LaNUBlog™

Mohammad Arif Ali was arrested on Monday on suspicion of cannibalism A man has been arrested on suspicion of cannibalising a young child, police in Pakistan's Punjab province say. Mohammad Arif Ali, who has previously admitted to cannibalism, was arrested when neighbours reported the stink of rotting flesh from his house.

Pro-Russia militants have taken over a police headquarters in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk, local media and witnesses say. This followed a gun battle with the police defending the building as the attackers stormed it. Several other official buildings were reported to have been seized in Donetsk region on Saturday.

Speaking during a visit to China, Australia's leader said teams were hoping to track further signals in a section of the southern Indian Ocean before shifting the search operation to the seabed. "Trying to locate anything 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) beneath the surface of the ocean, about a 1,000km (620 miles) from land is a massive, massive task," he said.

A Pakistani court has withdrawn the case against a nine-month-old baby who was accused of attempted murder alongside 12 members of his family. Muhammad Musa Khan appeared in court in Lahore for a second time on charges of planning a murder, threatening police and interfering in state affairs.

New York City police have found up to 70 bags of suspected heroin inside actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's home a day after his death, US media report. The Oscar-winning star, 46, was found dead at his Greenwich Village home on Sunday with a syringe in his arm. A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out on Monday. Police suspect Hoffman died of an overdose. The lights along theatre marquees on New York's Broadway were to be dimmed on Wednesday in honour of Hoffman. The actor earned three Tony award nominations for his work in New York theatre.

*. About 0.1% of ER admissions to University Hospital Bern come about as a result of sex *. Between 2000 and 2011 the hospital recorded 445 such cases *. Of these, 308 cases (69%) were male *. Most of the patients (78%) were younger than 40 *. A total of 276 (62%) had a possible infection *. Fifty-five cases (12.4%) were neurological, including headache, amnesia and bleeding between the brain and skull *. Two patients had cardiovascular emergencies and no penile fractures were recorded Source: "Sexual activity-related emergency department admissions: eleven years of experience at a Swiss university hospital", Journal of Emergency Medicine "I must tell you it is no myth," wrote one woman who asked to remain anonymous. "It happened to my late husband and myself one night. He literally could not withdraw i.e. was 'stuck'. I attributed it to the intensity of the vaginal muscle response during orgasm." Another correspondent, who asked to be referred t...

*. With its roots in the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Taliban movement came to the fore in 2007 unleashing a wave of violence *. Its leaders have traditionally been based in Pakistan's tribal areas but it is really a loose affiliation of militant groups, some based in areas like Punjab and even Karachi *. The various Taliban groups have different attitudes to talks with the government. Some analysts say this has led to divisions in the movement *. Collectively they are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Pakistanis and have also co-ordinated assaults on numerous security targets *. Two former TTP leaders, Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud,

Pakistani Taliban negotiators have condemned the failure of government representatives to meet them in Islamabad, as preliminary peace efforts got off to a chaotic start. The government side said before talks began they wanted clarification from the team named by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The two sides had been due to start charting a "roadmap" for talks. The militants have been waging an insurgency inside Pakistan since 2007. Many observers were puzzled by the government side's approach. The Taliban swiftly made clear there were to be no additions to their team, and urged the government side to begin talks and see for themselves whether the team had a mandate. There is more scepticism than hope as the government and the Pakistani Taliban prepare to hold preliminary peace talks. There are three reasons for this. First is the reluctance of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to confront the Taliban militarily despite a public wave of anger against them. Second, few an...

A drone strike targeting a vehicle used by Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has killed five people, intelligence sources say. Four missiles were fired on the vehicle in the Dande Darpa Khel area of North Waziristan. Two of Mehsud's bodyguards were reportedly among the dead. Mehsud has a $5m FBI bounty on his head and is thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif has urged US President Obama to halt drone strikes. Hakimullah Mehsud has been leader of the Pakistani Taliban since 2009, after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike. Hakimullah had come to prominence in 2007 as a commander under Baitullah, with the capture of 300 Pakistani soldiers adding to his prestige among the militants. The attack targeting him comes on the same day that the Pakistani government announced it was about to send a delegation to North Waziristan to try to get peace negotiations with the Taliban under way. Mr ...

Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif has told President Obama the US should halt drone strikes in Pakistan, a critical source of tension in the relationship. The two leaders held wide-ranging talks at the White House on Wednesday, pledging to strengthen the often-strained ties between the nations. The leaders also discussed tension between Pakistan and India over the disputed Kashmir region. Mr Obama said the US and Pakistan remained important strategic partners. The talks in the Oval Office came just hours after India accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars at several dozen Indian border posts in Kashmir. One Indian guard was killed and six others injured, according to media reports. Mr Obama did not address the incident in remarks after their meeting, but praised Mr Sharif for "taking a very wise path in exploring how decades of tension between India and Pakistan can be reduced". "Billions of dollars have been spent on an arms race in response to these tensions...

A Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for championing girls' rights to education has said talks with the militants are needed for peace. Malala Yousafzai was attacked by a gunman on a school bus near her former home in Pakistan in October 2012. The targeting of a schoolgirl who had spoken out for girls' rights to education caused outrage in Pakistan and around the world. The 16-year-old was treated in the UK and now lives in Birmingham. She spent months in hospital and required several operations to repair her skull. In her first in-depth interviewsince the attack, Malala told the BBC that discussions with the Taliban were needed to achieve peace. "The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue," she said. "That's not an issue for me, that's the job of the government... and that's also the job of America." In July, plans for talks involving the Taliban, the US and the Afghan government were fru...

A Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for championing girls' rights to education has said talks with the militants are needed for peace. Malala Yousafzai was attacked by a gunman on a school bus near her former home in Pakistan in October 2012. The targeting of a schoolgirl who had spoken out for girls' rights to education caused outrage in Pakistan and around the world. The 16-year-old was treated in the UK and now lives in Birmingham. She spent months in hospital and required several operations to repair her skull. In her first in-depth interviewsince the attack, Malala told the BBC that discussions with the Taliban were needed to achieve peace. "The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue," she said. "That's not an issue for me, that's the job of the government... and that's also the job of America." In July, plans for talks involving the Taliban, the US and the Afghan government were fru...

Mingora - In Malala Yousafzai's home town in Pakistan, school friends hope to see her win the Nobel Peace Prize this week - but they dream in secret, under pressure from a society deeply ambivalent about the teenage activist. Malala, who survived being shot by the Taliban on 9 October last year, has become a global ambassador for education, feted by celebrities and politicians around the Western world. But in northwest Pakistan's Swat valley, a deeply conservative area fearful of foreign influence encroaching on the traditions of its society, many regard her with suspicion and even contempt. Her long-time friend Safia has no such doubts. Peeling off from a group of girls at a high school in Mingora, the main town in Swat, she spoke confidently about her friend, and women's rights, in excellent English. Malala is among the favourites for the Nobel, which will be awarded on Friday, and Safia said she deserves it. She supports Malala's efforts to get all children - gir...

On Sunday morning, a bomb tore through a marketplace in the heart of the city of Peshawar. More than 40 people were killed and 110 injured. Behind those horrific statistics lie appalling personal tragedies. What it did to the family of 61-year-old Sartaj, from the town of Shabqadar, was devastating in the extreme. "At the site, someone found the mobile phone of my nephew, Sohrab," Sartaj tells us, in the mourning tent by his home. "He called me and asked my relation to Sohrab. Then he told me my nephew had been killed in the blast." 'Lost my mind' With his voice breaking, Sartaj told how he and his son had rushed to Peshawar to pick up the body of Sohrab, only to be greeted by a nightmarish scene at the hospital. "In the emergency ward, first I saw the body of my youngest son, then my wife, then it seemed like the place was filled only with the bodies of my relatives. Sartaj's murdered family *.Anwara, 49, wife *.Meena, 30, daughter *.Zain...

An MP for Bangladesh's main opposition party has been sentenced to death by a war crimes court for charges including murder and genocide during the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan. Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, the first member of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) to be tried by the court, was found guilty of nine out of 23 charges. The BNP and his lawyers argue that the trial was politically motivated. Previous verdicts against Islamist leaders have been followed by protests. The war crimes tribunal was set up by the Awami League-led government in 2010 and opposition parties have accused it of pursuing a political vendetta against its opponents. Tribunal's Chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir said: "We are of the unanimous view that the accused deserves the highest punishment for committing such crimes that troubled the collective conscience of mankind." But human rights groups and the BNP have both said that the tribunal falls short of international standa...

An explosion has ripped through a market in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, leaving at least 25 dead and dozens wounded, officials say. The explosion took place in the Kissa Khwani market, with shops and vehicles set alight. The blast comes a week after a double suicide bombing that killed at least 80 people at a church in the city. On Friday, at least 17 people were killed in the bombing of a bus carrying government employees near Peshawar. Peshawar, the main city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been hit by numerous bomb and gun attacks blamed on Taliban insurgents in recent years. Police said they suspected the explosion was caused by a car bomb. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper quoted the health minister as saying that the main Peshawar police station may have been the main target.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake has hit south-west Pakistan, in a region where at least 400 people died in a quake earlier this week. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck approximately 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of the port city of Karachi. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Local media reported that the quake affected Balochistan and Sindh regions. It was also felt in Quetta, close to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, and Karachi. Pakistan's Meteorological Department measured the quake at 7.2 magnitude. Chief Pakistani meteorologist Arif Mahmood told Pakistani television that it was an aftershock from this week's earthquake and similar tremors could continue for weeks, Associated Press reported. "We are checking but no reports of losses have yet been received," Jan Mohammad Buledi, a spokesman for the provincial government of Balchistan told AFP. At least 400 people died and hundreds were injured when a 7.7-magnitude qua...

Rescue teams are struggling to reach remote areas worst hit by the powerful earthquake which struck Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan. The interior minister said huge efforts are under way but even by helicopter the quake zone is hours away from help. Survivors need more tents, food and water. Officials also say there is a lack of doctors and medical supplies. At least 348 people died and hundreds were injured when a 7.7-magnitude quake hit the region on Tuesday. Interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the National Assembly that there were still areas which the authorities had not been able to reach by road or by helicopter. The authorities insist they are capable of dealing with the disaster and the government has not issued any appeals for international help. The affected area is vast, impoverished and sparsely-populated. Restive province The rescue and relief effort has been led by Pakistan's official paramilitary force, the Frontier Corps, whic...

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 328 people and wounded hundreds more in Pakistan's remote south-west province of Balochistan. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck on Tuesday afternoon at a depth of 20km (13 miles) north-east of Awaran, the US Geological Survey said. Many houses were flattened & thousands of people have spent the night in the open. After the quake, an island appeared off the coast near the port of Gwadar. People gathered on the beach to see the new island, which is reported to be about 200m (656ft) long, 100m wide & 20m high, & scientists have been sent to survey it. Officials say such land masses have appeared before in the area, & usually disappear again over time. Tuesday's quake was so powerful it was felt as far away as India's capital, Delhi, & Dubai. Workers in Karachi had to evacuate their offices because of the strong tremors. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but least populated province. The military has a heavy...

Barely half an hour after they were jolted by a major earthquake on Tuesday, people of the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar had another shock when they saw a new island emerge in the sea, just over a kilometre from the shore. A local journalist, Bahram Baloch, received the news via a text message from a friend. "It said a hill has appeared outside my house," Mr Baloch said. "I stepped out, and was flabbergasted. I could see this grey, dome-shaped body in the distance, like a giant whale swimming near the surface. Hundreds of people had gathered to watch it in disbelief." We could hear the hissing sound of the escaping gas Bahram Baloch, Local journalist Mr Baloch and some friends landed on the island on Wednesday morning to check it out and to take pictures. "It's an oval shaped island which is about 250ft to 300ft (76-91m) in length, and about 60 to 70ft above the water," he said It has a rough surface, much of which is muddy and some parts ar...