Speaking in Tokyo on the second day of his visit to Japan, and against the backdrop of growing concern over Chinese military activity in the region, Biden said the United States’ responsibility to protect the self-ruled island – which China considers a renegade province – was “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said, after he told the...
"The ministry of public health launched the fourth nationwide polio vaccination campaign aimed at vaccinating 9.9 million children under the age of five," the ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook. The latest campaign was launched in collaboration with the United Nations children agency (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the statement. Children, aged between six months to five, will also...
A month after the deadly attack on a Shiite mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, which killed dozens of civilians, U.N. special rapporteur Richard Bennett said he visited the mosque. “Attacks against civilian populations must cease, those responsible brought to justice,” he tweeted. https://twitter.com/SR_Afghanistan/status/1528442591586525186?s=20&t=F7kXCvvaQg3CYbSNd0OGvA In April, a bomb blast tore through the Seh Dokan mosque during prayers in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The attack, according to officials, left at...
"The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has now crossed the staggering milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts," said UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency. The "alarming" figure must shake the world into ending the conflicts forcing record numbers to flee their own homes,...
"An agreement was reached with representatives of the Ukrainian military blocked at Azovstal in Mariupol to evacuate the wounded," the ministry said. It added that a "regime of silence" was introduced for the duration of the evacuation and that the Ukrainian soldiers would be taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Novoazovsk. Ukraine says that more than 260 wounded soldiers have been evacuated...
In an interview broadcast Monday by CNN, acting interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani pledged girls’ secondary schools will open soon. "I would like to provide some clarification. There is no one who opposes education for women," Haqqani said. He argued that girls could already go to primary school. "Above that grade, the work is continuing on a mechanism" to allow girls to attend secondary school, he...
French Prime Minister Jean Castex handed his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, paving the way for a long-awaited cabinet overhaul and the likely appointment of the second woman to the job in 30 years. Macron - who was re-elected in April and needs to show he has heard the frustrations of voters expressed in low turnout and big support for the radical...
Ukraine has proposed to Russia that badly injured defenders in the Azovstal plant in the port of Mariupol be swapped for Russian prisoners of war, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Wednesday. "There is no agreement yet. Negotiations are continuing," she said in an online post. She says the government has been working on different options to rescue fighters trapped in the Azovstal plant...
Security Council members will hold a meeting on Thursday, May 12, “to address increased restrictions on human rights and freedom of girls and women in Afghanistan,” Norway’s mission at U.N. said. Norway’s mission said the briefing will be done by the U.N. special envoy and head of its assistance mission Deborah Lyons. Meantime, the U.N. Kabul mission said in a tweet that head of the...
Reuters reported earlier on Sunday that Qatar's emir was due to travel to Iran and later Germany, Britain and other European states. His trips was aimed at discussing efforts to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal and energy security in Europe. "Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will travel to Iran tomorrow to follow up on recent agreements and expand bilateral ties, notably cooperation on the...