Digest of international news for the week

Six people killed in an attack on a Gurudwara during Sunday morning prayers in Wisconsin

Saturday

Aleppo: The Syrian army says it had seized the last rebel-held district of the capital Damascus as insurgents in the strategic northern city of Aleppo came under heavy bombardment by regime forces.

United Nations: India has abstained along with 30 other countries from voting in the UN General Assembly on a Saudi-drafted resolution on Syria that denounced the escalating violence in the country and referred to calls for President Bashar Al Assad to step down.

New York: A year after the Tri Valley university scam left several students from India high and dry, another American varsity with a significant Indian population, has run into trouble after its CEO was charged with visa fraud.

Sunday

New York: Six people are killed in an attack on a Gurudwara during Sunday morning prayers in Wisconsin by at least one gunman who was also shot dead. At least 20 people were injured when at least one shooter opened fire indiscriminately amid reports that 12 children were taken as hostages at the Sikh shrine.

Jerusalem/Ramallah: A meeting of a NAM committee, that includes India, to support a Palestinian bid for upgraded UN membership was cancelled at the last minute after Israel refused to allow representatives of five countries to enter the occupied West Bank.

Monday

Damascus: Syria's Prime Minister Riad Hijab joins the anti-regime revolt and flees abroad, in what Washington and the opposition hailed today as a major blow to President Bashar al-Assad.

New York: A former US Army 'psy-ops' specialist, with a 9/11 tattoo on his arm, is identified as the gunman behind the suspected hate crime against the Sikh community in a Gurudwara in Wisconsin that killed six people in cold-blood.

Houston: In a moment of triumph for outer space exploration, NASA's most modern spacecraft successfully lands on Mars to begin a pioneering two-year search to find out if the red planet once hosted conditions suitable for life and whether it can be inhabitable in the future.

Tuesday

Kuala Lumpur: The death sentences of two Indian nationals on drug trafficking charges were set aside by a Malaysian appeals court, which said the lower court had not considered the complete evidence in the 2010 case.

Melbourne: Australian police announces a reward of $100,000 on an Indian man, who fled from the country after being accused of negligent driving that killed a pedestrian, the first time a reward has been offered for a traffic offence.

Wednesday

New York: The gunman, who killed six people at a Gurdwara in Wisconsin, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head after he was shot by police, the FBI announces and says it was still treating the case as an "act of domestic terrorism".

Cairo: Egypt's military declares "complete" victory over Islamist militants after its helicopter gunships crossed into Sinai for the first time since the Yom Kippur war of 1973, firing missiles to kill 20 terrorists.

Islamabad: Pakistan's combative Supreme Court summons Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf to appear before it on August 27 to face possible contempt charges for failing to revive graft cases against the President, a move that could lead to his disqualification like his predecessor.

Thursday

Beijing: The high-profile trial of the wife of disgraced Chinese Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, for murdering a British businessman, turned out to be a one-day affair, with court saying she had admitted guilt and the verdict would be announced soon.

Washington: Seeking to counter India, Pakistan is making qualitative and quantitative improvements to its nuclear arsenal and could increase the number of circumstances under which it would use them, a US Congressional report says.

Friday

Beijing: Gu Kailai, the wife of ousted Chinese leader Bo Xilai, has confessed in writing about her involvement in the murder of a British businessman, while four police officers admitted covering up the crime, state media reports.

London: Keen to take forward Team GB's success beyond the London Olympics, British Prime Minister David Cameron says schools should spend more time on competitive sports than on 'Indian dance', a remark that raises several eyebrows.

Lahore/Islamabad: A group of some 250 Pakistani Hindus are allowed to cross over to India for a pilgrimage after being detained at the Wagah land border crossing due to a controversy over reports that they planned to migrate to the neighbouring country.