The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Violence grips B’desh as Jamaat leader buried Dhaka, December 13 At least four people were killed today during clashes between angry Jamaat-e-Islami activists and Awami League supporters across Bangladesh, as executed Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah was buried at his hometown. Mollah, the first person to be hanged for war crimes in 1971 Liberation War, was buried at the family graveyard at Amirabad village in Faridpur district around 4.20 am after funeral prayers, district magistrate Md Mamun Shiblee, who supervised the burial, was quoted as saying by bdnews24.com. The execution of the 65-year-old Jamaat leader, infamous as 'Butcher of Mirpur', took place last night after the Supreme Court earlier in the day rejected his review petition. Activists of Jamaat and its student wing, Chhatra Shibir, vandalised, torched and looted around 50 houses and business establishments of AL supporters and minorities in different areas of the district after Mollah's execution, said Joybeb Chowdhury, additional superintendent of police in Satkhira. Two AL supporters and child - Azizur Rahman, 40, Judge Ali, 35, Riad Hossain, 10, - were killed in Satkhira while Jamaat activist Sukkur Ali, 25, was killed in Pirojpur, the Daily Star reported. The paper said in Kalaroa upazila, Jamaat-Shibir men stabbed a local leader with sharp weapons to death. In another incident, Jamaat-Shibir activists allegedly took Judge Ali out of his house and slaughtered him at Sarashkati village in early morning, the paper added. In Sadar upazila, police recovered a bullet-riddled body this morning. Jamaat supporters also took out flash processions and exploded crude bombs at several other areas. They clashed with police at many places. The Islamist party has announced a nationwide strike on Sunday to protest the execution of Mollah. — PTI Amnesty fears attacks on Hindus Dhaka: Execution of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah for war crimes in Bangladesh could lead to reprisal attacks on minority communities, especially Hindus, a leading human rights watchdog has warned. Bangladesh executed Mollah, infamous as the “Butcher of Mirpur”on Thursday night, making him the first politician to be hanged for such crimes. "At this volatile time, many people, including minority Hindus, are at risk of reprisal attacks,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International's Bangladesh Researcher. — PTI
	Iran quits nuclear talks against US blacklist move Tehran, December 13 Iran has quit nuclear talks with the major powers, accusing Washington today of going against the spirit of a landmark agreement reached last month by expanding its sanctions blacklist. A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the powers in the talks, said both sides had headed home for consultations and that she expected the talks to resume soon. But Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said the US move went against the spirit of the deal struck in Geneva under which the powers undertook to impose no further sanctions for six months and Tehran was weighing the "appropriate response". "America's move is against the spirit of the Geneva deal," Araqchi told the Fars news agency as his team headed back to Tehran from Vienna. "We are evaluating the situation and will make the appropriate response," he said. Under the deal, Iran agreed to freeze parts of its suspect nuclear programme for six months in return for some $7 billion in relief from Western sanctions as it negotiates a final, comprehensive accord to allay suspicions it seeks a weapons capability. "The negotiations were halted by Iranian delegation because of new American sanctions. The Iranian negotiating team has halted the talks at this stage and are headed back to the capital due to America's lack of commitment to the agreement," Mehr reported. — AFP Hitting rough patch * Tehran accuses Washington of going against the spirit of the landmark agreement by expanding its sanctions blacklist * Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi says under the Geneva deal, Washington had agreed to refrain from imposing new sanctions on Iran for six months * A spokesman for the EU foreign policy chief says both sides needed to return home for consultations and that Iran’s move was not unilateral
	Abbas rejects US plan for Israeli troops in Palestinian state Ramallah, December 13 Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has rejected US proposals for Israel to keep troops in a future Palestinian state along its strategic border with Jordan, a Palestinian source said today. Following a meeting yesterday evening with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the West Bank city of Ramallah, "President Abbas has rejected the ideas presented by the secretary of state", the source said. Abbas also gave Kerry a letter on "Palestinian red lines", the source added, singling out "the refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state". Abbas "rejected the ideas on security because there is not a third party". This refers to a plan by former US national security adviser James Jones under which a third party would deploy along the Palestinian-Jordanian border. — AFP
	Rare Buddhist relics stolen in Cambodia Phnom Penh, December 13 Cambodian officials said today a golden urn containing what are considered to be remnants of Buddha's body has been stolen from its shrine near the capital. Government spokesman Ek Tha said the relics have enormous religious and cultural significance for Cambodians. "This relic has been respected by Buddhist followers for thousands of years," he said. "This theft cannot be accepted. The perpetrator and any associates who connived to commit such a crime must be prosecuted according to the law of Cambodia." National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith saidthe had police questioned 13 of the shrine's guards and detained six as suspects. — AP
	5 high treason charges levelled against Musharraf Islamabad, December 13 The Nawaz Sharif government has levelled five charges of high treason against former President Pervez Musharraf for his trial in a special court constituted for this purpose. The court has summoned Musharraf on December 24. The 11-page complaint was handed over by Interior Secretary Shahid Khan to the special court on Thursday, media reported on Friday. The government also submitted a list of witnesses comprising M Siraj, deputy secretary of the cabinet division; Mohammad Khalid Qureshi, additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA); Maqsoodul Hassan and Hussain Asghar, both directors of the FIA; Taj Umar Khan, deputy solicitor in the law and justice ministry; Talib Hussain of PTV News; Kaleeem Shehzad, section officer of the cabinet division; and Khalid Rasool, an inspector in the FIA. According to reports, the first charge is that Musharraf proclaimed an unconstitutional emergency on November 3, 2007. Secondly, on the same day he issued the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) that unconstitutionally and empowered him as the president to amend the constitution from time to time. The third charge is that he issued the unconstitutional Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007, that compelled judges to abide by the provisions of the Emergency and the PCO. Fourthly, Musharraf has been charged with subverting the constitution by issuing the Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007, Nov 20, 2007, according to which Articles 175, 186-A, 198, 218, 270B and 270C were unconstitutionally amended and Article 270A added. The fifth charge is that he unconstitutionally and unlawfully issued December 14, 2007, the Constitution (Second Amendment) Order, 2007, according to which the constitution was amended. According to a confident prosecution team, the trial will be quick and swift. — IANS Ex-PM Gilani dares authorities to arrest him Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said he would not comply with unconstitutional procedures and dared the authorities to arrest him wherever they wanted to. Addressing a press conference in Multan, Gilani said if former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf had been jailed for even a month, then he would have accepted that the country's judiciary operated as an independent institution, Dawn online reported. Gilani has been accused of illegally appointing Ayaz Khan Niazi as NICL chairman in February 2009. — IANS He has also been accused of issuing orders in 2011 for the transfer of former director general of the Federal Investigation Agency, Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, who was investigating the scam. Gilani said that although he had been ousted from the office of prime minister despite being elected in a democratic manner, thousands of people who had directly benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance remained free.
	Ukraine unrest: Opposition holds talks with President Kiev, December 13 Ukraine's opposition today sat down for talks with President Viktor Yanukovych for the first time since mass protests broke out over his failure to sign a pact with the European Union three weeks ago. World boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, nationalist leader Oleg Tyagnybok and the head of the party of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, were all in attendance. Yanukovych promised an amnesty for those arrested during the protests and said he would consider sacking officials responsible for working on the Association Agreement. The opposition however said it was not enough, insisting that the government of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov should resign. "This government is guilty of a political and economic crisis," Yatsenyuk said in Azarov's presence, also saying the president should punish riot police for beating protesters. — AFP
	Mandela burial to be private family affair Kiev, December 13 South Africans will not be able to see Nelson Mandela's remains being laid to rest, with his actual burial a strictly private, family affair, a government official said today. At least 5,000 people, including foreign dignitaries and senior political figures, are expected to attend Sunday’s funeral ceremony in Mandela's boyhood home Qunu. Once the initial public service has been completed, however, the moment of interment will, at the family's request, be a purely private affair, govt spokeswoman Phumla Williams told AFP. “The family has indicated they want to make the burial a family matter," Williams said. “They don't want it to be televised. They don't want people to see when the body is taken down." After three days of lying in state in the capital Pretoria, Mandela's casket will be flown to Qunu early tomorrow morning. A special stage and marquee have been erected for the two-hour public funeral service which begins at 8:00 am on Sunday. As of last day evening, 3,000 members of the media had already descended on the remote site in the Eastern Cape. —AFP S Africa apologises for fake signer at Mandela memorial: Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile on Friday said has apologised for the sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial who outraged deaf people worldwide by making signs they said amounted to gibberish. He said reforms must be implemented to ensure such an incident won't happen again. AP

BRIEFLY

Singapore
Singapore riot: India assures support to its workers : India on Friday assured support to its nationals that law-abiding people have nothing to fear after authorities arrested 31 Indians for alleged rioting in Singapore's worst outbreak of violence in over 40 years. The assurance by the High Commissioner Vijay Thakur Singh came in the wake of Sunday's riot in Little India. AP

Ashgabat
Turkmenistan to hold first ‘multiparty’ elections: The ex-Soviet Central Asian state of Turkmenistan on Sunday will hold its first multiparty legislative elections though without any opposition to trouble the dominance of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. AFP

Snowed in: Vehicles stranded in snow at the entrance of Jerusalem following a snowstorm on Friday. AFP

beijing
Chinese court sentences man to death for stabbing 23 kids: A Chinese man who brutally stabbed 23 primary school students and an elderly woman last year was on Friday sentenced to death by a court in central China. Min Yongjun, 36, was sentenced by the Intermediate People's Court in Xinyang City, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. PTI

london
Brazilian jailed for killing his Indian-origin boss in UK: A Brazilian man on Friday was jailed for life in the UK for brutally killing his Indian-origin employer, Amarjit Singh Rai, 41 who had been trying to help him get over a love-split. Rai died after being slashed across his throat and then bludgeoned about his head by Fausto Graciano at a Birmingham street. PTI

Seoul
N Korea leader’s ‘traitor’ uncle executed: North Korea has executed the uncle of its leader Kim Jong-Un after a shock purge, state news agency KCNA announced early on Friday, branding the once-powerful Jang Song-Thaek a “traitor for all ages”. afp

New York
Indian-origin man charged with stealing in US: An Indian-origin man, Girishcha Patel, has been charged with stealing $85,844 over a period of six years from from the bank accounts of the Federation of Gujarati Associations . PTI

21 killed in China mine explosion
beijing: At least 21 miners were killed ON Friday in a gas explosion at a coal mine in China's western Xinjiang province. Twelve workers managed to escape but 22 were trapped by the blast, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Only one of the trapped miners survived the explosion, the report said. PTI

Masked gunmen kill 15 Iranians in Iraq
BAQUBA: Masked gunmen shot dead 18 workers, including 15 Iranians, in Iraqi town of Muqdadiya on Friday. Three gunmen got out of a car and started firing on the workers at a trench. Fifteen Iranians and three Iraqis were killed and eight others were wounded. Reuters