Syria Airstrikes Leave More Than 30 Dead

More than 30 people have reportedly been killed in Syrian government air strikes in Latakia province and the northern city of Raqa.

Seven children were among at least 13 civilians who died in an air raid on Raqa, the only provincial capital in rebel hands, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

It said the raid was apparently aimed at positions of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) which largely controls the city.

ISIS has been the dominant force in the city since its capture by rebels in March.

Residents have held several protests against the policies of ISIS which follows an extremist line of Islam, according to the Observatory.

Government forces attack Raqa, the only provincial capital in rebel hands

An Italian Jesuit priest and activist, Paolo Dall'Oglio, who hoped to negotiate with ISIS in Raqa, went missing in the city at the start of August.

In the coastal Latakia province of northwest Syria, at least 20 people were killed in several air strikes on the Sunni rebel town of Salma, the Observatory said.

At least six of those killed were Syrian rebel fighters while four were foreign volunteers, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory.

Latakia province is a stronghold of the Alawite minority of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, apart from rebel-held pockets.

Islamist rebel forces have captured about 10 Alawite villages in Jabal al-Akrad, a mountainous area of the province.

The army has hit back, sparking fierce fighting that has left dozens dead on both sides.

Smoke rises in the town of Salma

Rebels have kidnapped a leading Alawite cleric, Sheikh Badreddine Ghazal, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground and medics for its information.

In Damascus, a car bomb ripped through the Shaghur district of the capital late on Saturday, wounding several people, three of them children.

In Aleppo province, further east, government troops stormed a village overnight, killing 12 people, the Observatory said.

Al-Nusra Front jihadists and other rebel fighters in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor seized control of the offices of Syria's ruling Baath party in the Howeika district, sparking regime bombardment, the Observatory said.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the past 29 months of conflict.

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Idaho: Teenager Rescued After Suspect Killed

US Abductor 'May Have Explosives'

Updated: 5:28pm UK, Saturday 10 August 2013

The car of a man suspected of killing a woman and her son, and then abducting her 16-year-old daughter, has been found in Idaho.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said horseback riders reported seeing two people matching the description of the suspect and girl in the Cascade area 70 miles northeast of Boise on Wednesday.

Investigators have said an "unusual infatuation" with the teenager might have driven suspect James Lee DiMaggio, 40, to flee with Hannah Anderson from his burned-out home on the California-Mexico border.

"That is kind of a working theory, that it may be something of a motivator," San Diego County Sheriff's Captain Duncan Fraser said. "It's definitely something that we're looking at."

Evidence found in the rubble of the home lead police to believe DiMaggio may have explosives and might abandon his blue Nissan Versa after rigging it to explode.

"In the event that someone comes across the car, they need to use caution," Captain Fraser warned.

On Sunday night, authorities found the body of 44-year-old Christina Anderson when they extinguished flames at DiMaggio's rural home. A child's body was also discovered as they sifted through rubble in Boulevard, a tiny town 65 miles east of San Diego.

The body was identified several days later as eight-year-old Ethan Anderson.

DiMaggio allegedly told Hannah a couple of months ago he had a crush on her and would date her if they were the same age. 

A 15-year-old friend, Marissa Chavez, witnessed the remarks when DiMaggio was driving them home from a gymnastics competition.

"She was a little creeped out by it. She didn't want to be alone with him," she said.

DiMaggio is wanted on suspicion of murder and arson in a search that began in California and quickly spread to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, British Columbia and Mexico's Baja California state.

A possible sighting was reported in northeast California near Alturas on Wednesday afternoon, followed by another about 50 miles along the same road near Lakeview, in south-central Oregon.

Captain Fraser, whose office has had hundreds of leads on DiMaggio's whereabouts, said the Oregon tip appeared "very credible". "We're taking it very seriously," he said.

DiMaggio, a telecommunications technician, was said to have been like an uncle to Hannah and Ethan Anderson and had been close to both of their parents for years.

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India: Child Slaves Rescued After Police Raids

By Neville Lazarus, Sky News Asia Producer

India has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14.

These children are trafficked from the poorest parts of the country. All promised a better life in the bright lights of growing cities.

Some parents are paid just 3,000 Indian Rupees (less than £35 ) and a promise of more money later to part with their children. Traffickers quickly move them to the bigger cities and sell them to contractors. 

Mr Satyarthi: 'The products come from the sweat and blood of the children'

Once in the clutches of a contractor, these children are put to work in almost inhuman conditions. They neither get their promised wages nor see their parents for years on end.

Kailash Satyarthi, of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a child campaign group, estimates the number of child labourers in India could be around 50 million; close to 80 % of Britain's population. Though the government maintains the figures are far less.

"Children are largely employed in the garment industry and a large number make products that are exported to the western world," he said.

"The cheap products are sold on the high streets of London, Paris and New York, and when people buy these cheap products they in turn are responsible for the perpetuation of slavery. These cheap products are made from the sweat and blood of these child slaves"

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Delhi is a hub and transit point for child trafficking. Sweatshops dot the capital.

Campaigners tell us it is very difficult to stop this practice unless there is a sustained and concerted effort from not only the authorities, but consumers themselves.

Police raids are not the solution and raids are complicated to initiate. It involves multiple departments of the government and also the police. In a number of instances the employers are tipped off before an impending raid because of corruption.

Employers say they prefer hiring children as they're easier to deal with

In this particular raid Sky News went on, activists had information of over 100 children employed in a three-storey building, but only found 31. The owner had been tipped-off and the children were made to disappear.

One of the children rescued is Rehman, who is just 13-years-old. He was brought to Delhi by a relative three months ago from his impoverished village in Bihar.

For the last three months he has been working from nine in the morning till after midnight, with breaks only for meals. He told me he worked with 30 children doing embroidery in one of the rooms in the building.

It is where they eat, sleep and work - it was their world. He was only allowed out on a Saturday for a few hours which he spent playing cricket in in the street.

He tells me he was too afraid to run away.

The children get a medical check before being returned to their parents

"Where would I run and who would I run to?" he said. "I have no money since I never got paid." Now he just wants to return to his mother.

Child labour is very real in many parts of India. The campaign groups say contractors prefer children as it is easier to deal with them. Once they are away from their guardians they eventually become bonded labourers and become almost free for their employers.

Rehman and his 30 friends are free now. They undergo a medical check and will be comforted by activists. The Government is responsible for uniting them with their families and enrolling them in schools. 

But in many cases poverty drives them back into the clutches of contractors. 

The raided sweatshop is sealed by the authorities and the employer is charged.

As for the traffickers, they have enough of a supply chain in the poverty-stricken villages of India. The cheap work force in sweatshops is soon replaced.

Products need to be manufactured for the insatiable demand of customers and for profits. It's win-win for everyone - except the children.

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Python Death Brothers' Funeral Is Held

Hundreds of people have attended the funeral of two brothers killed by a python as they slept above a pet store.

Noah Barthe, four, and his six-year-old brother Connor were buried together in a single coffin after the service in Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada.

They were found dead last Monday after a 100-pound (45kg) African rock python escaped from its enclosure in a shop beneath the apartment where they were staying.

Police say it slithered through the ventilation system above its tank and fell through the ceiling into the living room where the boys were asleep.

Preliminary autopsy results showed they died from asphyxiation.

Connor (left) and Noah (right) were asleep above the pet shop

Reverend Maurice Frenette said the lives of the boys' parents, Mandy Trecartin and Andrew Barthe, had been changed forever in ways no one else could imagine.

"We all try to understand the best we can, but you know, no one here can feel what you feel. But I am sure that everyone here feels for you, for what you are going through," he said.               

Questions still surround the circumstances of the boys' deaths, but before the service Mr Frenette said the funeral was a time to help the family.

"We're not here today to make any judgment or to try to find an answer to the inquiry, but we are here to take a pause and to be with the family," he said.

"Today we want to basically be there for them and tell them of all the love we will try to share with them during this time of sorrow."

The Reptile Ocean shop front in New Brunswick

A photo of the two boys, their heads leaning against each other as they smiled broadly, was put in front of the altar at St Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church.

The congregation was told of their love of video games, playing outdoors and how Connor was loud and Noah quiet.

Family friend Melissa Ellis said they had shared a special bond and "needed to be near each other".                

"If people all over the world are feeling even a fraction of what we felt over the almost seven years of knowing the boys - inspired, lucky, blessed, hopeful - then our hearts are full," she said.

"The boys are continuing to change people, help people and heal people's hearts, including ours."            

African rock pythons are dangerous but do not usually attack humans

The shop and apartment where the boys died are owned by Jean-Claude Savoie, a family friend. They had been on a sleepover with his son.

Mr Savoie found the dead children on Monday morning and alerted the authorities. Vets then located and killed the snake.    

Provincial officials have said he did not have a permit for the python. 

On Friday, 23 reptiles that were banned without a permit in the area were seized from the shop and four large American alligators were put down.

Animal experts have been surprised by the tragedy because, although African rock pythons are dangerous and can kill large prey, they do not usually attack humans.

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Zanzibar Acid Attack: Suspect Preacher On Run

Police are hunting a radical Muslim preacher wanted in connection with an acid attack on two British teenagers in Zanzibar.

Sheikh Issa Ponda Issa was cornered by officers near Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, but managed to escape and is now on the run.

He was hit in the shoulder with a tear-gas canister during the altercation, according to local police in Morogoro - the scene of the clash.

Police commander Faustine Shilogile said: "He has not been arrested. He has been shot at. We have been looking for him in all corners of the country."

He added: "We are no closer to finding who was responsible for this. But this is a serious police investigation, and we are doing everything we can."

Five men are also being questioned by officers, according to the authorities.

Kirstie Trup (L) and Katie Gee are being treated in London

Victims Katie Gee, and Kirstie Trup, both 18 and from London, are still being treated for burns at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after arriving home on Friday.

They are said to be "well rested and comfortable".

A hospital spokesman said: "They have been with their families all day. Doctors are continuing to assess treatment options for both patients."

The pair were attacked by men on a motorbike as they walked across a road on Wednesday night.

They had been nearing the end of a trip working as volunteer teachers on Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim island in the Indian Ocean.

Witnesses have spoken of their desperate attempts to wash the acid off the two girls before they were rushed to hospital.

A picture released by the teenagers' families shows one appears to have extensive acid burns on her chin, neck and upper chest.

The street on the island where the attack took place

It is thought one of the girls is not as badly injured as the other because she was helped into the sea immediately after the attack.

They had apparently been due to return to the UK to collect their A-level results next week.

Miss Trup is hoping to study history at the University of Bristol and Miss Gee is considering the University of Leeds, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Tory MP Bill Cash, who sits on the all-party parliamentary group for Tanzania, has urged the Foreign Office to further upgrade its travel warning for tourists visiting both Zanzibar and Tanzania because it was "more than just an ordinary criminal event".

The Foreign Office updated its Tanzania travel advice page on Friday with details of the attack and warns British nationals to "take care" and read its travel advice.

Mr Cash said: "People need to be extra vigilant and the Foreign Office and High Commission need to make a very thorough evaluation of the threat, as these latest attacks would seem to be on religious grounds.

"The threat to tourists going to Tanzania and Zanzibar needs to be upgraded without doubt."

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Gibraltar And Falklands Pose New Battle For UK

Britain is facing the prospect of being taken on by a joint Spanish and Argentine campaign over the disputed territories of Gibraltar and the Falklands.

Spain may take its row over Gibraltar to the United Nations, according to reports in Spanish newspaper El Pais.

According to the paper, the country's foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo is scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires to meet his Argentinian counterpart, Hector Timerman, next month.

The Rock has been a British Overseas Territory since 1713

During this meeting, the paper says, Spain will also explore the possibility with Argentina of a "united front" at the UN, concerning Gibraltar and the Falklands.

Argentina is immersed in its own dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the Falklands, which Britain has ruled since 1833.

It recently lodged a new claim over the islands to the UN Security Council, of which Britain is a permanent member.

Argentina is on a two-year term as non-permanent member of the UN's Security Council and could potentially use its position to include discussions over Gibraltar on the agenda.

Mr Garcia-Margallo (L) is planned to be meeting Mr Timerman (R) next month

The newspaper's sources do not specify whether Spain will ask the UN to back a request for Britain to give up sovereignty of the territory, or adhere to certain agreements.

Aside from the Security Council, Spain could also take its matter to the UN General Assembly or the International Court of Justice.

Centuries of friction over the Rock - a British overseas territory to which Spain lays claim - have reignited following delays and queues of several hours at the outpost's border with Spain, and Madrid's threats to impose a 50 euro (£43.30) fee on every vehicle entering or leaving Gibraltar.

Madrid has also complained that an artificial reef being built by Gibraltar into the Mediterranean will block its fishing vessels.

HMS Westminster is taking part in long-planned training exercises

The reported change of tack by Spain could further increase diplomatic tensions.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said that Spain will take "all necessary measures" to defend its interests in Gibraltar.

His comments this week came as Britain sent warship HMS Westminster and two other vessels to the British territory, which the Ministry of Defence said was part of a "long-planned" training exercise.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Our policy on Gibraltar at the United Nations has not changed and is consistent with our policies on other Overseas Territories. Self determination matters more than territorial integrity.

"The people of Gibraltar have repeatedly and overwhelmingly expressed their wish to remain under British sovereignty.

"The UK's position is entirely consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations, which include the principle of self determination."

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Crash Woman's Cash Saved By Good Samaritans

A woman knocked down by a car has thanked Good Samaritans who collected her thousands of pounds' worth of banknotes as they scattered across a busy road.

CCTV footage showed the moment the victim was thrown into the air as she crossed a street without looking in Jinan, in eastern China.

The video also shows 27,000 Chinese yuan (£2,900) belonging to the woman, Hu Huai'ai, fluttering across the ground as she flounders.

Ms Hu, who had injured her legs and suffered cuts and bruises, watched as several passers-by came to her aid and collected the money.

"Not a penny was lost," she said from her hospital bed. "I am so grateful."

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Nelson Mandela 'Improving, But Remains Critical'

Nelson Mandela's health is "improving steadily" but he remains in a critical condition, doctors looking after the anti-apartheid leader have said.

The former president has been receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection at Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria.

In a statement on Sunday, the South African presidency said medics had indicated that Mr Mandela was "making a slow but steady improvement".

"The medical team also reiterated that although his health was improving steadily, Madiba still remained in a critical condition," it said.

President Jacob Zuma once again thanked South Africans for their ongoing prayers and for keeping the much beloved former leader in their thoughts.

"Let us continue to pray for Madiba's recovery and good health,'' he said.

Ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has slammed 'cruel' reports of his demise

Mr Mandela was rushed to hospital 65 days ago, where a medical team has been working round the clock to help him, with his family and the presidency insisting he has shown signs of improvement.

In an interview with Sky News this week, his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela again denied reports that her former husband was in a permanent vegetative state.

"Why would we conceal that?" she said.

Mr Mandela spent his 95th birthday in hospital as people around the globe joined South Africans in honouring his legacy through acts of charity.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994, is a global symbol of tolerance and the struggle for equality.

He spent 27 years on Robben Island and in other jails for his attempts to overthrow South Africa's white-minority government.

Mr Mandela stepped down as president in 1999 and has not been politically active for a decade.

His last major public appearance was in July 2010, at the final of the Fifa World Cup at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.

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Rhode Island Boy Missing After Double Murder

State police say a double murder suspect is on the run after he snatched a two-year-old boy from a Rhode Island home.

An Amber Alert has been issued for Isaih Perez, who was discovered missing from a Johnston home at about 5.20am Sunday.

Authorities are looking for 22-year-old Malcolm Crowell of Providence.

The boy was reported missing from a home in Johnston, Rhode Island

They say he should be considered armed and dangerous. They believe he has Isaih.

No description of his vehicle was immediately available.

WPRI-TV reports that Isaih lived with the two people who were found dead.

Police say Crowell had a link to the boy, but they would not elaborate.

Johnston is a town of about 30,000 people less than 10 miles from Providence.

More follows...

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Colorado Mudslide: Man Killed And Two Missing

One man has been killed and two people remain missing after a fast-moving mudslide swept through a historic Colorado town.

The ground gave out under this roadway in Manitou Springs

Lt Jeff Kramer with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office says 53-year-old John Collins was found "buried beneath significant amounts of debris" on US Highway 24 in Manitou Springs.

The mudslide closed the highway and flash flooding stranded vehicles in high water on Friday night after heavy rain fell in an area burned by the Waldo Canyon Fire last year.

Debris piled up after flooding swept the area

Crews are still searching for two people reported missing after the flood.

A third missing person was found safe on Saturday, Colorado Springs' The Gazette newspaper reported.

Crews worked to clear the town's streets

Footage aired by local television showed a wall of water carrying vehicles down the narrow canyon roadway and into the town, which sits at the foot of Pikes Peak.

Areas burned by wildfires are vulnerable to flash floods because the scorched soil absorbs less water.

More rain was forecast for the area near Colorado Springs over the weekend.

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