Paula Cooper: Youngest Death Row Inmate Freed

A woman who became America's youngest death row inmate has been released after 28 years behind bars.

Paula Cooper, 43, left the Indiana Rockville Correctional Facility quietly in a state vehicle, said Department of Corrections spokesman Doug Garrison.

Her sentence for the murder of a 78-year-old Bible teacher had enraged human rights activists and drew a plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II.

When asked where Cooper was being taken, Mr Garrison said: "We have something arranged, but that's not something I can talk about."

Cooper was 15 when she used a butcher's knife to stab Ruth Pelke 33 times during her lunch break from high school in 1985.

She was convicted, along with three other teenage girls, and sentenced to death.

Cooper was given the harshest penalty because she was the ringleader, said Jack Crawford, who was the county prosecutor at the time.

Her accomplices served prison terms and have been released.

Shortly after Cooper was sentenced, it was ruled that young people who were under 16 when they committed a crime could not be sentenced to death.

Indiana legislators passed a state law raising the minimum age limit for execution from 10 years to 16, and in 1988, the state's high court set Cooper's death sentence aside.

Instead, she was ordered to serve 60 years in prison. This was later reduced due to her behaviour in jail, where she earned a bachelor's degree.

She will remain on parole for a few years after her release, Mr Garrison said.

The prison gave Cooper $75 (£48) to help her make a fresh start.

"The question is can she still make a positive contribution? I hope she can," Mr Crawford said.

In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute anyone who is younger than 18 years when they commit an offence.

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Afghanistan: Armed Forces Take Back Control

Afghan armed forces are taking back responsibility for control of the country for the first time in nearly 12 years.

The handover from the US-led Nato coalition was announced at a ceremony in Kabul.

"This is a historic moment for our country and from tomorrow all of the security operations will be in the hands of the Afghan security forces," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said at the ceremony, held at the new National Defence University built to train Afghanistan's future military officers.

President Karzai in Qatar earlier this month

It marks a turning point for US and Nato military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role.

It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months.

Britain's Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the handover was a "hard-fought milestone".

Speaking after visiting Afghanistan last week, he said: "Afghanistan will continue to face challenges as it builds towards becoming a secure and stable state.

"The Afghanistan our combat forces leave at the end of 2014 will not be perfect, but will be able to stand independently and will never again provide a haven for terrorists to attack the West.

"That is why we remain firmly committed to supporting Afghanistan beyond 2014 and into the future."

Alliance training since 2009 has dramatically increased the size of the Afghan National Security Forces, bringing them up from 40,000 men and women six years ago to about 352,000 today.

After the transition, coalition troops will provide training and mentoring, and in emergency situations providing the Afghans backup in combat, mainly in the form of air strikes and medical evacuation.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "Ten years ago there were no Afghan national security forces. Five years ago, Afghan forces were a fraction of what they are today.

"Now you have 350,000 Afghan troops and police. A formidable force. And time and again we have seen them dealing quickly and competently with complex attacks. Defeating the enemies of Afghanistan and defending and protecting the Afghan people," he said.

Foreign forces will continue to support Afghans on the battlefield when they require it, but the Afghan army and police will be responsible for planning and leading military operations against the insurgency.

The handover paves the way for coalition forces - currently numbering about 100,000 troops from 48 countries - to leave.

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French Footballers On Trial Over Sex Claims

French international footballers Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have gone on trial charged with paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

Bayern Munich winger Ribery and Real Madrid forward Benzema face up to three years in prison and a maximum €45,000 (£38,500) fine if convicted.

Zahia Dehar presenting her lingerie collection last year

Both deny the charge and the young woman involved - Zahia Dehar - has testified that the players did not know she was not 18 when they allegedly had sex with her in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Although the age of consent is 15 in France, paying for sex with anyone under 18 is a crime.

Ms Dehar, now 21, has become a celebrity of sorts following the scandal, having launched her own luxury lingerie line, and has been seen as the muse of German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

The 30-year-old Ribery did not turn up at the court in Paris as there was "no victim," his lawyer said, seeking for the proceedings to be held behind closed doors due to their "salacious" nature.

While Ribery has admitted having sex with Ms Dehar but insisting he did not know she was then under-age, Benzema has denied any such encounter.

Prosecutors had sought an acquittal for the two players and Ribery's brother-in-law, who was also implicated, but investigating judge, Andre Dando, argued that they must have been aware of her real age.

News of the investigation broke just before the disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign, during which unprecedented bickering within the French squad resulted in a player boycott, striker Nicolas Anelka being sent home and one of the favourites being eliminated at the group stage.

The badly tarnished image of 'Les Bleus' has yet to fully recover from what has become known as the Knysna fiasco after the name of the squad's South African base.

Ribery, said to be one of the ringleaders of the rebellion against coach Raymond Domenech, was given a three-match ban after the tournament but has since returned to the fold.

The trial continues until June 26.

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Hungary: Alleged Nazi War Criminal Charged

An alleged Nazi war criminal has been charged with his role in organising the deportation of more than 12,000 Jews to death camps.

Laszlo Csatary, aged 98, had been the number one name on the most-wanted list issued by Nazi-hunters the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

He was confronted last year by The Sun after a tip-off the British newspaper said came from the centre.

Csatary, who has denied the charges, was first detained by Hungarian authorities in July 2012.

He was kept under house arrest for nearly a year while the authorities decided what to do with him.

Charges implicating him in the deportation of 300 Jews were at first dropped due to lack of evidence, but other charges have now been filed after a witness reportedly came forward.

Tuesday's indictment by the Budapest Investigative Prosecutors' Office says Csatary was the chief of an internment camp for Jews in 1944.

The indictment says that, as a local police commander, he had a role in organising the deportation of Jews to Nazi death camps.

The internment camp was run by local police acting on the orders of the Nazi regime.

Prosecutors said he was "actively involved in and assisted the deportations" of Jews from a ghetto in then-Hungarian Kassa, now known as Kosice in Slovakia.

The Jewish population of Kassa and the surrounding area were rounded up and crammed into a ghetto in the town by local police following the occupation of Hungary by German troops in March 1944.

A memorial to the hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews who died

The Jews were then crammed into cargo trains and sent to Nazi concentration camps, mostly Auschwitz.

Csatary "intentionally assisted the unlawful executions and tortures committed against Jewish people who were deported from Kassa", according to the indictment.

He is also accused of beating them with his bare hands and a dog whip.

After Nazi-occupied Hungary's defeat by the Allies, Csatary was said to have fled and ended up in Canada.

He was sentenced to death in his absence in 1948 by a court in what was then Czechoslovakia.

In Canada, he lived and worked as an art dealer but was stripped of his citizenship there in the 1990s after the Canadians were given information about his past.

He ended up in Budapest where he lived freely until prosecutors began investigating his case in September 2011 on the basis of information provided by the Wiesenthal Centre.

He was not arrested until after The Sun tracked him down.

Soon afterwards, Csatary appeared in court at a closed-door hearing and denied all the accusations against him.

At the time, the state prosecutor said he was in good mental and physical health despite his advanced years.

In January, Hungarian radio reported that Slovak police had found a witness able to corroborate charges against him.

One of the obstacles to an investigation into his alleged crimes is thought to have been that he had previously been sentenced to death.

In March, a Slovak court is understood to have changed the 1948 sentence to one of life in jail.

Prosecution spokeswoman Bettina Bagoly said on Tuesday that Csatary's trial is expected to start within three months.

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Pocahontas Rescue Site To Be Preserved

The site where archaeologists and historians believe Pocahontas rescued Captain John Smith from death will be preserved under a new agreement.

After decades of research with colonial writing, ancient maps and detective work, archaeologists have identified with near-certainty a 57-acre site in Tidewater, Virginia.

Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Algonkian tribe, met Captain Smith in 1607 when the English landed at Jamestown.

According to the captain, he was first welcomed by the tribe, but was then threatened with death until Pocahontas intervened.

Captain Smith was threatened with death and saved by Pocahontas

But Native Americans say that event is just a footnote because the site was Powhatan's seat of power, about 15 miles from the Jamestown colony. It was called Werowocomoco, which roughly translates to a "place of chiefs".

Chief Kevin Brown, of the local Pamunkey tribe, says it is important to note that Virginia's history did not begin with the first permanent English settlement.

"This is like our Washington," he said.

"History didn't begin in 1607 and there are a lot of people who overlook that."

The private land will be protected from development. The agreement, which has been years in the making, is to be officially announced later this week.

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Iraq Bombing: At Least 24 People Killed

At least 24 people have been killed in a suicide bombing by a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad.

And 52 others were injured in the blast - the latest in a coordinated string of attacks on the country.

The first bomber detonated his explosives at a security checkpoint near the mosque in the middle-class, Shi'ite-majority area of the northern Qahira neighbourhood in an apparent attempt to distract the authorities, two police officers said.

Amid the commotion, a second bomber slipped into the mosque and blew himself up while worshippers were attending midday prayers, according to police.

A medic in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties.

There was no immediate claim of who was responsible for the killings, but suicide bombings and attacks against Shi'ite worshippers are frequently the work of al Qaeda's Iraq arm.

The bombing has revived fears that the country is heading back toward the widespread sectarian bloodshed that pushed it to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

Violence has surged in Iraq in recent months, along with sectarian and political tensions. Insurgents frequently attack Shi'ites considered by Sunni extremists as infidels and non-Muslims.

The bloodshed in Iraq has risen to levels not seen since 2008. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed since the start of April, including more than 220 this month.

On Sunday, a wave of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting killed at least 51 people.

Fifteen people were killed in bomb attacks on Monday, including one caused by a suicide bomber who set off his explosives-laden belt among a group of policemen in Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

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Turkey's New Protest Tactic: Standing Still

After weeks of sometimes violent confrontation with police, Turkish protesters have found a new form of resistance - standing still and silent.

A lone woman protester makes her stand against Turkish authorities

The first such protest was carried out on Monday by performance artist Erdem Gunduz.

He stood for hours at Istanbul's central Taksim Square, in passive defiance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Protesters stand silently and motionless in Taksim Square

The square has been sealed off from mass protests since police cleared it over the weekend, but have not stopped pedestrians from entering.

Others have now copied Mr Gunduz around Istanbul and other cities, and the act provoked widespread comment on social media.

Performance artist Erdem Gunduz started the novel tactic

Mr Gunduz's vigil was broken up by police early on Tuesday after others joined him.

A police crackdown that began on May 31 against environmentalists and other activists in Taksim Square set off protests nationwide.

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Bieber's Collision With Photographer 'No Crime'

Justin Bieber struck a pedestrian with his car in Hollywood but there was no crime and the injuries are not life-threatening, police have said.

Lt Craig Valenzuela said Bieber's car collided with someone - possibly a photographer - at 11.45pm Monday in block 8800 of Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Lt Valenzuela said nobody was cited or arrested and officers determined no crime was committed.

He said investigators are trying to establish whether the pedestrian was in the roadway.

A video posted by the showbusiness website TMZ.com showed Bieber getting into a white Ferrari.

The footage showed him being surrounded by paparazzi and as the car drove off, one fell to the ground and gripped his knee.

There was no immediate comment from Bieber's publicist, Melissa Victor.

Bieber has been involved in a number of car incidents this year.

Last month he was chased by the NFL's Keyshawn Johnson after allegedly whizzing past the footballer's daughter in his Ferrari.

In January, a paparazzo was killed while taking photos of the Ferrari while it was stationary.

At the time, Bieber released a statement calling for legislation to cover the activities of photographers.

He said:  "While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim.

"Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders and the photographers themselves."

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US To Hold Talks With Taliban 'Within Days'

Taliban Insurgency: A Timeline

Updated: 4:44pm UK, Tuesday 18 June 2013

As Afghan forces take control of national security, marking a major milestone for the withdrawal of US-led combat troops, here is a timeline of the 12 years of Taliban insurgency in the country.

:: September 11, 2001 - al Qaeda hijackers fly passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is known to live in Afghanistan, which is ruled by the Taliban.

:: October 7, 2001 - A US-led military campaign begins with air strikes against Afghanistan, followed by troops, to hunt down bin Laden and topple the Taliban.

:: December 2001 - The Taliban are forced from power, but bin Laden is not found. Plans are laid for an interim government and a multinational force. Hamid Karzai is appointed to lead the government and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) begins to deploy.

:: October 9, 2004 - Afghanistan's first presidential election takes place. Mr Karzai is proclaimed the winner. He is declared to have won another term in November 2009, amid accusations of massive electoral fraud.

:: February 2007 - Taliban insurgents attack at US base as vice president Dick Cheney visits, killing 24 people.

:: November 2008 - Barack Obama is elected US president, and vows to end the war in Iraq and focus on Afghanistan.

:: December 1, 2009 - Mr Obama orders a "surge" of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan but says withdrawals will begin in July 2011. The number of NATO-led forces reaches a peak of 150,000 in the summer of 2010.

:: May 2, 2011 - Osama bin Laden is killed by US special forces in the Pakistan town of Abbottabad.

:: June 22, 2011 - Mr Obama announces the withdrawal of 33,000 US troops by the middle of 2012.

:: July 2011 - Western troops and officials begin handing authority to Afghan forces in some areas.

:: August 6, 2011 - 30 US troops, mostly special forces, and eight Afghans die when the Taliban shoots down their helicopter in the biggest single loss for foreign troops in the war.

:: September 20, 2011 - Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president and Mr Karzai's peace envoy, becomes the most senior politician to be killed since the start of the conflict in an assassination blamed by Afghan officials on the Taliban.

:: November 27, 2011 - US air strikes kill 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Pakistan to suspend overland NATO supply routes into Afghanistan for several months.

:: December 6, 2011 - At least 84 people die in suicide blasts at shrines on the Shiite holday day of Ashura. The biggest attack takes place in Kabul, killing 80.

:: February 2012 - Deadly protests kill 40 people and force Mr Obama to apologise after US troops burn copies of the Koran on an Afghan military base.

:: March 11, 2012 - A rogue US soldier walks off his base in Kandahar and kills 16 Afghans, most of them women and children.

:: February 2013 - Mr Obama announces 34,000 US troops will return from Afghanistan by mid-February 2014. There are currently 98,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.

At least 3,336 foreign troops have died since the start of operations in 2001.

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G8: Syria Statement Omits Anti-Assad Calls

Q & A: What is the G8 all about?

Updated: 3:21pm UK, Tuesday 18 June 2013

The G8 is a group of eight countries which are among the world's richest, plus the European Union.

It comprises the UK, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia and the EU. As a result of their shared wealth, they have common interests and meet annually to discuss the issues that affect them.

What does it do?
It aims to overcome some of the major world problems by creating and agreeing solutions. Each year, the host sets the agenda and sometimes promotes practical ways of resolving issues.

Who are the leaders attending?
The UK's David Cameron, The US's Barack Obama, France's Francois Hollande, Germany's Angela Merkel, Italy's Enrico Letta, Japan's Shinzo Abe, Canada's Stephen Harper, Russia's Vladimir Putin and the EU's Herman van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso. 

Why is this year's being held in Northern Ireland?
Each year, a different country takes its turn to host the summit. This year it is Britain's turn. Northern Ireland, which experienced  paramilitary conflict until the Belfast Agreement brought it to a close, was chosen because it symbolises how working together can result in a successful peace.

Why do protesters demonstrate when it's held?
Much of the criticism of the G8 relates to claims that the group does not do enough to help the developing world, either through lessening Third World debt, or through reducing the cost of medicines. Other critics are against the way the grouping together of wealthy countries distorts power, by causing 'globalisation'.

Who pays for the summit and its policing?
The member country holding the G8 presidency is entirely responsible for organising and the cost of each year's summit. That includes its policing. This year's has been held at the Lough Erne Resort in County Fermanagh. The cost is estimated at £60m, with the Northern Ireland government paying £6m and the UK Treasury meeting the rest.

When was it last staged in UK and what happened?
It was last held in the UK in 2005, at Gleneagles, near Stirling, Scotland. On the agenda were the cancelling of third world debt and global warming. Ahead of the summit, finance leaders agreed to write off $40bn worth of debt owed by the 18 most highly indebted poor countries. The members also agreed a joint declaration to tackle global warming. More than 10,000 police officers from all over the UK kept order at protests. There were 700 arrests and in the middle of the event, on July 7, four terrorists set off suicide bombs on the London transport network, killing 52 people.

What has it ever achieved?
Many have argued that the G8 is becoming increasingly irrelevant, as other nations outside the eight become wealthier. The five leading developing nations, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are not automatically invited. As a result, the meetings are sometimes seen as being a 'rich man's club, which is limited in its decision making. Some have suggested the G20, which involves the world's 20 richest countries, should replace it.

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