GENEVA (AA) – UN human rights experts on Monday praised an announcement by Malaysia’s government that it will abolish death penalty. The experts in a statement encouraged Malaysia’s parliament to take the legislative steps and pass a law to this effect. The policy shift will replace the mandatory death penalty with alternative sentences concer...
Washington, United States – (AFP): A heat wave that baked much of the central United States last week will start to move eastward with dangerously high temperatures, forecasters said Monday. “Dangerous heat will continue to make headlines,” the National Weather Service said in an advisory. The scorching blast will start to dr...
Bamako, Mali – (AFP): Militants massacred more than 130 civilians over the weekend in central Mali towns, the latest mass killings in the troubled Sahel region. Local officials reported scenes of systematic killings by armed men in Diallassagou and two surrounding towns in the Bankass circle, a longtime hotbed of Sahelian violence. ̶...
Guwahati, India – (AFP) At least 26 more people have died in monsoon flooding and lightning strikes in India, as millions remained marooned in the country and neighbouring Bangladesh, authorities said Monday. Floods are a regular menace in India and Bangladesh, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency, ferocity and un...
Tunis, Tunisia – (AFP) Hundreds demonstrated on Sunday in Tunisia’s capital against a planned referendum on constitutional changes and President Kais Saied’s recent firing of dozens of judges. The new constitution is the centrepiece of reform plans by Saied and is set to go to referendum on July 25, exactly one year after he ...
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories – (AFP) The Palestinian Authority on Sunday called on Israel to hand over the gun that allegedly fired the shot which killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. Abu Akleh was shot and killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli army operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West […]
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian resistance group Hamas has hailed South Africa and Spain’s Catalonia region over their criticism of Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians. In a statement, Hamas said it appreciates the South African call for the international community “to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and violations against the...
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan is facing new inflows of asylum seekers from neighboring Afghanistan, following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, according to the UN refugee agency. Speaking on the eve of the World Refugees Day, observed June 20 every year, Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refuge...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have begun an arduous journey to cross the Indian-Bangladeshi border for safe shelter on the southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh where more than 1 million Rohingya have been provided shelter. There are about 40,000 Rohingya in India with 20,000 registered with the UN refugee...
ISTANBUL (AA) – The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has called for enacting a law to ban insults against religions and sanctities. In a statement, the Doha-based group said it will dispatch a delegation of Muslim scholars to Islamic countries for talks on the increasing verbal attacks against Islam. IUMS said it will ask [&helli...
