UN official: 5,000 have died in Syria

UN official: 5,000 have died in Syria

united nations

More than 5,000 people have died in the nine-month-long Syrian uprising, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said Monday.

Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters Monday that she told Security Council members of the dramatic increase in deaths during an afternoon briefing.

The death toll used by the U.N. in recent weeks has been around 4,000.

Pillay said she recommended that the council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, the permanent war crimes tribunal, for investigation of possible crimes against humanity.

Bus crash in China kills at least 15 kids

beijing

At least 15 Chinese primary- school students were killed when the bus taking them home overturned in the country’s east, highlighting serious problems with child safety after a similar tragedy last month.

Eight other children were injured, one of them seriously, a spokesman for the Jiangsu provincial government said today.

The accident occurred Monday afternoon as the bus was traveling along a rural highway outside the city of Xuzhou in the province’s north. Chinese news reports said the bus careened off the road after swerving to avoid another vehicle.

Canada pulls out of Kyoto Protocol

toronto

Canada pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change Monday, saying the accord won’t help solve the climate crisis. It dealt a blow to the anti-global warming treaty, which has not been formally renounced by any other country.

Environment Minister Peter Kent said that Canada is invoking its legal right to withdraw and said Kyoto doesn’t represent the way forward for Canada or the world.

Experts: Too soon to use brain science

london

Criminal behavior can’t be blamed on how someone’s brain is wired, at least not yet, says a report from British experts who examined how neuroscience is being used in some court cases.

“Having a psychotic brain is not a general defense against a criminal charge,” said Nicholas Mackintosh, emeritus professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge, who led the group that produced the report. “There’s no such thing as a gene for violence.”

The report was done by the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific academy.

The document is part of the group’s ongoing investigation of the effects of recent advances in neuroscience on various parts of society, including education and the law.

Lowe’s stands by decision to pull ads

new york

Home-improvement chain Lowe’s plans to stick by its decision to yank its ads from a reality TV show about American Muslims amid growing debate over the move.

California Sen. Ted Lieu said Sunday that he is considering calling for a boycott of Lowe’s Cos., sparking criticism of the chain from both inside and outside of the Muslim community.

Lowe’s, based in Mooresville, N.C., said it stands by its statement Sunday that it pulled the ads after the show became a “lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives — political, social and otherwise.”

“All-American Muslim,” which premiered last month on TLC, chronicles the lives of five families who live in and near Dearborn, Mich., a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim and Arab-American population. It airs Sundays on TLC.

Associated Press