World Briefs

Rights violations in Syria soar – UN GENEVA – Serious human rights violations have soared dramatically in Syria in recent weeks, the head of a UN commission tasked with probing the abuses said yesterday.

“Gross violations of human rights have grown in number, in pace and in scale,” Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a top UN investigator told diplomats gathered in Geneva.
“The frequency with which these egregious violations occur outstrips the commission’s ability to investigate them,” he said, lamenting that “civilians, many of them children, are bearing the brunt of the spiralling violence”.
Speaking during the 21st session of the UN’s Human Rights Council, he presented an updated version of the CoI’s report last month, which charged that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, and the opposition to a lesser extent, had committed war crimes during the 18-month crisis.

Explosives found on Denmark street
COPENHAGEN – A bag of explosives was found on a street of the Danish capital Copenhagen early yesterday and bomb specialists were attempting to determine its origin.
Police sealed off the street in the Sydhavn district of Copenhagen after the bag was discovered by a passer-by in the early hours, while dogs searched the area for potentially more explosives.
“Something points to the explosive being of military origin,” police Deputy Chief Superintendent Henrik Jakobsen said.
Denmark has foiled several attempted militant attacks since daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.

Aung Suu Kyi on landmark US visit
WASHINGTON – Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be honoured in Washington this week and presented Congress’s highest award, the latest milestone in her remarkable journey from political prisoner to globe-trotting stateswoman.
The Nobel Peace laureate started a 17-day US tour yesterday that will include meetings at the State Department and, likely, the White House. She then goes to New York, the American Midwest and California. The trip comes as the Obama administration considers easing its remaining sanctions on the country also known as Burma.
Suu Kyi was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008 while under house arrest.
Since her release in late 2010, Suu Kyi has transitioned from dissident to parliamentarian as Myanmar has shifted from five decades of repressive military rule.

---