BBC News:南非數(shù)萬金礦工人罷工要求加薪
The US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned USsenators before their debate on Syria next weekthat they must not fail to respond to what he calledan undeniable chemical attack by President Assadon his own people. He said standing aside would give the green light to other dictators. But Mr.Kerry said he wanted to make it clear that President Obama's objectives were limited.
He is asking only for the power to make clear, to make certain that the United States meanswhat we say, that the world, when we join together in a multilateral statement, mean what wesay. He's asking for authorization to degrade and deter Bashar al-Assad's capacity to usechemical weapons.
The leader of the Republicans in the US House of Representatives John Boehner has said hesupports Barack Obama's call for military intervention in Syria, a significant boost for thepresident.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that if it is proved that chemical weapons wereused in Syria the Security Council has an obligation to act but he added that the use of forcewould only be legal with UN approval. Nick Bryant reports.
While the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stop short of using the word illegal to describeany possible military action by America against Syria. He said the use of force would only belawful in self-defense or it backed by the Security Council. If confirmed the use of chemicalweapons would mark a serious violation of international law, he said but a military responsecould unleash more turmoil.
“I take no to the argument for action to prevent a future uses of chemical weapons. At thesame time, we must consider the impact of any punitive measure on efforts to preventfurther bloodshed.”
The Secretary General said that the weapons inspectors who left Syria over the weekend weretrying to expedite the process of testing their samples to find out if chemical weapons havebeen used.
A UN team in Iraq says it’s counted 52 bodies at a camp for Iranian dissidents where killingswere reported on Sunday. A statement said most of the victims were shot in the head. The UNcalled on the Iraqi government to mount an impartial investigation.
Eighty thousands gold miners have begun a strike in South Africa. As the strike began thenational union of mine workers said it would accept a 10% raise instead of their originaldemand of 60%. From Johannesburg here's Will Ross.
The General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers Frans Baleni told the BBC that if thegold companies offered a 10% wage increase, this would be accepted and the strike wouldcalled off. Despite this development, the main gold mining union has also issued a hard-hittingstatement saying the strike would change the gold mining landscape forever. It said it wasaware of the devastating impact industrial action would have on the economy, calling it largelya white man's economy with no benefits for poor black mine workers.
BBC News.
Parliament in Kenya has been recalled for an emergency session to debate ending the country'smembership of the International Criminal Court. Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto is dueto appear at the ICC next week on charges of crimes against humanity. President UhuruKenyatta will appear in November.
The German agency responsible for hunting down Nazi era war criminals has recommended that30 former guards of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland face charges of helping tocommit murder even if they didn't personally kill anyone. The move follows the case of formerdeath camp guard John Demjanjuk. Two years ago, a judge decided that he was guilty offacilitating mass murder even without evidence of his direct involvement.
Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel welcomed today's decision.
This is a good indication, this is an indication that some of the prosecutors in Germany aretaking their tasks very seriously, and of course, the important messages that all they shouldnot protect people committed crimes and a passage of time no way diminished the guilty ofthe killers. So, certainly today, these prosecutions sent a very important, positive message.
A Communist-era prison governor in Romania has been charged with genocide. It's the firstsuch case since the execution of the former leader Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena in1989. Our Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe has the details.
Alexander Visinescu now 88 years old was commander of the prison in Ramnicu Sarat ineastern Romania from 1956 to 1963. He stands accused of responsibility for the beating andstarving of prisoners and denying them basic health care during his seven years in charge. Upto 100,000 are believed by historians to have died. In his defense, Mr. Visinescu has said hewas simply following orders. The prosecution is widely seen as a test case and could lead tomore trials.
And that's the BBC World Service News.
