Human Rights

Beijing, Feb 28 (AP) The wife of a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer says he has disappeared on the day of his scheduled release from prison.

Jin Bianling says her husband Jiang Tianyong's whereabouts Thursday are unknown. She says supporters arrived at his jailhouse in central Henan province only to be told that he had already been picked up and taken away by unknown individuals.

GENEVA (AP) — U.N.-backed investigators say Israeli soldiers intentionally fired on civilians and could have committed crimes against humanity during crackdowns against Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza last year that left 189 people dead.

The independent Commission of Inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council said more than 6,000 people were shot by military snipers using live ammunition to repel protesters near the separation fence.

27 Feb 2019; DW: The apparent violation of Germany's arms export control regulations by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, revealed by DW and other news outlets on Tuesday, has drawn angry reactions from opposition politicians and anti-arms trade activists.

Jammu, Feb 27 (PTI) A senior J-K BJP leader Wednesday accused the state police of harassing the city's youth on "selective basis" in the wake of the anti-Pakistan protests over the Pulwama terror attack.

A curfew was clamped in Jammu city on February 15 following massive protests, a day after 40 CRPF personnel died in Pulwama. The crowd torched vehicles while rival groups pelted stones at each other at some places including Gujjar Nagar.

Dhanbad (J'khand), Feb 27 (PTI) A sedition case has been registered against 11 youths in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district after a photo emerged on social media purportedly showing them wearing shirts made out of the Pakistan flag, police said Wednesday.

Superintendent of Police (Dhanbad-Rural) Aman Kumar said five of the youths, suspected to have figured in the group photo, had been arrested on Wednesday. The police refused to share details of those arrested.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called for international efforts to help silence the guns in Africa by 2020.

Over the past few years, the African Union (AU) and African countries have been vigorously implementing Agenda 2063 and the initiative of silencing the guns in Africa by 2020 alongside the steady improvement of the continent's peace and security situation, said Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

GAZA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets attacked on Wednesday night, with air-to-ground missiles, military posts belong to the Islamic Hamas movement's military wing east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, security sources said.

The sources said that several missiles were fired at Hamas military facility, adding that several explosions were heard in the area and the facility was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.

26 Feb 2019; DW: Meat from animals which are not stunned before slaughter cannot be labeled organic, the EU's top court has ruled. The organic standard places a high emphasis on animal welfare.

The meat from animals slaughtered under ritualistic practices cannot be labeled as organic, the European Union's top court ruled on Tuesday.

The EU organic standard places a high emphasis on animal welfare and ritualistic slaughter does not reach its threshold, the European Court of Justice found.

26 Feb 2019; DW: A United Nations conference secured $2.6 billion (€2.3 billion) in pledges on Tuesday to aid the millions of people facing starvation in war-torn Yemen.

The pledges were up by 30 percent from the amount secured during last year's aid drive.

"Today's pledging conference can be considered a success," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in Geneva at the end of the day-long conference.

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday took note of the Centre's submissions that no fresh incident of violence against Kashmiris has been reported since February 22, the day when the apex court had taken cognisance of a PIL on the issue.

The apex court on February 22 directed chief secretaries and DGPs of 11 states to take "prompt" and "necessary" action to prevent incidents of alleged threat, social boycott and violence against Kashmiris following the Pulwama terror attack.