French members of parliament voted unanimously Friday to criminalise the denial of all crimes against humanity, including failure to admit that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces was a "genocide". The amendment, passed on the first reading, sets out penalties of up to a year in prison and a 45,000-euro ($50,000) fine for those who fall foul of the new law, which is expected to raise hackles in Turkey. Last month, the German parliament voted to recognise the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as a "genocide", damaging ties between Berlin and Ankara.

On the Embattled State of Journalism in Kagame’s Rwanda. By Megha Majumdar. (Apr. 28, 2016)

Pope Francis denounced what he called the ideologically twisted and planned "genocide" of Armenians by Ottoman-era Turks a century ago as he arrived in Armenia on Friday for a deeply symbolic visit to mark the centenary of the massacre and pay homage to the country's steadfast Christian faith.  In the most carefully watched speech of his three-day trip, Francis ad-libbed the politically charged word "genocide" to his prepared text that had conspicuously left it out, listing the Armenian genocide alongside the Holocaust and Stalinism. 

Eleven German MPs of Turkish origin have been put under police protection. They received death threats after supporting a move to describe the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. Germany's foreign ministry has warned MPs of Turkish origin against travelling to Turkey, saying their security there could not be guaranteed. The German parliament's move outraged the Turkish government, which does not recognise the killings as genocide.

Pope Francis' trip to Armenia in June will include a visit to the genocide memorial complex, a monastery stop in the city of Gyumeri and a meeting with the president. The Vatican released details of the June 24-25 trip on Friday. The three-day visit comes a year after the pope sparked a diplomatic incident with Turkey when he termed the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians a genocide. His new plan to visit the genocide memorial on his second day is also likely ...

The 14-year-old boy in the black school jacket stared at his sneakers, his heart pounding, as the policeman accused him of stealing a piece of bread. Even now, more than 30 years later, Choi Seung-woo weeps when he describes all that happened next. The policeman yanked down the boy's pants and sparked a cigarette lighter near Choi's genitals until he confessed to a crime he didn't commit. Then two men with clubs came and dragged...

By Sherman Alexie. (Apr. 15)

Ethiopia says armed men have killed 140 people near its border with South Sudan and abducted at least 39 children. Ethiopia's Communications Minister Getachew Reda said the attackers were members of South Sudan's Murle tribe. He said security forces were chasing the attackers and had killed 60 so far. Ethiopia is hosting thousands of South Sudanese refugees who fled the 2013 clashes that began when President Salva...

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been convicted of genocide and war crimes in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, and sentenced to 40 years in jail. UN judges in The Hague found him guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Karadzic, 70, is the most senior political figure to face judgement over the violent collapse of Yugoslavia. His case is being seen as one of the most important war crimes trials since World War Two.

Radovan Karadzic saw himself as locked in a David and Goliath struggle to save the Serbs even as their forces were reducing the besieged city of Sarajevo to rubble. By Daria Sito-Sucic.

Interesting opinion piece looking at modern-day potential that mirrors Hitler's denial of science and exploitation of ecological panic to lay the groundwork for genocide. Many of the comments are nearly as good as the original piece.