Massoud Barazani, president of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region of Iraq, threw a bombshell at the opening session of the 13th general assembly of his party – the Kurdish Democratic Party – in the region’s capital Arbil.

According to the referendum commission, anyone who has a parent or ancestor from a southern tribe indigenous to the south can vote on January 9. Also anyone who has been permanently resident, or whose parents or grandparents have been in the south since the January 1, 1956 independence can vote.

Voting will occur not only in southern Sudan, but throughout Sudan for people of southern origin, and in eight countries that have large populations of southern Sudanese: Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Palestinian leaders, determined to proclaim their state in the coming year, are readying an arsenal of diplomatic alternatives to frozen negotiations with Israel.

The Palestinians’ strategy centres on a proclamation of statehood in September 2011 - when the United Nations holds its next General Assembly.

An international convention aimed at preventing ‘disappearances’ - a fate affecting tens of thousands of people throughout the world - came into force last week.

The International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, first launched by the UN General Assembly in 2006, became law following its ratification last month by the minimum 20 states. Another sixty states have also signed the Convention.

“Self-determination is the only way that the people of south Sudan will be able to join the modern world. I want my people to have ownership of their land, to have ownership of their future and their destiny.”

“I am certain that the popular vote will be won in favour of independence. It is the will of the people. … I hope very much that the international community will take note and help us.”

Former Argentine military ruler Jorge Videla has been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, the BBC reports.

India and Russia this week discussed setting up more nuclear reactors in Tamil Nadu, in addition to the two being jointly built which will become operational in the next two years, IANS reported.

Announcing the discussions on ‘additional nuclear reactors’, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at a joint press conference with visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said the move “reflects our mutual desire for strong cooperation in the field of defence and (civil) nuclear energy.”

India and Russia signed on Tuesday India's largest ever defence deal, worth $30 billion, for fifth-generation fighter aircraft, reports said.

India will take delivery of 250 of the stealth fighters between 2020 and 2030, each of which will ultimately cost $100m.

The agreement is notable in underlining how India is now not only looking to acquire equipment but also to ensure that transfer of technological know-how to its domestic industry is integral to such deals.

German prosecutors have filed war crimes charges against two Rwandan men said to have lead a Hutu militia involved in killings of Congolese civilians. The pair said to be the top military leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda - a militia drawn from Hutus from Rwanda who took cover across the border in Congo after the 1994 genocide. They are specifically held responsible for 26 crimes against humanity and 39 war crimes that were committed by militiamen under their command in Congo from January 2008 to November 2009. They