Ukraine fires US-made longer-range missiles into Russia for the first time
International outrage over sentencing of 45 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong
Human rights groups concerned after handing down of sentences of up to 10 years
Tue 19 Nov 2024 15.34 GMT
Governments and human rights groups have expressed concern and outrage at the sentencing of 45 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong after the city’s largest national security trial.
On Tuesday, a court handed down sentences, ranging from four years and two months to 10 years, to activists, former legislators, councillors and academics, who with two people acquitted in May made up a group known as the Hong Kong 47.
The activists had been arrested in 2021 under the city’s national security law (NSL) for their participation in an unofficial primary election that was held in July 2020, weeks after the NSL had been imposed by Beijing in response to months of pro-democracy protests. More than 600,000 people participated in the unofficial vote.
New Zealand: 42,000 demonstrate support for Maori rights
Tens of thousands of people in New Zealand took to the streets to protest against a bill that would change the county's founding treaty between Indigenous Maori and the British Crown. The bill is unlikely to become law.
Tens of thousands of people in New Zealand gathered in front of Parliament in Wellington on Tuesday, to show dissent against a bill they said would dilute Indigenous people's rights.
Chants supporting the Indigenous Maori rang out across New Zealand's capital as at least 42,000 people demonstrated in what is one of the country's largest-ever protests to oppose a bill.
Gisèle Pelicot slams 'macho' society that 'trivialises rape' in closing statement
In her closing statement of the mass rape trial that has sent shockwaves across the country, survivor Gisèle Pelicot said it was time for “macho” society that “trivialises rape” to change. “I’ve lost 10 years of my life that I’ll never make up for,” she added. The trial enters its final stages this week.
Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman drugged by her ex-husband so she could be raped and sexually abused by him and dozens of strangers, said on Tuesday that it was time for a "macho" society to change its attitude on rape.
"It's time that the macho, patriarchal society that trivialises rape changes," said Gisele Pelicot in her closing statement at the trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men on rape charges.
"It's time we changed the way we look at rape," she added.
Brazil arrests five suspects in alleged Lula assassination plot
Four G20 security guards reportedly among those arrested after murder bid mentioned for first time as part of coup probe.
Five people have been arrested in Brazil for their suspected involvement in an alleged attempt to assassinate then President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his vice president in December 2022, according to police.
The police said in a statement on Tuesday that most of those investigated in the alleged coup attempt are military personnel with special forces training.
South African officials weigh up rescue mission for illegal miners underground
Police say 350-400 people have stayed in Stilfontein mine to avoid arrest after minister vowed to ‘smoke them out’
Tue 19 Nov 2024 12.41 GMT
South African authorities are assessing whether it is safe to rescue potentially thousands of illegal miners who may be trapped underground, after police stopped food, water and medicine being delivered to them about two weeks ago to try to force the miners to the surface.
A police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, insisted to reporters on Tuesday that the miners were not trapped in the abandoned goldmine in Stilfontein, a town about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg, but rather staying underground to avoid being arrested.
She said experts would be putting cameras down the mineshaft to see if it was safe for emergency workers to undertake a rescue mission.
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