U.S. says Syria built crematorium to handle mass prisoner killings

U.S. says Syria built crematorium to handle mass prisoner killings. The Syrian government has constructed and is using a crematorium at its notorious Sednaya military prison near Damascus to clandestinely dispose of the bodies of prisoners it continues to execute inside the facility, the State Department said Monday, writes the Washington Post.

 

 

Africa’s new slave trade: how migrants flee poverty to get sucked into a world of violent crime. Thousands who dream of a better life in Europe face horrors of modern slavery on way across the Sahara to Libya (the Guardian)

 

 

Iran’s Election: Where the Candidates Stand. Iran’s May 19 election is being fought as a referendum on the policies of President Hassan Rouhani, the moderate cleric who championed integrating Iran with the global economy and curbed his nation’s nuclear work in exchange for relief from sanctions. His opponents say gains from the nuclear deal are yet to make their way down to the majority of ordinary Iranians (Bloomberg).