NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Errant bombing: An Afghan official says at least eight police officers were killed in two U.S. air strikes in southern Uruzgan province in what was apparently a friendly-fire incident. Rahimullah Khan, a provincial commander, said the first strike killed one policeman at a checkpoint outside the provincial capital of Tirin Kot, while the second, which struck the same area, killed seven others. The strikes took place Sunday in an area where the Taliban have been advancing in recent weeks. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed U.S. forces carried out an air strike. But Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland said he did not “have any further information” on the casualties.
Drug war: A Philippine senator who led an investigation into the president’s bloody antidrug campaign was ousted Monday from the justice committee in a vote that human rights advocates said could derail accountability in the crackdown. President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies led the vote that removed Sen. Leila de Lima from the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which has spearheaded an inquiry into the widespread killings of drug suspects that have alarmed rights groups. More than 3,000 drug suspects have died in the crackdown since Duterte assumed the presidency on June 30. “The Senate is showing greater interest in covering up allegations of state-sanctioned murder than in exposing them,” said Human Rights Watch.
Homes demolished: Two people were killed and dozens of others were injured Monday as police tried to stop protests against the demolition of homes near an Indian rhino sanctuary, police said. Authorities had ordered the demolition of around 300 houses in three villages to evict people living on the periphery of Kaziranga National Park in northeastern India to stop rampant poaching of the rare rhinos. Villagers pelted police with stones, injuring about 10 officers.
Election protest: Street clashes between security forces and demonstrators opposed to President Joseph Kabila left at least 17 dead in Congo’s capital of Kinshasa on Monday in a dramatic sign of mounting tensions after officials sought to delay the upcoming election until next year. Interior Minister Evariste Boshab said three police officers were among the dead, including one who was burned alive. For months, observers have questioned whether Congo could hold the presidential vote as scheduled on Nov. 27. The country’s electoral commission had indicated that the voter list would not be formalized before July 2017.
Yemen fighting: Amnesty International says it has evidence that a Saudi-led coalition battling Yemeni rebels dropped a U.S.made bomb on a hospital and is calling for a halt to arms sales to the coalition. The air strike hit a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in northern Yemen last month, killing 19 people. In a report released Monday, Amnesty said a picture analyzed by a munitions expert reveals that a U.S.-made Paveway-series bomb was dropped on the site.
Attacks commemoration: A ceremony in memory of victims of terror attacks was held Monday in Paris. The names of the victims of attacks carried out by Islamic extremists last year in Paris and in July in Nice were read during the ceremony, which also remembered those killed in attacks in Brussels, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali. The ceremony, organized by associations of victims, gathered hundreds of families and people injured in the attacks, in the presence of President Francois Hollande.
Chronicle News Services