A Tokyo court on Thursday ordered the Japanese government to pay compensation to a transgender official who was refused use of the women’s bathroom at work. “The Tokyo district court ordered the accused to pay 1.3 million yen ($12,000) in damages,” a court spokesman told AFP. “The court also ordered the government to let the […]
by Anup Sharma Authorities deployed thousands of paramilitaries and blocked mobile internet in northeast India Thursday, while police fired blank rounds at protesters who defied a curfew to demonstrate against contentious new citizenship legislation. The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), passed by the upper house on Wednesday, allows for the fast-tracking of citizenship applications from religious […]
Flanked by more than 2,000 oarsmen rowing to a steady drumbeat, Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn travelled down Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river as part of a 52-barge flotilla on Thursday, marking the final event of his coronation. The flotilla comes seven months after the monarch was crowned in an elaborate three-day affair that involved sacred bathing […]
by Marty Melville New Zealand’s military will embark on a risky dawn mission to retrieve eight bodies from the still-active White Island volcano, officials said Thursday, as pressure from distraught victims’ families mounted. Teams will move in “shortly after first light” on Friday, deputy police commissioner Mike Clement said, despite volcanologists warning that the chances […]
Hundreds of mourners attended a memorial service on Thursday for a Hong Kong student whose death led to some of the most violent clashes in six months of democracy protests. Alex Chow, 22, died last month from head injuries sustained during a fall inside a multi-storey carpark where police and protesters were clashing. Although the […]
An international panel of experts hired to advise Hong Kong on the police response to huge pro-democracy protests announced Wednesday they were quitting, saying the watchdog was not fit for purpose “in a society that values freedoms and rights”. The group’s damning conclusion is a blow to Hong Kong’s government, which has insisted its Independent […]
Canadian leader Justin Trudeau has been rebuked for his handling of a simmering dispute with China, with lawmakers voting against his government to set up a committee examining relations with Beijing. Diplomatic relations between Canada and China hit rock bottom after last year’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Hangzhou in Vancouver. Former diplomat Michael Kovrig […]
by Sebastian SMITH with Brendan SMIALOWSKI in Hershey, Pennsylvania For a man on the brink of becoming only the third US president to be impeached, Donald Trump sure sounds confident. “You’re so lucky I became your president,” he boomed to cheering supporters late Tuesday in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “A regular president would have been under the […]
Forest fires that raged across Indonesia dented Southeast Asia’s biggest economy to the tune of some $5.2 billion, the World Bank said Wednesday, not including the health impacts from toxic haze that sent air quality plummeting. The fires are an annual problem but this year was the worst since 2015 due to dry weather, with […]
