Human Rights

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Latest on tensions between Serbia and Kosovo (all times local):

7 p.m.

The United Nations says a Russian staff member detained during a police operation in Kosovo’s Serb-populated north has been released from the hospital and is calling for the immediate release of a second staff member who is a Kosovar citizen.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said both staff members were injured during Tuesday’s operation and the Russian staffer is being examined following his release.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — An Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis is now on trial at the Vatican, accused of sexually abusing seminarians.

Francis revealed the development in an interview with Mexico’s Televisa Tuesday. He said he received the results of a preliminary investigation into Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta two weeks ago and ordered the case be handed over for trial by a Vatican tribunal.

Zanchetta resigned suddenly as bishop of Oran, Argentina in 2017 and within a few months, Francis named him to a senior Vatican administration position.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee jury deliberated less than two hours Tuesday before sentencing the man who shot up a Nashville church in 2017 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On Friday, the jury found Emanuel Kidega Samson guilty of murder in the death of Melanie Crow. Samson also injured seven others during his rampage and will be sentenced on an additional 42 counts in July, although those sentences will be largely symbolic.

28 May 2019; MEMO: Almost 2,500 people, including women and children, have been sentenced to death in Egypt since the 2013 coup in which the democratically-elected government of Mohamed Morsi was overthrown by General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. At least 144 death sentences have been carried out by Sisi’s government, which started a crackdown on opposition groups when he came to power six years ago, according to new figures published by the UK-based rights group Reprieve.

28 May 2019; MEMO: Palestinians will host a conference in parallel with the US’ planned peace conference to be held in Bahrain in late June, a senior Fatah official said yesterday.

Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, Azzam Al-Ahmad said the PLO Executive Committee will decide the exact date of the conference, and work is underway to invite Arab parties.

ISTANBUL, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Amid the spiralling tensions in the Gulf caused by the U.S. sanctions and sabre-rattling against Iran, many Turkish analysts and citizens said the U.S. imperialist and interventionist policies are largely blamed for the turmoil and instability in the Middle East region.

BARNAUL, May 28. /TASS/: The family of Russian national Maria Butina jailed in the US is unable to transfer money to a special account she can use to pay for telephone calls home, so they have no chance to make video calls with her, Maria’s father Valery Butin told TASS on Tuesday.

He explained that only US nationals had the right to top up such accounts and the Butina family had earlier used the assistance of their acquaintances in the country. This is how Maria managed to film a video address from prison in mid-May.

New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha, the contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill and the one on banning triple talaq have lapsed as they were not passed by Rajya Sabha.

The two bils could not be passed by Rajya Sabha in the Budget session, the last Parliament session of the outgoing government.

The term of the present Lok Sabha was to end on June 3, but with the election process over, President Ram Nath Kovind dissolved the lower house on Saturday.

SARATOV, May 28. /TASS/: A teenager who attacked a schoolgirl with an axe in Russia’s town of Volsk, Saratov region, also threw petrol bombs inside the school building, a regional law enforcement source TASS on Tuesday.

"The teenager went to the second floor, threw a petrol bomb into presumably his classroom and the second one in the corridor. However, the petrol bombs failed to explode. After that, he saw a girl and hit her on the forehead with an axe," the source said.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Latest on tensions between Serbia and Kosovo (all times local):

11:40 a.m.

Serbia’s president is warning that his country will act to “protect our people” in neighboring Kosovo amid soaring tensions with its former war-time foe.

Aleksandar Vucic confirmed reports Tuesday that Serbian troops have been placed on alert after armed police in Kosovo, a former Serbian province, entered Serb-populated regions and made a number of arrests.