• Sweden defends decision to recognise Palestine statehood amidst US and Israeli criticism

    Oct 04
    Washington will not decide Sweden’s policies said, the Swedish Foreign Minister in response to US criticisms over plans to officially recognise Palestine as a sovereign state.

    Margot Wallstrom added that Sweden “will continue the constructive dialogue with the US to explain our motives and reasons for this,” reports the Swedish Afotnbladet paper.

    Commenting on the Sweden’s official recognition of Palestinian statehood the US State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said
    "We believe international recognition of a Palestinian state is premature. We certainly support Palestinian statehood, but it can only come through a negotiated outcome, a resolution of final status issues and mutual recognitions by both parties."
  • Mass grave discovered in Mexico
    The remains of at least 20 charred bodies have been found in a mass grave in the southern Mexican state of Guerro, after 43 students went missing following violent clashes with police last week.

    Guerrero’s governor, Angel Aguirre, said the victims in the mass grave had been “savagely slaughtered”.

    Tomás Zerón de Lucio, head of the criminal investigation agency at the attorney-general’s office, said “the Mexican state cannot allow such a repugnant act to go unpunished.”

    “We want to stress emphatically that we will use all the forces at the state’s disposal to clarify this unfortunate incident,” he added.

    The discovery comes after the 43 students went missing on 27 September, following a clash with police, which left 6 dead and more than 20 injured. Witnesses say the 43 students were bundled into vans by police.
  • Kurdish fighter carries out suicide attack against IS amidst US-led airstrikes
    A suicide attack against Islamic State militants, has been carried out by a female Kurdish fighter near the near the Syrian border, a monitoring group reported.

    The suicide attack took place at an Islamic State position east of strategic Syrian town of Kobane, which had seen Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes battling to stop an Islamic state onslaught.
     
    The woman, named on social media as Arin Mirkan, is the first female Kurdish fighter to carry out a suicide attack against the Islamic State, reports the, UK based, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

  • Fierce fighting rages on for control of key airport in Eastern Ukraine
    Heavy fighting has continued in Eastern Ukraine as pro-Russian separatists are attempting to capture a key airport from Ukrainian government control.

    Donetsk airport, thought to be strategically important for both sides in the conflict, has seen increasingly heavy fighting around it for the past few days. Separatists claimed to have controlled sections of the airport, but the government says they have been pushed back and regained control of all terminals.

    An Associated Press reporter said that tanks belonging to the separatists were seen firing shells at the airport's main terminal, where government troops are holed up.

    A fragile ceasefire declared on 5 September looks increasingly under threat of collapsing.

  • North and South Korea agree to resume talks
    North and South Korea have agreed to resume formal high level talks later this year, after they were effectively suspended in February.

    The announcement comes after a surprise visit to South Korea by a high-level North Korean delegation, which included Hwang Pyong-so, the country’s top political officer who is widely thought to be second-in-command of North Korea.

    The North Korean officials were present for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, with their arrival announced just one hour before the ceremony.

  • Boko Haram claims to behead Nigerian Air Force pilot
    Islamic militant group Boko Haram released footage showing the remains of a Nigerian Air Force jet that they claimed to have shot down and the beheading of a man they identified as a captured pilot.

    Two Nigerian pilots and a jet have been missing since September 11, failing to return from a bombing raid against Boko Haram. In the Boko Haram video, the man who is executed identifies himself as a pilot, adding that his co-pilot remains unaccounted for.

    The Nigerian government dismissed the claims, with army spokesperson Dele Alonge saying,
  • UK - 'ISIL's brutality will not persuade us to change our approach'
    The UK remained steadfast in its military action against Islamic State militants in Iraq, despite the release on Friday of a video depicting the execution of a second British hostage, Alan Henning.

    "ISIL's brutality will not persuade us to change our approach. Indeed, the senseless murder of an innocent man only reinforces our resolve to defeat this terrorist organisation and to eradicate the threat they pose to Britons - whether those in the region or here on the streets of the UK," said a Downing Street spokesperson, following Prime Minister Cameron's meeting with intelligence agencies, Foreign Office, Home Office, police and military on Saturday morning.

  • Probe into Nauru child abuse reports

    Australia has announced an inquiry into the reports of child abuse and sexual misconduct by staff in the country's offshore detention facility in Nauru, reported The Guardian on Saturday.

    Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the inquiry will also look at allegations of NGO workers helping children to protest against Australia's immigration policy, including coaching in making complaints and in self-harm.

    The minister confirmed that 10 employees of the charity Save the Children had been told to leave Nauru.

    “The matters that have been brought to my attention are concerning, certainly the allegations of sexual misconduct are abhorrent and I would be horrified to think that things of that nature have taken place,” Morrison said, adding that reports that charity workers were assisting protests and encouraging detainees to hurt themselves in an effort to undermine the policy of offshore detention “were also very serious”.

  • Hong Kong chief sets deadline to end protests, thousands more demonstrators take to streets
    Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators flooded into the city centre of Hong-Kong after the chief  executive announced that the street must be cleared on Monday.

    “There should be no more blocking of carriageways in Wan Chai and Central and Western districts so that classes could resume on Monday,” said the chief executive of Hong Kong CY Leung.
  • US eases Vietnam arms embargo
    The United States has announced it will be partially lifting a decades-old embargo placed on the sale of military hardware to Vietnam, in order to improve the country's maritime capability.

    The move was announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry who met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Min for talks on Thursday.

    Mr Kerry stated that the United States would change policy "in order to allow the transfer of defence equipment, including lethal defence equipment, for maritime security purposes only".

    State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said the move was not directed at China, who is currently involved in several maritime boundary disputes, including with Vietnam.

  • Red Cross worker killed in Donetsk shell attack
    A Swiss International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employee has been killed in Ukraine, in a shell attack on the organisation's office in the city of Donetsk on Thursday.

    ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson told Reuters the organisation was “deeply distressed by this loss," with Director of Operations Dominik Stillhart saying in a statement,
    "We understand that there were other civilian casualties in Donetsk today. Indiscriminate shelling of residential areas is unacceptable and violates international humanitarian law."
    Both the Ukranian government and pro-Russian separatists blamed each other for the death, as a ceasefire between the sides continued to appear shaky.

    Fighting continued around Donetsk airport, which is currently held by the Ukrainian government.
     
  • Australia to launch air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
    The Australian Cabinet on Friday authorised air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State militants, joining the US, UK, Turkey and other countries in military action.

    "Today Cabinet has authorised Australian air strikes in Iraq, at the request of the Iraqi government and in support of the Iraqi government. Also subject to final legal documentation, Cabinet has authorised the deployment of Australian special forces into Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi forces," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at a press briefing.

    "I have to warn this deployment to Iraq could be quite lengthy," he said, adding, “I want to reassure the Australian people that it will be as long as it needs to be, but as short as it possibly can be.”

  • New Israeli settlements 'highly detrimental' to peace process says EU
    The European Union criticised Israel's plan of building new settlements in East Jerusalem as "highly detrimental" to the peace process with the Palestinians, warning that the settlement plan put future Israeli-EU ties at risk.

    "We condemn the recent Israeli decisions to approve a plan for new settlement activity in Givat Hamatos and to allow for further settlement expansion in the neighbourhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem," the European Union's External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement Friday.

  • SNP membership trebles after Scottish independence referendum
    The membership of the Scottish National Party (SNP) has increased three fold since Scotland held a referendum on independence on September 18, making the party the third largest in the UK.

    The SNP, which led the call for independence and won the last election campaigning for a independence referendum, now has over 75,000 members.

  • Clashes break out in Hong Kong as protests continue
    Beijing supporters have clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators in one of Hong Kong's most crowded areas on Friday afternoon, as demonstrations continued.

    Scuffles broke out in Kowloon's crowded Mong Kok district with a reported 1,000 Beijing supporters surrounding 100 pro-democracy protestors on Friday afternoon.

    See a video from the Telegraph below.
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