• Burundi president returns

    May 13

    The president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, says he is back in the country, only a day after an attempted coup led to heavy clashes in the capital Bujumbura.

    The country's military declared a coup against the president, a former Hutu rebel leader, following weeks of clashes between police and demonstrators protesting his decision to run for a 3rd presidential term.

    Coup leader Major General Godefroid Niyombare, also a Hutu, in a press statement on Wednesday said,

    “President Pierre Nkurunziza is removed from office, the government is dissolved. All people are asked to respect the lives and property of others.”

    There were no new statements from Gen Niyombare on Thursday but a spokesman for the coup forces, Gen Cyrille Ndayirukiye, told Agence France-Presse the uprising had failed.

  • Islamic State has no foothold in Gaza says Hamas
    Hamas said that Islamic State will not have a foothold in Palestinian territory in a statement made on Thursday.

    The statement came after it detained lawbreakers for setting of explosions near its headquarters and the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

  • ICC urges Israel to cooperate with preliminary probe into atrocities
    The International Criminal Court warned Israel that if it doesn’t cooperate with the initial investigation into possible violations of international law, a full investigation may be conducted without Israel’s input.
  • Thousands of Rohingya asylum-seekers stranded at sea as South-East Asian countries turn away boats

    A boat of largely Rohingya Muslim asylum-seekers from Myanmar is adrift off the coast of Thailand and Malaysia, after having been turned away from both of those countries and Indonesia. This boat is among many that have been stranded in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca as a result of finger-pointing between South-East Asian countries of who should take responsibility for the thousands of asylum-seekers looking for refuge. Many of the boats have been abandoned by their crews, leaving people on board with no water, food or way to safety.

    Malaysia and Indonesia in the past few days have both declared that they will not be accepting any more boats of asylum-seekers, after approximately 1500 arrived on their shores over the last week. On Tuesday the Indonesian navy turned away a boat carrying thousands of asylum-seekers, urging it on to Malaysia, while Malaysia turned away two boats on Wednesday carrying a total of approximately 800 passengers.

  • Scotland to oppose British government plan to scrap Human Rights Act

    Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that her government will oppose any attempt by the British government to scrap the Human Rights Act in Scotland.

    Ms Sturgeon criticised the newly-elected Conservative government's plan to implement previous plans of abolishing the Human Rights Act and replace it with a new British Bill of Rights.

    "I oppose the repeal of the Human Rights Act, I think it's an appalling thing to be doing,

    "Human rights are there to protect all of us, for example it was the Human Rights Act that enabled people to go to court to object against the bedroom tax," she said in Edinburgh.

  • Palestine recognised by the Vatican

    The Holy See has formulated its first treaty which recognises the State of Palestine, in an agreement dealing with Catholic activities in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

    A joint statement released by the Vatican on Wednesday said the text of the treaty had been concluded and would be officially signed by the respective authorities "in the near future".

    The agreement "aims to enhance the life and activities of the Catholic Church and its recognition at the judicial level", said Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, the Vatican's deputy foreign minister who led its delegation in the talks.

  • UN welcomes humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen
    The UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator welcomed a humanitarian ceasefire that had been established in Yemen to allow for aid relief to reach the civilian population.

    Valerie Amos, in a statement made after the ceasefire was announced, said,
  • Burundi military claims coup
    Burundi’s military declared a coup against the current president Pierre Nkurunziza, following weeks of clashes between police and demonstrators protesting the president’s decision to run for a 3rd term in presidency.

    The military Major General Godefroid Niyombare, in a press statement said,

    “President Pierre Nkurunziza is removed from office, the government is dissolved. All people are asked to respect the lives and property of others.”
  • Manufacturing company to move out of occupied Palestinian territory following boycott pressure
    A manufacturing company, SodaStream, announced that it was ahead of schedule in procedures to move out of occupied territory in the West Bank.

    SodaStraem, which produces carbonation products, came under pressure from the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, for manufacturing products in occupied Palestinian territory, reports Haaretz.
  • US admits shortcomings in civil rights protection at UNHRC period review
    US officials told the United Nations Human Rights Council that the country had much to improve with regards to upholding civil rights laws.

    Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the US, a US justice department official, James Cadogan, told the council,

    “We must rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our civil rights laws live up to their promise.”
  • US pledges to relax sanctions on Russia if ceasefire is administered in Ukraine
    The US Secretary of State John Kerry, told Russia that sanctions would be relaxed if the ceasefire was upheld, in a meeting with Russia’s president on Tuesday.

    Mr Kerry held eight hours of high level talks with Russia’s President Vladmir Putin, in the US official’s first visit to Russia since the Ukraine conflict began, reports Agence France Presse.

    The two diplomats promised to work harder to convince Ukraine’s conflicting factions to uphold the February cease-fire, whilst also urging Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko to refrain from trying to reclaim Donetsk Airport, which was taken by separatist militants earlier this year.
  • Knesset speaker calls on Israel to recognise Armenian genocide
    The speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein called on Israel to officially recognise the mass killings of Armenians 100 years ago by the Ottoman empire as a genocide.

    “It is no secret that Israel has taken too ambivalent a stance on the Armenian genocide,” said Mr Edelstein, referring to the killing of over 1.5 million Armenians, calling it “one of the most despicable and most dramatic incidents that happened in the beginning of the last century.”

    “A thicket of constraints, diplomatic and other, created a state of affairs in which the Israeli position was too hesitant, too restrained, and as a result – it appears to have diminished the importance of this powerful event,” continued Mr Edelstein.
  • CAR armed factions agree to ceasefire agreement including accountability for war crimes and genocide
    Armed factions in the Central African Republic agreed to a peace accord that entailed disarmament and accountability for war crimes committed over the two years of conflict.

    The agreement signed by 10 groups and the CAR defence ministry on Sunday at the country’s capital, Bangui, also detailed that those involved in the ’crime of genocide, w

  • Kurdish leader discusses self-determination and arms deliveries during White House visit
    The leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq Masoud Barzani concluded a visit to the United States on Friday, where he discussed the option of directly delivering arms to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and the question of self-determination for the Kurdish people.

    US President Barack Obama met with Mr Barzani, with the Kurdish President’s Chief of Staff, Fuad Hussein, stating talks would revolve around self-determination. “The question of self-determination is a just right of the Kurds and how Kurdistan’s self-determination is to be handled will certainly be discussed,” Mr Hussein said. “Kurds have their own vision for the area, but we will see how the Americans view it, too.”

    A White House press release said the leaders discussed the “ongoing political initiatives to address the needs of the Iraqi people and foster cooperation across all communities” whilst the US leaders “reaffirmed the United States’ enduring commitment under the Strategic Framework Agreement to a united, federal, and democratic Iraq, as defined in the Iraqi constitution”.

    Speaking at the Atlantic Council the day after the meeting at an event co-sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace, Mr Barzani said “certainly an independent Kurdistan is coming.”
  • Scottish devolution plans do not go far enough says Nicola Sturgeon

    The British government’s plans to devolve powers to Scotland do not go ‘far enough’, said the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on Monday.

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