Syria toxic gas inquiry to end after Russia again blocks U.N. renewal 11/18/2017 9:09:57 AM   facebook Google+ ► Print Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya votes against a bid to renew an international inquiry into chemical weapons attacks in Syria UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) NOV. 17, 2017 -- An international investigation into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria will end on Friday after Russia blocked for the third time in a month attempts at the  United Nations to renew the inquiry, which Moscow has slammed as flawed. In the past two years, the joint U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inquiry has found the Syrian government used the nerve agent sarin in an April 4 attack and has also several times used chlorine as a weapon. It blamed Islamic State militants for using mustard gas. Russia vetoed on Friday a Japanese-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution to exte...

U.N. rights rapporteur condemns harassment of journalists in Iran 10/28/2017 10:25:26 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print Asma Jahangir, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Iran rights situation UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) Oct. 27, 2017  - A U.N. special rapporteur said on Thursday there had been little change in the human rights situation in Iran over the past year, voicing outrage over the harassment of journalists and adding that progress on women’s rights was extremely slow. A day after submitting her report to the world body, Asma Jahangir, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Iran rights situation, told reporters that torture was widespread in Iran and that some people were imprisoned for seeking justice. Jahangir said she had not attempted to assess the impact of sanctions on human rights in Iran in her report because she had not been allowed to visit the country, which does not recognize her mandate.