Human Rights

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) A bill seeking to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangaldesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Piloting the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Opposition that the bill was not against the provisions of the Constitution and would give succour to persecuted minorities in the three neighbouring countries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans’ first bill of the new Congress aims to insert the legislative branch into President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy — but also tries to drive a wedge between centrist and liberal Democrats over attitudes toward Israel.

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) A report by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan was tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday.

The bill is expected to be discussed in the lower house on Tuesday. The report was prepared by the Joint Parliamentary Committee by a majority vote as opposition members in the panel had objected to the provisions saying Indian citizenship cannot be granted on the basis of religion and it is against the Constitution.

Guwahati, Jan 8 (PTI) An 11-hour North East bandh, called by a number of students' organisation and political parties on Tuesday, to protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill began amid tight security at 5am.

In Assam, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has called for a state-wide bandh after a gap of 10 years and it is being supported by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which withdrew support to the BJP-led government in Assam on Monday, the opposition Congress, the AIUDF, and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS).

JERUSALEM, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli military said on Monday that it struck the northern Gaza Strip overnight in retaliation for the rocket fire toward southern Israel.

A military spokesperson said in a statement that fighter jets and an attack helicopter struck several targets at a military camp belonging to Hamas that runs Gaza.

The strike came in the wake of rocket fire toward the coastal city of Ashkelon and Hof Ashkelon Regional Council in the Southern District of Israel. The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-rocket system.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The White House has sent national security adviser John Bolton on a mission to allay Israel’s concerns about President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

The pullout announced before Christmas was initially expected to be completed within weeks, but the timetable has slowed as the president acceded to requests from aides, allies and members of Congress for a more orderly drawdown.

05 Jan 2019; DW: Protesters have braved a blizzard to demonstrate for a fifth week against President Aleksandar Vucic. Media freedom, an end to attacks against journalists and the opposition and electoral reform are among their demands.

TASS, January 5. The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a message seeking to condemn airstrikes of the western coalition in the Deir ez-Zor province to the UN Security Council on Saturday, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Saturday. The message noted that over 20 civilians living in the settlements of Al-Kashkia and Al-Shafaa including four children were killed over the past two days of airstrikes.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A decorated Navy SEAL pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of premeditated murder and other crimes in the stabbing death of a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq last year and the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher will stand trial Feb. 19 before a jury that will be one-third enlisted personnel. Gallagher has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 11, and a judge said he will determine next week whether the 19-year Navy veteran should be released before trial.

GROZNY, January 4. /TASS/. An international coalition’s airstrike targeting the militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) has killed a resident of Chechnya’s Nadterechny District Khava Akhyadova, 35, and a four-year-old boy in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, Kheda Saratova from the civil society and human rights council under the Chechen president told TASS on Friday.