The US embassy in Central African Republic has brought its operation to a halt as the ambassador along with 40 diplomats have left the country on Thursday, due to escalating tensions between the Seleka rebels and the CAR government. US State Department deputy spokesperson, Patrick Ventrell said in a statement, “This decision is solely due to concerns about the security of our personnel and has no relation to our continuing and long-standing diplomatic relations with the CAR.” The State Department in a separate notice has warned U.S. citizens from travelling to Central African Republic, due to...
Suspected Taliban militants lined up and shot 21 policemen on a cricket pitch in Pakistan on Saturday night, although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the killing. The murdered men were kidnapped last Thursday after rocket-propelled grenade attacks on two security posts. Naveed Akbar Khan, a local government official, told the AFP news agency: "We found 21 bullet-riddled bodies of security personnel in an uninhabited area. One was wounded and admitted to hospital, while another managed to escape." Another official, Gul Shehzad, added: "The hands ... were tied with rope before they...
The United Nations Secretary General has released a statement calling on the Indian government to bring to justice the perpetrators of the rape of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi, who died from her injuries in the attack. In a statement released on Saturday a spokesman for the Secretary General said, "He offers his sincerest condolences to her parents, family and friends, and utterly condemns this brutal crime. The Secretary-General welcomes the efforts of the Government of India to take urgent action and calls for further steps and reforms to deter such crimes and bring perpetrators to justice...
The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and rebels have agreed to hold talks following recent violence, and gains made by the Seleka rebels with some suggesting that CAR's capital Bangui could be in rebel hands within a 'few days'. Meanwhile, more troops from the Central African Multinational force (Fomac) are to be deployed to CAR. Talks are to be held in Libraville, in Gabon, and are said to be free of any pre-conditions.
The Burmese government has announced it will allow privately owned newspapers for the first time in 50 years. The information ministry said it will take applications by Burmese citizens from February 2013 and would permit the publication in any language from April. Burma abolished government censorship earlier this year, in a continuation of moves to liberalise the country. Only two years ago Burmese journalists were subjected to severe censorship and the government regularly shut down papers that fell foul of its strict rules.
British Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt, has criticised Israel’s announcement of new settlements, stating that they are in violation of the Geneva Conventions. In a statement released earlier this week Burt said, "Last week Foreign Secretary William Hague made clear our condemnation and deep disappointment at the approval of the East Jerusalem Ramat Shlomo plan. We also condemn the Jerusalem District Planning Board’s approvals for over 3150 units in Givaat Hamatos and 1242 units in Mordot Gilo South. These are further profoundly provocative actions that run contrary to the Fourth...
Protesters in Delhi on Thursday (The Hindu) A poll by TrustLaw, a Thomson Reuters news service, has found that India is the worst of the Group of 20 countries to be a woman in. Canada was found to be the best place by the global survey of experts, with Germany, Britain, Australia and France completing the top 5. The brutal rape and subsequent death of a woman in India’s capital New Delhi, and apparent lack of political will to adress the issue, has caused outrage across the country and abroad, shining a spot-light on how women are treated in the world’s largest democracy. Massive protests in...
The Russian government is urging Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to engage with the opposition. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia still refuses to support calls for Assad to step down but pressed Assad to consider all options to end the conflict. "We actively encouraged... the Syrian leadership to maximally put into action its declared readiness for dialogue with the opposition," Lavrov said to reporters on Thursday, after a meeting with Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad. "I hope that the inside Syria will prompt reasonable members of the opposition to search for...
Russia's invitation for peace talks has been rejected by Syria's opposition leader, dampening international hopes for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Talking on Al Jazeera TV, Moaz Alkhatib said: "We have clearly said we will not go to Moscow. We could meet in an Arab country if there was a clear agenda," "Now we also want an apology from (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov because all this time he said that the people will decide their destiny, without foreign intervention. Russia is intervening and meanwhile all these massacres of the Syrian people have happened, treated as if...
Swiss campaign groups have welcomed efforts by the government in attempting to track down and prosecute war criminals, with the creation of a dedicated task force earlier this year. The director of Geneva-based ‘Track Impunity Always’ (Trial) Philip Grant hailed the move, saying , “Switzerland is finally taking its international obligations more seriously,” In particular the cases of Khaled Nezzar, the former Algerian defence minister and ex-Guatamalan police chief Erwin Sperisen were highlighted by Grant. He went on to say, “Once it is accepted that there is a shared responsibility by states...