Human Rights

India: List of all 22 accused acquitted in Sohrabuddin case

Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) Here is a list of the 22 persons acquitted by a special CBI court in the alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Tulsi Prajapati.

Narainsinh Dabhi: Was then inspector with Gujarat ATS and was accused of being part of the team which allegedly killed Shaikh.

Mukeshkumar Parmar: Was then deputy SP in Gujarat ATS and was accused of being part of the team which allegedly killed Shaikh.

India: Sexual assault survivors embark on 'Dignity March'

Mumbai, Dec 20 (PTI) Over 5,000 survivors of sexual violence across the country Thursday embarked on a 65-day-long 'Dignity March' from the city, which will culminate in New Delhi on February 22, its organisers said.

The march has been organised by Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, a group of NGOs. It will cover 200 districts across 24 states/union territories and traverse over 10,000 kms.

Abhiyan's convener Ashif Sheikh said over 5,000 survivors of sexual assault will highlight their plight through this "unique and first of its kind" march.

Denmark to house foreign criminals on tiny island

20 Dec 2018; DW: Denmark has approved funding to transform a remote island from a contagious diseases laboratory to a detention center, which would house migrant criminals who cannot be deported. The move was criticized by the UN.

The Danish government will begin holding foreign criminals on a remote island, located approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Copenhagen. The controversial plan was included in the 2019 budget proposal, which the legislature approved on Thursday.

LA bishop resigns 13 years after church learned of sex claim

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Los Angeles auxiliary bishop, Monsignor Alexander Salazar, following an allegation of sexual misconduct with a child in the 1990s, officials said Wednesday.

The Vatican announced the resignation in a one-line statement. It was the latest in a string of misconduct allegations against bishops to come to light this year, following the scandal of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington that exposed how bishops have largely avoided punishment for improper behavior.

Black leaders forged alliance with Trump on sentencing deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — A rare bipartisan deal in Congress to overhaul federal sentencing laws passed after a few black ministers, leaders and lawmakers forged an alliance with President Donald Trump, who some have condemned as racist for the last two years.

The reforms could offer a path to freedom for hundreds of black and Latino inmates who were sent to prison by a justice system that critics say has long been stacked against minorities.

India: Raj Thackeray gets bail in 2008 case

Nashik (Maha), Dec 18 (PTI) A court in Igatpuri in Nashik district of Maharashtra Tuesday granted bail to MNS chief Raj Thackeray in connection with a 2008 case of attack on a hotel by his party workers.

Thackeray appeared in Igatpuri court on Tuesday, where Judge K I Khan granted him bail.

As part of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's strident protest against north Indians in 2008, the party workers had attacked a hotel, owned by a north Indian, in Igatpuri.

Police had booked six persons, including Thackeray, in this connection.

Belgian PM offers to resign after migration tears government

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel submitted his resignation Tuesday amid pressure on his government after the biggest coalition party quit over Michel’s support for a United Nations compact on international migration.

“I am taking the decision to offer my resignation. I am now going to see the king” to inform him,” Michel told Belgian lawmakers.

Before the prime minister gave his notice, lawmakers had been demanding he submit his new minority government to a confidence vote. But Michel refused, and a confrontation this week seemed likely.

Yemeni mom wins travel ban waiver to see dying son in US

A Yemeni mother on Tuesday won her fight for a waiver from the Trump administration’s travel ban that would allow her to go to California to see her dying 2-year-old son.

Shaima Swileh planned to fly to San Francisco on Wednesday after the U.S. State Department granted her a visa, said Basim Elkarra of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Sacramento, whose lawyers sued this week.

The boy’s father, Ali Hassan, is a U.S. citizen who brought their son, Abdullah, to California in the fall to get treatment for a genetic brain disorder after the boy’s health worsened.

U.S. airstrikes kill 62 in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States army said Monday it conducted a total of six airstrikes over the weekend, killing 62 al-Shabab militants in a region southwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

The U.S. Africa Command (Africom) said no civilian was killed in the latest strikes which were carried out on Saturday and Sunday in coordination with Somali government in the vicinity of Gandarshe, about 48 km southwest of Mogadishu.

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