Hong Kong police file complaints to lawyer groups over national security case
Hong Kong, China Reuters Hong Kong police said on Thursday they had filed complaints to the city’s main professional legal bodies over a national security case involving a fund that had assisted pro-democracy protesters to pay for legal services. Five trustees of the now-disbanded 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund were arrested by police this week, including […]
Sri Lanka names new PM in bid to address growing crisis
Colombo, Sri Lanka Reuters Sri Lanka appointed a new Prime Minister on Thursday, as its embattled President seeks a way out of the country’s worst economic crisis since independence that has sparked widespread protests. Ranil Wickremesinghe, a political veteran who has been Prime Minister of the island nation five times before, must try to address […]
UN to set up inquiry into possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Thursday to set up an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian troops in the Kyiv area and beyond, a move that Russia said amounted to political score-settling. Members passed by an overwhelming majority (33 for, two against) a resolution to order a Commission […]
North Korea reports first COVID-19 outbreak, orders lockdown in “gravest emergency”
Seoul, South KoreaReuters North Korea confirmed its first COVID-19 outbreak on Thursday, calling it the “gravest national emergency” and ordering a national lockdown, with state media reporting an Omicron variant had been detected in Pyongyang. The first public admission of COVID infections highlights the potential for a major crisis in a country that has refused […]
Table Talk: Five ways to reduce your food waste
In a new food-related column, EMMA WATSON looks at how you can reduce food waste in your home (and provides a quick recipe to use up some of those leftovers)…
Lebanese state violated human rights by mismanaging crisis, UN poverty envoy says
Beirut, Lebanon Reuters Lebanon’s government and its central bank have committed human rights violations by impoverishing people through the “callous destruction” of the country’s economy, an independent United Nations report said on Wednesday. Lebanon’s economic implosion has seen the local currency lose more than 90 per cent of its value, food prices rise 11-fold and more […]
On the Screen: The story of an improbable Catholic priest
DAVID ADAMS watches ‘Father Stu’…
Many Afghan women pushing back against Taliban orders to cover up
Kabul, AfghanistanReuters Many women in the Afghan capital are delaying a return to fully covering their faces in public in defiance of orders from Islamist Taliban rulers, others are staying at home and some have been wearing COVID-19 face masks anyway. The Taliban, who swept back to power as the government collapsed, on Saturday ordered […]
Migrant disappearances quadruple in Mexico in 2021, says report
Mexico City, MexicoReuters Reported cases of missing migrants in Mexico jumped nearly fourfold in 2021 from 2020, as the country struggles to stem the flow of undocumented people from Central America to the United States, according to a report released Wednesday. The number of missing foreigners grew by 292 per cent to 349 from 89 […]
Haiti gangs raped women, burned people alive during turf wars – rights group
Port-aa-Prince, HaitiReuters Haitian gang members raped women and girls and burned people alive during two weeks of turf wars near the capital of Port-au-Prince, a Haitian rights group said in a report detailing the bloody conflict. Battles between the rival Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo gangs left 148 people dead, the National Human Rights Defense […]