Terrorism Watch

AUSTRIA will follow the United States and Hungary in pulling out of a United Nations migration pact over concerns it will blur the line between legal and illegal migration, the country’s right-wing government said on Wednesday. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved in July by all 193 member nations except the United States, which backed out last year. Hungary's right-wing government  has since said it will not sign the final document at a ceremony in Morocco in December.   Poland, which has also clashed with Brussels by resisting national quotas for asylum seekers, is also considering withdrawing its support. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is an immigration hard-liner who rules in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, which was launched in 1956 by former Nazi and SS Officer Anton Reinthaller. Speaking at a time when the US news agenda is dominated by the so-called migrant caravan heading for the border with Mexico, which has prompte

ow is the time to act on China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang. China’s efforts to destroy the ethnic Uighur identity through  mass internment camps and militarised surveillance  must be raised loudly and clearly condemned during a UN human rights review of China on Tuesday in Geneva. Countries afraid of standing up to  China  on their own can speak out on 6 November on a UN platform, known as the universal periodic review (UPR), where all countries equally take turns to be scrutinised by their peers about every four years. The UPR tests UN member states’ commitment to promoting and protecting human rights, but more pragmatically, it gives governments a shield to protect themselves when speaking up. These countries are at less risk of China angrily cutting economic or political ties if they criticise its policies in Xinjiang as a part of a UN process. As peers, their opinion carries more weight with the Chinese government than the NGOs, journalists, and academics who have been

A COURT has handed down a stunning ruling about the Prophet Muhammad. And it proves free speech is dead and buried. OF ALL the sounds in the world there is none so small and sorrowful as the dying of free speech. Free speech is typically loud and clamorous and more often wrong than it is right. It is often both unpleasant and unhelpful and tested far more by the ignorant than the wise. And yet it is the most vital tool any society can hold, because it is the only thing that can fix that society when it his heading in the wrong direction. Long before the Nazis waged war on humanity they waged war on free speech. Before they burned bodies they burned books. That apex of evil was eventually brought down by the sacrifice of tens of millions of lives. But what happens when freedom of expression dies not in a town square execution but by one of a thousand cuts? What happens when it goes out with a whimper instead of a bang? That chilling question was quietly answered last week,

Cairo:  Gunmen killed at least seven Christians in an attack on a bus near a Coptic monastery in Egypt on Friday, authorities said - the most serious assault on the minority in more than a year. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but militants linked to Islamic State have regularly targeted Christians. The attackers struck close to Saint Samuel the Confessor monastery in Minya, 260 km (160 miles) up the River Nile from Cairo, the Archbishop of Minya, Anba Makarious, told Reuters. The attack took place very close to the spot where gunmen killed 28 Christians in a similar assault in May 2017. "Terrorists opened fire on a tour bus from Sohag province, heading back from the ... monastery," the archbishop said. He had earlier said the bus was approaching the monastery. He said seven people were killed and 14 were wounded. State news agency MENA, citing a security source, put the number of injured at seven and said the bus was transporting Christians

“She was an innocent, loving and caring ordinary woman,” said Bibi’s brother-in-law, Joseph Nadeem. “She and her husband both were farm workers. They had five kids and a happy life.” Then, a dispute over a cup of water with fellow field laborers led to Bibi being sentenced to death for blasphemy against Islam. She spent eight years on death row before Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned her conviction this week and ordered her freed. Bibi’s ordeal has become symbolic of the difficulties that Pakistan’s tiny Christian population, only 2.6 percent of the country of 208 million, faces along with other religious minorities as hard-line Islamist movements grow stronger. Her family is now in hiding for fear of attacks by Islamists angry at the ruling, and still waiting to be reunited with Bibi “You know my two youngest daughters were below age of 10 when their mother went away ... They don’t remember spending much time with her,” Bibi’s husband, Ashiq Masih, told Reuters by telephone

A gunman killed two people and wounded five others at a yoga studio in Florida’s capital before killing himself, officials said. Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo told reporters on Friday night that the man shot six people and pistol-whipped another after walking into the studio, which is part of a small Tallahassee shopping centre. The suspect fatally shot himself, Mr DeLeo said. Authorities have not identified the shooter or the victims. The conditions of the other victims are unclear. Mr DeLeo said police are asking for anyone who saw something unusual around the time of the shooting to contact police. He said the shooter acted alone and authorities are investigating possible motives. He declined to say what kind of gun the shooter had. “We’re all very saddened and shocked by the events that occurred, but it’s important that people understand that there is no immediate threat outside of what has already occurred this evening,” Mr DeLeo said. Melissa Hutchinson said

UN warns heightening of hostilities following US ceasefire calls will have devastating impact on severely malnourished children Fighting has intensified around the largest hospital operating in the port city of Hodeidah, preventing access to severely malnourished and vulnerable children, the UN’s children’s agency has warned. The escalation in conflict follows US calls for a ceasefire and suggestions that  peace talks  may be held in Sweden. On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had attacked Sana’a international airport and an adjoining airbase being used by Houthi insurgents. “It’s very clear that, despite the call for talks, and despite the call for an agreement on the cessation of hostilities in the next 30 days, the parties are intensifying the fighting – unfortunately, with an incredible impact on children,” said Geert Cappelaere, Unicef’s regional director for the Middle East and north Africa, speaking from Sana’a. Get Society Weekly: our newsletter for p