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Canada-Wide Arrest Warrant Issued for Suspect in Body Part Mailings

Carmen Cox — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:30:13 +0000

Montreal Police Department(MONTREAL) -- Authorities have issued a “Canada-wide arrest warrant” for Rocco Luka Magnotta, a suspect police have connected to a homicide and the mailings of two body parts.

Magnotta, 29, also goes by the pseudonyms Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, according to the Montreal Police Department, and some of these aliases have been linked to porn films.

A human foot was mailed to the Ottawa headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. It was discovered on Tuesday by a receptionist, who contacted authorities after receiving a blood-soaked package.

Later in the day, police seized a second package at an Ottawa post office that contained a hand. Authorities have not said where the second package was addressed.

Authorities confirmed that the body parts mailed to Ottawa originated in Montreal.

Also on Tuesday, a janitor found a male torso in a suitcase in Montreal’s Cote-des-Neiges neighborhood. Tips led investigators to a residence on Decaire Boulevard, also in the Cote-des-Neiges neighborhood, where they conducted a search. Evidence from the scene is being tested.

“Currently, concrete elements allow police to believe that the events are linked,” Montreal police said in a statement Wednesday, referring to the discovery of the torso and the mailing of the body parts. “However, before concluding beyond doubt that a link exists, investigators await the results of pathological expertise.”

Police have been vague about how they arrived at Magnotta as a suspect, but did say that they believe the male victim whose torso was discovered in a suitcase knew his attacker, Montreal police Commander Ian Lafreniere told reporters on Wednesday, according to CTV.

Magnotta is white with black hair and blue eyes. He is 5 feet 10 inches and weighs about 135 pounds.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Chinese Students Leave University in the Dust…Literally

Carmen Cox — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:22:00 +0000

CEN(LIAONING, China) -- As summer starts, Chinese students from Liaoning province are leaving their college … in the dust.

It looks like these students in northern China are celebrating the end, literally, of their school as it goes up in smoke. Rather harsh, no matter how happy they are to be leaving. Seniors from China’s Dalian University of Technology City College in Liaoning province, are seen in a widely dispersed online photo dressed in graduation day gowns and joyfully tossing their caps into the air. With smiles on their faces they appear as fresh-faced and full of hope as any happy student headed out into the world should be on his or her big day.

But behind them, just steps from their classroom buildings, a massive, black cloud of smoke rises into the air. Reports are a warehouse just behind university buildings caught fire on graduation day. The sequence of events suggest that the fire started just as students prepared to head to graduation ceremonies. As students were evacuated, a group stopped to snap photos. The visual effect makes it appear as if the university itself is going up in smoke, and its students could not be happier.

In China, where the rigor and competitive nature of academic study is widely known to be among the most intense in the world, the photo caused quite a sensation. The photo, and others from the same scene, went viral and according to the Daily Mail were forwarded 3,000 times in two hours.

The student who uploaded the photos, Netizen ‘Brent-J’, also posted the following caption, “It’s too big a coincidence to see the university on fire today, the students are filled with love in seeing the school burn.”

University officials were not pleased with the suggestion that students would celebrate the school’s destruction. They released subsequent photos of students helping to put out the fire on the college website and the statement that they “show the true spirit of the college. Our students should not be celebrating destruction.”

Either way, for the group of students in the photo school is definitely out for summer.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Pope Addresses Scandal Rocking Vatican for the First Time

Tara Parsell — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:10:55 +0000

Franco Origlia/Getty Images(VATICAN CITY) -- For the first time since his butler was arrested, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the scandal rocking the Vatican.

In his weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Pope Benedict mentioned the scandal, saying, “The events of recent days regarding the Vatican Curia and my collaborators have caused sadness in my heart.”

He also admonished the media, saying, “The information disseminated by the media have gone far beyond the facts, offering an image of the Holy See, which does not correspond to reality.”

Paolo Gabrielle was arrested last Friday after Vatican officials found stolen documents in his possession. He has been accused of leaking documents to the press that indicate corruption and mismanagement inside the Vatican.

On Saturday, a Vatican spokesman told the press that they plan on charging Gabrielle with aggravated theft.

Since the Vatican does not have a jail, Gabrielle is currently being held in a tiny room in the Vatican police station that is usually used to house pickpockets. If he is convicted, he would serve out his sentence in an Italian prison.

Gabrielle, 46, has been in the pope’s service since 2006. He lives inside the Vatican with his wife and three children.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Who Is Behind Super Cyber Spy Tool?

Joshua Cohan — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:06:44 +0000

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Cyber security experts around the world are racing to dissect Flame, the largest cyber espionage program ever discovered, as clues in the code and vague statements from Western officials fueled speculation as to whether the U.S. or Israel may be behind what researchers are calling a potential game-changer in the burgeoning arena of cyber warfare.

The existence of Flame, an unprecedented intelligence-gathering program designed to track and record basically everything an infected computer does, was disclosed Monday by two international cyber security firms as well as the Iranian government, which said Flame had been discovered on its networks.

One of the firms, Kaspersky Labs, reported the malware had been discovered in several countries in the Middle East, mostly in Iran, and had been operating for at least two years. Kaspersky Labs, along with a Hungarian cryptology lab called Crysys that also analyzed Flame, said that because of the expertise, time and funding required to create such a large and sophisticated program, it was likely some government agency had created the malicious code, rather than a group of cyber criminals or rogue hackers.

Clues in the code, such as the names of processes like "Beetlejuice" and "Platypus," led some experts to believe it could have been written by native English-speakers, but others pointed out that English is a common coding language in many countries.

Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher at Kasperky Labs, told ABC News on Wednesday some monikers used in coding mean nothing at all or are just inside jokes among the programmers.

"We are talking about a very high stakes operation here, covert cyber ops, but that doesn't mean these guys aren't just having fun sometimes," he said.

Another possible clue in the code, Schouwenberg said, is that even though the program's structure and capabilities are very different, Flame shares some sophisticated techniques and geographical targets with another infamous cyber weapon, Stuxnet. Stuxnet was an offensive cyber weapon that was only discovered in 2010 after it had reportedly infected and caused physical damage to an Iranian nuclear facility.

Schouwenberg said Kaspersky Labs is operating under the theory that Stuxnet and Flame were created by different development teams but likely under the direction from the same backer and with access to each other's work. A researcher with the U.S.-based cyber firm Symantec told ABC News that scenario was a "definite" possibility and in its report Crysys said it could not be ruled out.

After Stuxnet's discovery, a Congressional report in December 2010 put the U.S. and Israel on a short list of countries believed to be capable of carrying out that attack -- a list that also included China, France, Russia and the U.K. A month later, The New York Times reported Stuxnet may have been the result of a joint U.S., Israeli project to undermine Iran's nuclear program.

Publicly, U.S. officials repeatedly denied involvement in Stuxnet, while Israeli officials declined to comment.

Within hours of Flame's public disclosure, a top Israeli official, vice prime minister Moshe Yaalon, sparked speculation when he hinted to an Israeli news outlet that his country may have been behind it all, as ABC News reported Tuesday.

"Whoever sees the Iranian threat as a serious threat would be likely to take different steps, including these, in order to hurt them," Yaalon told Israel's Army Radio, referring to the cyber attack. "Israel is blessed to be a nation possessing superior technology. These achievements of ours open up all kinds of possibilities for us."

However, after those comments made headlines, Yaalon took to Twitter and said that "plenty of advanced Western countries, with apparent cyber-warfare capabilities, view Iran and especially its nuclear program as a real threat."

Later, NBC News reported that an unnamed U.S. official who acknowledged having no first-hand knowledge of the virus said, "It was us." And on Wednesday the Israeli military magazine Israel Defense quoted its own unnamed Israeli officials who said they believe the virus came from the U.S.

For their part, the official spokespersons for an alphabet soup of American government agencies have stayed quiet on where exactly Flame came from.

In response to questions from ABC News on Wednesday, the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense Cyber Operations and State Department either declined to comment or referred ABC News to the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS said in a statement it was analyzing Flame to determine its impact on the U.S., but refused to comment on whether the U.S. had a hand in its creation.

Though cyber security experts said it will be months, and possibly years, before Flame is completely analyzed, Schouwenberg said there is little chance much more information about the author will be gleaned from the code itself.

"What is proof in cyber? It's very tough. When you look at the remnants of a bomb, at least you know who made it," he said. "In cyber, you never know for sure."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

WikiLeaks Founder Can Be Extradited to Sweden, UK High Court Rules

Jeanette Torres — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:02:35 +0000

BERTIL ERICSON/AFP/Getty Images(LONDON) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who bedeviled the U.S. government by publishing a massive trove of formerly classified Pentagon and State Department documents, can be extradited from England to Sweden to face sexual assault charges, the United Kingdom's Supreme Court ruled five-to-two Wednesday.

In reading the decision, Lord Phillips, the president of the court, said: "The majority has concluded that the Swedish public prosecutor was a judicial authority within the meaning of both the framework decision and the extradition act. It follows that the request for Mr. Assange's extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed."

Assange was appealing last November’s decision by District Judge Howard Riddle that the 40-year-old could not escape prosecution in Sweden based on allegations of two women involving "non-consensual, coerced" sex.

According to Assange, the sex was consensual and he was being prosecuted for political reasons.

His final recourse is appealing to the European Court of Human Rights, which might only temporarily hold off his extradition.

Charles Taylor Sentenced to 50 Years for Role in Sierra Leone Crimes

Jeanette Torres — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:21:02 +0000

JERRY LAMPEN/AFP/Getty Images(LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands) -- Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years behind bars on Wednesday for his role in the atrocities committed in neighboring Sierra Leone during the country's decade-long civil war.

Last month, the 64-year-old warlord was found guilty by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on all 11 charges for "aiding and abetting" militant groups as they carried out crimes against the people of the African nation in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Those crimes included enlisting child soldiers, mass murder, the chopping off of limbs and sexual slavery.

In all, more than 50,000 died during the war.

Pakistani Doc Who Helped Find Bin Laden Had Ties to Terrorist Group

Jeanette Torres — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:20:38 +0000

AFP/Getty Images(ISLAMABAD) -- The Pakistani surgeon who helped do reconnaissance of Osama bin Laden's compound was not sentenced to 33 years behind bars for helping the CIA, as initially reported, new court documents show.

Instead, Dr. Shakil Afridi was punished for backing a banned terrorist group in Pakistan.

According to the documents, Afridi, 48, received his prison sentence last week for being a supporter of Lashkar-e-Islam. He allegedly provided the group with money and medical treatment, and had several longer-than-usual meetings with the group’s top commanders.

Second Body Part Found in Ottawan Mail

Jeanette Torres — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:31:58 +0000

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(OTTAWA, Ontario) -- Police in Ottawa have confirmed that a second body part was discovered in the mail after a human foot was mailed to the Conservative Party of Canada.

The severed foot was discovered first when a receptionist at the headquarters of Prime Minister Stephen Harper contacted authorities Tuesday after receiving a blood-soaked package.

“Upon arrival, officers noted the package possibly had blood stains on it,” police said in a statement.

The package was addressed to no specific person who worked at the building, according to police. Harper’s office is not located in the building where the foot was delivered.

The second package was detected later Tuesday by a postal worker who reportedly took note of a parcel’s odor.

Investigators who “won’t confirm or deny” that the second body part was a human hand, according to the Ottawa Sun, are also not saying whether the second body part came from the same body as the foot sent to the Conservative Party headquarters.

Police investigating the bizarre circumstances in Ottawa were in touch Tuesday with authorities in Montreal, where a human torso was discovered in a suitcase. Authorities in both cities are looking into a link between the cases.

Two ISAF Troops Killed in Separate Attacks in Southern Afghanistan

Jeanette Torres — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:07:07 +0000

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- Two service members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, NATO said.

One soldier died after coming under attack by an improvised explosive device, while the other was killed following an insurgent attack.

Per ISAF policy, the troops' identification has been deferred to national authorities.

Taliban Blamed for Wave of Poison Attacks on Schoolgirls

Jeanette Torres — Wed, 30 May 2012 08:54:14 +0000

YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- The Taliban appears to be stepping up its attack on girls getting an education in Afghanistan by launching what is believed to be the third toxic assault on a school in a week.

On Tuesday, local officials in northern Afghanistan said that 160 schoolgirls complained of being poisoned by the Taliban. The symptoms included headaches, dizziness and vomiting.

Most of the girls were not seriously injured and were released after treatment at a nearby hospital.

Last week, another alleged attack by the Taliban on a school sickened 120 girls. That was preceded by a similar report of 40 girls being poisoned at another school.

Some conservative Afghan officials have actually blamed the incident ”to mass hysteria among schoolgirls" although their defenders contend the sheer number of victim complaints cannot be tied to mere hysteria.

Prince William Tells Katie Couric He’s Eager for Kids

Carmen Cox — Wed, 30 May 2012 01:19:48 +0000

Katie Couric interviews Prince William for the ABC network special, "The Jubilee Queen With Katie Couric." (Credit: Mark Large)(LONDON) -- One year after their marriage, Prince William said that he and wife, Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, are eager to have children. What he didn’t say was exactly when the world could expect to meet the next British royal heir.

“I’m just very keen to have a family and both Catherine and I, you know, are looking forward to having a family in the future,” the Duke of Cambridge, 29, said in an interview with ABC News’ Katie Couric. Asked by Couric if there was anything else he wanted to share, he answered with a laugh, “You won’t get anything out of me. Tight lipped.”

To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, celebrating her 60 years on the throne, Couric conducted several rare interviews with members of the royal family, including TRH Prince Harry, The Duke of Cambridge Prince William and The Duke of York Prince Andrew, which aired Tuesday night in an ABC News special, The Jubilee Queen With Katie Couric.

Speculation about whether Kate Middleton is pregnant has been swirling for months. Meanwhile, whenever the royal couple does have children, it appears likely their first-born will be in line for the throne regardless of gender. Last year, the heads of 16 Commonwealth countries agreed to a change in the rules of succession so that first-born children of either gender -- rather than only first-born males -- can take the throne. (Queen Elizabeth II was only eligible to be sovereign because her father had no male children.) The British Parliament must still amend existing law to make the succession change official.

“Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters last year.

Prince William said he thought it was strange that his family planning was the subject of headlines, but he tries not to let it bother him.

What does bother the prince, however, is the decision he has to make by the end of this year: whether to take another tour of duty with the Royal Air Force -- where he is a flight lieutenant -- or assume royal duties full-time.

“I’m still trying to decide,” he said. “It’s a really difficult one because I really enjoy my time in the Air Force. And I’d love to continue it. But the pressures of my other life are building. And fighting them off or balancing the two of them has proven quite difficult.”

Like his older brother, Prince Harry has followed his family’s long-standing tradition of military service. He is a captain in the British Army Air Corps and famously had a tour in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008.

In Afghanistan, he said, he learned what it meant to fight for queen and country.

“Once you’re in the military, she means a lot more to you than just a grandmother. She is the queen. And then you suddenly, it’s like start realizing, you know, wow, this is quite a big deal. And then you get goosebumps and then the rest of it,” he said.

Prince Harry is still figuring out his personal life, he said. The 27-year-old prince shared with Couric his own desire for a family.

“I’ve longed for kids since I was very, very young. And so…I’m waiting to find the right person, someone who’s willing to take on the job,” he said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Drug Cartel Attacks U.S.-Owned Potato Chip Company

Carmen Cox — Tue, 29 May 2012 23:58:31 +0000

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(GUANAJATO, Mexico) -- Mexican authorities arrested four alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel after a series of firebomb attacks on a potato chip company owned by the U.S. food company PepsiCo, the first attack on an American multinational firm in Mexico's ongoing drug war.

Five warehouses and parking lots owned by the popular Sabritas brand were attacked over the weekend in the states of Michoacan and Guanajato. Witnesses said masked men had thrown firebombs and incinerated warehouses and dozens of delivery trucks. No one was injured in the bombings, according to authorities.

The attorney general of Guanajato, Carlos Zamarippa Aguirre, alleged that the men arrested had confessed that the motive of the attacks was extortion. Aguirre said the suspects gave false names but were identified by fingerprints and at least one, the alleged cell leader, was already wanted on charges of kidnapping.

Emails that circulated in Michoacan, however, suggested the attacks may have been revenge attacks by members of the Knights Templar who believe that Mexican authorities use the snack-food trucks to spy on the cartel. The company has nearly 15,000 delivery trucks in Mexico, many featuring a smiley face and the slogan, "You can't eat just one." Cheetos, Fritos, Ruffles and Doritos as well as Sabritas potato chips are sold under the Sabritas name in Mexico.

PepsiCo released a statement Sunday that emphasized the company's trucks are used only for company business. "We repeat that in accordance with our code of conduct, all of our operations are carried out in the current regulatory framework and our vehicles and facilities are used exclusively to carry our products to our customers and clients," said the statement.

The company also said that it was already taking steps to "restore operations" and that the safety of employees is always its highest priority.

The Knights Templar drug cartel is a relatively small and new entrant in Mexico's drug war, and is active in the Pacific coast states of Michoacan and Guanajato. Formed two years ago as an offshoot of Christian-tinged La Familia Michoacana cartel, the "Caballeros Templarios" model themselves on the original Knights Templar, a Christian military order established in Europe 900 years ago that was active in the Crusades.

The original Knights Templar, known for white tunics with large red crosses, fought to protect Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem and to recover the mythic Holy Grail, from which the disciples of Jesus supposedly drank during the Last Supper.

During initiation ceremonies, recruits to the drug cartel wear helmets similar to those worn by medieval knights and common in Mexican Easter ceremonies. Cartel members swear blood oaths and are issued Templar rulebooks. The cartel issued a very public call for a ceasefire during Pope Benedict's visit to Mexico in March.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Twitter War Rages On Between Russia and US Ambassador

Carmen Cox — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:27:41 +0000

SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images(MOSCOW) -- The Twitter war between the Russian Foreign Ministry and U.S. Ambassador in Moscow Michael McFaul has flared up again after the ministry said it was “utterly shocked” by a presentation the U.S. envoy gave to a group of Russian students last week.

In an unprecedented public rebuke the Foreign Ministry fired off a string of furious tweets Monday blasting McFaul for “deliberate distortion” of U.S.-Russian relations and called his conduct “unprofessional.”

“This is not the first time Mr. McFaul’s statements and actions have been a cause for concern,” the ministry wrote. It quickly added: “Ambassadors’ job, as we understand it, is to improve bilateral ties, not to spread blatant falsehoods through the mediasphere.”

The angry tweets were in response to a presentation McFaul gave to a group of students at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics last Friday entitled “The ‘Reset’ Theory, Results.” His remarks addressed the often contentious U.S.-Russian bilateral relationship, which the Obama administration vowed to “reset,” and efforts to improve them.

Some of the tweets ripped McFaul for his alleged criticism of the Kremlin-backed English-language television station RT, formerly known as Russia Today.

“It is hard to understand why freedom of speech supporter Michael McFaul casts suspicion on the activities of the @RT_com network in the U.S.,” the ministry wrote in one of nine tweets fired off within a span of three minutes. “It would seem he should be pleased with the emergence of additional sources of information for the American public.”

Soon after the ministry’s stinging opening salvo, McFaul took to his own Twitter account to defend his presentation, firing off tweets to note that his talk included 20 areas of U.S.-Russian cooperation and that he has appeared on RT in interviews. He also posted a link to the PowerPoint slides from his talk.

McFaul’s appointment as ambassador to Russia was a particularly controversial one in part because the Stanford professor was not a career diplomat and he faced problems from the very start.

He attended a meeting with Russian opposition figures shortly after arriving in Moscow in February, and Russian state television soon began a campaign blasting him for interfering in Russia’s internal affairs and accused the United States of paying protesters to attend anti-Putin protests. Television commentators seized on a book he wrote about Russia’s revolution and suggested he had been sent to Moscow to foment unrest.

During the next few months McFaul again made headlines when he publicly accused someone of hacking his emails and tapping his phones after a pro-Kremlin television crew followed him to unannounced meetings. The harassment led Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to personally complain to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about McFaul’s treatment, a U.S. official told ABC News.

McFaul later backpeddled on his hacking claim. On Monday he also offered a similar response to the Foreign Ministry’s criticism.

“Still learning the craft of speaking more diplomatically,” he wrote.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

'A Cry for Help': Hunger and Drought Crisis in West Africa

Joshua Cohan — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:55:36 +0000

Two-year-old Ouobra Kompalemba, who suffers from severe malnutrition and bronchitis, receives milk through a catheter at a hospital in Diapaga, eastern Burkina Faso. RAPHAEL DE BENGY/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- According to the United Nations, the Sahel region of West Africa, which stretches across eight countries including Chad, Mauritania and Gambia, is being affected by a hunger crisis.

The U.N. estimates that 15 million people in the region are suffering from food shortages caused by drought and conflict, and UNICEF says that nearly 1.5 million children are near starvation.

The following organizations are working to stop the famine by supporting livestock, growing crops and giving people cash so they can afford the food on sale in their markets.

Below is more information on those organizations and how you can help:

Save the Children: Save the Children plans to reach 185,000 of the most vulnerable families -- 1.3 million people -- to help prevent them from falling into hunger.

The group's Lane Hartill said, however, that the organization also wanted to help these families to build up their resistance in the long term so they are better prepared for the next drought.

Save the Children also supports families through cash-transfer programs so they have money to buy what they consider appropriate. Cattle and goats -- essentially "savings accounts" in villages -- have been hard hit by the drought, Hartill said, and with animals dying, there is no fodder.

According to the organization, $39 could help support 10 mothers whose children are in a stabilization clinic and $2.35 could pay for sachets of oral rehydration salts to help treat 100 children suffering from diarrhea.

To donate to Save the Children, click here.

Oxfam: Oxfam is starting to distribute unconditional cash to the most vulnerable so they can access food on the markets -- 30 percent to 40 percent higher than in the last five-year average -- and cope until the next harvest.

The organization says that animal feed is "super important" to protect the livelihoods of pastoralists. If they lose their animals on the onset of the rainy season -- which occurred in 2010 when 24 percent of the livestock was lost -- they will be locked in the cycle of hunger.

"One way to put this: Save an animal, save an entire community and help lift them out of poverty," said Gaelle Bausson, an Oxfam spokesperson.

Oxfam said that seeds are also among "the most acute and immediate" need.

Bausson told ABC News that $40 will vaccinate 15 goats so vulnerable families can have food and an income; $80 will give three people the money to buy food and other essentials for the next three months; and $140 will provide clean, safe drinking water for three families by building or repairing water sources.

To donate to Oxfam, click here.

UNICEF: UNICEF is focused on the nutritional needs of children. According to the organization, children who are acutely malnourished cannot consume regular food and require ready-to-use therapeutic food for their bodies to recover.

UNICEF said the donations made for the Sahel crisis would support life-saving relief efforts for children, including: therapeutic food and milk, medicine, immunizations and supplies to provide access to clean water.

Susannah Masur, a UNICEF spokeswoman, said that $100 could save a child from severe acute malnutrition; $50 could buy 1,200 high-energy biscuits to give suffering children protein, vitamins and sugar; and less than $1 could immunize two children against the measles.

To donate to UNICEF, click here.

World Food Programme: According to the World Food Programme, the main help it needs is money. WFP is funded entirely by voluntary donations from governments, companies and private individuals.

The organization is geared to provide for 9.6 million people across the eight countries of West Africa hit by the Sahel drought. The WFP expects the total cost of providing and delivering that food to be $789 million.

Despite donations from countries like the U.S., the WFP needs $361 million to feed everyone who needs help.

Jane Howard, spokeswoman for WFP, said that the organization spent most of its money on buying food to stop people from going hungry or dying from malnutrition. Howard said a No. 1 product needed in this fight against hunger was a "sachet of Plumpy'sup." It costs about 30 cents for a day's ration.

She said that two months of treatment could transform the life of a malnourished child.

WFP also has started to provide more cash or vouchers so that people can have flexibility when buying their own food.

To donate to World Food Programme, click here.

You can also text AID to 27722 to donate $10.

Charges will appear on your wireless bill or be deducted from your prepaid balance. All purchases must be authorized by account holder. Must be 18 years of age or have parental permission to participate. Message and data rates may apply. Text STOP to 27722 to STOP. Text HELP to 27722 for HELP.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontieres: In addition to preventing and treating malnutrition throughout West Africa and the Sahel region, Doctors Without Borders is responding to multiple emergencies related to and exacerbating the hunger crisis, including assisting refugees from Mali and vaccinating against meningitis in Chad.

The organization said that $35 could purchase either enough vaccine to innoculate 85 children against measles during a deadly outbreak or a scale used to weigh children too young or weak to stand.

To donate to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontieres, click here.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Syrian Diplomats Expelled in Coordinated Protest of Houla Slayings

Joshua Cohan — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:08:22 +0000

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(LONDON) -- In a coordinated move, a number of western countries have started to expel senior Syrian diplomats from their countries.

“We have again called the Syrian Charge in London here to the Foreign Office,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague. “He has been given seven days to leave the country. Other Syrian diplomats, two other diplomats, will be expelled at the same time.”

And it was a similar story in places like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States. The action comes in response to the massacre in the Syrian city of Houla of more than 100 civilians.

“A fairly small number appear to have been killed by shelling - artillery and tank fire which took place over a period of more than twelve hours,” said Rupert Colville of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “But the majority appear to have been the result of house-to-house summary executions of armed men going into houses and killing men, women and children inside.”

The expulsions come amid increasing diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, and putting more pressure on President Bashar Assad.

It's also been announced that Paris will host a meeting in early July of the “Friends of Syria" in hopes of finding a solution to the conflict.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio