International News
In India's democracy, Muslims feel increasingly marginalised
Al Jazeera
New Delhi, India - As India conducts the biggest democratic exercise in the world, its Muslim minority has little to cheer amid their increasing electoral marginalisation.
In the lower house of the outgoing parliament known as Lok Sabha, there were only 22 Muslims of 543 politicians.
The Sudanese librarian who provides books to protesters
Al Jazeera
"I saw most of the protesters were young. At the sit-in, they only had their phones and were reading from it. I then thought what if I bring them books so that they can read and protest at the same time," Moalim, popularly known as Kabila, told Al Jazeera.
US News
James Byrd Jr: Killer executed for notorious 1998 hate crime
BBC World News
One of three men convicted in the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr, one of modern America's worst hate crimes, has been executed in Texas.
Byrd, a black man, was beaten, chained to a truck and dragged for miles by an avowed white supremacist and two other white men.
His murder prompted Congress to pass hate crime legislation in 2009.
Uber drivers plan shutdown over 'poverty wages' as company goes public
The Guardian
Drivers will log off the app in seven cities starting at noon on 8 May, the day Uber is expected to make its IPO. Drivers in San Francisco will also protest in front of the Uber headquarters. The action is backed by driver collectives including Gig Workers Rising in Northern California, Rideshare Drivers United in Los Angeles, and Chicago Rideshare Advocates.
Agents find 3-year-old migrant boy alone near Texas border
AP News
MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — U.S. Border Patrol agents found a 3-year-old boy alone in a field in Texas after likely being abandoned by smugglers at the southern border, authorities said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said late Tuesday that the boy’s name and a phone number were written on his shoes when agents found him that morning. The agency said it is trying to reach the boy’s family and that the boy “does not speak well enough to communicate.”
Science / Environment News
Malaria is among the world’s biggest killers of children. Now there’s a vaccine.
Vox News
Every year, malaria kills more than 400,000 people, most of them children. There’s been significant progress against the disease in the past few decades — death rates have fallen nearly in half — but there’s a long way to go. One child dies of malaria every two minutes.
Now, for the first time, we might have a vaccine.
Opponents call it a ‘crime against humanity,’ but vaccine bill moves forward
LA Times
A contentious bill to tighten California’s school immunization law passed its first hurdle in the Legislature on Wednesday, after hundreds of parents lined the corridors of the state Capitol, alternatively pleading and demanding that lawmakers reject it.
The emotional testimony on the bill comes as a measles outbreak has put public health officials on high alert. More than 100 doctors and medical students spoke in favor of SB 276, which would empower the state health department to vet medical exemptions sought by physicians.