International

UN queries Israeli soldier’s ‘excessively lenient’ term for killing

Geneva (dpa) – The 18-month prison sentence for an Israeli soldier who killed a wounded Palestinian assailant was “excessively lenient” and continues Israel’s culture of ignoring such crimes, a UN human rights office spokeswoman said Friday in Geneva. Soldier Elor Azaria was found guilty of shooting 21-year-old Fatah al-Sharif as he lay on the ground,

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International, Middle East

Peruvian President Kuczynski meets Trump in Washington

Washington (dpa) – President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peru became the first Latin American head of state to visit new US President Donald Trump in a White House meeting Friday in Washington. “Peru has been a fantastic neighbour, we’ve had great relationships, better now than ever before,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office following

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International, USA

DeVos Questions If Schools Should Provide Free lunch

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made a seemingly innocuous joke Thursday about no one getting a free lunch. But the comment came as DeVos, a staunch opponent of public schools, is taking over the nation’s free lunch program that provides nutrition to low-income students and is under attack from Republicans, raising questions about whether the administration

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

India approves purchase of Israeli missile system

India”s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the $2.5 billion purchase of an advanced Israeli-made anti-aircraft missile system for his country”s army, JNS.org reported Thursday. “In a meeting of the cabinet committee on security headed by the prime minister, the proposal for procuring the MR-SAM air defense system for the army was approved and these

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International, Middle East

Donald Trump orders all federal agencies to form ‘regulatory reform task force’

President Trump on Friday signed another executive order aimed at reducing federal regulations, this time directing all government agencies to form a “regulatory reform task force” that will identify unneeded red tape and remove it. In brief comments in the Oval Office, the president said each task force will report back to the White House

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USA

Egypt’s president orders cabinet to help Christians escaping Sinai

Cairo (dpa) – Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sissi ordered the government on Saturday to take all necessary measures to help Christians who escaped northern Sinai after the Islamic State militia killed at least six of them over the past month. This is the first official response by the state to the attacks targeting Christians in

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Middle East

Protests in South Africa against foreigners get out of hand

JOHANNESBURG — South African authorities are under fire for allowing an anti-immigrant “march of hatred” in Pretoria Friday, soon after a series of violent attacks against Somalis, Nigerians and other foreigners. The results were predictable: Police arrested 136 people, many of them protesters and looters armed with clubs, sticks, pipes and rocks. Migrants, terrified of

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International

Tit-for-tat escalates as President Hollande hits back at Trump’s anti-France remarks

French President François Hollande hit back at Donald Trump with a dig about gun control Saturday, a day after the new US president attacked France’s immigration policies and Paris. “I don’t want to make a comparison, but there are no weapons circulating here, there are no people who take weapons to shoot into a crowd,”

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International, USA

The world’s ‘most sophisticated nerve agent’ was used to kill the brother of North Korea’s leader

The nerve agent that was used to kill Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is among the most deadly chemical weapons developed. It’s also been banned by the United Nations. According to Malaysian investigators, two female suspects coated their hands with the liquid toxin and wiped it on Kim Jong-nam’s face as

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International

Hate crime feared after Indian man killed, another shot in Kansas bar

A white US Navy veteran has been charged with killing an engineer from India and wounding two other men when he opened fire in a Kansas bar in what federal authorities were investigating on Friday as a possible hate crime. The shooting on Wednesday night led news bulletins in India and triggered outrage on social

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International, USA

Iraqi forces push deeper into western Mosul as civilians flee

US-backed Iraqi forces have pushed deeper into western Mosul on Saturday, after retaking the city’s airport from the self-styled Islamic State. Troops have also advanced into several populated built-up southern districts in the so-called Islamic State’s last major stronghold in the country. An alliance of government-sanctioned Shi’ite militias have been launching their own push west

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Middle East

Tom Perez wins hard-fought DNC race to become Democrats’ first Latino chairman

ATLANTA – Tom Perez was elected Saturday as the first Latino chair of the Democratic National Committee, overcoming stiff opposition from the Bernie Sanders wing of the party and delivering a win for former President Barack Obama, who recruited him for the job. The race here turned into a nail-biter after Mr. Perez fell a

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USA