An International Criminal Court report issued this week says the United States may have committed war crimes against detainees in Afghanistan.
“Members of US armed forces appear to have subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture,” the report issued by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda found. The crimes are alleged to have taken place between May 1, 2003, and December 31, 2014.
The report also claims the CIA may have committed crimes against 27 detainees from Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, and Lithuania between 2003 and 2008.
State department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau responded to the claims and said the US always meets international standards and does not believe the investigation is “warranted or appropriate”.
The US is not a member of the court but it can be prosecuted if operatives commit crimes in a member country. Prosecutors are yet to decide whether an investigation will be opened.
Protests in Greece turn violent over Obama’s visit
Some 8000 protestors have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against President Obama’s visit to Greece. Police clashed with demonstrators who threw Molotov cocktails and rocks. Police responded with stun grenades and tear gas.
Police confined the violence to a university in Athens which they aren’t allowed to enter without permission from the chancellor. Protestors chanted against the EU, NATO, and the International Monetary Fund. The last time visit to Athens by a US President 17 years ago also sparked protests.
Surge in hate attacks since Trump’s win
Nigerian conflict could kill 200 children each day
Humanitarian agency Save the Children believe two hundred children could die each day in Nigeria due to the country’s hunger crisis. Health tests of children under the age of five by Save the Children revealed about half of them are severely malnourished.
A Save the Children spokesman said children in Nigeria are facing desperate conditions after the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group displaced people from their homes and prevented farmers from raising crops. Children are suffering “severe malnutrition, often in combination with other life-threatening illnesses like pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea”. Millions of families live with unknown conditions as their areas are inaccessible.
US announces Yemen truce but Yemeni Government ‘not interested’
US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced the Arab coalition and Houthi rebel fighters in Yemen have agreed to a temporary ceasefire starting November 17. The Yemeni Foreign Minister responded that “the government was not aware of, nor is it interested in what Secretary Kerry announced”. The Yemen war started in 2015 and has so far displaced three million people, injured 35,000 and killed at least 10,000. – Compiled from web sources by Nikolina Matijevic, Alicia Camilleri and Samantha Besgrove
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