Indian troops kill three suspected Kashmir militants

Indian troops kill three suspected Kashmir militants
Indian security personnel stand guard at a market in Srinagar on May 10, 2024. India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region. (AFP)
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Updated 15 July 2024
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Indian troops kill three suspected Kashmir militants

Indian troops kill three suspected Kashmir militants
  • Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947
  • New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of stoking militancy and espionage to undermine each other

NEW DELHI: Soldiers in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir have killed three suspected militants, the army said, the latest incident in an uptick of attacks in the disputed northern territory.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.
The Indian army’s Chinar Corps said late Sunday that three people were killed in an “anti-infiltration operation” in Kashmir’s Kupwara district, with “weapons and other war-like stores” seized.
India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.
New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of stoking militancy and espionage to undermine each other.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.
Earlier this month, gunmen ambushed an army convoy killing five soldiers, and two other soldiers and six suspected militants were killed in separate incidents.
In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.
It was one of the deadliest attacks in years and the first on Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017, when gunmen killed seven people in another ambush on a bus.


Kremlin aide says NATO and the West helped Ukraine attack Russia

Kremlin aide says NATO and the West helped Ukraine attack Russia
Updated 8 sec ago
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Kremlin aide says NATO and the West helped Ukraine attack Russia

Kremlin aide says NATO and the West helped Ukraine attack Russia
  • Ukraine aide: Statements by the United States that it was not involved in the attack were not true
MOSCOW: Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said on Friday that the US-led military alliance and the West were directly involved in the planning for Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region.
Patrushev, in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, said that statements by the United States that it was not involved in the attack were not true.
“The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of NATO and Western special services,” Patrushev was quoted as saying.

Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say

Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say
Updated 6 min 7 sec ago
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Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say

Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say
  • The World Health Organization has declare recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern

Pakistan has detected three patients with the mpox virus, the health department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Friday.
The viral infection was detected in the patients on their arrival to the countrys, the department said. The World Health Organization has declare recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant of the virus has been identified.
Pakistan has had cases of mpox previously and it was not immediately clear which variant was detected in the patients.


Russia diplomat says Ukraine would not have attacked Nord Stream without US approval

Russia diplomat says Ukraine would not have attacked Nord Stream without US approval
Updated 8 min 26 sec ago
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Russia diplomat says Ukraine would not have attacked Nord Stream without US approval

Russia diplomat says Ukraine would not have attacked Nord Stream without US approval
  • Ukraine’s top military commander approved the 2022 attack on the gas pipelines despite a warning from the US Central Intelligence Agency

MOSCOW: Russia’s ambassador to Washington said on Friday that Ukraine would not have attacked the Nord Stream gas pipelines without the tacit approval of the United States, and that Russia would identify and punish those behind the attack.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Ukraine’s top military commander approved the 2022 attack on the gas pipelines despite a warning from the US Central Intelligence Agency to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not to carry out the bombing.
“They seek to shift all responsibility to their Ukrainian puppets,” Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a statement on Nord Stream. “We will seek to identify the real perpetrators of the bombing and punish them.”


Thai lawmakers vote on Shinawatra heiress as PM

Thai lawmakers vote on Shinawatra heiress as PM
Updated 23 min ago
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Thai lawmakers vote on Shinawatra heiress as PM

Thai lawmakers vote on Shinawatra heiress as PM
  • The vote was forced after the kingdom’s Constitutional Court sacked premier Srettha Thavisin
  • Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father and aunt have served as premier, would become the youngest leader if elected

BANGKOK: Thai lawmakers voted Friday on whether to appoint the 37-year-old daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, elevating a third member of the clan to the nation’s top job despite her never having held office.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father and aunt have served as premier, would become the youngest leader in Thailand’s history as a constitutional monarchy if elected.
Lawmakers began voting one by one around 11:20 a.m. (0420 GMT) on Paetongtarn, who would be the kingdom’s second female prime minister, after her aunt.
The vote was forced after the kingdom’s Constitutional Court sacked premier Srettha Thavisin for appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
Srettha’s ouster on Wednesday was the latest round in a long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and populist parties linked to Paetongtarn’s father, a telecoms tycoon and one-time Manchester City owner.
The Pheu Thai party selected Paetongtarn as its replacement candidate Thursday. None of the 10 other parties in the coalition it leads put forward an alternative.
Bhumjaithai — the third-largest party in parliament — said it had “agreed to support a candidate” from Pheu Thai in Friday’s vote.
Paetongtarn needs 247 ballots from the body’s 493 sitting members.
“We are confident that the party and coalition parties will lead our country,” she said after the party announced her candidacy.
Paetongtarn helped run the hotel arm of the family’s business empire before entering politics in late 2022, and she was a near-constant presence on the campaign trail for the 2023 general election.
That vote saw the upstart progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) win most seats after pledging to review the country’s strict lese-majeste laws and break up powerful business monopolies.
But alarmed senators blocked MFP’s attempt to form a government.
Pheu Thai subsequently formed an alliance with pro-military parties once staunchly opposed to Thaksin and his followers, leading to Srettha’s ascension.
Less than a year later, he became the third Pheu Thai prime minister to be kicked out by the Constitutional Court.
Srettha was ousted over his appointment of Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer associated with Thaksin’s family who had a criminal conviction.
Last week, the court also voted to dissolve MFP and ban its executive board members from politics for 10 years, though the party swiftly relaunched itself as the People’s Party.
The big question will be how much Paetongtarn will be influenced by her father.
Thaksin Shinawatra has cast a remarkable shadow over the kingdom’s politics for two decades.
He transformed Thai politics in the early 2000s with populist policies that won him and his party enduring loyalty from the rural masses — and two elections.
But that success came at a cost: he was despised by Thailand’s powerful elites and conservative establishment, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.
Ousted as prime minister by the army in 2006, Thaksin took himself into exile two years later but never stopped commenting on national affairs — or meddling in them, according to his critics.
Thaksin returned to the country last year.
Paetongtarn, known in Thailand by her nickname Ung Ing, is Thaksin’s youngest child.
She grew up in Bangkok and studied hotel management in Britain, then married a commercial pilot. The couple now have two children.


Flights and trains canceled in Tokyo area as a strong typhoon swerves nearby

Flights and trains canceled in Tokyo area as a strong typhoon swerves nearby
Updated 18 min 37 sec ago
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Flights and trains canceled in Tokyo area as a strong typhoon swerves nearby

Flights and trains canceled in Tokyo area as a strong typhoon swerves nearby
  • Typhoon Ampil was forecast to reach the waters near Tokyo in the evening Friday then continue north, bringing stormy conditions to the northern Kanto and Tohoku regions early Saturday

TOKYO: Flights and trains in the Tokyo area were canceled Friday, and people were warned of strong winds, heavy rains and potential flooding and mudslides as a typhoon swerved near Japan on its way further north in the Pacific Ocean.
Typhoon Ampil was forecast to reach the waters near Tokyo in the evening then continue north, bringing stormy conditions to the northern Kanto and Tohoku regions early Saturday. It had sustained winds of 162 kph (101 mph) with higher gusts Friday morning and was moving north at 15 kph (9.3 mph), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Ampil was not expected to make landfall and would weaken to a tropical storm by Sunday.
Tokyo’s Disneyland, usually open until 9 p.m., was closing early at 3 p.m. because of the typhoon. Yamato Transport, which makes Amazon and other deliveries in Japan, said no deliveries will be made in the Tokyo and nearby affected areas Friday and Saturday.
The Shinkansen bullet trains running between Tokyo and Nagoya were halted for the entire day, according to Central Japan Railway, a common response to typhoons here. Bullet trains serving northeastern Japan and some local Tokyo trains were suspended temporarily or switched to a slower schedule.
Dozens of departing and arriving flights were canceled at Tokyo’s two airports, Haneda and Narita, as well as at Kansai, Osaka and Chubu airports. The flight cancelations affect some 90,000 people, according to Japanese media reports. Several highways may also partly close to traffic.
Airports and train stations had been packed Thursday with people moving up their plans to avoid disruptions from the typhoon. Friday was drizzly and windy in Tokyo, although the intensity varied. Traffic and crowds out on the streets were sparse, mostly because of the Bon summer holiday period, not just the weather. Stores remained open.
Officials warned people to stay away from rivers and beaches and to be wary of winds strong enough to send objects flying.
“We foresee extremely fierce winds and extremely fierce seas,” said Shuichi Tachihara, JMA chief forecaster.
Japanese TV broadcasts showed Hachijo residents boarding up windows. Ampil moved past Hachijo by midday, as it headed northward. Store shelves for bread and instant noodles were empty.