Muslim states demand action at UN after ‘Islamaphobic’ Quran burning
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Muslim states including Iran and Pakistan on Tuesday said desecration of the Koran amounted to inciting religious hatred and called for accountability, as the UN rights body debated a contentious motion in the wake of a Quran burning in Sweden. The motion, brought by Pakistan in response to last month’s incident, seeks a […]
Israel protests flare over Netanyahu’s new Supreme Court bill
Tel Aviv, IsraelReuters Thousands of protesters blockaded Israel’s main airport and highways on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition pressed ahead with a justice bill that has opened the deepest splits seen in the country in decades. A day after parliament passed a key element in the bill, which aims to curb the […]
NATO welcomes Ukraine’s membership but stops short of invitation
Vilnius, LithuaniaReuters NATO leaders said on Tuesday that Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance at some point in the future but they stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation, angering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The leaders were meeting at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as Ukrainian troops struggled to […]
Ethnically targeted violence worsens in Sudan’s Darfur – rights monitors
Reuters Gunmen killed at least 40 civilians in a single day in Sudan’s Darfur region as ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in step with war between rival military factions, Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday. In the West Darfur city of El Geneina, several prominent figures have been killed in recent days and volunteers are struggling […]
Nearly a sixth of Ecuador’s prisoners held without sentence – census
Quito, EcuadorReuters Nearly a sixth of the inmates in Ecuador’s prisons have not been sentenced, a national census showed on Monday, as President Guillermo Lasso urged the judicial system to be speedier to help ease the burden on overcrowded jails. People gather outside the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison after a riot, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on […]
Tortured path to US decision to send Ukraine cluster munitions
Washington DC, USReuters After months of hand-wringing and just days before the July Fourth celebration of US independence, President Joe Biden’s national security team unanimously agreed to recommend he send cluster munitions to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Kyiv long had the controversial weapons at the top of its wish list but US officials […]
Eastern African bloc seeks summit to deploy regional force in Sudan
Addis AbabaReuters An eastern African bloc called on Monday for a regional summit to consider deploying troops into Sudan to protect civilians, after nearly three months of violence between the army and a paramilitary faction. Fighting that erupted on 15th April in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, has spread to other parts of the country and driven […]
Greek PM says not fair to manage EU migration problem alone
Athens, GreeceReuters Greece should not be burdened with the task of managing migration for the European Union, or be accused of not saving people at sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday, a month after a deadly shipwreck. The Greek coast guard rescued 104 people but hundreds of migrants drowned after an overloaded boat […]
Uzbek leader re-elected for seven-year term in snap election
Tashkent, Uzbekistan Reuters Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was re-elected with 87.1 per cent of the vote on Sunday, the Central Election Commission said on Monday, citing preliminary results paving his way to another seven years in power. Mirziyoyev, who has lead Central Asia’s most populous nation since 2016, called a snap election after changing the […]
Dutch leader Mark Rutte, a European fixture, to quit politics
Amsterdam, The NetherlandsReuters Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the longest-serving leader of the Netherlands, shocked the nation on Monday by saying he would quit, a political shake-up that was unthinkable just days ago. On Friday, Rutte announced the sudden collapse of his fourth governing coalition due to a split over migration policy, but said he […]