Ukraine And Russia Meet At D-Day Event

Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko has met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for informal talks on the sidelines of the D-Day commemorations in France.

In their eagerly anticipated contact, they discussed how Russia could recognise the Ukrainian elections, and a possible ceasefire, according to an official at French President Francois Hollande's office.

The brief interaction, which some reports said was as short as one minute while others said lasted 15 minutes, took place after world leaders gathered for a group photograph.

The two men spoke apart from other leaders apart from Angela Merkel

After the photo, Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained outside as they talked.

No plans have been announced for a formal meeting between the two despite a week of intense diplomacy aimed at resolving the crisis in Ukraine.

The talk is the first meeting between the two leaders since Mr Poroshenko was elected.

Mr Putin has held meetings with Prime Minister David Cameron, Mrs Merkel and French President Francois Hollande this week to discuss sanctions imposed on Russia after it annexed the Crimean peninsula.

It comes after 15 pro-Russian rebels were killed in clashes at a border crossing on Thursday.

Anton Herashchenko, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister, said border guards clashed with armed men who approached the border in trucks from the Russian side of the border close to the village of Marynivka.

Five Ukrainian soldiers were also injured during the clashes.

Parts of the border in eastern Ukraine were closed after the border clash.

Officials have claimed more than 200 people have died in fighting between Ukraine government troops and pro-Russian rebels in recent weeks.

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Amritsar Sword Fight On Massacre Anniversary

Six people have been injured after members of a Sikh group brandishing swords and wooden sticks clashed with guards at the Sikhs' holiest shrine in India.

The violence broke out during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the storming of the Golden Temple by the Indian army in 1984 in the northern city of Amritsar.

 

Kiran Jyoti Kaur, a Golden Temple management spokeswoman, said supporters of the Shiromani Akali Dal, a Sikhism-centric political party, turned violent and then were chased away by temple guards.

They were shouting slogans for an independent homeland for the Sikhs.

The CNN-IBN television channel said police detained nearly 50 people, and that many shops closed because of the tension.

The 1984 operation to establish control over the shrine, ordered by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was one of the most contentious episodes in India's battle against Sikh separatists in the 1980s.

Sikh militants had holed up in the temple for months. The Indian army botched an attempt to clear them from the holy site, underestimating the resistance at first before being drawn into a three-day assault more than 1,000 were massacred.

The attack outraged Sikhs and led to a catastrophic breakdown in communal relations. Recently it has emerged the British SAS had a role in helping to deal with the insurgency, offering some advice to the Indian government of the time.

When Ms Gandhi was killed by her Sikh guards in a revenge attack a few months later, the country erupted. Mobs overran trains and went house-to-house across northern India, beating and killing thousands of Sikhs.

The insurgency was stamped out in the late 1980s.

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Bergdahl 'Played Soccer' With Taliban Captors

Six Things To Know On Bowe Bergdahl

Updated: 11:11pm UK, Wednesday 04 June 2014

Everything you need to know about Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the US prisoner of war released by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Bowe Bergdahl had a variety of hobbies including ballet and fencing

The 28-year-old grew up in the small mountain town of Hailey, Idaho, where he was home-schooled with his older sister, Sky.

His devout Calvinist parents, Bob and Jani, taught their children about ethics and religious thinkers.

By all accounts, Sgt Bergdahl was a bookish teenager with a number of pursuits from skiing to shooting. He performed ballet, took up fencing and studied foreign languages.

He also became interested in Buddhism and tarot cards.

Sgt Bergdahl once tried unsuccessfully to join the French Foreign Legion, according to his father. He worked as a barista in Idaho before joining the US Army in June 2008.

The soldier reportedly became disillusioned with the US role in Afghanistan

According to a report in a Rolling Stone magazine profile, Sgt Bergdahl wrote an email to his parents saying he was "ashamed" to be an American.

He wrote: "The horror that is America is disgusting."

Members of his unit said Sgt Bergdahl kept mainly to himself. The New York Times cites platoon members as saying he wrote Jason Bourne-type novels in which he made himself the lead character.

He is said to have learned Dari and Pashto in his spare time and was reportedly traumatised after seeing an Afghan child run over and killed by an American armoured vehicle.

Members of his platoon say he sent all his belongings, including a laptop, home before vanishing.

Members of his unit have accused him of desertion

According to soldiers in his platoon, Sgt Bergdahl abandoned his post while on guard duty, with only a compass, a knife, water, a digital camera, a diary and possibly also a phone.

The New York Times reports that he left a note in his tent saying he did not support the American mission in Afghanistan and was leaving to start a new life.

The Pentagon concluded in 2010 that Sgt Bergdahl had walked away from his unit before he was captured by the Taliban.

Sgt Bergdahl may have attempted to escape during his captivity

The Taliban released propaganda videos during Bergdahl's time in captivity in which the prisoner, looking under-fed, denounced US foreign policy.

In one clip, a bald and bearded Bergdahl said he was "scared" he would not be able to return home. In others, he was seen eating and exercising.

In one video, he shouted at the camera: "Release me, please! I'm begging you, bring me home!"

In 2011, he is thought to have escaped briefly. When he was recaptured, it reportedly took five militants to overpower him.

"He fought like a boxer," a Taliban fighter told Newsweek.

There are claims US soldiers were killed as a result of having to look for him

Former members of Sgt Bergdahl's battalion and military officials have claimed between six and 14 soldiers died in the search for him.

But the facts seem murky, as so often in the fog of war.

Two of the soldiers whose deaths have been blamed on Bergdahl's disappearance died inside a US military outpost that was under Taliban attack, not while out searching for him.

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said: "I don't know of any circumstances or details of US soldiers dying as a result of efforts to get Bergdahl."

He will likely face a court martial for desertion

Some have called for Sgt Bergdahl, who is said to be in stable condition at a military hospital in Germany, to be shot for desertion.

But that will not happen, according to Yale Law School professor Eugene Fidell, a specialist in military legal affairs.

He told Sky News the last US soldier to be killed for desertion, Eddie Slovik, was tied to a post and shot in 1945.

Prof Fidell thinks it more likely Sgt Bergdahl will face a court martial, a short sentence of confinement and a punitive discharge.

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D-Day: World Leaders Join Commemorations

David Cameron has said world leaders should set aside their differences on the "incredibly moving" 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

As veterans, politicians and members of the Royal Family gathered in Normandy, the Prime Minister told Sky News that amid ongoing tensions with Russia, the events of June 6, 1944, "show the importance of standing up together ... for freedom and security".

Mr Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both travelled to northern France to remember an event that changed the course of the Second World War.

Soldiers landing on Juno Beach in Bernieres-sur-Mer on June 6, 1944

They will join the Queen and a host of other world leaders for a service at Sword Beach in Ouistreham, where the moment 150,000 Allied troops came ashore will be re-enacted.

Mr Cameron said: "Yes, we have our disagreements with Russia but we should never forget the Soviet Union was an ally of the forces that liberated this continent from the tyranny of Nazism and enabled generations to come to live in democracy, freedom and prosperity," he said.

"Today is all about the magnificent feat of arms that saw young men ... do incredibly brave things to liberate this continent and to give us a chance of peace and democracy. We did that together."

War veterans arrive for the service at Bayeux Cathedral

Described by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill as "undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult (operation) that has ever taken place", D-Day proved to be a pivotal moment of the Second World War.

It marked the start of an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy, a daunting task that involved three million troops and cost some 250,000 lives.

Services marking their sacrifice are being held at beaches and war cemeteries across the region.

In Colleville-sur-Mer, Barack Obama joined his French counterpart Francois Hollande for a service at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where more than 9,000 soldiers are buried.

The Queen joined world leaders to mark the 70th anniversary

"These men waged war so that we might know peace, they sacrificed so that we may be free, they fought in hope of a day that we would no longer need to fight and we are grateful to them," the US President said.

"We don't just commemorate victory, as proud of victory as we are. We don't just honour sacrifice, as grateful as the world is. We come to remember why America and our allies gave so much ... and remember the stories of the men and women of the war."

In nearby Bayeux, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery, where 4,144 soldiers, 338 of them unidentified, are buried.

Cemeteries along the French coast are a focal point for the commemorations

An earlier service at the town's cathedral heard from Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the national chaplain of the Royal British Legion, who told the congregation: "We come to remember those who, from the air, in the water and on the beaches, made the supreme sacrifice."

Further along the coast in Arromanches, the Normandy Veterans' Association has organised a day of events.

This anniversary will be the group's last as it plans to disband later this year.

Commemorations began at midnight when Mr Cameron attended a memorial at Pegasus Bridge, the first strategic landmark to be captured.

D-Day veteran Jock Hutton is met by Prince Charles after his parachute jump

At the exact time the first gliders landed, a champagne toast was raised at Cafe Gondree, the restaurant next to the bridge, which became the first house to be liberated in France.

American veterans gathered at dawn on Omaha Beach, where a statue of two soldiers was unveiled.

On Thursday, a commemorative parachute jump honoured the soldiers who dropped into France in the early hours of June 6 as part of the crucial airborne invasion.

D-Day veteran Jock Hutton, aged 89, jumped with The Red Devils, the Paratroop Regiment's free-fall display team.

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Police Hunt Gunman After Three Officers Killed

Police are hunting a gunman after three officers were shot dead and two others were injured in Canada.

The shootings began after police responded to a call about an armed man in north Moncton, New Brunswick province, at 7.30pm (11.30pm UK time).

The attacker, reportedly wearing a camouflage outfit, began firing at officers and a massive manhunt is now taking place to catch him.

Police say he is still believed to be in the Pinehurst area of the eastern city and have urged people there to stay inside, lock their doors and leave their outside lights on.

Officers are looking for 24-year-old Justin Bourque of Moncton and say he is considered "armed and dangerous".

The window of the police car is shattered

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in New Brunswick confirmed the three officers' deaths on its Twitter feed.

The two other officers had non-life threatening injuries and were in a stable condition in hospital.

The force tweeted an image of a suspect wearing military camouflage and wielding two guns.

A video has emerged showing officers taking cover behind police cars and which apparently shows the moment the gunmen opened fire.

There are two thuds and an unnamed person in the footage said: "He shot him, he shot a cop."

Witness Danny Leblanc, 42, said he saw the gunman in the distance on Wednesday evening standing in the middle of the street with his gun pointed at police vehicles.

The construction worker said he believed it was an RCMP officer he was looking at until he heard a burst of automatic gunfire coming from the man's gun.

He said he quickly went back into his home and remained there with his family.

The police officers were shot dead in Moncton on the east coast of Canada

Mr Leblanc said: "It's devastating. I don't know if he was on a hunt for them, or what."

At one point a neighbour posted on social media that their kitchen window was shattered by gunfire.

Another witness said she saw an injured officer being taken away.

The unnamed woman said: "We just came outside. My daughter said there were police in the area, and we noticed that there was a lockdown on the street, they wouldn't let anybody in or out, they were turning vehicles around.

"And we noticed there was a staff supervisor vehicle that had taken an injured officer away, the lady liked like she was, like, really hurt."

RCMP Constable Damien Theriault, who appeared emotional during a news conference, said he personally knew the officers who were killed.

Constable Theriault asked the public not to disclose any information about the police operation or locations of officers on social media.

A number of roads in the city were blocked and drivers were also asked to stay out of the area.

Moncton mayor George LeBlanc urged all residents to pay strict attention to the RCMP warnings.

Such violence is rare in Canada, particularly on Canada's east coast.

Constable Theriault said Moncton did not have a homicide in 2013 or this year until Wednesday evening.

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Canada Shooting Captured On Witness Video

A video has emerged apparently showing the moment a gunman opened fire on police in Canada.

The attacker shot dead three officers and wounded two others.

A massive manhunt is taking place in Moncton, New Brunswick province, to catch him.

The footage, posted on Facebook by Vanessa Bernatchez, was shot from inside a house and captured through a window.

It shows a number of officers taking cover behind police cars.

The window of a police car is shattered

In a room with several people crouched down, an unnamed woman described what was happening outside.

She said of the officers: "They're not moving. They're behind cars, behind vans, behind a shed, behind a house with their guns out. They're waiting to shoot him down."

A woman in the room asks a man: "Do you see him?" and then there are two thud sounds, apparently gunshots.

There are screams and the man says: "He shot him! He shot a cop!"

The gunman had opened fire after police responded to a call about an armed man in north Moncton, at 7.30pm (11.30pm UK time).

Police say he is still believed to be in the Pinehurst area of the eastern city and have urged people there to stay inside, lock their doors and leave their outside lights on.

Officers are looking for 24-year-old Justin Bourque of Moncton and say he is considered "armed and dangerous".

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'Slender Man' Attack 911 Recording Released

Police have released a recording of the 911 emergency call made by a cyclist who found a 12-year-old allegedly stabbed 19 times by friends inspired by a fictional internet horror figure.

The victim's arms, legs and torso were covered in knife wounds as she crawled from the scene of the attack in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

In the 911 audio recording released by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office of the cyclist who found the victim, the dispatcher is heard to say: "So you are with this 12-year-old female?"

The caller said: "Yes, she says she is having trouble breathing. She says she was stabbed multiple times."

Police at the scene of the attack in Waukesha, Wisconsin

Two girls, also aged 12, appeared in court on Monday charged with attempted homicide.

Meanwhile, the website where the youngsters are said to have read about the mythical Slender Man figure, has sought to distance itself from the Wisconsin attack in the face of criticism.

Creepypasta Wiki - an online horror story database - stressed all the stories and characters on the site were fictional, and insisted it was "not a crazy satanic cult."

Writing after the stabbing drew national attention to the website, an administrator for Creepypasta Wiki called Sloshtrain said: "I'm going to make myself loud and clear.

"All works presented on this wiki and other sites (including Slenderman, Jeff the Killer, Ben, Sonic.Exe, etc) are fictional stories and characters."

They added: "This is an isolated incident, and does not represent or attribute the Creepypasta community as a whole.

"This wiki does not endorse or advocate for the killing, worship, and otherwise replication of rituals of fictional works.

The two defendants face 60 years in prison if found guilty

"There is a line of between fiction and reality, and it is up to you to realise where the line is. We are a literature site, not a crazy satanic cult."

Prosecutors say the defendants lured their victim into a park on Saturday before repeatedly knifing her. One of the wounds came within a millimetre of piercing a major artery near her heart.

The pair told detectives they had plotted for months to kill the other girl in the hope of winning favour with the Slender Man, often depicted as a tall, thin, blank-faced figure wearing a black suit.

One of the accused allegedly told a detective: "It was weird that I didn't feel remorse."

The defendants are due back in court next week and face up to 60 years in jail if convicted.

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Boko Haram Militants 'Kill Hundreds' In Nigeria

Boko Haram militants dressed as soldiers have reportedly killed up to 200 villagers in three attacks in northern Nigeria.

The killings - in Danjara, Agapalwa and Antagara - are said to have taken place on Monday and a community leader who reportedly witnessed them said residents of the Gwoza local government district in Borno state had pleaded for protection from the army but no help had arrived.

The militants arrived in pickup trucks of the type often used by the military and told the civilians they were soldiers "and we are here to protect you all".

The schoolgirls were abducted on April 15.

Once people had gathered in the heart of the villages, as ordered, Boko Haram members began "to shout  'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar' on top of their voices, then they begin to fire at the people continuously for a very long time until all that gathered were all dead", said one frightened witness who did not wish to be named.                 

It took time for survivors to get word of the killings to the provincial capital, Maiduguri, because of poor road conditions and limited telecommunications.

Local politician Mohammed Ali Ndume confirmed the attacks had taken place.

Gwoza is a regional political centre, whose emir - a religious and traditional ruler - was killed in a Boko Haram ambush on his convoy last week.

President Goodluck Jonathan has been criticised for not visiting the region

He had spoken out against the actions of the militants.

Boko Haram wants to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria and has been been fighting back against a year-long government-backed military offensive aimed at crushing them.

The group has taken over villages in the northeast, killing and terrorising civilians and political leaders.

It is currently holding hundreds of schoolgirls captive after snatching them from school in the remote village of Chibok in April.

More than 2,000 Nigerians are believed to have been killed so far this year with some 75,000 civilians driven from their homes.

While Boko Haram has largely been pushed out of cities in the northeast, the group has been seizing villages in remote areas, making large swathes of Nigeria, no-go areas for the army.

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Taliban Releases Video Of Hostage Handover

The Taliban have released a video showing American hostage Sgt Bowe Bergdahl being handed over to US forces in Afghanistan.

Sgt Bergdahl, clean shaven, and dressed in white Afghan clothing with a shaved head, is seen waiting in a white pickup truck close to the Afghan border with Pakistan as Taliban militants outside lean in to talk to him.

He is blinking frequently in the bright light as he looks at and listens to his captors. He appears to struggle to speak English.

The 17 minutes of footage shows armed gunmen dotting the hills around the valley, as US Black Hawk helicopters overhead draw closer to the meeting point.

The Taliban reporter speaking over the clip explains: "We told them there are 18 armed fighters and the Americans said that's all right."

The Taliban's message to the Americans and Sgt Bergdahl

As one of the helicopters lands, throwing up a cloud of dust, Sgt Bergdahl is led to his rescuers by two men, one leading him by the hand, and another waving a white cloth tied to a wooden stick.

Most of the Taliban have their faces covered with scarves, while Sgt Bergdahl wears his over his shoulders.

After a brief exchange of handshakes between insurgents and US forces, Bergdahl moves unsteadily towards the helicopter.

Before boarding the helicopter the freed man is patted down to check he is not carrying any weapons.

The aircraft takes off and the message in English flashes up: "Don' come back to afghanistan"(sic).

Heaviliy armed Taliban fighters dotted the hillside around the exchange

The Taliban video, entitled Ceremony Of The American Soldier Exchange is laced with religious music and chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

At one point the voiceover said: "I congratulate all the mujahiedeen for this victory."

Sky's Diplomatic Editor Tim Marshall said: "The meaning of the pictures is that we see visual evidence that the Taliban are negotiating with the Americans on almost an equal basis.

"It is a propaganda coup for the Taliban."

US defence officials have said dozens of US special forces troops backed up by helicopters were sent for the handover.

Five years after he was captured by Afghan militants, Sgt Bergdahl was freed at the weekend in exchange for five militants held at Guantanamo Bay.

Sgt Bergdahl awaits the handover in a Taliban vehicle

He was the only US soldier held by the Taliban after being captured in Afghanistan.

His release has lead to sharp criticism of the Obama administration, with some US politicians fearing it poses a threat to Americans abroad.

There is also a suggestion that Sgt Bergdahl may be disciplined over claims from members of his unit that he was captured in 2009 after abandoning his post.

The 28-year-old is now in a military hospital in Germany, undergoing physical and mental assessments.

Related Stories 

Sgt Bergdahl: Army 'May Pursue' Desertion Probe

Bowe Bergdahl Release Backfires On White House

Soldier's Motives Are The 'Unknown Unknown'

Bowe Bergdahl: Obama Defends Taliban Exchange

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Tiananmen: China Lockdown For 25th Anniversary

'It Crushed Our Hope For Democracy'

Updated: 6:25am UK, Wednesday 04 June 2014

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Lee Cheuk Yan is the Chairman of the Hong Kong Labour Party and the founder of the June 4th Museum.

In 1989 he travelled to Beijing to support the uprising and provide the protesters with money.

He told Sky News: "I was in the Beijing Hotel looking down in the Tiananmen Square, seeing the tricycles bringing bodies to the hospital.

"I remember them switching off the light in Tiananmen Square, and I would say that was the darkest hour of my life. At that time it crushes all our hope for democracy.

"Then I was arrested, detained for three days, money confiscated, and only allowed to come back [to Hong Kong] after three days of detention back in 1989.

"In a way, that was the turning point of my life, I promised myself I will dedicate my life to the democratisation of China, to continue our struggle in Hong Kong for democracy.

"It was a moment of despair. We had a hope ... Over the May, the spring time, you can (feel) democracy, and then suddenly the guns and the tanks come in.

"It really crushes our hope and into a moment of despair. And that was the really saddest moment of my life."

"Already a quarter of a century [has passed]. A new generation of young people have grown up, but then when you look at China itself, they try to erase all the memory of June 4th and ban any discussion of June 4th.

"So in that environment, it's a sort of brainwashing.

"This museum is to fill the void ... We hope by having this museum and preserving the truth, it is a struggle of remembering against forgetting.

"And also we hope that the truth [will] struggle against lie. Therefore, we felt it's very important.

"Twenty-five years after the massacre, we have a museum to commemorate those who sacrificed for democracy and at the same time to educate the public, especially the younger generation and the mainlanders, [to explain] exactly what happened and challenge the Communist Party, to reveal the truth."

Mr Lee dismisses the suggestion that the crackdown stabilised China, prevented civil war and allowed the country to become a global economic giant.

"I'm really very angry with that because it assumes that economic growth and democracy cannot go hand in hand, which is absurd ... It is totally compatible and I can imagine that if there [was] democracy 25 years ago, there would still be economic growth, there would be better distribution of wealth, and there can be freedom, people would be happier.

"One important thing is, now in China, it's all a culture of lies.

"People make money by lying, and get corrupted, and get a lot of money buy doing all sorts of immoral acts.

"If there is democracy, at least in culture, I believe, would not be a culture of lies.

"But there would be freedom, checks and balances, and a democratic China.

"I think corruption can only be totally erased if there is democracy."

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