India and Pakistan could come to blows over Kashmir
THE ALPINE meadows and pine forests of Pahalgam have long been a lure for visitors to the Indian region of Jammu & Kashmir. They called it 'mini-Switzerland' and came in greater numbers lately as India's government hailed a downturn in militant violence in the region. Yet on April 22nd, at least 20 people were killed and many more injured after unidentified gunmen opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam. It appears to have been the deadliest militant attack since 2019 in the Himalayan region, which is claimed in full but ruled in part by both India and Pakistan.
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Scotsman
10 hours ago
- Scotsman
Scotland seek answers in Liechtenstein: Steve Clarke's changes, 'shouldn't be panic' and chance-taker
In last match before World Cup qualifiers, Clarke and co require a response Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The tranquil setting of Vaduz on the banks of the Rhine should not be a place where further pressure is put on a football manager. Flanked by mountains, visitors usually return refreshed and happy. The small nation of Liechtenstein is currently ranked 202 in the FIFA World rankings. Only Hong Kong have suffered defeat to them in the past five years. Their 'golden' era of most-capped keeper Peter Jehle and star striker Mario Frick are long gone. Konrad Fünfstück's are usually deemed as easy prey for opponents of any meaningful repute. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland fall into that category as they arrive at the Rheinpark Stadion on the Swiss border. This is down as an away win, with odds of 1/12 from most bookmakers. San Marino scored three times when they rocked up here in November. It was an evening of anguish for Scotland against Iceland last time out. | SNS Group History with Liechtenstein won't ease any queasiness, mind you. On Scotland's only previous sojourn to Vaduz in 2011, they narrowly prevailed 1-0 thanks to a goal from Craig Mackail-Smith. That came a year on from an almost catastrophic first meeting with Liechtenstein, when Stephen McManus' 97th-minute header earned a 2-1 win at Hampden. The last match of a long season, many in the Scotland squad are entitled to feel jaded. There have been title wins, cup successes and long European runs. This probably isn't their idea of an Alpine retreat. Nevertheless, Scotland need to tool up for one final job ahead of the holidays. A meek 3-1 defeat by Iceland on Friday night and the lacklustre nature of the performance requires a response. This is the last time head coach Steve Clarke will have his squad together before the World Cup qualification campaign kicks off in September against Denmark. The Parken Stadion will be a world away from the docile 7,584 arena they play in on Monday evening. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland 'need to win their next game' Scotland will want to bounce into the autumn matches, of that there is no doubt. Their recent record in friendlies is poor and Clarke wanted to address that in this double-header. Iceland has come and gone, now it's about doing a number on Liechtenstein. "We need to win our next game on Monday night," was the blunt assessment of midfielder Lewis Ferguson after Iceland. "We need to go and put on a good performance and win the game. Winning games is what breeds confidence. We need to get back to that." Clarke himself admits he is not the most adventurous when it comes to mixing it up with team selection. The manager may have been wrestling with whether to give his main men a chance to atone for Friday and get a much-needed triumph under their belt in Scotland colours, or blood some of the uncapped players in his current group. As it is, injury and fatigue may play a part, with Clarke accepting he may make more alterations than usual. The likes of Josh Doig, Andy Irving and Kieron Bowie will be desperate for game-time and their international debuts. A maiden appearance may come between the sticks after Cieran Slicker was unceremoniously thrown in at the deep end for his first senior appearance for club or country against Iceland after Angus Gunn's second-minute injury and was at fault for all three goals. Celtic-bound keeper Ross Doohan has been summoned from his holidays to join the squad. Doohan has made 20 appearances for Aberdeen this season and seems likely to make his debut, having been solid at Pittodrie all season. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One may ask why he wasn't in the squad ahead of others. One may also ask why Clarke reverted back to a back-three against Iceland when the back-four had been a reasonable success in the Nations League A campaign against more glamourous opposition. Kieran Tierney's injury may force a formation change. Scott McTominay, the poster boy after Serie A success with Napoli, will also be absent due to a niggle. That means Clarke doesn't need to find the best way to shoe-horn all of his top-level midfielders into one team. It is hard to get Ferguson, John McGinn, Billy Gilmour and McTominay effectively on the pitch at the same time. Craig Mackail-Smith scores the winner against Liechtenstein for Scotland back in 2011. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 And then there are the strikers. Che Adams has not scored for Scotland in a year, and the Torino hitman must sense an opportunity against Liechtenstein. They are rarely scudded, but Adams will surely get chances if selected ahead of George Hirst as Clarke's No 9. He needs to take them. Within the squad, there is awareness of the talent at Scotland's disposal. "There shouldn't be any panic," Ferguson advised. "We've good strong squad, with plenty of quality and experience. But we do recognise that we need to get back to winning ways and get back to performing at the levels we know we're capable of." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
Devastated and broken, I headed to the Himalayas to heal my heartbreak
This time last year I was standing in cold, bright sunlight at the top of a mountain in the Nepalese Himalayas. As I took in the blue sky and air as pure as the snow under my feet on Mardi Himal, for the first time in months, I felt a sense of release. It was day five of my seven-night trek in Nepal, a country that only opened to tourists 70 years ago and where I had first visited nearly 25 years ago. I loved everything about the place, from the kind and genuine people to the traditions and the sense of peace. I had been called back the second time after a breakup last year, which blindsided me. One minute we had happily been together for an intense 10 months and he was helping me buy a puppy. Two weeks later he disappeared. Completely ghosted, I was left devastated. So, while I didn't get the dog – I did go back to the Himalayas in a bid toprocess and dissipate the pain I felt in every cell. I contacted the company who'd organised my previous trek based in Pokhara, central Nepal. Called 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, it was set up by sisters Lucky, Dicky and Nicky Karki Chhetri in 1994 to train Nepalese women to become guides to empower them and offer financial independence. Plus, they'd heard of some bad experiences female travellers had with male guides, so it made sense – even though 30 years ago it was unheard of for a woman to be a guide. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. Today, the sisters lead treks to India, Bhutan and Tibet, as well as Nepal which run up to 21 days and are usually for solo travellers or groups of friends. When I went in 2000, I'd been laid off and used my redundancy money to go on my travels, randomly choosing Nepal from the globe in my parents sitting room. I signed up to climb to Annapurna base camp with just a guide and not a big group. At over 4,000 metres high, it took a very long 12 days when it was meant to take nine, but it was the best and hardest thing I have ever done physically and mentally. So almost 25 years after Annapurna – and older and wiser – I contacted 3 Sisters to book the Mardi Himal trek towards Machhapuchhare, also known as Fishtail mountainbecause of it's unique shape. After three flights from London which took me over 36 hours, I arrived at the 3 Sisters Guest House, in the lively city of Pokhara – which has doubled in size in the last 25 years. The following day I met my guide Lila and her trainee, Manila, who had the task of carrying my 12kg rucksack. I felt embarrassed about it, but it was better than me toppling over backwards on a Himalayan mountain – a real possibility. Taking a lift to our starting point, the hamlet of Kalimati, the Tibetan peace flags gently floated in the breeze. After the bustle of Pokhara, I couldn't wait to be distracted from confusion, shame and pain. In the heat of 30 degrees and surrounded by mountain oak, birch trees and hemlock we started up the paths that alternated with steep steps. Concentrating hard on putting one pole and foot in front of the other, I knew it would take some time for the chatter in my head to slow down, but it was all meditative movement, and the air felt calming. After seven hours of walking with a break for lunch, we reached our first destination Duerali, a village at 2100 metres with half a dozen lodges. We stayed at Shangri-La Guest House and I leapt on my dinner of dal bhat, the traditional Nepali meal made of vegetables rice, dahl with pickles; the ingredients up the mountains are locally grown and are utterly delicious. I could pay for a hot shower, WIFI and to charge my phone but I had decided to go mobile free, as I didn't want the temptation of checking my phone for messages in case he had messaged and the disappointment when he hadn't (since you ask he didn't. Idiot man). Thankfully I was so tired, for the first time in ages I fell into a long nightmare-free sleep. The next day we continued our uphill climb and the scenery magically changed as we entered what Lila called the jungle. Surrounded by rhododendrons, Manila told me that they are the Nepalese national flower, which sounded so incongruous to me as they were just so 'British', I had one of the first belly laughs in months. Being a slowcoach, it took us six hours rather than four to get to lunch and then another six until we reached the camp for the night. Although the altitude hadn't affected my breathing, by then, I felt incredibly weak. There was also another issue – my tummy felt like a balloon has blown up inside it. That night I woke desperate for the loo and stood on my glasses in a rush to get there. I spent the rest of the night sweating, blindly, only to add to my confusion. When Lila woke me the next morning I explained I wasn't well, but I knew we had to go on. She was incredibly sympathetic and ordered me black tea, light Tibetan bread, like a large pretzel shaped light bagel. I hunted down the Imodium in my rucksack and we took off. Still feeling incredibly weak – with my bra hurting, too – I started to cry behind my sunglasses. I felt like I was about to have a tantrum. Thankfully, we stopped for me to change my bra, which solved at least one problem. But I was so slow we only made it to the lodge where we were meant to be having lunch by the evening. I collapsed in the guesthouse sitting room where the male guides were playing cards beside a log burner. I was desperate for bed and rest, but as this was meant to be our lunch stop, we hadn't booked it to stay in and the place was full. Somehow Lila managed to arrange a room for us to share, gave me Coke with salt and gently fed me (oddly delicious) garlic soup, which had a miraculously settling effect. I slept from 7pm for 12 hours – apparently sleep talking, which is unsurprising as I had some peculiar dreams, an apparent side effect of eating vast quantities of garlic. I woke up feeling restored and even treated myself to pay £3 for a hot shower, so grateful for my caring and sympathetic female guides. The day before affectionately became known as 'bra Tuesday' and we began yet another day of climbing. I could feel it was getting colder, while the landscape went from paddy fields and jungle to vast planes. Further up I was reminded of Scotland – while on the way down it could have been the prairies of Switzerland, especially when we came across a cow with a bell around her neck. More Trending We had a lot of distance to catch up on, and finally, after two days, we made it to the top of the mountain. In a thick down jacket, standing outside on the snow and looking at the majesty of the mountains, I celebrated this moment with a coffee (banned before by nurse Lila) and momos, Nepalese dumplings freshly made at each lodge. Taking in everything at the top, I finally understood why I had come on this trek. Having to be fully present and concentrate, I was on the path to processing my pain. Yes, I had been near breaking point, but my body had become stronger and so was my resolve to get through my heartbreak. The Himalayas, their power and beauty gave me strength and made me realise that it might be a long process, but starting with one foot in front of the other I was on my way. I took on the Machhapuchhare Kiss (7 nights 8 days), which costs around £810 per person. Price Includes: Two nights accommodation at 3 Sisters Guest House, guide, assistant, all food, accommodation, backpack and sleeping bag. For more information, click here. MORE: The underrated Swiss lake town that's like Como without the crowds MORE: The teenage Orkney killer who got away with murder for 14 years MORE: I visited the 'Santorini of Tunisia' with cool coffee shops, local art and flights from £76
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
The teenage Orkney killer who got away with murder for 14 years
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video It was a beautiful summer evening in Orkney, when a loud gunshot rang out and the peaceful corner of the world changed forever. Families were dining in the only Indian Restaurant in the main town of Kirkwall, when a masked man calmly walked in on June 2 1994 and shot 26-year-old waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood at point-blank range, before vanishing into the night. It was the first murder to happen in 25 years on the island located just off the northern coast of Scotland, which has a population of around 22,000. Detectives arrived overnight, the area was sealed off, and the big question of who could have killed Shamsuddin was at the forefront of the locals' minds. He had no known enemies and had only arrived in Orkney six weeks before, with plans to soon return to Bangladesh to marry his fiancée. An investigation commenced, and 2,736 statements were taken. A pair of witnesses claimed they saw teenager Michael Ross wearing the same balaclava and dark clothing as the murderer in woodland a fortnight earlier. The 15-year-old was called in for questioning, accompanied by his police officer father, Edmund Ross. Michael proclaimed his innocence and provided an alibi – he'd seen friends on the evening of the murder, however, they later denied being in his company. In the Amazon Prime Video documentary The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles , his mother, Moira, recalls asking Michael if he had killed Shamsuddin. 'I remember him coming home with the detective, and he went up to his room and sat there,' she says tearfully. 'I did go up and ask him 'Did you shoot that man?' And he said: 'No'. I just can't get over the look on his face when I asked him that.' Edmund adds, 'My head was spinning at the time. I didn't believe it. I knew my son, and he never showed any sort of tendency to go out and shoot anyone.' Evidence continued to build when Michael admitted dropping his balaclava into the sea with a heavy stone attached, and a bedroom search found school books marked with swastikas, 'Death to the English' scribbles and SS symbols. Meanwhile, Edmund owned the same type of bullets that were used in the murder, but didn't reveal this information until two months after the inquiry had begun. When lead investigator Angus Chisholm asked where they'd come from, he initially claimed he couldn't remember, before later revealing they came from a friend and former Marine, Jim Spence. The findings did not lead to a conviction; however, in 1997, Edmund was imprisoned for four years on charges of lying to the police and tampering with a witness, after it was alleged that he asked Jim to lie. Despite the determination of some detectives, the troubling case began to slip into obscurity. That was until 12 years after the murder in 2006, when a mysterious letter was delivered to the local police station. A new witness, later identified as William Grant, wrote that he had seen the killer in public toilets on the night of the murder, brandishing a gun. He identified him as Michael. Advocate depute Brian McConnachie QC, who led the prosecution case, tells Metro: 'When the incident happened, long before I was ever involved, it was taken to the Crown Office, and a decision was made that there was insufficient evidence against Michael. However, the letter was enough to reopen, and that's when I looked over the case; I didn't necessarily agree with the original decision that evidence wasn't strong enough to proceed with the case.' The revelation led to the shock arrest of Michael, who in the intervening years had married, become a father of two and now worked as a sergeant of a sniper platoon in Scotland's Black Watch regiment. As so much time had passed, it was a 'challenging' case for Brian to take on, he says. 'In cold cases, people who gave statements have forgotten what they said, what they saw, and they may have heard somebody else say something, and that becomes part of their memory.' He adds: 'There wasn't the same amount of CCTV in 1994 as there is now, and people didn't carry mobile telephones. Nowadays, the police solve a lot of crimes because the accused can be pinpointed to be in a particular location through signal.' However, the authorities had enough to bring it the case trial in 2008, where the 'compelling, unanswerable' circumstantial evidence was presented. 'It could be described as putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It was trying to find all the different pieces to make the picture. The bullets, his access, and interest in firearms were all important, then we added Mr Grant's identification into it,' says Brian. Although a motive isn't needed to prove someone's guilt, it was suggested that Michael's racist views had led him to shoot one of Orkney's only Asian residents. A fellow cadet claimed Michael said: 'Blacks should be shot'. 'It was such a pointless and senseless killing,' says Brian. 'There wasn't a feud between them, but there was certainly an amount of evidence which suggested that at the relevant time, he had racist tendencies. 'Whether that was something that was genuinely felt or it was just the rantings of a teenager, it's hard to say. I've said in the past that I've never been totally convinced about the racism angle.' During the trial, Michael's lawyer, Donald Findlay, argued it was unthinkable that a teenager would have carried out the killing, claiming it was more likely to be a 'professional hit'. But at the end of a six-week trial, it took jurors just four hours to reach a guilty verdict of murder. At the trial, Shamsuddin's brother, barrister Abul Shafiuddin, said: 'He was our baby brother and at least we know the person who killed him will be punished.' Upon hearing his fate, Michael attempted to escape by jumping out of the dock at Glasgow High Court, assaulting a guard and making it into an outside corridor, before being wrestled to the ground. Days before, he had parked a hired car two miles from the court with a machine gun, hand grenades and a sleeping bag amongst the items found in the boot. He explained in an open letter to supporters that he would have used the items to live off the land. It hasn't been his only attempt to escape punishment either, as he has since tried to leave prison three times. Brian says: 'It's the first time I've seen anything like that from somebody who'd just been convicted of murder. 'If someone thinks they're innocent and is convicted, they might well want to escape, but the fact that he was running to a motor vehicle filled with the items, is a problem. The jury decided his guilt without all of that evidence, but I don't think that helps his position now.' Even so, the case of Shamsuddin's murder is far from over, with a shadow of doubt still dividing opinion in Orkney to this day. Michael's family believe there has been a grave miscarriage of justice, while a petition has been set up by supporters to clear his name, which currently has 2650 signatures. Michael, now 46, remains incarcerated, and his earliest release date is 2035. Orkney local Ethan Flett wasn't even born when the crime took place, but the 25-year-old has spent many hours analysing the case through his role as a reporter for the island newspaper The Orcadian. The journalism took him to Perth prison, where he went through airport-like security, before sitting down at a table that had been screwed into the floor. When Michael entered the visitors' room, Ethan didn't instantly recognise him. 'He's been taking the gym seriously,' the young reporter thought to himself. As they began chatting, Ethan quickly made it clear that he wasn't interested in campaigning for his innocence or trying to find anybody else guilty. Even so, Michael was happy to give his first ever interview. 'The meeting will stick in my mind for a while. He seemed very laid-back and was an easy guy to deal with. It is one of the paradoxes, considering what he's been convicted of, but he seemed at least like a fairly normal person. It's strange,' recalls Ethan to Metro. They spent the next six months writing back and forth to each other, with Michael responding to each of Ethan's questions in great detail. 'What I found most interesting was his justifications for his escape attempts. He says that he did it to garner a bit of publicity for his claims of innocence, and says that he would have surrendered to the authorities if he were successful,' Ethan explains. 'He admitted to saying racist things as a teenager, but claimed that it was immaturity that he regretted.' Ethan adds that the police previously publicly stated that they had ruled out racism as the motive, which 'would make it a motiveless crime, so it's hard to get your head around.' In letters to Ethan, Michael says that the reason the friends mentioned in his alibi don't remember talking to him is that the police didn't question them until months had passed. Ethan's research has also raised some possible inconsistencies, such as when Michael became a suspect. He was questioned about his movements on the night of the murder on December 2 1994. Michael's legal team have said that the audio shouldn't have been allowed in court, as he hadn't been offered a lawyer. The appeal was rejected as it was determined he wasn't a suspect at this point. 'I found court records from the trial of Eddy, which stated that Michael had become the prime and only suspect as of September,' says Ethan. 'There are unsolved leads in the case, such as two days before the murder, there was a heated argument at the door of the restaurant between Shamsuddin and people trying to get in. According to one of the witnesses inside the restaurant, the man threatened to shoot Shamsuddin a number of times. 'A month into the investigation, one of the detectives was quoted as saying that the incident had been cleared up. However, a statement was taken from the detective who led the cold case review when Michael's conviction was examined by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2014, and he said it wasn't solved.' As a journalist, Ethan remains impartial. More Trending 'I don't know whether or not he committed the murder. My interest has always been in the handling of the investigation by the police. There's still so much interest in this case from Orkney people, so the story is ongoing,' he explains. Meanwhile, Brian doesn't think there's enough to appeal the case's verdict: 'I think new evidence becoming available is the only way that it would get back into the court. 'I haven't seen or heard anything yet to make me think that the jury got it wrong.' The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles will be available on Prime Video in the UK & Ireland on June 8 Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: Rich people 'will have robot butlers by 2030′ – but there's a major flaw MORE: BBC's 'brilliant' true crime drama made me question my own morals MORE: 'Exquisite' Amazon Prime show cancelled after one series despite 85% Rotten Tomatoes score
