Guatemala City: A Guatemalan court on Friday found former dictator Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during the bloodiest phase of the country's 36-year civil war.
He was sentenced to 50 years in prison on the genocide charge and 30 years for crimes against humanity. It was the first time a former head of state had been found guilty of genocide in his or her own country.
Rios Montt, 86, took power after a coup in 1982, and is accused of implementing a scorched-earth policy in which troops massacred thousands of indigenous villagers. He entered the court on Friday to boos and cries of "Justicia!" or justice.
Prosecutors say Rios Montt turned a blind eye as soldiers used rape, torture and arson to try to rid Guatemala of leftist rebels during his 1982-1983 rule, the most violent period of a 1960-1996 civil war in which as many as 250,000 people died....
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07:11 AM, May 11, 2013
Moscow: Russia and the United States agreed to seek new peace talks with both sides to end Syria's civil war, but opposition leaders were sceptical on Wednesday of an initiative they fear might let President Bashar al-Assad hang on to power. Mindful the conflict may be far from over, Britain has urged fellow European Union states to lift an arms embargo, arguing it would strengthen those rebel groups favoured by...
07:27 AM, May 09, 2013
Moscow/Beirut: Russia and the United States have agreed to bury their differences over Syria and hold urgent international talks to find a settlement that can end the carnage of a civil war that is inflaming the entire Middle East. Visiting Moscow after Israel bombed targets near Damascus and as President Barack Obama faces new calls to arm the rebels, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia had agreed to...
05:58 AM, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: India and China are expected to discuss the situation in Afghanistan later this month. The talks come at a time when assessments show a worst case scenario for India in Afghanistan. In a few weeks India will have a new ambassador in Kabul. AK Sinha takes over at a time when intelligence assessments have warned of a worst case scenario for India that could well result in closure...
10:21 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Syria's civil war is pushing more people than ever to flee the country. Over the past few months, the exodus has accelerated and now the UN is reporting a dramatic milestone. The number of refugees from the conflict has passed the one-million mark. ...
10:05 AM, Mar 07, 2013
The number of Syrians who have fled their country since a deadly civil conflict erupted two years ago has hit one million, the UN's refugee agency said on Wednesday. "With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiralling towards full-scale disaster," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement. ...
03:55 PM, Mar 06, 2013
Sri Lanka on Tuesday dismissed as "fabricated lies", a report by a leading rights group alleging that its military used rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected Tamil rebels since the end of the island's civil war in 2009. ...
01:06 AM, Feb 27, 2013
Syria's chemical weapons are still secure despite the fact that President Bashar al-Assad has lost control of parts of the country, a senior Israeli defence official said on December 23. Amos Gilad told Army Radio that the civil war between Assad and opposition forces fighting to topple him had become deadlocked, but that the Syrian leader showed no signs of heeding international calls to step down. ...
05:43 PM, Dec 23, 2012
New Delhi: With violence in Syria escalating by the day, India on Tuesday said it has asked the staff of its embassy in Damascus and its other citizens to leave the West Asian country. Indian ambassador VP Haran is in touch with resident Indians and has asked them to leave the country, Syed Akbaruddin, the external affairs ministry spokesperson, told reporters in New Delhi. The staff of the Indian mission...
07:15 PM, Jul 24, 2012
Damascus: Syria's 16-month bloodbath crossed an important symbolic threshold on Sunday as the international Red Cross formally declared the conflict a civil war, a status with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions. The Red Cross statement came as UN observers gathered new details on what happened in a village where dozens were reported killed in a regime assault. After a second visit to Tremseh on Sunday, the team said Syrian...
07:56 AM, Jul 16, 2012
New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the Security Council on Thursday that a full-blown civil war in Syria was "imminent," while international mediator Kofi Annan said it was time to step up the pressure on Damascus to halt the violence. The Syrian opposition and Western and Gulf nations seeking President Bashar al-Assad's ouster increasingly see Annan's six-point peace plan as doomed because of Syria's consistent use of military force...
06:00 PM, Jun 08, 2012
Kathmandu: Nepal's warring political parties said on Sunday they had failed to narrow their differences sufficiently to agree on a new constitution for the Himalayan republic before a midnight deadline, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil. A new constitution was widely seen as crucial to ending the instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006 and subsequent overthrow of the monarchy, but...
07:25 AM, May 28, 2012
New Delhi: Terming the decision of carving a sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs as a "dangerous political game" of Congress, BJP on Friday said it could result in a "civil war" among different communities in the country. "The quota within quota is Congress party's dangerous political game, which can lead to a civil war among the different communities and castes," said BJP Vice-President Mukhtar...
08:41 PM, Dec 23, 2011
United Nation: A UN panel has said killing of tens of thousands of people in the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil strife could amount to "war crimes", but Secretary General Ban Ki-moon insisted he would only launch an international investigation if Colombo agrees or member states call for it. A UN statement publicly releasing a report by a world body panel said that Secretary General has been advised...
12:46 PM, Apr 26, 2011
New Delhi: Indian Ambassador to Ivory Coast Shyama Jain has been rescued by the United Nations forces. All the embassy staff has also been evacuated from the civil war torn country. Shama was trapped inside her home for several hours on Thursday because of heavy firing between opposition forces and those loyal to deposed president Alassane Ouattara. She was rescued in a daring operation by UN forces after many hours,...
03:59 PM, Apr 08, 2011
Tripoli: Troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have launched counter-offensives against rebel-held towns, increasing fears that Libya is heading for a civil war rather than the swift revolutions seen in Tunisia and Egypt. The resilience of Gaddafi's forces in the face of the insurrection which started in mid-February and their ability to counter-attack has raised the prospect that this oil exporting nation is heading for protracted conflict. But after what residents...
02:31 PM, Mar 07, 2011
Washington: The US will recognize Southern Sudan as an independent country in July, President Barack Obama said on Monday following a referendum that granted the southern part of the country's bid to secede from the north. "I congratulate the people of Southern Sudan for a successful and inspiring referendum in which an overwhelmingly majority of voters chose independence," Obama said in a statement shortly after the results were announced. "I...
08:08 AM, Feb 08, 2011
London: An encrypted message meant for a commander of the Confederate, a force formed by the rebel southern states of America against the Union of the United States during the 1861-1865 Civil War, was deciphered by a former CIA code breaker. The dispatch sent in a glass vial offered no hope to Lt Gen John C Pemberton, the Confederate commander in Vicksburg, on the day the Mississippi city fell to...
11:21 AM, Dec 27, 2010
![16 killed in attack on Somali parliament]( "16 killed in attack on Somali parliament")
Militants have killed nine legislators over the last few years for supporting West-backed government. ...
12:02 PM, May 17, 2010
UN has also ordered probe into allegations of human rights abuses to civilians. ...
12:59 PM, Sep 19, 2009
