Report

IN some regions, checkpoints were used to identify people of Hutu origin, and kill them, the report said.
Tens of thousands were killed, the report estimated, saying such acts suggested a premeditated and precise methodology. "The extensive use of edged weapons... and the systematic massacres of survivors after [Hutu] camps had been taken, show that the numerous deaths cannot be attributed to the hazards of war or seen as equating to collateral damage," the report said.
Such killings could amount to genocide "if proven by a competent court," it said.

A United Nations(UN) committee has urged France to avoid collective deportations of Roma (Gypsies) to Romania. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also said it was concerned about "discriminatory" political speeches in France.
The French government said it was "scrupulously respecting European law" and helping deported Roma reintegrate.
France has recently sent hundreds of Roma back to Romania and Bulgaria and dismantled more than 100 illegal camps.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that 300 such camps are to be removed. The latest round of deportations took place on Thursday last week.

FOR decades, the international community have been bugged by the unceasing hostility centred on control of one of chosen holy enclave in the Middle East: Jerusalem. And the contenders  remain the children  of Israel  and Palestinians who are adamant on claiming that fatherland  to be future capital city when their quest for statehood  is settled. Preoccupied with working out a balanced accord to end hostilities which have sent  to early graves hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and a few hundreds of  Israelis , to  bring lasting peace  has seen world leaders recommend several peace options with the United States as anchor. But to date, the progress has  been insignificant because of flaws on the part of the rival parties bothering on breach of the negotiation terms.  Peace time-table? Of course , this is one key ingredient which the leaders of Israel and Palestinian Authority have abused over the decades that kept introducing delays.

THE worst flood  to hit Pakistan in four decades has robbed the nation of the usual pomp during its independence anniversary, even as PM Yusuf Raza Gilani said 20 million people had been affected, a much higher figure  than the United Nations  estimate of 14 million.
He made the remark at the weekend as  the nation marked the  much muted celebrations of its independence from the United Kingdom 63 years ago.
The UN  has confirmed no fewer than  one case of cholera among the victims, in the Swat valley.
Health workers have been stepping up their battle against waterborne diseases in the flood-hit country.

IN the aftermath of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill, United States  President Obama has urged Americans to "come on down and visit" Florida to help revive the stricken economy.

Obama said oil was no longer flowing into the Gulf but "our job is not finished and we are not going anywhere until it is."
The president  spoke as he  visited  Florida with his wife and elder daughter at the weekend.
He  paid tribute to the US Coast Guard and others who had "toiled day and night" to plug the leak.

NIGER is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, the United Nations' World Food Programme(UNFP) has said, with almost half the population - or 7.3 million people - in desperate need of food.
A WFP spokesman at the weekend said villagers in Niger described the situation as worse than 2005, when thousands died of hunger.
After a prolonged drought, heavy rains have now hit parts of the country, killing at least six people.
The WFP says 17 per cent of children, or one in five, are acutely malnourished.    

POLICE in the United States have been trying to get to the roots of weekend's  mystery shooting that left  no fewer than four people instantly dead and scores wounded in a  jam-packed restaurant in Buffalo, New York State
Report had it that a wedding reception was taking place at the restaurant, but it was  unclear whether anyone from the party was involved.
Three people died at the scene, and a fourth in hospital, they said.

A prolific teenage burglar, 19, who since 11 committed over 600 crimes has finally had to face jail after bungling a court reprieve: a rent-free flat and offered an opportunity to change. He this week  bagged five years jail.
Judge Christopher Ball last year spared Bradley Wernham, 19, of Chelmsford, a prison sentence after he admitted more than 600 offences in Essex.
Instead he was given a flat and ordered to carry out unpaid work after he promised to change his ways.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard he tried to burgle another house months later.