Full text of US President Joe Biden’s full inaugural address: “Chief justice Roberts, vice president Harris. Speaker Pelosi, leader Schumer, leader McConnell, vice president Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, this is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve. Through a crucible for the […]
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There have been disproportionate rates of premature death from Covid-19 among patients of Asian and black ethnicity, a large cohort study has found. The research, published in the journal BMJ Open, is based on nearly 1,800 patients admitted to five acute hospitals within Barts Health NHS Trust between January 1 and May 13 2020. The […]
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Twitter has locked the account belonging to China’s embassy in the US after a tweet stated that Uighur women in Xinjiang have been emancipated and are no longer “baby making machines”. One of the final acts of the Trump administration this week was declaring that China’s policies and actions in regard to Muslims and ethnic […]
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US President Donald Trump has pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part of a late flurry of clemency action benefiting nearly 150 people. The pardons and commutations for 143 people, including Bannon, were announced after midnight on Wednesday in the final hours of Trump’s White House term. A statement from the White House said: […]
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US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has imposed new sanctions on China and said its policies on Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang constitute a “genocide”. Mr Pompeo made the determination just 24 hours before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. There was no immediate response from the incoming Biden team, although several members have been […]
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Britain’s youngest terrorist – who plotted to murder police officers in Australia on Anzac Day – can be freed from jail, the Parole Board has ruled. The 20-year-old, from Blackburn, Lancashire, who can only be identified as RXG, sent encrypted messages instructing an Australian jihadist to launch attacks during a 2015 parade. He was jailed […]
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Saudi Arabia, for years one of the world’s most prolific executioners, dramatically reduced the number of people put to death last year, following changes halting executions for non-violent drug-related crimes, according to the government’s tally and independent observers. The Saudi government’s Human Rights Commission said on Monday it documented 27 executions in 2020. That is […]
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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has called on China to allow the United Nations (UN) to visit a province where it is accused of “appalling” human-rights abuses against the Uighur minority group. Mr Raab said reports of internment camps and women being forcibly sterilised in Xinjiang were “truly shocking” and that authorities in Beijing should permit […]
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An Egyptian judge overturned an acquittal verdict of two young women who were jailed last year for posting “indecent” videos on the social media video app TikTok, ordering their pretrial detention for 15 days over fresh charges of “human trafficking”, a judicial source said. A Cairo court has accused 20-year-old student Haneen Hossam and 22-year-old […]
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A fire has raced through a sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, destroying hundreds of homes, officials said. No casualties were reported, but the UNHCR said more than 550 homes sheltering about 3,500 people as well as 150 shops were totally or partially destroyed in the fire. The fire broke out early on Thursday […]
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