World news

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN tallies Syrian war crimes massacres Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: U.N. rights investigators have established that Syrian government forces were almost certainly responsible for two massacres last May in which up to 450 civilians were killed, a report published on Wednesday said.The report documented eight mass killings in all, attributing all but one to government forces, but said both government and rebel fighters had committed war crimes including murder, hostage-taking and shelling of civilians.With more than 100,000 dead in the Syrian war, there was little sign that reports of atrocities would spur international action until last month, when allegations that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had gassed hundreds of civilians sparked a threat of U.S. strikes, and furious international diplomacy.The killings in Baida and Ras al-Nabaa, two pockets of rebel … [Read more...] about Phuket Gazette World News: Syria war crimes toll mounts; Myanmar bans anti-Muslim sect; N Korea restarts reactor; Obama observes 9/11

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Britain, Scotland sign deal for independence referendum Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: British Prime Minister David Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday signed a historic agreement which will allow the Scottish government to hold a referendum to decide whether Scotland should break away from the United Kingdom. Cameron and Salmond met at St. Andrews House in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, where the two leaders signed the so-called “Edinburgh Agreement” which grants the Scottish government special powers necessary for the independence referendum. It follows months of negotiations on the specific details of the agreement. “What’s really important about this is, it sets out now, for the first time, an agreed process by which Scotland can become an independent country,” said Salmond, whose Scottish National Party (SNP) … [Read more...] about World News: Independence referendum for Scots, Obama leads

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nightclub fire kills 233 in Brazil Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A nightclub fire killed at least 233 people in southern Brazil early yesterday morning when a band’s pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze and fleeing party-goers stampeded toward blocked and overcrowded exits in the ensuing panic, officials said. The blaze in the university town of Santa Maria was ignited by sparks from pyrotechnics used by the band for visual effects. They set fire to soundproofing on the ceiling and the club rapidly filled with toxic smoke, local fire officials said. Most of those who died were suffocated by fumes, fire brigade Sergeant Robson Muller told Reuters. Others were crushed in the stampede. “Smoke filled the place instantly, the heat became unbearable,” survivor Murilo Tiescher, a medical student, told GloboNews TV. “People could not find the only exit. … [Read more...] about World News: Brazilian nightclub fire kills at least 233

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Quiet Connecticut town rocked by mass school shooting Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The peace and security of the suburban Connecticut community of Newtown lay shattered yesterday after a gunman attacked a primary school in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.Tearful parents and children gathered around Sandy Hook Elementary School by midday, surrounded by police vehicles, as young and old alike struggled to make sense of a shooting rampage that killed at least 28 people, including 20 children.Mergim Bajraliu, a 17-year-old high school student, said he was at his home nearby when he heard two shots. He and a neighbor ran to the school to find his 9-year-old sister, Venesa, a fourth-grader.“My heart sank,” he said, describing seeing two students covered in blood being carried out of the building, one of whom looked like his sister. To his relief, his … [Read more...] about World News: Connecticut in mourning; Gunman kills 28

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Actor Mickey Rooney, brash star of 1930s and ’40s, dies at 93 Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Actor Mickey Rooney, who became the United States’ biggest movie star while still a brash teenager in the 1930s and later a versatile character actor in a career that spanned 10 decades, died on Sunday, friends and entertainment media said. He was 93. Rooney, who developed a reputation as a hard-partying, off-screen brat in his heyday and married eight times, died after a long illness, the TMZ celebrity website said. Show business website Variety also reported his death. TMZ and Variety did not give a cause of death or say where Rooney died. A spokesman was not immediately available for comment. “He was undoubtedly the most talented actor that ever lived. There was nothing he couldn’t do,” actress Margaret O’Brien said in a statement. She said she … [Read more...] about Phuket Gazette World News: Actor Mickey Rooney dies at 93