1. Marshae Jones was five months pregnant when she was shot in the stomach. Her fetus did not survive the shooting, which the authorities say happened during a dispute with another woman. She was charged with manslaughter in the death on Wednesday. On Thursday, she was released from jail after posting $50,000 bond, according to the authorities and the website of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama. The police have said she was culpable because she started the fight that led to the shooting and failed to remove herself from harm’s way.
The case comes amid a heated debate over the rights of pregnant women and fetuses nationwide, and Alabama is ground zero for the issue. In December, Ms. Jones was shot because of a dispute with another woman over the father of the child. Authorities rushed her to a hospital where she underwent surgery.
2. Dalai Lama, who has been living as a refugee from Tibet since 1959, said he thinks only a ‘limited number’ of people should be allowed to remain in their adopted countries. He told the BBC that he thought European nations should be obliged to take in those who are fleeing their home countries and need help, but should ultimately be taught skills to return with.
When asked what would happen to anyone who wishes to stay in the country they have settled in he added: "A limited number is OK. But the whole of Europe [will] eventually become Muslim country - impossible. Or African country, also impossible." He has lived in India since fleeing Lhasa 60 years ago during the Tibetan uprising.
3. A French city closed two public swimming pools after seven Muslim women “inspired by Rosa Parks” defied a citywide ban to swim in their burkinis on Sunday, despite a heatwave that triggered special measures to protect public health.
The protest was part of a campaign dubbed Operation Burkini, launched in May by Grenoble’s Citizen Alliance, which saw burkini-clad protestors break the ban for the second time in five weeks. The women remained in the water for nearly an hour despite being reprimanded by lifeguards beforehand, and received cheers and embraces from other swimmers. They were apprehended by police, received a fine and were banned from using public pools for one month, the city hall spokesperson said.
4. Wayland Yoder Brown, a 75 year old former priest who admitted to raping two young boys died of natural causes just eight months into a 20-year prison sentence. Brown had already been dismissed from the priesthood and served five years imprisoned in Maryland for sexually abusing two other boys when he was indicted by South Carolina prosecutors in 2017. It was 30 years earlier when he sexually abused two young boys and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah paid the victim $4.5 million as part of a settlement in one of those cases.
5. In an interview for Pure Flix, Bodie Hodge of Answers in Genesis was asked about why the Bible should be trusted over, say, the Book of Mormon. He answered, "Well, let’s just start off with… the fact that the Bible is true. All the others are not true. That’s the biggest key. God is true. And His word that comes from Him is also true."
6. Priests offered prayers to control child rape cases across the nation, by worshipping cows in Chilkur Balaji temple. "Cow worship has been an old method to combat with any sort of crisis, so we planned to offer prayers in order to curb child rapes cases, being reported in our society," priest Ranga Rajan said.
"Three cows will take three Parikrama rounds around Balaji temple sanctum. The three Parikrama represent words, deeds and thoughts respectively," he added.
7. On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order putting in place what he called "hard-hitting" new sanctions on Iran.
"We will continue to increase pressure on Tehran,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that the announcement "follows a series of aggressive behaviors by the Iranian regime in recent weeks" — including the downing of a U.S. drone.
"The Supreme Leader of Iran is one who ultimately is responsible for the hostile conduct of the regime," Trump said. The new sanctions, Trump said, will deny Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders within the regime access to "key financial resources and support." But, he added, the U.S. does "not seek conflict with Iran" and that he looks "forward to discussing whatever I have to discuss with anybody that wants to speak."
8. Tabrez Ansari,an Indian Muslim man, was assaulted by the mob on 18 June, after being accused of breaking into a house and stealing a motorbike in the eastern state of Jharkand. Several videos, which appear to be of the assault, spread quickly online in the aftermath of Ansari’s death.
One clip allegedly shows members of a crowd beating the man with sticks, according to The Telegraph India.
In another the mob can be heard forcing the 22-year-old to chant "Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”. The chants, which mean “victory to Lord Rama” and “victory to Hanuman”, are traditionally performed by devout Hindus. Rama and Hanuman are both Hindu gods. Multiple Indian newspapers said the police officers did not record the alleged assault in their incident report.
He was taken to hospital in the city of Jamshedpur but was declared dead on arrival, according to The Indian Express. One person has been arrested.
Other sources: https://bit.ly/2XCHPGl
https://nyti.ms/2ZQmo20
https://ab.co/2J84L7m
https://bit.ly/2XlNEJj
With the video: https://dailym.ai/2KMa7Zg
9. According to the largest and most in-depth survey undertaken of the Middle East and North Africa, Arabs are increasingly saying they are no longer religious. The finding is one of a number on how Arabs feel about a wide range of issues, from women's rights and migration to security and sexuality.
More than 25,000 people were interviewed for the survey - for BBC News Arabic by the Arab Barometer research network - across 10 countries and the Palestinian territories between late 2018 and spring 2019. Since 2013, the number of people across the region identifying as "not religious" has risen from 8% to 13%. The rise is greatest in the under 30s, among whom 18% identify as not religious, according to the research.
10. Support for the LGBTQ community among younger Americans has sadly decreased, according to GLAAD’s 2019 Accelerating Acceptance Report. The report asked adults how they felt about things like seeing a gay couple holding hands, or finding out a relative is lesbian, or knowing that their child had an LGBTQ teacher. The results focused on what non-LGBTQ Americans said in those situations. [The survey] found that non-LGBTQ adults who said they felt “very” or “somewhat” comfortable in all of those scenarios was 49%, reflecting no change from 2018. For the 18 to 34 demographic, however, that percentage fell from 53% to 45%.
As GLAAD representatives pointed out, 2019 marks the second year in a row that LGBTQ acceptance among Americans aged 18 to 34 has dropped. In 2017, that figure was at 63%. The most striking drop in acceptance appeared among young women, whose comfort level dropped from 64% last year to 52% in the newly published report.
Link to the study: https://bit.ly/31VyqsX
