For many, racial and economic tensions in the US city reflect deep-seated frustration among residents.
There have been both peaceful demonstrations and violent protests in Baltimore after the death of a young black man while in police custody.
The police were singled out for protesters' anger; they are accused of brutality and there are demands for accountability.
For many, the tension in the US city reflects a deep-seated frustration among residents, particularly those in the black community.
The death of Freddie Gray has brought their grievances to the surface.
So, who is to blame for the violence? And is the government doing enough to address the social woes in Baltimore and other cities.
A court in north-west Pakistan has jailed 10 men for life for the 2012 gun attack on education activist Malala Yousafzai, media reports say.
Ms Yousafzai, who was 15 at the time, was shot in the head on board her school bus in the Swat valley.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her campaign for children's rights.
The authorities say the 10 men are members of the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP).
'Am I being executed?' Brazilian killed by Indonesia unaware until end, says priest
Priest who counselled Rodrigo Gularte – who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – says he tried in vain for three days to to explain to the inmate he was about to die
A Brazilian man executed by firing squad along with seven other prisoners inIndonesia on Wednesday had no idea he was about to be killed until his final minutes, the priest who counselled him has said.
He also revealed that Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who won a dramatic reprieve, had been aware a new suspect in her case had surrendered to police but was only removed from the prison about an hour before the killings.
Rodrigo Gularte, 42, was shot dead alongside seven others, including four Nigerians, two Australians and an Indonesian, for smuggling cocaine into Indonesia in 2004.
Doctors had diagnosed the Brazilian with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A second diagnosis, commissioned by Indonesia’s attorney general, has not been made public.
Robert Fisk in Abu Dhabi: The Emirates' out-of-sight migrant workers helping to build the dream projects of its rulers
Over two million labourers have come from the poorest countries in South Asia. While activists decry the conditions in which they're forced to live, others claim the arrangement is clear from the outset. In the second part of his special report, Robert Fisk visits the workers' camp at Saadiyat Island
It’s not a labour camp. No such words would soil the lips of the men from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development and INVESTMENT Company. No, it’s the “Saadiyat ACCOMMODATION Village”. For here, 7,500 men from the poorest countries of southern Asia – from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines – live and sleep in apparently Utopian comfort when they are not labouring under the Gulf sun on the cultural dream projects of Abu Dhabi’s rulers: the Louvre Museum and the Guggenheim, and the vast emporium built to hold the art treasures of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan at the Zayed National Museum.
When the Mona Lisa goes on display in the Abu Dhabi Louvre – as she assuredly will – her smile will grow even more enigmatic.
From amusement or cynicism? I know that I couldn’t help smiling to myself on my tour of the “Accommodation Village”. “And here are the sports fields, very popular in the evenings,” my guide purred, as the pick-pack-pock-puck of Pakistani cricket bats came through the hot dusk.
Satellite images suggest North Korean reactor may be operational
A reactor regarded as North Korea's main source of material for nuclear bombs, may be working again at low power or intermittently, a US think tank has said. Various experts have warned about Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal.
At full power, the five-megawatt reactor at North Korean Yongbyon complex can yield six kilos (13 pounds) of plutonium a year, which is enough for one nuclear bomb.
Satellite images of the complex, taken between January and April, show several "signatures" of low-level activity, experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said Thursday.
The signs include irregular snow melting patterns that indicate the inside of the building may have been hot. The experts also highlighted images of a weak stream of warm water being discharged from the reactor, as well as what appeared to be steam from the turbine building.
While the images "do not show clear evidence that the reactor has resumed full power operation," the US think tank said the pictures did suggest the reactor "may be operating at low power or operating intermittently."
As refugees set to arrive for resettling, Cambodians keep leaving
Bangkok:Tens of thousands of Cambodians are paying to be smuggled into other south-east Asian countries to work illegally, as Australia prepares to send refugees to their country from Nauru.
A new United Nations report says criminal gangs are using south-east Asia as a source and destination for illegal labour but the workers have little ability to assert their basic rights and become vulnerable to abuse, trafficking and exploitation.
"Cambodia is predominantly a source country for irregular migrants who move independently with aid of smugglers to Thailand and Malaysia," said the report by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Haunted by genocide that killed an estimated 1.7 million people in the 1970s and plagued by poverty, corruption and human rights abuses, Cambodia has up to 55,000 of its nationals smuggled into Thailand each year, the report says.
The illegal Cambodian migrants are mainly male, from poor rural communities aged between 17 and 35, it says.
Danish crew safe aboard Iran-seized ship
The Danish shipping crew aboard the Maersk Tigris is reportedly safe and 'in good spirits' a day after Iranian authorities sized the vessel in the Persian Gulf. The United States has sent military vessels to monitor the situation.
BySabina Zawadzki, Jonathan Saul, and Louis Charbonneau, Reuters
COPENHAGEN/LONDON/NEW YORK — Iran's foreign minister told a New York City audience on Wednesday that Tehran respects freedom of navigation in the Gulf, a day after Iranian patrol boats seized a Danish container ship in one of the world's busiest oil shipping lanes.
"The Persian Gulf is our lifeline ... We will respect international navigation," Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said during a discussion hosted by New York University's Center on International Cooperation and the think tank New America. "For us, freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf is a must."
Danish shipping company Maersk said the crew of the Maersk Tigris was safe and "in good spirits." Iranian authorities seized the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, spurring the United States to send military vessels to monitor the situation.
VIDEO: Baltimore Protester Tells Geraldo Rivera And Fox News To Leave
Geraldo Rivera got a dose of truth Tuesday night when he went to report on Baltimore and was confronted by a group of protesters. At about 50 seconds in, he's confronted by a very articulate young man, who tells him exactly why he is unwelcome. As he got in front of the camera, the young protester…
101 East examines the plight of thousands of widows struggling to survive in post-war Sri Lanka
When a barrage of artillery slammed into Sivalingam Maheswary's town in Sri Lanka's northeast, her husband and son were among those killed.
Sivalingam was one of the few survivors, but she lost her right arm in the shelling on the frontline of the country's civil war.
The guns have since fallen silent but 90,000 widows like Sivalingam are now struggling to earn enough to feed themselves and their children. The number of widows is almost as high as the death toll caused by the decades-long war.
Australia has recalled its ambassador from Indonesia after two Australian men were executed for drug smuggling.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were among eight people from several countries executed by firing squad in the early hours of Wednesday on the prison island of Nusakambangan.
Brazil's government also expressed its "deep dismay" at the execution of one of its citizens, Rodrigo Gularte.
But the execution of a Philippine woman was called off at the last minute.
Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was spared after Philippines officials said a woman she had accused of planting drugs on her was in police custody.
The families of the condemned prisoners paid them final, emotional visits on Tuesday afternoon before the sentences were carried out.
All eight refused offers of blindfolds and were singing together in their final moments, a pastor present at the execution told the Sydney Morning Herald.
British grandmother on death row in Indonesia loses hope after execution of Bali Nine pair
Lindsay Sandiford: 'They did good and touched the lives of a great many people'
A British grandmother on death row in Indonesia has paid tribute to two Australians executed last night, saying that she has lost hope for herself after seeing the “good men” die.
Lindsay Sandiford, 58, had become friends with Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were shot by a firing squad for drugs offences dating back a decade.
They were among eight people who died, including four Nigerians and men from Brazil and Indonesia, despite international outrage and diplomatic interventions. A mother from the Philippines was granted a last-minute reprieve.
Nigeria army rescues nearly 300 females from Boko Haram
Army spokesman says the hostages freed during military offensive are not schoolgirls abducted from Chibok last year.
29 Apr 2015 07:24 GMT
Nigerian troops rescued nearly 300 girls and women during an offensive against Boko Haram fighters in the northeastern Sambisa Forest, the military said.
Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Abuja, said on Wednesday that the Nigerian military was planning to release photos and more information of the women and girls rescued.
"What we understand is that there is a screening process to find out where they are from. We managed to speak to Nigeria's military spokesman who believes some of the women are wives of Boko Haram fighters," our correspondent said.
The army announced the rescue on Twitter on Tuesday and said it was screening and interviewing the abducted girls and women.
Kim Jong Un has 15 top officials executed for dissent: South Korea
AFP-JIJI
SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year, including several who complained about the young leader’s policies, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.
Those executed included two vice minister-level officials, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing legislators who attended a briefing by the National Intelligence Service.
Both were punished for opposing or complaining about Kim’s directives, the legislators said.
The Kim dynasty has ruled reclusive and impoverished North Korea for more than six decades with an iron fist and a pervasive personality cult.
Dutch Foreign Minister Reports Progress in Inquiry Into Downing of Malaysian Jetliner
Forensics experts have identified remains of 296 of the 298 people killed in the attack that downed a Malaysia Airlines jetliner last July in easternUkraine, the foreign minister of the Netherlands said Tuesday.
The minister, Bert Koenders, whose country lost the most people among the nationalities on the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight, also said investigators were making good progress on other aspects of the inquiry into the downing of the jetliner, which was designated Flight MH-17 and was apparently was felled by a missile launched from eastern Ukraine.
NATO officials have said Russian-backed Ukrainian insurgents firing a Russian-made missile were responsible for downing the jetliner on July 17.Russia has blamed Ukrainian forces and denied responsibility in the disaster, which caused shock around the world and played a role in the worsening of relations between Russia and the West over the past year.
Mexican politicians accused of exploiting girl mistakenly taken to U.S.
BY TIM JOHNSON
McClatchy Foreign Staff
MEXICO CITY — A 14-year-old girl who was snatched out of school by Mexican federal police with an Interpol order, taken to the Houston home of a woman who claimed to be her mother, then returned to Mexico when DNA evidence showed otherwise has had a whirlwind few days since her triumphant return last week.
Politicians have glommed on to her, taking selfies with her, holding her hand in political marches and promising her an unforgettable 15th birthday bash.
On Tuesday, the government-financed National Human Rights Commission had a short message for the politicians: Leave the girl alone.
They and others shouldn’t take actions to “spread her image, name, personal data and other information to allow identification or cause an interference with her private life and her family,” the commission warned.
Community Organizer Shames Wolf Blitzer For One-sided Interview On Baltimore Violence
CNN host Wolf Blitzer seemed determined make the focus of his Tuesday interview with Deray McKesson about the amount of trouble protesters had caused in Baltimore, but the community organizer managed to turn the tables on the veteran journalist. "You want peaceful protests, right?" Blitzer began his interview by asking McKesson. "Yes," McKesson replied, after being…
The politics and coverage of xenophobia in South Africa; and TV regulation in the UK ahead of a contentious election.
A recent upsurge of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa has raised contentious questions about how to talk about the issue in the media.
When the influential King of the Zulus, Goodwill Zwelithini, was quoted as saying that foreigners "should pack their bags and go" many saw it as a precursor to the attacks which have mainly been targeted at migrants from other African states. The king has refuted these allegations and says that the media have taken his words out of context.
Others too have singled out the media for blame. South African President Jacob Zuma, has said emphasising the "xenophobic" nature of the attacks casts the country in a bad light. The question remains of whether the media are fulfilling their responsibility to prompt the government and the South African people to face tough questions about inequality and jobs.
A state of emergency has been declared for the entire city of Baltimore as whole neighbourhoods were engulfed in rioting and destruction of property, plunging one more major American metropolis into civil turmoil over allegations of persistent police abuse of minorities.
Hundreds of mostly teenage African-Americans began a frenzied rampage, throwing rocks at police lines and torching police vehicles and some buildings, just hours after leaders of the community had gathered to to bury 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died one week being arrested by police with a severed spine.
The Governor of Maryland, Larry Hagan, said he declared the state of emergency and activated National Guard troops to try to return calm to the city as “last resort. For hours, the rioters had apparently had free run of parts of the city, ransacking shops and setting fires with little sign of a police response.
Indonesia set to execute eight foreigners as families make last visit to prison
Australian pair, four Nigerians, a Brazilian and a Filipino face a firing squad within the next 24 hours after mercy pleas for drug smugglers fail
The distraught relatives of two Australians on death row in Indonesia had to be carried through a media pack on Tuesday as they arrived for what is expected to be their last visit to see their loved ones.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are among a group of convicted drug smugglers facing execution, which also includes four Nigerians, a Brazilian, an Indonesian and a Filipino woman.
No official time has been set for when the group will face the firing squad on an island prison off the coast of Java, but a 72-hour notice period expires at midnight on Tuesday, local time.
Police on Tuesday morning used dogs to clear a path through surging media at the port of Cilacap as Chan and Sukumaran’s visibly distressed relatives arrived.
Badly decomposed bodies of 400 men, women and children discovered in Nigerian town of Damasak in suspected Boko Haram massacre
The town was liberated from the clutches of extremist militants last month
The badly decomposed bodies of hundreds of men, women and children have been discovered in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Damasak, in a massacre government officials suspect was carried out by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
The gruesome discovery comes weeks after military forces from Nigeria and Chad launched a successful operation to free the town from the clutches of extremist militants on 9 March. Troops found the bodies of least 70 at an apparent execution site under a bridge leading out of the town shortly after.
Babagana Mustapha, a local government spokesman for Damasak, told CNN a provincial government committee was visiting the area to assess the damage caused by Boko Haram’s insurgency when the bodies were discovered. The group overran the town in November.
Television crew 'killed by Islamic State in Libya'
Five journalists who were members of a Libyan television crew are reported to have been found dead in the country's east. "Islamic State" (IS) militants are suspected of carrying out the killings.
The news agency reported that a military official confirmed the deaths of the reporters, who had been missing since August.
They disappeared after leaving the eastern city of Tobruk, where the elected parliament meets, to travel to Benghazi.
Their journey took them through the Islamist militant stronghold of Derna.
District army commander, Faraj al-Barassi, told Reuters that militants loyal to IS were responsible for the killings.
Their bodies were discovered outside the city of Bayda, which is the temporary home of Libya's internationally-recognized government.
Life for captain in South Korea ferry disaster
April 28, 2015 - 4:57PM
Choe Sang-Hun
Seoul: The captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized a year ago, killing more than 300 people, most of them teenagers, has been sentenced to life in prison in an appeals court ruling that convicted him of murder.
The conviction of the captain, Lee Jun-seok, on murder charges marked a victory for prosecutors and victims' families, who protested a lower-court ruling last November that acquitted him of murder, citing a lack of evidence, and sentenced him to 36 years in prison on lesser charges, like violations of ship safety laws.
On Tuesday, the high court in Gwangju, a city in the country's southwest, reversed the lower-court verdict, accepting prosecutors' arguments that Lee, 70, committed "murder through willful negligence" when he and his crew abandoned his ship and passengers without taking required steps to help them.
Why Kenya became a country of marathoners, not boxers
Kenyan runners continued their winning streak at yesterday's London Marathon. The large cash prizes offered to marathon winners attract Kenya's best athletes, at the expense of other sports.
ByJosephine Opar, Contributor
NAIROBI, KENYA — When Eliud Kipchoge won the London Marathon on Sunday, the Kenyan runner took home a $50,000 cash prize – excluding time bonuses.
All the world’s major marathons offer significant cash prizes to top finishers: Boston pays $150,000, New York $130,000, and Dubai offers the largest at $200,000. Even mid-to-low tier races offer hefty prizes. And Kenya's runners are nearly always at the front of the pack.
This was not always the case. Take boxing for example: from the 1960s to 1980s, Kenya had a formidable boxing culture that regularly produced champions that could compete – and win – in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and world championships.
A mammoth wave of snow darkens the sky over Everest base camp. Appearing like a white mushroom cloud roaring over the climbers, they scurry as their tents flap like feathers in the wind. Then panic hits.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Screams and expletives are heard.
The few people in the video scatter and dive into a tent as the deluge of snow falls over them. Cursing and breathing heavily, they wait until the pounding is over.
After a while, they scream to each other, "Are you all right?"
"Are you ok?!?"
The camera jostles back and forth as German climber Jost Kobusch heaves to catch his breath.
When they finally emerge from their avalanche ordeal, their faces are scarlet and their bodies crusted in snow. They trudge away, completely dazed and shocked.
At home with the world's last male northern white rhinoceros
With rhino numbers collapsed due to poaching for their horns, a lot rides on one pampered animal in the Kenyan savannah doing his best to further the species
Mohamed Doyo seems to have a dream job. Every evening, he patrols the Kenyan savannah, glimpsing lions chasing down darting Thomson’s gazelles, hearing the calls of red-chested cuckoos and, when there is a full moon, seeing the majestic, snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya in the distance.
But Doyo can scarcely stop to admire the extraordinary views because he and a large squad of rangers perform an extraordinary job: they must keep poachers away from one of the rarest species on earth, including the star attraction at the 135 sq mile conservancy, Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino.
“This responsibility weighs so heavily on our shoulders,” says Doyo. “It is sad what human greed has done and now we must keep watch every minute because it would be unimaginable if the poachers succeeded in killing these last few animals.”
Isis crisis: Propaganda photo shows sleeping newborn baby lying by a gun, hand grenade and birth certificate
An expert said the group is hoping to showcase its supposed longevity
An Isis propaganda photo of a newborn baby lying beside lethal weaponry and a birth certificate, intended to provoke shock and fear, has emerged online.
The startling image of the infant appearing to sleep next to a grenade and a handgun was shared by Abu Ward Al-Raqqawi, an anti-Isis activist in Syria, who said it was originally taken by a member of the extremist group which has established a so-called Islamic State across swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Al-Raqqawi captioned the photo with the warning: “This child will be risk to you not just to us [sic]”, suggesting it is an attempt by the extremists to showcase their attempts to cultivate ever-younger members in their ranks.
Late last year, the group used its official media outlets to circulate videos and images claiming to reveal like in the "School of Jihad", where per-pubescent children 10 are trained to use AK47 rifles and are acclimatised to the horrors of war.
Hip-hop self-helpers of Senegal
One of Senegal’s strongest youth movements, YEAM, has come out of the country’s music scene. It’s pro-democracy and anti-violence, and it is influencing the whole of the region.
by Jacques Denis
Meetings of the Y’en a Marre (we’ve had enough) movement or YEAM start with a ritual in which everyone is invited to pray and sing the national anthem. I went to a crowded meeting in a white tent at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar in February, which discussed the demonstrations that have rocked this huge campus since the death of student Abdou Bassirou Faye during clashes with the police in August last year. Students are demanding payment of their grants and improved study conditions, and there have been campfire protests, marches, acts of provocation and repression, with much violence. “We must be able to change our methods,” said Babacar Mbaye Diop, in his 30s, who teaches philosophy. He took part in the student movements of the last decade and spoke at the tent meeting. Before the speakers took questions, five rappers in the hip-hop group Campus 2H held the stage: “We’re going to talk about the situation, but in our own way...” Their T-shirts had the YEAM logo.
Israel indicts three soldiers for looting
The Israeli soldiers are accused of taking money during last year's incursion into Gaza.
ByThe Associated Press
The Israeli military announced Sunday it indicted three soldiers for allegedly taking money from a building in Gaza during last year's war against Hamas militants.
The military said that two soldiers were indicted on suspicion they took the equivalent of $605 and another is accused of helping them.
A military police investigation was opened after the soldiers' commander reported them, it said. The military said it repeatedly tried to find the owner of the building but attempts were unsuccessful.
Investigations into more than 120 soldiers have been opened over their conduct during the fighting, the military said. The three soldiers who were indicted last week are the first to face charges so far, it said.
US vets come to Vietnam to confront past, and find a home
By MIKE IVES2 hours ago When Richard Parker left Vietnam in 1970, he planned to leave his memories of napalm attacks firmly in the past. Instead, as time marched on, they haunted him.
"We were the bad guys," Parker, now 65, said of the American war effort in Vietnam. "I had some ghosts I had to face down."
In 2011, Parker flew from Illinois to Danang, a central Vietnamese city where he had worked for 22 months as a builder in the Navy. First he visited nearby places he still remembered, including a mountain pass where he had seen shooting.
On the same trip, a Vietnamese man who once worked for the Marines introduced Parker to some American veterans who lived in Danang full time. Parker enjoyed meeting them and seeing the country in a new light — so much so that he moved to Danang a few months later.
, 