UN rights chief says ‘powder keg’ Gaza could ignite wider war
Volker Turk says it is essential to avoid conflagration of conflict, which could have repercussions for region and beyond.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk says the war in Gaza is a “powder keg” that could ignite a wider conflict with serious repercussions for the Middle East and beyond.
In an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Turk said he was deeply concerned that the war – now in its 150th day – had already generated dangerous spillover in neighbouring countries.
“Any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration,” Turk warned. “This would have implications for every country in the Middle East,and many beyond it.”
‘We need to go again’: Australian who led MH370 search joins calls for fresh effort to find plane
Peter Foley, the program director for search led by Australian Transport Safety Bureau, says any chance of success needs the government to invest
The man who led Australia’s search for MH370 has urged the Australian government to support any new effort to find the plane, which disappeared 10 years ago on Friday.
On Sunday the Malaysian government said it was in talks with the US marine robotics company Ocean Infinity to discuss a new search. The company says it is willing and able to return to the search, and has submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government.
The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 departed Kuala Lumpur on 8 March 2014, bound for Beijing with 12 crew and 227 passengers on board – including seven Australians. About 40 minutes later it disappeared from the radar and its fate remains unknown.
Church of England told to invest billion pounds over slavery
An advisory group has urged the Church of England to raise its fund for redressing slavery to ten times of its current worth. The church set up the fund after it admitted it had invested in the African slave trade.
An independent Oversight Group on Monday said that the Church of England should increase funds earmarked for redressing its historical ties to slavery.
Experts advising the church are calling for funding to rise to tenfold, up to 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion, €1.17 billion).
The Church of England is the mother church of global Anglicanism, which numbers some 85 million members around the world.
Haiti declares a state of emergency after a massive prison break in the capital
Haiti’s government declared on Sunday a state of emergency and nighttime curfew in a bid to regain control of the country after a deadly gang assault on the capital’s main prison that allowed thousands of inmates to escape.
The curfew will be enforced from 6 pm to 5 am in the Ouest region, which includes the capital, through Wednesday, the government said in a statement, adding that both the curfew and the state of emergency can be extended.
About a dozen people died as gang members attacked the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince overnight Saturday into Sunday, an AFP reporter observed.
The attack came as part of a new spate of extreme violence in the Haitian capital, where well-armed gangs who control much of the city have wreaked havoc since Thursday.
The gangs say they want to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has led the crisis-wracked Caribbean nation since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in 2021.
Veterans from Ukraine run in Tokyo Marathon to help colleague
By WATARU SEKITA/ Staff Writer
March 4, 2024 at 19:01 JST
Two Ukrainian veterans wounded in combat competed in the Tokyo Marathon to raise funds for medical treatment for a fellow soldier who was injured in the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Roman Kashpur, 27, and Yurii Kozlovskyi, 41, crossed the finish line near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on March 3, completing their fourth and first full marathon, respectively.
Kashpur enlisted in the Ukrainian army in 2016, two years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
He lost the lower part of his right leg in a land mine explosion in 2019 while on duty in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Undeterred, he continued serving in the army, training other soldiers while also preparing for marathons.
‘Two sessions’: China scraps a decades-long political tradition as Xi tightens control amid economic woes
Thousands of delegates from across China are gathering in Beijing this week for the start of the country’s most prominent annual political event, where leaders will signal how they plan to steer the world’s second largest economy in the year ahead — and try to dispel deepening concern about the challenges it faces.
Projecting confidence is likely to be high on the agenda for Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his top Communist Party officials during the days-long, highly choreographed event, known as the “two sessions,” when China’s rubber stamp legislature and top advisory body convene.
The largely ceremonial gathering is taking on heightened importance this year as China’s economy has been roiled by a property sector crisis, hefty local government debt, deflation, a stock market rout and tech friction with the US — all fueling questions about whether the country will lose steam before it reaches its goal of becoming a developed global power.
Recent Comments