Washington, United States US lawmakers on Wednesday vowed to keep up pressure to free Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, whose son warned that time was running out. Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered popular Chinese-language tabloid Apple Daily which supported mass pro-democracy protests, was detained in 2020 and is standing trial on charges including sedition...
United Nations, United States A United Nations official returning from Sudan described on Friday how women and girls fleeing the civil war there had been “stripped bare of their basic necessities,” struggling for food, water and safety. “We all know that war is ugly, but this is one of the ugliest situations that I have ever...
Tokyo, Japan Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said Friday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea towards the southern Okinawa region, according to a defence ministry statement. They then went northwards...
Washington, United States Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday denounced an “ideological war” in the South Asian country, ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Rahul Gandhi said there were “two completely different visions” between his Congress party and Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as he spoke to the National Press Club...
Santiago, Chile Chilean police on Monday arrested a former fireman for allegedly contributing to a massive blaze that killed 137 people and destroyed thousands of homes in February because he wanted to be a “hero” by helping put it out. The arrest of Elias Salazar, 39, adds to those of another volunteer firefighter and a forestry official...
Tegucigalpa, Honduras Honduras vowed Wednesday to withdraw from an extradition treaty with the United States that has been used to imprison drug traffickers, accusing Washington of meddling in Honduran-Venezuelan relations. “The interference and interventionism of the United States, as well as its intention to manage the politics of Honduras through its embassy and other representatives, is...
Kolkata, India Thousands of protesters clashed in India’s eastern city of Kolkata on Wednesday, where demonstrations seeking justice for a murdered doctor spiralled into violent street skirmishes between political rivals. The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in Kolkata on August 9 stoked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence...
Kinshasa, DR Congo Mpox cases and deaths are rising in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the central African country awaits vaccines from the United States and Japan, the health minister said on Monday. The toll this year has risen in a few days from 16,000 cases and 548 deaths to 16,700 cases and “a little more...
Goma, DR Congo An ever-growing number of patients have been flocking to a Goma hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where a rapidly-spreading epidemic of mpox has erupted in recent months. Five to 20 people are walking each day into Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital in North Kivu to consult overburdened medical teams at an outdoor...
Stockholm, Sweden Sweden on Thursday announced the first case outside Africa of the more dangerous variant of mpox, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergency. The country’s public health agency confirmed to AFP that it was the same strain of the virus that has surged in the Democratic Republic of Congo since September...