Canada has vowed to double its intake of Syrian refugees next year.

Canada has vowed to double its intake of Syrian refugees next year. Kenyan Muslims shield Christians in Mandera bus attack A group of Kenyan Muslims travelling on a bus ambushed by Islamist gunmen protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses. They told the militants “to kill them together or […]

Canada has vowed to double its intake of Syrian refugees next year.

Kenyan Muslims shield Christians in Mandera bus attack

A group of Kenyan Muslims travelling on a bus ambushed by Islamist gunmen protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses.

They told the militants “to kill them together or leave them alone”, a local governor told Kenyan media.

At least two people were killed in the attack, near the north-eastern village of El Wak on the Somali border.

The Somali based al-Shabab group is the main suspect for the attack.

It has not said if it was responsible, but often carries out attacks in Kenya’s north-east.

The bus was travelling from the capital Nairobi to the town of Mandera.

When al-Shabab killed 148 people in an attack on Garissa University College in April, the militants reportedly singled out Christians and shot them, while freeing many Muslims.

Last year, a bus was attacked near Mandera by al-Shabab militants, who killed 36 non-Muslims travelling to Nairobi for Christmas celebrations.

“The locals showed a sense of patriotism and belonging to each other,” Mandera governor Ali Roba told Kenya’s private Daily Nation newspaper.

The militants decided to leave after the passengers’ show of unity, he added.

An employee of the Makkah bus company, who had spoken to the driver involved in the attack, confirmed to the BBC that Muslims had refused to be separated from their fellow Christian passengers.

One of the victims was shot dead after trying to run away from the militants after passengers had been forced off the bus, the same employee told the BBC’s Bashkas Jugsodaay in Nairobi.

Al-Shabab has been at war with Kenya ever since Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October 2011 in an effort to crush the militants.

Kenya’s north-eastern region has a large population of ethnic Somalis.

Greece moves to recognise the state of Palestine

Greece is set to recognise the state of Palestine in a parliamentary vote to be attended by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a government source said.

A solemn ceremony will accompany the vote on Tuesday as Greece joins dozens of other countries that accord recognition to Palestine, the source told the AFP news agency.

Abbas arrived for a two-day visit in Athens and is meeting President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the Associated Press reported.

Last week, the Greek parliament’s foreign affairs committee unanimously approved a motion to recognise Palestine.

Tsipras travelled to Israel last month when he met with both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestine’s flag was hoisted for the first time at UN headquarters in New York on September 30, in a symbolic gesture.

Abbas then took to the podium to call for universal recognition of Palestine.

Obama: ‘Significant Progress’ Against Islamic State by End of Term

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed confidence those opposing the Islamic State group will “prevail,” and said he thinks there will be “significant progress” in that effort by the time he leaves office.

In an interview with NPR News released Monday, Obama called Islamic State a “virulent, nasty organization,” but stressed that the worst damage the militants could do to the United States is if people change their way of life and values.

“It is also important for us to keep things in perspective, and this is not an organization that can destroy the United States,” he said. “This is not a huge industrial power that can pose great risks to us institutionally or in a systematic way. But they can hurt us, and they can hurt our people and our families. And so I understand why people are worried.”

More than a year ago the president authorized the beginning of a U.S.-led air campaign in Iraq and Syria to go after the militants. Since then, coalition planes have conducted about 9,000 airstrikes, and Obama said Islamic State has lost 40 percent of the populated territory it once controlled.

But the militants still hold large areas, including major cities in both Syria and Iraq, bringing criticism of the U.S. response and calls for Obama to send in American ground troops.

Russia-Turkey crisis: Sukhoi jet black box ‘unreadable’

Data on the flight recorder of the Russian war plane downed by Turkey last month has so far proved to be unreadable, Russia’s military has said.

It said the memory chips from the Su-24 bomber downed on the Syrian border were destroyed or badly damaged.

The Russians had hoped to prove the plane never entered Turkish airspace, as claimed by Ankara. Work will continue to try to retrieve the data.

The incident sparked a major bilateral crisis, with Russia imposing sanctions.

The Russian military representatives presented their preliminary findings in Moscow on Monday, after opening the “black box” on Friday in the presence of international experts.

Some 13 of the 16 chips had been destroyed, while x-ray tests on the others showed extracting information would be impossible using normal methods.

Colombia’s Farc: ‘No peace deal by March deadline’

Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Farc, says it will not sign a final peace agreement with the government by 23 March 2016 as both sides had previously announced.

A Farc negotiator told Colombian broadcaster Noticias Uno “there won’t be a signing of the final agreement on 23 March”.

He blamed the government for the delay. The two sides have been holding peace talks for three years to end more than 50 years of armed conflict.

Senior Farc negotiator Jesus Santrich told Noticias Uno that the delay had been caused by government negotiators “changing the rules of the game”.

The deadline of 23 March 2016 for the signing of a final agreement had been set by President Juan Manuel Santos on 23 September.

Taliban bomb kills six foreign soldiers in Afghanistan

A Taliban suicide vehicle bomb attack near a US base at Bagram in eastern Afghanistan has killed six foreign soldiers and injured six other people.

Nato, which leads the international force in Afghanistan, did not give the nationalities of the victims.

In the southern province of Helmand, Taliban militants have made advances in the strategic district of Sangin.

Meanwhile, in the capital Kabul, a US woman was killed at a gym, with her suspected attacker, a mullah, arrested.

Some 12,000 foreign soldiers are deployed as part of the Resolute Support international coalition, which is meant to underpin Afghanistan’s own security forces.

The soldiers taking part are from Nato countries and Nato partner states.

Kagame praises controversial referendum

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has praised last week’s constitutional referendum which allows him to run for a controversial third term, the AFP news agency reports.

The “yes” vote in favour of the constitutional change garnered 98.4%, according to official results, AFP reports.

“No individual is forever, but there is no term limit on values, institutions, or progress,” Mr Kagame is quoted as saying in his annual State of the Nation address, it reports.

“When the time comes to transfer responsibility, Rwandans already have confidence that it will be done,” he added.

Mr Kagame has not yet said whether he intends to contest the 2017 election, and has told Western powers not to interfere in Rwanda’s affairs.

The US has urged him to step down at the end of his term. Mr Kagame has ruled Rwanda since the end of the 1994 genocide.

Neighbouring Burundi has been hit by unrest over President Pierre Nkuruniza’s decision to seek a third term.

Canada vows to double Syrian refugee intake

Canada has vowed to double its intake of Syrian refugees next year.

The minister of immigration and citizenship, John McCallum, said the country’s resettlement programme would be expanded in 2016 to take 50,000.

Mr McCallum made the announcement from the Jordanian capital of Amman, where he met Syrians heading to Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed some of the first arrivals earlier this month and said Canada was “showing the world how to open our hearts”.

His new Liberal government had promised to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February.

But Mr McCallum said Canada now hopes to settle as many as 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016.

The UN refugee agency, the Jordanian government and the International Organization for Migration will be helping to speed up the vetting process, he said.

The minister spoke to Syrian families as they prepared to board flights to Canada.

He told one family: “Everyone in Canada is waiting to meet you.”

Mr McCallum also toured development projects and refugee facilities during his two-day visit.

Burkina Faso ‘warrant’ for ex-leader Blaise Compaore

An arrest warrant has been issued for ousted Burkina Faso leader, Blaise Compaore, over his alleged role in the 1987 murder of ex-President Thomas Sankara, judicial sources say.

Mr Compaore’s ally, Gen Gilbert Diendere, was recently charged in connection with the killing.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing. Mr Compaore is in exile in Ivory Coast after being forced to resign last year.

Mr Sankara, a left-wing radical, is considered a hero for many Africans.