Infectious diseases kill 324 in flood-ravaged Pakistan, alarm bells ringing
Authorities in Pakistan say skin infections, diarrhea and malaria in the flood-ravaged regions have claimed the lives of 324 people. They said on September 21 that the situation may get out of control if the required aid does not arrive in time. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani people displaced by the torrential rains and flooding are living in the open and...
Spanish minister under growing pressure over border deaths
BARCELONA, Spain—Spain’s interior minister is coming under increased pressure to be more transparent about how Spanish security forces responded to a June storming of its border with Morocco that led to the deaths of at least 23 migrants in the North African enclave of Melilla. Spanish members of parliament across the political spectrum are pushing for the opening of a parliamentary investigation,...
Kenya: Severe drought fuels malnutrition, reduces hospital-delivery births in Turkana County
Following four successive failed rainy seasons, Kenya is amid the worst drought in 40 years, the UN’s women’s health agency, UNFPA, said on Dec. 27, shining a light on 134,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women who are reported to be acutely malnourished and in need of treatment. “I have never experienced a drought as bad as this in my life,” 28-year-old Akure...
Is Israel baiting the U.S. into war with Iran?
With recent trips to the Middle East by bigwigs of American foreign policy, heightened violence in the Zionist State of Israel remained unabated and a United States-led, Israeli-instigated, and regional anti-Iran agenda moved closer to conflict with the Islamic Republic. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled the region as January came to a close and met with Israeli Prime...
Raeisi urges cooperation among Muslim nations to deter Israeli aggression
President Ebrahim Raeisi has called for greater cooperation among Muslim nations to defend the rights of the oppressed Palestinians and to deter the Israeli regime from continuing its aggression. Speaking to Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said over the phone on April 19, President Raeisi slammed “brutal crimes” of the Israeli regime against “defenseless fasting Palestinian people.” “There is no doubt...
Report of forced sterilization of children sparks anger in Japan
Human rights activists in Japan have furiously reacted to a shocking government report revealing the sterilization of children as young as nine under a eugenics law that was in place until 1996. According to the report that was submitted to the parliament, about 16,500 people were forcibly sterilized from 1948 to 1996. As per the controversial “eugenic protection law,” this was...
Ecuadorians reject oil drilling in the Amazon, ending operations in a protected area
RIO DE JANEIRO—Ecuadorians voted against drilling for oil in a protected area of the Amazon, an important decision that will require the state oil company to end its operations in a region that’s home to isolated tribes and is a hotspot of biodiversity. With over 90 percent of the ballots counted by early on August 21, around six in 10...
India expels 41 Canadian diplomats amid ongoing Ottawa-Delhi row
India has ordered Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats from the country, ramping up a confrontation over accusations of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver. Media reports on Oct. 3 cited an official, who was familiar with the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity, as confirming the expulsion of...
Indigenous communities face eviction by environmental profiteers
Kenya’s government is illegally evicting members of the Ogiek community from their ancestral lands in the Mau Forest, to profit from carbon offsetting schemes, human rights lawyers say. Members of the Ogiek community say they’re living in “absolute fear” over the evictions by the government of Kenyan President William Ruto. “We are calling for an immediate cessation of ongoing demolitions and...
Children in Palestine living in constant fear as pressure mounts to charge Israel with genocide
Children in volatile distress zones like the Gaza Strip, the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem can easily relate to the message in Michael Jackson’s song: “They Don’t Really Care About Us,” a protest anthem describing the plight of marginalized people and their oppressive relationship with their oppressor. The slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza by the settler occupier power...