Latest Political and civil unrest News
Chinese users play cat-and-mouse with censors amid protests
HONG KONG (AP) — Videos of hundreds protesting in Shanghai started to appear on WeChat Saturday night. Showing chants about removing COVID-19 restrictions and demanding freedom, they would only stay up for only minutes before being censored. Elliot Wang, a 26-year-old in Beijing,...
Analysis: Under Jiang, China projected a more open image
He grinned, and — just eight years after the crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square — the spectacle of China's ruler beaming and glad-handing people in the very heart of capitalism seemed at once charming and really, really odd. It was an October morning in 1997...
Hong Kong publisher Lai faces Security Law in delayed trial
HONG KONG (AP) — Jimmy Lai broke into Hong Kong's rambunctious media world 30 years ago armed with the belief that delivering information equates with protecting freedom. Lai's own freedom is at stake as he fights charges of endangering national security as former publisher of his...
Chinese vaccine plans spark hope for end of 'zero COVID'
BEIJING (AP) — A campaign to vaccinate the elderly has sparked hopes China might roll back severe anti-virus controls that prompted protesters to demand President Xi Jinping resign, but the country faces daunting hurdles and up to a year of hard work before “zero COVID” can end. ...
Sedition trial win bolsters Justice Dept. in Jan. 6 probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another leader in the far-right extremist group show that jurors are willing to hold accountable not just the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but those who schemed to subvert...
Minneapolis settles with 12 hurt in George Floyd protests
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The city of Minneapolis has reached a $600,000 settlement with 12 protesters who were injured during demonstrations after the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday. The agreement, which also includes...
Jiang Zemin, who guided China's economic rise, dies
BEIJING (AP) — Jiang Zemin, who led China out of isolation after the army crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989 and supported economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth, died Wednesday. He was 96. Jiang, who was president for a decade until 2003...
Imprisoned Belarusian activist undergoes surgery
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A prominent member of the Belarusian opposition serving an 11-year prison sentence for helping stage anti-government protests had undergone an undisclosed surgical procedure, her father said Wednesday. Alexander Kolesnikov said his daughter, Maria...
South Africans protest pending release of Hani's killer
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — More than a thousand people gathered outside the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in South Africa on Wednesday to protest against the pending release of Janusz Walus, the convicted killer of anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani. Members of the ruling African...
China vows crackdown on 'hostile forces' as public tests Xi
BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,” following the largest street demonstrations in decades by citizens fed up with strict anti-virus restrictions. A massive show of force by the...
