26 June, Cairo- Seven police officers have been killed in a jihadist attack in restive North Sinai, Egypt’s interior ministry said Wednesday.
The attack near the regional capital El-Arish targeted an “assembly centre” for police, according to the ministry.
Four assailants died “during clashes” following the attack, one when he detonated an explosives belt, it said.North Sinai has long been a centre of insurgents and Egyptian authorities last year launched an offensive against the jihadists.
Hundreds of militants have been killed along with dozens of soldiers, according to official figures which cannot be verified as Sinai is largely cut off to journalists.
Egypt is currently on high alert as it hosts the Africa Cup of Nations, although none of the games are taking place in Sinai.A month before the tournament kicked off, a tourist bus was hit by a roadside bomb near the famed pyramids of Giza.
A similar attack in December killed three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide.The country’s security forces and Christian minority have also been targeted by jihadist attacks. (RSS)
26 June, kathmandu- The domestic share market which enjoyed a rise on Monday and Tuesday was struck by a fall today. The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index closed at 1258. 29 points with the 2.78 points’ fall.
Similarly, sensitive index that measures the values of ‘A’ class companies experienced a decline of 0.63 points to close at 270.81 points. However, the turnover amount was more than of the two previous two days. A total of 1,413,357 units of share of a total 167 companies were traded at Rs 57,123,481. (RSS)
25 june, kathmandu- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Ishwar Pokharel has said the Nepal Army is mobilized as per the letter and spirit of the constitution.
Responding to queries on various topics related to the Ministry of Defence raised by lawmakers in the discussions on the Appropriation Bill, 2076 in the House of Representatives today, he said Nepal Army was steadfastly committed for defending the country’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, autonomy and national unity.
He said the government has accorded high priority to modernization and strengthening of the Nepal Army. The Army has made a significant contribution in the development construction works as well.
Stating that the government was sensitive towards managing the VIP’s movement by taking into account the voice of the general public, the Defence Minister said a new security policy has been approved in keeping with the changed political governance system and works on updating the National Security Policy were in progress.
He shared that the Nepal Army has been conducting bilateral and multilateral military training and exercise with the armed forces of various countries with the objective of expanding military diplomatic relations and of enhancing professional expertise, peace keeping as well as capacity for disaster management.
“These kinds of trainings which have been carried out since the past are purely for the purpose of enhancement of the Army’s capacity and strengthening its professionalism,” Defence Minister Pokharel asserted.
Maintaining that such military exercises have been done together with the armies of India, China, America, Sri Lanka and Britain in connection to enhancing the professional capacity, collaboration, exchange of knowledge and experience with them, he said no question of Nepal’s involvement in any regional or international military alliance arose as it is a member nation of the Non-Aligned Movement since its inception.
“Nepal Army has been playing a leading role in disaster management and response as per the constitutional provisions, and the government has provided it with new equipment and resources for that,” the Defence Minister said, adding that resources and the budget has been increased in the context of enhancing the capability of the Nepal Army.
He said the Army has been making special contribution for the external and internal security, for the security of distinguished persons and for international peace keeping.
Stating that the Army Regulations has been amended to render the transfers, promotions and facilities and services within the Army transparent and fair, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Pokharel said a clear policy arrangement has been made to ensure that army personnel of any rank would get the opportunity to participate in the UN peace keeping mission at least for one time while in service.
“The Nepal Army has already contributed by mobilizing in 43 peace keeping missions in various conflict-affected countries in course of peace keeping duty and there is fund of Rs 45 billion in the Army Welfare Fund. The interest accruing from this fund is being used for the welfare of the
ex-servicemen or the serving personnel of the Nepal Army,” the Defence Minister shared on the occasion.
He informed the parliament that Rs 15 billion has been earmarked in this year’s budget for the construction of the Kathmandu-Tarai Madhes Fast Track and the detailed project report of this project which is considered the backbone for the country’s development is being studied. The government has a policy of approving the DPR soon and expediting the project construction works.
DPM and Defence Minister Pokharel said the Nepal Army has already completed construction of 27 roads and 30 bridges in various regions including in Karnali so far. (RSS)
25 june, Bhimduttanagar- A cricket squad representing the Far West State in the ongoing Prime Minister Cup Women Cricket Tournament has reached the final.
Though the team remaining in the topmost position of group ‘A’ was scheduled to face the State 2 in the semifinal match, the match was cancelled due to rains, tournament technical committee coordinator Binay Jha said. The Far-West team made its headway to the final without playing the semi-final. In the match so far four matches have got cancelled due to rains.
The Armed Police Force (APF) Club and the State 1 squad are scheduled to face in the semi-final match scheduled this afternoon, following the improvement in weather. The cricket ground was full covered by waters following the rains for two consecutive days on Sunday and Monday, thus forcing the organizer to cancel the match.
Despite multiple efforts to clear the ground, it could not be readied for organizing the match scheduled for this morning. The State 2 remaining in the second place of Group ‘B’ had gone out without its performance in the semi-final.
The final has been scheduled for Wednesday morning and a team winning the title will go home with a cash prize of Rs 400 thousand while teams securing the first and second position will bag Rs 300 thousands and 200 thousands respectively. (RSS)
25 june, Hetauda- The Hetauda sub metropolis in Makwanpur district has come up with budget of Rs 1.81 billion for the fiscal year 2019/20. It was presented in the fifth town assembly of the sub metropolis.
The details about estimated income and expenditure of the local government unveiled by Deputy Mayor Meena Kumari Lama state that some 335 million will be managed from internal resources; Rs 458 million is estimated to be managed through revenue sharing and Rs 80.35 million is supposed to be received through grants from the State 3 government. Similarly, Rs 866 million is said to be achieved in grants from the federal government. Rs 100 million is to be borne from the previous stock fund.
According to Deputy Mayor Lama, Rs 191.4 million has been allocated under the headings of salary and remuneration, daily office operation and other administrative costs. Rs 64.58 million has been allocated for office good governance and Rs 586 for social sector. The sub metropolis has proposed Rs 861.25 million for infrastructure development efforts. (RSS)
25 june, Washington- The U.S. private space company SpaceX launched its rocket Falcon Heavy on Tuesday carrying 24 satellites into three different orbits in the “most difficult ever” mission.
The Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful operational rocket, blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida at 2:30 a.m. American Eastern Time (0630 GMT). This is Falcon Heavy’s third launch and its first nighttime launch.
The mission, dubbed STP-2 for the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program-2, is one of the most challenging launches in SpaceX history, owing to four separate upper-stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits and a total mission duration of over six hours, according to SpaceX.
The spacecraft deployments began about 12 minutes after liftoff, the company said. The deployments are expected to last more than three hours.The rocket also reused the recovered side boosters from the last Falcon Heavy launch in April, according to SpaceX. Side boosters of the reusable rocket had been recovered nearly nine minutes after the liftoff, but its center core stage landing seemingly failed afterwards, according to the live broadcast. (RSS)
25 june, Seoul- South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Tuesday that it would be hard for another inter-Korean summit to be held before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Seoul later this week.
Kim made the remark during a parliamentary session of foreign affairs and unification, saying it was not optimistic to predict an inter-Korean summit before the planned summit between South Korea and the United States.
Trump was set to make a two-day visit to Seoul from Saturday to hold a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday. Moon expressed hope for his meeting with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), before Trump’s trip to South Korea.
The minister said South Korea had a position that it would be desirable to hold an inter-Korean summit before the South Korea-U.S. summit, but he noted that there was no such plan currently. Moon and Kim met three times last year, but the DPRK has not responded to Seoul’s summit proposal this year. (RSS)
25 june, New delhi- At least six persons were killed and 45 others injured in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand on Tuesday when a bus carrying them fell into a gorge, a police official said.The accident took place in Jharkhand’s Garhwa district at around 3:30 a.m. (local time).
The bus was heading to Garhwa from Ambikapur district of the neighboring state Chhattisgarh. Speaking to Xinhua over phone, Garhwa Deputy Commissioner Harsh Mangla said that relief and rescue work had completed, and those injured had been admitted in a local hospital while some who received severe injuries were rushed to another hospital.
“Some of the passengers who had received minor injuries were given medical aid and they have willingly headed towards their respective destinations.
Around five-six persons who were seriously injured were referred to a government hospital in state capital Ranchi, while the rest were still being treated in a local hospital,” he added.Mangla also confirmed that there was no possibility of rising in the death toll.
The bus accident occurred within a week of a similar accident that took place in the Kullu district of northern hilly state Himachal Pradesh in which nearly 43 people were killed. (RSS)
25 june, Kazakhstan- The first crew to blast off to the International Space Station following a launch accident that deepened doubts over Russia’s space programme returned to earth safely on Tuesday.
NASA astronaut Anne McClain, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Canadian Space Agency record-holder David Saint-Jacques emerged from the space craft to applause from support crews, after touching down near the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan.
Live footage from the landing site broadcast on NASA television showed the three sitting in chairs smiling as they were attended to by staff ahead of a journey back to Moscow for Kononenko and Houston for McClain and Saint-Jacques.
Arriving at 0247 GMT to warm conditions, Kononenko joked that he was “happy to see any kind of weather” after coming back from space. The trio’s launch on December 3 was the first after a Soyuz rocket carrying Russia’s Aleksey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague failed in October just minutes after blast-off, forcing the pair to make an emergency landing.
They escaped unharmed but the failed launch was the first such incident in Russia’s post-Soviet history and a new setback for the country’s once proud space industry. – Record-breakers and space tourism -McClain, Kononenko and Saint-Jacques had been optimistic ahead of their successful launch and remained upbeat throughout their time aboard the orbital lab which is seen as a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the West.
“A beautiful night pass over Africa on my last night on @Space_Station,” tweeted 40-year-old McClain, who completed two spacewalks during her virgin mission to the ISS. Fellow first-time flyer Saint-Jacques broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a Canadian astronaut, previously held by Robert Thirsk. Thirsk clocked 187 days at the ISS in 2009 during a typical six-month mission, while 49-year-old Saint-Jacques’ mission will stand at 204 days.
The record was helped along by the fact that the launch was moved forward to December 3 from December 20 for operational reasons — possibly as a confidence booster after the accident. The returning trio were given a ceremonial send off Monday as they exited the ISS by Ovchinin, Hague and NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who arrived at the lab in March on a fresh mission.
Russians dominate the rankings for cumulative days spent in space, with the Kononenko reaching 737 days.That leaves the 55-year-old sixth in the all-time standings and just a typical ISS mission short of beating the 879-day record set by 60-year-old Roscosmos colleague Gennady Padalka in 2015.
Since 2011, Russia is the only country to oversee manned launches to the ISS. But last year’s failed launch, multi-billion dollar corruption scandals at Roscosmos and the emergence of private sector competitors like Elon Musk’s SpaceX have combined to put into question Moscow’s future dominance.
NASA said earlier this month that it will be opening the ISS up to space tourists for the first time next year with 30-day visits expedited by SpaceX and Boeing expected to cost around $58 million per person. Russia has flown seven tourists to the ISS but is set to increase that number beginning in 2021, according to Roscosmos, which struck a deal with American company Space Adventures earlier this year.US businessman Dennis Tito was the first space tourist to the ISS, paying Russia around $20 million for the trip. (RSS)
25 june, Manama- After a wait of two and a half years, the US administration is launching its Middle East peace plan Tuesday — with an economic initiative that the Palestinians are boycotting.For this most unconventional of US presidents, Donald Trump’s Middle East peace-making bid is unlike decades of previous US attempts.
There is no talk of land swaps, a Palestinian state or other political issues that have vexed diplomats for decades.The Trump administration says it will get to the political issues later.For now, its plan will open over cocktails and dinner Tuesday evening in Bahrain at an intimate two-day “economic workshop” at a luxury hotel overlooking the Gulf.
Led by Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, the “Peace to Prosperity” framework dangles the prospect of $50 billion of investment in the Palestinian territories and neighbouring Arab countries over 10 years.
Listing a slew of projects to develop roads, border crossings, power generation and tourism, the framework sets an optimistic goal of creating one million Palestinian jobs.But the Palestinian Authority and its rival Hamas have both denounced the initiative, saying it amounts to a bid by the unabashedly pro-Israel Trump to buy them off in return for not enjoying their own state.
“For America to turn the whole cause from a political issue into an economic one, we cannot accept this,” Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Sunday.
Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in the occupied West Bank on Monday to denounce the conference.Near Hebron, demonstrators burned pictures of Trump and the king of Bahrain.
They sat around a coffin that read, “No to the deal of the century”, a derogatory phrase for the US president’s ambitions in the Middle East.- Trump support for Israel -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the Palestinians’ stance as a sign that they are not serious about peace.
“I don’t understand how the Palestinians rejected the plan even before knowing what it contained,” Netanyahu said.The right-wing Israeli leader has spoken in recent months of annexing parts of the West Bank, a move that could effectively close Palestinian hopes of their own state.
The US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has said that Washington could accept the annexation and the Trump administration has hinted that its political plan will not mention a Palestinian state — a sharp shift from the goal of years of US diplomacy.
rump has already taken landmark steps to support Israel including recognising bitterly contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and Kushner is a family friend of Netanyahu.
Most European allies of the United States, uneasy about the Trump administration’s hawkish instincts, are staying away from Bahrain.In attendance will be oil-rich Gulf Arab states, who would be expected to pick up the tab for the massive Palestinian investment if the plan succeeds.
Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab nations to have signed peace deals with Israel, will also send mid-level officials.However, Jordanian foreign ministry spokesman Sufyan al-Qudah insisted that “no economic proposal could replace a political solution that ends the occupation” of Palestinian territories by Israel.
– Success in ‘failure’? –
Gulf Arab rulers have increasingly found common cause with Israel due to their shared hostility to Iran, reinforced by rising friction between Tehran and Washington.In an apparently unprecedented step, a handful of Israeli journalists invited by the White House are flying openly to Bahrain.Most Arab nations ban Israeli citizens unless they enter on other passports, although Bahrain — whose Sunni rulers have especially tense relations with Iran — is comparatively open to Israel.
Other prominent figures due to take part in the Bahrain conference are International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, World Bank President David Malpass and former British prime minister Tony Blair.Richard LeBaron, a former US diplomat in the Middle East, said that the Trump administration fully expected that the Palestinians would stay away.
But Bahrain allows Kushner to portray Palestinian leaders as not caring about their own people as he keeps advancing Israeli interests, said LeBaron, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.”The ‘failure’ of the Manama workshop will be success for the Trump strategy,” he wrote in an analysis.”It will permit Kushner and his colleagues to claim that they tried their best to address the situation and allow them to blame others for not cooperating.” (RSS)