UN to investigate DR Congo attack on peacekeepers
United Nations has set up a special investigation of the attack that killed 15 UN peacekeepers and wounded 43 others in the Democratic Republic of Congo last month. The December 7 attack in the Beni territory of North Kivu province was one of the worst to target UN peacekeepers in recent history in the central African Country. A UN statement said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Dmitry Titov, a Russian national who has worked in UN peacekeeping to lead the special investigation that will also look into other attacks against peacekeepers in that area.
Two planes collide Toronto’s airport runway
- Sagar Media Inc :Two jets collision At Pearson Intl airport Toronto Canada this is second colloid in five months Enquiry ordered to reveal shortcomings. Mexico 23ks political death 6 in week,Gen election ensuing Org crime dominate Governance.18 killed US snow storm ad b indoors.
Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, passengers were forced to evacuate via emergency slides in the frigid cold after two planes collided on the ground. No injuries were reported.
WestJet said last night one of its inbound planes from Cancun, Mexico with 168 passengers and a crew of six was stationary and waiting to go to a gate when it was struck by a Sunwing aircraft moving back from a gate.
Spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the WestJet passengers were safe and clearing customs shortly after the collision. Sunwing said there were no crew or passengers aboard its aircraft. At the time of incident, it was being towed.
Snowstorms in China claim 13 lives
China, 13 people have been killed in heavy snowstorms in the eastern Anhui Province in the last three days. According to state-run Xinhua news agency, the worst snowstorms since 2008 have so far affected 1.06 million people in the province. The storms caused direct economic losses of 1.26 billion yuan and 790 million yuan of losses in agriculture. Nine cities including the capital of the province Hefei initiated emergency responses due to the snow. Xinhua said besides Anhui, provinces of Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Shaanxi have all suffered from heavy snow this week.
Lalu Yadav three & half years jail in fodder scam
Lalu Yadav sentenced to 3.5 years in jail in fodder scam.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to 3.5 years in jail and Rs 5 lakh fine by Ranchi CBI court in a fodder scam case.
The name of other convicts are Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julious,Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram all have also been sentenced to 3.5 years in jail and Rs 5 lakh fine each.
Lalu and others were convicted in the case on December 23.
On Friday, citing illness and old age, Lalu had sought leniency from the court.
According to legal experts, Lalu would have been able to apply for bail immediately at the lower court itself if the quantum of sentence was less than three years.
“The judiciary performed its duty. We will go to the high court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail,” Lalu’s son and Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav said. — ANI, PTI
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, are present in a video conferencing room in Ranchi. The sentence to be pronounced shortly by a CBI court.
Earlier, the judge had said ‘an open jail is best for these people (convicts), as they also have experience of cow farming’.
2018 Brings No End to Violence Against Rohingya
2018 Brings No End to Violence Against Rohingya as Refugees Continue to Flee to Bangladesh
Cox’s Bazar – This week, Rohingya refugees were still arriving in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – the New Year bringing no end to the reports of violence and fears, which forced them to flee their homes in Myanmar.
A major upsurge of violence in Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, in late August 2017 forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Over 2,400 refugees are estimated to have arrived in Bangladesh during December 2017, with more people continuing to arrive each day as 2018 begins. While the number of daily arrivals has dropped significantly since the height of the influx, many of those now reaching Bangladesh say they faced additional challenges, which delayed their escape.
“We couldn’t leave before now because our village was surrounded. A month ago my two sons were slaughtered. They went out fishing and they were killed,” said 50-year-old Ahmed, who was one of the first to arrive in Bangladesh in 2018 along with his two daughters, aged 20 and 18, and his 15-year-old son.
He said that the family had endured weeks of fear in their village in Rathedaung, Rakhine, unable to leave their house even to collect firewood. Ahmed said that they had to pay a bribe of 150,000 kyat (c.USD $112) to the neighbours, who had been threatening them, to be allowed to leave.
On arrival at the Balukhali settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Ahmed and his remaining family received medical check-ups and shelter kits of ropes, tarpaulins and basic household goods to enable them to create a place to live in the sprawling camps where 655,000 other refugees have sought safety since August.
“I feel safe here,” said Ahmed’s 18-year-old daughter Raysuana, who said her mother had died years ago and her father had worked hard to bring up his family alone as a widower.
As they waited at the arrival point in Balukhali, a puddle of water fell through a section of the tarpaulin roof. The unexpected noise left Ahmed badly shaken. “We continue to see a great deal of distress among Rohingya survivors arriving in Bangladesh,” said Olga Rebolledo, IOM’s mental health and psycho-social support coordinator in Cox’s Bazar. “They have faced a lot of adversity and many are in need of psycho-social support to help restore a sense of safety and further strengthen the resilience they’ve already shown,” added Rebolledo.
As an indication of why some of the new arrivals have reached Bangladesh so many weeks after the main influx, out of the 17 families waiting to be led to their new shelter sites by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, on 4 January, ten were declared “extremely vulnerable” cases: mostly single mothers, widows or people with disabilities, who will struggle to build their own shelters or even survive without the additional support, which will be provided by IOM and partner organizations. IOM guided the “extremely vulnerable” new arrivals to the less congested part of the site, where they will live, helping carrying their shelter kits. Once they got to the new site, help was given to construct their shelters.
“The houses on both sides of ours [in Buthidaung, Rakhine] were burned. Only my house was left,” said one of the new arrivals, Asama Begum, 35 years old. Her husband died before the violence, leaving her with a new baby and a son now 15 years old. She said the teenager was attacked a few months earlier leaving him with a badly cut leg, which became infected and swollen, rendering him unable to escape when others fled their village. “I stayed because my son was sick. We were really scared to be alone in the house, but tried just to find the mental strength to stay. But then [people] started burning down the [remaining] empty houses around ours and we could not stay any longer,” said Asama.
She said she paid someone to carry her son to safety.
“After moving from one country to another, at least, we are getting this shelter. It is so peaceful here. We weren’t even allowed to stand freely in our own country so getting this means a lot,” she said as she stood looking out at the shelter she was about to move into.
Nearby, Ahmed was about to become her new neighbour. Initially anxious about how he would clear the ground on which he would build his shelter, he relaxed after IOM partner’s site management volunteers put him in touch with the maji camp leader who was able to lend him tools.
“It will be peaceful here. No one chasing or torturing us. No fear of death. I witnessed my daughter tortured and my sons slaughtered. I will never go back. I’d rather die here,” said Ahmed.
Since the crisis began in late August 2016:
- IOM has reached more than 620,000 individuals with shelter kits
- IOM case workers have identified 14,361 extremely vulnerable individuals in need of additional support and more than 3,830 people have received psychological first aid
- IOM health workers have reached more than 150,000 patients with primary health care
For more information please contact:
Fiona MacGregor at IOM Cox’s Bazar, Tel: +8801733335221, Email: fmacgregor@iom.int
Shirin Ahkter at IOM Dhaka, Tel: +880 2 55044811-13, Email: sakhter@iom.int
Fiona MacGregor at IOM Cox’s Bazar, Tel: +8801733335221, Email: fmacgregor@iom.int
Shirin Ahkter at IOM Dhaka, Tel: +880 2 55044811-13, Email: sakhter@iom.int
Four policemen killed in IED blast in Sopore
Jammu and Kashmir, four policemen on patrol duty were killed in Sopore town of north Kashmir today when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by terrorists went off, an official said.
Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device planted by terrorists went off in Sopore town in north Kashmir on Saturday, an official said.Several officers were injured and condition of one is said to be critical. Reports are that many civilians are also injured in the blast.
Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device planted by terrorists went off in Sopore town in north Kashmir on Saturday, an official said.Several officers were injured and condition of one is said to be critical. Reports are that many civilians are also injured in the blast.
Terrorists had planted the IED near a shop in a lane between the ‘Chotta Bazaar’ and ‘Bada Bazaar’ in Sopore in Baramulla district, the official said.The policemen were from 3rd Battalion of Indian Reserve Police (IRP). Policemen were patrolling the area in view of a separatist-sponsored strike there.
Pakistan based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed the responsibility for the blast. In a statement issued to news agency GNS, Jaish-e-Mohammad spokesperson claimed that they have attacked the forces party in Sopore.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah expressed grief over the killing of personnel of the state police.
RS Chair Naidu sends privilege notice against Congress President Rahul Gandhi
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu today sent a privilege notice against Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for further action, holding that ‘prima facie there is an issue of privilege’, sources said.
Naidu sent the notice to the Lok Sabha speaker for further action as Gandhi is a member of the Lower House.
A complaint against Gandhi is already pending before the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani, after the speaker forwarded the same to it.
BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Bhupinder Yadav had given the privilege notice against the Congress president over a tweet put out by him in which he questioned the authority of the Rajya Sabha and questioned its decision.
“On examination, prima facie there is an issue of privilege,” Naidu said while referring the privilege notice to the Lok Sabha speaker, the sources told PTI.
Yadav had alleged that there is a ‘breach of privilege’ by Gandhi as he used derogatory words against Union Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley, by twisting his name.
‘Dear Mr Jaitlie – thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means. #BJPLies,’ Gandhi had said, while putting out a video of the prime minister’s speech against his predecessor and Jaitley’s remarks made in Rajya Sabha.
The BJP member said the Congress president had ‘deliberately twisted’ the spelling of Jaitley’s surname to ‘Jaitlie’, which was ‘highly derogatory’.
The Congress president, Yadav said, has deliberately misinterpreted the proceedings of Rajya Sabha in order to ‘malign the government, which constitutes an affront to the dignity of the House’.
He also alleged that it is a deliberate attempt at vitiating the political atmosphere of the country.
Yadav had earlier sought to know what action was being initiated against Gandhi on his privilege notice, over which Naidu told the members in the House that the same was under his examination and he would take a view on it at the earliest. — PTI
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