Syria death toll exceeds 5000 says UN
The death toll from Syria's crackdown on a 9-month-old uprising has exceeded 5,000 people, the top UN rights official says, as Syrians close their businesses and keep children home from school as part of a general strike to pressure President Bashar Assad to end the bloodshed.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said today at least 300 children are among those killed in the Assad regime's attempts to stamp out the revolt, and that thousands of people remain in detention.
irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 08:50
New European fiscal rules pact to be 'ready by March'
RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC, MARK HENNESSY and ARTHUR BEESLEY
An intergovernmental treaty among up to 26 European Union countries on stricter fiscal rules will be finalised by March 2012, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy said today.
"Early March at the latest, this fiscal compact treaty will be signed," he said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
A review of the adequacy of the €500 billion ceiling on the euro zone's combined bailout funds will also be completed by March, Mr Van Rompuy said.
The so-called fiscal compact is designed to allow closer surveillance of countries' spending, in an effort to prevent a repeat of the euro zone's debt crisis.
High-seas stabbing of Korean officer worsens ties with China
A
Chinese fishing captain fatally stabbed a South Korean coast guard officer and wounded another on Monday after they stopped his boat for illegally fishing in crab-rich South Korean waters, officials said.
South Korea, which had asked China's ambassador just last week to try to rein in illegal Chinese fishing in its waters, lodged a strong protest with the diplomat over the latest incident — the first deadly clash between the South Korean coast guard and Chinese fishermen in three years.
China's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, urged Seoul to safeguard the rights of detained Chinese fishermen. However, an analyst said the incident was unlikely to significantly affect overall ties between the countries.
ICC refers Malawi to UN over refusal to arrest Sudan's president
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Bashir and as a signatory to the Rome statute that created The Hague-based world court, Malawi was obligated to detain the Sudanese leader on its soil.
But on October 15 Bashir was among six heads of state attending a meeting of the 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in the tiny landlocked nation and returned home later in the weekend unhindered.
On Monday the court said its pre-trial chamber "decided that the Republic of Malawi failed to cooperate with the court by not arresting and surrendering Omar Al Bashir to the court during his visit to Malawi" in October.
US lawmakers freeze $700 mn to Pakistan as distrust grows
Reuters
Islamabad, December 13, 2011
Islamabad, December 13, 2011
A crisis in relations looked set to deepen after a US House-Senate negotiating panel agreed to freeze $700 million in US aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of improvised explosive devices in the region.
Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of US foreign aid, and the cutback announced is only a small proportion of the billions in civil and military assistance it gets each year
But it could presage greater cuts as calls grow in the United States to penalise Islamabad for failing to act against militant groups and, at worst, helping them, following the secret US raid on a Pakistan military town in which al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed
Psychedelic gecko one of 200 new species discovered in South East Asia
HANOI, Vietnam — A psychedelic gecko and a monkey with an "Elvis" hairdo are among 208 new species described last year by scientists in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, a conservation group announced Monday.
The animals were discovered in a biodiverse region that is threatened by habitat loss, deforestation, climate change and overdevelopment, the WWF said in a report.
The newly described species include a "psychedelic gecko" in southern Vietnam and a nose-less monkey in a remote province of Myanmar that looks like it wears a pompadour.
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