Two missing after India navy plane crashes into sea

Two missing after India navy plane crashes into sea

MUMBAI: A naval aircraft crashed off the western Indian coast leaving two pilots missing, the navy said Wednesday, in the latest of a string of accidents which have hit the force.

Rescue operations were underway after the Indian navy's Dornier aircraft plunged into the sea some 25 nautical miles off the western holiday state of Goa around 10:00 pm local time (1630 GMT) Tuesday.

"Last evening a navy Dornier during a routine training sortie off Goa ditched into sea," a navy statement said early Wednesday.

"One survivor rescued. Full scale search and rescue operation launched to locate two more officers (one pilot and one observer)," it added.

It is the latest in a series of deadly disasters to hit the navy, and comes just months after a naval ship sank off the southeastern coast of India leaving one worker dead and four others missing.

A fire aboard a nuclear submarine killed two officers off the Mumbai coast last February which led to the immediate resignation of the navy chief.

Eighteen sailors were also killed in August 2013 when INS Sindhurakshak burst into flames in Mumbai harbour. - AFP

'Dangerous' Afghans to be released in 24 hours: US

'Dangerous' Afghans to be released in 24 hours: US

KABUL: The Afghan government plans within 24 hours to start releasing from a former American detention facility a group of 65 inmates that the U.S considers highly dangerous, the NATO-led coalition said late Wednesday.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan have repeatedly registered strong concerns about releasing the detainees, who it says have the blood of international and Afghan soldiers on their hands - plus strong evidence against them, from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing.

When President Hamid Karzai ordered their release several weeks ago from the Parwan Detention Facility, it prompted angry denunciations from the U.S. and strained relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops.

The international coalition on Wednesday issued the latest in a string of statements condemning the release, which it said would begin early Thursday morning and include detainees directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians.

The U.S. has stressed it wants the detainees to face trial in Afghanistan, but Kabul has cited insufficient proof to hold them - despite U.S. claims it has strong evidence against the prisoners.

Karzai, too, has referred to the Parwan Detention Facility as a "Taliban-producing factory" where innocent Afghans are tortured into hating their country.

Among those expected to walk free Thursday morning are Mohammad Wali, who the U.S. military says is a suspected Taliban explosives expert who allegedly placed roadside bombs targeting Afghan and international forces. The military said Wali had been biometrically linked to two roadside explosions and had a latent fingerprint match on another improvised explosive device - plus tested positive for explosives residue.

Others in the group include Nek Mohammad - who the U.S. says was captured with extensive weapons, and a man identified as Ehsanullah, who is claimed to have been biometrically matched to a roadside bomb and tested positive for explosive residue.

The U.S. military had formally disputed the prisoners' release, but an Afghan review board had effectively overruled those challenges.

The detainees' release has been in the works for weeks, and comes as Karzai's government has taken an increasingly hostile tone towards the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Wednesday, two international troops and two Afghan service members were killed in an apparent insider attack, according to officials.

The NATO-led force confirmed the deaths of its service members, saying they were killed by two men in Afghan uniforms. The coalition gave no further information, saying there would be an investigation.

A senior Afghan military official meanwhile said two Afghan army personnel were killed in the incident, which came after a heated dispute on a base in the east of the country. The official but had no further information, saying a joint NATO-Afghan team had been dispatched to investigate. He added that several other personnel were wounded in the incident in an Afghan base in the Pagab district of Kapisa province, east of Kabul.

He could not be identified because he was not authorized to release the information.

Insider attacks in the past have been claimed by Taliban insurgents as proof they can infiltrate Afghanistan's Western-trained security forces. Other cases have involved personal quarrels between Afghan forces and their trainers.

The Taliban earlier Wednesday issued a statement claiming that a "battle" between Afghan forces and foreign trainers had resulted in several deaths and injuries, but the insurgents did not claim its infiltrators were responsible.

Germany: Boy, 13, arrested for arson that killed Pakistani mom, kids

Germany: Boy, 13, arrested for arson that killed Pakistani mom, kids

BERLIN: German police say a 13-year-old boy has been arrested for setting fire to an asylum home in Hamburg that killed a woman from Pakistan and her two children.

 

Police spokesman Andreas Schoepflin said Saturday the boy, who is a member of the city’s youth fire department, was identified based on witness accounts and video footage by a surveillance camera.

 

He admitted to the crime when confronted by police Friday night and was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Schoepflin said the boy didn’t have any anti-foreigner motives.

 

Besides the three deaths, 27 residents were injured in the fire at the asylum home on Wednesday.

 

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. (AP)

Attempt to hijack Turkish plane to Sochi foiled

Attempt to hijack Turkish plane to Sochi foiled

ANKARA: A Ukrainian man tried to hijack a Turkey-bound flight to Sochi, Russia, as the Winter Olympics were kicking off Friday, but the pilot tricked him and landed in Istanbul instead, where he was stealthily detained after a four-hour stand-off on a plane full of passengers, an official said.

 

The hijacking drama came as the Winter Olympics opened in the Russian resort city, with thousands of athletes from around the world pouring into the tightly secured stadium amid warnings the games could be a terrorism target.

 

A Turkish F-16 fighter was scrambled as soon as the pilot on the Pegasus Airlines flight from Kharkiv, Ukraine, with 110 passengers aboard signaled there was a hijacking attempt, according to NTV television. It escorted the plane safely to its original destination at Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul.

 

Officials credited the pilot and crew for convincing the 45-year-old-man, who claimed he had a bomb, that they were following his wishes.

 

"Through a very successful implementation by our pilot and crew, the plane was landed in Istanbul instead of Sochi," Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters at the airport. "He thought it was going to Sochi but after a while he realized that (the plane) was in Istanbul."

 

He said the suspected hijacker was arrested after a stand-off during which a negotiator convinced him to first allow women and children to be evacuated and later agreed to let all other passengers off the plane as well.

 

"Our security units sneaked through various entrances during the evacuation of the passengers and with a quick and effective intervention the hijacker was subdued," Mutlu said. No bomb was found, he said.

 

The man's motive was unclear, but Mutlu said he had "requests concerning his own country" and wanted to relay a "message concerning sporting activities in Sochi." Mutlu said there was no immediate indication that the man was a member of any terror organization and Mutlu did not give his name.

 

"We were receiving through various channels information that there could be initiatives to sabotage the spirit of peace arising in Sochi, but we are saddened that such an event took place in our city," Mutlu said.

 

The governor said the man was being held at Istanbul police headquarters. The man was slightly injured during the struggle when he was detained, but no weapons were used, he said. The private Dogan news agency said later that the man was taken to a hospital for his injuries.

 

The Interfax news agency cited the Ukrainian Security Service, the country's main security agency, as saying the passenger was in a state of severe alcohol intoxication. Mutlu said the man was not drunk, but said he may have taken substances to help him remain alert. He did not elaborate.

 

Habib Soluk, the Turkish Transport Ministry undersecretary, told NTV earlier that the man rose from his seat, shouted that there was bomb on board and tried to enter the locked cockpit. The pilot signaled that there was a hijack attempt and the airport was placed on high alert.

 

Air traffic at Sabiha Gokcen was halted throughout the incident but had returned to normal after the man's arrest.

 

The plane landed at about 6 p.m. Turkish time, just as the opening ceremony for the Olympics was about to begin. The executive creative director of the Olympics opening ceremony told reporters afterward he heard of the threat but didn't alter the show's plans in any way.

 

"We had so much adrenaline in our veins that we could not grasp much," Konstantin Ernst said through an interpreter.

 

With about 100,000 police, security agents and army troops flooding Sochi, Russia has pledged to ensure "the safest Olympics in history." But terror fears fueled by recent suicide bombings have left athletes, spectators and officials worldwide jittery about potential threats.

 

"It would be wrong to make any comment before all the facts are known but any security questions are of course a matter for the authorities," International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said.

 

Security experts warn that Islamic militants in the Caucasus, who have threatened to derail the Winter Games that run from Feb. 7-23, could achieve their goal by choosing soft targets away from the Olympic sites or even outside Sochi.

 

Olympic organizers introduced blanket screening of all visitors, requiring them to share passport details to get a Winter Games spectator pass. Officials also cut access to vehicles lacking Sochi registration or a special pass, and guards were searching all train commuters. (AP)

Activists: Syrian rebels free hundreds from prison

Activists: Syrian rebels free hundreds from prison

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels launched a new push in the northern province of Aleppo on Thursday to capture key symbols of the government and stormed a major section of a prison there, freeing hundreds of prisoners in the process, activists said.

 

The advance came amid a relentless air campaign by government forces that killed at least 11 people in an opposition held neighborhood of the provincial capital of Aleppo.

 

Activists said government aircraft dropped so-called barrel bombs — containers packed with explosives, fuel and scrap metal that inflict massive damage upon impact.

 

At least 246 people, including 73 children, have died in the past five days alone in similar aerial bombardment of the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

 

The rebels on Thursday declared their intention to liberate Aleppo´s central prison and the Kweiras military air base east of the city.

 

Opposition fighters have been trying to capture the facilities for months.The prison, in particular, has been caught in the deadly stalemate of Syria´s civil war.

 

Rebels have been besieging the facility, estimated to have around 4,000 prisoners, for almost a year.

 

They have rammed suicide car bombs into the prison´s front gates twice, lobbed shells into the compound and battled frequently with the hundreds of guards and troops holed up inside.

 

Thursday´s push began when a suicide bomber from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra brigade blew himself up at the gates.

 

That was followed by a ground offensive during which rebels managed to gain control of most of the facility.

 

The Observatory said at least 300 prisoners were freed by the rebels. The anti-government Aleppo Media Center said rebels had gained control over the prison.

Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president: report

Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president: report

CAIRO: Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said he will run for president, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday.

Al-Seyassah quoted Sisi as saying that he had no alternative but to meet the demands of the Egyptian people for him to run in the elections, which are due within six months.

In July, Sisi toppled Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi, after mass protests against his rule.

Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement accuse Sisi of staging a coup and undermining democratic gains made since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. (Reuters)

Obama meets with top US commander in Afghanistan

Obama meets with top US commander in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has met at the White House with his top commander in Afghanistan and other high-ranking Pentagon officials.

White House spokeswoman Laura Magnuson says the meeting was useful but no decision has been made about a possible U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the NATO-led combat mission formally concludes. She says Obama is continuing to weigh input from military, intelligence and diplomatic officials.

The military has been pushing to keep up to 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014. But the White House says Obama won't leave any American forces in Afghanistan unless Afghan President Hamid Karzai signs a bilateral security agreement.

Among the officials Obama met with were Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey. (AP)

US cautions against move to stage military coup in Thailand

US cautions against move to stage military coup in Thailand

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday warned against moves to stage a military coup in Thailand and said it was "concerned that political tensions" are challenging the Southeast Asian nation's democracy.

 

"We certainly do not want to see a coup or violence ... in any case of course. We are speaking directly to all elements in Thai society to make clear the importance of using democratic and constitutional means to resolve political differences," state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said after disrupted weekend elections.

Afghan presidential election campaign under way

Afghan presidential election campaign under way

KABUL: Candidates for Afghanistan’s April 5 presidential election officially launched their campaigns Sunday with a series of rallies held in Kabul, but it remains to be seen whether the next president will have a closer relationship with the United States than the obstreperous incumbent Hamid Karzai.

There are 11 candidates vying to replace Karzai, who cannot run again, reports the BBC. The president has repeatedly held back from signing a security deal that would allow the U.S. military to carry out operations against the Taliban and suspected terrorists in the war-torn country, saying his successor could handle negotiations.

The academic Ashraf Ghani, who is running with former Uzbek warlord Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum and ethnic Hazara tribal chieftain Sarwar Danish as vice-presidents, promised at his rally Sunday to bring change. And the candidate Abdullah Abdullah said the world should not be frightened of Afghanistan, and Afghans should not be frightened of the world.

“There are actually a number of fairly strong candidates, people who we have worked with very closely in the past,” said former Defense Department official David Sedney on PBS on Jan. 27. ”And most importantly, the election gives the Afghan people themselves a chance to choose. And then I think we will have a much better chance of moving forward.”

It’s not just the outcome of the election that will shape Afghanistan’s future, but also whether voting can be carried out safely. A peaceful election process would set a precedent for future democratic elections with diminished coalition and U.S. involvement. But on Saturday two workers for Abdullah Abdullah were shot and killed in the western city of Herat, and the Taliban has threatened to derail the campaign. Voters expressed anxiety about the safety of the polls, and said it could prevent people from casting ballots.

Violence in Afghanistan has continued in recent months, with a recent Taliban attack on a Kabul cafe that served Western clientele killing 21 people.

UN says more than 733 Iraqis killed in January

UN says more than 733 Iraqis killed in January

BAGHDAD: The United Nations said Saturday that at least 733 Iraqis were killed during violence in January, even when leaving out casualties from an embattled western province.

 

The figures issued Saturday by the U.N.´s mission to Iraq show 618 civilians and 115 members of the security forces were killed in January. But the UNAMI statement excluded deaths from ongoing fighting in Anbar, due to problems in verifying the "status of those killed."

 

The figures also leave out insurgent deaths.

 

Also, the UN said at least 1,229 Iraqis were wounded in attacks across the country last month.

 

Baghdad was the worst affected province, with 297 killed and 585 wounded.

 

Al-Qaida-linked fighters and their allies seized control of the city of Fallujah and parts of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi last month after authorities dismantled a protest camp.

 

UN mission chief Nickolay Mladenov expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Anbar, saying thousands of families are displaced and others stranded in besieged Fallujah.

 

"I am deeply alarmed by the humanitarian situation of thousands of displaced families and particularly of those stranded in Fallujah. They lack water, fuel, food, medicine and other basic commodities," he said. (AP)