Bangladesh Jamaat Leader Sentenced to Death

Fresh violence erupts following conviction of Delwar Hossain Sayedee over atrocities during 1971 liberation war.

Jamaat-e-Islami had called for a day-long countrywide
strike in anticipation of the verdict [AFP]

A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal has sentenced a leader of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party to death, the
third verdict by the court set up to investigate abuses during the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

Delwar Hossain Sayedee, 73, vice-president of the party, was found guilty of charges of mass killing, rape, arson, looting and religious persecution during the liberation war, lawyers and tribunal officials said on Thursday.

Afghans Killed in Taliban 'Poison Attack'

At least 17 people, including 11 policemen and six civilians, killed in attack on checkpoint in Ghazni province.

Afghan Local Police are a separate squad trained by
international forces stationed in remote areas [Reuters]

Taliban fighters have poisoned and killed 17 people, including 11 policemen and six civilians, in an overnight attack on a post manned by a government-backed local police in eastern Afghanistan.

Details of Wednesday's pre-dawn attack on an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint were still not clear, as officials were investigating how the fighters breached security at the post in Ghazni province.

Many Killed in India Market Blaze

Police say at least 18 people have died in a fire at an illegal market in eastern city of Kolkata.

Firefighters found dozens of people lying unconscious
on the floors of shops at the Surya Sen market [AFP]

A fire at an illegal market in a six-storey building in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata has killed at least 18 people, police say.

West Bengal fire minister Javed Khan said the fire at the Surya Sen market near a railway station in the centre of the city began about 04:00am (22.30GMT) on Wednesday and was likely caused by an electrical short circuit.

Khan said 10 people were admitted to hospital in a critical condition and the death toll was expected to rise.

Indians Concerned Over Railway Safety

Budget announcement due for countrywide network that plays vital role in transporting a large number of people.

Deadly Blast Kills Policemen in Eastern India

Landmine kills at least eight people, including six policemen, in explosion in Bihar state blamed on Maoist fighters. 

The attack comes a month after Maoists shot dead seven 
policemen in the neighbouring state of Jharkhand [AFP]

At least eight people have been killed, including six policemen, in a landmine blast blamed on Maoist rebels in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, police have said.

The attack in Gaya district, 155km south of Patna, the state capital, also killed a village elder and a police informer who were travelling in the same vehicle as the policemen, the district police chief said late on Friday.

Pakistan Arrests Head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

Ishaq's arrest comes less than a week after LeJ claimed 
responsibility for the deadly Quetta attack [Reuters]

Malik Ishaq, leader of banned group which claimed responsibilty for recent bombing in Quetta, detained for one month.

Ishaq's arrest comes less than a week after LeJ claimed responsibility for the deadly Quetta attack [Reuters]

Malik Ishaq, leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group (LeJ), has been arrested by authorities in central Pakistan.

Ishaq surrendered on Friday in front of media in his home in the city of Rahim Yar Khan.

Suicide Blasts Rock Eastern Afghanistan

Security officials were on the scene where a car
bomb killed two people in Jalalabad [AP]

Taliban claim responsibility for one of two attacks in the east which targeted a spy agency facility and a police base.

Security officials were on the scene where a car bomb killed two people in Jalalabad [AP]

Car bombings in eastern Afghanistan have killed at least two intelligence agents and a police officer, officials said.

In the first attack on Sunday, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a facility of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan spy agency, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province.

UN finds decrease in Afghan civilian deaths

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has recorded a 12 percent drop in civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the first such decrease in six years.
The figures for 2012, released on Tuesday, did show an incremental increase in civilian injuries compared to the previous year.More than 578 children were killed or wounded in  first six months of 2012
In 2012, the mission recorded 7,559 civilian casualties - 2,754 of them deaths and the rest injuries. In 2011, 3,131 civilians were killed.
Over the past six years, 14,728 Afghan civilians have lost their lives in the ongoing conflict.
"While the overall incidence of civilian casualties decreased in 2012, anti-government elements increasingly targeted civilians throughout the country and carried out attacks without regard for human life," it said.
The drop was attributed to fewer casualties from on-the-ground engagements, a decline in suicide attacks and a reduced number of aerial operations.
However, the re-emergence of armed groups in the north and northeast of the country has posed new threats to civilians, the report indicated. In particular, the number of Afghan women and girls killed and injured in
the conflict increased by 20 percent in 2012.
Jans Kubis, the special representative for Afghanistan from the UN secretary-general, said the decrease was welcome, but "the human cost of the conflict remains unacceptable". Kubis said the "indiscriminate and unlawful" use of improvised explosive devices by armed groups remained the biggest killer of civilians.

Targeted killings

Though the toll for civilians saw a drop, targeted attacks on Afghan government officials soared by 700 percent. Targeted killings of women in government service were "particularly disturbing", the annual report said.
The report referred to the deaths of the head and deputy head of the Laghman department of women's affairs in July and December 2012, respectively, as evidence of the increased dangers for female officials.
Civilian casualties among perceived government supporters, including government employees, religious leaders, tribal elders and people involved in peace efforts rose by 108 percent to 1,077.
Overall, armed fighters were responsible for 81 percent of civilian casualties,  while eight percent were caused by Afghan and NATO forces, the report said.
The other 11 percent could not be attributed to either party.

Pakistan's Hazara Shia Bury Their Dead

Tensions high at graveyard after 84 burials, after community leaders calling off protest following government action.

India on High Alert After Deadly Bombings

Investigators hunt for perpetrators of twin bombings in Hyderabad which left at least 15 dead and more than 100 injured.

British PM lays wreath at India massacre site

*VIDEO IS IN LINK, WILL NOT EMBED*
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/02/20132207336475676.html

Britain's prime minister laid a mourning wreath Wednesday at the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces, calling the killings "a shameful event in British history," but stopped short of making a formal apology.

Pakistan wants Taliban commander handed over

Maulvi Faqir, former deputy of the Pakistani Taliban, was captured by Afghan forces while trying to cross the border.

Bangladesh tense amid war crime protests

Protester killed during strike after government amends law to allow retrial of politicians charged with war crimes.


Bangladesh continues to face political and social unrest over trial of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami leaders accused of involvement in murder and other atrocities during country's liberation war in 1971.

Police on Monday shot dead a protester in demonstrations in eastern Bangladesh amid a nationwide strike called by the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

No Afghan Help For Residential Air Strikes - Karzai

Afghan security forces are to be banned from calling for foreign air strikes in residential areas, President Hamid Karzai has said.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Karzai said a decree would be
issued on Sunday

'Mr Karzai said he would issue a decree on Sunday, less than a week after 10 civilians were killed in a night raid in the eastern province of Kunar.'

Nato-led forces in Afghanistan are not expected to make a formal response until the full decree has been issued.

Civilian casualties are a source of tension between Afghan and Nato forces.

"I will issue a decree [on Sunday] that no Afghan security forces, in any circumstances can ask for the foreigners' planes for carrying out operations on our homes and villages,'' Mr Karzai said in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul.

Inquiry ordered into deadly India stampede

Several hurt in Bangladesh war crimes protest

Jamaat-e-Islami activists clash with police in capital Dhaka demanding halt to country's war crimes trials.

India Protesters Decry New Rape Law

Activists say legalisation passed in the wake of fatal gang-rape does not go far enough.

Protesters gathered near the parliament to protest against
the law that was signed by the president on Sunday

Scores of demonstrators in India have demanded that the government repeal a new sexual violence law the Cabinet hurriedly passed last week and replace it with a more comprehensive measure.

Activists protesting near parliament on Monday said the law only followed some of the recommendations of a government panel set up after the fatal gang-rape of a woman in New Delhi two months ago.

Afghanistan and Pakistan Commit to Peace Deal

Leaders meeting in UK say they will work to reach a deal within six month and urge Taliban to join the process.

Karzai [L], Cameron [C] and Zardari [R] urged the Taliban
to join the reconciliation process in Afghanistan

The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan have said they would work to reach a peace deal within six months, while throwing their weight behind moves for the Taliban to open an office in Doha, Qatar.

Following talks on Monday hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari urged the Taliban to join the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Fails to Stop Killings of Shias

Nearly 3,000 Shias in Baluchistan province killed in sectarian violence over the last decade.

Malala Stable After Surgeries

Hospital statement says surgeries to restore hearing and reconstruct skull of the Pakistani schoolgirl have gone well.

At 11 years old, Malala began to keep a blog about
life in the Swat Valley under the Taliban

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban, has undergone two successful surgeries to reconstruct her skull and restore her hearing.

A statement released on Sunday by Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the British hospital where the 15-year-old is being treated in, said Yousafzai is currently in stable condition.

Dozens Killed in Pakistan Army Post Attack

At least 35 people killed in suicide attack on military checkpost in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, officials say.

India Gang-Rape Suspects Please Not Guilty

Five men accused of raping and murdering 23-year-old New Delhi student face 13 charges and could face death penalty.

The gang rape case ignited nationwide demonstrations
by protesters demanding better safety for women

Five men have pleaded not guilty to charges they gang-raped and murdered an Indian trainee physiotherapist, in a case that led to a shake-up of laws against sexual crimes after protests about a rising number of attacks on women.

The men on Saturday entered the court room with their faces covered, and lawyers in the case said they were read 13 charges including murder, which carries a maximum penalty of death. They left after 15 minutes.

Indian Citizens Urge Action Against Smog

Residents of the Indian capital of New Delhi are urging the government to take action on the environment.

Afghan Suicide Bomber Kills Anti-Terror Chief

Counter terrorism police chief, traffic chief and several other police officers killed in suicide attack in Kunduz.

Almost 18 people, mostly civilians, were wounded in a
suicide attack in the northeast Afghan city of Kunduz [AFP]

A suicide bomber has killed several Afghan officials and civilians in a crowded area of the northeast city of Kunduz, provincial authorities said.

Officials among the victims included "the city's counter terrorism police chief and head of traffic police chief", the Kunduz provincial governor's spokesman Enayatullah Khaleeq told AFP news agency on Saturday.

Kunduz police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussani confirmed the casualties and the attack.

Kashmir Girl Band: Three Arrested for Threats to Pragaash

The teenagers, described as "un-Islamic" by the region's most senior cleric, quit singing earlier this week.

The band appeared live at the Battle of the Bands
in Srinagar in December

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir have arrested three people for making online threats to members of an all-girl rock group.

On Tuesday, one of the band members queried why they had been criticized when male bands were allowed to perform.

She told the BBC that their intention was not to disrespect Islam.

Afghanistan Bribery Cost 'Increases Sharply'

Increasing numbers of people say they find it acceptable for civil servants to take small bribes, the report adds.The cost of corruption has risen sharply in Afghanistan but fewer people are paying bribes, a UN report says.

It said the amount rose in 2012 to $3.9bn, twice the country's domestic revenue and that 50% of Afghans were paying bribes compared to 58% in 2009.

The government blames the international community's system of giving contracts to officials for spreading corruption.

However, it accepts that the problem is rife within its own ranks.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary says that what is revealed in this report could just be the tip of the iceberg.

Pakistan Protests Move to Peshawar

Thousands take to the streets to protest the deaths of dozens of people reportedly killed in overnight raids.

Thousands have taken to the streets of northwest Pakistan to protest the deaths of 18 people they say were killed in overnight raids.

Pakistan Top Court Orders PM Arrest

Decision relates to kickbacks case involving contracts awarded when Raja Pervez Ashraf was water and power minister.

The Pakistani Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Raja Pervez Ashraf, the country's prime minister, in connection with a corruption case, officials say.

Afghanistan: An Army Prepares

The US military has an expression – no man gets left behind. But with the withdrawal of coalition combat troops from Afghanistan in 2014 drawing closer, the men of the Afghan National Army (ANA) could be forgiven for feeling that they are indeed being abandoned.


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mLIOp-PF0

Malala vows to continue with her campaign

A Pakistani schoolgirl, who was shot by the Taliban, remains defiant in arguing for girls' education, saying she would keep up the same campaign that led to her attack.
Speaking clearly but with the left side of her face appearing rigid, 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai said she is "getting better, day by day" after undergoing weeks of treatment at a British hospital.
"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," she said in her first video statement, made available by a public relations firm on Monday.

Bangladesh Islamist jailing prompts protests

Police in Bangladesh have clashed with protesters for a second day, after a leader of the main Islamist party was jailed for life for crimes against humanity in the war of independence.

At least 10 people were injured in violence near the capital, Dhaka.
Four people died and dozens were hurt in clashes on Tuesday following the verdict against Abdul Kader Mullah of Jamaat-e-Islami.

'Revolution' Urged at Pakistan protest

Tahrir-ul-Qadri demands transitional authority and electoral reforms while government ignores his resignation deadline.

Tahir-ul-Qadri, a Canadian-Pakistani Muslim leader who led a two-day protest march into the Pakistani capital, has called for a "revolution" in Pakistan, after the government ignored a deadline he set for it to resign.

Thousands Join Pakistan Cleric's 'Long March'

Canada-base Pakistani cleric leads an estimated 7,000 protesters from Lahore to Islamabad to demand electoral reforms.

Thousands of protesters, led by a Canada-based Pakistani cleric, have begun march toward the capital Islamabad from the city of Lahore to demand key reforms ahead of elections.

Talks Fail to Quell Pakistan Shia Protests

Demonstrators to continue protests over lack of security as talks between officials and Shia leaders end inconclusively.

Protests were also held in the cities of Lahore, Karachi and the capital of
Islamabad is solidarity with Shias [Retuers]

Talks between Pakistani officials and Shia leaders have failed to quell a protest that brought thousands of people out onto cold, wet streets for a second night to watch over the bodies of 96 people killed in Quetta in one of the country's worst sectarian attacks.

Qayyum Changazi, chairman of the Takjehti Council, a national alliance of predominantly Shia organizations, said on Saturday the talks had produced no result.