Author: Aidan
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Vietnam jails 2 ex-ministers over COVID-19 test kits scandal
A court in Vietnam jailed two former cabinet ministers on Friday (Jan 12) and found dozens of officials guilty of bribery and mismanagement for their roles in a coronavirus test kit scandal, the ministry of public security said. Former Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long was sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes worth US$2.25…
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People’s rights are threatened everywhere, from wars to silence about abuses
People’s rights are being suppressed and threatened everywhere in the world, from wars to selective government outrage about some abuses and silence about others because of “political expediency,” a leading human rights group said Thursday. “We only have to look at the human rights challenges of 2023 to tell us what we need to do…
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Burundi shuts borders with Rwanda after accusing Kigali of funding rebel attacks
A diplomatic row between Burundi and Rwanda took on a new front Thursday as Burundi closed its borders with its neighbor. “We have stopped ties with him until he changes” Burundi’s Interior Minister Martin Niteretse said in a statement. The latest follows accusations from Burundi to Rwanda of funding rebel attacks. Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye made…
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Norway to allow mining waste to be dumped in fjords
Norway is to allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords after the government won a court case against environmental organisations trying to block the plan. After a 15-year dispute, the private company Nordic Mining has been given the go-ahead to dispose of 170m tonnes of mining waste at the bottom of the Førde fjord, which…
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UN concerned over Taliban arrests of Afghan women and girls for alleged Islamic headscarf violations
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said Thursday it was deeply concerned by recent arbitrary arrests and detentions by the Taliban government of women and girls for allegedly violating dress codes regarding the Islamic headscarf, or hijab. The mission said it was looking into claims of ill treatment of women and extortion in exchange for their…
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Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns
Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW). In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the…
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Why Israel Can’t Just Wave Away International Justice Charges
On December 29, South Africa lodged a complaint against Israel, alleging that Israel’s conduct in Gaza is in violation of the Genocide Convention. Israel was quick to dismiss the allegation as antisemitic. A government spokesperson called the charges “South Africa’s absurd blood libel.” The White House piled on. “We find this submission meritless, counter-productive and completely without any basis…
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Bottled water contains 100 times more plastic nanoparticles than previously thought
The average litre of bottled water has nearly a quarter of a million pieces of microplastics and tiny, invisible nanoplastics, new research has found. These have been detected and categorised for the first time by a microscope using dual lasers. Scientists had long figured there were lots of these microscopic plastic pieces, but until researchers at…