News in Brief

Date: 17 October 2021 - 21:15

News ID: ۹۵۵۳۷

BEIJING (Dispatches) – The Chinese military condemned the United States and Canada for each sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait last week, saying the North American nations were threatening peace and stability in the region. China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said its forces monitored the ships and “stood guard” throughout their passage. “The United States and Canada colluded to provoke and stir up trouble … seriously jeopardizing peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” it said. “Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. Theater forces always maintain a high level of alert and resolutely counter all threats and provocations.” China considers Taiwan as its own and has mounted repeated air force missions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). The U.S. military said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey sailed through the narrow waterway that separates Taiwan from its giant neighbor China along with the Canadian frigate HMCS Winnipeg on Thursday and Friday.

***
KARAGANDA, Kazakhstan (Al Jazeera) – A Soyuz space capsule carrying a cosmonaut and two Russian filmmakers has landed after a three and a half hour trip from the International Space Station. The capsule, descending under a red and white striped parachute after entering Earth’s atmosphere, landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on schedule at 04:35 GMT on Sunday with Oleg Novitskiy, Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko on board. Actress Peresild and film director Shipenko rocketed to the space station on October 5 for a 12-day stint to film segments of a movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. After the landing, which sent plumes of dust flying high in the air, ground crews extracted the three space flyers from the capsule and placed them in seats set up nearby as they adjusted to the pull of gravity. They were then taken to a medical tent for examination. All appeared healthy and cheerful.

***
LA PALMA (Reuters) – There is no immediate end in sight to the volcanic eruption that has caused chaos on the Spanish isle of La Palma since it began about a month ago, the president of the Canary Islands said on Sunday. There were 42 seismic movements on the island on Sunday, the largest of which measured 4.3, according to the Spanish National Geographic Institute. “There are no signs that an end of the eruption is imminent even though this is the greatest desire of everyone,” President Angel Víctor Torres said at a Socialist party conference in Valencia, citing the view of scientists. Streams of lava have lain waste to more than 742 hectares (1,833 acres) of land and destroyed almost 2,000 buildings on La Palma since the volcano started erupting on September 19. About 7,000 people have been evacuated from their homes on the island, which has about 83,000 inhabitants and forms part of the Canary Islands archipelago off northwest Africa. Airline Binter said it had cancelled all its flights to La Palma until 1pm (12:00 GMT) on Sunday because of ash from the volcano.

***
BHOPAL, India (Sputnik) – In a shocking incident in Bhopal, the capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, a Muslim woman, who was riding pillion on a two-wheeler was subjected to insults by thugs before being forced to remove her hijab. The incident took place on Saturday and was widely condemned on various social media platforms. Some reports claimed that the alleged couple was stopped by a group of people in Bhopal’s Islam Nagar because they suspected the man she was riding pillion with was Muslim and the girl was Hindu, and when they saw her wearing Muslim attire, it filled them with anger, eventually stirring them into action. A video put up on Twitter appears to show some locals removing the girl’s hijab while she continued to protest, but in vain. Despite the widespread criticism, police in Madhya Pradesh haven’t registered a case against the men responsible for the act. Although, the police did detain the two men seen in the video, only to let them go after a warning. This ugly episode once again puts the limelight back on the escalating Hindu-Muslim divide in India. Opposition parties have often accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his outfit, the BJP, of inciting hatred in the nation, with senior party members regularly making controversial remarks.

***
KERALA (AFP) – At least 19 people were killed a day after torrential rains pounded villages and flooded roads in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Officials said rescuers recovered the bodies in two of the worst-hit districts, Kottayam and Idukki, where heavy downpours triggered massive landslides, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian army deployed teams to help with rescue efforts as many people are still missing. On Saturday, when the heavy rains began, television reports showed people wading through chest-deep waters to rescue passengers from a bus that was nearly submerged by the torrents flooding the roads. The state chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, urged residents on Sunday to exercise extreme caution even though the intense rainfall had subsided. More than 100 relief camps were set up, he added.

***
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Al Jazeera) – A group of 17 American Christian missionaries and their families, including children, have been kidnapped by gang members in Haiti’s capital, according to media reports. The New York Times, citing security officials in Port-au-Prince, said the missionaries were abducted from a bus on Saturday. The group was leaving an orphanage and heading to the airport to drop off some of its members, the report said. The AFP news agency, also citing a security source, said the group is being held by an armed gang that for months has been engaged in theft and kidnappings in the area between Port-au-Prince and the border with the Dominican Republic.