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BEIRUT, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Internet video posted by Syrian rebels appears to show fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stabbing two men to death and stoning them with concrete blocks in a summary execution lasting several minutes.

Assad's forces and rebels have both been accused of atrocities in Syria's 21-month-old uprising-turned-civil war. The United Nations says the authorities and their allied militia have been more culpable.

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My Comment: YouTube is now the dumping ground for such videos. And while I do not expect Google to change it`s policies (in the short term) when it comes to posting these videos on YouTube, I do expect changes to occur as even more graphic videos in HD start to pop up.

The world already believed Syria’s civil war to be monstrous, with nearly 45,000 slain. But when the United Nations plunged into the disparate databases cataloguing the victims, it discovered there had been an awful oversight. The true death toll was more like 60,000 people, the data-mining operation revealed. And even that elevated total is likely to be low.

The brutal truth is that no one really knows how many Syrians have died in dictator Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown: warzone death estimates are notoriously imprecise. By its own admission, the death toll compiled by the human rights tech group Benetech, on behalf of the U.N., is inaccurate. But its assessment has the virtue of specificity, a factor that preempts some of the doubts raised about mortality estimates in other warzones. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called the study “a work in progress, not a final product.”

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My Comment: No one really knows how many Syrians have been killed after 22 months of war .... but I do suspect that the numbers are now increasing exponentially .... everyone wants to end this war, and as a result there is now a frenzy of firefights and bombings occurring in much of the country. My prediction .... and using the Bosnian civil war as my template .... this civil war is going to drag on for another year or two and the casualty rate .... when it is all finished .... the death will be closer to 250,000 .... and that is if WMDs are not used.

GENEVA — More than 60,000 people have died in Syria’s 22-month-old civil war, the United Nations’ human rights chief, Navi Pillay, said on Wednesday, expressing dismay at the findings of an analysis that far exceeds previous estimates of casualties.

“The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking,” Ms. Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement that condemned the government of President Bashar al-Assad for the scale of the carnage and sharply admonished the United Nations Security Council for failing to act on a bloodletting “that shames us all.”

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Data suggests Syria death toll could be more than 60,000, says UN human rights office -- UN News Centre
U.N. lifts Syria death toll to "truly shocking" 60,000 -- Reuters
UN analysis suggests at least 60,000 people have died in Syria conflict -- FOX News/AP
Syrian death toll tops 60,000, U.N. says -- UPI
Syrian Death Toll Reaches 60,000, Says UN Rights Agency -- Bloomberg
60,000 killed in Syrian war, says UN -- The Guardian
Syria death toll jumps past 60,000, U.N. says -- CNN
Syrian Conflict Claims over 60,000 Lives - UN -- RIA Novosti
UN report: Death toll in Syria climbs to 60,000 -- Deutsche Welle
UN amends figures, says over 60,000 — not 45,000 — dead in Syrian civil war -- Times of Israel

The Burmese government has confirmed that it carried out air strikes this week against ethnic rebels in northern Kachin state, raising fresh concerns about the country's reform and fragile peace processes.

In an interview with VOA's Burmese Service on Wednesday, a government spokesperson acknowledged that "training jets" were used against Kachin rebels in response to attacks by the Kachin Independence Organization.

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Army admits aerial assault on Kachin rebels -- Democratic Voice of Burma
Video shows Burma military 'targeting Kachin rebels' -- BBC
Burmese army use airstrikes as conflict escalates -- ABC News (Australia)
Myanmar: Gov't aircraft in rebel-held area -- UPI
Myanmar air strikes reported on Kachin rebels -- Al Jazeera
Kachin War Strays to Chinese Soil -- The Irrawaddy
Myanmar: war skirting Chinese air space? -- Global Post
Burma ‘using Chinese airspace’ as fighting nears Kachin HQ -- Asian Correspondent
Myanmar government and rebels trade charges over upsurge in fighting in north -- Washington Post/AP

Communist Party of the Philippines cuts ceasefire with government short, raising concerns about future of peace talks.

Communist rebels in the Philippines have called off a truce with the government, almost two weeks ahead of schedule, raising concerns about the future of peace talks.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) blamed the government for their action on Wednesday, but a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino said the CPP just wanted an excuse to cut the ceasefire short.

A CPP statement said the truce, originally scheduled to run from December 20 to January 15, had ended at noon on Wednesday because it believed the government only wanted a truce to remain in place until then.

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Communists scuttle truce with government -- Gulf News
Philippine communists call off truce -- AFP
Philippine Communist Rebels Call-Off Their Ceasefire -- Davo Today
CPP terminates ceasefire; gov’t slams ‘false claims’ -- Rappler
Gov’t troops to unilaterally honor ceasefire with leftist rebels: official -- NZWeek/Xinhuanet

Update: Philippine govt: Talks with leftist rebels "back on track" -- Global Times

* Countries carried out covert tests of a device designed to use underwater explosions to trigger massive tidal waves
* Testing saw almost 4,000 bombs detonated in waters around New Caledonia and Auckland during the Second World War
* Details of top secret Project Seal unearthed in military files in New Zealand's national archives by an author researching a new book

The U.S. and New Zealand collaborated on a top-secret plan to develop a 'tsunami bomb' capable of devastating coastal cities, it has emerged.

The countries carried out covert tests of the potential weapon of mass destruction - designed to use underwater explosions to trigger huge tidal waves - in waters around Auckland and the Pacific island of New Caledonia during the Second World War.

Details of the secretive operation, code-named Project Seal, were discovered in military files buried in New Zealand's national archives by author and film-maker Ray Waru.

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'Tsunami bomb' tested off New Zealand coast -- The Telegraph
Tsunami bomb feasible, secret WWII test showed -- Sydney Morning Herald
NZ and US tested 'tsunami bomb' that could devastate small cities -- TNT Magazine
From UFOs to 'tsunami bomb': N.Z. archive secrets revealed -- France24/AFP

The Taliban has likened the planned withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan to America’s pullout from Vietnam, calling it a “declare victory and run” strategy.

The group following a statement on Wednesday said the ongoing transfer of security operations from U.S. troops to Afghan forces was merely a retreat similar to the American withdrawal from South Vietnam prior to the communist victory there in 1975.

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ISAF Joint Command operational update, Jan 2 -- ISAF
Taliban likens US role in Afghanistan to Vietnam War -- FOX News/AP
With U.S. Set to Leave Afghanistan, Echoes of 1989 -- New York Times
Can Afghan troops hold off the Taliban after Nato withdraws? -- The Guardian
Front-row seat for Afghanistan's progress -- al.com
Soldiers in Afghanistan continue mission as 2013 arrives -- Army.mil
Pak eases restrictions on US military vehicles transiting to Afghanistan -- ANI
Afghan warlord brands Britain's Prince Harry as "jackal" -- Reuters
Afghan Warlord Hekmatyar Vows Fresh Attacks on NATO Troops -- Naharnet
No word on Ottawa man, pregnant wife missing in Afghanistan -- Ottawa Citizen
Afghan Refugees Shiver at Another Deadly Winter -- Naharnet
AFGHANISTAN: Bleak humanitarian outlook for 2013 -- IRIN
Afghanistan: A Russian diplomat's fears -- Al Jazeera