France will cut processing time for asylum requests and boost housing for refugees while “systematically” deporting illegal economic migrants, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Wednesday. Unveiling an “action plan” for dealing with tens of thousands of people who arrive in France each year, Philippe said it aimed to “guarantee the right to asylum (and) better … Read more
Discreet in his youth and invisible as the world’s most wanted man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rose through the ranks quietly and patiently to become global jihad’s undisputed supremo. The reclusive jihadist chief made his only known public appearance as “caliph” at Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, where on Sunday Iraq … Read more
They were attacked by “drugged, drunk and uncontrollable” armed men, and now the residents of a Central African town live in terror after one of the most murderous raids in months was carried out right under the nose of UN troops. At least 108 people were slaughtered and 76 injured during the attack by several … Read more
At least 10 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants stormed their army base in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said Tuesday, in the latest attack on Western-backed forces. The assault in Shah Wali Kot district late Monday came just a day after 20 Afghan policemen were killed when Taliban fighters stormed their outposts … Read more
Kabul police said Monday they were investigating a “terrorist” attack on an international guest house that left a German aid worker and an Afghan guard dead and a Finnish woman kidnapped. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid by gunmen late Saturday on the guest house run by Swedish charity Operation Mercy … Read more
At least 20 policemen were killed in Taliban ambushes in southern Afghanistan, officials said, as security forces sought to dislodge fighters in multiple districts. Fighting is ongoing in Zabul province, where the police were attacked in Shah Joi district, provincial governor Bismullah Afghanmal said on Sunday. He said the Taliban had ambushed police in the … Read more
A German aid worker and an Afghan guard were killed as gunmen stormed an international guest house in central Kabul, officials said Sunday, as insecurity rises in the war-torn country. A Finnish woman is missing and presumed to be kidnapped in the attack late Saturday on the guest house run by a Swedish charity called … Read more
A surge of fighting in eastern South Sudan has forced 60 aid workers to flee, the UN humanitarian agency said Saturday, hurting efforts to help civilians in the famine-hit nation. An increase in violence nationwide has seen thousands flee in the past two weeks, including more than 16,000 from the second-largest city of Wau — … Read more
No group has said it was behind the abduction yet Armed men have abducted five aid workers from the central Somali town of Beledweyne, locals have confirmed to the BBC Somali service. The staff, who included two volunteers, a nurse, a driver and a veterinary, were working with the region’s Veterinary Medical Association, the privately-owned … Read more
Driven back by police batons and snarling dogs, or beaten and robbed by the smugglers they relied on, migrants caught in Serbia have regularly been victims of violence as they struggle to reach Europe. About 8,000 migrants have been trapped in the country since the European Union closed its borders, hoping to block the so-called … Read more
An Australian woman kidnapped in Afghanistan last year has been released, officials said Thursday. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the woman was an aid worker abducted in November last year in the Afghan capital Kabul, reportedly at gunpoint. “An Australian woman kidnapped in Afghanistan has been released,” the department of foreign affairs said in a … Read more
Tens of thousands of people who fled Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria are facing a severe lack of water, compounding widespread food shortages and security fears, aid workers said on Monday. For the past week supplies have been low at the Muna camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the city of Maiduguri after one … Read more
Five Islamist extremists who murdered a Japanese farmer in a drive-by shooting in 2015 were sentenced to death by a Bangladeshi court on Tuesday. The order for the five members of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to hang was handed down by a judge after finding them guilty of murdering Kunio Hoshi in the northern … Read more
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has ordered the release of a Czech Christian aid worker sentenced to 24 years in jail on charges of spying and inciting hatred, a minister said Sunday. Petr Jasek, 53, was arrested in December 2015 and a court sentenced him to jail last month. Jasek, a member of a small Protestant … Read more
A year ago, Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Lovén was on a mission with her husband in Nigeria to rescue some of the thousands of children abandoned each year after being accused of being a witch. “We’ve seen both frightened, tortured and even dead children,” Lovén, co-founder of the African Children’s Aid Education and Development … Read more
Survivors of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti have picked their way through devastation to attend Sunday church services, some worshipping outside because buildings were destroyed. The Category four storm is believed to have killed as many as 900 people in the Caribbean country and a cholera outbreak is the next big concern. The weakening storm barrelled … Read more