Amnesty International on Thursday called for the release of a South Korean activist accused of breaking security laws by re-tweeting messages from the North Korean government’s Twitter account.

The human rights campaign group said Park Jeonggeun, an activist with the Socialist Party, intended to lampoon North Korea's recently-deceased dictator by re-posting the message “long live Kim Jong-il” to his own followers.

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The New York Times reported that Jeonggeun, who it said was a photographer who specialized in taking pictures of babies, was detained last month on charges of violating the National Security Law which bans undefined “acts that benefit the enemy”.

It reported that the Twitter account Mr. Park was accused of re-tweeting is run by the North Korean government Web site, Uriminzokkiri.com, which South Korean news media regularly cite for their stories.

Amnesty International said it had spoken to Jeonggeun, who was formally charged on Wednesday. It said he has been held at Seoul Detention Centre since 11 January and could face up to seven years in jail.

Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director, said: “This is not a national security case, it’s a sad case of the South Korean authorities’ complete failure to understand sarcasm.

“Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law but in this case, the charges against Park Jeonggeun are simply ludicrous and should be dropped immediately.

“Park is a member of a party which openly criticises North Korea but the absurd case against him is not an isolated one. For too long South Korean authorities have been using the National Security Law to restrict basic freedoms and gag civil society in the name of national security.”

In an article on its website, Amnesty International quoted the activist as saying: “My intention was to lampoon North Korea's leaders for a joke; I did it for fun. I also uploaded and changed North Korean propaganda posters on Twitter - I replaced a smiling North Korean soldier’s face with a downcast version of my own face and the soldier’s weapon with a bottle of whisky.”

The article also said that, "despite the end of military rule in South Korea, authorities have increasingly used the [law] to harass critics of the government’s North Korea policies since 2008".

The New York Times reported that 151 people were interrogated on suspicion of violating the security law in 2010, up from 39 in 2007.

Msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this article.

BEIJING – Wukan, a village in Guangdong province in southern China, is making headlines again – this time for taking the first steps toward open and transparent elections, which 7,688 villagers participated in on Wednesday.

Wukan was in the spotlight late last year for a high-profile protest by villagers against local officials believed to be illegally selling public land to developers. 

The 11-day rebellion was defused peacefully in late December after senior Communist Party officials reached an agreement with Wukan’s protest leaders – promising free elections and an investigation into the murky real-estate deals. They also promised to investigate the death of a protester who had died in police custody.

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In another surprise, the local Communist Party appointed Lin Zuluan, one of the well-respected leaders of the defiant revolt, as the village party secretary. So Lin served as the chief in command for the first balloting that took place in the Wukan Elementary School Wednesday.

Villagers gathered in a festive scene to cast votes, for many the first time ever, to select an independent election committee to oversee upcoming ballots.  

Initial steps
Dozens of aluminum ballot boxes were placed around classrooms at the elementary school and students were mobilized to help count the ballots before they were distributed. Teachers helped elderly villagers who could not read or write.  A media counter was set up outside the school, and journalists were allowed in after registration.

“My biggest impression here at Wukan is that the atmosphere here is very different from any other Chinese villages,” one Chinese reporter at the scene wrote on Sina Weibo, the Chinese microblog. “The people here are very used to foreign journalists walking around filming. The village committee is open to everyone. Every family invites you to go to their house to stay, to eat or to drink tea. Brave and lucky Wukan villagers made their home different than any other Chinese villages with the same problems.”

The election lasted nine hours (with a two-hour break). It began at 9 a.m. with the national anthem playing and fireworks being set off – a Chinese tradition during the new lunar year.

The final results came at 11 p.m.: Out of the 50 candidates, 11 (including one woman) were elected to be on the election committee.

The new members will be responsible for organizing an upcoming election for the Wukan Village Committee. They will devise a plan for the election process; mobilize and familiarize the villagers with the new plan; scrutinize and publish the candidate list; and, most importantly, organize the villagers to vote. The election is due to start in early March.

Not a new idea
Village-level elections are not a new concept to Chinese people, but seldom are they transparent or democratic. The Communist Party still maintains single-party authority across the government – from Beijing to the smallest village – and has absolute control.

There have been experiments with grassroots elections since the 1980s – the outcome is usually just pre-determined from above. Representatives are often appointed by higher-level government officials and the process is usually murky or manipulated.

In Wukan, the former village head had been in power for 40 years without ever being properly elected. He was accused of misappropriating public land and embezzling compensation money that belonged to villagers.

So many are hopeful Wukan’s experiment will spread.

“Wukan is a start of China’s local political reform! I hope to see a real self-rule in the countryside,” wrote a Weibo user going by the name “Orient leaping towards wealth."

The user added, “Villagers that have both traditional legal culture and modern citizen spirit, they are the hope of China’s democracy.”
‘An experiment in democracy’
But others are not so sure about declaring a democratic victory in Wukan.

Chang Ping, a veteran journalist based in Hong Kong who has been closely following events in Wukan, is not so optimistic about its future.

“Their path is not going to be very smooth. The Guangdong government was smart about not cracking down with violence like other local governments, but that doesn’t mean they agree with complete self-rule. They will try to absorb Wukan into their old system, which they can still control. If that happens, the election will be the same election happening everywhere else,” Chang told NBC News in a phone interview. “Wukan’s protest has no end. Democracy doesn’t arrive just because you had three months of protest.”

However, Chang agreed that the event is revolutionary – if only as an exercise in how elections are supposed to work.

“Most of the elections we see are usually manipulated or the villagers don’t really know what their vote means. But Wukan villagers have their own understanding of voting, after their protest to finally obtain this right,” said Chang.  “It is an experiment in democracy, and it will affect other places in China.”

Related stories on Wukan:

Photo Blog: Chinese village takes halting democratic step

Rebellious Chinese village under siege by police

Villagers defiant as government creates new narrative

A contagion of conflict in China?

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano has been spewing gas, water vapor and incandescent materials into the skies near the country's capital for days, registering at least 14 "exhalations" late on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday, according to local media.

The most significant emissions came on Tuesday afternoon and were accompanied by a small quantity of ash, scientists said, according to Excelsior newspaper reported  (Link in Spanish).

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Local civil protection officials have been giving evacuation training in communities near Popocatepetl ahead of a possible eruption, Reuters reported.

The 17,886-foot volcano 40 miles southeast of the Mexican capital is the country's second-highest peak and has experienced at least 15 major eruptions in the last 500 years.

In November, Popocatepetl spewed a burst of ash three miles into the air after breaking through a dome of lava.  The volcano has been erupting intermittently since December 1994.

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Panetta report fuels concerns that Israel will attack Iran
• After soccer melee, Egypt learns tough lesson: sharing blame
• White House: No decision yet on end to combat in Afghanistan
• London landlords evict tenants to gouge tourists?
• Defiant Chinese village takes steps toward democracy

 

CAIRO --One of the Arab world's best-known comedians was sentenced to three months in jail for offending Islam on Thursday, just weeks after Islamist parties won a majority in parliament.

A judge, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, told The Associated Press that Adel Imam was convicted in absentia of "defaming Islam." His whereabouts were unknown, the AP reported.

A lawyer with ties to Islamist groups, Asran Mansour, brought the case, judicial sources told The Guardian.

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"I think the lawyer who filed the case against Imam is taking advantage of the current circumstances with Islamists gaining power in Egypt," Nabil Abdel Fattah, an analyst and researcher at al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, told the newspaper.

The sentence, which he thought would probably be overturned on appeal, had likely been handed down because the actor had failed to go to court, according to the newspaper. He said the sentence had likely been handed down because Imam had failed to appear in court, the Guardian reported.

The state-run Ahram Online English website reported he was found guilty for a 2007 movie in which he plays a corrupt businessman and a 1998 play about an Arab dictator. Other reports said the court objected to his use of Islamic symbols.

Chaotic scenes as injured soccer fans return to Cairo after riot

In the 1980's, Imam was sentenced to three months in jail for defaming lawyers in a film. That ruling was later overturned.

Msnbc.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Top Pakistan court to charge PM with contempt
• Egypt military leader: We will not let rioters 'get away'
• Glacier theft suspects on thin ice with Chilean police
• British diplomat: Argentina may block flights to Falklands

LONDON -- Landlords in Britain's capital are evicting tenants so they can cash in on this summer's Olympic Games by charging tourists many times the usual rent.

Homes in the east London boroughs where many events are to be held are fetching between five and 15 times their typical rates as properties are rebranded as short-term "Olympic lets." Some landlords are also enforcing expensive "penalty" clauses for tenants who want to remain during the gathering of the world's top athletes.

Rent controls are almost non-existent in Britain and some Londoners told msnbc.com that the looming increase in housing costs will leave them with no choice but to leave the city for the summer.

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While the Olympic Village will house some 22,000 athletes along with 6,000 coaches and officials, countless tourists, athletes' families, journalists and sponsors will be left to jostle with 7.8 million residents for places to sleep. The accommodation crunch is expected to be so severe that some residents are planning to rent out their backyards to campers during the Games – which begin July 27.

"We're [seeing] landlords beginning to evict their tenants," Antonia Bance, head of campaigns for housing charity Shelter, told msnbc.com. "Lots of letting agents are writing clauses into contracts being signed saying you can live here with the exception of this period [during the Olympics]."

Those who are evicted or displaced by huge rent increases – as well as other tenants looking to move in July and August – will struggle to find affordable alternatives due to the temporary influx of tourists paying higher rates, experts say.

"It's all to do with supply and demand, and there's a shortage of stock," Matthew Martin, Greater London area lettings director for real estate agency Your-Move, told msnbc.com.

As the summer approaches, he said, "there are going to be opportunists ... people are going to pay an extortionate amount."

'I don't think it's right'
Shelter's Bance described the case of a couple in the Newham area who will be renting out the three-bedroom house they own in a former public housing project for 15,000 pounds ($23,600) for three weeks. The average rental price of a three-bedroom property in the borough is 1,189 pounds ($1,870) per month.

In the Dalston neighborhood, one-bedroom apartments that normally fetch around 300 pounds ($475) per week are now being advertised at 1,625 pounds ($2,575) per week.

And in Kentish Town, which is a 25-minute train journey from the new Olympic Stadium, a five-bedroom home is being advertised at 10,000 pounds ($15,845) per week during the Games.

It is difficult to know how many Londoners will be priced out of the city as landlords woo Olympic visitors, but interviews with property experts, real estate agents, tenants, prospective landlords and tourism-industry specialists suggest it will not be an isolated problem.

Joanna Doniger, owner of private rental company Tennis London, which finds short-term lets for players at the Wimbledon tournament, opened a new division of the company called Accommodate London last year after being bombarded with hundreds of calls from homeowners hoping to rent out their properties during the Olympics.

Doniger said she has been disappointed to discover that many prospective clients are actually investor-landlords who are kicking out their long-term tenants.

"I've had to take them into the corridor and say, 'What's this about?'" she said. "I just don't think it's right."

One of those who agrees with Doniger is David Brown. The 25-year-old moved into the top three floors of an old rowhouse above a shop in Whitechapel, east London, with four other people last October.

It took him two months to find something he could afford – he and two university friends had to search for two other housemates online before anything was in their price range.

As he drew up his contract, though, the real estate agent was adamant about one thing: if they weren’t out by July 15 – just 12 days before the opening ceremonies -- their rent would jump from 660 pounds ($1,020) per week to a "penalty" rate of 3,000 pounds ($4,635) per week.

Brown told msnbc.com he can't possibly afford that with a fledgling tutoring business and the temp work he's doing on the side. They'll be moving out.

"I'm actually considering taking up a job in Japan" teaching English, he said. "I'm not fleeing the Olympics, I really want to be here … The thing is, landlords can get away with charging that much more."

• Olympics' baby-seat policy prompts wails of protest

Because of the economic downturn, rental prices have risen dramatically in the past 18 months with fewer new properties being built. Some pockets of the city have seen spikes of 15 to 18 percent – which has only exacerbated the looming Olympic housing squeeze.

For instance, the average rental price for a two-bedroom property in the five Olympic boroughs – Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – is 1,113 pounds ($1,751) per month, according to Shelter's 2011 Private Rent Watch report.

Darren Rebeiro, business development manager for real estate agency Keatons, which is affiliated with tourism body Visit London, said that five times the normal market rate is the agency's common short-term asking price during the Games in the Stratford area – where the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium is located. He said clients were "happy" to pay those rates.

Elsewhere in London, tourists can expect to pay four times the usual price this summer. However, Rebeiro said some agencies are seeking up to nine times the market rate.

Part of the problem is that the east London boroughs around the Olympic sites are some of the poorest parts of the city and already have the highest rate of evictions. Most people pay anywhere from 55 to 70 percent of their monthly wage on rent, according to Shelter's 2011 report. A "sensible" amount to pay is closer to a third, Bance said.

Sign it or leave
The U.K.'s Housing Act of 1988 allows landlords to raise rents at the end of a lease – usually 6 months to a year in London – as long as they give two months' notice to their tenants. If the tenant disagrees with the increase there is very little they can do; the landlord can serve them with an eviction notice at the end of a contract without giving a reason why. And if the tenant refuses to leave, a court will support the landlord and will send a bailiff to remove the tenant from the property.

Furthermore, many people's contracts are "roll on" agreements that continue on from month to month without a fixed end date. In those cases landlords can raise the rent at any time with one month's notice. Additionally, there are no limits or regulations on how much a landlord can increase rent.

"If a landlord comes with a new tenancy agreement and says, 'Sign it and stay or go,' there's nothing [tenants] can do," Chris Hellings, advice line supervisor for Britain's National Landlords Association, told msnbc.com. "They either have to take it or go."

Vincenzo Rampulla, spokesman for the National Landlords Association, told msnbc.com that evicting tenants wasn't necessarily going to be a smart financial decision for landlords.

"Do they really want to kick out the tenant who's been paying on time all year … or are they going to want to squeeze out as much as they can for the Olympics, which is only a few weeks?" he asked.

However, Rampulla acknowledged that some landlords would be seeking to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by cashing in.

"I know people get crazy during these kinds of things," he said.

People who own their homes, of course, are on the opposite side of the accommodation crunch, with those who can arrange to be away for several weeks in position to rake in considerable extra cash.

Kia Ramsay, 29, told msnbc.com that local real estate agents have been slipping leaflets under the door of her Tower Hamlets apartment for months – lately, one or two a day – about opportunities during the Olympics. The three-bedroom apartment, which she owns with her 39-year-old fiancé, is already desirable for being so close to London’s financial hub in Canary Wharf. Its appeal is even greater this summer because the marina below her building is being used for boats ferrying people to the Olympic sites.

"We thought to ourselves, well, let’s see what we can get out of this?" she said. Preliminary research on property rental websites gave Ramsay, a physiotherapist, tantalizing estimates for the reasonably high-end property: roughly 30,000 pounds ($47,199) for two months, she said.

"We were thinking about popping off somewhere because it's going to a nightmare anyway getting around London," she said. Recently, she placed an ad on spareroom.co.uk and is meeting with Doniger, of Accommodate London, for an official appraisal and professional photographs in a few weeks. She said if she can get between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds ($4,719 and $6,293) per week, it would be worth doing.

In addition to the short-term rentals, spare rooms and even couches are being advertised to Olympic visitors. A website called campinmygarden.com has also been launched as a cheap way for people to set up tents temporarily in backyards. One listing offers space in a "tranquil and lovely garden with shade … on one of the nearest Victorian streets to the west of the Olympic Stadium" for prices starting at 27 pounds ($43) per person per night.

Its homepage features a large picture of British Olympians with the date of the opening ceremony prominently displayed.

Follow Marian Smith on Twitter at @msmith_msnbc

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Supreme Court decided Thursday to charge the country's prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, with contempt for his failure to reopen an old corruption case against the president, a move that could oust the premier from office and land him in prison if he is convicted.

That could create political turmoil within Pakistan, the last thing the government needs as it struggles to deal with an ailing economy, a violent Islamist insurgency and troubled relations with its most important ally, the United States.

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The U.S. is likely watching the case closely since it wants Pakistan to focus on pushing the Taliban to make peace with the Afghan government so that Washington can withdraw its troops without a civil war breaking out in the country.

The Supreme Court ordered the government two years ago to write to Swiss authorities requesting they reopen the graft case against President Asif Ali Zardari, which dates to the late 1990s. But the government refused, claiming the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office.

Pakistan, NATO officials downplay Taliban report

"After the preliminary hearing, we are satisfied ... there is enough (of a) case" to proceed further, the seven-member bench ordered Thursday. "The case is adjourned until Feb. 13 for the framing of charges. The prime minister will be present in person."

Gilani, speaking in Davos, Switzerland last week, had suggested a three-month period of high political tension in the country, including a standoff with the military over a mysterious memo, had eased considerably.

But Thursday's order and Gilani's anticipated appeal are expected to ensure a continued achingly slow-motion duel between the Supreme Court and the government, which has squared off with the judiciary almost since Zardari took office in 2008.

BBC: Secret report reveals Pakistan-Taliban ties

"He has the constitutional, legal right to appeal," his lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan said. "It would be my recommendation to my client to appeal. He will then decide."

If convicted, Gilani could face jail and lose his office.

The legal tussle stems from thousands of old corruption cases thrown out in 2007 by a controversial amnesty law passed under former military president Pervez Musharraf.

Zardari is its most prominent beneficiary and the main target of the court, which voided the law in 2009 and ordered the re-opening of cases accusing the president of money laundering using Swiss bank accounts. He remains the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, which leads the coalition government.

Zardari's is the longest-running civilian administration in Pakistan's coup-marred history, but has become deeply unpopular, seen as both corrupt and incompetent.

Political instability and brinkmanship has consumed the nuclear-armed country in recent years, preventing it from addressing crushing poverty and other economic ills, or containing a rampaging insurgency that is endangering the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Scores killed in riots after Egypt soccer match
• Afghan combat role to end; US forces still at risk
• American missionaries found slain in north Mexico
• Deep freeze hits eastern Europe

Updated at 9:00 p.m. ET: A health official told The Associated Press that two protesters were killed by police gunfire in clashes with police in Suez. They were the first to die in protests that followed a deadly soccer riot after a game in Port Said, Egypt.

Updated at 8:30 p.m. ET: The Egyptian Ministry of Interior has increased the number of people injured in the Cairo melee on Thursday to 628, NBC News reported, citing a state television report. 

Updated at 5:20 p.m. ET: Anger over a deadly soccer riot erupted into fresh clashes that injured nearly 400 people in Cairo on Thursday as security forces fired tear gas at fans and other protesters who accused police of failing to stop the bloodshed.

The violence, which comes as security has been steadily deteriorating, threatened to plunge the country into a new crisis nearly a year after a popular uprising forced former leader Hosni Mubarak to step down, The Associated Press reported. 

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A network of rabid soccer fans known as Ultras vowed vengeance, accusing the police of intentionally letting rivals attack them after Wednesday's Egyptian league match in the seaside city of Port Said because they have been at the forefront of protests over the past year, first against Mubarak and now the military that assumed power after his Feb. 11 ouster.

What began Thursday as a peaceful march from the Al-Ahly headquarters in Cairo descended into fury as more than 10,000 protesters reached the area outside the Interior Ministry building near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of last year's popular uprising that ousted Mubarak.

Protesters set tires on fire, sending black smoke in the air. Motorcycle drivers ferried some of those wounded from the site as ambulances were unable to get through. The Health Ministry said in all 388 were injured, most from tear gas inhalation as well as bruises and broken bones from rocks that were thrown.

Updated at 4:45 a.m. ET: Egypt's prime minister dissolves the Egyptian Soccer Federation's board and refers its members for questioning by prosecutors after post-match clashes that left 74 dead, The AP reports.

Published at 3 a.m. ET: CAIRO -- The head of Egypt's ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, vowed Thursday to track down those behind soccer violence that killed at least 74 people in Port Said, speaking in a rare phone call to an Egyptian TV channel.

"These kind of events can happen anywhere in the world but we will not let those behind this get away," Tantawi said, speaking to the sports television channel owned by Al Ahli, one of the teams playing. He said victims would receive compensation after their cases were examined.

"We will get through this stage. Egypt will be stable. We have a roadmap to transfer power to elected civilians. If anyone is plotting instability in Egypt they will not succeed. Everyone will get what they deserve," he said, adding that securing the game was the responsibility of the police force.

PhotoBlog: Chaotic scenes as injured soccer fans return to Cairo

 

At least 47 people were arrested in connection with the melee, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said.

Story: 'People are dying in front of us': Scores killed in riots after Egypt soccer match

The violence was a bloody reminder of the deteriorating security in the Arab world's most populous country as instability continues nearly a year after former President Hosni Mubarak was swept out of power in a popular uprising.

The clashes and ensuing stampede did not appear to be directly linked to the political turmoil in Egypt, but the violence raised fresh concerns about the ability of the state police to manage crowds. Most of the hundreds of black-uniformed police with helmets and shields stood in lines and did nothing as soccer fans chased each other, some wielding sharp objects and others hurling sticks and rocks.

Several enraged politicians and ordinary Egyptians accused officials who are still in their jobs after the fall of Mubarak of complicity in the tragedy, or at least of allowing a security vacuum that has let violence flourish in the past 12 months.

"The security forces did this or allowed it to happen. The men of Mubarak are still ruling. The head of the regime has fallen but all his men are still in their positions," Albadry Farghali, a member of parliament for Port Said, screamed in a telephone call to live television.

Security officials said the ministry has issued directives for its personnel not to "engage" with civilians after recent clashes between police and protesters in November left more than 40 people dead.

Activists scheduled rallies Thursday outside the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in Cairo to protest the inability of the police to stop the bloodshed.

Related: Fatal disasters at soccer stadiums

The violence also underscored the role of soccer fans in Egypt's recent protest movement. Organized fans, in groups known as ultras, have played an important role in the revolution and rallies against military rule. Their anti-police songs, peppered with curses, have quickly become viral and an expression of the hatred many Egyptians feel toward security forces that were accused of much of the abuse that was widespread under Mubarak's regime.

The stadium in Port Said, a multi-use 18,000 all-seater venue, was built in 1955 and more than met FIFA's standards after modern improvements and hosted matches in the 2006 African Cup of Nations and the World Under-20 Cup in 2009.

Unlike other disasters the stadium could not be faulted for the resulting loss of life which appears to be due entirely to human failings.

Egypt is not immune to soccer violence. In April, the ineffectiveness of the police force also was on display when thousands of fans ran onto the field before the end of an African Champions League game between local club Zamalek and Tunisia's Club Africain.

The hundreds of police on duty at Cairo International Stadium could not stop the violence then, either.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Scores killed in riots after Egypt soccer match
• Afghan combat role to end; US forces still at risk
• American missionaries found slain in north Mexico
• Deep freeze hits eastern Europe

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thieves have stolen 11,000 pounds of ancient ice from a Chilean glacier to make designer cubes for cocktails in bars in the nation's capital, Santiago, authorities have told local media.

Prosecutor Jose Moris Ferrando said this week that a driver of a refrigerated truck was arrested Friday in Cochrane with the equivalent of $6,200 worth of ice, according to El Mercurio newspaper.

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A company is extracting the ice from the Jorge Montt sector glaciers in the Southern Ice Field near Caleta Tortel in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park in southern Chile, Moris said. He did not name the company.

The crime is classified as a simple theft for now, he said. However, suspects may later be charged with crimes against national heritage or with environmental crimes, he said.

The Guardian of London noted that Jorge Montt is retreating by half a mile a year, making it one of the word's fastest-shrinking glaciers.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Scores killed in riots after Egypt soccer match
• Afghan combat role to end; US forces still at risk
• American missionaries found slain in north Mexico
• Deep freeze hits eastern Europe

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the U.S. military hopes to end its formal combat mission in Afghanistan next year, but that doesn't mean Americans won't see combat there, U.S. officials say. 

Panetta said the end of the formal combat mission was planned for the middle or latter part of 2013. U.S. military forces would then take on a training and advisory role with Afghan security forces until all American military forces would withdraw at the end of 2014.

Panetta emphasized however that "this doesn't mean we're not going to be combat ready." And Pentagon officials acknowledge it's highly likely that U.S. forces will still see combat during the transition period until the end of 2014.

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Panetta: US to end combat in Afghanistan next year

It's the same strategy and exactly what happened as the U.S. military withdrew from Iraq. More than 370 Americans were killed or wounded in Iraq after the formal end of their combat mission until all forces were finally withdrawn 18 months later. In fact, during that transition period, U.S. Special Operations forces continued to conduct nighttime raids on enemy or al-Qaida targets.

American troops often came under rocket attack in their compounds or encountered those highly lethal homemade bombs on the road. The last American soldier who died in Iraq was killed one month before the final withdrawal.

Slideshow: Afghanistan - Nation at a Crossroads

Pentagon officials insist this is not a new strategy. As in Iraq, a transition period was always built into the timetable for withdrawal. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had already announced that Afghan forces would take over security operations sometime in 2013, and NATO had also announced the transition to Afghan security would be completed next year.

The U.S. now has about 89,000 service members in Afghanistan. The total U.S. commitment in Afghanistan is slated to decrease to 68,000 by the end of this September.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Pakistan and NATO officials downplay Taliban report
• Arab League to UN: Take 'rapid' action on Syria
• Argentina to UK: Prince arriving dressed as 'conquistador'
• Afghan women keep pushing to have voices heard

 

Updated 6:48 p.m. ET:

CAIRO -- Soccer fans stormed the field and rioted Wednesday after a match between fierce rivals in the port city of Port Said, attacking each other with fists, stones, fireworks and bottles. More than 70 people were killed in the stampede and hundreds injured in one of the worst incidents of sports violence in Egypt's history.

The melee broke out after fans of Al-Masry, the home team in Port Said, stormed the field after a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt's top team. Al-Masry supporters hurled sticks and stones as they chased players and fans from the rival team, who ran toward the exits to escape, according to witnesses.

State TV footage showed Al-Ahly players rushing for their locker room as fistfights broke out among the crowd. Some men had to rescue a manager from the losing team as he was being beaten. Black-clothed police officers stood by, appearing overwhelmed.

Rival fans shot firebombs and fireworks and threw stones, bottles and other objects at each other and some players.

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The Interior Ministry said 74 people died, including at least one police officer, and 248 were injured, 14 of them police.

Hesham Sheiha, a health ministry official, told state TV that most of the deaths were caused by concussions, deep cuts to the heads and suffocation from the stampede.

 

"This is unfortunate and deeply saddening. It is the biggest disaster in Egypt's soccer history," deputy health minister Hesham Sheiha told state television. The players were later taken to the locker room for protection, Sayed Hamdi, a player, told state TV.

At least 47 people were arrested in connection with the melee, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said.

Egypt Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the country's ruling military council, ordered two helicopters be sent to Port Said to evacuate Ahly team members and injured fans.

• Get latest updates on breakingnews.com

"These kind of events can happen anywhere in the world but we will not let those behind this get away," Tantawi said, speaking to the sports television channel owned by Al Ahly. He said victims would receive compensation after their cases were examined

Witnesses said trouble broke out when Al-Ahly fans unfurled banners insulting Port Said and an Ahly supporter descended onto the field carrying an iron bar. Thousands of Al-Masry fans reacted by pouring onto the field and attacking Ahly players. They then turned to the stands to attack Al-Ahli supporters.

Most of the deaths were among people who were trampled in the crush of the panicking crowd or who fell from the stands, witnesses said.

Live television coverage showed fans running onto the field and chasing Al-Ahli players, kicking and punching them as they fled.

The violence raised fresh concerns about the ability of the state police to manage crowds. Most of the hundreds of black-uniformed police with helmets and shields stood in lines and did nothing as soccer fans chased players and rival fans, some wielding sharp objects and others hurling sticks and rocks.

Al-Ahly player Mohamed Abo Treika likened the violence as war.

"This is not football. This is a war, and people are dying in front of us. There is no movement and no security and no ambulances," he told the Ahly television channel. "I call for the premier league to be canceled. This is horrible situation and today can never be forgotten."

"One of the fans died in the dressing room,” Ahmed Nagi, an Ahly goalkeeping coach, said on Egyptian state television. “And there are thousands of wounded lying in the hallways.”

Ahly’s panicked players flooded the club’s in-house television channel with phone calls to speak about the post-match horror, Egyptian news site Ahram Online reported.

“The security forces left us, they did not protect us. One fan has just died in the dressing room in front of me,” veteran playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika screamed, according to Ahram Online.

“People have died, we are seeing corpses now. There are no security forces or army personnel to protect us,” midfielder Mohamed Barakat added, according to the news site.

Soon after the violence, another scheduled soccer game in Cairo between the Al-Ismailiya and Zamalek teams was called off in mourning for the violence in Port Said. Angry fans set fire to the bleachers. No injuries were reported and employees said firefighters extinguished the blaze before it caused much damage.

Al-Ahly fans, known as the Ultra Ahlys, gathered in protest outside the clubs office in Cairo.

Deep divisions
Politics cuts deep across soccer teams in Egypt and their fans. Al-Ahly's fans have been at the forefront of the revolution that overthrew longtime leader Hosni Mubarak a year ago, leading chants and protests against the military. Their anti-police songs, peppered with curses, have become viral and an expression of the hatred many Egyptians feel toward security forces that were accused of much of the abuse that was widespread under Mubarak's regime.

• Related: List of fatal disasters at soccer stadiums around the world

Albadry Farghali, a member of parliament for Port Said, accused officials and security forces of allowing the disaster, saying they still had ties to the government of Mubarak.

"The security forces did this or allowed it to happen. The men of Mubarak are still ruling. The head of the regime has fallen, but all his men are still in their positions," he screamed in a telephone call to live television.

"Where is the security? Where is the government?"

Egypt's general prosecutor has ordered an immediate investigation into the Port Said violence, NBC News reported.

The parliament said it will hold an emergency session Thursday to discuss the riot.

The governor of Port Said, Ahmed Abdullah, submitted his resignation after the violence, NBC News reported. Port Said's director of security, Gen. Essam Samak, was suspended pending investigation by the Ministry of Interior.

Egypt's Football Association Executive Committee was holding an emergency session to discuss whether to suspend the remainder of the season.

It was the deadliest incident of soccer violence since Oct. 16, 1996, when at least 78 people died and 180 others were injured in a stampede at a stadium in Guatemala City before a World Cup qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The worst soccer disaster on record occurred on May 24, 1964, in Lima, Peru, when 318 fans were killed and more than 500 injured during riot and panic following an unpopular ruling by a referee in a Peru vs. Argentina match. As many as 340 were reported killed at a 1982 European Cup match between Soviet club Spartak Moscow and Haarlem of the Netherlands, but that toll was disputed by Moscow officials, who said only 61 died, according to The Assocated Press.

NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin, msnbc.com staff, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Story updated 1:15 p.m. ET: The local authority, Camden Council, said it was confident Reid "had made an error in good faith" when he appointed his wife, but said the matter was being investigated by Britain's Office for Judicial Complaints.

Story published 11:30 a.m. ET: The coroner who oversaw the inquest into the death of singer Amy Winehouse has resigned after her qualifications were questioned, officials in Britain said on Wednesday.

Suzanne Greenaway ruled in October that the 27-year-old soul singer had died from accidental alcohol poisoning.

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However, she resigned after authorities learned she had not been a registered U.K. lawyer for five years as required. It means the verdict in Winehouse's case and 11 others carried out by Greenaway could be subject to a High Court challenge.

Winehouse's relatives said they were still absorbing the implications of the news.

Greenaway had been appointed an assistant deputy coroner in London by her husband, Coroner Andrew Reid. She had practiced law for a decade in her native Australia.

Reid said Wednesday he was "confident that all of the inquests handled were done so correctly" — but offered to hold inquests over again if the families of the deceased wanted it. Greenaway had been in the job since 2009.

Winehouse's family said it had not yet decided what to do.

In a statement, the family said it was "taking advice on the implications of this and will decide if any further discussion with the authorities is needed."

The Sun newspaper, which broke the story, said the dozens of verdicts given by Greenaway would only be overturned if they were challenged in Britain's High Court.

A security guard found Winehouse dead in bed on July 23 at her home in the Camden district of north London. The singer, known for her distinctive beehive hairdos and multiple Grammy-winning album "Back to Black," had battled drug and alcohol addiction for years.

The inquest heard evidence from a pathologist, Winehouse's doctor, the security guard who found her and a detective who described seeing three empty vodka bottles in her bedroom. It appears unlikely that a second inquest would produce a different conclusion about how she died. 
 
The full statement issued by Reid on Wednesday was reported in north London newspaper, the Camden New Journal. It read: "I appointed my wife as an assistant deputy coroner as I believed at the time that her experience as a solicitor and barrister in Australia satisfied the requirements of the post. In November of last year it became apparent that I had made an error in the appointment process and I accepted her resignation.

"While I am confident that all of the inquests handled were done so correctly, I apologise if this matter causes distress to the families and friends of the deceased. I will be writing to the families affected to personally apologise and offer for their cases to reheard if requested."

Although the singer was adored by fans worldwide for her unique voice and style, praise for her singing was often eclipsed by lurid headlines about her destructive relationships and erratic behavior. Winehouse herself turned to her tumultuous life and personal demons for material, resulting in hit songs such as "Rehab" and "Love Is a Losing Game."

Msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson in London and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In a landmark decision in post-apartheid South Africa, four men were given 18 years in jail on Wednesday for stoning and stabbing to death 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana for living openly as a lesbian.

A crowd outside the court in Cape Town township cheered and danced after the sentencing was announced, the BBC News reported.

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Mbulelo Dama, Lubabalo Ntlabathi, Sicelo Mase and Luyanda Londzi -- juveniles when the crimes were committed - were convicted of Nkonyana's murder last year, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.  Five others were acquited.

While rights groups complained throughout the trial that proceedings were taking too long -- they took almost six years -- and involved more than 40 postponements, the verdict was a watershed, an official at a South African NGO that fights discrimination against gay, lesbian bisexual and trans-gender people told msnbc.com.

"It is the first case in South Africa where sexual orientation and identity was named and recognized as an aggravating factor in a murder trial," said Marlow Newman-Valentine, Deputy Director of Triangle Project.

The magistrate in the case said hatred and homophobia were clearly the motive for the killing, and Wednesday's sentence was meant to send out a signal that violence based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated, the BBC reported.

South Africa's constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual preference but homophobia is rife in the country. In addition, the country's female homicide rate six times the world average, according to a June-2011 study in The British Journal of Criminology.

Activists were "still hugely concerned" with the South African police's effectiveness when it came to dealing with these sorts of crimes, and their unwillingness or inability to follow proper procedures in many cases, he said.

"As the Triangle Project we are extremely happy about the outcome of this particular trial but we have a long way to," Newman-Valentine said.

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LONDON - Four British men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involvement in an al-Qaida-inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

The men were among nine defendants facing trial in London over an alleged plot to attack the exchange and several other high-profile targets, including the American Embassy, in December 2010. All had initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them. But on Wednesday four of the defendants pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to involvement in the Stock Exchange plot, and the five other British citizens to lesser charges.

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The nine men, from several parts of the country, were brought together through radical Islamist groups and nurtured plans to attack the stock exchange and other high-profile targets. Unbeknownst to them, British authorities learned of the plot and put them under surveillance.

Mohammed Chowdhury, 21; Shah Rahman, 28; Gurukanth Desai, 30; and Abdul Miah, 25, all admitted preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised explosive device in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.

Prosecution lawyer Andrew Edis accepted that the men had not planned to kill anyone.

"Their intention was to cause terror and economic harm and disruption," he said. "But their chosen method meant there was a risk people would be maimed or killed."

Chowdhury, from London, was described by prosecutors as the "lynchpin" of the plot. His lawyer, Christopher Blaxland, said Chowdhury admitted planning to plant the bomb, "with the obvious attendant risk but without any intention to cause death or even injury but with the intention to terrorize, damage property and to cause economic damage."

The other five defendants admitted attending planning meetings, fundraising for terrorism or possessing copies of the al-Qaida magazine, Inspire, which contained a feature headlined "Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom."

Prosecutors said they had not made any bombs or set dates for the attacks.

They said the men were not members of al-Qaida but had been inspired by the terror network and the sermons of its Yemen-based, American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last year in a U.S. drone strike.

Edis said the nine defendants "were implementing the published strategy of AQAP" — al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The suspects, then aged between 20 and 30, were arrested in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent in central England, in what police called the biggest anti-terror raid for two years.

Prosecutors said they plotted to send mail bombs to various targets in the run-up to Christmas 2010 and had discussed launching a "Mumbai-style" atrocity — referring to the bomb blasts that killed 166 people in India's financial center in 2008.

The nine defendants were accused of agreeing on targets, discussing materials and methods, and researching files "containing practical instruction for a terrorist attack."

The men held planning meetings, researched bomb-making and scouted out locations including Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye Ferris wheel — not knowing that they were under police surveillance and their homes and cars had been bugged.

A handwritten target list found at one of the defendant's homes listed the names and addresses of London Mayor Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the American Embassy and the Stock Exchange.

The Daily Telegraph reported that torn pieces of paper showing a sketch of what is believed to be a car bomb were also found.

The men, who had Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds, also were overheard discussing how to make a pipe bomb, and talked about traveling abroad for terror training.

The four suspects from Stoke-on-Trent discussed leaving homemade bombs in the toilets of their city's pubs — but noted that as Muslims they would not be able to go into the pubs to plant them.

The defendants will be sentenced next week, but the judge has already told Chowdhury he will receive 13 1/2 years and Rahman 12 years. Each will also receive five years on probation. They are likely to serve half that time before being eligible for parole.

When police swooped on the suspects in three cities in the early morning of Dec. 20, 2010, they said it was the most significant anti-terror raid for two years.

London has been targeted several times by violent Islamists affiliated with or inspired by al-Qaida.

In July 2005, four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on three London subway trains and a bus. A year later, U.S. and British intelligence officials thwarted one of the largest plots yet — a plan to explode bombs on nearly a dozen trans-Atlantic airliners.

Al-Awlaki, who was killed in September, is thought to have orchestrated an unsuccessful October 2010 plot to send mail bombs on planes from Yemen to the U.S. hidden in the toner cartridges of computer printers.

Msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LONDON -- Argentina lashed out at Great Britain as Prince William headed to the Falkland Islands, saying that the second-in-line to the throne would arrive on the disputed South Atlantic archipelago "dressed in the uniform of a conquistador."

"The Argentinian people are disappointed that the heir to the throne is arriving on sovereign soil dressed in the uniform of a conquistador, and not with the wisdom of a statesman who works for peace and dialogue between nations," Argentina's foreign relations ministry said in a statement entitled "More diplomacy, fewer weapons" (link in Spanish).

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The assignment of Prince William, a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, for a six-week military mission in the Falklands in February and March has been a sore point for Argentina. It has sought to reclaim the South Atlantic archipelago that it calls the Malvinas Islands ever since Britain seized the islands some 180 years ago.

• Will Prince William's tour of duty reignite simmering Falklands dispute?

Both countries have engaged in a war of words in recent weeks ahead of the 30th anniversary of Argentina's failed attempt to take the islands back. Its invasion ended with more than 600 Argentine soldiers killed and 200 British dead in an international humiliation for Argentina's military junta.

In the statement, the South American country also appeared to lecture the conservative-led government of David Cameron on the reasons behind William's deployment.

"Governments should avoid the temptation to indulge in speeches that transform patriotism into jingoism with the aim of distracting the public's attention from economic policies ... and high unemployment," the Argentine statement added.

The British government, which is struggling with high unemployment rates and sluggish growth, may have slipped back into recession at the end of 2011, some experts warn.

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not immediately reply to msnbc.com's request for comment.

Little appetite for war
Weakened by that defeat 30 years ago, the Argentine dictatorship soon allowed the return of democracy, and the population has had little appetite since then for war.

Instead, Argentina hopes diplomatic and economic measures will pressure Britain to comply with United Nations resolutions encouraging both countries to negotiate the islands' sovereignty. British leaders have refused to do that.

The pressure on Britain includes a ban by South America's Mercosur nations on any Falklands-flagged vessels entering their ports. That action prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to accuse Argentine President Cristina Fernandez of having "colonialist" aims on an island population that wants to remain a British dependency. She accused Cameron of "mediocrity bordering on stupidity."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague came back with more fighting words Tuesday, telling Sky News that Britain is sending one of its most modern warships, the destroyer HMS Dauntless, to the Falklands. He called the deployment a routine replacement of another warship, but also stressed that "the Royal Navy packs a very considerable punch."

A spokesman for Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Flight Lieutenant Wales will complete a routine deployment to the Falkland Islands as part of a normal routine squadron crew rotation. This is part of his training and career progression as a Search and Rescue pilot within the RAF. It is entirely in line with normal squadron crew rotation for Search and Rescue pilots and in no way affects our policy on the Falkland Islands.
 
“In accordance with international law, we would expect international partners to recognise both our right to enact this deployment and the vital role search and rescue operations play in improving safety worldwide.”

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Msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.