US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Algeria for their backing in ousting Islamic militants out of northern Mali, when meeting with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The meeting follows a UN Security Council resolution earlier this month which paved the way for international intervention in Mali. An American official reportedly said , “There is a strong recognition that Algeria has to be a central part of the solution”. Another official talking to AFP reportedly said that Algeria was "warming to the idea" of intervention, commenting , "One of the things that we'll be talking...
The bombing of a church in northern Nigeria on Sunday, has sparked reprisal attacks by angry Christian youths. Eight people were killed, and over 100 people wounded, when a car packed with explosives was driven into St Rita's church in the Malali area of Kaduna. Following the attack, Christian youths armed with sticks and knives took to the streets. Reuters reported pools of blood and two dead bodies at the scene, with one youth shouting, "We killed them, and we'll do more". The police spokesperson, Aminu Lawai, later said the violence had settled. Speaking to the press, he said, "all the...
A plan to expand a petrochemical plant in China’s Zhejiang province has been scrapped after protesting crowds gathered in Ningbo over several days. Crowds opposed to the expansion clashed with police and thousands of protestors were dispersed by security forces on Saturday. Protestors again marched on the district government office on Sunday, calling for a stop to the project. "There is very little public confidence in the government," protester Liu Li told the Associated Press. "Who knows if they are saying this just to make us leave and then keep on doing the project," On Sunday evening the...
Syrian government jets reportedly bombed Damascus and other regions in the country, as hopes of retaining a ceasefire were declared “practically over” by an opposition campaigner. Opposition campaigner Fawaz Tello told Reuters , "The ceasefire is practically over. Damascus has been under brutal air raids since day one and hundreds of people have been arrested”. His comments come as the Syrian military released a statement, blaming the violence on “terrorists” who want to "fragment and destroy Syria", stating, "These terrorist groups must be confronted, their remnants chased and an iron fist...
Palestinian officials announced that the president planned to seek an upgraded observer status at the United Nations next month, despite American and Israeli threats of financial and diplomatic retaliation. “We will go to the UN regardless of any threats,” said a senior member of Abbas’ movement, Tawfik Tirawi. Building on last year’s recognition at the UN cultural agency, UNESCO, the Palestinians will seek the ‘non-member state’ status in the UN General Assembly. The 193 member assembly contains several developing nations that are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Palestinian officials have said that they are expecting a “quality majority” which would include European countries such as Britain and Germany, who have been considerate of the Palestinian struggle.
War crimes investigators from the United Nations have vowed to take action over crimes in the country and to bring perpetrators to justice, according to the UN’s former war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte. Del Ponte, who has joined a UN team investigating and compiling evidence of human rights abuses and war crimes in Syria, told reporters, "My main task will be to continue the inquiry in the direction of determining the high-ranking political and military authorities responsible for these crimes." "We don't know yet whether it will be an international court or a national court or what. Our...
Iraqi Kurds from the UK have started a campaign for recognition of the mass-killing of Kurds in the 1980s and before as genocide. Saddam Hussein’s regime killed over 180,000 Kurds in the northern region of Kurdistan, but the killing of Kurds by Arabs has occurred in the region since the 1960s. The campaign, called Justice4Genocide, is petitioning the British Government to declare the atrocities as genocide and is calling on the EU and UN to do the same. The calls for genocide recognition are supported by several British MPs and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). "Different people were...
An European delegation cancelled a planned trip to Iran, after their request to meeting two jailed activists was refused. Iran's ambassador told the EU that it was 'impossible to guarantee that the members of the European Parliament could meet jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi', reported Reuters. In a written statement, Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, said: "I deeply regret that permission to meet the Sakharov laureates was withheld. The European Parliament is nevertheless determined to continue its support for and involvement with...
The UK government has rejected requests by the US to use British bases to support an eventual attack on Iran. The Guardian reported on Thursday that the US also lobbied for the use of British bases in Cyprus, Diego Garcia and Ascension Island, but British authorities said that legal advice suggested that any pre-emptive strike on Iran could be illegal. Officials said a secret document, drafted by the attorney general’s office, says that Iran does not represent “a clear and present threat”, which means, assisting forces that are attacking Iran would be a clear breach of international law. “The...
The Chinese foreign ministry has blocked The New York Times' English and Chinese language websites, whilst also banning searches for “New York Times” on search engines and micro blogs. The New York Times was accused of smearing the country’s reputation after releasing a report that outlined appropriation of wealth by the Chinese Head of government, Wen Jiabao, who had distributed assets worth $2.7 within his extended family. The New York Times report, that posed questions around Jiabao’s ‘modest background’ , was also referred to in a BBC news report which was then also blocked by Beijing. A...