Human Rights

ISTANBUL; 28 Jan 2019; AA: Turkish opposition party leader strongly on Sunday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's “coup attempt” against Venezuelan president.

“I strongly condemn Trump’s coup attempt against [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro and I hope Venezuela survives this hardship without being dragged into civil war conditions,” Devlet Bahceli, head of opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said at his party’s group dinner in Istanbul.

28 Jan 2019; DW: A court in Tianjin has sentenced prominent human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang to 4 1/2 years in prison for subversion of state power. The 42-year-old went missing in 2015 amid a crackdown on activists and lawyers.

Human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang has been handed a jail term of 4 1/2 years for state subversion by a court in northern China.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- More than 6 in 10 U.S. citizens believe their country is heading in the wrong direction, while nearly 7 in 10 gave negative opinions on the state of the country, a poll found Sunday.

The poll, released by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, showed that 63 percent of respondents said the United States is heading off on the wrong track, while 28 percent say the opposite.

Records showed that the percentage of people who believe the country in the right direction is the lowest since July 2016.

CANBERRA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Australia's hardline border policies are putting lives at risk, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has warned.

Thomas Vargas, head of the UNHCR's Indonesia agency, said on Monday that the organization would continue to fight against Australia's border policies regardless of which party wins the upcoming general election.

He said the turn-back policies used by Australia's Border Force to prevent asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat "just don't work."

Washington, Jan 28 (PTI) Democratic presidential aspirant Tulsi Gabbard has alleged that she had become a victim of "religious bigotry" and some media outlets were targeting her and accusing her supporters, who have Hindu names, of being Hindu nationalists.

In the hard-hitting piece, Gabbard pointed out to the accusation against her of being a Hindu nationalist. "Tomorrow will it be Muslim or Jewish Americans? Japanese, Hispanic or African Americans?" she asked.

RAMALLAH/ GAZA CITY; 27 Jan 2019; AA: Hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday paid farewell to three people killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mourners attended the funeral of Ahmed Hamed, 16, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in Ramallah on Friday for allegedly hurling stones at soldiers.

Palestinian mourners also laid Hamdan al-Arda, 60, to his rest in the town of Arrabeh in Jenin.

ANKARA; 26 Jan 2019; AA: Apex court of India on Friday reconstituted a five-member bench for the hearing of sensitive Babri Mosque case, local media said.

Indian Supreme Court had on Jan. 10 deferred the hearing of the case on the decades-old Babri Mosque dispute between Muslims and Hindus when one of the five judges recused himself from the case.

27 Jan 2019; AFP: The chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has warned Israel against continuing strikes in Syria targeting mainly Iranian positions, saying it could fuel war in the region.

Israel's army has since 2013 claimed hundreds of attacks on what it says are Iranian military targets and arms deliveries to Tehran-backed Hezbollah, with the goal of stopping its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighbouring Syria.

THE UNITED NATIONS, January 26. /TASS/. Russia firmly condemns attempts to push Venezuela into an abyss of a deadly civil war, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a UN Security Council emergency meeting on Venezuela on Saturday.

"We vehemently condemn those who are pushing Venezuelan society into an abyss of a deadly strife," he said. "The United States is depicting a picture of confrontation between ‘Maduro’s regime’ and the Venezuelans.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The forces of the U.S.-led coalition bombarded the Islamic State (IS)-held farms in Syria's eastern Euphrates region, killing 42 people, including 13 civilians, a war monitor reported on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the overnight shelling from the U.S.-run base in al-Omal oil field targeted farms controlled by the IS group in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province.

The death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.