4 U.S. SURVEILLANCE PLANES FLY OVER KOREAN PENINSULA ON SAME DAY A U.S. maritime patrol plane made a late-night flight over the Korean Peninsula, only hours after three American surveillance aircraft flew above the same area, it was reported on Friday. According to Aircraft Spots, an aviation tracker, a P-3C plane of the U.S. Navy flew over the peninsula at around 11 p.m. on Thursday, Yonhap News Agency reported. Earlier on Thursday, a RC-135S Cobra Ball plane was presumed to have carried out a surveillance mission over South Korea's East Sea after taking off from the Japanese territory of Okinawa. An RC-135S aircraft and E-8C plane or JSTARS were also spotted flying in the same route later in the day, the aviation tracker said. Thursday's flights came after the US flew four spy planes at the same time over the Peninsula earlier this week in an unusual move to intensify its surveillance on North Korea amid concerns that Pyongyang could test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The North has threatened to take a "new way" if the US does not show flexibility in the deadlocked negotiations by Pyongyang's self-imposed year-end deadline. With the deadline drawing closer, the North earlier said that it was entirely up to Washington what "Christmas gift" it wants to get, spawning speculation that it might be preparing a major provocation during the holiday season this week. MUSHARRAF CHALLENGES DEATH PENALTY Pakistan's former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf (retd) today filed a petition in the Lahore High Court challenging the death sentence handed to him by a special court in a high treason case. The Islamabad special court verdict on December 17 led to an unprecedented confrontation between the judiciary and military in Pakistan, especially after the details and nature of death sentence became public. As per the judgement, if found dead, before he is hanged, Musharraf's corpse is to be dragged to a public square near the Pakistan Parliament House. Musharraf is in self-imposed exile in Dubai and undergoing treatment for some critical ailments. The petition challenged the verdict and the gruesome nature of death sentence handed to Musharraf. Musharraf has pleaded that the special court had "rapidly and hurriedly wrapped up the trial" and handed capital punishment without giving him an opportunity to be examined. ISLAMIC STATE SAYS IT BEHEADED CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES IN NIGERIA Islamic State released a video purporting to show its militants beheading 10 Christian men in Nigeria, saying it was part of a campaign to avenge the deaths of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its spokesman. The militant group posted the footage on its online Telegram news channel on Thursday, the day after Christmas, with Arabic captions but no audio. The video showed men in beige uniforms and black masks lining up behind blindfolded captives then beheading 10 of them and shooting an 11th man. An earlier video seen by Reuters said the captives had been taken from Maiduguri and Damaturu in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, where militants have been fighting for years to set up a separate Islamist state. In that video, the captives pleaded for the Christian Association of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene to save them. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of either video. SYRIA WAR: MORE THAN 235,000 PEOPLE FLEE REBEL-HELD IDLIB REGION More than 235,000 people have fled from their homes in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, the UN says, as government forces step up their offensive on the area. The exodus happened between 12 and 25 December as fighting intensified. Idlib in north-western Syria is the last major region held by rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. The Russian-backed Syrian government has been bombarding Idlib since late November. An increase in air strikes and ground fighting since mid-December has accelerated civilian displacement from the area, UN humanitarian agency Ocha said in a report. Tens of thousands of families - including some already displaced numerous times during the civil war - have been heading north in trucks and private cars. "Many who fled are in urgent need of humanitarian support, particularly shelter, food, health, non-food and winterisation assistance," the UN said. A ceasefire negotiated by Russia, whose military campaign in support of Mr Assad has turned the tide of the eight-year civil war in his favour, and Turkey, which backs the opposition, halted a government assault on Idlib in August. But the fighting has continued sporadically as President Assad attempts to wrest back control of Syria from rebel fighters and jihadists. HAWAII TOUR HELICOPTER WRECKAGE FOUND; FATE OF 7 ABOARD UNCERTAIN The wreckage of a helicopter carrying seven people to one of the most rugged and remote coastlines in Hawaii was found Friday at the top of a mountain on the island of Kauai, authorities said. Officials said they're searching for possible survivors of the crash. Searchers began looking for the helicopter carrying a pilot and six passengers from two families after it was reported overdue Thursday evening from a tour of Kauai's Na Pali Coast. Two passengers are believed to be minors, the Coast Guard said. Steep terrain, low visibility, choppy seas and rain had complicated the search, the agency said. 14 DEAD AS PLANE WITH 100 ON BOARD CRASHES IN KAZAKHSTAN A Bek Air plane with 95 passengers and five crew members on board crashed near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday shortly after taking off, killing at least 14 people, authorities in the Central Asian country said. The Fokker 100 aircraft was heading for the capital, Nur-Sultan, and "lost altitude during take-off and broke through a concrete fence" before hitting a two-storey building, Kazakhstan's Civil Aviation Committee said in a statement. A survivor told news website Tengrinews she heard a "terrifying sound" before the plane started losing altitude. "The plane was flying with a tilt. Everything was like in a movie: screaming, shouting, people crying," she said. At least 14 people were killed, and 22 have been hospitalised in grave condition, the Almaty mayor's office said. The plane was taking off before dawn. A Reuters reporter travelling to the airport said there was thick fog in the area at the time. The crash site in Almerek village - just beyond the end of the runway - has been cordoned off. A Reuters reporter saw the plane torn into two parts next to a house half-demolished by the impact. Authorities have not suggested any possible cause of the accident. The aviation committee said it was suspending all flights of that type of aircraft pending an investigation. "Those responsible will face tough punishment in accordance with the law," Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tweeted, expressing condolences to the victims and their families. CHINA LAUNCHES POWERFUL ROCKET IN BOOST FOR 2020 MARS MISSION China launched one of the world's most powerful rockets, Friday, in a major step forward for its planned mission to Mars in 2020. The heavy lift Long March 5 rocket carrying a Shijian 20 test satellite payload blasted off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern island of Hainan, a livestream from state broadcaster CCTV showed. "After more than 2,000 seconds, the Shijian 20 satellite was sent into its predetermined orbit," the official Xinhua news agency reported. The rocket launch "tests key technologies related to future space missions," Xinhua said. The successful launch is a key part of China's ambitious plans for a mission to the Red Planet next year and hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022. "The Long March 5 rocket is tasked with important missions," Wu Yanhua, the deputy head of China's National Space Administration, said in a video released by CCTV last week. "It will be tasked with a series of key missions including launching China's first Mars probe, the Chang'e-5 lunar probe and a core module for the manned space station," Yanhua added. More than a million people watched the online livestream of the launch and crowds gathered near the island launch site cheered as the rocket blasted off into the night sky, videos posted on social media showed. RUSSIA SAYS IT HAS DEPLOYED FIRST HYPERSONIC NUCLEAR-CAPABLE MISSILES MOSCOW - Russia deployed its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles on Friday, the Defense Ministry said, a move which President Vladimir Putin has boasted puts his country in a class of its own. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has informed Putin of the deployment, his ministry said in a statement, which did not say where the missiles were located. The new system, called Avangard, comprises a hypersonic glide vehicle which is designed to sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, one of several new types of weapons touted by Putin as being ahead of their time. Putin has said that Russia's new generation of nuclear weapons can hit almost any point in the world and evade a US-built missile shield, though some Western experts have questioned how advanced some of the weapons programs are. Putin said on Tuesday the Avangard system could penetrate both existing and any future missile defense systems. "Today, we have a unique situation in our new and recent history. They (other countries) are trying to catch up with us. Not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons," said Putin. Hypersonic glide vehicles are boosted aloft on a rocket to heights of between 40 km (25 miles) and 100 km (62 miles) above the earth before detaching to glide along the upper atmosphere towards their target, say researchers. MEXICO TAKES DIPLOMATIC SPAT WITH BOLIVIA TO THE ICJ Mexico will ask a United Nations court to settle a simmering diplomatic dispute with Bolivia, which it says is harassing allies of ousted President Evo Morales at its embassy in La Paz. The government will submit a complaint Thursday to the International Court of Justice, a UN body based in the Hague, claiming Bolivia is violating diplomatic norms by surrounding its embassy with security forces, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said. A group of Morales' allies have been holed up in the embassy since last month when they were granted asylum by Mexico. Bolivia's new government, which took power after Morales was ousted by the military last month, has issued arrest warrants for four of them, Ebrard said. "We're reaching out to the entire international community because even during the worst moments of the military coups of the 1970s and 80s, the integrity of the Mexican embassies or residences were not at risk," Ebrard said at a press conference in Mexico City Thursday.