ETHIOPIA: The UN and Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission said today they have agreed a joint probe into allegations of abuses in the northern Tigray region.
An investigation into allegations of murder, torture and rape by Ethiopian forces deployed to crush the regional government was “part of the much-needed accountability process,” they said.
Doctors Without Borders said today its staff had witnessed the extrajudicial killing of four civilians in Tigray by Ethiopian soldiers on Tuesday.

EGYPT: The cost to global shipping rose today as dredgers and diggers sought to free the stricken cargo ship that has blocked the Suez Canal.
The skyscraper-sized vessel ran aground on Tuesday and had yet to be refloated when the Morning Star went to press. Hundreds of cargo ships are unable to pass.

LEBANON: Syria has agreed to send emergency oxygen supplies to address a shortage as Covid cases soar.
Lebanon Health Minister Hamad Hassan said that Beirut had asked for the assistance. The 75-ton shipment would save “thousands of lives,” he said.
The World Health Organisation says the pandemic has created a “critical” situation in both countries.

INDIA: Two soldiers were killed and two injured by separatists in Kashmir today.
Reinforcements of counterinsurgency police and soldiers began searching the area for the attackers.
Tension has risen in Kashmir since Indian PM Narendra Modi abolished the elected regional government and amended the constitution to strip India’s only Muslim-majority state of its special status.