- Ronaldo scores 133rd Portugal goal in Nations League win over Poland
- 40 nations contributing to UN Lebanon peacekeeping force condemn 'attacks'
- Eight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- Morocco crush Central African Republic, Guirassy scores hat-trick
- Dupont scores quickfire hat-trick on Toulouse Top 14 return
- Ronaldo scores in Portugal's Nations League win as Spain sink Denmark
- Interim boss Carsley has not applied for England job
- Mets hurler Senga ready to take on Dodgers in game one of NL Championship Series
- Ronaldo on target again as Portugal defeat Poland in Nations League
- Guardians rip Tigers 7-3 to advance in MLB playoffs
- AFP, BBC win top French war reporting awards
- Carsley goes back to basics as humbled England face Finland
- Alex Salmond: the man who took Scotland to the brink of independence
- Scotland's former leader Alex Salmond dies aged 69: party
- UN warns of catastrophe as Israel fights a two-front war
- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
- Farrell begins to feel at home as Racing 92 beat Toulon
- South Africa boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes with Bangladesh win
- Samson ton powers India to T20 series sweep after record total
- Djokovic to face Sinner in Shanghai final with 100th title in sight
- UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon: spokesman
- Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy
- Samson ton powers India to record 297-6 in Bangladesh T20
- New Zealand enjoy perfect start to America's Cup defence over Britain
- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
Filipino activists accuse Marcos of 'witch-hunt'
Filipino activists accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's government Thursday of carrying out a "witch-hunt" against rights defenders as they held rallies for the 51st anniversary of the imposition of martial law.
Hundreds of people marched in Manila calling for the release of victims of forced disappearances and the abolishment of an anti-communist task force, set up by former president Rodrigo Duterte, that has been accused of targeting government critics.
Rights group Karapatan said the Marcos Jr administration was using the task force to "witch-hunt activists, human rights defenders and other dissenters", while enabling the military and police to "perpetuate repression reminiscent of the martial law era".
Marcos Jr's dictator father, Ferdinand Marcos, imposed martial law in 1972, unleashing his security forces on rivals, critics and dissidents.
Amnesty International estimates thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands tortured and imprisoned in the brutal crackdown.
Activists said rampant human rights abuses have continued under Marcos Jr, who has kept up Duterte's deadly war on drugs, as well as his National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
Rights groups say eight activists have been "disappeared" since Marcos Jr became president in June 2022.
There have been more than 400 drug-related killings during the same period, according to a monitoring group.
"It's like we're still living in the shadows of 1972. This regime doesn't care about human rights," Renato Reyes, secretary general of the leftist alliance Bayan, told protesters.
- 'Like martial law' -
The rallies come after the release on Tuesday of two environmental activists who had accused the military of abducting them.
Jonila Castro, 21, and Jhed Tamano, 22, had been working with coastal communities opposed to reclamation activities in Manila Bay when they disappeared on September 2 in Bataan province, near Manila.
Authorities rejected the allegation, saying the women were part of a communist insurgency seeking to overthrow the government and had sought their help after voluntarily leaving the movement.
Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde told AFP some aspects of the country's human rights situation had worsened under Marcos Jr.
"What we're seeing is somebody... who likes to shove human rights as an issue aside," Conde said, adding one of the reasons could be "his family have a... nasty history as far as human rights is concerned."
Veteran human rights campaigner Cristina Palabay of Karapatan said she felt "more scared now" as the number of missing activists increased.
Palabay said she and other members of Karapatan faced "some sort of mortal danger far greater than before", citing increased threats, profiling and surveillance.
"This is actually like martial law... when people are just being picked up in the streets and justified as being held by authorities because they are suspected of being somebody," Palabay said.
P.Martin--AMWN