WORLD NEWS

World News

Latest news from and about the homeland

  Three United Nations (UN) experts called for a full and independent investigation into the killing of three Lebanese journalists by Israel last week, which they described as ‘another attack on press freedom by Israeli forces.’ On March 28, Israeli forces killed Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni, her brother and cameraman Mohamed Ftouni, and Al Manar TV reporter Ali Shoeib as they were…

World markets plummet as China stops supporting slowing Asian market

World stock markets plummeted with a sharp drop in the US dollar and major commodities, as China failed to mitigate sliding confidence in its domestic stock market on Monday.

EU opens office in Kurdistan

 The European Union will open a delegation office in the Kurdish de-facto capital Erbil reports Rudaw.

The Department of Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced that the EU delegation office in Erbil aid the regions foreign policy and is being launched at a critical moment in Kurdish history.

Nigeria army chief survives Boko Haram attack

The new head of Nigeria's army, General Tukur Buratei has survived an attack by Boko Haram militants on his convoy in Borno state, in the northeast of the country.

The ambush resulted in clashes in which 5 militants and one Nigerian soldier were killed.

The ambush in Borno came as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in Nigeria to mark the fourth anniversary of a Boko Haram attack on the UN building in the capital, Abuja.

North and South Korea to address escalation of violence

Negotiators from North Korea and South Korea spoke through Saturday night and into Sunday evening to ease tensions between the two nations after an exchange of artillery fire last week.

India and Pakistan cancel high level talks

Indian and Pakistan have cancelled high level talks between the two countries, just hours before they were due to start.

Pakistan accused India of imposing "preconditions" on the talks after India's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, said they could not continue if Pakistan pressed ahead with plans to meet Kashmiri separatists.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said "it is not reasonable for India to assume the right to decide unilaterally that from now onwards, other issues will [only] be discussed after terrorism has been discussed and eliminated".

"We have come to the conclusion that the proposed National Security Advisers (NSA) level talks between the two countries would not serve any purpose” it added, as it announced the cancellation of the talks.

Europe toughens security measures in response to refugee crisis

On Thursday, France and Britain announced a joint security operation to prevent thousands of refugees living in makeshift camps in Calais from entering the UK through the Channel Tunnel.

The UN Refugee Agency who had called for a comprehensive response several weeks ago citing worsening conditions for refugees in Calais, praised the statement for providing some measures addressing the human rights concerns of refugees including a pledge by Britain to provide $5.6 million a year for the next two years to identify the most vulnerable refugees for asylum.
 

AU soldiers charged over civilian deaths

Ugandan soldiers who were deployed with the African Union in Somalia, have been charged with the killing of a group of civilians at a wedding last month.

Head of the AU troops in Somalia, Maman Sidikou, apologised to the families of the seven wedding guests. The bloc had previously denied the incident took place.

Sudan's president offers cease-fire in run up to proposed talks with militants

Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir proposed ceasefire and peace talks with militants working to overthrow his government.

Mr Bashir reiterated his offer of amnesty for rebels who agreed to put down their arms and join the national dialogue between government and opposition parties.

The renewed dialogue will take place on Oct 10 said the president at a planning meeting on Thursday.

Myanmar parliament approves bills restricting religious conversions

Myanmar's parliament this week approved a bill restricting religious conversations, reports Irrawaddy.

The bill which is the last of four bills called the 'Race and Religion Protection Bills" was tabled by the Buddhist nationalist group, Ma Ba Tha in 2013, and subsequently taken forward to parliament at the end of last year.

The legislation, was discussed along side a monogamy bill, will place restrictions on interfaith marriages, introduce legal procedures for religious conversions and grant local government to rate the number of children couples could have.

ICC re-opens investigation into Kenya’s failure to comply with Kenyatta investigation

On Wednesday an Appeals Court of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered that trial judges re-visit allegations that Kenya obstructed investigations into President Uhuru Kenyatta. Mr. Kenyatta was charged in January 2012 by the ICC Prosecutor with five counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in ethnic clashes during the 2007-2008 Kenya elections.