Human Rights

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called upon the people to reflect on how to work together and contribute in arresting "disturbing trends" of intolerance, communal polarisation and incidents of violent crimes propelled by hate groups and mobs being witnessed in the country.

Addressing the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award function, he said such "unsavoury" trends can only harm national interests and are an anathema to the promotion of peace and communal harmony.

According to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2018, released on 19 August – the World Humanitarian Day; Turkey was found to be the largest humanitarian aid donor providing $8.07 billion.

Turkey was followed by USA with $6.68 billion and UK with $2.52 billion.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States has ended the development fund for Syria, urging "rich countries" to pay instead.

In a tweet, Trump said "the United States has ended the ridiculous 230 Million Dollar yearly development payment to Syria."

"Saudi Arabia and other rich countries in the Middle East will start making payments instead of the U.S.," he said. "I want to develop the U.S., our military and countries that help us!"

Patna, Aug 19 (PTI) Sexual abuse, varying in forms and degree of intensity, was prevalent in almost all shelter homes in Bihar, a TISS report made public by the Bihar

government has found.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which had conducted social audit of short stay homes across Bihar, has found certain institutions "stood out in a manner that was appalling".

The state government had commissioned audit by the TISS in 2017 and the report was submitted to the Social Welfare Department in April this year.

Aurangabad, Maharashtra: Syed Mateen Rashid, a member of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, opposed a resolution in the municipal corporation to pay tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The 32-year-old Rashid, an AIMIM corporator,  was allegedly thrashed by BJP corporators for opposing the condolence motion, which he thinks has the right to do. A video clip purportedly showing Rashid being kicked, punched and slapped by BJP corporators has gone viral on social media.

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA; 17 Aug 2018; AA: The United Nations invited Yemen’s warring parties to Geneva for peace talks on Sept. 6, a UN spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.

“I can confirm that the office of UN special envoy to Yemen [Martin Griffiths] sent an invitation to the Yemeni government and Ansarullah [Houthi movement],” UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva news briefing.

RAMALLAH, Palestine; 18 Aug 2018; AA: The Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council said Friday that political ties with Washington will not be normalized unless the U.S. administration abandons its "unlawful" decisions.

"Political relations with Washington will continue at the same level until the U.S. administration abandons its unlawful decisions about Jerusalem, refugees and Jewish settlements," the council said in a final statement after its 29th annual meeting.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Presidency warned Israel on Friday of "dangerous consequences" of closing the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities earlier on Friday evening reopened the mosque for Palestinian worshipers after closing it for a few hours following a stabbing attack near the mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Swami Agnivesh was allegedly heckled and assaulted near the BJP headquarters here today by some people, who the social activist said were BJP workers, when he was on his way to pay homage to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

A video of the alleged attack that circulated on social media showed some people heckling the 79-year-old social activist.

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. About 11 mln Syrians are currently considered forcibly displaced persons, 6 mln of those have become refugees within the country, Russian Foreign Ministry representative Nikolai Burtsev informed on Wednesday.

"According to the data we received, currently 11 mln Syrians are "forcibly displaced persons". Out of them, 6 mln are internally displaced," Burtsev said.

The representative added that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees provided this data.