A United Nations discrimination watchdog said Tuesday that India must better protect tribal peoples, disadvantaged castes and other groups from alleged extrajudicial killings, torture and violence by law enforcement. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Rac…
Eight members of Zion Church, one of China's largest unregistered Protestant churches, are awaiting trial in Beihai after a crackdown on the group, while their…
Malian singer Mariam Bagayoko is still performing at 88, using songs, dance and traditional instruments to keep the music of Mali's Beledougou region alive. K…
Relatives of Venezuelans deported from the United States who died in the June earthquakes demanded an apology Monday from Venezuela's interim government, sayin…
Denmark's social affairs ministry said Monday it would compensate 13 former residents of Solgarden, a Danish children's care home, after acknowledging serious…
Prince Harry has stepped down from the board of African Parks, a conservation charity that last year acknowledged its rangers were involved in rights abuses at…
Belgian comedian Noel Godin, known for throwing custard pies at celebrities including Jean-Luc Godard and Bill Gates, has died at the age of 80, his partner Sy…
Thousands of anime and manga fans attended the latest Otamatsuri convention in Nairobi this weekend, as cosplay grows in Kenya despite the cost and difficulty…
Harka Man Gharti, a 21-year-old Nepal para swimmer who lost both arms in an electrocution accident, is training in Kathmandu for the Asian Para Games in Japan…
Indian police used excessive force, including electric shock devices and pellet guns, against youth-led protests over a leaked national medical entrance test, Amnesty International said Monday. Amnesty's findings conflict with the police account that force wa…
Scott Jamieson ended a 14-year wait for a European tour title on Sunday, winning the Nexo Championship in Aberdeenshire before receiving a video call from US P…
Twenty-one former international cricket captains, including Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, signed a letter to Pakistan's government on Sunday, August 23, seeking health care measures for jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. Khan, 73, a former Pakistan cric…
South Korean workplace harassment survivor Baek Song-yi is campaigning for victims to have a clear legal right to know how confirmed harassers are disciplined. Baek, 40, told AFP she reported verbal harassment by an older male boss at her former company, a US…
Saudi dissident Abd al-Rahman al-Khalidi was released in Bulgaria on Friday after nearly five years in detention, his lawyer Diana Radoslavova told AFP. Khali…
Greek Orthodox former residents and descendants return each August 15 to Gokceada, the Turkish island Greeks call Imbros, for the Feast of the Virgin Mary, wit…
Prince Harry and Meghan are set to return to Britain within weeks and settle in a private, non-royal residence outside London, but they will not return as working royals. Harry, whose full name is Prince Henry Charles Albert David, was born at St. Mary’s Hosp…
Taliban authorities have released two United Nations staff members detained in Herat more than a week earlier, and the charges against them have been dropped, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said Thursday. A UNAMA spokesman told AFP the t…
Officials in Indonesia's Aceh province publicly caned two women and two men 100 strokes each on Thursday for engaging in sex outside marriage. The flogging took place in a public park in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, with dozens of people watching. An A…
Prince Harry and Meghan plan to move back to the United Kingdom within weeks, several British media outlets reported late Wednesday. The Telegraph reported th…
Iran executed Ghaem Hosseini on Thursday after convicting him over the deaths of four police officers during anti-government protests, while a rights group said he was a 21-year-old Afghan national and that the case showed arbitrary use of the death penalty.…
Physical traces of Saint-Louis's role in the transatlantic slave trade are fading in northern Senegal, where historians say many former slave-holding sites hav…
Kosovo authorities said on August 19 that forensic teams had found skeletal remains suspected to belong to at least 23 people in three potential mass graves in…
More than 100 US organisations have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to act urgently to secure the release of Palestinian-American student Sama Safi, who has been detained in Israel for more than two months. Israeli forces arrested Safi, a 20-year-old psy…
British media coverage of plagiarism allegations against Cambridge academic Jason Arday is under scrutiny after his death at age 41, with supporters accusing n…
British filmmaker John Irvin, best known for directing the BBC television adaptation of John Le Carre’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”, has died aged 86, his prod…
Tanzania has suspended the weekly newspaper Mwanahalisi for six months over alleged breaches of media law after it published a story alleging government divisi…
Queen Camilla has said it was difficult not to reveal King Charles III had cancer when she visited a cancer support charity shortly after her husband was diagnosed. Buckingham Palace announced in February 2024 that Charles had cancer and had begun regular tre…
Portugal's president has enacted a law banning face concealment in public, a measure widely seen as targeting Muslim women who wear a full-face veil. Presiden…
Amnesty International accused Argentine President Javier Milei's government of expanding surveillance of critics, saying databases of protesters, social media…
Three human rights organisations urged Senegal on Tuesday to act against what they called a rise in xenophobic rhetoric in the media and on social networks. T…
Yvette Roudy, a veteran feminist campaigner and France's first women's rights minister, died Tuesday at the age of 97, her nephew Jean-Pierre Saldou said. Sal…
Iran's judiciary said it has banned the YouTube debate show Azad from broadcasting interviews and opened an investigation after an episode it said contained “false information”. Mizan Online, the judiciary's news site, said Monday that Azad was considered an…
President Donald Trump told CNN reporter Kristen Holmes to "be quiet" and called her "fake news" on Monday after the White House criticised her for asking about his aide Natalie Harp. Holmes asked Trump during an Oval Office event to respond to comments by De…
Jason Arday's family told thousands of people at a London vigil that the “public cruelty” he faced before his death was too much to bear, as supporters blamed racism and media pressure for the death of the Cambridge academic. The vigil in Trafalgar Square on…
International aid cuts are restricting services for people with disabilities and putting some support groups at risk of closure, Handicap International said in a report released Monday. The charity said its survey of 177 organisations supporting people with d…
The Jerusalem Festival, a Palestinian cultural event in east Jerusalem, has returned after a three-year break linked to the Gaza war, opening Sunday with a tribute to the late Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani. Hundreds of fans attended the opening at the Yabous…
The United Nations said Wednesday that 350 aid workers were killed worldwide in 2025, with the highest tolls in Gaza and Sudan. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs cited figures from the research and advisory group Humanitarian Outcomes…
Hayden Panettiere, the former child star actress known for “Heroes” and “Nashville,” has died aged 36, her father said in a statement to ABC News. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said. Details about her…
Urban artists in El Salvador are filling walls once marked by gangs with large murals, using a traveling festival to bring color to towns including Concepcion de Ataco in Ahuachapan. About a dozen painters used spray paint to depict jaguars, faces, flowers, b…
More than 31,000 people, including several MPs, have signed a petition urging UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to hold a public inquiry into alleged media harassment of Jason Arday, the Good Law Project said on Sunday. The campaign group launched the petition a…
Reporters Without Borders condemned what it said were assaults on at least eight journalists, including two working for AFP, around an opposition rally in Homa…
Scottish badminton player Kirsty Gilmour has called for greater acceptance of LGBTQ people in Asia as she prepares for the world badminton championships in New Delhi. Gilmour, who came out as gay in 2021, spoke on Aug. 15 after training at the Indira Gandhi I…
Relatives of retired Nicaraguan colonel Carlos Brenes and his wife, Salvadora Martinez, demanded that the government provide information about their whereabouts and health a year after they were detained. Brenes, 71, and Martinez, 68, were arrested on August…
Bonnie Tyler fans lined the streets of Mumbles in south Wales on Saturday as the late singer's coffin returned to her home ahead of her funeral. An AFP reporter saw thousands of people gather in the coastal village on the southwestern edge of Swansea. Some ap…
Jason Arday's death prompted UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to call for “reflection” on Saturday, after the former Cambridge academic's family alleged he had endured sustained abuse amid plagiarism accusations. Arday, 41, was found dead on Friday, August 14,…
Afghan journalist Zahra Joya, who lives in Britain, said Afghan women are “fighting alone” against discrimination by Taliban authorities and feel abandoned by the world. Joya, 34, founded Rukhshana Media in 2020 to amplify the voices and stories of Afghan wom…
A Kyiv shelter is housing mothers and children who have fled domestic violence, displacement and the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The anonymous apartment building has taken in 150 women and children since 2022, according to Natalia Lieshukova, who…
Construction workers found a large quantity of gold during renovation work at a building in Dendermonde, Belgium, police said. The discovery came to light on Tuesday in the east Flemish town. Police said workers alerted them after finding the gold and publish…
Jason Arday's death has renewed claims of racism and underrepresentation in UK universities, as Black academics said the controversy around the former Cambridg…
Venezuela's interim government said Friday it had freed another 131 people considered political prisoners, amid transition talks aimed at reconciliation after Nicolas Maduro's removal by US forces. The government said the 131 people had been granted “alternat…
Burkina Faso's military-led authorities have required public and private media outlets to take part in an annual “patriotic immersion” programme, with 44 journalists completing a six-day military-style course near Ouagadougou, the government said. The trainin…
The World Health Organization said Friday that more than 10,000 attacks on health care have been recorded since 2018 across 29 countries and territories, causing approximately 5,700 deaths and 8,500 injuries. Altaf Musani, director of the WHO's humanitarian a…
Berlin's Volksbuehne theatre cancelled plans on Friday to reserve its outdoor “Volksbad” swimming pool for Black children, young people and their relatives for one afternoon, saying racist emails, threats of violence and hostile coverage had raised safety con…
Ecuador is allowing couples to include pets as symbolic witnesses at civil weddings, with more than 50 couples choosing to marry in front of their dogs and cat…
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Burin flew kites at an annual summer festival that organisers said was meant to send a message to nearby Isra…
Hundreds of newborns in Peru have been named after Norway striker Erling Haaland as his team prepares for a World Cup quarter-final against England, Peru's ide…
Humanitarian groups said Friday that Haiti is enduring a “worst-case scenario” as gang violence, displacement and sexual violence leave many people feeling uns…
Israel said Friday that Gaza hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya is lawfully detained and has shown no sign of a life-threatening condition, rejecting UN conce…
Fifty west African journalists and Reporters Without Borders called Friday for Benin to release two journalists who have been jailed for the past year. The appeal came on the first anniversary of the arrest of Hugues Comlan Sossoukpe, a Beninese journalist an…
UN rights experts have called for Algerian journalist and rights activist Hassan Bouras to be freed, warning that he faced serious health risks after a hunger…
Poland's Jewish community, political leaders and citizens marked the 85th anniversary of the Jedwabne massacre on July 10, while far-right activists protested…
Poland's Jewish community, political leaders and citizens commemorated the 85th anniversary of the Jedwabne massacre on Friday at a ceremony opposed by far-rig…
Discarded items collected near Taylor Swift's wedding venue in New York sold out online within 24 hours after artist Justin Gignac offered them as mementos. G…
Pigeon fanciers in Skopje say their birds bring calm and community to a plaza surrounded by apartment blocks in North Macedonia's capital. Ahmet Ogun, a 67-ye…
The UN rights office urged Sri Lanka to grant the country's Human Rights Commission “unfettered access” to prisons after deadly violence at an overcrowded faci…
Around 200 Cambodian activists gathered in Phnom Penh on Friday to mark 10 years since the murder of government critic Kem Ley and to call for a new investigat…
Cape Verde stands out in Africa for its legal protections and relative social tolerance toward LGBTQ people, even as several people interviewed in the archipel…
OSCE-mandated independent experts said around 1.6 million Ukrainian children are being forced by Russia into military indoctrination in areas held by Russian forces, in a system they said could amount to a crime against humanity. The report was presented Thur…
Imprisoned Guayaquil mayor Aquiles Alvarez refused gallbladder surgery on Wednesday after being taken by helicopter to a private clinic for tests, Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg said. Alvarez, a critic of President Daniel Noboa, has been in prison…
Nicaraguan journalists living in exile face surveillance, death threats and harassment of relatives still inside Nicaragua, the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy said in a report released Wednesday in Costa Rica. FLED said at least 310 Nicara…
A radio station volunteer accidentally broadcasting a prepared announcement saying Britain’s King Charles III had died was among a set of offbeat stories that also included drone drug deliveries to a French prison and jellyfish stopping French nuclear reactor…
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned amendments to Turkey's Child Protection Law on August 13, saying tougher sentencing for children raised serious human rights concerns and should be brought into line with Turkey's international oblig…
Guinean civil society groups have criticised the promotion of police colonel Bienvenu Lamah after his acquittal over alleged involvement in the 2009 stadium massacre was appealed. Lamah was appointed brigadier general in the national gendarmerie by a decree f…
Two older dancers in Rome have become a viral hit in Italy after a street performance was shared online, and they say they hope the attention encourages other seniors to stay active. Pasquale Iannotta, a 70-year-old retired dance teacher, and Elisa Fava, 79,…
Fertility in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria has fallen to a historic low, according to a recent study by France's Institute for Demographic Studies, as economic pressure and changing social norms reshape family life across the Maghreb. Official figures cited in…
British garden sheds are being remade into ship-themed sanctuaries, mini-pubs and gaming dens, with 38 entries in this year's Shed of the Year competition. The contest, now in its 20th year, was won this year by a gaming den built by a group of friends. Found…
Thirty-five Mauritanians who had been detained in Mali returned home on Wednesday, Mauritania's government spokesman said, alleging that some had been mistreated and tortured by Malian authorities. Houssein Ould Medou told journalists that the detainees were…
Relatives of Lebanese people seized by Israel during its last two wars with Hezbollah rallied outside the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut on Wednesday, demanding information about their loved ones. Israel is estimated to have seized dozens…
More than 30 countries, including France, Britain and Canada, have condemned Iran's use of the death penalty, saying in an August 12 joint statement that executions of protesters are being used to silence dissent. The countries, joined by European Union forei…
London police said the death of Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor who resigned during a plagiarism scandal, was being treated as unexpected but was not believed to be suspicious. Arday, 41, was found unresponsive on Friday afternoon at…
Istanbul cymbal makers are preserving a centuries-old craft that turned a sound once linked to Ottoman military bands into a prized part of global music. In workshops on the city's outskirts, craftsmen still hammer bronze discs by hand to make cymbals valued…
Cristiano Ronaldo and his long-time partner Georgina Rodriguez married on Tuesday in Cascais, Portugal, his representatives said. Ronaldo, 41, posted a photo on Instagram showing the couple's hands with wedding bands and the caption “C” followed by a heart an…
Hundreds of people recently evicted from the Spin Time Labs social centre in Rome are sleeping in tents and on camp beds outside its chained gates as temperatures in the Italian capital near 40C. Families, elderly residents, children, disabled people and pets…
An independent miners' union said more than 80 miners demanding unpaid wages were detained outside the gates of Turkey's Energy Ministry on Tuesday. The union had called on workers from two coal and silver mines in central and eastern Turkey to protest, askin…
Lebanon's parliament voted Tuesday to abolish the death penalty, a decision UN rights chief Volker Turk praised while urging other countries in the Middle East and North Africa to follow. Turk said Lebanon was now the first country in the region to formally a…
Myanmar's military has escalated aerial attacks on civilians, United Nations investigators said in an annual report covering July 2025 to June 2026. The United Nations' Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar said the military stepped up attacks and o…
The Palestinian football association said Monday that league activity will resume on September 4 after a nearly three-year pause during the Gaza war. Association president Jibril Rajoub announced the restart at a press conference in Ramallah. Palestinian spor…
Sex between men (66 jurisdictions). Criminalises private, consensual sexual activity between men; most do so explicitly, via 'sodomy', 'buggery' or 'unnatural offences' laws. Almost half are Commonwealth jurisdictions. Sex between women (42 countries). Crimin…
South Sudanese whistleblower Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit has been released after being abducted in Kenya and held in Juba for almost two months, his family said Monday. Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit, 51, also holds Kenyan citizenship and was living in Nairobi. A representat…
British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who are detained in Iran on espionage charges they deny, have ended their latest hunger strikes, their family said Monday. The couple, both in their early 50s, were seized in January 2025 as they travelled through cen…
Indonesia's top Islamic clerical body has warned men not to wear women's clothing during Independence Day festivities, despite a long-standing tradition in some communities of men wearing dresses for football games and parades. The Indonesian Ulema Council, k…
Guinean activist Bella Bah was abducted from the school where he teaches in Conakry, his wife, Ami Bah, said on Sunday. Ami Bah said a teacher called her on Saturday afternoon to say her husband had been taken from the school. She told AFP on Sunday that she…
David Sullivan attended West Ham's League Cup tie against Portsmouth on Saturday despite advice from London Stadium that he should stay away after allegations of sexual misconduct. Sullivan, 77, was accused of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour by…
New guidelines aimed at preventing broadcasters from sexualising coverage of women athletes will be used when the European championships start in Birmingham on Monday, August 10. The Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union said it developed the guidelines wi…
Senegal has charged 71 men with "unnatural acts" as authorities intensify a crackdown on homosexuality, the public prosecutor's office said late Friday. The men were brought before a court, while charges against 28 other defendants were dropped, according to…
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was sent back to Luzira Prison in Kampala on Friday after more than a week in hospital, his wife Winnie Byanyima said, adding that the move went against medical advice. Besigye had been admitted to intensive care in Kam…
The Djidji Ayokwe, a sacred talking drum looted by French colonial troops in 1916, arrived back in its home village in Ivory Coast on Friday and was shown publicly to Ivorians for the first time. The ceremony took place on Ivory Coast's national independence…
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced a new investigation on Friday into violence around the October 2025 general election, in which hundreds, possibly thousands, of people died. An initial government-appointed inquiry, which submitted its finding…
The ball Diego Maradona used to score Argentina's “Hand of God” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup may sell for $10 million at a United States auction this month, Heritage Auctions says. The Texas-based auction house has set a $2.5 million opening bid…
Bangladesh’s youth and sports minister said former star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan had no prospect of returning to play after he joined a media event with ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Shakib joined the event by telephone in New Delhi on Wednesda…
Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang warned the Hong Kong Journalists Association against what he called misusing a union title, a day before the media group was due to hold committee elections. Asked about the election at a media briefing on Friday, Tang warn…
Pope Leo XIV will meet privately with victims of clerical sexual abuse during an official visit to France in September, the Vatican said as it released the trip itinerary. The Holy See did not immediately give further details about the meeting. It said the vi…
Austrian writer Stefan Zweig has been honoured with a London blue plaque at the Hallam Street flat where he lived from 1936 to 1939 after leaving Austria as Adolf Hitler rose to power. The English Heritage marker at 49 Hallam Street reads: “Stefan Zweig 1881-…
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung promised on Friday to “fully uncover the truth” about forced overseas adoptions, months after apologising for what was described as state-sanctioned malpractice. Official figures say South Korea sent more than 140,000 chil…
Thousands of ethnic Kabye men aged 18 to 20 take part each mid-July in Evala, an ancestral initiation rite in Togo's northern Kara region, where participants wrestle as part of a tradition marking the passage to manhood. The young men, known as Evalo, first c…
Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen died after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations in Manhattan on July 2, in a protest that fellow exiled Tibetans linked to opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet. Rangzen, 52, was pronounced dead in hospital about an…
Independent United Nations rights experts urged swift international action on Thursday, saying US sanctions and an effective oil blockade were worsening conditions in Cuba and pushing humanitarian consequences toward a “full-blown crisis”. The experts said en…
Addis Standard's owner says editor-in-chief Yonas Kedir was abducted, assaulted and held for about 24 hours by Ethiopian security personnel, in a case the publication described as part of wider intimidation against the independent media outlet. Jakenn Publish…
Rights groups said an Israeli attack in south Lebanon that killed reporter Amal Khalil and wounded another journalist was an apparent war crime. The attack took place in Al-Tiri on April 22, days after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hezbollah. K…
Pakistan's government has told international media to register journalists and seek permission before reporting outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, prompting criticism from rights and media groups. The information ministry sent a statement on Monday to an…
Youth-led protests in India last month exposed public anger toward mainstream television channels, with journalists reporting harassment and attacks over perceived support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Rallies across the country, led by the o…
A citizens' initiative to legalise abortion in Liechtenstein has submitted 4,970 signatures, nearly five times the number needed to send the proposal for parliamentary review or a possible referendum. The committee behind the initiative said it had gathered j…
AFP journalist Christina Assi will be honored at the International Press Freedom Awards after losing a leg while reporting from the Lebanese border, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six othe…
Independent UN rights experts urged Iran on Thursday to end what they described as escalating arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and arbitrary executions of ethnic minorities, saying Kurdish and Baluch communities were particularly affected.…
Antisemitic incidents in the UK rose by 21 percent in the first six months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, the Community Security Trust said. The Jewish charity said it recorded 1,926 anti-Jewish hate incidents between January and June, up fr…
A video circulating on social media appears to show Sam Mugumya, a former aide to Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye, months after he vanished, with his family and activists alleging state involvement. Mugumya, 47, was running as a candidate for Besi…
Thousands of people gathered outside Milan's Sant'Ambrogio Basilica on Tuesday for the funeral of former AC Milan captain Franco Baresi, who died last week aged 66. Former teammates Paolo Maldini, Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Costacurta were among football f…
Five independent United Nations rights experts have urged Canada to take all feasible measures to protect Sikh activist Moninder Singh, a Canadian national who they said has repeatedly been warned by Canadian authorities of credible threats to his life. In a…
A Thai Buddhist Lent alcohol pledge has drawn millions of participants, organisers say, as the annual three-month abstinence campaign combines public health messages with a religious commitment. At a temple in Samut Sakhon, west of Bangkok, Wassana Nak-umma,…
A Venezuelan journalists' union on August 7 denounced restrictions on press access during US-backed political transition talks between the interim government and parts of the opposition. Media workers protested one day after the talks began, objecting to a de…
Amsterdam's Drag Olympics brought drag queens and kings together on Friday for high-heel racing, handbag tossing and other contests as the city hosts WorldPride. Organisers House of Hopelezz, Amsterdam's oldest drag community, said the 22nd annual event is th…
Tourists are travelling to Chongqing for personalised motorbike videos, turning the Chinese megacity's night roads and neon skyline into a business for local riders. Sellers offer choreographed photos and videos in which customers ride behind motorcyclists pa…
About 300,000 people took part in a Pride march in Hamburg on Saturday, police and organisers said, one week after an attack near a similar parade in Berlin killed one person and injured 31 others. An AFP photographer saw people waving rainbow flags and trave…
Iranian pilgrims crossed into Iraq for Arbaeen, the major Shia Muslim commemoration, in the first pilgrimage season since war broke out in the region. At Iraq's al-Zurbatiyah border crossing, some pilgrims carried portraits of slain Iranian leader Ali Khamene…