Saudi woman executed for witchcraft

A Saudi woman was beheaded after being convicted of practicing "witchcraft and sorcery," according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, at least the second such execution for sorcery this year.

The woman, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar, was executed in the northern Saudi province of al-Jawf on Monday.

A source close to the Saudi religious police told Arab newspaper al Hayat that authorities who searched Nassar's home found a book about witchcraft, 35 veils and glass bottles full of "an unknown liquid used for sorcery" among her possessions. According to reports, authorities said Nassar claimed to be a healer and would sell a veil and three bottles for 1500 riyals, or about $400.

According to the ministry, Nassar's death sentence was upheld by an appeals court and the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council.

Philip Luther, the interim direct of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program, condemned Nassar's killing, calling it "deeply shocking."

"The charges of 'witchcraft and sorcery' are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia and to use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling," Luther said.

Luther said that a charge of sorcery is often used by the Saudi government as a smokescreen under which they punish people for exercising freedom of speech.

Nassar was not the first person to be executed for alleged witchcraft by the Saudi government this year. In September, a Sudanese man was publicly decapitated with a sword in the city of Medina after he was found guilty of the same crime.

According to Amnesty International, at least 79 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far in 2011, more than three times as many as in 2010. The human rights group condemned the kingdom's reliance on capital punishment.

"Where the death penalty is used, under international law it should only be applied to the most serious crimes," Luther said.

The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UK unemployment increases to 2.64m

UK unemployment rose by 128,000 in the three months to October to 2.64 million, the highest level since 1994.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the jobless rate was 8.3%, up from 7.9% in the previous quarter.

Youth unemployment rose to 1.027 million, the highest since records began in 1992, beating the previous record set only last month.

The number of people out of work and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by 3,000 to 1.6 million in November.

However, the rate of increase in the claimant count showed signs of slowing down.

The 3,000 rise was much less than the approximate 15,000 figure expected on average by economists.

Moreover, the ONS also revised down the October increase in the claimant count from the 5,300 reported last month to just 2,500.
'Wasted lives'

The young continued to bear the brunt of the lack of jobs in the UK - a problem shared by many other countries.

The unemployment rate among 16 to 24-year-olds rose to 22% in the three months to October, up from 20.8% three months earlier.

Although this was the highest rate since formal records began in 1992, the ONS said it estimated that the rate had been higher in the mid-80s

"Too many young lives are being wasted in the dole queue," said Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust youth charity.

"It is frightening to think that more than two-fifths of unemployed young people have been jobless for more than six months.

"Long-term unemployed young people are the most vulnerable, with many trapped in a vicious cycle of joblessness, anxiety and depression."
Gloomy outlook

The total number of people of all ages in employment fell by 63,000 compared with three months earlier, to 29.11 million.

That was largely driven by 67,000 job losses in the public sector. The private sector added just 5,000 jobs over the same period.

"This is another grim month for jobs, with private sector companies still reluctant to hire," said Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors.

"The ongoing failure to resolve the euro crisis is likely to mean that unemployment rises still further over the winter. Many businesses are still watching and waiting."

There are widespread expectations that the UK may be entering a recession, particularly if the eurozone debt crisis worsens in the coming months.
Sluggish wages

Economists disagreed over how much weight to give the surprisingly small increase in the latest Jobseeker's Allowance figure.

"The claimant count series has been heavily distorted by changes to lone parent benefit entitlement, which led to big increases through the middle of this year, and which was always going to wash out," said Ross Walker, economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

However, Brian Hilliard, economist at Societe Generale took the opposite view: "The number to focus on is the claimant count figures.

"It's not enough to make people revise their forecasts but it's a comforting feature when everything else is so gloomy."

Over the summer, the number of claimants had been rising much more quickly than the official unemployment count, which is based on a survey.

But since July, the rise in the claimant count has steadily tapered off, whereas the number of unemployed has risen more quickly.

Meanwhile, wages continued to rise well below the rate of inflation. Excluding bonuses, average pay rose 1.8% from a year ago, and by just 0.1% from three months ago.

On Tuesday, the ONS reported that the rate of inflation - as measured by the Consumer Prices Index - was 4.8% in November, down from 5% a month earlier.

Tunisia swears in new president

Tunisia has sworn in a new president, a milestone in the North African country that kicked off the dramatic year-long cry for freedom across the Arab world.

He is Moncef Marzouki, a secularist elected on Monday by an Islamist-dominated parliament, the Constituent Assembly. He will fulfill a more ceremonial role as the affairs of state are handled by the prime minister.

Marzouki is the founder of the center-left Congress for the Republic Party. He is well-known for his firebrand style and his opposition to the old regime.

The secular party has formed a coalition with the Ettakatol and Islamist Ennahda Party. Ennahda came in first to become the largest party in Tunisia's first democratic election since the ouster of former dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
The Congress for the Republic Party party came in second in the October elections, collecting 29 out of 217 assembly seats.

Marzouki was the only candidate because the nine other candidates for president did not gather the required 15 signatures from Constituent Assembly members.

The new president lived in exile for the last decade. He is a human rights activist, founded the National Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience and was the head of the Tunisian League of Human Rights.

The elections were historic not only in Tunisia -- which, until now, hadn't had a national election since it became independent in 1956 and for 23 years was ruled by Ben Ali -- but also in the region and the world.

Since Ben Ali was ousted in January -- a month after 26-year-old street vendor Muhammad Al Bouazizi set himself afire after a police officer seized his goods -- residents in several other Arab nations have similarly rallied for democratic reforms and against their leaders, a show of force called the Arab Spring.

Cameroon stars Eto'o and Eyong face strike panel

Cameroon stars Samuel Eto'o and Enoh Eyong are facing a disciplinary hearing in Yaounde today.

It follows the player strike which led to the cancellation of a friendly game against Algeria last month.

The hearing had been scheduled to take place last month but was postponed because of the pair's club commitments.

Eto'o and Eyong are captain and vice-captain of the national team and were part of the squad which refused to play in a row over payments.

The team had played two friendly games in Morocco but did not travel to Algeria to play a third game because of the late payment of appearance fees.

The move caused huge embarrassment to Cameroon's Football Federation Fecafoot and to the country's government.

The hearing is expected to be completed later on Tuesday but it is not known if the decisions will be announced straight away.

Defender Benoit Assou-Ekotou also faces a hearing, over his failure to report for the whole trip - including the two games the rest of the squad did play.

Google Maps reveals secret military spots

Google has come under fire for compromising the national security of the United States with satellite images of secret military bases.

The general public was able to use Google's Maps program to search for the bases, and then zoom in to see airstrips and "possible top-secret military drones", according to reports.

"The discovery of a hidden airstrip at Yucca Lake in Nevada, which is used for testing the R-170 drones similar to the one lost in Iran last week, has raised further concern," Britain's Daily Mail said.

Retired Air Force colonel Cedric Leighton said Iranians would be "most interested in operational bases because that tells them how we fly our surveillance missions".

"Google is making public what was once the sole province of the military and intelligence community, making this a brave new world for the intel agencies as well," he told Fox News.

Col. Leighton said that although Google had the right to show the images to the public, they should opt not to because they comprised military operations.

Aviation website Flight Global said it used Google Maps to discover the secret Yukka Lake airstrip.

"The satellite image, taken in early 2011 and available on Google Maps, appears to show a roughly 5200ft (1585m) asphalt runway and what appears to be a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper UAV being towed on the parking ramp," Flight Global said.

"The airfield has four hangars of varying sizes, including a hangar with clamshell doors that is characteristic of US UAV operations.
"Details of the airfield, including a parking lot, security perimeter and ongoing construction are clearly visible."

Couple jailed over rape and torture of schoolgirl

A Brisbane judge, visibly moved by the details of the rape and torture of a schoolgirl last year, has sentenced her attackers to life imprisonment.

The 42-year-old man and his 33-year-old de facto partner pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to offences including 13 counts of rape, seven counts of indecent treatment of a child, as well as torture, wounding and attempted murder.

The couple lured the 13-year-old victim to their home in a small town near Woodford, north of Brisbane, on the pretence of a sleepover with their daughter.

Instead, they tied her up and subjected her to abuse that was so severe the details were placed in a sealed envelope by court order.

An emotional Justice Martin Daubney wiped away tears as he sentenced the couple to life with no recommendation for parole.
He also declared them to be guilty of serious violent offences.

African Queen boat to be restored

The British-built boat that co-starred with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in 1951 film The African Queen is to be restored and will sail again.

Owner Jim Hendricks, referring to the boat's whistle, told the Key West Citizen it would mean "giving the Queen her voice back".

Mr Hendricks' late father bought the Queen in 1982 for $65,000 (£41,300).

The boat is in a state of disrepair after sitting in a dry dock next to the Key Largo Holiday Inn for 10 years.

Mr Hendricks, who runs the hotel's gift shop, told the Citizen the boat had "several generations of engines built in England".

"She was shipped to Africa and carried over land to Stanleyville where she worked on the Rukki River," he added.

He said the boat, previously named the Livingstone, was acquired by director John Huston and Sam Spiegel in 1950 and renamed the African Queen.

The wooden boat was originally built in 1912 for the British East Africa Railway Company, according to The Times newspaper.

Huston's World War I film tells the story of American Rose Sayer - played by Hepburn - who escapes a village burned down in German East Africa on a boat owned by rough-and-ready Charlie Allnutt, played by Bogart.

The pair then try to convert the African Queen into a torpedo boat.

The film won Bogart the best actor Oscar in 1952.

Much of the film was shot in the Belgian Congo, with some scenes filmed in England.

After it is restored the boat will be used for cruises.

"I'm looking forward to seeing people's reactions when that little steam engine starts up again and we hear that old 'ker-chunk, ker-chunk'," Mr Hendricks told The Times.