The West African bloc Ecowas has agreed to deploy troops to free Mali’s north from militants. The regional leaders agreed at a summit that 3,300 soldiers, mainly from Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso, would be sent to Mali to retake the northern regions from Tuareg and Islamist militants. The president of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouatarra, said that the soldiers can be deployed as soon as the UN Security Council approves the plan.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Barack Obama on Sunday to congratulate him on the recent Presidential election and told him that he will press ahead with presenting a resolution to the United Nation’s General Assembly to become a non-member state. President Obama was quick to denounce the proposal as he, “reiterated the United States’ opposition to unilateral efforts at the United Nations.” On other hand, US stressed its willingness to support direct dialogue between the two parties as Obama, “reaffirmed his commitment to Middle East peace and his strong support for direct...
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has spoken out against China on Monday, after a spate of self-immolations in the past week. Speaking to reporters in Japan, the exiled leader said , "The Chinese government should investigate the cause (of the incidents). China does not look into it seriously and tries to end (the incidents) only by criticising me". His comments come after at least 7 reported self-immolations in the past week alone. China, meanwhile, continued to criticise the Dalai Lama, with Losang Gyaltsen, vice-chairman of the Tibet region's government saying, "The Dalai Lama clique and overseas Tibetan separatists have been sacrificing other people's lives for their own secret political aims".
In a historic moment, the Irish prime minister Enda Kenny, laid a wreath in honour of fallen British soldiers, during British Remembrance Sunday. Taking part in a commemorative service in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, marking the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a Remembrance Sunday service, Kenny stood head bowed before laying a wreath at the spot of the explosion. Laying a green wreath, the Irish prime minister's wreath stood out against the sea of red poppies, and his appearance too, by the notable absence of a red poppy. The gesture comes after the British Queen laid a wreath in...
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have fired warning shots at Syria for the first time since 1973, responding to an incident on Thursday when a mortar shell fired from Syria hit an Israeli military post in the Golan Heights. While the mortar fire caused no damage or injuries at the post, errant fire incidents from Syria have multiplied in recent weeks, which has led Israel to warn that it holds Syria responsible. Although Israeli officials believe that Syrian government forces are responsible for most of the firing, they do not think that it has been intentionally aimed at Israel. The Israeli...
The various splinters of Syria’s opposition have reached an agreement to form a Western and Arab-backed government-in-exile and rally behind a new leader. Representatives of Syria’s various opposition groups, including rebel fighters, veteran dissidents and religious and ethnic minorities, agreed on Sunday to join a new assembly and unanimously elected Mouaz al-Khatib, a reformist Damascus cleric, as its president. The decision came after days of fierce arguments in Qatar, under the watch of frustrated US, Arab and other foreign officials. Khatib, a former imam who advocates a liberal and tolerant Islam, called on all factions to unite and for soldiers to renounce the Syrian army, telling reporters: "We demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawi, Ismaili (Shi'ite), Christian, Druze, Assyrian ... and rights for all parts of the harmonious Syrian people."
Geneva-based NGO, UN Watch, has slammed the election of Sudan to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and called on the United States, European Union and UN chiefs to condemn the appointment. Criticising Sudan as “genocidal, misogynistic and repressive” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch labelled it an “outrage”. He stated , “Electing genocidal Sudan to a global human rights body is like choosing Jack the Ripper to guard a women’s shelter. This diminishes the credibility of the United Nations human rights system and casts a shadow upon the reputation of the organization as a whole.” “Sudan, whose leader was indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity , will now help choose the members of the Commission on the Status of Women, the executive of UN Women, and UNICEF, which protects children’s rights,”
In an interview to Russia Today, besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied that war crimes have been committed by his government forces and instead said he is fighting against “terrorism”. When questioned about accusations of war crimes, Assad responded by saying, "if you have an army that committed a crime against its own people, this is devoid of logic because the Syrian Army is made up of Syrian people… the army cannot withstand for twenty months in these difficult circumstances without having the embrace of the public in Syria," The President instead accused Syrian rebels of...
Bahraini authorities deployed the paramilitary National Guard on Saturday in a move to further clamp down on public protest, reports AP. Last month, the authorities banned all protests and public gatherings. In a statement on Saturday, the government said the National Guard would patrol "strategic locations" where arson attacks and violent clashes have taken place. Two days ago, the government revoked the citizenship of 31 human rights activists stating that they had "undermined state security".
The UK will end giving financial aid to India by 2015, announced the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening. She announced that no new grants will be made from immediate effect and the ongoing programme will be restructured and phased out by 2015. "After reviewing the programme and holding discussions with the Government of India this week, we agreed that now is the time to move to a relationship focussing on skills-sharing rather than aid. "Having visited India I have seen first hand the tremendous progress being made. India is successfully developing and our own bilateral...