Russia says rebels share Houla blame

Rebels in Syria are partly responsible for the massacre of more than 100 people in the Houla region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says.

Mr Lavrov, whose government a close ally of the Syrian regime, said some victims had been killed at close range in a district controlled by rebels.

The UN condemned the killings, saying government artillery was involved.

UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has arrived in Damascus for talks on implementing his peace plan.

Read more: BBC News

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Syria massacre in Houla condemned

Western nations are pressing for a response to the massacre in the Syrian town of Houla, with the US calling for an end to what it called President Bashar al-Assad's "rule by murder".

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council this week.

The UN has confirmed the deaths of at least 90 people in Houla, including 32 children under the age of 10.

The Syrian government blamed the deaths on "armed terrorist gangs".

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Breivik 'hoped to kill hundreds'

Norway's confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik says he intended hundreds should die in his attack on a Labour Party camp last year.

Breivik, 33, told his trial he planned to behead former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland during the rampage, and post a video of it on the internet.

He also hoped his car bomb in Oslo would kill the entire government.

The attacks killed 77 people. Breivik, 33, disputes a report by a psychiatrist describing him as insane.

Read more: BBC News

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Breivik: Jail term 'ridiculous'

Anders Behring Breivik has told his trial in Oslo he believes there can be only two "just" outcomes to his trial - acquittal or the death penalty.

Breivik, who killed 77 people last July, said he considered a lengthy jail sentence "a pathetic punishment". Norway does not have the death penalty.

He also said he had been "very surprised" to have survived the day of the attacks.

Red details: BBC News

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Norway killer declared sane

The right-wing extremist who confessed to killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in Norway is not criminally insane, a psychiatric assessment found on Tuesday, contradicting an earlier examination. 

The new conclusion comes just six days before Anders Behring Breivik is scheduled to go on trial on terror charges for the massacre on July 22, and could prompt prosecutors to seek a prison sentence instead of compulsory commitment to psychiatric care. 

It conflicts with an earlier assessment , which found Breivik psychotic both during and after the attacks, and diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic. The court will take both psychiatric assessments into account during the trial, which starts on Monday and is scheduled to last 10 weeks. 

Source(Times of India)

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'End of the Rope' - Karzai tells the U.S. over Kandahar massacre

The Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused the United States of failing to fully cooperate with an investigation into the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers by a U.S. soldier and questioned whether more than one soldier could have been involved.

A series of blunders by the United States, including the killings in Kandahar province on Sunday and the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran at a NATO base last month, has further strained already tense relations between the countries.

"This has been going on for too long. You have heard me before. It is by all means the end of the rope here," Karzai told reporters at the heavily fortified presidential palace.

Read details: Reuters

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Dutch Govt Apologizes for 1947 Indonesian Massacre

[ The Jakarta Post ] 10 Dec

The Netherlands has officially apologized to relatives of victims killed in Rawagede village during Indonesia’s struggle to keep its independence more than six decades ago. About 430 villagers were killed by the Dutch troops on Dec. 9, 1947.

Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan presided over a tearful ceremony on Friday, attended by hundreds of villagers including surviving widows in their late 80s and early 90s, to issue an official apology from the Dutch state for its responsibility in the Rawagede Massacre.

“Today, we remember your family members who died 64 years ago at the hands of the Dutch military troops. On behalf of Dutch government, I deeply apologize for the tragedy,” Ambassador de Zwaan is quoted as saying.

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Norway massacre killer also wanted to kill politicians

Full Story BBC Europe 18 Nov

The man who confessed to killing 77 people in Norway in July planned to kill three leaders of the ruling Labour Party, according to Norwegian tabloid VG.

According to transcripts VG said it had obtained, Breivik had wanted to abduct Ms Brundtland, a former prime minister, as well as Mr Gahr Stoere, the foreign minister, and Mr Pedersen, head of the party's youth wing.

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