Chinese students protest as university locks down over one Covid case
Footage shows large protest at Nanjing Tech University, as rules persist despite steps to ease zero-Covid policy
Verna Yu and agencies
Students at a university in eastern China have staged a protest against a Covid lockdown as many in the country remain under some form of restrictions despite government steps to ease its zero-Covid policy.
Videos posted on Twitter on Tuesday show large numbers of students protesting at Nanjing Tech University on Monday night, as they were placed under lockdown after one positive case was found. The Guardian phoned the university for confirmation but calls went unanswered. The posts had been geolocated by AFP and Reuters.
“[We want] to go home!”, “Leaders, step down!”, “Your power is given to you by students, not by yourselves,” the students shouted, apparently referring to the university management. Footage showed a police car arriving at the scene.
Latvia shuts down exiled Russian broadcaster due to national security threats
‘Everyone must follow Latvian laws and respect them,’ says the state media regulator’s chairman
Latvia has shut down a Russian independent television station after it was described as a threat to national security, the state media regulator said.
The National Electronic Media Council (NEPLP), Latvia's media regulator, said the decision to cancel the licence was taken “in connection with threats to national security and public order”.
“Everyone must follow Latvian laws and respect them,” said the regulator's chairman Ivars Abolins, adding that the broadcasts would cease on Thursday.
IEA predicts renewable energy to overtake coal by 2025
Richard Connor
A report by the International Energy Agency says energy insecurity amid war in Ukraine is spurring a renewable power surge. Experts predict the sector will soon surpass coal as the world's largest electricity source.
The global capacity for producing renewable energy will soar by some 75% in the next five years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, citing energy security concerns as a key reason.
Energy security worries triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have motivated countries to turn to renewables such as solar and wind to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.
What the IEA report said
According to the forecast, renewables will account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity by early 2025.
Iran sentences five to death over killing of Basij officer during protests
Iranian authorities sentenced five people to death for allegedly killing an officer affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, state media said Tuesday. Eleven others received lengthy prison sentences.
The 13 men and three minors had been charged with killing Ruhollah Ajamian, an official from the Basij, a paramilitary volunteer branch of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, according to the report from IRNA, Iran’s state news agency.
The five sentenced to death Monday were charged by Iran's Revolutionary Court, along with eight others. Three boys were charged by Iran's Criminal Court, according to the report. Iran’s judiciary spokesman, Masoud Setayeshi, who is cited in the report, provided no evidence to support any of the accusations.
Indonesia bans sex outside marriage as parliament passes sweeping new criminal code
Indonesian lawmakers unanimously passed a sweeping new criminal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside marriage, as part of a tranche of changes that critics say threaten human rights and freedoms in the Southeast Asian country.
The new code, which also applies to foreign residents and tourists, bans cohabitation before marriage, apostasy, and provides punishments for insulting the president or expressing views counter to the national ideology.
“All have agreed to ratify the (draft changes) into law,” said lawmaker Bambang Wuryanto, who led the parliamentary commission in charge of revising the colonial-era code. “The old code belongs to Dutch heritage … and is no longer relevant.”
UK refusal to sanction Bangladesh ‘death squad’ revealed
The US and UK received the same evidence regarding the Rapid Action Battalion’s alleged involvement in forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, but only the US decided to sanction the RAB.
By
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) can reveal that the United Kingdom was set to impose sanctions on Bangladesh’s anti-terrorism Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in 2021 but held back for reasons that remain unexplained.
The US implemented sanctions against the RAB and seven high-ranking current and former members on December 10, 2021, for alleged human rights violations such as torture and forced disappearances. The RAB has been likened to a “death squad” by several human rights organisations.
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