Conflict

Smuggling of ivory, gold and timber worth over a billion dollars a year is fuelling war by funding dozens of rebel groups in Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN report warned.

As the United Nations Security Council voted this week to impose an arms embargo on Yemen's Houthi rebels, analysts say there is still no end in sight to the war that has killed hundreds of people and crippled the country's infrastructure.

In 2013, President Obama promised that before any U.S. drone strike, “there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured.” Death by Drone questions whether he has kept that promise. The report casts serious doubt on whether the United States’ “near-certainty” standard is being met on the ground, and whether the U.S. is complying with international law.

Libyans have puzzled for four years over what might arrest their country’s disintegration. Feuding factions have consistently reached for guns instead of compromises in their battle to fill the vacuum left by the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, ultimately breaking the country into two warring coalitions of militias and city-states.