Syria using cluster bombs: rights group

AN international human rights group says it has obtained new evidence that Syrian troops are using cluster bombs - widely banned munitions that pose a grave risk to civilians because they burst into bomblets over large areas and often linger on the ground, detonating only when touched.

Steve Goose of US-based Human Right Watch says cluster bombs "have been comprehensively banned by most nations, and Syria should immediately stop all use of these indiscriminate weapons that continue to kill and maim for years".

Human Rights Watch has previously reported cluster bomb remnants found in Homs and nearby Hama.

"Syria's disregard for its civilian population is all too evident in its air campaign, which now apparently includes dropping these deadly cluster bombs into populated areas," said Goose.

Syrian government officials had no immediate comment.

Human Rights Watch said Syrian activists posted at least 18 videos from October 9-12 showing remnants of the bombs in or near several towns, which included the central city of Homs, the northern cities of Idlib and Aleppo, the countryside in Latakia, and the eastern Ghouta district near the capital Damascus.

Many were on a north-south highway that has been the scene of fighting in recent days.

Human Rights Watch said the munitions in the video were Soviet-made. Before its collapse, the Soviet Union was a major arms supplier to Syria.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify such reports in Syria, where journalists' movement is restricted and the government keeps a tight-lid on news related to the revolt, which it blames on a foreign conspiracy.

The report said the cluster bomb canisters and submunitions displayed in the videos "all show damage and wear patterns produced by being mounted on and dropped from an aircraft".

Some residents confirmed in interviews that helicopters dropped cluster bombs near their homes on October 9, the group said.

The group did not have information if the munitions had caused any casualties.

Human Rights Watch "is deeply concerned by the risks posed by the unexploded submunitions (bomblets) to the civilian population, as men and even children can be seen in the videos handling the unexploded submunitions in life-threatening ways", according to the report.

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Two killed in strike on Gaza: medics

TWO men have been killed and another two critically wounded in an Israeli strike on central Gaza, Palestinian medics said in what was the third deadly raid in 24 hours.

The incident occurred just east of Deir al-Balah, with the Israeli military confirming it had targeted "a terrorist rocket squad".

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry, said the strike had initially killed one man and left three others in critical condition, but one of the wounded died shortly afterwards.

"Two people were killed - one of those who was critically wounded died of his wounds," he said.

He named the victims as Ezzedine Abu Nasira, 23, and Ahmad Fatayer, 22, both of whom were from Deir al-Balah.

Witnesses said the strike targeted a motorcycle, and said that both men were militants.

Mr Qudra said both of those wounded in the strike were civilians.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed there was a "targeting of a terrorist rocket squad" which had just fired a rocket at southern Israel.

"They had just fired a rocket at Israel which hit the area of the Eshkol regional council," she said. No one was injured on the Israeli side.

According to the army, more than 500 rockets have hit Israel since the start of 2012, more than 40 of which were fired in the first two weeks of October.

It was the third deadly Israeli raid within 24 hours.

On Saturday night, the air force targeted a motorcycle in the northern town of Jabaliya, killing a top Salafist leader and a fellow militant.

Several hours later, warplanes targeted two militants from the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the southern city of Khan Yunis, killing one and critically wounding the second.

Speaking to the Israeli cabinet on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that jihadists were stepping up their attempts to harm Israelis and warned that it would not be tolerated.

"Global jihad is increasing its efforts to strike at us and we shall continue to act aggressively and forcefully in response, and also with preventive strikes," he said.

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Students prepare to take HSC

THE time has come to put pen to paper as thousands of Year 12 students start their Higher School Certificate exams.

The first HSC exams, in English, begin across NSW on Monday morning.

Students taking the standard and advanced papers will be put to the test, as well as those enrolled in the English as a Second Language (ESL) course.

There are 73,397 students enrolled in at least one HSC course in the state, according to the Board of Studies.

Over the next 19 days, they will sit papers at more than 760 centres, both in Australia and around the world.

The first exams are the ones with the highest number of students registered, with 68,111 taking at least one English course. It is the only compulsory HSC subject.

The next most popular course is mathematics, which has 53,942 students enrolled.

The written exams, which account for 50 per cent of results in most courses, will continue until November 8.

Tom Alegounarias, president of the Board of Studies, wished this year's students well in a message on the board's website, telling them their hard work would be "worth it".

"My hope is that students don't see the HSC as an end point, but rather use it as a springboard to their life experiences as an adult," he said.

The HSC is the highest educational achievement in secondary education in NSW.

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Skydiver prepares to break sound barrier

AUSTRIAN extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has started his ascent to 37 kilometres above Earth, hoping to make a death-defying free fall that could make him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.

Baumgartner has taken off in the New Mexico desert in a pressurised capsule carried by a 55-storey ultra-thin helium balloon that is expected to take nearly three hours to climb into the stratosphere.

Baumgartner will jump into a near vacuum with no oxygen to begin what is expected to be the fastest, farthest free fall from the highest-ever manned balloon.

Any contact with the capsule on his exit could tear the pressurised suit, a rip that could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as minus 57C.

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UK probes ex-brass over political access

BRITAIN'S defence ministry has announced it is investigating whether retired senior officers broke any rules after they were recorded by undercover journalists as appearing to offer to lobby the government on behalf of defence companies.

The Sunday Times said officers, including former head of the army General Richard Dannatt and former defence procurement chief Lieutenant General Richard Applegate, had boasted about their access to ministers and senior officials. The paper posted some of its recordings online.

In one, Admiral Trevor Soar, is heard to say he had to "be slightly careful of lobbying ministers", but he could "basically ignore" restrictions on meeting with officials.

The officers deny wrongdoing, and the newspaper did not suggest they had broken any laws. Retired personnel are allowed to work for the private sector two years after leaving the military.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the revelations were "deeply damaging to the individuals", but he denied retired officers had any influence on decisions about military purchases.

He told the BBC that if retired officers were using their access to politicians "for commercial purposes then we will have to tighten it up or maybe even shut it down. That is something we will now look at."

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Dozens of bodies found near Damascus

DOZENS of corpses have been found in a hospital morgue in the Syrian province of Damascus, a monitoring group says, adding the circumstances of the deaths are not immediately clear.

"We know they were shot dead, most likely during clashes with the army," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said on Sunday.

"Most likely, the corpses belong to rebel fighters, but we cannot currently confirm that."

Amateur video posted on YouTube by activists showed piles of men's bodies in a morgue.

The bodies were found in an area southwest of Damascus between Moadamiyat al-Sham and Daraya, scene of a vicious army assault and battles with rebels, leading up to a massacre of more than 500 people in Daraya at the end of August.

"The bodies may belong to fighters killed in fighting in the area over the course of recent months," said Abdel Rahman.

Syria's revolt began in March last year as pro-reform protests but morphed into an armed insurgency when demonstrations were brutally crushed.

Most rebels, like the population, are Sunni Muslims in a country dominated by a minority regime of Alawites, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

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