Western countries led by US push UN rights body to monitor Sudan abuses by warring factions
Battles between Sudan’s army and rival paramilitary forces have killed hundreds and wounded thousands, disrupted aid supplies, sent refugees fleeing abroad and turned residential areas of Khartoum into war zones since mid-April.
Why meek Kenyans are being taxed heavily to plug holes opened in national budget by untouchable thieves
Kenya’s polluted politics is accepted as a norm and a deviation from this ‘norm’ is received and greeted with derision. From a religious point of view, doing good in Kenya today is regarded as an unforgivable ‘sin’. High levels of corruption, criminality, immorality define a hard working Kenyan.
US Congress, White House begin tough debt limit, budget talks that have put investors on edge
Adding to the urgency, Biden is scheduled to leave on May 18 for an annual meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialised nations, although he said he would cancel that trip if needed to work on a debt limit deal.
With covert police stations in foreign countries, China ramps up pressure to silence critics abroad despite Western backlash
The latest dispute has centred on Canada’s expulsion of a Chinese diplomat on Monday over allegations that he attempted to intimidate a Canadian lawmaker critical of China’s human rights record. Beijing responded to within hours by ordering a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai to leave over what it called Ottawa’s “unreasonable actions”.
Sudan war forces South Sudanese to return to a country unable to support them, itself riddled with fighting
More than 40,000 people – mostly South Sudanese – have crossed the border since Sudan erupted in conflict nearly a month ago. Many are returning to areas unable to support them and still riddled with fighting. Five years of war and unprecedented floods have pushed South Sudan into a dire situation with more than 75 per cent of the nation’s 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and nearly three million on the brink of starvation.
Inflation cloud obscures Fed peak with markets edgy about the US debt ceiling standoff
If consensus forecasts are correct, the April inflation readout later on Wednesday may well force the Fed to keep that equivocal line up for a bit longer. Annual inflation is expected to stick at March’s near two-year low of five per cent – while the higher core rate, excluding food and energy prices, is set to ebb a tenth of a point to 5.5 per cent.
Mirror newspaper publisher admits invasion of Prince Harry’s privacy and obtaining information illegally
Turning to details of the targeting of Harry that is admitted, Mr Green said a private investigator was instructed by a journalist at The People to unlawfully gather information about a night at the Chinawhite nightclub in February 2004. A payment of £75 was made for “Enquiries made regarding Harry & Chinawhites” in February 2004.
Court finds former US President Trump guilty of sexually abusing journalist, fines him $5 million
The jury, required to reach a unanimous verdict, deliberated for just under three hours. Its six men and three women awarded Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, but Trump will not have to pay so long as the case is on appeal.
War on terror sought to cast US as a beacon of democracy, but private army Blackwater inflicts suffering on societies they work in
Recently, I spoke with one Marine infantry veteran who had completed four combat tours abroad for America. He told me that, after leaving the service, he lacked a community that understood what he had been through. He sought to avoid social isolation by getting a government job. However, after applying...
Privatising war: Why the US and Russia hire private companies to fight for them on frontlines
The involvement of private companies has allowed Washington to continue to conduct its operations around the globe, even if many Americans think that our war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere has ended. I tried looking for any kind of a survey of how many of us realise that it continues in Iraq and elsewhere, but all I could find was pollster Nate Silver’s analysis of “lessons learned” from that global conflict, as if it were part of our history.
