aid groups

United States President Donald Trum has signed an executive order that initiates his country's pullout of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP, a cornerstone of his predecessor Barack Obama's political doings, has never been ratified by the Congress whose members have given it a mixed reception.

The Greek government, along with the UN and the EU’s aid departments are under fire for mismanaging a multimillion-euro fund earmarked for refugees in Greece. Reporter Patrick Kingsley for the online edition of British newspaper The Guardian filed a piece uncovering the extent of the mismanagement.

Rescuers plucked 1,164 people from rubber and wooden boats in the Mediterranean under heavy thunderstorms on Dec. 11 and recovered six dead bodies during the operations, relief services said. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces in Iraq have abducted tens of thousands of men, women and children from areas around Mosul and are using them as "human shields" in the city as Iraqi government troops advance, the U.N. human rights office said on Oct. 28. 

We keep hearing that a Turkish-Israeli rapprochement is just around the corner, and will happen as soon as diplomats work out the final details. Yet nothing seems to happen. Reports on the topic indicate that Israel is the reluctant party now, seeing no urgency in making up with Turkey, especially if it appears that it is giving in to Ankara's demands. 

A four-year-old boy died on a boat crossing the Aegean Sea, the Greek coastguard said on Feb. 17, as the flow of refugees and migrants increased again after a brief lull.

Saudi Arabia, which is leading air strikes against rebels in neighboring Yemen, has warned the United Nations and international aid groups to protect staff by removing them from areas held by Yemen's Houthi rebels, according to a letter that was seen by Reuters on Feb. 11. 

Turkish humanitarian groups set up camps in Syria and sent in truckloads of aid on Feb. 8 for tens of thousands of people stranded on the border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo.

As the Russian bombardment to defend Bashar-al Assad's forces heats up in the Turkmen-dominated Bay?rbucak region in northwest Syria, waves of locals have flooded to safe zones close to the Turkish border. 

Mustard gas was used during summer fighting in Syria but it was not clear by whom, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Nov 5, while jihadists seized a key town from regime forces.