• Kurds reclaim towns from IS after US air strikes

    Aug 09

    Peshmerga forces are reclaiming territory previously lost to Islamic State militants, after US fighter jets pounded their positions south of the Kurdish capital Erbil.

    The towns of Makhmur and Gwer were retaken by the Kurdish troops, as the US launched its fourth wave of strikes against IS targets.

    Kurdish President Massoud Barzani on Sunday requested international military aid to help defeat the militants.

    "We are not fighting a terrorist organisation, we are fighting a terrorist state," said Mr Barzani, who was speaking alongside French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, in Iraq for talks on the crisis.

  • Kosovo pledges to cooperate with war crimes inquiry
    Kosovo promised to cooperate with an EU led inquiry into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against minority Serb and Roma communities in the late 1990s.

    The inquiry is led by the EU's Special Investigative Task Force (SITF), set up in 2011 to investigate allegations made by the Special Rapporteur of the Council of Europe including mass atrocities and that of organ harvesting from dead prisoners.

    "Kosovo will fully co-operate with the SITF and the country's institutions will make the necessary legal and constitutional changes to establish the new special court," Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga was quoted by SE Times as saying.

    "The government of Kosovo praises the conclusion of the work of Ambassador Williamson, which is an important step in the eventual definition of individual responsibility, and will provide an end to the pretentions of other un-proven allegations," Pristina said in a statement.

  • UK endorses US air strikes against IS fighters
    The UK expressed support over the US decision to launch targetted air strikes in Iraq, to stop the advance of Islamic State (IS) fighters towards the city of Erbil in Kurdistan.
  • Ukraine rebels call for ceasefire, as government forces advance

    Pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine’s east have called for an immediate ceasefire to avert a humanitarian disaster, after reports that the Ukrainian army had recaptured a key city from the rebels, reported Reuters.

    Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic, made the call in a statement published on the rebel website.

    "We are ready for a ceasefire to prevent the proliferation of a humanitarian disaster in Donbass," he said.

    Russia renewed its offer to send a humanitarian mission, after the US warned Moscow on Friday not to use such mission as a pretext to send troops to support the rebels.

  • Colombian oil field attacked by rebels

    Colombian rebels have attacked an oil field near the Venezuelan border.

    The state-owned Ecopetrol said that no-one was injured in the attack on the Tibu field.

  • Afghan rivals reach agreement on unity government

    The dispute over the Afghan presidency has ended after a political agreement was reached by Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who both claimed to have won the election earlier this year.

  • Death toll continues to rise in Gaza and West Bank

    Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed 5 Palestinians, with now over 1,900 deaths in the Gaza strip, according to the UN.

  • Obama authorises air strikes in Iraq
    The US President Barack Obama Thursday announced the authorisation of "targetted air strikes" in Iraq to stop the advance of Islamic State (IS) fighters, as well as humanitarian action to help Yazidi refugees trapped on a mountain.

    "Today I authorised two operations in Iraq. Targetted air strikes to protect our American personnel and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food or water and facing almost certain death," Obama said during a televised address on Thursday evening.

    Explaining the reasons for the air strikes, he said:
    "In recent days these terrorists have continued to move across Iraq and have neared the city of Erbil where American diplomats and civilians serve at our consulate and American military personnel advise Iraqi forces.

    To stop the advance on Erbil, I have directed our military to take targetted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move towards the city. We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our forces or personnel any where in Iraq including our consulate in Erbil and our embassy in Baghdad.

    We are providing urgent assistance to Iraqi government and Kurdish forces so they can more effectively wage the fight against ISIL."

    Describing the plight of the Yazidi refugees, President Obama said America could not turn a blind eye to a "potential genocide".

  • WHO: Ebola epidemic an international emergency
    The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of Ebola across West Africa as an international health emergency, on Friday following an emergency committee meeting in Switzerland.

    "A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola," the WHO said in a statement, adding that the Committee concluded the conditions for a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)' had been met.

    Urging all states affected by the infection to declare a state of emergency and activate national disaster protocols, the WHO called for mandatory "screening of all persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings, for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection."

    "There should be no international travel of Ebola contacts or cases, unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation," the WHO added, falling short of a complete ban on international travel and trade. 

  • Fighting resumes after Israel-Gaza truce expires
    Fighting resumed in Gaza after the 72-hour truce expired at 8am local time, as talks in Cairo aimed at extending the truce failed to reach a conclusion.

    Israeli air strikes have been launched after it reported rockets were fired into southern Israel by Hamas.

    One of the rockets fired into Israel was intercepted over the city of Ashkelon by Israel's Iron Dome system, reports Haaretz.

    The IDF, which has removed its ground troops from Gaza but remains vigilant across the border, said it resumed strikes against "terror sites across the Gaza Strip".

    Palestinian officials however told the BBC a ten year old Palestinian boy was killed in an air strike near a mosque on Friday morning.

    Hamas had earlier rejected any extension of the truce, stating that Israel had failed to meet its demands which including the lifting of the blockade on Gaza and the release of prisoners.

  • South Sudan war crimes need investigation – HRW

    The South Sudanese Army and rebel forces committed “extraordinary acts of cruelty” and should be prosecuted for war crimes, according to Human Rights Watch.

  • Khmer Rouge leaders found guilty of crimes against humanity, sentenced to life imprisonment
    Two top leaders within the Khmer Rouge regime were found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment by a special tribunal in Cambodia on Thursday.

    Now in their 80s, Khieu Samphon, the Khmer Rouge head of state, and Nuon Chea, the regime's ideological head and former deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, were charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.
  • IS advances through northern Iraq, as US considers air drops to help refugees

    The Islamic State (IS) has captured the largest Christian city in Iraq, while edging closer to the border with Kurdistan.

    Qaraqosh, home to around 50,000 Christians fell to the militants on Thursday, after Kurdish peshmerga forces withdrew from the city in Nineveh.

  • Parliamentary committee chair requests details of British arms exports to Israel
    The chair of the parliamentary select committee on British arms exports, requested details of any military exports that may have been used by the Israeli army during its most recent offensive in Gaza, reports The Guardian.
  • CAR government steps down as part of peace agreement
    The Central African Republic’s government stepped down as part of a peace deal to work towards an end of sectarian violence in the region, reports the Associated Press.

    The regions interim Prime Minister and his Cabinet resigned on Tuesday as part of a peace agreement reached between the Muslim and Christian militant factions.
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