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…

UN brokered humanitarian ceasefire broken by Saudi coalition strikes in Yemen

A UN brokered humanitarian ceasefire was broken less than a day after being implemented, reports the BBC.

 The six day humanitarian truce which was agreed to commence on Friday, was broken on Saturday after the Saudi-led coalition conducted airstrikes over Yemen’s capital.

Still lessons to be learnt to prevent genocide says UN at Srebrenica memorial

Lessons remain to be learnt in protecting communities from genocide and mass atrocities, said the UN deputy Secretary General at the commemoration event of the Srebrenica genocide.

Stressing that more work had to be done by the international community, Jan Eliasson, said,

Serbian PM forced to flee Srebrenica memorial

The Serbian Prime Minister was forced to flee the memorial event marking the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacres, as thousands filed along the roads that saw the massacres of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica to commemorate the killings.

Aleksander Vucic and his delegation were forced to leave the event after mourners hurled stones and bottles at the Serbian Prime Minister.

UN peacekeeping chief calls for South Sudan arms embargo

The head of UN peacekeeping, Hervé Ladsous, called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the government and opposition of South Sudan.

Speaking the day before the 4th anniversary of the formation of the country, Mr Ladsous told reporters the situation on the ground was “absolutely appalling.”

Last week, the Security Council imposed sanctions against those disrupting the political process, with travel bans and asset freezes on three generals loyal to President Salva Kiir and three from his political rival Riek Machar’s opposition camp.

“What really should be looked at is the possibility of more sanctions towards more leaders,” he said. “I do think that there should be a decision about an arms embargo, because it is really completely questionable that the very meager resources that the country has go into buying more weapons.”

Pope Francis condemns ‘genocide’ of Christians in Middle East

The Pope has condemned the killing of Christians in the Middle East, describing the killings as genocide in a speech on Thursday this week.

Speaking at the World Meeting of the Popular Movements in Bolivia, Pope Francis said, "today we are dismayed to see how in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus."

“In this third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide is taking place, and it must end," he continued.

Germany moves towards recognising Namibian massacre as genocide

German authorities are moving towards recognising the colonial era killing of more than 65,000 ethnic Hereros in Namibia as genocide, according to the latest reports.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Schaefer said that talks were ongoing with Namibia on a joint declaration, which would follow a previous parliamentary motion signed three years ago. The motion states that "the war of destruction in Namibia from 1904 to 1908 was a war crime and genocide".

The latest moves follow the speaker of the German parliament Norbert Lammert writing a guest column for news weekly Die Zeit earlier this week, where he said “using today's standards of international law, the crushing of the Herero revolt was genocide".

Russia and China do not pose existential threat to US says Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Russia and China were not existential threats to the the country.

A US State Department spokesperson, Mark Toner, speaking at a press brief, said,

Serbia bans Srebrenica memorial events

The Serbian government has banned events in Belgrade commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, after threats were made by right-wing extremists.

An official memorial will take place in Srebrenica however activists intended to hold a gathering outside the Serbian parliament in the capital.

Serbia's Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said he had taken the decision to guarantee "peace and security in the whole of Serbia", but organiser Dusan Masic, said it was "scandalous", and showed "where Serbia is in 2015".

TAG 'deeply disappointed' by UNSC failure to recognise Srebrenica genocide

The UK based campaign group, TAG (Together Against Genocide, formerly Tamils Against Genocide), said it was "deeply disappointed" by the UN Security Council's failure to the massacre of over 8000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 as a genocide, after Russia vetoed a resolution on Wednesday.

"TAG deplores Russia’s use of its veto to deny findings unanimously determined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2004 (and by the International Court of Justice in 2007)," the group said in a statement released on Wednesday. "This failure is deeply hurtful to the survivors of this genocide."

Russia vetoes UN Security Council resolution on Srebrenica genocide

Russia has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre as a genocide that was set to be passed on Wednesday. 

The resolution, drafted by the UK to mark the 20th anniversary of the killings, saw 10 Security Council members vote in favor, with China, Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela abstaining.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, deemed that the resolution was “not constructive, confrontational and politically motivated.”