‘In line with our concerns, Australia is reducing our engagement with the Thai military and will lower the level of our interaction with the Thai military leadership,” Australians foreign minister, Julie Bishop and defence minister David Johnston said in a joint statement.

“The latest prisoners were sentenced for a range of crimes, including intentional murder, separatism, and leading or participating in terrorism groups,” said the ruling Communist Party’s news outlet, the People’s Daily.

“The raid into the borders of the Palestinian state and the violation of its sovereignty and its media institutions is a flagrant attack on Palestinians' basic human rights and a violation of norms along with international and humanitarian laws that ensure freedom of opinion and expression,” said a senior Palestinian official, Hanan Ashrawi.

The head of the Kurdistan Foreign Relations Department, Fatah Mustafa, stressed today that Kurdistan would never politically surrender to brazen economic actions taken by the Iraqi government, reports Rudaw.

Mustafa called for equal power sharing to address the Kurdish desire for complete independence from Iraq.

Responding to a question on tension between Baghdad and Erbil regarding oil production, Mustafa said,

“Oil is not the only issue. There’s the status of Peshmarga. [Baghdad refuses to pay budget for Kurdish security forces.]  The best solution is to form a confederation, where we move to two or three sovereign states within the boundaries of Iraq so that we can have equal powers and equal rights. That would be only fair considering the suffering and the tragic history of Kurdish people.”