Human Rights

BEIRUT (AP) — The father could hardly bear seeing his 18-month-old daughter’s panic every time the Syrian government warplanes flew over their home. Every day for a month, she ran to him to hide in his arms, tearful and breathless.

Abdurrahim had refused to flee his hometown throughout years of violence, and he was determined to hold out through the new, intensified government offensive launched in April against Idlib province, the last significant territory held by Syria’s rebels.

But now he had his first child, Ruwaida, to think about.

The federal government is opening a new mass facility to hold migrant children in Texas and considering detaining hundreds more youths on three military bases around the country, adding up to 3,000 new beds to the already overtaxed system.

The new emergency facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, will hold as many as 1,600 teens in a complex that once housed oil field workers on government-leased land near the border, said Mark Weber, a spokesman for Office of Refugee Resettlement.

6 June 2019; MEMO: The Israeli government is working to “prevent the Senate from passing a bipartisan resolution endorsing a two-state solution”, according to a report in Axios.

6 June 2019; MEMO: Twenty-two-year-old Wael Mahmoud Ali Al-Sibai has been tortured to death inside Wadi Natroun prison in Egypt, according to rights groups.

6 June 2019; MEMO: Israeli occupation authorities today reduced the Gaza Strip’s fishing area from 15 nautical miles to ten.

Zakaria Bakr, coordinator of the Union of Fishermen’s Committees in Gaza, confirmed that the occupation informed the Palestinian association of its decision.

Occupation authorities expanded the fishing zone to 15 nautical miles, from ten, on Monday.

6 June 2019; AFP: YouTube announced Wednesday it would ban videos promoting or glorifying racism and discrimination as well as those denying well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting.

The announcement by the Google-owned video-sharing platform was the latest of a series of tech industry moves to filter out hateful and violent content, which have spurred calls for tougher regulation.

6 June 2019; DW: The potential sale by the United States, Taiwan's main arms supplier, includes more than a hundred tanks, along with anti-tank and Stinger missiles.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry confirmed the request on Thursday and in a speech, President Tsai Ing-wen said "We will keep on strengthening our self-defense capabilities (and) will also keep on being a contributor to regional peace."

The list of weaponry includes:

New Delhi , June 5; GANASHAKTI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which has been in the forefront of a campaign for Ram temple construction in Ayodhya, has convened a meeting of its top leaders later this month to discuss the issue, amid its assertion that the work on the project will start within one-and-a-half years.

Alok Kumar, the Working President of the VHP, made it clear that his organisation will not wait "indefinitely" on Ram temple construction and has decided to "remind" the Narendra Modi government about its promise within the first month of its second term.

London, June 5; GANASHAKTI: Large crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London on Tuesday to protest against US President Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom.

Trump and his entourage arrived in the UK on Monday and spent the day on ceremonial duties, before the political aspect of his visit began on Tuesday with a meeting with outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, who is resigning at the end of this week.

Banda (Uttar Pradesh), June 5; GANASHAKTI: Wells and hand-pumps have dried up, ponds have disappeared, the water table has receded and Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh is now fighting for water.

The few water sources that remain are becoming the proverbial bone of contention among the people and water riots are being reported from the rural interiors of Bundelkhand.

The state government, however, denied that there is any law and order problem due to water shortage in this region.