Civilian casualties in Afghan war jump in July
AFP, Kabul
Civilian casualty rates across Afghanistan jumped back to record levels last month, following a dip earlier in the year, the UN said Saturday.
According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict in July, the highest monthly toll so far in 2019 and the worst single month since May 2017.
Strong earthquake kills four in Indonesia
Reuters, Jakarta
A powerful undersea earthquake that struck off the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java has killed four people and damaged hundreds of buildings, the nation’s disaster agency said on Saturday.
Indonesia issued a tsunami warning within minutes of the 6.8-magnitude quake on Friday night. The warning lasted two hours and sent people living along the coastline fleeing to higher ground.
India deports Maldives ex-VP caught on boat
AFP, New Delhi
India on Saturday deported former Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb, who faces attempted murder and corruption charges at home, after he tried to enter the country on a tugboat, officials said.
Adeeb arrived at the southern port of Tuticorin on Thursday in the boat and was detained for attempting an unauthorised entry without a passport.
Seven Maoist rebels killed in central India gunfight
AFP, New Delhi
Indian special forces killed seven suspected Maoist rebels in a raid on a jungle camp Saturday that triggered a gunfight lasting several hours, police said.
The far-left rebels in the central state of Chhattisgarh are part of a long-standing conflict that has left tens of thousands dead since the 1960s. They were in a camp in dense forest in Rajnandgaon district, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the state capital Raipur.
California festival gunman killed himself
AP, Los Angeles
The gunman who opened fire on a California food festival killed himself after officers shot him multiple times, officials said Friday, correcting previous police accounts that the officers fired the fatal bullet.
Police gave the update soon after the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said 19-year-old Santino William Legan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
