It's twenty-three hours thirty Universal Time with world news in VOA Special English, I'm Christopher Cruise reporting from the VOA world headquarters in Washington. ▼ Huge crowds of mourners have gathered to watch the funeral parade for dissident Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. Mourners spoke out against the government and carried green signs of Iran's opposition movement. Iranian opposition websites say hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the funeral in the northern Shiite holy city of Qom. Foreign media were barred from reporting about the funeral. But, clashes were reported between police and protestors who threw stones. The protest reports have not been independently confirmed.
United Nations investigators say Guinean military leader Moussa “Dadis” Camara is responsible for the September killings of opposition supporters and sexual violence against women. The report calls the violence “organized crimes against humanity.” It asks the international court to take action. The investigators have given the report to the U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council, the African Union and Economic Community of West African States. The U.N. team says it confirmed witness stories that soldiers blocked the doors of the national football arena in Conakry, September twenty-eighth. The soldiers then began shooting at tens of thousands of people. More than one hundred fifty people were killed. About one hundred women were raped and experienced other sexual violence.
The United Nations human rights chief is demanding the arrest of Joseph Kony and other leaders of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army. Navi Pillay called for the arrest as her office released two new reports about what it called, “cruel attacks” across southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.N. says that in the DRC, the Lord's Resistance Army has killed at least one thousand two hundred people in the past ten months. It also says the group kidnapped one thousand four hundred others and forced about two hundred fifty thousand people from their homes. The U.N. says about six hundred children were among those kidnapped.
Political tensions are increasing in Madagascar. On Sunday, leader Andre Rajoelina named a new prime minister two days after withdrawing from a power-sharing agreement. Opposition groups have condemned the appointment of Colonel Albert Camille-Vital as illegal. They say they will form their own government this week. Ousted President Marc Ravalomanana leads one of the three opposition groups seeking to form a unity government. He was ousted by the military in March.
The Senate has voted to end debate on historic health care reform legislation. President Obama praised the vote as, “a victory for the American people.” All the Democrats and two independents voted to end the debate and every Republican voted against it. The action moves the health care reform legislation closer to a final vote in the Senate. That is expected by Thursday. The House of Representatives have already passed a health care reform bill.
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Afghan security forces have killed two heavily armed Taliban militants after a long battle outside a building in the eastern provincial capital, Gardez. The fighting also wounded three civilians and a police officer. In Kabul, the Afghan parliament began considering President Hamid Karzai's proposed cabinet members. On Sunday, Mr. Karzai told lawmakers that the nominees are professionals instead of political allies. His opponents criticized him for including only one woman and no opposition members in the twenty-three-member cabinet.
Chinese human rights activists say police are questioning and threatening the supporters of a dissident whose trial begins Wednesday. The Chinese human rights defenders group said police have visited supporters of Liu Xiaobo and warned them not to attend the trial or show support on the Internet. China has held Liu in prison for more than a year for writing a pro-democracy request to the government. The former university professor could be sentenced to fifteen years in jail if he is found guilty. The director of the rights group expressed concern that Liu's right to a fair trial will not be honored. Chinese officials have not answered her concerns.
Russia's foreign ministry says talks with the United States on a new nuclear arms treaty will reopen in January. A ministry statement said several problems still need to be solved for a new strategic arms reduction treaty with the United States, but the statement said a treaty signing will take place in the near future. The existing START treaty ended earlier this month. It was signed in nineteen ninety-one, just before the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The agreement sets limits on nuclear weapons and a system of inspections in both countries.
And, the Philippines has ordered extra troops to help remove the remaining villagers from the danger area surrounding a volcano. About fifty thousand people have already moved from villages within eight kilometers of the Mayon volcano in Albay province on Luzon Island. More troops were added to help move people who have resisted the order to leave their farms during harvest season. The volcano has thrown burning rocks into the air as high as several hundred meters. Officials say the mountain could explode in days. ▲ And now briefly, here again is the major news of the hour.
Huge crowds of mourners have gathered in the holy city of Qom to watch the funeral parade for dissident Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. U.N. investigators say Guinean military leader Moussa “Dadis” Camara is directly responsible for the killings of opposition protestors in September. And, the U.N. human rights chief is demanding the arrest of Joseph Kony and other leaders of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army. And, that's the news in VOA Special English. I'm Christopher Cruise reporting from Washington. Source: VOA Special English December 21, 2009 2330UTC
