Syria’s intensifying civil war has probably killed over 9,000 people since the beginning of the year, bringing the likely death toll of the two-year-old conflict near 70,000, the U.N. human rights chief said Tuesday.

A damning report on the state of education in Balochistan, Pakistan’s most deprived province, has revealed that 34.1% of children aged between six and 16 are not enrolled in schools.

French planes have bombed targets in Mali in what they consider a fight against al-Qaeda-linked fighters. But the region is a cauldron of instability with a diverse blend of religious fighters, ethnic militas and secularists.

The eminent Sunni scholar, Shaikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hameed traveled to Khash district, 170 km of Zahedan, on Wednesday, December 26, 2012 to meet residents of the district and their scholars. In the trip, he visited some seminaries and grand mosques of the Sunni community.

Note: The outstanding religious Sunni leader, Shaikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hameed Ismaeelzahi, made a trip in the early days of December 2012 to the southern regions of the Iranian Baluchistan. Two parts of the report of Shaikh’s journey have been published in his website lately. The following is the last part of the itinerary:

Dar es Salam, northern Mali – We make a flashing signal with our headlights to let them know our car is in trouble.  

The outstanding Islamic scholar, Shaikh Abdol-Hameed Ismaeelzahi, along with his comrades left “Kahir” to “Souru” on Sunday, 2nd December, where they took part in graduation ceremony of the memorizers (Hoffadh) and graduate students of Zarrabad.

A fire that Mohammed al-Bouazizi ignited two years ago continued to burn for the second year as the battle to break down the old regimes and their associates in Syria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia continued unabated.

The Syrian opposition destroyed 19 Mig fighting jets and 22 helicopters belonging to the regime’s air force in 2012, according to survey by the Union of the Syrian Revolution Local Coordination Committees.

The year 2012 began with major change in Iraq.U.S. troops pulled out of the country, ending a long war that started in 2003.