Paris has decided not to broadcast any world cup games on giant screens in public fan zones amidst concerns over the rights violations of migrant workers and the environmental impact of the tournament in Qatar. Several other French cities have joined the boycott. More than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 11 years ago, The total death toll is significantly higher, as these figures do not include deaths from a number of countries which send large numbers of workers to Qatar, including the...
The expiry of a six-month ceasefire in Yemen has pushed the country back into conflict. Charities have criticised the failure to extend the ceasefire beyond Sunday. The truce was first agreed upon in April. “The end of the truce is terrible news for the people of Yemen. Millions will now be at risk if airstrikes, ground shelling and missile attacks resume,” said Ferran Puig , Oxfam’s country director in Yemen. “The past six months have brought hope to millions of Yemenis who have seen a 60% decrease in casualties, a significant reduction in violence, more fuel imports and much easier access...
Burkino Faso ousted leader, Paul Henri Sandaogo Daminba has offered his resignation to "avoid confrontations". Religious leaders and community leaders held mediation talks between Damib and the new self-proclaimed leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore. The second change of leadership in a year started on Friday when military officers announced the deposition of Damiba, the dissolution of the transitional government and the suspension of the constitution. With a lack of strong democratic institutions in a country where the military has long been dominant, Capt Traoré seized power with a pledge to...
Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, The Russian government spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the signing of the “treaties on the accession of territories into the Russian Federation” would take place at 3pm local time in the Kremlin’s St George’s Hall. Putin would deliver a “major” speech at the ceremony. The announcement set off a fresh round of international condemnation. “Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal...
Over a decade after 150 were killed Guinea puts Ex-President Moussa Dadis Camara on trial. The trial of Guinea's former President and 10 others accused of responsibility for a 2009 stadium massacre and mass rape began on Wednesday in the country's capital. 13-years ago, on September 28, 2009, security forces stormed a stadium where tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters were demonstrating against the president at the time, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, who had seized power in a coup. Capt Camara, 58, seized power in 2008 when long-time President Lansana Conté died, but he was ousted and...
At least 11 schoolchildren have died after an airstrike on a village in Myanmar, according to the United Nations children’s agency, in what could be the deadliest attack on children since the junta seized power last year. UN chief António Guterres on Tuesday condemned the strike, according to his office, which stated that the death toll had climbed to at least 13 people died, including the 11 students whose school was hit. The south-east Asian country has been in chaos since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021, with nearly 2,300 civilians killed in a crackdown on dissent...
The last surviving leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime, Khieu Samphan has had an appeal against his conviction for genocide rejected at a war crimes tribunal. The ruling last week in the appeal of Khieu Samphan 91, the former head of state of the 1975-1979 - "Democratic Kampuchea" government, marks the final decision by the court and ends 16 years of work by the UN-backed war crimes tribunal. The rejection of the appeal sought to clear Khieu Samphan of the genocide of minority Cham Muslims and ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia. Of the two million victims of the Khmer Rouge, 100,000 to 500,000...
Addressing the UN General Assembly (UNGA) at its 77th Session, Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar urged the international community must rise above narrow national agendas and slammed the current UN framework as "anachronistic and ineffective". "The call for reformed multilateralism – with reforms of the Security Council at its core – enjoys considerable support among UN members [...] It does so because of the widespread recognition that the current architecture is anachronistic and ineffective. It is also perceived as deeply unfair, denying entire continents and regions a...
Amidst growing geopolitical tensions, a senior White House Official has stressed the Biden administration’s continued support for Germany, Japan and India to be made permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC). The statement follows US President Joe Biden’s address to the UN General Assembly, where he stressed the need for a ‘more inclusive’ UN and his support for “permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean”. During his address, President Biden spoke sharply about two permanent members of the UNSC, Russia and China. Russia Addressing Russia’s invasion of...
A fourth-day of protests has spread across Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini last Friday. The Kurdish human rights group Hengaw, which is based in Norway, said it had confirmed three deaths at rallies in Kurdistan province – one in each of the towns of Divandareh, Saqqez and Dehglan. It added that 221 people had been wounded and another 250 arrested in the Kurdistan region, where there had also been a general strike on Monday. Internet blockage observatory NetBlocks reported "near-total disruption to internet connectivity in Sanandaj" - the provincial capital of the Kurdish region - on...