UNITED NATIONS – In its first-ever statement on Myanmar, the U.N. Security Council said Thursday it “strongly deplores” the government’s violent crackdown on protesters and called for a “genuine dialogue” between the country’s military rulers and the pro-democracy opposition.
The statement, approved by all 15 council members – including close Myanmar ally China – emphasized “the importance of the early release of all political prisoners and remaining detainees.”
The council statement was read shortly after the U.N. announced that Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is sending the U.N. envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, back to the region next week for consultations with key governments.
Alleged suicide-for-hire site nets arrest
TOKYO – Police in Japan arrested a man who ran an Internet suicide site for allegedly killing a woman who paid him to do so, an official said Thursday.
Kazunari Saito, a 33-year-old electrician, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly giving Sayaka Nishizawa, 21, sleeping pills and suffocating her in April, a police official in Kanagawa said. Nishizawa contacted the suspect through an Internet suicide site he hosted and paid him $1,700, according to the official.
Saito set up his site last year to give tips on how to commit suicide, the agency said. Officials didn’t immediately say if the website was still working.
Suspect called nation’s first cannibal killer
MEXICO CITY – On the stove, a frying pan with chunks of flesh. In the refrigerator, a leg and part of an arm, both de-boned. The bones were in a cereal box.
Mexico City police made the grisly discoveries this week as they arrested the man the Mexican press is calling the nation’s first cannibalistic serial killer. Police said Jose Luis Calva Zepeda, 40, was arrested Monday and being held for “probable” homicide after an investigation into the disappearance of his girlfriend.
Investigators found the mutilated body of Alejandra Galeana, 30, in Calva’s closet and believe Calva has killed and mutilated at least two other women.
Syria unlikely to join peace confab
DAMASCUS, SYRIA – Syrian President Bashar Assad all but ruled out his country’s participation in a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference on the Middle East, suggesting in an interview published Thursday that the meeting has no chance for success. His comments come amid growing skepticism of the conference among some Arab governments, which have expressed doubts the November gathering will tackle the main issues of the conflict with Israel. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have not RSVP’d.
U.S. ripped for refusal to transfer detainee
TUNIS, TUNISIA – Tunisia said Thursday it does not allow torture and criticized a U.S. judge for blocking the transfer of a Guantanamo prisoner on grounds that he could face mistreatment in his home country.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler granted a preliminary injunction halting the transfer of Mohammed Abdul Rahman from the prison camp, saying he was likely to face “devastating and irreparable harm.”
