News Clips- April 7, 2017

This week, authorities in Chechnya, Russia initiated an anti-gay campaign that resulted in more than 100 detentions and three deaths. [Guardian]
On Friday, two women’s rights activists in China, who were originally detained in 2014 for supporting pro-democracy protests, were convicted of inciting subversion of state power. [Washington Post]
Thousands participated in protests in Serbia this week to denounce the allegedly fraudulent election of Aleksandar Vucic. [Al Jazeera]
On Tuesday, thousands protested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s decision to seize power from the legislature. [New York Times]

On Monday, a bomb detonated on a subway in St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 11 people and prompting Russian authorities to launch a terrorism investigation. [Washington Post]
Following a chemical bomb attack in Syria that killed more than 100 individuals, the United States ambassador to the UN condemned the lack of collective action by the UN Security Council on Syria, and the United States subsequently fired missiles on a Syrian airfield early Friday. [New York Times; VOA]
On Wednesday, six people died in a bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban; allegedly the attack targeted persons collecting the national census. [New York Times]

On Tuesday, Mali became the first country to ratify an environmental amendment to the Montreal Protocol that requires phasing out hydrofluorocarbons. [UN News Centre]
This week, a 60-year water license was granted to Carmichael coalmine in Queensland, Australia; environmental activists suggest this action could have “irreversible” effects on the region’s farms and land titles. [Guardian]

On Friday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court suggested that the murder of two United Nations researchers and the 23 mass graves found in the Kasai region may constitute war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [New York Times]
Former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt will stand for a second trial related to genocide and crimes against humanity charges arising from the Las Dos Erres massacre in 1982. [International Justice Monitor]
On Wednesday, Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar, denied that ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in the country. [Al Jazeera]

This week, Iceland’s parliament proposed a bill requiring public and private businesses to certify their equal-pay programs. [Guardian]
On Monday, the Trump administration terminated United States funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which provides family planning services in 155 countries. [New York Times]
On Monday, Bahrain’s King approved a constitutional amendment that gives military courts the power to try any civilian that threatens the security of the State. [Al Jazeera]