KABUL: Taliban authorities accused Pakistani forces on Tuesday of killing three civilians -- a woman and two children -- in clashes along their northern border.
The latest exchange of fire took place on Monday near the Torkham border crossing in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, with each side accusing the other of sparking the clash.
Pakistan and Afghanistan forces regularly exchange fire, often sparked by disagreements over construction near the Durand line, a 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) frontier drawn by the British in 1896 and disputed by Kabul.
"Pakistani forces targeted civilian houses and killed a woman and two children," said interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani in a post on social media site X early Tuesday.
Enayatullah Khwarazmi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's defence ministry, told AFP, "The clash was started by the Pakistanis".
"When our forces were trying to build a post along the imaginary (Durand) line, the Pakistani soldiers fired at our forces and our forces retaliated, which led to a clash."
A border official on the Pakistan side at Torkham said three Pakistani soldiers were wounded in the exchange.
"Despite repeated warnings and objections from the Pakistani side, Afghan officials did not halt the construction, leading to escalating tensions," the officer told AFP.
Pakistan officials have not responded to accusations that three Afghan civilians were killed.
Border tensions between the two countries have steadily escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghanistan.
The Taliban government deny harbouring Pakistani militants, but are also infuriated by a fence Islamabad is erecting along the Durand line.
The Pakistan official added that heavy weapons had been used by both sides, and that the Torkham border crossing was closed.
Taliban say three civilians killed in Pakistan border clash
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Taliban say three civilians killed in Pakistan border clash
- Pakistan and Afghanistan forces regularly exchange fire, often sparked by disagreements over construction near the Durand line, a frontier drawn by the British in 1896
Nestle to pay 2m euros to close France water probes
- The deal ends preliminary probes into the use of wells without authorization and fraud for filtering its mineral waters
- The non-prosecution agreement was justified as Nestle had cooperated with the probe
STRASBOURG, France: Nestle’s water subsidiary, which produces brands such as Perrier, will pay 2 million euros ($2.2 million) to close French probes over illegal wells and treatment of mineral water, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The prosecutor in the eastern town of Epinal, Frederic Nahon, said the non-prosecution agreement was the “biggest concerning the environment signed in France to date.”
The deal ends preliminary probes into the use of wells without authorization and fraud for filtering its mineral waters — a practice that is illegal in France where mineral waters are supposed to be natural.
The Swiss group, whose water brands also include Vittel and San Pellegrino, will in addition spend 1.1 million euros over two years on projects to restore the environment in several French towns where it operates.
The prosecutor said the non-prosecution agreement was justified as Nestle had cooperated with the probe, had brought its practices into compliance and there were no public health consequences.
The deal, “while sanctioning the unauthorized activities that were found, encourages a faster conclusion, remediation of the environmental damage and compensation of several parties,” he said.
A local environmental group welcomed the deal but consumer groups criticized it.
“It’s a scandalous decision which sends a very bad message about a climate of impunity: Nestle Waters can deceive consumers around the world for years and get away with it by pulling out its checkbook,” said Ingrid Kragl, a fraud expert at Foodwatch.
Four Italian and South Korean climbers are found dead close to Mont Blanc’s summit
- The Chamonix-Mont Blanc search and rescue team found the two pairs of climbers at an altitude of 4,700 meters
PARIS: French rescue officials said Tuesday they found the bodies of two Italian and two South Korean climbers close to the peak of Mont Blanc on the French side after they went missing on Saturday in bad weather.
The Chamonix-Mont Blanc search and rescue team found the two pairs of climbers at an altitude of 4,700 meters (over 15,400 feet) on the Alps’ highest peak. They died of hypothermia, rescue officials said.
The unaccompanied climbers had alerted rescuers on Saturday afternoon, but weather conditions continued to deteriorate, preventing rescuers from reaching their location from the ground or by helicopter.
Two other Korean climbers were successfully rescued on Sunday morning at an altitude of 4,100 meters (over 13,400 feet) after rescuers deployed a highly complex operation.
French authorities have opened an investigation.
E3 and US slap sanctions on Iran over missiles for Russia
- “Taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” UK, France, Germany said
- London, Paris and Berlin: “We now have confirmation Iran made these transfers”
BERLIN: Germany, France and Britain on Tuesday condemned what they said was Iran’s delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the Ukraine war and declared new sanctions targeting air transport.
“We will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” they said in a joint statement, adding that they would also “work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said earlier, on a visit to London, that Russia had received shipments of the ballistic missiles and “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”
London, Paris and Berlin said that “we now have confirmation that Iran has made these transfers.”
“This is a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” they said.
“This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security.”
The three countries said they “will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran.”
“In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia.
“We will also work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air,” they said, echoing a step also taken by Washington.
Blinken said Washington had privately warned Iran that providing ballistic missiles to Russia would be “a dramatic escalation” and said new sanctions would be imposed later on Tuesday.
The US later identified nine Russian-flagged vessels it said were involved in the delivery of weapons from Iran to Russia, designating them as “blocked property” under Washington’s sanctions regime, according to the Treasury Department’s website.
It also imposed additional measures on previously sanctioned airline Iran Air, the department said in a statement.
Blinken said Iran has trained dozens of Russian military personnel to use its Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 75 miles (121 km).
The UK also said on Tuesday it had started terminating “all direct air services between the UK and Iran” as part of the new sanctions.
London said it was acting alongside international partners to “cancel its bilateral air services arrangements with Iran,” which would “restrict Iran Air’s ability to fly in to the UK.”
Iran Air operates direct flights between London and Tehran three days a week, according to the schedule listed on its website.
* With AFP and Reuters
Doctors in Kolkata defy court order, protest for safety after medic murder
- Protesting junior doctors vow to end strike when safety measures are in place
- Top medical body in West Bengal gives ‘unconditional’ support to protesters
NEW DELHI: Junior doctors in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal defied a Supreme Court order requiring them to return to work on Tuesday, as they vowed to continue a weeks-long strike for workplace safety following the gruesome murder of a female doctor.
The 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered in early August inside the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal’s capital, Kolkata, where she worked.
A police volunteer also working at the hospital has been charged with the murder and arrested, but the case has since triggered daily demonstrations by medics calling for greater protection and workplace safety.
On Monday, the Supreme Court, which took up the matter in the wake of nationwide outrage over the incident, ordered the protesting doctors to return to work by 5 p.m. the next day and the state’s authorities to ensure the safety and security of doctors in hospitals.
The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, said it would follow the court’s order only if their safety demands were met by the state.
“The Supreme Court has said that the state can take action after 5 p.m., if they want to. At the same time, the Supreme Court has also asked the state to increase the security measures which has not been done at all,” Dr. Anustup Pal, the association’s member, told Arab News, as protesters gathered in front of the state’s health department to demand the resignation of its key leadership.
“We will continue till the demand is met,” Pal said. “We are unhappy at the representation done by the state at the Supreme Court.”
The protest is supported by the West Bengal chapter of the Indian Medical Association — the country’s top physicians’ body — which issued a statement after the court’s order, saying that no steps were being taken to deliver justice after the brutal murder and that the protest “will not die down.”
Dr. Sourav Datta, member of the association’s central committee, told Arab News that “almost no demand” from the protesting doctors had been fulfilled so far.
“Whatever decision they will take, the IMA will unconditionally give support to them,” he said. “The IMA will be with them.”
EU vows retaliation if Hungary sends buses of migrants to Brussels
- Asked about Hungary’s plan, commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said: “It is unacceptable”
- “In addition, it will also undermine the security of the Schengen area as a whole,” she said
BRUSSELS: Hungary’s threat to send a bus convoy of migrants to Brussels in protest against European Union policies is unacceptable and would prompt EU retaliatory action, the bloc’s powerful executive branch warned on Tuesday.
Hungary’s anti-immigrant government signaled last week that it is serious about giving migrants free one-way travel to Brussels, a measure meant to pressure the European Commission into dropping heavy fines imposed on Hungary over its restrictive asylum policies.
In June, the European Court of Justice ordered Hungary to pay a fine of 200 million euros ($216 million) for persistently breaking the bloc’s asylum rules, and an additional 1 million euros per day until it brings policies into line with EU law. The government in Budapest is delaying payment.
Asked about Hungary’s plan, commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said: “It is unacceptable.”
“This action, if carried out, would be in clear breach of the EU law, but also it would be in clear breach of the principle of sincere and loyal cooperation, but also of mutual trust,” Hipper told reporters. The commission has its headquarters in the Belgian capital.
“In addition, it will also undermine the security of the Schengen area as a whole,” she said, in reference to the 29-country zone where people and goods can cross borders without document checks.
The commission is in contact with the Hungarian authorities and those in any neighboring countries that the convoy might pass through should it leave.
Traveling overland, the buses would have to cross either France or Germany – which along with Luxembourg and the Netherlands surround Belgium – and possibly other EU member countries like Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia or the Czech Republic.
“We are also standing ready to use all our powers under the treaty to ensure that EU law is respected,” Hipper said. But the most effective step would certainly be for other member countries to stop the buses by reintroducing border checks.
Hipper did not elaborate on what action the commission is able to take, but it is difficult to see what kind of punishment might dissuade Hungary given that the country is already defying a court order to pay 200 million euros in fines.
On Monday, Belgium’s top migration official, Nicole de Moor, said Hungary’s threat “undermines solidarity and cooperation within the Union.” Her office said the Belgian authorities will “not provide access” to any such migrant arrivals.
