state department spokesperson victoria nuland said on wednesday that the aid for the north has failedo reach the intended recipients. >> it's very much on our minds that we cannot waste american taxpayers' dollars by providing aid that goes to the wrong people. if we're going to do it, it needs to go to the people in need. >> the u.s. suspended food aid to north korea in 2009. the u.s. government sent a special envoy and delegation to the north in may to determine whether to restart the program. it has yet to reach a decision. the united nations is appealing for member countries to provide food aid to north korea. the european union will send about $14.5 million worth of food to the country. >>> a desert in chile has been hit with unusual heavy snowfall despite its fame as the driest place in the world. up to 80 centimeters of snow has been recorded so far this week in the atacama desert in northern chile. the snow stranded a bus carrying 36 people who were rescued by soldiers on wednesday after 48-hour ordeal. china is the world's largest copper producer with many mines located in th

in washington, state department spokesman victoria nuland said it is the latest evidence that syria is using "intimidation and arrest" to erase all opposition. >> a week ago the positive example of a city in syria where peaceful demonstrations were allowed, where people were meeting each other and organizing and talking. today we see the town surrounded by syrian security forces so we're going in the wrong direction. >> sreenivasan: in 1982, then- president hafez assad, the current leader's father, crushed a rebellion in hama, killing as many as 25,000 people. nearly 200 people are feared dead after a boat carrying african migrants sank off the coast of sudan. sudanese police and a semi- official news agency reported the vessel caught fire and went down. the reports said the passengers were being smuggled to saudi arabia, and that only three were rescued. the u.s. senate has postponed an effort to authorize the military mission in libya, at least, for now. majority leader harry reid announced today the senate will focus instead on cutting the national debt. the senate gave up its holid

in washington, state department spokeswoman victoria nuland condemned the attack and the regime's response. >> the syrian government has not lived up to its obligations under the vienna convention to protect diplomatic facilities. and it's absolutely outrageous. they have not done the job that all governments are supposed to do i protecting the diplomatic facilities of all resident diplomats in their country. >> sreenivasan: u.s. officials said there were no injuries to embassy staffers. in iraq, u.s. defense secretary leon panetta threatened stronger action to stop iran from arming shi-ite militias, who attack u.s. troops. panetta spoke to a group of u.s. soldiers in baghdad and said: "this is not something we're going to walk away from. it's something we're going to take on head on." panetta also met with prime minister nouri al-maliki and president jalal talabani. they discussed keeping some u.s. troops in iraq after the withdrawal deadline in december. officials in pakistan today played down a u.s. decision to suspend $800 million in military aid. u.s. officials confirmed it on sunday.