Stories from 19 August 2021
Russian authorities declare independent election monitor Golos a “foreign agent”
Golos has vowed to continue training Russian citizens as observers and commissioners at polling stations, and said it believes independent citizen observation is key to ensuring a transparent election.
Russia blames Azerbaijan for violating ceasefire
The Russian Ministry of Defence accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh as tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to rise.
The Chinese government drives support among ambassadors of Muslim countries for the Uyghur genocide
Ignoring data collected over the years by activists and testimonies by former inmates of Xinjiang "re-education camps," ambassadors from Muslim countries peddled the official Chinese line during a staged interview.
France's regional languages, patois, dialects: what was that again?
In that sense, the so-called "regional" languages area also minority languages in terms of their number of speakers, and even 'minoritised' by the fact of their historical marginalisation.
An eight-year-old boy is the youngest person ever accused of blasphemy in Pakistan’s history
An eight-year-old Hindu boy has become the youngest person ever to be charged under Pakistan's blasphemy laws after he intentionally urinated in an Islamic religious school library.
After Dutch Literary Prize winner says Suriname ‘needed’ former president Bouterse, organisers cancel her award ceremony
In 2019, Dési Bouterse, who first came to power in a coup, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was convicted for the execution 15 dissidents in 1982.