Geneva, May 30
A UN human rights expert has said that gruesome new footage from the final days of Sri Lanka's civil war was authentic and proved war crimes took place there. The statement has come as a challenge to the government's claim that videos showing the army executing captured rebels in May 2009 have been faked.

The UN's independent investigator on extrajudicial killings said the five-minute video obtained by Britain's Channel 4 corroborates an earlier, shorter video showing blindfolded, naked men being shot dead at close range.

"What is reflected in the extended video are crimes of the highest order definitive war crimes," the UN investigator, South African law professor Christof Heyns, said in a report released today to the global body's Human Rights Council. Heyns said he reviewed the footage showing the apparent execution of unarmed men and women with technical and forensic experts.

"The overall conclusion reached by the experts is that the video is authentic and the events reflected in the video footage occurred as depicted," he told the council.

"We don't accept it. We have proven beyond any doubt that this is not authentic," said Lakshman Hulugalla, director-general of the government's Media Centre for National Security.

He added, "If they say this is authentic, then they should get an authentication certificate from a reputed institution to prove that it's not fake. So far, no one has submitted such a certificate on this."

The new footage is expected to re-ignite debate in the Geneva-based body about a September 2009 resolution that effectively endorsed the Sri Lankan military's crushing of the Tamil Tiger rebels after decades of civil war, despite claims of war crimes by human rights groups. — AP 

Berlin, May 30
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, will shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2022, a decision that would make it the first major industrialised power to go nuclear-free in the aftermath of the atomic disaster in Japan. Germany’s coalition government announced the decision after seven hours of negotiations that stretched into the small hours at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office. “We want the electricity of the future to be safe, reliable and economically viable,” Merkel told reporters.

“The events in Japan have shown us that even things that seem all but impossible scientifically can in fact happen,” she said, ahead of her visit to India.

Minister of Ecology Norbert Roettgen of the Christian Democratic Union party made the announcement after negotiations with coalition partner, the Liberal Party, which had been opposed to setting a date for decommissioning the nuclear facilities.

“After long consultations, there is now an agreement by the coalition to end nuclear energy,” he told reporters. “This decision is consistent, decisive and clear,” he said, describing the plan as “irreversible”.

Merkel pushed through measures in 2010 to extend lifespan of the country’s 17 reactors, with the last one scheduled to go offline in 2036, but she reversed her pro-nuclear stance after the earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on March 11, triggering nuclear meltdowns.

Germany’s energy supply chain “needs a new architecture,” necessitating huge efforts in boosting renewable energies, efficiency gains and overhauling the electricity grid, Merkel said. “The decision looks like this,” Roettgen said. “Seven older nuclear power plants ... and the nuclear plant Kruemmel will not go back online ... a second group of six nuclear reactors will go offline at the end of 2021 at the latest, and ... the three most modern, newest nuclear plants will go offline in 2022 at the latest.” Germany has 17 nuclear reactors, eight of which are currently off the electricity grid.

To make up for the loss of nuclear energy, the German government will begin to switch to renewable energy and increase investments in energy research. — PTI

Sanaa, May 30
Forces loyal to the embattled Yemeni president killed 20 protesters as they dispersed a sit-in in Taez, an organiser said today, as suspected Al-Qaida gunmen killed six soldiers in the south.

Security service agents backed by army and Republican Guard troops stormed the protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Freedom Square in the centre of Yemen’s second-largest city during night, shooting at demonstrators and setting fire to their tents, protesters said.

“At least 20 protesters have been killed,” one of the protest organisers said.

Troops backed by tanks stormed a field hospital and detained 37 of the wounded there, among hundreds of people rounded up, medics and organisers said.

“This was a massacre. The situation is miserable. They have dragged the wounded off to detention centres from the streets,” activist Bushra al-Maqtari said.

Protesters said the square had been entirely cleared, while security forces stormed a nearby hotel and arrested several journalists.

The Common Forum opposition coalition condemned the “crimes against humanity” committed by Saleh’s “remaining military and security forces and armed militias.” It warned the veteran president he would be “held personally responsible for his continued crimes against the people.”

The four-month-old sit-in in Taez was the longest-running protest against Saleh’s rule. More than 200 demonstrators have been killed since the protests first erupted in Yemen. In south, suspected Al-Qaida militants killed six Yemeni soldiers, an army officer and a security official said. — AFP

BRIEFLY

Can’t defend JuD chief Saeed in US lawsuit: Pak tells court
Lahore: The Pakistan government on Monday informed a court that it could not defend Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in a US lawsuit filed by relatives of two Jewish victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Deputy Attorney General Naseem Kashmiri said: "The government is defending the ISI before the US court being an institute of the government while the JuD or its chief are not part of the government." "Therefore, the government cannot provide legal assistance to him or his organisation," the reply said. — PTI

Unhealthy food: A biologist dissects a cucumber at the regional office for agriculture, fishing and food security in Rostock, Germany, on Monday. A virulent form of E coli bacteria blamed on infected cucumbers from Spain has killed 11 persons in Germany. — AFP

Taliban attack targets Italians
Heart: Five Afghans were killed on Monday and 52 people wounded, including five Italian soldiers, when the Taliban attacked a NATO compound and a crowded roundabout in a usually peaceful city. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside Herat's Italian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which works on development projects, while several other attackers unleashed a volley of gunfire from a nearby building. — AFP

Blasts kill 10 in Nigeria
Abuja: At least 10 persons were killed and nine injured when three bomb blasts ripped through a market inside a military barracks in northern Nigeria, hours after President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office, police said on Monday. Though no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, it has all the signature of Boko Haram, an Islamic sect that wants to install Sharia government in the country. — PTI

Blasts kill 10 in Nigeria
Abuja: At least 10 persons were killed and nine injured when three bomb blasts ripped through a market inside a military barracks in northern Nigeria, hours after President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office, police said on Monday. The blasts hit an eating, drinking and relaxation point for military men called mammy market at Shadawanka Barracks at about 8 pm on Sunday night. Though no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, it has all the signature of Boko Haram, an Islamic sect that wants to install Sharia government in the country. — PTI

Suu Kyi plans landmark political tour
Hong Kong: Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said on Monday she was planning a political tour of Myanmar, a move likely to test her popularity and the limits of her freedom after being freed six months ago. Suu Kyi, who spent seven years in detention until last November, was asked at a videoconference in Hong Kong to confirm reports she will launch political rallies across the nation. "I hope to travel... in the month of June," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said. — AFP

Ethnic Mongols rally against Beijing rule
Tokyo: About 100 Japan-based Mongols from China rallied outside the Chinese embassy in Tokyo on Monday to protest against what they called Beijing's infringement of human rights in Inner Mongolia, a media report said. The demonstration was staged in support of a wave of protests by ethnic Mongols over Chinese rule in the northern region triggered by the May 10 killing of a minority herder, Jiji Press reported. — AFP