Moscow, September 18
Russia will show the UN Security Council evidence it has received from the Syrian government pointing to the use of chemical weapons by rebels in the Damascus suburbs, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying today.

Lavrov, who has said a report by UN investigators did not dispel Russia’s suspicions that rebels were behind an August 21 poison gas attack, spoke after one of his deputies was given unspecified evidence by the government while visiting Syria.

"We will present all this in the UN Security Council, of course," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying.

Damascus and key ally Moscow joined forces today in a bid to thwart plans for a Western-backed UN resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons that allows the use of force. The twin-pronged diplomatic counter-offensive came as UN chemical weapons inspectors confirmed they would be returning to Syria for additional investigations into the use of the deadly weapons in the country’s conflict.

The United Nations today defended a report by UN chemical weapons experts that Russia has criticised as “one-sided,” saying its conclusion that rockets loaded with sarin gas were used in an August 21 attack should not be questioned. “The findings in that report are indisputable,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

“They speak for themselves and this was a thoroughly objective report on that specific incident.”

Russia, however, denounced UN findings as preconceived and tainted by politics, stepping up its criticism of the report. Russia, like Assad’s government, says the rebels carried out the attack, which the United States says killed more than 1,400 persons, including over 400 children.

The international community is also divided over the wording of a UN Security Council resolution on the US-Russian deal, with Moscow strongly opposing a Chapter VII resolution. — Agencies

London, September 18
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen activist shot in the head last year by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, has received the highest honour conferred by rights group Amnesty International.

Malala received the 2013 Ambassador of Conscience Award yesterday along with American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte at a ceremony in Dublin. “I’ve written a short speech, because I had to finish my homework,” the 16-year-old schoolgirl told the gathering at Mansion House in Dublin.

“With this powerful weapon of knowledge and education, we can fight against wars, terrorism, child labour and inequality. The only tools that are needed are a pen and a book to get us on our way to an enlightened future for one and all,” she said, after receiving the award from Irish rock singer and human rights activist Bono.

Referring to children suffering due to war and child trafficking, she said, “You may be asking yourselves- ‘what is the solution?’ I believe the only solution is education, education, education.” Malala, determined not to miss even a day of school, flew back to Birmingham, where she now lives with her family, soon after the ceremony.

Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban on a school bus last October, an attack that drew worldwide condemnation. She was flown to Britain for surgery for her head injuries and returned to school in Birmingham in March.

Previous recipients of the award include South African leader Nelson Mandela and Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi. — PTI

Islamabad, September 18
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, an accused in the 2007 Benazir Bhutto assassination case, has sought a retrial arguing that the statements of witnesses were recorded while he was abroad.

Presenting his case in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi yesterday, the former military ruler’s lawyer Ilyas Siddiqi urged the court to re-record the statements of the witnesses.

“Musharraf was abroad when the statements were recorded. It is his legal right that statements of the witnesses be recorded in front of him," he said.

Musharraf (70) was charged last month with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and facilitation of the murder of two-time former premier Bhutto along with seven other co accused.

If convicted, Musharraf can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

This is the first time a former military ruler or an Army Chief has been indicted in a murder case in Pakistan, which has been ruled by the military for most of its 66-year history.

Musharraf is currently being held at his farmhouse in Islamabad, which has been declared a "sub-jail". He was arrested shortly after he returned to Pakistan from self-exile in March this year to participate in general elections.

However, he was barred by a Pakistani court from contesting polls for the rest of his life.

The former general is also facing charges in other cases, including the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a military operation in 2006 and for taking unconstitutional steps by imposing emergency and removing judges in 2007. — PTI

New York, September 18
The United States is set to seize control of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper which prosecutors claim is secretly owned by Iran, the justice department yesterday said, though the ruling is to be appealed.

The seizure and sale of the 36-story building, in the heart of New York City on Fifth Avenue, would be "the largest-ever terrorism-related forfeiture," the statement added.

A federal judge ruled in favour of the government’s suit this week, saying the building’s owners had violated Iran sanctions and money laundering laws.

Manhattan Federal Prosecutor Preet Bharara said the decision upholded the justice department claims the owner of the building “was (and is) a front for Bank Melli, and thus a front for the Government of Iran.”

Bharara said the funds from selling the building would provide “a means of compensating victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism.”

Prosecutors allege the building’s owners, the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corporation, transferred rental income and other funds to Iran’s state-owned Bank Melli. Alavi also ran a charitable organisation for Iran and managed the building for the Iranian government, the statement said.

Built in the 1970s by a non-profit operated by the Shah of Iran and financed with a Bank Melli loan — the building was expropriated by the new Iranian government after the 1979 revolution, prosecutors allege.

They said the Shah’s non-profit, the Pahlavi Foundation, was renamed the Mostazafan Foundation of New York and then the Alavi Foundation.

The Alavi foundation said it planned to appeal, saying in a statement on its website it was “disappointed” with the ruling and that “it did not have the opportunity to rebut the Government evidence before a jury.” — PTI

Paris, September 18
The French senate has approved a proposal to ban beauty contests for girls under 16 to prevent what a parliamentary report called the “hyper-sexualisation” of children.

The proposal was backed by 196 lawmakers yesterday evening and 146 opposed it. It will now become law after being passed in the National Assembly.

The measure follows a parliamentary report “Against Hyper-Sexualisation: A New Fight For Equality” which called for a ban on child-size adult clothing, such as padded bras and high-heeled shoes and an end to beauty competitions for the under-16s.

“Let us not make our girls believe from a very young age that their worth is only judged by their appearance,” said the author of the report, former sports minister Chantal Jouanno.

According to the proposal, organisers of such beauty pageants could face up to two years in prison and a 30,000-euro fine.

The measure was prompted by controversy over a Vogue magazine photographic shoot featuring provocative images of a 10-year-old French girl in December 2010. — AFP