Month: April 2021

A Chinese law firm linked to the defense of one of 12 pro-democracy activists who allegedly attempted to flee Hong Kong for Taiwan has been ordered to disband, a development that reflects tightening constraints on rights lawyers in China. Human rights lawyer Ren Quanniu, who represented one of the so-called Hong Kong 12, confirmed to VOA …

Georgia overhauled a Civil War-era law Wednesday that allowed residents to arrest anyone they suspected of committing a crime — a “citizen’s arrest” law invoked by the defense of the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery last year. The Arbery case garnered international outrage with civil rights activists saying it marked yet another example of a targeted attack on a Black man. The Georgia General …

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, continues for a third day in the U.S. state of Minnesota as more witnesses to Floyd’s final moments take the stand. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has this report. … From: BoorSee

The famous pink cherry blossoms of Kyoto reached full bloom this year on March 26, the earliest date in the 12 centuries since records began, according to a Japanese university.The earlier flowering indicates climate change, said Yasuyuki Aono, a professor of environmental science at Osaka Prefectural University, who has compiled a database of records of …

A team of nine South African students and young professionals won a Cape Town competition to create a zero-carbon home, just ahead of Earth Day on April 22.Experts say the house design, which incorporates solar power, passive cooling, rainwater harvesting and a food garden, could help reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.The first My Clean Green Home — a local building …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday, affirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity “in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” the State Department said in a statement.   Ukraine and Russia have been at loggerheads since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and …

President Joe Biden’s plan announced Wednesday to plow $2 trillion into an eight-year overhaul of U.S. infrastructure was met with only limited carping from many voices normally critical of government spending. Meanwhile, economists expressed broad agreement that the plan, as proposed, would power long-run economic growth.It is certainly possible that pumping that much money into …

The U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar warned Wednesday that “a bloodbath is imminent” and there is an increasing “possibility of civil war” in the country if civilian rule is not restored. “I appeal to this council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve, …

Judges at International Criminal Court in The Hague have upheld the acquittal of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and youth minister Charles Ble Goude, paving the way for both to return home.  The two had been accused of instigating postelection violence, and observers said there were concerns that their return could again destabilize Ivory Coast, …

A man suspected of assaulting an Asian woman in New York has been arrested after surveillance video of the attack drew condemnation. Police said Brandon Elliot, 38, is the man in the video assaulting the woman in midtown Manhattan on Monday. They said Elliot was living at a hotel that doubles as a homeless shelter …

A string of deadly road attacks in South Sudan, including one on a governor’s convoy returning from the scene of an earlier attack, have left nearly 30 people dead.   Officials in Eastern Equatoria state say gunmen killed a bodyguard of Governor Louis Lobong Lojore and a woman on Monday, a day after armed youths …

Hong Kong’s legislature will undergo major changes to its format and structure as a result of Beijing’s approval of a political shakeup that will expand its control over the semiautonomous city.China’s National People’s Congress, the Communist Party’s rubber-stamp legislative body, passed a resolution earlier this month proposing the overhaul, which would make it harder for …