The family of a 10-year-old Pakistani girl who was abducted and murdered have said they were ignored by police when they tried to report her missing. They say police told them the child might have eloped, and they were made to carry out errands for officers. Farishta vanished in Islamabad on 15 May and a body believed to be hers was found on 20 May.

Police are investigating if she was raped and tortured, and protests are being held to demand justice. The individual police officers involved deny wrongdoing. Hundreds protested in central Islamabad on Tuesday calling for justice. The case has been compared to the rape and murder of six-year-old Zainab Ansari in January 2018 – which sparked outrage and protests across the country. Calls for action are being made on social media, under the hashtag #JusticeFor Farishta.

“The police didn’t help us at all,” Farishta’s father Ghulam Nabi told the BBC at Tuesday’s protest, which blocked a major intersection. “They would ask me to clean their office, to move their furniture, and to go get fruit for their Iftar [fast-breaking] dinner from the market. “I was so distressed during those [four] days that I couldn’t tell night from day.”(BBC)…[+]

GENEVA – Venezuelans fleeing political and economic crisis at home deserve protection as refugees, the United Nations said today, urging other states not to deport them. Some 3.7 million people have left Venezuela, including 3 million since 2015 as the economy has imploded causing widespread shortages and hunger, and anti-government street protests have brought waves of violence and deaths.

Venezuelans continue to leave at the rate of 3,000 to 5,000 a day, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said, giving updated guidance on how to handle the exodus.

“UNHCR … now considers that the majority of those fleeing the country are in need of international refugee protection,” agency spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a news briefing. “It is incredibly important given the situation in Venezuela that there aren’t deportations, expulsions or forced returns.”(Reuters)…[+]

Nalini Ramai, the woman who made comments about Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley after her Zee TV channel was interrupted by political broadcasts, is threatening to sue Amplia Communications. She has called for a reasonable monetary settlement no less than $300,000 and also for a written apology to be given to her on Facebook within two weeks.

Ramai, who is proposing legal action for breach of confidentiality, defamation of character and/or slander, said she has been suffering from emotional trauma as a result of phone calls or threatening Facebook posts. The pre-action protocol letter from attorney Jeevan Rampersad stated that a recording from Amplia was last month posted on social media. “The said Facebook post also contained my client’s private home address and/or telephone number,” Rampersad said. He added that pictures and personal information were taken from Ramai’s private Facebook account and posted on social media.

He further stated, “The said Facebook post was left online for almost one week for millions of Facebook or other online users to access the same, notwithstanding that my client made an official apology to Amplia for the said racial comment against the Honourable Prime Minister.”(Trinidad Express)…[+]