THE Syrian army has denied using cluster munitions and said it did not possess the weapon in its arsenal, in a statement published by state news agency SANA.
"Some news outlets that are complicit in the bloodletting in Syria have been publishing false reports that the Syrian army has been using cluster bombs against armed terrorists," it said, adding the military "does not have this kind of weapon".
EUROPEAN Union foreign ministers have adopted tough new financial and trade sanctions against Iran aimed at forcing a breakthrough in stalled talks on Tehran's contested nuclear program.
The new package of sanctions targets EU dealings with Iran's banks, as well as trade and gas imports.
Citing "serious and deepening concerns" over Iran's nuclear drive, a statement on Monday approved by the ministers said the EU had "agreed additional restrictive measures in the financial, trade, energy and transport sectors".
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton earlier said it was "very, very important that Iran is sent a very strong signal from this European Union foreign affairs council that we want to see a negotiated agreement".
Ashton, who represents global powers in talks with Iran on its nuclear program, said the sanctions aimed "to persuade Iran to come to the table".
Under the package, the EU bans all transactions between European and Iranian banks unless authorised in advance by national authorities, for example for humanitarian or medical reasons. It als tightens existing sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran.
Imports of Iranian gas will be prohibited, a symbolic gesture since the amounts involved are small, but the move sits alongside a much more significant ban on imports of Iranian oil introduced in July.
Sales of graphite and metals of potential use to Iran's nuclear or ballistic missile programs are also to be closed down, while other measures target Iran's shipping industry.
The package also bans the use of EU vessels for transporting or storing Iranian oil.
An EU asset freeze and travel ban will be imposed on 34 additional entities, particularly in the oil, gas and financial sectors, as well as on one person.
After long denying the impact of Western economic sanctions against Iran, Iranian leaders since last summer have changed their rhetoric and now regularly condemn the Western-imposed "economic war" against Iran.
They acknowledge that the economy is suffering, in particular due to the cut in oil exports and production, the main source of the country's revenue.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday before the EU decision that Iran's enemies are seeking to disrupt the "calmness" in the country through economic confrontation.
THOUSANDS of Australian children are suffering from hunger, health organisations have warned as they mark World Food Day on Tuesday.
The Sydney Food Fairness Alliance (SFFA) has urged the NSW government to do more to help.
"If we don't acknowledge that this is a serious issue, we can't work out ways to address it. We are calling on NSW politicians to take action because of the future impact on health and health costs," said SFFA president Liz Millen.
There are currently 680,000 people in the state going hungry every year, half of whom are children, according to a recent report from FoodBank Australia.
FoodBank NSW CEO Gerry Andersen said charitable agencies do not have enough food to supply the "working poor" families who struggle to feed their children.
The SFFA and the Australian Health Promotion Association is holding a World Food Day forum at NSW Parliament House on Tuesday to discuss food insecurity.
A PAKISTANI teen shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticising militants has arrived in Britain, where she is to get specialised care.
The attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai a week ago horrified people across Pakistan and abroad.
Pakistan's military said doctors recommended Malala be shifted to a center in the UK that has the ability to provide "integrated" care to children with severe injuries.
Malala arrived in Britain on Monday afternoon local time.
She is to be taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in central England, which is also home to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is designated as one of the country's 16 major trauma centres.
EFFORTS to end a rash of gold mine strikes that have strangled South African production have run into deadlock with no further talks planned, leaving tens of thousands of workers facing the threat of dismissal.
Mine owners and union officials reported on Monday that last-gasp talks to end weeks of rolling wildcat strikes had failed, after rank-and-file workers rejected a wage deal reached by negotiators and no further proposal was forthcoming.
After the talks broke down, employer group the Chamber of Mines declared "it is not in a position to make any further proposals", leaving it up to individual companies to find their own way out of a crisis that has seen tens of thousands of workers illegally down tools.
"One of the avenues could be the dismissal of strikers," chamber official Elize Strydom said. Another route, she said, was "retrenchment" or a radical restructuring of mine operations.
"Some companies - marginal companies in particular - have been closed and not producing for so long that they now probably need to be closed."
Tens of thousands of gold workers have been on strike for more than a month in South Africa's mines, most of them located near the commercial hub of Johannesburg.
The often violent strikes over pay have strangled production in the country, which accounts for around seven per cent of global output.
The National Union of Mineworkers told owners: "Dismissals would not be a solution to the current challenges facing the industry and that it would only serve to fuel emotions that are already high and inflame the situation further."
Workers indicated last week they could not support the wage deal, saying it was not up to their demand for salaries of roughly 12,500 rand ($A1400) a month.
The latest offer would have seen monthly wages and bonuses go up to between 7000 and 10,000 rand.
There are growing fears about the impact the labour unrest will have on the South African economy, the biggest and most advanced on the continent.
The mining industry as a whole accounts directly and indirectly for 19 per cent of economic output and employs 1.3 million people in the mines and related sectors.
Already the platinum sector, which has suffered a wave of strikes since August, saw a 2.6 per cent drop in output that month. The toll for the gold sector and for the broader economy has yet to be quantified.
A SPATE of shootings and bombings targeting Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad has killed at least 10 people, while a prisoner on death row has escaped from police custody south of the capital.
The attacks, which killed five policemen and three anti-Qaeda militiamen and left more than 20 people wounded on Monday, came after Iraqi police were targeted on Sunday night.
The heaviest toll came in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, 175km north of Baghdad.
Gunmen attacked a checkpoint in the town centre, killing two policemen and wounding two more before fleeing the scene, a security official said. A doctor confirmed the toll.
Also in Tuz Khurmatu, a car bomb at one of the main entrances to the town killed a policeman and wounded six other people - five civilians and a policeman, the officials said.
In another gun attack, militants broke into the home of two brothers, both of them anti-al-Qaeda militiamen, in the desert region west of the city of Samarra, which lies around 110km north of Baghdad.
Another Sahwa fighter was killed by a magnetic "sticky bomb" attached to his car in the town of Hawijah, 230km north of Baghdad, security and medical officials said.
A bombing in the main northern city of Mosul, and a shooting just south of the city, left two people dead - a policeman and a young child - and three civilians wounded, security and medical officials said. Both attacks targeted security forces.
And in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, two car bombs near the provincial government headquarters killed a policeman and wounded eight other people, a security official said. A hospital doctor confirmed the toll.
A REPUBLICAN Senate candidate's campaign says his son apologises for suggesting voters should send US President Barack Obama back to Kenya.
Jason Thompson, the son of the former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, was caught on camera Sunday making those remarks during a brunch hosted by the Kenosha County Republican Party.
"We have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago - or Kenya," said Jason Thompson, an attorney at a large Milwaukee law firm.
The comment drew laughs from the crowd, with one woman jokingly adding, "We are taking donations for that Kenya trip."
The video was taken by a Democratic Party operative and posted at BuzzFeed Politics on Sunday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Mr Obama's father was Kenyan, but the president was born in Hawaii.
Jason Thompson, 38, has been involved in his father's efforts to win a Senate seat and has represented the candidate at some events.
"The governor has addressed this with his son, just like any father would do," the campaign said in a statement. "Jason Thompson said something he should not have, and he apologises."
Democratic Representative Tammy Baldwin is running against Mr Thompson. Her campaign's spokesman, John Kraus, said the Thompson campaign is becoming increasingly desperate and dishonest.
The candidate himself "has not apologised for these comments, nor has he disavowed them," Mr Kraus wrote. "Thompson needs to start taking responsibility for what his campaign says and does."
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brad Courtney also spoke at the Kenosha event.
Mr Priebus issued a statement, saying he agreed with ex-Governor Thompson. "The comment was out of line and his son rightfully apologised," he said.
