ICC says Muammar Gaddafi killing may be war crime

The death of Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi "creates suspicions" of war crimes", says the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC was raising the concern with Libya's the National Transitional Council (NTC).

Col Gaddafi was killed in October after being caught by rebels in his home town of Sirte.

NTC officials initiallly said he died in crossfire, but promised to investigate following Western pressure.

"I think the way in which Mr Gaddafi was killed creates suspicions of... war crimes," Mr Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.

"I think that's a very important issue. We are raising this concern to the national authorities and they are preparing a plan to have a comprehensive strategy to investigate all these crimes."

Rebel fighters found Col Gaddafi hiding in a concrete drainage pipe after a long and bloody siege of the former leader's home city of Sirte.

Amateur videos taken at the time showed him injured but alive, surrounded by a frenzied crowd of jubilant rebel fighters.

He is hustled through the crowd and beaten to the ground on several occasions, before he disappears in the crush and the crackle of gunfire is heard.

His son Mutassim, captured alive with him, also died in the custody of rebel fighters.

The National Transitional Council initially said that Col Gaddafi had been killed in crossfire, but under pressure from Western allies it later promised to investigate how he and his son were killed.

The ICC has indicted another of Col Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, for alleged war crimes and he is in the custody of the Libyan authorities.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo has accepted that Saif al-Islam will be tried in Libya, not The Hague.

Japan to declare 'cold shut-down' at Fukushima

Japan is set to announce that engineers have brought the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to a "cold shut-down condition", nine months after the earthquake and tsunami.

PM Yoshihiko Noda is expected to make the announcement later on Friday.

Declaring a cold shut-down condition is seen as a key milestone in efforts to bring the plant under control.

But the government says it will take decades to completely dismantle the plant.

The six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was badly damaged by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Blasts occurred at four of the reactors after waves knocked out vital cooling systems.

Workers at the plant, which is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), have been using sea water to cool the reactors. Waste water has built up and some contaminated liquid has been released into the sea.

A 20km (12m) exclusion zone remains in place around the plant.

Syria crisis: Russia circulates surprise UN resolution

Russia has circulated a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the crisis in Syria, in a move that surprised the Western nations.

The draft condemns the violence by both Syria's government and the opposition, but does not mention sanctions.

Western nations said the proposal was not tough enough but that they were prepared to work on the document.

The West has been pushing the council to act on Syria for months, but Russia - and China - vetoed such proposals.

In the latest violence in Syria, 27 security forces members were reportedly killed by army deserters.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths occurred in the southern province of Deraa.

International journalists face severe restrictions on their movements in Syria, and it is hard to verify reports.

The UN believes more than 5,000 people have died in seven months of unrest, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad blames on armed gangs.

In a recent interview with the US network ABC, he said he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters.

Fears for missing Sri Lankan activists -Amnesty International appeal Urgent Action

Sri Lankan political activists Lalith Kumara Weeraraju and Kugan Muruganandan have been missing since 9 December. They were arranging a press conference for the following day to publicize a protest. Lalith Kumara Weeraraju’s family received a phone
call saying that he had been killed.

Lalith Kumara Weeraraju and Kugan Muruganandan were last seen leaving Kugan Muruganandan’s residence in Avarangal, Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka, on 9 December. There were preparing a press conference to be held on 10 December, World Human Rights Day, which aimed to publicize a protest planned for the same day. The protest included parents and relatives of people missing since the end of armed conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009, and was to focus on denouncing human rights violations against Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan military and calling for the release of detainees held without charge since the end of the war.

According to family members, the two men left the house on a motorbike bearing the license number NP GT 7852 at around 5:00pm on 9 December. Family members say they later received an anonymous phone call saying that Lalith Kumara Weeraraju had been killed. A missing persons complaint was lodged with the Jaffna Police, who denied they are holding the two men in custody.

Lalith Kumara Weeraraju has previously received threats warning him against involvement in politics in Jaffna, particularly during recent elections. He was also attacked and injured during a demonstration in Jaffna town on 14 November 2010, and was arrested and interrogated by the army in early 2011. 

Hamleys, the famous London toy store, has taken down gender signs for its toys in the wake of a campaign by a feminist blogger that the store’s blue-and-pink marked floors were sexist. Previously, the fifth floor of the Regent Street flagship store – where action figure and war-themed toys were sold – was marked with a blue “Boys” sign. Gone, too, is the third floor “Girls” sign which sells dolls and craft toys. Blogger Laura Nelson started the campaign with an October post that accused the store of promoting “gender apartheid.” “We have a severe lack of women in senior positions in our society and a severe problem of inequality,” she wrote in her blog, Delilah. “Only 22 percent of UK parliamentarians are female. A survey of Britain’s top 100 companies find that, of 329 executive directors, only 20 are women.”

Ryan Giggs 'accepts Imogen Thomas not a blackmailer'

Manchester United star Ryan Giggs has accepted there was no basis for accusing TV presenter Imogen Thomas of blackmail, the High Court has heard.

She took legal action after the Sun accused her of having an affair with a footballer - later named as Mr Giggs - which led him to seek an injunction.

The legal order, which prevented the publication of his name, was granted on the basis that Ms Thomas, 28, appeared to be trying to blackmail him.

Ms Thomas said she had been vindicated.

In a statement read outside the court in London on Thursday, Ms Thomas, the 2003 Miss Wales and former a Big Brother contestant, said: "To suddenly have to defend my character because of this legal process has been extremely upsetting and stressful.

"I'm just relieved that the parties and the court now accept that I'm no blackmailer. I have been vindicated and that's all I wanted.

"I have nothing to add - it's all behind me now."

Morocco bans EU fishing vessels amid Western Sahara row

Morocco has ordered foreign fishing boats operating in its waters under an EU deal to leave immediately.

The moves comes after the European Parliament voted not to extend a deal under which the EU paid Morocco for access to its fish stocks.

MEPs said the deal was illegal as it did not benefit the people living in the disputed Western Sahara, off which most of the fishing took place.

The ministry said the parliament's decision was "regrettable".

In a statement, it said the move could have "serious consequences for co-operation between Morocco and the European Union in fishing".

The EU - Morocco's largest trading partner - had been paying 36m euros (£30m: $47m) a year to Morocco for the right to fish in its waters, primarily off the coast of Western Sahara.

The deal officially expired in February, and the EU wanted it to be renewed up until February next year.

But on Wednesday, MEPs using powers granted under the Lisbon Treaty voted 326 to 296 to block the renewal, saying there was not enough evidence to show the deal would benefit the Sahrawi population, who live in Western Sahara.