George and Amal Clooney, will reportedly donate $1 million to an organisation that tracks hate groups. In a statement to People, which reported the move, actor Clooney said helping to fund the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) dealt a blow in the "ongoing fight for equality." “There are no two sides to bigotry and hate," Mr Clooney said. Founded in 1971, the SPLC has seen its profile rise in recent months as the hate groups it tracks have increasingly flexed their muscles - most recently at a 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that involved white supremacist groups and the KKK and spiralled into violence before a car rammed into counter-protesters. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and at least 19 others were injured when the driver rammed into the crowd. A man has been charged with second-degree murder and a number of other offences over the incident. … [Read more...]

The New South Wales government has been accused of “trashing” anti-discrimination laws by allowing at least six arms manufacturers to discriminate against workers in order to comply with US export restrictions. Some of the world’s biggest defence companies – including Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and BAE Systems – have been given lengthy exemptions from the state’s racial discrimination laws in the past three years. In doing so, the NSW government has allowed companies to reject job applicants, or sack or transfer employees simply because they are foreigners. Employees can have their access to sensitive information restricted solely because they are foreign citizens, and be forced to wear a coded “badge” indicating a lower level of security clearance. Similar forms of discrimination are being allowed across the country. Arms manufacturers have recently been given exemptions to racial discrimination laws in Western Australia, Queensland, … [Read more...]

The decision by Chile’s constitutional court to approve a bill that will allow abortion in some circumstances has been hailed as “a triumph of reason and an act of justice” by campaigners. The legislation, a victory for the centre-left president, Michelle Bachelet, will allow abortion when a woman’s life is at risk, in case of rape and when a foetus is not viable. Endgame nears in Chile president's fight to temper draconian abortion ban Read more “Today, women have won, democracy has won, all of Chile has won,” said Bachelet, who introduced the bill in 2015. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said Chile had finally moved one step closer to protecting the human rights of women and girls. “This victory is testament to the work of millions of women across the Americas and the world who fight against draconian laws that punish women and push them to seeking clandestine and dangerous abortions, … [Read more...]

A mother has been arrested after five children were found eating dog food off the floor of her flat which was stained with faeces urine and cockroach carcasses, police said.  Officers from the force in Middletown, Connecticut, were "immediately taken aback" by the smell emanating from inside of Chloe Edwards home.  They were investigating the property after a fire safety officer alerted them to a large pile of rubbish by the 27-year-old's front door, as they investigated an air conditioner fire.  Inside the flat described as "uncomfortably warm", the police report said there were several flies and the carpet was stained with food, urine, cockroach carcasses and faeces.  The two bedrooms were "in deplorable conditions" with no sheets or pillows on the beds and mattresses stained with dog vomit and feces while cigarette butts, beer cans and dry spaghetti littered one of the rooms, the report added.   Five children were found … [Read more...]

People who can make out a conversation in a crowded pub are more likely to hear voices in their heads and suffer mental health problems like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, a study suggests. Researchers found they had a three-in-four chance of being able to make meaning of garbled sounds compared to half of the rest of us. A group of people who suffer from internal imaginary sounds were asked to make sense of a computer-distorted speech, alongside others who have no history of hallucinations. They were told to listen out for sine waves, “alien-like” noises which can normally be understood only if a hearer is told to pick out certain words. A total of three-quarters (75 per cent) of the group who hear voices in their heads could make out the sentence amid the noise compared to nearly half (47 per cent) for the other group. They could also do it faster than their opposite numbers. And MRI scans also showed their brains automatically responded to the sine … [Read more...]

A Christian Pakistani teenager narrowly avoided being beaten to death after being accused of burning a Quran, according to reports.  The 16-year-old had to be rescued by officers after a mob broke into a police station to try and kill him. Asif Stephen worked collecting recyclables from the shrine of Sundhay Shah, Jhamkay, where it was alleged he stole a copy of the Quran and burned it.  He was detained under the country’s blasphemy laws, among the most stringent in the world. But his family said a rival hawker, Muhammad Nawaz, falsely accused the boy in order to eliminate him as a business rival.  The Quran was found burned in July but earlier this month Mr Nawaz accosted Mr Stephen in a market place and shouted that he had caught the person who burned the Quran, it is said.  “Qari Rana Arshid, who’s the pesh imam at a mosque, arrived there and without confirming anything, he too started beating up my son,” said Stephen … [Read more...]

Pope Francis' Catholicism has been questioned by a group of extremist theologians in their latest attack on his reforms.  Since his election in 2013, the pontiff has implemented a series of reforms, which have updated the Catholic Church’s official doctrine and practice.  Among his more notable changes are a softer stance on homosexuality and allowing divorced people receiving Communion. But traditionalists have been angered by the reforms.  Now an extreme conservative branch of theologians have claimed that there has not been a true pope since the death of Pope Pius XII and the subsequent implementation of Vatican II – which ushered in a wave of liberal reform – in 1959.  The Tradition In Action group, based in Los Angeles, have pointed to a prophecy reportedly made by a vision of the Virgin Mary which appeared to a group of children in the Portuguese village of Fatima … [Read more...]

THOUSANDS of Leaving Cert students woke up early this morning to find out had they been offered a place to study in college. The CAO first round offers opened at 6am, with students having until August 28 to respond to a third level offer. The top three Dublin universities saw demand fall for the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths. Engineering at Trinity is down to 470 points from 500 points – with science down to 499 points from 505 points. Professor Chris Morash of Trinity College said: “As Vice-Provost at Trinity – and also as a parent this year of a Leaving Cert student – at a very personal level I recognise and applaud the heroic effort that goes into achieving these results, not just for the students, but for their families as well. “You are now standing in a place where you can look ahead to the person you will become. “A third level education is not just about assimilating facts, it is about challenging yourself, both … [Read more...]

A man was attacked with a knife after being mistaken for a neo-Nazi because of his hair style, his friends say. Joshua Witt, 26, was stepping out of his car outside a restaurant to buy a milkshake when the assailant lunged at him and swung the blade towards his head. He held up his hands to defend himself in the attack in Sheridan, Colorado amid the frenzy and remembers the man saying: “Are you a neo-Nazi?” Mr Witt luckily ended up only with minor injuries, suffering a deep cut below his left thumb which needed three stitches after the attack that left his clothes splattered with blood. He didn't understand why he was targeted because he has no tattoos linking him to ultra-right wing groups and he is not aware of anything on his car linking him to fascism. But his friends pointed out that his hairstyle, which is long on top and closely cropped at the sides, was to blame for the mix-up. Neo-Nazis often fully shave their heads. It came amid a wave of backlash … [Read more...]

The Sudanese feminist and political activist Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, who has died aged 88, was a force of nature. To observe her in action was to be humbled by her indefatigability. In a country where the slightest of strays from social convention are frowned upon, she was a pioneer in the field of women’s rights, and, in 1965, became Sudan’s first female member of parliament after participating in a democratic movement that removed military rule. Her political activism could not be separated from her feminism, and vice versa. She spent her early years challenging British colonial rule in Sudan and the postcolonial military government of Ibrahim Abboud, while also co-founding the Sudanese Women’s Union, which went on to campaign for and secure the right of women to vote, receive maternity pay and a pension. Ibrahim did not confuse Sudanese values with subjugation, nor did she see feminism as a foreign concept. She struck an authentic balance between pride in her … [Read more...]

Activists are outraged over the Ugandan government’s decision to cancel a week of gay pride celebrations in the country for a second consecutive year, describing the move as a violation of fundamental human rights of minority groups. On 16 August, the state minister of ethics and integrity, Simon Lokodo, issued a directive shutting down a gala, scheduled to take place at the Sheraton Hotel in the capital, Kampala, accusing the organisers of attempting to stage an illegal gathering aimed at recruitment, exhibition and promotion of homosexuality. Police officers were deployed at the hotel and other venues where pride events were scheduled, to arrest anyone participating in activities. Uganda anti-gay law declared 'null and void' by constitutional court Read more “It’s true I ordered the police to stop and shut down all the gay pride events. No gay gathering and promotion can be allowed in Uganda. We can’t tolerate it at all,” said … [Read more...]

Image copyright AFP Image caption Russia launched an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad two years ago Dozens of so-called Islamic State (IS) militants are reported to have been killed in a Russian air strike near the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zour.Russia's defence ministry said at least 200 jihadists had died after its air force targeted a convoy of about 20 4x4s, armoured vehicles and tanks. It did not say when the strike took place, but a monitoring group reported that a convoy had been hit last Friday.The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 70.The activist-run Deir Ezzor 24 news network also said there had been a strike on a convoy outside Deir al-Zour on Friday that killed a number of militants. Islamic State and the crisis in Iraq … [Read more...]

A young mother died hours after giving birth when a hospital lift took off before she was fully inside. Spanish media report the woman was severed in two, left lying inside the left on a stretcher holding her new-born baby boy while her feet were trapped on the outside of the lift shaft. The woman, named as Rocio C, was being moved in a trolley in Valme Hospital in Seville, Andalucia, Spain, hours after doctors had performed a caesarean to deliver her third child. But before the 26-year-old was fully inside the elevator, on a trip from the second to the third floor, it moved upwards of its own accord. Doctors at the scene were unable to save her life while firefighters worked for two hours to reach her body inside after she became trapped between the lift frame and the roof. The woman’s baby was unharmed in the accident but was being treated for a non-serious respiratory problems not believed to be related to the incident which killed her … [Read more...]

‘Hitler! Hitler!” the prisoners chanted to the TV cameras in protest. It was 4 February 2009. More than 200 Latino men in black-and-white striped uniforms, shackled to each other, were being marched towards an outdoor unit especially for “illegal alien” prisoners in Arizona’s infamous jail, Tent City. The chants were directed at the Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who a few months before had called this outdoor jail close to downtown Phoenix – his own tough-on-crime creation – a “concentration camp” in a speech to political supporters at his local Italian-American club. When asked about the comment by the Guardian in July, Arpaio brushed it off as a joke. “But even if it was a concentration camp, what difference does it make? I still survived. I still kept getting re-elected,” he said. The jail survived too. For more than 20 years, Tent City stood within a larger jail compound in an industrial area 10 minutes south … [Read more...]

The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has railed against the west, saying any security cooperation with western nations or the reopening of their embassies would not happen until they cut ties with opposition and insurgent groups. Shortly after Assad gave his speech, a shell hit the first international fair in the country since the war began six years ago, killing and wounding several people. We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled review – voices from Syria Read more Assad’s defiant comments come at a time when his troops and pro-Iranian militia are gaining ground across the country under the cover of Russian airstrikes. Many countries have ceased calling for him to step down. Speaking in front of dozens of Syrian diplomats in Damascus, Assad praised Russia, Iran, China and Lebanon’s Hezbollah for supporting his government during the conflict. He said Syria would look east when it came to political, economic and cultural relations. “The direct … [Read more...]

“It was like hell. In the hospital it was very quiet despite all the people. Everyone was crying, crying from the gas, crying from looking at the bodies. It was so full, people were laid out on the floor. I almost stepped on the body of my friend. I didn’t even realise it was him,” said Nour Aden, an activist from East Ghouta, remembering the events of 21 August 2013.  Four years ago, thousands of people in the besieged rebel district of Damascus were rushed to hospital – after an air raid in the early hours – with symptoms such as convulsions, suffocation, coughing up blood and foaming at the mouth. In the then two years since Syria’s civil war broke out, doctors had grown used to treating trauma and conflict wounds. But the overwhelmed medical staff didn’t know how to treat these patients with no visible signs of injury. Children dropped like flies in front of them because of what international investigators would later confirm were … [Read more...]

Image copyright EPA Image caption Dancers performed at the opening of the trade fair on Thursday A rocket has struck close to the entrance of a trade fair in the Syrian capital, Damascus, Syrian media say.The Damascus International Fair is being held for the first time since the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011.Syrian TV said the rocket had caused casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said five people had died.The fair, which has another 10 days to run, had been a key business event before the Syrian conflict broke out. Why is there a war in Syria? Syria from space Its general director, Fares al-Kartally, told AFP news agency earlier in the week that holding the fair, which opened on Thursday, reflected "the return of calm and stability in most regions" and would "signal the start … [Read more...]

Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Hong Kong – some clad in prison uniforms – to demand the release of three of the former British colony’s best-known pro-democracy leaders. Hong Kong democracy campaigners jailed over anti-China protests Read more Alex Chow, Nathan Law and Joshua Wong – key leaders of 2014’s umbrella movement protests – were jailed for between six and eight months on Thursday for their involvement in an “unlawful assembly” that helped launch those historic demonstrations. Supporters have denounced the court’s ruling as a politically motivated attack on the semi-autonomous city’s democracy movement while Hong Kong’s last governor, Chris Patten, called it a deplorable decision that would deepen fears about Beijing’s erosion of the territory’s freedoms. Police said about 22,000 demonstrators joined the march across Hong Kong island – from Wan Chai … [Read more...]

Hip hop superstar Jay-Z has spoken out about his feud with Kanye West and explained why he has a “real, real problem” with his former friend.  The music mogul was discussing his song “Kill Jay-Z” from the 4:44 album, which features lyrics that appear to directly relate to West.  He was adamant the song was not a “diss track” and claimed he was talking about himself. He did, however, say that West had crossed the line by talking about his family on stage during a rant at one of his performances.  "It's not even about Kanye, it really isn't. His name is there, just because it's just the truth of what happened. But the whole point is 'You got hurt because this person was talking about you on a stage.'” Jay-Z told Rap Radar.  "But what really hurt me was, you can't bring my kids and my wife into it, Kanye's my little brother. He's talked about me 100 times. He made a song called 'Big Brother.' "We've gotten past … [Read more...]

When Donald Trump's German grandfather was ordered by a royal decree to leave the country and never return, he wrote a letter pleading the prince regent of Bavaria not to deport him.  Friedrich Trump wrote the letter in 1905 when he returned to Germany with his wife and daughter after having emigrated to the US. German authorities had given him eight weeks to leave and denied him repatriation because he failed to complete his mandatory military service and to register his initial emigration to the US 20 years earlier.  In the letter, Mr Trump described the moment he received the news from the High Royal State Ministry he had to leave as "a lightning strike from fair skies".  "We were paralysed with fright, our happy family life was tarnished. My wife has been overcome by anxiety, and my lovely child has become sick," he wrote.  "Why should we be deported?" he asked, "This is very, very hard for a family. What will our fellow citizens think if … [Read more...]