Israel Bars Rights Workers from Entering Gaza; Sisi-Trump Meeting: Daily Brief

Israel bars rights workers from entering Gaza; Sisi-Trump meeting; Chechen authorities reportedly rounding up and killing gay men; China jails activists on politically motivated charges; video shows Rio police executing 2 men; people charged for overdose in Ohio; repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan; and Venezuela’s crumbling façade of democracy.

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A blast today in Russia's St. Petersburg Metro system killed at least 10 people and injured more. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion. Human Rights Watch expressed condolences to the relatives of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery for the wounded.
Last week, a horrifying video of an Ethiopian domestic worker falling from what media reports say is the seventh floor of an apartment building in Kuwait,went viral. This is not the first time a domestic worker – someone hired to clean, cook, and care for a household – attempted a dangerous escape or suicide.
A court in Jordan has sent a clear message that so-called "honor" killings would no longer be tolerated. The ruling doubled the sentences for two brothers who killed their sister with poison after she fell in love and fled her home. It is possible to put an end to “honor” killings of women and girls. The lives of Jordanian women and girls are on the line.
From earlier today: Israel systematically bars human rights workers from traveling into and out of Gaza. The restrictions call into question the Israeli military authorities’ claim to rely on human rights organizations in their criminal investigations into potential serious crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza war. The International Criminal Court should take note of the restrictions in its ongoing preliminary examination of the Palestine situation.
Today's meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s and US President Donald Trump comes at a time when human rights are at a nadir in Egypt and under threat in the US. Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship.
A newspaper in Russia has reported that Chechen authorities are detaining and killing gay men. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's spokesman denied the report, explaining that gay people simply don't exist in Chechnya, and if they did, their families would get rid of them.

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