CANBERRA, Australia — China has called certain Australian politicians troublemakers and urged them to “shake off the Cold War mentality” amid fierce tensions between the two nations. It comes after Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo declared the world’s “drums of war” were beating and that Australia must prepare for conflict in the region. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian was asked about Pezzullo’s remarks in a press conference on April 28 and he gave a pointed response. “Some individual politicians in Australia, out of their selfish interests, are keen to make statements that incite confrontation and hype up threat of war, which…
Author: zenger.news
KOLKATA, India — Joshimuddin, a 53-year-old daily wager from India’s eastern state of West Bengal, was denied the body of his 23-year-old son Nur Mohammed Mian who was allegedly shot by India’s Border Security Force last winter. “The police and the Border Security Force did not entertain me and kept ignoring me,” Joshimuddin told Zenger News. “We received the body after four days.” Mian had gone to visit a mela (carnival) with his friends on Dec. 17, 2020. He was found half-submerged in a remote bank of the river Ganga, which separates India and Bangladesh. “When my son did not return, I feared…
NEW DELHI — “We had to wait for four hours to cremate my father-in-law,” Nidhi Deveshwar told Zenger News. “There was no space, and we were asked to come the next day. Bhiwadi is not even that big of a city, yet crematoriums are full.” Mass burning funeral pyres of patients who died of the Covid-19 coronavirus disease at a crematorium in New Delhi, India. (Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images)Bhiwadi in India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan is spread across 300 square kilometers (115 square miles) and is home to 200,000 people. But the city is running out of space to burn or bury…
LAHORE, Pakistan — At least five people were killed and 12 injured in a car bombing targeting the most luxurious hotel in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s volatile province of Balochistan, on April 22. The Tehrik–i-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Serena Hotel, where the Chinese ambassador Nong Rong was staying. China was quick to condemn the bombing. The Chinese embassy offered “condolences to the unfortunate victims and sympathy to the injured” in a statement. While the ambassador wasn’t present at the hotel at the time of the attack, security officials fear he might have been the target. Balochistan, a hub of…
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Marie Nyabigira is a worried mother. For nearly two years now, she has not seen her 27-year-old son, Ramera. He went out to work as a casual laborer on a farm near Mtendeli refugee camp in Kigoma, northwest Tanzania, on the morning of June 15, 2019, but never came back home. “I remember it was a Saturday,” she told Zenger News. “He went out to work with his three friends, and none returned that evening. On Sunday, his friends were found in Mtendeli police station, but my son was not there. “The police officers at the…
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya is the latest African country to reject advice by the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to destroy expired Covid-19 vaccines amidst a biting shortage of doses in the continent. Kenya, which has inoculated more than one million people since it received its first batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on March 6, said no expired doses would be administered in the country. “Our priority is the health and safety of all Kenyans who receive the free jab,” said Willis Solomon Akhwale, the chairperson of the National Taskforce on Vaccine Deployment and…
CANBERRA, Australia — Lawyers defending a refugee advocate being sued by Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton over a tweet labeling him a “rape apologist” said the politician’s use of defamation law is a “real concern”. Shane Bazzi posted the statement from his legal team on Twitter on April 27 after Dutton followed through on an earlier threat to sue a social media user. Bazzi’s earlier tweet about the minister came after several of his reported statements that would undoubtedly provoke different opinions said his defense. “A robust and vibrant democracy like ours should cultivate and encourage a diverse array of…
HOBART, Australia — Australian state Tasmania’s ailing health system and reports of chronic understaffing are in the spotlight ahead of the state election this weekend. The Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) has been at its highest escalation level since April 26, with the facility’s emergency department at capacity. “We’ve got a government that continues to fail to address the crisis in the health system,” said Labor opposition leader Rebecca White on April 28. “It is not normal to have hospitals at escalation level four.” (From left) Tasmanian Shadow Health Minister Bastian Seidel, Tasmanian Labor Leader Rebecca White and Federal Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler…
SYDNEY, Australia — With just two weeks to go until Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hands down the Australian budget, there is a growing wish list for what it should contain. But at this stage, a lot of the treasurer’s own priorities would have been fulfilled. A budget webinar conducted by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association called on the treasurer to look into the long-term with the economy now in recovery. Investment initiatives, and productivity and tax reform were seen as essential. The association’s chief executive Andrew McConville said the sort of investments in last year’s budget was quite short-term…
SYDNEY, Australia — Sexual harassment and bullying policies for the South-eastern Australian state of New South Wales government ministers’ offices will be overhauled after a review found they were ineffective and unclear. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on April 28 she would accept all 13 recommendations made by former sex discrimination commissioner Pru Goward, including the development of a new “respectful workplace policy.” Berejiklian appointed Goward in February 2021 to evaluate the way complaints about harassment, bullying, and sexual misconduct in her ministers’ offices were handled after the fallout from the handling of a rape complaint by a former federal Liberal…