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<h1>Turkey’s Foreign Minister on Friday called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s immediate removal.</h1>

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told newsmen in the southern town of Alanya in comments broadcast live.

“It is necessary to oust this regime as soon as possible from the leadership of Syria.

“If he doesn’t want to go, if there is no transition government, and if he continues committing humanitarian crimes, the necessary steps to oust him should be taken,’’ he said.

Cavusoglu said safe zones for civilians in Syria were now more important than ever.

He said the coalition had been informed of the U.S. missile strike and that he had spoken by phone with the French and German foreign ministers, although he did not say when.

He also said contacts had been initiated with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu calls for the removal of Syrian president.

Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told newsmen in the southern town of Alanya in comments broadcast live.

Turkish foreign minister calls for Assad’s removal

<h1>The U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amb. Nikki Haley, has called on the international community to provide more support for peacekeeping operations in Mali.</h1>

Haley said in a statement that the current peacekeeping operation in Mali had become dangerous, and urgently needed the support of other governments and organisations to achieve peace in the country.

“This is the world’s most dangerous peacekeeping mission. We are putting troops in harm’s way – asking them to patrol deserts where Al Qaeda thrives.

“Peacekeepers in Mali operate in very challenging circumstances. But, their mission is essential. These peacekeepers put their lives on the line every day to help Mali’s people.

“Countries have pledged to give more equipment to Mali’s peacekeepers. The United States urges these countries to follow through as quickly as possible.

“By working together, this Council, troop contributors, and supporters in the international community can help this peacekeeping operation make real progress toward supporting peace in Mali,’’ she said.

According to her, there is currently no government presence in parts of the country, thereby reducing the number of Malians that have access to humanitarian assistance.

Haley added that violence was getting worse, as armed groups had refused to lay down their arms, with terrorist groups deepening their cooperation with each other in perpetuating their terrorism.

“So we currently have peacekeepers on the ground to support a peace agreement that is not gaining traction.

“This is a dangerous situation. But if we act urgently, there is hope. We can and we must do better,’’ she added.

Ambassador Nikki Haley addressing the United Nations council.

The current peacekeeping operation had become dangerous, and urgently needed the support of other governments and organisations

US wants more commitment to peacekeeping operations

<h1>Prime Minister Theresa May added her voice on Tuesday to church leaders’ criticism of the omission of the word Easter from the name of seasonal egg hunts but organisers rejected the accusation.</h1>

May that said it was “absolutely ridiculous” not to call the events Easter egg hunts, after the Church of England accused the organisers of “airbrushing faith” from their promotional material.

The National Trust, which plans some 300 egg hunts nationwide, sponsored by chocolate maker Cadbury, said it was “not downplaying the importance of Easter in any way.

“We have more than 13,000 mentions on our website alone.”

“Join the Cadbury egg hunts this Easter,” headline at the top of the National Trust web page promoting the events said.

A while tabs invited people to take part in the “Cadbury Easter Hunt” and “Enjoy Easter fun”.

“I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous,” May said, adding that she was a National Trust member.

“I don’t know what they are thinking about, frankly,” May said.

“[Easter is] a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world.”

The Church of England earlier said the marketing campaign for the egg hunts “highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter.”

The National Trust is a conservation-focused charity owning or managing hundreds of historic buildings and large areas of rural land.

She said it was “absolutely ridiculous” not to call the events Easter egg hunts, after the Church of England accused the organisers of “airbrushing faith” from their promotional material.

Prime Minister backs church in row over ‘Easter-less’ egg hunts

<h1>The Kenya Red Cross Society and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Tuesday appealed for 25 million dollars to help one million Kenyans in need of food assistance.</h1>

Abbas Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society and Vice President of the IFRC said the drought situation is getting worse every day, warning that malnutrition rates among children are steadily climbing.

“Children are getting sick, and livelihoods of families have been decimated following the loss of thousands of their livestock,’’ Gullet said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

The charity said the escalation of the number of people in need of food aid showed no sign of slowing down, with the government indicating that this figure could climb to 4 million in the coming weeks.

The Kenya Red Cross Society and the IFRC have announced a dramatic revision of their emergency relief efforts that will now target just over 1 million people.

The previous version of the operation sought 9.1 million Swiss francs (around 9.2 million dollars) to support approximately 340,000 people.

“It is more and more difficult for people to access water; people have to travel for up to three times as long just to get water for their family.

“This is an emergency that will not improve without help. We are calling on our partners to urgently support,’’ Gullet said.

Report says half of the East African nation is affected by the drought brought on by a third consecutive year of unreliable rains.

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), below average rains are causing thirst and hunger, decimating livestock, destroying livelihoods, spreading disease, and causing large movements of people.

The latest appeal is a complement to Kenya’s ongoing nine-month response plan which faces a funding gap of 108 million dollars.

The situation in Kenya forms part of what has become a historic food crisis in East Africa.

“Where an estimated 22.9 million people have been classified by the UN as critically food insecure in Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as in north-east Nigeria,’’ OCHA noted.

According to Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, IFRC Regional Director for Africa, IFRC is running out of words to describe the situation in affected parts of Kenya, and across the region.

“Our message is simple: humanitarian organisations need resources to respond at the scale that is needed.

“If we don’t, then thousands of people may die, and children will be affected for the rest of their lives.

“And we won’t be able to say we didn’t know,’’ Nafo-Traoré stressed.

Latest surveys from the areas worst-affected by the drought show that there are over 340,000 children under the age of five who are acutely malnourished and in need of immediate support.

Malnutrition rates are above the emergency threshold of 15 per cent in many parts of the country, climbing as catastrophically high as 32 per cent in Mandera in the north-east.

There are also 37,000 pregnant and lactating women who are not getting the nutrition they desperately need.

The expanded Kenya Red Cross Society/IFRC operation has focused on cash transfers; health and nutrition; livelihoods strengthening; water, sanitation and hygiene and food security.

However, it would build on work that has been underway for months.

So far, the Red Cross has provided over 13,000 families with unconditional cash transfers, a response mechanism that empowers recipients to address their needs in the most efficient and dignified way possible.

Millions of Kenyans suffer from drought and famine.

The IFRC warned that the number of people now in need of food assistance has reached 3 million, well over double the number recorded in December 2016.

IFRC seeks $25m to tackle severe drought in Kenya

<h1>Britain will conduct a major counter-terrorism training exercise in October across parts of Scotland and northern England, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday, days after a lone attacker killed four people in London.</h1>

“The UK government considers national security across the whole of the UK as a top priority,” May said in a statement.

She said: “training operations such as this one play a significant part in making sure police forces and other response agencies are able to fully draw on the latest intelligence and resources from the UK’s security forces to protect against terrorism anywhere on our soil.”

She said that such exercises will take place regularly.

NAN reports that between 2000 and 2015, 90 people have been killed in the UK in terrorist attacks, according to figures from the Global Terrorism Database.

Although not on British soil, a further 30 British people were killed in Tunisia when a gunman attacked a hotel popular among Western tourists.

This compares to 1,094 deaths in the 15-year period before that, between 1985 and 1999, and a further 2,211 between 1970 and 1984.

The worst year for terrorism-related deaths in the UK was 1988, when 372 people died.

According to the database, the majority of these died in the Lockerbie disaster, when 270 were killed as a Pan Am transatlantic flight was destroyed by a bomb.

Since 1970, Northern Ireland has seen the most terrorism-related deaths out of any nation in the UK, with IRA-related terrorism plaguing the nation for decades.

1972 saw the peak of this violence, with 353 people killed in Northern Ireland, out of a total of 368 in the whole of the UK.

How does the UK’s terror threat compare with the rest of Europe?

Since 1970, the UK has faced the most deaths as a result of terrorism in Western Europe – totalling 3,395.

Spain is the next worst-hit, with 1,261 deaths since 1970.

2004 was the country’s worst year for terrorism, when 192 people died as Madrid bombings.

1988 was the worst year for terror in Western Europe, when 440 people in total were killed in attacks – the majority being killed in the Lockerbie bomber.

In 2015, France saw its worst ever attack in Paris when nine terrorists killed 130 people at multiple locations across the capital.

Over the last 10 years there’s been 1.4 deaths per year in the UK due to terrorism – which, according to research from BuzzFeed, means you’re more likely to be killed by dogs (18 deaths per year), hot water (100 deaths per year) or using your phone while driving (2,920 deaths per year).

The UK government considers national security across the whole of the UK as a top priority.

UK to conduct major counter-terrorism exercise in October

US authorities have accused the Russian government of using cyberattacks to meddle its presidential election last year.

The Kremlin has adamantly denied those allegations.

Putin told Le Pen that Russia was not trying to exert any influence on the French race, “but we retain the right to communicate with all representatives of all political forces of the country, as our partners do in Europe and the U.S.,” according to a Kremlin transcript.

He said it was interesting to discuss development of bilateral relations with the far-right French candidate, whom he called a representative of a rising movement in European politics.

Le Pen noted Russia’s role in the fight against international terrorism and called for closer French collaboration, saying “only together can we overcome this scourge.”

Le Pen met with Russian lawmakers earlier in the day, including attending a meeting of the lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee upon an invitation by the committee’s chairman Leonid Slutsky.

Le Pen, who leads the National Front party, said the West’s poor relations with Russia are unjustified.

Russia and France should work together in the face of two great challenges – globalization and Islamic fundamentalism, Le Pen said.

She described France as no longer fully sovereign by ceding many powers to the European Union, especially in economic matters.

Slutsky called Le Pen’s visit ahead of next month’s election a “brave act,” according to comments carried by the Interfax news agency.

Relations with Russia have been a major sparring point in the French presidential race.

Le Pen, along with conservative hopeful Francois Fillon, is more friendly to Moscow than centrist front-runner Emmanuel Macron or socialist Benoit Hamon.

Macron has accused Le Pen of wanting to “side with” Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Fillon has played down Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, has officially denied a report by satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine that Fillon acted as a go-between to set up a meeting between Putin and Lebanese pipeline magnate Fouad Makhzoumi.

Le Pen’s Moscow trip is not the first major foreign engagement by a candidate in this year’s French presidential race.

Both Macron and Fillon have been received by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has made it clear that she is not interested in meeting Le Pen.

Russian president, Vladmir Putin  shakes hands with French presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen in Moscow on Friday and said his government does not want to interfere in the April 23 election.

Russia does not want to interfere in election

<h1>Somali pirates have taken over a small Somali boat to use as a base to attack larger ships.</h1>

''We understand that pirates hijacked the fishing vessel to hijack a big ship off the ocean''.

“They dropped its 10 Yemeni crew and a Somali guard inland and disappeared with the boat together with the food, cook, captain and engineer,”Abdirahman Mohamud, head of maritime police forces in the semi-autonomous Puntland region told Reuters.

Residents of the northern Somali city of Eyl confirmed to Reuters that pirates from their village had gone to seek potential targets.

It is the second of such attack this month. On March 13, pirates hijacked an oil tanker in the same region.

That hijacking was the first time that pirates had taken over a commercial ship since 2012.

After that, shipping firms hired private security and international warships began patrolling waters.

In their heyday in 2011, Somali pirates launched 237 attacks off the coast of Somalia, data from the International Maritime Bureau showed, and held hundreds of hostages.

According to Somali police on Friday that ten Yemeni crew aboard the boat were dumped on shore.

Pirates take over vessel to use as mothership says police

<h1>Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, on Thursday warned against protectionism, saying his country planned to expand the 108 billion dollars two-way trading relationship, instead of retreating from it.</h1>

“It is all about how to respond to it, China’s 50 billion dollars trade deficit with Australia should be resolved by continuing to expand trade.

“We cannot close our doors; China’s relationship with Australia was like flying through a lightning storm.

“We flew across the clouds, there was lightning but we kept flying and that is the same for China-Australia relations,” Li said through a translator.

He said that the relationship “will keep moving forward and forward and forward”.

Li and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will hone details on Friday to expand on the two-year-old bilateral free trade pact.

Li was welcomed with a 19-gun salute in Canberra, as hundreds of Tibetan, Uighyur, and Falun Gong protesters chanted slogans against China’s alleged human rights abuses.

They came with placards reading “China stop bribing Australia,” “Free Tibet” and “Stop persecuting Falun Gong”.

Activist Nurmuhammad Majid said East Turkestan, an ethnic Uyghur separatist movement in western China, had been occupied by the Chinese government since 1949 and Tibet since 1951.

“Since then the Chinese government has implemented a crackdown on policies, ethnic persecution and religious persecution in these two regions,” he said.

On the other side of a police barrier, several hundred Chinese students wearing red shirts and carrying large Chinese flags turned up to welcome the premier.

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In his maiden speech to the Australian parliament in Canberra, during his five-day visit to Australia, Li said globalisation created “some problems,” but free trade itself was not to blame.

Free trade not to blame for global problems

<h1>Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said China and the U.S. reached consensus on developing ties in the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.</h1>

“This spirit is the correct way for the two major powers to get along with each other,’’ spokesperson Hua Chunying told newsmen at a routine news briefing during U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s Beijing trip.

She however responded to a question regarding Tillerson’s reaffirmation of the principle.

Tillerson’s move has received criticism from some U.S. scholars and former government officials.

Some media said that having Tillerson reiterate this principle was a diplomatic triumph for China.

“This cannot be taken as someone’s triumph.

“The principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation has been a good experience for the stable growth of China-U.S. ties in recent years, and is worth continuing.

“China is willing to enhance communication and understanding with the U.S., cement trust, properly handle disputes, expand cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and boost new progress of bilateral ties at a new starting point,’’ Hua said.

Recently, Tillerson paid his first visit to China since taking office in February, he is the first cabinet-level official in the new administration of the U.S. to visit China.

Hua Chunying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson

“This spirit is the correct way for the two major powers to get along with each other,’’ spokesperson Hua Chunying

Countries agree on principle of no conflict, mutual respect

<h1>Somali Mayor Omar Madobe says 10 people were killed when fighters of Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab clashed with soldiers in southern Somalia.</h1>

“They used both speedboats and ground fighters, attacking the city, but our troops inflicted heavy losses on them,” said Madobe.

According to the mayor among the 10 dead were eight al-Shabaab fighters and two soldiers.Al-Shabaab meanwhile claimed on pro-insurgent radio station Andalus it killed numerous soldiers, set two military vehicles ablaze and looted ammunition.

The group, which is seeking an Islamist state in Somalia and is affiliated with the international al-Qaeda terrorist network, launches regular attacks within the volatile East African nation.

NAN recalls that Al-Shabab once controlled much of southern and central Somalia and imposed a harsh form of Islamic law that banned music and led to public amputations for accused thieves.

Government and African Union troops have recaptured most of the territory, but the militants were still able to kill several members of parliament last year, and launch two major assaults on the presidential palace.

The Somali government first offered amnesty to al-Shabab fighters last September, after al-Shabab’s top leader Ahmed Godane was killed in a U.S. airstrike.

Since Godane’s death, al-Shabab’s leaders have been divided, but it has remained a strong fighting force and challenge to the Somali government.

In words directed at the militants , then president Hassan Mohamud said he knows many al-Shabab members joined for “reasons that made sense at the time,” including the need for money, or a sense they were proving themselves to be good Muslims or good Somalis.

But, he added, “What you did does not have to dictate the rest of your life.”

Mohamud acknowledged some Somalis are uneasy about amnesty for al-Shabab members. He said those who defect go through a process of “supervised rehabilitation” and are monitored by Somali security forces to ensure they continue to reject the militant group.

He asked Somalis to “accept the need for concession and to exercise forgiveness” in order to close a dark chapter in Somalia’s history.

Madobe told DPA via telephone that soldiers fought back heavily armed militants who attacked the strategic port city of Barawe early Thursday from different directions.

10 killed in militants, soldiers clash in southern Somalia, says Mayor

<h1>The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says 525 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean sea while trying to enter Europe.</h1>

The data on deaths of migrants was compiled by the IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre.

The report stated that there were 19,653 estimated total arrivals by sea, with Italy having 15,843 arrivals within the stated period.

On Monday, Kelly Namia of IOM Athens reported that 2,810 migrants and refugees entered Europe through Greece since the start of 2017, compared with 143,205 within the same period in 2016.

Spain, however, recorded 1,000 arrivals compared with no arrivals in the same period in 2016.

The report also noted that 2017 recorded a decline in migration within the aforementioned time compared to 2016.

“IOM reports that 19,653 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 14 March; this compares with 152,701 through the first 73 days of 2016.”

The IOM stated that data on arrivals was based on that from respective governments and IOM field offices.

The International Organisation for Migration says that 525 migrants have died from Jan 1 to Mar 12.

According to data from the organisation, the deaths recorded were between Jan. 1 and March 12, as against the 482 deaths recorded within the same period in 2016.

525 migrants, refugees die in Mediterranean Jan.1 to March 12

<h1>The Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms Christine Lagarde, has condemned the explosion in the organisation’s office in Paris early Thursday.</h1>

Lagarde, in a statement in New York, said the explosion injured a member of staff of the organization.

A female employee of IMF had opened a parcel addressed to a senior official of organisation and the letter exploded, injuring her at the hand and face.

“I have been informed about the explosion in the IMF’s Paris office, which caused injuries to one of our staff.

“I have been in touch with the office, and my compassion goes to the colleagues there.

“I condemn this cowardly act of violence and reaffirm IMF’s resolve to continue our work in line with our mandate.

“We are working closely with the French authorities to investigate this incident and ensure the safety of our staff,” she said.

IMF Managing Director, Ms Christine Lagarde

The Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) has condemned the explosion in the organisation’s office in Paris.

Lagarde condemns explosion at Paris office

<h1>Russia’s Supreme Court is to consider whether Jehovah’s Witnesses is an “extremist” organization after the justice ministry applied for an order to shut down the group’s national headquarters near St Petersburg.</h1>

The U.S.-founded Jehovah’s Witnesses says it numbers about 8 million people worldwide.

The religious organisation is known for its foreign ministries as well as its door-to-door campaigns, but has had problems for years with Russian authorities, who view it as a pernicious cult, an allegation it denies.

Authorities have put several of its publications on a list of banned extremist literature, and prosecutors have long cast it as an organisation that destroys families, fosters hatred and threatens lives, a description the organization says is false.

A filing on the Supreme Court’s website said it would convene on April 5 to consider the justice ministry’s application to order the closure of the organization’s Russian headquarters and ban its activity.

The Russian branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses said it rejected the charge it was an extremist organization. It said such a ban would directly affect around 400 of its groups and impact on all of its 2,277 religious groups in Russia which it said united 175,000 followers.

“Millions of believers all over the world consider the ministry’s actions a big mistake.

“If this lawsuit is successful, it will entail catastrophic consequences for freedom of religious worship in Russia,” it said in a statement.

Russian investigators conducted a large-scale inspection of its national headquarters near St. Petersburg earlier this year, carting off many documents.

According to Amnesty International, 16 members of the group in southern Russia were found guilty of organizing and participating in a banned “extremist organisation” in late 2015.

Rights activists have criticised Russia for the way it applies a 2006 law which widened the definition of extremism.

Stacks of booklets distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses in a Russian court.

The religious organisation is known for its foreign ministries as well as its door-to-door campaigns, but has had problems for years with Russian authorities.

Apex court to consider ban on ‘extremist’ Jehovah’s Witnesses HQ

<h1>Namibia’s former Health Minister, Richard Kamwi, said expanding the reach of HIV prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa was necessary toward global efforts to end the epidemic.</h1>

A statement by the British High Commission and Wilton Park on Tuesday stated that Kamwi echoed the sentiments to regional experts who were in Namibia from March 8 to 10 to discuss Sub-Saharan Africa HIV prevention response.

According to the statement, participants at the event managed to identify opportunities to deliver prevention to key populations, overcoming existing barriers and ensuring prevention can be prioritised, while treatment for HIV continues to be scaled-up.

The statement noted that Namibia’s First Lady, Monica Geingos, also UNAIDS Special Advocate for Young Women and Adolescent Girls, was also present at the occasion.

It recalled Geingos as stressing the need to find the places and language to engage with those at risk of HIV, the `BE FREE’ campaign in Namibia, and the success of developing smart partnerships for greater impact.

The Executive Director of the African Sex Workers Alliance, Daughtie Ogutu, said the meeting provided the much-needed regional forum to learn.

Ogutu said the meeting also shared how health systems were using new approaches to successfully bring HIV prevention to those who suffer the highest.

“We will never end HIV without dramatically escalating efforts to prevent the scourge among key populations,’’ he added.

Report says Sub-Saharan Africa is currently home to nearly 70 per cent of all people living with HIV and remains the region most affected by HIV globally.

Richard Kamwi, former health minister, Namibia.

A statement by the British High Commission and Wilton Park on Tuesday stated that Kamwi echoed the sentiments to regional experts.

Expanding HIV prevention reach is essential

<h1>Iran will not issue visas to Americans as long as the U. S. refuses to issue visas to Iranians, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said in Tehran on Tuesday.</h1>

Tehran said it was unperturbed by the renewed ban on Iranian visitors under US President Donald Trump’s revised executive order from Monday, which had been forced after legal challenges overturned the original order.