Major UN powers question Pacific islanders’ call for nuclear legacy help
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Nuclear powers have criticized an effort led by the Marshall Islands at the United Nations to seek help on dealing with the consequences of nuclear testing, sources following the talks involving countries including the United States, Britain, Russia, India and China told Reuters. Pacific islanders, who are particularly threatened by rising sea levels […]
US, allies push for UN rights body debate on Xinjiang abuses
Geneva, SwitzerlandAP The United States and several Western allies presented a proposal Monday for the UN’s main human rights body to hold a special debate over reported rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China’s western Xinjiang region. The US and Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were behind a draft […]
Monkeypox outbreak can be eliminated in Europe, WHO says
London, UKReuters It is possible to eliminate the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday, highlighting evidence that case counts are slowing in a handful of countries. There are encouraging signs of a sustained week-on-week decline in the onset of cases in many European countries, including France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and […]
Essay: Hong Kong’s handover 25 years on – why human rights eroded so dramatically in the past two years
As China prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British colonial rule, legal scholar ERIC YAN-HO LAI says – in an article first published on The Conversation – that human rights in Hong Kong have been significantly eroded…
Explainer: Hong Kong’s rocky political road since the 1997 handover
Hong Kong, ChinaReuters Hong Kong on 1st July will mark its 25th anniversary under Chinese rule. The financial hub returned to China from Britain in 1997, with promises of wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy under “one country, two systems” governance. Critics, including some Western governments, say China has reneged on those promises in recent years under […]
“Good or bad, it’s Hong Kong history” says British colonial museum founder
Hong Kong, ChinaReuters Bryan Ong has made it his mission to preserve items that tell the story of Hong Kong’s British colonial past even as Beijing increasingly shapes life in the city that is firmly back in the fold of the mainland. Ong, 42, has been collecting colonial memorabilia since he was a child and […]
Northern Ireland amnesty law angers families who say they will be denied justice
London, UKReuters The British Government pushed ahead with plans to offer an amnesty to former soldiers and individuals involved in decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland as victims say the new law will deprive them of justice. Unresolved crimes from Northern Ireland’s three decades of confrontation between Irish nationalist militants, pro-British “loyalist” paramilitaries and […]
Spanish choirs lead global singalong for peace in Ukraine
Madrid, SpainReuters More than 1,000 local choirs in towns and cities across the world sang out in unison on Sunday to call for peace in Ukraine. The event, run by Spanish organisation Choirs for Peace, saw groups in countries including Spain, Portugal, Britain, Italy and Mexico livestreamed on YouTube as they sang together. A man […]
Canada, other nations vow action against Iran over reparations for downed jet
Ottawa, CanadaReuters Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine on Thursday said they had abandoned efforts to talk to Tehran about reparations for an airliner downed by Iran and would try to settle the matter according to international law. Most of the 176 people killed when Iran shot down the Ukrainian jet in January 2020 were citizens […]
Russia, China, Britain, US and France say no-one can win nuclear war
Moscow, Russia/Washington DC, USReuters China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin on Monday. It said that the five countries – which are the permanent […]