• IFJ condemns killing of Libyan journalists by Islamic State

    The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a group promoting press freedom, condemned the killings of 5 Libyan journalists by Islamic State militants, in a statement made on Monday.

    Islamic State militants killed five journalists working for a Libyan TV station in the eastern regions of the country, a Libyan army commander told press.
  • Al-Bashir re-elected as Sudan’s president

    Omar al-Bashir has been re-elected as the president of Sudan, with 94% of the vote going to the suspected war criminal, according to the official election results.

    The president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court and is accused of committing genocide in Darfur, has been in power for 25 years, and can now serve for another 5.

  • ‘The worst can always happen’ warns French president on visit to WW2 camp
    French President Francois Hollande said racism was still present in the world and that atrocities like those committed during World War Two could still occur, as he visited a Nazi concentration camp on Sunday.

    "Evil has not disappeared, it has taken on new colours," said the French president on his visit to Natzweiler-Struthof in Alsace, the only Nazi concentration camp built on French soil.

    "The worst can always happen, it is in knowing it that we can avoid it," he added. "We must not forget anything."
  • Islamist militant alliance captures key Syrian town
    A coalition of Islamist opposition militants have, which includes the Al Nusra Front, has captured a key Syrian town in the north of the country.

    The opposition alliance, which also includes the Ahrar al-Sham movement and Jund al-Aqsa, united last month in an effort to overwhelm Syrian government forces and take the town of Jisr al-Shughour. The coalition, which does not include the Islamic State (IS), captured the town of Idlib last month.
  • More than 1,800 feared dead as earthquake hits Nepal
    Countries from around the world have pledged humanitarian aid to Nepal after a massive earthquake killed at least 1,800 people on Saturday.

    Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the earthquake levelled centuries-old monuments, collapsed buildings and caused avalanches on Mount Everest, as the death toll looks almost certain to rise.
  • Israel indicts soldiers for crimes committed in Gaza

    Three soldiers with the Israeli Defense Force have been indicted for looting, allegedly committed the violence in Gaza last year, the Los Angeles Times reported.

    According to a statement from the Military Advocate General, two soldiers were charged with looting around $600 from a Palestinian house in the Gaza neighborhood of Shajaiyeh and a third soldier was charged with aiding and abetting the theft.

    The soldiers were reported to military police by the soldiers' commander last summer.

    The IDF is reviewing over 120 cases of alleged violations of humanitarian law in Gaza, of which so far 19 are currently being investigated further. Several of the cases concern incidents in which Israeli military operations caused multiple civilian fatalities, the LA Times said.

  • Deaths in Burundi protests

    Thousands have defied a ban on protests, a day after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid for a third term in office, leading to clashes with police.

    At least two protesters were killed and more than five were injured, with one in a coma, Burundian Red Cross spokesman Alexis Manirakiza told the BBC.

  • Yemen foreign minister rejects calls for peace talks

    The Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen rejected the former president’s calls for peacetalks in a statement made on Sunday.

    Speaking at a news conference in London, Mr Yaseen said,

  • Pakistani human rights activist gunned down in Karachi

    A leading Pakistani human rights activist has been shot dead in Karachi, shortly after hosting an event detailing torture in Balochistan.

    Sabeen Mehmud, director of the charity The Second Floor (T2F), was killed as gunmen opened fire on her vehicle leaving a seminar she hosted on torture in Balochistan. Her mother, who was also in the car, was injured in the attack.

  • Pakistan prime minister condemns activist killing, orders immediate investigation
     The prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, condemned the killing of the leading human rights activist Sabeen Mehmud.

    Mr Sharif, in a statement made on Saturday, expressing his condolences, ordered an immediate investigation into the killing, reports the BBC.
  • FARC militants blame Colombian government for delayed peace-talks
    FARC militants in Colombia, rejected the Colombian government’s request to accelerate peace talks on Friday.

    The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, repeatedly urged a swift end to peace talks, which have taken place in Havana over the last two and a half years.
  • India puts Ford Foundation on security watch list

    The Indian government placed the philanthropic organisation, the Ford Foundation, on a national securty watch list, due to its past/ funding of an NGO which recently pushed for the prosecution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his role in the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat on 2002.

    The home affairs ministry on Thursday sent a letter to the Reserve Bank of India, asking the central bank to place the Ford Foundation on a watch list to ensure that the funds it distributes are used "for bona fide welfare activities without compromising on concerns for national interest and security".

    The move means the organisation can now only disburse funds after clearance from the home affairs ministry.

  • Vaccine against malaria could be available in months

    The final stages of clinical trials of a vaccine against malaria are ongoing, which, if successful, could help immunise millions of children from the disease which can be deadly.

    However tests conducted on 16,000 children in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, showed that booster doses were not as effective as the initial dose, and immunisation waned over time.

    Prof Brian Greenwood, study author and professor of clinical tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said to the BBC he was "a little disappointed" by the results.

    "I hoped the vaccine would be more effective, but we were never going to end up with the success seen in measles vaccines with 97% efficacy."

  • Situation in Iraq and Syria ‘utterly unsustainable’ says UN High Commissioner for Refugees

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the situation in Iraq and Syria was “utterly unsustainable” and that unless urgent action was taken “things risk getting even worse".

    In an address to the UN Security Council In New York, High Commissioner António Guterres called the situation in the Middle East “a cancer that risks spreading and metastasizing”. “If things continue this way, we could see future developments spin out of control, independently of our will and with increasingly dangerous global consequences," he warned.

    "We have to recognize the increasingly protracted nature of this refugee crisis,” added Mr Guterres, as he called for increased humanitarian aid, as well as “stopping the horrific loss of life in the Mediterranean”.

    However, Mr Guterres warned that the situation could deteriorate further, saying, “after Iraq became so dramatically engulfed in the Syrian conflict with the attacks on Mosul and Tikrit last year, I do not know where the next disrupting shock will take place.” “I only know that it will come, and that things risk getting even worse," he added.

    He was joined by UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt, who said “it is time for the Security Council to work as one to end the conflict, and reach a settlement that also brings justice and accountability for the Syrian people."

  • Germany recognises Armenian genocide by attending 100 year memorial service
    Turkey’s biggest trade partner, Germany, recognised the Armenian genocide for the first time by attending the 100 year memorial ceremony amidst several other foreign leaders, on Friday.
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