East Asia
China

Guangdong: direct action gets the goods

Authorities in Qingyuan, in China’s Guangdong province, canceled a planned waste incinerator project after the city center was repeatedly shut down by angry mass protests.

East Asia

Global execution stats: good news, bad news

The latest Amnesty International report on global use of the death penalty shows a decline last year—but China's massive statistics are kept secret and therefore not factored in.

North America

Trump-Putin breach: real or charade?

Is Trump's breach with Putin real, or is all the sudden sabre-rattling part of an elaborate charade to throw Congress off the scent of ongoing Trump-Putin collusion?

Syria

Syria: gas attacks, air-strikes and hypocrisy

Trump, whose own air-strikes have killed hundreds, decides he must bomb an Assad air-base to retaliate for a gas attack—while the “anti-war” left is undisturbed by the gas attack.

Central Asia

Anti-terror ‘security state’ in Xinjiang

The Uighur people of China's Xinjiang province are coming under unprecedented surveillance and militarization amid official fears of terrorism in the far-western region.

East Asia

China targeting human rights defenders

A new report finds that human rights defenders in China are being criminalized as "national security" threats, and increasingly face detention and torture.

North America

Human Rights Watch: Trump portends ‘tyranny’

In its yearly report, Human Rights Watch warns that the rise of populist leaders "poses a dangerous threat to basic rights"—particularly naming Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Greater Middle East

UN approves investigation of Syria war crimes

With action blocked by Russia's veto in the Security Council, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing an independent investigation into war crimes in Syria.

Greater Middle East

UN approves monitors for Aleppo evacuation

Alarmed at the "devastating" humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, the Security Council called on the UN to carry out "neutral monitoring" of evacuations from the war-ravaged city.