Asked about the report, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "The political judgements of Freedom House are as inaccurate and distorted as their maps."
'Responding with outrage is not enough. It is the time, and the responsibility of all who hold those rights dear, to fight back, says Aakar Patel.
The Wire news portal, in the third part of its revelations from the international collaborative journalistic investigation called the Pegasus Project, reported that those marked as potential targets for surveillance include Ambedkarite activist Ashok Bharti; academic and chronicler of life in Naxal-dominated regions Bela Bhatia; railway union leader Shiv Gopal Mishra and Delhi-based labour rights activist Anjani Kumar.
However, it was not clear on what basis most of the people were being held.
.jpg)
As of September, account for bulk of applications for availing of the government's amnesty scheme.
"Is this where our country is headed? Had we dreamt of a country where there was no space for dissent, where only the rich and powerful are heard and where the poorest and most vulnerable are oppressed? Where there once was law, there is now only darkness," he said in the video in Urdu.
Hundreds of Afghan protesters, including women, took to the streets of Kabul on Tuesday, chanting 'death to Pakistan' and denouncing Islamabad's interference in Afghanistan and airstrikes by its jets in Panjshir province in support of the Taliban, according to a media report.
Several hundred Indian nationals may be stranded in the Najaf province of Iraq, unable to return home because their employer refuses to return their passports, Amnesty International said on Saturday.
'Prime Minister Modi stated several times that we shall not let this challenge go away without converting it into an opportunity to undertake systemic reforms.' 'And hasn't that been reiterated in action?'
The Interior Ministry issued an order on Saturday asking all provincial governments not to carry out any executions in the Muslim month of fasting.
The court set aside the direction issued to the CBI director to make a written apology to Patel for the agency's action against him.
The interim government in Pakistan's Punjab province on Wednesday claimed that some '30 to 40' terrorists are hiding at the Lahore residence of former prime minister Imran Khan, giving him an ultimatum of 24 hours to hand them over or face stern action.
The strike by a Hellfire missile in Kabul on August 29, which was launched in an effort to kill ISIS-K planners, instead killed 10 civilians, he said.
Citing sources within the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), the Geo News reported that the names of the PTI leaders and its party chief have been added for their involvement in the May 9 violence and desecration of martyrs' monuments.
Qatar's efforts to prevent the abuse of migrant workers have been "woefully inadequate" since the Gulf state pledged to confront exploitation following an outcry over the 2022 World Cup, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
'It is especially discouraging for young people in the development sector. I've noticed that many of them are actively considering other career options to escape this atmosphere.' Geetanjali Krishna reports.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, as also former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and poll strategist Prashant Kishor were among those whose phone numbers were listed as potential targets for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to the government agencies, an international media consortium reported on Monday.
"Our parents talked to us about Maradona, and we will talk to our sons about Messi. We hope that we will win the cup, and we can celebrate with him and all the people in Argentina," said Nicolas Gomez, a fan from Argentina.
The apex court said the death row convicts failed to point out 'error apparent on the face of record' in the judgment.
The petition, likely to come up for hearing within next few days, sought to investigate if the illegal hacking into the phones using the Pegasus spyware represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle and chill the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India.
The US has released a London-based Saudi national, the last British resident to be incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, after nearly 14 years in detention at the infamous military prison in Cuba without being tried for any terror-related offence.
Qatar has been given two weeks to provide a report to FIFA on how it has improved working conditions for labourers in the 2022 World Cup host nation.
Unlike Israeli company NSO, whose sale of Pegasus cyber tech grabbed worldwide attention, and other manufacturers of offensive-cyber products, Cellebrite operates in a grey area between security exports and civilian ones.
Qatar's construction industry is rife with abuse of migrant workers who are "treated like cattle" and live in squalid accommodation exposed to overflowing sewage, Amnesty International said in a report on Sunday.
'The attack prima facie constitutes an act of cyber-terrorism,' the petition stated, 'that has several grave political and security ramifications, especially considering that the devices of government ministers, senior political figures and Constitutional functionaries which may contain sensitive information have been targeted.'
'When there was no crime committed, everything had to be fabricated. They see it as a war, and everything is fair in love and war.'
The Wire has reported that phone numbers of multiple people close to Dubai Princess Sheikha Latifa, who was captured by Indian soldiers in 2018, were added to a list of potential targets for surveillance.
There is no sign of it losing popularity with a significant section of the voting population, which appears to be attracted to the party for identity reasons, observes Aakar Patel.
'The phone numbers of over 40 Indian journalists appear on a leaked list of potential targets for surveillance, and forensic tests have confirmed that some of them were successfully snooped upon by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware,' report Anuj Srivas and Kabir Agarwal in The Wire.
The ministry said that they are continuing to deliver just punishment to those whose hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis.
The immigrants were under detention in Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar district since 2012.
If the Congress recovers some of its earlier influence among the Dalits, the BJP will be in a quandary since the Dalits were among the party's latest acquisitions. To lose them will be a disaster for the saffron camp not only in UP, but all over India, observes Amulya Ganguli.
The Rohingyas were illegal immigrants and not refugees who had applied for asylum in India, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has signed an amended version of an Amnesty International pledge to end human rights abuses and corruption in the sport should he win election to soccer's top job later this month.
Formula One unveiled its longest and fastest street circuit on Thursday, predicting top speeds of 322kph and wheel-to-wheel racing when Saudi Arabia hosts a race for the first time in Jeddah in December.
'I have been a court reporter for many years and have not seen such blatant suppression of those who are fighting for human rights, suppression of freedom of expression, and linking it to terrorism.'
"Nothing new for me. I was banned twice in the past. Lost jobs twice. Survived assassination attempts but cannot stop raising voice for the rights given in the Constitution. This time I'm ready for any consequences and ready to go at any extent because they are threatening my family," he tweeted.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited Qatar's emir on Sunday and said that while progress has been made in improving workers' rights in the 2022 World Cup host nation, more still needed to be done.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Gay people living under radar in Qatar prepare warily for World Cup
