U.S. withholds aid to Philippines after Duterte boasts of looking for people to kill

Japan Times

/

AP

The United States said Thursday it is withholding a major aid package to the Philippines and is deeply troubled by a boast from the nation’s leader that he used to drive around looking for criminals to kill.

It was the latest sign of strain in U.S.-Philippine relations since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a crackdown on illegal drugs has led to thousands of deaths in police gunbattles. Tiếp tục đọc “U.S. withholds aid to Philippines after Duterte boasts of looking for people to kill” →

Myanmar ‘Callous’ Toward Anti-Rohingya Violence, U.N. Says

Myanmar police officers patroled along the border fence between Myanmar and Bangladesh in Maungdaw, Rakhine State, Myanmar, in October. Credit Thein Zaw/Associated Press

GENEVA — The top human rights official for the United Nations condemned the Myanmar government’s handling of violence in Muslim areas bordering Bangladesh on Friday, saying it risked creating a breeding ground for violent extremism.

Continue reading on  New York Times

‘I Cannot Lie,’ Rodrigo Duterte Says, Confirming He Did Kill People as Mayor

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on Friday in Singapore. Officials loyal to Mr. Duterte have tried to soften his boasts of having killed people, saying he has a tendency to exaggerate. Credit Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines confirmed on Friday that he had personally pulled the trigger and killed three people as mayor of Davao City, doubling down on boastful comments he made this week, which loyalists had tried to deny.

Conitnue reading on New York  Times

Bangladesh Is Vanishing The Opposition

Bangladesh Is Vanishing The Opposition

When the plainclothes police came for Mir Ahmad bin Quasem, they didn’t even give him time to put on his shoes. According to his wife, at around 11 p.m. on Aug. 9, the young lawyer was dragged down the steps of their first-floor apartment in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, and into an unmarked van. Their two young daughters ran behind, screaming. Tiếp tục đọc “Bangladesh Is Vanishing The Opposition” →

Philippine lawmakers file criminal case against Duterte critic

Reuters Dec 13, 2016 Japan Times

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies in Congress on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint against a senator who has been an outspoken critic of a surge of extrajudicial killings unleashed by the president’s campaign against drugs. Tiếp tục đọc “Philippine lawmakers file criminal case against Duterte critic” →

Kỳ 8: Khi đàn ông viết sử

Đăng lúc: 13.08.2016 11:21

Hai bà Trưng trên tranh dân gian

MTG –   Ở Trung Quốc cũng như ở Việt Nam, lịch sử là do đàn ông viết. Hễ có một phụ nữ nào “nảy nòi” làm nên đại sự thì bị các ông tìm mọi cách bêu riếu cho lên bờ xuống ruộng ngay, trừ một số trường hợp đặc biệt như Hai Bà Trưng hay Bà Triệu ở Việt Nam.

Tiếp tục đọc “Kỳ 8: Khi đàn ông viết sử” →

Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte says he personally killed people

AFP-JIJI Japan Times Dec 14, 2016

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police.

Duterte made the comments in a speech to businessmen on Monday night as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, in which police and unknown assailants have killed thousands of people since he became president on June 30. Tiếp tục đọc “Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte says he personally killed people” →

Killings of land rights activists tripled in 2016

ALJAZEERA Dec. 13, 2016

Roughly 16 land rights advocates have been killed each month from January through November.

Mapuche Indian activists demand their indigenous rights and land for their communities in Santiago, Chile [Reuters]

The battle over land and resources turned bloodier in the past year with treble the number of land rights defenders killed, according to a human rights group that fears that the violence will get even worse. Tiếp tục đọc “Killings of land rights activists tripled in 2016” →

‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’

YOU HEAR A MURDER SCENE before you see it: The desperate cries of a new widow. The piercing sirens of approaching police cars. The thud, thud, thud of the rain drumming on the pavement of a Manila alleyway — and on the back of Romeo Torres Fontanilla.

Tiếp tục đọc “‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’” →

Manila Catholic churches pray executions not reinstated

ALJAZEERA

Catholic Churches across Manila signal opposition to legislative move to bring back executions on at least 20 crimes.

Catholic nuns protest drug-related extrajudicial killings on International Human Rights Day in Manila on December 10 [Reuters]

Roman Catholic churches in Manila have read a prayer against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s plans to re-impose the death penalty on heinous crimes, including drug-related offences. Tiếp tục đọc “Manila Catholic churches pray executions not reinstated” →

Investigators: Philippine police killed jailed mayor

ALJAZEERA

Probe contradicts President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that imprisoned mayor linked to illegal drugs died in a gun battle.

Rolando Espinosa was mayor of Albuera town in the eastern province of Leyte [File: Mark R Cristiano/EPA]
Rolando Espinosa was mayor of Albuera town in the eastern province of Leyte [File: Mark R Cristiano/EPA]

Philippine police killed a town mayor linked to illegal drugs while he was helpless in a prison cell, justice department investigators alleged.

The National Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday that it filed murder complaints against two dozen police officers and personnel last week after a probe showed they shot dead Mayor Rolando Espinosa and his cellmate Raul Yap in the central province of Leyte in November. Tiếp tục đọc “Investigators: Philippine police killed jailed mayor” →

We Are All Accomplices to the Slaughter of Aleppo

Russia and Syria are guilty of bombing thousands of civilians. The rest of the world is guilty of doing nothing.

We Are All Accomplices to the Slaughter of Aleppo

“If you do not leave these areas urgently, you will be annihilated. … You know that everyone has given up on you. They left you alone to face your doom, and nobody will give you any help.”

These chilling words come from leaflets dropped over the besieged area of Aleppo by Syrian and Russian aircraft, before the final bloody assault on the city. And during the last few days, they have rung truer than anyone in Aleppo, or anywhere else, had dared to imagine. Tiếp tục đọc “We Are All Accomplices to the Slaughter of Aleppo” →

U.S. Push to Halt Genocide in South Sudan Unravels at United Nations

U.S. Push to Halt Genocide in South Sudan Unravels at United Nations

Faced with a dire U.N. warning of a possible genocide in South Sudan, the United States was set this week to finally embrace an arms embargo against the world’s newest country to ratchet down the military might of its warring parties and, potentially, help spare the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire of worsening civil war. Tiếp tục đọc “U.S. Push to Halt Genocide in South Sudan Unravels at United Nations” →

A Malaysian Political Cartoonist on Facing His Fears, and Prison, for Art

The Malaysian political cartoonist who goes by the name Zunar is under investigation. Credit Salvatore Di Nolfi/European Pressphoto Agency

HONG KONG — When protesters disrupted an art exhibition by Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, a political cartoonist, at the George Town Literary Festival in Malaysia on Saturday, he assumed that the police would want his help identifying those responsible.

Instead, said Mr. Zulkiflee, who goes by the name Zunar, he was questioned by the police, detained for a day and informed that he was under investigation for producing cartoons that purportedly defamed Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Tiếp tục đọc “A Malaysian Political Cartoonist on Facing His Fears, and Prison, for Art” →