Syria chemical weapons facilities 'destroyed'

All declared equipment and sites for producing chemical weapons rendered unusable, international watchdog OPCW says.

 

 

 

 The OPCW is satisfied it has seen destroyed all declared critical production equipment from 21 sites [Reuters]

Syria has destroyed all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament programme, the international chemical weapons watchdog said in a document seen by Reuters news agency.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in the document its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country.

The other two were too dangerous to inspect, but the chemical equipment had already been moved to other sites which experts had visited, it said.

"The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed, all declared critical production, mixing, filling equipment from all 23 sites," the document said.

Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh, reporting from Istanbul, said "by November 1, Syria will no longer have the capacity to make new chemical weapons, bringing an end to phase one and phase two".

"Phase three will last to June 2014 and will involve United Nations mission support to monitor all destruction of 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons. The UN/OPCW has no mandate to destroy them so a UN member state will have to provide technical and operational support.

"But also, we have to be a bit suspicious about the second phase as this is what Syria has declared, and see that other states will agree with Syria on the amount it said it has. Other countries may have their own intelligence," our correspondent said.

Under a Russian-American arranged deal, Damascus agreed to destroy all its chemical weapons after Washington threatened to use force in response to the killing of hundreds of people in a sarin attack on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21.

The United States and its allies blamed Assad's forces for the attack and several earlier incidents. The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has rejected the charge, blaming rebel brigades.

Under the disarmament timetable, Syria was due to render unusable all production and chemical weapons filling facilities by November 1 - a target it has now met.

Bodies of migrants found in Niger desert

At least 87 migrants, mostly women and children, died of thirst a few kilometres from Algeria, their final destination.

 

 

 

The bodies of 87 migrants were found in Niger's northern desert after they died of thirst just a few kilometres from the border of Algeria, their planned destination, security officials said.

The corpses of the seven men, 32 women and 48 children were in addition to five bodies of women and girls found earlier, a security source said.

All died in early October after a failed attempt to reach Algeria that began in late September, the source added.

Almoustapha Alhacen, a spokesman of local aid organisation Aghir In'man, confirmed the death toll and gave a graphic account of discovering the bodies.

"The corpses were decomposed; it was horrible," he said. "We found them in different locations in a 20km radius and in small groups, often under trees, or under the sun. Sometimes a mother and children, but some lone children too," Alhacen said.

The bodies were buried according to Muslim rites, "as and when they were found," added Alhacen.

Desert tragedy

Nigerien officials said on Monday that dozens of migrants, most of them women and children, had died of thirst in the Sahara desert earlier this month. Two vehicles carrying the migrants broke down, one about 83km from the city of Arlit in northern Niger where they had set off from, and another at 158km, a security source said.

"The first vehicle broke down. The second returned to Arlit to get a spare part after getting all the migrants it was carrying to alight, but it too broke down," said the source.

"We think that the migrants were in the desert for seven days and on the fifth day, they began to leave the broken down vehicle in search of a well," said the source.

However, 21 people had survived, the source said, including a man who walked to Arlit and a woman who was saved by a driver who came across her in the desert and took her to the same city.

Nineteen others reached the Algerian city of Tamanrasset but were sent back to Niger, the source added.

Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and has been hit by successive food crises. Libya, rather than Algeria, is more frequently the favoured country of transit for west Africans making the journey across the continent, many of whom aim to travel on to Europe.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that at least 30,000 economic migrants passed through Agadez, northern Niger's largest city, between March and August of this year.

Worst storm in a decade to hit Britain overnight  

LONDON(AFP) – Britain was braced on Sunday for its worst storm in a decade, with heavy rain and winds of more than 80 miles (130 kilometres) an hour set to batter the south of the country.

The Met Office national weather centre warned of falling trees, damage to buildings and disruption to power supplies and transport when the storm hits overnight to Monday.

Between 20 and 40 millimetres (0.8 to 1.6 inches) of rain is predicted to fall within six to nine hours starting on Sunday evening, with a chance of localised flooding.

It will be followed by widespread gusts of 60 to 70 miles an hour across southern England and south Wales on Monday, with winds reaching more than 80 miles an hour in some areas, forecasters say.

The Met Office issued an “amber” wind warning for the region, the third highest in a four-level scale, and urged people to delay their Monday morning journeys to work to avoid the worst of the bad weather.

London’s rush-hour looked set to be chaotic after train companies First Capital Connect, C2C, Greater Anglia, Southern and Gatwick Express services all said they would not run services on Monday until it was safe to do so. That is likely to be after 9.00am (0900 GMT), according to forecasts.

Major airports also warned of disruption to flights with London-hub Heathrow expecting approximately 30 cancellations.

A woman is soaked as large waves crash against the walls of Brighton seafront, in southern England on October 27, 2013 as a predicted storm starts to build. Britain was braced on October 27 for its worst storm in a decade, with heavy rain and winds of more than 80 miles (130 kilometres) an hour set to batter the south of the country. AFP

Cross-channel train service Eurostar said it would not be running trains on Monday until 7.00am, meaning delays to early services.

Several ferry operators said they had cancelled some cross-Channel services and Irish Sea crossings.

Britain last experienced similar wind strengths in March 2008, but forecaster Helen Chivers told AFP the expected damage was more comparable with a storm seen in October 2002.

Prime Minister David Cameron received an update from officials on contingency planning in a conference call on Sunday, amid fears of similar damage wrought by the “Great Storm” of October 1987.

That left 18 people dead in Britain and four in France, felled 15 million trees and caused damages worth more than £1 billion ($1.6 billion or 1.2 billion euros at current exchange rates) as winds blew up to 115 miles an hour.

Martin Young, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: “While this is a major storm for the UK, we don’t currently expect winds to be as strong as those seen in the ‘Great Storm’ of 1987 or the ‘Burns Day storm’ of 1990.

“This weather system is typical of what we expect to see in winter but as it’s coming in during autumn — when trees are in leaf — and while the ground is fairly saturated, it does pose some risks.

“We could see some uprooted trees or other damage from the winds and there’s a chance of some surface water flooding from the rainfall — all of which could lead to some disruption.”

Veteran weather forecaster Michael Fish also said Sunday’s storm was unlikely to be as severe as 26 years ago, although his comments will be taken with a pinch of salt in Britain.

Fish was the BBC’s main television weatherman in 1987 but famously denied that a major storm was on its way just hours before it hit.

This year’s storm has been named St Jude after the patron saint of lost causes, whose feast day is on Monday.

It is likely to affect northern France before heading off towards Denmark, forecasters said.

Omoni Oboli Writes Romantic Message To Mark 13 Years Of Marriage

Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli and her husband, Nnamdi, are celebrating their 13 years of marital bliss today, Monday, October 28, 2013.

The actress took to her facebook page to shout to the world how beautiful her marriage has been over the years. They have three children from the union and below is Omoni's message;

Do you know what today is? It's our anniversary!!! Celebrating 13 years of love. Counting my blessings.

I might not have what others have but I have the most amazing man! Yes I said it, the most AMAZING!!! A girl could not have asked for a better man.

My best friend, my lover, my champion, my biggest fan, my voltron, my baby daddy, the wind beneath my wings. I love you with all my being.

I have a blessed marriage, Jesus is in my marriage, I wanna shout it from the roof top. I'm at work though but all is good, we are celebrating tonight.