The US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, publicly apologised for the rape of a South Korean woman by a US soldier.

The soldier was handed over to South Korean authorities by the US Second Infantry Divsion, deployed by the border with North Korea.

The US military have introduced a curfew on all its soldiers deployed in the country for one month in response to the incident.

In a statement Campbell said,

Human Rights Watch have accused both parties to Ivory Coast’s unrest after elections of war crimes.
Military leaders, including those under the command of President Alassane Ouattara, are said to have executed civilians and raped women during the violence.

The government’s failure to charge those loyal to Ouattara over the crimes set the stage for ‘victor’s justice’, said HRW.

The four military leaders loyal to Ouattara are still in active service and one has been promoted by the President as second-in-command for presidential security.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called on Turkey to recognise the killings of over 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks as Genocide.

Speaking during his visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan, President Sarkozy threatened Turkey that continued refusal to accept the killings as Genocide, may force France to outlaw such denials.

"Russia wants as much as the other countries for Syria to end the bloodshed and demands that the Syrian leadership conduct the necessary reforms.

If the Syrian leadership is unable to undertake these reforms, it will have to go.”

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) have written to the Belgium Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, urging Belgium to stop the Urban Development Minister, Kamal Nath, from entering the country and be arrest for his alleged role as leader of a mob that massacred a large number of Sikhs during the November 1984 Sikh riots.

In the letter, SFJ writes,

The 58-nation executive board of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) voted in favour of full Palestinian membership to the organisation, by 40 to 4.
 
The US, Germany, Latvia and Romania opposed the move, whilst fourteen members, including Belgium, France, Italy and Spain abstained. 
 
It is believed that the UNESCO membership would facilitate the Palestinians seeking greater protection of their historical and cultural sites - no doubt a source of contention with Israel, particularly with regards to sites in East Jerusalem.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a visit to New Delhi.

Karzai’s visit comes as ties with Pakistan have deteriorated rapidly over the last few weeks, after the assassination of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani. Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of aiding the perpetrators of the attack, who they say was a Pakistani citizen.

"When we (anti-apartheid activists) used to apply for passports from the apartheid government, we never knew until the last moment what the decision was," Tutu said.