Syria Crisis: Two Million Child Victims of War

Two million children have become the "forgotten victims" of the bloody conflict in Syria, according to Save the Children.

As the conflict enters its third year, children are increasingly being used by fighters as human shields, runners and porters, putting them on the frontline. Others are suffering malnutrition, disease and homelessness.

According to the Childhood Under Fire report by the charity, one in three children has been hit, kicked or shot at, while three in four have lost a loved one.

A boy digs a cave to be used as a shelter from fighting

Justin Forsyth, Save the Children's chief executive, said: "For millions of Syrian children, the innocence of childhood has been replaced by the cruel realities of trying to survive this vicious war.

"Many are now living rough, struggling to find enough to eat, without the right medicine if they become sick or injured.

A rebel fighter with her daughter at their Aleppo home

"As society has broken down, in the worst cases, hunger, homelessness and terror have replaced school for some of these young people.

"We cannot allow this to continue unchecked; the lives of too many children are at stake."

Childhood Under Fire, launched to mark two years of fighting in the Middle Eastern country that has claimed 70,000 lives, says many children are struggling to find enough to eat.

A father with his daughters who were injured in the fighting

Thousands are living in barns, parks and caves and are unable to go to school because teachers have fled and schools have been attacked.

Young boys are also being used by armed groups as porters, runners and human shields, bringing them dangerously close to the frontline, it warns.

Girls are being married off early to ensure that they have someone who can protect them from sex attacks.

Parents and their children flee across the border to Turkey

The report is released ahead of talks in London between Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, which are likely to be dominated by the conflict.

The charity urged the international community to push for an end to the violence that has torn Syria apart.

It is planning to hold vigils in 21 countries on Thursday to mark the second anniversary of the start of fighting in the country.

A boy watches as graves are dug for future victims of the conflict

The prospects for peace currently look dim. Last week Mr Lavrov said there was "absolutely" no prospect of Moscow urging Syrian president Bashar Assad to stand down.

Mr Hague announced that Britain would send armoured vehicles and body armour to Syrian opposition forces as it steps up efforts to end a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions.

Save the Children said that $1.5bn (£1bn) pledged in aid needs to be delivered to those suffering in the country and in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, with some areas still not having received any foreign aid.

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Winnie Mandela May Face Fresh Murder Probe

The former wife of Nelson Mandela is facing fresh allegations over the deaths of two ANC activists.

Forensic scientists have exhumed two bodies from a cemetery in Soweto.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, revered by some as "the mother of the nation", has already been found responsible by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the disappearance of the men 24 years ago.

However, until now nothing has been done to pursue allegations that she was directly involved in the killings of Lolo Sono, 21, and Sibuniso Tshabalala, 19.

This is despite her chief bodyguard, Jerry Richardson, telling the commission he and a colleague stabbed the young men to death on her orders.

Forensic scientists unearth remains believed to be missing activists

Forensic scientists have now unearthed two bodies that mortuary records indicate had multiple stab wounds - and the police have opened a new murder investigation.

In front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Mrs Madikizela-Mandela denied all knowledge of the two men and said allegations that she was involved in six other killings were rubbish.

Mr Richardson was head of the Mandela United Football Club, a group of young men who acted as Mrs Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards and which, it has been alleged, she used to get rid of her enemies.

On Tuesday, the African National Congress party orchestrated the ceremony to uncover skeletal remains believed to belong to Mr Sono and Mr Tshabalala.

Mrs Mandela in October 1988

John Sono, the uncle of Lolo Sono, said: "We are getting some relief because we know that we are closing the chapter of 'we don't know' and we are opening the chapter of 'here lies our son'."

Piers Pigou is the senior investigator for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission who cross-examined Mrs Madikizela-Mandela during its hearings.

He said: "I think the standard of proof used by the Truth Commission basically established prima facie (enough evidence to prosecute) cases against Mrs Mandela and members of the Mandela United Football Club, including in the disappearances of Sono and Tshabalala."

Mr Pigou said he found it particularly distressing to know the men's bodies had been taken to the mortuary the day after they disappeared, and the police were unable to link them to the two missing men who were being desperately sought by their families.

Mrs Mandela with then husband on his release from prison in February 1990

The commission, which is headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, lambasted police investigations into the disappearances of the men, who were last seen at Mrs Madikizela-Mandela's home in November 1988.

Mr Pigou said there was a "pattern of incredibly incompetent investigations" with an "enormous number of missing dockets".

"Does it add up to a conspiracy or not that investigations were not being pursued when they could be pursued?" he asked.

This time, the two new murder dockets have been opened by the Hawks, the police priority investigative unit.

Captain Paul Ramaloko, a Hawks spokesman, said it was too early to say whether they had suspects or would be interviewing Mrs Madikizela-Mandela.

In 1991, she was sentenced to six years in prison for kidnapping and assault in the death of 14-year-old James Seipei "Stompie" Moeketsi, who also had last been seen at her home in 1988.

She appealed, the assault conviction was overturned and the sentence was reduced to a suspended jail term.

Mrs Madikizela-Mandela separated from Mr Mandela in 1992, two years after he was released from 27 years of incarceration. Their divorce was finalised in 1996.

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China Offers To Help Halt Hacking Attacks

China has called for a global effort to end hacking attacks, insisting it is as much of a victim of the problem as any other country.

Speaking after a top US official warned the international community was losing patience with Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated that they were also under attack.

"What is necessary in cyberspace is not war, but rather regulation and co-operation," she said.

"China wants to develop constructive dialogue and co-operation, and joint safeguarding of the peace, safety and co-operation of cyberspace together with the international community - including the United States."

China has repeatedly made such offers in the past.

Ms Hua said such co-operation had to be based "on the principle of mutual respect and trust" because it was a global problem.

She was speaking after US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon insisted Beijing must take steps to investigate and stop cybercrime.

Last month, a report from US security firm Mandiant said a People's Liberation Army (PLA) unit had stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organisations, mostly based in the US.

China has the world's largest army, but denies any cybercrime capability

"This is not solely a national security concern or a concern of the US government," Mr Donilon said.

US businesses were increasingly worried about theft of their secrets "through cyber intrusions emanating from China", he declared.

And a US congressional report last year named China as "the most threatening actor in cyberspace".

Beijing has flatly rejected such accusations.

Following the Mandiant report, China's Defence Ministry said US-based hackers carried out regular attacks last year on two Chinese military websites.

And ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng claimed the Chinese military has no cyberwarfare units.

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Prince Charles Visits Syrian Refugee Camp

By Sam Kiley, in King Abdullah Camp, Jordan

The Prince of Wales' timing could not have been better, or his message more clear. Jordan is coping - but only just.

The tiny desert kingdom risks being overwhelmed by the strain of handling close to half a million Syrian refugees.

And it is rapidly becoming a covert pipeline for military supplies to Syrian rebels while hosting secret teams of western military advisers training their commanders.

So Jordan is adding to its vulnerability by taking sides against the government of its powerful neighbour.

Prince Charles asked Naim Sabr, a father-of-four from Deraa, why and how he had come to be living as a refugee in this small camp on the edge of the border town of Ramtha.

Mr Sabr began his answer. Then his eyes filled with tears.

He told the prince of how he'd been a poet and had written verses which attacked the regime of Bashar al Assad, and had been detained and tortured.

The Prince and Duchess are invited into a container home

"I was crying because I felt so hopeless. In Syria children are being killed, we are being tortured and we can do nothing - nothing," he told Sky News after the prince had left.

That the future monarch of the United Kingdom came to a location within range of Syrian artillery to listen to the stories of the refugees, reinforces the already deep personal, political and military ties between Britain and Jordan.

To drive that home Prince Charles issued an appeal for help on behalf of his hosts.

"The great thing to have come out of this is just how unbelievably generous the Jordanian people have been - they have been truly remarkable … there's something like 430,000 refugees here," he said.

"But they worry terribly that by the end of the year there may be one million - two million or three million people coming in.

"Of course it's putting more and more strain on the water supply, the food, the whole thing, and hospital services because of course the refugees, as you can imagine, need a lot of hospital and medical attention.

"So clearly the Jordanians need more assistance and help from outside to be able to cope with this immense challenge," he added

Children look on at the royal guests at the King Abdullah refugee camp

The Duchess of Cornwall agreed.

"I found it just a humbling experience seeing all those children, some of them without parents, who have lost their parents and who have obviously been adopted by others - I found it quite heart breaking," she said.

So far the £1bn UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appeal for funding for Syria's refugees has been met. But this does not account for the huge budgetary strains that the Jordanian economy endures coping with the 300,000 refugees that are not housed in camps paid for by foreign donors.

"We are a resource-poor nation. We can't go on like this," said a senior Jordanian government official, as an aside to Sky News.

The contagion of Syria's civil war threatens the stability of Jordan, of Lebanon, and of the tenuous peace that prevails between Israel and her northern neighbours.

David Cameron has been hinting that he may abandon a European Union arms embargo which precludes arming Syria's rebels when the embargo is reviewed in May.

Whitehall sources say that the Prime Minister is not convinced that arming Syrian rebels is probably the best way of ending the prolonged conflict - and of securing influence over non-Islamist groups who are dominated by extremist ideology.

So far muscular support has been largely secret and limited.

If it grows, so Jordan's importance will grow with it - and in a region where alliances between families count above all else, the connection between the Windsors and the Hashemite rulers of Jordan will be critical.

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Dutch Raise Terror Threat Over Syria Fighters

The Dutch government has raised its terror threat level over fears Dutch citizens are fighting in Syria and returning radicalised.

They fear citizens who have been fighting in the war-torn Middle Eastern country will be traumatised and may be more likely to commit domestic terror acts.

The Netherlands' National Co-ordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism said in a statement: "The chance of an attack in the Netherlands or against Dutch interests abroad has risen.

"From Europe as a whole, hundreds have made the journey, many of whom are joining local armed groups.

"These Jihadist travellers can return to the Netherlands highly radicalised, traumatised and with a strong desire to commit violence, thus posing a significant threat to this country."

Counter-terrorism chief Dick Schoof said that nearly 100 people had travelled from the Netherlands to Africa and the Middle East, mainly to Syria.

Many who have fought in Syria will have been traumatised, officials say

He said that several fighters had already returned to the Netherlands and were "being monitored".

The warning comes just two months before hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on Amsterdam for mass celebrations for the investiture of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, as the country's new king.

The threat level is now rated as substantial, the second-highest level on the four-step scale, just below "critical".

The government said there were also signs of increasing radicalisation among Dutch youth at home.

Experts have said that political upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East are giving terror networks room to grow.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague recently warned Syria has become the 'number one' destination for British extremists wanting to train in guns and explosives.

He has said that there is a danger that fanatics would then return home and carry out terror attacks on UK soil.

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Shark Attack: Fisherman Killed In Jamaica

A 68-year-old spearfisherman has been killed by a shark while diving in waters off the coast of southern Jamaica.

George Facey was fishing with a group which encountered sharks off a remote island some three miles off the south coast.

The veteran spearfisherman became separated from the group when he was attacked, by tiger shark reportedly 4.8m-long (16ft).

Police said he was bitten several times. Those with him told of how they managed to retrieve his body from the water as the shark circled, and return to shore.

Anthony Daley, who has been fishing for 10 years, told The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper that the shark was the largest he had ever seen.

Friends of the victim spoke of their shock and paid tribute to the spearfisherman.

Compton Campbell, also a local fisherman, said: "It's awful and a big shock. That shark shredded him up. I knew him very well and I can tell you that he was a very good man, a good Christian."

Spearfishing makes use of elastic-powered or compressed gas pneumatic-powered spearguns to skewer the hunted fish.

Speared fish, if they are not killed outright, will wriggle on the spear and will also bleed into the water - both of which can attract sharks.

Brandon Hay, of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation, said striped, blunt-nosed tiger sharks are sometimes spotted in the waters off Pelican Cay where the spearfisherman was killed.

"If anyone is going to be bitten by a tiger shark chances are it will be a spear fisherman," he said.

The conservation group's executive director, Ingrid Parchment, said she could not recall any other fatal shark attacks in Jamaican waters.

"Sharks are not a big fear here," she said.

Earlier this year, an 18-year-old fisherman was severely wounded by a shark in Black River, another coastal community in southern Jamaica.

Last month, Adam Strange, a 46-year-old television and short film director, was killed in a great white shark attack off the coast of New Zealand.

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Nicola Furlong: Man Jailed Over Assault On Friend

The friend of an American on trial for the murder of an Irish exchange student in Tokyo has been convicted of sexually assaulting the woman she was with on the night she died.

Tokyo District Court found James Blackston guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison for the attack on the unidentified woman in a taxi on the way to a Tokyo hotel last May.

Prosecutors had asked for a four-year sentence.

Blackston, a 23-year-old dancer from Los Angeles, and his friend, Richard Hinds, who is on trial for Miss Furlong's murder, had been out drinking with the two women.

Testimony in Hinds' trial also ended on Wednesday and a verdict is expected on March 19.

According to evidence in both trials, Ms Furlong, who was studying and living about 60 miles away from the capital on an exchange programme, and her friend went to Tokyo to see a Nicki Minaj concert.

Richard Hinds is on trial for Nicola Furlong's murder

After the concert, the two met Hinds, of Memphis, Tennessee and Blackston and went with them to a bar.

At some point both of the women passed out. Prosecutors have suggested they were drugged.

Security camera footage presented as evidence showed Blackston sexually assaulting Ms Furlong's friend in a taxi on the way to the hotel, where the men borrowed wheelchairs to get the unconscious women to the rooms.

Police were called to the Keio Plaza Hotel when a loud noise was heard from Hinds' room in the early hours and Ms Furlong was found unconscious. She died later in hospital.

Prosecutors say Hinds strangled Ms Furlong, a Dublin City University student from Curracloe, Co Wexford, with a towel to keep her quiet after she regained consciousness.

Hinds denies the charges.

Hinds was 19 and a minor under Japanese law when he was arrested, but is being tried in an adult court.

Although murder in Japan can carry the death penalty, prosecutors are seeking a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment for Hinds.

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North Korea Threatens 'Merciless' Retaliation

North Korea has confirmed it has pulled out of an armistice with its "enemies" and added the next step was an act of "merciless" military retaliation.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the armed forces ministry argued that the real "warmongering" was coming from the US and its "puppets" in South Korea.

"They would be well advised to keep in mind that the armistice agreement is no longer valid and (North Korea) is not restrained by the North-South declaration on non-aggression," it said.

"What is left to be done now is an action of justice and merciless retaliation of the army and people."

The announcement added to the tide of threats that have been flowing from Pyongyang in recent days, raising military tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest level for years.

The latest announcment also criticised the South's Park Geun-Hye

The armistice was agreed in 1953 after the Korean War ended. However, the two sides remained technically at war because no peace deal was ever struck.

The North had already announced last week that it would nullify the agreement and other peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest over joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres that began on Monday.

Although observers noted it was not the first time that North Korea had pulled out of the armistice.

The United Nations and South Korea criticised Pyongyang's unilateral withdrawal.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said: "The terms of the armistice agreement do not allow either side, unilaterally, to free themselves from it."

The North has previously threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to fresh UN sanctions adopted after the North carried out its third nuclear test last month.

While the threats have been mostly dismissed as bluster, there are concerns that the North will attempt some form of military provocation in the coming weeks.

Wednesday's statement also carried the first official criticism of South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, since she took office a little more than two weeks ago.

While the spokesman did not mention Ms Park by name, he said the "frenzy" stirred up the "warmongers" in South Korea was orchestrated by the "swish of the skirt made by the owner of Chongwadae (the Blue House)."

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Jill Meagher Killing: Accused Pleads Not Guilty

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

The man accused of murdering Irishwoman Jill Meagher in Australia calmly discussed the case while watching TV reports about it with his girlfriend - and suggested the victim's husband did it, a court has heard.

Adrian Bayley's partner said he also warned her against walking alone at night.

They lived close to the scene of the murder which happened last September.

Bayley, a father-of-four, has been committed to stand trial charged with murdering the 29-year-old who lived in Melbourne with her husband Tom and worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The 41-year-old is accused of dragging her into a lane in the Brunswick area of the city before raping her three times and strangling her.

Bayley has admitted one charge of raping Ms Meagher but denies murder.

Melbourne Magistrates Court heard a statement from Bayley's girlfriend which she had given to police.

Jill Meagher's husband Tom

In it she said Bayley had told her he did not want her walking alone at night.

"I said, 'Oh my God. Hope Street is just around the corner from here. It's so dangerous at night, you know,"' she said.

"I said, 'Oh she's pretty' and 'You know, she's you know, works for ABC'.

"He goes, 'Yeah that's why I'm saying that this place is not safe ... don't walk alone at night, go to the gym or anything like that. No, don't walk to the gym ... take the car ...' he goes, 'because you have to be safe and all that'."

The girlfriend said she and Bayley had discussions about the case after reports emerged that Ms Meagher's handbag could have been planted in the lane.

She said: "He goes, 'Maybe it's the husband'."

A police cordon at the crime scene in Melbourne last September

CCTV footage showing the last moments of Ms Meagher's life was also shown to the court as she was allegedly pursued by the accused.

The black and white video showed Ms Meagher walking home after a night drinking with friends. Then a man is seen in a hooded top running up behind her and then slowing down.

Also released for the first time were police photographs showing Miss Meagher's discarded handbag in the lane where she died, including her ABC security pass.

The court also saw pictures of the shovel which was allegedly used to dig a shallow grave for her body on the outskirts of the city, and her smashed mobile phone sim card which Bayley's girlfriend allegedly found in his clothes.

Other CCTV footage showed Bayley in a petrol station. He had run out of fuel and was given a lift to the service station by a passerby. The video was filmed in the hours after Ms Meagher died.

Bayley's girlfriend said she was approached by police at work on September 27 and shown CCTV footage of a man walking along Sydney Road. She identified that man as her boyfriend.

The woman told police Bayley had received a bruise to the bridge of his nose on the night of Ms Meagher's disappearance. He told her he had got into a fight with some men in the city.

Bayley is expected to stand trial later in the year.

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China: Safety Fears As More Dead Pigs Found

Residents of Shanghai have become increasingly concerned about contaminated water as the number of dead pigs found floating in a river rose to nearly 7,000.

The pig carcasses started appearing in Shanghai on Saturday and are thought to have been dumped in the city's main Huangpu river further upstream after dying of disease.

Workers have been removing the carcasses but have been overwhelmed as increasing numbers of dead pigs have appeared.

Local television showed men digging a mass grave and then dumping dead pigs from a cargo net into the hole, as a worker in a white biohazard suit poured disinfectant on the carcasses.

Shanghai's government has denied that its water is unsafe, saying: "Treated water meets national drinking water hygiene standards."

However, residents have continued to question the government assurances as the problem has worsened.

One comment posted on an online forum, under the name of Youshan Wanshui6_6, said: "So many dead pigs and the water quality has not been affected. Who are you fooling? Do you think people are idiots?"

Shanghai has pointed the finger at Jiaxing in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang, a major centre for pig breeding.

Many of the pigs have been dumped in a mass grave

A Jiaxing official has admitted that some of the dead pigs could be from the area.

In an online chat on the website of the People's Daily newspaper, the unnamed agriculture official said: "We do not rule out the possibility of dead pigs in Jiaxing's waterways floating into Shanghai.

"But as far as we grasp the current situation, there are dead pigs from areas outside Jiaxing also flowing in," he said.

The official added that a handful of tags found on the dead pigs in Shanghai had been traced to a local producer and police were bringing a case against the individual, who was not identified.

Shanghai's agricultural commission said on Monday that some of the animals had tested positive for porcine circovirus, which it described as a common swine disease that does not affect humans.

The city has tightened supervision over its markets to avoid tainted meat from the dead pigs being sold to consumers, the Shanghai Daily said.

Meat producers in China sometimes sell animals that have died from disease, instead of disposing of them, amid lax food safety laws.

Around half of the world's 1.3m pigs slaughtered annually for meat are raised in China, many of which are reared in intensive farms which have been accused of promoting the spread of disease.

In 2007, an outbreak of high fever blue ear disease in pigs in China affected 50 million animals.

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