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Human rights

Human rights
Latest news, features and analysis on human rights, with a focus on civil liberties in Hong Kong, mainland China and Asia.
A man on board the Global Sumud Flotilla raises his hand as an Israeli naval boat intercepts the flotilla on Monday. Photo: Global Sumud Flotilla/Reuters
Israel-Gaza war

Fury as Israeli minister posts video of flotilla activists being forced to kneel

Itamar Ben-Gvir was criticised by politicians in both Israel and around the world for the ‘unacceptable’ treatment of the activists.

Hong Kong courts

Hong Kong’s top court reviews law criminalising calls to boycott elections

The Philippines

Philippines’ top court rejects Dela Rosa’s bid to block ICC arrest warrant

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Israel-Gaza war

Israel intercepts Gaza aid flotilla, denies using live ammunition

Israeli forces halt vessels in Mediterranean operation, detaining hundreds of international activists.

Israeli forces intercepting activists at sea on Monday. Photo: Global Sumud Flotilla via AP
Indonesia

Fake news campaigns in Indonesia linked to military, Prabowo’s party: Amnesty

Amnesty’s findings reflect growing concerns that Indonesia is backsliding towards army rule under former special forces commander Prabowo.

Pope Leo XIV

‘Human dignity’: Pope Leo, Anthropic to launch pontiff’s first AI document

The presence of the firm at the Vatican could mean a new flashpoint with the US, which in February ordered all agencies to stop using it.

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Israel-Gaza war

Israel says close to killing all architects of October 7 attack

Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration follows Israel’s killing of the commander of Hamas’ armed wing in a Gaza strike.

The funeral for Ezzedine al-Haddad, his daughter and wife in Gaza City on Saturday. They were killed in an Israeli strike Friday evening. Photo: AP
The Philippines

Philippine lawyers support ICC arrest warrant for fugitive senator

Senator Ronald dela Rosa is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity linked to his overseeing former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody ‘war on drugs’.

Africa

Rwandan genocide suspect Kabuga dies in custody in The Hague at age 91

Accused of bankrolling the mass killing of the Tutsis, Kabuga was declared unfit to continue standing trial because he had dementia.

Israel-Gaza war

‘No nation’: Palestinians in Gaza mark anniversary of 1948 mass expulsion

Some say an even greater catastrophe is happening now, ‘because our displacement has happened multiple times’.

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Palestinian Yusuf Abu Hamam, centre, who was expelled from his town during the first Israeli-Arab war, in 1948, poses for a photograph on Wednesday with his grandchildren at his home in a refugee camp in Gaza. Photo: AP
The Philippines

Philippine senator wanted by ICC flees from Senate

Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s exit from the heavily guarded Senate came after volleys of gunshots were fired on Wednesday night.

Philippines Senator Ronald Dela Rosa attends a plenary session at the Senate of the Philippines on Monday. Photo: AFP
The Philippines

Gunshots fired in stand-off at Philippine Senate over ICC suspect

Chaos mounted in anticipation of an attempt to arrest Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

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Africa

Ugandan president, 81, sworn in for new term after 40 years at the helm

The five-year term might be his last, with his son and presumptive heir emerging as de facto ruler.

Israel-Gaza war

Israel pushes ahead with Eichmann-style tribunal for October 7 attackers

Israeli lawmakers set up a special tribunal and allow for the death penalty for Hamas-led 2023 attackers.

The 1962 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was broadcast live on television. Photo: AFP
Malaysia

14 Indonesians missing after boat sinks off Malaysia’s Pangkor Island

About 100,000 to 200,000 Indonesians make the risky sea journey to Malaysia in search of work each year, according to migrant activists.

Indonesian survivors rescued during a search and rescue operation by Malaysian authorities off the coast of Pangkor Island in Perak, after a boat carrying migrants capsized on Monday. Photo: AFP/Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
The Philippines

Philippine senator escapes arrest as ICC confirms drug war warrant

Senator Ronald Dela Rosa will be treated as if in the custody of the Senate.

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Middle East

Jailed Iran Nobel laureate transferred to hospital after medical crisis

Narges Mohammadi’s transfer comes after days of pleading by her family and others who described her condition as critical.

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Israel-Gaza war

Spanish, Brazilian flotilla activists released after detention in Israel

Israel deported two activists it detained near Greece for leading an aid flotilla attempting to break the naval blockade on Gaza.

Palestinians take part in a protest in solidarity with activists Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Brazilian Thiago Avila, who were arrested aboard the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters, in Gaza City on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Divorced from reality? Japan’s joint custody reform divides parents

Critics call the legal change a ‘cosmetic’ fix for a system that still allows one parent to simply disappear.

Myanmar

Myanmar’s military rulers hire Trump ally for US$50,000 a month to lobby Washington

Roger Stone has been commissioned to rebuild relations with the US, though analysts doubt Myanmar can escape its pariah status.

China-EU relations

China-EU investment pact belongs in ‘deep freezer’: outgoing trade chief

Sabine Weyand says the 2020 agreement with China is obsolete as Brussels weighs action on ‘macroeconomic imbalances’.

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The volume of Chinese-made vehicles heading to Europe lies at the heart of EU concerns over industrial overcapacity. Photo: Xinhua
Indonesia

‘I started crying’: Indonesian captain’s wife in agony over pirate attack

Captain Ashari Samadikun had sent a chilling warning to his wife before his fuel tanker was hijacked by pirates last month.

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An armed Somali pirate along the coastline in northeastern Somalia. Photo: AFP
The Philippines

Hiding from the ICC? Philippine senator’s 6-month paid absence draws fire

Ronald Dela Rosa has not appeared for work since reports of him being targeted by the ICC as a co-perpetrator in Duterte’s deadly drug war.

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Myanmar

Aung San Suu Kyi’s son asks France to help him locate mother in Myanmar

Kim Aris says he has still not heard from his mother after she was transferred to house arrest last week.

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India

India PM Modi’s party takes control of West Bengal in key state election

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has never governed the state of West Bengal, an opposition stronghold.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (waving) arrive at the party headquarters to deliver a victory speech, in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: EPA
United States

US Supreme Court restores access to abortion pill mifepristone

Women seeking abortions will be able to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.

A pro-abortion rights activist holds a box of mifepristone during a rally in front of the US Supreme Court in 2024. Photo: AFP
Espionage

Austria expels 3 Russian diplomats over signals spying

Vienna, home to a large diplomatic presence, has long had a reputation as a den of spies.

South Korea

‘Stay to end’: South Korean agency pledges funeral support for foreign workers

Foreign workers, who comprise roughly 3.5 per cent of the workforce, account for over 10 per cent of annual workplace fatalities.

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