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Gay US couple to be deported after calling Bali 'queer friendly'
Denpasar (Indonesia) (AFP) - A gay American couple is being deported from Bali after viral tweets that called the Indonesian resort island "queer friendly". The firestorm started when Kristen Gray tweeted over the weekend that she was enjoying "an elevated lifestyle at a much lower cost of living" after moving to the island from Los Angeles with her girlfriend. Praising the benefits of Bali, she said it was "queer friendly" and home to a "black in Bali community". She also promoted an e-book she was selling that told people how to bypass strict regulations barring foreigners from visiting duri...
AFP
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US to seize all Xinjiang tomato, cotton imports
Washington (AFP) - The United States will seize all imports of tomato and cotton products from China's Xinjiang region due to the use of forced labor, the Customs and Border protection agency announced Wednesday. CBP issued a "withhold release order" on those imports "based on information that reasonably indicates the use of detainee or prison labor and situations of forced labor," it said. It was the latest in a series of withhold release orders issued on products originating in China's huge far-west region, where the government has forced more than one million ethnic Uighur Muslims and othe...
AFP
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China blasts Britain at UN over criticism of Uighur treatment
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - China's ambassador to the UN warned Britain on Tuesday not to interfere in its affairs, after a British minister criticized Beijing's treatment of its Uighur minority during a Security Council meeting. Zhang Jun slammed what he termed a baseless "political attack" after the speech at the Security Council from British government minister James Cleverly, which targeted alleged human rights violations against Uighurs and other minorities in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. China's pushback also came after London earlier on Tuesday accused Beijing of abu...
AFP
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US voices disgust at China boast of Uighur population control
Washington (AFP) - A US official voiced disgust Friday after China's embassy took to social media to laud how women of the mostly Muslim Uighur community were no longer "baby-making machines." "Appalled and disgusted at lies" of the Chinese embassy, tweeted Sam Brownback, the US envoy on international religious freedom. "Coercive population control is not reproductive health care. (Uighur) women deserve to enjoy their religious freedom and unalienable rights with dignity to make their own choices." China's embassy on Thursday promoted a study in state-run media that said that the birth rate de...
AFP
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Neil Young sells 50 percent stake in his music
New York (AFP) - Neil Young is the latest high-profile musician to cash in on his song rights, selling a 50 percent stake in his music to British investment company Hipgnosis. The company said it acquired half of Young's global copyright and income interests of his catalog, which includes 1,180 songs. Hipgnosis did not disclose terms of the deal. The writer of hits including "Heart of Gold", "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Cowgirl in the Sand," Young has remained famously guarded and outspoken against the commercialization of music. Merck Mercuriadis, founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, ...
AFP
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US, EU urge release of Wuhan citizen journalist
Washington (AFP) - The United States and European Union on Tuesday demanded that China release a citizen journalist jailed for reports from Wuhan, with top US diplomat Mike Pompeo accusing Beijing of covering up Covid-19. Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer in custody since May, was Monday handed four years in prison over her early online accounts that provided a rare unvarnished glimpse of the city where the mysterious respiratory illness was first detected a year ago. Pompeo in a statement called on China to "release her immediately and unconditionally." "The Chinese Communist Party has shown once a...
AFP
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US Muslims press Organization of Islamic Cooperation on China
Washington (AFP) - US Muslim groups pleaded Thursday for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to speak out on China's mass incarceration of Uighurs, accusing the global body of abetting what some described as genocide. The OIC consists of 57 Muslim-majority nations and frequently takes up cases in which it believes Muslims are mistreated, criticizing Israel and, at Pakistan's behest, India. But the group headquartered in Saudi Arabia has not voiced alarm over China's western region of Xinjiang, where rights groups say that more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are ...
AFP
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Column slamming Jill Biden's 'Dr' title sparks anger in US
Washington (AFP) - A Wall Street Journal opinion piece criticizing incoming first lady Jill Biden's use of the title "Dr" because she holds a doctorate in education sciences, rather than a medical degree, has caused widespread outrage in the US, including from predecessor Michelle Obama. The Journal article, published Saturday, has been panned for its attack on Biden, who earned her EdD in 2007 and plans to keep teaching during her husband President-elect Joe Biden's time in office. Column author Joseph Epstein was accused of patronizing Biden when he referred to her as "kiddo" and suggested h...
AFP
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Gay rights progress, but same-sex relations still a crime in 69 states: report
Geneva (AFP) - Despite significant progress on gay rights around the world, dozens of countries still criminalise consensual same-sex activity, including six where being gay is punishable by death, campaigners said Tuesday. In a fresh report, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) found "considerable progress" in legal protections for LGBTI people worldwide. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has created significant additional challenges for LGBTI and other minority communities, "positive developments have taken place," the organisation said. But...
AFP
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US hits Chechen leader, Yemenis, Haitians with sanctions
Washington (AFP) - The United States expanded sanctions on Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and added Haitians, Yemenis and others to its blacklist Thursday to mark International Human Rights Day. The US Treasury bolstered its efforts to punish Kadyrov for human rights violations after placing him and his family on sanctions lists in December 2017 and July 2020. In a new designation under the US Global Magnitsky sanctions law, the Treasury said Kadyrov was the leader of the Kadyrovtsy, and organization it said engaged in serious human rights abuses. "Kadyrov and the forces he commands, commonly k...
AFP
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