Police in India have arrested an air force officer for allegedly sharing classified information online with Pakistani spies who pretended to be female models.
Arun Marwaha, 51, allegedly exchanged classified documents in exchange for obscene photos on WhatsApp.
Mr Marwaha, a skydiving instructor, was reportedly detained on 31 January. He was arrested on Thursday.
If convicted he faces 14 years in jail under India’s official secrets act.
Indian news website NDTV reported that two agents from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence reached out to Mr Marwaha on Facebook a few months ago.
They allegedly used fake profiles which led him to believe they were women after which they began regularly communicating with him on WhatsApp.
Police told Indian reporters that there was no evidence of any money being exchanged for the information.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionThe diplomatic row broke out over allegations the Iranian delegation was being snubbed by organisers
The head of the Pyeongchang Olympics’ organising committee has apologised to Iran after a diplomatic row broke out over commemorative Olympic smartphones.
Lee Hee-beom intervened after Iranians reacted with fury to news their team, along with the North Koreans, would not receive the special “Olympic Edition” Samsung Galaxy Note 8 handsets being given to all other competitors at the Games in South Korea.
Reports of the snub have resulted in the South Korean ambassador to Tehran being summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry. The Iranian prosecutor-general has also ordered that Samsung’s boss in Iran be summoned for questioning, and on social media many tech-loving Iranians are now calling for a boycott of Samsung products.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has since clarified that Iranian athletes will receive the Samsung phones.
‘Against the Olympics spirit’
The row began two days before the opening ceremony when the Iranian team queued up at the Samsung stall at the Olympic complex to receive the commemorative phones.
According to the head of Iran’s National Olympic Committee the team were sent away empty handed because “UN sanctions” banned the supply of luxury goods to Iran.
The incident made headlines in Iran, where both officials and ordinary Iranians saw it as a huge insult and something which could not go unanswered.
Bahram Ghassemi, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign minister, described the move as “immoral and against the Olympic spirit”.
He said the South Korean ambassador had been told that unless Samsung apologised, trade relations with Iran would suffer.
A day later, Iran’s prosecutor-general asked his deputy to summon Samsung’s boss in Iran for questioning.
Image copyrightAFP/GETTYImage captionSamsung gave more than 4,000 special edition Note 8 devices to the IOC
It was also widely reported in the Iranian media that Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, was considering changing his own Samsung Galaxy S8 handset for a different model.
Not everyone was satisfied with this response and many Iranians took to Twitter to vent their anger.
“As our government is useless,” wrote one, “we ourselves should show Samsung that humiliating Iranians results in #SamsungBoycott”.
For Samsung, this was clearly worrying news.
Iran, which has a huge population of young people, is the biggest smartphone market in the Middle East. It is estimated that some 48 million people in Iran own the devices. And crucially, it’s a market that is still growing.
Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGESImage captionIran has a growing market of smartphone users
According to the Iranian app store, Café Bazaar, some 51% of Android phones in Iran are made by Samsung, underlying the country’s importance for the electronics giant.
Possibly sensing a business opportunity, Samsung’s South Korean rival, LG, was quick to intervene in the row, announcing it would give every Iranian athlete competing in the Winter Olympics a top-end smartphone as well as a 55-inch (140cm) TV.
It’s still not clear exactly why the Iranians were denied their phones.
A spokesman for Samsung told BBC Persian it had provided more than 4,000 special edition handsets to the Pyeongchang organising committee and that it was up to the IOC to answer questions about how they were distributed.
The IOC told OP’S NEWS Persian that everyone participating in the Games should receive a mobile phone, and that the Iranian team – unlike their North Korean counterparts -would definitely be allowed to take them back home.
Both the organisers, and also Samsung, will no doubt be hoping the matter is now resolved.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionMiu Suzaki and Ryuichi Kihara helped Japan come third on the opening day of the figure skating team competition
Team Japan have delighted anime fans by performing a figure skating routine set to music from the popular Yuri On Ice animated series at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
It only took a few notes for fans to recognise the music and respond on social media. One user in Japan labelled the moment “real Olympic history,” while another in Canada said it was a “fabulous if not magical performance”.
Yuri On Ice is a sports anime centred around international Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki, and his relationships with two Russian skaters, idol Victor Nikiforov and rival Yuri Plisetsky.
United States viewers were aided by commentary from former US Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, who explained where they might recognise the music from.
Within hours, tens of thousands of tweets, likes and retweets about the performance had spread across the world, with many “sobbing” and “fangirling” that the Olympics – and those covering the sports – had to talk about the show.
Media captionThe bus was carrying people from a race course when it overturned
A double-decker bus has crashed in Hong Kong killing 18 people and injuring nearly 50, officials say.
The bus was carrying spectators and workers from horse races before it overturned in the New Territories area.
Reports suggest it was going too fast. Some passengers managed to climb out of the vehicle on their own, but others had to be cut free by firefighters.
Hong Kong’s public transport is usually safe, and deadly accidents of this scale are relatively infrequent.
Representatives from the bus operator said on Saturday evening that the driver had a good track record and knew the route, which only runs on race days.
Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam said she was “deeply saddened”, after visiting one of the 12 hospitals that were treating the injured.
She told reporters that an independent investigation led by a judge would carried out to establish what caused the crash.
Earlier reports said that 19 people were killed.
Saturday’s accident appears to be the worst since July 2003, when a double-decker fell off an elevated road after being hit by a lorry, killing 21 people.
Image copyrightAFP/GETTYImage captionSaudi women have to wear the abaya by law where they might be seen by a man who is not a relative
Saudi women should not have to wear the abaya, a long loose-fitting robe used to cover their bodies in public, a top religious cleric has said.
Sheikh Abdullah al-Mutlaq, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars, said women should dress modestly, but this did not have to mean wearing the abaya.
Saudi women are currently required to wear the garment by law.
The cleric’s intervention comes amid moves to modernise Saudi society and relax restriction on women.
“More than 90% of pious Muslim women in the Muslim world do not wear abayas. So we should not force people to wear abayas,” Sheikh Mutlaq said on Friday.
“Even if one hundred fatwas have been issued, I swear to God I will never leave my abaya. Over my dead body. Girls, do not listen to the fatwas…” wrote twitter user @Kooshe90.
Image copyrightAFP/GETTYImage captionWomen were allowed to watch some football games in stadiums last month
Women who do not wear the abaya in places where they may be seen by men who are not related to them face being chastised by the religious police.
In 2016, a Saudi woman was detained for removing her abaya on a main street in the capital of Riyadh, Reuters news agency reported.
However in recent years Saudi women have begun wearing more colourful abayas that contrast with the traditional black, and open abayas worn over long skirts or jeans are also becoming more common in some parts of the country, Reuters says.
What is the background?
Sheikh Mutlaq’s intervention follows earlier moves to modernise Saudi society, part of a social reform plan spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has pledged to transform the country with the government’s Vision 2030 programme.
It is aimed at giving more freedom to Saudi women, who face strict gender segregation rules, and follows the historic lifting of a driving ban in September 2017.
In the same month, women were allowed to participate in Saudi Arabia’s National Day celebrations for the first time.
Last month women were permitted to watch football live in stadiums in some cities.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionLebanese singer Hiba Tawaji performs at the first ever female concert in Riyadh
Last year, Saudi Arabia also announced that it was lifting a ban on commercial cinemas that has lasted more than three decades. The first cinemas are expected to open in March this year.
In December, thousands of women cheered and rose in a standing ovation at the first public concert performed by a female singer in the country.
Up until now, such sports and entertainment venues have been men-only areas.
What can Saudi women still not do?
There are many things that Saudi women are unable to do without permission from the men in their lives.
These things include, but are not limited to:
Applying for passports
Travelling abroad
Getting married
Opening a bank account
Starting certain businesses
Getting elective surgery
Leaving prison
These restrictions are down to Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system, which has aligned the country with a strict form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism.
Under the system, every woman must have a male companion with her in public, usually a close family member, who has authority to act on her behalf in these circumstances.
This has helped create one of the most gender unequal countries in the Middle East.
Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGESImage captionTheewaterskloof Dam has less than 20% of its water capacity and Capetonians are feeling the strain
When the forecasts turned out to be true and rain fell from the skies, the residents of Cape Town in South Africa rejoiced, thanked God and stood outside to feel the water on their skin.
In the drought-hit city, Friday night’s 8mm (0.3 inches) was long-desired.
Residents of the city have been under orders to save water meticulously to avoid the city’s taps running dry.
There is a very real chance that Cape Town will simply run out of water.
The city has had low rainfall for three years.
In January, local authorities slashed residents’ water allowance to 50 litres (88 pints) each a day. That’s enough for a very short shower and just one flush of the toilet when other needs – including just one load of the washing machine a week – are taken into account.
One pastor, who had led prayer for rain in Cape Town, said his prayers had been answered.
“It’s a confirmation that I am a true prophet and whatever that I have promised Cape Town has come to pass,” Paseka “Mboro” Motsoeneng said, complaining that the media had not taken his prayer seriously.
Sadly for residents, it is unlikely that the shower will lift the city’s water woes.
They have been watching the date of the city’s “Day Zero” move for several months. That’s the day when taps will be switched off to private homes and residents will have to go to collection points for rationed water.
Now, instead of April, “Day Zero” is projected to arrive on 11 May.
But it is because farmers around the city have been using less water – not because of that small amount of rain.
Marvel Studios is presenting an event at New York Fashion week this month called ‘Black Panther: Welcome to Wakanda’ to show off clothes inspired by the new superhero movie.
And at the European premiere stars like Stormzy and John Boyega weren’t far behind the curve, mixing suit trousers with West African prints.
There is a wealth of good stories to be read in this week’s weekly papers, from issues that affect local communities to tales of great kindness.
“Trust apologises to family after incident in mortuary,” is the headline of the second story in this week’s Impartial Reporter.
The ‘incident’ in question was that the wrong body was given to an undertaker.
It happened in recent months, the paper reports in the exclusive story.
The Western Trust has apologised to the family concerned.
Former journalist with the Impartial Reporter, Denzil McDaniel, writes a weekly column in the paper – ‘How I see it’.
‘Most important story’
This week he reflects on the “most important story” he was involved in during his long career, efforts to discover the truth about what happened to Lucy Crawford.
Following the report from the hyponatraemia inquiry, which Lucy Crawford’s parents had withdrawn from, Mr McDaniel writes that he has been in “reflective mood”.
He was warned at the time that pursuing the story could cost him his job, he recalls.
His description of reporting on the story in the face of considerable opposition is a gripping account of a tragic event.
“Rest assured there are still many people who will hunt out the truth in the future,” he concludes.
The gift of life
The Ulster Gazette’s lead story is extraordinary: “Melvin’s previous gift of life”.
Mevlin Boyd had been living in a hostel in Armagh City when he met Pastor John Greenaway after calling in to a faith bookshop to buy a Bible.
Given a place to stay by Pastor Greenaway Melvin offered him a kidney after hearing that he was suffering from kidney failure, despite only having met him months before.
Mr Boyd told the paper that he did not feel like he had lost anything as he has gained a home, “all thanks to God answering his prayers”.
The Ulster Gazette also has a page of analysis on proposed boundary changes to the Newry and Armagh parliamentary constituency.
Image captionThe village of Broughshane has long attracted admirers
Meanwhile, it is a big week for Broughshane.
The County Antrim Village is in the final of the Channel 4 series UK Village of the Year programme, and that unsurprisingly is the front page splash in the Ballymena Guardian.
It is “a very exciting time in the village,” the chair of the community association told the Guardian.
There is a cash prize of £10,000 available to the winner. The final will air on Channel 4 on Saturday.
Highlighting a very different aspect of life the paper reveals that there were more than 10,000 calls to the Samaritans in Ballymena in 2017.
Some 44 people act as volunteers at the branch.
Newry Democrat
“District’s rates set to rise again,” is the lead in the Newry Democrat.
Ratepayers across Newry, Mourne and Down will see a 3.38% rates increase in the next financial year, the paper reports.
The Democrat also reports on con men scamming people in County Down out of their money.
Image copyrightPRESS ASSOCIATION / DOMINIC LIPINSKIImage captionThe PSNI are warning people never to let anyone take control of their computer
The PSNI is urging people to be extra careful online and to never allow anyone to take control of their computer.
“Nuclear community fund offer is a ‘bribe’,” is perhaps an unexpected headline in the Democrat.
The story is founded on an SDLP councillor’s comments on a government fund which seeks to entice communities to accept an underground nuclear waste facility in their area.
It is pretty safe to say that Cllr Michael Carr will not be accepting such a facility in the Warrenpoint area.
Free parking
“Call to make Mid-Ulster area a free parking zone,” is the splash in the Mid-Ulster Mail.
Campaigners opposed to the introduction of parking fees at council car parks in Mid-Ulster are calling for the council area to be declared “a free car parking zone”.
The group, Campaign Against Car Park Charges, believes the matter is to be discussed at a council committee meeting on 13 February.
The Mail also has an interesting analysis of how proposed boundary changes could effect the Fermanagh and South Tyrone and Mid-Ulster parliamentary constituencies.
Local loyalty
Local papers tend to know their stuff and how to sell themselves and that certainly seems to be the case with the Coleraine Chronicle.
98-year-old Kathleen Callaghan is pictured in a hospital bed in Canada whilst reading, you guessed it, the Chronicle!
Kathleen was born in 1920 in the town before emigrating at the age of 10.
She remains very proud of her north-coast roots, the Chronicle assures us.
Media captionA woman verbally abused a post office worker
A video of a post office employee being racially abused by a customer has sparked a police investigation.
Officers confirmed on Friday they are looking into the outburst at a post office on Camden High Street, north London, on 24 January.
Samrat Hanif, who caught the tirade on camera before posting it online, said “everyone was shocked” when a woman began “screaming” at the staff member.
The Met said it was looking for other possible victims.
Mr Hanif, from London, had been standing in the queue when the woman began shouting at the postal assistant.
“All of a sudden I heard she’s screaming. I don’t know why she was angry,” he said.
He hopes the sensation caused by his Facebook video, which has had more than 900,000 views, will mean “this lady will never ever do this again”.
Image copyrightGOOGLEImage captionThe outburst happened at the Camden High Street Post Office branch
The Post Office’s headquarters has offered its “full support” to the team in Camden.
“We expect all of our people to be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and are very concerned by this incident,” it added in a statement.
Police said the rant “appears to be hate crime-related” and they are making enquiries to trace other possible victims.
A spokesman added: “The Met is committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms and we have long since recognised the impact of hate crime on communities.
“Victims of hate crime can be assured that they will be taken seriously by the police.”
The victim, a 53-year-old man, did not wish to make a formal complaint, the force added.
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