Syrian leader discloses locations of dozens of chemical weapons sites
Syrian President Bashar Assad's document is surprisingly thorough, say officials familiar with the closely guarded information.
By Shashank Bengali
Signaling that he may be serious about giving up his chemical weapons, Syrian President Bashar Assad has disclosed the locations of dozens of poison gas production and storage sites to international inspectors, according to Western officials.
Officials familiar with Assad's disclosure — the first step in complying with an ambitious U.S.-Russian plan to seize and remove or destroy his arsenal of chemical weapons by mid-2014 — described it Tuesday as "a serious document" that comprises scores of pages and is surprisingly thorough.
Information in the closely guarded document roughly tracks with U.S. intelligence estimates that Syria has about 45 sites used to produce or store illicit blister agents or neurotoxins. Nearly half those sites are believed to contain chemical agents that could be used in artillery rockets and other munitions.
Indonesian police open fire on civilians in West Papua
Catholic brother says one person was killed and two injured when police shot at villagers who refused to cut hair and beards
One person is said to have been killed and at least two others injured on Monday when Indonesian riot police opened fire on civilians in Waghete,West Papua.
Spokesperson for the Papuan provincial police Sulistyo Pudjo told Guardian Australia that the shooting occurred when police tried to disperse a mob that was attacking them.
"There were provocateurs who were throwing rocks at the police and military. One military person was wounded," he said.
However, according to Father Santon Tekege, a Catholic brother who lives in the capital Jayapura but hails from the remote village in West Papua's Deiyai regency, the victims were targeted because they refused to cut their long hair and beards during a random police search operation.
Kenya shopping mall attack: Stories of the heroes and the victims - From a boy who took on terrorists to the off-duty SAS soldier
Extraordinary stories of the lives caught in a horrific siege that left at least 72 dead
For every story of a life randomly extinguished in the Westland shopping mall massacre there was another of selfless bravery, compassion and human solidarity in the face of unimaginable terror.
THE SOLDIER
Among the crowds was a member of the British Special Air Service who was having a cup of coffee at one of the complex's cafes when Islamist extremists from Al Shabaab attacked on Saturday.
The off-duty soldier, a hand gun planted firmly in the waistband of his jeans, is credited with rescuing 100 people from the mayhem of the Nairobi complex. The serviceman cannot be identified for security reasons but his photograph has been published across the world showing him shepherding two terrified women to safety as the shots continued to ring out from inside the mall.
A friend described how the man returned a dozen times to collect survivors and usher them to safety. "He went back in 12 times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside," the friend said. The British Special Forces regularly train and operate out of Kenya, and have been involved in tracking UK citizens involved with Islamic extremists in Somalia and Yemen. Former members work with both the UK and Kenyan governments and security firms across East Africa.
ENVIRONMENT
Russia puts Greenpeace team in detention
Russia has put 30 activists, detained while protesting Arctic oil exploration, into pre-trial centers in the Murmansk area, according to the environmental group. Russia says the "most active" could be charged for piracy.
Greenpeace described Russia's detention of 30 activists from 18 countries in the Murmansk area as "completely incomprehensible" on Wednesday. Russian officials said prosecutions could follow regardless of citizenship.
Piracy under Russian law can result in up to 15 years jail.
Russia seized the group and its ice breaking protest ship in part of the Arctic known as the Pechora Sea last Thursday as the activists tried to board an oil platform deployed in recent years by the Russian oil concern Gazprom.
Greenpeace said some of its 30 activists and crew had been questioned until the early hours of Wednesday. They were then taken to various detention centers in and around Murmansk, said spokesman Aaron Gray-Block.
Jan Sithole: Swaziland activist elected MP
Leading pro-democracy activist Jan Sithole has told the BBC he will be able to bring change to Swaziland, after being elected to parliament.
He becomes one of 55 independent MPs after last week's polls in which political parties could not take part.
Mr Sithole, 60, leads the Swaziland Democratic Party (Swadepa).
King Mswati III, 45, is Africa's last absolute monarch, with the powers to rule by decree and dissolve the parliament whenever he wants.
But Mr Sithole denied that he would be powerless to bring about change.
"Action takes place in parliament," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme, stressing he was still a critic of the current system.
The Swadepa leader, who was elected as an independent candidate, said one of the first things he would do would be to bring a bill of rights to parliament.
The constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, association and the press but laws enacting these freedoms have not been passed, he said.
Brazilian president accuses US of violating "human rights and civil liberties"
During statements made on Tuesday at the United Nations, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the US grossly overstepped the limits of its power with its extensive data collection program
Brazil's president delivered a stinging rebuke Tuesday to the United States over its surveillance program that has swept up data from billions of telephone calls and emails that have passed through Brazil — including her own.
She also called on the global body to create a framework of Internet regulation to halt the US and other nations from using it as the "new battlefield" of espionage.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on the first day of its annual meeting, President Dilma Rousseffaccused the US of violating Brazil's sovereignty with what she called a "grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties."
"In the absence of the respect for sovereignty, there is no basis for the relationship among nations," Rousseff said. "Friendly governments and societies that seek to build a true strategic partnership, as in our case, cannot allow recurring illegal actions to take place as if they were normal. They are unacceptable."
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