Fighting Surges in Ukraine After Kiev Says Rebels Launch Assault

Fighting surged in east Ukraine on Wednesday as Kiev accused pro-Russian forces of launching a "large-scale" attack in breach of a tenuous ceasefire.

‘Persistent and grave’ human rights violations in eastern Ukraine (UN report)

UN, 1 June 2015 – Serious human rights violations and abuses persist in eastern Ukraine, including shelling, executions, arbitrary and illegal detentions, torture, ill-treatment, human trafficking and the lack of justice and accountability, as well as deprivation of economic and social rights, deeply affecting the 5 million people living in the conflict-affected areas, a new United Nations report said today.

First Red Cross medical aid plane lands in Sanaa

The first Red Cross plane carrying medical aid into Yemen landed in Sanaa airport on Friday, marking their first delivery of medical supplies since the beginning of the Saudi-led military campaign against Houthi militias.

Blackwater guards convicted in Iraq killings

Four former employees of the US security company Blackwater have been convicted of almost every charge related to the shootings of more than 30 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad seven years ago.
The jury in Washington found Nicholas Slatten guilty of first-degree murder, and the three other ex-security guards - Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard - were convicted on Wednesday of committing multiple counts of voluntary manslaughter at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007.

Statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the events in Ukraine

From the Official Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (Statements and speeches):

"The centrality given to false claims of Russian aggression and incursions by our troops and armoured vehicles in discussions of the crisis in Ukraine raises a number of serious questions.
Why do those clamouring for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council consistently block our proposals for a comprehensive discussion of the origins of the Ukrainian tragedy and for collective action on a solution that serves the interests of all Ukrainian people, and instead treat Ukraine like a bargaining chip in unilateral geopolitical schemes?

Ukraine: UN alarmed by intensifying clashes, mounting casualties in country’s east

UN, 8 August 2014 – A senior United Nations human rights official today declared the situation in Eastern Ukraine “extremely alarming” with intensifying fighting, mounting casualties and serious damage to infrastructure.
Briefing the Security Council, Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, expressed concern over the “rapid professionalization of armed groups, which are increasingly well-organized and equipped with heavy weaponry.”

U.S. warns against Israeli ground invasion of Gaza

The United States on Monday warned against any Israeli ground invasion of Gaza, saying it would put even more civilians at risk than are currently in the crossfire of attacks on Hamas.
But the White House stopped short of criticizing Israel over the civilian toll so far in Gaza of the offensive, saying the government had a "right" and "responsibility" to defend their citizens against rocket attacks.
"Nobody wants to see a ground invasion because that would put more civilians at risk," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during his daily press briefing.

Afghans allege civilian deaths in NATO raid. -Officials say children among five killed in Nangarhar, but US-led coalition says initial reports show no civilians dead.

At least five civilians, including three children, have been killed in a NATO air attack in eastern Afghanistan, according to government officials.
The civilians, aged between 12 and 20, were killed overnight on Friday while they were out hunting birds in the area of Saracha, a few miles from Jalalabad city, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, provincial police spokesman, told the AFP news agency.
However, the US-led coalition said that it targeted fighters and that its initial reports indicate no civilian casualties.

Lieutenant-Colonel Will Griffin, a spokesman for the coalition, told the Associated Press news agency that the attack near an airport used by NATO forces was a "precision coordinated strike".

Syria: UN humanitarian chief urges pause in fighting to allow access to trapped civilians.

13 September 2013 – As fighting between Syrian Government and opposition forces continue to intensify, the United Nations humanitarian chief today called on all sides to agree to a pause in the hostilities so that relief agencies could gain “immediate and unhindered access” to evacuate desperate civilians trapped in towns and cities increasingly under siege.
“I am extremely worried by reports that more than half a million people remain trapped in Rural Damascus,” Valerie Amos said in a statement, noting, for example that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is receiving “very disturbing reports” from the town of Moadamyieh, which is just a few kilometres from the capital

Dramatic report: Inside the battle for Syria's ancient Christian village (VIDEO RT).

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Anti-Assad rebels have been forced out of many parts of Syria’s ancient Christian village of Maaloula, but the fighting there remains heavy, RT correspondent Maria Finoshina reports from the scene.
After arriving in the center of the village Wednesday, Maria Finoshina and the RT camera crew saw signs of a recent battle and heard shelling, but received a warm welcome from smiling and relieved Syrian Army soldiers, who said the village was freed from jihadists. The claim would later in the day turn out to be premature.

Any attack on Syria will be taken as an attack on Iran - Tehran aide

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser on international affairs to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, warned Saturday that any attack on Syria will be taken as an attack on Iran or its allies, according to the Reuters news agency.

Tehran has already made strongly-worded warnings against an overthrow of al-Assad, who’s engaged in a large-scale armed struggle against the opposition forces that are doing their utmost to come to power.

The conflict in Syria has been raging since March 2011.

Syrian rebels burn and plunder religious sites – Human Rights Watch

Syrian rebels have looted and burned minority religious sites in Northern Syria, US-based Human Rights Watch says. The attacks highlight the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict as the bloodshed continues unabated.
The three incidents took place in November and December of last year in religiously mixed areas.
Rebels looted two Christian churches in separate villages in the relatively peaceful western governorate of Latakia, local witnesses told the rights watchdog.
They also destroyed a Shiite ‘husseiniya’ – a religious site devoted to Hussein, a martyr in Shiite tradition – in Idlib governorate.
In all three cases, Human Rights Watch found evidence showing the attacks on the religious sites were directly connected to the areas coming under the control of the armed rebels.

La pérdida de Taftanaz es un duro golpe para Bashar Asad según EEUU

La pérdida de la base aérea de Taftanaz, en el norte de Siria, supone un golpe duro al régimen de Bashar Asad, declaró hoy la portavoz del Departamento de Estado de EEUU, Victoria Nuland.
“Entendemos que la oposición armada lanzó una ofensiva de bastante envergadura en Taftanaz, la principal base aérea en el norte (de Siria), en Idlib. La pérdida de esta base sería, desde luego, un golpe considerable a la capacidad del régimen de Asad de reabastecer a sus fuerzas en el norte”, señaló Nuland en rueda de prensa.
Aunque los combates allí continúan, agregó, es una demostración de la creciente fuerza de la oposición armada que trata de priorizar actualmente los ataques al potencial aéreo del régimen, dado que los bombardeos desde el aire resultan especialmente mortíferos para civiles.

President Assad outlines political solution to Syrian conflict

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 Syria’s president has outlined a plan to end the country's conflict, starting with a halt to international support to “al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups.” The solution proposes a new constitution and government, as well as national reconciliation.
President Bashar Assad said that his government had never refused a political solution, but would not negotiate with terrorists. He then stressed that the only solution was a Syrian proposal to end the crisis.
“The political solution entails regional and international powers halting their support for armed groups, which will be followed by a halt in our security forces' crackdown against them,” Assad said in his first public address to the people of Syria since June.

Syria shells capital area as protests surge / two generals reportedly defect.

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Ex-general Abdel Aziz Jassem al-Shallal purportedly joins rebels on YouTube, saying army turned into "murderous gangs". ( 28-Dec-2012 ) 

State warplanes pound Damascus province, as anti-regime rallies erupt across country and two generals reportedly defect.

North Korea rocket launch was 'missile test'

North Korea's launching of a rocket into space last week amounted to the test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a half-ton payload over 10,000km, the South Korean defence ministry says.
"Based on our analysis and simulation, the missile is capable of flying more than 10,000km with a warhead of 500-600kg," a defence ministry official told reporters on Sunday.
North Korea launched its three-stage Unha-3 rocket on December 12, insisting it was a purely scientific mission aimed at putting a polar-orbiting satellite in space, but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

Βόρεια Κορέα: Ανάπτυξη προγράμματος περισσότερων πυραύλων για ειρηνικούς σκοπούς

O  ηγέτης της Βόρειας Κορέας Κιμ Γιονγκ-ουν έκανε έκκληση για περαιτέρω ανάπτυξη της διαστημικής τεχνολογίας και την έναρξη προγράμματος εκτόξευσης περισσότερων δορυφόρων μετά την επιτυχή εκτόξευση, μεταδίδει το πρακτορείο Kyodo. 

"Θα πρέπει να αναπτυχθεί και να ξεκινήσει μια ποικιλία από περισσότερους ειρηνικούς δορυφόρους , συμπεριλαμβανομένων των δορυφορικών τηλεπικοινωνιών και ρουκέτες με μεγαλύτερη ικανότητα φορτίου," συνεχίζει τος Κεντρικό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων της Κορέας μεταφέροντας τις δηλώσεις του Κιμ Γιονκ-ουν.