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The Turkmenistani authorities’ actions to prevent an independent journalist, Soltan Achilova, from travelling to Geneva for a human rights award ceremony are shameful and clearly aimed at preventing her from shedding light on the repressive human rights situation in the country, a group of 10 human rights organizations said today. The Turkmenistani authorities should reverse their stance, allow Achilova to freely travel abroad, and stop harassing her because of her journalistic work.

BRUSSELS — In the lively Brussels neighborhood of Flagey, you can be sure of two things: People will be lined up for fries at Frit Flagey, and pigeons will be nearby, pecking at scraps. Just a few hundred yards away, around dusk, a scene unfolds that feels distinctly less Belgian. Hundreds of electric-green parakeets, more commonly associated with the tropics of West Africa or India than gray, rainy Brussels, flock to a tree beside a pond. They slumber there for the night, turning the tree into

After a small group of parakeets were released from a zoo in Brussels in the 1970s, their numbers soared. A population increase has also occurred across the continent.

Nowruz celebrations for the Persian New Year this March gave no cause for rejoicing for Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov and his family, as he remains behind bars serving a 16-year-long prison sentence in retaliation for his human rights work.

Tajikistan: Human rights defender Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov must be immediately released Nowruz celebrations for the Persian New Year this March gave no…