Peru explodes into fiery protest as anger over political crises ignites; at least seven dead
Lima, Peru Reuters As Peru careers from one political crisis to another, the country has exploded in protest, with at least seven dead in the last week and the smoke of fires and tear gas hanging over city streets. A way out seems distant. The spark of the current unrest was the ouster and arrest […]
Iran situation “critical” with more than 300 killed – UN rights chief
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the situation in Iran was “critical”, describing a hardening of the authorities’ response to protests that have resulted in more than 300 deaths in the past two months. “The rising number of deaths from protests in Iran, including those of two […]
Floods kill over 300 in Nigeria this year, and could worsen – emergency agency
Maiduguri, Nigeria Reuters Floods in Nigeria have killed at least 300 people this year and the situation could worsen due to heavy rainfall and the effects of excess water from a dam in Cameroon that will affect 14 Nigerian states, the disaster management agency said. The National Emergency Management Agency held an emergency meeting earlier […]
Pakistan flood toll rises with 25 children among 57 more deaths
Karachi, PakistanReuters The toll from cataclysmic floods in Pakistan continued to climb on Saturday with 57 more deaths, 25 of them children, as the country grapples with a relief and rescue operation of near unprecedented scale. A high-level body set up to coordinate the relief effort met in Islamabad on Saturday for the first time, […]
War has killed 1.5 per cent of Syria’s population: UN estimate
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that 306,887 civilians had been killed in Syria during the conflict since March, 2011, or about 1.5 per cent of its pre-war population, in what it said was the highest estimate yet. Syria’s conflict sprang out of peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in […]
COVID led to 15 million deaths globally, not the five million reported – WHO
Reuters Almost three times as many people have died as a result of COVID-19 as official data show, according to a new World Health Organization report, the most comprehensive look at the true global toll of the pandemic so far. There were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19 by the end of 2021, the […]
Philippine expert says some drug war death certificates falsified
Manila, The Philippines Reuters The Philippine justice secretary pledged on Tuesday to launch an investigation after a forensic pathologist said some death certificates issued for victims of the country’s crackdown on drugs had been falsified to show they died of natural causes. The South-East Asian country has come under international pressure to hold a thorough […]
Thousands of civilians in Mariupol may have died in past month – UN tells Reuters
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Thousands of civilians may have died in the besieged port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine since bombing began four weeks ago, the head of the UN human rights mission told Reuters on Tuesday, providing its first estimate. Nearly 5,000 people, including about 210 children, have been killed in Mariupol since Russian forces […]
Pollution causing more deaths than COVID, action needed, says UN expert
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a UN environmental report published on Tuesday said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals. The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations and at least nine million […]
Australia suffers deadliest day of pandemic as Omicron drives up hospital cases
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia on Tuesday suffered its deadliest day of the pandemic as a fast-moving Omicron outbreak continued to push up hospitalisation rates to record levels, even as daily infections eased slightly. Australia is dealing with its worst COVID-19 outbreak, fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus that has put more people in hospitals […]