Human Rights

15 May 2020; MEMO: UK Minister for Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly said Israel’s plans to annex the West Bank are “contrary to international law”.

When asked by Scottish National Party MP Tommy Sheppard if the UK government would consider the move “illegal under international law”, Cleverly said that attempting to annex the West Bank would make a two-state solution difficult to achieve, in a break with UK support of US foreign policy.

15 May 2020; MEMO: Amnesty International yesterday condemned the United States’ support for Israel’s plans to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank.

15 May 2020; MEMO: Moving forwards with an Israeli plan to unilaterally annex West Bank land will destroy any chance for peace, warned church leaders in Jerusalem.

Washington, May 15 (PTI) The United States has urged China to release Tibetan Buddhism's 11th Panchen Lama, who was taken into captivity at the age of six by Chinese authorities.

In 1995, a young Tibetan boy Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was recognised as the 11th Panchen Lama, the second highest spiritual authority in Tibetan Buddhism after Dalai Lama. Days later Nyima had disappeared, becoming the world's youngest political prisoner.

Kolkata/New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal locked horns on Thursday over the return of stranded workers, with the CM announcing 105 trains to bring them home and the BJP leader accusing the state government of not taking adequate measures.

Bringing back migrant labourers and stranded people to Bengal has snowballed into a major political issue, with the opposition BJP and the Union government rapping the state for not doing enough and the Trinamool Congress denying it.

Mumbai, May 15 (PTI) A 45-year-old migrant worker from Rajasthan, who walked 30km from his residence to catch a Shramik Special train, collapsed and died near the Vasai Road railway station, an official said on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday evening and the deceased was identified as Harish Chander Shankarlal, a resident of Bhayander in adjoining Thane district, he said.

OUAGADOUGOU,  May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Burkina Faso prosecutor has launched an investigation after 12 people died during the same night in detention cells, hours after they were arrested for suspected terrorism-related offences in a town in the east of the country.

The case comes weeks after advocacy group Human Rights Watch said it believed Burkina Faso security forces summarily executed 31 unarmed detainees during operations against Islamist militants.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Senate approved legislation calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to toughen its response to China’s crackdown on its Uighur Muslim minority, the latest push in Washington to punish China as Trump blames Beijing for worsening the covid-19 pandemic.

The Republican-led Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote.

14 May 2020; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces raided and demolished livestock pens belonging to Palestinian bedouins in Al-Baqaa villages in the northern Jordan Valley of the occupied West Bank, reported Wafa news agency.

Local human rights activist Aref Daraghmeh said occupation forces invaded the Al-Baqaa area, before destroying and confiscating water pipelines owned by a local resident, identified as Mowaffaq Daraghma.

14 May 2020; MEMO: Some 51 anti-war groups, including a think tank backed by George Soros and Charles Koch, have urged US presidential hopeful Joe Biden to leverage America’s annual $3.8 billion aid to Israel to pressure the Zionist state to abide by UN Security Resolutions and international law, in a letter calling on the Presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee to commit to a “principled foreign policy”.