Human Rights

26 July 2021; MEMO: Hamas has condemned the African Union (AU)'s decision to grant Israel observer status, calling the move "shocking and reprehensible."

In a statement released on Saturday, Hamas criticised the decision the AU took last week following almost two decades of Israel's attempts to gain observer membership after the organisation's predecessor – the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) – was disbanded in 2002.

26 July 2021; MEMO: After a year out due to Covid-19, the Big Ride for Palestine is heading for London from Bristol on Thursday, stopping off in Swindon, Oxford and Luton along the way. Around 200 cyclists are expected to finish the ride in Tower Hamlets on Sunday afternoon.

Mahoba (UP), Jul 26 (PTI) A woman, in her mid-sixties, was allegedly tied up and raped in Kabrai town here, police said on Monday.

After receiving information about the incident, police reached the spot and found the woman, aged around 65 years, in a critical condition with her hands and feet tied.

She was rushed to a hospital for treatment, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rajendra Kumar Gautam said.

New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) Nearly 200 women farmers from Delhi's neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana gathered at Jantar Mantar in the national capital for a 'Kisan Sansad' on Monday to continue the agitation against the Centre's contentious agricultural laws.

They raised slogans demanding scrapping of the three farm laws -- the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

25 July 2021; MEMO: Israel on Sunday prevented the entry of fuel trucks allocated for Gaza's sole power plant via the Kerem Shalom crossing, the territory's main commercial trade route, Anadolu Agency reported quoting a Palestinian official.

"The [Israeli] occupation authorities barred the entry of 25 trucks loaded with fuel for the Gaza power plant," Rami Abu Elreish of Gaza's Ministry of Economy told Anadolu Agency.

25 July 2021; MEMO: French President Emmanuel Macron demanded from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett an official explanation for the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group during a telephone conversation Saturday, reports Anadou Agency.

Mumbai, Jul 25 (PTI) Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday asked who funded the alleged snooping of politicians and journalists by Pegasus and compared it with the Hiroshima bombing, saying while the attack on the Japanese city had resulted in death of people, the spying by the Israeli software led to "death of freedom".

"The modern technology has taken us back to slavery," Raut said in his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.

He said the Pegasus case is "no different from the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima".

Srinagar, Jul 25 (PTI) A month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's outreach to mainstream leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Sunday that there has been "no follow-up results" on the ground.

Adbullah said this in reference to the prime minister's remarks at the June 24 meeting in New Delhi that he wanted to win the hearts of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and remove "Dilli ki doori" (the distance from Delhi) and "dil ki doori" (distance between hearts).

Srinagar, 24 July 2021: Two Kashmiris were killed on Saturday by Indian security forces in Bandipora district of the Indian Administered Kashmir, Indian officials said.

Washington, Jul 24 (PTI) The US has said it is against the use of spying technology on civil society, regime critics and journalists through "extrajudicial means", even as it maintained that it has no particular insight into the Pegasus snooping case in India.

The alleged use of the Pegasus software to spy on politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others in many countries, including India, has triggered concerns over issues relating to privacy.