Human Rights

SRINAGAR, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A six-year-old boy caught in crossfire was among five people killed in Indian Kashmir on Friday, officials said, as security forces step up a clampdown in the disputed Himalayan region.

New Delhi has bolstered counter-insurgency efforts in the restive territory, with at least 33 separatist militants killed this month.

The child was in a car that drove into a gun battle between suspected rebels and paramilitaries near the town of Bijbehara, a police officer said.

SEUNUDDON (Indonesia), June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Indonesian fishermen rescued nearly 100 Rohingya refugees, including 79 women and children, in Aceh province after officials said they were planning to push them back out to sea.

Countries around Southeast Asia have grown increasingly reluctant to accept refugee boats as they battle the novel coronavirus, but the Acehnese fishermen said that rescuing the Rohingya was a moral duty.

26 June 2020; MEMO: The Belgian parliament today passed a resolution urging the government to call on the European Union to impose sanctions against Israel if it proceeds with its plan to annex large swaths of the occupied West Bank.

26 June 2020; MEMO: Amnesty yesterday called on the Egyptian authorities to protect a detained journalist from “torture and ill-treatment”.

On Wednesday, authorities in Egypt arrested Nora Younis, editor-in-chief of Al-Manassa, from her workplace south of Cairo, according to journalists and lawyers.

The international organisation called on authorities to “allow Younis to contact her family and lawyer immediately and protect her from torture or other ill-treatment.”

Srinagar, Jun 26: A Kashmiri was killed on Friday in an encounter with Indian security forces in Pulwama dist of the Indian Administered Kashmir, Indian officials said.

Hyderabad, June 25 (PTI): A 33-year-old constable was on Thursday arrested here for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl, police said.

The 12-year-old girl complained that the police constable staying in their neighbourhood allegedly abused her when she was alone in her house and threatened her to not inform the matter to anyone, they said.

Based on the complaint, a case under relevant sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered against the constable and he was arrested, they added.

Dehradun, Jun 25 (PTI) Under flak over the launch of a drug it claims be a cure for COVID-19, yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved on Thursday insisted that it broke no law.

"There is no room for confusion," the herbal products company said in a tweet.

The licence for the drug was obtained on the basis of the traditional knowledge and experience related to the medicinal virtues of Ashwagandha, Giloy and Tulsi," Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala said.

ADEN, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of malnourished children in Yemen could rise to 2.4 million by the end of the year due to a big shortfall in humanitarian funding, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said.

A UNICEF report warned of a rise of 20 per cent in the number of malnourished chidren under the age of five – almost half of all of that age in the country.

GAZA CITY, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank would be a “declaration of war”, Gaza rulers Hamas said, as a UN envoy warned the move could fuel extremism.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aims to table annexation plans from July 1, despite opposition from the Palestinians and much of the international community.

In a televised address, Hamas’s military wing said such a move would prompt a war with the Palestinians.

25 June 2020; MEMO: Israeli police on Sunday detained five Palestinian women and a guard at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reported.

Israeli police have not revealed the reason behind the arrest of the six Palestinians.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Israel has arrested more than 750 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, including women and children, since the start of the year.