Afghans protest US forces in restive province

Hundreds of residents of Maidan Wardak Province have come to Kabul and staged a protest in front of the parliament, demanding the US forces to adhere to Afghan president's order for US Special Forces to pull out of the eastern province.

Saturday's protest also saw between two and three hundred people from Wardak demand the release of nine locals, whom they believe are under the custody of US forces, the chief of Kabul police's Criminal Investigations Department said.

"The demonstration was peaceful, but the protesters shouted anti-US slogans," General Mohammed Zahir said.

UN denounces US drone use in Pakistan

Critics say the drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas have killed scores of civilians and that they are illegal [EPA]

The United States has violated Pakistan's sovereignty and destroyed tribal structures with unmanned aerial drone strikes in its counterterrorism near the Afghan border, a UN human rights investigator has said. "As a matter of international law, the US drone campaign in Pakistan is ... being conducted without the consent of the elected representatives of the people, or the legitimate Government of the State," Ben Emmerson, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, said in a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on Friday. Emmerson visited Pakistan for three days this week as part of his investigation into the civilian impact of the use of drones and other forms of targeted killings.

Several killed in failed Pakistan jail break

Two suicide bombers have attacked a judicial compound in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing four people and taking hostages, officials said.

One suicide bomber blew himself up outside the crowded complex on Monday, causing the deaths, said Information Minister Mian Iftikhar.
The other attacker entered the complex in an apparent bid to storm into a jail and release fighters held there.
He took hostages and was later shot dead by security forces, Iftikhar said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the operation. Police forces sealed off roads around the complex.

Central & South Asia

Malala Yousafzai has returned to school for the first time since she was shot in the head by the Taliban in October for campaigning for the education of girls.

The 15-year-old said on Tuesday that she had "achieved her dream" and was looking forward to meeting new friends at the independent Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, central England, where she is now living.

Malala was flown to Britain for surgery following the attack and underwent several operations as recently as last month.

"I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school," she said in a statement. "I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity."