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PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s government faced criticism Thursday for failing to repeal repressive laws and backtracking on promises to improve human rights a year after sweeping to power with a reformist agenda. A ramshackle coalition headed by veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad stormed to a shock election victory on May 9 last year, toppling a corruption-plagued regime that had led the country since independence from Britain in 1957. The Pact of Hope alliance had […]
by Dario THUBURN Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s nearly seven-year hideout in Ecuador’s London embassy abruptly ended Thursday when police entered the building and arrested him ahead of possible extradition to the United States. Footage shot by the Russian video news agency Ruptly showed a frantic-looking Assange — his worn face framed by a large white beard and shock of grey hair — being huddled out of […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday accused four Nordic countries renowned as bastions of gender equality of having “shockingly high levels of rape” and of failing the victims. An Amnesty report looked at rape cases in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and said flawed legislation, harmful myths and gender stereotypes had resulted in “endemic impunity” for perpetrators. “It is a paradox that Nordic countries, which have strong records of upholding […]
by Nina Larson Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Diplomats and activists on Monday denounced intense Chinese lobbying, pressure and even threats to rein in criticism of Beijing during last month’s session of the UN Human Rights Council. Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged that the Chinese mission in Geneva had sent a letter to a number of missions urging them to stay away from a US-organised event on March 13 about China’s treatment […]
(Eagle News) — The Palace on Thursday, March 7, said it backed the Bureau of Corrections’ decision to cancel all the privileges of inmates at the New Bilibid Prison and its other operating units. In a press briefing in Malacanang, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the “temporary” cancellation of the privileges in the national penitentiary, Davao, Iwahig, San Ramon, Sablayan and Leyte prison and penal farms was aimed at preventing the proliferation of illegal drugs […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Friday praised China’s use of capital punishment for drug dealers, suggesting that the United States would deal better with narcotics trafficking if it put offenders to death. In China, drug dealers get “a thing called the death penalty. Our criminal drug dealer gets a thing called ‘how about a fine?’” Trump told reporters at the White House. “So if we want to get smart, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Japan’s government introduced a bill Friday to recognize the country’s ethnic Ainu minority as an “indigenous” people for the first time, after decades of discrimination against the group. The Ainu people — many of whom live in northern Hokkaido — have long suffered the effects of a policy of forced assimilation, and while discrimination has receded gradually, income and education gaps with the rest of Japan persist. “It is important to […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Microsoft said Thursday it was adopting a set of principles for deployment of facial recognition technology, calling on industry rivals to follow suit and for new laws to avert a dystopian future. Microsoft president Brad Smith made the announcement at a Brookings Institution speech and an accompanying blog post, saying it was urgent to begin placing limits on facial recognition to avoid the surveillance state described in George Orwell’s “1984.” […]
(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, Sept. 27, said Jordan’s King Abdullah II has said he does not like his cousin, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. President Duterte himself slammed Zeid earlier after he urged the Philippines’ chief executive to undergo a psychiatric evaluation following his rants against rights officials he said interfered in the affairs of the country. Duterte reined in the criticisms at the request of National […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A former columnist for state media has been jailed for seven years for “abusive” Facebook posts about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a court official said Wednesday, the latest case threatening free expression in the country. Ngar Min Swe was sentenced for sedition on Tuesday, Yangon’s Western District Court spokesman Htay Aung told AFP. “He was convicted… for writing abusive posts on Facebook against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, […]
(Eagle News) – It is the not only Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte who is vocal in the opposition and criticism of the International Criminal Court, as the United States on Monday, Sept. 10, issued its strongest criticism and opposition to investigations by the Hague-based international court. White House National Security Advisor John Bolton called the ICC “outright dangerous” and even threated to ban, prosecute and arrest judges and officials of the ICC who would enter the […]
by Richard SARGENT / Hla-Hla HTAY Agence France-Presse YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) – Two Reuters journalists accused of breaching Myanmar’s state secrets law while reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims were jailed for seven years Monday, fuelling international outrage a week after the army was accused of genocide. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who have been held in Yangon’s Insein prison since their arrest in December, were charged with violating the Official […]
