Pakistan news: Gunmen Attack Security Building In Northwest Pakistan

BANNU, Pakistan – Police in Pakistan say gunmen have attacked a security building in the northwestern city of Bannu in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province.

Reports say the suspected Islamic militants have been exchanging fire with security forces.

The Associated Press says there are reports that at least one police officer has been killed and that others have been taken hostage.

In April, Pakistani Taliban fighters attacked a prison in Bannu and were able to free nearly 400 inmates, including some who were considered dangerous militants.

Ireland news : Michaela murder: Hunt on for culprit after gruesome picture leak

Ireland news : Michaela murder: Hunt on for culprit after gruesome picture leak

BUNGLING Mauritian police are facing fresh questions about how graphic photographs of Michaela McAreavey's body were leaked to a local newspaper.

The murdered honeymooner's family reacted with horror yesterday when it emerged that a Sunday paper had published a disturbing picture of her lifeless body across its front page.

Inside there were more pictures, including close-ups of marks on Michaela's neck.

A spokesman for the McAreavey and Harte families told the Irish Independent: "They are in shock as to how far this has gone." Defence lawyers for the two hotel workers cleared of her murder last week insisted the images had not been leaked by their camp.

But the Mauritian police and the newspaper that published the photos -- the Mauritian 'Sunday Times' -- remained silent on the controversy.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny branded the publication "a gross affront to human dignity" and said the Government would be lodging a formal complaint with the Mauritian government.

The Mauritian 'Sunday Times', a paper with no connection to any British or Irish company, used a large picture of Michaela's body in what they dubbed a front-page "picture exclusive".

Inside there was a full page of more images, including close-ups of Michaela's scratched and bruised neck.

The black-and-white crime scene pictures included:

- An almost full-length image of Michaela, her eyes closed, wearing her bikini and a skirt.

- A close-up of the injuries on her neck.

- A photograph of the empty bathtub where she was found.

- A photograph showing the disarray in the McAreaveys' hotel room.

Bizarrely, while her bikini top is blacked out on the inside pages, there is no effort to disguise her injuries, and the same picture on the front page is not blacked out.

The distressing images are accompanied by a column entitled: 'Opinion -- At large, Michaela I feel sorry for you'.

It mentions how her killer is still at large, criticises the prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, and laments the failure of the police to bring the murderer to justice.

The Harte and McAreavey families reacted furiously to the publication last night.

They called on Mauritian authorities to ensure "insensitive reporting" by newspapers within its jurisdiction does not further exacerbate the "violation of Michaela and the hurt to John".

"As the families struggle to come to terms with the result from the trial, this reprehensible and repugnant action by this newspaper is not only insensitive to their grief but it marks another low in the treatment of John, the two families and the dignity of Michaela," the statement added.

Shock

A spokesman for the Harte and McAreavey families said they had not considered any action against the newspaper just yet.

"Nobody is even in that mindset at the minute. They are kind of in shock about how far this has gone," he said.

Their Mauritian lawyer, Dick Su Wa, called the publication of the pictures "scandalous", saying he had "no idea" how such pictures could have been leaked.

"I am going to contact the police commissioner and the DPP to ensure there is a full investigation into the matter," he said.

It is understood that the parties to have been in possession of the sensitive pictures include the police, the defence and prosecution teams, the junior counsels on both sides, and possibly former lawyers for both of the accused men.

The Mauritian police force could not put forward a spokesperson when contacted by the Irish Independent yesterday, as their press office was closed.

But defence lawyers for the two hotel workers acquitted of her murder, Avinash Treebhoowoon and Sandip Moneea, told the Irish Independent that their respective teams had no involvement in passing the images to the newspaper.

Mr Treebhoowoon's defence lawyer, Sanjeev Teeluckdharry, said that it could not have been anyone from his team who leaked the photographs.

He said: "As far as I am concerned, all of the photographs we have been given are in my possession. I do not give sensitive materials like that to journalists. It is most unethical and irresponsible for a journalist to publish such things."

Mr Moneea's lawyer, Rama Valayden, also denied the possibility the pictures could have been leaked from his team.

"I don't know where they could have come from," he said.

"I am ashamed such a thing has appeared in a newspaper."

Mr Kenny expressed his disgust at the publication and pledged to make a formal complaint to the Mauritian government.

"The publication of these images represents an appalling invasion of privacy and is a gross affront to human dignity.

"There are issues of fundamental human rights in question in relation to this deeply upsetting matter."

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton also said he was "appalled" by the publication of the pictures.

"I know the desolation that his family has been through but this is beyond all realms of public interest to be fundamentally invading the human rights of this family," Mr Bruton said.

Authorities

"The Government will be looking to see how we can take steps to try and protect the family because it is not legitimate, it is not fair, it is not proper."

Meanwhile last night, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore said he would be meeting Ireland's Ambassador to Mauritius this morning and the Irish Government was determined to make a strong protest to the authorities there.

"I was shocked to learn of the publication today by a Mauritian newspaper of images relating to the murder of Michaela McAreavey.

"Our Ambassador to Mauritius, Brendan McMahon, is currently in Ireland, and I will be meeting with him tomorrow morning to discuss this matter and to agree how to bring our concerns to the attention of the authorities in Mauritius at the highest levels and in the most effective way possible.

"This is a deeply distressing development for the families of Michaela and John and demonstrates a total lack of respect for their feelings and rights," he added.

Singapore News : 80 SCDF officers battling hotel fire

Singapore News : 80 SCDF officers battling hotel fire

SINGAPORE: Eleven people -- four children, five adults and two fire-fighters -- were injured in a fire at East Village Hotel at Marine Parade Road on Monday.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the injured have been sent to the Singapore General Hospital.

In its latest tweet, SCDF said about 80 officers have been battling the fire for four hours with six water jets.

Fifty civilians have been evacuated.

SCDF said the fire was contained within the premises of the hotel. It added that battling the fire was challenging due to very poor visibility as a result of thick smoke.

The blaze involves hard, rubber-like polystyrene boards in the basement of the premises.

Channel NewsAsia understands the four children and two of the adults who sustained injuries are from the same family who came to Singapore from Pakistan for a holiday.

The mother, who suffers from asthma, is being treated for smoke inhalation.

SCDF earlier said it had received a call about the incident at 9.06am.

It tweeted at about 12.20pm that the fire had engulfed the construction area in the hotel lobby.

Viewers who called the Channel NewsAsia hotline said the hotel, located at 25 Marine Parade Road, was engulfed in thick, black smoke.

One motorist, Mr Tan, said visibility along East Coast Road was also affected by the smoke.

Far East Organization, which manages the East Village Hotel, said in a statement that the hotel was affected by fumes from a fire that started at about 8.30am.

All guests and staff have been accounted for and safely evacuated, said Mr Raphael Saw, the Chief Operating Officer of Far East Organization's Hospitality Business Group.

The few guests and workers who were affected by smoke inhalation were receiving medical attention, while alternative arrangements were being arranged for affected guests at Changi Village Hotel, added Mr Saw.

Cherie Hearts @ Eastgate, a kindergarten and infant care centre at 46 East Coast Road, had asked parents to pick up their children from the centre as the air quality in the area was affected.

civil war : Red Cross declares 16-month bloody conflict in Syria,

civil war : Red Cross declares 16-month bloody conflict in Syria,

HONS/AP

Free Syrian Army soldiers aim their weapons in Idlib province, northern Syria on Friday.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's 16-month bloodbath crossed an important symbolic threshold Sunday as the international Red Cross formally declared the conflict a civil war, a status with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions.

The Red Cross statement came as United Nations observers gathered new details on what happened in a village where dozens were reported killed in a regime assault. After a second visit to Tremseh on Sunday, the team said Syrian troops went door-to-door in the small farming community, checking residents' IDs and then killing some and taking others away.

AFP/Getty Images

Destruction in Homs Karm Shamsham neighborhood earlier this month.

According to the U.N., the attack appeared to target army defectors and activists.

"Pools of blood and brain matter were observed in a number of homes," a U.N. statement said.

AFP/Getty Images

Bodies of men who were reportedly killed in massacre in the village of Treimsa, in the central province of Hama.

Syria denied U.N. claims that government forces had used heavy weapons such as tanks, artillery and helicopters during the attack Thursday.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the violence was not a massacre — as activists and many foreign leaders have alleged — but a military operation targeting armed fighters who had taken control of the village.

PIERRE TORRES/AFP/Getty Images

UN observers inspect a bombarded school in the Syrian village of Treimsa, where more than 150 people were killed.

"What happened wasn't an attack on civilians," Makdissi told reporters Sunday in Damascus. He said 37 gunmen and two civilians were killed — a far lower death toll than the one put forward by anti-regime activists, some of whom estimated the dead at more than 100.

"What has been said about the use of heavy weapons is baseless," Makdissi added.

D. LEAL OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Syrians point to the spot where a shell fell in the Syrian village of Treimsa.

The U.N. has implicated President Bashar Assad's forces in the assault. The head of the U.N. observer mission said Friday that monitors stationed near Tremseh saw the army using heavy weaponry and attack helicopters.

The fighting was some of the latest in the uprising against Assad, which activists say has killed more than 17,000 people. Violence continued Sunday, with more clashes reported around the capital, Damascus.

The bloodshed appeared to be escalating. On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it now considers the Syrian conflict a civil war, meaning international humanitarian law applies throughout the country.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/red-cross-declares-16-month-conflict-syria-civil-war-article-1.1115180#ixzz291eZ9Jcp