sacked
25,000 health workers from public hospitals who've been
on strike
for a week over pay and conditions. A health workers' union has dismissed the action as a negotiating tactic. Will Ross reports from Nairobi.
This appears to be an extraordinarily drastic measure by the Kenyan government. It said the names of 25,000 nurses and lab technicians have been removed from the
payroll
. They've been on strike for four days demanding better pay. A government spokesman described the strike action as
unethical
and urged unemployed or retired health workers to turn up on Friday to be interviewed for jobs. The health workers' union dismissed this as a tactic intended to
blackmail
the striking staff.
The United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos says she's concerned to find out what's happened to the people of a ruined district of the Syrian city of Homs. She said she was still waiting for the Syrian government to respond to a request to let humanitarian aid in. Jim Muir has this report from Beirut.
Valerie Amos said she was
devastated
by what she saw during her brief 45-minute visit to Baba Amr on Wednesday.
"The devastation there is significant. That part of Homs is completely destroyed, and I'm concerned to know what has happened to the people who lived in that part of the city."
Activist groups continue to report the
summary execution
of men from Baba Amr, the butchering of entire families and also the systematic mass rape of women.