The Syrian government is denying allegations being made by rebel forces that the Syrian military has deployed chemical weapons in fighting in the suburbs of Damascus.

The Syrian opposition is accusing President Bashar al-Assad's forces of killing nearly 1,200 people in the chemical weapon attacks.

The Syrian government is denying the allegation, calling the reports baseless.

The new reports of chemical weapons use comes as inspectors from the UN tour other sites in Syria where chemical weapons have reportedly been used.

The alleged incident has prompted an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon says he is shocked by the reports.

The US, UK and France are calling for an immediate investigation by UN inspectors already on the ground, while Russia is urging an "objective" inquiry, saying it could be a "provocation" of the rebels to discredit Assad.

 

Egypt's ex-President Mubarak ordered under house arrest

Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak has been ordered to be released on bail but is still under house arrest.

Mubarak still faces a retrial on charges of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 unrest which toppled him.

Meanwhile, the European Union has decided to restrict the weapons export to Egypt after the 28-member bloc's foreign ministers council meeting in Brussels.

But the EU failed to reach an agreement on whether to cut off the 5 billion euros financial assistance to Egypt.

 

US soldier sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified documents

The US soldier convicted of leaking secret government documents to Wikileaks has been sentenced to 35-years in prison.

25-year-old private first class Bradley Manning was convicted in July of 20 charges made against him including espionage. 

In a statement read out after the sentencing, Manning said he had acted "out of love for our country".

In 2010, Manning turned over more than 700-thousand classified files, battlefield videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks.

 

Fed minutes provide no clear timing of stimulus tapering

Minutes of the U.S Federal Reserve's July policy meeting provide no clear timing of stimulus tapering. 

The Minutes released on Wednesday show top officials from the Fed remained divided on the timing of scaling back its stimulus program. 

A few members emphasized the importance of evaluating additional information on the economy before deciding on any changes to the pace of asset purchases.

At the same time, a few others suggested that it might soon be time to slow somewhat the pace of purchases.

 

Malaysia bus plunge killed 37

At least 37 have been killed after a tourist bus plunged into ravine near Malaysia's Genting Highlands resort on Wednesday.

This is one of the worst road accidents in a decade in the country.

16 survivors have been sent to hospital.

The bus, carrying mostly Malaysians, fell about 60 metres into the ravine,

Police say at least three foreign nationals were on the bus, including one Chinese citizens.

The cause of the accident is still not known, but local officials say the bus was probably overloaded.

 

China pledges unchanged support to re-elected Zimbabwean president

Chinese government is vowing to continue its support to Zimbabwe ahead of the sworn-in of the re-elected president Robert Mugabe.

Special envoy, minister of civil affairs Li Liguo has told Mugabe that Chinese government will continue to support Zimbabwe's efforts to maintain stability and seek development.

For his part, Mugabe says Zimbabwe will carry on its traditional friendship with China.

China is now Zimbabwe's top foreign investor, with bilateral trade topping 1 billion US dollars.

 

Typhoon Trami makes landfall in Fujian

Typhoon Trami has made landfall in Fujian.

Local authorities have upgraded their emergency alerts ahead of Typhoon Trami.

The storm is packing winds of 120-kilometers per hour at the center of the storm.

All local fishing boats have been called back to port.

After making landfall, forecasters are predicting Trami will continue on a straight path into Jiangxi and Hunan before dying down.

 

Dozens illegal Chinese workers detained in Russia

Dozens of illegal Chinese workers have been detained in southern Russia's Volgograd.

Local police say the 48 Chinese nationals came to Russia using tourist visas.

Police say they don't have legal residency documents and some of them even don't have a passport.

Russian authorities have promised to provide the detained Chinese workers with necessary aid before repatriating them back to China.

 

New rule set for organ distribution in China

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission has set up a new national distribution system for organ donations.

The new system is set to take effect next month.

It's designed to try to prevent organ trafficking and ensure fairness and transparency in the way in which organ donations are dealt with. 

Under the new rules, no institution, organization or individual can distribute donated human organs without going through the system first. 

The new system replaces the program first introduced in 2010, which has seen the China Red 

Cross Society serving as a third party supervisor. 

Here in China, only about 10-thousand people receive organ transplants per year.

Some 300-thousand people suffer from organ failure every year.