WORLD NEWS

World News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Rwandan genocide memorial in Nyamata (Fanny Schertzer) German prosecutors have arrested a German-Rwandan national on suspicion of complicity in genocide and 25 counts of murder during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. The suspect, identified only as Innocent S. under German privacy rules, was arrested in the central German state of Hesse on Wednesday. According to Reuters,…

US readies new sanctions to push Soth Sudan peace process

 The United States is preparing a new UN sanctions list for South Sudan after a ceasefire failed to take hold under a new peace accord aimed at ending the 20-month war.

Anonymous diplomats said that the US Ambassador Samantha Power had told the Security Council during a closed door session that two or more individuals could be hit by UN sanctions due to their role in continued fighting.

Swedish citizen charged over Rwandan genocide

Swedish prosecutors have charged a man over his alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The 60 year old suspect has not yet been named, but reportedly held a low level leadership role during the killings. If he is convicted, he would be the second person in Sweden to be found guilty of genocide, after another man was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for his role in the Rwandan genocide.

Chief Prosecutor Tora Holst said in a statement on Friday:

US readies new sanctions to push South Sudan peace process

 The United States is preparing a new UN sanctions list for South Sudan after a ceasefire failed to take hold under a new peace accord aimed at ending the 20-month war.

Anonymous diplomats said that the US Ambassador Samantha Power had told the Security Council during a closed door session that two or more individuals could be hit by UN sanctions due to their role in continued fighting.

Cuba allows return of doctors who fled

The Cuban government says it will welcome back doctors who deserted while working on government programmes in other countries.

The ministry of health says the doctors will be guaranteed a job and not receive punishment.

Over 25,000 doctors are currently working on government-backed projects in other countries.

"We have agreements with other governments, by which we are compensated, with benefits to both sides," reads a health ministry statement published on the Communist Party newspaper, Granma.

‘Advocating genocide’ to be criminalised in Australia

The Australian government announced that “advocacy of genocide” would now be criminalised, under a series of new anti-terrorism legislation to be passed later this year.

Announcing the legislation, Australia’s attorney general George Brandis said:

“Free speech has no greater advocate than I… But advocating extremism or ­violence to achieve political change, or to hurt, threaten, or vilify others, is not a legitimate use of free speech and has no place in our society.”

The move was particularly aimed at groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir said Mr Brandis, adding,

India cancels Greenpeace donation licence

The Indian government has cancelled a licence which allows Greenpeace India to receive donations from abroad, according to the organisation which campaigns for the environment.

"It is yet another attempt to silence campaigns for a more sustainable future and transparency in public processes," Greenpeace India said in a statement released late on Thursday.

Turkey’s minister to EU says Armenian killings were genocide

Turkey’s envoy to the European Union stated that the killing of over a million Armenians more than a century ago by the Ottoman Empire was a genocide.

Ali Haydar Konca, a parliamentarian with the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said:

“The fact that genocide happened is explicit and clear and everybody accepts that. Right now, the issue is what it should be called. We will make a decision in our party about that.”

Turkey: Two journalists released, one remains in custody

Two British journalists with Vice News were released from Turkish custody on Thursday, however Iraqi journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool remains in custody.

Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury were arrested in the Kurdish region near Diyarbakir last week and charged with "working on behalf of a terrorist organisation".

I am not a killer' - Congo rebel leader

Notorious Congolese rebel leader General Bosco Ntaganda, known as 'The Terminator', has told the International Criminal Court that he never attacked civilians, during his trial at The Hague.

"I have been described as 'The Terminator', as an infamous killer, but that is not me,'' Gen Ntaganda said on the second day of his trial, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

"I have never attacked civilians,'' he claimed during a nine-minute speech to the court. "I have always protected them.''

Sarah Pellet, a lawyer representing 297 former child soldiers, said young girls were gang-raped and forced to become the 'wives' of senior commanders.

Former ICC chief prosecutor calls for recognition of Yazidi genocide

The former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) pushed for the recognition of the persecution of the Yazidi community as an “ongoing genocide”.

Luis Moreno Ocampo told Reuters in an interview that “it's a very clear case”. “It's an ongoing genocide because there are still people in captivity," he added.