Friday, 6 April 2012

Bosnia-Hercegovina marks 20th anniversary of war

April 6

Ceremonies in Sarajevo are marking 20 years since the start of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, a conflict that saw the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. The conflict began in April 1992 as part of the break-up of Yugoslavia. About 100,000 people were killed and nearly half the population forced from their homes in four years of fighting. Red chairs fill the street in Sarajevo where the conflict began - 11,541, one for each victim in the city. People have been placing white flowers on some of the chairs as they walk alongside them. A teddy bear, toys and schoolbooks have been placed on some of the small chairs which symbolise children killed during the four-year long siege by Serb forces. Sarajevans were asked to stop what they were doing at 12:00 GMT for an hour to mark the start of the conflict. 'They loved Sarajevo' Many have been walking past the chairs, which stretch for 800m (half a mile) along the central street...

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Nato fuel tanker blaze kills seven in Afghanistan

April 6

KANDAHAR: Seven people were burnt to death in southern Afghanistan on Friday when a fuel tanker supplying a Nato base crashed and set their vehicle on fire, officials said. The security chief of Panjwayi...

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Fiji's flood death toll rises to 7

April 6

SUVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's flood death toll rose to seven on Friday after the discovery of two more bodies. Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said the police found a middle aged man's body floating in the Waimanu River near Nausori. At Tunalia Bridge in the western tourist town of Nadi, the body of 61-years-old villager Jolame Vou Sayabo was also found, who was believed to be drowned after he got stuck in a culvert whilst swimming with family members. Naisoro said the two bodies are now at local hospitals for a post mortem examination. Earlier this week, a three-year-old boy of Komave village in Sigatoka died while playing near a creek, and the body of a 31- year-old man was also found at Johnson Road in Lautoka. On Sunday the body of a man was retrieved from the Nadi River, while a 20-year-old male's body and an unidentified man's body were retrieved on Friday in different areas in the country's west. Meanwhile, three boys...

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Suicide bombers in Pakistan receive no death rituals

April 6

Suicide bombers who believe they will go to paradise are mistaken, Pakistani religious scholars say. "Suicide bombers are the most unfortunate people on the surface of the earth, as they are neither bathed nor buried," as ordinary Muslims are when they die, said Maulana Aminullah Shah in Par Hoti Mardan. Shah, a prayer leader in Mohallah New Islamabad, Par Hoti, Mardan, said he felt sorry for Rehmanullah, a 17-year-old suicide bomber who attacked Afghan and coalition forces last September and was buried without a funeral prayer. Rehmanullah's father, Ghufran Khan, a day labourer, continues to grieve over his son's death, saying the Taliban kidnapped and brainwashed him. He never got to see his son's body or to bury it, and remains uncertain of his son's fate. Some escape militant clutches Saifullah, another boy from the same area, had to flee for his life when the Taliban accused him of informing intelligence agencies after senior...

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