Yemen’s recognised government and the Houthi rebels have agreed to a massive prisoner swap to boost UN efforts for a ceasefire deal, as a rebel delegation flew to Sweden for a fresh round of peace talks. The agreement was struck by UN envoy Martin Griffiths, who was in the rebel-held capital Sana’a on Tuesday to ensure the Houthis travelled to the talks which are expected… Read more »
Civilians in Yemen have described torture at the hands of the Houthi rebels including being strung up by their genitals and doused in acid. Their horrific testimonies emerged as tense peace talks in Sweden between the country’s warring factions entered a second day. The gruesome accounts underscore the importance of a massive UN-backed prisoner swap that was signed on Thursday by the Iran-backed rebels and Yemen’s recognised government, who… Read more »
Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, have demanded justice for the victims of sexual violence, a day before they officially receive the award for their work in the field. Speaking during a news conference at the Norwegian Nobel Institute on Sunday, Ms Murad said that nobody in Iraq had faced justice for raping Yazidi women and girls. The activist survived sexual slavery under the Islamic State in 2014. She is also an… Read more »
A suicide car bombing followed by an armed assault killed at least two people and wounded many more outside police headquarters in the port city of Chabahar in restive southeastern Iran on Thursday. Chabahar lies in Sistan-Baluchistan province which has long been a flashpoint, with Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and Sunni Muslim extremists carrying out cross-border attacks targeting the Shiite authorities. “This terrorist act… Read more »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – As the bus pulled out of a Beirut car park heading for Damascus, Ahmed Sheikh waved from the window, excited, he said, to be returning home to Syria after years as a refugee in Lebanon. A Syrian refugee girl stands near luggage of Syrian refugees returning to Syria, in Beirut, Lebanon, December 6, 2018. Picture taken December… Read more »
NAYABANS, India (Reuters) – Nayabans isn’t remarkable as northern Indian villages go. Sugar cane grows in surrounding fields, women carry animal feed in bullock carts through narrow lanes, people chatter outside a store, and cows loiter. A relative of Yogesh Raj, a Hindu activist, cries after Raj got arrested for leading the protests in which two people died on Monday,… Read more »
Rimbo, Sweden – November was one of the bloodiest months in the war in Yemen with at least 2,959 documented deaths, a war monitor has said, as the Saudi-UAE coalition intensified its bombing campaign ahead of UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) reported on Tuesday that at least 28,115 fatalities were recorded in the first 11 months… Read more »
Rimbo, Sweden – Yemen’s warring sides have agreed terms on a large-scale prisoner swap with more than 16,000 detainees expected to be released early next year. After a closed-door meeting at peace talks in Sweden, which concluded with handshakes, hugs and kisses; Askar Zouail, a member of the government’s delegation, said his side had submitted the names of 8,576 detainees to the UN, while the… Read more »
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers raided the official Palestinian news agency on Monday in the occupied West Bank, a day after suspected Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israelis outside a nearby Jewish settlement. Wafa, the Palestinian Authority news service, said on its website that troops entered the server room and went through recordings at its main office in… Read more »
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Arab League has told Brazil’s right-wing President-elect Jair Bolsonaro that moving Brazil’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would be a setback for relations with Arab countries, in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. Such a move by Bolsonaro, who takes office on Jan. 1, would be a sharp shift in Brazilian foreign policy, which has… Read more »