Human Rights

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Five states have joined forces to try and block a new rule from the Trump administration they say weakens labor unions and their ability to collectively bargain for wages and benefits.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, announced the lawsuit on Monday with attorneys general in Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Oregon.

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — A memorial service for a student hailed as a hero for tackling one of the gunmen who attacked his suburban Denver school will be held Wednesday.

A celebration of life will be held at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch for 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, a senior who was just days from graduating when he was fatally wounded in Tuesday’s shooting.

The service is planned just a few hours before the two suspects are due back in court.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Five men who say they were sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests when they were minors are planning to sue the Vatican and are demanding the names of thousands of predator priests they claim have been kept secret by the Holy See.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday visited the two New Zealand mosques where 51 worshippers were killed by a gunman in March.

Guterres spent about 30 minutes inside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch talking to Muslim leaders and survivors of the attacks.

Outside the mosque, he told reporters that like many people around the world, he had been moved by the poignant stories of compassion and grace.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A jury on Monday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. to pay a combined $2.055 billion to a couple claiming that the company’s popular weed killer Roundup Ready caused their cancers.

The jury’s verdict is the third such courtroom loss for Monsanto in California since August, but a San Francisco law professor said it’s likely a trial judge or appellate court will significantly reduce the punitive damage award.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities served an eviction notice Monday to activists who have stayed for more than a month inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington and asked them to leave immediately.

The activists have been inside the embassy because they consider Nicolas Maduro the legitimate president of Venezuela. The U.S. and 50 other countries say Maduro’s reelection was fraudulent and have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president.

BANGKOK (AP) — A United Nations fact-finding mission is urging that countries cut off all business with Myanmar’s military as part of efforts to hold the army accountable for human rights abuses.

The U.N. Human Rights Council said in a statement on Tuesday that there has been no progress toward resolving the crisis over Myanmar’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority, more than 1 million of whom have fled military “clearance operations” in the northwest Rakhine region.

ISLAMABAD, May 13 (Xinhua): At least two policemen were killed and 11 others injured on Monday evening in a bomb blast in Quetta district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, a provincial minister said.

Provincial Interior Minister Mir Zia Langau said the blast hit a police mobile near a market in the Satellite Town area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.

UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Xinhua): The United Nations (UN) called for a rapid, sustained break in the clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli to allow unimpeded evacuation of the wounded and sick, and the relocation of migrants and refugees, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

"The UN continues to be extremely concerned about the mounting impact of the fighting on civilians in and around Tripoli," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Xinhua): The Europeans Union (EU) and member states' foreign ministers told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday to exercise maximum restraint and avoid any escalation on the military side with Iran, the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said.