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BBC news 2013-08-27

BBC News with Nick Kelly

The American Secretary of State John Kerry has bitterly condemned what he called the undeniable use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government. Speaking in Washington, Mr Kerry said that President Obama believed that Syria must be held accountable for the attack.

“What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. Moreover, we know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets.”

Mr Kerry added that the president will be deciding in the days ahead about what steps to take next. Mr Kerry said the world must stand up to ensure that chemical weapons must never be used again. The Russian President Vladimir Putin has, meanwhile, said there is no evidence a chemical attack had taken place in Syria or who may be responsible if one had.

UN chemical weapons inspectors have left the scene of last week’s suspected poison gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus after spending nearly three hours there. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the team for doing their job in very dangerous circumstances after snipers shot at their convoy on their first attempt to get to the site. Yolande Knell reports.

The weapons inspectors have taken the samples away for laboratory testing and we know from other experts that could include blood and tissue samples from the people who were affected. They also have had the chance, we assume, to examine the scene where the attack took place and what they’ve been looking for there is any sort of evidence of craters and any evidence of the delivery systems that were used (for) some kinds of missiles. They’d been looking around for any debris that might give them a clue to what happened.

Health officials in Kyrgyzstan have confirmed that a teenager who died last week had bubonic plague. Doctors said the 15-year-old herder from a mountain village caught the disease through being bitten by an infected flea possibly from a marmot, a type of ground squirrel that (is) sometimes cooked for food. More than 100 people who have had contact with the teenager have been quarantined. Although once killed about one third of the population of medieval Europe, bubonic plague can now be treated with antibiotics.

A United Nations official has responded to reports in the German magazine Der Spiegel that the American national security agency has been spying on the UN. Citing secrete NSA documents obtained by the fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel said the NSA have bugged the UN headquarters in New York. A spokesman for the UN said it was a matter of international law that diplomatic missions must not be interfered with.

World News from the BBC

Bolivia has expressed profound concern over the escape to Brazil of an opposition politician who’d been living in the Brazilian embassy in the capital for over a year. A Brazilian diplomat, Eduardo Saboia, has admitted to using his diplomatic immunity to drive the Bolivian senator, Roger Pinto, across the border. Julia Carneiro reports.

Bolivian opposition leader Roger Pinto Molina had been living in the Brazilian embassy in La Paz for almost 500 days. A Brazilian diplomat drove him for more than 20 hours across the border without permission from either country. Mr Molina had been given asylum in the Brazilian embassy after being charged with a raft of offences, including corruption. He arrived in Brazil on Sunday and said the charges had been fabricated by the government. Mr Saboia said he took a personal decision to help Mr Molina, who, he said, was suffering depression.

The Liberian education minister has expressed dismay that all of this year’s 25,000 candidates wanting places in the state-run university have failed their entrance exams. The minister, Etmonia David Tarpeh, told the BBC that she was doubtful that an entire group could fail and wanted to see the results for herself.

“I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools, but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one fail(ed), I have my doubts about that and I’m trying to meet with the university to find out what actually happened.”

And the government of Zimbabwe has proposed plans for what it calls a “Disneyland in Africa” near the country’s top tourist attraction-- the Victoria Falls. The tourism minister said it would be a resort with shopping malls, convention centres, banks and casinos. It’s expected to cost about $300m. Zimbabwe’s tourism sector is facing a struggle to recover from years of conflict and economic crisis.

BBC News