The government of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan’s northern neighbour, reportedly sent 150 Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan on August 20th as part of an agreement with the Taliban. The refugees were given security guarantees and have returned home safely, according to a statement from the Uzbek foreign ministry. While it remains unknown
The Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) armed forces and the United States military began full-scale joint military exercises and drills on Monday after a week of preliminary drills and simulations, despite clear dissent from leaders in North Korea’s government and armed forces. The military exercises, known as Crisis Management Staff Training,
Kidnappers in Nigeria released 28 schoolchildren on 26 July, nearly 21 days after gunmen raided the Bethel Baptist boarding school in the state of Kaduna in northwest Nigeria. Reverend Ite Joseph Hayab, school pastor involved in negotiations with the kidnappers, reported to Reuters that another 81 children remain in captivity.
Samantha Power, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), announced via Twitter on 17 July that the Balkan nations of North Macedonia and Albania have established joint border control points with USAID support. By doing this, the customs administrations of the two countries have entered into
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader and a championed icon of democracy, faces four criminal charges filed in Mandalay, the nation’s second-largest city, on 12 July. These additional charges add to numerous claims brought against the controversial political leader after a military coup removed her National League for
A senior journalist with the recently-closed Apple Daily newspaper was arrested by Hong Kong police at the airport on 26 June on a suspected national security offense. The former senior editor and columnist, identified as Fung Wai-kong, is the seventh staffer with the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily to be arrested
Egypt’s Irrigation Minister Abdel Aty received official notice from Ethiopia that it had resumed, for a second year in a row, the construction process of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on 5 July. Ethiopia began filling the reservoir with water behind its giant hydroelectric dam, a process expected to
Sheikha Latifa, the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has been granted an increasing degree of freedom after years of controversy surrounding alleged abuse and kidnappings at the hands of her father. In
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia upheld its genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladić on 8 June. This followed the defense and prosecutor’s appeal of the original 2017 ruling, which found Mladić guilty of 10 charges. The long-awaited outcome finalizes 25
After a military coup ousted the president and prime minister of Mali’s transitional government, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Mali’s membership. At an emergency summit held on May 30th, leaders of the 15-member bloc voted to temporarily suspend Mali and urged authorities to follow a
Hong Kong’s recent announcement of plans to require mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for foreign domestic workers quickly drew international criticism from Filipino officials, as well as a number of labor and human rights advocacy groups. The proposed plan, released by Hong Kong’s government in early May, promulgated a mandate under
