• Kenya delists hundreds of NGOs

    Dec 15

    The Kenya government has “deregistered” more than 500 non-governmental organisations (NGO) for allegedly not complying with the law, following the passing of a controversial security bill last week.

    In a statement announcing the closing of the NGOs, the government said,

    “Some NGOs have been and continue to be used for criminal activities, including as conduits of terrorism financing in Kenya and in the Horn of Africa.”

    Although it did not name any groups, 15 of those deregistered were accused of being linked to terrorism. The organisations were identified “in collaboration with security agencies both locally and internationally,” said the government.

  • Former SS officer to stand trial for 300,000 counts of accessory murder

    A German court has decided that there is enough evidence for a 93 year old former Nazi to stand trial for 300,000 separate counts of accessory to murder, over his involvement in the murder of Jews in Auschwitz.

    A court in the city of Lüneburg ruled that former member of the Waffen-SS Oskar Groening, who worked as a guard in the Auschwitz concentration camp, will face trial for the killings, though a date is yet to be set.

    Groening, who admits to being at the camp, says he was only involved in going through the luggage of those detained, searching for money and other valuables. Although Groening spent two years at the camp, the charges brought forward relate only from May 16 to July 11, 1944.

    When Groening was first charged in September, the court had said in a statement,

    “The accused knew that, as part of the selection process, those not chosen for work and told they were going to the showers were really going to the gas chambers where they would be put to death in an agonizing manner.”

  • Final sites of Hong Kong protest cleared
    Police officers cleared the last remaining site of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong on Monday. The last site in Causeway Bay was one of three main areas where protestors have been staging sit-ins over the last three months.

    In a statement following the clearance on Monday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said,
  • Russia for Ukrainian constitutional change to provide greater autonomy to eastern regions
    Russia’s foreign minister urged Ukraine to carry out  constitutional reform that allowed greater autonomy to Russian-speaking eastern regions whilst remaining a part of Ukraine.
  • 2 hostages and gunman dead as Sydney seige brought to an end
    2nd lead

    Australian security forces stormed a café in Sydney to release hostages that had been held for 16 hours by a gunman.

    Two hostages, including the gunman were killed, reported     Reuters. The New South Wales police announced the end of the siege at 15:00 (GMT).

    The military operation began after the gunman was named as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee who had claimed political asylum. He was facing charges of sexual assault as well as being accessory to murder.

    During the siege hostages were forced to display an Islamic flag displaying the Shahada that had also been used by Islamic state militants and Al-Qaeda.

  • Israel rejects talk of time-frame for withdrawal from captured territory
    The Israeli prime minister, rejected any talk of Israel withdrawing from west Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, reports the Associated Press.

    Responding to efforts at the UN to pass a resolution placing a two year time frame for withdrawal of Israel from land seized in the 1967 war with Palestine, Benjamin Netanyahu said,
  • Colombians protest immunity deal with Farc
    Thousands joined protests in Colombia against a government deal with the Farc militants that could see possible amnesty for the militants as part of a process to end the 5 decade long conflict.

    The former president of Colombia, Alvro Uribe, who led the protests, called on the army to defeat the rebels, stating,

    “We call on the army to support us by fighting and defeating the guerrillas, if the government wants it or not. It is better to protest than to let them deliver the country to terrorism.”

    Protestors accused the current president, Juan Santos of overlooking atrocities in order to deliver a solution to the peace process, reports the BBC.

    The Colombian government and the Farc militants have been in a 2 year long peace negotiation process facilitated in Havana. The process has seen the two sides come to agreement on 3 out of 5 key issues.
  • Turkey raids media offices of Erdogan rival
    Turkish security forces have raided the offices of a newspaper and TV station close to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, detaining 23 people in arrests across the country.

    The raids come after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that he would be targeting Gulen's supporters, whose Hizmet movement has millions of supporters.

    Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu television were targeted by the raids, with journalists scriptwriters and two former police chiefs amongst those arrested. The editor-in-chief of Zaman newspaper tweeted a photo of himself sitting at his office desk, after a crowd of protestors beat back police who attempted to arrest him.
  • Tens of thousands march in New York City and Washington, D.C. protesting police killings
    Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and in New York City, to protest the killings of unarmed black men and boys by police officers in the United States.

    Many demonstrators wore shirts and held signs with messages reading “Black Lives Matter”, “I can’t breathe” and “Hands up don’t shoot”. Others carried pictures of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley and Tamir Rice, who were all killed by police while unarmed in recent months. Their families were all in attendance at the “Justice for All” march in Washington. “I’m marching for everyone’s sons and daughters,” said Esaw Garner, the widow of Eric Garner.
  • ICC Darfur inquiry suspended, Bashir hails 'victory'
    The International Criminal Court's inquiry into alleged war crimes in Darfur was suspended on Friday by the Court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who blamed the UN Security Council for a lack of action.

    Stating that the Council's inaction would only "embolden perpetrators to continue their brutality”, Bensouda added: “I am left with no choice but to hibernate investigative activities in Darfur as I shift resources to other urgent cases."

    The suspension has been hailed by the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir was a "victory" over the ICC.

    The decision came about "because of the Sudanese people's refusal to be humiliated and to kneel down", Sudan's state news agency SUNA reported Bashir as saying on Saturday. 

  • Hundreds' of UK troops to be sent to Iraq next month
    Britain's Defence Secretary announced that hundreds of UK troops will be sent to Iraq next month, as part of the fight against Islamic State (IS) in the region.

    In an interview with the Telegraph, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the troops would be there to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces, but added that there would also be a combat-ready contingent.

    “We have not finalised numbers yet - obviously we have got a lot of kit back from Afghanistan that we can make available - but we are talking very low hundreds,” said Fallon.

    The soldiers "will not be expected to fight a war but will be there to defend the British personnel if necessary", he added.

    There are currently 50 British troops in Iraq training local forces, with a specialist team training Kurdish peshmerga how to use UK-supplied machine guns.
  • Russia warns of retaliation to further US sanctions
    Russia will take responsive action if the US imposes new sanctions said Russia’s deputy foreign minister on Saturday.

    “We will not be able to leave that without an answer,” said Sergei Ryabkov
  • US seeks to defuse Israel-Palestine tensions
    The US was seeking to defuse Israel-Palestine tensions the US secretary of state said on Friday.

    John Kerry said he would be meeting the Israeli prime minister and senior European officials in Rome on Monday to discuss possible resolutions to help de-escalate heightening tensions between Israel and Palestine.
  • Abbott vows to 'sweat blood' for indigenous referendum
    Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has vowed to hold a referendum on the constitutional recognition of the country's indigenous people as the nation's first people in 2017, stating he would “sweat blood” to ensure it takes place.

    Australia's constitution does not currently recognise Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders as the nation's first people. In 1967 a referendum held on constitutional changes relating to the indigenous population passed with 90% support.

    Speaking in Sydney, Abbott said,
    "The country we created has an Aboriginal heritage, a British foundation and a multicultural character and it's high time that this reality was reflected in our constitution."
    He went on to suggest that 50 years from the1967 referendum “would be a richly symbolic time to complete our constitution."
  • Kenya passes controversial anti-terror bill
    Kenya's parliament has passed a controversial new bill which will give the government a range of powers to tackle security issues and terrorism on Thursday.
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