UNHCR report: More displaced now than after WWII
Updated 0844 GMT (1644 HKT) June 20, 2016
The U.N.'s refugee agency reports that the number of displaced people is at its highest ever -- surpassing even post-World War II numbers, when the world was struggling to come to terms with the most devastating event in history.
The total at the end of 2015 reached 65.3 million -- or one out of every 113 people on Earth, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The number represents a 5.8 million increase on the year before.
A little under 1% of the earth's population is either "an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee" according to the UNHCR report, which was released Monday.
Cluster bombs used in Sri Lanka's civil war, leaked photos suggest
Exclusive: images appear to confirm use of the indiscriminate weapon in a conflict which cost the lives of at least 100,000
Images that appear to confirm the use of cluster bombs in the end stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war have been uncovered as new testimony emerged suggesting the country’s armed forces may have deployed the munition against civilians.
The revelations are likely to prompt serious questions for the current Sri Lankan government, which includes several senior members of the cabinet who oversaw army activity during the last days of the conflict.
The photographic evidence provided to the Guardian depicts cluster bombs uncovered by de-mining teams in parts of the country close to sites where fighting took place in late 2008 and early 2009.
Environmental activists: 2015 was deadliest year for people fighting to protect the planet
A report by Global Witness said killings jumped by almost 60 per cent
Andrew Buncombe New York
The world’s environment is under unprecedented threat. And those seeking to protect it, are also facing risks like never before.
These are the main findings of a new report that reveals 2015 was perhaps the deadliest year yet for environmental and land rights activists. With campaigners in Brazil and the Philippines - along with Indigenous activists - facing probably the gravest dangers, three environmentalists are being killed every week.
“As demand for products like minerals, timber and palm oil continues, governments, companies and criminal gangs are seizing land in defiance of the people who live on it,” said Global Witnesscampaign leader Billy Kyte. “Communities that take a stand are increasingly finding themselves in the firing line of companies’ private security, state forces and a thriving market for contract killers.”
French Muslims march to protest murder of police couple
Thousand of Muslims marched in the French town of Mantes-la-Jolie on Sunday to protest the recent killing of a local police chief and his wife by a man who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Between 2,500 to 5,000 people took part in the solemn procession 50km west of Paris, which was organised by local mosques and Muslim groups.
Demonstrators carried a large banner denouncing the “barbaric” act and lifted a photo of a smiling Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider, who were murdered at their home in the nearby town of Magnanville on June 13.
“This was a crime, not by a religious man or an ideologist, but of the stupidest kind,” Abdelaziz El Jaouhari, president of the Mantes-la-Ville mosque, told reporters on the sidelines of the march. “The politicians alone do not have the solutions, and neither does the Muslim community, but together maybe we can bring an end to this vicious cycle.”
Stranded Sri Lankans vow to continue to Australia if boat escorted to international waters
June 20, 2016 - 6:38PM
Jewel Topsfield and Amilia Rosa
Jakarta: Sri Lankans on board a boat marooned in Indonesia for more than a week insist they will continue their journey to Australia if their boat is escorted back into international waters as planned by Indonesian authorities.
The 44 Sri Lankans, who were stranded in Aceh Besar on June 11 when their boat developed engine trouble, will be taken by bus to a nearby port in Lhoknga, and then escorted out of Indonesian territory.
But human rights organisations have urged the Indonesian government to allow the Sri Lankans, who are believed to be Tamils, to stay until they have been interviewed by the UN's main refugee agency, the UNHCR.
Why North Korea is a safe haven for birds
Photos from inside North Korea reveal how the ecology of the secretive Asian country is preventing the extinction of several once plentiful species of migratory birds.
Despite being closed to most foreigner visitors, North Korea may ironically be the saviour of one of the world's greatest international migration routes - the avian East Asian Australasian Flyway.
Fifty million birds, from cranes to song birds, journey along the Flyway twice a year. Eight million of those are shorebirds - or waders.
And for many thousands of those, North Korea's west coast - on the Yellow Sea - is their sole stop-off point.
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