Latest International agreements News

Human rights group urges Thailand to stop forcing dissidents to return home

May. 16, 2024 23:03 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A leading international human rights organization on Thursday urged the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents who fled to Thailand for safety to return to authoritarian home countries, where they may face torture, persecution or death. In a new...

UN resolution to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia sparks opposition from Serbs

May. 16, 2024 22:59 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. resolution sponsored by Germany and Rwanda to establish an annual day to commemorate the 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs has sparked protests and a strong lobbying campaign against its adoption by Serbia’s president and the Bosnian...

South Africa urges UN's top court to order cease-fire in Gaza to shield citizens in Rafah

May. 16, 2024 21:18 PM EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South Africa urged the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to order a cease-fire in Gaza during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel’s military operation in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah. It was the third time the...

The Netherlands veers sharply to the right with a new government dominated by party of Geert Wilders

May. 16, 2024 04:50 AM EDT

THE HAGUE (AP) — Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders and three other party leaders agreed on a coalition deal early Thursday that veers the Netherlands toward the hard right, capping a half year of tumultuous negotiations that still left it unclear who would become prime minister. ...

As countries tighten anti-gay laws, more and more LGBTQ+ migrants seek safety and asylum in Europe

May. 16, 2024 03:37 AM EDT

RIETI, Italy (AP) — Ella Anthony knew it was time to leave her native Nigeria when she escaped an abusive, forced marriage only to face angry relatives who threatened to turn her in to police because she was gay. Since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled a...

Palestinians recount painful history with war in Gaza as a reminder

May. 15, 2024 21:31 PM EDT

Dawud Assad still has nightmares of the day Jewish militias attacked his village of Deir Yassin outside Jerusalem 76 years ago. Assad, then 16, peered out his front window to see his village ablaze. As his uncles shot back at the militias firing upon them, Assad escaped. But more...

A monarchy reform activist in Thailand dies in detention after a monthslong hunger strike

May. 15, 2024 01:32 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A young activist in Thailand who went on a hunger strike after being jailed for advocating reform of the country’s monarchy system died Tuesday in a prison hospital, officials said. The death sparked fresh calls for reviewing the judicial process that allows political offenders...

Ukraine's first lady and foreign minister visit Russia-friendly Serbia

May. 13, 2024 11:40 AM EDT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made a surprise visit to Russia-friendly Serbia on Monday, together with Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, in a sign of warming relations between the two states. On his first visit to Serbia since the start of...

Israel moves deeper into Rafah and fights Hamas militants regrouping in northern Gaza

May. 12, 2024 23:36 PM EDT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The exodus of Palestinians from Gaza’s last refuge accelerated Sunday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern city of Rafah. Israel also pounded the territory’s devastated north, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the military said it had...

Blinken delivers some of the strongest US public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza

May. 12, 2024 22:08 PM EDT

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday delivered some of the Biden administration’s strongest public criticism yet of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, saying Israeli tactics have meant “a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians” but failed to...