In a moving encounter, Francis blessed them, held their hands and intently listened to their heart-rending tales of escape from the Buddhist-majority nation, in an apparent show of public solidarity towards Asia's worst refugee crisis in decades.
The government told the apex court that the decision whether or not to allow refugees to settle in the country was best left to the Executive.
How can a film that has a character declare that secularism is an illness be taken seriously, asks Deepa Gahlot.
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
More than 3,00,000 Rohingya have poured into Bangladesh since the latest flare-up in violence on August 25.
The 2 reporters were imprisoned by authorities in Myanmar, on charges of breaking the country's Official Secrets Act, while they were conducting investigations into the killings.
The immigrants were under detention in Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar district since 2012.
The illegal immigrants were detained in 2012 and since then they were lodged in Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar.
The top court made it clear that there was a need for holistic hearing and it is neither going to be swayed by the arguments of senior lawyer Fali S Nariman, who is representing the petitioners, nor by any other senior counsel and the submissions have to go by the letter of the law.
The plea filed by two Rohingya immigrants that they were facing persecution in Myanmar and that the decision to send them back was in violation of various international conventions.
'As a great democracy, we must be responsible and uphold the rights of those who come to us seeking shelter.' 'Everything in the Hindu faith tells us that this is obligatory on us,' says Aakar Patel.
The two sides agreed on forming a joint working group to oversee the repatriation process but its composition would be decided later by both the countries.
The Union Home Ministry has decided to conduct a fresh census on the Rohingya Muslims following reports that terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba has taken up the cause of the community, which is fleeing the current wave of ethnic cleansing by the ruling Buddhist majority in Myanmar especially in the Arakan region.
Lives "will once again be at risk" if funding is not urgently secured, United Nations officials have said on the eve of the first anniversary of a military crackdown that forced them to flee their country.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has been criticised for failing to do enough to prevent the violence.
Bangladesh has asked Myanmar to immediately repatriate thousands of Rohingyas refugees, who sought refugee in this country following violence in the Buddhist dominated Rakhine state of the neighbouring nation.
More than 600,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar's Rakhine state have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, creating one of the world's most dire refugee crisis.
'Jairam Mahto's new party dented the NDA because he pulled a lot of the OBC vote.'
'He fears that the youth tide has gone against him and he will be swept away in the next assembly election in the state.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday mocked Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for "handing over the remote control" of the party to the Congress as he took poll battle to Mumbai with less than a week left for voting in Maharashtra.
Some 40,000 Rohingyas have settled in India, and 16,000 of them have received refugee documentation, the UN estimates.
The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.
Bangladesh today termed as "surprising" Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's comments questioning the state of origin of her country's Muslim Rohingya community.
Don't send us back, Rohingya Muslims plead the Indian government.
'If you want to win you need to perform.' 'Governments have found a way to buck anti-incumbency, but one policy intervention will not pay in all elections.'
The relief material consists of items required urgently by the affected people, namely rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets etc, it said.
Over 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's violence hit Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh since August when the military intensified crackdown against alleged militant outfits of Rohingya Muslims.
The RSS criticised the previous UPA government at the centre and National Conference-Congress coalition government in the state for allowing Rohingyas to settle down in Jammu,
The Andhra Pradesh government will soon have to deal with the Rohingya Muslims living in the old city of Hyderabad -- many of them illegally, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Malaysia and Indonesia on Wednesday agreed to offer temporary shelter to 7,000 migrants stranded in the Andaman Sea.
The judge said the journalists 'collected and obtained confidential documents'.
Hossain said they will "always try to maintain good relations" with India.
There appears to be inadequate appreciation of the freedoms and rights that are guaranteed and practised daily in a vibrant democracy, India says.
Mohan Bhagwat flagged a number of issues like illegal immigrants, cow vigilantism, situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the economic scenario in his Vijayadashmi address.
The statement issued by Raj Bhavan late Saturday night highlighted that the governor, upon receiving a complaint in the Peace Room, instructed the police chief to arrest the culprit promptly.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina, who was elected for a record fourth consecutive term and fifth overall term this year, was always admired by her supporters as "Iron Lady", before the dramatic development that abruptly ended her 15-year-rule in Bangladesh.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India is closely monitoring the security situation in that country.
A pistol of 9 mm calibre, laptop, mobile phones, USD 2,000, 13,000 in Bangladeshi currency and Indian rupees were recovered from him.
She, however, preferred not to use the word 'Rohingya' and said 'we have urged that the situation be handled with restraint, keeping in mind the welfare of the population'.
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