The Oman-mediated peace talks to end the nine-year-old war in Yemen received a boost after China brokered a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia last month, Peoples Dispatch reports.
The loan of a U.K. military officer raises further questions about impartiality of the office of the U.N. special envoy to Yemen when Martin Griffiths, a Briton, was in the post, Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis report.
The Saudi Arabia-led international coalition also destroyed over 14,300 residences, 12 hospitals, 64 schools and 22 power stations in Yemen last year, according to the Eye for Humanity Centre for Rights and Development.