Current World Issues

Eight month-old baby raped in Indian capital Delhi New Delhi, India -  An eight-month-old baby girl has been raped in India’s capital, New Delhi, allegedly by her 28-year-old cousin while her parents were out working. The rape has provoked angry reactions from activists who are pressing for long-pending police accountability to aid in the fight against sexual violence in the country.The mother found her child bleeding upon returning from work in the evening. The doctors at the hospital confirmed the rape and said the baby had to undergo surgery. "I had left for work leaving my children at home. My wife works too. So she too left for work soon after. When she came back, she saw blood-soaked bed and clothes of the child. When she told this to her sister-in-law she made excuses. My child is in critical condition now," the father, a labourer in the city, told Indian news agency ANI. The accused has been arrested, police in Delhi said."We arrested the accused yest...

Turkey battles Syrian Kurds 'on two fronts' in Afrin Turkish troops have taken control of 11 Kurdish positions and created "safe zones" in neighbouring Syria's northwestern region of Afrin, according to Turkish media. Reports on Tuesday said the army, aided by Free Syria Army rebels, is pushing towards the southern part of the Syrian region with fronts on the west and the east. The Turkish army, which launched the Afrin operation on Saturday, captured the villages of Shankal, Qorne, Bali and Adah Manli, as well as the rural areas of Kita, Kordo and Bibno and four other hills in Afrin, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. State-run Anadolu news agency said that the forces launched a second front towards Afrin from Syria's Azaz on Monday to squeeze the People's Protection Units (YPG) - a Syrian Kurdish force - from both west and east in order to advance on southern Afrin. Turkey sees the YPG as a "terrorist group" thats acts as the Syrian...

Palestinian leaders reconsider recognition of Israel The Palestine Liberation Organisation's ( PLO ) Central Council, the second-highest Palestinian decision-making body, has recommended revoking recognition of  Israel  until the latter recognises the State of Palestine in its 1967 borders, with  East Jerusalem  as its capital.  During a meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah late on Monday, the PLO, which is an umbrella of major Palestinian political parties, said it "assigned" its Executive Committee "to suspend recognition of Israel until it recognizes the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders and revokes the decision to annex East Jerusalem and expand and build settlements,"  according to   Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.  In a final statement read after the meeting, the PLO also said that the  Oslo Accords , signed with Israel in the early 1990s, "no longer stand".  It added that it would rene...

Anti-austerity protests in Tunisia turn deadly A 55-year-old man has died after a protest over government austerity measures in Tunisia, the country's state news agency Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) has reported. Five others were injured during the demonstration, which took place in Tebourba, 40km west of the capital Tunis, according to TAP. The Tunisian Ministry of Interior confirmed in a statement on Monday evening that a 55-year-old man had died in a local hospital after being admitted with symptoms of dizziness. He suffered from "chronic shortness of breath" and showed "no signs of violence or [having been] run over", and a forensic doctor has been tasked with determining the cause of death, the statement said. Speculation on social media throughout Monday evening suggested that the man had died after being hit by a security forces vehicle, but the ministry refuted this claim, saying it was likely he had suffocated from inhaling tear gas. Other ...