Pakistan captures militant linked to Peshawar school assault (BBC) -MJ Gillis

The Pakistani military has arrested a man suspected of taking part in December's attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.

The army claim that Taj Muhammad was one of the commanders behind the Taliban assault.

The army is still searching for other militants linked to the attack, in which at least 150 people were killed, including 133 children.

All of the gunmen who stormed the school are believed to be dead.

Taj Muhammed was captured in a camp for internally displaced people in the Pawaka area of Peshawar.

Pakistani authorities believe 27 militants were involved in the attack. Nine gunmen were killed during the siege and several others linked to the attack have been captured.

The detainees could be brought before military courts and face the death penalty if convicted of terrorism.

Following the massacre, security has been stepped up in the region, with teachers now allowed to carry guns.

The group of attackers cut through a wire fence at Peshawar's Army School on 16 December before launching an attack on an auditorium where children were taking a lesson in first aid.

The gunmen, who were wearing bomb vests, then went from room to room shooting pupils and teachers in a siege that lasted eight hours.

A faction of the Pakistani Taliban loyal to Mullah Fazlullah said they carried out the attack in revenge for the army's offensive against them in North Waziristan.

Iran executes young Iranian Kurd despite global outcry (France 24)--Lelia Busch

Iran on Thursday executed an Iranian Kurd arrested at the age of 17 for belonging to the rebel Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) and involvement in armed confrontations with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards despite calls for leniency.

Saman Naseem, 22, was sentenced to death in April 2013, after allegedly being tortured.

His execution was confirmed by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on Friday.

According to the FIDH, Nassem’s family, which had been ordered by the authorities to “keep quiet”, were told to collect his personal effects from prison this weekend, which is the usual practice after an execution in Iran.

The FIDH underscored in its communiqué on Friday that Iran was a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which forbids the execution of minors, and that Tehran had ignored international calls – including from France – for leniency.

“Saman Naseem was a minor when he was arrested and his fundamental rights were not respected,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement issued late on Thursday. “France calls on Iran to respect its international human rights obligations, particularly those regarding children.”

Thousands took to Twitter this week demanding leniency for Naseem in posts addressed directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has an account with the micro-blogging site despite the service being banned in Iran.

Ahmed Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, and Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, also urged Iran this week to halt the execution. 

"Regardless of the circumstances and nature of the crime, the execution of juvenile offenders is clearly prohibited by international human rights law," the pair said in a statement.

They asked Iran to act in accordance with its own policies, which state that confessions obtained under torture are inadmissible under Iranian law.

China to neighbours: Send us your Uighurs (al Jazeera)--Lelia Busch

Kabul, Afghanistan - Isreal Ahmet, an ethnic Uighur who immigrated to Afghanistan from western China, lived and worked in Kabul for more than a decade before being detained and deported by Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) last summer.

Ahmet, who lived in a meagre, mud-brick house, was described as an honest businessman by those who know him. 

An NDS official - speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to talk to the media - told Al Jazeera that Ahmet was detained for lacking legal documentation and carrying counterfeit money. He was held in a jail cell with more than two dozen other Chinese Uighurs, including women and children.

Flagged as a spy, Ahmet was quickly escorted to the Kabul International Airport, where Chinese officials were waiting for him. He boarded a plane and has not been heard from since. 

UK troops leave Afghanistan after 13 years (al Jazeera)--Lelia Busch

British troops have ended combat operations in Afghanistan as they and US troops handed over two huge adjacent bases to the Afghan military, 13 years after a US-led invasion to topple the Taliban.

The troops handed over to Afghan forces on Sunday at camps Bastion and Leatherneck, in the southwestern province of Helmand. The timing of their withdrawal had not been announced for security reasons.

Their departure on Sunday leaves Afghanistan and its newly installed president, Ashraf Ghani, to deal almost unaided with an emboldened Taliban after the last foreign combat troops withdraw by year-end.

AP EXCLUSIVE: US, IRAN DISCUSSING NUCLEAR TALKS COMPROMISE (AP) - Jessica Bae

AP EXCLUSIVE: US, IRAN DISCUSSING NUCLEAR TALKS COMPROMISE

VIENNA (AP) -- With time for negotiations running short, the U.S and Iran are discussing a compromise that would let Iran keep much of its uranium-enriching technology but reduce its potential to make nuclear weapons, two diplomats tell The Associated Press.

Afghan president faces new hurdles as cabinet nominees rejected (Reuters) - Jessica Bae

Afghan president faces new hurdles as cabinet nominees rejected

(Reuters) - Afghanistan's parliament dealt a new blow to President Ashraf Ghani's efforts to assemble a government on Wednesday, approving just eight out of 25 cabinet nominees before its winter recess.

Ghani, who took office in September promising dramatic reforms and greater transparency, must now wait until mid-March before introducing new candidates to the lower house.

Some elements circulating counterfeit currency: SBP (Dawn) - Jessica Bae

Some elements circulating counterfeit currency: SBP

LAHORE: Acting Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Saeed Ahmad says that anti-state elements are involved in circulating counterfeit Pakistani currency in the country to undermine the national economy.

“The central bank is vigilant to foil designs of these elements,” Mr Ahmad told newsmen at a conference on ‘currency management: strategies for the future,’ arranged by SBP at a hotel here on Tuesday.