Amnesty plea for Syrian civilians

New satellite images show an increased use of heavy weapons in and around Syria's city of Aleppo, raising urgent concerns over the welfare of residents, Amnesty International has said.
The rights group says the photos reveal more than 600 craters, which were probably caused by artillery shells.
Both government troops and rebels may be held criminally responsible for failing to protect civilians, it warns.
Meanwhile, Iran has reiterated support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
During talks in Damascus, Iran's security chief Saeed Jalili said Syria was part of a vital regional alliance that Tehran would not allow to be broken.
Jalili said Damascus was an essential part of an "axis of resistance".
Correspondents say "axis of resistance" refers to Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.
Jalili's comments came a day after Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to the opposition.
'Clear message'
In a statement, Amnesty says the new images in and around Aleppo "show an increased use of heavy weaponry, including near residential areas".
Some of the pictures, the group says, reveal "more than 600 probable artillery impact craters" from heavy fighting between government troops and rebel forces in the nearby town of Anadan.
In one case, Amnesty adds, a crater is seen next to what appears to be residential housing complex in the town.
"Amnesty International is sending a clear message to both sides in the fighting: any attacks against civilians will be clearly documented so that those responsible can be held accountable," said the group's US emergency response manager, Christoph Koettl.
"Turning Syria's most populous city into a battlefield will have devastating consequences for civilians. The atrocities in Syria are mounting already," he added.
Neither the government in Damascus, nor the rebels have publicly commented on Amnesty's claims.
However, independent experts the BBC has talked to agree with the group's interpretation of the images, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports.
'Intense attacks'
On the ground, new clashes were reported in Aleppo earlier this week and the army is said to have stepped up its bombardment of the northern city.
Government forces are trying to dislodge rebel fighters who say they control up to half of Aleppo.
Opposition activists report intense attacks on rebel-held areas on the north-east and south-west sides of the city.
State media said troops had clashed with "terrorists" in several places inflicting heavy losses.
British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 61 civilians died in Aleppo province on Monday.
Further deaths were reported in Damascus on Tuesday. State news agency Sana said a "terrorist hideout" had been stormed by security forces.
Activists estimate more than 20,000 people have died since the uprising against President Assad began in March last year.
Reports of casualties often cannot be independently verified.

Allow NGOs to Rohingyas: UNHCR

UNHCR appealed on Tuesday to the government of Bangladesh to ensure that NGO assistance continues to be provided to unregistered people from Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Last Thursday, three non-governmental organizations -- Médecins Sans Frontières, Action Contre La Faim and Muslim Aid UK -- were ordered by the Bangladeshi authorities to stop activities in and around unofficial camps near Cox's Bazar in the southeast of the country, UNHCR, the UN Refugee agency, reports on Tuesday.
"If the order is implemented, it will have a serious humanitarian impact on some 40,000 unregistered people who had fled Myanmar in recent years and settled in the Leda and Kutupalong makeshift sites," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.
"Local villagers nearby will also be affected as they, too, have been benefiting from basic services provided by the NGOs," Edwards told a news briefing.
UNHCR is urging the government of Bangladesh to reconsider its decision in line with its long tradition of hospitality towards people who have fled Myanmar over the years. In addition to the unregistered population, there are some 30,000 registered ones living in two official camps in Cox's Bazar.
Meanwhile in northern Rakhine state, UNHCR is watching developments closely following reports of renewed violence over the weekend. The UN refugee agency has received unverified accounts of some villages being burnt in the Kyauk Taw township north of the state capital, Sittwe. Many of the young men have reportedly fled, leaving mainly women and children behind.
The UN and its humanitarian partners have drawn up a response plan to assist some 80,000 people who have been displaced or are otherwise affected in Rakhine state since inter-communal clashes broke out in early June.
UNHCR has so far distributed emergency aid to more than 40,000 people: plastic sheets, blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and kitchen utensils.

Suicide bomber kills 25 in Yemen

A suicide bomber struck at a funeral in a village in Yemen's southern province of Abyan overnight, killing at least 25 tribal fighters and wounding dozens more, officials and medics said on Sunday.
The bomber targeted tribesmen who fought alongside the Yemeni army during an offensive against al Qaeda-linked militants in Abyan that the government hailed as a major victory in June.
"We have many people with critical injuries and we don't have the means to treat them," said a doctor at al-Razi hospital, which was filling up with the wounded.
The attack highlighted the enduring threat of Islamist militancy in Yemen and may alarm the United States and Saudi Arabia, which increasingly view the impoverished state as a front line in their war on al Qaeda and its affiliates.
East of Abyan, a US drone fired on a vehicle carrying suspected militants in the province of Hadramout, killing its three passengers, a local official said.
"The charred bodies of three men from (the militant group) Ansar al-Sharia were found and the car they were in was destroyed," said the official.
Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) seized several towns in Abyan last year, establishing a foothold there while then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was grappling with mass protests that eventually toppled him.
The United States supported the military campaign that drove the Islamist fighters from their strongholds in June, but residents and analysts say the militants are simply lying low and waiting for a chance to regroup.
Just last week, militants attacked a police station in the southern city of Jaar, killing four policemen and wounding a fifth.
In late July, militants launched an assault on the village of Batias, north of Jaar, which was also the site of Saturday's suicide bomb.

2 NZ soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Two New Zealand soldiers were killed and six others were injured in Afghanistan's Bamyan province on Saturday when they came under fire assisting local security forces that were fighting suspected insurgents, the New Zealand Defence Force said.
"The NZDF was responding to local security forces coming under attack and it developed into a serious incident," Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman said in a statement on Sunday.
The New Zealand troops arrived to assist the local security forces who encountered suspected insurgents near a village south of Do Abe, in the North East of Bamyan Province, the NZDF said.
It added that a further six personnel were wounded during the incident, and they were evacuated to a military hospital.
Two local security personnel were also killed, it said.
New Zealand, which has a 140-strong reconstruction team operating in the province, will formally end its mission at the end of the year and be brought home in 2013. The country has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001.
Five New Zealand soldiers have been killed earlier while serving in Afghanistan.

China calls in US diplomat over South China Sea

China's Foreign Ministry has called in a senior US diplomat to protest remarks by the US State Department raising concerns over tensions in the disputed South China Sea, in the latest political spat between the two countries.
In a statement released late on Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry said Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng summoned the US Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to make "serious representations" about the issue.
The State Department on Friday said it was monitoring the situation in the seas closely, adding that China's establishing of a military garrison for the area runs "counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region".
The South China Sea has become Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint as Beijing's sovereignty claim over the huge area has set it against Vietnam and the Philippines as the three countries race to tap possibly huge oil reserves.
Beijing and Washington are already at odds over numerous issues, including the value of China's currency, Tibet and Taiwan.
Zhang said the US statement "disregarded the facts, confused right with wrong, sent a seriously wrong signal and did not help with efforts by relevant parties to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea or the Asia Pacific.
"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition, urges the US side to immediately to mend the error of its ways, earnestly respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and do more to genuinely benefit stability and prosperity in the Asia Pacific," he added.
A separate statement by ministry spokesman Qin Gang repeated that China had absolute sovereignty over the sea and its myriad islands and had every right to formally set up a city to administer the region, which it did last month.
"Why does the US turn a blind eye to the facts that certain countries opened a number of oil and gas blocks, and issued domestic laws illegally appropriating Chinese islands and waters?" Qin said.
"Why does the US avoid talking about the threats of military vessels to Chinese fishermen by certain countries and their unjustified claims of sovereignty rights over Chinese islands?" he added.
In all, six parties have rival claims to the waters, which were a central issue at an acrimonious Asean regional summit last month that ended with its members failing to agree on a concluding statement for the first time in 45 years.
The stakes have risen in the area as the US military shifts its attention and resources back to Asia, emboldening its long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a bolder stance against Beijing.
The United States has stressed it is neutral in the long-running maritime dispute, despite offering to help boost the Philippines' decrepit military forces. It says freedom of navigation is its main concern about a waterway that carries $5 trillion in trade -- half the world's shipping tonnage.

London Olympic 2012 Oscar Pistorius runs into history

The press at the mixed zones was getting antsy. There were some whispers about deadlines. From time to time, murmurs went up around the hundred or so who had packed into the limited space for the chance to grab a single quote from the South African.
Then someone said, “He is late because he is putting his legs on.” Suddenly, the reality of Pistorius' achievement dawned on everyone. There were no more complaints. Everyone waited and although the rumour turned out to be just that, a rumour, (Pistorius was indulging the broadcast press) the stark reality of what the maverick South African had managed cannot be stressed enough.
The fact that he had just made Olympic history by being the first double-amputee to compete in the Games, is just the tip of the iceberg. Pistorius also finished a respectable second and qualified for the semifinals of his pet event, the 400-meters.
“My goal here was to qualify for the semifinal, and I am glad I have managed it,” said Pistorius later. The South African clocked a time of 45.44 seconds, which while still being quite far off his personal best, was enough to propel him to his desired semifinal target.
“I started a bit slowly,” said Pistorius.
Indeed he had, as the weight of the watching thousands seemed to put a little bit of pressure on him. “I slipped slightly, but I am not really the best of starters,” said the South African. But with the crowd egging on their favourite Blade Runner, Pistorius regained ground towards the end of the race and managed to streak through into second spot, just behind the 18-year old Dominican Lugelin Santos.
The youngster was later asked about Pistorius.
“Bueno, si, Bueno,” he said. “He is a good man, always talking to everyone,” said Santos, despite the obvious language barrier. Every single athlete who walked through the mixed zone before Pistorius echoed Santos. Pistorius 'had a big heart', said one and all were united in the belief that his prosthetic legs gave him no advantage.
“I don't know whether to laugh or cry,” said Pistorius. “It is incredibly difficult to separate the occasion from the event,” he admitted. The Olympics after all is the pinnacle of track and field sport and for Pistorius it perhaps provided extra inspiration.
Not that he was short of muses.
“My mother always told me that the loser is not one who competes and finishes last, but one who does not compete at all,” said Pistorius.
Those are certainly words to live by.
The South African is not expected to make the 400-meter final, but his mother's words will doubtless drive him on to greater achievements, if not now, then in the future.

London 2012: GB beach volleyball player Shauna Mullin's perfect weekend

A weekend off is a real luxury for me. My volleyball partner, Zara, and I are away training and competing for about 10 months of each year and when I’m in England, I live in Hook, Hampshire, with my gran, and commute daily to the Sport Training Village in Bath, which is one and a half hours away.

On Fridays I finish training at about 3.30-4pm and in an ideal world I’ll drive straight to Heathrow and jump on a flight to Edinburgh, as my best friends Laura, Jenny and Sara live in Scotland. I met them when I went to boarding school in Edinburgh when my father, a hotel manager, was working in Scotland and then in Ireland.

Laura will pick me up from the airport and we’ll drive to Jenny’s house in Dundee where Sara will join us. We don’t get to meet up nearly enough so we’ll probably spend a couple of hours catching up. The others will drink wine but I’ll probably decline. With the Olympics just around the corner, tea has become my evening drink of choice!

I don’t often see my family but they’ll be watching me in London later this month. My brother lives in Dublin, and my parents live in Jordan — where Dad is still working as a hotel manager. More often than not the only time I get to see them properly is when we go to South Africa for Christmas. I was born there and it feels like home.

Taking part in London 2012 is the realisation of a long-term dream. Zara and I are getting really excited — it’s hard not to. Horse Guards Parade, where the beach volleyball competition will be staged during the Olympics, is definitely the best venue of the Games. Beach volleyball isn’t played much in Britain so I think it’s great that we’re bringing it to London and showing everyone what the sport is. It’s the most popular spectator sport at the Olympics.

Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion 'death squads' to get image makeover

Its elite troops, in their black bandannas, wrap around shades, and well-oiled AK47s strike fear wherever they go.

But they are now set to get an image makeover with training to help them improve their dealing with "human issues" and a "complaints bureau" to appease their critics.

Human rights groups say they are sceptical over whether many Bangladeshis would be brave enough to complain to the force about their actions. Last month Bangladesh's own Human Rights Commission demanded to know whether it had been involved in around 40 disappearances, including activists of the opposition Bangladesh National Party.

"It will be hard for ordinary Bangladeshis to feel confident enough to make complaints against them unless the government makes a commitment that they will be protected," said Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch.

The Battalion has in the past received military training from Britain and the United States, but they and other countries are believed to have made a rapid improvement in the force's human rights record and accountability a condition of further aid.

DGEN ends higher

Dhaka, Jul 24 (bdnews24.com) — Dhaka stock's key index ended Tuesday's trade 2.78 percent higher.

The DGEN closed at 4318.79 points gaining 116.91 points on the week's third business day.

Shares and mutual funds worth around Tk 2.89 billion changed hands with prices of 247 issues gaining, 14 declining and seven remaining at their opening prices.

The key index ended Monday's trade 1.88 percent higher. The benchmark index had gained nearly 2 points last week.

bdnews24.com/zk/1435h

HC settles writ over Speaker ruling

Dhaka, July 24 (bdnews24.com) — The High Court on Tuesday settled a writ petition challenging the Parliament Speaker's ruling involving a judge's statement.

The bench of justices Hasan Foez Siddique and A B M Altaf Hossain heard the petition argued by lawyer Rokon Uddin Mahmud.

On July 18, the bench of Justices Naima Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar had felt embarrassed to hear the petition that sought an order to declare illegal the Speaker's ruling passed on Jun 18 in the Parliament.

After Tuesday's verdict, Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Roy, who represented the state, told bdnews24.com the court had given the verdict on the hearings of both sides saying 'the petition was settled with several observations'.

Roy said the observations will be elaborated in the written copy of the verdict.

Speaker Abdul Hamid gave the ruling at Parliament on Jun 18 as MPs demanded steps after Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury criticised the parliament's presiding officer.

The Speaker had hoped the Chief Justice himself would initiate measures in this regard and parliament would support his decision.

bdnews24.com/sn/zk/sk/1445h