Kiev, February 25
Ukraine's Parliament voted on Tuesday to send fugitive President Viktor Yanukovich to be tried by the International Criminal Court for "serious crimes" committed during violent anti-government protests in which scores were killed.

A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by the assembly, linked Yanukovich, who was ousted on Saturday and is now on the run, to police violence against protesters which it said had led to the deaths of more than 100 citizens from Ukraine and other states.

Klitschko confirms he'll run for President * Ukrainian boxer-turned - politician Vitaly Klitschko reiterated on Tuesday that he will run for the President on May 25 Parliament fixed a May date for presidential elections after ousting President Viktor Yanukovich, who fled Kiev on Friday amid outrage over clashes between protesters and police * Klitschko, 42, a former WBC heavyweight champion, has been one of the main Opposition leaders championing the cause of thousands of protesters who took to the streets last November after Yanukovich walked away from a trade agreement with the European Union in favour of closer economic ties with Russia

The Hague-based court said it would need a request from the government of Ukraine giving it jurisdiction over the deaths.

Yanukovich was indicted for "mass murder" on Monday over the shooting of demonstrators and is now on the wanted list, having last been seen at Balaclava in Crimea, near Russia's Sevastopol naval base. An aide said be on the run with Yanukovich was shot in the leg, his spokesman said. It was not clear where the aide, Andriy Klyuev, was, or whether he with the fugitive leader.

The assembly resolution said former interior minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and former prosecutor-general Viktor Pshonka, who are also being sought by the authorities, should also be sent for trial at the ICC.

"Parliament asks the International Criminal Court to hold Viktor Yanukovich and other high-level people criminally responsible for issuing and carrying out openly criminal orders", the resolution said. Authorities under Yanukovich had systematically abused their power. Police tortured protesters, including holding activists naked in temperatures of 15 degrees below freezing, the resolution said.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court, which since its founding in 2002 has handled only cases from Africa, said it could intervene if Ukraine requested it to. "A government can make a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for past events," said court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah, and it would then be up to the court's prosecutor to decide whether or not to open an investigation.

Ukraine never signed the treaty that created the ICC, meaning the court has no automatic jurisdiction over recent events in the country. If the government formally invites it in, however, the court would have the power to investigate.

But a decision to invite the court in will not automatically lead to an investigation, and nor will Ukraine have any say over who might be investigated. The tribunal has jurisdiction only over serious international crimes, and then only if local authorities are unable or unwilling to deal with those crimes themselves. — Reuters

London, February 25
A Pakistani-origin former Guantanamo Bay detainee was among four persons arrested on "suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences" during raids in Britain today.

Moazzam Begg, who was held by the US government for nearly three years after being arrested in the Pakistani capital in February 2002 on suspicion of being a member of Al-Qaida, was among those held in West Midlands region early this morning.

The West Midlands Police confirmed that Begg, 45, was being held on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism overseas, the Birmingham Mail reported.

"We can confirm that Moazzam Begg was arrested this morning. We are confirming this name as a result of the anticipated high public interest," a spokesperson said.

The others arrested were a 44-year-old woman, her 20-year- old son and another 36-year-old man.

"All four arrests are connected. They were pre-planned and intelligence-led. There was no immediate risk to public safety," Detective Superintendent Shaun Edwards said.

The four arrested persons were being held at a police station in West Midlands and three homes were searched by counter-terrorism police. Vehicles and electronic equipment were taken away from the homes for forensic analysis.

Britain has been on alert since a video and pictures emerged earlier this month of a man suspected of being the country's first suicide bomber in Syria.

Adbul Waheed Majeed allegedly drove a car into a jail in Aleppo and detonated a bomb on February 6. The family of the 41-year-old from West Sussex said they believed he was in Syria for humanitarian purposes. — PTI

Peshawar, February 25
At least 30 terrorists were killed today when Pakistani fighter jets carried out air strikes on militant hideouts in Shawal valley, a mountainous area in North Waziristan sharing boundary with South Waziristan, and other areas of the restive northwest tribal region. The security sources said a number of terrorists' hideouts have been completely destroyed.

"Some 30 terrorists were killed in early morning air strikes on terrorists' hideouts in Pray ghar and Razan Nala areas of Pasht Ziarat in Shawal valley on the boundary of North and South Wazirastan agencies," a security source said.

He added that simultaneous strikes were also carried out in Ghariom village in North Waziristan.

The air strikes mainly took place in Datta Khel and Shawal areas of North Waziristan where militant training facilities and compounds are said to be located.

It is said the militants had captured a stretch between South and North Waziristan and had established training centers where they were also preparing suicide bombers.

The air strikes are part of military's new strategy to launch intelligence based limited operations.

The continuous air strikes in various parts of the tribal areas since last week have led to feeling that a full-fledged military operation against the militants could begin soon. — PTI 

Islamabad, February 25
The Pakistan government today decided to continue targeted operations against militants alongside efforts to restart a dialogue with the Taliban as part of steps to establish the state's writ at all costs, according to media reports.

A meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sought an unconditional ceasefire by the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The meeting also approved the National Security Policy, Pakistan's attempt at creating a comprehensive policy to tackle terrorism and internal security challenges.

Media reports said the cabinet decided that targeted operations against militants and efforts to hold peace talks will continue simultaneously, though an official statement released after the meeting made no mention of this.

"All necessary steps would be taken to restore peace and put Pakistan on the track of progress and prosperity," Sharif was quoted as saying in the statement.

Dawn News channel reported that Sharif said during the meeting that his government would establish its writ across the country at all costs.

The government suspended a fragile peace process with the TTP last week after a Taliban faction executed 23 troops taken hostage in 2010. — PTI

Washington, February 25
In a breakthrough, an Indian- American scientist at the prestigious MIT has developed a simple, cheap, paper test that could improve cancer diagnosis rates and help people get treated earlier.

The diagnostic, which works much like a pregnancy test, could reveal within minutes, based on a urine sample, whether a person has cancer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced yesterday.

This approach has helped detect infectious diseases, and the new technology allows non-communicable diseases to be detected using the same strategy, it said.

The technology, developed by MIT professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator 46-year-old Sangeeta Bhatia, relies on nanoparticles that interact with tumour proteins called proteases, each of which can trigger release of hundreds of biomarkers that are then easily detectable in a patient's urine.

"When we invented this new class of synthetic biomarker, we used a highly specialised instrument to do the analysis," says Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

"For the developing world, we thought it would be exciting to adapt it instead to a paper test that could be performed on unprocessed samples in a rural setting, without the need for any specialized equipment. The simple readout could even be transmitted to a remote caregiver by a picture on a mobile phone," Bhatia said in a statement.

Bhatia, a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, is the senior author of a paper describing the particles in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published this week. — PTI 

Washington, February 25
A US company is planning to build an 'Outernet - a global network of cube satellites broadcasting Internet data to all the people on the planet - for free. The idea is to offer free Internet access to all people, regardless of location, bypassing filtering or other means of censorship, according to the New York based non-profit organisation, Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF).

MDIF proposes that hundreds of cube satellites be built and launched to create a constellation of sorts in the sky, allowing anyone with a phone or computer to access Internet data sent to the satellites by several hundred ground stations.

The organisation claims that 40 per cent of the people in the world today are still not able to connect to the Internet - and it's not just because of restrictive governments such as North Korea - it's also due to the high cost of bringing service to remote areas, 'phys.org' reported.

An Outernet would allow people from Siberia to parts of the western US to remote islands or villages in Africa to receive the same news as those in New York or Tokyo.
The Outernet would be one-way—data would flow from feeders to the satellites which would broadcast to all below. — PTI