The Week’s Rounds

Israel nixes bus segregation plans, the U.K. takes strong stance against undocumented immigrant labor, Russian bill looks to criminalize abortion procedures, a British Muslim woman takes on ISIS through poetry, Ireland celebrates passing of same-sex marriage referendum, and 35 other stories in this week’s news rounds…

Race & Ethnicity

• Palestinians in Jerusalem express frustration over Israel‘s annual Jerusalem Day march. (NYT)
• Ambivalence permeates attitudes regarding the Mexican women’s national soccer team’s reliance on U.S. players. (NYT)
• Israeli Defense Minister attempts to defend rationale for nixed de facto bus segregation plan. (Times of Israel)
• In China, the uncounted Hmong minority faces a catch-22 under official ethnic relations policy. (East Asia Forum)
• Malaysia moves forward with dam project that could forcefully displace a number of indigenous populations. (Global Voices)
• Protests and arrests erupt in Cleveland (U.S.) following acquittal of police officer involved in the shooting death of two unarmed African-Americans.  (Cleveland.com)

Migration & Displacement

• Malaysia and Indonesia agree to provide temporary shelter to thousands of migrants adrift in the seas off their shores, while Thailand opts out.  (Reuters)
• BBC journalists jailed while reporting on poor migrant conditions in Qatar. (BBC)
• Undocumented workers in the U.K. will be subject to wage seizure and ineligible for pre-deportation appeal. (Telegraph)
• On the other side of the coin, what is motivating more than 300,000 to leave the U.K. each year? (Telegraph)
• A porous border between Brazil and Venezuela creates opportunity for struggling Venezuelans. (Global Voices)
• Biased, anti-immigrant Hungarian government survey draws condemnation from the U.N. (Reuters)
• Iran moves to implement Supreme Leader’s order to provide schooling for all Afghan children in the country, regardless of legal status. (Al Monitor)
• India looks to capitalize on the considerable success of its diaspora, particularly that experienced by those in the U.S. over the last 15 years. (Economist)
• Myanmar agrees to attend regional meeting on the Southeast Asia migrant crisis after initially refusing due to rejection of the Rohingya discussion. (NYT)
• The Vatican joins British efforts to revise the U.N.’s upcoming Sustainable Development Goals to include measures to eliminate global slavery by 2030. (Reuters)
• Russian government issues travel warning to its citizens planning to travel to the U.S., claiming “hunting” and kidnappings of Russians by U.S. forces. (Reuters)
• Tanzania sees 3,000 cases and 31 deaths due to cholera outbreak as squalid conditions around Burundi refugee camps fuel the outbreak. (BBC)
• Many well-educated professional African immigrants face severe underemployment upon arrival in the U.S. (Stateline)

Gender

• Russian MPs review bill that would remove abortion procedure coverage from state healthcare packages and impose fines on private medical facilities conducting the operation. (Meduza)
• Efforts in the U.S. to increase women’s enrollment in computer science see a few notable successes. (NYT)
• At Morocco‘s border with the Spanish enclave Ceuta, women traffic heavy packages of goods for what little money they can get. (PRI)

Religion & Belief

• British Muslim woman takes on ISIS and imperialism through poetry. (Middle East Eye)
• Venetian police shut down The Mosque, a functioning mosque installed inside of a Catholic Church and Iceland‘s contribution to the Venice Biennale (Italy). (NYT)
• The Netherlands cabinet approves plans for ban on full-face veiling in designated public spaces, seen by some as an encroachment on conservative Muslim women’s religious expression. (BBC)
• European Muslim women recount their experiences with reactions to their hijab in public. (Middle East Eye)
• Bangladesh‘s atheist and freethinking bloggers balance fear with commitment to ideals for the future in the wake of recent targeted murders. (Telegraph)
• U.S. study finds association among the religious between atheism and thoughts of death, subconsciously fueling prejudice. (LiveScience)

Sexual & Gender Identity

• Ireland voters approve same-sex marriage referendum, becoming the first country to usher in same-sex marriage rights through popular vote. (NYT)
• But a study reminds that the fight for personal security does not end with the results of the Irish Referendum. (Irish Times)
• PlanetRomeo releases the Gay Happiness Index, a global ranking of nations by reported happiness by a 115,000-person sample. (PlanetRomeo)
• U.S. State Department LGBT Rights Special Envoy plans tour through Latin America, Europe, Jamaica, and Uganda. (BuzzFeed)
• Argentine judges reduce the sentence for a man convicted of sexually abusing a 6-year-old boy, citing the boy’s transvestism and “precocious choice of that sexuality.” (BuzzFeed)
• Support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. at an all-time high, according to Gallup poll. (Gallup)
• U.S. Boy Scouts President calls for end of national ban on gay scout leaders. (NYT)

Health & Ability

• With the percentage of jailed persons afflicted with mental illness in the U.S. at alarming highs, government and public health officials work to create solutions that reroute from incarceration to treatment. (Stateline)
• A follow-up to a 2013 report on disability hate crime response in the U.K. finds unimplemented recommendations and inadequate community service. (Guardian)

In Addition

• The Ukraine government criminalizes a range of expression perceived as sympathetic with its Soviet-communist past. (Guardian)
• Saudis find platforms for freer expression through mobile devices, though widespread social liberalization still slow to come.  (NYT)
• Crime-weary Brazil begrudgingly accepts collateral damage of largely unrestrained police violence that targets poor districts, though frustration at times erupts in protest. (NYT)
• Russia law criminalizing “undesirable organizations” passes the Duma and heads to the Federation Council, worrying human rights advocates and political dissidents. (Meduza)