Human Rights

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (NNN-UNNS) -- The United Nations has welcomed a new law which grants extra autonomy to Muslim communities living in the Southern Philippines, describing it as a “landmark achievement on the road to lasting peace”.

Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, signed the new legislation, formally known as the Organic Law for Bangsamoro in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Thursday, raising hopes that years of separatist violence involving central Government troops and militants from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, can be brought to an end.

JERUSALEM, July 30 (NNN-XINHUA) - Israel said, it intercepted on Sunday, a Gaza-bound European ship, in the latest attempt by international activists, to break the 11-year Israeli blockade on the Palestinian enclave.

The motor vessel, named "Al Awda," or "The Return" in Arabic, was contacted by the Israeli military in international waters, some 49 nautical miles from the port of Gaza, the flotilla's organisers said.

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI); The Supreme Court considered today the submission of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association (JKHCBA) that it should dispose of the suo motu cognizance of the Kathua gangrape and murder case in which it has taken strong note of some lawyers obstructing the judicial process.

New Delhi, July 30 (PTI); Civil society organisations today held a protest demanding the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in a shelter home at Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

They staged a protest outside Bihar Bhawan in Chanakyapuri here and also sought a fair probe into the incident.

Slamming the state government, the protesters indulged in sloganeering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bihar Chief Minister.

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.