Thai protesters besiege more ministries |
PM faces critical no-confidence vote as demonstrators target tourism, transport and agriculture ministries.
Last updated: 26 Nov 2013 08:30
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Thai protesters have besieged several more government ministries in an escalating campaign to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government.
Demonstrators on Tuesday targeted the tourism, transport and agriculture ministries, one day after swarming the finance and foreign ministries in the biggest street protests since the country's 2010 military crackdown.
"We have to leave because they [the protesters] will cut the utilities," Tourism Minister Somsak Pureesrisak said.
Protesters also gave officials at the Interior Ministry an ultimatum to leave within one hour, according to an AFP report.
Thailand's premier appealed earlier on Tuesday for an end to "mob rule" as she prepared for a pivotal no-confidence vote in parliament, prompted by the massive uprising that is fuelled by claims Yingluck Shinawatra's government is controlled by her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a military coup in 2006 for alleged corruption.
France to triple military deployment in Central African Republic
Number of troops will increase to 1,200 in attempt to tackle increasing violence following ousting of president in March
France will triple the number of its soldiers in the Central African Republic to 1,200 to bolster security after months of violence, the war-torn nation's prime minister said on Monday.
The mineral-rich but impoverished nation of 4.6 million people has descended into chaos since Seleka rebels, many of them from neighbouring Chad and Sudan, ousted President Francois Bozize in March.
The Central African Republic's prime minister, Nicolas Tiangaye, said the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, had told him the reinforcements would arrive once the UN security council had voted over the next week on a resolution backing the force.
EU tells Ukraine political and trade deal still on table
Pro-EU demonstrations continuing
Daniel McLaughlin
The European Union has told Ukraine that a historic pact is still on offer this week, as street protests continued against the government’s decision to postpone an EU deal and repair relations with traditional ally Russia.
After more than 100,000 people gathered in Kiev and other cities on Sunday, smaller pro-EU demonstrations took place yesterday, despite warnings from officials that unauthorised rallies would not be tolerated. Riot police used teargas to disperse protesters outside government headquarters, and opposition politicians accused security forces of beating marchers.
Protests began after the cabinet loyal to president Viktor Yanukovich announced late last week that it was scrapping plans to sign a political association and trade pact with the EU at a summit starting on Thursday, which would have aligned Ukraine with the West rather than Russia. The government said the deal would not compensate Ukraine for the huge damage that would be done by threatened economic reprisals from Moscow.
New Zealand dismisses climate change refugee case
A Pacific islander whose homeland is threatened by rising seas has failed to become the world’s first climate change refugee. A New Zealand court has dismissed the case, saying the man didn't meet international criteria.
New Zealand's High Court in Auckland on Tuesday ruled that Kiribati national Ioane Teitiota's bid to become a climate change refugee fell short of the legal criteria, such as fear of persecution or threats to his life.
In a written ruling, judge John Priestley called the case “novel” but “unconvincing.” He acknowledged that the low-lying nation of Kiribati was suffering environmental degradation attributable to climate change, but under international law Teitiota did not qualify as a refugee.
"The economic environment of Kiribati might certainly not be as attractive to the applicant and his fellow nationals as the economic environment and prospects of Australia and New Zealand," he said. "But... his position does not appear to be different from that of any other Kiribati national."
Brazilians wary over renewed mass beach robberies as World Cup looms
November 26, 2013 - 1:34AMJenny Barchfield
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: With the tropical sun blazing from a near cloudless sky and waves lapping at golden sand, it seemed like a perfect day at the beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Then dozens of marauding youths descended en masse, snatching beach bags and mobile phones, ripping gold chains from necks and setting off sandy stampedes by panicked beachgoers.
These guys don't care whether there are cops there are not
Such mass beach robberies were once a hair-raisingly frequent occurrence, but they had largely disappeared in recent years as this notoriously dangerous city got markedly safer — a trend credited to a galloping economy and police operations that wrested control of more than 200 "favela" hillside slums from the drug-dealing gangs that controlled them.
Stoning adulterers? New Afghan law could bring back Taliban-era punishments.
Stoning adulterers – or shooting them – could become law again in Afghanistan, says a senior official. During the Taliban regime, convicted adulterers were routinely shot or stoned.
Death by stoning for convicted adulterers is being written into Afghan law, a senior official said on Monday, the latest sign that human rights won at great cost since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 are rolling back as foreign troops withdraw.
"We are working on the draft of a sharia penal code where the punishment for adultery, if there are four eyewitnesses, is stoning," said Rohullah Qarizada, who is part of the sharia Islamic law committee working on the draft and head of the Afghan Independent Bar Association.
Billions have been invested on promoting human rights in Afghanistan over more than 12 years of war and donors fear that hard won progress, particularly for women, may be eroding.
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