Independent Online News
Reporter reveals she was arrested for breaking a news embargo, and talks about how she survived months in solitary confinement
Australian journalist Cheng Lei spent almost three years in China’s prison system for breaking an embargo by a few minutes, she has revealed in her first interview after returning home to Melbourne last week.… Read the rest
Port in Manaus records lowest water level since 1902, leaving boats stranded and unable to deliver food and water to remote villages
The water level at a major river port in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has hit its lowest point in at least 121 years, as a historic drought upends the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and damages the jungle ecosystem.
Conflict highlights growing gulf with west, as other big developing powers face difficult diplomatic choices
Jason Burke International security correspondent
China and Russia have hardened their positions towards the conflict in Gaza in recent days, as the war between Israel and Hamas aggravates existing geopolitical tensions and underscores the growing gulf between the cold war allies and western powers such as the US, UK and France.… Read the rest
The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) issued an urgent call on Saturday for Israeli Authorities to protect all civilians sheltering in Gaza.
The statement came as the Israeli-imposed deadline for some 1.1 million civilians to leave the northern part of the enclave, ahead of what is expected to be a major advance into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, expired.… Read the rest
UN agencies are appealing for urgent funds to assist the hundreds of thousands affected by deadly earthquakes in western Afghanistan.
The region was struck by two massive earthquakes on Saturday, followed a series of aftershocks, including a major one on Wednesday that flattened several homes spared by the original quake.… Read the rest