Rights groups, British MPs call for access to Saudi detainees
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Friday called on Saudi Arabia to allow independent monitors to meet detainees, including women’s rights activists who were allegedly tortured and prominent figures held in an anti-corruption campaign.
Back to the streets: Venezuelan protests against Maduro draw new crowd
Andrea Pacheco, a 30-year-old social activist, did not join mass protests in 2017 aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Pacheco, a supporter of the ruling Chavismo movement since she was young, still had not completely lost faith.
Germany says Venezuela’s president Maduro has ‘no legitimacy’
The German government on Thursday called for democratic new elections in Venezuela, joining forces with the United States in saying it stood with the opposition-controlled National Assembly, not Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
U.S. to begin returning asylum seekers to Mexico on Friday
The United States will return the first group of migrants seeking U.S. asylum to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, a Mexican government spokesman said on Thursday.
‘Fear’ and ‘favor’ chill newsroom at storied Japanese paper
(This January 25 story corrects to specify the three goals cited by Japan Times management for the style change in the December meeting and to revise the description of management’s expectations for the relationship to advertising revenue.)
U.N. to replace head of Yemen truce monitoring mission: diplomats
The head of a United Nations mission tasked with overseeing a peace deal in Yemen’s Hodeidah port city plans to step down next month and will be replaced with a Danish official, U.N. diplomats said on Thursday.
U.S. trial witness says he watched ‘El Chapo’ murder three people
A former bodyguard for accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman testified at Guzman’s U.S. trial on Thursday that he watched his boss personally carry out three gruesome murders of rival drug cartel members.
Brazil’s first openly gay congressman quits seat due to threats
Jean Wyllys, Brazil’s first openly gay congressman, said on Thursday he will not serve a new term for which he was re-elected due to death threats and he now plans to live abroad.
Greek police fire teargas at Macedonia name protesters
Greek police fired teargas to disperse crowds gathered outside parliament on Thursday to protest against a deal over the name of neighboring Macedonia, as an at times angry parliamentary debate spilled into a third day.
With Venezuela convulsed by crisis, Trump’s hawks take dramatic turn
When U.S. national security adviser John Bolton branded Venezuela as part of a hemispheric “troika of tyranny” in a speech in November, the Trump administration was still struggling to decide how far it would go in confronting the country’s socialist …
