#MeToo movement rocks Sri Lanka press

Sri Lanka’s government yesterday ordered an investigation into sexual harassment in the media after a string of #MeToo allegations from female newsroom staff.
22 June 2021

More than 8,500 children used as soldiers in 2020

More than 8,500 children were used as soldiers last year in various conflicts across the world and nearly 2,700 others were killed, the United Nations said on Monday.
22 June 2021

At least 11 killed in Burkina Faso police ambush

At least 11 police officers were killed in an ambush in northern Burkina Faso late on Monday, a security source said on Tuesday.
22 June 2021

Iran seizes 7,000 cryptocurrency computer miners, largest haul to date

Iranian police have seized 7,000 computer miners at an illegal cryptocurrency farm, their largest haul to date of the energy-guzzling machines that have exacerbated power outages in Iran, state media reported on Tuesday.
22 June 2021

Let's talk, says Spain, as jailed Catalan separatists pardoned

Spain's government on Tuesday pardoned all nine separatist leaders jailed for their role in Catalonia's failed independence bid in 2017, expressing hope that the gesture might help end a trial of strength that has sown deep divisions.
22 June 2021

China, allies seek probe into indigenous children's remains in Canada

China and its allies called on Tuesday for an independent investigation into the discovery last month of the remains of more than 200 indigenous children at a Canadian boarding school.
22 June 2021

This day in history

1940- France’s General Charles Huntziger signed the terms of surrender with Germany at Compiegne in World War Two, in the same railway carriage in which General Foch had received the German surrender in 1918.
21 June 2021

Pak PM Imran Khan mum

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan repeatedly refused to acknowledge China’s repression of Uyghur Muslims during an interview with “Axios on HBO,” deflecting to other global human rights issues and citing China’s denial of the crackdown in Xinjiang.
21 June 2021

‘It’s getting harder and harder’

Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the company’s assets under a national security law, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters yesterday.
21 June 2021

US violated 2015 nuclear deal

Iranian President-Elect Ebrahim Raisi said yesterday that the United States violated the 2015 nuclear deal and the European Union failed to fulfil its commitments, speaking in his first news conference since his victory in Friday’s election.
21 June 2021

‘Irresponsible gameplan’

A statehood movement is building up in Jangalmahal, the forested area in the western part of Bengal, a BJP leader has claimed days after a couple of his party colleagues demanded that a separate Union Territory be carved out of north Bengal.
21 June 2021

Russia, Myanmar agree to bolster bilateral ties

Myanmar’s junta leader and a senior Russia security official yesterday committed to improving ties between their two countries, Russia’s Security Council said in a statement.
21 June 2021

World in worst cascade of rights setbacks

The UN rights chief yesterday called for “concerted action” to help recover from the worst global deterioration of rights seen in decades, highlighting situations in China, Russia and Ethiopia among others.
21 June 2021

Ghani to visit White House

Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani and the head of the country’s peace process will meet President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday, as the planned American military withdrawal accelerates.
21 June 2021

Armenia PM claims victory

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s party won 53.9 percent of the vote in snap parliamentary polls called in an effort to defuse a political crisis after a war with Azerbaijan, official results showed yesterday.
21 June 2021

Swedish PM Lofven ousted

Sweden’s parliament ousted Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in a no-confidence vote yesterday, giving the Social Democrat leader a week to resign and hand the speaker the job of finding a new government, or call a snap election.
21 June 2021

'Women wearing few clothes impact men, unless robots': Imran Khan's rape remark draws flak

Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke about rape and "temptation" in a recent interview with Jonathan Swan for Axios and no one is happy with what he said.
21 June 2021

No scientific evidence linking Covid-19 vaccination with infertility: Indian health ministry

The Indian Health Ministry today said no scientific evidences have been found linking Covid-19 vaccination with infertility in men and women.
21 June 2021

Hong Kong’s Apple Daily to shut within days, says jailed owner’s adviser

Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the company’s assets under a national security law, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters on Monday.
21 June 2021

Dongguan becomes latest city in China’s Guangdong to be hit by Covid-19

The major manufacturing hub of Dongguan in China’s most populous province of Guangdong launched mass testing on Monday for the coronavirus and cordoned off communities after detecting its first infections in the current outbreak.
21 June 2021