Human Rights

Srinagar, Aug 30; PTI: Two militants were today killed in an encounter with security forces in Hajin area of Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Hajin area following information about presence of militants there, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after militants opened fire towards security force positions.

Two militants have been killed in the operation, the official said adding the searches were still going on.

Hyderabad, Aug 30 (PTI) Dubbing the case against him and other activists over Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima violence as false, Leftist poet and writer Varavara Rao insisted today their fight against "fascist policies" cannot be called a conspiracy.

He said the case for Koregaon-Bhima clashes between Dalits and upper caste Marathas should have been filed against the Maharashtra government and the Centre and not activists.

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30 (PTI) As Kerala picks up the pieces, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said the government would explore the possibility of legal options to avail the funds offered to the state, including that from abroad.

His statement assumes significance in the wake of a row over the Centre's refusal to accept the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) reported offer of Rs 700 crore to the flood-hit state.

JERUSALEM; 29 Aug 2018; AA: A former Israeli soldier who shot dead an injured Palestinian said that he has “no regret” for his action.

“I know what I have done was right, and I go with it all the way with my head up,” Elor Azaria said in an interview with Israel Hayoum newspaper, excerpts of which were released on Wednesday.

"I do not regret it,” he said “and if time goes back to that moment in Hebron. I will do exactly what I did, because it was the right thing to do.”

29 Aug 2018; DW: Four million refugee children around the world are excluded from education, according to a United Nations report. A solution should be to allow refugees to attend regular schools, the UNHCR has demanded.

With more and more children forced to leave their homes, the number of refugees out of education has topped four million, the UN's Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for accountability for the “horrendous persecution” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar on Tuesday, and Sweden and the Netherlands urged the Security Council to refer the crimes to the International Criminal Court.

But China, which has close ties to Myanmar’s government, said the international community should stop putting pressure on Myanmar and let its government work out the repatriation of Rohingya refugees as soon as possible with Bangladesh, where nearly one million have fled.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that nothing prepared her for “the extent and depth of suffering” she saw when she visited camps in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar’s military.

In her very different role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, Blanchett said she heard “gut-wrenching accounts” of torture, rape, people seeing loved ones killed before their eyes, and children thrown into fire and burned alive.

UNITED NATIONS, August 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry, unlike foreign agencies, does not spread fake news, particularly on Syria, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said in response to a statement made by UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pierce told reporters that the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement about preparations for a chemical weapons provocation involving White Helmets members was fake news.

UNITED NATIONS, August 28. /TASS/. Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya will discuss a possible chemical weapons provocation in Syria, as well as a UN directive hampering the country’s reconstruction, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as he himself told reporters.

Chennai 28 Aug 2018; GANASHAKTI: Soon after his elevation as DMK chief, MK Stalin expressed concern over the present political situation and said that the secular fabric of the country is under attack by authoritative and communal forces.