WORLD NEWS

World News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Sadia Moalim Ali, a 27-year-old nursing graduate and rickshaw driver from Somalia, has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment after being convicted of insulting government institutions over comments she made on social media. Ali, who had posted on Facebook and TikTok, was sentenced on 25 June in a case that has sparked outrage in Somalia and renewed concern over the shrinking space for…

Former Bosnian army commander detained over allegations of war crimes

The former Bosnian army commander, Atif Dudakovic was detained by police on Friday over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Serb civilians during the conflict between 1992 and 1995. 

Twelve other members of the Bosnian army were also detained along side Mr Dudakovic, who was a popular army commander in the Bihac region, viewed by many Bosniaks as a war hero. 

The detentions follow over 8000 pages of evidence submitted by a team investigating allegations of warcrimes against Serbs. 

Mr Dudakovic has previously rejected all the allegations and evidence as fabrications based on political motivations. 

"The great cooperation between our two great countries can influence the world" - Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi meet in China

The President of China welcomed the Prime Minister of India to Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province, for a two-day informal meeting, with both leaders expressing a desire to open a new chapter in bilateral ties between the countries.

According to Xinhua, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the two leaders had established a good working relationship over the last three years and have reached consensus on many important issues.

"The great cooperation between our two great countries can influence the world," Xi said.

North Korea and South Korea sign historic denuclearisation peace deal

The leaders of North Korea and South Korea signed a historic agreement that sought to work for the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and bring an official end to the 6 decade old conflict.

“The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world there will be no more war on the Korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun,” said the two sides.

The agreement looked to pursue phased armed reductions, cease hostile acts,, transform their fortified border into a peace zone and seek multilateral talks with all other countries including the United States, reports Reuters.

UN reports of 5 potential mass graves in eastern Congo

United Nations investigators have discovered a potential five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo’s Ituri province said a UN peacekeeping mission.

The Ituru province has seen an outbreak of ethnic violence since December causing one of the African continent’s most serious refugee crises.

The report from the UN mission provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December reports Reuters.

The UN refugee agency expects 200,000 refugees from Congo to reach Uganda this year.

Kosovo indicts former Serbian paramilitary fighter for war crimes

Kosovo has indicted a former Serbian paramilitary fighter for war crimes committed in 1999.

An international prosecutor from Kosovo's Special Prosecution Office filed the indictment, charging the suspect with pillage, wilful destruction and crimes against personal and human dignity in relation to a two-day attack in the village of Mala Krusa/Krusha e Vogel between March 25 and 27, 1999.

The prosecution said that he committed the crimes in his capacity as a member of reservist police forces or Serbian paramilitary forces.

See more on Balkan Insight.

Malaysia Human Rights Commission denied permission to monitor elections

Malaysia’s Election Commission has rejected an application by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to monitor the country’s upcoming general election.

The rejection means that the commission will not be allowed inside polling stations during its monitoring.

“Suhakam cannot comprehend this decision especially as we are informed that there will be international observers during the election,” the commission’s chair Razali Ismail said in a statement on Thursday.

Mr Ismail said the commission would “in the public interest proceed with its monitoring plan”.

Mass graves from Rwanda’s genocide unearthed more than 24 years later

Relatives of those killed or disappeared during Rwanda’s genocide have gathered at the site of four newly discovered mass graves in the country, where hundreds of bodies have been buried.

Over 200 bodies have been discovered so far at four different mass graves in Rwanda, thought to date back to the 1994 genocide in the country, in which some 800,000 people were massacred. Locals say as many as 3,000 victims may be buried at mass graves in the area, with one site still undiscovered.

US commences construction of largest oversees consulate complex in Kurdistan, Erbil

The US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman announced the start of the largest US consulate complex in the world on Monday in Erbil with Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, reports Rudaw news.

Speaking at a foundation laying ceremony, Mr Silliman said,

“The ties between the people of Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the United States of America have endured for decades. The new consulate building demonstrates that the United States will stand with the people of Iraqi Kurdistan Region, as they build  future that will be brighter than the past.”

Kurdistan Regional Government marks Kurdish Journalism Day

The Kurdistan Regional Government marked the 120th anniversary of the publication of the first Kurdish newspaper on Sunday, reports Kurdistan24.net.

In a statement for Kurdish Journalism Day the government said,

Israel denies killing Palestinian lecturer in Malaysia's capital

Israel’s defence minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed claims that Israel’s Mossad spy agency was responsible for the killing of a Palestinian lecturer in Malaysia.

Mr Lieberman suggested that the Palestinian lecturer Fadi al-Batsh was killed in an internal dispute, adding,

“This man was no saint and he didn’t deal with improving infrastructure in Gaza – he was involved in improving rockets accuracy. We constantly see a settling of accounts between various factions in the terrorist organisations and I suppose that is what happened in this case.”