Deadly blast hits eastern Afghan city, targeting Sikh minority
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (1st July 2018 ) An explosion hit the center of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, killing at least 20 people, including several members of the small Sikh minority. A politician representing the minority Sikh community, Awtar Singh Khalsa, who had planned to stand in October’s parliamentary elections, was dead. According to Nangarhar Police Chief, said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber who targeted a vehicle carrying members of the Sikh minority who were traveling to meet the president. Hours earlier, Mr Ghani had opened a hospital in Jalalabad during his two-day visit to Nangarhar. Officials said he was not in the area when the suicide blast occurred. Islamic State claimed the attack in a statement via its online Amaq news agency, but provided no evidence for the claim.
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Seven killed in suicide blast near Afghan ministry
KABUL (July 16, 2018) The attack was the latest in a seemingly unending series of blasts against civilian targets in Kabul and other major cities including Jalalabad, which has seen three major attacks in the past two weeks alone.
“Apparently a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at the gate of our ministry,” said Fraidoon Azhand, a spokesman at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.The target was our staff who were leaving to their homes,” he said.
(Reuters)
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Taliban controls more than half of Afghanistan’s territory – Russian diplomat
By : Zamir Kabulov
MOSCOW /July 16. /TASS | Russia to invite Taliban representatives to Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan. According to the Russian diplomat, Taliban is present in most of the country’s provinces and is a key force even where an official administration is present. “As a matter of fact, they establish parallel power bodies, including a court system Afghan people have more confidence in than in the official one,” he noted. “So, in this sense, they are very integrated into Afghanistan’s state life,” he added. Militants from the terrorist group Islamic State are present in nine out of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, he added.
“So far, luckily, they are present only in nine Afghan provinces. But what we are worried about most of all that these are northern Afghan provinces bordering Central Asia,” he said. “It is a serious threat for us. So, we cannot play down the Islamic State threat.”
“History, including Afghan history, teaches us that problems must be resolved before they grow into a serious threat,” the diplomat noted.
According to Kabulov, the problem is that Taliban considers Afghanistan’s current government “as a puppet one installed by the Americans, and, hence, illegitimate.” “They don’t’ want to hold talks with it but want to negotiate separately with the Americans,” he noted. He stressed that the key goal of the Moscow format is to help launch dialogue between the Afghan government and Taliban. “If we don’t invite Taliban, there will be no dialogue,” the Russian diplomat said. “That is why we hope Taliban will come to the meeting.”
The Moscow format involves representatives from Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The previous round of consultations was held in April 2017.
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Third generation EPR nuclear reactor in China starts providing power to consumers
AFP | The European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) in Taishan, southern China, “became the first EPR reactor in the world to be successfully connected to the grid”, they said. The reactor using the much-delayed European EPR technology had carried out its first nuclear chain reaction earlier this month. China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) owns 51 percent of the reactor, French utility EDF 30 percent and Chinese provincial power company Yuedian 19 percent.
With EPRs in Finland and France facing setbacks, the Taishan 1 reactor in Guangdong province is the first of its kind to advance to the operational stage. The reactor will now undergo a period of gradual power-up tests, and then will be tested in steady-state conditions at full power, the statement said. A second reactor, Taishan 2, run by the same partners, is expected to enter service next year.
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India to adopt new nuclear -capable ICBM as ‘strategic deterrent’
The Indian military is reportedly poised to adopt a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads and striking targets located thousands of kilometers away. India is poised to gain a powerful new addition to its arsenal as the country’s military prepares to receive the new Agni V intercontinental ballistic missile, NDTV reports. The new missile can be fitted with a nuclear warhead and reportedly possesses a striking range of 5,000 kilometers, which vastly surpasses the capabilities of other ballistic missiles currently in use by the Indian military. “It is a strategic asset which will act as a deterrent,” an official involved in the Agni 5 program told NDTV, adding that “the strategic project” was nearing a conclusion. The TV network’s sources said that the first batch of new ICBMs will arrive “soon” and be delivered to India’s Strategic Forces Command, though they declined to elaborate any further due to the sensitive nature of the project. Earlier in June, India carried out a successful test of the Agni V missile at the Integrated Test Range on Abdul Kalam Island.
India to get own nuclear missile tracking ship in December
By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau | APP
NEW DELHI: India’s secretive nuclear missile tracking ship, which will become part of an elaborate missile shield being planned against attacks is successfully undergoing harbour trials and is set to be delivered by December, a top official in charge of the project has confirmed. The VC11184, a specialised Ocean Surveillance Ship being built for the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), is on its way to completion just over four years after it was ordered as part of the Modi government’s focus on creating a nuclear missile shield for the nation.
The next step will include sea trials by a joint team of the Indian Navy and the NTRO in which its specialised surveillance systems three dome shaped antennas packed with sensors will be extensively tested before the handing over. “We have as of now finished the basin trials. There were done alongside and were successful.
We expect to deliver the ship by December this year,” Rear Admiral LV Sarath Babu, Chairman & Managing Director of Hindustan Shipyard Limited told ET. The complex vessel, which will generate over 14 MW of power just to power up its tracking radars, will have multiple roles for India from tracking enemy missiles to accurately giving data on tests that are routinely carried out of indigenous strategic missiles.
“The keel of the vessel was laid in June 2014 and we would have completed it in less than five years. It is a very complex vessel and we have set a new standard for building vessels of such class on time,” Rear Admiral Babu said. The 15000-tonne class vessel was initially constructed in a covered dry dock at the shipyard the country’s largest -to keep roving satellites and spying attempts at bay. However, for the past several months, the vessel has been docked alongside and is now visible from the Vizag channel with its distinct shape. A large globe shaped radar placed on the aft gives it distinctive visibility.
The Rs 725 crore project is a showcase under the Make in India initiative, with high secrecy being maintained on details, including the capabilities and systems on board. The VC11184, which has not been given a formal ‘commissioning’ name yet, is one of the largest warships to be built at an Indian yard, weighing in at over 15,000 tonnes.
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INDIAN Army will be without arms…if it doesn’t revert to Five-year colour service
by Bharat Karnad | Figures don’t lie. The payroll expenses and the pensions and the post-retirement sustenance costs (besides pensions, access to canteen and health services for life) are barreling out of control, taking an ever bigger chunk of the exchequer. Based on the truncated one rank, one pension (OROP) accepted by the BJP government with equalization every five years (instead of every two years as suggested by the ex-servicemen’s organizations), the financial subvention for the human resources (HR) category (roughly the defence budget on revenue account + the pensions budget (with 2013 used as base year for one rank, one pension calculations) will hit the country . The scale of outgo on this account will become apparent in its totality when the 2019-20 budget is presented. But even without accounting for the OROP tsunami, the numbers are absolutely stunning.
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Donald Trump tells Nato allies to spend 4% of GDP on defence
Germany Imports Gas From Russia. But Is It a ‘Captive’?
(By : Associated Press) : Donald Trump left the opening day of the Nato summit in Brussels in disarray after making a surprise demand for members to raise their defence spending to 4% of GDP, and clashing with German chancellor Angela Merkel over a proposed pipeline deal with Russia. The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, confirmed the 4% figure. “During the president’s remarks today at the Nato summit he suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2% of their GDP on defence spending, but that they increase it to 4%,” she said. Sanders added: “President Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and, at a very minimum, meet their already stated obligations.”
According to newly published Nato figures, countries that meet or exceed that 2% target are: the US on 3.6%, Greece on 2.2%, Estonia 2.14%, the UK 2.10%, and Poland on 2%. France spends 1.8% and Germany 1.2%.
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Trump calls Germany ‘captive’ of Russia; demands higher defense spending
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Before heading off for dinner, Trump tweeted: “What good is Nato if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy? Why are their only 5 out of 29 countries that have met their commitment? The US is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025.”
U.S. President Donald Trump accused Germany of being a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance, before a NATO summit where he pressed allies to more than double defense spending. The exchange was part of an uncomfortable day as anxious Western allies were subjected to the U.S. president’s “America first” approach. His comment that Germany was controlled by Russia earned a rebuke from Berlin. “We are not prisoners, neither of Russia nor of the United States,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters.
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Rain fall more than 200 people killed in western Japan hits 200
OSAKA (Kyodo) — The death toll from torrential rains in western Japan last week reached 200, as more bodies were found following the downpours that have caused floods and landslides and left thousands still in shelters. The number of casualties announced by the National Police Agency could grow further as dozens of others are still missing, according to local authorities. Of the 200 deaths, more than half occurred in Hiroshima and neighboring Okayama prefectures, according to a Kyodo News tally.
‘Unprecedented’ Japan heatwave kills 65 people in a week
Mon, Jul 23, 2018 | An “unprecedented” heatwave in Japan has killed at least 65 people in one week, government officials have said, with the weather agency classifying the record-breaking weather as a natural disaster. The agency said that 80 people had died from the heat since the beginning of the month, and more than 35,000 had been admitted to hospital. Japan, like much of Europe, is in the grip of a blistering heatwave but with significantly higher temperatures. Sweltering 41.1C was recorded in Kumagaya in Saitama prefecture, north-west of Tokyo. All of this will cause safety concerns for city planners and athletic bodies organising the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.
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Worst WILDFIRES in decade destroy Athens
AT LEAST 91 people have been killed and more than 250 injured after wildfires swept through a small resort town near Athens, with huge flames trapping families with children as they fled. The fire hit Mati – 18 miles east of the Greek capital – on Monday 23rd July, afternoon and is the country’s worst since the southern Peloponnese peninsula was devastated in August 2007, killing dozens. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared a three-day national mourning period for those killed in the wildfires.
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Sweden rushes firefighting aircraft to tackle fast-spreading wildfires
No backyard BBQs: Sweden moves to tighten fire rules: Italian planes and Norwegian helicopters have been deployed to help tackle more than 44 large blazes across central Sweden. Fires were also registered in the country’s northernmost county in the Arctic Circle. Fire chiefs said they were tackling 44 large forest fires and that multiple villages in the counties of Gavleborg, Jamtland and Dalarna had been ordered to evacuate their homes.
The three areas are engulfed by the largest blazes encompassing an area of 200 square kilometers (77 square miles). Record heat: Temperatures in the city of Uppsala, north of Stockholm, reportedly reached over 33 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) this week. It was the hottest temperature recorded there since 1947. (AFP, AP, dpa, EFE)