Frustration as cabin electronics ban comes into force
Passengers decry US, UK ban on laptops and tablets in hand luggage on some flights from Middle East and North Africa.
The US and British ban on laptops and tablets in carry-on luggage on some flights from the Middle East and North Africa has come into force, immediately drawing complaints from passengers at several airports.
The ban requires that any personal devices larger than a mobile phone - such as tablets, laptops and cameras - be placed in checked baggage for US and Britain-bound flights.
The US restrictions apply to flights originating from 10 airports in countries including Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Mosul's children were shouting beneath the rubble. Nobody came
Coalition bombs buried more than a hundred people in the ruins of three houses and raised fresh questions about US rules of engagement
By the time rescuers finally arrived no one was left alive. For almost a week desperate neighbours had scraped through the rubble, searching for as many as 130 people who lay buried after three homes in a west Mosul suburb were destroyed by coalition airstrikes.
The full picture of the carnage continued to emerge on Friday, when at least 20 bodies were recovered. Dozens more are thought to remain buried in what could turn out to be the single most deadly incident for civilians in the war against Islamic State (Isis).
Rescuers at the scene in the suburb of Mosul Jadida said they had driven the 250 miles from Baghdad but had not been able to enter the area until Wednesday, five days after airstrikes hit the houses where local residents had been sheltering from fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and Isis.
Earth's worst-ever mass extinction of life holds 'apocalyptic' warning about climate change, say scientists
Runaway global warming saw the planet's average temperature hit about double what it is today about 250 million years ago
Researchers studying the largest-ever mass extinction in Earth’s history claim to have found evidence that it was caused by runaway global warming – and that the “apocalyptic” events of 250 million years ago could happen again.
About 90 per cent of all the living things on the planet were wiped out in the Permian mass extinction – described in a 2005 book called When Life Nearly Died – for reasons that have been long debated by scientists.
Competing theories have been put forward, including meteor strikes, huge volcanic eruptions and climate change.
'War crimes': UN strengthens resolve against destruction of cultural heritage
The purposeful destruction of cultural heritage sites may amount to war crimes, a new resolution adopted by the UN Security Council says. Officials have warned of "cultural cleansing" in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
The UN Security Council on Friday passed a resolution strengthening the protection of global cultural heritage sites threatened by conflicts, saying perpetrators could be prosecuted for war crimes.
The resolution urges nations to increase efforts to preserve historic monuments and sites in conflict zones. The onset of the 21st century witnessed attacks against global heritage sites increase significantly, including the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan and Timbuktu's ancient shrines in Mali.
Previous efforts by the Council to safeguard cultural heritage focused on the illicit trafficking of looted cultural relics to fund terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria, where the "Islamic State" militant group destroyed UNESCO World Heritages Sites, including Roman ruins at Palmyra.
UN to probe alleged crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar
UN mission will investigate allegations of killings, rape and torture by security forces against Rohingya in Myanmar.
The leading United Nations rights body has agreed to send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate alleged abuses by security forces against Rohingya Muslims.
Tens of thousands of people have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state since the military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya armed men on border posts, in which nine police officers were killed.
A February UN report said the operation targeting the Rohingya involved mass rapes and killings, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity.
THE PLANT NEXT DOOR
A Louisiana Town Plagued by Pollution Shows Why Cuts to the EPA Will Be Measured in Illnesses and Deaths
Sharon Lerner
WHEN THE ENVIRONMENTAL
Protection Agency informed people in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, last July that the local neoprene plant was emitting a chemical that gave them the highest risk of cancer from air pollution in the country, the information was received not just with horror and sadness but also with a certain sense of validation.
For years, many of the people living on this little square of land between the train tracks and the Mississippi River levee have felt they suffered more than their share of illnesses. Troyla Keller has a rash and asthma that abate every time she leaves the neighborhood and worsen when she returns. Augustine Nicholson Dorris had breast cancer and seizures. And David Sanders has trouble breathing, a tumor on his thyroid, and neurological problems. “It took a lot away from me,” said Sanders, whose speech is slurred, when I visited the area a half-hour west of New Orleans in February. Several people spoke of shuttling their children and grandchildren to the nearby ER for asthma treatments. And many residents also frequent the neighborhood’s two busy dialysis centers. A third is under construction.
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