A UK secondary school issued an apology on Thursday to the Muslim community following a large protest after one of its teachers used derogatory caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class.

Barely Grammar School in Yorkshire, north England, confirmed the suspension of the teacher involved and said all teaching resources used in the religious studies lesson had been withdrawn.

"The school unequivocally apologizes for using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent religious studies lesson. The member of staff has also given their most sincere apologies," headteacher Gary Kibble said in a statement, according to local news website YorkshireLive.

"We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part of the course and we are reviewing how we go forward with the support of all the communities represented in our school," Kibble added.

Protests erupted outside of the school shortly after the lesson as parents, students and the wider community made their frustrations heard. Police were sent to the scene to break up the demonstration.

Imam Mohammed Amin Pandor, a community leader and director of the Peace Institute, attended the protest and decried the use of the caricatures as "totally unacceptable." Pandor also called for an investigation as to how a teacher was able to use them.

"The school is going to issue an apology. All the resources that were used have been pulled out. The teacher has been suspended. You can not sack him. You can't just dismiss somebody like that. You have due process," the Imam said.

"We've asked for an investigation, to be independent, and we have asked also for some of us to get onto the investigation panel. This is what we've asked for. We're going to work with the school to make sure in future, things like that don't happen."/aa

During anti-coup demonstrations in Myanmar on Thursday, people released “wanted posters” of military rulers while junta forces continued their deadly crackdown.

People also held demonstrations as the military killed two more people and injured five others in Taunggyi, the capital of the northern Shan province, Myanmar Now news agency reported.

Three people were shot and wounded in the Khin-U township of the Sagaing area when the junta forces opened fire on protesters.

Troops of the Burmese military -- officially known as Tatmadaw -- used tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition to break the anti-army demonstrations.

The country is witnessing mass protests since Feb. 1 military coup, seeking the return of civilian rule.

The posters featuring junta leaders Min Aung Hlaing and Soe Win were seen pasted by local youth along Maungmagan Beach in the southwestern Tanintharyi region.

Reports of protests also came from Yangon’s Tamwe, Insein and Hlaing townships. Myanmar observed one day “silent strike” on Wednesday to press for their demand of return to civilian rule.

In Yangon, protesters demanded that the Buddhist-majority country’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution should be abolished. They called for a national unity government, federal union, and federal constitution.

At least 275 people have been killed by junta forces since anti-coup protests erupted last month, according to the latest daily report of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners released on Wednesday. More than 2,500 were arrested, including some released.

The Myanmar Now news agency claimed its license has been revoked by the military regime which overthrew the ruling civilian National League for democracy government last month triggering nation-wide demonstrations.

Pace of int'l response to military coup falling short

Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement on Thursday the "pace and scope of the international response to the military coup is falling short of what is required to head off a deepening crisis."

"Conditions in Myanmar are deteriorating," he said, "but they will likely get much worse without an immediate robust, international response in support of those under siege."

"It is imperative that the international community heed the recent call of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a ‘firm, unified international response’,” Andrews said.

“To date, however, the limited sanctions imposed by Member States do not cut the junta’s access to revenue that help sustain its illegal activities, and the slow pace of diplomacy is out of step with the scale of the crisis."

London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said the situation in Myanmar “may worsen still as ethnic armed organizations are showing solidarity with the protest movement.”

“Without immediate intervention by the international community to cut off the military regime from its revenue, the unbearable situation the country now faces could worsen into full-blown civil war across the country,” the Burmese rights defender group said, welcoming sanctions imposed by the US and the UK against the junta leaders.

“The urgency of the current moment can’t be understated, and the world needs to act immediately,” said the BHRN.

The UN human rights body and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on Thursday agreed to launch a joint investigation into alleged atrocities committed in Tigray.

Ethiopia's northernmost region has been under international spotlight since November last year when a conflict erupted after the Tigray People's Liberation Front attacked an army base.

That forced the federal government to launch a massive law enforcement operation, and as a result thousands of people got displaced.

The EHRC and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) "have agreed to conduct a joint investigation into the human rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties in the context of the Tigray conflict, as part of the much-needed accountability process for the victims,” said a press release.

“The EHRC and OHCHR have been monitoring closely the human rights situation since the start of the conflict on 4 November 2020.”

"Both organizations remain concerned about the reports of serious human rights violations and abuses and the devastating impact of the conflict on the civilian population. With multiple actors involved in the conflict and the gravity of the reported violations, an objective, independent investigation is urgently required,” it added.

The deployment would start as soon as possible for an initial period of three months, according to the statement./aa

Two Indian paramilitary troopers, including a sub-inspector, were killed and two others injured in a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday, police said.

In a statement, police said militants attacked a vehicle of the Central Reserve Police Force on national highway in the capital Srinagar, critically injuring four personnel. The wounded were moved to a hospital, where two of them succumbed to their injuries.

A case has been registered, and a search for the attackers initiated.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the attack was planned and carried out by the militants affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba group, the press release added.

Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar paid tribute to the slain soldiers, and vowed to stand by their families at “this critical juncture.”

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts but claimed by both in full. Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict that flared up in 1989./aa

At least 45 people in Colombia have died in floods caused by excessive rains, the country’s national disaster body said Wednesday. 

The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) reported that river flooding and landslides have occurred in many parts of the country since the start of the rainy season.

Another 23 people were injured and three people were missing.

As many as 3,451 families have been affected by floods while 36,000 people have been evacuated.

Colombia's main states of Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Narino, Huila and Cundinamarca are the most affected parts of the country by the rainfall.

Authorities have urged the public to stay away from streams, waterways and riverbanks during the rainy season./aa

Colombia will impose a curfew in major cities due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, the country’s president said Wednesday. 

"As a preventive measure, we have decided that from March 26-29 and from March 31 to April 5, pico y cedula mobility restrictions will be in place from 10.00 p.m. to 5.00 a.m. in municipalities with an intensive care unit [ICU] occupancy greater than 70% and from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. in municipalities where the occupancy is more than 50%," Ivan Duque said on Twitter.

Pico y cedula is a Colombian mobility restriction method in which citizens are allowed to visit shops, banks and government institutions based on the last digit in their passports on even and odd days.

Recalling that cases have increased again due to social mobility and crowded environments, Duque asked the public to comply with the decisions taken.

In Colombia, whose population exceeds 51 million, 62,394 people have died due to the outbreak and over 2.35 million cases have been identified, while more than 2.24 million people have recovered from the disease./aa

Virginia became the first southern state in the US to abolish the death penalty on Wednesday as Gov. Ralph Northam formally signed into law the end of capital punishment in the commonwealth.

Virginia is now the 23rd state in the country that has banned executions.

Northam signed the repeal during a ceremony outside a prison in Jarratt, Virginia that had previously been the site of the state's execution chamber. In all, 102 people had been killed there since the facility opened in 1991, with the most recent execution carried out in 2017.

Northam said that in Virginia's 400-year history it had executed more people than any other state, decrying capital punishment as "fundamentally flawed."

"It is inequitable, ineffective, and it has no place in this Commonwealth or this country," the Democratic governor said in a statement. "Virginia has come within days of executing innocent people, and Black defendants have been disproportionately sentenced to death. Abolishing this inhumane practice is the moral thing to do."

Over 1,300 people have been executed in Virginia in the state's history, according to the governor's office. In the 1900s, 296 of the 377 people who were executed for murder were Black, it added.

The legislation signed by Northam changes sentences for two individuals who were on death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole./aa