World events

Apr 4, 2015

Islamic State takes 90 percent of Damascus refugee camp

Islamic State has taken control of 90 percent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control.

Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.

The United Nations has said it is extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrians and Palestinians in the camp. Civilians trapped there have long suffered a government siege that has led to starvation and disease.

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Red Cross calls for 24-hour ceasefire in Yemen to deliver aid

4-4-2015
The International Committee of the Red Cross appealed on Saturday for an immediate 24-hour halt to hostilities in Yemen to deliver life-saving medical aid into the country where the humanitarian situation was dire.

The Saudi-led military coalition conducting air strikes in Yemen was still blocking three shipments of aid and medical staff.

"All air, land and sea routes must be opened without delay for at least 24 hours to reach people cut off after more than a week of intense air strikes and fierce ground fighting nationwide.”

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Sinabung volcano (Sumatra, Indonesia) update: growing lava lobe, pyroclastic flows

April 2, 2015

The volcano continues to extrude viscous lava, feeding the lava dome occupying the summit crater and a new lava lobe on the upper eastern flank.

Collapses from this lobe and the dome have been producing frequent smaller to medium-sized pyroclastic flows on the eastern and sometimes northeastern flank. A moderately large pyroclastic flow yesterday at 11:45 local time reached approx. 3.5 km and produced an ash plume that rose to approx. 4 km altitude.

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Typhoon Maysak Flattens Ulithi Atoll, Devastates Food Supply

Apr 3 2015

Typhoon Maysak, now weakened from super typhoon status, is poised to strike the northern Philippines after devastating several Micronesian nations.

Tuesday, when Maysak still retained super typhoon strength, the storm battered Ulithi, an atoll about 420 miles southwest of Guam with less than 800 residents.

With sustained winds at 160 mph, Maysak damaged nearly everything on the atoll except concrete structures, meaning vital vegetation and supplies were wrecked during the storm, according to the AFP.

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24,000 evacuated in Philippines as typhoon Maysak approaches

Residents of coastal villages moved out, amid fears of storm surges, flash floods and landslides from weakening super-typhoon

Around 24,000 people from the Philippines were being evacuated on Saturday with typhoon Maysak a day away from potentially striking the country’s north-east coast, officials said.

Storm surges, flash floods and landslides remained potential threats even though Maysak, once a super-typhoon, had weakened, with maximum sustained winds of 99 miles per hour, they said.

“We plan to move people out of coastal villages,” Nigel Lontoc, a senior civil defence official for the region, said.

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Russia Said to Plan No Aid to Greece, May Ease Curbs on Food

Russia isn’t considering any financial assistance for Greece as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras plans to visit Moscow next week, according to three Russian government officials with knowledge of the discussions.

Even so, Russia is ready to discuss easing restrictions on Greek food products, which were imposed as as part of the retaliation for European Union sanctions levied over the conflict in Ukraine, said two of the three officials, who asked not to Russia has been building ties with European countries that may help it scuttle the sanctions be identified because the information is confidential.

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Kenya: Extremists vows more attacks; president responds


Kenyatta said his administration "shall respond in the severest ways possible" to the Garissa attack, which occurred Thursday when four gunmen entered a campus and slaughtered students. The military moved in hours later and the gunmen were killed.

"We will fight terrorism to the end," said Kenyatta. "I guarantee that my administration shall respond in the fiercest way possible."

"We are also in active pursuit of the mastermind (of the Garissa attack) and have placed a reward for his capture," said Kenyatta, who declared 3 days of national mourning over the Garissa attack.

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Ukraine's 'frozen conflict' has gone on for one year

4-4-2015
Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - On April 6, 2014, pro-Russian activists stormed the offices of the Donetsk regional administration and the Lugansk office of the secret service in eastern Ukraine, sparking a year-long insurgency against the Kiev government in which 6,000 people have died.

Their ire was directed at the pro-westerners who took the helm in Kiev after massive street protests ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in February last year.

The rebels claimed Russian-speakers in east Ukraine were under threat from the "fascist junta" in Kiev, and were hostile to plans to strengthen ties with the EU and NATO.

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Ukraine Must Be Armed Right Now

The Kremlin has been waging a covert, hybrid war against Ukraine since February 2014. Moscow used local separatist forces, volunteers, Russian Special Forces and conventional forces.

9,000 Russian Federation personnel and 30,000 to 35,000 separatist fighters are in eastern Ukraine. 400 tanks, 700 pieces of artillery, and rocket launchers. 50,000 Russian military personnel on the border and another 50,000 in Crimea.

Ukraine expects an attack within the next 60 days. This assessment is based on geographic imperatives, ongoing pattern of Russian activity an analysis of Russian actions, statements, and Vladimir Putin’s psychology to
date.

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Government watchdog group Judicial Watch is suing the Department of Justice to obtain records about a suspicious explosion that leveled an apartment complex in a majority Muslim neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota last year.

4-2-2015
The January 1, 2014 explosion leveled a building in the largely Muslim Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, but the incident was never explained to the public, nor did local authorities ever fully investigate the explosion or determine its cause.

The building was owned by Garad Nor, a man who had initially been implicated as a terrorist financier by the U.S Treasury Department.

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Yemen fighting sparks 'dire humanitarian crisis'

Russia holds emergency meeting at UN Security Council to tackle crisis.

Fighting between Yemen's Houthi rebels and forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi for the control of the southern city of Aden has continued, sparking a "dire humanitarian situation".

"We urgently need an immediate halt to the fighting to allow families in the worst affected areas, such as Aden, to venture out to get food and water, or to seek medical care.

Many wounded people were not getting medical supplies and that "hospitals are overwhelmed".

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Russia Urges UN to Call for 'Humanitarian Pause' in Yemen


4-4-2015
Russia called an emergency meeting of the council and circulated a draft resolution demanding "regular and obligatory" breaks in airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi Shiite rebels to allow foreign personnel to leave the country.

It makes no mention of a halt to fighting by the Houthis.


The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, also demands "rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches people in need."

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Yemen conflict: Saudi Arabia considers pause in intervention


4-4-2015
Saudi Arabian authorities are considering a proposal for a pause in the Arab state's intervention in the conflict in Yemen.


A Saudi-led coalition has air-dropped weapons and communications equipment to help Yemeni forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who are battling Shia Houthi rebels in the southern city of Aden.


The UN Security Council is due to meet on Saturday to discuss the Russian proposal for a temporary halt to hostilities.

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Kenyatta says campus attackers 'embedded' in Kenya's Muslim community

4-4-2015

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Saturday that those behind an attack in which al Shabaab Islamist militants killed 148 people at a university were "deeply embedded" in Kenya, and called on Kenyan Muslims to help prevent radicalization.

Four suspects were Kenyans of Somali origin, and the fifth was Tanzanian, the ministry said. The suspected mastermind, Mohamed Mohamud, a former teacher at a Garissa madrasa, is still on the run. Kenya has offered a 20 million shillings ($215,000) reward for his arrest.

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Gunmen kill nine, gas pipeline hit in Nigeria's oil-rich delta

4-4-2015


Nigeria's delta region was hit by violence on Friday, as gunmen killed nine people and, separately, militants blew up a gas pipeline, in a sign of returning unrest to the oil producing area days after a relatively peaceful presidential election.

Opposition presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari beat incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in a landslide victory last weekend, producing some resentment in Jonathan's home region.

"Some unknown armed men invaded the Obrikom and Obor communities ... killing nine, injuring two persons," Rivers state police spokesman Ahmed Mohammad said on Saturday.

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Malaysian helicopter crash kills PM's senior aide and former envoy to U.S.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's chief of staff and a former ambassador to the United States were among six people killed in a helicopter crash near the capital.

Witnesses told state news agency Bernama they saw the helicopter explode in mid-air before it crashed into the ground in the town of Semenyih outside Kuala Lumpur late on Saturday.

Malaysian officials also confirmed that Najib's chief of staff, Azlin Alias, and lawmaker Jamaluddin Jarjis, a former Malaysian ambassador to the United States, were among those killed in the crash.

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Warplanes hit Yemen's Sanaa overnight, clashes in Mukalla: residents

4-5-2015

Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition bombed Yemen's capital Sanaa overnight, on the eleventh day of a campaign against Iran-allied Houthi forces opposed to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The raids came despite calls by Russia and the Red Cross on Saturday for a pause to allow urgent humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation of civilians.

Residents reported explosions at bases housing army units loyal to the Houthis, while air strikes also hit areas along Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia.

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After Islamist attack, armed guards shield Kenyan churches

4-5-2015

After al Shabaab gunmen massacred nearly 150 people at a Kenyan university on Thursday, singling out Christians for point-blank executions, churches in Kenya are turning to armed guards to protect their Easter Sunday congregations.

Kenya's Christians, who are 83 percent of the population of 44 million, have been horrified by survivors' tales of how the militants sought Christian students to kill while sparing some Muslims.

Militants on Saturday threatened to stage more attacks and turn Kenyan cities "red with blood". Kenyan priests fear Christian churches may be attacked on Easter Sunday.

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Freed from ISIS control, Tikrit a smoldering ruin in Iraq

In Tikrit, liberation from the Islamic State group had a heavy price, in loss of life and in the sheer devastation the terrorists leave in their wake.

Much of Tikrit — Saddam Hussein's hometown and once a bustling city north of Baghdad — lies in ruins.

After a nearly 10-month Islamic State occupation, it took Iraqi forces and their allies, including Iranian-backed Shiite militias, a month of ferocious street battles to win the city back. They declared victory in Tikrit on Wednesday.

U.S.-led coalition airstrikes also helped turn the tide in the final weeks of the battle.

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