Spain’s government has issued formal pardons for nine Catalan separatist leaders imprisoned for their part in a failed 2017 independence bid. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday’s move was needed to diffuse longstanding tensions in Catalonia, where the referendum-fuelled drive to break away from Spain […]
Day: June 22, 2021
Euro 2020: WHO concerned about easing COVID restrictions
The World Health Organization has said it was concerned about the easing of COVID-19 restrictions by nations hosting Euro 2020 matches, noting that some were already seeing rising cases. “WHO is concerned about easing of restrictions in some of the host countries,” Robb Butler, an […]
Burkina Faso says 11 police officers killed in ambush, 4 missing
Burkina Faso’s government has said an ambush on a police unit in the country’s conflict-hit north has left at least 11 officers dead, with four others missing. In a statement released on Tuesday, Security Minister Ousseini Compaore said the officers were attacked while on a […]
US Senate Republicans block Biden-backed voting reforms
Republicans in the United States Senate blocked debate Tuesday on sweeping election reform legislation proposed by Democrats and backed by President Joe Biden setting the stage for a confrontation between the two top political parties over US election law. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had […]
US to review history of Indigenous boarding schools: Deb Haaland
The federal government will investigate its past oversight of Native American boarding schools and work to “uncover the truth about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences” of the institutions, which across the decades forced hundreds of thousands of children from their families […]
Court restrains Nigeria from prosecuting Twitter users: Activists
A West African court has restrained the Nigerian government from “unlawfully” prosecuting people from using Twitter, while it is considering a legal action launched by activists and journalists seeking to reverse a ban on the social media giant. Authorities in early June indefinitely suspended Twitter, […]
Angela Merkel receives Moderna dose after first AstraZeneca shot
German Chancellor Angela Merkel received a Moderna coronavirus vaccine as her second jab, after getting the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. The 66-year-old took her first dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in April, more than two weeks after German authorities […]
Open Xinjiang to ‘independent observers’, Canada tells China
More than 40 countries urged China on Tuesday to allow the United Nations human rights chief immediate access to Xinjiang to look into reports that more than a million people have been unlawfully detained there, some subjected to torture or forced labour. The joint statement […]
‘Historic moment’: Legal experts unveil new definition of ecocide
After six months of deliberation, a team of international lawyers has unveiled a new legal definition of “ecocide” that, if adopted, would put environmental destruction on a par with war crimes – paving the way for the prosecution of world leaders and corporate chiefs for […]
Big Oil chiefs say crude prices could climb to $100 a barrel
The bosses of some of the world’s biggest oil companies said crude prices are likely to keep rising because a lack of investment will curtail future supply. The chief executive officers of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE joined major commodity traders and banks […]