Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, appears on the Qatari state media and affirms Canada's partisan support for the Syria rebels. Baird asserts that Canada's Middle East policy is motivated by Human Rights concerns yet he appears scared to criticize the human rights abuses of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. He remains noticeably silent on the lack of democracy in Saudi Arabia and Qatar which perhaps stems from the fact that his own conservative party are currently under fire with accusations that they rigged the 2011 Canadian elections in which they attained a majority in the Canadian parliament.

Many Canadian-Syrians are ill at ease with their government's financial and political support for groups that they are allegedly committing acts of terrorism in Syria at the behest of the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

This testimony brings into question the claim by the Canadian government that it is engaged in a so-called war on terror. If the Canadian government is indeed aiding and abetting terror groups, as alleged by these Syrian patriots, then it would vindicate the claim by many that terrorism is but a tool of Western governments that are in fact engaged in a war of terror against the inhabitants of the Middle East.

Islamabad - Pakistan successfully launched an upgraded ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead Wednesday, days after its neighbor and archenemy India conducted its own missile test, the Pakistani military said.

The Hatf IV Shaheen-1A missile was fired into the sea, the military said in a written statement.

It was described as an intermediate-range missile having a longer range than its predecessor, the Shaheen-1, which is believed to fly up to 750 kilometers (465 miles).

"The improved version of Shaheen-1A will further consolidate and strengthen Pakistan's deterrence abilities," said Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, who witnessed the launch and is responsible for the country's nuclear program.

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3,000 to 5,000 kilometers (1,865 to 3,110 miles), according to the website GlobalSecurity.org.

If the Shaheen-1A is indeed an intermediate-range missile, it would represent a quantum leap from the previous version. Pakistan's longest range missile before Wednesday's launch was believed to be the Shaheen II, with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles). That is far enough to hit targets anywhere in India.

Bo Xilai ran a wire-tapping system that extended as far as China's president, the New York Times has reported.

Citing "nearly a dozen people with party ties", it said the disgraced Mr Bo ran a wire-tapping network across Chongqing, where he was party chief.

His officials even listened to a phone call involving Hu Jintao, it said.

Chinese authorities have not mentioned wire-tapping in reports about Bo Xilai, whose wife is being investigated over the death of a British national.

They are investigating Mr Bo over "serious discipline violations", while his wife, Gu Kailai, has been detained as a suspect in the death of Neil Heywood, the British businessman found dead in Chongqing in November 2011.

Chinese authorities say they believe Mr Heywood was murdered.

Mr Bo - a high flier once expected to reach the top echelons of office - has not been seen in public since he was removed from his political posts, in the biggest political shake-up in China in years.

The Supreme Court convicted Pakistan's prime minister of contempt on Thursday but spared him a prison term for refusing to reopen a corruption case against his boss, the president, leaving the premier in power but facing fresh calls to resign.

The ruling against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani added to political uncertainty and tensions between the government and the court, effectively crippling an administration that has shown little will to tackle the economic and security challenges facing the country.

Thursday's hearing had been widely anticipated by opponents of Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, who were hoping the Supreme Court would sentence the prime minister to prison and order his immediate dismissal from office. That would have triggered a major political crisis, brought criticism on the court and could have benefited Gilani and Zardari electorally by making them martyrs in the eyes of their supporters.

Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan, where civilian governments have repeatedly been toppled by the country's powerful military, often with the support of the Supreme Court, which critics allege is heavily politicized. Corruption charges have routinely been used to target those in power, or seeking to return.

Gilani's conviction in a court of law means there are now grounds to initiate dismissal proceedings, which involves the speaker of the parliament and the election commission. It could take up to four months and be fiercely contested every step of the way.

London - After a day of testimony at a British judicial inquiry over his ties, friendships and fall-outs with British politicians, Rupert Murdoch was to return to the witness stand on Thursday to face what could be far tougher questions about the hacking scandal that has convulsed his media outpost here.

His appearance offers rare public scrutiny of Mr. Murdoch, usually shielded by his power, influence and wealth.

Since the scandal blossomed last summer, Mr. Murdoch, 81, has been forced to undertake once unthinkable measures, such as the closure of The News of the World Sunday tabloid and the abandonment of a $12 billion satellite television bid, as questions have deepened about the behavior and ethics of journalists, editors and managers working for him.

Last July, he and his son James Murdoch appeared side by side at a separate parliamentary inquiry into the scandal when the elder Mr. Murdoch was assailed by a protester who threw a foam pie in his face.

In addition to the investigations by Parliament and the current inquiry under Lord Justice Brian Leveson, the British police have launched three separate inquiries into hacking of voice mail, e-mail and the alleged bribery of police officers.

Tokyo - A Japanese court on Thursday found one of the country's most influential politicians not guilty of participating in a funding scandal, reconfiguring the balance of power in the governing party.

The Tokyo District Court acquitted Ichiro Ozawa -- nicknamed the "Shadow Shogun" for his political power-broking -- of falsifying a funding report.

Ozawa, who was forced to resign as head of the governing Democratic Party of Japan in 2009 because of the scandal, is now in a position to reassert his considerable clout within the party.

He opposes Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's plans to double the sales tax, a controversial measure aimed at tackling Japan's huge public debt.

Brussels - The European Union voiced deep concern Thursday over the situation of Ukraine's jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is on a hunger strike and reportedly suffered physical violence.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Ukrainian authorities to allow the EU ambassador to visit Tymoshenko in prison along with independent medical specialists "as a sign of their political will to clarify the situation."

Ashton "is deeply preoccupied by the situation of Yulia Tymoshenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine," the chief EU diplomat's spokesman said in a statement.

The Ukrainian ombudsman's office confirmed that 51-year-old Tymoshenko was "subjected to physical violence" during the transfer from her cell to a hospital on April 20, the statement said.

Ashton "recalls the obligation of Ukraine to examine promptly and impartially any complaints of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," it said.

You might think Man has come a long way from the Dutch and English slave masters of the 18th Century selling work-able men and women from Africa at "markets" in North, Central and South America. But look at the attitudes to indigenous people.

The facts are that in our day and age Power - the ability to do things irrespective of any resistance from anybody - has been fundamentally privatized worldwide.So when private corporations decide to grab resource-rich lands they use all methods - modern and primitive - to get their way, as occurs for example, with the primitive Awá Indian tribe dwelling in Brazil's Amazonian rainforest where major logging companies simply hunt them down to extermination.

For the Awá people, modern Western "democracy", "market economy" and "human rights" mean decimation so complete that, according to a London Guardian newspaper report last Sunday 22nd April, today there's only 355 of them left.The whole tribe could easily fit inside a jumbo jet!

That's the result of the private logging industry inside Brazil ramming into the Amazon forest to get their trees.Reminiscent of the film "Avatar" these corporations use strong private armies of pistoleros - gun-toting "soldiers of fortune" - to round up and kill anyone, primitive aboriginal or local townsfolk, who doesn't immediately grasp the benefits of the "market economy"

Why did this particular case reach the Western press? Because an NGO called "Survival International" campaigns in the Awa's defense, supported by British actor Colin Firth. No doubt, this at least is something, but...what about all the other thousands of tribes and unprotected, voiceless peoples throughout the world who haven't caught the eye of any Oscar-winning actor?

Madrid, Apr 24 (Prensa Latina) - Spain will restore border controls to France on Saturday, during a summit of European Central Bank (ECB) to be held on 3 May in Barcelona, said Monday the Ministry of Interior.

The measure, which will run until next May 4, will involve the temporary suspension of the Schengen Agreement on free movement of citizens among the 27 European Union countries.

According to the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy, the land boundaries with France will be reinforced at the border of La Jonquera, Port Bou, Puigcerdá, Camprodon, Les and Canfranc and air borders of Girona and Barcelona airports.

The Schengen Agreement text states that the free movement of persons in Europe without borders can be temporarily interrupted in the case of "a serious threat to public order or national security."

The Spanish authorities fear the arrival of protesters from other countries to Barcelona as part of the unrest prevailing in the so-called Old Continent due to the adjustment measures implemented by governments to overcome the crisis.

The Interior Ministry has announced that it will close the borders between Spain and France, due to serious fears of public order and domestic security issues, to coincide with the European Central Bank summit in Barcelona.

The move temporarily suspends the Schengen Treaty and temporarily restores border controls to France from midnight on Saturday 28th April until midnight on Friday 4th May.

The Schengen agreement, originally established in 1995, to which the UK declined to agree, states that the free movement of persons in Europe without borders can be stopped temporarily if you know it "a serious threat to public order or domestic security."

All land borders will be closed to free flow and there will be increased security checks at Girona and Barcelona airports.