Israel, today, backtracked on the scheduled release of a group of Palestinian prisoners and called for the entire negotiation process to be reviewed.

Israeli officials alleged that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas’ move to officially submit applications for membership at 15 UN bodies, had broken confidence in the negotiations.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday, restarted the application process, blaming Israel’s reluctance to release prisoners and attempts to lengthen the negotiation process.

The United Nations Population Fund Agency (UNFPA) helping Burma conduct its first census in decades, expressed concern today over the omission of ethnic Rohingya in the national census.
 
Accusing the government of the going backwards on its word, the agency reported that census workers were walking away from houses that identified themselves ethnically as Rohingya.

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, addressing the International Conference on genocide Prevention, today, reiterated that defending human rights was a global responsibility and called on governments to renew their commitment and political will towards preventing any mass atrocities from occurring again.

Ki-moon expressed dismay at the UN’s ‘actions and inactions at Srebrenica’ and added that the organisation had been working hard to “draw lessons from those failures.”

Human Rights Watch  (HRW) in a report released today, outlined that the increased restrictions on Tibetans in Nepal were a result of strong pressure from China.

NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia, today, in protest of Russian involvement in the annexation of Crimea and outlined plans to take measures to strengthen Ukraine’s defences.

Informing the press of NATO’s decision, the Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said,

“We are suspending all practical cooperation with Russia, military and civilian.”

 Over 100,000 protesters flooded the streets of Taiwan’s capital on Sunday, to voice discontent against a trade pact with China that was rushed through parliament.

Demonstrators expressed concern over the trade deal that allowed 80 Chinese service sectors to operate in Taiwan and 64 Taiwanese sectors to operate in China. Demonstrators argued that the new trade deal could make Taiwan increasingly dependent on China’s communist party leaders.

Palestinian officials rejected an Israeli proposal to extend peace-talks beyond April 29, outlining that it was akin to “blackmail.”

Speaking to the AFP, a Palestinian official in Ramallah, said,

Amnesty International, in a briefing on the deteriorating rights situation in North-East Nigeria, called for a war crimes probe into the escalating conflict.

Expressing concern at the number of civilians killed in the escalating violence , Amnesty stressed that the conflict had descended into “a situation of non-international armed conflict in which all parties are violating international humanitarian law.”

Urging the international community to take action , the Africa research and advocacy director, Netsanet Belay, said,