Australian mom convicted of killing 4 children seeks pardon

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Nearly two decades after an Australian woman was convicted of killing her four children, dozens of scientists are backing the claim that they may have died of natural causes. Australian law says Kathleen Folbigg is one of the nation’s worst female serial killers who smothered her four children over a decade. But a growing number of scientists say she could be the victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice. The schism between legal and scientific opinion has grown with advancements in genetic research in the 18 years since Folbigg was convicted on three charges of murder and one of manslaughter.

Asia Today: Fiji sequesters hospital staff after COVID death

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The military and police in the Pacific nation of Fiji have surrounded and locked down a major hospital amid concerns of a growing virus outbreak. Health authorities say they’re quarantining 400 patients, doctors, nurses and staff within the compound until they can determine who had contact with a coronavirus patient who died. The 53-year-old patient at Lautoka Hospital was just the third person in Fiji to die from the virus but the nation’s leaders are deeply worried that the latest outbreak is spreading, especially after two doctors at the hospital tested positive for the virus. Authorities say that throughout the country, there are currently 28 cases of community transmission.

Australian COVID-19 travel restrictions challenged in court

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s drastic COVID-19 strategies of preventing its citizens leaving the country and returning from India were challenged in court Thursday. The government is resisting growing pressure to lift the Indian travel ban imposed last week until May 15 to reduce infections in Australian quarantine facilities. A challenge to the ban by Gary Newman, one of 9,000 Australians prevented from returning home from India, will be heard by a Federal Court judge on Monday, Chief Justice James Allsop said. The ban was made by order of Health Minister Greg Hunt under the Biosecurity Act which carries penalties for breaches of up to five years in prison and fines of up to 66,000 Australian dollars ($51,000).

More than 200 NGOs call for UN arms embargo on Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 200 global organizations urged the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, saying the time for statements has passed and immediate action is needed to help protect peaceful protesters against military rule and other opponents of the junta. A statement by the non-governmental organizations said the military “has demonstrated a callous disregard for human life” since their Feb. 1 coup, killing at least 769 people including 51 children as young as six years old and detaining several thousand activists, journalists, civil servants and politicians. Hundreds of others have disappeared, it said.

US Embassy message sparks online anger in China

BEIJING (AP) — An online message from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has prompted anger online in China. The message sent out on Chinese social media said applications were being accepted for study at American universities and those wishing to go should “jump at the chance like little puppies.” That description triggered hundreds of thousands of comments calling the post, along with a video of puppy striving to cross a fence, racist. The controversy comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington over disputes involving intellectual property, trade and human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, among others. China has taken a hard line under President Joe Biden’s administration as it increases its military spending and diplomatic strength.

Myanmar’s military disappearing young men to crush uprising

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Myanmar’s security forces moved in and the street lamps went black. In house after house, people shut off their lights. Darkness swallowed the block. Huddled inside her home in this neighborhood of Yangon, 19-year-old Shwe dared to peek out her window into the inky night. A flashlight shone back, and a man’s voice ordered her not to look. Two gunshots rang out. Then a man’s scream: “HELP!” When the military’s trucks finally rolled away, Shwe and her family emerged to look for her 15-year-old brother, worried about frequent abductions by security forces. “I could feel my blood thumping,” she says.

India’s virus surge damages Modi’s image of competence

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s hospitals were packed with coronavirus patients, relatives of the sick scrambled to find supplies of oxygen, and crematoriums were running near full capacity to handle the dead. Yet despite those clear signs of an overwhelming health crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressed ahead with a densely packed campaign rally. “I have never seen such a huge crowd before!” he roared to his supporters in West Bengal state on April 17, before key local elections. “Wherever I can see, I can only see people. I can see nothing else.” As another deadly wave of COVID-19 infections was swamping India, Modi’s government refused to cancel a giant Hindu festival.

G-7 calls out China over rights at virus-shadowed meeting

LONDON (AP) — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy industrialized nations on Wednesday accused China of human rights abuses and economic mischief, but offered little concrete action to deal with an increasingly forceful Beijing. The top G-7 diplomats meeting in London said they were “deeply concerned” by China’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslim population and other minorities, which includes mass internment in “re-education” camps, forced labor and forced sterilization. But the U.K., the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan committed only to tackling forced labor “through our own available domestic means,” which could range from public awareness campaigns to laws for businesses, rather than through collective action.

Amid US pullout, Taliban issue threat to Afghan journalists

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban on Wednesday issued a threat to Afghan journalists they accuse of siding with Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in Kabul, a warning that came amid a U.S. troop pullout and rising fears of more violence in the war-wrecked country. In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned those Afghan journalists who give “one-sided news in support of Afghanistan’s intelligence” service to stop or “face the consequences.” The U.S. and Britain responded, with their embassies in Kabul quickly condemning the Taliban threat just two days after World Press Freedom Day. “We strongly support Afghanistan’s independent media,” tweeted Ross Wilson, the U.S.

Staunch anti-India Kashmir politician dies in police custody

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A prominent politician in Kashmir who challenged India’s rule over the disputed region for decades died Wednesday while in police custody. He was 78. Mohammed Ashraf Sehrai was admitted to a government hospital with multiple ailments on Tuesday from a jail in the southern Jammu region, officials and his family said. Officials did not immediately announce the cause of death. Sehrai’s son, Mujahid Sehrai, said authorities and doctors told him that his father had tested positive for COVID-19 and that his oxygen levels had dropped early Wednesday. He said his father was denied proper medical care in jail and complained of ill health when they spoke 10 days ago.