Human Rights

Srinagar, Jan 23 (PTI) Three Lashkar-e-Taiba separatists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.

The security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Binner area of the district on receiving information about the presence of separatists in the area, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into a gunfight after the ultras opened fire at the the security personnel.

GAZA CITY, Palestine; 23 2019; AA: Since 2000, Israel has destroyed roughly 35 percent of the farmland in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian rights group said Tuesday.

In a statement, the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights said that, since the eruption of the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) -- also known as the “Al-Aqsa Intifada” -- in late 2000, Israeli occupation forces have established “buffer zones” in the strip’s easternmost and northernmost areas.

Israeli forces rounded up 16 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military on Wednesday.

The individuals were arrested for “suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities”, the army said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature of these activities.

According to the statement, the arrested Palestinians were taken to custody for further questioning.

23 Jan 2019; AA: In a major relief to North Korea, the UN Security Council has allowed humanitarian agencies to work in the country, media reports said Wednesday.

The Security Council has granted exemptions from sanctions to UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Eugene Bell Foundation, Christian Friends of Korea, and the Canadian NGO First Steps Health Society to work in the country facing sanctions for its nuclear program since 2006.

TEHRAN, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the recent detention of an anchor of Iran's Press TV by the U.S. FBI is "illegal."

The announcement was made as the ministry delivered Iran's protest note over the detention of Marzieh Hashemi, a Press TV journalist and news presenter, to the summoned Swiss ambassador to Iran.

Hashemi, who has been living in Iran for years, was detained by the FBI at the international airport in St. Louis, Missouri, on Jan. 13 while making a family visit.

GAZA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army artillery struck on Tuesday a military lookout post that belongs to military groups in the Gaza Strip and no injuries reported, security officials in Gaza said.

The Israeli artillery shelling on the post close to the border between northern Gaza Strip and Israel was destroyed and no injuries were reported, said the officials.

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday urged Canada to immediately release Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou and the United States to withdraw its arrest warrant for her.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular news briefing after the United States informed the Canadian government that it planned to proceed with a formal request to extradite Meng.

23 Jan 2019; AFP: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday accused Washington of ordering a coup against his government and called for a "total revision" of ties with the US.

The latest claims by Caracas of a US coup plot came the day before a mass street protest announced by the opposition, and one day after a mutiny by some soldiers.

Maduro was specifically reacting to comments by US Vice President Mike Pence, who posted a video on Twitter branding Maduro "a dictator with no legitimate claim to power."

Davos, Jan 21; PTI: Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by Rs 2,200 crore a day last year, with the top one per cent of the country's richest getting richer by 39 per cent as against just three per cent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population, an Oxfam study said on Monday.

Aizawl, Jan 22 (PTI) Mizoram's NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of civil societies and students' bodies, has called for a boycott of the Republic Day celebrations in the state in protest against the citizenship bill, the committee's chairman Vanlalruata said.

In a press statement issued after a meeting of the NGO Coordination Committee here, it said that the Lok Sabha has passed the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 despite widespread protests.

"The bill necessitates stronger protests," it said.