UN Secretray-General Ban Ki-moon accused the Syrian army of appalling brutality after the deaths of 69 more civilians on Wednesday and said the Arab League was proposing a joint mission to witness the bloodshed.
Fifty deaths were reported in the protest city of Homs where a barrage of gunfire, mortars and shells was launched at dawn and continued all day. State television said a car bomb ripped through the central city, killing and wounding civilians as well as security officers.
Ban said the “appalling brutality” of the government’s artillery assault on the protest city of Homs “is a grim harbinger of worse to come.”
Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insisted any outside intervention to stop the violence would have the destructive effect of “a bull in a china shop.”
However, Ban launched the idea of sending a joint observer mission as he bemoaned the UN Security Council’s failure to agree a resolution on the crisis.
Ban and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi spoke on Tuesday. The League suspended its monitoring mission to Syria on Jan. 28 because of the mounting violence.
“He informed me that he intends to send the Arab League observer mission back to Syria and asked for UN help,” Ban told reporters after briefing a UN Security Council meeting. “He further suggested that we consider a joint observer mission in Syria, including a joint special envoy.”
The UN leader said consultations would be held with the Arab League and UN Security Council members in coming days “before fleshing out the details.”
The UN secretary-general said he feared the violence would worsen and launched into a new attack on the divided 15--member Security Council. Russia and China again vetoed a Syria resolution on Saturday.
Their move had been “disastrous” for the Syrian people and had only encouraged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step up his “war” on opponents, Ban said in New York.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese