Russia: Putin Slated Over 'Worst Crackdown'

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

A human rights group has accused Vladimir Putin of presiding over Russia's worst political crackdown since the fall of the Soviet Union.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has warned the nation has been experiencing the most severe repression of civil liberties in its post-Soviet history.

Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director for the organisation, said: "This has been the worst year for human rights in Russia in recent memory.

"The Kremlin in 2012 unleashed the worst political crackdown in Russia's post-Soviet history.

"Measures to intimidate critics and restrict Russia's vibrant civil society have reached unprecedented levels. Pressure and reprisals against activists and non-governmental organisations need to stop."

He cited a series of laws passed since Mr Putin's return to power last year, which have included new powers to limit public assembly, increase fines for protesters, restrict access to the internet and recriminalise libel.

A law banning 'homosexual propaganda', which activists say will severely limit access to information about gay rights and echo a Stalin-era ban on homosexuality, is already in force across nine Russian regions and is currently being debated by the country's parliament as a proposed federal law.

Jail terms for Pussy Riot members have been criticised

Non-governmental organisations that receive foreign funding have been forced to register as "foreign agents".

The group also highlighted the two-year prison sentences given to two women from the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, and reports of enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions in the North Caucasus.

The report is part of Human Rights Watch's annual assessment of progress on human rights in more than 90 countries around the world.

Mr Williamson said: "Instead of meaningfully investigating human rights abuses, the government is spending time and energy retaliating against civil society and free speech.

"Russia's backsliding on human rights is completely at odds with being a responsible leader in a multi-polar world."

A spokesperson for Russia's Ministry of Interior declined to comment on the report.

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Child Held Hostage After School Bus Shooting

A gunman who shot and killed a school bus driver before taking a five-year-old boy hostage on Tuesday remains holed up in a bunker at his home in Alabama.

Armed officers and police negotiators have surrounded the property in Midland City.

The suspect has been named locally as 65-year-old lorry driver Jimmy Lee Dykes.

Local people described him as a survivalist, who hates the government and the authorities.

He had been scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning to answer charges he shot at his neighbours last month in a dispute over a speed bump.

The stand-off entered a third day on Thursday

The stand-off began on Tuesday afternoon when a gunman boarded a stationary school bus filled with children.

Sheriff Wally Olson said the man shot the bus driver when he refused to hand over the boy. The gunman then took the child away.

"As far as we know there is no relation at all. He just wanted a child for a hostage situation," said Michael Senn, a pastor who helped comfort the other children after the attack.

Bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr, 66, has been described by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect 21 students.

Mr Olson said negotiators are continuing to talk to the suspect and "at this time we have no reason to believe that the child has been harmed".

The school bus was dropping children off at home

Mike and Patricia Smith's two children were also on the bus.

The mother told how their son ran inside his house shouting: "The crazy man across the street shot the bus driver and Mr Poland won't wake up."

The couple said their youngsters had a run-in with the neighbour about 10 months ago.

"My bulldogs got loose and went over there," Patricia Smith said.

"The children went to get them. He threatened to shoot them if they came back."

"He's very paranoid," her husband said. "He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and shotgun."

A sheriff's deputy mans a roadblock near the property

Nearby homes were evacuated after authorities found what was believed to be a bomb at the property.

State Representative Steve Clouse described the standoff as a "static situation" and "a waiting game".

Authorities told him that the bunker on the suspect's property has electricity, food and a TV.

Police have not said whether the suspect has made any demands.

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South Africa Train Crash Injures 300

At least 300 people have been injured in a collision between two passenger trains in South Africa during the peak morning commute.

Dozens of school children were among those injured in the crash, which left the driver of one of the engines needing to be rescued from his cab.

The accident happened just before 8am when a train collided with a stationary locomotive near Attridgeville, a suburb west of Pretoria.

"Many are walking wounded and already left. There are 20 people in serious condition and one, the driver of the second train, is in a critical condition," local emergency services spokesman Johan Pieterse said.

|The train collided with a stationary locomotive

"Both of the trains were full of commuters and between them were lots of school children on the way to school. We counted about 50 plus children," he added.

At least three people were said to be in a "critical" condition according to Chris Botha, a spokesman for emergency services provider Netcare.

At least one person was airlifted to the nearby Milpark Hospital, others were taken by ambulance and many were treated at the scene.

The accident happened west of Pretoria

Rescue workers struggled to cut away the tangled wreckage of the trains to free the passengers. One of the train drivers was freed from the carriage where he was trapped for two hours. He was among those critically injured.

The trains were on the same line toward the capital Pretoria when one train hit the other from behind.

The cause of the accident is unknown.

The trains were operated by Metrorail, the country's rail system in cities.

It is just the latest serious rail accident to hit South Africa's urban rail network.

In 2011, 857 commuters were injured in Johannesburg's Soweto township when a passenger train smashed into a stationary train during the peak rush hour period.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South, has itself described its passengers as "travelling like cattle." 

Over 90 percent of commuter trains in South Africa date back to more than fifty years, the most recent dating from 1986.

The network is currently undergoing a major revamp to upgrade its fleet, spending 123 billion rand ($14 billion, 10 billion euros) over 20 years.

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Pygmy Elephant Deaths: More Protection Needed

More than a dozen pygmy elephants have been found dead and possibly poisoned in Malaysian forests, leading to calls for better protection for wildlife in the country.

The WWF conservation group said 14 Borneo pygmy elephants have been found this month in areas where woodland was being turned into plantations.

It called for patrols to be stepped up to prevent more of the animals, which are endangered and thought to number fewer than 1,200, being killed.

Masidi Manjun, Malaysia's environmental minister, said: "The death of these majestic and severely endangered Bornean elephants is a great loss to the state.

"If indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned, I would personally make sure that the culprits would be brought to justice and pay for their crime."

In total, 14 Borneo pygmy elephants have died in Sabah state this month

Post-mortem examinations on the elephants from the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state showed they suffered severe haemorrhages and ulcers in their gastrointestinal tracts.

There was no sign the animals had been killed by poachers for their tusks.

Authorities released several photographs of the carcasses, including one of a three-month-old calf apparently trying to wake its dead mother.

Dr Dionysius Sharma, executive director of WWF-Malaysia, said: "Frequent and large scale patrolling is critical to avoid such conflict from happening again.

"However, given the vast area that requires patrolling, it is a massive task for the Sabah Wildlife Department.

"More resources, including manpower, hardware and finances, should be allocated for the department."

Pygmy elephants live mainly in Sabah and grow to be about eight feet tall - a foot or two shorter than mainland Asian elephants.

They are distinctive because of their 'baby' faces and oversized ears, as well as their plump bellies and long tails.

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China 'Hacked New York Times' Computers

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

The hugely influential New York Times newspaper has said its computer system has been systematically hacked from China over the past four months.

The hacking followed the publication of an investigation into the financial affairs of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

All the paper's journalists had their passwords hacked and the evidence suggests the infiltrators specifically targeted reporters who had worked on the story of October 25 which found that relatives of Wen Jiabao had made billions of dollars in business deals.

Particular attention was paid to the email account of Shanghai bureau chief David Barboza.

Knowing that it could face "consequences" over its story, the paper had asked the huge AT&T communications company to monitor its systems for unusual activity.

The hacking followed an inquiry into the financial affairs of China's PM

This was spotted on the day the story was published. It worked to clear its system but, by November 7 with multiple spying viruses still inside, it brought in experts from a company called Mandiant to help.

The specialist company told them that the pattern of hacking began at 8am Beijing time and continued for normal Chinese working hours with occasional late shifts going on until midnight. It concluded that the type of attack suggested methods associated with the Chinese military.

In order to disguise themselves, the hackers routed their malware via American universities and then into the NYT system before installing 'remote access tools' which allow the installer to read every key stroke made on a computer.

The NYT, which has now published the inside story of the attack, took care to ensure China's right of reply and quoted a spokesman as saying: "Chinese laws prohibit any action including hacking that damages internet security."

One of the many interesting aspects to the attack is that, if true, China is now using its vast cyber army to try to control the country's image as well as for what are now becoming almost routine attacks on other countries' business and defence sectors.

Last year, the US government criticised China for its cyber warfare, but did not acknowledge that it, too, is busy developing cyber weapons. It is suspected that, several years ago, the US began work with the Israelis on a project which resulted in the sophisticated "Stuxnet" worm which attacked Iran's nuclear programme.

The Russian and Iranian defence sectors are thought to be giving a high priority to cyber warfare, and Britain's intelligence agencies have spoken openly about the need for the UK to develop capabilities to match its rivals.

The Foreign Office is thought to have been cyber attacked by China two years ago but, for security reasons, details have never been made public.

China has an advantage over most countries as this new type of warfare develops - its massive population. Cyber warfare is not just technical, it can also be labour intensive.

Given that China has 540 million internet users, linking to 700 million internet-connected devices, it has a capacity to attack which others lack. Those numbers also give it an advantage in defence.

If Luxembourg (population 500,000) had got into the NYT system, finding the source might be easy. If it is China (population 1.3 billion), it is more akin to looking for a digital drip in an electronic waterfall.

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Manti Te'o Hoax 'Was Done Out Of Love'

The man behind the dead girlfriend hoax involving a US college football star said he did it for love and insisted player Manti Te'o knew nothing about what was going on.

Manti Te'o truly believed he was talking to a woman, 22-year-old Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told TV host Dr Phil McGraw on Wednesday, adding that he, the hoaxer, had fallen "deeply, romantically" in love with Te'o while pretending to be a woman called Lennay Kekua.

Since the hoax was revealed earlier this month, Te'o has said the relationship with Kekua started online and eventually became serious, even though the two only talked on the phone and exchanged electronic messages, never meeting in person.

Photographers and journalists wait outside Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's house

Te'o said he was told of Kekua's "death" from leukaemia just hours after his grandmother died in September.

The story about how Te'o played well after the deaths of his girlfriend and grandmother led to an outpouring of support from Notre Dame fans. It became the backdrop to his team's undefeated regular season and run to the national championship game, where it eventually lost.

Te'o won seven national awards for his play and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy for the best collegiate football player. He has denied any involvement in the prank from the beginning, and Notre Dame said an investigation of the player's claims backed up his story.

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo said he 'ended' the romance to get on with his life

"The feelings, the pain, the sorrow, that was all real," Te'o said in an interview last week.

McGraw said Californian Tuiasosopo told him the voice of Kekua was his. Tuiasosopo and Te'o have each said that while the Kekua relationship went on for several years, there were times when they weren't in contact.

"There were many times where Manti and Lennay had broken up. But something would bring them back together whether it was something going on in his life, or in Lennay's life, in this case in my life," Tuiasosopo said.

Tuiasosopo said he wanted to end the relationship between Kekua and Te'o before he had to fake Kekua's death.

"I wanted to end it because everything I had gone through, I finally realised that I just had to move on with my life and I had to get me, Ronaiah, I had to start just living and let this go," Tuiasosopo said.

Te'o's publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, declined comment on behalf of his client and his family.

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Ryanair Loses EU Fight Over Ash Cloud Row

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

A court has ruled Ryanair flouted EU law by refusing to pay out cash to a customer left stranded by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud three years ago.

Denise McDonagh, from Ireland, was due to fly back to Dublin from Faro on April 17, 2010, but was trapped in Portugal for a week after the eruption closed down much of European airspace for nine days.

She ran up hotel, meal and refreshment bills of 1,130 euro (£940), and submitted them to the airline when she returned to Ireland.

But the company refused to reimburse her, claiming that the consequences of the eruption were so unexpected they could not count as 'extraordinary circumstances'.

Ms McDonagh pursued her claim through the Irish courts, which then sent the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which is the highest court in the EU for interpreting and enforcing EU laws.

Last March Advocate General Yves Bot ruled in the plaintiff's favour, which has now been upheld by the court.

And its judges have ordered Ryanair to cover the costs she incurred.

Their decision could also have an impact on prices in the budget airline market.

Ash cloud sprews from the Icelandic volcano in 2010

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary told Sky News: "Today's decision is a very bad one for the price of air travel in Europe.

"The next time there's an ash cloud or the skies are closed by Europe's governments, the insurance companies will walk away and wash their hands because it is an act of god.

"The airlines will become the insurers of last resort so somebody whose has paid us to go to the Canaries who maybe is stuck there for two weeks, two months, six months will now sue the airlines.

"And you'll have airlines going out of business and the ones who stay in business will be putting up their air fares to recover these crazy claims."

The court ruling said: "EU law does not recognise a separate category of 'particularly extraordinary' events, beyond 'extraordinary circumstances', which would lead to the air carrier being exempted from all its obligations under the regulation."

The court also ruled that the regulation did not set a monetary limit on the care airlines based in the EU should give to passengers in such cases.

The ruling continued: "It is precisely in situations where the waiting period occasioned by the cancellation of a flight is particularly lengthy that it is necessary to ensure that an air passenger can have access to essential goods and services throughout that period."

However, the court did give some relief to the airlines, by stating that they "may pass on the costs incurred as a result of that obligation to airline ticket prices".

After the judgment Ryanair released a statement and said: "Ryanair regrets the decision of the European Court which now allows passengers to claim for flight delays which are clearly and unambiguously outside of an airline's control.

"Today's decision will materially increase the cost of flying across Europe and consumer airfares will increase as airlines will be obliged to recover the cost of these claims from their customers, because the defective European regulation does not allow us to recover such costs from the governments or unions who are responsible for over 95% of flight delays in Europe."

:: More than 100,000 flights were cancelled and eight million passengers stranded after the Icelandic volcano erupted, spewing a massive cloud of ash that caused the world's biggest airspace shutdown since the Second World War.

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Iceland Teenager Blaer Can Keep Her Name

A teenager from Iceland has been told by a court she will be allowed to keep the name she was given, in spite of an official ruling.

Blaer Bjarkardottir, 15, had been told she could not officially use her name because it did not appear on Iceland's Personal Names Register, a list of 1,712 male names and 1,853 female ones.

Icelandic officials had insisted the list was kept to ensure names fitted Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules and would stop children from being given embarrassing names.

Oddly, the name Elvis was on the list, as it conforms to Icelandic guidelines, but Cara and Carolina had been rejected because the letter C is not part of Iceland's 32-letter alphabet.

Previously, if a name was not on the list then parents could apply to a special committee for permission to use it, which would then allow the name to be used on official documents such as school registers and passports.

Gwyneth Paltrow may have had problems calling her child Apple in Iceland.

But in Blaer's case the committee refused. She and her mother were the first to take their case to court.

On Thursday, Blaer told the court she was very happy with her name and only had problems with it when she was dealing with state authorities who rejected it.

The court did not grant her any damages but said she would be allowed to use her name. The government did not indicate whether it would appeal against the decision to the Supreme Court.

Blaer said after the ruling: "I'm very happy.  I'm glad this is over. Now I expect I'll have to get new identity papers. Finally I'll have the name Blaer in my passport."

Blaer's mother, Bjork Eidsdottir, said previously she had only learned the name was not on the register after the priest who baptised the girl later informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.

She said: "I had no idea that the name wasn't on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from."

She had chosen the name Blaer, as it means "light breeze" in Icelandic.

The naming committee panel rejected the teenager's application on the grounds the word Blaer is a masculine one, even though it was used for a female character in a novel by Iceland's Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness.

So instead, Blaer was officially identified as 'Stulka' which means 'girl'. It meant she carried the name 'Girl' on her passport and bank details.

A number of countries have "approved" names lists, including Germany and Denmark.

However, in the US and the UK the trend for unusual names is growing, largely driven by celebrities.

The singer Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay-Z called their child Blue Ivy. The actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her rock star husband Chris Martin called their first child Apple.

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Syria And Iran May Hit Back Over Israeli Raid

Syria and Iran have threatened to retaliate for an Israeli air raid near the capital Damascus.

Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali says Damascus has "the option and the surprise to retaliate." He said he cannot predict when the retaliation will be, saying it is up to relevant authorities to prepare for it.

In Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Thursday as saying the raid on Syria will have significant implications for the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

US officials said Israel launched a rare air strike inside Syria on Wednesday, targeting a convoy believed to contain anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hizbollah.

The Syrian military denied the existence of any such shipment and said Israel targeted a scientific research facility outside Damascus.

Russia had earlier said it was 'deeply concerned' over reports that Israeli jets attacked a scientific research centre inside Syria. The country held back from condemning the action as yet, but said it would do so if the report was true. 

Syria announced on Wednesday that an Israeli air strike attacked the research centre after reports had emerged out of Israel earlier claiming a convoy had been attacked on the Syria-Lebanon border.

Syrian officials claimed Israeli jets had entered their airspace at low altitude, under the radar, and hit the facility in Jamraya, near Damascus, killing two site workers.

State television quoted the military as saying: "They ... carried out an act of aggression, bombarding the site, causing large-scale material damage and destroying the building."

Earlier reports had claimed that Israeli jets had hit a convoy allegedly carrying weapons to Lebanon's Hizbollah movement. According to Sky sources, the attack took place just inside Syria.

Sky's Middle East correspondent Sam Kiley said on Wednesday: "We know from Sky sources that the Israelis have conducted an air strike involving three sorties by 12 planes - a very heavy air strike, a high level of intent - on the village of Nabi Chit, near the bigger Syrian town of Zabadani.

He said it was possible that the Israelis had been targeting a suspected shipment of ship-to-shore and anti-aircraft missiles.

Israeli officials were concerned that if the anti-aircraft missiles fell into the hands of Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, Israel could lose the air superiority it had enjoyed until now.

It was not immediately clear whether both the Sky sources and the Syrian media were referring to the same air strike, but the Syrian army denied that an Israeli air strike had targeted a weapons convoy on the border.

There was no official comment from Israel on the statements from Iran, Syria or Russia.

Tzahi HaNegbi, an MP close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, commented generally, saying: "The best thing that Israel has been hoping for for a long time is that the West will take control of these weapons.

"But the world is not ready to take such a decision as it did in Libya or Iraq, so Israel finds itself facing a dilemma which we alone can resolve."

Iran had previously warned that any attack on Syria would be seen as an attack on Iran.

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David Beckham 'To Sign For Paris St Germain'

David Beckham's Career Timeline

Updated: 12:20pm UK, Thursday 31 January 2013

David Beckham was born in Leytonstone in east London on May 2, 1975. Sixteen years later he joined Manchester United as a trainee.

1992: Makes debut against Brighton in the League Cup on September 23. Wins FA Youth Cup.

1993: Signs professional contract at Old Trafford.

1996: Helps United to Premier League and FA Cup double.

Scores goal of the season on opening day at Wimbledon, lobbing Neil Sullivan from the halfway line.
Makes his England debut in the 3-0 win in Moldova.

1997: Collects another championship winners' medal, voted PFA Young Player of the Year.

1998: Scores first England goal, a free-kick against Colombia in Lens on June26. Sent off in second-round penalty shoot-out defeat against Argentina.

1999: Helps United win the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup after comingfrom behind to beat Bayern Munich with two late goals.Runner-up in World Player of the Year awards, behind Rivaldo.

2000: May - Collects fourth championship winner's medal as United win title by a record 18 points.

November - Named England captain for the November friendly with Italy in Turin by stand-in boss Peter Taylor.

2001: May - Collects another Premier League title with United.

October - Curls in a 25-yard last-minute free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford to earn England a 2-2 draw and send them into World Cup finals.

2002: May 11 - Signs new three-year contract reported to be worth between £90,000 and £100,000 a week.

2003: February - Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson accidentally kicks a boot into Beckham's face in frustration at United's FA Cup defeat to Arsenal.

June 14 - Awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to football.

June 17 - United announce they have accepted a £25m bid from Real Madrid for Beckham, who agrees personal terms.

2004: June 24 - Misses a penalty as England lose to Portugal in a shoot-out in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals in Lisbon.

2005: November: Captains England for 50th time in friendly against Argentina in Geneva.

July 2 - Stands down as England captain.

August 11 - Dropped from squad for friendly against Greece, Steve McClaren's first match as manager.

2007: January 11 - Beckham announces he will leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy on a five-year contract in August.

January 13 - Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello says Beckham will never play for the club again.

May 26 - McClaren hands Beckham a shock England recall for matches against Brazil and Estonia.

June - Wins the La Liga title with Madrid, having won back his place in the team.

August 16 - Beckham scores his first goal for Galaxy on his full debut in the SuperLiga semi-final meeting with DC United with a trademark free-kick.

2008: March 26 - Wins 100th cap in the friendly against France.

October 30 - Milan announce Beckham will join them on loan on January 7, 2009.

2009: January 11 - Makes shock first start for Milan in 2-2 Serie A draw at Roma.

March 9 - AC Milan announce that under a unique "timeshare" agreement, Beckham will stay with them in Italy until the end of the season, return to the Galaxy from July to October and then rejoin the Serie A club for the rest of the 2009-10 campaign.

March 28 - Comes on as a half-time substitute against Slovakia at Wembley towin his 109th cap and break Bobby Moore's record for an outfield player.

July 20, 27 - Twice confronts fans who gave him a hostile reception in his first home games after returning to the Galaxy.

2010: March 14 - Tears his Achilles tendon in AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo - an injury that rules him out of the World Cup.

August 11 - England career appears to be at an end when Capello tells ITV: "Probably he is a little bit old."

2011: November 20  - Wins the MLS Cup as the Galaxy beat Houston Dynamo 1-0 in the final.

December 31 - Five-year deal at the Galaxy expires.

2012: January 19 - Re-signs with the Galaxy.

June 28 - Announces he has not been included in Team GB's squad for the Olympic Games.

November 20 - Confirms he is to leave the Galaxy after MLS Cup on December 1.

December 1 - LA Galaxy wins 3-1 over Houston Dynamo in Beckham's final game in Major League Soccer. It is the team's second successive MLS Cup.

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