World AM News Briefs For Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Good Morning Australia!! - Bombs devastate several hospitals in Syria, dozens are killed - An investigation reveals luxury suites at a prison where dozens were killed in a riot - The AFP might have exaggerated about the record Ice haul - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says seven of its people were killed in a "deliberate" airstrike on its hospital in the northern Syrian town of Maarat al-Numan, and another eight people are missing. The medical charity says either Syrian government forces or their Russian supporters are to blame. These deaths were among more than 50 in air strikes on hospitals and at least one school. The air raids come despite the ceasefire deal that Russia, the US, and other world powers reached in talks in Munich that will come into force later this week.
The world chemical weapons watchdog is reportedly ready to confirm that Islamic State used mustard gas against Kurdish forces last year. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) analyzed several samples after 35 Peshmerga fighters became ill near Irbil in August. If the OPCW confirms the report, this will be the first known use of chemical weapons in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Federal Police acknowledge they might have used "upper range" figures to determine the value of that massive methamphetamines bust in Sydney. Authorities Police charged four people with importing 720 liters of liquid methamphetamine, which they said was worth more than a AU$1 Billion. However, the ABC reports that analysis of other recent seizures shows that the cops valued Monday's haul at nearly four times the price they have used following earlier raids. Authorities found the haul hidden away in shipments of imported push-up bras and craft supplies.
Zimbabwe authorities seized a US-owned cargo plane that was carrying millions of South African Rand and the dead body of an apparent stowaway. The Western Global Airlines cargo flight was heading from Germany to South Africa to deliver cash to the SA Reserve Bank, and put in at Zimbabwe's Harare International Airport to refuel. The Zimbabwe Herald says airport attendants saw blood dripping from the plane and discovered the body.
The Mexican Prison where 49 people died in a riot last week had "luxury" cells containing mini-bars, aquariums and saunas as well as more practical items like air conditioners and mini-fridges. Police dismantled the penthouse suites as they moved through the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey as they restored order after the riot. The riot was between rival factions of the Zetas drug gang, whose leader's cell had a king-sized bed and a widescreen TV. Authorities charged prison director Gregoria Salazar Robles and her deputy Jesus Fernando Dominguez Jaramillo with abusing their authority.
Poland's nationalist government plans to make it a crime to imply Polish involvement in the nazi holocaust during World War II. The nazis murdered millions of people - mostly Jews - in six German-run extermination camps on Polish soil. Foreign media have frequently used the term "Polish death camp" as shorthand for these camps, which is met with indigence from Polish which considers itself as a victim of nazi atrocities during the occupation between 1939 and 1945. The nazis killed 99 percent of Poland's pre-war Jewish population. The new law would make it illegal to say that Poland "took part, organized, or was co-responsible for the crimes of the Third Reich", punishable by up to five years in prison.