Syrian children 'pushed to the brink' after worst atrocities since war began
Unprecedented number of children maimed, killed and recruited for combat roles in 2016, says Unicef report on violations suffered by children
The number of children maimed, killed or recruited to fight in the Syria conflict has increased dramatically over the past year, with children as young as seven forced to act as frontline fighters, prison guards, suicide bombers and executioners.
Grave violations against Syrian children are at the highest level since the war began in 2011, according to a Unicef report, with at least 652 children killed in 2016 – a 20% increase on the year before – and 850 children recruited to fight in the conflict, nearly three times the 331 enlisted in 2015.
Since Unicef has only included verified reports of injury, death and recruitment, the actual figures are likely to be far higher.
Denmark warns Turkish PM to postpone visit as Germany mulls legal options
Denmark has joined a growing list of countries to block Turkey's attempts at political campaigns in Europe. Germany's interior minister says there could be legal avenues to bar entry to referendum campaigners.
Denmark's prime minister suggested his Turkish counterpart postpone his visit due to "tensions" between Ankara and the Netherlands, he said in a statement on Sunday.
Danish public broadcaster DR reported Binali Yildirim had planned to visit the country on March 20 but Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said that such a visit could not take place in light of "the current Turkish attack on Holland."
"Under normal circumstances, it would be a pleasure to welcome the Turkish prime minister," Rasmussen said in a statement. He told DR that the Danish government was "very concerned" about political developments in Turkey.
IS group fighters trapped as Iraqi forces retake third of west Mosul
Latest update : 2017-03-13
Iraqi forces recaptured a third of west Mosul and trapped Islamic State group fighters inside as they made further gains in their battle to retake the city, officials said Sunday.
Fierce fighting has shaken Mosul in recent days as thousands of US-backed Iraqi soldiers and police battle to reclaim the country's second city.
A renewed push against the jihadists launched on March 5 has seen IS forced from several neighbourhoods and key sites, including the main local government headquarters and the famed Mosul museum.
By Sunday, Iraqi forces were tightening the noose.
IS "is trapped. Just last night, the 9th Iraqi army division... cut off the last road out of Mosul," said Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the anti-IS coalition.
Waiting to die: Uganda's untreated cancer patients
Since its only external beam radiotherapy machine broke in April, Ugandans having been dying of treatable cancers.
Katie G. Nelson |
With his shoulders hunched forward and his hands curled over the curve of the steering wheel, James Isabirye scans a dusty road in southern Uganda for signs of life. The driver at Hospice Jinja is looking for a narrow inlet, somewhere between a neighbourhood shop and a primary school, that his colleague and passenger Esther Apolot is directing him to.
"And you remembered to pack the morphine?" Esther asks. "This patient is very sick."
James takes a hard left turn down a winding footpath carved in the dirt, which grows increasingly narrow until it dead-ends at two crumbling redbrick houses.
"This is it," says Esther. "She's inside."
Covered by a single sheet atop a foam mattress on the concrete floor is 32-year-old Harriet Namuwoya. The mother of seven has abdominal cancer. A watermelon-sized tumour protrudes from her stomach.
BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
Refugees Fleeing Violence in Central America Hope for Asylum in Mexico
Women and children from Central America began arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in unprecedented numbers during the summer of 2014. Referring to the “urgent humanitarian situation,” President Barack Obama called on Congress to build new detention centers, hire new immigration judges, and increase border surveillance as tens of thousands of unaccompanied children were detained by U.S. immigration officials. At the same time, the United States backed a Mexican government initiative to increase patrols, detentions, and deportations along Mexico’s southern border. The idea was to stop Central Americans from getting into Mexico, let alone the United States.
South Korea's disgraced Park leaves Blue House, says truth will out
By Ju-min Park and Hyunjoo Jin,Reuters
Disgraced South Korean leader Park Geun-hye left the presidential Blue House on Sunday, two days after a court dismissed her over a corruption scandal, facing life as a private citizen and the possibility of jail.
Park struck a defiant tone upon arriving at her private home in the Gangnam district of the capital, Seoul, after leaving the Blue House compound in a motorcade of fast-driving black cars, flanked by police motorbikes.
"I feel sorry that I could not finish the mandate given to me as president," a spokesman for Park, member of parliament Min Kyung-wook, quoted her as saying.
"It will take time, but I believe the truth will be revealed," Park said in her first public comments since her dismissal.
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