Dressed in full army uniform, President Xi called on military personnel to “focus all its energy on fighting” according to reports from a Chinese Communist party mouthpiece. President Xi made these comments when addressing the People’s Liberation Army during a recent visit to a command centre. “Focus all [your] energy on fighting, work hard on fighting and improve [your] capability to win,” the instructed army officials. He is said to have gone on to urge the cohort to “resolutely defend national sovereignty and national security”, referring to China’s security situation as “unstable and...
The Iranian leadership is resisting growing demands from clerics and some reformist politicians to stage a new referendum on Iran’s constitution. A current power struggle between the the country's rulers has left the government sending out mixed messages on how to deal with the ongoing protests. Hardline parliamentarians have called for violent protestors to be executed whilst some other senior members of Iran's administration have gone to university campuses, in an attempt to open dialogue with protestors. However, the security forces have gone ahead with a severe crackdown and arrested...
The Spanish government is facing growing pressure to explain how at least 23 people died in June at the fortified border of Melila, Spain's enclave in North-Africa. About 2,000 people attempted to cross the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave last week. The Moroccan authorities say 23 people died and 140 police were injured during the attempt, while several NGOs say the number of dead is at least 37.
A petrol bomb attack on an immigration center in Dover, UK is said to have been motivated by extreme right-wing ideology according to British police. The incident took place on 30 October. Nobody was seriously injured as a result of the attack. 66-year-old Andrew Leak was found dead at a nearby service station, Leak was said to have acted alone. Leak threw homemade bombs at the immigration centre, leaving two staff with minor injuries. According to a statement put out by the Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), there has been evidence which “indicates the attack at [the] immigration...
Major international banks, including Australia’s ANZ, have continued to do business with a bank owned by Myanmar’s military administration despite its violent crackdown on anti-government protestors, according to an advocacy group and leaked documents. ANZ, one of Australia’s “big four” banks, was used by Hong Kong-based insurer AIA to transfer funds to accounts operated by Innwa Bank, which is owned by military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), in August and September 2021, Justice for Myanmar said, citing leaked bank documents. Singapore’s UOB, one of Southeast Asia’s biggest...
Senior UK Parliamentarians will investigate the state of human rights within Kazakhstan. The former director of public prosecutions Lord MacDonald will lead an independent investigation into the detention and treatment of Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of the unregistered opposition Democratic party in Kazakhstan. Mamai has been detained since February 2022 over his role in nationwide protests over steep rises in fuel prices that were seen as the most serious dissent in the central Asian republic since Kazakhstan was granted independence from Russia 30 years ago. A crackdown after the protests...
Iran has announced that it will hold public trials for as many as 1,000 people detained during recent protests in Tehran alone – and more than a thousand others outside the capital. The judiciary made the announcement as protests continued following the death of 22 year-old Kurdish Mahsa Amini. The latest signs of external support for the Iranian protests led by women and students came as sit-ins continued in universities and more than 500 civilian journalists put their names to an internal petition demanding that reporters who helped break the story of Mahsa Amini be released from detention...
Peace talks between the warring sides of the TPLF and the government of Ethiopia have been extended into this week. According to an official, the peace talks between Ethiopia’s federal government and representatives from the northern Tigray region continued in South Africa. Speaking to the China Global Television Network, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that “we’re working towards peace." Ahmed asserted that Ethiopians can resolve matters themselves, he added that Ethiopian forces were currently in control of the Tigray towns of Shire, Axum, and Adwa." Eritrean forces who have been fighting...
A leading West Papuan Human rights and independence campaigner Filep Karma, was found dead on November 1, on a beach in the Melanesian region’s capital Jayapura. The death of the former political prisoner has shocked Papuans and activist communities in Indonesia and around the Pacific. “It is true that a body was found by a resident on the beach at Bse G, suspected to be Filep Karma, but to be sure, the police are still waiting for confirmation from his family,” North Jayapura police chief Police Adjunct Commissioner Yahya Rumra told Antara News . The head of the Papuan Human Rights...
Brazil's former President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has claimed victory in a tightly contested election which saw far-right Bolasanaro narrowly lose. Brazil’s former leftist president sealed an astonishing political comeback, beating the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in one of the most significant in the country’s history.Lula had secured 50.9% of the vote. Bolsonaro, who was elected in 2018, received 49.10%. Since Mr Bolsonaro took office in 2019, forest fires and deforestation soared in the Amazon, with the federal government turning a blind eye to illegal logging, mining, cattle-...