GENEVA (Reuters) – The top U.N. human rights body is set to call on Friday for a full U.N. inquiry into a massacre in the Syrian region of Houla after putting initial blame on government bombardment and gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said.

The 47-state forum in Geneva holds an emergency session on Friday – its fourth on Syria in a year – following last week’s slaughter of at least 108 people, nearly half of them children.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday it had made its second visit to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s former leader, detained by militia fighters in the west of the country.

“We visited him yesterday … It was a short visit by ICRC delegates including a doctor,” ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson told Reuters.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. Human Rights Council will tackle last week’s massacre of 108 civilians in Syria at a special session on Friday, the fourth in a series of emergency debates that have had little impact since the country’s crisis erupted more than a year ago.

The council will debate the “deteriorating human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the recent killings in El-Houleh”, the U.N. human rights office said in a statement, using an alternative spelling for the town of Houla.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Most of the 108 people killed in the Syrian town of Houla were civilians, nearly half of them children, and entire families were shot dead in their homes, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday.

Witnesses and survivors have told U.N. investigators that most victims died in two bouts of summary executions carried out by “shabbiha” militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in the nearby village of Taldaou last Friday, U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville said.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Most of the 108 people killed in the Syrian town of Houla were civilians and entire families were shot in their homes, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday.

Witnesses and survivors have told U.N. investigators that most victims died in two bouts of summary executions carried out by pro-government “shabbiha” militiamen in the nearby village of Taldaou last Friday, U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville said.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The world’s health ministers have agreed to try to cut premature deaths from chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and cancer by 25 percent by 2025, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

Heart disease, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory illnesses are the biggest killer globally, according to the United Nations agency. They account for 36 million deaths a year, or 63 percent of all mortality, and one-quarter of premature deaths under the age of 60.

GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) – A U.N. investigation on Thursday said both sides in the Syrian conflict had committed serious human rights abuses, with government forces executing entire families in their homes and rebels torturing and killing soldiers and government supporters.

The United Nations report into the 14-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad said government forces routinely drew up lists of wanted people and their families before blockading then attacking a village or neighborhood.

GENEVA, May 24 (Reuters) – The last three countries where
polio is still paralysing children — Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Nigeria — said on Thursday that they have enlisted Muslim women
and religious leaders to allay fears of vaccination and wipe out
the disease.

Polio cases are at an all-time low worldwide, following its
eradication in India last year, raising hopes but also fears
about a threat of resurgence especially in sub-Saharan Africa
unless remaining reservoirs of polio virus are stamped out.

GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) – A United Nations investigation said Syrian government forces and rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad had both committed serious human rights abuses despite an attempted ceasefire in the conflict and opposition activists reported fighting in several regions on Thursday.

The investigators’ report said government forces had killed entire families, and their insurgent foes had kidnapped for ransom and tortured prisoners.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Syrian government forces have executed entire families in their homes as part of a crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, U.N. investigators said on Thursday.

Both Assad’s troops and opposition fighters were committing gross human rights violations despite a six-week-old ceasefire in the conflict, but the army and security forces were responsible for most of the crimes documented since March, a U.N. report said. Children were often victims, it said.