Human Rights Glance
Uganda's president is expected on Monday to sign into law a controversial anti-gay bill that has harsh penalties for homosexual offenses.
The Uganda Media Center invited journalists Monday to witness the signing ceremony at the president's official residence in Entebbe, about 40 kilometers (24.86 miles) from the capital, Kampala.
The bill is popular in Uganda, but international rights groups have condemned it as draconian in a country where homosexuality is already criminalized. U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill, saying it would "complicate" the east African country's relationship with Washington.
Uganda's president to sign anti-gay bill Monday
US psychologists' association rejects ban on aiding military interrogations
A longshot push to get the professional association of US psychologists to consider banning its members from providing aid to military interrogations failed on Friday, but gathered enough support to make supporters optimistic about a follow-on effort in August.
A resolution brought by University of Dallas psychologist Scott Churchill to add the interrogations ban to the agenda of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) legislative body received the support of 53% of representatives to the group’s biannual convention.
UN reports North Korea torture camps, calls for criminal probe
A United Nations panel released a report Monday saying that "unspeakable atrocities" and crimes against humanity have been committed in North Korea and that the U.N. will call for an international criminal investigation, the most serious attempt yet to probe evidence of grave and systematic rights violations in the authoritarian state.
"The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world," the U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) said in a statement.
Rwanda genocide trial opens in Paris, French first
The first trial in France over Rwanda's genocide has opened in a Paris court.
Pascal Simbikangwa, a 54-year-old former intelligence chief, faces charges of complicity in genocide and complicity in war crimes. He could face a life sentence if convicted after the seven-week trial.
The case has highlighted criticism of France's own reaction to the genocide a generation ago, and its slow exercise of justice after the slaughter of at least 500,000 people over 100 days.
The horrors '12 Years a Slave' couldn't tell
Solomon Northup’s story, which has been studied by historians for decades, now has a second life in American popular culture, thanks to director Steve McQueen’s extraordinary movie “12 Years a Slave.” The film — nominated for nine Oscars, including best picture and best director — brings Northup’s remarkable 1853 memoir to life with searing portrayals of torture and survival.
It has revived curiosity about Northup’s life and renewed debate over how to depict the pain of the past and the present. Does McQueen’s movie go too far with violence?
Abbas says no peace deal unless all prisoners freed
There will be no permanent peace deal with Israel until all Palestinian prisoners are set free, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said early Tuesday.
"I promise you, there will be no permanent agreement [with Israel] until all prisoners are set free," Abbas told a reception in Ramallah early Tuesday for the third batch of prisoners released by Israel.
In the nine-month framework for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that resumed in July, Israel agreed to release a 104 prisoners held for offenses committed prior to the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords. So far 78 have been released.
Large protests over Bedouin resettlement in Israel
Large protests over a plan to resettle nomadic Bedouin Arabs in Israel's southern Negev desert caused injuries Saturday and led to some arrests as well as condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Protests focused on a bill that would move thousands of Bedouins into government-recognized villages. Opponents charge the plan would confiscate Bedouin land and affect their nomadic way of life, but Israel says the moves are necessary to provide basic services that many Bedouins lack and would benefit their community while preserving their traditions.
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