'I'm being watched': Anne-Marie Brady, the China critic living in fear of Beijing
It’s just gone midday at Canterbury University and Professor Anne-Marie Brady is rock-hopping across a crystal clear stream.
The life-long academic takes an overgrown bush track to reach the Okeover community gardens, her eyes scanning the sky for native birds.. It’s the height of summer in Christchurch and the garden is filled with rhubarb plants, clumps of chewy spinach and spring onions whose tips have turned white in the sun.
Is the Crocodile able or willing to punish those responsible for Zimbabwe’s violent crackdown on dissent?
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Zimbabwean president, has promised an investigation into the excesses carried out by security forces during the latest strife in the country. “Heads will roll,” he declared, if the allegations are true, as he headed home after cutting short a trip to Europe.
The current round of violence started with protests following the doubling of fuel prices. The crackdown which followed led to at least a dozen people being killed and 80 treated for gunshot wounds, say human rights groups. More than 700 people have been arrested, including 11 opposition MPs, with doctors reporting evidence of “systematic torture” of prisoners.
Budapest RaidFootball Leaks Whistleblower Arrested
Portuguese authorities have accused a 30-year-old of attempted blackmail and data theft. Authorities have demanded the detainee's extradition to Portugal, a move his lawyers are seeking to prevent.
Police arrested a 30-year-old Portuguese man in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday evening. Portuguese law enforcement authorities had obtained a European arrest warrant against the man, who has been accused of attempted extortion and the possiblly illegal acquisition of data. The Portuguese authorities are now seeking his extradition.
The detainee's French lawyer, William Bourdon, who in the past has also represented Edward Snowden and the prominent banking whistleblowers Hervé Falciani and Antoine Deltour, described his client in a statement as a "great European whistleblower and part of 'Football Leaks.'" Bourdon said his client had sought to expose criminal practices in football to the world. The attorney identified the suspect as Rui Pedro Gonçalves Pinto. Pinto retained the services of Bourdon as well as a Portuguese and a Hungarian lawyer.
Gloves off as Italy's populists mount assault on 'coloniser' France
A barrage of vitriolic comments levelled at France and its president have pushed Franco-Italian relations to the brink as Italy’s ruling populist parties kick off their European election campaign with no holds barred.
The last time Emmanuel Macron paid a visit to the Italian government in Rome, in January 2018, it was all smiles, hugs and warm words between the French president and Italy’s then-prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni. The announcement of a treaty cementing Franco-Italian friendship, to be signed by the end of the year, provided the cherry on the cake.
France’s ties with Italy are “neither in competition with, nor inferior to” the close partnership it enjoys with Germany, the French president told a press conference at the time. The forthcoming Quirinal Treaty, Macron added, would be “complementary” with the Elysée Treaty signed by France and Germany back in 1963.
Can the Congo save itself, and its mythical okapi, from destruction?
Updated 0327 GMT (1127 HKT) January 23, 2019
A nudge above the equator in one of the most biodiverse places in Africa lives an almost-mythical mammal that few people have ever seen.
The striped okapi is often described as half-zebra, half-giraffe, as if it were a hybrid creature from a Greek legend. So rare is the okapi, that it was unknown to the western world until the turn of the 20th century.
While the okapi is virtually unheard of in the West, its image pervades life in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- the only country in the world where it is found living in the wild -- gracing cigarette packets, plastic water bottles, and even the back of rumpled Congolese Francs. The okapi is to the Congo what the giant panda is to China or the kangaroo to Australia.
Maduro to revise US diplomatic ties after Pence backs protesters
Nicolas Maduro says he has ordered a "revision" of Venezuela's diplomatic relations with the United States, accusing Washington of trying to force a coup after US Vice President Mike Pence threw his weight behind attempts to get rid of the South American country's president.
Maduro said on Tuesday he would announce new measures in the next few hours, in comments that came shortly after Pence declared support for protesters and opposition leaders before widespread anti-government demonstrations planned for Wednesday.
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