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Four people, including a 12-year-old boy, have been killed in a shooting in Tartous province, home to a majority Alawite population

The 7.7 magnitude quake on Friday wrought destruction across central areas of the country, including the capitalA devastating earthquake has wrought destruction across central Myanmar, toppling ancient sites, bringing down hospital buildings and collapsing homes.The 7.7 magnitude quake on Friday was followed by a number of aftershocks along the Sagaing fault. It also caused damage in neighbouring Thailand, where a skyscraper under construction collapsed in Bangkok. Continue reading...

University called Dr Joanne Liu, ex-head of Doctors Without Borders, after planning to speak on Gaza and federal cutsThe former international head of Doctors Without Borders says she was left “stunned” after New York University canceled her presentation because some of her slides discussing cuts at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could be viewed as “anti-governmental”.Dr Joanne Liu, a pediatric emergency physician at Sainte-Justine hospital and a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who also served as the former international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), told CTV News last week that she was scheduled on 19 March to give a presentation at her alma mater on challenges in humanitarian crises. Continue reading...

Colombian authorities have released former Medellin Cartel boss Carlos Lehder after a judge ruled that a drug trafficking sentence issued in Colombia against the 75-year-old had expired

Sophie Chandauka claims there is ‘significant correlation’ with drop in funders and prince’s move to the USDonors abandoned the charity Prince Harry founded in memory of his late mother when he left the UK, the chair of Sentebale has said amid a bitter media row in which she accused the prince of trying to “eject” her through “bullying” and “harassment”.Sophie Chandauka told Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme that there was a “significant correlation” between a drop in funders and the Duke of Sussex’s departure to the US after the controversy caused by his rift with the royal family. Continue reading...

At least 1,700 people killed as Red Cross officials warn Myanmar faces humanitarian crisis; death toll in Bangkok increases to 18Red Cross officials have warned that Myanmar faces a humanitarian crisis after the deadly 7.7-magnitude earthquake.“What we’re seeing here in Myanmar is a level of devastation that hasn’t been seen over a century in Asia,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) wrote in a post on X. Continue reading...

Myanmar's junta has pressed ahead with its campaign of air strikes despite the country's devastating earthquake, with a rebel group telling AFP Sunday seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the tremors hit.The Myanmar military has increasingly turned to air strikes as it struggles to gain the upper hand against a complex array of anti-coup fighters and ethnic minority armed groups in the civil war.Friday's massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which has killed at least 1,700 people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings, prompted some armed groups to suspend hostilities while the country deals with the crisis.But fighters from the Danu People's Liberation Army, an ethnic minority armed group active in northern Shan state, said they were hit by an air strike soon after the quake struck.Five military aircraft attacked their base in Naungcho township, killing seven fighters, one of their officers told AFP."Our soldiers tried to get into bunkers when they heard the sound of aircraft," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity."But one big bomb hit one bunker where five female soldiers were killed on the spot."There have been reports of other air strikes since the quake, but AFP has not been able to verify them.- Increasing use of air power -The military has suffered major battlefield defeats over the past year and a half, losing control of swathes of territory.But while its ground forces have struggled, it retains air superiority thanks to fighter jets provided by Russia, its longstanding ally and major arms supplier.The number of military air strikes on civilians has risen throughout the four-year civil war, according to non-profit organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), with nearly 800 in 2024.That figure was more than triple the previous year and ACLED predicted the junta will continue to rely on air strikes because it is "under increasing military pressure on the ground".News of the junta's continued use of air attacks drew criticism from rights groups and the UN special rapporteur for Myanmar."Reports that Myanmar's military has continued with airstrikes after the earthquake tells you everything you need to know about the junta -- obsessed with its brutal repression of civilians and desperately trying to win the war whatever the human cost," Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, wrote on social media platform X.The UN's special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged the junta to halt military operations and declare an immediate ceasefire.He told the BBC it was "nothing short of incredible" that the military was dropping bombs on people after a devastating earthquake.An air strike earlier this month hit a village held by anti-coup fighters around 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of the second-biggest city Mandalay, which has been badly affected by the quake.The strike killed at least 12 people, according to a local official who said it targeted civilian areas.

As he has done for years, Erik Payan had just opened up his tire repair shop in the small Texas town of Cleveland on February 24 and was getting to work when armed and masked US immigration agents swooped in to arrest him and take him away."They've got me," he told his distraught wife over the phone.While it wasn't an unheard of scene in the United States, such incidents have drawn the glare of scrutiny as President Donald Trump, newly returned to the White House, has lashed out at migrants with particularly violent rhetoric -- raising concerns among many who lack papers that they may be swept up at random for expulsion.- Overstayed visa -Payan, a Mexican, has lived for 20 of his 51 years in the United States. He entered on a work visa, but stayed on after it expired, making a life with his wife and three daughters, the youngest of them US-born. His store is licensed, he pays taxes and a mortgage, and is his family's main breadwinner. One daughter is disabled; a granddaughter has a heart condition.Payan goes to church on Sundays and his neighbors vouch for him. His roots are now in Texas, but he lacks the documents to stay legally. His situation is much like many of the millions of other undocumented people living in the United States -- a group estimated officially at 11 million but possibly closer to 14 million, according to a recent report from the NGO Migration Policy Institute.- No criminal record -Up to now, the undocumented were largely left alone, many working in some of the country's most arduous and lowest-paid jobs. But Trump insists that their numbers include drug dealers, violent criminals and terrorists, and has vowed to deport millions of them.Payan, who has no criminal record, was swept up in one of the hundreds of nationwide raids Trump launched immediately upon his return to the White House. "I cried, but crying wasn't going to help," said his wife, 55-year-old Alejandrina Morales, who described their case on social media. The tears quickly turned to determination. "I'm going to fight, I'm going to defend my husband," she recalls thinking.Payan's attorney Silvia Mintz said that despite Trump's promises of mass deportation, a process must be followed.- 'They have options' -"That's not how really the law works," Mintz said. "Anybody who is in the United States has the right to due process, and... a judge gets to decide" whether they remain in detention or are deported. Most importantly, she added, "They have options."Using documentation to prove Payan had been a law-abiding, tax-paying worker for years, Mintz managed to secure his release on bail after a 27-day detention.Now begins a fight to legalize him.Mintz said undocumented immigrants can fight to stay by demonstrating that they have ties to the country and family members who could be harmed by their absence.There is also a possibility for children born in the United States -- who enjoy "birthright citizenship," though Trump is trying to end that -- to legalize their parents once they turn 21.But in the meantime, the risk of detention and deportation persists.Mintz argues that the country desperately needs immigration reform to open a path to legal residency and citizenship.- Billions in taxes -The first thing Payan did upon his release was to reopen his tire store. "We are not criminals, we're hard-working people," he said. "Yes, we're not from here, but without the support of Hispanic workers, this country is nothing."He went on: "I'm not saying bad people haven't come from our countries, but there are more of us good people. Let them concentrate on finding the criminals."In 2022, undocumented workers paid an estimated $97 billion in taxes, according to the group Americans for Tax Fairness. Deporting millions of them, it said, could spark a devastating contraction, worse than during the 2008 financial crisis."They have to pay taxes... but unfortunately the law prohibits them from getting any incentive or anything back," said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the NGO FIEL, which works with immigrants.He said it was important to recognize the contributions migrants make, and to push for immigration reform, "so other people can have access to the American dream."During Payan's detention, he said, he sometimes slept in unheated rooms and caught a severe cold.He's still coughing, but now he's home. His customers honk as they drive past his tire store, celebrating his return. His wife Alejandrina celebrates too: "They had taken the captain of my boat," she said, "and I was rowing alone."