Human Rights

JERUSALEM; 02 Jan 2019; AA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lobbied the Honduran president to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

This came during a joint meeting between Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Brazil on the sidelines of the inauguration of new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

02 Jan 2019; AFP: The high priest of one of India's holiest temples carried out a "purification ritual" on Wednesday after two women defied Hindu traditionalists to sneak inside for the first time since a landmark court ruling.

The Supreme Court in September overturned a decades-old ban on women of menstruating age -- deemed as those between 10 and 50 -- setting foot inside the gold-plated Sabarimala temple.

01 Jan 2019; DW: The US secretary of state has reassured Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington still supports his country. Pompeo's comments reflect unease caused by Donald Trump's plans to withdraw US troops from Syria.

A decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from Syria will not affect Washington's cooperation with Israel over Syria and in efforts to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (top photo) said on Tuesday.

MOGADISHU, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Somali government on Tuesday accused the United Nations special envoy of "violating protocols" and "deliberately interfering" in the internal affairs of the Horn of Africa country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation declared Nicholas Haysom, special representative of the UN secretary-general for Somalia, a "persona non-grata," saying the UN envoy is not welcome in the nation.

The ministry said in a statement that the 66-year-old is unwanted and cannot operate in the country.

Ahmedabad, Jan 1 (PTI) An accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case and another who was recently discharged in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh case were among the six IPS officers promoted by the Gujarat government on Tuesday, according to a notification.

G L Singhal, one of the seven police officers chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Ishrat Jahan case, has been promoted to the rank of inspector general from deputy inspector general of the Commando Training Centre in Gandhinagar.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 1 (PTI) In a first, over 35 lakh women stood shoulder-to-shoulder across the national highways in Kerala, creating a 620 km-long human 'wall' from the northern end of Kasaragod to the southern tip here Tuesday as part of a state-sponsored initiative to uphold gender equality.

The event comes days after thousands of devotees lit 'Ayyappa Jyothis' (lighting of sacred lamps) and lined up from Hosangadi in Kasaragod to Kanyakumari, vowing to protect the age-old customs and traditions of Sabarimala.

New Delhi, Jan 1 (PTI) The Shiv Sena said Tuesday "Lord Ram is not bigger than the law" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he has said that his government can take a decision on an ordinance for the Ram temple's construction only after the judicial process is over.

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP, has demanded an ordinance to pave the way for the temple's construction in Ayodhya, arguing that the matter has been dragging in courts for decades.

01 Jan 2019; DW: The Syrian Observatory on Human Rights has said 20,000 people were killed this year in Syria's civil war. It's a record low in a conflict that has already claimed half a million lives — and that could flare up again.

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) The Delhi government on Monday ordered the concerned district magistrate to take over a private shelter home for girls in Dwarka where the inmates were allegedly abused by its staff.

The abuse came to light after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) conducted an inspection at the shelter home and some girls complained that the female staff put chilli powder in their private parts as punishment. The girls also claimed that they were also forced to have chilli powder.

Lucknow, Dec 31 (PTI) Virtually putting the Congress-led governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan on notice, the BSP supremo Mayawati Monday said she might have to "reconsider" her party's outside support to them if cases against "innocent" persons framed in Bharat Bandh on April 2 were not withdrawn.