Millions facing misery in worst refugee crisis since second world war - report
Scathing report accuses world leaders of neglecting crisis that has led to deaths of thousands of civilians fleeing wars in the Middle East and Africa
Millions of refugees have been condemned to a life of misery in the worst displacement crisis since the second world war, a leading human rights organisation has said in a scathing report (pdf) that blames world leaders’ neglect for the deaths of thousands of civilians fleeing wars in the Middle East and Africa.
“We are witnessing the worst refugee crisis of our era, with millions of women, men and children struggling to survive amidst brutal wars, networks of people traffickers and governments who pursue selfish political interests instead of showing basic human compassion,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s secretary general, in a statement.
US confirms target of Libya air strike was Algerian militant Belmokhtar
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the veteran Islamist militant behind the Algerian gas field attack in 2013, has been reported killed in Libya. The US has confirmed he was the target of airstrikes at the weekend.
Belmokhtar has been reported killed several times, including in 2013 when he was believed to havedied in Mali.
The US military confirmed Belmokhtar had been targeted in the air strike on Saturday night, but did not say if he had been killed.
"I can confirm that the target of last night's counterterrorism strike in Libya was Mokhtar Belmokhtar," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said in a statement on Sunday.
"The strike was carried out by US aircraft," Warren added. "We are continuing to assess the results of the operation and will provide more details as appropriate."
Pro-democracy protesters take to Hong Kong’s streets ahead of key vote
Pro-democracy campaigners took to the streets of Hong Kong Sunday, but in far smaller numbers than expected, before a vote on a political reform package that has divided the city and sparked mass protests.
The controversial electoral roadmap, which lays out how Hong Kong's next leader should be chosen, goes for debate at the legislature on Wednesday and will be voted on by the end of the week.
It is the culmination of a fraught chapter which saw tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters bring parts of the city to a standstill late last year.
Those rallies were sparked by a ruling from Beijing that candidates in the city's first ever public vote for its leader in 2017 must be vetted.
Pro-democracy lawmakers in the semi-autonomous Chinese city have vowed to vote down the election package, which sticks to Beijing's ruling.
Currently the chief executive is elected by a 1,200-strong pro-Beijing committee.
New climate pledges only buy eight more months before climate tipping point
Tom Arup
Environment editor, The Age
New global pledges to cut greenhouse gases have delayed by just eight months the moment when the world is expected to breach a threshold that keeps global warming at safer levels, the world's leading energy agency has found.
In a new report the International Energy Agency has warned collective emissions targets, along with the energy plans in those countries yet to set out new goals, puts the world on track by 2040 to relase more than the total greenhouse gases than can be allowed and still have a strong chance of keeping global warming below two degrees - a threshold known as the carbon budget.
That is just eight months later than previous forecast, despite a new spate of targets and plans currently being pledged by countries, the agency said on Monday morning.
Paraguay: We're protecting life of pregnant 10-year-old, fetus
By Kay Guerrero and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNNUpdated 0455 GMT (1155 HKT) June 15, 2015
Paraguay's foreign ministry says it doesn't need to follow steps recommended by an international human rights committee that weighed in recently on how the country is handling the case of a 10-year-old pregnant girl who was allegedly raped by her stepfather.
In a statement released Sunday, the foreign ministry said it rejects a list of demands from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about what it should do to protect the life of the girl.
Paraguay already "has taken all the appropriate measures to avoid impunity for the wrongful act committed and to ensure the life and safety of this girl and the fetus," the statement said.
Magna Carta: Challenging 800 years of 'liberty'
As heads of state mark the celebrated document's birthday, UK critics protest police crackdown on an eco-occupation.
Simon Hooper |London, United Kingdom - Police have attempted to shut down a "festival for democracy" at an eco-village overlooking a site where dignitaries including the Queen gather on Monday for official events to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.
The festival was planned by the residents of Runnymede Eco-Village, a community established three years ago in an area of neglected forest on the edge of London within a few hundred metres of the spot where the celebrated document - considered by many a symbol of civil liberties and the principle of equality under law - was signed in 1215.
Organisers and participants said the event, which included talks by academics and political activists as well as music and workshops, was a necessary alternative to the official programme that included a river pageant along the Thames, and the erection of a four-metre bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's hereditary head of state.
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