Cape Town: Major blaze rips through South Africa parliament building
A large fire has severely damaged the Houses of Parliament in the South African city of Cape Town.
Video footage showed a plume of black smoke filling the sky, with huge flames coming out from the roof of the building.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the scene and called it a "terrible and devastating event".
A 51-year-old man was being held and questioned by the authorities, police said.
The blaze, which began shortly after 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), came the day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu's state funeral at St George's Cathedral, near parliament.
Hong Kong’s Citizen News to close citing fears for staff safety
Independent online news portal to cease operations amid ‘worsening environment for media’ in city
The Hong Kong independent online news portal Citizen News has said it will cease operations from Tuesday in the face of what it described as a deteriorating media environment in the Chinese-ruled city and to ensure the safety of its staff.
“Regrettably, the rapid changes in society and worsening environment for media make us unable to achieve our goal fearlessly. Amid this crisis, we have to first make sure everyone on the boat is safe,” Citizen News, which was established in 2017, said in a statement.
Pro-democracy activists and rights groups say freedoms promised when Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, including freedom of the press, have been increasingly eroded since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.
Dutch riot police clash with anti-lockdown protesters
Hundreds of demonstrators defy order to gather in Amsterdam, one carrying a ‘Trump 2024’ flag
Anti-lockdown protesters who defied an order not to assemble for a demonstration in Amsterdam have clashed with riot police wielding batons and shields.
Hundreds gathered in a square in the Dutch capital on Sunday to oppose Covid restrictions introduced by the government on 19 December.
Police dogs were deployed as a small number of agitators confronted officers in riot gear. It is understood that at least one person was detained.
Another person walked through the crowd carrying a “Trump 2024” flag.
Moscow uses 'foreign agent' status to harass and persecute opponents
Russia’s recent designation of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a prominent member of feminist protest group Pussy Riot, as a "foreign agent" highlights the sweeping scope of the ambiguously defined label – and its effectiveness as a tool against critics of President Vladimir Putin.
“The government can label their asses if they'd like!” This was the reaction of Tolokonnikova, a founding member of protest rock group Pussy Riot, to President Vladimir Putin’s government's December 30 decision to label her a "foreign agent".
In addition to Tolokonnikova, four other people – including well-known Russian satirical writer Victor Shenderovich and art collector and op-ed columnist Marat Gelman – were also added to the list by the Russian justice ministry.
"Mama, Pray for Us"A Chronicle of Refugee Deaths along the Border Between Poland and Belarus
An Iraqi mother, a football fan from Yemen, a teenager from Syria: At least 17 people have died since September in the border area between Belarus and Poland. Here are their stories.
By Mohannad al-Najjar, Bashar Deeb, Klaas van Dijken, Christina Hebel, Muriel Kalisch, Steffen Lüdke, Maximilian Popp, Jack Sapoch, Marta Solarz und Lina Verschwele
The new dead are buried in the back, close together, in the farthest corner of the cemetery. Three men shovel soil onto the coffin. The only sound is the crunch of their shovels. Then they place a plaque on the grave. The date of death is noted on it, above the letters N.N., nomen nescio, name not known.
For the men in Bohoniki in eastern Poland, this is the second funeral in three days. All they know about the dead man is that he isn’t from the region and that he is said to be a Muslim. A person picking mushrooms discovered his body in the forest. Members of the local Muslim community have come to join the imam in praying for the deceased.
Sudan security forces kill two anti-coup protesters: medics
The two were killed by live bullets in Omdurman while thousands march towards presidential palace in Khartoum.
Sudanese security forces killed two protesters Sunday in Omdurman, twin city of the capital Khartoum, medics said, as thousands rallied against the military.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) said one of the protesters was shot in the chest while the second suffered a “severe head wound”.
The incident comes as security forces fired tear gas at thousands of protesters in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, televised images show, as demonstrators march towards the presidential palace in the 12th round of major protests since a coup on October 25.
No comments:
Post a Comment