Philippines rights body's drug war probe bolsters police abuse allegations
CNN
An investigation by the Philippines' rights commission into the killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has found that dozens of people were shot in the head, chest and abdomen, suggesting an intent to kill, it said on Tuesday.
The Commission on Human Rights' (CHR) report, which bolsters findings by the justice ministry that pointed to foul play in dozens of deadly police operations, is the latest to challenge the government's narrative of the war on drugs.
The commission said it reviewed 579 incidents of "drug-frelated extrajudicial killings" and violence from 2016 to February 2020, 451 of which were allegedly linked to police operations and involved 705 victims.
Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.
France condemned the brief detention of two consulate members after it said Israeli police forced their way into a French-owned holy site in Jerusalem, in what is the latest diplomatic spat in a series of events that have sent relations between the two plummeting.
An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.
If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.
Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.