A man imprisoned in Syria who was subjected to torture for three years says the Assad regime uses a "detainee file" as a tool for extorting money. 

Mohammed Shilash, who is from the town of Sor in Deir Ez-Zor province, decided to leave the country to work in Lebanon in 2019 after his financial situation deteriorated due to the war.

Planning to cross into Lebanon without being caught by regime forces, Mohammed and his friends made a deal with a human smuggler.

But his dream of leaving for Lebanon came to nothing with his arrest by regime forces at the meeting point with the human trafficker in the capital, Damascus.

After footage of the “Tadamon Massacre” carried out by Assad regime forces surfaced in April this year, the regime legislated a “repentance law.”

Syria's military intelligence service conducted the massacre in the Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus in April 2013, and Palestinians were among the 41 victims. Members of Branch 227 forced civilians to run toward a mass grave while shooting at them. Those murdered in the massacre were apparently Syrian loyalists who were killed in order to threaten local residents against joining insurrectionists.

The Assad regime, which keep at least 132,000 Syrians in prisons, released only 476 people in line with the new law, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which documents human rights abuses in Syria.

'I was accused of being Iraqi'

Having obtained his freedom by giving a bribe despite the amnesty, Mohammed said they were held in a regime prison for three years without any charges.

"We thought we would be free in two days…Our eyes were blindfolded. They put us in single cells. We were in fear. At that moment, we realized that we had fallen into the hands of al-Muhabarat," or General Intelligence Directorate, he said, speaking to Anadolu Agency.

He said he carried the identity card of one of his younger relatives with him to avoid being forcibly recruited into the ranks of the regime forces in case of capture.

During the questioning, Mohammed said he told everything out of fear and confessed that the identity card did not belong to him.

"The identity issue made things worse. They accused me of being Iraqi. After that, the torture began. As a result of the torture, I confessed everything they wanted. I was subjected to beatings and torture for about one and a half months. I was subjected to humiliation and unspeakable curses," he said.

'Persecution usually took place after midnight'

Transferred to a prison in Damascus about one and a half months after his first detention, Mohammed said: "I was taken to a three-meter (9.84-foot) wide ward in the prison. There were many people in the tiny ward. There was no place to sit. Two days later, we were transferred to single cells," he added.

"We had no rights. They tortured without question. We were hanging from the ceiling by our arms. This was the worst of the torture.

"While we were in this state, they would pour water on us and hit us. The persecution usually took place after midnight."

He noted that the torture continued for months, saying: "We couldn't go to the toilet. We had to relieve ourselves where we were held."

"We would be left hungry. They would give three olives and a piece of bread. They only gave cheese once a week and they would dirty it too.”

'They wouldn't remove the corpses until they rotted'

Mohammed noted that people are constantly getting sick in prison due to bad conditions and that adequate health services are not provided.

“Dozens of people died from torture, disease and filth,” he said.

"They wouldn't remove the corpses until they rotted. They used to eliminate most of the corpses by burning. When I witnessed all this, I thought I would suffer the same fate as them. I never thought I would be free," he added.

Comparing the prison to a "slaughterhouse," he noted that massacres took place in regime dungeons.

Saying he could never get in touch with his family, Mohammed said his family got him transferred to Adra Central Prison in Damascus by paying a lot of money.

"I was held there for about six months. Adra Central Prison was better than Sednaya. It was as if I had escaped from hell," he said.

Mohammed said the so-called amnesty law announced by the Assad regime about two weeks ago is a game.

"Lastly, an amnesty was issued, but despite this, my family paid millions of Syrian liras for my release."

"Those in charge of prisons have turned our situation into a business. They extort big money from families."/aa

Authorities in Southern California say a man who opened fire at a church on Sunday, killing one and injuring five others, was a Chinese immigrant motivated by hate against Taiwanese people. 

“I will tell you that evil was in that church yesterday,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, adding there is a lot of evidence that the suspect “had an absolute bias against the Taiwanese people, its country, as a Chinese or mainland national.”

Police say 68-year-old David Chou entered the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in the city of Laguna Woods, 46 miles (74 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, and opened fire in the middle of the congregation.

“I knew someone was shooting,” said church member Jerry Chen, who heard the gunshots from a different room. “I was very, very scared. I ran out the kitchen door to call 911."

Chen says people started screaming and running for cover, but police say if it was not for the heroism of 52-year-old John Cheng, who charged at the shooter to disarm him and was killed in the process, the situation could have been much worse.

“He took it upon himself to charge across the room and to do everything he could to disable the assailant,” said Spitzer.

Police say that allowed other churchgoers to intervene. They say a pastor hit the gunman on the head with a chair, then parishioners hog-tied him with electrical cords until police arrived.

“That group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism,” said the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in a statement.

Chou was booked on one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder. Police say the suspect lawfully purchased the two 9mm pistols in Las Vegas and had also placed four Molotov cocktail-like devices inside the church during the rampage./aa

A searing heatwave continued to bake most parts of Pakistan as temperatures soared up to 51 degrees Celsius (about 124 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, meteorological officials and local media reported.

The southern Sindh and northeastern Punjab provinces are predominantly bearing the brunt of the scorching heatwave, which, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, is likely to persist for at least another week.

Jacobabad recorded 51 degrees Celsius -- the highest ever this year -- followed by Nawabshah, where the mercury touched 50.5 degrees.

At least three children died because of the severe heat in the Kaccho region of Sindh on Saturday, local broadcaster 92 News reported, while temperatures in Larkana were recorded as 50 degrees.

The rise in temperatures has also caused water and energy crises in several cities, apart from posing a threat to crops across the nation.

The meteorological department, in a statement, cautioned that the prevailing hot and dry weather could cause stress on water reservoirs, crops, vegetables, and orchards, advising farmers to manage their crops accordingly.

The South Asian nuclear country, which is among the 10 nations badly affected by climate change, has been facing severe heat since 2015 with lengthening summers and diminishing winters.

Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman last week warned that the country could face severe water shortages by 2025 due to climate change.

In a series of tweets, she asked the public, especially elderly people, to stay indoors to avoid the risk of heatstroke and dehydration.

"Prevalent hot and dry weather has already caused water stress on reservoirs crops, vegetables, orchards, and may cause an increase in the demand for energy and water," Rehman said.

"Predictions for increased base flow in the rivers during the next week may help. Until then, people are advised to avoid unnecessary exposure to direct sunlight and take precautionary measures. Furthermore, water should be used sparingly. Pets and livestock need protection too," she added./aa

Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group announced on Monday a 10-day ceasefire to allow May 29 presidential elections to pass off peacefully.

"We decree a unilateral ceasefire from 0:00 hours on May 25 until 24:00 hours on June 3 for those who wish to vote can do so in peace,” the rebel group said in a statement.

According to the group, the “ceasefire only covers the government's Military and Police Forces. We reserve the right to defend ourselves in case we are attacked."

The statement adds that the rebel group is willing to resume peace talks that were suspended by President Ivan Duque in January 2019, a day after the group carried out a bombing in a police academy in Bogota that killed 21 police officers and injured 68 more. Duque has said he is not willing to negotiate with the rebels in view of their refusal to cease attacks against the population and the security forces.

"A Peace Process with the ELN is the best opportunity to address priority issues for the country such as corruption, murders of social leaders and drug trafficking," read the statement. The guerrilla group added that the will to resume peace talks is in the hands of the next president.

"The ball is in the court of the new President".

Gustavo Petro, a former left-wing guerrilla leader, is leading the polls in the election.

Defense Minister Diego Molano made a statement after the armed group's announcement, saying that the truce is given by the military forces and not the rebel group.

"This morning I heard that they were saying that they are going to decree a truce in order to position themselves for future dialogues,” Molano said. “Here the security is provided by the Public Force… the one that has guaranteed and will guarantee the safety during the elections", he said.

The Colombian government defends that most of the ELN's top leaders are currently hiding in neighboring Venezuela./aa

Russia's total reserves in the National Welfare Fund fell from 13 trillion rubles ($201 billion) to 11 trillion rubles (nearly $170 billion) in May compared to previous month, marking a 15.3% drop, according to a statement by the Russian Finance Ministry on Monday.

The volume corresponds to 8.3% of Russia's GDP, it said.

Western countries had frozen access to about half of the Russian central bank's reserves, worth about $630 billion, due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war that started on Feb. 24.

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of Russia's central bank, said on April 21 that the reserves in the National Welfare Fund could be used for investment.

Russia's total international reserves fell to $593 billion in April, a decrease of $13.3 billion compared to the previous month./aa

The gunman accused of carrying out a racially-motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York grocery store had sought to drive through the city to kill additional Black people, law enforcement said on Monday.

Payton Gendron, the alleged gunman, told police he wanted "to drive out of here and continue driving down Jefferson Ave. looking to 'shoot more Black people,' as he put it, and possibly even going to another store location," Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told ABC News.

Saturday's mass shooting left 10 people dead at Tops Friendly Market. Three other victims were injured.

Law enforcement is investigating the shooting as a racially-motivated hate crime, and potentially an act of domestic terrorism.

"This is an absolute racist hate crime. This is someone who has hate in their heart, soul and mind," Gramaglia told a press conference.

Police have said Gendron was motivated by a white supremacist conspiracy theory known as replacement theory, which has been at the heart of several other hate crime attacks.

Its adherents falsely believe there is a goal to diminish the influence of whites in societies through non-white immigration to countries traditionally dominated by whites, and by ensuring whites having lower birth rates than non-whites.

The gunman behind the 2019 shooting in El Paso, Texas that targeted Latinos touted the conspiracy theory, as did the gunman who targeted a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania synagogue the year prior.

The conspiracy theory was echoed during the far-right 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia hate rally in which participants variously shouted “You will not replace us!,” and “Jews will not replace us!”

Police said Gendron drove some 200 miles from his hometown of Conklin, New York to perpetrate the apparent hate crime in Buffalo on Saturday. Authorities are continuing to examine a 180-page manifesto purportedly posted online by the suspect prior to the attack.

Gendron's attorney has pleaded not guilty on his client's behalf./aa ​​​​​​

After suffering heavy losses amid Turkish military operations in northern Iraq and Syria, the YPG/PKK terror group is forcing minors to serve in combat zones, in a flagrant violation of both the laws of war and human rights agreements.

The terror group declared mobilization in response to the military campaigns of the Turkish Armed Forces in northern Iraq, and it uses its proxies in Syria to recruit children.

Recently, a post on a website linked to the YPG/PKK showed a group of over 10 children reading out a notice.

The terror group's practice of abducting children and pushing them into combat zones is nothing new, as seen in the US State Department’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report.

According to the report, the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, forcibly recruited girls as young as 12 from refugee camps located in northwestern Syria.

Moreover, a January 2020 UN human rights office (OHCHR) report said its findings suggest the YPG/PKK is using children as fighters in Syria.

Virginia Gamba, the UN’s point person on ending the use of child fighters, as the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, signed an action plan with the SDF – the label the YPG/PKK uses in Syria – to end and prevent the recruitment and use of minors under 18.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot./aa