Human Rights

GENEVA; 3 Sep 2018; (AP) — A key opponent of high-tech, automated weapons known as “killer robots” is blaming countries like the U.S. and Russia for blocking consensus at a U.N.-backed conference, where most countries wanted to ensure that humans stay at the controls of lethal machines.

Coordinator Mary Wareham of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots spoke Monday after experts from dozens of countries agreed before dawn Saturday at the U.N. in Geneva on 10 “possible guiding principles” about such “Lethal Automated Weapons Systems.”

BETHLEHEM, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israeli occupation forces demolished Monday four houses that belong to Palestinians in the south Bethlehem town Al-Walaja in the West Bank.

Palestinian sources said that three homes were leveled to the ground by Israeli authorities, while they forced the owner of a fourth one to demolish her own home at her own expense to avoid a substantial fine imposed by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality.

The owner of the fourth home, Hanan Razem, stopped the process of her home demolition after neighbors intervened to help her.

CHEMNITZ, Germany (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister told his fellow countrymen Sunday they’re too lazy when it comes to battling racism and fighting for democracy.

“We have to get off the couch and open the mouth,” Heiko Maas said in an interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag. “Our generation was given freedom, rule of law and democracy as a present. We didn’t have to fight for it; (now) we’re taking it too much for granted.”

New Delhi, Sep 1; GANASHAKTI: Sudha Bharadwaj, one of the five activists arrested in multi-city raids by the Maharashtra Police, has outrightly rejected the claims made by the investigating agency and said a purported letter implicating her was "totally concocted" to criminalise her and human rights organisations.

The police had Friday claimed that Bharadwaj had written to one "Com. Prakash".

By Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Sep 1 (PTI) UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed regret over the US' decision to provide no further funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, urging other countries to help fill the financial gap.

His remarks came after the US decided to stop funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday that U.S. lawmakers were wasting taxpayer money by urging President Donald Trump’s administration to impose sanctions on Chinese officials allegedly tied to the mass internment of ethnic minority Muslims in camps in the far west.

New Delhi, Aug 30; GANASHAKTI: Calling raids on prominent activists and intellectuals an attempt by the government to strike terror among those fighting for the marginalised, Jharkhand's civil society members, including economist Jean Dreze, have demanded the immediate release of the people arrested.

Shahjahanpur (UP), Aug 31 (PTI) A 28-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped by a man, died after she set herself ablaze in a police station here following which three policemen were suspended, an official said today.

The woman's husband Ramvir has alleged that she was upset after police refused to file an FIR in the case and they were exerting pressure on the victim to reach a compromise with the accused, Vinay Kumar.

Yesterday, the woman was rushed to a district hospital, where she succumbed to injuries, the official said.

By SAM McNEIL

BEIJING; 30 Aug 2018; (AP) — A rare public protest by thousands of Hui Muslims this month was caused by local officials’ recklessness, Chinese authorities said Thursday, without settling concerns a large mosque in the northwestern region would be razed.

New Delhi, August 29: Intellectuals, academics, artists has jointly  issued the following statement:

We the undersigned are utterly shocked and appalled by the simultaneous arrests of several prominent civil rights activists in different parts of the country, and the raids on their houses and those of many others.