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-Top News USA

US Senate nod for bill making lynching a hate crime

US President Joe Biden promised to sign the bill, which was approved earlier by the House…reports Asian Lite News

Nearly 6,500 people — mostly Black men, women and children — were brutally murdered between 1865 and 1950 by White Americans who saw it as a way to terrorise, control and subjugate them, reported The Washington Post.

“Local, state and federal officials ignored, tolerated and even approved the racial violence. Lynching’s stain will never — can never — be cleared away,” said the article titled “Opinion: Why did it take so long to make lynching a hate crime?”

However, now there will be no more looking away, with a bill making lynching a federal crime finally headed to the White House to be signed into law, according to the report.

The Senate earlier in March gave unanimous consent to legislation that would designate lynching a hate crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison. US President Joe Biden promised to sign the bill, which was approved earlier by the House, Xinhua news agency reported.

Though enactment of the anti-lynching act might be “mostly symbolic,” said the report, “it is important that this country make clear that the lynching of Black people is not — and never was — acceptable.”

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-Top News India News USA

Indian-American driver shot dead in New York

Singh, 21, was shot in his car on Saturday and died of his injuries on Wednesday…reports Asian Lite News

An Indian-origin Uber driver, Kuldip Singh, has been killed allegedly by a 15-year-old as New York City faces rising levels of violence, according to media reports.

Singh, 21, was shot in his car on Saturday and died of his injuries on Wednesday, WABC TV reported.

He had been injured in a shootout between a passenger in his car and the teenager who was also injured in the exchange of fire and remained hospitalised, the station said.

The New York Post reported that police believe the driver was hit by a shot fired by the teen, whose identity has not been revealed as he is a minor.

New York City has so far recorded 1,086 shootings, 314 murders, 1,009 rapes, and 14,783 serious assaults this year, according to police statistics.

The city has seen a spike in violence with last year’s murder and serious assault numbers being the worst since 2012 and the reported rapes the most in a year since 2013.

Officials have blamed the rise in crime over the last two years to the Covid-19 pandemic which curtailed the working of the court system.

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