Syrian authorities 'committed crimes' against civilians

The Syrian authorities have committed clear and widespread crimes against the country's civilian population, the UN secretary general has said.

In an address to the General Assembly, Ban Ki-moon said the international community had failed in its duty, and inaction had encouraged Syria's leaders in their repression of civilians.

But he said further militarisation of the opposition was not the answer.

He spoke as the Red Cross waited to get access to a bombed-out part of Homs.

The ICRC said it had been refused permission to deliver aid to the Baba Amr district, which has suffered heavy bombardment by government forces in recent weeks, despite getting the go-ahead from the authorities on Friday morning.

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said the hold-up was "unacceptable".

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Thursday it was leaving the district in a "tactical withdrawal".

On Friday the UN human rights office said it had received reports of a "particularly grisly set of summary executions" of 17 people in Homs.

Meanwhile Paul Conroy, a Sunday Times photographer who fled Syria after being wounded in Homs, told the BBC that what was happening in Baba Amr was "systematic slaughter".

Two French journalists caught up in the shelling and smuggled out of Homs into Lebanon have been flown back to a military airport outside Paris.

Edith Bouvier and William Daniels were met on arrival by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ms Bouvier was badly injured in the bombardment of a makeshift media centre last week, in which two other journalists were killed.

She was stretchered off the plane and is set to undergo surgery on Friday evening for multiple leg fractures.

The bodies of the two dead journalists, Marie Colvin of Britain's Sunday Times and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, have arrived in Damascus and are expected to be returned home.

Ban said it was time for the international community to speak with one voice.

"Continued division emboldens the Syrian authorities in their violent path," he said.

"Continued delay in the humanitarian effort causes more human suffering. Continued violence on the ground risks descent into full civil war and sectarian strife that could haunt the country for generations to come."

He blamed the Syrian authorities for creating an armed conflict.

"The disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities has driven what had been largely peaceful opposition forces to resort to take up arms in some cases," he said.

"The images which we have seen in Syria are atrocious. It's totally unacceptable, intolerable. How, as a human being, can you bear this situation?"

The Syrian ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, accused Mr Ban of being misinformed, and using "extremely virulent rhetoric which confines itself to slandering a government based on reports, opinions or hearsay".He said opposition fighters had been using civilians as human shields in Homs.

But Mr Ban said the international community should insist that Syria give humanitarian workers in Homs access to Baba Amr.

Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement that the seven-lorry aid convoy carrying food, medicine and blankets, along with ambulances from the Syrian Red Crescent, would stay in Homs overnight in the hope of entering the devastated district "in the very near future".

"It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help," he said.

Hackers had 'full functional control' of Nasa computers

Hackers gained "full functional control" of key Nasa computers in 2011, the agency's inspector general has told US lawmakers.

Paul K Martin said hackers took over Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) computers and "compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users".

He said the attack, involving Chinese IP addresses, was under investigation.In a statement, Nasa said it had "made significant progress to protect the agency's IT systems".

Martin's testimony on Nasa's cybersecurity was submitted to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.

In the document, he outlined how investigators believed the attack had involved "Chinese-based internet protocol [IP] addresses".

He said that the attackers had "full system access" and would have been able to "modify, copy, or delete sensitive files" or "upload hacking tools to steal user credentials and compromise other Nasa systems".

Martin outlined how the agency suffered "5,408 computer security incidents" between 2010 and 2011.

He also noted that "between April 2009 and April 2011, Nasa reported the loss or theft of 48 Agency mobile computing devices".