The Jordan River is a winding, 200-plus-mile run on the eastern flank of Israel and the occupied West Bank. The sea is the glittering Mediterranean to its west. But a phrase about the space in between, “from the river to the sea,” has become a battle cry with new power to roil Jews and pro-Palestinian … Read more
BEIJING — A government official from China’s Tibetan region on Friday rejected allegations of forced assimilation and curbs on religious freedom, while stressing that Tibetan Buddhism should adapt to the Chinese context. Xu Zhitao, vice chairman of the Tibet region government, defended a boarding school system that overseas activists have said takes children away from … Read more
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — An exiled Belarus activist on Tuesday presented a second dossier of evidence to the International Criminal Court that he said proves the personal involvement of President Alexander Lukashenko in the illegal transfer of children to Belarus from Russian-occupied towns in Ukraine. Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian culture minister, said some of … Read more
LONDON — Russians commemorated the victims of Soviet state terror on Sunday, while the Russian government continues its crackdown on dissent in the country. The “Returning of the Names” event was organized by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial. The commemoration has traditionally been held in Moscow on Oct. 29 — the eve … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea — Bereaved relatives of victims of last year’s devastating Halloween crush in Seoul and their supporters demanded an independent investigation of the disaster as they marked the anniversary Sunday with a massive memorial service. The crush, one of the biggest peacetime disasters in South Korea, killed 159 people, most of them in … Read more
Activists in Guatemala are blocking roads in surging demonstrations to support President-elect Bernardo Arévalo ByThe Associated Press October 6, 2023, 12:42 PM Protestors block the Inter American highway to demand the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras and prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche in Totonicapan, Guatemala, early Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. For the fifth consecutive day people … Read more
Activists and emergency workers say the Syrian government has shelled a village in the rebel-held northwestern part of the country, killing at least five civilians ByGHAITH AL-SAYED Associated Press and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press IDLIB, Syria — The Syrian government early Thursday shelled a village in the rebel-held northwestern part of the country, killing at … Read more
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate conference offered a full-throated defense Saturday of his nation hosting the talks, dismissing those who “just go on the attack without knowing anything, without knowing who we are.” Climate activists roundly criticized Sultan al-Jaber’s appointment as the president-designate of the … Read more
CAIRO — Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent Egyptian-American academic and pro-democracy activist during the reign of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, died on Friday. He was 85. Ibrahim’s death was announced by Egyptian state media on Friday although few further details were given. The acclaimed academic was a leading critic of Mubarak’s autocratic government and … Read more
COSTA DA CAPARICA, Portugal — Sofia Oliveira was 12 years old when catastrophic wildfires in central Portugal killed more than 100 people in 2017. She “felt it was now or never to raise our voices” as her country appeared to be in the grip of deadly human-caused climate change. Now a university student, Sofia and … Read more