Militants attack in Jammu and Kashmir: at least 7 killed

Today's news: Israel bombs the outskirts of Beirut; demolishes a Unifil turret in the south; A US and a Canadian ship crossed the waters between Taiwan and China; New cases of polio in Pakistan, endemic as in Afghanistan;. Publications by a Catholic anti-war parish prosecuted as ‘extremist material’ in Belarus.

INDIA

Seven people were killed yesterday in an attack at a tunnel construction site in Ganderbal district, Jammu and Kashmir territory. The victims were a Kashmiri doctor and at least six migrant workers. The attack is the deadliest against civilians in Jammu and Kashmir since the one on 9 June in Reasi, when nine pilgrims were killed after a bus was hit by gunfire from the attackers.

INDONESIA

Former military general Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as Indonesia's eighth president, announcing the country's largest cabinet since the 1960s (46 ministers). The inauguration of the 73-year-old former general, already accused of human rights violations, marks the end of the government of former leader Joko Widodo.

ISRAEL - LEBANON

TheIsraeli army bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut and struck South Lebanon: Gallant claimed that the army was ‘destroying’ the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. In addition, the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Lebanon stated that an Israeli army ‘bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower, adding that its forces remain in all positions “despite the pressure exerted”.

TAIWAN - CHINA - USA

A US and a Canadian warship crossed the waters separating Taiwan and China yesterday, less than a week after China conducted a new series of war ‘games’ around the island. The US and its allies regularly cross the 180-kilometre Taiwan Strait to reinforce its status as an international waterway, angering Beijing.

PAKISTAN

Pakistani health authorities confirmed six more polio cases, bringing the number of infected children to 39 this year. The new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) include three cases in Balochistan, two in Sindh province and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last countries where it is still endemic. There is no cure for the disease and the paralysis caused by infection is irreversible.

BELARUS

The persecution of Catholics continues in Belarus, where for the second time the Telegram page of Catholic journalist Maksim Gatsak has been declared ‘extremist’, while a parishioner in the province of Miorsk, Jurij Borisenko, will be tried by a court for ‘extremist materials’, consisting of anti-war leaflets and parish publications.

TURKMENISTAN

Mari velayat police in Turkmenistan are monitoring citizens who are in economic and health difficulties, and ask for help by spreading appeals and videos through social channels such as IMO and TikTok, who are summoned to police headquarters for questioning and fined for spreading ‘defamatory materials about our country and its authorities’.

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