WORLD NEWS

World News

Latest news from and about the homeland

In recent weeks Yemen’s Houthi armed group has shot down seven US Reaper drones worth over $200m. The drones destroyed between 31 March and 22 April mark Washington's most significant material loss.  Three of the drones were destroyed in the past week, suggesting an improvement in the Houthis’ ability to strike high-altitude US aircraft.  The drones were conducting surveillance or…

US President calls on Saudi Arabia to allow aid into Yemen

US President Donald Trump has called on Saudi Arabia to allow humanitarian aid into Yemen, as conflict in the country has left millions at the risk of famine.

Saudi Arabia must “completely allow food, fuel, water and medicine to reach the Yemeni people who desperately need it,” said Mr Trump adding that it “must be done for humanitarian reasons immediately”.

His call comes after the United Nations Security Council said this week that Yemen “stands on the brink of a catastrophic famine.”

Cameroon increases military action against Anglophone separatists

The government of Cameroon this week increased the deployment of troops in the Anglophone southwest region of the country in an escalating crackdown on Anglophone separatists. 

Thousands of residents have been ordered to leave their homes by the government. Many thousands have already fled after government troops quashed peaceful protests and carried out a number of reprisal attacks. 

The separatists who have launched an armed uprising against the Francophone capital have killed at least 8 soldiers and officers in the past month, Reuters reported. 

Anglophone separatists are campaigning for an independent state of Ambazonia. 

Hamas calls Trump's decision on Jerusalem a 'declaration of war'

The leader of Hamas Ismail Haniya on Thursday said the US president's decision to consider Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "war declaration against Palestinians". 

In a speech from Gaza city a day after Mr Trump's announcement, Mr Haniya said the US had "killed" the peace efforts in the region. 

"This decision has killed the peace process, has killed the Oslo [accord], has killed the settlement process," he added.

"The US decision is an aggression, a declaration of war on us, on the best Muslim and Christian shrines in the heart of Palestine, Jerusalem."

US officially recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital

US president Trump on Wednesday formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in a move that reversed over seven decades of US foreign policy.

Leaders across the world expressed concern at the US move to recognise the disputed city as the capital of Israel.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Fredrica Mogherini said, “any action that would undermine peace efforts to create two separate states for the Israelis and the Palestinians must be completely avoided.”  

ICC says 'reasonable basis' to war crimes allegations by UK soldiers

The International Criminal Court in the Hague on Monday said there was a "reasonable basis" to allegations of war crimes committed by UK troops against detainees in Iraq. 

The announcement, which came as a 74 page report was delivered to the ICC's annual assembly of states in New York. 

“The [prosecutor’s] office has reached the conclusion that there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of the UK armed forces committed war crimes within the jurisdiction of the court against persons in their custody," the ICC's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda said, dismissing allegations of any war crimes being committed on the battlefield however. 

UN human rights chief 'cannot rule out genocide' of Rohingya in Myanmar

The United Nations high commissioner for human rights said the genocide of Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar’s security forces could not be ruled out, in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.

Addressing a special session on the Rohingya crisis, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said security forces “deliberately and massively targeted civilians” in the Rakhine state, and listed allegations of abuses including “acts of appalling barbarity” carried out by Myanmar’s government.

He went on to state,

Spain keeps Catalan independence leaders behind bars ahead of elections

Spain’s Supreme Court refused bail for two senior Catalan pro-independence leaders, ahead of regional elections, reports Reuters.

Monday’s ruling leaves Catalonia’s biggest secessionist groups imprisoned during campaigning for the Dec21 election.

The judge in Madird ruled that former deputy Catalan president Oriol Junqueras and the former Catalan Interior Minister Joaquim Forn must remain imprisoned alongside grassroots separatist leaders Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart.

Kurdistan Chancellor meets UN Sec-Gen Special Envoy in Erbil

The Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) Masrour Barzani reiterated Kurdistan’s commitment to a peaceful political settlement in a meet with the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations to Iran, Jan Kubis.

Meeting in Erbil, the Chancellor said,

“The Kurdistan Region has taken all steps to undertake the start of dialogue with Baghdad on all outstanding issues between the two sides. But the Iraqi government has not responded so far.”

UN looks to evacuate staff as fighting intensifies in Yemen

The United Nations is trying to evacuate at least 140 aid workers from Yemen amid intensifying fighting that has seen the road to the airport cut off, reports Reuters.

Speaking to Reuters, a UN official said,

“There is a plane on stand-by in Djibouti for 140 international staff. Fighting is moving towards the airport and the situation is very tense. We can’t even evacuate staff.”

The United Nations staff have been confined to their living quarters in Yemen’s capital Sanaa since the fighting intensified on Thursday.

Kurdistan Prime Minister arrives in Paris to meet with President Macron

A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation led by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Paris on Friday to meet with French president Emmanuel Macron.

Barzani was officially invited by the French Prime minister, in what is his first visit abroad since the September 25 independence referendum, reports Kurdistan24.

Former French President Francois Hollande visited Kurdistan twice, whilst becoming the first European President to visit Kurdistan.