A vessel carrying over 150 asylum seekers sank on route to Australia yesterday, approximately 45 nautical miles from Indonesia. At 4.20am and 5am yesterday a distress call was put out by the vessel to Australian officials, stating that there were 155 people on board including women and children. Search and rescue efforts now retrieved 55 survivors. The effort is being led by BASARNAS, the Indonesian search and rescue agency, with the assistance of Australian counterparts at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). Following the distress call on Wednesday, Indonesian teams searched the...
Speaking to reporters on the sinking of an asylum seekers' boat en route to Australia yesterday, the Australian Home Affairs Minister, Jason Clare, offered his take on the events: "More than 300 people have died in the last three months and it appears more people have died in the last 24 hours." "My message to them, is don’t get on the boat." Focussing on people smugglers and "their business model", Clare said: "They're telling people they're selling them a ticket to Australia,” "What they're really doing is selling them a ticket to Nauru or a ticket to the bottom of the sea." "I think the...
The United Nations received reports of massacres in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, that suggest that hundreds of civilians have been slaughtered. Commenting on the allegations, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, noted that the allegations still had to be verified, but said , “the preliminary findings suggest that a significant number of people-most of them women and children-were slaughtered. The sheer viciousness of these murders is beyond comprehension. In some cases, the attacks against civilians may constitute crimes against humanity. ” The UN has sent four fact...
Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian government of committing further war crimes, after reports that government forces have repeatedly targeted civilians, whilst they were waiting in queues to receive bread. The organisation stated that at least 10 bakeries had been targeted in the last 3 weeks in the Aleppo province, by “artillery shells, rockets, and bombs”. Ole Solvang , an Emergencies Researcher with the group said, “Day after day, Aleppo residents line up to get bread for their families, and instead get shrapnel piercing their bodies from government bombs and shells,” “Ten bakery...
The live wire blog of Amnesty International was attacked by hackers on Monday evening, who posted comments as Amnesty staff that falsely accused the Syrian rebels of atrocities. The human rights group's live wire blog features personal narratives from Amnesty researchers and fieldworkers. One false post read : “It is clear the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels are not going to stop their crimes. And with no accountability and a steady supply of weapons, why should they given they have come this far under NATO protection?" According to Amnesty officials, as techinical staff attempted to deleted the hackers' work, the post reappeared a few hours later.
The German government has admitted it provided training and equipment worth over €50,000 to the Belarusian security forces. The interior ministry said it supplied surveillance equipment including digital cameras and computers and three Volkswagen police vans between 2008 and 2010, but could not confirm reports that batons and other riot combat equipment were also delivered during the period. Germany said last week that it provided training to senior militia officers and border guards, trusting Belarus to be committed to a “process of democracy”. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is now...
Following criticism over the Burmese court’s conviction and imprisonment of UN workers, Burma’s president has ordered that the three UN workers that were jailed be freed. A statement from the president’s office stated that the pardon was with “the loving kindness and generosity of the state” . Despite democratic reforms, the conflict between the ethnic Rhakine and the Rohingya community continues to leave thousands displaced.
Nobel peace prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pulled out of a seminar in South Africa because of he refused to appear alongside former British prime minister Tony Blair. The pair were scheduled to take part in the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday, before Tutu’s announcement. In a statement released by his office, it was announced that after "wrestling with his conscience and taking counsel", " Ultimately, the archbishop is of the view that Mr. Blair's decision to support the United States' military invasion of Iraq, on the basis of unproven allegations of the existence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, was morally indefensible." "The Discovery Invest Leadership Summit has leadership as its theme. Morality and leadership are indivisible." "In this context, it would be inappropriate and untenable for the archbishop to share a platform with Mr Blair."
The Colombian government and Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) are to hold exploratory talks towards peace, the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Monday. Addressing state TV, Santos said, "Since the first day of my government I have completed my constitutional obligation to find peace. With that aim, we have had exploratory conversations with the FARC to seek an end to the conflict," The talks are understood to take place later this year in Norway or Cuba. Santos added that the Colombian military would continue to act "throughout every centimetre" of the country whilst the talks took place. According to Reuters, Santos has agreed that Farc rebels would not be extradited to any other country to face convictions.
Six soldiers and three marines have escaped criminal prosecution and received administrative punishments for burning the Quran and urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. The actions by the soldiers triggered widespread rioting and led to retaliatory killings of at least four US military personnel and the deaths of over 30 Afghans. The exact punishments have not been revealed but could include demotions, forfeit of pay and extra duty. Up to a hundred copies of the Quran had been burnt ‘mistakenly’ by the soldiers, according findings from the investigations into the incident...