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Showing posts from August 26, 2018

Three militants killed in encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district

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Three militants were killed on Saturday in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district. ANI  reported that weapons were also recovered in the encounter and the operation was over now. Representational image. Reuters Two days ago, on Thursday, two Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists  were killed  in an encounter with security forces in Bandipora. Acting on credible inputs about the presence of terrorists at Par Mohalla in Hajin area of Bandipora, security forces had launched a cordon and search operation. During the searches, the terrorists had fired upon the forces' personnel. "In the ensuing encounter two terrorists were eliminated. From the incriminating material seized from the site of encounter, it is learnt that both the killed terrorists were from Pakistan and identified as Rizwan alias Jindaal and Ali alias Maaz," a police spokesman had said. He had said that the slain men were affiliated with the LeT and i

African wars killed 5 million sick children in 20 years: Study

NAIROBI (REUTERS) - Five million children in Africa have died from preventable diseases over the last 20 years because armed conflict deprived them of access to basic healthcare or clean water, scientists said on Thursday (Aug 30). A study published in The Lancet medical journal showed conflict in countries such as Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo had contributed to the deaths of up to 5 million children under five between 1995 and 2015. The figure includes three million victims aged one or younger, and is much higher than previously estimated, with civilian infant deaths outnumbering armed conflict deaths by more than three to one, said scientists. "Conflict appears to substantially increase the risk of death and stunting of young children over vast areas and for many years after conflicts have ended," said lead researcher Eran Bendavid from Stanford University in a statement. "The impact of war generates a series of lethal but indirect impacts on comm

Dutch populist Wilders cancels Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest

Controversial anti-Islam politician  Geert   Wilders  late Thursday said he was cancelling plans to stage a Prophet Mohammad  cartoon  competition, a scheme that had angered many Muslims particularly in Pakistan. The Dutch politician’s announcement came after he said he had received several death threats. A man was arrested by police two days earlier on suspicion of wanting to assassinate  Wilders . On Thursday evening the far-right politician back-peddled on his plans, amid widespread criticism at home with politicians. media and ordinary citizens slamming the idea as needlessly antagonising Muslims. "I have decided to cancel the competition to avoid the risk of making people victims of Islamist violence,"  Wilders  said in a statement. "I don’t want Muslims to use the  cartoon  competition as an excuse for Islamist violence," he added. Earlier Thursday a man briefly appeared in a Dutch court on suspicion of wanting to assassinate  Wilders  because of

Yemen conflict: Abuses by all parties

GENEVA • All sides in Yemen's bloody conflict may have committed war crimes, UN investigators said, highlighting deadly air strikes, rampant sexual violence, and the recruitment of children as soldiers. In their first report, a team of UN-mandated investigators yesterday said they had "reasonable grounds to believe the parties to the armed conflict in Yemen have committed a substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law". Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes" the report said, adding that the investigators had identified a number of alleged perpetrators. The devastating conflict in Yemen has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Houthi rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's government. The conflict in what was already one of the world's poorest countries has caused what the United Nations has described as the world'

22 cars burned in Sweden as country rocked by rising crime

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Up to 22 cars were burned or damaged in several fires across southern Sweden on Thursday. It will likely stoke claims that the current socialist government has abjectly failed at tackling the surge in crime. Police in the southern city of Trollhättan are investigating a fire that left up to ten vehicles damaged, according to local news outlet  Aftonbladet . Police and rescue teams were called to the area of the Kronegården at around 3:30 am to tackle a “fully-fledged”  fire which had engulfed three cars before spreading to more. Four out of six cars affected were entirely burnt out, police say. While at around 2am a car was set on fire in Trelleborg, which went on to ravage two other vehicles. And just a few miles away in Trelleborg, in Vellinge, a car was set ablaze while one parked behind it was also damaged. Buildings, 7 cars & pizzeria torched in Sweden overnight as arson attacks continue More vehicles in Helsingborg, Kalmar and Oxie were also either burned out or dam

19 fishermen missing after Saudi airstrike

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As many as 19 fishermen have reportedly gone missing after a Saudi Arabian airstrike on fishing boats off Yemen’s western coastline, which has come under an unrelenting Saudi-led offensive. The attack took place off the port city of Hudaydah, near the island of Uqban, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported on Friday. The head of the Yemeni Union of Fishermen said the attack targeted three fishing boats. There has so far been no report about those still unaccounted for in the aftermath of the attack. Early this month, at least 55 people were killed after Saudi warplanes hit a hospital and a fishing harbor in Hudaydah. A separate Saudi aerial attack hit a bus carrying a group of young schoolchildren in Yemen's Sa’ada province, killing over 50 people, including 40 children. In March, more than 30 Somali migrants, including children, were killed in the Red Sea when a Saudi military helicopter opened fire on their boat. PressTV-Saudi attack on Hudaydah hospital

Russia says Syrian army has every right to chase militants out of Idlib

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As the Syrian armed forces are preparing to launch a full-scale offensive to retake the northern province of Idlib, Russia says the Syrian troops have the full right to go after and hunt the terrorists out of the last stronghold of militants. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the Syrian army has every right “to protect its sovereignty and to drive out, liquidate the terrorist threat on its territory.” He also noted that talks were underway to set up humanitarian corridors in the militant-held province. "In this area, in this de-escalation zone, there must be a separation of the armed opposition, ready for dialogue with the government, from terrorists of Jabhat al-Nusra [now known as Tahrir al-Sham] and other organizations recognized as terrorist by the UN Security Council. Terrorists oppose such separation," Lavrov noted. On Wednesday, Lavrov had described the Idlib-based militants as a “festering abscess” which must be liquidated, RIA   news a

Muslim governments stay silent as China cracks down on Uighurs

BEIJING: As calls grow in the US and Europe to pressure China to halt alleged human-rights abuses against its Muslim minority, Beijing has so far escaped any serious criticism from governments across the Islamic world.  Almost three weeks after a United Nations official cited "credible reports" that the country was holding as many as 1 million Turkic-speaking Uighurs in "re-education" camps, governments in Muslim-majority countries have issued no notable statements on the issue. The silence became more pronounced this week after a bipartisan group of US lawmakers urged sanctions against senior Chinese officials.  "We are hopeful that the State Department will seek addition opportunities to condemn these abuses while also undertaking robust diplomatic engagement with like-minded governments to further elevate this human rights crisis in international forums and multilateral institutions," lawmakers led by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Representative C

11 Family Members Of Cops Kidnapped By Terrorists In Kashmir, Say Cops

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Eleven family members of six policemen have been kidnapped by terrorists, who raided the homes of several police officers across four districts in south Kashmir on Thursday evening, police said. The kidnappings, which police sources say is a pressure tactic by the terrorists, come after security forces conducted multiple raids and arrested equal number of relatives of some terrorists in the area in last two days. On Thursday, a policeman was kidnapped from his home in Pulwama district and released after he was questioned and thrashed. © Getty Terrorists barged into the homes of the policemen in Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam districts and kidnapped the family members. Among the kidnapped are the brother of a policeman posted in Srinagar and the son of another policeman who works as a cook at police training centre. On Wednesday, the son of a policeman was also kidnapped from Tral. A distraught family has appealed to the kidnappers to release their son.  In her appeal, the m

Hizbul chief Salahuddin's son arrested in 2011 terror funding case

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Syed Shakeel Ahmad, who is the second son of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin. The arrest was made on Thursday morning after the NIA raided Shakeel's house in Rambagh area of Srinagar. He is being brought to Delhi for further questioning. NIA raided the residence of Shakeel early in the morning, adding that they conducted searches and arrested him. (Photo representation: ANI) The NIA, along with local police and CRPF, raided Shakeel's home early morning and arrested him.  Shakeel is a senior lab technician at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar. Also watch: Hizbul commander Altaf Kachroo gunned down by forces Video player from: TimesOfIndia ( Privacy Policy ) (Video by Times of India) NIA sources say Shakeel was called in for questioning on at least three occasions, failing which agency sleuths swooped down to arrest him. The anti-terror probe agency had

China rejects US lawmakers' sanctions call over Muslim camps

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FILE - In this July 10, 2009, file photo, Chinese paramilitary police practice during a break from patrol in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province. A group of U.S. lawmakers has urged the Trump administration to impose sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans on Chinese officials and companies allegedly tied to a stifling security crackdown and the mass internment of ethnic minority Muslims in camps in a far western region. The lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin urging the government to apply sanctions to address the "ongoing human rights crisis" in the region of Xinjiang, in the latest sign that the detentions are raising concerns among Western leaders and governments. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday that U.S. lawmakers were wasting taxpayer money by urging President Donald Trump's administration to impose sanctions on Chinese officials allegedly tied to th

Kosovo, home to many ISIS recruits, is struggling to stamp out its homegrown terrorism problem

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AJ Naddaff '19 AJ Naddaff '19 recently covered the challenges of deradicalizing former ISIS recruits in Kosovo for the "Washington Post." The political science and Arab Studies double major spent two months in the eastern European nation on a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. A citizen of Belgium, Naddaff's interest in Kosovo began in 2016 when he  read about ISIS taking root  in the tiny, majority-Muslim nation in the "New York Times." "I couldn't help but ponder whether Kosovo was moving in the same direction as Belgium with regard to polarization, terrorism, and international media attention," Naddaff wrote in a blog post earlier this year. "The article further reinforced the influence media has on molding stereotypes that can turn into our opinions. This country I knew barely anything about was now marked on my radar as a nest for terrorism." Source:  http://www.davidson.edu/news/in-the-news/180830-