News Headlines - 01 September 2012

▽The Associated Press: New UN Syria envoy puts pressure on regime

The U.N.'s new envoy to Syria told President Bashar Assad's regime on Saturday that change is both "urgent" and "necessary" and that it must meet the "legitimate" demands of the Syrian people, words that will not win the seasoned Algerian diplomat and international trouble shooter any friends in Damascus.

▽Suicide blasts at U.S.-Afghan base kill 13 - CNN.com

Two suicide bombers struck a joint U.S.-Afghan military base in central Afghanistan early Saturday, killing 13 people, authorities said.

▽Grünenthal Group Apologizes to Thalidomide Victims - NYTimes.com

Decades of campaigning by victims of thalidomide, a morning sickness drug, have taken a new turn, with the first apology in 50 years to the victims and their families by the drug’s German manufacturer — and an incensed rejection of the apology as too little and too late from many of those it was intended to placate.

▽BBC Nature - 'Spineless' animals under threat of extinction

The majority of the world's estimated 126,000 freshwater species are invertebrates including molluscs and insects, such as dragonflies... According to the ZSL review, a major issue for threatened freshwater species is water pollution from agricultural run-off, domestic sewage and industrial waste.

▽The Press Association: Scientist backing Higgs boson find

The scientist who heads the world's largest particle physics laboratory said he thinks it is "beyond any doubt" that a Higgs boson particle has been discovered.