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…

Korea jails US soldier for 10 years

A Korean court sentenced an US soldier for 10 years in jail for the rape of an 18 year old girl.

Kevin Lee Flippin, from the US Army’s 2nd Infantry Division was found guilty of breaking into the house of his 18 year old victim and raping her repeatedly, in September this year.

The US Arm’s 2nd Infantry Division has issued an apology to the victim and her family and has confirmed its cooperation with the Korean police in regards to this case.

U.S. extends sanctions on Sudan

The United states extended sanctions on Sudan for another year on Tuesday, stating that Khartoum's policies on human rights and relations with South Sudan, had not improved enough to warrant the lifting of sanctions.

Sanctions on trade, investment and the holding of assets by Sudanese government officials, were introduce in 1997.

The US offered the lifting of sanction if Sudan cooporated with the referendum and independence of South Sudan earlier this year.

Obituary: Elouise Cobell

From the BBC:

For 14 years Elouise Cobell fought a legal battle to recover billions of dollars that had been systematically plundered from Native Americans by the US government. During the action it emerged that the government's Bureau of Indian Affairs had, over the previous 100 years, sold off Indian land to farmers and prospectors but failed to pass the money on.

Bosnian Serb military commanders guilty of involvement in Srebrenica genocide

Bosnian war crimes court charged two Bosnian Serb military commanders with involvement in the Srebrenica genocide on Monday.

Judge Ljubomir Kitic, found the two commanders from the first battalion of the Zvornik brigade, Slavko Peric and Momir Pelemis, guilty of involvement in the detention and the systematic killing of at least 1000 Bosnian Muslim men in the region of Srebrenica.

Kitic remarked,

Leader of US ‘Kill Team’ begins trial

Staff Sgt Calvin Gibbs, an American soldier accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan, has admitted taking fingers off bodies as war trophies, as his trial began on Monday.

Gibbs is facing 16 criminal charges, including premeditated murder, before a court martial, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

It is alleged that he led a rogue unit of the US Army the 5th Stryker Brigade, known as the “Kill Team”, into murdering innocent Afghan civilians, in Kandahar province in late 2009. Members of the unit then posed with their dead bodies for photos and kept body parts as mementos.

Assad warns West of “earthquakes” if they intervene

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned Western nations of an “earthquake” and of “another Afghanistan” if they were to take action against the country.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Assad said,
"Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake … Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?

Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal deferred

The tribunal looking into allegations of war crimes committed in the brutal Bangladeshi war of independence has been deferred until the 20th of November.
The lawyer for defendant Delwar Hossain Sayyidi, who is charged with crimes against humanity, genocide and rape, has asked for a review of the charges and the withdrawal of the tribunal’s chairman.
Tribunal Chairman Nizamul Huq is accused by the lawyer of bias.

US Republicans criticise Obama’s foreign policy

Republican presidential candidates have slammed Obama’s foreign policy moves on Iraq and Libya, as they gave an indication on what grounds next November’s elections will be contested.

Herman Cain and Rick Perry criticised the pull-out of US troops from Iraq, although the deadline was first set by George Bush.

"For the president to announce that we are going to do a drawdown on the troops by a date certain, that just leaves a power vacuum in Iraq," Cain said on "Face the Nation" on CBS.

Uruguay revokes ‘dirty war’ amnesty

Uruguay’s Congress has voted to scrap an amnesty for military officials who have been charged with allegations of human rights abuses during the military rule crackdown of leftists between 1975 and 1983.

After 12 hours of debate, the lower house of parliament voted 50-40 to eliminate the amnesty, which leaves Jose Mujica, the country's president left to approve the change.

Luis Puig, a ruling Broad Front coalition legislator, said,

Gaddafi at the end …

Why former Liban leader Muammar Gaddafi was ‘angry and disappointed’ in his final days:

"He thought his people should love him until the end. He felt he had done so many good things for them and for Libya. He also felt betrayed by men who had seemed to be his friends, like [former British Prime Minister] Tony Blair and [Italian Premier] Silvio Berlusconi."