April, 2016

• 6 April

  ‘Libya government’ cements control after rival cedes power

  

  Tripoli / AFP Libya’s UN-backed unity government moved to cement control over the country’s finances and institutions on Wednesday after the rival administration in Tripoli ceded power in a boost to efforts to end years of chaos. The concession late Tuesday by the militia-backed administration that had controlled Tripoli since 2014 was a major about-turn for a body that had ...

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• 6 April

  Nigerian military opens camp to rehabilitate Boko Haram

  

  KANO/ AP Nigeria’s military has opened a camp to rehabilitate Boko Haram fighters who have surrendered and are repentant, according to a statement on Wednesday that urged other fighters to abandon the insurgency that has claimed 20,000 lives in six years. The military also said it has rescued 11,595 civilian hostages in attacks on Boko Haram camps and villages in ...

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• 6 April

  UK police arrest 2 over support for Turkish far-left group

  LONDON / AP British police say they have arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of terrorism offenses over suspected support for a far-left Turkish militant group. The Metropolitan Police says a 49-year-old man and 45-year-old woman were detained early Wednesday at two addresses in London. The man is suspected of disseminating a terrorist publication, while the woman was ...

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• 6 April

  Iraqi forces face resistance in IS-held town

  

  ANBAR / AFP Heavy resistance has slowed Iraqi forces as they pushed forward toward the center of a town held by IS militants in western Anbar province, commanders at the scene said. Hundreds of roadside bombs, car bombs and heavy mortar fire slowed advancing Iraqi troops to a near halt Tuesday after entering the small town of Hit the previous ...

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• 6 April

  Turkey to probe massive ‘personal data leak’

  Ankara/ AFP Turkey’s authorities launched a probe Wednesday into an alleged leak of the personal data of some 50 million citizens which threatens to compromise the information security of much of its population. The massive database—purportedly containing the names, identity numbers and addresses of those listed —was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the ...

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• 6 April

  Millions drinking arsenic-laced water in Bangladesh: HRW

  

  Dhaka/ AFP Some 20 million poor Bangladeshis are still drinking water contaminated with arsenic, two decades after the potentially deadly toxin was discovered in the supply, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. A new report from the rights group said Bangladesh had failed to take the basic steps needed to tackle the problem which kills an estimated 43,000 Bangladeshis every ...

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• 6 April

  Wobbly Karabakh truce largely holds after 4 days of clashes

  

  Matagis / AFP Azerbaijani and Armenian forces on Wednesday said they were largely observing a truce that halted four days of clashes which claimed scores of lives in the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed NagornyKarabakh region. “The ceasefire was largely observed overnight along the Karabakh frontline,” the Armenia-backed separatist defence ministry in Karabakh said in a ...

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• 6 April

  Ukraine pilot Savchenko refuses all food and liquids

  Moscow / AFP Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko, convicted over the killing of two Russian journalists, began a hunger strike without water on Wednesday to demand her return to Ukraine, her lawyer said. Lawyer Mark Feigin wrote on Twitter that Savchenko had started a “dry” hunger strike—refusing both food and water—on Wednesday morning, after posting a letter from her demanding ...

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• 6 April

  Israeli firm’s workers held in Romania for spying

  Romania / AFP Two workers from an Israeli intelligence company have been arrested in Romania for trying to intimidate the head of the national anti-corruption agency and hacking e-mails, officials said on Wednesday. An arrest warrant was issued on Sunday for Belgian David Geclowitz and Israeli-born Ron Weiner, who holds a French passport. Both work for Israeli firm Black Cube. ...

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• 6 April

  EU overhauls asylum law to share burden

  

  Brussels / AFP The European Union launched a drive on Wednesday to overhaul the EU’s asylum rules to more fairly share responsibility for an unprecedented influx of migrants despite resistance within the 28-nation bloc. The European Commission, the EU executive, unveiled options to reform the rules two days after Greece began to expel migrants to Turkey under a controversial deal ...

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