UN chief Ban Ki-moon says Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad’s “failure of leadership” has caused the deaths of over 300,000 people, according to an interview released Monday. Asked by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle if he considered Assad a mass murderer, Ban said that question was for other institutions to answer. He added, though: “It’s …
U.S. government wants to read travelers’ tweets before letting them in
U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to start collecting “information associated with your online presence” from travelers from countries eligible for a visa waiver, including much of Europe and a handful of other countries. Earlier this summer, the agency proposed including a field on certain customs forms for “provider/platform” and “social media identifier,” making headlines …
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Israeli forces arrest 31 Palestinians in West Bank and East Jerusalem
Israel arrested dozens of Palestinians after a shooting rampage in Jerusalem killed two people and wounded five others, police said on Monday. The arrests after Sunday’s attack included 31 Palestinians seeking to participate in celebrations in memory of the assailant as well as members of his family in east Jerusalem, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan …
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Turkish man dies after harsh intervention by German police
A Turkish man died after German police officers punched and pepper-sprayed him in a brawl in front of his ex-wife’s house last week. According to reports on the incident that became public this weekend, 31-year-old Taner Demirçivi arrived at his ex-wife’s house in Bielefeld on Oct. 14 and the two started arguing. Neighbors heard the …
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Plan for UK military to opt out of European convention on human rights
Controversial plans for the military to opt out from the European convention on human rights (ECHR) during future conflicts will be introduced by ministers, to see off what the prime minister described as an “industry of vexatious claims” against soldiers. The long-mooted idea will be announced on Tuesday at the Conservative party conference by Theresa …
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Swedish asylum center burns down in arson attack
A Swedish asylum center burned down overnight in a suspected attack by arsonists, police said on Friday, the second incident of its kind in a week in the Stockholm region. Staff alerted police in the early hours of Friday after hearing noises and seeing lights outside the building, Stockholm police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said. A …
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Canadian Muslim student told she could not take exam as she was wearing hijab
A student in Canada has been told she could not sit an exam after she refused to partially remove her hijab. The girl was asked by a male biology teacher to pull her headscarf behind her ears so he could see if she was wearing headphones, according to a spokesperson for the school in Montreal. …
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Israeli soldiers throw stones at Palestinian schoolchildren
On 27th October, Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank threw stones at Palestinian schoolchildren in the village of al-Tuwani. Shared video shows, the soldiers lob stones towards the children, including with a slingshot. According to the video, they are the ones who are supposed to protect the children from attacks by Israeli settlers in …
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Muslim community center vandalized with racial slurs in New Jersey
Local Muslim Americans in Bayonne, New Jersey, were shocked to find Islamophobic epithets and “Donald Trump” spray-painted all over the Bayonne Muslim Community Center on Friday. Words such as “fuck Allah,” “fuck Arabs,” “Jesus Christ” and “fuck ISIS” were found plastered all over the red-brick building, which is also referred to as “Al Mi’raj Masjid.” …
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German state not liable to pay compensation to victims of 2009 Kunduz airstrike
Germany’s top criminal and private court, the Bundesgerichtshof, on Thursday ruled that the state need not compensate relatives of the victims of a 2009 airstrike in Afghanistan called in by a German general. The strike, against an oil tanker believed to have fallen into insurgent hands, killed around 100 civilians who had gathered around the …
