Calls grow in Iran for independent inquiry into protest death toll
Pressure mounts after government said it would publish names of those killed during recent unrestCalls are growing inside Iran for an independent inquiry into the number of people killed during recent protests after the government said it would oversee the publication of the names of the deceased.The highly unusual government move, announced on Thursday, is designed to head off claims that crimes against humanity have been committed and that as many as 30,000 Iranians have been killed. Iran’s official death toll released by the Martyr’s Foundation is 3,117, including members of the security services. Continue reading...
Read Full StoryLatest News
Inside Myanmar’s five-year armed resistance – a photo essay
Five years after the junta’s coup, the civil war devastating Myanmar has reached a turning point. The military is carrying out large-scale counter-offensives across the country to reclaim territory seized by pro-democracy rebels of various ethnic and religious backgroundsIn Tanintharyi, the southernmost region of Myanmar, the local resistance has managed to contain the military. After five years of guerrilla warfare, the revolutionary youth there remain determined to restore democracy through armed struggle.A long, narrow stretch of land at the southern tip of Myanmar, between the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east, Tanintharyi region is one of the areas where the resistance challenges the military’s authority. For decades, the region has been home to an armed rebellion led by the Karen ethnic minority, which operated mainly in the peripheral mountains.Soldiers from the Karen National Union (KNU) inspect the ruins of a Buddhist monastery destroyed by a junta airstrike in Myeik district, Tanintharyi region Continue reading...
Michael Jackson detailed his thoughts on children in previously unheard audio
Late singer saids kids loved his personality and wanted to touch and hug him, and ‘sometimes it got me into trouble’As Michael Jackson saw it, children would become enamored with his personality as well as want to touch and hug him – and “sometimes it [got] me into trouble,” the late US pop superstar says in previously unheard audio recordings contained in a new documentary.The UK’s Wonderhood Studios included the recordings of Jackson voicing those thoughts for a new four-episode documentary series beginning on Wednesday that explores his acquittal on child sexual abuse charges after a 14-week criminal trial near Los Angeles in 2005. Continue reading...
Ex-British army chief calls on ministers to back MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans
Nick Carter says easing controls on MDMA will allow drug to be used as alternative treatment for those with PTSDA former head of the British military is calling for the government to ease restrictions on the party drug MDMA so that it can be tested more cheaply as a treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Sir Nick Carter, who was chief of the defence staff until 2021, said existing regulations meant a single gram of “medical grade” MDMA cost about £10,000 compared with a street price of about £40, inflating the cost of trials. Continue reading...
Private school parents targeted by fraudsters stealing fee payments
Some families have lost up to £10,000 after being duped into sending money to fraudsters’ bank accountsForeign students attending independent schools in the UK are being targeted by fraudsters seeking to intercept their fee payments, according to new research.Some families have lost up to £10,000 after being duped into sending money to the bank account of a criminal, after receiving a fake email from the school bursar. Continue reading...
LIVE: India vs Pakistan – U19 Cricket World Cup 2026
Follow our live build-up, with toss and team news, ahead of the crucial group stage match in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
T. Kumar, Rights Activist Who Was Shaped by Time in Prison, Dies at 76
After being jailed as a resistance organizer for the Tamil minority in his native Sri Lanka, he spoke out against governmental repression worldwide.
A vote for continuity? What to know for Costa Rica’s presidential election
Polls suggest that the candidate close to outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves is likely to triumph in the February 1 vote.
‘It’s not just about surviving’: the Ukrainian frontline city where life goes on under cover
Whether in streets draped in anti-drone nets or deep in urban basements, Kherson residents go about their everyday activities with the constant threat of Russian bombingGalyna Lutsenko, a crisis psychologist, is moving busily among a small group of children seated around a table in a basement in Kherson, unique in being Ukraine’s only leading city almost directly on the frontline with Russian forces – and one where people live with the daily threat of attack.She dangles a plasticine butterfly on a thread over a playhouse on the table. Her own house in the city, she says, was hit by Russian shelling in 2024, injuring her in the leg and stomach. Continue reading...
LIVE: Israel to partially open Rafah in Gaza as dozens killed in attacks
Key Rafah border crossing with Egypt to be reopened after nearly two years for only 'limited movement of people'.