Human Rights

20 Mar 2021; MEMO: Syrian Oil Minister Bassam Toma'a has revealed that around 90 per cent of Syrian oil is under the control of US forces, Aram News Network reported on Friday.

"The Americans and their followers are acting like pirates as they are targeting the Syrian oil wealth and oil supplies," the Syrian regime minister asserted.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia yesterday condemned Israel's continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while Kuwait called on the United Nations to hold the occupation accountable.

In a speech to the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Saudi's permanent representative Abdulaziz Al-Wasil said: "The seventh item is a major item within the agenda of the Human Rights Council, and the kingdom will never accept the marginalisation of this item."

Atlanta, Mar 20 (AP-PTI) President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris offered solace to Asian Americans and denounced the scourge of racism at times hidden in plain sight as they visited Atlanta, just days after a white gunman killed eight people, most of them Asian American women.

ATLANTA (AP) — The murder case against a white man charged with shooting and killing six women of Asian descent and two other people at Atlanta-area massage businesses this week could become the first big test for Georgia’s new hate crimes law.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Protesters against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro defied police in the capital Friday, a day after the latest round of arrests of the leader’s critics under a dictatorship-era national security law.

Four demonstrators were detained Thursday after calling Bolsonaro “genocidal” for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and displaying a cartoon depicting the president as a Nazi. But on Friday, police quietly watched an hour-long protest against Bolsonaro staged by about 40 people.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israel has received a letter from the International Criminal Court (ICC) giving details of the scope of its war crimes investigation against the occupation state and Hamas, Channel 13 reported on Wednesday. The letter apparently arrived last weekend.

According to the news channel, the National Security Council has already met to begin formulating Israel's response. The government has 30 days in which to do this.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: The candidate for Virginia Governor Lee Carter on Tuesday said he backs Palestinian calls to boycott the Israeli occupation.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority rejected a proposed scheme on Thursday to establish a large botanical garden on the roofs of historic markets in the Muslim quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. A statement from the Foreign Ministry condemned the proposal, describing it as part of Israel's "Judaisation war" against Jerusalem, its citizens and sanctities.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: At least three people died and one more is missing after the Greek Coast Guard dumped a group of asylum seekers into the Aegean Sea, Turkish authorities said today.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued two asylum seekers from Bogaz Island, located off the coast of Izmir, and two more from the surrounding waters, according to a statement by the governor's office.

Bodies of two more people were also recovered, the statement said.

Atlanta, Mar 19 (AP-PTI) One was new mother taking a rare break from caring for her baby girl. Another was an Army veteran who installed security systems in the Atlanta area.

They were among eight people killed Tuesday in shootings at three metro Atlanta massage parlors. Police have charged a 21-year-old man with the slayings.

Seven of the slain were women, and six of them were of Asian descent.