West 'ignored Russian offer in 2012 to have Syria's Assad step aside'
Exclusive: Senior negotiator describes rejection of alleged proposal, since when tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced
Julian Borger and Bastien Inzaurralde
Russia proposed more than three years ago that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, could step down as part of a peace deal, according to a senior negotiator involved in back-channel discussions at the time.
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said western powers failed to seize on the proposal. Since it was made, in 2012, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions uprooted, causing the world’s gravest refugee crisis since the second world war.
Ahtisaari held talks with envoys from the five permanent members of the UN security council in February 2012. He said that during those discussions, the Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, laid out a three-point plan, which included a proposal for Assad to cede power at some point after peace talks had started between the regime and the opposition.
North Korea says it will restart all nuclear bomb fuel plants - and can launch US strike 'at any time'
North Korea's main nuclear complex
is fully operational and the country remains prepared to launch a nuclear attack on the US “at any time”, Pyongyang has claimed.
is fully operational and the country remains prepared to launch a nuclear attack on the US “at any time”, Pyongyang has claimed.
The country's state-run news agency carried a statement claiming to be from the director of its Atomic Energy Institute saying the Yongbyon facility, which contains a uranium enrichment plant and nuclear reactor, had been upgraded.
carried a statement claiming to be from the director of its Atomic Energy Institute saying the Yongbyon facility, which contains a uranium enrichment plant and nuclear reactor, had been upgraded.
The statement said operations were moving towards “the building of a nuclear force advanced at the historic plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea”.
Hungary begins border crackdown as fence completed
Hungary has introduced tough new laws to stop refugees crossing into the country via "green borders," claiming it was necessary to control the influx. Passport checks have now been reintroduced into Austria and Slovakia.
Tough new border laws and powers to expel asylum seekers came into force at midnight, as Hungary's right-wing government used a cargo wagon covered with razor wire to close the main informal crossing point for refugees.
Hungary has said it will no longer tolerate people entering the country without passing through official checkpoints, after the country completed a 175-kilometer (108-mile), 3.5-meter (11.4 feet) high fence along its southern border with Serbia.
Those entering the country in a way deemed illegal by the Hungarian government face imprisonment or deportation.
Speaking early Tuesday, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said Hungary would introduce new regulations from midnight onwards. He stressed that it did not mean the country was closing its doors on all refugees.
Satellite images suggest China 'building third airstrip' in South China Sea
Updated 0801 GMT (1501 HKT) September 15, 2015
China appears to building a third airstrip in disputed waters in the South China Sea, according to new satellite images analyzed by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The images, taken September 8, come after China pledged to bring land reclamation in those waters to a halt, and will make for uncomfortable discussions when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Washington next week.
Greg Poling, the director of CSIS's Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said that China had reclaimed a flat rectangle of land with a retaining wall about 3,000 meters (3,280 yards) in length on Mischief Reef. It's similar to airstrips that China has been building on artificial islands at the Fiery Cross and Subi reefs in the contested Spratly Islands.
Israeli police storm Al-Aqsa Mosque for a third day
Clashes erupt after Israeli police raid mosque's courtyards to support tours for Jewish activists.
15 Sep 2015 08:12 GMT
Palestinians and Israeli forces clashed at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque for a third straight day, as Israeli forces were seen on the roof of the holy site.
Suleiman Ahmad, the president of Jerusalem's Affairs Department, who is currently at the scene, told Al Jazeera that at least 17 Palestinians were injured in the clashes early on Tuesday.
"They have placed snipers on the rooftops and are using rubber bullets," Ahmad said.
The site of the mosque is revered as holy by Jews and Muslims and is a frequent flashpoint of violence.
Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa threw stones and fireworks at the Israeli forces and set up barricades to prevent them from closing the entrance to the mosque.
The police forces eventually closed the doors to the mosque with the Palestinians still inside.
Challenging anti-foreign violence, South African farm offers haven to migrants
A self-proclaimed redneck farming couple has taken in nearly 150 desperate migrants on their hillside farm near Durban amid anti-foreign violence.
CATO RIDGE, SOUTH AFRICA — The moment Adolf Rubango realized he couldn’t stay in South Africa forever was not when a customer in his Durban barbershop refused to pay him, nor when the man told him why. "Kwerekwere (You dirty foreigner)," he spat. "This country doesn’t belong to you."
It wasn’t when he saw the glint of metal in the man’s hand or when he felt the knife twist deep into his abdomen.
The moment came when he stumbled up to the admissions desk at the local hospital. “We’re busy,” a nurse told the Congolese migrant. “It would have been easier if you had just died.”
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