Singapore's parliament late Monday passed a law aimed at preventing foreign interference in domestic politics, which the opposition and activists have criticised as a tool to crush dissent.The law, approved after a marathon session that stretched to near midnight, would allow authorities to compel internet service providers and social media platforms to provide user information, block content and remove applications used to spread content they deem hostile.Groups and individuals involved

A fire tore through an overcrowded Indonesian prison in the early hours of Wednesday when most inmates were asleep, killing 41 people and injuring dozens of others, an official said.Firefighters extinguished the blaze – which was mostly contained within one block that housed prisoners jailed on drug charges – at around 3 am (2000 GMT Tuesday) and evacuated the victims.A video released by the Justice Ministry office showed the ceiling collapsing as the fire tore through the block."40 died

Myanmar authorities released more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters from prisons across the country on Wednesday, including local journalists jailed after reporting critically on the junta's bloody crackdown.Myanmar has been rocked by massive protests and a brutal military response since the February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her government.More than 880 civilians have been killed in a crackdown by the State Administration Council – as the junta calls itself – and almost 6,500

When Bikamal Kaken's husband vanished during a 2017 visit to Xinjiang in north-western China, she had good reason to believe he would not be returning home to Kazakhstan anytime soon.But she did not anticipate just how dire his fate was, or that it would be revealed during a spat online between United States (US) and Chinese diplomats.Rights groups at the time of Adilgazy Muqai's disappearance were sounding the alarm over a mushrooming network of facilities for the massive incarcera

The number of COVID-19 infections is fast inching towards the 37 million mark worldwide. Over one million lives have been lost due to the deadly disease, including the elderly, the young and healthy, and even babies.

Dozens of prisoners broke furniture and torched buildings during a riot in a Thai jail on Sunday sparked by fears of a coronavirus outbreak in the facility. During the violence some convicts escaped from the Buriram prison where more than 2,000 are held, the justice ministry said.

A Vietnamese environmental activist was beaten in prison for refusing to confess his crimes, his wife said Friday in the one-party communist state notorious for jailing critics.Nguyen Ngoc Anh was sentenced to six years in jail in June for "undermining" the government on Facebook in posts about the environment and politics liked tens of thousands of times. Vietnam has cracked down on online dissent since passing a controversial cybersecurity law last year, jailing dozens fo

Philippine police pledged on Thursday to track down nearly 2,000 ex-prisoners including convicted murderers and rapists who were let out early for good behaviour, in some cases years ago.Revelations in recent weeks about the inmates’ release have sparked outrage in the Philippines, with critics accusing authorities of gross incompetence and possibly corruption.“I have immediately directed all police units nationwide to receive and account for (the ex-prisoners),” national police chief Oscar A