U.N. to vote Thursday on U.S. push to suspend Russia from rights council

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a U.S. push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomats said.

A two-thirds majority of voting General Assembly members in New York can suspend a country for committing gross and systematic violations of human rights. Russia is in its second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.