• Palestinian factions begin talks to solve disputes

    Sep 23

    Hamas and Fatah have begun talks in Cairo on Wednesday in an attempt to solve disputes and re-form a unity government.

    The talks in the Egyptian capital will focus on "the return (of the unity government) in the Gaza Strip and the implementation of its authority without obstacles," said the head of Fatah's delegation, Azzam al-Ahmad according to AFP.

    "There is a positive atmosphere in which the talks are being held," senior Hamas official Ezzat al-Rishq told journalists.

  • Labour government would support two-state solution for Israel-Palestine - Ed Miliband

    The leader of the United Kingdom's Labour Party, Ed Miliband, in a speech on Tuesday explained that he supported overnight action against Islamic State (IS) and supported a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict.

    Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, the leader of the opposition opened his speech by talking about Alan Henning, the British aid worker - a native of nearby Salford - taken hostage by IS.

    Mr Miliband said that "one of the biggest problems our world faces" were issues in the Middle East and Israel and Palestine. On the Israel-Palestine conflict Mr Miliband announced that he will "I will fight with every fibre of my being to get the two state solution, two states for two people, Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side."

  • Over 700 Catalan councils to support establishment of independence vote on November 9
    The City Council of Barcelona and 300 other councils in Catalonia jointly approved a motion supporting a self-determination consultation vote to be scheduled for the November, reports the Catalan News Agency.
  • Significant withdrawal of Russian troops from eastern Ukraine, Russia calls for international probe into mass graves
    Nato noted a “significant” withdrawal of Russian troops form eastern Ukraine, reports the BBC.

    “There has been a significant pullback of Russian conventional forces inside Ukraine, but many thousands are still deployed in the vicinity of the boarder,” said the Nato spokesperson on Wednesday.
  • US conducts air strikes on IS targets in Syria

    The US and its Arab allies have launched air strikes against Islamic States targets in Syria. Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the US in the strikes targeting IS militants, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance centre, supply trucks and armed vehicles, according to the US Department of Defense.

    Fourteen strikes were conducted on the de facto IS capital Raqqa and other towns across northern Syria by “a mix of fighter, bomber, remotely piloted aircraft and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles”, a statement said.

    The DoD said they also conducted eight air strikes on Al Qaeda targets near the Syrian town of Aleppo.

  • Prominent Uighur academic jailed for life

    China has sentenced Uighur academic Ilham Tohti to life in prison after finding him guilty of separatism.

    Tohti, who is not an independence activist but an outspoken critic of China’s sometimes brutal crackdown on Uighurs, denies the charges.

    Until his arrest early this year, the academic was a professor in Beijing and a member of the Communist Party. He has expressed revulsion against violence used by some Uighur and called for Xinjiang province to remain part of China.

    However he warned Chinese authorities that the crackdown by security forces was radicalising young Uighur.

  • Chinese companies exporting torture equipment fuel human rights abuses - Amnesty International

    An Amnesty International report stated that an increasing number of Chinese companies are supplying tools made for torture and fuelling human rights abuses across Africa and Asia.

    More than 130 companies were involved in the manufacture and sale of devices such as restraints, electric shock batons and spiked metal batons, with such products being openly marketed.

    China is the only country known to manufacture spiked batons, which Amnesty International said were "specifically designed as implements of torture".

  • Russia poised to limit foreign ownership of media outlets

    Russian lawmakers have approved a preliminary bill to limit the number of media outlets owned by foreigners to 20 percent.

    The move could potentially affect dozens of news outlets across Russia, including the country’s leading business daily Vedomosti, which is part owned by the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. Under the bill, the publications would have to change ownership or close by 2017.

    Leonid Bershidsky, the founding editor of Vedomosti, condemned the move, saying,

    “Foreign ownership was the only thing that protected some Russian media outlets’ editorial integrity… If it’s not allowed, that last bit of protection is gone.”

  • Yemen agrees political solution after Houthi separatists seize capital
    The Yemeni government and separatist Shia Houthi militants signed an agreement aimed at ending unrest that has gripped the region for weeks.

    The UN brokered deal, allows for a new government to be formed with the southern separatists nominating a new prime minister within three days, reports the BBC.
  • Up to 100,000 Kurds flee as Turkey begins to close border

    Turkish authorities have begun to close the border between Syria and Turkey, after almost 100,000 Kurdish refugees entered the country as Islamic State (IS) militants surrounded a Kurdish enclave in Syria.

  • Taliban reject Afghan unity deal

    The Afghan Taliban have rejected the unity deal reached by the government as a “sham”, planned by the US and said they would continue with their war, reported Reuters.

  • Hong Kong students protest over electoral reforms
    Thousands of students in Hong Kong are boycotting classes for a week-long protest against China’s rejection of electoral reforms. Students from over two dozen institutions have gathered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus.
  • Ukraine to withdraw heavy weaponry
    The Ukrainian military is preparing to withdraw heavy artillery it amassed along the front-line with separatist rebels.

    An amended ceasefire agreement signed on Saturday included the set-up of a buffer zone in the east of the country.

     According to National Security and Defence Council spokesperson Col Andriy Lysenko, separatist rebels had begun moving their heavy artillery already, but it was "not as massive as we expected".
  • Liberian rebel commander arrested for war crimes in Belgium

    A former commander of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) was arrested in Belgium last Wednesday, accused of committing war crimes during Liberia’s civil war, reports the BBC.

    A complaint was made against Martina Johnson for her role in the Operation Octopus offensive, where she is accused of committing “mutilation and mass killing”.

  • Scotland’s independence an eventual certainty - Alex Salmond
    Scotland’s independence was ”pretty certain” as it could declare itself independent without a referendum in the future said the Scottish First Minister.
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