The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for sanctions against Islamist fighters in northern Mali. They have destroyed several ancient tombs in the world heritage site of Timbuktu. From UN headquarters in New York, Barbara Plett.
The resolution expresses deep concern at the increased terrorist threat in the north of Mali and the region due to the presence of al-Qaeda fighters. It calls on member states to submit names of those linked to the group to be added to a UN list of al-Qaeda militants targeted by sanctions. It strongly condemns the destruction of Muslim shrines by the Islamists and says such act of
desecration
could fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. But it
stops short of
authorizing a request by the regional group Ecowas for a mandate to deploy a stabilization force.
The UN human rights council has voted to appoint a special investigator to look into accusations of rights violations in Belarus. The move follows a report by the UN human rights office which said there had been
curbs
on freedom of speech and rights of assembly since the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was re-elected in 2010.
Art experts in Italy say they believe they have discovered dozens of drawings produced by the Renaissance master Caravaggio when he was a young student in Milan. The pictures were in a collection of works previously ascribed to the painter, with whom Caravaggio studied as a boy, Simone Peterzano.