Page 331 - War Conflict
288 Arrested, 100 injured in Paris yellow vest protest
French Interior Minister Christophe on Saturday night said that 288 people have been arrested in the yellow vest protests in Paris and some 100 people injured, one of them a demonstrator who is in extremely serious condition.
Centre constitutes fund for ex-servicemen: Def min
The 'Armed Forces Flag Day Fund' (AFFDF) has been constituted by the Centre for the welfare and rehabilitation of the ex-servicemen (ESM) community, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The aim of the campaign is to generate awareness about the fund and encourage people to contribute generously. Several cashless payment methods have been setup and made available. You can send your contributions via PayTM number '8800462175' and UPI code: armedforcesflagdayfund@sbi To contribute using Credit/Debit Card or Net Banking log on to ksb.gov.in/armed-forces-flag-day-fund.html, ksb.gov.in/armed-forces-flag-day-fund.htm, the statement said. There are more than 30 lakh ex-servicemen and around 60,000 ex-servicemen are added every year due to early superannuation. Contributions received from prospective donors of AFFDF are utilised to provide basis sustenance needs of the ESM community through a medium of welfare schemes. Since 1949, December 7 is observed as Armed Forces Flag ...
Man arrested for planning wife's murder
Police have arrested a man for allegedly employing contract killers to murder his wife, a police officer said Saturday. The man, Rinkoo, had earlier told police that three masked robbers looted Rs 40,000 from him and his wife Kavita (26) at gunpoint on Tuesday. When Kavita resisted the loot bid, the robbers fired two gunshots at her and fled from the spot, he had told police. Senior Superintendent of Police Upendra Agarwal Saturday said Rinkoo had become suspicious of his wife's character. He said Rinkoo, along with two others, hatched a conspiracy to kill Kavita. Rinkoo and Faizal were arrested while Deepak was still at large, Agarwal said.
C'garh: Security beefed up for 'Naxal week' between Dec 2-8
Security in insurgency-hit parts of Chhattisgarh, particularly Bastar division, has been bolstered in view of the Naxals' so-called "People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Week" starting Sunday, police said. Since 2000, "PLGA week" is observed annuallyby Naxals between December 2-8 in memory of their slain leaders and cadre. According to officials, Naxals hold meetings and gatherings during this period and engage in propaganda, recruit new members, review operations, besides resorting to damaging roads, public property and carrying out attacks on security forces. "All units of paramilitary and state forces have been put on alert during the PLGA week observed by Naxals annually from December 2 to 8," a senior police official here told PTI. Patrolling has been intensified in the forested interiors of the seven districts of Bastar division, namely Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Sukma and Kanker, the official informed. Some posters and pamphlets ...
Violent clashes mar fresh anti-Macron protests
Police and anti-government protesters clashed near the Champs-Elysees and in other parts of central Paris Saturday with demonstrators hurling rocks and paint at riot police who responded with tear gas. The clashes came as thousands took part in a third weekend of "yellow vest" protests which have morphed from anger over fuel taxes into a broader anti-government movement. Crowds of protesters gathering at the Arc de Triomphe earlier found the Champs-Elysees locked down with police manning barricades and water cannon. While several dozen were allowed through after an ID check and search, many others -- some wearing gas masks or ski goggles -- remained behind and fought with police who fired rounds of tear gas. Spreading from the Champs-Elysees, protesters led police on cat-and-mouse chases through other parts of the capital, setting light to cars and construction equipment. Authorities said 160 people had been arrested by the afternoon and 65 people injured, including eleven of the ...
Explosion in moving train in Assam, 3 injured
Three persons were injured when an explosion occurred in the moving Kamakhya-Dekargaon Intercity Express train in lower Assam's Udalguri district on Saturday evening, N-F Railway and police said. The explosion occurred in the luggage rack of one of the coaches of the passenger train just before it was to reach Harisinga railway station at 7.04 pm, they said. The three injured persons were taken to Haisinga Civil Hospital, a spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway said. Asked if any militant outfit was involved in the incident, DGP Special Branch Pallab Bhattacharjee told PTI that it could be ascertained only investigations are concluded. He said police officials have rushed to the site and started investigation. Whether the explosion was caused by a grenade or an IED was yet to be ascertained, the DGP added. Railway officials have rushed to the site. Announcements were being made in the railway station for the passengers to evacuate from the affected train as a precautionary ...
Yemen on brink of 'major catastrophe': UN aid chief
UN aid chief Mark Lowcock warned Saturday that Yemen was "on the brink of a major catastrophe", as the world body pushes for peace talks in the impoverished and war-wracked country. His comments came after renewed deadly clashes between Huthi rebels and pro-government forces in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, vital for the flow of humanitarian aid. "Yemen is on the brink of a major catastrophe," Lowcock said, as he wrapped up a visit to the country. He said conditions had deteriorated alarmingly since his last visit in October 2017 to Yemen, which the United Nations has termed the world's worst humanitarian crisis. "In Aden, I met emaciated children so malnourished they could barely open their eyes," Lowcock said in a statement. "Humanitarian assistance helps many of these children recover. But I also heard heartbreaking stories of children relapsing again and again because their families simply can't afford food or proper medical care," he said. Lowcock reiterated the UN's ...
Five dead in Burkina bomb attack
Five people, four of them police, were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) in Burkina Faso, security sources said Saturday. The attack happened in the eastern town of Boungou, located in a region that has seen an upswing in jihadist violence in recent months. "A police vehicle on an escort mission struck a makeshift bomb in Boungou, killing four police," a source said, without specifying who was responsible for the attack. The police team was escorting workers employed at a local gold mine, the source added. Another security source told AFP that a civilian had also died in the blast. Burkina Faso has been battling jihadist attacks over the last three years, beginning in the north of the country but now spreading to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin. In August six people, five of them police, died in an attack in the region under similar circumstances. In all, around 40 members of Burkina's security forces have been killed in IED attacks ...
Civilian injured in J&K during cordon and search operation
A civilian was injured on Saturday during a cordon and search operation by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said.
1 killed, over 170 injured in factional clash among Sunni Muslims
A septuagenarian man was killed and over 170 people injured Saturday in a clash between supporters of two factions of Tableeghi Jamaat, a India-based Sunni Muslim organisations, over establishing dominance at a congregation organised here, police said. The factional clash disrupted the traffic movement on a major highway linking Dhaka with northwestern regions, they said. The Tableeghi Jamaat is one of the largest organisations of Sunni Muslims in the Indian subcontinent with its headquarters, referred to as the Markaz, in New Delhi. The organisation was founded by Indian Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi in 1920. According to police, a 70-year-old man was killed and over 170 people injured as the clash erupted among the supporters of the two factions while they were rallying at the Ijtema (congregation) ground in the morning. "The violence continued for hours despite our efforts to prevent them...It went out of our control," a police officer present at the scene told ..
Nagaland celebrates statehood day
Nagaland on Saturday celebrated the 55th statehood day with cultural regale besides parade, drill and arms handling show by the police personnel and an air show by the Indian Air Force. On this day in 1963, Dr S Radhakrishnan, then President of India, declared Nagaland as the 16th State of the Indian Union. In his address during the colourful celebration at Secretariat Plaza here, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio remembered the sacrifice and struggle of the founding fathers who conceptualised the idea of Naga nationalism and sovereignty. Maintaining that it is important to remember the history of statehood, he said armed conflicts between Naga groups resulted in the loss of many lives. The government of India recognised the Naga history "unique" and that the unresolved Naga political issue needed settlement as soon as possible, Rio said. Nagas now stand at the threshold of peace, he said and appreciated the Naga groups that are engaged in peace talks. The CM said that the ...
Paris protesters clash with police over fuel prices
Violence erupted in Paris on Saturday as protesters and the police clashed during a third weekend of "yellow vest" demonstrations sparked by rising fuel prices.
Nagaland suffered for long, create conducive atmosphere for development: Rajnath
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday appealed to the people of Nagaland to create a conducive atmosphere for rapid economic growth as the state has suffered a lot for long. Without referring to the decades-old insurgency problem of Nagaland, Singh said everyone has the responsibility to create conditions so that the country can progress. "Nagaland has suffered for a long time. On the 56th anniversary of the state, I call upon all my friends of this state to take long strides for the rapid economic growth of the country as well as that of Nagaland and make all of us proud Indians contributors in making India a world power," he said inaugurating the annual Hornbill Festival near here. Singh said nearly 50 per cent of Nagaland population is below 25 years of age and it is they who will shape the future of India and of Nagaland. "We have to create conditions where their creative and entrepreneurial potential is unleashed to the optimum," he said. Nagaland has witnessed insurgency which
Local Taliban commander killed in shootout in Pakistan
Pakistani security forces say they have killed a local Taliban commander who had taken six people hostage in the country's northwest. A military statement Saturday said security forces rescued all the hostages safely in an operation in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan overnight. It said four security men were wounded in a shootout that continued till morning. The military said the Taliban commander, Hakim Khan, was in possession of an assault rifle, ammunition and grenades. Senior police officer Zahoor Afridi said police surrounded the house after receiving information that a wanted man was holed up there. Dera Ismail Khan is near the South Waziristan tribal region.
French protesters clash with police in Paris; 63 arrested
Protesters angry about rising taxes clashed with French police for a third straight weekend and dozens were arrested after pockets of demonstrators built barricades in the middle of streets in central Paris, lit fires and threw rocks at officers Saturday. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner tweeted that "1,500 troublemakers" were around the Champs-Elysees avenue, outside a perimeter secured by police, who said that 63 people were arrested. Protesters, including some wearing black hoodies, piled up large plywood planks and other material in the middle of a street near the Arc de Triomphe, and set the debris on fire. Police fired tear gas to try to push back the protesters around the monument, and used water cannons near Champs-Elysees avenue. Some demonstrators responded by throwing large rocks. Thousands of police were deployed to try to contain the protests. Castaner also mentioned 200 peaceful protesters, called "yellow jackets" for the fluorescent vests they wear, on the ..
10 Taliban militants killed in Afghan airstrike
At least 10 Taliban militants were killed as Afghanistan's military aircraft launched an attack in the country's Kapisa province on Saturday, officials said.
Suu Kyi calls for peace in speech which avoids Rohingya crisis
Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is facing international criticism over her country's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, called Saturday for "a culture of peace" to end conflict between communities. The Nobel Peace prize winner did not mention the Rohingya crisis -- which has led the United Nations to call for a genocide investigation -- in her keynote address to an international meeting organised by a group linked to the Unification Church. "At the basis of conflict is ill-will which seeks to hurt and to destroy and thus to open the way to conflict, which in turn spews out an ever-renewing cycle of hate and fear, snuffing out the light of peace," Suu Kyi said. Suu Kyi called for cooperation between nations to seek peace and mutual prosperity. "Only by promoting a culture of peace in this world of interdependence will it be possible to create harmony between diverse countries and societies," she said. Suu Kyi, whose position of state counsellor in Myanmar is considered the .
Change of strategy: Ultras in Bastar using human effigies with dummy guns to take on troopers
Facing reverses in their traditional stronghold, Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bastar have come up with a new strategy, apparently based on the Vietnamese model of guerrilla warfare, wherein effigies with fake guns are positioned strategically in the forest to take on the troopers. Naxals have suffered heavy casualties in a string of encounters with security forces in the restive zone in the last few months. The security forces had recovered 13 such effigies planted by Naxals from three different places in the dense forests of the insurgency-hit Sukma district in the last eight days, a police official said Saturday. According to the police, the ultras are using the human body dummies to mislead and distract the security forces when they conduct anti-Maoist operations in their core areas. "As a part of their operational strategy, Naxals have for the first time used such effigies that resemble a person to mislead the security forces in the forests," Sukma Superintendent of Police (SP) ...
North Korean soldier defects to South across border
A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea on Saturday across their heavily fortified land border, which the two sides have begun to demilitarise as relations between the Cold War-era foes warm, the South's military said. The rare defection came as the two Koreas push ahead with a process of reconciliation in an effort to ease tensions, despite talks between Pyongyang and Washington on the North's nuclear weapons programme stalling. The incident did not trigger any gunfire, unlike last year when a North Korean soldier ran across under a hail of bullets from his own side. "A North Korean soldier was detected crossing the military demarcation line" by South Korean troops using surveillance equipment, the military Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. "Related agencies plan to investigate him regarding the details of how he came to the South," it said. The JCS gave no further details, such as the exact location of the defection, the soldier's name, rank or unit or whether .
5 injured in clash during birthday party in UP
At least five people were injured during a clash between two groups while celebrating a birthday here, police said Saturday. During the birthday celebration on Friday evening, an altercation ensued between two people over DJ playing which led to clash between two groups in which stones were pelted at each other, they said. A case has been registered in the incident and the injured have been hospitalised, police said.