With debts totaling up to 60 billion forint ($270 million), Malév Hungarian Airlines grounded its aircraft at around 6 a.m. local time on Friday without prior notice. The airline's official website only shows an 'important passenger notice' which informs customers of refund options as a consequence of the company's closure.

In a statement, Malev director Lóránt Limburger apologized to passengers, describing the closure as 'unfortunate' and adding that advance payments from worried suppliers caused an accelerated outflow of money, ultimately causing the airline's shutdown.

The sudden closure of Malév, which was founded in 1946 and has a fleet of 22 aircraft, left more than 7,000 passengers stranded on Friday.

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The clash happened when members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked a border post in the Shaheedano Dhand area of lower Kurram Agency, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), near the Afghan border. Officials said at least 18 militants and seven soldiers were killed, the Express Tribune reported.

The attack occurred in a rugged mountainous region right on the border of North Waziristan, where security forces have been setting up check posts in order to block the route, which is commonly used by militants moving from tribe to tribe, officials sources told the newspaper.

A senior official confirmed that three security personnel had also been injured while seven have gone missing. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack, reports said.

Earlier this week, at least eight security personnel and 35 militants were killed in an attack on a newly established security post in central Kurram. Security officials have been trying to block the heights of Kurram, which are of strategic importance because of their natural connectivity from Tirah valley of Khyber to North Waziristan.

On Thursday, at least 20 suspected militants were killed after suspected hideouts of TTP commander Mullah Toofan and commander Moheyuddin were targeted by Pakistani fighter jets in the Orakzai Agency of Pakistan, also in the FATA. The strikes were launched while ground forces also carried out operations.

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The accident happened at around 9 a.m. local time after Appleton, the sole occupant of a single-engine Lancair aircraft, took off from an airport in Boise. "The airplane had just departed the airport and tried to return after departing and crashed just short of the runway," said Allen Kenitzer, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In a brief statement, the Micron Technology Board of Directors said it was 'deeply saddened' to confirm Appleton had died in the crash. "Our hearts go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time," the statement said. "Steve's passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large."

Appleton, who in 1983 joined Micron, an international advanced semiconductor solutions provider, was the only person on board the small plane when it crashed in the city of Boise, which is also home to the company's headquarters.

Officials said the accident happened shortly after Appleton's second takeoff from the city's airport. As a pilot, he had previously suffered serious injuries when his small plane crashed nearly eight years ago, on July 8, 2004.

Appleton was appointed president and chief operating officer of Micron in 1991 before being promoted to the position of chairman, chief executive officer and president in 1994. He became CEO of the company in 2007.

Mark Durcan, Micron President and Chief Operating Officer, will assume the responsibilities of CEO until a successor is appointed by the Board of Directors, which will convene a meeting over the weekend. "Steve was a true friend who will be dearly missed by all of us," said Durcan. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and our team members as we all grieve this tragic loss."

Appleton is survived by his wife, Dalynn, and his children.

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Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Thursday after 74 football fans died in a riot in Port Said, demanding justice and urging Egypt's military rulers to step down. Two protesters were killed in the port city of Suez after security forces used live rounds while defending a police station. Another protester died from pellet wounds sustained outside the Ministry of Interior in Cairo, officials said.

Meanwhile, the assistant health minister, Adel El-Adawy, announced that an army officer was killed after being run over by a military truck. An estimated 1,482 people have been injured since Thursday, most of them suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation.

The Al-Ahram newspaper reported that approximately 1,000 protesters gathered on Friday in Cairo's Tahrir Square, chanting against the military council and for justice for those who have died. The sound of shots and ambulance sirens ferrying the injured to nearby field hospitals filled the air before Friday prayers.

On Wednesday evening, 74 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured when violent clashes erupted following a soccer match in Port Said. Security forces were widely accused of deliberately declining to intervene in the country's deadliest ever football riot.

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Human Rights Watch said in a report that it has documented at least 12 cases of children being detained under inhumane conditions, children being tortured, and other children being shot while in their homes or on the street. The New York-based organization urged the United Nations Security Council to demand that the Syrian government ends all human rights violations.



"Children have not been spared the horror of Syria's crackdown," said Lois Whitman, children's rights director at Human Rights Watch. "Syrian security forces have killed, arrested, and tortured children in their homes, their schools, or on the streets. In many cases, security forces have targeted children just as they have targeted adults."

Human Rights Watch also said it has documented government use of schools as detention centers, military bases or barracks, and sniper posts, as well as the arrest of children from schools. It urged the Syrian government to stop deploying security forces in schools and hospitals.



"Human Rights Watch has documented widespread government violence against peaceful demonstrators, systematic killings, beatings, torture using electroshock devices, and detention of people seeking medical care," the rights group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is currently considering a draft resolution to end the situation in Syria, where thousands of people have been killed over the past 10 months in a government crackdown against a popular uprising. The resolution calls for an immediate cessation of violence by all parties and progress towards national dialogue that leads to a peaceful political resolution of the crisis.

Syria's Ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, has said his country rejects any "international intervention" and added that "homelands are built by their own citizens." Ja'afari has also said that Syria will continue to protect its own people against armed elements, denouncing what he termed "feverish attempts" to interfere in Syria's internal affairs by misleading world public opinion.

According to the most recent figures released by the United Nations last month, at least 5,400 people have been killed as a result of violence during the uprising. Syrian human rights and opposition activists say the figure has since surpassed 7,000 and includes hundreds of children.

In late November, the United Nations Committee Against Torture also claimed it had received 'credible reports from sources' that children are being tortured and mutilated while in detention by security forces. Claudio Grossman, who heads the 10-member expert panel, provided no specific details to substantiate the claims.

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According to a new report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the number of people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance in Somalia has dropped from 4 million to 2.34 million, or 31 percent of the Somali population. The report said 750,000 people had been at risk of death during the height of the crisis.

"Long-awaited rains coupled with substantial agricultural inputs and the humanitarian response deployed in the last six months are the main reasons for this improvement," FAO's new Director-General José Graziano da Silva told a press conference in Nairobi after visiting southern Somalia.

"However, the crisis is not over. It can only be resolved with a combination of rains and continued, coordinated, long-term actions that build up the resilience of local populations and link relief with development," he added.

Graziano pledged that FAO will step up its current efforts in the Horn of Africa. "We can't avoid droughts, but we can put measures in place to try to prevent them from becoming a famine. We have three months until the next rainy season," he added.

The report also warned that an estimated 325,000 acutely malnourished Somali children remain at risk. The current crisis continues to affect the whole Horn of Africa region with 9.5 million people in need of emergency assistance in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, down from 13 million at the height of the crisis.

The UN declared a famine in six out of eight regions of southern and central Somalia in July last year. A state of famine is declared on the basis of at least three criteria - severe lack of access to food for 20 percent of a population; acute malnutrition exceeding 30 percent; and a crude death rate that exceeds two deaths in every 10,000 people per day.

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Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known by his alias Duch, had appealed to reduce his 35-year sentence which he was given in 2010, although he was slated to serve only about 19 years behind bar. Instead, the prison chief at the notorious S-21 detention facility had his jail sentence increased to life.

The 69-year-old was found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture. He pleaded guilty and asked for forgiveness, arguing that he was just following the orders of senior leaders.

"In the Supreme Court Chamber's view, [Duch's] leadership role and particular enthusiasm in the commission of his crimes are aggravating factors that should be given significant weight in the determination of his sentence," Supreme Court Chamber president Kong Srim read from a summary of the judgment. He added that the "particularly shocking and heinous character" of his crimes over an "extended period of time ... undoubtedly place this case among the gravest before international criminal tribunals."

The court ruled that Duch has served 12 years and 269 days of his sentence so far, including time he was illegally detained by the Cambodian Military Court from May 1999, as his detention there was for "broadly similar" reasons as his ultimate conviction. The ruling signals the conclusion of the tribunal's landmark first case.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts Cambodia (ECCC), which was set up under an agreement signed in 2003 by the UN and the Cambodian Government, is tasked with trying those deemed most responsible for crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime, which ruled the country from April 1975 to January 1979. It is estimated that at least 1.7 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge's reign.

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The accident happened at around 9:30 a.m. local time when the Bongaigaon-Guwahati Chilarai passenger train crashed into a bulldozer which was on the train tracks in the Kamrup district of India's northeastern state of Assam. It happened between the Azara and Mirza railway stations.

Railway officials said three train passengers were killed at the scene while more than 50 others were injured and rushed to hospitals in nearby Gauhati, which serves as the capital of Assam. Several of those injured were said to be in a critical condition.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, but one railway official said the bulldozer had gotten stuck while crossing the track at an unmanned crossing.

India's railroad network is the fourth largest in the world and carries more than 14 million passengers and over a million tonnes of freight daily. But accidents are common, mainly as a result of poor maintenance and human error.

On January 11, five people were killed and nine others were injured when a passenger train collided with a freight train in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. The New Delhi-bound passenger train was passing through a station when it crashed into a stationary freight train which had accidentally rolled back from another track.

And in September 2011, ten people were killed and more than 70 others were injured when an Electric Multiple Unit train collided with another passenger train which was waiting for a signal in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Before that, in July 2011, a total of 70 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured when a passenger train bound for the Indian capital of New Delhi derailed in Uttar Pradesh state. Just hours later, another passenger train derailed in western Assam state, injuring around 50 people.

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The attack happened at around 12:45 p.m. local time when a cylinder bomb, which was planted inside a blue Mazda truck, detonated in front of a police station in the municipality of Villa Rica in the northern part of Colombia's Cauca department.

Villa Rica mayor Juan Guillermo Mina confirmed six people were killed in the attack, which local investigators blamed on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as FARC. The group, along with paramilitary and drug trafficking groups, have a strong presence in the region.

Cauca Police commander Colonel Ricardo Alargón said Lieutenant Guido Cifuentes, commander of the police station, was killed at the scene. In addition, two civilians later died at a local hospital, while two others succumbed to their wounds at the Puerto Tejada hospital center. The sixth victim died at a clinic in Cali and was identified as a child, but his or her age was not immediately disclosed.

The bomb blast also injured another 34 people, among them 25 civilians and 9 police officers. Four of the injured were reported to be in a serious condition and were transferred to the Lili Valley Clinic in Cali. The others were taken to the Francisco de Paula Santander Hospital in Puerto Tejada.

Thursday's car bomb attack came just one day after a motorcyle strapped with explosives detonated in front of a police station in the Colombian municipality of Tumaco, which is located in Nariño Department. The blast, also believed to be carried out by FARC, killed nine people and injured 65 others.

FARC was formed in 1964 and is structured as a military organization, with approximately 10,000 armed guerillas organized into seven "blocs," 68 numbered "Fronts", nine named "Fronts," and four urban "militias." The group is present in 24 of the 32 departments of the South American country.

The rebel group is dedicated to the violent overthrow of Colombia's democratically-elected government.

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Park Jeonggeun, a 24-year-old Socialist Party activist, was charged earlier this week with violating the country's national security law for re-tweeting the message "long live Kim Jong-il" from North Korea's official Twitter account. Park, who says his re-tweets were meant to ridicule North Korea's leaders rather than support them, was detained on January 11 and could face up to seven years in jail.

"This is not a national security case, it's a sad case of the South Korean authorities' complete failure to understand sarcasm," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director. "Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law but in this case, the charges against Park Jeonggeun are simply ludicrous and should be dropped immediately."

Police have accused Park Jeonggeun of spreading North Korean propaganda. "My intention was to lampoon North Korea's leaders for a joke; I did it for fun," Park Jeonggeun told Amnesty International.

During South Korea's military rule in the 1970s and 80s, people were regularly imprisoned under the National Security Law, which makes it a crime to "praise" or sympathize with North Korea. Despite the end of military rule in South Korea, numerous arrests have been made under the NSL for "propagating or instigating a rebellion against the state."

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