A Pakistan court prosecuted six paramilitary soldiers and one civilian security guard for the shooting of an unarmed teenager in Karachi two months ago.

A video of the killing, recorded by a local cameraman,  showed the young boy begging for mercy, before being shot, twice.

The video was widely broadcast across television channels and internet sites.

So much for China’s communism.

The editorial by Xinhua, China’s official news agency, in response to the downgrading of the United States’ debt rating reads like a neoliberal manifesto.

Extracts:

“The days when the debt-ridden Uncle Sam could leisurely squander unlimited overseas borrowing appeared to be numbered.

Extracts from niqash.org (see the full text here):

"At the beginning of this month the Iraqi parliament voted to recognize what had been done to the Fayli Kurds under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as genocide. From 1980 onwards, the ethnic minority was horribly persecuted by Hussein’s regime.

Nokia Siemens Networks, one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world, is to expand its manufacturing facility in Chennai, making it the firm’s biggest in Asia.

NSN’s head of operations, Herbert Merz, said the factory in China is currently the company's largest in Asia, but the Chennai facility could overtake it in a year.

United States President Obama announced last week the creation of a new body which will coordinate a government approach to genocide and other mass atrocities.

The Atrocities Prevention Board – whose exact authority, mandate, and structure will be under interagency review over the next months – will begin functioning within 120 days, according to the presidential directive announcing its creation.

Brazil, India and South Africa, which have blocked United Nations pressure on Syria’s government to end repression of protesters, will send envoys to Damascus to seek an end to the violence.

See the report by Bloomberg here.

India will assume the presidency of the Security Council for August and use the opportunity to demonstrate it has the “not only has the credentials but the political maturity” to be a permanent member, Delhi’s UN envoy Hardeep Singh Puri says.

See report by IANS and UNI here.

US car-maker Ford, which has a major vehicle plant in Tamil Nadu, has announced it will invest $1 billion in Gujarat to build two new plants.

However, the decision does not seem to have upset or surprised the Tamil Nadu government which had courted the company to set up the new plants there, IANS reports.

"We have been told that the company would save sizeably on freight costs if it has a plant in Gujarat as it can cater to the northern markets," a state government official said.

Britain has recognised the Libyan rebel council as that country’s "sole governmental authority" and has expelled the Gaddafi-regime’s diplomats, the BBC reports.

Instead the UK will ask the rebel National Transitional Council to appoint a new diplomatic envoy.

The British move follows those of the US and France. The UK had previously said it recognised "countries not governments", but Foreign Secretary William Hague said this was a "unique situation."

Mr Hague said: