Author: Michelle Mooney
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Iran threat to UK is significant and rising, say lawmakers
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament published its Report on Iran on 10th July 2025, after an ‘extensive inquiry took evidence from August 2021 to August 2023.’ The report found that the Iranian regime’s fundamental objective is to ‘ensure the survival and security of the Islamic Republic.’ To do this, Iran has focused of…
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ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders for persecution of women and girls
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Haibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme Leader of the Taliban, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Chief Justice of the Taliban. Following the submission of two applications for arrest on 23rd January 2025 by the ICC, the Pre-Trial Chamber II has issued both warrants, on 8th July 2025. Based on evidence…
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Russia hits Ukraine with largest drone attack yet
On 4th July 2025, Russia hit the city of Kyiv with a record missile and drone attack which killed 2 and injured 26 more. The State Emergency Service said on Telegram that the attack caused the partial destruction of a five-storey building, covering an area of 2,000 square metres. ‘Fires also erupted in a warehouse…
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Mother Nature Cambodia group activists in prison one year
Five Cambodian environmental defenders have completed one year of their six to eight-year prison terms on ‘baseless charges,’ said Human Rights Watch. On 2nd July 2024, the Phnom Penh Court found ten activists from the group guilty of ‘plotting against the government.’ Five were imprisoned immediately while four others were tried in absentia, and the…
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South Korea supports food security in Mozambique
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed South Korea’s US$7.6m worth of contributions to improve food security for communities in northern Mozambique. The contributions which comprise more than 5,000 metric tonnes of rice, will allow the WFP to deliver food assistance to more than 233,000 people in the Cabo Delgado Province. The region…
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Kyrgyzstan abolishes its independent torture monitoring body
The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has expressed its dismay at Kyrgyzstan’s decision to abolish its National Centre for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT) without public consultation. The Kyrgyz Government had initially outlined plans to transfer the functions of the NCPT to the Kyrgyz Institute of the Ombudsman in June 2022. It has…
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Trump says Iran’s key nuclear sites were ‘obliterated’ by US air strikes
On 21st June 2025, US President Donald Trump made a national address where he confirmed that the ‘three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime’ had been destroyed. Trump called the strikes a ‘spectacular military success’, and added that Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities ‘have been completely and totally obliterated.’ The three sites, Fordo, Netanz, and…
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Widespread environmental and human rights violations in Myanmar linked to ‘green’ energy industry
A policy brief from EarthRights International brings to light the impact of environmental destruction and human rights violations resulting from the mining of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) in Kachin State, Myanmar. Two key HREEs, dysprosium and terbium are main constituents needed to produce NdFeB magnets which are used in a variety of renewable energy…
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Uncomfortable bond: China and Taiwan
Officially known as the Republic of China, Taiwan is an island separated from the mainland of China by the Taiwan Strait and has been independently governed by ROC since 1949. Relations between mainland China and Taiwan have since then been fraught with tension, as China asserts that any recognition of Taiwan as a separate state…
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Toxic waste: How overconsumption is killing our world
We are approaching a critical point at which we must ask ourselves what there is left to sacrifice. Over the past few decades, instances of climate change atrocities have rung in the ears of governments across the globe, yet we are still teetering dangerously close to irrevocable rising temperatures. The United Nations determined in its…
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