Dhaka, August 07: Pakistan should try those responsible for the genocide that took place during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle in 1971, a Canadian lawyer has said while endorsing Dhaka’s move to try those it considers “war criminals”.

Trying those responsible for the killings of unarmed civilians was necessary “to stop recurrence of genocide and end culture of impunity”, David Matas, who has dealt with Rwanda genocide and Nazi war criminals, told The Daily Star newspaper.

Tegucigalpa, August 07: Soldiers have occupied state hospitals in an increasingly tense Honduras as health workers declared an indefinite strike calling for the return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya.

As the political stalemate dragged on more than one month after the military coup, foreign diplomats meanwhile met with the defiant interim leaders in a bid to seek a negotiated end to the crisis.

A day after police fired tear gas and water cannons at some 3,000 student Zelaya supporters, hospital workers said they were on an indefinite strike.

Nuku’Alofa, August 07: More than 60 people are now feared dead after an overnight ferry capsized and sank near the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa, police said on Friday.

A revised manifest increased the number of people on board the Princess Ashika, which sank just before midnight on Wednesday, from 79 to 117, Tonga’s police commander Chris Kelly told Radio New Zealand.

Tonga’s Prime Minister Feleti Sevele has asked New Zealand and Australia to send Navy divers to help recover bodies from the ferry, saying there was little chance of finding more survivors.

Ankara, August 07: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday signed an agreement that will allow the planned South Stream pipeline to pass through Turkey’s waters.

The pipeline is a Russian-Italian project that would bring Russian gas to Europe via the Black Sea. It is seen as a rival to the Nabucco pipeline, which some European leaders favour since that project does not rely on Russian gas.

Washington, August 07: Sonia Sotomayor won confirmation on Thursday as the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, a history-making Senate vote that capped a summer-long debate heavy with ethnic politics and hints of high court fights to come.

The third woman in court history, she’ll be sworn in on Saturday as the 111th justice and the first nominated by a Democrat in 15 years.

Tehran, August 07: Renewed protests against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad broke out on Thursday evening in northern Tehran, eyewitnesses said.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Vanak square, shouting ‘Allah’o Akbar’ (God is Great) and slogans against the President such as ‘Death to dictator’, ‘Ahmadinejad shame on you’ and ‘Resign, resign’, the witnesses said.

A large number of police and anti-riot forces were deployed in the central Vali-Asr Avenue that leads north to the square.

Ciudad Juarez, August 07: Mexican drug gangs are killing rivals in record numbers in a major setback for the government, which will seek more support from US President Barack Obama when he visits the country this weekend.

Severed heads, burned bodies, daylight shootouts and dead children are daily fare from Mexico’s Caribbean to its desert border with the United States, even as Army Generals pour soldiers and elite police onto city streets.

Dhaka, August 07: Pakistan should try those responsible for the genocide that took place during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle in 1971, a Canadian lawyer has said while endorsing Dhaka’s move to try those it considers ‘war criminals’.

Trying those responsible for the killings of unarmed civilians was necessary ‘to stop recurrence of genocide and end culture of impunity’, David Matas, who has dealt with Rwanda genocide and Nazi war criminals, told The Daily Star newspaper.

Dhaka: Pakistan should try those responsible for the genocide that took place during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle in 1971, a Canadian lawyer has said while endorsing Dhaka’s move to try those it considers “war criminals”.

Trying those responsible for the killings of unarmed civilians was necessary “to stop recurrence of genocide and end culture of impunity”, David Matas, who has dealt with Rwanda genocide and Nazi war criminals, told The Daily Star newspaper.

Seoul, August 07: South Korea’s President said on Friday the country is “doing everything it can” to win the release of its citizens detained in North Korea, after former US president Bill Clinton brought home two American journalists.

The release of reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling raised calls for Seoul to do more for five South Koreans being held in the North, one since late March.

With ties between the Koreas at a historic low, Pyonyang has refused to talk about the detainees, and South Korea has ruled out the possibility of sending an envoy to negotiate their release.

Brussels, August 07: Top US officials have reached out to a leading Vietnam war scholar to discuss the similarities of that conflict 40 years ago with American involvement in Afghanistan, where the US is seeking ways to isolate an elusive guerrilla force and win over a sceptical local population.

The overture to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Stanley Karnow, who opposes the Afghan war, comes as the US is evaluating its strategy there.

Colombo, August 07: Selvarasa Pathmanathan, who was appointed the leader of the Tamil Tigers following the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been arrested, the Sri Lankan defence ministry confirmed Friday.

Pathmanathan took over as the LTTE’s leader after Prabhakaran was killed May 18 in the island’s north. Prabhakaran’s killing had brought the curtains down on one of the world’s bloodiest ethnic conflicts that ravaged this nation.

Washington, August 07: New details of Bill Clinton’s triumphant North Korean rescue mission leaked yesterday have revealed that the former president had help from a dazzling array of high-level contacts – including the billionaire Hollywood producer Steve Bing.

Bing, an erstwhile playboy and certified FOB, or Friend of Bill, lent Mr Clinton the all-white plane that ferried him across the Pacific. And nor was Bing the only player to help make a mission of huge value to the American government into a credible freelance operation.

Beijing, August 07: Li Peiying, a former senior aviation official who had been convicted for bribery, was executed here Friday, the Supreme People’s Court said.

The execution came a month after the Shandong Provincial Higher People’s Court upheld the death sentence against Li’s appeal. The Supreme Court had reviewed the sentence.

Li, 60, former chairman and general manager of Capital Airports Holding Co (CAH), was sentenced at Jinan Feb 6 after allegedly taking bribes of 26.61 million yuan ($3.9 million) in 1995-2003 and allegedly misappropriating 82.5 million yuan in 2000-03.