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Saturday's news: UN investigation into use of chemical weapons in Syria

This screenshot of a video shows the bodies of small Syrian children, reportedly victims of nerve gas.

 

 

 

 

1. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has offered the United Nations support for an immediate investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria. PM Rudd has yet to confirm whether Australia will be committing troops to the intervention.

It comes in the wake of the UN’s announcement that there are now over one million registered child refugees fleeing the violence in Syria, roughly half of all registered refugees.

2. Vile tweets from the alleged murderers of 22-year-old Australian baseballer, Christopher Lane, have been published this morning. It has been revealed that one of the three Oklahoma teenagers accused of gunning down Lane, who was in the US playing college baseball, tweeted: “It’s time to start taken life’s [sic]”, before Lane was killed.

3. Car bombs outside have exploded outside of two Sunni mosques in Tripoli, Lebanon, killing at least 27 people. It is believed that the bombs were set off in protest over events in neighbouring Syria.

4. Some of Indonesia’s most influential Muslim clerics have spoken out against the country’s decision to host the upcoming Miss World pageant. A representative from the Indonesia Ulema Council said: “Exposing women’s bodies in public is ‘haram’, forbidden by Islamic teaching. Even though the bikini event is being axed, the contestants will still wear tight dresses and expose parts of their body.” Approximately 90 per cent of the Indonesian population identifies as Islamic.

5. North Korea and South Korea have set the date for the countries’ next family reunions after a three-year hiatus. The program, which sees a small number of applicants from South Korea meet with their family north of the border in a supervised airport location, is set to recommence next month.

6. Four out of five children are incorrectly fastened into child car seats, an Australian study has found. The study, by The Monash University Accident Research Centre, documented current retraint practices, before it moves onto its next research stage of exploring new restraint technology. Road trauma is the leading cause of death in children under 14 years in Australia.

7. A woman has emerged alive nearly two weeks after her funeral. 50-year-old Sharolyn Jackson walked into a mental health facility in Philadelphia, USA, thirteen days after her family had paid the final respects and buried what they believed to be her body. It is currently believed that her son misidentified the body, which was found dead from natural causes. Police plan to exhume the body, in order to continue the identification process.

8. And the White House Photographer, Pete Souza, has tweeted an adorable picture of a toddler trying to get President Obama’s attention. The picture sees the little boy rolling around the floor, while Obama speaks to college students and their parents. No word yet on whether it worked: