No Choice for Voters in Belarus’ Sham Elections

By Human Rights Watch

On January 26, Belarusians will go to the polls for “presidential elections,” an event seen by many as a “sham,” a “no-choice election” (bezvybory), and little more than a ritual for Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who has been president of Belarus for more than three decades.The last presidential elections, held in 2020, resulted in country-wide protests against what was widely perceived as a rigged ballot. The authorities’ response to these protests was brutal: tens of thousands people faced arbitrary detention, with estimates of over 6,500 prosecuted, and torture and other ill-treatment was widespread.…

Read complete article

~	Georgian government continues the purge, setting its sights on universities next

~	Motor neurone disease campaigner, former AFL champion Neale Daniher, is 2025 Australian of the Year

~	Peter Dutton’s reshuffle: David Coleman the surprise choice as shadow foreign minister

~	Kyrgyzstan surrenders its best private schools to Turkey's control

~	What’s in store for Myanmar in 2025?

~	DR Congo: Civilians at Risk as M23 Approaches Goma

~	Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico? A geographer explains who decides what goes on the map

~	UN rights office raises alarm over escalating violence in occupied West Bank

~	Human rights expert welcomes clemency for Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier

~	Pakistan: Authorities pass bill with sweeping controls on social media