Author: News Desk

Russia: The owner of the mercenary firm Wagner, Mr. Yevgeny Prigozhin, has charged Russia’s top military officials with high treason after stating they withheld crucial ammunition for the conflict in Ukraine and refused to provide air assistance. The fight for the town of Bakhmut is being led by Mr. Prigozhin’s Wagner Group in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk area. “There is simply direct opposition going on [to attempts to equip Wagner fighters]. This can be equated to high treason,” Mr. Prigozhin stated in a voice message posted on his Telegram channel. One of Mr. Sergey Shoigu’s fiercest detractors, Mr. Prigozhin maintains that…

United States: Ms. Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of murdered black civil rights activist Malcolm X, has stated that she is suing the New York City Police Department and other agencies for her father’s 1965 murder. Ms. Shabazz claimed that US officials fraudulently concealed evidence that they “conspired to and carried out their plan to assassinate” her father, and that the planned legal action was announced at the site where he was fatally shot exactly 58 years ago in New York.” “For years, our family has fought for the truth to come to light concerning his murder,” Ms. Shabazz shared at…

Philippines: Rescuers in the Philippines are scaling an active volcano to retrieve the wreckage of a tiny plane that crashed over the weekend with four people on board in a “very risky operation.” The Cessna 340 carrying the four people, including two Australians, vanished on Saturday morning after taking off for Manila from Bicol International Airport in the central province of Albay, some distance from Mount Mayon. On board, a reconnaissance aircraft civil aviation inspectors were able to determine that the wreckage of a plane found close to the volcano’s crater was the missing Cessna. If there are any survivors…

Myanmar: The European Union has imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 16 individuals and entities in Myanmar, including the energy minister, businessmen, and high-ranking officers, over “grave” violations of human rights inside the country. The sanctions list also includes Yangon politicians and administrators accused of being involved in the executions of four pro-democracy activists in July 2022, as well as oversaw massacres, air raids, and the use of civilians as human shields during military operations in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state. “Those responsible for the coup, as well as the perpetrators of violence and gross human rights violations, should be…

South Korea: A court in South Korea has recognised the legal status of a gay partner for the first time, ruling that same-sex couples are entitled to the same spousal coverage under the national health insurance service as heterosexual couples. An earlier decision by a lower court in January 2022 dismissed a gay couple’s case after one spouse was informed that he had to make the Seoul High Court overturn separate health insurance payments. A dependant is excused from paying health insurance premiums under South Korean legislation provided their spouse satisfies specific employment requirements. Because the lower court did not…

United States: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voiced “deep concern and dismay” over Israel’s settlement activity in a weaker statement that replaced a draught resolution that would have clearly criticised Israeli policy. The UNSC presidential statement, which was unanimously endorsed on Monday by the council’s 15 members, including the United States, also emphasised the “obligation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to renounce and confront terror.” The symbolic action followed an earlier this month decision by the Israeli government to authorise thousands of settlement units in the occupied West Bank and retroactively legalise settlement outposts that had been erected illegally. “We…

Israel: The Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu has accused protesters of “trampling democracy,” pledging that his far-right coalition will move ahead with controversial legislation to restrict the power of the judiciary. The legislative changes would probably help the Prime Minister avoid prosecution in his ongoing corruption trial, in which he denies all charges. In a meeting with parliamentary members of his conservative Likud party, Mr. Netanyahu condemned the movement’s leadership for “threatening us with civil war and blood in the streets.” Despite the mass protests, the Prime Minister observed that his government will first plow on the votes slated…

China: Beijing has denied the claims of the United States that China was considering arming Russia in its war against Ukraine, as it called for “peace-loving” nations to act to end the conflict. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Wang Wenbin, commented that the US is in no position to make demands after the country’s top diplomat Mr. Antony Blinken warned Beijing against providing weapons to Russia in the war against Ukraine. “China will never accept the US pointing fingers at Sino-Russian relations or even coercing us. It is the United States and not China, that is endlessly shipping weapons to…

Ukraine: US President Mr. Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Kyiv and pledged increased arms delivery and unwavering support for Ukraine prior to the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the nation. Mr. Biden met Ukrainian President Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky during the US president’s first visit to the nation since Russian troops invaded on 24th February 2022, as air raid sirens wailed around the capital. Military police in uniform from Ukraine lined the street outside. While a military salute sounded and the two presidents stared at each other in silence for a little while, Mr. Biden and Zelensky crossed the…

Brazil:  Torrential rain caused flooding and landslides that resulted in at least 36 fatalities and hundreds of displaced people on the southeast coast of Brazil. In the state of Sao Paulo, footage from the town of Sao Sebastiao was broadcast on television and shared on social media. It showed entire neighbourhoods submerged in water, the wreckage of houses on hillsides being carried away by mud, flooded roads, and automobiles being hit by falling trees. The town, which is 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of Sao Paulo and where many residents of the capital spend the long weekend before the Christian…