Britain’s home secretary visited Amesbury and Salisbury in southwestern England yesterday to reassure residents that the risk to the public remains very low despite the recent poisoning of two people exposed to a deadly nerve agent. Sajid Javid said both towns remain open for business and urged people to visit what he called one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Javid was the first senior official to visit the area since 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess and her partner, 45-year-old Charley Rowley, were hospitalized in critical condition last week. Officials said they had come into contact with the deadly nerve agent Novichok, which was manufactured in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Syria: Thousands who fled recent fighting return home
A U.N. official and a group that closely monitors the Syrian war say most Syrians displaced by recent fighting in the country’s south have returned to their homes. Anders Pedersen, the top U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, told reporters yesterday that just 150 to 200 Syrians remained stranded near a key crossing point into Jordan, adding that as “far as we understand they are almost exclusively men.” Syrian government forces regained control of the Naseeb border crossing with Jordan on Friday, along with a long stretch of the border between the two countries. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some 60,000 Syrians have returned to their homes, while thousands of others fled to another area, fearing detention by government forces.
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