Saudi Arabia Beheads Young Sri Lankan Maid

A young Sri Lankan housemaid has been beheaded in Saudi Arabia for killing a baby who was in her care.

Rizana Nafeek had denied strangling the four-month-old baby in 2005 and the execution came despite global appeals to call it off because she was only 17 at the time.

Rights groups said the death sentence was a violation of international codes governing the rights of minors.

Appeals by the Sri Lankan government were also rejected and Nafeek was executed in the town of Dawadmy, near the capital Riyadh, on Wednesday morning.

A Sri Lankan woman protesting against the death sentence

In a statement the Saudi interior ministry said she had been found guilty of smothering the infant to death after an argument with the child's mother, her employer.

Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had made a series of personal appeals to try to stop the execution and grant a pardon to the maid.

Afterwards, the president said he and his government "deplored" the beheading.

Saudi households are highly dependent on housemaids from African and South Asian countries.

There have been reported cases of domestic abuse in which families mistreat their maids, who have then attacked the children of their employers.

Condemning the execution, Human Rights Watch senior women's rights researcher Nisha Varia said: "Saudi Arabia is one of just three countries that executes people for crimes they committed as children.

"In executing Rizana Nafeek, Saudi authorities demonstrated callous disregard for basic humanity as well as Saudi Arabia's international legal obligations."

Saudi is an absolute monarchy that follows the strict Wahhabi school of Islam and applies Sharia (Islamic) law. Judges base decisions on their own interpretation of Sharia rather than on a written legal code or on precedent.

In a statement Amnesty International said that it appeared Nafeek had had no access to lawyers either during her pre-trial interrogation or at her trial in 2007.

Hers was the second execution in Saudi Arabia this year after a Syrian man was beheaded on Tuesday for drug trafficking.

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China: Censorship Row Newspaper Published

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, in Guangzhou

A Chinese newspaper at the centre of a strike over censorship has been published after journalists and Communist Party officials appeared to reach a tentative agreement.

A supporter chants slogans near the paper's offices as police look on

The Southern Weekly appeared as planned on newsstands in Beijing and Shanghai, though copies of the paper were not obviously available in its hometown, Guangzhou.

No mention of the three-day dispute could be found in the latest edition of the paper. Staff walked out on Monday in a rare strike, which quickly developed into an ideological debate over free speech in China.

A protester is taken away by plainclothes police officers and put in a van A CCTV camera outside the paper's offices

The newspaper's journalists had been angered after the local Communist Party propaganda chief ordered officials to change an editorial they had written.

The original version of the editorial had called on the incoming Chinese leadership to push through political reforms. The censored version was a simple plaudit for the Communist Party.

Supporters of the journalists gathered outside the newspaper's office in Guangzhou for three days this week.

With remarkably unusual defiance, the group called for the overthrow of the Communist Party and the installation of a free media and independent judiciary.

Police watched and photographed them but, unusually, no attempt was made to shut down the protest. Some of the protesters removed masks in front of police to prove they had no fear of being photographed.

Temporary CCTV cameras were installed on trees outside the offices. Some protesters said they feared they may be arrested in the coming days once the dispute has died down.

A protester covered in pages of the Southern Weekly

The details of the deal that allowed the paper to be published are not clear, though it is understood staff agreed their editor-in-chief would be fired and in return they would not be punished for their protest.

Staff have been ordered not to speak to foreign media but, according to the Associated Press, some of the journalists tried to insert an editorial into today's edition praising the paper as a tribute to reform. Managers ordered that it be removed.

If true, this either represents further censorship or perhaps an acknowledgement from newspaper's senior staff that they have already pushed the boundary just enough to focus government minds in Beijing.

The Southern Weekend is regarded as one of China's most respected newspapers. It has frequently challenged the status quo in a country where the media is under almost total control by the Communist Party.

The southern city of Guangzhou, where the paper has its headquarters, is regarded as one of the most progressive parts of China. It has, in the past, been used by the Communist Party to test possible free-speech reforms.

Protests of the kind seen here are unlikely to have been tolerated in Beijing, where senior government officials have remained silent over the issue.

The protest is a clear test for the incoming Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. Opinions are mixed over how much he will support political and economic reform.

A man reads the cover story of the Southern Weekly

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Bushfire Rages Towards Unexploded Bomb Site

Firefighters in Australia are racing against the clock to prevent a bushfire from spreading to a former weapons range littered with unexploded bombs before another heatwave hits parts of the country.

The blaze is burning 2km from the Tianjara plateau in New South Wales, which was used by the Australian army as a practice bombing range until the mid-1970s.

Officials said the fire's path was currently playing into their "firefighting strategy" and that if necessary, they had time to put in a firebreak in the area.

However, were the flames to reach the plateau, located in the Morton National Park, it could complicate efforts, with the unexploded bombs making water-drops impossible.

A firefighters attempts to tackle a bushfire

"We can't do water-bombing with aircraft or something like that in case the weight of the water , when it hits the ground, sets off any unexploded ordnance," Rural Fire Service inspector Brett Loughlin told ABC radio.

"So it's a total no-fly zone and that will mean (if) the fire gets into that area, there's nothing we can do for it except wait for it on the other side."

As well as bull-dozing containment lines, aircraft are dropping special flame resistant gel on bushland to stop it from reaching the bomb site.

Forecasters are warning more hot weather is on the way this weekend, bringing the risk of more infernos.

Fires have been raging across Australia for nearly a week and while many have been contained, over 100 are still burning and about a dozen remain out of control in the country's most populous state, New South Wales.

A cooler weather front that brought some relief on Wednesday continued in many parts on Thursday, but temperatures are set to soar once again to well over 40 degrees Celsius on Friday, piling pressure on the emergency services.

NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said crews were working flat out to do all they could before the heat returned.

"It's about focusing on getting as much contained and consolidated as we can ahead of a return to hotter and dryer conditions dominating much of NSW over the coming days," he told ABC television.

"We're looking at temperatures across much of NSW into low-to-mid 40s and extending into the high 40s on Saturday.

"The only reprieve, if you can call it that, is that we are not expecting significant wind strengths to build.

"But it is almost academic. With such hot, dry and dominant (weather) movement from the northwest, even a moderate breeze is going to be problematic and risky for communities and firefighters over the weekend."

The blazes have burned more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres) of land in New South Wales alone, and while more than 100 homes were razed in Tasmania state last weekend, only a handful have been destroyed around the country since then.

No deaths have been reported.

Thousands of sheep have been killed by the fires

The biggest impact has been on farmers, with vast amounts of pasture, crops and animal feed lost, as well as thousands of head of stock and agricultural infrastructure such as sheds and outbuildings.

In Yass Shire, one of the worst hit areas to the west of Canberra, a fire has so far burnt out 16,000 hectares and killed 10,000 sheep.

As well as New South Wales, fires continue to burn in the states of Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland.

Wildfires are a fact of life in arid Australia, where 173 people died in the 2009 Black Saturday firestorm, the nation's worst natural disaster of modern times.

Meanwhile, a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for southeast Queensland.

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India Gang Rape: Men 'Beaten For Confessions'

A lawyer for three of the men charged with murdering and gang-raping a student in Delhi has accused the police of brutality.

Speaking before a hearing at the city's Saket District Court, ML Sharma claimed the men had been beaten while in custody.

He said: "They (the police) have used the third degree to extract the statement that suits the evidence they have collected.

"My clients have been forced to confess to crimes that they did not commit."

A police spokesman refused to comment on the allegations.

Mr Sharma represents three of the five men accused of raping a 23-year-old medical student on a bus in Delhi on December 16.

She died in hospital in Singapore 13 days after the attack, which sparked mass protests across India.

Mr Sharma's clients are expected to plead not guilty to the charges they face.

All five men are due in court later, when the case is expected to be transferred to a fast-track trial court.

If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

A sixth accused, who is 17, will be tried in a separate court for juveniles.

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India: New Gang Rape And Murder 'Covered Up'

The family of a woman who was gang raped and murdered in Noida, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, claim the police tried to cover up the attack because one of the alleged culprits was wealthy.

The semi-naked and bruised body of the 22-year-old woman called Sanyogita was found on Saturday morning by the roadside.

It comes weeks after a gang rape in Delhi sparked outrage across the world.

Five police officers have been suspended for allegedly failing to investigate the crime and three men have been arrested.

But the victim's family claim they will not see justice because they are Dalits - the Indian caste traditionally regarded as 'untouchable'.

Sanyogita's mother, Sunita, said: "We are lower caste and that is why our voice is never heard. The case against the accused is being watered down because they are rich."

Her father Dharamsingh is of the same opinion.

"The police tried to bury the case in the beginning," he said.

"Even before we arrived they had taken the body and they wanted her cremated."

Their story contrasts sharply with the outcry over the Delhi bus gang rape on December 16.

The attack happened in the capital city to a girl who was a medical student . She could have been the daughter of any of the city's growing cosmopolitan middle class.

Sanyogita, on the other hand, came from a poor family with, it seems, no voice.

In the village she grew up in it is striking that there are no satellite TV trucks or protesters demanding justice.

The truth is that most crimes against women in India happen in the country's small towns and villages and largely go unnoticed and unchallenged.

Rape and molestation is rising across the country and no-one in authority appears to have an answer as to what to do about it.        

In Delhi, the number of women signing up for self-defence classes has doubled in recent weeks.

At one session at a school in the south of the city we meet Vinita, who coincidentally, is writing a Phd on Indian history.

She believes the rise in violence against women will not be combatted until society changes.

She said: "It is not equal with us and because Indian culture places so much emphasis on honour of women, honourable things like staying at home... humiliating them in a sexual way (and) violating their bodies seems to be the best way of telling a woman 'you are not honourable enough anymore, you mind your place'."

The Delhi gang rape has presented India with some uncomfortable truths.

The country likes to cast itself as the economic and cultural powerhouse of South Asia, but the attack has revealed the nation's many fault lines.

India is a society of unequals: rich and poor, men and women.

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Syria: Another Missile Fired, Says Nato

A short-range ballistic missile has been fired again inside Syria, following similar launches last week, a Nato official has said.

"We detected the launch of an unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria yesterday (Wednesday). This follows similar launches on January 2 and 3," the official said, adding: "All missiles were fired from inside Syria and they landed in northern Syria. None hit Turkish territory."

While Nato said it could not provide further details on the type of missiles, it condemned the firing of them. 

"The use of such indiscriminate weapons shows utter disregard for the lives of the Syrian people. It is reckless and we condemn it," the official said.

Children standing in muddied water outside their makeshift home

Fighting is still reported to be continuing, despite increasingly bad weather.

There has been four days of continuous rain, wind, hail and snowfall that weather officials in neighbouring Lebanon and Israel have called the worst winter storm for 20 years.

The terrible conditions have brought further misery to the 600,000 refugees already suffering by having to flee their country because of the war.

Tens of thousands of the refugees living in the Zaatari refugee camp are without shelter after storms destroyed their temporary shelters and turned much of the camp into a muddy swamp. 

A Syrian woman walks through the snow of her refugee camp

Camps in Turkey have been hit by a heavy snowfall.

And, in rebel-held areas of Syria, fuel and food are growing scarce, according to reports.

Residents in mainly rebel-held Aleppo are burning furniture and doors to stay warm, said Michal Przedalicki, an aid worker from the Czech charity People in Need working in northern Syria.

"Unfortunately, I think it is quite likely that people will die from the severe weather conditions. Already people have not been eating enough for several months, and that exposes their bodies to more disease and infection."

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Two Trains Collide In Northern Switzerland

At least 17 people have been hurt after two trains collided at a station in northern Switzerland.

The trains, one from Winterthur and the other from Schaffhausen, crashed near the station of Neuhausen-am-Rheinfall, not far from the German border, at around 7:30 am.

The Winterhur train was derailed in the collision.

Police spokeswoman Anja Schudel said 17 people had been injured with some taken to hospital.

Others were treated on the scene and allowed to leave.

Everybody had been evacuated from the trains, she added.

"The train hit the emergency breaks and everyone was thrown out of their seats," one of the passengers told the 20minutes.ch website.

He added: "One person was bleeding heavily from the head."

Another passenger said he had seen "an old lady lying unconscious on the ground who was bleeding a lot."

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Japan Luck Race Won By Student

A student has beaten more than 4,500 runners in an annual dawn race around the Nishinomiya shrine in central Japan.

Japanese mythology says that the winner of the 230-metre race will be blessed with a year of good luck.

And if that was not reward enough, this year's winner Yuto Doi, 18, was also given a 12-month supply of Ebisu beer, despite Japan's legal drinking age of 20.

The gracious victor Doi was happy to share his luck around.

He said: "I wish my victory brings fortune to people around me so that they all become happy."

Doi added: "My biggest wish now is that all my school mates enter colleges they want to go to."

Although there could only be one winner of the race, the first two runners-up did not leave empty handed.

Second place received a barrel of rice and third place was given a grilled whole sea bream, which are symbols of luck according to Japanese folklore.

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Half Of All Food Produced Is 'Thrown Away'

As much as half of all the food produced in the world - two billion tonnes worth - ends up being thrown away, a new report claims.

The waste is caused by poor infrastructure and storage facilities, over-strict sell-by dates, "get-one-free" offers, and consumer fussiness, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Each year countries around the world produce some four billion tonnes of food.

But between 30% and 50% of this total, amounting to 1.2 to 2 billion tonnes, never gets eaten, says the report Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not.

In the UK, up to 30% of vegetable crops are not harvested because their physical appearance fails to meet the exacting demands of consumers.

Half the food purchased in Europe and the US is thrown away after it is bought, the report adds.

Vast quantities of water are also wasted in global food production, it is claimed.

Around 550 billion cubic metres of water is used to grow crops that never reach the consumer, according to the report.

Producing one kilogram of meat is also said to take 20 to 50 times more water than producing the same weight of vegetables.

The report hits out at supermarkets for encouraging over-buying

The demand for water in food production could reach 10 to 13 trillion cubic metres a year by 2050, the institution said.

This is up to 3.5 times greater than the total amount of fresh water used by humans today, raising the spectre of dangerous water shortages.

Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: "The amount of food wasted and lost around the world is staggering.

"This is food that could be used to feed the world's growing population - as well as those in hunger today.

"It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food."

He blamed the situation on poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage infrastructure, and supermarkets demanding cosmetically perfect foodstuffs and encouraging consumers to overbuy through buy-one-get-one free offers.

By 2075 the United Nations predicts that the world's population will reach around 9.5 billion, resulting in an extra three billion mouths to feed.

Added stresses on the ability of the world to feed itself include global warming and the growing popularity of meat, which requires around 10 times more resources than staple plant foods such as rice or potatoes.

Dr Fox called on governments, development agencies and organisations like the UN to "work together to help change people's mindsets on waste and discourage wasteful practices by farmers, food producers, supermarkets and consumers".

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Oscar Nominations: Lincoln Heads Field

Lincoln leads the way in nominations for the 85th Academy Awards - with Daniel Day-Lewis the major British acting hope for an Oscar.

Day-Lewis' nomination as 'best actor' is one of 12 gongs the historical drama about the former US president is in the frame for.

The 55-year-old, who has joint UK and Irish citizenship, was immediately installed as favourite for what would be his third victory in the category.

He is shortlisted alongside Les Miserables star Hugh Jackman, Denzel Washington, Joaquin Phoenix and Bradley Cooper.

Another nominated Brit is Naomi Watts, who was recognised for her role in The Impossible with a nod in the best actress category.

The same category could also see 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva become its oldest ever winner, for Amour, with nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, for Beasts Of The Southern Wild, potentially its youngest.

Les Miserables, directed by The King's Speech filmmaker Tom Hooper, is in the running for best picture but Hooper failed to get a nomination in for 'best director' - which he won in 2010.

Also nominated for best picture are Ben Affleck's Argo, set during the Iran hostage crisis, Beasts Of The Southern Wild and Quentin Tarantino's western Django Unchained.

Life Of Pi, Amour, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty complete the shortlist.

Adele's nomination for best original song puts her up against Oscars host Seth MacFarlane, who is nominated for Everybody Needs A Best Friend from his film Ted.

The nominees also include Suddenly from Les Miserables, which was co-written by London journalist Herbert Kretzmer.

Hollywood veterans Alan Arkin, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert De Niro were all named in the supporting actor category with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christoph Waltz.

Anne Hathaway's performance in Les Miserables saw her nominated for supporting actress along with Amy Adams, Lincoln star Sally Field, Helen Hunt and Jacki Weaver.

The announcement, by MacFarlane and Spiderman star Emma Stone, means disappointment for Dame Judi Dench and Dame Helen Mirren.

The pair missed out despite being tipped for possible nominations for their respective performances in Skyfall and Hitchcock.

This year's ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on February 24.

:: Complete list of nominees:

Best Picture: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.

Actor: Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Denzel Washington (Flight)

Actress: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Naomi Watts (The Impossible).

Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained).

Supporting Actress: Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook).

Directing: Michael Haneke (Amour), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook).

Foreign Language Film: Amour (Austria), Kon-Tiki (Norway), No (Chile), A Royal Affair (Denmark), War Witch (Canada).

Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio (Argo), Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), David Magee (Life of Pi), Tony Kushner (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook).

Original Screenplay: Michael Haneke (Amour), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), John Gatins (Flight), Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom), Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty).

Animated Feature Film: Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates!, Band of Misfits, Wreck-It Ralph.

Production Design: Anna Karenina, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln.

Cinematography: Anna Karenina, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall.

Sound Mixing: Argo, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall.

Sound Editing: Argo, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty.

Original Score: Anna Karenina (Dario Marianelli), Argo (Alexandre Desplat), Life of Pi (Mychael Danna), Lincoln (John Williams), Skyfall (Thomas Newman).

Original Song: 'Before My Time' Chasing Ice (J. Ralph), 'Everybody Needs a Best Friend' Ted (Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane), 'Pi's Lullaby' Life of Pi (Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri), 'Skyfall' Skyfall (Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth), 'Suddenly' Les Miserables (Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil).

Costume: Anna Karenina, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman.

Documentary Feature: 5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Searching for Sugar Man.

Documentary (short subject): Inocente, Kings Point, Mondays at Racine, Open Heart, Redemption.

Film Editing: Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.

Makeup and Hairstyling: Hitchcock, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Miserables.

Animated Short Film: Adam and Dog, Fresh Guacamole, Head over Heels, Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare, Paperman.

Live Action Short Film: Asad, Buzkashi Boys, Curfew, Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Henry.

Visual Effects: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Life of Pi, Marvel's The Avengers, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman.

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