Reports of at least a dozen cases of femicide since start of year prompt protests across the country
Protests against femicide have taken place across Kenya after a rise in killings this month.
Reports of at least a dozen cases of femicide since the start of the year have prompted public outrage, debate and demonstrations across the country, including in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa.
Continue reading...‘Defend democracy’ events were planned for Innsbruck, Salzburg and in front of parliament building in Vienna
Thousands of Austrians have taken to the streets of the country’s three largest cities, in a spillover of protests over the rise of the far right in neighbouring Germany.
Under the slogan “defend democracy”, gatherings organised by a broad alliance of civil society organisations, NGOs, political groups, church communities and trade unions took place in Innsbruck, Salzburg, and in front of the parliament building in Vienna.
Continue reading...Hundreds follow route to Parliament Square in solidarity with people affected by Israel-Gaza conflict
Without flags, placards or chants, hundreds of people joined a silent multi-faith peace walk in London on Sunday in response to the Israel-Gaza war.
Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists walked side-by-side from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square and back in solidarity with people affected by the conflict in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Trial of local activist provokes one of largest reported demonstrations in country since Ukraine invasion
Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan in a rare display of public outrage after a court convicted a local activist and sentenced him to prison, according to media reports and rights groups.
The unrest on Wednesday – one of the largest reported demonstrations since the war in Ukraine began in 2022 – erupted amid the trial this week of Fail Alsynov in the town of Baymak, about 870 miles (1,400km) south-east of Moscow, in the southern Ural mountains.
Continue reading...For some farmers already struggling, paying for more of their pollution is a step too far. Germany is the latest country to see anger boil over
The columns of tractors that have blocked roads in Germany, causing chaos in cities and headaches for commuters, are the latest wave in a growing tide of anger against efforts to protect Europe’s nature from the pollution pumped out by its farms.
In recent years, farmers in western Europe have fought with increasing ferocity against policies to protect the planet that they say cost too much. In the Netherlands, where the backlash has been strongest, a court ruling on nitrogen emissions in 2019 triggered furious and recurring protests over government efforts to close farms and cut the number of animals on them. In Belgium, similar fights led to convoys of tractors clogging the EU quarter of Brussels in March last year. In Ireland, which has seen smaller protests, dairy farmers angry at nitrogen restrictions marched with their cows to the offices of three government ministers last month.
Continue reading...About 1,700 officers on duty in UK capital to police demonstration on day for action involving 30 countries
Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday to show solidarity with Palestine and to reiterate calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Demonstrators met on Queen Victoria Street before making their way along Fleet Street towards Parliament Square. The protest, part of a global day of action, comes after the RAF and the US military carried out airstrikes against Houthi bases in Yemen.
Continue reading...Saturday’s march for Gaza ceasefire as part of global day of action will be followed by static rally for Israel on Sunday
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather in London over the weekend in protest against the war in Gaza as the conflict widens to Yemen.
On Saturday, protesters are expected to gather at Bank Junction at midday as part of a global day of action involving 30 countries, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch’s annual report highlights politicians’ double standards and ‘transactional diplomacy’ amid escalating crises
Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.
Continue reading...Governor blames looting on ‘opportunists’ as officers are redeployed to Port Moresby from regional areas
People have been killed and shops and businesses set on fire in the capital of Papua New Guinea after police went on strike over pay, according to the local governor.
Property in Port Moresby had been looted by “opportunists” after events “spiralled out of control”, the governor of the National Capital District, Powes Parkop, said in a radio broadcast.
Continue reading...Partial U-turn by Berlin fails to avert week-long nationwide action that government says could be co-opted by righwing extremists
German farmers blocked city centres, highways and motorway slip roads with tractors at the start of a week-long, nationwide protest over planned cuts to agricultural sector subsidies that the government said could be co-opted by rightwing extremists.
“We are exercising our basic right to inform society and the political class that Germany needs a competitive agricultural sector,” the president of the German farmers’ association, Joachim Rukwied, told Stern magazine on Monday.
Continue reading...Angry protests by farmers, hauliers and railway workers risk being exploited by populists such as Alternative für Deutschland
The symbolism that German farmers chose to express their discontent with the government in the first days of the new year was as unambiguous as it was ominous: by the side of rural roads across the country, there were sightings of makeshift gallows dangling traffic-light signs, a reference to the colours of the three governing parties.
The chilling sculptures are harbingers of unprecedented cross-sector protests and strikes hitting German roads and railways from Monday, and speak of a dramatic change of mood in a country long feted for its consensus-seeking approach to industrial relations, especially compared with its more traditionally strike-prone neighbour France.
Continue reading...Protesters also call for UK to stop arms sales to Israel and end to Israeli occupation of Palestine
Hundreds of protesters in London have staged a sit-in on Westminster Bridge, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the first big demonstration of the year.
Elsewhere on Saturday, there were protests in Belfast and Dublin.
Continue reading...Analysts suggest popularity of A Guilty Conscience is down to portrayal of recent abuses in judicial system
Hong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese language film of all time is a courtroom drama exploring themes of power and justice in a city where many feel both have been abused in recent years.
A Guilty Conscience, the directorial debut of the Hong Kong screenwriter Ng Wai-lun, tells the story set in the city of a single mother wrongly accused of murdering her daughter and the legal battle to clear her name.
Continue reading...Campaign at leading universities such as Oxbridge and UCL warns lender it will miss out on top talent if it finances fossil fuels
Hundreds of students from leading UK universities have launched a “career boycott” of Barclays over its climate policies, warning that the bank will miss out on top talent unless it stops financing fossil fuel companies.
More than 220 students from Barclays’ top recruitment universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and University College London have sent a letter to the high street lender, saying they will not work for Barclays and raising the alarm over its funding for oil and gas firms including Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon and BP.
Continue reading...Congresswoman said hoaxer tried to trigger police response while Colorado justices who ruled against Trump face threats
The political became personal over the Christmas holiday as the homes of politicos and judges were targeted by threats, protests and “swatting” hoaxes by pranksters who call in fake emergencies to authorities in the hopes of prompting a forceful police response.
A swatting hoax targeted the Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Authorities said they were investigating threats against the Colorado supreme court justices who ruled that Trump could not appear on the state’s ballots in the 2024 presidential election because he incited an insurrection on the day of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Continue reading...Demonstrators in and around Oxford Street campaign against retailers including Puma, Hewlett-Packard and Axa
Hundreds of people have marched along Oxford Street in London calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a boycott of “Israel-linked” brands, as traffic in the busy shopping district was brought to a standstill days before Christmas.
“There can be no Christmas as usual while a genocide is happening,” the organisers and activist group Sisters Uncut wrote on social media on Saturday, calling for the boycott of brands including Puma, HP and Axa.
Continue reading...New libertarian president accused of drawing up a ‘battle plan against working people’
Thousands of protesters have poured on to the streets of Buenos Aires after Argentina’s new president announced a far-reaching emergency decree containing dozens of controversial economic measures – a move one prominent critic compared to the actions of an absolute monarchy.
Javier Milei, a radical libertarian economist who was inaugurated less than a fortnight ago, won power promising a dramatic shake-up of Argentina’s moribund economy amid rampant inflation and widespread poverty. On Wednesday night Milei appeared on television, flanked by 12 stony-faced ministers and top officials, to unveil a decree he claimed would haul the South American country out of “the economic hell we are now living through”.
Continue reading...President Javier Milei and his allies are preparing new security guidelines in anticipation of protests against currency devaluation
Human rights activists in Argentina have expressed consternation over new security guidelines to crack down on an anticipated wave of protests after the incoming government of libertarian president Javier Milei devalued the country’s currency by more than 50%.
Protesting individuals and organizations will be identified with “video, digital or manual means” – and then billed for the cost of sending security forces to police their demonstrations, said Milei’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, as she announced the new protocol on Thursday.
“The state is not going to pay for the use of the security forces; organizations that have legal status will have to pay or individuals will have to bear the cost,” Bullrich said.
Change of heart on ceasefire shows ‘collective action is working’, Sydney protest speaker says
Speakers at Sydney’s pro-Palestine rally have said public outcry against the war in Gaza has pushed the Albanese government to shift its position and back calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, while criticising Labor for not calling for a permanent end to the conflict.
On Wednesday Australia joined 152 other nations in voting in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in an emergency session of the United Nations general assembly. The move followed Australia’s decision in late October to abstain from casting a vote on a similar motion.
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Up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs prevented from reaching Australia
Australian federal police and international law enforcement partners have prevented up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs from reaching Australia throughout the past financial year.
The AFP cannot overstate the amount of harm that 29 tonnes of methamphetamine could have caused to the community if it had not been intercepted by law enforcement.
On average, close to 12,000 Australians are hospitalised from methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin use every 12 months.
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