Huge Blast Kills Yemen Schoolchildren: Daily Brief
Kazakhstan's crackdown on peaceful protesters; Brunei's rights record under review; at least 15 children killed after Houthi-controlled warehouse in Yemen explodes; Brazil's Zika babies are growing up; reports that China is razing mosques in Xinjiang region; what Germans should focus on in European Parliament elections; US President Trump curtails press access to the White House; Sudan's transition hasn't ended abuses in Darfur; and Hungary forces two asylum-seeking families to leave the country...
Authorities in Kazakhstan have detained a man holding up a blank sign, in the latest example of the country's extreme crackdown on public protests. Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said at least four other people have been detained in the past month for expressing their views publicly, even when the messages did not oppose the government. In one case, an artist was charged with “petty hooliganism” after hanging a banner over a highway with a quote from the Constitution. “This was an extreme and absurd example of the extent to which the authorities in Kazakhstan undermine the right to peaceful assembly,” she said.
Brunei will appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council on May 10 as part of its Universal Periodic Review, slated every four years. The review comes shortly after Brunei put into effect a new Sharia penal code that contains punishments including death by stoning, amputation, and whipping. It's an opportunity for countries to ask Brunei tough questions on human rights - and demand answers.
A Houthi-controlled warehouse that stored volatile material near homes and schools caught fire and detonated in Yemen’s capital Sanaa recently, killing at least 15 children and injuring 100 children and adults, an investigation has now confirmed.
Three years after the health crisis first hit Brazil, the country's Zika babies are starting to grow up. But parents say they are facing an uphill battle to get the specialist help their children need.
New evidence has emerged of China's mission to raze mosques of Xinjiang province, where Muslim minorities are being severely repressed.
Voters in Germany preparing to take part in the European Parliament elections later this month should choose candidates that represent Europe-wide values of tolerance, justice and equality as they go to the polls.
A long-standing White House reporter with the Washington Post has had his press pass revoked after a change to the rules as to who can qualify for a pass. The paper says the move is "perfectly in line" with Trump’s banning of certain news organizations from his campaign events and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesn’t like.
Since Omar al-Bashir was ousted as Sudan’s president last month, thousands of protesters have continued to hold vigil on the streets of Khartoum while talks take place to form a new government. By most accounts, government security forces have treated the protesters fairly, but this hasn’t been the case in Sudan’s restive Darfur region.
And finally, Hungary’s actions to force two asylum-seeking Afghan families to leave the country under duress is "deeply shocking" and a flagrant violation of international and EU law, the UN Refugee Agency has said.