PKK shooting: Kurds gather for activists' funerals

Thousands of Kurds have gathered in south-east Turkey for the funerals of three female Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris last week.

The bodies of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) members Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez were flown to Diyarbakir on Wednesday night.
Politicians have called for calm and urged people not to let the killings derail a fragile peace process.
No group has said it killed them, but many Kurds blame elements of the state.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, however, has suggested the deaths may have been intended to sabotage peace efforts.

Paris shooting victims

• Sakine Cansiz (R): Founding member of the PKK, and first senior female member of the organisation; while jailed, led Kurdish protest movement out of Diyarbakir prison in Turkey in 1980s; after being released, worked with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Syria; was a commander of the women's guerrilla movement in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq; later took a lower profile and became responsible for the PKK women's movement in Europe
• Fidan Dogan (L): Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress (KNC) political group; responsible for lobbying the EU and diplomats on behalf of the PKK via the KNC
• Leyla Soylemez (C): Junior activist working on diplomatic relations and as a women's representative on behalf of the PKK

Officials have been in talks with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to put an end to the group's armed campaign.

Mr Erdogan has also said his government will continue anti-PKK operations until the Kurdish militants lay down their arms.
On Wednesday Turkish jets reportedly bombed Kurdish targets in northern Iraq for a third consecutive day.
Last year saw some of the heaviest fighting with the PKK in decades. Since the conflict began, more than 40,000 people have been killed.
The group, regarded by Turkey, the US and EU as a terrorist organisation, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in south-east Turkey in 1984.
Flag-draped coffins The BBC's James Reynolds, in Diyarbakir, the unofficial Kurdish capital in Turkey, said the city was expected to come to a standstill for Thursday's funeral ceremony.
On Wednesday night, in the cold outside Diyarbakir's airport, a crowd chanted pro-Kurdish slogans as the women's coffins were unloaded from a plane. .
Demonstrators stood in front of a line of police dressed in riot gear.
Many wore white scarves in remembrance of the women.
After the ceremony the women's bodies are to be taken to their home villages for burial.
Turkish security forces have been put on alert ahead of possible demonstrations by the Kurdish minority after the funerals.
Large crowds gathered at Istanbul when the bodies were flown back from France on Wednesday.
At a memorial to honour the dead in the Parisian suburb of Villiers Le Bel earlier, thousands of Kurds paid tribute as the three coffins stood draped in Kurdish flags inside the community centre amid flowers and burning candles.

Australian amateur prospector finds massive gold nugget

An amateur prospector in the Australian state of Victoria has astonished experts by unearthing a gold nugget weighing 5.5kg (177 ounces).

The unidentified man, using a handheld metal detector, found the nugget on Wednesday, lying 60cm underground near the town of Ballarat.
Its value has been estimated at more than A$300,000 ($315,000: £197,000).
Local gold experts say gold has been prospected in the area for decades, but no such discovery had been made before.
"I have been a prospector and dealer for two decades, and cannot remember the last time a nugget over 100 ounces (2.8kg) has been found locally," said Cordell Kent, owner of the Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop.
"It's extremely significant as a mineral specimen. We are 162 years into a gold rush and Ballarat is still producing nuggets - it's unheard of."

"There's nothing like digging up money, it's good fun”

Cordell Kent Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop

A video of the Y-shaped nugget was posted on YouTube on Wednesday by user TroyAurum.

He wrote that the man who found it had said it "sounded like the bonnet of a car through the headphones.
"It was lying flat (broad side up) and he carefully dug it up."
Gold currently trades in Australia at about A$1,600 per ounce, meaning the discovery would be worth about A$283,200, but its rarity and the fact it weighs more than a kilogram would add a premium, said Mr Kent.
He told Australian media the prospector had been using a state-of-the-art metal detector, which meant he was able to find the gold relatively deep underground in an area which had been searched many times in the past.
The man had only made small finds before, he said, but was a "person that really deserved it".
"A finding like this gives people hope. It's my dream to find something like that, and I've been prospecting for more than two decades," the Ballarat Courier quoted him as saying.
"I've got no doubt there will be a lot of people who will be very enthusiastic about the goldfields again, it gives people hope," said Mr Kent.
"There's nothing like digging up money, it's good fun."

Delhi gang rape case moved to fast-track court

The case of five men charged with the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi has been moved to a fast-track court for trial.

Lawyers for the defendants say that the case will get under way on Monday.
A sixth suspect, who is thought to be 17, will be tried separately in a youth court if it is confirmed he is a minor.
The case has shocked India and sparked a debate about the treatment of women. If convicted, the men could face the death penalty.
In the wake of the public outcry, the government promised a fast-track legal process for this and other rape crimes.
But the lawyer for one of the defendants said he will file a petition arguing for the case to be transferred out of Delhi, fearing that the proceedings might be prejudiced.
The victim, who cannot be named in India for legal reasons, and a male friend were attacked on a bus in south Delhi. She died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore.
Campaigners are calling for tougher rape laws and reforms to the police, who - critics say - often fail to file charges against accused attackers.

Dreamliner: Most Boeing 787 planes grounded on safety fears

 

Leithen Francis, Aviation Week: 'Some 787 operators will ask for compensation from Boeing'

Airlines have grounded the majority of Boeing's flagship 787 Dreamliner planes amid continuing safety concerns.

Qatar Airways joined airlines in Chile and India in temporarily halting 787 flights, following a directive to ground planes from US authorities.
European regulators have also called for the planes to be grounded.
Boeing said the planes were safe and that it stood by the integrity of the Dreamliner, which came into service in October last year.
A string of issues in recent weeks have raised questions about the 787.
Dreamliners have suffered incidents including fuel leaks, a cracked cockpit window, brake problems and an electrical fire. However, it is the battery problems that have caused the most concern.
On Wednesday, an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight made an emergency landing because of a battery malfunction. That caused it to ground all 17 of its Dreamliners and Japan Airways followed suit.

Who owns Dreamliners?

• Air India: 6
• All Nippon Airways (Japan): 17
• Ethiopian Airlines: 4
• Japan Airlines: 7
• LAN Airlines (Chile): 3
• Lot Polish Airlines: 2
• Qatar Airways: 5
• United Airlines (US) 6
• Total: 50

Source: Boeing

Airlines complying

Issuing its directive, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said that airlines must demonstrate battery safety before flights can resume.

The FAA added that it had alerted the international aviation community of its airworthiness directive, so that other authorities could take parallel action to cover the fleets operating in their countries.
The European Aviation Safety Agency endorsed the directive early on Thursday.
So far, all but one of the airlines currently flying Boeing 787s have grounded the planes.

• All Nippon Airways and Japan Airways have grounded their combined fleet of 21 787s
• United Airlines, the only US airline currently operating Dreamliners, said it would immediately comply with the FAA's directive and would begin re-accommodating customers on alternative aircraft
• Chile's LAN announced it would suspend its three Dreamliners from service in co-ordination with the Chilean Aeronautical Authority
• Indian aviation regulators also complied by ordering Air India to stop operating its 787s
• Poland's Lot Airlines, the only European airline currently flying 787s, was due to launch its 787 transatlantic service this week, but cancelled a return flight from Chicago to Warsaw on Wednesday
• Qatar Airways, which currently operates five Dreamliners, said it had grounded the planes and was "actively working with Boeing and the regulators to restore full customer confidence in the 787".

Executives at the remaining 787 operator, Ethiopian Airlines, were in a meeting about the FAA directive on Thursday morning, but have yet to announce the grounding of planes.
'Every necessary step' Leithen Francis, from Aviation Week, said airlines had little choice but to take the aircraft out of service temporarily.
"When the FAA issues an airworthiness directive, civil aviation and airlines around the world have to follow [it], particularly in regards to the 787, because it is a US-designed and developed aircraft," he told the BBC.
Boeing said it supported the FAA but added it was confident the 787 was safe.
Chief executive Jim McNerney said: "We will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the travelling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service.
"Boeing deeply regrets the impact that recent events have had on the operating schedules of our customers and the inconvenience to them and their passengers."
Boeing shares closed down more than 3% on Wall Street on Wednesday.

 

Mr Francis said this could have an effect on airlines currently considering ordering 787s, causing them to choose rival Airbus' A330 instead, which is a comparable aircraft and a proven product.

Companies on the order books include UK holiday firm Thompson, which was due to take delivery of Dreamliners next month.
The FAA said it would work with the manufacturer and carriers on an action plan to allow the US 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible.
"The in-flight Japanese battery incident followed an earlier 787 battery incident that occurred on the ground in Boston on January 7, 2013," the regulator said.
"The AD (airworthiness directive) is prompted by this second incident involving a lithium ion battery."
It said the battery failures resulted in the release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke, and the cause of the failures was under investigation.
"These conditions, if not corrected, could result in damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment," the FAA said.

Frank de Boer predicts Bayern success for Pep Guardiola

By Chris Bevan BBC Sport

Bayern Munich's announcement on Wednesday that Pep Guardiola is set to become their new manager took many by surprise, not just in England but the rest of Europe too.

 
Chelsea and Manchester City were just two of the clubs seen as possible destinations for the most wanted manager on the planet  when he ends his season-long sabbatical this coming summer, speculation which heightened this week when Guardiola said he wanted the "challenge" of managing in the Premier League.
Instead the 41-year-old is Bundesliga-bound, and hoping to follow his trophy-laden spell as Barcelona coach by building a similarly spectacular era at German giants Bayern.

Life and times of Pep

• 1971: Born 18 January in Barcelona.
• 1984: Joins the La Masia academy aged 13.
• 1990: Makes his debut for the senior side and plays as a defensive midfielder.
• 1991: Plays a key part in the team's domestic and European Cup successes.
• 1992: Wins the Bravo Award - recognised as the world's best young player.
• 2000: Misses Spain's World Cup campaign through injury.
• 2001: Moves to Italy, where he spends a season at Brescia before signing for Roma.
• 2006: Retires from playing after spells in Qatar and Mexico.
• 2007: Manages Barcelona's B side.
• 2008: Replaces Frank Rijkaard as first-team coach.
• 2009: A new-look side win not only the domestic title but the Copa del Rey and Champions League - the first Spanish club to do so.
• 2010: A second successive La Liga title but lose in the Champions League to Inter.
• 2011: Secures the La Liga title and beats Manchester United 3-1 to win yet another Champions League title.
• 2012: Named Fifa world coach of the year in January. Decides to take a one-year football sabbatical in New York.
• 2013: Announced as the new manager of Bayern Munich for the start of the 2013-14 season.

Guardiola's old Barcelona team-mate and current coaching confidant, Ajax manager Frank de Boer, was shocked when he heard the news, telling BBC Sport: "I thought he wanted to come to the Premier League."

So, why exactly is Guardiola going to Germany and, other than the fact that he is joining a team that are four-time European champions, how did the Allianz Arena appeal?
"I think it will be down to the structure of the club," De Boer told BBC Sport.
"I speak to former Bayern coach Louis van Gaal and he always says it is a very professional club, a well-run club, with the same kind of philosophy as Barcelona. So they will understand what Pep will be trying to do.
"As far as the Bundesliga goes, it is a very interesting league and definitely on the up. Maybe it is passing La Liga, and it passed Serie A a long time ago.
"I think maybe with the crowds they get, it is up with the Premier League. The atmosphere in the stadiums is best in England, but in Germany it is similar."
If Bayern does prove to be like Barca, then Guardiola will be right at home.
The Catalan spent the first 18 years of his playing career at the Nou Camp, joining at the age of 13, learning his trade under former Dutch international and Barca legend Johan Cruyff and taking more inspiration from Van Gaal, whose pressing and passing Ajax team of the mid-90s provided Pep with much of his coaching model.
But Guardiola picked up more from those Dutch masters than a propensity for possession football and enough pretty passing to take your breath away.
De Boer, who began discussing coaching with Guardiola when they were team-mates at Barca from 1998 to 2001, refers to his friend's approach as 'the hand of Guardiola', by which he means a focus on discipline as well as individual skill.
Another key element of Guardiola's make-up is his vision for his club, perpetuated by his belief in Barcelona's La Masia academy, which provided seven of the starting XI in the team which beat Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League.
Can he replicate that at Bayern? The Bavarians already have had some success at bringing stars like Thomas Mueller and Philipp Lam through the ranks but De Boer, who has spoken to Guardiola regularly since he began his own coaching career in 2007, thinks there is room for improvement.
"There is a youth programme there, which is OK, but I think Bayern can still build on it," De Boer, who takes a particularly hands-on approach to working with young players at Ajax, explained.
"If you look at the kind of players who have come from their youth teams and who are playing in their first team then I think they can do more with their programme.

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Archive: Pep Guardiola's emotional Barcelona exit

"But we don't know yet what their plans are for the academy or what plans they have got for Pep. He might be overseeing that as well or he might be only concerned with the first team. We will have to wait and see."
One thing De Boer is sure will be the same in Germany that it was in Spain is the way Guardiola's team will play - full of flair going forward, and full of industry tracking back.
"He might adapt it but it will not change much," De Boer said. "I know him well and he is a smart guy so he will always look at what kind of players he has, and from there he will get the best concept to play."
Comparisons with Barca will undoubtedly be drawn, but mainly in terms of trophies won rather than playing style or youth development. Guardiola collected 14 of them in his four seasons at Barca, including three La Liga titles and a double Champions League success.
That lorry-load of silverware still left some claiming that Barca's brilliance is down to Lionel Messi. Certainly, they have not missed Guardiola too much since he left last May - under his successor Tito Vilanova they have built an 11-point lead at the top of La Liga.
But De Boer says those who doubt Guardiola's influence are wrong,
"Of course he had good players at Barcelona but he showed us the 'hand of Guardiola," said De Boer. "I am 100% convinced of it.
"I think he will do the same at Bayern. You can never know for sure if he will succeed and I don't know if he will win as much as he did with Barcelona, but you can already see that there will be a Guardiola team playing to win the Champions League next season."

Algeria troops surround militant hostage-takers

 

Mokhtar Belmokhtar has been identified as the leader behind the attack

Algerian troops have surrounded a gas facility in the east of the country where foreign workers are being held hostage by Islamist militants.

The kidnappers occupied the complex near In Amenas on Wednesday, after killing a Briton and an Algerian.
Algeria says some 20 foreign nationals are being held hostage, although the kidnappers say they have 41.
Algerian media said a number of workers had escaped from the facility on Thursday.
The foreign nationals held captive include British, Japanese, US, French and Norwegian.
Spokesmen for the militants say they have issued a list of demands. One statement purported to be from the hostage-takers called for an end to the French military intervention against Islamist rebels in Mali.
BP, which operates the gas field jointly with Algerian state oil company Sonatrach and Norwegian firm Statoil, issued a statement on Thursday confirming that some of its staff were being held but saying that it would not be releasing any details.
Border closed Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the militants wanted to leave the country with the hostages, but he had refused to let them go.
"We reject all negotiations with the group," he told reporters late on Wednesday.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar

• Fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in late 1980s
• Former leading figure in al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb. Left in late 2012 after falling out with leaders
• Now heads the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion
• Known as "The One-Eyed" as he wears an eyepatch over a lost eye
• French intelligence has dubbed him "The Uncatchable", while locals refer to him as "Mister Marlboro" for his illicit cigarettes operation

An Algerian security official told Associated Press the Algerian government was discussing with the US and France whether an international force could help end the stand-off.

Algerian media said that between 30 and 40 Algerian workers had escaped from the Tigantourine facility on Thursday, with Ennahar television saying that 15 foreign hostages were now also safely out of the area. The reports have not been independently confirmed.
The Tigantourine facility is about 40km (25 miles) south-west of In Amenas, which is close to the Libyan border and about 1,300km (800 miles) south-east of Algiers.
Mr Kablia said that the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) before late last year, when he set up his own armed group after apparently falling out with other leaders.
Mr Kablia said a heavily armed "terrorist group" had attacked a bus carrying workers from In Amenas at about 05:00 (04:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
The attackers were repelled by police who had been escorting the bus, but a Briton and an Algerian national had been killed, Mr Kablia said.
Two other British nationals, a Norwegian, two police officers and a security guard were also hurt in the fire fight, he added.
Afterwards, the militants drove to the gas facility's living quarters and took Algerian and foreign workers hostage.
The foreign nationals were being held in one wing of the living quarters, which the security services and army had surrounded, Mr Kablia said.

Press review

Algerian and French press have been digesting the consequences of the hostage-taking.
In Algeria's Liberte, Salim Tamani writes that it could signal the start of reprisals for Algeria allowing French jets to use its airspace for actions in Mali.
Salem Ferdi writes in Algeria's Le Quotidien d'Oran that the attack "will have disastrous consequences for the Algerian oil and gas industry".
In France, Pierre Rousselin writes in Le Figaro that Algeria is "a country in which any French intervention gives rise to mistrust. Its resistance against the terrorist threat must be supported".
In Liberation, Vincent Giret says the latest incident shows the "war in Mali, where France is in the front line, is not a war waged by the former colonial power. It is a major international conflict".

"Since then, they've been facing off. The security forces are consolidating their position around the base," he added.

Early on Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed that a Briton had died and that "a number" of others were being held hostage.
He described the killings as the "cold-blooded murder of people going about their business".
A worker told France's Le Figaro newspaper the captors had mined the facility and demanded food, water and vehicles.
Mr Kablia said nearby border crossings had been closed as a precaution and that the foreign ministry was in contact with diplomats from the hostages' countries.
In its statement, BP said it was in "frequent contact" with the families of the hostages to provide support and was working "to secure a peaceful resolution".
Statoil boss Helge Lund said nine Norwegians were "involved" or "affected", without giving more details. Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore said one of its nationals was a hostage.
Japanese news agencies, citing unnamed government officials, said there were three Japanese hostages.
France said on Thursday it could not confirm whether any French citizens were among the hostages.
'Disastrous outcome' Two groups led by Belmokhtar - the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion - said they were behind the incident.

The BBC's Frank Gardner says there has been a spate of profit-driven abductions in the region

Earlier, a man claiming to be a spokesman for the militants told BBC Arabic that al-Qaeda had carried out the attack.
A list of demands had been sent to Algerian authorities, and the hostages would be killed if troops attempted to rescue them, the spokesman added.
''Storming the gas complex would be easy for the Algerian military, but the outcome of such an operation would be disastrous," he warned.
In a statement carried on Mauritanian media, the Signed-in-Blood Battalion said it would hold the Algerian and French governments and the nations of the hostages responsible if its demands were not met, saying they must bring an end to the French intervention in Mali.
Militant groups have vowed to avenge the intervention, where French forces have been battling Islamists linked to AQIM for the past week.
Algeria has been allowing French aircraft to use its air space.

Bayern Signed Pep Guardiola For Three Years

Bayern Munich on Wednesday officially announced it has hired Pep Guardiola to coach next season for an undisclosed salary over three years.
"Pep Guardiola is one of the most successful coaches in the world and we are sure that he can make not just Bayern, but all of German football shine," Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement on the club's website.
The Bundesliga giants made the news official just one day after Bayern media director Markus Horwick described claims the club had approached Guardiola to take over as "complete rubbish."
Guardiola, who is the first Spanish manager of Bayern Munich since the club's promotion to the Bundelisga in 1965, had been linked with Premier League teams Chelsea and Manchester City as well as AC Milan in the past weeks. He replaces Jupp Heynckes, 67, who is completing his third stint as Bayern coach and who told the team he wanted to end his career when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Guardiola's agent, Josep Maria Orobitg, told Efe Radio that the contract was signed on Dec. 20 before the holidays, and that Guardiola chose Bayern "because it was the best offer.
"We have been passing up offers," Orobitg said. "This one (Bayern) is not the one that offered the most money. He has elected it for its organization and all the possibilities he sees for his players."
"As an adequate replacement for Heynckes only [someone] of Pep Guardiola's caliber came into question," said Bayern chairman Uli Hoeness.

PEP GUARDIOLA'S BARCA RECORD

Won 14 trophies in his 4 seasons with Barcelona

Tournament	No.
La Liga	3
Champions League	2
Copa del Rey	2
Spanish SuperCopa	3
UEFA SuperCup	2
Club World Cup	2
Source: ESPN Stats & Info

Bayern Munich has appeared in two of the past three Champions League finals, losing to Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea in 2012. The club leads the league table by nine points with 17 matches played.
The former Barcelona boss, 41, who last month admitted he wanted to return to coaching after taking a year off, had been linked with the Bundesliga club, according to a report in Sky Sports Italy.
Guardiola won 14 titles with Barcelona before stepping down last season.
On Tuesday during an interview as part of the launch of celebrations marking the English Football Association's 150th anniversary, Guardiola said he wanted to manage in England.
"It is unique, to play in that league," he told FATV. "I want to feel the supporters, the environment, the media and the style of the players. "I have always found English football fascinating. The support of the home team is amazing."