The 31-year-old is standing trial for murder after allegedly attacking two women near Germany's famed Neuschwanstein castle, one of the country's most visited sites. The trial of a US man accused of murder and rape near Germany's famed Neuschwanstein Castle began on Monday. The 31-year-old is alleged to have pushed two fellow US tourists into a ravine close to the popular tourist attraction in the southern state of Bavaria last June. One of the women died as a result of her injuries. What we know about the attack The women, aged 21 and 22, had been hiking on June 14, 2023, during a visit to Germany following graduation from university.  Having approached and then persuaded the women to follow him down a trail to a lookout point near the Marienbrücke bridge, the man allegedly shoved the younger woman to the ground and proceeded to undress her. When the 22-year-old woman intervened, he is said to have pushed her down a slope. German prosecutors suspect the man then strangled the younger woman until she was unconscious before raping her and also throwing her down the slope. The 22-year-old suffered serious injuries but survived. The younger woman was air-lifted to hospital by mountain rescue but later died from her injuries. The man is charged with murder, rape resulting in death, attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and possession of child pornography, after files were allegedly found on his phone and computer. The trial is taking place over six days at a district court in the town of Kempten. A verdict is expected in mid-March. Neuschwanstein castle is one of the most most popular tourist sites in Germany, attracting around 1.5 million visitors a year.

The South African ex-Paralympian served almost nine years for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius claimed he shot her thinking it was an intruder, something the model's family find hard to believe.   South African athlete Oscar Pistorius was released on parole on Friday, nearly 11 years after murdering his then-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in an incident the former Paralympic star claimed was an act of self-defense. "The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024. He was admitted into the system of Community Corrections and is now at home," the DCS said in a statement.   The athlete killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, by firing four shots through the bathroom door at his Pretoria home in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013. Pistorius, now 37, has repeatedly said he believed that he was shooting at an intruder while his girlfriend was lying asleep in his bed. Prosecutors argued he killed her intentionally during a late-night argument. The sprint star, who has been a double-amputee since infancy and dubbed "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison following a trial that gripped not only South Africa, but also the watching world.   Changing sentences In October 2014, Pistorius was initially sentenced to a maximum of five years for culpable homicide for killing Steenkamp. He was released on house arrest in October 2015 after serving one sixth of his sentence. However, the state appealed, and in December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the conviction for culpable homicide, finding him guilty of murder instead and sentencing him to six years. The sentence was later increased to 13 years after prosecutors argued the punishment was too lenient.   In November 2023, a panel granted him release on parole after recognizing he had completed the minimum detention requirement under South African law. At the time of the killing, Pistorius was at the peak of his career having won six gold medals over three Paralympic Games.   What are the conditions of Pistorius' parole? Pistorius' parole conditions include several restrictions, such as a curfew limiting when he can leave his house, a prohibition on alcohol consumption, and mandatory participation in an anger management program. He will also have to undergo a program on violence against women, as well as perform community service.   Pistorius was expected to initially live at his uncle's mansion in the upscale suburb of Waterkloof in Pretoria. He will not be allowed to leave that district authorization.   He will have to meet regularly with his parole officers and will be subjected to unannounced visits by authorities. The former Olympic athlete is also barred from talking to the media until his sentence expires in 2029. Violation of any of these conditions could result in his return to jail.   What is the Steenkamp family's stance? The family of Reeva Steenkamp say they believe Pistorius intentionally killed his girlfriend after becoming enraged in an argument. While the family did not oppose his parole application in November last year, Steenkamp's mother June said in a victim statement that she did not believe Pistorius had been fully rehabilitated. She said she still believed Pistorius was lying about the killing but had managed to forgive him as "I would not be able to survive if I had to cling to my anger."   June also said she believed Pistorius was still refusing to admit to "the dastardly murder of Reeva." She only wanted him to one day come clean, she said. In new comments on Friday, June said that she had accepted Pistorius' parole as part of South African law, but added: "There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back." "We, who remain behind, are the ones serving a life sentence," she said.

The President of Baloch Voice Association (BVA), Munir Mengal on Tuesday questioned the Canadian authorities for not investigating the “mysterious” death of Human rights activist, Karima Baloch and requested them to public the evidence they found in the case. “To the Canadian government and particularly to the Prime Minister of Canada, we Baloch are looking to your organization and we are asking you please do reinvestigate the case of Karima Baloch and whatever facts your organizations, your authorities, your police has. Please publish that and give us under what circumstances she was killed and who was behind that killing,” Mengal said. Source: The Print

India on Wednesday issued an alert to its citizens regarding travel to Canada amid a diplomatic standoff between New Delhi and Ottawa over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in the Vancouver metropolitan area.  "In view of growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada, all Indian nationals there, and those contemplating travel, are urged to exercise utmost caution," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement posted on social media.   Hundreds of thousands of Indians choose to study in Canada. The Indian government called on Indian students in the North American country "to exercise extreme caution and remain vigilant," citing what it called Canada's "deteriorating security environment." Canada probes 'credible accusations' as Sikhs call for justice  Tensions between India and Canada skyrocketed on Monday after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was probing "credible allegations" tying Indian agents to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Trudeau also announced that Canada would expel an Indian diplomat over the controversy.  Nijjar, an Indian-born figurehead in the separatist Khalistan movement who holds Canadian citizenship, was killed by masked gunmen in British Colombia in June. The act, which occurred outside of a Sikh religious center, stirred outrage among members of that religious minority in Canada.   "We are happy to see India being held accountable," Harkit Singh Dhadda, an attorney in the greater Toronto area and a prominent voice in the city's Sikh community, told AFP news agency.  "We want a full investigation that brings to justice the people involved in this assassination, including those who pulled the trigger and the ones who plotted this assassination," he added. Canada has not yet provided concrete evidence that India was behind Nijjar's killing. A source told Reuters news agency that Canada cooperated "very closely" with the US on intelligence connecting India to Nijjar's murder.    As Trudeau faces a tough election battle in 2025, his top opponent, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, urged the government Tuesday to "come clean" on information regarding India's role in the murder.    India calls Canada's claims 'absurd' India has rebuked the "absurd" notion that it had anything to do with Nijjar's killing. After Trudeau's accusations this week, New Delhi said on Tuesday it handed a Canadian diplomat a five-day notice to leave India.      Indian authorities formally listed Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020, a label which he has rejected. In the 1970s and 1980s, members of the Khalistan movement waged an insurgency in the northern Indian state of Punjab, leading to a bloody conflict with the Indian government.   India's Hindu nationalist government has accused Canada of being soft on Sikh separatism. The opposition Indian National Congress Party has backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in its firm stance on the matter.  A senior Congress legislator, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, has called Trudeau's defense of Nijjar "shameful" and said the "Canadian regime is in bed with Khalistani sympathizers."  The debacle over Nijjar's killing has caused Canada-India relations to sink to their lowest level in years. It's a reversal from 2018, when Trudeau visited India for a week, with the prime minister ostentatiously showing off Indian attire.    Sikhism is India's fourth most prevalent religion after Hinduism, Islam and Christianity in that order, according to the country's last census in 2011. Just under 2% of the population were registered as Sikh in that study. The Khalistan movement seeks to establish a Sikh homeland on northern Indian or Pakistani territory, with various suggestions on precisely where or how large it ought to be.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament that his government had "credible" reasons to believe that "agents of the government of India" were responsible for the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in the western province of British Columbia three months ago. "Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," Trudeau said in a statement to the House of Commons. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Monday "the head" of Indian intelligence in Canada was ordered to leave the country. On Tuesday, India responded by expelling a high-level Canadian diplomat based in India. India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that "allegations of government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd." The statement added that India is a "democratic polity" with a "strong commitment to rule of law" and urged Canada to take "prompt and effective legal action" against all "anti-India elements operating from their soil." Former Indian diplomat Anil Wadhwa told DW that Canada has made a mistake by "escalating the issue," after India rejected having been involved in the killing, and should have "worked with Indian authorities to allay any concerns." "I see a further escalation in this spat, which will affect our trade and people to people ties in a major way. This will play out in international fora as well. It will be a downhill slope for India-Canadian relations," Wadhwa said. Canada home to Sikh diaspora On June 18, Sikh leader and activist Nijjar was gunned down by two masked assailants as he left a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. According to media reports, Nijjar was a prominent organizer in the Sikh community in Canada. He was also a proponent of the "Khalistan Movement," which calls for a Sikh homeland by carving out an ethno-religious state in India's Punjab region. The movement dates back to India and Pakistan's independence in 1947, when the idea was pushed forward in negotiations preceding the partition of the Punjab region between the two new countries. India's government has outlawed the Khalistan Movement as a security threat, and over the decades, there have been periodic episodes of violence related to the movement, including a decade-long insurgency in Punjab during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1985, Canada-based Sikh militants were responsible for the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland that killed all 329 passengers and crew, including 268 Canadian citizens. Indian officials said Nijjar, who came to Canada in 1979 claiming refugee status, had been organizing an unofficial referendum among the Sikh diaspora in Surrey. India's government had labelled him a terrorist, and sought to have him extradited. Canada is home to the largest population of Sikhs outside of Punjab, and the Sikh diaspora in Canada often stages activism and peaceful protests for Sikh causes. "That Canadian political figures have openly expressed sympathy for such elements remains a matter of deep concern," India's government said in a statement in response to Trudeau's announcement. Priti Singh, a professor from the Centre for Canadian, US and Latin American Studies at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University said Trudeau was using the killing to shore up his image domestically in the light of falling approval ratings. "This issue was raised publicly by Canada when back door diplomatic channels are there to resolve it. This sharp escalation in rhetoric is because Trudeau is losing domestic support," Singh told DW. Canada-India ties hit new low The tit for tat diplomat expulsions mark scaled-up tensions between Canada and India, which have been exacerbated by what India perceives as Canadian indifference to the activities of pro-Khalistan elements in Canada. "They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship," said a statement released this week by the Indian prime minister's office. In 2022, tensions between Canada and India were also raised after a Sikh separatist group organized a so-called referendum in the Canadian city of Brampton on Khalistan. India's government at the time condemned Canada for allowing the vote to take place. In July, India was particularly irked by a float at a pro-Khalistan rally in Toronto, which gruesomely depicted the 1984 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was killed by her Sikh bodyguards. At the sidelines of the recent G20 summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about his concerns over "extremist elements" in Canada during his meeting with Trudeau. Trudeau had reportedly raised Nijjar's killing directly with Modi during the G20 summit, and urged the government of India to cooperate with Canada. At the same summit, Canada announced it would pause talks on a free-trade agreement with India. Meera Shankar, a former Indian ambassador to the US, said the diplomatic spat is unfortunate given that India and Canada have much to gain by strengthening cooperation. Shankar told DW that "extremist elements" are given "free reign" in Canada, and claimed that Trudeau's government was pandering to Sikh voters for political support. "Liberal principles or the cultivation of domestic constituencies should not involve tolerance of violence, or threats to Indian diplomats, or funding of violent activities in India," she said. Canada is home to nearly 800,000 Sikhs, who represent an important political constituency. Four Sikh cabinet ministers were appointed by Trudeau in 2015. However, Ravinder Singh Ahuja, president of the Sikh Forum in New Delhi, told DW that the Khalistan Movement is often misconstrued as representing the will of the entire Sikh community worldwide. "Khalistan is not a reflection of the Sikhs living in India. It is not a physical or geographical line that is drawn and is merely utopian," he said.

A 98-year-old man has been charged with being an accessory to murder over complicity in the killings of more than 3,300 people at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, German authorities said on Friday. The German man was an adolescent when he worked as an SS watchman at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between July 1943 and February 1945. Prosecutors alleged the man "supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail" during that time. Sachsenhausen was situated north of Berlin. More than 200,000 people were held at the concentration camp, including Jewish people, political prisoners and other victims of Nazi persecution. Scholars suggest around around 40,000 to 50,000 prisoners were killed there. The race to prosecute surviving Nazis A psychiatric assessment found the 98-year-old man, whose name was not released, fit to stand trial. However, given his young age at the time of the alleged crime, a juvenile court in Hanau will decide whether to open proceedings. The conviction of former Nazi guard John Demjanjuk in 2011 set a precedent in German law that allowed others to be prosecuted for their actions during the Holocaust. Since then, Germany has seen a stream of legal actions against surviving SS personnel.  But due to the advanced aged of the accused, many of these trials have had to be cancelled on health grounds. Convictions do not always lead to imprisonment. Some defendants have died before they could begin to serve their jail terms.

Dr Mia Mohiuddin and Jahangir Alam, the two convicted killers of Dr S Taher Ahmed are likely to be executed at 10.01 pm on Thursday, July 27. Two convicted will be hanged at the same time, authorities of Rajshahi Central Jail confirmed the information.   Earlier, on Wednesday, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court published its verdict that rejected an appeal filed by two convicts seeking a review of the judgment in the murder case. On February 1, 2006, Dr S Taher Ahmed was killed and police recovered his body from a septic tank behind his residence on the university campus on February 3 of the same year. His son, Sanjid Alvi Ahmed, filed the case with the Motihar police station on the same day. On March 17, 2007, police pressed charges against six. 

Police had registered an "abetment to murder" case against the former prime minister over the killing of a lawyer by unknown gunmen. Imran Khan also received bail in 16 other cases, the Dawn daily reported. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday secured bail from Islamabad's High Court. This blocks his arrest in an abetment for murder case for 14 days. Dozens of other charges have also been raised against him. The Pakistani daily Dawn reported Khan also received bail in 16 other cases from Islamabad's High Court, anti-terrorism court and district court. His lawyer Gohar Khan said that Imran Khan had traveled to Islamabad from his home in Lahore to seek bail in over a dozen cases to avoid a new arrest. According to Dawn, the former prime minister also appeared at the National Accountability Bureau's office in the northern city of Rawalpindi for an investigation into corruption allegations. Also on Thursday, Imran Khan said in a video to supporters that he will "fight this system of oppression till my last breath." Why is Pakistan facing a political crisis? The ousted leader was initially arrested on May 9 and held for three days on corruption charges. He is now free on bail in a range of other criminal cases. The initial charges were levied against Khan after he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022. The arrest sparked protests by supporters of Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who attacked military facilities. Khan argues that the cases against him are to ensure that he is excluded from elections later this year. On Wednesday, Pakistan's military denied allegations of human rights abuses without naming the former prime minister explicitly. Khan and his supporters have claimed that they have been subject to torture as part of a crackdown against them. Late last month, officials announced that a travel ban had been imposed on Khan, his wife and hundreds of his political aides. What is the abetment to murder case against Imran Khan? On Wednesday, police registered an "abetment to murder" case against Imran Khan over the killing of a lawyer by unknown gunmen. The slain lawyer, Abdul Razzaq Shar, had filed a court petition seeking sedition proceedings against Khan for dissolving the government after the no-confidence motion. Police said that Shar was shot and killed by men on a motorcycle on Tuesday when he was on his way to court in Quetta in the southwestern Balochistan region. It was not immediately clear how the link between the gunmen and Khan had been established

Eight Sialkot police officers and employees have been sacked in Pakistan over their involvement in murder and corruption cases and absence from government duty, Dawn reported. According to the department, DPOHasan Iqbal took action against 135 officials after complaints of people and departmental inquiries. The department forcibly retired ASI Ijaz Ahmed for receiving a bribe from a person and ASI Murtaza Ghamman over their involvement in a murder case. Constable Muhammad Rashid has been dismissed for his involvement in a murder case in Shakargarh. Meanwhile, Azmat Ali was dismissed for his involvement in the Satrah police station murder case, as per the Dawn report. Furthermore, constables Zeeshan Ahmed, Shiraz Ahmed and Adeel Ashraf and police van driver Yasin were sacked for continuous absence from government duty. The department ordered the confiscation of services of 85 police and traffic police officers and employees for their negligence in duty. DPOHasan Iqbal directed 43 police officers and employees to continue their work and warned them regarding departmental disqualification, as per the Dawn report. Meanwhile, the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) police, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, raided Shah Latif Town police station and recovered two youngsters who were abducted for ransom by Karachi Police, The News International reported. The two kidnapped youths - Asad and Arman were abducted from Zakaria Goth for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh, but a deal was settled for Rs 10 lakh. During the raid, the AVCC police arrested four suspects, including two policemen, as per the news report. A case has been lodged against them while the search for another suspect, who happens to be the incharge of a special party of Malir Division police, is being conducted. SHO Shah Latif denied his involvement in the kidnapping of the two youths, as per The News International report. However, he has been suspended and the District Malir SSP has started an inquiry to find how the abducted youths were brought and kept at the Shah Latif police station. "I have no link with the kidnapping," the suspended Shah Latif SHO, Malik Mazhar Iqbal Awan, said as he spoke to The News. He further said, "Those who were involved in the kidnapping have been arrested and a case against them registered."

A court in Cox’s Bazar today sentenced former Teknaf Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Pradip Kumar Das and Baharchora Police Camp inspector Liakat Ali to death in the sensational Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashid Khan murder trial.   Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail pronounced the judgment in presence of all 15 accused at the crowded courtroom.   The court also sentenced sub-inspector Nanda Dulal Rakshit, constable Rubel Sharma, ASI Sagar Deb, Nurul Amin, Nezam Uddin and Mohammad Ayaz Uddin to life imprisonment.   The seven other accused including Armed Police Battalion (APBn) sub-inspector Mohammad Shahjahan, constables Mohammad Rajib and Mohammad Abdullah were acquitted from the case as the charges framed against them were not proved. Source: BSS AH