WORLD NEWS

World News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated sharply following a deadly attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, on 22 April, which left at least 26 people dead. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the region in decades. The Resistance Front (TRF), a little-known armed group believed to be linked to the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the…

Disappeared journalist may have been killed inside Saudi consulate

A prominent Saudi journalist who disappeared last week in Istanbul was killed inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in the city according to a probe by Turkey.

Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and columnist for the Washington Post did not return home after going to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Turkish authorities said the journalist never left the consulate.

According to the Washington Post’s report, Turkish investigators believe a team came from Saudi Arabia and that it was a preplanned murder.

Saudia Arabia has denied that he was detained after entering the mission.

ISIL claims responsibility for suicide bombing at election rally in Afghanistan

At least 13 people were killed and another 25 wounded in a suicide bombing during an election rally in the eastern Afghanistan province Nangarhar on Tuesday.

The rally was held for the candidate Abdul Nasir Mohmmand in the Kama district outside the provincial capital of Jalalabad. According to Shoran Qaderi, a member of the provincial council stated that approximately 250 people were attending at the time of the bombing. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also know as ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack and pledged to disrupt the parliamentary elections due on October 20.

1 year on: Catalan President threatens destabilisation of Spanish parliament if independence demands ignored

Incumbent Catalan president, Quim Torra, has threatened to withdraw further parliamentary support to Spain’s minority government unless a plan for regional independence is offered by the end of the month. 

The ultimatum came as over 180,000 Catalans marched through the region’s capital of Barcelona to mark the 1 year anniversary of the independence referendum, a move that was ruled illegal by Spanish courts. 

“If there is no agreed mechanism by November, the pro-independence parties will no longer guarantee stability in the Spanish parliament to Mr Pedro Sanchez, “ Mr Torra told parliament on Tuesday. 

Amnesty International says Egypt is “open-air prison” for critics

Amnesty International has launched a campaign titled “Egypt, an Open-Air Prison for Critics,” which aims to highlight the government’s repression of free speech.

Namibian president wants land expropriated to boost black ownership

Namibian President, Hage Geingob, has expressed the need to expropriate land and redistribute it to the majority black population.

The current proposal aims to “transfer 43 percent, or 15 million hectares (58,000 square miles) of its arable agricultural land, to previously disadvantaged blacks by 2020. At the end of 2015, 27 percent has been redistributed, according to the Namibia Agriculture Union”.

In a similar vein, South Africa, Namibia’s neighbour and regional economic powerhouse, is also in the process of amending land ownership laws.

In a statement president Geingob stated: 

US lawmakers push for recognising genocide of Rohingya

Leaders from the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee have called on the US government to formally acknowledge crimes committed against Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar as a genocide.

“Making a formal determination of genocide must be the next step for the US,” said Representative Ed Royce, the committee’s chairman, as he spoke at a hearing on the issue last week. “Defining these atrocities for what they are is critical to building international public awareness – and support – to stop them.”

He was addressing a hearing entitled “Genocide Against the Burmese Rohingya,” reports Reuters.

Egyptian actor and activist jailed for spreading 'false news' on sexual harassment video

An Egyptian actor and activist has been jailed for uploading a Facebook video in which she described sexual harassment she experienced and criticised Egyptian public services.

Amal Fathy uploaded a video on Facebook in which she criticised “poor public services at a local bank, heavy traffic, sexual harassment by a taxi driver and over a general deterioration in living conditions”. She was arrested two days later by Egyptian security forces who arrived at her door and arrested her alongside her husband and young son. The latter were later released. The government have accused her of spreading false news which jeopardises national security and joining a terrorist organisation. In addition to these charges she faces a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (£430).

Canada court upholds decision to revoke citizenship of former Nazi death squad member

A Canadian government decision to strip citizenship from a former member of a Nazi death squad was reasonable, a federal court judge has ruled.

The ruling could make way for the 94-year-old to be deported and tried for war crimes charges, although appeals are still possible.

“It is uncontested that [Helmut Oberlander] obtained his Canadian citizenship by false representation or by knowingly concealing material circumstances by failing to disclose involvement in the SS at the time of his immigration screening,” the judge wrote. “There is no doubt that to have done so would have resulted in the rejection of his citizenship application.”

Guatemala military committed genocide and crimes against humanity, domestic tribunal rules

Guatemala’s military committed genocide and crimes against humanity during the country’s 36-year war, a court has ruled, while acquitting the former intelligence chief of all charges.

Guatemalan judges on the tribunal ruled unanimously that the military forces had committed genocide, however the intelligence chief Jose Mauricio Rodriguez was acquitted in a 2-1 decision, Al Jazeera reports.

Over the course of the war between 1960 and 1996, more than 200,000 people were killed and another 43,000 were forcibly disappeared. More than 80 percent of the victims were indigenous Maya people.

Hundreds protest in New Delhi against deaths of sewage cleaners

Hundreds have gathered in India's capital to protest against the continued practice of manual scavenging, after the deaths of sewage cleaners, who are from a 'low-caste' background and forced to enter the sewers to unclog drains and remove human waste with their bare hands. 

The Indian government's statistics indicate that “at least one Indian worker has died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks every five days since the beginning of 2017”.