A Korean-Nigerian teenager who is rising through the ranks of the fashion world as South Korea’s first black model is facing widespread racism. Han Hyun-Min’s powerful strut has made him a star on the country’s catwalks, but his agent knew his heritage would be a problem in the ethnically homogenous country. And while the 16-year-old … Read more
International donors must step up to prevent a cholera epidemic in war-torn Yemen from producing full-blown famine among hundreds of thousands of people, a UN official said Tuesday. More than 313,000 suspected cases and 1,732 deaths are attributable to the outbreak since it erupted in April, said Jamie McGoldrick, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen. … Read more
Bangladesh police have arrested a man suspected of murdering two Rohingya leaders in the country’s southeast where tens of thousands from the group are living in camps after fleeing persecution in Myanmar, an official said Tuesday. Dhaka estimates that 400,000 Rohingya refugees are now in Bangladesh, with 70,000 arriving since October when Myanmar security forces … Read more
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Qatar Tuesday for talks on the Gulf diplomatic crisis as leaks of secret agreements between regional powers triggered fresh tensions. Hopes of a resolution to the five-week crisis seem increasingly remote as Tillerson’s arrival in Doha was overshadowed by the publication of confidential agreements between Qatar and … Read more
UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called Tuesday for accountability and dialogue to heal the trauma of Mosul after Iraqi troops retook the country’s second city from the Islamic State group. Zeid demanded that offenders be brought to justice and all violations thoroughly probed, and urged Iraq to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). … Read more
President Akufo-Addo on Monday called on the Qatari authorities to take steps to address the issue of the maltreatment of Ghanaians working in that country. He said the government was worried on the unceasing allegations of the abuses meted out to Ghanaians by Qatari employers, adding that, the situation ought to stop for beneficial relations … Read more
Pakistan’s governing party has rejected as “trash” a corruption report accusing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of living beyond his means, the latest in long-running allegations which sparked fresh calls Tuesday for him to resign. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of civilian and military investigators issued its report Monday claiming there was a “significant disparity” in … Read more
Japan has lodged a diplomatic protest with South Korea over its support for registering with the United Nations documents related to “comfort women” forced into World War II sexual slavery by Japanese troops, officials said Tuesday. The reaction comes after Seoul’s gender equality minister on Monday expressed support for efforts to include the papers in … Read more
Indian leaders and Kashmiri separatists united Tuesday to condemn an attack on a bus that killed seven Hindu pilgrims and threatened to exacerbate tensions in the country’s only Muslim-majority state. Six women and a man died when unidentified gunmen opened fire late Monday on a bus carrying Hindus on the annual pilgrimage to a Himalayan … Read more
Eight people, including three children, were killed by gunmen in Thailand’s Krabi province, police said Tuesday, a mass slaying investigators believe was sparked by a personal conflict. Police say a gang of six or seven men, dressed in camouflage outfits, stormed a house in the southern province around 4:00 pm (0900 GMT) on Monday. They … Read more
Teenage male model Han Hyun-Min’s long legs and powerful strut have made him a rising star on South Korean catwalks, but his agent knew there would be a problem in the ethnically homogenous country: he is half black. Han, 16, has a Nigerian father in a society where racial discrimination is widespread and people of … Read more
Kuwait, the United States and Britain Monday called on all sides in the Gulf crisis to resolve their dispute through dialogue and expressed “deep concern” over the continued rift. Their call was issued in a joint statement following talks between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, his Kuwaiti counterpart and Britain’s national security adviser at … Read more
Global stocks mostly rose Monday, shrugging off misgivings over a contentious G20 meeting ahead of highly-anticipated testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and second quarter earnings reports later in the week. Equity markets in Asia and Europe were generally higher, while US indices were mixed, with the Nasdaq rising and the Dow retreating slightly. … Read more
US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Monday ramped up pressure on the Myanmar government to accept a UN fact-finding mission tasked with investigating human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims. Yangon officials said last week that they would deny visas to the three-person team mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate abuses reportedly committed by … Read more
At least six Hindu pilgrims were killed in Indian Kashmir on Monday when militants attacked police guarding them during their trek to a remote mountain shrine, police said, an attack likely to raise tensions in the region. Police inspector general Munir Ahmad Khan said the attack was aimed at a police commando group in Anantnag … Read more
Nearly half a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in squalid Bangladeshi camps face staying “for some more time”, the UN high commissioner for refugees said Monday. Filippo Grandi, the chief of UNHCR, visited two refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on the southeast coast where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in … Read more
Thousands of people have fled their homes in Pakistani Kashmir, officials said Monday, as continued shelling between Pakistan and India escalated tensions along the the de-facto border in the disputed Himalayan region. Pakistani authorities confirmed the exodus saying around 3,000 people have left their villages along the Line of Control (LOC) in Abbaspur sector after … Read more
Syria’s six-year conflict has ravaged its infrastructure and caused losses to its economy of $226 billion, according to estimates published by the World Bank on Monday. The devastating war has killed over 320,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population since it began in March 2011. The World Bank said the destruction ran … Read more
Britain’s High Court ruled on Monday that UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia are not unlawful, after campaigners argued the weapons were used to violate international humanitarian law in bombing Yemen. “We have concluded that the material decisions of the secretary of state were lawful. We therefore dismiss the claim,” Lord Justice Burnett said at … Read more
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives Monday in Kuwait, the key mediator between Qatar and its Arab neighbours, for talks aimed at defusing the Gulf’s worst crisis in years. Tillerson will shuttle between Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia from Monday to Thursday in what is the first serious intervention by Washington in the Gulf crisis. … Read more