• The myth of sports and repressive regimes

    David Clay Large, professor of history at Montana State University, writes in the New York Times (see full article here):

  • Israel to extradite citizen over Srebrenica genocide
    A court in Jerusalem has ruled that an Israeli citizen who took part in Srebrenica massacre of 1995, be extradited to Bosnia to face charges of genocide.

    The AFP reported that Aleksandar Cvetkovic, a Bosnian Serb who obtained Israeli citizenship through his Jewish wife, is accused of "involvement in the offence of genocide during the massacre carried out in 1995 at Branjevo farm in the vicinity of the town of Srebrenica."

    The massacre, which was the worst on European soil since World War Two, involved the execution of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Serbian troops.

    After his arrest in January, the state prosecutor's office called the extradition process, part of "an international legal action that investigates and prosecutes those responsible for planning and carrying out genocide."
  • The unspeakable truth about Israel’s social crisis
    As mass demonstrations, marches and occupations of public spaces extend into a third week, Israel is seeing the rise of a new social movement.

    In recent weeks hundreds of thousands have been marching in cities throughout Israel, demanding action against the sharply rising cost of housing.

    Since mid-July, growing numbers of Israelis have been taking to the streets, outraged at the rapid increase in Israel’s property prices over the past few years.

    The protests have become the largest in the country’s history.

    However, amid the popular support from the Israeli people, discussion of a key issue underpinning it has been avoided: Israel’s massive state funding for settlement in the Palestinian territories.
  • Pakistan prosecutes its paramilitary soldiers for extrajudicial killing

    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.

  • US Senators urge Clinton to act on Burma rapes
    Thirteen female US Senators have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging her to take action against Burma’s military-backed regime for its alleged use of rape by government troops.
  • Communist China?

    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:

  • Nokia Siemens' Chennai facility to become biggest in Asia

    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.

  • Obama launches Atrocities Prevention Board

    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 to send envoys to Syria

    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.

  • India readies for Security Council presidency in August

    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.

  • Ford puts new plants in Gujarat, expands in Tamil Nadu

    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.

  • Britain recognises Libyan rebels as ‘sole governmental authority’

    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.

  • Ivory Coast sets up 'war crimes' inquiry

    Ivory Coast is to set up a commission of inquiry into crimes committed during the country's post-election violence, a council of ministers said last week.

    See Al-Jazeera’s report here

  • 87 killed in Norway gun massacre and blast, worst violence since WW2

    At least eighty people were killed on a Norwegian island Friday by a lone gunman dressed in police uniform who attacked a summer camp of the ruling Labour party’s youth wing, shortly after a bomb ripped through the political district of the capital, Oslo.

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