Family of Syrian boy washed up on beach were trying to reach Canada
Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, his five-year-old brother Galip and their mother, Rehan, died in desperate attempt to flee to relatives
The family of a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body was washed up on a beach in Turkey were making a final, desperate attempt to flee to relatives in Canada even though their asylum application had been rejected, according to reports.
Syria was already at war when Aylan Kurdi was born. He died with his five-year-old brother, Galip, and mother, Rehan. Their father, Abdullah, survived.
Speaking to Canadian press on Wednesday night, the family said Abdullah had phoned them to tell them his wife and sons were dead, and he now only wanted to return to their Kurdish home town of Kobani to bury his family. The town wasbombarded during heavy fighting this year between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters.
ROBERT FISKThursday 3 September 2015
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Two Vice News reporters released in southeast Turkey
Latest update : 2015-09-03Two Vice News journalists arrested in southeast Turkey this week on charges of having links to a terrorist organisation have been released, their lawyer and a Turkish government source told Reuters on Thursday.
A Turkish court freed the two British journalists but ruled to keep their fixer, an Iraqi national, in custody pending investigation after assessing an appeal request from the trio’s lawyers.
The arrest of the journalists on Monday sparked uproar from rights groups and raised concerns about Ankara’s record on press freedoms at a time when Turkey is taking on a bigger role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and cracking down on Kurdish militants at home.
The three were detained last Friday in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir while filming clashes between security forces and Kurdish militants.
New York Times attacks Prime Minister Tony Abbott over 'stop the boats' policy
September 3, 2015 - 9:09PMNicole Hasham
Environment and immigration correspondent
The New York Times has launched a blistering attack on the Abbott government's asylum seeker policies, suggesting they are "unconscionable" and urging European nations struggling with a tide of migrants not to follow suit.
The media outlet singled out Prime Minister Tony Abbott in an editorial on Thursday that indicates Australia's reputation is suffering in the eyes of some international observers under the government's hardline efforts to "stop the boats".
It described Mr Abbott's policies as "inhumane, of dubious legality and strikingly at odds with the country's tradition of welcoming people fleeing persecution and war".
Guatemala leader resigns after warrant for his arrest
The decision comes after President Otto Perez was stripped of his immunity due to corruption charges.
03 Sep 2015 11:53 GMT
Guatemalan President Otto Perez has resigned, his spokesman said after Congress stripped the leader of immunity over corruption allegations and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The embattled conservative leader, in power since 2012, took Thursday's decision to step down to confront "individually the proceedings against him," his spokesman Jorge Ortega said, days before a national election.
Perez faces prosecution for allegedly masterminding a huge fraud scheme and on Tuesday he was stripped of his immunity due to organised corruption charges against him.
Middle East wars deprive 13m children of education - UN
- 3 September 2015
- Middle East
The UN has said that conflicts in the Middle East are depriving more than 13 million children of an education.
The UN children's fund, Unicef, says in a new report that the hopes of a generation across the Middle East and North Africa are being shattered.
It says that in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, almost 9,000 schools are not able to be used for education.
Unicef also documented scores of attacks on schools and teachers across the region.
Peter Salama, regional director for Unicef in the Middle East and North Africa, said: "The destructive impact of conflict is being felt by children right across the region.
"It's not just the physical damage being done to schools, but the despair felt by a generation of schoolchildren who see their hopes and futures shattered."
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