U.N. urged to intervene on U.S. abortion access

Almost 200 human rights organizations from across the world have issued an “urgent appeal” to the United Nations to intervene to ensure the United States protects reproductive rights — after a Supreme Court ruling last year overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.

In a letter issued Thursday, nonprofits and civil society groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Global Justice Center, as well as dozens of smaller U.S.-based charities have written to the United Nations warning that “people residing in the US who can become pregnant are facing a human rights crisis.”

At least a dozen states have moved to ban or heavily restrict abortions since the ruling.

The 196 signatories to Thursday’s letter describe “intensifying harms” occurring in the United States as a result of the legal ruling. It says approximately 22 million women and girls of reproductive age in the United States are living in states where “abortion access is heavily restricted, and often totally inaccessible,” causing them to face a plethora of public health harms.

The signatories called on U.N. mandate holders to raise the issue at a high level, including by “communicating with the US regarding the human rights violations, requesting a visit to the US, convening a virtual stakeholder meeting with US civil society, calls for the US to comply with its obligations under international law, and calls for private companies to take a number of actions to protect reproductive rights.”

Hong Kong skyscraper is engulfed in flames

A 42-story building under construction in Hong Kong caught fire late Thursday, showering a bustling shopping district with sparks and debris and lighting up the nighttime sky.

Onlookers flocked to the waterfront neighborhood of Tsim Sha Tsui to take in the spectacle, as the flames made their way through the skyscraper and the scaffolding around it and explosions pierced the air.

News reports put the number of people injured at two, and firefighters were still batting the blaze early today.

The construction project sits near five-star lodging and luxury residences, some of which had to be evacuated. Several nearby buildings also caught fire, but firefighters were able to douse those flames.