Human Rights

29 July 2018; AFP; Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi was released from prison Sunday after serving eight months for slapping two Israeli soldiers, an episode captured on video that made her a symbol of resistance for Palestinians.

Tamimi, 17, and her mother Nariman arrived in their village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, where they were met by crowds of supporters and journalists.

"The resistance continues until the fall of the occupation, and of course the (female) prisoners in jail are all strong," Ahed Tamimi said, her voice barely audible above the crowd.

PTI; Jaipur, Jul 27 : The Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission (RSHRC) has sought a report from the state government over the death of a 28-year-old man in Alwar district after he was allegedly thrashed by a mob on the suspicion cow-smuggling.

Yesterday, the National Human Rights Commission sent a notice to the Rajasthan government over the death of Akbar alias Rakbar Khan.

PTI; Ahmedabad, Jul 25 : Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel today said the BJP's "Hitlershahi" cannot prevent him from fighting for "truth, farmers, youth and poor", soon after he was awarded a two-year jail term in connection with a rioting case.

A sessions court in Visnagar town of Gujarat's Mehsana district today sentenced Hardik Patel and two of his aides -- Lalji Patel and A K Patel -- to two years imprisonment in a case of rioting and arson lodged against him and 16 others in July 2015. Later, the three were granted bail by the same court.

JERUSALEM, July 27 (NNN-Ma'an) -- The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, said in a statement that the besieged Gaza Strip is on the verge of total economic and social collapse.

Mladenov stressed that half of Gaza’s population suffers from unemployment and that basic services are severely overstretched.

26 July 2018; AFP; Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he has signed a law which grants expanded autonomy for the mainly Catholic nation's Muslim south, a key step to ending one of Asia's longest and deadliest conflicts.

The measure has for years been a crucial missing element to a languishing peace pact with the country's largest Islamic rebel group which, along with other guerrillas, has waged a rebellion in the southern Philippines that has claimed about 150,000 lives since the 1970s.

Islamabad, Jul 26 (PTI); Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said today that he envisioned to set up a Medina-like welfare state which will be sympathetic towards widows and the weaker sections of the society.

In his first public address since his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as the single largest party in the general election, Khan shared his vision for Pakistan and pledged to safeguard the interests of ordinary citizens.

Kolkata, Jul 26 (PTI); Former President Pranab Mukherjee today said despite the country having high GDP growth and being among the top economic powers, it is "way behind" in the overall happiness ranking.

India occupies the 133rd place (according to a world survey) in overall happiness ranking in 2018, Mukherjee said.

He said this was so in spite of the impressive GDP numbers, high average life expectancy, which went up from 31.4 years (in four years after Independence) to 68 years at present, and a quantum jump in foodgrain production since 1947.

Ballia, Jul 25 (PTI); The Basic Education Department has started removing the word 'Islamia' prefixed to the names of some government primary schools in the Ballia district here, the officials said today.

The exercise has been launched here days after a similar step was initiated in another eastern UP district of Deoria.

Jewish new immigrants walk down a plane after landing at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 23, 2018.

Some 300 new Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel on a special chartered flight Monday. (Xinhua/Gil Cohen Magen)