China: Wife 'Boils Husband In Pressure Cooker'

A woman in China who allegedly murdered her husband and boiled his corpse in a pressure cooker has reportedly handed herself into police.

The man was allegedly drugged and tortured by his wife for three days in June, according to a report on government-backed news portal Anhui News.

The woman, who he had reportedly abused, then dismembered her husband's body with a saw and boiled the parts in a pressure cooker to cover her tracks, the report claimed.

It did not detail how she supposedly disposed of his cooked flesh.

The woman reportedly turned herself into police due to the psychological stress of the alleged crime, which saw her lose more than 6kg in weight.

A police officer in Anhui province's Lu'an City, where the man died, confirmed the case to the AFP news agency but declined to give further details.

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Delhi Gang Rape: Teenager Found Guilty

A teenager has been found guilty of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi last year.

The verdict is the first handed down in a case which shocked the world in its brutality and led to widespread protests over sex crimes against women in India.

Police outside the juvenile court

The physiotherapy student died of internal injuries after being raped and assaulted with an iron bar.

It is alleged that six men took part in the attack on the night of December 16, 2012. Her male companion was also beaten up before both were thrown from the bus.

The 18-year-old has been sentenced to three years in a correction facility - the maximum penalty he could be given. The sentence will include the time he has already served custody.

The court case ended in July but the juvenile court had postponed the verdict for the youngest defendant, 17 at the time, four times.

"He has been held guilty for rape and murder and sentenced to three years subject to review," Anil Sharma, the chief investigating officer in the case, told reporters outside the court in the capital.

The woman's mother emerged from the court in tears and said: "He got just three years ... from December onwards he has been given three years."

Her family had earlier called for the teenager to be given the death penalty, saying the juvenile justice system, which seeks to reform rather than punish, was too lenient.

During the trial the court heard that the teenager refuted the police charge sheet that he was the "most brutal" of all the six accused men.

His lawyers submitted there was no medical evidence to connect him to the charges and no fingerprints could be detected within the bus to show complicity.

A native of Uttar Pradesh, the suspect came to Delhi when he was 11.

He worked at a number of road side restaurants before taking up a cleaner's job on the bus. He told the court he was a victim of the alleged ringleader of the group, Ram Singh, for whom he worked and "was not paid by for months".

Singh, 34, killed himself in jail in March.

The trial of the four other suspects is taking place at a fast-track court in New Delhi.

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Peru Snow: Tens Of Thousands Stranded

Tens of thousands of people have been left stranded in southern Peru following what authorities say is the worst snowfall the region has seen in a decade.

Two people in the province of Carabaya have died as a result of the unusual cold spell, local officials said.

One of the victims was a 75-year-old man who was killed when the roof of his house caved in under the weight of snow that had accumulated above.

A line of at least 100 stranded vehicles were seen between the road connecting Arequipa and Puno, after it was closed because of persistent snow and hail.

Heavy rain and icy cold temperatures have caused roads to become impassable, police said.

More than three feet (one metre) of snow has hit this region in the last few days.

Stranded vehicles on the road connecting Arequipa and Puno

Since early August, several provinces in Puno have seen the mercury drop below -15C.

Forecasters predict more wintry conditions in the coming days in Puno and other southern regions where the livelihood of the population comes from farming and raising alpacas and llamas.

Around a quarter of a million alpacas have died from the cold and starvation, and the government is doing what it can to feed them to try to prevent more deaths.

"We're providing 5,000 bales of hay that have been distributed in different districts and here in the province of Carabaya, we're also giving them vitamins, 12,000 doses for the alpacas," said an unidentified government official who was helping residents in Carabaya.

Peru's president Ollanta Humala declared a 60-day state of emergency in nine provinces on Tuesday as a result of the continuing bad weather.

Other South American countries have also been affected by the cold weather system.

In Bolivia, eight people have reportedly lost their lives and in Paraguay, two people are believed to have died of hypothermia.

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Spiritual Guru Asaram Bapu Held Over Teen Rape

Police have arrested a controversial spiritual guru for an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old schoolgirl at a religious retreat in India, according to officials.

Asaram Bapu, one of many self-styled Hindu "godmen" who attract large numbers of followers, was arrested on Sunday in the central town of Indore.

The 72-year-old was flown to the western city of Jodhpur where the alleged assault on the girl took place.

A supporter of India's Congress party hits a picture of Asaram in Ahmedabad

The girl's parents were members of his congregation, local police official Ajay Pal Lamba said.

Asaram had earlier failed to report to a police station voluntarily, despite being given a deadline that ended last Friday.

"An opportunity was given to Asaram Bapu for presenting his version regarding the allegation levelled against him by the 16-year-old girl," said a police spokesman.

Protesters burn an effigy of Asaram in Ahmedabad

The guru reportedly claimed not to be physically fit and wanted more time to appear before Jodhpur police," according to Lamba.

Asaram has dismissed the claims against him as a "political conspiracy".

The alleged attack took place in August as Asaram was holding a retreat for followers, including the victim and her parents, police said.

Asaram Bapu has hundreds of thousands of followers in India

It is claimed he told the parents he needed to meet their daughter alone as he was concerned she was  possessed by evil spirits. It was then the alleged assault took place.

Asaram sparked a backlash in January this year when he said a 23-year-old student could have averted a fatal gang-rape on a moving bus in New Delhi last December by begging for mercy from her attackers.

He told his devotees that blame for the assault should not just rest with her attackers, one of whom was sentenced to three years in a juvenile centre Saturday, in the first verdict to be handed down in the case so far.

The spiritual leader failed to report to a police station voluntarily

His remarks drew a chorus of condemnation from public figures.

Asaram has some 350 ashrams or religious retreats in India and overseas, where he teaches yoga, meditation and offers lessons on leading a spiritual and peaceful existence, according to his website.

For many Indians, "godmen" play an integral role in daily life, offering a pathway to enlightenment in return for spiritual devotion and donations to their ashrams, temples and charity projects.

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Zanzibar: Acid Attack Girl Pledges To Return

A British teenager who was attacked with acid in Zanzibar has vowed to return to the archipelago though she fears her assailants may never be caught.

Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both 18, are recovering after they were targeted by two men on a moped during a volunteering holiday last month.

Despite her ordeal Ms Trup has insisted she has many happy memories of her time there where the two childhood friends worked with underprivileged children.

But she has questioned why the authorities have not caught her attacker in Stone Town, the old part of the island's main city where "everyone knows everyone".

Stone Town, where the attack took place

"I feel very frustrated and upset that our attackers haven't been caught," she told The Sunday Times.

"Stone Town is too small for it to be this hard and I fear they will never be caught."

The teenagers, from north London, were nearing the end of a month-long stint teaching English when they were attacked on August 7.

Ms Trup suffered severe chemical burns to her shoulder and back from the sulphuric acid which was launched at the pair as they walked back from a restaurant on the predominantly Muslim island.

Ms Gee's injuries, showing dark burns seared across her jaw, neck and chest

Police in Zanzibar have interviewed several people, including eyewitnesses, and are believed to have identified a possible culprit.

But Miss Trup said authorities in Tanzania have not shown the girls a photograph of the suspect.

"This experience, as horrible as it has been, has not deterred me from wanting to do more voluntary work in Zanzibar," she told the newspaper.

"In fact, I would even like to return to do more work there next year."

Miss Trup, who was discharged after three days, has returned for a skin graft.

She is expected to take up a place at Bristol University where she will study history at the end of the month.

Miss Gee, the more seriously injured of the two, is still believed to be in hospital. She has a place at Nottingham University to study sociology but may take a year off to recover from her wounds.

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Syria: Assad 'Planned Gas Attack Last Summer'

By Nick Martin, Sky Correspondent

A former high-ranking Syrian diplomat who defected saying his conscience could not allow him to continue representing the regime has emerged from hiding to give his first interview to Sky News.

Khaled al-Ayoubi was President Bashar al-Assad's most senior figure in Britain and was at the heart of discussions between Britain and Syria over its use of chemical weapons. 

After resigning as the charge d'affaire at the Syrian embassy in July 2012, Mr al-Ayoubi said he had been granted protection by the UK's Foreign Office in return for information about the Syrian regime.

Since then he said he received death threats from members of Mr Assad's secret intelligence service and had been forced to live at a secret location.

Mr al-Ayoubi believes Assad was planning a chemical attack last summer

Speaking exclusively to Sky News he said: "When I decided to step down from my post I received messages from people within the Syrian government. They said if I was seen walking down the street in London I would be killed."

The Foreign Office provided him and his wife and two children with a safe house outside London, he said.

Mr al-Ayoubi, an ethnic Kurd who joined the Syrian diplomatic service in 2001, now intends to apply for political asylum in the UK on the grounds he could face persecution if he was to return to his home country.

Mr al-Ayoubi revealed how the Foreign Office knew last year of the existence of chemical weapons in Syria and that the regime assured authorities they would not be used against civilians.

He said he believed President Assad was planning a chemical attack last summer but a crucial intervention by the British government may have prevented it.

The attack in Zamalka was estimated to have killed hundreds of people

"During the last two weeks of July 2012 there was information delivered to the British government about the preparation done by the regime to start using chemical weapons against the militants and the opposition surrounding Damascus.

"They called me and they asked me to deliver a message to Syria saying that they had information that they have the intention and the will to use chemical weapons against the people and that this was not acceptable.

"I delivered this message to Syria and they sent me an answer saying these chemical weapons are secured, stored and monitored by Syrian army and for use only in the case of aggression from outside the country.

"I think because there was condemnation by many countries at the time the Syrian government stopped their intention and didn't launch any chemical attack against the opposition.

Hundreds of children were injured in the strike

"Syria has never used chemical weapons on any country even when it has been threatened. Syria has chemical weapons for one use only - to target and kill its own civilians."

A source in the Foreign Office did not dispute Mr al-Ayoubi's claims but added that if Syria had chemical weapons locked away there was "pretty solid" evidence that they had been used since on civilians since.

He said he and other Syrian activists had been left furious by the refusal by some MPs to vote in favour of British involvement in possible military action on Syria.

"Ed Miliband says there should be a diplomatic solution to the problem. You cannot be diplomatic with Assad. He is worse than Adolf Hitler.

UN inspectors are now in the Netherlands analysing their findings

"Hitler didn't use chemical weapons against his own people, he did not bomb his own towns and cities. Hitler is junior compared to Assad.

"But both of them are dictators, both of them are killers. Both of them bring agony and suffering to the people around them.

"The Labour party in particular will find themselves on the wrong side of history. How can they sit back and allow thousands of innocent Syrians to die.

"If there is no punishment, if you don't stop him now, if he doesn't see that there are serious consequences for killing people by chemical weapons he will use them again and again, over and over again.

"I believe that in the future the Syrian people will look at the people who fought in the British parliament and say you left us to be killed'".

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Toddler Dies In Dublin Apartment Block Fall

A toddler has died after falling from a window of an apartment block in Dublin.

The 18-month-old girl fell from an unspecified height at Tolka Valley Apartments in the Finglas district of the city.

She was taken to Mater Hospital but pronounced dead around an hour after the fall.

Local councillor John Redmond said the local community had been shocked by the youngster's death.

"It's tragic, just tragic, that such a thing could have happened," he said.

"My sympathies go to the family involved. I have a granddaughter myself and I can only imagine what the family are going through. It's an absolute tragedy."

The apartment block, which is close to the river Tolka and Dublin's Botanic Gardens, contains a mix of rented and privately-owned flats.

A Gardai spokesman said an investigation into the girl's death was under way.

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Fukushima Radiation Readings 18 Times Higher

An operator at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has said radiation readings are 18 times higher than previously measured.

The staff member said they had found highly radioactive water dripping from a pipe used to connect two coolant tanks and that it had been patched up using tape.

The discovery of the pipe came a day after Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it found new radiation hotspots at four sites around coolant tanks, with one reading at 1,800 millisieverts per hour - a dose that would kill a human left exposed to it in four hours.

Water tanks at the plant

Last week the plant operator admitted 300 tonnes of toxic water had seeped out of one of the vast containers - one of around 1,000 on the site - before anyone had noticed.

The spill sparked fears the toxic water may have seeped into the nearby ocean and was categorised as a Level 3 event, the most serious category since the meltdown itself.

The plant was severely damaged in March 2011 following an earthquake and tsunami which killed thousands of people and displaced many more.

In response to growing domestic and international criticism over Tepco's handling of the crisis, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised the world his government would play a greater role in stopping leaks of highly radioactive water.

"The accident in Fukushima cannot be left entirely to Tokyo Electric Power. There is a need for the government to play a role with a sense of urgency, including taking measures to deal with the waste water," he said.

Mr Abe's pledge came as the world's nuclear watchdog urged Japan to explain more clearly what is happening at Fukushima and avoid sending "confusing messages" about the disaster.

Sky's foreign affairs correspondent Lisa Holland visited Fukushima on August 23 and was given access to government efforts to restore confidence in the crippled plant.

She said there was little sign of life in the residential areas around the facility and spoke to people who said they will not go back to their homes until they have been told the truth about the dangers by ministers.

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Nelson Mandela Discharged From Hospital

Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital in Pretoria where he has been treated for nearly three months.

"Madiba's condition remains critical and is at times unstable," the presidency said, referring to the 95-year-old by his clan name.

Mr Mandela was admitted on June 8 with a recurring lung infection and had previously been in a critical but stable condition, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma.

The government statement added: "His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there.

A convoy of medical vehicles arrive at Mandela's home

"The health care personnel providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital.

"If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done."

Mr Zuma's office said the elderly statesman has been treated by "a large medical team from the military, academia, private sector and other public health spheres".

Sky's Alex Crawford said: "He's a few days short of being in intensive care in that hospital in Pretoria for three months… I think many of his close family and friends wanted him home if it was at all possible."

The presidency requested that Mr Mandela and his family be given "the necessary private space so that his continuing care can proceed with dignity and without unnecessary intrusion".

The confirmation of Mr Mandela's release to his home in Johannesburg's Houghton suburb follows reports that he had been discharged on Saturday.

Mr Mandela spent nearly three decades in prison before being released and being elected South Africa's first black president in multi-racial elections in 1994 that ended apartheid rule.

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Syria: US 'Has Evidence' Of Sarin Gas Use

Positions Of World Leaders On Syria

Updated: 11:01pm UK, Saturday 31 August 2013

The latest positions of key countries towards Syria after a suspected chemical attack in Damascus shocked the world.

:: United Kingdom

David Cameron has been forced to rule out British involvement in any military action after losing a Commons vote.

He has instead vowed to keep pushing for a "robust response" via international organisations like the UN.

:: United States

President Barack Obama has decided the US should take military action against Syria but will ask Congress first.

He has the authority to act on his own, but believes it is important for the country to have a debate. He plans to hold a debate and a vote after Congress returns on September 9.

Five US Navy destroyers are in the eastern Mediterranean Sea waiting for the order to attack. They are armed with dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a range of  more than 1,150 miles (1,852km).

:: Russia

President Vladimir Putin urged Mr Obama to consider whether strikes would help end the violence in Syria and be worth the likely civilian casualties.

He said Mr Obama should reflect on the results of US military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq before deciding whether to launch air strikes against Assad's regime.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that military strikes would lead to long-term destabilisation of Syria and the region.

He has spoken against any use of force without UN Security Council approval, which he said would be a "crude violation of international law".

Russia has remained a strong ally of Syria throughout the civil war.

:: China

China supports what it called the UN's "objective, impartial and professional investigation" of the alleged chemical attack.

China is sceptical of Western use of force, with Beijing's official news agency running a commentary recalling the 2003 Iraq invasion on the grounds that it possessed banned weapons - which were never found.

China joined Moscow in vetoing measures against Assad in the UN Security Council.

:: France

A defence official said the French military will commit forces to an operation in Syria if President Francois Hollande decides to do so.

Mr Hollande has stressed all options are on the table and that the attack in Damascus cannot go unpunished.

He does not need parliamentary approval for military action that lasts less than four months.

French military officials confirmed the frigate Chevalier Paul, which specialises in anti-missile capabilities, and the transport ship Dixmude are in the eastern Mediterranean.

:: Japan

Japan said it will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons "under any circumstances".

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the British vote had had no impact on his government's thinking.

"Cabinet members agreed that we don't tolerate the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances and consider that responsibility lies with the Assad government,"  Mr Suga told reporters.

"We continue to closely co-ordinate with international community," he said, adding: "We will of course provide humanitarian aid to those in a vulnerable position such as refugees."

:: Iran

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's Committee on National Security, visited Damascus to show support for the Syrian regime.

He said a strike against Syria will "not be confined to its borders but will have repercussions in the entire region."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country will press efforts to ward off military intervention by the US and its allies, calling potential action an "open violation" of international laws.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the country's ISNA news agency that US military intervention in Syria would be "a disaster" for the Middle East. He added: "The region is like a gunpowder store and the future cannot be predicted."

:: Germany

The German government said it isn't considering joining military action against Syria and hasn't been asked by others to do so.

:: Turkey

Foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu has claimed the use of chemical weapons is "evident" from video footage.

A vehement opponent of the Assad regime, Turkey has said it would join an international coalition against Syria even if the UN Security Council fails to reach consensus on the issue.

:: Italy

Italian Premier Enrico Letta said his country understands why the US and France are considering military action against Syria's regime, but said Italy cannot join in without UN backing.

:: The Netherlands

UN chemical weapons inspectors arrived in the Netherlands with samples collected from the site of the alleged gas attack in Syria..

They are to be sent to European laboratories to be checked for traces of poison gas.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, will test blood and urine samples taken from victims as well as soil samples from affected areas.

:: United Nations

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said any notion that the departure of the chemical weapons inspection team from Syria opened a window for a US attack is "grotesque."

He said about 1,000 international and UN staff remain in Syria, and the UN is just as concerned about their welfare as it was about the inspectors.

:: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has called for "firm and serious" action against the Assad regime for the alleged gas attack.

:: Israel

The Israeli military said it has deployed an "Iron Dome" missile defence battery in the Tel Aviv area.

If the US attacks Syria, Israel fears Damascus may respond by firing missiles at Israel, a close American ally.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis there was "no reason to change their routines", but thousands have been standing in long queues to get government-issue gas masks.

:: Jordan

Demonstrators opposed to military intervention in Syria burned US and Israeli flags and chanted outside the American embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Other protests against a Syria strike took place in Britain, France, Germany and Turkey.

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