Hong Kong convicts 14 activists of subversion
Kelly Ng & Lok Lee, in Singapore and Hong Kong
Hong Kong has found 14 pro-democracy activists guilty of subversion in the largest use yet of a China-imposed National Security Law.
They included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung and Helena Wong, journalist-turned-campaigner Gwyneth Ho, and ordinary Hong Kongers who joined the mass protests of 2019 such as nurse Winnie Yu.
They were among the 47 activists charged with trying to "overthrow" the government by organising an unofficial primary in 2020 to pick candidates who can run for office.
Israeli journalist describes threats over reporting on spy chief and ICC
Haaretz journalist was warned of ‘consequences’ if he reported on attempts by Mossad chief to intimidate ex-prosecutor
An investigative reporter with Israel’s leading leftwing newspaper, Haaretz, has said unnamed senior security officials threatened actions against him if he reported on attempts by the former head of the Mossad to intimidate the ex-prosecutor of the international criminal court.
Amid growing concern over Israel’s censorship regime, enforced by the military censor’s office and by gag orders issued by the courts, Haaretz published an article on Wednesday with blacked out words and sentences to demonstrate the scale of redactions.
Refugees and migration: Criticism of Europe's asylum policy
Migration policy is at the center of election campaigning in the European Union. Migration researchers warn of an erosion of international asylum standards and say refugee children are particularly at risk.
The European Union (EU) took in over 1 million refugees in 2023. The notorious Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, which was planned for 2,800 people, became a symbol of the bloc's failed refugee policy: Up to 20,000 men, women and children were housed there, living in catastrophic hygiene and health conditions.
The prevention of such situations must be the top priority, said migration researcher Franck Düvell from the University of Osnabrück at the presentation of the study "Global Refugee Report" (Report globale Flucht 2024) in Berlin this week. However, Düvell pointed out that still, people in many camps still live in "atrocious conditions."
"Fundamental norms of refugee protection continue to be ignored," he said.
ANC on course to lose majority in South Africa's seismic election
The African National Congress looked set on Thursday to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, as partial election results suggested it would need a partner to stay in power - a first in South Africa's post-apartheid history. If the final results confirm the loss of its majority, the ANC will be forced to make a deal with one or more other parties to govern - a situation that could lead to political volatility in the coming weeks or months.
U.N. rights group says Japan needs to do more to counter human rights abuses
By YURI KAGEYAMA
A group working under the U.N. Human Rights Council has issued a wide-ranging report about rights in Japan, including discrimination against minorities and unhealthy working conditions.
The report, issued this week in Geneva, recommended various changes in Japan, such as more training in businesses to raise awareness of rights issues, setting up mechanisms to hear grievances, enhancing diversity and strengthening checks on labor conditions, as well as sanctions on human rights violations.
The U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, which visited Japan last year, is made up of independent human rights experts who work under a mandate from the council, but they don’t speak for it.
Survivors say Russia is waging a war of sexual violence in occupied areas of Ukraine. Men are often the victims
Within an hour of being arrested by Russian security forces, Roman Shapovalenko was threatened with rape.
On August 25, 2022, the day after Ukraine’s Independence Day, he said three armed, masked officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stormed his home in the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson, which was occupied by Russian forces at the time.
They turned his house inside out searching for incriminating evidence. A message in Shapovalenko’s phone that called Russian soldiers “orcs” — a derisive reference to the evil forces in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth books and a popular Ukrainian slur for the Russian army — was enough for them. He said he was tied up, blindfolded and stuffed into an unmarked car.
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