Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained by police on April 13 on their way to the embassy of the European Union (EU) in Beijing. Independent lawyers attempted to approach Yu’s family for power of attorney, only to find Yu’s 18-year-old son was under police control in the family’s home,…

Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained Thursday in Beijing when they were en route to meet a delegation from the European Union. Yu is one of the most courageous rights lawyers in China active in defending the rights of dissidents and ethnic and religious groups. He won the Franco-German…

KARACHI, Pakistan—Pakistani police in multiple raids detained at least 1,200 Afghan nationals, including women and children, who had entered the southern port city of Karachi without valid travel documents, officials said Thursday. The arrests brought criticism from around Afghanistan after images of locked up Afghan children were circulated online. The detentions underscored the strained relations…

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Police in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou have detained at least four people for more than a week after they attended protests against COVID-19 restrictions in late November, according to activists, family members, and friends of the detained. While many who attended protests in cities across China last month were released after being…

Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki Thursday called for the immediate release of a Japanese journalist detained in Myanmar. A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced Toru Kubota to prison after he filmed an anti-government protest in July, a Japanese diplomat and the Southeast Asian nation’s government said on Thursday. Kubota was sentenced Wednesday to seven…

BANGKOK—A court in military-ruled Burma (also known as Myanmar) has sentenced a Japanese journalist to serve seven years in prison after he filmed an anti-government protest in July, a Japanese diplomat and the Southeast Asian nation’s government said Thursday. Toru Kubota was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years for violating the electronic transactions law and…

Detained British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has had her passport returned and a British negotiating team is in Tehran, her MP has said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran since her arrest in 2016 on charges of plotting to overthrow the government – allegations she has always denied. A £400 million debt relating to a cancelled…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized a boat in the Gulf of Oman carrying fertilizer used to make explosives that was caught last year smuggling weapons to Yemen. The British royal navy said it confiscated 1,041 kilograms (2,295 pounds) of illegal drugs in the same waters. The interdictions were just the…

TORONTO—Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard will remain behind bars in Toronto as he awaits trial on sexual assault charges after an Ontario court rejected his bid to be released on bail. Nygard, who appeared remotely from the Toronto South Detention Centre, sat still as Ontario Justice of the Peace John Scarfe read his ruling Wednesday….

HONG KONG—For scores of Hong Kong democrats, this year’s legislative elections were supposed to be a landmark moment for the movement in the face of what they saw as Beijing’s increasing encroachment on Hong Kong’s way of life. Democrats thought they would win a majority that would give them a strong say in the future…