• Turkey cracks down on press using anti-terrorism laws

    Mar 07

    Turkey's biggest selling newspaper is expected to be charged with terrorism offences, reports The Times, following a raid on its offices on Friday.

    Speaking to The Times, Zaman's chief columnist Bulent Kenes said he expects to be detained under terrorism offences “in the coming days”. “It is a matter of when, not if,” he said.

    His comments come following the Turkish government ordering armed police to raid the offices of Zaman on Friday. “We are going through the darkest and gloomiest days in terms of freedom of the press, which is a major benchmark for democracy and rule of law,” read a statement in Zaman's English-language sister paper. “Intellectuals, businesspeople, celebrities, civil society organisations, media organisations and journalists are being silenced via threats and blackmail.”

    Though members of the European Union reportedly raised the issue on both public and private, the Kurdish leader of the HDP criticised Western countries for not speaking up on the issue and on the Turkish war on Kurds in the southeast, for fear of jeopardising a hotly debated agreement on refugees.

  • US to announce number of drone casualties since 2009, as attack kills 150

    The White House has announced it will for the first time publish the number of civilians and combatants killed in US drone strikes since 2009.

    President Barack Obama's Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco said the figures would be released in the coming weeks but that they would not include strikes in "areas of active hostilities," such as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, where hostilities against the US remain.

    "In the coming weeks, the administration will publicly release an assessment of combatant and non-combatant casualties resulting from strikes taken outside areas of active hostilities since 2009," she said, adding that the report would then be published annually.

  • Truck bomb kills at least 60 in Iraq
    An explosives laden fuel tanker was detonated in southern Iraq, killing at least 60 people on Sunday.

    The bomb attack occurred round midday local time, at a checkpoint near the city of Hilla.

    The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
  • Taliban rejects peace talks in Islamabad
    The Taliban on Saturday rejected reports that members of the group would be taking part in peace talks organised by the Afghan government, Pakistan, China and the US, Reuters reported.

    "We reject all such rumors and unequivocally state that the leader of Islamic Emirate [of Afghanistan] has not authorized anyone to participate in this meeting," the Taliban said on Saturday.

    "[Islamic Emirate] once again reiterates that unless the occupation of Afghanistan is ended, black lists eliminated and innocent prisoners freed, such futile misleading negotiations will not bear any results," the statement went on to state.

  • Congo agrees to extradition of genocide suspect to Rwanda
    The Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday agreed to the extradition of a genocide suspect to Rwanda.

    The suspect, a former Rwandan mayor named Ladislas Ntaganzwa was indicted for his role in the killing over over 800,000 Tutsies. He was arrested in Congo in December 2015.

    Asked about the extradition, Congo's justice minister, Alexis Thambwe, said Mr Ntaganzwa would be extradited within one month.
  • Syria opposition to uphold ceasefire despite government violations
    Syria’s opposition will stick to the cessation of hostilities despite alleged violations by the Syrian government on Saturday, reports Reuters.

    The Syrian opposition alleged that Syria’s government violated the ceasefire 15 times  with more breaches on Sunday.
  • Fighting halts in western Syria
    Fighting in western Syria halted on Saturday as the Russia-US plan for a temporary "cessation of hostilities" took effect.

     "Let's pray that this works because frankly this is the best opportunity we can imagine the Syrian people has had for the last five years in order to see something better and hopefully something related to peace," the UN's envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura was quoted by Reuters as saying.
  • Saudi Arabia continues bombing campaign in Yemen
    Air strikes by the Saudi-Arabia led coalition continued in Yemen and killed at least 40 people.

    The air-strike campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen continued despite the EU voting for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia for their involvement in the death of civilians in Yemen, reports Reuters.
  • Guatemala court sentences 2 former soldiers over war time rape
    A Guatemalan court this week sentenced two former soldiers for crimes against humanity for the systematic rape of women during 1982 and 1983 at the Sepur Zarco military base.

    The two men, Coronel Esteelmer Reyes Giron and Valdez Asig were also found guilty for the enforced disappearance of seven men. They have been sentences for 120 and 240 years.

    “We find the treatment of the women of Sepur Zarco to have been completely humiliating and degrading," the judge, Jazmin Barrios said.

    “There was a strategic design to pulverize the social fabric and to prevent its reproductive," she added.

  • African Union to send human rights and military monitors to Burundi
    The African Union will send 100 human rights monitors and 100 military monitors to Burundi, announced South Africa’s president after a visit to the country, reports Reuters.

    Speaking after his two day visit to the country where 400 people have been killed since April last year, President Zuma said,
  • US proposes 'strongest ever' UN sanctions on North Korea
    The United States presented a draft to the United Nations Security Council resolution seeking to dramatically tighten existing restrictions on North Korea, reports Reuters.

    The draft calls on UN member states to conduct inspections of all cargo passing through their territory to or from North Korea to look for illicit goods.
  • EU votes for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia
    The European Union has voted for an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia in response to the states heavy bombing of Yemen during its campaign against Houthi militants.

    The non-binding motion was passed by 359 votes to 212, and adds to a code of conduct agreed by the EU in 2008 where countries promised to not sell weapons to countries where they might be used “to commit serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
  • All sides guilty of war crimes says UN Libya report
    A report by released by the UN on Thursday states that all sides of the conflict in Libya are likely to have committed war crimes, including rape, extrajudicial executions and torture.

    “A multitude of actors, both state and non-state, are accused of very serious violations and abuses that may, in many cases, amount to war crimes,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said.
  • UN air drops aid in Syria
    The UN on Wednesday air dropped 21 tonnes of humanitarian aid goods to Syria, in its first air drop to the region.

    The air drop took place in the region of Deir la-Zour, where the UN estimates over 200,000 civilians have become besieged by Islamic State forces.
  • ‘Exclude countries that do not discipline peacekeepers’ – NYT
    States that have not taken action against troops that have been accused of sexual abuse whilst taking part in United Nations peacekeeping missions should be excluded, said the New York Times in an editorial this week.

    “The United Nations is failing some of the most vulnerable children it is supposed to protect,” said the newspaper. “A decade ago, the organization acknowledged that some of the peacekeepers sent to international conflict zones were sexually abusing local women and children, and it promised corrective action. The scourge continues, prompting one senior United Nations official to recoil at what he called the “constant horror story of allegations” against the peacekeepers.”

    The editorial follows reports that girls were raped or sexually exploited last year in the Central African Republic by troops from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    “Countries that contribute troops to vital multimillion-dollar peacekeeping missions bear the primary responsibility for crimes committed by their forces,” said the New York Times. “But the United Nations urgently needs to intensify its oversight, documenting abuse cases; keeping better track of whether the abuses are followed up with prosecutions; and holding countries publicly accountable when they let abusive troops off the hook, which seems to be the pattern.”

    “And despite the difficulties in recruiting enough troops for peacekeeping duties, it is time to exclude countries that do not impose the necessary discipline to make zero tolerance possible.”
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