UN accused of 'shocking' lack of action over murder and rape in South Sudan
Peacekeeping mission has failed to stop systematic atrocities, MSF says, as civil war enters third year
The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan has been accused of a “complete and utter failure” to protect civilians in one of the most dangerous and volatile parts of the war-ravaged country.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says that although civilians in southern Unity state – an oil-rich area and key battleground in the civil war – have been subjected to murder, rape and abduction for many months, there has been a “shocking” lack of action from the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (Unmiss).
“There has been a complete and utter protection failure on Unmiss’ part in southern Unity,” said Pete Buth, deputy operations director of MSF Holland and manager of MSF’s activities in Unity state.China to 'promote its repression of Uighurs' at Shanghai group meeting
Self-professed Uighur government in exile says Beijing is using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as well as Paris and San Bernardino attacks to promote repression of Muslims in ChinaMassoud Hayoun New York
China may have embarked on its latest mission to gain regional support for its crackdown on its Uighur ethnic minority at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Monday, rights activists warned.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with leaders from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia in the northeastern city of Zhengzhou to discuss bolstered industrial cooperation but also collaboration on security issues, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Officials from “observer” states like India and Iran were also in attendance, Xinhua said.
SCO member states have in recent years pledged their support for Beijing’s campaign against what it calls Uighur separatist terrorism.
'Execution Orgy': Pakistan Learns from a Brutal Terrorist Attack
By Hasnain KazimOne year ago, Taliban attackers stormed a school in Peshawar and killed over 130 children. Since then, the government and military have begun taking security seriously. Many say the country has changed for the better.
On that awful day one year ago, Naeem Mumtaz lost his wife -- and to this day he is trying to find something that could provide consolation for the horrific act that destroyed his family. "If the situation in our country is improved because of the blood shed by our loved ones, then their deaths are not entirely senseless," he says.
Mumtaz is sitting in his office in the Lady Reading Hospital in downtown Peshawar, the metropolis in the north of Pakistan. He is wearing a gray suit coat over the traditional Shalwar Kameez, a knee-length cotton shirt with Turkish trousers. He tiredly rubs his eyes.
More boats carrying corpses washing up on Japan's shores
(Mainichi Japan)
Since October this year, a steady string of wooden boats have washed up on the Sea of Japan coast from Hyogo Prefecture in the southwest up to Hokkaido in the north. More ominous than the drifting boats, however, are the 31 male corpses that have been found in or near them.
Most of the boats are thought to be from North Korea, based on their design, writing on the hulls and the equipment found in them. It's believed the small vessels met some accident while fishing off the coast of North Korea. Experts speculate that the boats were manned by men with little experience on the sea, mobilized by the regime to boost its ongoing attempt to expand North Korea's fishing industry.
Regional Japan Coast Guard (JCG) branches and other sources have told the Mainichi Shimbun that 13 of the vessels have washed up on the Japanese coast since October this year, though fragments of what is believed to be one other boat have also been found.
For Mexico's migrant workers, a push for cross-border justice (+video)
Over the past decade, lawyers like Miguel and migrant advocates on both sides of the border have worked together to short circuit a guest-worker system that relies on laborers not knowing they are entitled to legal recourse.
Miguel has been in this small, hillside town in central Mexico for no more than 30 seconds before he focuses in on his first target: a heavy-set man sweeping the floor of an upholstery shop.
He crosses the main road to ask the shopkeeper if he’s heard of two men that supposedly live here and spent time picking vegetables in the United States. They’re eligible to join a lawsuit and possibly receive thousands of dollars for their unpaid work.
The upholsterer says no, but points Miguel down the road to a paper-goods store.
It’s the beginning of a game of neighborhood hot-potato, where Miguel, a US-trained lawyer who now works with return migrant laborers, is passed from one shop owner to another. By the time he arrives at a hardware store on the edge of town, he’s left wondering if people here truly don’t know these two men, or if they’re just too scared to talk.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – first reactions suggest 'overwhelming experience'
Initial verdicts on JJ Abrams’ new movie ahead of Wednesday’s reviews embargo indicate audience at Los Angeles premiere was feeling the force
There were “smiling faces” from the crowds exiting the Los Angeles premiere of The Force Awakens on Monday night. Amongst these, presumably, were Disney executives ecstatic that the $4bn they paid George Lucas for franchise rights looks to have been a sound investment.
Initial reactions from all three screening rooms where the film was shown for the first time – as well as from social media – suggest that JJ Abrams has the chops to please both critics and fans, and that The Force Awakens may well recoup at least half the $4bn by itself.
A journalist for the Hollywood Reporter was one of the first to tweet following the event, at which mobile phones were confiscated.
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