Responding to sweeping US sanctions imposed on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh; China's Foreign Minister, Wang Wenbin, urged America to "immediately withdraw the relevant wrong decision and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs". “If the US acts recklessly, China will take effective measures to strike back resolutely,” Wang told reporters on Monday. The US sanctions follow the conclusion of the Biden administration's "Summit for Democracy" and come alongside the first new sanctions on North Korea under Biden's presidency and targetted...
Gen Bipin Rawat, the Indian Chief of Defence Staff, died in a helicopter crash that took place in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, along with his wife and eleven others who were travelling in the chopper. The Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed the deaths and said it was a “tragic accident” in a Twitter post. An investigation into the cause of the accident has been launched. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin immediately made a visit to Coonoor from Chennai and made inquiries regarding the incident with the army and police. முப்படைகளின் தலைமைத் தளபதி சென்ற ஹெலிகாப்டர் விபத்தில் சிக்கிய செய்தி அறிந்ததுமே...
On Wednesday Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced that Australia would join the US in its diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, over concerns of the genocidal treatment of Uighur Muslims. The announcement comes as China continues to face criticism over their detention of over one million Uighurs in “re-education camps”. Detainees have reported being tortured, sexually abused, and forcibly sterilised whilst in detention. Human rights campaigners have charged the Chinese government with genocide against the Uighur population. Akin to the US, whilst...
French police announced on Monday that they had arrested a suspect in the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and former member of the Saudi royal guard, Khalid Alotaibi. Alotaibi was detained as he prepared to board a flight for Riyadh at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. He is alleged to be part of a 16-member team involved in Khashoggi's execution and is the first alleged member to have been arrested. French officials have noted that Alotaibi was travelling under his own name but could not explain how he managed to enter France undetected. Turkish...
Photo Credit: Stop Killer Robots Following calls from the government of New Zealand for the adoption of international laws to prohibit and limit autonomous weapons systems, the United States has opposed such regulations. Speaking at a meeting in Geneva, US official Josh Dorosin maintained that America saw "the best way to make progress ... would be through the development of a non-binding code of conduct”. Autonomous weapons systems would enable military equipment which could deploy lethal force without a human overseeing the process. A report by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s...
On Monday India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a $5.4 billion dollar missile defence system sale to India despite warnings from the United States of sanctions. The sale of Russia's S-400 missile defence system was also accompanied by a $600 million deal to manufacture hundreds of thousands of Russia's AK-203 rifles in Uttar Pradesh. These rifles will replace the older Kalashnikov-style rifles currently used by Indian troops. Both Modi and Putin further agreed to extend cooperation between their countries on military technology over the next decade...
Speaking at the White House press briefing, US Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, announced that “the Biden administration would not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses”. The announcement comes as China continues to face criticism over their detention of over one million Uighurs in “re-education camps”. Detainees have reported being tortured, sexually abused, and forcibly sterilised whilst in detention. US diplomatic or official...
The north district court in San Francisco has received a class action complaint, on behalf of estimated 10,000 Rohingya Muslims, against the social media giant Facebook for enabling and fomenting genocidal violence in Myanmar. In 2018 Facebook admitted that it had not done enough to prevent the incitement of violence and hate speech against the Rohingya; following a brutal military campaign in the Rakhine state which saw over 10,000 Rohingya killed. There are an estimated million Rohingya who continued to be displaced and living in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, in south-eastern Bangladesh. “...
Myanmar’s military-ruled court has halved their sentence of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, from four to two years, as international criticism continues to mount. This follows the court’s initial guilty ruling on Monday of inciting dissent and breaking COVID-19 rules. These are the first in a series of charges which are to be levied against the ousted leader; others include corruption, election fraud, and illegally importing and possessing walkie talkies. The court had ruled that she be jailed for four years before lowering the sentence to two. Ousted President Win Myint was also sentenced...
Responding to the reported executions of over 100 former Afghan security officials by the Taliban, the US, EU and 20 other countries have released a joint statement condemning the killings. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report notes that whilst the Taliban had agreed to provide amnesty to surrounding security forces; they had used screening "to detain and summarily execute or forcibly disappear individuals within days of their registration, leaving their bodies for their relatives or communities to find". Their report notes that over 100 former members of the Afghan security forces have been...