Israeli soldiers cast doubt on legality of Gaza military tactics
Testimonies of Israeli combatants about last year’s war show apparent disregard for safety of civilians
Testimonies provided by more than 60 Israeli soldiers who fought in last summer’s war in Gaza have raised serious questions over whether Israel’s tactics breached its obligations under international law to distinguish and protect civilians.
The claims – collected by the human rights group Breaking the Silence – are contained in dozens of interviews with Israeli combatants, as well as with soldiers who served in command centres and attack rooms, a quarter of them officers up to the rank of major.
They include allegations that Israeli ground troops were briefed that everything inside Gaza was a “threat” and they should “not spare ammo” and that tanks fired randomly or for revenge on buildings without knowing whether they were legitimate military targets or contained civilians.
EGYPT
'I am a journalist, not a criminal'
Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid "Shawkan" was arrested while covering the Rabaa protest dispersal in 2013. He is still being held without charge in jail from where he wrote this letter for DW
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, I am conveying to you the misery of Egyptian journalists who are celebrating this day in the darkness of prison cells.
How far from us is the meaning of "freedom of the press" when I have spent more than 600 days in prison and I don't know when this nightmare is going to end just because I was doing my job as a photojournalist during the operation of the dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp. Somehow I'm considered a "supporter of the disposed President Morsi."
Journalism in my country has become a crime, a crime by all measures, 13 journalists who sympathized with the Muslim Brotherhood have been sentenced to life in prison, also another journalist has been sentenced to death.
Freed Nigerian women describe horror of Boko Haram captivity (+video)
275 women and children arrived at a Nigerian refugee camp Saturday, many injured and malnourished after their captivity by the extremist group Boko Haram. On Sunday, some of the women described their experiences to journalists.
YOLA, NIGERIA — Boko Haram fighters killed older boys and men in front of their families before taking women and children into the forest where many died of hunger and disease, freed captives said on Sunday after they were brought to a government refugee camp.
The Nigerian army rescued hundreds of women and children last week from the Islamist fighters in northern Nigeria's Sambisa Forest in a major operation that has turned international attention to the plight of hostages.
After days on the road in pickup trucks, hundreds were released on Sunday into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in the eastern town of Yola to be fed and treated for injuries. They have been able to speak to reporters for the first time.
CNN meets 2 prisoners who North Korea says are South Korean spies
Updated 0631 GMT (1331 HKT) May 4, 2015
North Korean officials on Sunday presented two prisoners who they claimed were South Korean spies to a CNN team visiting the secretive country.
In separate interviews, with North Korean minders present, the two South Korean men said they admitted to the allegations against them.
The men, whose detention was announced in March, said they had not been told what to say in the interviews. But they both made many of the same points, and their accounts were similar to a North Korean state media report from March about their cases.Tiny islands key to ownership of South China Sea
South East Asia says it's "seriously concerned" about China's building of artificial islands in disputed parts of the South China Sea.
In response, China says it's "severely concerned" about the South East Asian nations' statement.
South East Asia says China's actions have "eroded trust and confidence and may undermine peace, security and stability".
China retorts that what it's doing is "entirely legal and shouldn't be questioned".
Are the gloves coming off in the South China Sea disputes?
China has reacted angrily to a formal statement issued on Monday by the 10 countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations, criticising its huge island-building programme in the Spratly Islands.
Aid reaches Nepal epicentre, but little relief felt
Remote village in Gorkha district reels from massive devastation, with more than 90 percent of houses destroyed.
04 May 2015 08:47 GMT
Mohammed Jamjoom
Mohammed Jamjoom is a correspondent for Al Jazeera English.
The village in Nepal's eastern Gorkha district is tiny but the devastation it has encountered is massive.
"I still haven't been able to comprehend what happened, and how we'll recover from this disaster," says 74-year-old Durga Prasad Kattel.
Clutching a walking stick, Kattel leads me through the small mountainside enclave, approximately 50km from the epicentre of the earthquake.
As we pass residents, digging through rubble and picking up pieces of their collapsed homes, Kattel tells me 200 people live here and that 90 percent of the houses here were destroyed.
Kattel built his own home 58 years ago. Now it's completely gone.
My team and I travelled here with World Health Organisation staff members.
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