South Sudan’s president, rebel leader sign peace deal
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement with rebel factions in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday to end a civil war that has killed at least 50,000 people, displaced two million and held up the country’s progress since it gained in…
France seeks release of citizen held by Yemeni Houthis
France is in talks with Houthi forces in Yemen to secure the release of one its citizens held since June after his boat ran into difficulty near the country’s main port of Hodeidah, a French diplomatic source said on Wednesday.
Twenty-five years on, Oslo Accords peace hopes a fading memory
As Palestinians prepare to lower the flag over their shuttered mission in Washington, no one can predict when they will return to the city where just a quarter of a century ago a diplomatic triumph was celebrated on a sunlit White House lawn.
U.N. bemoans unsustainable Palestinian economy
Palestinian citizens are trapped in an economy of jobless growth with no prospects, especially in Gaza, which is undergoing “de-development”, the United Nations trade and development agency UNCTAD said in an annual report published on Wednesday.
U.S. lawmakers back sanctions over China’s Muslim crackdown
The Republican leaders of a U.S. congressional commission on China urged President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday to broaden sanctions on Chinese officials over its treatment of minority Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
Turkey reinforces military in Syria’s Idlib after ceasefire call fails
Turkey is reinforcing its military posts inside Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib, Turkish and Syrian rebels sources say, seeking to deter a government offensive which it says would unleash a humanitarian disaster on its border.
Thomas Cook says has not seen full report from Egypt prosecutor on resort deaths
British tour operator Thomas Cook said on Wednesday it had not yet seen the full report from Egypt’s public prosecutor on the deaths of two British holidaymakers in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada last month.
France presses close ally Egypt to suspend mass death sentences
France’s foreign ministry on Wednesday expressed concern over an Egyptian court’s decision to sentence 75 people to death and urged authorities to suspend the execution of their sentences.
Catholic Church admits ‘shameful’ legacy of abuse after study leaked
The Catholic Church in Germany acknowledged a “depressing and shameful” legacy of sexual abuse on Wednesday after a leaked study said clerics had abused thousands of children over a 70-year period.
U.N. documents further Syrian government use of banned chemical weapons
U.N. investigators said on Wednesday that they had documented three further uses of banned chlorine weapons by Syrian government forces that constituted war crimes, and urged major powers to help avert a “massacre” in the final battle for Idlib.
