Brussels: The European Union has awarded its top human rights prize to the Belarus opposition movement and its leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, for their challenge to President Alexander Lukashenko’s long, hard-line reign.”It is an honour to announce that the women and men of the democratic opposition in Belarus are the 2020 Sakharov Prize laureates,” European Parliament president David Sassoli said.
United Nations: The United States is urging countries that have ratified a UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons to withdraw their support as the pact nears the 50 ratifications needed to trigger its entry into force, which supporters say could happen this week.
Beijing: China on Thursday defended its vaccine research and development capabilities, a day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro cancelled plans to buy a potential COVID-19 vaccine from it with a jibe that the Brazilian people will not be “anyone’s guinea pig”.
Kabul: At least four civilians were killed in their homes by militant rocket fire in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, the country’s Ministry of Defense said. The ministry statement blamed the Taliban for the firing, which it said wounded another 14 civilians and destroyed several houses in the Sharin Tagab district of Faryab province.
Dubai: A Saudi Arabian governmental body on Thursday insisted that executions have been abolished for crimes committed by minors, after Human Rights Watch said earlier this week that Saudi prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a number of young men from the predominantly Shiite eastern region of the kingdom for protest-related crimes they allegedly committed as children.