World entering era of global food insecurity with malnutrition and obesity side by side within countries, says leading food expert
Uighurs sent back from Thailand were on way to join jihad, says China
Rights groups say the Turkic-speaking group could face persecution in their home country as China steps up propaganda against alleged terroristsSunday 12 July 2015 06.51 BST
More than 100 ethnic Uighurs deported from Thailand to China had been on their way to Turkey, Syria or Iraq to wage holy war, China’s official news agency has claimed.
On Thursday, Thai authorities sent back the 109 Uighurs, who had been in Thailand for over a year and claimed to be Turkish. The repatriations were criticised by the UN refugee agency as “a flagrant violation of international law.”
Rights groups expressed fears that they could face torture. In Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, protesters ransacked the Thai consulate to denounce the decision.
China’s official Xinhua agency said late on Saturday that the 109 illegal immigrants had been on their way “to join jihad”, and that 13 of them had fledChina after being implicated in terrorist activities. Another two had escaped detention, Xinhua said, citing the ministry of public security.
Berlin denies institutional racism among German police
There have been reports of racial profiling, abuse of refugees, revelations from neo-Nazi investigations and criticism from the UN. But the German government says police do not have a problem with institutional racism.
An uninvestigated string of racist murders, the death of asylum seeker Oury Jalloh while in custody in Dessau and more and more racial profiling cases in German courts - despite the accumulation of incidents and accusations, the German government insists its security forces do not have a problem with racism.
The Interior Ministry reached the conclusion this week after considering a list of official questions submitted by the Left party, which were themselves prompted by a United Nations report released in May. The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had, once again, condemned Germany's record on dealing with institutional racism - particularly when it came to racial profiling by its police force.
"The Committee is concerned that [the German Federal Police Act] leads de facto to racial discrimination," the UN committee's report said, "especially taking into account ... the criteria used by police to carry out these checks which involve notions such as 'feel for a certain situation' or 'the persons' external appearance.'"
Crusading Phuketwan website shut down as journalists face Thai court
July 12, 2015 - 2:48PMLindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Australian journalist Alan Morison has been forced to shut down his crusading news website in Thailand as he and a Thai colleague face trial on serious criminal charges on Tuesday.
The award-winning Phuketwan site has led reporting on the plight of Rohingyas in Myanmar, who have been described by the United Nations as among the world's most persecuted people.
Morison, 67, has announced that Phuketwan will close this week and may never resume because of uncertainty over unprecedented criminal defamation charges brought against himself and colleague Chutima Sidasathian by the Royal Thai Navy.
"We feel committed to make a stance for a free media in Thailand," Morison said.
"We are content to leave the decision to Thai justice, although some people have concerns about the potential for a negative outcome," he said. "This case was wrong from the beginning, with one or two officers acting on bad advice."
In Japan it soon will be illegal to possess child porn – almost
Starting July 15, possessing images of child sex will be illegal
Exempt: lifelike animation
How old is a cartoon character who looks 10?
TOKYO
In Japan, selling or producing child pornography has been illegal for 16 years. Possession of it has not. That’s about to change.
Starting July 15, anyone in possession of any form of child pornography featuring real people will face fines and imprisonment for the first time. The change will make Japan one of the last industrialized nations to ban depictions of children having sex, leaving only South Korea as the last economically advanced country to allow possession.
Japan passed the new restrictions last year, after a 15-year battle, providing a grace period before penalties would be enforced. Those penalties kick in next week.
But the new ban still skirts one key sector – anime, the lifelike Japanese animation that is deeply embedded in Japanese culture and is popular across all age ranges. Anime is used for everything, from children’s advertisements and safety warnings to military recruiting.
Uighurs sent back from Thailand were on way to join jihad, says China
Rights groups say the Turkic-speaking group could face persecution in their home country as China steps up propaganda against alleged terroristsSunday 12 July 2015 06.51 BST
More than 100 ethnic Uighurs deported from Thailand to China had been on their way to Turkey, Syria or Iraq to wage holy war, China’s official news agency has claimed.
On Thursday, Thai authorities sent back the 109 Uighurs, who had been in Thailand for over a year and claimed to be Turkish. The repatriations were criticised by the UN refugee agency as “a flagrant violation of international law.”
Rights groups expressed fears that they could face torture. In Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, protesters ransacked the Thai consulate to denounce the decision.
China’s official Xinhua agency said late on Saturday that the 109 illegal immigrants had been on their way “to join jihad”, and that 13 of them had fledChina after being implicated in terrorist activities. Another two had escaped detention, Xinhua said, citing the ministry of public security.
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