SARAJEVO: Serbia’s nationalist president has implored forgiveness for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, in his deepest apology yet for crimes committed by Serbs in the wars that destroyed Yugoslavia. “I’m on my knees,” President Tomislav Nikolic told a television interviewer. “I am on my knees and asking for a pardon for Serbia for the crime that was committed in Srebrenica. “I apologise for the crimes that any individual has committed in the name of our state and our people.” Some 8,000 Muslim men and boys died in Srebrenica, a former UN “safe haven” that fell to Bosnian Serb forces under wartime commander Ratko Mladic. The victims were rounded up, executed and bulldozed into pits over five days in July 1995.
UN approves Mali peacekeeping force
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council unanimously approved yesterday the creation of a 12,600-strong peacekeeping force in Mali starting July 1, which will be supported by French troops if needed to combat Islamist extremist threats in the West African country. The UN peacekeeping force - to be known as MINUSMA - will assume authority from a UN-backed African force deployed there to take over from the French. Most of the African force, known as AFISMA, is likely to become part of the peacekeeping operation, diplomats say.
3 UK Muslims jailed for terror training
LONDON: Three British Muslims, including a convert to Islam, were jailed yesterday for travelling to Pakistan for terror training. White Muslim convert Richard Dart, a 30-year-old former security guard for the BBC, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment at the Old Bailey central criminal court in London. Imran Mahmood, 22, was jailed for nine years and nine months and 26-year-old Jahangir Alom for four-and-a-half years. Dart and Alom had admitted seeking terror training in Pakistan while Mahmood, who did join a Pakistani terror camp, gave them advice.
Italy’s Letta begins coalition talks
ROME: Italian moderate leftist Enrico Letta began complex talks yesterday on forming a new coalition government aimed at tackling what the prime minister-designate called a social “emergency”. The 46-year-old Letta — who would be one of Europe’s youngest leaders if he succeeds — has said he wants a government that is more in tune with the needs of ordinary Italians and that can steer away from harsh austerity measures.
Teen slays three in southern France
ISTRES: An apparently deranged teenager shot three men dead after opening fire on cars and passersby in a residential part of the southern French town of Istres yesterday, police said after arresting him. A woman was injured after a bullet grazed her ear and police found a Kalashnikov automatic rifle in a ditch near the scene in the small town near Marseille, sources said. “Everything points to him having dumped it there after the shooting,” one said, adding that the suspect was known to police for hoarding weapons and had a history of psychiatric problems. One of the victims was shot dead at the wheel of his car. The other two were pedestrians.
Agencies
