Around 100,000 people were urged to flee five Melbourne suburbs on Monday evening as Australia’s spiralling bushfire crisis killed a volunteer firefighter battling a separate blaze in the countryside. Authorities in the country’s second-biggest city downgraded an earlier bushfire emergency warning but said residents should steer clear of the blaze, which has burned through 40 […]
A Nepalese worker was killed Monday after he fell into a meat-mincing machine in Malaysia’s Malacca state, an official confirmed. The Malacca fire department’s Zulkhairani Ramli told AFP the 47-year-old man was working at a meat-processing factory near Masjid Tanah when the incident occurred. “The victim was doing maintenance with three other workers when suddenly […]
by Patrick BAERT A Chinese court on Monday sentenced the scientist who claimed to be behind the world’s first gene-edited babies to three years in prison for illegal medical practice, state media reported. He Jiankui, who shocked the scientific community last year by announcing the birth of twin girls whose genes had allegedly been altered […]
by Jing Xuan TENG China on Monday jailed the leader of an unofficial Protestant church for nine years for “incitement to subvert state power”. Pastor Wang Yi, whose Early Rain Covenant Church was the target of a government crackdown last year, was also found guilty of “illegal business operation” by a court in Chengdu, southwest […]
China denied on Friday that detained Uighur academic Tashpolat Tiyip was secretly tried and sentenced to death, after UN experts demanded answers from Beijing. The foreign ministry said former Xinjiang University president Tiyip’s case was still ongoing and his rights had been “protected in accordance with the law”. Tiyip was “suspected of corruption and bribery,” […]
A massive locust invasion has destroyed thousands of hectares of crops in northwest India, authorities said, with some experts on Friday terming it the worst such attack in 25 years. While officials have attempted to tackle the swarm with pesticides, farmers have deployed drums to drive away the insects, with videos showing schoolgirls banging on steel […]
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has expressed “serious concern” over whether the bloc could conclude a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain within the 2020 deadline. Britain is due to leave the European Union on January 31, but will remain in a transitional arrangement until the end of next year while negotiators debate future […]
An earthquake struck Iran on Friday less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the country’s only nuclear power plant, monitors said. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage. The US Geological Survey said the 5.1 magnitude quake struck 44 kilometres (27 miles) from the southwestern city of Borazjan and at a depth […]
by Jalees ANDRABI From Netflix to Hitler, protesters are tapping pop culture and history as they vent their anger against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new citizenship law — and with deft use of India’s beloved acronyms. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) eases naturalisation for persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but not if […]
