France ‘abandoned’ Algerian fighters in independence war – Hollande

President Francois Hollande on Sunday said France “abandoned” Algerians who fought alongside French colonial forces in the Algerian war of independence, honouring a 2012 pledge.
Tens of thousands of the fighters, known as “harkis”, were recruited by French forces but only around 60,000 were allowed to settle in France after French forces withdrew in 1962.
The rest — between 55,000 and 75,000 according to historians — were left in Algeria where they were accused of being traitors and many massacred.
Those who were admitted to France were placed in squalid camps.
In a ceremony in the Invalides in Paris, where France honours its war dead, Hollande finally said what the harkis have waited more than half a century to hear.
“I recognise the responsibility of French governments in abandoning the harkis, the massacres of those who remained in Algeria and the inhuman conditions for those transferred to camps in France,” Hollande said.

Jets pound Aleppo as UN discusses Syria escalation

The United States called Russia’s action in Syria “barbarism” while Moscow’s UN envoy said ending the war “is almost an impossible task now” as government forces relentlessly bombed the besieged city of Aleppo.
The United Nations Security Council met on Sunday at the request of the United States, Britain and France to discuss the escalation of fighting in Aleppo following the announcement on Thursday of an offensive by the Syrian army to retake the embattled northern city.
“What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism, it is barbarism,” the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, told the 15-member council.
“Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war. Instead of helping get life-saving aid to civilians, Russia and Assad are bombing the humanitarian convoys, hospitals, and first responders who are trying desperately to keep people alive,” said Power.

Trump promises to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s ‘undivided’ capital

Republican candidate Donald Trump pledged Sunday in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital if he is elected president.
Netanyahu met privately with Trump at his residence in Trump Tower a day before the New York billionaire faces off against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for their first presidential debate.
“Trump acknowledged that Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people for over 3000 years, and that the United States, under a Trump administration, will finally accept the long-standing congressional mandate to recognise Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the state of Israel,” his campaign said in a statement.
Israel captured the Arab eastern half of Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and annexed it in 1980, declaring all of Jerusalem Israel’s unified capital.
The United States – and most other UN member countries – do not recognise the annexation and

Pakistan accuses India of arms build-up

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, has accused India of an “unprecedented arms build-up”.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, he said his country would “take whatever measures are necessary to maintain credible deterrence”.

Philippine gang leaders say Duterte critic took bribes

Convicted felons in the Philippines have testified before a Congress hearing that they had bribed a former justice minister and fierce critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The group of imprisoned gang leaders claim they were asked to raise cash through drug sales to fund Senate campaign of Leila de Lima, justice secretary in Benigno Aquino’s government and currently a senator’s then senatorial campaign.
The testimonies dealt another blow to de Lima’s efforts to investigate the country’s extrajudicial killings.
She is now facing a hearing in Manila in response to the corruption accusations.
The hearing was held a day after de Lima, who is widely recognised as Duterte’s main political opponent, was removed from a senate commission looking into extrajudicial killings during Duterte’s war on drugs.
The controversial campaign has killed at least 3,000 people in the past three months.
The senate inquiry, led by de Lima, included an account by former death squad member Edgar

Turkey: Knife attacker shot in front of Israeli embassy

Police have shot and detained a knife-carrying Turkish man who tried to force his way into the Israeli embassy in Turkey’s capital Ankara.
The man, armed with a 30cm knife, ran towards the embassy shouting slogans and was shot in the leg, the governor’s office in Ankara said in a statement on Wednesday.
Officials said initial investigations showed that the man, identified as 41-year-old Osman Nuri Caliskan from the central Anatolian city of Konya, “appeared to be mentally disturbed” and had no record of links with any organised group.
“A man approached the embassy with a knife and was shot by a local guard. Everyone on our side is safe,” Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said in a statement.
“The assailant was wounded in the foot. We don’t know if he was attacking police officers or the embassy itself.”
He added that the assailant only managed to reach the “outer perimeter” of the building, but said the incident was still being investigated.
Israel’s embassy in Ankara said in a statement that the suspect “tried to stab a Turkish police officer” in front of the mission.
“The embassy trusts the Turkish forces to control and investigate the incident,” it added.
Turkey’s NTV television said employees of the embassy took refuge in a shelter during the incident.
Caliskan was taken to Ankara’s Numune Training and Research Hospital, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.
Roads around the embassy were closed after the incident and specialist police officers were sent to the scene.
The Hurriyet daily reported that the attacker told police officers interrogating him at the hospital that he “did this to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East”.
Foreign missions in Turkey have been on a state of high alert following a spate of attacks across the country this year blamed on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish separatist groups.
The British embassy in Ankara was closed on Friday over security concerns.
Three months ago, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to restore their ties which hit an all-time low after the 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship that left 10 Turks dead.
Under the deal, the two countries are to begin the process of exchanging ambassadors to fully restore their diplomatic ties, although this has yet to formally take place.

DRC warlord ‘Terminator’ breaks hunger strike at ICC

Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda has started eating again after an unprecedented nearly two-week hunger strike in his detention cell in The Netherlands, refusing to attend his war crimes trial.
The once-feared rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo has not appeared in the courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since September 7.
“Mr Ntaganda started eating tonight,” his lawyer, Stephane Bourgon, said in an email sent late on Tuesday.
Ntaganda launched his hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his detention, including over family visits and his accusations that the court is not giving him a fair trial.
“If everything goes well, his wife will be in The Hague from Thursday and will be able to see Mr Ntaganda in an almost private setting, which meet (his) minimum expectations,” Bourgon said.

Former Brazilian president to stand trial for corruption

Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must stand trial for corruption, a judge ruled Tuesday, after prosecutors accused the popular leftist of masterminding the large-scale plundering of state oil company Petrobras.
The crusading judge behind the Petrobras investigation, Sergio Moro, accepted charges filed last week by prosecutors investigating Lula — making him the highest-profile figure to face trial in a case that has taken down some of the country’s most powerful business executives and politicians.
“Given that there is sufficient evidence of (Lula’s) responsibility… I accept the charges,” Moro said in his decision.
The charges allege that Lula, 70, received the equivalent of 3.7 million reais ($1.1 million) in bribes.
Among the accusations are charges that the former union leader and his wife received a beachside apartment and upgrades to the property from a major construction company, OAS, which was one of the players in the Petrobras scheme.
More broadly, prosecutors last week singled out Lula — who was president during much of the