The US is still working to reunite an estimated 1,000 migrant children separated from their parents as a result of former President Donald Trump’s controversial 2018 policy according to US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated at a Senate hearing on funding for his agency that a task force established by … Read more
The committee investigating the 2021 US Capitol assault plans to hold public hearings in June and release its findings later this year, at the height of the midterm election campaign. Key witnesses interviewed by the congressional investigation will testify publicly for the first time in eight hearings on the alleged plot that led to the … Read more
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to the G20 summit in November, which will also include Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Indonesia’s leader on Friday. Indonesia, which holds the G20 presidency this year, has faced intense pressure from the West, led by the United States, to exclude Russia in the aftermath of its … Read more
President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador were virtually meeting Friday to discuss “unprecedented” flows of migrants and refugees at the US-Mexico border, a major political headache for the White House ahead of the November elections. The call, set to begin for 1:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), focuses on the increasingly complex relationship … Read more
In a case criticized by Amnesty International, a Moroccan court sentenced an activist to two years in prison on Friday for criticizing government officials on social media. Saida El Alami, 48, a vocal human rights activist with regular online posts who was arrested on March 23, was found guilty in a Casablanca court of crimes … Read more
On Friday, a Finnish court acquitted a suspected warlord accused of atrocities during Liberia’s civil war, including rapes, ritual murders, and child soldier recruitment. The Pirkanmaa district court ruled in its decision that the prosecution had “not proven with sufficient certainty” that Gibril Massaquoi, 52, was involved in the alleged crimes during the latter years … Read more
One of the staff members of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv on Friday, during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Radio Liberty journalist and producer Vera Gyrych died as a result of a Russian missile hitting the house where she lived in Kyiv. The attack … Read more
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have pledged to patch things up, vowing to put an end to a feud between the two regional heavyweights that has erupted since the murder of journalists Jamal Khashoggi. Erdogan met with the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on his first … Read more
According to interior ministry officials, a bomb blast in the Afghan capital on Friday blasted through a Sunni mosque, killing at least 10 worshippers, the latest in a string of bombings that have rocked the country during the fasting month of Ramadan. Scores of civilians have been killed in mostly sectarian attacks targeting Shiite and … Read more
The UN Security Council voted on Friday to extend the political mission in Libya for only three months, with Russia vetoing a lengthier extension until a new UN ambassador is chosen. The resolution extends the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) “until 31 July 2022” and “calls on the Secretary-General to nominate … Read more
The prosecution of Brazilian ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on corruption allegations breached his right to an impartial trial, according to the UN Human Rights Committee. The judgment by the Geneva expert panel came as a triumph for the communist leader, who was imprisoned from April 2018 to November 2019, just as he prepares … Read more
Hong Kong judge enhanced a university student’s prison sentence to five years for messages on Telegram advocating for Hong Kong’s independence from China and demands to resist communist authority, On Friday. Lui Sai-yu, a 25-year-old engineering student, pled guilty to “incitement to secession,” a criminal under Beijing’s national security law, enacted in 2020 to suppress … Read more
Germany summoned Turkey’s ambassador on Friday over the imprisonment of Osman Kavala, a vocal critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan according to a foreign ministry official, “I can tell you that we summoned the Turkish ambassador to the foreign ministry today and made the government’s position very clear once again,” the spokesman told a … Read more
Boris Becker, a former tennis player, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Friday after a British court found him guilty of crimes related to his 2017 bankruptcy. The six-time Grand Slam champion, 54, will serve half of his sentence after being found guilty of transferring large sums of money from … Read more
According to AFP, Niger’s health minister has approved the vaccination of children under the age of five against malaria with a ground-breaking British vaccine. Malaria claimed the lives of 4,000 persons in the impoverished Sahel region in 2021, the majority of them were children. “The Niger government has approved the use of the RTS, S/AS01 … Read more
Two British humanitarian workers in Ukraine have been detained by Russian soldiers on suspicion of being “spies,” according to a non-profit organization and the family of one of them. According to Presidium Network, a humanitarian organization, Russian soldiers “caught” Paul Urey and Dylan Healy on Monday at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia … Read more
AstraZeneca’s first-quarter net profit dropped due to restructuring and legal costs associated with its massive takeover of US biotech firm Alexion, but sales rose. In the three months to the end of March, profit after tax fell by 75% to $386 million (366 million euros), compared to the same period the previous year. Sales of … Read more
Despite the risk of a direct conflict with Russia, the West altered gears in its backing for Ukraine this week, becoming less cautious about its military support and more clear in its war goals. “We want to see Russia diminished to the point where it can’t do the types of things it did in invading … Read more
PTTEP, Thailand’s oil and gas company, and Petronas, Malaysia’s oil and gas conglomerate, announced their withdrawal from Myanmar’s Yetagun gas project on Friday. After last year’s military takeover and related charges of human rights violations, big energy corporations such as Chevron and TotalEnergies have left Myanmar. According to a local monitoring group, over 1,800 civilians … Read more
Russia’s central bank announced on Friday that it was lowering its key interest rate for the second time in a row, citing a reduction in the risks of price surges and financial instability. The Bank of Russia said it would drop the rate from 17 percent to 14 percent starting next week, a bigger cut … Read more
A British pharmaceutical business was fined over £1 million for potentially inflicting “severe injury” by selling tainted feed to preterm babies On Friday. After receiving a tainted batch of ITH Pharma’s “total parenteral nourishment,” 19 newborns were infected in nine hospitals across England. Because they were unable to feed on their own, the fluid was … Read more
As record inflation threatens the party’s prospects in November’s midterm elections, US Democrats announced legislation Thursday to punish fuel companies they accuse of unfairly raising prices at the pump.. The reforms would allow regulators to levy heavy fines on companies that profit from the Ukraine conflict and a pandemic-related surge in crude prices at the … Read more
Canadian MPs will vote on changing the country’s Criminal Code to allow for the prosecution of crimes committed on the Moon On Thursday. A 443-page budget implementation bill presented to Parliament this week explained the proposed modification to the law, which is expected to be passed. Ottawa has previously broadened its jurisdiction to include criminal … Read more
An appeal by Facebook’s owner Meta against a competition regulator’s finding that it should be forced to sell online GIF creator Giphy was deferred on Thursday by a British court. In November, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) determined that Meta’s acquisition of Giphy, which provides animated GIFs and small videos to major social media … Read more
With a strong 200m freestyle victory at the US trials on Wednesday, Katie Ledecky stamped her ticket to a second individual event at the 2022 World Championships. Ledecky, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 200m freestyle, swam 1min 55.15sec to win by nearly two seconds over 15-year-old Claire Weinstein (1:57.08). Ledecky’s time placed her … Read more
Oscar Valdez of Mexico and Shakur Stevenson of the United States, both undefeated super featherweight champions, will meet in a boxing unification bout on Saturday in Las Vegas. The winner of the bout between World Boxing Council champion Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) and World Boxing Organization champion Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) would be crowned the … Read more
Mali accused France of espionage and violating the West African country’s airspace, which the French army denied on Thursday. Mali had accused the French army of “spying” and “subversion” on Tuesday after it used a drone to record mercenaries burying remains near a military installation.. The drone flew over the Gossi base “illegally” on April … Read more
Tiger Woods played a practice round on Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, three weeks before the PGA Championship begins there. After suffering catastrophic leg injuries 14 months ago in a vehicle accident, the 15-time major champion returned to action at the Masters earlier this month. He made the cut, but battled … Read more
