Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for New York

UN approves resolution to fly Palestinian flag at headquarters

by

The US dismissed the move by the UN, calling it "counterproductive". (AFP/File)

The US dismissed the move by the UN, calling it “counterproductive”. (AFP/File)

by Press TV

The United Nations has approved a resolution calling for the hoisting of the Palestinian flag at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly decided that the flags of the non-member observer states of Palestine and the Holy See “shall be raised at (UN) Headquarters and United Nations Offices following the flags of the member states.”

As many as 119 countries voted in favor of the resolution, eight voted against, and 45 abstained.

The draft resolution of the Palestinian proposal was submitted to the General Assembly on August 27.

The resolution requested UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take “the measures necessary” for the implementation of the decision. The UN has 20 days to carry out the decision.

Based on the Thursday decision, delegations of the two nations can participate in the UN sessions.

Before the voting session, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour touched upon the significance of the resolution, saying although symbolic, the measure gives “our people some hope that the international community is still supporting the independence of the state of Palestine.”

The United States and Israel had expressed their opposition to the measure, with US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner describing it as “counterproductive” and Israel’s envoy to the UN, Ron Prosor, dismissing it as “a blatant attempt to hijack the UN.”

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the besieged Gaza Strip, and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.

On November 29, 2012, the General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” despite strong opposition from Israel and the US.

U.S: Hundreds Protest the Killing of Another Black Man in Phoenix

by

Yet another case of a white policeman killing an unarmed black man in the United States. Rumain Brisbon in this photo with two of his children. (Photo: thefreethoughtproject.com)

Yet another case of a white policeman killing an unarmed black man in the United States. Rumain Brisbon in this photo with two of his children. (Photo: thefreethoughtproject.com)

by teleSUR

Unarmed Rumain Brisbon was delivering dinner to his family Tuesday night when a police officer shot and killed him.

A fourth case of a white policeman killing unarmed black persons has arisen in Phoenix, prompting hundreds of angered persons to march to police headquarters in the capital city of the state of Arizona to demand justice for 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon, a father of four, local media reported Thursday.

Phoenix Police Department has said that Brisbon was sitting in a SUV outside a convenience store on Tuesday evening, when police officers approached him after witnesses said he was selling drugs.

A seven-year veteran, according to official statements, told the man to show his hands, but Brisbon, apparently fearing for his life, fled only to be chased. When the officer caught up with him, they struggled and the officer reported that Brisbon introduced his hand to his pocket and that he thought he was reaching for a gun. Instead, Brisbon was holding on to a small jar of pills, when shot twice on the torso and killed.

The police department said, according to Reuters, that back-up officers arrived after the shooting, and while they and members of the fire department treated Brisbon, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

As website The Free Thought Project said, “The Phoenix Police Department has not yet revealed the name of the officer responsible for the murder, but the smear campaign, by the media, against the victim has already begun.”

According to this website, Brisbon was killed at the doorsteps of his home, to which he had just arrived with dinner for his children. It also says that Brisbon did have a legally acquired gun in his vehicle, which “he actually made the conscious decision to leave behind … so it stands to reason that he had no intent on hurting the officer.”

“Also found in the car was a small amount of marijuana, which he was also legally licensed to possess under Arizona state law,” The Free Thought Project said a family member told them.

This incident comes at a time when police forces across the United States are under increased scrutiny over killing unarmed black men.

Phoenix police said Brisbon was carrying oxycodone pills, while a semi-automatic handgun and a jar of what is believed to be marijuana were found in the man’s vehicle.

Recently, two grand juries delivered decisions not to indict officers who killed unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and in New York City, triggering protests across the country. A third case was reported in Cleveland, where police shot a 12-year old black boy who was playing with a toy gun in a park.

In Brisbon’s case, his family and friends have stated that he was simply delivering dinner to his children Tuesday night.

And while police fully support the actions by its officer, Ann Hart, chairwoman of the African American Police Advisory Board for South Phoenix, said the shooting only reinforces “the impression it’s open season for killing black men”

She told a local television station that, “We need to look into that. We need to take a deeper dive into why police officers are feeling compelled to shoot and kill as opposed to apprehend and detain, arrest and jail.”

Another rally is scheduled for this Friday night.

The Rev. Jarrett Maupin, an organizer of Thursday night’s march, also told local television station KPNX that Brisbon was probably justified in fearing for his life and trying to flee when the Phoenix officer approached him and his friend Tuesday night.

“The Phoenix Police Department does not treat white people this way,” Maupin said, according to the local television network. “What that officer did was harass and accost them.”

According to The Arizona Republic newspaper of Pheonix, Brisbon’s family attorney Marci A. Kratter has spoken with eyewitnesses that would dispute the official police account and that “we intend to pursue this to the full extent of the law.”

Protests took place in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and other places Thursday to demand justice in the case of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man from New York that was choked to death by a white police officer in July 17.

Wednesday, a grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo for the killing of Garner, despite a video that clearly shows excessive use of force by four police officers against the 43-year-old father of six. The man repeatedly cried out that he could not breathe, only to be ignored.

Rajdeep Sardesai heckled in New York

by

New York: Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai of Headlines Today news channel was heckled and roughed up, allegedly by a band of supporters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, outside the Madison Square Garden venue after he got a group of anti-Modi people to air their views just ahead of the prime minister’s much-awaited speech to thousands of the Indian diaspora.

After the live interaction with the anti-Modi group who were outnumbered by supporters of Modi, Sardesai was heckled by Modi supporters and roughed up and pushed.

A video of the heckling was posted online as were tweets of the event.

(IANS)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives