FREEDOM NO MORE: Today, protests in Macau are just a memory after Beijing launched measures over the past few years that chilled free speech
A decade ago, the elegant cobblestone streets of Macau’s Tap Seac Square were jam-packed with people clamouring for change and government accountability — the high-water mark for the former Portuguese colony’s political awakening. Now as Macau prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to
US president-elect Donald Trump has sued a pollster and newspaper over a pre-election survey that vastly underestimated his support, a move decried by rights groups as part of a larger anti-press effort by him. Trump’s lawsuit was filed on Monday evening in the central US state of Iowa, naming the p
The Japanese government voiced dismay yesterday over the release of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson after Danish authorities refused Tokyo’s extradition request. “It is regrettable that the Denmark government did not accept Japan’s request of passing him over and [the government] has conveyed this
Mary Jane Veloso, who received a last-minute reprieve from execution by firing squad for drug trafficking in Indonesia in 2015, arrived in Manila in the early hours of yesterday after years of negotiations between the two Southeast Asian countries. Veloso, a 39-year-old former domestic helper and mo
EU regulators on Tuesday said they are investigating whether TikTok breached the bloc’s digital rulebook by failing to deal with risks to Romania’s presidential election, which has been thrown into turmoil over allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling. The European Commission is esca
TRUDEAU IN TROUBLE: US president-elect Donald Trump reacted to Chrystia Freeland’s departure, saying: ‘Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday quit in a surprise move after disagreeing with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over US president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.The resignation of Freeland, 56, who also stepped down as finance minister, marked the first open dis
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency and the Pentagon on Monday said that some North Korean troops have been killed during combat against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region.Those are the first reported casualties since the US and Ukraine announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to
FEB. 23 ELECTIONS: Although the chancellor is to continue in a caretaker role and with a minority in parliament, the political turmoil potentially threatens months of paralysis
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday lost a confidence vote, spelling the effective end of his troubled government and putting Europe’s biggest economy on the path to elections on Feb. 23.Scholz had called the vote, expecting to lose it, weeks after his coalition collapsed. Later on Monday, he as
A 15-year-old student on Monday opened fire inside a study hall at a small Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and teenager, and prompting a swarm of police officers responding to a second-grade student’s 911 call.The female student wounded six others in the shooting at Abundant Life Ch
China’s top diplomat yesterday said that he hoped the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump would “make the right choice” and work with Beijing, hours after Trump told reporters the COVID-19 pandemic had strained his relationship with his “friend” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習
A California man on Monday was sentenced Monday to 3 years, 5 months in prison for running an extensive business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the US to deliver babies who would automatically have US citizenship.Authorities had sought a more than five-year prison term for Michael Wei
Cuban pilgrims participate in the San Lazaro procession at El Rincon Church in Havana on Monday. Thousands of believers gather every year to fulfill their promises to San Lazaro or Babalu Aye.
South Korean prosecutors today told impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to appear by the weekend for questioning over his failed martial law bid or face possible arrest, the Yonhap news agency said.Yoon, suspended from office by parliament on Saturday, is being investigated over alleged i
GAZA TENSIONS: Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy ‘deeply regrettable,’ and rejected the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel
Israel on Sunday said that it would close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed more than 46 people, including several children.The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israeli M
EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE: A 35-year-old described being gang-raped by six RSF fighters who stormed her family compound, and killed her husband and son
Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias, at war with the army, of committing widespread sexual violence in southern Sudan.It is the latest such report by international monitors alleging sexual violence during Sudan’s 20-month war whi
Serbian officials installed homegrown spyware on the phones of dozens of journalists and activists, Amnesty International said in a report released yesterday, citing digital forensic evidence and testimony from activists who said they were hacked.In two cases, software provided by Israeli surveillan
At her London pub, landlady Kate Davidson has taken to issuing Guinness ration cards, but still the beer has run out amid a UK shortage of Ireland’s national drink.Bars across the UK, even Irish ones, have reported limited supplies of the black stuff since Guinness owner Diageo announced earlier thi
Zakir Hussain, one of India’s most accomplished classical musicians who defied genres and introduced tabla to global audiences, died on Sunday. He was 73.The Indian classical music icon died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said i
Doctors have decided to discharge five of seven patients — including four Australians and an American — who were hospitalized after drinking pina coladas at a luxury hotel bar, the Fijian government said yesterday.All seven were taken to hospital on Saturday night suffering from “nausea, vomiting an
RSS