US envoy in south Syria; seven killed

Syrian security forces killed at least seven people in the restive central city of Homs soon after a UN humanitarian assessment team left the area because the security situation was deteriorating,activists said.

Syrian security forces killed at least seven people in the restive central city of Homs soon after a UN humanitarian assessment team left the area because the security situation was deteriorating,activists said Tuesday.

Tuesdays bloodshed came as the overall death toll from President Bashar Assads crackdown on the 5-month-old uprising in Syria reached 2,200,the United Nations said.

The UNs top human rights body voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to demand that Syria end its crackdown and cooperate with an international probe into possible crimes against humanity. The UN assessment team had been advised to leave Homs for security reasons when a protest situation developed, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday in New York.

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On Tuesday,the US Embassy in Syria said that Ambassador Robert Ford visited the countrys south after getting permission from the Syrian foreign ministry. An official at the embassy described it as a short and routine trip to the village of Jassem near the southern city of Daraa. The area has been witnessing large anti-government protests.

A trip last month by the US and French ambassadors to the central city of Hama to express support for protesters drew swift condemnation from the Syrian government.

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President Bashar Assad

Algerian-French artist’s work vandalised at Kochi art gallery over ‘obscenity’ allegations

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