• Amended ceasefire agreement signed between separatists and Ukraine amidst shelling

    Sep 19
    An amended ceasefire-deal was signed between the Ukrainian government and separatist militants amidst shelling and explosions in eastern Ukraine on Saturday morning.
  • Scotland votes to stay within UK, Salmond resigns
    updated 08:27 BST
    Scotland has voted to stay within the United Kingdom in a referendum on independence held Thursday, with 55% voting "No" to Scotland becoming an independent country and  45% voting "Yes".
  • Former Bosnian Serb police officials charged over Srebrenica genocide
    Two former Bosnian Serb police officials have been charged over their role in the Srebrenica genocide by Bosnian prosecutors this week.

    The two men, wartime police chief in Bratunac, Miodrag Josipovic and deputy commander of a Bratunac police station,  Branimir Tesic, were charged with "deliberately helping and supporting the main perpetrators of genocide."
  • Kurds warn of genocide by IS in North-West Syria
    The People’s Protection Units (YPG) warned of a genocide in the Kurdish enclave of Kobani in Syria, which is currently surrounded by Islamic State (IS) fighters.

    The YPG, a group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has joined with other Syrian opposition groups to fight the IS militants, but has been unable to halt an advance which has seen IS capture 21 Kurdish villages in North-West Syria in less than 24 hours.
  • Salmond resigns warning of Westminster backtracking on pledges
    Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Alex Salmond, announced his resignation Friday, shortly after Scotland voted to stay within the UK at a independence referendum on Thursday.

    "The real guardians of progress are not the politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse meekly to go back into the political shadows," he said in a public statement made Friday evening.

    "For me right now, therefore there is a decision as to who is best placed to lead this process forward politically. I believe that in this new exciting situation, redolent with possibility, Party, Parliament and country would benefit from new leadership," he said, adding that it was the privilege of his life to have served as Scotland's First Minister.

    Stating that he had informed his party he would not be accepting renomination at the next party conference, Salmond said he would allow for a new First Minister to be appointed by parliamentary process. 

    "For me as leader my time is nearly over, but for Scotland that campaign continues and the dream shall never die."

  • Scotland votes in historic independence referendum

    The people of Scotland have begun voting in a historic referendum on whether the country should become independent.

    The turnout is expected to be high, with an overwhelming 97% of the electorate (over 4.2 million people) having registered to vote.

    Voters will be asked to state "yes" or "no" to the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

    The polling booths, which opened at 7am will remain open until 10pm. All those in a queue at 10pm will be allowed to cast their votes. The result is expected early on Friday morning, following the counting of votes which will take place in 32 of Scotland's local authorities.

    Recent polls have put the referendum results on a knife edge, with the Yes campaign only two points behind despite pledges of ever increasing devolution and autonomy by all three main pro-unionist parties if Scotland votes no.

    In an eleventh hour intervention the acclaimed Scottish tennis champion, Andy Murray, expressed his tacit support to the Yes campaign in a tweet posted late yesterday. Murray, who lives mainly in Surrey, will not be able to vote himself.



    Meanwhile the US President Barack Obama urged Scots to stay within the union, in a signed tweet posted yesterday.

  • China-India pledge closer ties on day 2 of Xinping's visit to India
    Photographs Xinhua


    China and India pledged closer cooperation on shared interests with leaders from both countries     signing a five year economic and trade development plan on Thursday, reports NDTV.

    Talks took place in New Delhi    , during the second day of the President Xi Jinping's three day tour of India.

    Xinping who is currently in Delhi for extensive talks with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visited Modi's home state of Gujarat yesterday on arrival, where three pacts were signed, promoting twinning relationship between the Chinese province of Guangdong and Gujarat, as well as an MoU between China's Development Bank Corporation and Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation.



  • France to launch air strikes against IS in Iraq
    The French president today said that he had agreed to the Iraqi government’s request for air support to fight Islamic State militants.

    French air strikes would only target the IS positions in Iraq and not Syria Francis Hollande told reporters on Thursday.
  • California signs bill to teach students about Armenian genocide
    The Governor of California signed a bill on Thursday that will see teaching on the Armenian genocide brought into public schools across the state.
  • Obama pledges 3,000 troops to tackle Ebola outbreak

    US President Barack Obama pledged to send 3,000 military personnel to West Africa in an attempt to combat the outbreak of the Ebola virus, as he warned the epidemic was “spiralling out of control.”

    In remarks delivered to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the US President called the outbreak a “potential threat to global security”, adding

  • Dozens killed by Syrian government air strikes

    At least 48 people have been killed in Syrian government air strikes on opposition-held towns in the Homs province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday.

  • UN brokers deal which will allow reconstruction Gaza

    The United Nations announced a deal has been agreed by Israeli and Palestinian officials that will enable reconstruction of the Gaza strip.

    Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry told the UN Security Council that the agreement will see building materials allowed into Gaza, to help repair some of the “truly shocking levels of destruction to infrastructure, hospitals and schools.”

  • Kurdish people will never give up right to self-determination says Kurdistan's president
    Kurdistan’s president reiterated the people would never abandon their right to self-determination, in a statement made on Tuesday.

    Speaking on Islamic State militant attacks against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, the Anadolu news agency quoted Massoud Barzani as saying,
  • Russia welcomes devolution of autonomous powers to eastern Ukraine
    Russia welcomed Ukraine’s recent law that granted greater powers of autonomy to separatist held areas in Eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday.

    The Foreign Ministry, praised the new Ukrainian law as “a step in the right direction,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
  • Westminister leaders sign pledge of more powers for Scots if they vote no
    The leaders of the main three Westminster parties made a joint pledge to grant and safeguard more powers to Scotland if Scots vote no in Thursday's independence referendum, in an eleventh hour desperate plea to voters.

    The pledge, published in the Daily Record newspaper and signed by David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, promises "permanent and extensive new powers for [the Scottish] parliament will be delivered by the process and to the timetable agreed and announced by our three parties, starting on 19th September." See image below.

    The pledge, which goes on to also promise the "sharing of resources equitably across all four nations to secure the defence, prosperity and welfare of every citizen", has been criticised by some within the main three Westminster parties, as "handing over the keys to Westminster" in order to keep Scotland within the union, reports the BBC.

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