Saudi Arabia executes 81 men in one day for terrorism, other offences
Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaReuters Saudi Arabia executed 81 men including seven Yemenis and one Syrian on Saturday, the interior ministry said, in the kingdom’s biggest mass execution in decades. The number dwarfed the 67 executions reported there in all of 2021 and the 27 in 2020. A general view of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia, on 20th […]
Ukraine says Russian forces kill seven civilians in evacuation convoy
Lviv, UkraineReuters Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv, and France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown he was not ready to make peace. With Russia’s invasion in its third week, the Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, […]
As Fukushima memory fades, Japan’s nuclear power proponents hope for reset
Tokyo, Japan Reuters For the first time since a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 and killed nearly 16,000 people, Japan held no state memorial for the disaster anniversary on Friday. On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, some ruling party lawmakers […]
UN agency warns Ukraine war could trigger 20 per cent food price rise
Rome, ItalyReuters International food and feed prices could rise by up to 20 per cent as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, triggering a jump in global malnourishment, the United Nations food agency said on Friday. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said it was not clear whether Ukraine would be able to harvest […]
Salvadoran court orders arrest of ex-president Cristiani over civil war atrocity
San Salvador, El SalvadorReuters A court in El Salvador on Friday ordered the provisional arrest of former President Alfredo Cristiani for alleged involvement in covering up the murder of six Jesuit priests and two of their staff during the country’s civil war in the 1980s. Prosecutors accuse the former president, who governed the Central American […]
Ethiopia rights body says all involved in fighting in north executed civilians
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaReuters At least 749 civilians died in fighting in regions in northern Ethiopia since July last year, including extrajudicial killings by all sides involved in the conflict, a government-appointed rights group said on Friday. The commission said the human rights violations it documented “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity” and called […]
In Philippines election, priests opposed to Marcos turn pink
Manila, PhilippinesReuters When Philippine Catholic priest Father Nap Baltazar raised his hands to bless the people attending mass, the sleeves on his white vestment slid back to reveal a pink bracelet inscribed with the words “Let Leni Lead”. Baltazar, 47, belongs to a group of like-minded priests in Asia’s biggest Catholic nation who have abandoned […]
Eastern Europe under strain as Ukraine refugees keep coming
Medyka, Poland/Prague, Czech RepublicReuters Eastern Europe’s efforts to aid Ukrainians came under strain on Friday, with some cities running out of accommodation as the number of refugees passed 2.5 million and fighting in their homeland. Relief work in frontline states – Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Moldova – has mainly been shouldered by ordinary citizens […]
Russia-Ukraine war: In the US, some pastors wonder about “end of days”
DAVID CRARY, of Associated Press, reports on how some pastors in the US are seeing connections between the Ukraine conflict and Biblical prophecy and why that troubles some Christian scholars…
India says it accidentally fired missile into Pakistan
Islamabad, Pakistan/New Delhi, IndiaReuters India said on Friday it had accidentally fired a missile into Pakistan this week because of a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance, giving its version of events after Pakistan summoned India’s envoy to protest. Military experts have in the past warned of the risk of accidents or miscalculations by the nuclear-armed […]