Israel's use of white phosphorous "violates international humanitarian law", Human Rights Watch reports following attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus. Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the...
srael has declared a "complete siege" on Gaza as the United Nations states there is " clear evidence " of war crimes committed in the conflict. 900 Palestinians have been killed, which includes 260 children following intense bombing by Israel across Gaza. The area is home to about 2.3 million people in total - 80% of whom rely on humanitarian aid. Since the attacks began on Saturday morning, Israel has stopped all supplies entering Gaza, including food and medicine. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said more than a dozen healthcare workers had been killed or injured and at least seven medical centres had been damaged.
Pakistan has ordered for the deportation of an estimated 1.7 million Afghan refugees by the end of November, in a move the Taliban has opposed as “unacceptable”. The recent crackdown follows a deadly blast at a mosque in Mastung city near the Afghanistan border, resulting in over 50 casualties during a religious celebration. Balochistan province, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, has been a frequent target of armed groups, including the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State. Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti alleged that Afghan nationals had carried out...
India has told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 staff in the country, in an escalation of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. According to officials who spoke to the Financial Times , the Indian foreign ministry has given Canada a week to repatriate two-thirds of its diplomats stationed in India, reducing the number to 21. An official familiar with the matter confirmed the report to the Associated Press. Those who stayed past 10 October would lose their diplomatic immunity, the Financial Times first reported. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment, but ministry...
A former Bolivian president and his defence minister have agreed to pay damages to the families of people killed by the military during their government, in a landmark settlement that sets a precedent by which other foreign leaders could face accountability for human rights abuse in US courts. The settlement concerns events in 2003, when massive protests broke out over then president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s plan to export Bolivia’s natural gas . The army was sent to clear blockades in the largely Indigenous and working-class city of El Alto, killing more than 60 protesters and injuring...
Thousands of ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday in lines of cars which stretched for kilometres after Azerbaijan took control of the breakaway region sparking fears of persecution. The Azerbaijani military routed Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz last week, forcing the authorities of the breakaway region to agree to lay down weapons. They also agreed to start talks on the “reintegration” of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, into Azerbaijan, after three decades of separatist rule. r\Atak Beglaryan, a former adviser to the self-declared government of Artsakh, told The...
The United States has recognised the Cook Islands and Niue as “sovereign and independent” states and pledged to open diplomatic relations. In a statement on Monday, Biden said “the history and the future of the Pacific Islands and the United States are inextricably linked”. “The United States’ recognition of the Cook Islands, and the establishment of diplomatic relations will not only strengthen the ties between our nations, it will help ensure that our shared future is more secure, more prosperous, and more free — for our people and people around the world.” The US president is hosting the...
Justin Trudeau has said there is “credible evidence” India is responsible for the alleged assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Canadian Sikh leader. The Canadian prime minister told the House of Commons of Canada on Monday that, in recent weeks, national security authorities had been probing allegations that New Delhi was behind a state-sponsored assassination. "Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said. “Canada is a rule-of-law country, the protection of our citizens...
Testimonies from over 200 people accusing the Ugandan president, his son, and other senior officials of killings, torture, and other crimes against humanity have been submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In total, there are 26 officials that have been accused of aiding the incarceration and systemic abuse of Ugandans who supported opposition leader Bobi Wine in 2021. Among those accused is President Yoweri Museveni who has been in power for nearly four decades, and his son Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Faruk Kirunda, the president's deputy press secretary, labeled the accusers as...
Eighty Afghans may have been victims of summary killings by three separate British SAS units operating in the country between 2010 and 2013, lawyers representing the bereaved families have told a public inquiry. One of the elite soldiers is believed to have “personally killed” 35 Afghans on a single six-month tour of duty as part of an alleged policy to terminate “all fighting-age males” in homes raided, “regardless of the threat they posed”. Between June 2011 and May 2013, 25 suspicious deaths were recorded by the lawyers, which included an allegation that in one SAS raid that “resulted in...