UN inspectors resume Syria attack probe |
Inspections begin at site of alleged chemical attack, as UK and US say there's no doubt Assad's forces behind strike.
Last Modified: 28 Aug 2013 09:10
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UN inspectors have left their Damascus hotel to carry out a second day of inspections at the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the suburb of Ghouta, witnesses say.
A convoy of six vehicles was seen leaving the hotel on Wednesday morning, though it was unclear what the exact destination of the inspectors would be.
The inspectors' first such visit on Monday was briefly suspended after the UN's convoy came under sniper fire from unidentified gunmen, though they did visit two field hospitals to collect evidence.
Aid agencies say that at least 355 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured in the alleged chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21.
Syrian Electronic Army in 'malicious electronic attack' against New York Times, Twitter and Huffington Post UK
Regime-backing hackers group thought to be targeting any Western media outlets who it regards as sympathetic to rebels
The New York Times, Twitter, and the Huffington Post UK were all targeted in hacking attacks last night by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a group which supports the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Times was the worst affected, with its website brought down for several hours and bosses forced to warn the paper’s employees to be careful with what they included in emails following “a malicious external attack”.
The incident was the latest in a series targeting Western media sites that are believed to be sympathetic to the Syrian rebels, but was described as being far more serious and sophisticated than previous hacks.
HEALTH
False alarm in Fonterra botulism contamination scare
Dairy giant Fonterra has said its milk products at the center of a global contamination scare did not contain a bacteria that could cause botulism. The company said the products posed no food safety threat to the public.
New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said Wednesday that tests show a contaminant found in Fonterra whey protein concentrate could not cause botulism and that there was no risk to the public when it was pulled from shelves earlier this month.
"We sought additional testing at both local and international laboratories, seeking the most robust results we could get. Scientists used a range of methods - all came back negative for clostridium botulinum," said acting MPI director General Scott Gallacher. "[The] MPI has today informed overseas regulators of these results and we will be providing them with a full diagnostic report shortly."
North Korea pressured to allow a visit from UN investigators
August 28, 2013 - 10:00AMChoe Sang-Hun
Seoul, South Korea: The first UN panel of experts assigned to investigate North Korean accusations of human rights abuses urged the government in Pyongyang on Tuesday to allow them to visit, even as the North called their work slanderous.
The panel, a three-member Commission of Inquiry, was finishing five days of public hearings in the South Korean capital, during which defectors from North Korea, many of them survivors of its labour or political prisoner camps, have provided harrowing accounts of hunger, torture, forced abortions and public executions.
Human traffickers lured women with promises of jobs who were later sold into prostitution in China.
Child gold miners 'risking lives' in Tanzania
Thousands of child labourers as young as eight are mining gold in grim conditions in Tanzania, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in a report criticising conditions in the key industry.
While boys “dig and drill in deep, unstable pits” in informal mines, working underground for shifts as long as 24 hours, girls around the small-scale mines face sexual harassment and pressure to become prostitutes, the US-based rights group warned.
Tanzania is Africa’s fourth largest gold producer, and the precious metal is the top foreign exchange earner for the country, with exports topping $1.8 billion in the first six months of 2013, according to the central bank.
Small-scale mines extracted 1.6 tonnes of gold in 2012 worth some $85 million, with the bulk exported to the United Arab Emirates, as well as to Britain, China, South Africa and Switzerland.
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