Residents of China’s Shandong Left Homeless...

While government land grabs in rural areas have sparked mass unrest and, rarely, organized resistance across China for decades, the Shandong program of “village mergers” was far more ambitious in scope, and had been packaged as a bid to improve the lives of farming communities in a total revamp of rural areas.

The Controversial Return of Shamima Begum

On September 24, 2014, the United Nations Security Council, expressing grave concern about the increasing threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters and by individuals who are recruited by the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS); the Al-Nusrah Front; and other cells, unanimously adopted Resolution No. 2178 of 2014 condemning such groups and individuals. The Resolution was adopted under chapter VII of the UN Charter and is binding on the Member States

Afghan Women Robotics Team Makes COVID-19...

An all-female group of robotics students in the Afghan city of Herat has developed a prototype ventilator for COVID-19 patients based on a design by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Afghan Robotics Team hopes to get approval from the authorities to produce the machines

Myanmar’s Kachin Army Vows Investigation, Compensation...

The KIA, which is battling Myanmar government forces for greater autonomy in Kachin State, has admitted its troops killed the two boys and promised to apologize and compensate their families, but denied that the killings were ordered by senior commanders. Family members learned of the killings only 16 days later

Kyrgyzstan: Viral videos Spark Fresh Conversation...

One, which surfaced last week, shows an assault on a pair of Pakistani medical volunteers by a group of Kyrgyz men. Another was self-filmed by a group of Kyrgyz expatriates in Russia, who warn in the footage they will beat up any Kyrgyz women who date men of other ethnicities.

Young Nigerians Take on Coronavirus Through...

A UNICEF-sponsored COVID-19 Innovation Challenge saw some 80,000 young Nigerians submit community-based solutions to the coronavirus pandemic. The award-winning entries, from Nigerians aged 14 to 35, included one man who pitched the use of solar panels to create a sustainable water supply system to help combat the virus

Security Council Members Hold Open Videoconference...

Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, briefs the open videoconference with Security Council members in connection with the Middle East

Scholar Hits Out at China’s ‘Totalitarian’...

Independent journalist Gao Yu said the allegations of “seeking out prostitutes” were irrelevant, and that Xu is being targeted for his critical writings

UN Security Council Members Meet on...

Xinjiang Capital Urumqi on Lockdown Amidst...

According to official figures, the city of 3.5 million has recorded only six symptomatic cases of COVID-19—the disease caused by the coronavirus—and 11 asymptomatic cases, but official media reports said nearly 90 percent of flights into and out of the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport were cancelled and public transportation was shut down Friday as part of strict measures to contain the spread of the virus