US car-maker Ford, which has a major vehicle plant in Tamil Nadu, has announced it will invest $1 billion in Gujarat to build two new plants.

However, the decision does not seem to have upset or surprised the Tamil Nadu government which had courted the company to set up the new plants there, IANS reports.

"We have been told that the company would save sizeably on freight costs if it has a plant in Gujarat as it can cater to the northern markets," a state government official said.

Ford is also to invest $72 million to expand its engine plant located near Chennai to take the annual production capacity to 330,000 units from the current 250,000.

Ford currently also has a vehicle plant near Chennai with a capacity to roll out 200,000 units per year.

Ford’s new vehicle plant in Gujarat will have an initial annual capacity of 240,000 units, and the engine plant will have an initial annual capacity of 270,000 engines.

Britain has recognised the Libyan rebel council as that country’s "sole governmental authority" and has expelled the Gaddafi-regime’s diplomats, the BBC reports.

Instead the UK will ask the rebel National Transitional Council to appoint a new diplomatic envoy.

The British move follows those of the US and France. The UK had previously said it recognised "countries not governments", but Foreign Secretary William Hague said this was a "unique situation."

Mr Hague said:

"I'm making this announcement today to reflect the facts on the ground and to increase support for those fighting and working for a better future in Libya.”

"What I have announced today will allow us to give further assistance to the people of Libya and underline the message to the Gaddafi regime that their legitimacy has come to an end."

The change meant the UK could give the rebels "greater practical assistance than we've been able to give so far", he added.

For the main opposition Labour party, shadow foreign office minister Stephen Twigg told the BBC:

"We agree that the National Transitional Council is best able to represent the people of Libya, so it makes sense to recognise them, I hope other countries will also recognise them, and it's time for Gaddafi's diplomats to leave London."

Ivory Coast is to set up a commission of inquiry into crimes committed during the country's post-election violence, a council of ministers said last week.

See Al-Jazeera’s report here

The commission would "help understand how and why people were able to conceive, plan and execute such grave violations of human rights," the ministers said.

"As a duty to memory, Ivory Coast intends to provide the means to establish the truth of the facts in order, if necessary, to take legal action against the perpetrators," their statement said.

Alassane Ouattara, the president, signed the decree establishing the commission, giving it six months to reach conclusions.

After losing the presidential election in November last year the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, now under house arrest, refused to accept his loss.

Instead he used loyal soldiers, gangs of armed youths and mercenaries to crush dissent and retain power.

The power struggle rekindled a civil war the election was supposed to resolve, killing at least 3,000 people, displacing a million and sending tens of thousands fleeing into neighbouring Liberia and Ghana

At least eighty people were killed on a Norwegian island Friday by a lone gunman dressed in police uniform who attacked a summer camp of the ruling Labour party’s youth wing, shortly after a bomb ripped through the political district of the capital, Oslo.

See reports by AFP, NPR, Reuters, and CTV.

Hundreds of youth, mainly teenagers, were attending the summer camp on Utoeya island, a few kilometres from Oslo.

The gunman, described as a tall, blond ethnic Norwegian, and later named as Anders Behring Breivik, entered the camp and opened fire indiscriminately, reports said. An initial death toll of 10 soared to at least 80 early Saturday.

The bomb blast in Oslo 90 minutes before the gun attack had killed seven people and wounded many more, the toll perhaps limited by fewer people being in the area on a public holiday.

The gunman was wounded by police responding to the attack and is in custody.

Speaking anonymously, police officials said the man appears to have acted alone in both attacks, described by Norwegian media as the worst episode of violence in the country since World War II.

According to the TV2 channel, which did not reveal its sources, the gunman has links to right-wing extremists.

AP quoted police officials as saying the attacks don’t appear linked to Islamist terrorism, and that while Breivik had right-wing and anti-Muslim views, his motive is unclear. 

The man, now described as a 'homegrown terrorist', had been allowed access to the island after presenting his ID to security guards, reports said.

As he opened fire terrified teenagers and other people attempted to flee or hide. Some threw themselves into the cold, deep water to escape, and attempted to swim to the mainland.

Amongst them was a Diaspora Tamil, 23 year old Khamshajiny Gunaratnam, a youth politician of the Labour party elected to the civic council of Oslo in 2007.

She and another politician were picked up by a boat. See TamilNet’s report here. 

Serbian authorities have arrested Goran Hadzic, the last remaining fugitive war crimes suspect sought by the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the BBC reports.

He faces 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including persecution, extermination, and torture, and is expected to be transferred to The Hague in the coming days.

Hadzic was a central figure in the self-proclaimed Serb republic of Krajina in 1992-1993, leading the campaign to block Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia.

He is held responsible for the massacre of almost 300 men in Vukovar in 1991 by Croatian Serb troops and for the deportation of 20,000 people from the town after it was captured.

The BBC says the Hadzic case was seen as the last big obstacle to Serbia gaining EU candidate status and a start date for accession talks. There was a $1.4m (£870,000) reward offered for his capture.

EU top officials said the arrest was "a further important step for Serbia in realising its European perspective and equally crucial for international justice".

"Following the capture of Ratko Mladic, this arrest sends a positive signal to the European Union and to Serbia's neighbours, but most of all on the rule of law in Serbia itself," the leaders said in a statement.

Amnesty International also hailed the arrest.

“This long overdue arrest will bring justice at last to the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Croatia,” Amnesty’s  Serbia researcher, Sian Jones, said:

“This arrest underscores the continuing and urgent need for authorities in the countries of former Yugoslavia to investigate and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, to prosecute those suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. There are tens of thousands of such suspects where national authorities have failed to open any investigation.”

Think you’re open-minded? That you revise your opinions on the receipt of new facts?

And think you know what’s wrong with China’s government?

Then see what happens after you read this article in the International Herald Tribune by Eric X. Li, a venture capitalist in Shanghai and a doctoral candidate at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs.

The anti-genocide group, Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), has published visual evidence of mass graves  in South Kordofan.

“This evidence demonstrates the urgent need for a full-scale international investigation into the violence in South Kordofan, and underlines the imperative to protect civilian populations from their own government in Khartoum.

“With all the killing that has occurred in Darfur, Abyei and the Nuba Mountains, we surely can't say we didn't know this could happen.

“Diplomacy as usual backed by no tangible international pressures is a recipe for ongoing death and destruction.

“The time has arrived for the international community to create a heavy cost for the kinds of crimes depicted in this report, and root that cost within the framework of the international responsibility to protect doctrine.”

- John Prendergast, Co-founder of the anti-genocide groups Enough Project and SSP.

Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi have won recognition as the country's "legitimate authority" from the entire international contact group co-ordinating policy on the crisis.

The United States joined more than thirty other states and state-blocs in recognizing rebel leadership in Libya, the Transitional National Council, as the country’s legitimate government.

At an international meeting in Turkey, representatives of international organizations, including the Arab League, the European Union and the African Union, reiterated their support for the TNC, which is based in Benghazi in the east, and for a transition of power in Libya.

A number of countries had already unilaterally recognized the NTC.

See reports in the New York Times, The Guardian and AFP.

Speaking at the Istanbul meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said:

“The United States views the Ghaddafi regime as no longer having any legitimate authority in Libya. And so I am announcing today that, until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognize the TNC as the legitimate governing authority for Libya, and we will deal with it on that basis.”

The move allows the US and other countries to turn over to the TNC some of the Libyan government funds that have been frozen in foreign banks, to finance its efforts to oust Ghaddafi, and to administer the part of the country that rebel control.

Britain’s Foreign Office said:

"It's a strong signal of support for the NTC and reflects the growing consensus that it is increasingly competent, is reaching out to Libyan people across the country, and reinforces the point that Gaddafi must go."

Former Guatemalan army chief Gen. Héctor Mario López Fuentes was charged this week with genocide for his command role in the killings of over 300 Mayan people in 1982 and 1983.

A UN-backed commission found that during Guatemala’s 36-year armed conflict some 200,000 people were killed or disappeared and security forces committed 440 massacres in indigenous communities.

The commission specifically found that the military’s counter-insurgency operations in the Ixil Triangle amounted to acts of genocide, with 32 separate massacres targeting the indigenous Maya-Ixil population.

Gen. Fuentes is accused of being the “intellectual author” of 12 massacres from 1982-1983. At the time, he was Guatemala’s military Chief of Staff, the third-highest-ranking official in the country.

See Louisa Reynolds’s article for LaPress.org, and Amnesty International’s statement.

During the short-lived 1982-83 dictatorship of Efraín Ríos Montt, the army launched a brutal campaign targeting indigenous communities that it accused of supporting left-wing guerillas.

The strategy was known as “draining the water that the fish swim in.”

Any villages where signs of guerrilla activity were found — hidden weapons or propaganda — were deemed to be “subversive”, and the villagers were systematically killed.

Any villages found abandoned when terrified residents fled to the mountains were also razed to the ground, a policy known as “scorched earth.”

As a result of the regime’s genocidal policies, over 10,000 Mayans were murdered and 9,000 were displaced from their land.

Other former Guatemalan military and police officials have been arrested in recent months for their role in human rights abuses during the armed conflict.

These include  Colonel Héctor Bol de la Cruz and Jorge Humberto Gómez López, both former heads of the national police force.

An army officer and a soldier who participated in a December 1982 massacre in Dos Erres village were arrested earlier this year. Guatemalan security forces tortured and killed 250 men, women and children in Dos Erres before razing the village.

On May 3, 1982, Guatemalan forces attacked the village of San Francisco.

“The soldiers killed the men, beating them on the head with axes or machetes, and they cut open pregnant women’s wombs to pull out their fetuses and throw them away”, survivor Gaspar Velasco told the court after Gen. Fuentes’s arrest in June.

“My wife, and other women from the village, were captured by soldiers and were held in captivity for 90 days, during which they were raped.”

“In the end, we were forced to flee from the village and we spent 17 years hiding in the mountains.”

Given that no efforts were made to bring the perpetrators to justice, the Mayan victims took their case to Spain’s highest level court.

Acting in accordance to the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows human rights violations committed in any part of the world to be brought to trial in another country, the Spanish court requested Guatamalan dictator Montt’s - now a Congressman - extradition in 2006, but it was denied by Guatemala’s Constitutional Court.

The battle in the Spanish courts is at an impasse but the case remains open, independently of the ongoing Guatemalan trial against Gen. Fuentes.

Amnesty International’s Central America Researcher Sebastian Elgueta says:

“For justice to be delivered to victims of human rights violations and their relatives, it is imperative that not just the foot soldiers but also the masterminds of the massacres, tortures and disappearances that terrorised Guatemala decades ago are brought to justice.

“Victims and their relatives have spent decades demanding justice and redress for the crimes against humanity they suffered.”

The anti-genocide group, Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), has published visual evidence of mass graves in South Kordofan where Sudanese government forces are targeting the Nuba population.

The Sudanese military and allied forces have carried out systematic attacks on Nuba civilians in South Kordofan that could amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, according to a UN report obtained on Friday by AFP.

See also articles by Christian Science Monitor, DPA and CNN.

Comments by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday on the need to ensure accountability for those involved in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995.

“Until all those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes face those charges and are judged, our quest for justice, and the path towards healing, will remain incomplete.”

“The emergence of respect and trust after conflict also depends heavily on bringing perpetrators to account. Truth must be told. Justice must be done.”

“We recognize the burden of families and loved ones who carry the memories and pain with each step.” said Mr. Ban.

“And, we vow, together, never again to allow such an atrocity to happen at any time...in any place.”

“This we owe to the souls of Srebrenica [and] to our common humanity.”

“The age of impunity has passed, and the age of accountability is now taking over.”

Mr. Ban was speaking at a UN event to honour the victims. See his full speech here.

A Dutch appeals court last week sentenced a Rwandan citizen living in The Netherlands to life in prison for war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

See AFP’s report here.

Joseph Mpambara, 43, was found guilty of having carried out an attack on a church where Tutsis had fled. The lower court, which sentenced him to 20 years in prison, had previously acquitted him on this charge.

"Hundreds of persons were literally slaughtered or hurt," with guns or machetes, Judge Raoul Dekkers said, who added Mpambara "encouraged others to commit (these crimes)."

"The appeals court is of the opinion that you have made yourself guilty of war crimes," the judge told Mpambara, qualifying his crimes as "extremely serious".

A lawyer for one of the complainants, Liesbeth Zegveld, told AFP:

"The crimes are very serious. It cannot be compared to anything we know in The Netherlands. A strong signal is being sent today across our borders."

The Netherlands has a law which allows it to try people for suspected war crimes if the person lived there.

South Sudan declared its independence on Saturday in a joyous day long ceremony in the capital Juba attended by tens of thousands of South Sudanese and senior representatives of dozens of other states.

The chosen location was a fitting site – the field surrounding the mausoleum of John Garang, the late rebel army leader who is considered the father of the South Sudanese nation.

The gathered South Sudanese cheered deliriously, and many wept, as the flag of Sudan was lowered and that of South, raised.

Just before, after soldiers and traditional dance troupes paraded by and the Speaker of the new country’s Parliament read the independence proclamation.

"We, the democratically elected representatives of the people, hereby declare Southern Sudan to be an independent and sovereign state," James Wani Igga said.

The new President, Salva Kiir, then signed a transitional constitution and took the oath of office.

Before flags were changed, President Kiir unveiled a giant statue of Garang to cheers.

Dozens of heads of state, senior representatives of many governments, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide in Darfur, was amongst those looking on. He is the latest of the Sudanese leaders who waged a vicious campaign of violence to deny the South’s half century old demand for self rule.

The new state of South Sudan comprises one third of the original territory of Sudan, hitherto Africa’s largest state, as well as much of its oil reserves.

'We have to forgive, we will not forget'

“We were bombed, maimed, enslaved, treated worse than a refugee in our own country, but we have to forgive, although we will not forget,” President Kiir told the gathering.

Kiir also pledged that the South Sudanese would rise to the challenges that come along with statehood.

“Starting from today, we’ll have no excuse or a scapegoat to blame,” Kiir said. “As an independent country, we must focus on the process of service delivery and development."

Organizers of Saturday’s ceremony soon learned they did not have enough seats for all the visiting heads of state and other VIPs.

"We're overwhelmed. We did not know that the whole world was going to join us in our celebration," the ceremony's announcer said.

World embraces

The United States and Britain were among the first nations to recognize Africa's 54th country.

"A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn," President Obama said in a statement.

"These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realized by so many millions of people."

The United States was represented at Saturday’s ceremony by US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

Retired US General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell was also present,

"My country, too, was born amid struggle and strife on a July day,” she told the crowd. “On this day, the world’s oldest democracy welcomes the world’s newest state."

"Independence was not a gift you were given. Independence is a prize you have won," she said.

"Yet even on this day of jubilee we remain mindful of the challenges that await us. No true friend would offer false comfort. The path ahead will be steep ... but the Republic of South Sudan is being born amid great hopes."

Challenges no bar to joy

But the challenges their new country faces couldn’t dampen the South Sudanese’ elation.

“We have struggled for so many years and this is our day – you cannot imagine how good it feels,” Andrew Nuer, a 27-year-old university student told AFP. “We pray to God in the future to help us make this a prosperous and peaceful country, and to show the world that we can do it.”

Celebrations had already begun at midnight Friday with fireworks and raucous street parties.

Sudanese leader Bashir tried to strike a conciliatory tone.

"We congratulate our brothers in the south for the establishment of their new state," he said, without irony. "The will of the people of the south has to be respected."

Bashir’s stance is not unexpected, though - given the war crimes charges that hang over him and the insistence of the international community that the two states cooperate in maintaining regional peace and stability on which future flows of oil depend.

As a reminder, activists from the western Sudan region of Darfur, which has also suffered decades of genocidal violence from Khartoum, held up a sign that said "Bashir is wanted dead or alive."

Other struggles continue

Whilst South Sudan’s successful secession ended one of Africa’s longest running conflicts, the north remains wracked by a string of rebellions for self rule or an end to Sudanese oppression.

President Kiir made clear the South Sudanese would not turn away from these struggles.

"I want to assure the people of Abyei, Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan that we have not forgotten you. When you cry, we cry. When you bleed, we bleed," Kiir said.

"I pledge to you today that we will find a just peace for all."

As the people of South Sudan declared their independence on Saturday after decades of struggle, congratulations and pledges of support swiftly came in from leaders across the world.

At least twenty countries have already recognized South Sudan, including all five members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – as well as India, South Africa, and Nigeria.

Other countries include Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea and Switzerland.

Ironically, Sudan was the first to recognise South Sudan, given Khartoum’s decades of violent efforts to deny the South’s demand independence that have resulted in over two million deaths and four million people being displaced.

United States President Barack Obama said in a statement he was "proud to declare that the United States formally recognises the Republic of South Sudan as a sovereign and independent state upon this day, July 9 2011".

He added: "A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn. These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realised by so many millions of people."

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "On behalf of the people and Government of India, I convey my warmest felicitations and greetings to the people and Government of Southern Sudan on this momentous and happy occasion”.

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said: "Relations between our peoples have a long history ... South Sudan's sovereignty opens the way for bilateral dialogue based on the principles of reciprocal respect, friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation reinforced by successful projects," he said.

Medvedev added he hoped the relations between Russia and South Sudan could become an important factor in promoting stability and security on the African continent.

China's President Hu Jintao sent his "warmest congratulations," adding: "Although China and the Republic of South Sudan are separated by thousands of miles, the two peoples have a deep traditional friendship and common wish to enhance friendly exchanges. China's establishment of diplomatic ties with South Sudan has opened a new chapter in relations between the two countries.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said: "The Government of the People’s Republic of China announces its recognition of South Sudan, and from now on with the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. China is ready on the basis of peaceful coexistence, with the development of friendly relations and cooperation in all areas of South Sudan".

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said: "This is an historic day, for South Sudan and the whole of Africa. "The UK is proud to have been a witness to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to be among the first to recognise South Sudanese independence. We welcome South Sudan into the community of nations and look forward to building ever stronger links between the UK and South Sudan in the months and years ahead.

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma said: "We have always aspired to witness the dawn of peace, security and stability prevailing in the whole of the Sudan. That dream is coming to fruition."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I hereby announce that Israel recognizes the Republic of South Sudan. We wish it success. This is a peace-seeking country and we would be pleased to cooperate with it in order to ensure its development and its prosperity. Greetings to South Sudan."

Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore  said: “I very much welcome the coming into existence of the Republic of South Sudan as the concrete expression of the will of the southern Sudanese people, following their overwhelming vote in favour of independence in January of this year.”

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "This event [independence] is the fulfillment of an exceptional process, initiated by a peace accord in 2005, that all the international community supported and that the North and South (of Sudan) brought courageously to completion."

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the declaration of independence as “a day of joy and great hope for the people” and added: "We welcome the Republic of South Sudan as a member of the international community of states and we are looking forward to working together."

European Union president Herman Van Rompuy said: “Today a new country is rising in Africa. I congratulate South Sudan on its independence and wish its people a prosperous and peaceful future.”