Syrian death toll hits 60,000 mark

At least 60,000 people have now been killed in Syria's civil war, with monthly casualty figures steadily increasing since it began almost two years ago, according to a new analysis. The death toll calculated by the UN is a third more than the figure of 45,000 given by activists opposed to the regime of president Bashar Assad - the first time that the global body's estimates are higher. It comes as activists report that a Syrian plane blasted a service station near Damascus, killing and wounding dozens of people and igniting a huge fire in what could be one of the bloodiest attacks in weeks during the 22-month conflict. Independent experts compared 147,349 killings reported by seven different sources - including the government - for the study, which was commissioned by the UN human rights office. By removing duplicates they arrived at a list of 59,648 individuals killed between the start of the uprising on March 15, 2011, and November 30, 2012. In each case, the victim's first and last name, the date and the location of his or her death were known. "Given there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed...