Latest News
Russian and Philippines journalists win 2021 Nobel Peace Prize
Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa, journalists whose work has angered the rulers of the Philippines and Russia, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, an award the committee said was an endorsement of free speech rights under threat worldwide.
The two were awarded "for their courageous fight for freedom of expression" in their countries, Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told a news conference.
"At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions," she added.
"Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda."
Muratov is editor-in-chief of Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has defied the Kremlin under President Vladimir Putin with probes into wrongdoing and corruption, and extensively covered the conflict in Ukraine.
When Reuters interviewed him six years ago, his office was across the hall from portraits of six Novaya Gazeta journalists killed since 2001, including Anna Politkovskaya, known for her fearless reporting on Russia's wars in Chechnya, who was shot dead in her stairwell on Putin’s birthday in 2006.
Muratov, 59, is the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev -- who himself helped set up Novaya Gazeta with the money he received from winning the award in 1990.
Ressa, 58, is the first Nobel Peace laureate from the Philippines. She heads Rappler, a digital media company which she co-founded in 2012, and which has grown prominent through investigative reporting, including into large scale killings during a police campaign against drugs.
"Fighting a government is crazy: I didn’t set out to do it, but it became necessary in order to do my job," she wrote in the Financial Times in December.
"I was arrested for being a journalist — for publishing truthful articles unpalatable to those in power — but this has only served to unshackle me, to help me understand what was happening and to chart the path ahead."
Latest News
Saudi Arabia executed 101 people, including three Afghans this year
The European-Saudi Human Rights Organization in Berlin condemned the executions and said this was three times higher then last year
Saudi Arabia has executed 101 foreign nationals this year, including three Afghan citizens.
AFP reported that 21 Pakistanis, 20 Yemenis, 14 Syrians, 10 Nigerians, nine Egyptians, eight Jordanians, seven Ethiopians, three Sudanese, three Indians, three Afghans and one Sri Lankan, one Eritrean and one Filipino.
The European-Saudi Human Rights Organization in Berlin condemned the executions and said this was three times higher then last year.
The organization’s legal director stated: “This is the largest number of foreign nationals executed in a single year. Saudi Arabia has never executed 100 foreign nationals in one year before.”
Amnesty International meanwhile stated that Saudi Arabia was the third highest country for the number of executions in 2023, after China and Iran.
Latest News
Canada sent 19 failed asylum seekers back to Afghanistan last year
Canada's border guards sent 19 rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the country last year despite Otawa’s Temporary Suspension of Removals (TSR) that has been in place for Afghan nationals since 1994.
CBC reported that none of the 19 Afghans had their cases rejected on the basis of safety or security risks. The border service did not however reveal further details.
The border agency said a TSR is meant to "halt removals to a country or place when general conditions, such as armed conflict or an environmental disaster, pose a risk to the entire civilian population."
It also said individuals who were found inadmissible "on grounds of criminality, serious criminality, international or human rights violations, organized crime, or security" can be removed despite a TSR, CBC reported.
The CBSA said the 19 who failed their refugee claims left Canada "voluntarily," and that the Afghans were "aware that they benefit from a stay of removal due to the Temporary Suspension of Removal on Afghanistan but requested to have their removal order enforced despite the legislative stay.
"In other words, the individual was advised that they can remain in Canada until the TSR is lifted and they opted to return to Afghanistan."
Canada has welcomed some 54,000 Afghans since August 2021, surpassing a commitment it made to bring in 40,000 in 2021.
Latest News
Trump team compiling list of military officers responsible for US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Trump has on a number of occasions condemned the withdrawal as a “humiliation” and “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”
Citing a US official and a person familiar with the plan, NBC stated a commission would then gather information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out, and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason.
-
World5 days ago
Biden is sending aid to help Ukraine keep fighting next year, Blinken says
-
Tahawol5 days ago
Tahawol: NATO’s concern over proximity of Russia & North Korea discussed
-
Latest News5 days ago
IEA committed to freedom of media within Islamic principles: Mujahid
-
Latest News5 days ago
IEA prioritizing poverty reduction and job opportunities, says deputy PM
-
5 days ago
AWCC customer in Kandahar wins 1 million AFN in ‘lucky lottery’
-
Latest News5 days ago
IEA cuts mobile phone and internet rates
-
Latest News4 days ago
Khalilzad: Turning our back on Afghanistan would not be wise
-
World5 days ago
China’s largest air show off to flying start with fighter jets and attack drones