Human Rights

TUNIS, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a speech on Monday that the democratic transition in his country is still not safe.

Tunisia revived Monday the eighth anniversary of the popular uprisings which resulted in the toppling of former President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14, 2011.

Essebsi said that the country is plagued with a state of official uncertainty, and continued conflicts and divisions amid political tension and social unrest.

Islamabad, Jan 14; PTI/GANASHAKTI: The US' demand for maintaining long-term military bases in Afghanistan has emerged as a sticking point in talks with the Taliban to end the 17-year-long war in the country, according to a media report here.

The report came as the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, stepped up efforts to bring the Taliban to negotiations, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Russia and Iran involved in discussions with the Taliban over the past few months.

New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine in detail "on the earliest possible date" a plea seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into incidents of alleged police encounters and killings in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi perused the materials on record and said the issues raised in the petition of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) required "serious consideration" and fixed the hearing on February 12.

Imphal, Jan 14 (PTI) Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill were held in parts of Manipur by Manipur Peoples Party (MPP) and six students' organisations on Monday.

The protestors, who took out processions and staged sit-ins in various districts, demanded to know the stand of the BJP-led state government on the contentious bill.

MPP president O Jugindro said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, if passed in the Rajya Sabha, would reduce the population of indigenous people of the northeastern states, including Manipur, to "microscopic minority".

JERUSALEM; 13 Jan 2019; AA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted attacks on Iranian and Hezbollah positions in Syrian capital Damascus. 

“The Israel Defense Forces has attacked hundreds of Iranian and Hezbollah targets,” Netanyahu said during a weekly government meeting on Sunday. 

“Just in the past 36 hours, the air force attacked Iranian depots full of Iranian weapons in the Damascus International Airport,” he was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel newspaper.  

GAZA CITY, 13 Jan 2019; AA: Palestine; A Palestinian man on Sunday succumbed to wounds he sustained from Israeli army gunfire during demonstrations near the Gaza Strip’s eastern border, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Anwar Mohamed Qadeih, 33, was martyred due to wounds he sustained in the neck a few weeks ago, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.

Since March, more than 250 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire during protests near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Republican leader said Sunday he will meet with Rep. Steve King this week to discuss King’s future and role in the party and promised action following the Iowa congressman’s recent comments in defense of white supremacy.

“That language has no place in America. That is not the America I know and it’s most definitely not the party of Lincoln,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “Action will be taken. I’m having a serious conversation with congressman Steve King.”

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nobel laureate Dr. James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA helix and father of the Human Genome Project, has been stripped of honors by his laboratory following "reprehensible" remarks on race and ethnicity.

The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), the New York facility where Watson worked for nearly four decades and which has a school named after him, said that it was acting in response to his remarks made in a television documentary which aired earlier this month.

AMMAN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi said on Sunday that France and Jordan agreed that the lack of a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict threatens the security of Middle East.

At a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Amman, Safadi said the two countries believe that lack of a solution could lead to eruption of crises in the region, said a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.

Srinagar, Jan 13 :  Top Al-Badr commander Zeenat-ul-Islam was among the two Kashmiris killed by Indian security forces in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said Sunday.

The two Kashmiris killed in the Katpora encounter have been identified as Zeenat-ul-Islam and Shakeel Ahmad Dar.

According to J&K police, Islam had switched over to Al-Badr from Hizbul Mujahideen in November last year following consensus between the two outfits to strengthen the Al-Badr.