Kennebec humane

Authorities in Western China’s Xinjiang region are formally prosecuting ethnic Uyghurs at a higher rate than in previous years, and have increased the length of prison sentences for the Turkic minority group native to the Central Asian territory, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Wednesday. Xinjiang courts sentenced over 99,000 people in the Uyghur-majority region in 2017 and over 133,000 in 2018, according to Chinese government statistics cited by HRW, a non-governmental organization (NGO). The Chinese government has yet to release Xinjiang’s 2019 or 2020 sentencing statistics. Human Rights Watch said it analyzed “nearly 60 of these cases” and found many people appear to have been convicted and imprisoned by Chinese authorities without evidence they had committed a genuine criminal offense. “These formal prosecutions are distinct from those arbitrarily detained in unlawful ‘political education’ facilities,” HRW noted, referring to Xinjiang’s state-run detention camps. … [Read more...] about Human Rights Watch: China Arresting Uyghurs at Skyrocketing Rates

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents continue to find stash houses near the border where smugglers warehouse their human cargo. Most recently, agents in Pharr, Texas, found 71 migrants packed into a single house. Pharr Police Department officers contacted McAllen Station agents about a suspected human smuggling stash house in their border community. The agents and officers teamed up and conducted a welfare check on the residence, according to Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials. Border Patrol agents find 71 migrants packed inside a human smuggling stash house in South Texas. (Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector) When the team made entry into the house, agents found 71 illegal immigrants, officials stated. The agents conducted immigration interviews and identified the migrants as having traveled to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Agents identified three of the people as unaccompanied minors who were … [Read more...] about 71 Migrants Found in Texas Human Stash House near Border

The Biden administration is reintroducing liberal principles – the promotion of democracy and human rights – as a major foundation of U.S. foreign policy. Rejecting the Trumpian transactional approach, which sought to deal with foreign governments on the basis of give and take (often more take than give) regardless of their regime types and moral commitments, the Biden administration seeks to re-center democratization and human rights proliferation in its foreign policy agenda. Clearly in line with core American values, this change will likely be praised by many progressives and conservatives alike. But it also opens a Pandora’s box of challenges. The most obvious challenge is that of legitimacy: How can the U.S. maintain the legitimacy of its liberal principles when its uneven application of these principles reveals rank hypocrisy? The U.S. has historically allied itself with, and actively promoted, authoritarian regimes, as long as they were in accordance with U.S. economic or … [Read more...] about Human rights are a worthy but tricky foundation for foreign policy

The remains of a human skull were found by a passerby walking through a park in Texas on Sunday. Officers from Harris County were called to the scene of a wooded area in the 12900 block of North Eldridge Parkway, 25 miles northwest of Houston. "The remains of a human skull were observed by an individual walking in Cypress Park," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted on Sunday. A park patron made the grim discovery around noon in a wooded area away from park amenities, Sheriff Gonzalez told the Houston Chronicle . It is unclear exactly where in the park the discovery was made or how long the remains had been there. An investigation is underway and the park will reportedly remain open. Harris County Sheriff's Office crime scene investigators and forensic anthropologists with the Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) have since collected all the bones that were found in the wooded area, Harris County Senior Deputy Thomas M Gilliland told Newsweek . IFS is currently … [Read more...] about Human Skull Discovered in Texas Park, Police Open Investigation

The lives of people lost due to wildlife-human conflicts are not adequately compensated in India, according to a new study which says changing the approach to this estimate can improve conservation efforts, and help understand which species to prioritise at conflict-prone zones. The research, published in the journal PNAS , surveyed 5,196 households living near 11 wildlife reserves in India, and self-reported annual costs including crop and livestock losses, injuries, and human deaths. "Human casualties contribute overwhelmingly to overall damages from wildlife interactions. This is despite the use of a relatively low valuation of human life from the literature," study lead author, Sumeet Gulati from The University of British Columbia in Canada, told PTI . The researchers said compensation for human death ranges from ₹76,400 in Haryana, to ₹8,73,995 in Maharashtra. They said the average compensation paid for human death in the country is ₹1,91,437, and the average … [Read more...] about Human lives lost due to wildlife-human conflict need to be better compensated, say scientists