The nation’s highest court ruled in favour of the government on Monday, upholding its use of a colonial-era law to unilaterally ban masks at the height of protests last year, reversing a lower court’s ruling. The ruling represents a defeat for Hong Kong‘s pro-democracy opposition, now forced out of the legislature, which tried to establish that the ban was unconstitutional and...
Category: <span>International</span>
EU foreign ministers pave way for revival of Iran nuclear deal
EU foreign ministers have agreed not to set fresh preconditions on a revival of the Iran nuclear deal, believing Tehran and Washington should be able to come back into full compliance with the agreement without at this stage needing to accept to extend or strengthen it. The step removes one of the potential roadblocks to Iran coming back...
Lockerbie bombing: US unseals charges against Libyan suspect in horror Scotland attack
The suspect, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, is a Libyan intelligence official charged with two criminal counts related to the bombing. The Wall Street Journal reported last week the suspect is in custody in Libya and will be extradited to the United States to stand trial. One person was found guilty in Scotland of...
Ivanka Trump blasted as ‘fake scientist’ after attacking US coronavirus lockdowns
The businesswoman, 39, retweeted a video on Tuesday of a restaurant owner arguing with health inspectors, which has been viewed almost two million times. President Trump’s daughter wrote alongside the clip: “These blanket lockdowns are not grounded in science. “These arbitrary rules imposed by callous politicians are destroying lives. “It is just wrong for small...
At least 250,000 suffered abuse in New Zealand’s state care system, inquiry finds
A quarter of a million New Zealanders held in state care suffered some form of abuse, a landmark inquiry has found, with the true number believed to be higher. The royal commission into abuse in state care is investigating historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults by state-run institutions between 1950 and 1999,...
‘Game-changing’ Great Sphinx find challenges Egypt theories: ‘History has to be rewritten’
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. It stands within the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile and is said to have been built to protect Pharaoh Khafre. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and is believed to...
Indian minister says beef ban law is needed ‘to protect cow vigilantes’
An Indian politician has provoked a backlash for suggesting that a law banning the slaughter of cattle was needed to shield vigilantes who violently attack others in the name of cow protection. The so-called “beef ban” was passed by the lower house of Karnataka’s state assembly on Wednesday, and includes a strict prohibition on the killing of...
Trump administration puts Brandon Bernard to death amid rushed series of executions
The Trump administration has executed Brandon Bernard, after the US supreme court denied a last-minute request to delay his killing. Bernard’s execution is one of five that the Trump administration is rushing through before Joe Biden takes office. The execution on Thursday night was the ninth federal execution since since July, when Donald Trump ended a 17-year hiatus in federal...
Death of father at hands of mob casts a dark light on rise in Malawi rape cases
A father who was reportedly beaten by a mob after he allegedly killed the man who attacked his daughter has died in hospital, in a case that has drawn attention to Malawi’s rise in reported rape cases. The death of the 47-year-old man in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe was reported on Thursday. He had allegedly been...
Donald Trump may ‘let off’ Tiger King and HIMSELF in presidential pardoning spree
Presidential pardons grant clemency to federal criminals, but do not cover state law and do not grant their recipients permanent legal immunity. Throughout his presidency, Mr Trump has issued 29 pardons and 16 commutations, for a total of 45 acts of clemency which is the lowest for any President in the last 100 years. Now the outgoing...