Ukraine Activist 'Crucified And Had Ear Cut Off'

A Ukrainian activist who went missing during anti-government protests has stumbled into a village near Kiev saying he was beaten and tortured.

Dmytro Bulatov, 35, told Ukraine's Channel 5 television: "They crucified me, they nailed down my hands. They cut off my ear, they cut my face. There isn't a spot on my body that hasn't been beaten."

Mr Bulatov, a member of Automaidan, a group of car owners that has taken part in the protests against President Viktor Yanukovich, was reported missing on January 22.

In the television interview his face and clothes were seen covered in clotted blood, his hands were swollen and bore the marks of nails.

Protesters in central Kiev after clashes with riot police

He is among several activists whose disappearances have increased tensions the country.

One of the activists, Yuriy Verbytsky, was found dead in a forest while another, Igor Lutsenko, survived a severe beating and was hospitalised.

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, who visited Mr Bulatov in hospital, said: "What was done to Dmytro was an act to frighten all citizens who are being active now."

The UN's human rights office has called on Ukraine to launch an independent investigation into deaths, kidnappings and torture during the weeks of political unrest.

An anti-government protester at the site of clashes in Kiev

Rupert Coville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the issue "should be promptly, thoroughly and independently investigated".

The UN statement came as Russia's outspoken Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted that US Secretary of State John Kerry's planned meeting with Mr Klitschko was a "circus".

The talks on Saturday are also expected to include Ukraine's pro-opposition popstar Ruslana.

Russian Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin ridiculed US talks with the opposition

Mr Rogozin suggested: "It's also necessary to involve Verka-Serdyuchka in the talks," referring to a Ukrainian drag queen popstar.

"Her/his authoritative opinion should be heard by the White House and taken into account!"

Meanwhile, President Viktor Yanukovych, 63, who sparked protests when he backed out of an agreement to deepen ties with the European Union in November, has taken sick leave.

Mr Yanukovych decided the ex-Soviet republic should strengthen ties with Russia.

The embattled leader, who has an acute respiratory illness and high fever, has already lost his prime minister Mykola Azarov, who resigned on Tuesday.

Ukraine's armed forces today urged the president to take "urgent steps" to ease the crisis, entering the fray on a political level for the first time.

"Servicemen and employees of Ukraine's armed forces ... have called on the commander-in-chief (Mr Yanokovych) to take urgent steps within the limits of existing legislation with a view to stabilising the situation in the country and reaching consent in society," the defence ministry said in a statement.

They "noted that a further escalation of the confrontation threatens the country's territorial integrity," the statement added.

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'Suspicious Powder' Found Near Super Bowl Site

A white powder sent to at least five hotels near the Super Bowl site in New Jersey appears to have been a hoax threat, police have said.

The envelopes were posted to hotels close to the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, where more than 80,000 NFL fans are expected for Sunday's game.

They were found at an Econo Lodge, a Renaissance Inn and the Homestead Inn, while two other envelopes destined for a Holiday Inn Express and a Hampton Inn were intercepted by police.

No injuries were reported and an investigation by FBI counter-terrorism officers and hazardous substances teams found the contents of the envelopes were harmless.

A package containing white powder was also posted to an address in New York where the city's former mayor Rudy Giuliani has a consulting firm.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said the envelope was the only suspicious package they were investigating.

It is thought the envelopes sent to the hotels were all posted from the same source, although it is not known whether they are linked to the package found in New York.

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Israel 'Must Divide' Ancient West Bank Village

By Tom Rayner, Middle East News Editor, Jerusalem

Israel's Defence Ministry has told a court that it has "no alternative" but to extend its controversial separation barrier through a potential world heritage site.

At a hearing at Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem, lawyers for the Ministry said it had made all the security concessions possible, but it remained necessary for the barrier to divide the land of the ancient West Bank village of Battir.

Battir, which straddles a valley in the Bethlehem hills, just miles from Jerusalem, is famed for its unique terraced hills which have been built by hand over millennia.

The fertile lands of the Palestinian village are filled with vegetables, fruit crops and olive groves, all fed by natural spring water which flows through Roman irrigation systems, built more than 2,000 years ago.

A Palestinian farmer irrigates her land in the West Bank village of Battir

However, plans put forward by Israel's Defence Ministry to extend the separation barrier - which in some areas nearby is an eight-metre-high concrete wall - would divide the village off from around 35% of its ancestral land.

The area under threat lies on the opposite side of the valley, across the 1949 armistice line which separates Israel from the West Bank, known as the "green line".

Residents of Battir were guaranteed continued access to the land by the Israeli state after the 1948 war, in return for a pledge that the railway which runs along the line would not be vandalised.

The creation of the wall along the proposed course would end that agreement, and cut the land off both from the water that irrigates it, and the residents of Battir who tend to it.

Israel claims the wall is necessary for security, and says it has prevented suicide attacks in the country.

But many in the international community, as well as the Palestinians, see it as a means of appropriating land beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders.

Akram Badir, the head of Battir Village Council, said claims the routing of the wall through Battir was necessary for security were misplaced.

Battir is famed for its unique terraced hills built by hand over millenia

"This village is living in peace. Destroying this site and taking off nearly 40% of the land of Battir means destroying the peace situation as well as the landscape," he said.

Over the last few years, new Israeli settlements, deemed illegal under international law, have been constructed on hills overlooking the village.

The construction of the separation barrier is also coming closer.

It is already at the gates of the nearby village of Walaja, which has led to a gathering of momentum in the battle to protect Battir.

But there has been some annoyance among residents of the village that more has not been done by the Palestinian Authority to assist them in their bid to protect the land.

As a member of Unesco, the Palestinian Authority has the ability to make an emergency application to the UN body to grant Battir world heritage site status.

Given that Battir has already been awarded a prize by Unesco identifying it as a place of unique importance, there is thought to be a good chance such an application would be swift and successful.

The barrier would cut the land off from the water that irrigates it

World heritage site status would almost certainly rule out the possibility of Israel's barrier being routed through the village's land.

Yet those involved in the lobbying effort to the Palestinian Authority say the application process has been held back for fear of disrupting peace negotiations with Israel, due to an agreement on withholding approaches to UN agencies.

In the meantime, the village has won support from an unlikely quarter - the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority.

The body has backed the appeal against the Defence Ministry's planned routing of the barrier - the first time one arm of the Israeli state has publicly opposed another on this matter.

At earlier court hearings Israel's Defence Ministry insisted residents of Battir would still be able to access the land through special security gates and that the barrier would take the form of a fence, rather than a wall, but Gidon Bromberg, an Israeli spokesman for Friends of the Earth Middle East, said such a plan risked the cultural and environmental importance of the land.

He said: "This site is so unique that we must protect it, not just for Israelis and Palestinians, but for humankind as a whole. We can meet the legitimate security concerns by alternative means."

Construction of Israel's separation barrier, which Palestinians call the "apartheid wall", began in 2002 in the midst of a wave of suicide bombings inside Israel during the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada.

As of July 2012 Israel had completed construction of 62% of the planned 439-miles of separation barrier, and 85% of the route is beyond the "green line" inside the West Bank.

A final ruling in the case of Battir, and other villages in the Bethlehem area, has been delayed to a later date.

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Amanda Knox Court Absence Blasted By Barman

By Nick Pisa, Sky News Reporter

Amanda Knox has been urged to come to court ''if she is as innocent as she claims'' - just hours before a new verdict is expected in the Meredith Kercher murder case.

The comments come from Patrick Lumumba, the barman Knox wrongly accused of killing Miss Kercher in 2007.

Mr Lumumba was held in custody after Knox told police she had ''covered her ears as he killed'' Miss Kercher in the student house the girls shared.

However, he was cleared after two weeks when a university professor provided a watertight alibi, while Knox was charged with murder and sexual assault along with her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Patrick Lumumba lost his livelihood after Amanda Knox wrongly accused him

The pair's conviction was overturned on appeal but the Italian Supreme Court ordered a retrial of that appeal and the verdict is due this week.

Knox has remained at home in Seattle and neither she nor Sollecito will be in court.

Mr Lumumba, who lost his bar following Knox's allegations and is now an unemployed musician, wants to see the 26-year-old back in the courtroom.

Miss Kercher was found with her throat cut

Speaking ahead of Thursday's verdict, he said: ''If she (Knox) is innocent she should come to court for the decision. I will be there. If she is so sure that she had nothing to do with it, then she should be in court to hear the judge's decision.

''I think she is running away - I'm the one who has been left in a real mess because of what she said. My bar closed and my business folded - I have nothing now and no work.

''Because of what she said I was put in jail for two weeks and my bar was impounded by the police for four months. My friends tried to help me as best they could but it wasn't enough because they were all having a hard time as well.

''The false arrest had a real negative impact on my personal life and my business life - things have never really recovered and it's all because of what Amanda wrongly told the police. I haven't even been paid any compensation by her that I'm owed.''

As a result of the false accusation, Mr Lumumba was dragged from his home in front of his children and wife in a dawn raid.

Knox was convicted of slandering him and ordered to pay him €22,000 in 2011.

Knox and Sollecito, 29, were originally charged in 2007 after Miss Kercher was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the bedroom of her house in Perugia, Italy.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years and Sollecito to 25 years but in 2011 the verdicts were overturned and both walked free.

Amanda Knox and Raffaelle Sollecito won't be in court this week

The retrial began last September in Florence, 100 miles from where the murder took place.

Though Knox has remained in the US, she did email the court to protest her innocence in a statement read out by her lawyer in which she insisted she ''was not a monster".

Judge Alessandro Nencini described the emailed statement as unusual, adding that defendants ''should be in court if they wanted to speak".

It is not entirely clear if the Italian authorities would seek Knox's extradition even though a treaty exists between both countries.

To add to the confusion any verdict will go to a further automatic appeal at the Supreme Court so a final decision could be years away.

The house where Meredith was killed in 2007

The retrial has shifted the motive away from a sex game gone wrong to a simple bitter feud of jealousy between Knox and Miss Kercher - with the British girl uncomfortable at her American flatmate's cleanliness and habit of bringing men home.

However, Knox and her lawyers insist the theory is rubbish, with Knox herself stressing that the two were ''good friends'' and that she has expressed several times a desire to visit Miss Kercher's grave and meet her family.

Miss Kercher's sister Stephanie and brother Lyle are expected to travel from their home in Coulsdon, Surrey for the verdict - the third time in seven years they have attended a court trial.

A third man, Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede, 27, is serving a 16-year sentence for murder and sexual assault and he is expected to be released on parole next year. He, like Knox and Sollecito, has always protested his innocence.

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Egypt Army Backs Head To Run For President

Egypt's top military body has backed army chief Abdel Fattah al Sisi to run for the presidency, state media has reported.

Sisi, who ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July after mass street protests, could officially announce his candidacy within hours, the official news agency MENA reported.

In order to stand the 59-year-old will have to resign from his job as defence minister and from the military.

Earlier on Monday, the country's interim president Adly Mansour issued a decree elevating Sisi to the position of field marshal, a move seen as paving the way for a presidential bid.

Supporters of the army and police in the capital Cairo at the weekend

The promotion came after MENA reported the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had met to "discuss developments on the security front ... [and] the peoples' demand for the defence minister [Sisi] to run for the presidency".

The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper claimed the group also named Chief of Staff Sedki Sobhi to replace Sisi as army chief and defence minister when he steps down.

The election is due to be held by mid-April and will be followed by parliamentary elections. Sisi, if he wins, is expected to influence the outcome of those elections by forming a party that would attract candidates.

His popularity has increased in line with the perception he is the strongman needed to end violence and instability that has plagued Egypt since 2011 and the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

Islamists have repeatedly clashed with security forces

But the general faces a determined opposition and frequent terrorist attacks.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in Egypt since the overthrow of Morsi, including dozens of members of the security forces.

Over the weekend at least 49 people were killed in clashes between Islamist protesters and police, as thousands rallied in the capital Cairo to mark the third anniversary of the revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.

Five soldiers were killed on Saturday when a military helicopter came down in the Sinai. Al Qaeda-inspired jihadist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claimed it shot down the aircraft with a missile, but the authorities said it was an accident.

A supporter of Sisi hugs a poster of him

The group also claimed responsibility for a car bombing outside the police headquarters in Cairo on Friday that killed four people.

Also on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Bahaa El-Din resigned in a post on his Facebook page. He is seen as one of the few in the Cabinet who have attempted to limit the crackdown on Morsi's supporters and promote reconciliation with Islamists.

The statement said: "[Bahaa El-Din] indeed tendered a written resignation from his ministerial position to the prime minister this morning so he can resume his political, party and legal activity outside the government."

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Syria Peace Talks 'Deadlocked' Over Assad Future

The Syria peace talks are "deadlocked" over proposals for a transitional government in the war-torn country, say delegates.

The third day of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, broke down over the issue of President Bashar al Assad's future and possible power-sharing with rebel leaders.

Mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat representing the UN and Arab League, then called a halt to Monday's session.

Opposition delegation member Rima Fleihan said the talks were "not constructive" after the regime insisted on discussing "terrorism" instead of a transition.

Syrian forces have agreed to allow women and children to leave Homs

The Syrian government has ruled out discussions about Mr Assad leaving power and the first two days of the UN-sponsored talks focused on humanitarian issues.

Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad told Sky News the Assad regime had come to Geneva "with all willingness to contribute to the success of this meeting".

He said his government had presented delegates with a paper containing five essential points "that will make the way smoother for the actual discussion when we come to the hard issues".

The list includes "full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria" and "rejection of all forms of dictate and foreign interference in Syrian internal affairs - directly or indirectly."

Asked by Sky whether that rejection included Iran's backing of the Assad regime, he said: "If we speak about such things, at the end of the whole list will come such names.

The US says aid supplies are urgently needed in Homs

"But before that, we have to combat more than 83 countries that are interfering daily in the internal affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic - sending arms, sending weapons, sending terrorists and sending all that is destroying Syria."

The first tangible - if limited - sign of progress came on Sunday when the regime agreed to allow women and children safe passage from the besieged, rebel-held city of Homs.

Homs, one of the first cities to rise against President Assad, had a pre-war population of one million, but most residents have fled.

UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi called a halt to Monday's talks

Activists say about 800 families are trapped in the rubble-strewn city, without regular access to food, medicine and basic necessities.

Mr Brahimi acknowledged that the agreement to free women and children fell short of his hope of sending aid convoys into the city.

But, he said, "to bring Syria out of the ditch in which it has fallen will take time".

The US has said the evacuation of women and children is not enough, and urged the Syrian government to allow supplies into the city because "people are starving".

The talks are aimed at ending a war which has so far claimed 130,000 lives and made two million people refugees.

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Syria: 'Women And Children Free To Leave Homs'

The Syrian government has agreed to allow women and children safe passage from the besieged, rebel-held city of Homs, says UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.

Mr Brahimi announced the news at the end of the second day of negotiations at the Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland.

"What we have been told by the government side is that women and children in this besieged area of the city are welcome to leave immediately," he told reporters.

"Hopefully starting tomorrow, women and children will be able to leave the old city in Homs."

Homs, one of the first cities to rise against President Bashar Assad, had a pre-war population of one million, but most residents have fled.

Children will now be allowed to leave Homs

Activists say about 800 families are trapped in the rubble-strewn city, without regular access to food, medicine and basic necessities.

"The regime is blocking all convoys to Homs and has been doing so for months," said a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the peace talks.

"The situation in Homs is extremely urgent. Anything the government says to the contrary is false."

A young girl pleads for help in the old city of Homs

Mr Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat representing the UN and Arab League, acknowledged that the agreement to free women and children fell short of his hope of sending aid convoys into the city.

But, he said, "to bring Syria out of the ditch in which it has fallen will take time."

He said he was pleased with the general tone of talks between Syria's regime and opposition leaders, and was hopeful of a breakthrough in the nearly three-year-old civil war.

"Now we are approaching a solution - at least for the civilians," said Mr Brahimi.

The talks have yet to touch on President Assad's future

"I am happy, because in general there is mutual respect and they are aware of the fact that this attempt is important and we must continue. I hope that this mood will continue."

The deal is being seen as the first tangible - if limited - sign of progress in talks aimed at ending a war which has so far claimed 130,000 lives and made two million people refugees.

The talks have yet to touch upon Mr Assad's future.

The thorniest topic - a possible transitional government - will not come up until at least Monday, Mr Brahimi said.

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Israel 'Must Lead Battle' Against 'Quenelle'

By Tom Rayner, Middle East News Editor, Jerusalem

An Israeli lawmaker has said his country must lead from the front in banning the use of Nazi language and symbols, if it expects other countries to take tough measures against anti-Semitism.

In an interview with Sky News, politician Shimon Ohayon said the rise of the "quenelle" gesture in Europe should be seen as a reason for the Israeli parliament to fast-track his proposed new law.

The bill he has put forward would criminalise the use of the word "Nazi" as an insult in Israel.

The "quenelle" gesture, coined by French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, has been perceived by many as an inverted Nazi salute.

French comedian Dieudonne coined the 'quenelle' gesture

Fans have been pictured making the "quenelle" pose outside places such as the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam and the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

Dieudonne has numerous convictions for hate speech against Jews, and his show has recently been banned in some French cities.

He denies it is anti-Semitic, saying it is instead a symbol of emancipation.

Shimon Ohayon wants to ban the use of 'Nazi' as an insult in Israel

While Mr Ohayon welcomes the support that France's President Francois Hollande has given to the bans issued to Dieudonne, he says Israel must lead by example when it comes to passing tougher laws.

"We have to lead. Israel as a Jewish state must lead this battle, to be on the front. If we are expecting other countries to pass legislation to prohibit Nazi symbols we have to lead."

Within Israel itself, is not so much anti-Semitism as the use of Nazi references as insults between Jews which prompted the drafting of the law.

At sports fixtures opposing fans have often been heard to sing chants accusing their opponents of being "Nazis".

On Facebook, opposition to particular government policies have sometimes resulted in doctored photographs going being uploaded, showing the ministers responsible with superimposed Hitler-esque moustaches or wearing SS uniform.

Protests against extending the compulsory military draft in the country to ultra-orthodox Jews has also resulted in demonstrations in which holocaust imagery was used.

Ultra-orthodox children have been paraded wearing striped pyjamas and yellow star of David badges - the implication being that the Israeli authorities themselves are behaving like the Nazis.

Children have been paraded wearing yellow star of David badges

Similar use of yellow stars was employed by settlers who were removed from Gaza in Israel's unilateral withdrawal in 2005.

There are fears that use of Nazi references in these ways erodes understanding of the significance and importance of the holocaust, but critics say the proposed new law would be overly draconian and would curtail freedom of speech.

Others, such as Avner Shalev, the director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem, believe the problem can be tackled with other means.

"I do believe that educational means might do the same function, they have made the difference in the past. I think they can create the right atmosphere in public discourse, and build up the culture of public discourse, which is more important than the bill."

The draft law has passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament.

It will be debated a further two times before it can be voted into law.

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