Human Rights

DENVER (AP) — Only hours before women marched through many U.S. cities in January, Christopher Cleary set off a manhunt when he posted a Facebook message threatening to kill “as many girls as I see” in retaliation for years of romantic rejection.

Cleary, 27, called himself a virgin who never had a girlfriend, stoking fears of another deadly rampage by a man blaming women for his problems. When police tracked his cellphone and arrested the Colorado resident at a McDonald’s restaurant in Provo, Utah, Cleary said he had been upset and wasn’t thinking clearly.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden would support Congress enshrining abortion rights into federal law “should it become necessary,” his presidential campaign said Tuesday, following several other Democratic candidates in promising to take that step if elected president.

21 May 2019; MEMO: Palestinian businessmen, economic and trade institutions and unions have received invitations to participate in the economic workshop organised by the United States in Bahrain next month, Anadolu Agency reported.

The White House announced in a joint statement with Bahrain that Manama will host an economic workshop entitled “Peace to Prosperity on 25 and 26 June.

21 May 2019; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces blocked access roads to four Palestinian villages in the West Bank over the course of March and April, human rights organisation B’Tselem reported yesterday.

According to the NGO, the army closed gates it had placed at the entrances to the villages for periods of between five and 20 days at a time.

The affected communities were ‘Azzun, east of Qalqiliya, Kifl Hares, northwest of Salfit, Deir Istiya, east of Salfit and Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem.

21 May 2019; AFP: A 16-year-old boy died Monday at a Border Patrol station in Texas, becoming the fifth child from Guatemala to die since December after being apprehended by US border patrol agents.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the teen, who was detained in south Texas's Rio Grande Valley on May 13 after crossing the border, was found unresponsive at the agency's Weslaco Station during a welfare check.

21 May 2019; DW: Libya's UN-backed government has blamed forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar for cutting off Tripoli's major water pipeline. A UN spokesperson said some Tripoli residents were already experiencing low water pressure.

Gunmen in Libya deliberately cut off the main water pipeline to Libya's besieged capital Tripoli, potentially affecting some 2 million people the United Nations said on Monday.

21 May 2019; DW: Seven men accused of forming a "Shariah Police" brigade in western Germany have gone on trial. The group allegedly patrolled the streets of Wuppertal in orange vests, telling people to abstain from music and alcohol.

The retrial of seven alleged members of a self-proclaimed "Shariah Police" vigilante group began in the western city of Wuppertal on Monday.

Srinagar, May 21; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Restrictions were Tuesday imposed in parts of the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir in view of the separatists' plan to hold a march to Eidgah martyrs graveyard for paying tributes to slain Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone.

The district administration imposed restrictions in Khanyar, Rainawari, Nowhatta, Maharajgunj and Safa Kadal police station areas of the old city, officials said.

Srinagar, May 20; PTI/GANASHAKTI : A group of pellet victims, who were injured during law and order situations in the Kashmir Valley over the past few years, Monday held a protest here demanding complete ban on the use of pellet guns by security forces.

The protestors, under the banner of Pellet Victims Welfare Trust, held the protest at Press Enclave here against continuous use of pellet guns in the valley by police and paramilitary forces.

The protesters demanded ban on pellet guns, saying their continued use could render more people blind.

Madurai, May 20 (PTI) The Madras High Court rapped actor-politician Kamal Haasan for his Hindu extremist remark on Monday, observing that identifying a criminal with a religion, caste or race would definitely sow the seeds of hatred among people.

Granting anticipatory bail to Haasan in a case filed over his controversial remark made at a recent poll rally, Justice R Pugalendhi of the Madurai bench of the high court also said hate speeches had become a common affair of late.