin McAleese, the husband of former Irish president Mary McAleese.

The plight of the women inspired the film The Magdalene Sisters in 2002.

Steven O'Riordan now represents some of the women after making a documentary about them.

"I would believe their families and wider society were fooled into thinking that these women or children would get a better education if they went into these institutions," he said.

Steven O'Riordan: 'the women and children were victims of slave labour'

"But what materialised in my own opinion is that they became a money-making scheme and these women became victims of slave labour."

The Magdalene laundries were run by four religious congregations: Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, The Good Shepherds, The Sisters of Mercy and the Religious Sisters of Charity.

Dr Katherine O'Donnell, director of the Women's Study Centre at University College Dublin, said: "The state sent girls and women into the Magdalene laundry system through courts and mother-and-baby homes.

"They never checked on those girls and women to see if in fact they ever left."

Many of the Magdalene women have since died.

Those who remain, and their families, say they have been ignored in Ireland, while other abuses within the Catholic church and state-run institutions have been recognised, apologised for and compensation issued.

The report may give the Magdalene women the voice and, in turn, the apology they have longed for.

Solicitor Leslie Keegan is representing some of the laundries' survivors and believes the Irish government is accountable.

"There is irrefutable evidence of the involvement of the state in the confinement of these women," he said. "So absolutely the state should take responsibility."

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syria War: 'Children Are Biggest Casualty'

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Aleppo

The anguished cries of a little boy receiving treatment without anaesthetic for a shrapnel wound to the face fills the putrid air of a converted shop that is an Aleppo field hospital.

The walls are splattered with blood. All around are shop fronts with medics working on the latest injured.

A car pulls out and a young man shot in a drive-by attack staggers inside followed by his screaming mother.

In rebel-held Aleppo, this is just another day. It isn't particularly busy. It is just constant.

Medics, who have gone underground after their hospital was reduced to rubble by a targeted Syrian government bombing campaign, say children are being injured and killed in greater numbers now than the rebel fighters.

Stuck inside this city the children are on the streets more than anyone else. Playing or scavenging amongst piles of rubbish for anything of value to take home, they are now the most vulnerable.

Hamid Sakia was shot by a sniper while playing football

A short distance away in another makeshift hospital room nine-year-old Hamid Sakia whimpers in pain; a sack of draining blood lies on the floor. He was shot by a sniper while playing football. He will lose his kidney. The medics are waiting for a surgeon to get enough anaesthetic to operate.

He whispers a "Yes" as I ask him if it hurts. His mother looks on holding back tears. She buried her daughter this week. Her family is being torn apart.

It is not about the lack of food or heating or supplies, she says.

"What will happen in the future?" She asks: "What will happen? Everyone is scared."

In a room next door, surrounded by seat cushions to try to keep the breeze from her skin, Aya Hussein stares motionlessly ahead. She is dreadfully burnt. Her tiny body a web of fierce welts caused by a fire when her apartment was hit by an artillery round.

Aya Hussein was burned when she was hit by an artillery round

The cushions are her treatment. This is life in Aleppo.

This city is slowly being destroyed. There is barely a building unscarred by the bombing from fighter jets and artillery. A million plus people still live here amongst the ruins where shells and snipers are a constant.

Cars cross the most dangerous parts of town protected by mud walls. You can hear the sniper rounds thudding into the barricade or whining over head as you pass.

The dreadful sound of artillery rounds smashing into buildings never stops wherever you go.

Once tree-filled parks are now open spaces. There is no heat or electricity in Aleppo so wood has become a precious commodity.

In the markets there are plenty of local vegetables. But meat, gas, fuel and pretty much everything else comes from Turkey at a huge cost. Gas bottles are 15 times their proper cost.

The city's scarred buildings

People are living in battered apartment blocks. Theirs is a virtual twilight of dark stair wells and shuttered rooms.

The artillery comes from the south so they huddle in north facing homes. But the shrapnel and the explosive power of the bombs means nowhere is truly safe.

"I am hopeless. I can only trust in my God," 78-year-old Mahmoud tells me. He and his wife Emira are alone. Their family has fled, they depend on the handouts of neighbours. Their flat is freezing and bare.

On the next storey Rada cuddles two of her six children. It is freezing inside and they have just a few scraps of food to eat.

"My husband won't leave Aleppo. We want to stay here whatever happens. Our children are ill, they are frightened, but we have nowhere else to go," she says.

The rebels and the government forces appear to have fought themselves to a standstill. In the middle a population is stuck, surviving but dying as well, every day.

This is Aleppo.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Assad: Syria Can Confront Israeli Aggression

President Bashar al Assad has accused Israel of trying to destabilise Syria after an air strike on a military research base near Damascus last week.

The comments by Mr Assad are the first since the attack on Wednesday that US officials say was targeting a convoy of anti-aircraft weapons inside Syria bound for Hizbollah.

State TV said Mr Assad spoke during a meeting with visiting top Iranian official Saeed Jalili.

Saeed Jalili and Bashar al Assad

The president said Syria is capable of facing current challenges and can "confront any aggression" that would target the Syrian people.

Purported images of the targeted site show destroyed cars, trucks and military vehicles. A building has broken windows and damaged interiors, but no major structural damage.

State news agency SANA quoted Mr Jalili as reaffirming Tehran's "full support for the Syrian people ... facing the Zionist aggression, and its continued coordination to confront the conspiracies and foreign projects".

Following the attack, Syria's ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, said Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation," but that it was up to the relevant authorities to choose the time and place.

Israel's defence minister has indicated that his country was behind the air strike, in the first public comments from his government on the attack.

Ehud Barak brought the issue up at a gathering of the world's top diplomats and defence officials in Germany, initially saying: "I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago."

But he added: "I keep telling frankly that we said - and that's proof when we said something we mean it - we say that we don't think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon."

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

California Tour Bus Crash: Eight People Dead

At least eight people have been killed after a tour bus collided with two other vehicles in the mountains of southern California.

Another 38 people were taken to hospital with injuries after the crash about 80 miles east of Los Angeles near the town of Forest Falls, California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez said.

The bus driver reported having brake problems as the vehicle came down the mountain on State Route 38, Mr Lopez said.

It crashed into a car before flipping over and hitting a pick-up truck that was pulling a trailer.

A spokeswoman for the US Department of Transportation said the passengers on the bus were part of a tour group from Tijuana, Mexico.

The group were reportedly headed for Big Bear Lake, a popular mountain ski resort northeast of San Bernardino.

The injured are being treated at hospitals in the area. Fifteen of them are reported to be in critical condition, reports said.

More follows...

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Greece: Far-Right March On Athens

By Anthee Carassava in Athens

It was supposed to be a remembrance rally, but as thousands packed Athens to honour three fallen heroes, the black-clad crowd of men in military fatigues and baseball caps crested with mangled swastikas, offered the grimmest reminder yet of Greece's tireless march to the far right.

Organised by Golden Dawn, which emerged from political obscurity here to win 7% of the national vote last June, last night's event showcased the group's biggest public gathering to date.

Toting blue-and-white Greek flags, orange-red flares and wooden torches, some 30,000 supporters, according to organisers, gathered in central Athens, shouting slogans indicative of the party's virulent and truculent beliefs.

"We are winning the hearts and minds of the people, because we say it as it is," roared Ilias Kassidiaris, the party's spokesman.

"These politicians who have ruled us for decades are crooks. They have betrayed our national interests. They have led us to humiliating defeats," he said, referring to a near-war showdown with Nato ally Turkey in 1996.

Three Greek Airforce pilots were killed in that crisis and the dispute over contesting claims to a barren outcrop in Aegean Sea forced then US trouble-shooter Richard Holbrooke to intervene.

He ordered both Nato allies not only to climb down from their conflicting claims but to refrain from further ownership disputes of islands in the oil-rich Aegean.

For hardcore nationalists like Golden Dawn sympathisers, the retreat marked an embarrassing sell-out of national sovereignty - a theme gaining fresh appeal among the country's young and unemployed youth as foreign creditors demand greater control over the Greece's failing finances.

"They calls us fascists, thugs and criminals," says Vassilis, a 23-year-old recruit, who joined the party because of his disenchantment with the country's feckless political elite.

Golden Dawn party leader Nikos Michalioliakos addresses the rally

"We're nationalists. We're patriots. And if these guys who ruled the country for decades had a fibre the nationalism we're running on, they would have never brought the country to its current predicament."

With extremism - left and right - polarising Greek society, hundreds of riot police and undercover officers were on alert on Saturday in a bid to thwart potential attacks, springing from the gathering, held within yards of the prime minister's office and the Turkish embassy in Athens. Surrounding roads, also, were cordoned off by police, bringing traffic to a halt and angering locals.

"For a nation that suffered dearly under the Nazis, neo-Nazi gatherings, like these, should be banned," said Sofia Laniti, a 47-year-old saleswoman.

Leftist radicals argue the so-called Imia Day protest is a veiled tribute to the party's true ideological mentor: Adolf Hitler.

The Nazi leader was appointed to the head of the German Chancellery on January 30, 1933, marking the start of a 12-year reign of terror across Europe.

Eighty years later, far-right parties feeding on popular resentment to growing fiscal austerity policies, are attracting growing applause in many corners of Europe. Sliding economies and rising unemployment, have voters largely giving the boot to mainstream parties they hold most responsible.

In Greece, attempts by the government to exclude Golden Dawn and its vehement nationalism that singles out immigrants as a threat, have backfired.

If anything, polls show, the far-right group has gained even greater political ground, since its startling entry to Parliament, becoming Greece's third largest party with over 10% national support.

Mr Kassidiaris said: "This is a day of remembrance. It's a day to remember that Golden Dawn is here to stay. And so long as it does, there will be hope for the country."

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Chris Kyle: Ex-US Navy Seal Sniper Shot Dead

A former US Navy Seal sniper has been shot dead at a shooting range in Texas, according to reports.

Chris Kyle, who also wrote the best-selling book, American Sniper, was killed alongside another man.

It is believed the 38-year-old had been helping a soldier who was recovering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Local newspapers have quoted Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant who said the pair were found dead on Saturday afternoon at Rough Creek Lodge's shooting range which is about an hour from Fort Worth.

The Star-Telegram reported that witnesses told police a gunman opened fire on the men, then fled in a truck belonging to one of the victims.

The newspapers said a 25-year-old man was later taken into custody in Lancaster, southeast of Dallas. The motive is unclear.

Co-author of the book, Scott McEwen, paid tribute to his friend: "It just comes as a shock and it's staggering to think that after all Chris has been through, that this is how he meets his end, because there are so many ways he could have been killed."

American Sniper details Kyle's four combat tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars he was awarded for bravery.

It has been claimed he was responsible for 160 kills during his career.

After leaving the Navy he founded Craft International, a company that provided combat and weapons training to military, police and corporate and civilian clients.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iraq: 33 Dead In Bomb Blast And Gun Attack

At least 33 people have been killed in a coordinated suicide car bombing and gun attack on police headquarters in northern Iraq.

A car bomb was set off before militants armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests stormed and sought to take control of the compound in the city of Kirkuk, police said.

A further 70 people were also injured in the the deadly attacks - shattering a relative calm in recent days in the war-torn country.

The attackers struck during the morning rush hour in the city centre, Brigadier General Natah Mohammed Sabr, head of the city's emergency services department said.

In addition to the casualties, the blast caused extensive damage to nearby buildings.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack.

Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city, is at the centre of a dispute over oil and land rights between Baghdad's central government and the autonomous northern Kurdish region.

The unresolved row is persistently cited by diplomats and officials as the biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability.

Tensions between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year.

Militants continue to strike almost daily, and carry out at least one big attack a month.

The latest violence comes amid weeks of protests calling for Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki to resign.

More follows...

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More