Middle East & Africa
Syria army sparks further conflict in Aleppo
The United States (US) has expressed grave concern over the Syrian army’s assault on the rebel stronghold Aleppo, Syria’s second city. The US state department said it feared a massacre, as Syrian forces began an air attack Aleppo. The city is the most populous in Syria and the financial capital of the country, something the al-Assad regime needs to regain in order to obtain any stability and authority across the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has made an appeal to both sides to spare civilians, upholding concerns of “the likelihood of an imminent major confrontation”. The US has said it does not intend to intervene at any stage.
The United nation’s observer mission’s former head in Syria has said that President Basher al-Assad’s government’s fall from power is “only a matter of time”.
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Aid withdrawn from Rwanda over Congo rebel support
The Netherlands has halted an aid package to Rwanda after concerns that they were endorsing rebels in the DR Congo. The move has come in the weeks after M23 rebels have began assaults in the eastern region of the country. The situation has been called a refugee crisis with a subsequent 200,000 people displaced due to the fighting. It was only last week that the United States said it was cutting a military aid package to Rwanda for the same reasons. The BBC has said that this signals the beginning of Rwanda losing its support across Europe.
Oceania
Australia breach human rights
A report has found that Australian officials breached the rights of minors who were crew personnel on people-smuggling boars from Indonesia. It stated that the minors were in effect jailed as adults between 2008-2011 and criticised the methods adopted to determine their ages. The report, by the Australian Human Rights Commission said, “There is a cohort of individuals whose human rights have not been respected in Australia”. Australia has since changed its approach.
Europe
One in four Spaniards now unemployed
New official statistics in Spain have stated that 5.7 million Spaniards are now out of work, a new high. The rate of unemployment rose to 24.6% in the last quarter, up 0.2% from the previous quarter; the highest rate since the democratisation of the 1970s. There have also been significant concerns over the financial sector, only weeks after a bailout fund was arranged for the industry. Santander announced that their profits have halved and additionally CaixaBank have said their profits fell by 80% in the last quarter. Economists have said that there seams to be little room for improvement in the near future.
Latin America
Cuba has said it is willing to talk to the United States
The President of Cuba Raul Castro has said that Cuba is willing to begin talks with the United States. He added that such talks would only occur “between equals” as “we are no one’s colony”. The two countries haven’t gone into discussions for over fifty years. Mr. Castro said that he wants to talk on the “problems of democracy, human rights etc”, and that no topic was off limits. The talks have been prompted by Cuba to begin as soon as the United States wants adding, “The table is set”.
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