TOKYO – Japan’s top court ruled yesterday that a defunct eugenics law under which thousands of people were forcibly sterilised between 1948 and 1996, wasunconstitutional. The Supreme Court also ruled that a 20-year statute of limitations on compensation claims could not be applied, a major victory for victims who have endured decades of suffering. Japan’s...
NAIROBI – Kenyan police have arrested more than 270 people masquerading as protesters who are suspected of going on a criminal rampage during anti-government rallies on Tuesday. Widespread looting and property damage was reported during the youth-led demonstrations in various cities across the country, which some protesters said had been infiltrated by “goons”. “Security forces...
OSLO – The Norwegian government yesterday called off a plan to sell the last privately-owned piece of land on the strategic Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard to prevent its acquisition by China. The remote Sore Fagerfjord property in southwestern Svalbard – 60 square kilometres of mountains, plains and a glacier – was on sale for 300...
GAZA STRIP – Heavy battles and bombardment hit Gaza City’s Shujaiya district for a fourth day yesterday, months after the Israeli army declared Hamas’s command structure dismantled in the northern area. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the devastated neighbourhood, where the army said it has fought Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants “above and...
Senegal should end “uncertainty” created by president Macky Sall’s announcement that an election scheduled for 25 February would be postponed indefinitely, France said yesterday, calling for a vote “as soon as possible”.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed scores of people overnight as battles raged yesterday in the besieged territory’s south and Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a halt in the nearly four-month-long war.
PARIS - The OECD raised its 2024 world economic growth forecast yesterday but warned that the Middle East conflict posed a risk, with disruptions in Red Sea shipping threatening to increase consumer prices.
At least 35 women are missing after kidnappers seized guests returning from a wedding in northwestern Nigeria, officials told AFP on Monday. The mass kidnapping in Katsina state is the largest in a series of recent abductions across Africa’s most populous country.
Security forces used tear gas to disperse an opposition rally outside Senegal’s parliament yesterday, shortly before the start of a contentious debate on postponing this month’s presidential election.
The South West Africa National Union has criticised Israel and its partners’ actions in Gaza, and told Germany to stay away from genocidal actions, based on its own shameful history.