Syria truce: UN hails 'significant drop' in violence
The UN hails significant reduction in violence over the first 24 hours of a new ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia.
Aid convoys are waiting at the Turkish-Syrian border for the government in Damascus to give authorisation to enter Syria, the United Nations has said, as a fragile ceasefire that came into effect at sundown on Monday appeared to be largely holding across the country.
The UN envoy for Syria on Tuesday applauded the "significant drop in violence", more than 24 hours after the declaration of a truce deal brokered by US and Russia.
"Today, calm appears to have prevailed across Hama, Latakia, Aleppo city and rural Aleppo and Idlib, with only some allegations of sporadic and geographically isolated incidents," Staffan de Mistura told a news conference in Geneva.
UN to question Nauru over abuse of children in Australian-run detention
Island nation to be asked to clarify what has been done to to protect child asylum seeker victims and child witnesses of sexual abuse
Nauru will come under fresh scrutiny in a United Nations hearing over the treatment of child asylum seekers sent there by the Australian government.
On Tuesday the 73rd committee on the rights of the child will be held in Geneva, where Nauru will be thrust into the international spotlight once again for its central role in Australia’s hardline offshore detention regime.
Australia’s detention facilities have drawn heavy domestic and international criticism following the Guardian’s publication of the Nauru files, more than 2,000 leaked incident reports that laid bare the devastating abuse and trauma inflicted on children held there.
Eritrea is building 'its own type of political system'
Yemane Gebreab is the second most influential person in Eritrea. In an exclusive interview, DW asked him about the large number of Eritreans fleeing the country and Asmara's relations with its foe Ethiopia.
Last week, an official delegation from Eritrea visited Berlin to strengthen bilateral ties with Germany. The visit was seen as controversial, owing to several reports on human rights violations in the African country. DW talked with Yemane Gebreab, political head of Eritrea's single party and advisor to President Isaias Afwerki.
DW: Can you give us an assessment of your stay in Germany?
Yemane Gebreab: Well, I think it has been a productive visit for us. We had discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and with parliamentarians, and we had a public panel on the situation in Eritrea and in the Horn of Africa in general. So for us this is a phase of re-engaging with Germany and developing partnerships in various sectors. We would like to see a more active German foreign policy and constructive role in the Horn of Africa as well.
Does the West turn a blind eye to Kurdish abuses?
The United States is openly supporting several armed groups that are part of the conflicts raging in Syria and Iraq, because it sees them as the best – or only – option in defeating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Islamic State (IS) group. But these US-backed groups have far from clean records.
Hussein Yazdanpana, the commander of an Iranian Kurdish militia, the Kurdish Freedom Party (known by the acronym PAK) recently told the Associated Press news agency that European and American instructors “helped and trained us within the framework of the fight against Daesh.” [Editor’s note: A name used frequently in the Arabic-speaking world to describe the IS group.] The PAK has been fighting alongside soldiers from Iraqi Kurdistan, known as peshmerga, against the IS group in Iraq, the AP reported.
Hussein Yazdanpana, the commander of an Iranian Kurdish militia, the Kurdish Freedom Party (known by the acronym PAK) recently told the Associated Press news agency that European and American instructors “helped and trained us within the framework of the fight against Daesh.” [Editor’s note: A name used frequently in the Arabic-speaking world to describe the IS group.] The PAK has been fighting alongside soldiers from Iraqi Kurdistan, known as peshmerga, against the IS group in Iraq, the AP reported.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's 3426 killed numbers only the start
Bangkok: The death toll in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody "war on drugs" has risen to 3426 since July 1 as the United Nations steps up its criticism of the crackdown.
The surge in killings includes, at time of writing, 1491 accused drug suspects shot in supposed police operations and 1936 killed by vigilantes and unidentified hit-men.
A daily kill-list published by the Philippine Inquirer newspaper points to serious discrepancies in police accounts of the deaths.
On Tuesday the list recorded that seven-month pregnant Yvonne Tapales and her live-in partner Mark Bacaluyos were killed in a "dawn gun battle with police" in El Salvador City on southern Mindanao island.
Iranians mark Feast of Sacrifice as day of charity rooted in history
UNDERSTANDING OTHERS
At a charity foundation south of Tehran, hundreds of donated sheep are slaughtered for Eid al-Adha, a feast that recalls God's test of Abraham's faith.
TEHRAN, IRAN — Marking one of Islam’s holiest days, Fatameh Saee left a communal abattoir with her family, a freshly butchered leg of a lamb wrapped neatly in plastic, and her thoughts on what Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, means to her.
“This Eid is very significant for me, it’s important for my religion,” says Ms. Saee. “It is all rooted in history, and the fact of Abraham’s sacrifice,” she says.
In the story common to Christians, Muslims, and Jews, God tests the patriarch’s faith. In Muslim tradition God orders him to sacrifice his beloved son Ishmael.
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