WORLD NEWS

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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…

Burmese monks back ban on interfaith marriage

Over 10,000 Buddhist monks gathered at a conference in Burma, passing a motion that will restrict marriage between Buddhist women and men of different faiths.

The motion will be submitted to Burma’s parliament in the hope that it will become law, alongside a motion that will restrict the right of Burma’s Rohingya Muslims to vote.

Israel summons EU ambassadors in protest

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, summoned a group of European ambassadors today, to complain about what he described as a ‘one-sided approach’ to Israel’s conflict with Palestine.


The meeting comes after Israeli Prime Minister, on Thursday, criticised the EU’s concern over newly announced settlements.

California to include Armenian genocide education into curriculum

The California State Assembly Education Committee has unanimously adopted a bill to include education on the Armenian genocide into the state curriculum.

Netanyahu criticises envoys being summoned over settlements

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the summoning of Israeli envoys by countries in the EU, over Israel's announcement of further settlements, reports Reuters.

Not disclosing which countries had summoned the envoys, Netanyahu said that it was "hypocritical".
"When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors to complain about the incitement (they espouse) that calls for Israel's destruction?" said Netanyahu to foreign journalists on Thursday.

Syrian opposition responsible for war crimes - UN

The United Nations human rights office outlined today, that armed opposition groups in Syria, were committing a ‘soaring’ number of killings that could constitute to war crimes.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, outlined that the reports form the past two weeks had documented mass executions of civilians by fighters linked to the al-Qaida.

OHCHR highlights sectarian nature of CAR violence

A recent United Nations investigation into the escalating conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) concluded that the widespread killings and sexual violence against civilians has become increasingly sectarian in nature.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) deployed a four-man team to CAR from 12 to 24 December 2013.

The Human Tragedy of West Papua - The Diplomat

See below for extracts from report on human rights violations in West Papua by Gemima Harvey for The Diplomat.

See here for full article.

The people of West Papua have been calling for self-determination for half a century – a struggle for liberation from an Indonesian military occupation that has seen as many as 500,000 Papuans killed. A recent development in this long campaign is the suspicious death of a commander of the rebel Free Papua Movement (OPM), Danny Kogoya, on December 15. The cause of death, as described in the medical report, was liver failure, bought on by the presence of “unusual chemicals in his body,” raising concern that he was poisoned.

Rape used as weapon in Burma, claim rights group

The Burmese military has been accused of using rape as a weapon to "destroy ethnic communities", even after a civilian government was elected into power, by a Burmese women's rights group.

Documenting over 100 cases of rape, over half of which were gang rapes, leading to at least 28 deaths, the Women's League of Burma said
"Their widespread and systematic nature indicates a structural pattern: rape is still used as an instrument of war and oppression".

Kurdistan a ‘major success story’ – UK parliamentary group

Following a fact finding mission late last year, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq is set to release a report on Wednesday, highlighting the region as a “major success story”.

Detailing a visit by a group of British parliamentarians to the region in November 2013, the report, entitled ‘Five years: the continuing story of success and transition in the Kurdistan Region’, commended the Kurdistan Regional Government on its progress since the visit of the first parliamentary delegation in February 2008.

Kosovo to play FIFA friendlies

The international football federation, FIFA, is to allow Kosovo to take part in friendly matches against FIFA member states, however, display of national symbols will remain prohibited.

FIFA said today,
"Following various meetings that have taken place since 2012, the FIFA Emergency Committee has today...confirmed a set of modalities of friendly matches involving clubs and representative teams of Kosovo,"

"Clubs and representative teams of the [Football Federation of Kosovo] may not display national symbols or play national anthems."