#galwan violence

[vilaspatelvlogs]

Republic Day से पहले National War Memorial पर Galwan के शहीदों के नाम

Republic Day से पहले National War Memorial पर Galwan के शहीदों के नाम

republic day 2021 25 फरवरी 2019 को नेशनल वॉर मेमोरियल का उद्घाटन पीएम मोदी ने किया था. आजादी के बाद हुए युद्धों और स्वतंत्रता आंदोलन के दौरान जान देने वाले 26,000 सैनिकों के सम्मान में इंडिया गेट के ठीक सामने नेशनल वॉर मेमोरियल (National War Memorial)  बनाया गया है. (फाइल फोटो) Source link

[authenticnewshindi]

पूर्वी लद्दाख में चीन पर भारी भारत, पहले ही कर चुके 35 हजार सैनिकों की तैनाती पूर्वी लद्दाख में लंबे समय तक जमे रहने की तैयारी में भारतीय सेना सर्दियों के चरम पर पहुंचने से पहले चीन पर बढ़ते लेते हुए 35 हजार सैनिकों के तैनाती कर दी है। इन सैनिकों को ऊंचाई और सर्दियों में रहने... Source link

[baaagiklm]

[news24fresh]

For minor tactical gains on the ground, China has strategically lost India, says former Indian Ambassador to China

For minor tactical gains on the ground, China has strategically lost India, says former Indian Ambassador to China

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The June 15 clash at Galwan Valley, which claimed 20 Indian soldiers in the worst violence since 1967, has left the entire border architecture, carefully built by India and China to maintain peace, in the heap of history, says Gautam Bambawale, former Indian Ambassador to China and Pakistan. India’s relations with China have reached a inflection point that will require a fundamental…

[few-favorite-things]

kolkata news News : আমাদের ভুল বুঝো না, বলছেন শহরের চিনারা – we are indian, stop abusing us, chinese people in kolkata urges হাইলাইটস তাঁদের হাতে পোস্টকার্��ে লেখা, ‘আমরা ভার���ীয়। আমরা ভারতীয় সেনার পাশে আছি।’ মুখে স্লোগান, ‘জয় হিন্দ। বন্দে মারতম। ভারত মাতা কী জয়।’ …

[shantinewshindi]

चीन से तनाव के बीच ‘चिकन नेक’ पर सरकार ने तेज किया काम, ड्रैगन की नजर चीन से तनाव होने के बाद केंद्र सरकार ने भारत का 'चिकन नेक' कहे जाने वाले सिलीगुड़ी कॉरिडोर पर काम तेज कर दिया है। जलपाईगुड़ी के पास तीस्ता नदी पर निर्माणाधीन पुल को अगले कुछ माह में पूरा करने... Source link

[vilaspatelvlogs]

मोदी के लद्दाख दौरे के 48 घंटे बाद डोभाल और चीनी विदेश मंत्री के बीच वीडियो कॉल हुआ, चीन की सेना सीमा से पीछे हटी

मोदी के लद्दाख दौरे के 48 घंटे बाद डोभाल और चीनी विदेश मंत्री के बीच वीडियो कॉल हुआ, चीन की सेना सीमा से पीछे हटी

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एनएसए अजित डोभाल ने रविवार को चीन के विदेश मंत्री वांग यी से वीडियो कॉल पर बात की थी

नरेंद्र मोदी शुक्रवार को लद्दाख दौरे पर गए थे, उन्होंने यहां 9 घंटे बिताए; गलवान में घायल जवानों से मिले थे

दैनिक भास्कर

Jul 06, 2020, 04:09 PM IST

नई दिल्ली. गलवान घाटी में चीन ने अपनी सेना दो किलोमीटर पीछे बुला ली है। चीन ने यह कदम प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी के लद्दाख दौरे के दो दिन बाद रविवार को…

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Arctic records its hottest temperature ever (CBS News) Alarming heat scorched Siberia on Saturday as the small town of Verkhoyansk (67.5°N latitude) reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 32 degrees above the normal high temperature. If verified, this is likely the hottest temperature ever recorded in Siberia and also the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle. The town is 3,000 miles east of Moscow and further north than even Fairbanks, Alaska. On Friday, the city of Caribou, Maine, tied an all-time record at 96 degrees Fahrenheit and was once again well into the 90s on Saturday. To put this into perspective, the city of Miami, Florida, has only reached 100 degrees one time since the city began keeping temperature records in 1896. Verkhoyansk is typically one of the coldest spots on Earth. This past November, the area reached nearly 60 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.

‘A new and dangerous phase’ for the coronavirus? (NYT) The coronavirus pandemic is entering “a new and dangerous phase,” a top official at the World Health Organization warned. A virus once defined by shifting epicenters is now distinguished by wide and expanding scope: Eighty-one countries have seen a growth in new cases over the past two weeks. Only 36 have seen declines. Beijing and Seoul have had a recent surge; in Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Arizona, daily counts of new cases reached their highest levels so far of the pandemic this week. Texas has seen confirmed cases double in the past month. Some businesses are now readjusting their reopening plans.

Injuries at protests draw scrutiny to use of police weaponry (AP) In law enforcement, they’re referred to as “nonlethal” tools for dealing with demonstrations that turn unruly: rubber bullets, pepper spray, batons, flash-bangs. Protesters in Denver arrived at the hospital with injuries from police projectiles that caused one person to lose an eye and left three other people with permanent eye damage, said Prem Subramanian, a physician who operated on some victims following demonstrations late last month. “They weren’t accused of any crime, and they came in with devastating eye injuries,” Subramanian said, adding that he was so upset about it that he complained to city officials, who promised to investigate any abuses. “We’re learning the consequences of using these weapons.” He said the injuries rivaled what he saw treating shrapnel damage to eyes of soldiers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who were injured by explosives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rubber bullets and similar projectiles have damaged eyes or blinded at least 20 individuals from ages 16 to 59, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, since protests began over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Statues toppled throughout US in protests against racism (AP) Protesters tore down more statues across the United States, expanding the razing in a San Francisco park to the writer of America’s national anthem and the general who won the country’s Civil War that ended widespread slavery. In Seattle, pre-dawn violence erupted Saturday in a protest zone largely abandoned by police, where one person was fatally shot and another critically injured. On the East Coast, more statues honoring Confederates who tried to break away from the United States more than 150 years ago were toppled. The statues are falling amid continuing anti-racism demonstrations following the May 25 police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, the African American man who died after a white police officers pressed his knee on his neck and whose death galvanized protesters around the globe to rally against police brutality and racism.

End of Venezuela’s Oil Fortune Looms Over Maduro’s Regime (Bloomberg) Oil revenue, the financial lifeline of Venezuela, is quickly drying up, adding to the growing instability of Nicolas Maduro’s embattled regime. Crude exports that once accounted for 95% of foreign currency inflow to the country tumbled by almost half this month, after hitting a 73-year low in May. The plunge comes as U.S. sanctions continue to target Venezuela, home of the world’s largest oil reserves. Maduro’s regime is already plagued by a humanitarian crisis aggravated by the global pandemic that’s sapping domestic demand for fuels. There’s only one more oil tanker expected to load for the remaining 12 days of the month, documents show. Venezuela used to load two vessels per day two years ago before financial sanctions were imposed. Oil storage tanks in the country are nearly full, forcing operators to shut in production to levels not seen since the end of the Second World War. It’s next to impossible to sell crude to foreign buyers with most oil vessels booked to export crude forced to cancel due to the Trump administration’s sanctions.

Latin America’s Virus Villains (NYT) Of all the schemes that have siphoned resources from Latin American countries fighting the coronavirus, the body bag conspiracy might be the most brazen. Last month, prosecutors in Ecuador announced they had identified a criminal ring that had colluded with health officials to win a contract selling body bags to hospitals at 13 times the real price. Then one of the men implicated, Daniel Salcedo, fled Ecuador in a small plane that crashed in Peru. Mr. Salcedo is now recovering in the custody of the Ecuador police. Even as Latin America has emerged as an epicenter of the pandemic, with deaths and infections soaring, efforts to contain the crisis have been undermined by a litany of corruption scandals. Dozens of public officials and local entrepreneurs stand accused of exploiting the crisis for personal enrichment by peddling influence to price-gouge hospitals and governments for medical supplies, including masks, sanitizer and ventilators. Some of the gear was so flawed that it was rendered useless—and may have contributed to even more sickness and death. Investigations into fraud have reached the highest levels of government. The former Bolivian health minister is under house arrest awaiting trial on corruption charges after the ministry paid an intermediary millions more than the going rate for 170 ventilators—which didn’t even work properly.

Greece extends lockdown of refugee camps as it allows tourists to return (Washington Post) Tourists from many countries can now roam free in Greece. But Saturday, the government extended a lockdown of the country’s refugee camps until early July—a move it said is necessary to keep the overcrowded accommodations virus-free. Refugee advocates have criticized the restrictions, extended on World Refugee Day, as an erosion of rights and the wrong approach to keeping people safe. Over 32,000 refugees are housed on Greek islands in accommodations originally built for less than one-fifth the current number of occupants. Thousands more are housed on the mainland. Greek authorities have been moving some asylum seekers out of the island camps and into the mainland facilities but are also ordering out around 11,000 refugees already in the temporary accommodations, leaving thousands on the brink of homelessness amid a pandemic.

India reports record rise in coronavirus cases; Delhi cancels all medical staff leave (Reuters) India reported a record jump in coronavirus infections on Saturday, a day after the government in the capital New Delhi ordered hospitals to cancel any leave and have workers return to duty immediately. India saw an increase of 14,516 COVID-19 cases, the health ministry said, taking the total to 395,047 with 12,948 deaths. A number of countries continue to evacuate their citizens from India, amid concerns hospitals in major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai may be overwhelmed. Ireland became the latest country to warn its citizens that medical assistance may become difficult with India’s sharp spike in cases and urged them to consider making use of a series of evacuation flights in the next few weeks.

China claims valley where Indian, Chinese soldiers brawled (AP) China said the Galwan Valley high up in the Himalayan border region where Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a deadly brawl this week falls entirely within China, boldly renewing claims on the disputed area as the Asian giants continued using military and diplomatic channels to try to reduce tensions on Saturday. The confrontation in the Galwan Valley, part of the disputed Ladakh region along the Himalayan frontier, was the deadliest between the two countries in 45 years. India blames China for instigating the fight by developing infrastructure in the valley, which it said was a breach of the agreement of what area remained in dispute. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman blamed incursions by Indian troops in the area from early May for a midnight clash on Monday that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. China has not said whether it suffered any casualties.

Trying to beat back coronavirus, New Zealand locks out foreign workers (Washington Post) Jeus Joaquin helped New Zealand beat back the coronavirus as the nation’s confirmed cases gradually fell to zero in May. During New Zealand’s 49-day lockdown, the 34-year-old emergency department nurse treated covid-19 patients at Thames Hospital, on the country’s North Island. Essential workers such as him were lauded as heroes as New Zealand’s international prestige soared. But the win against the virus came at a cost, and Joaquin is among those paying it. His wife and two toddlers are stuck in the Philippines, where the family is from. They are among an estimated 10,000 foreign workers and family members of citizens and permanent residents who were blocked from returning to New Zealand when the country closed its border. It’s now extremely difficult for anyone but a New Zealand citizen—and a few select foreigners—to get into the country, despite the government’s pledges to assist families locked out.

Egypt has a legitimate right to intervene in Libya, Sisi says (Reuters) Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday said his country has a legitimate right to intervene in neighbouring Libya and ordered his army to be ready to carry out any mission outside the country, if necessary.

[sswaminath]

ஏன் இந்தியா சீனா சண்டை?||Narendra Modi||மோடியிடம் கமலஹாசன் கேள்வி சரியா?...

[news24fresh]

For minor tactical gains on the ground, China has strategically lost India, says former Indian Ambassador to China

For minor tactical gains on the ground, China has strategically lost India, says former Indian Ambassador to China

[ad_1]

The June 15 clash at Galwan Valley, which claimed 20 Indian soldiers in the worst violence since 1967, has left the entire border architecture, carefully built by India and China to maintain peace, in the heap of history, says Gautam Bambawale, former Indian Ambassador to China and Pakistan. India’s relations with China have reached a inflection point that will require a fundamental…

[businesstouchmagazine]

The account of the Galwan violence in the Australian newspaper "The Klaxon" -- claims the Chinese soldiers who drowned in the Galwan river in June 2020, were in retreat after the clash with Indian troops. The report says China had lost 42 soldiers in the clash -- many more than the four it had claimed

Read details... Visit : https://businesstouchmagazine.com/ Email : info@businesstouchmagazine.com Call : +919034004324

#austrailian #newspaper #galwan #chinese #soldier #businesstouchmagazine

[shantinewshindi]

गलवान हिंसा: हॉट स्प्रिंग और गोगरा में चीन कल से ही हटा रहा है अपनी सेनाएं

गलवान हिंसा: हॉट स्प्रिंग और गोगरा में चीन कल से ही हटा रहा है अपनी सेनाएं

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पूर्वी लद्दाख के गलवान में हिंसा के बाद दोनों देशों के बीच जो तनातनी चल रही थी उस पर अब विराम लगता दिख रहा है। चीन की सेना पीपुल्स लिबरेशन आर्मी और भारती सेना के जवानों को हॉट स्प्रिंग और गोगरा में धीरे-धीरे हटाने का काम सोमवार से शुरू कर दिया गया।

समाचार एजेंसी एएनआई ने सैन्य सूत्रों के हवाले से बताया कि सेना को हटाने का काम कुछ दिनों में पूरा कर लिया जाएगा। इसके साथ ही, चीनी सेना ने…

[vilaspatelvlogs]

बीएसएनएल के बाद रेलवे ने भी चीन की कंपनी के साथ 471 करोड़ का करार रद्द किया, कहा- काम की रफ्तार धीमी

बीएसएनएल के बाद रेलवे ने भी चीन की कंपनी के साथ 471 करोड़ का करार रद्द किया, कहा- काम की रफ्तार धीमी

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चीन की कंपनी बीजिंग नेशनल रेलवे रिसर्च एंड डिजाइन इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ सिग्नल एंड कम्युनिकेशन ग्रुप को 2016 में मिला था करार

कंपनी को 2019 तक काम पूरा कर लेना था, पर रेलवे ने बताया कि अभी तक केवल 20% काम ही पूरा हो पाया है

दैनिक भास्कर

Jun 18, 2020, 04:47 PM IST

नई दिल्ली. रेलवे ने चीनी कंपनी को दिया सिग्नलिंग और टेलीकम्युनिकेशन का 471 करोड़ का करार रद्द करने का फैसला किया है। रेलवे ने चीन की…

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Global defense spending, led by US and China, hits new high (Stars & Stripes) The U.S. and China led the growth in global defense spending, which hit a new high in 2020 despite the economic stress brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, a report said Thursday. In its annual report on military power, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said total military expenditures added up to $1.83 trillion in 2020, a 3.9% increase over the previous year. “This came despite the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent contraction in global economic output,” the London-based think tank said in a statement. The United States remained the top spender, accounting for 40.3% of global spending. But China and other Asian powers concerned about Beijing’s rise also spent more, albeit at a somewhat slower pace than in 2019 because of the pandemic, IISS said in its “Military Balance” report. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute pegged Chinese defense spending at $261 billion in 2019.

Almost a fifth of ALL US dollars were created this year (City A.M./UK) About 20 per cent of all US dollars were created this year. The Federal Reserve has printed unprecedented amounts of money to support the coronavirus-stricken economy. It has sparked debates about inflation and helped asset prices soar. Data from the Fed shows that a broad measure of the stock of dollars, known as M2, rose from $15.34 trillion (£11.87 trillion) at the start of the year to $18.72 trillion in September. The increase of $3.38 trillion equates to 18 per cent of the total supply of dollars. It means almost one in five dollars was created in 2020. The huge growth in the stock of dollars reflects the massive interventions in the economy by the Fed, which is in control of the US’s money supply. Although it is often described as printing money, the Fed in practice creates digital dollars to buy up government bonds and other securities in the secondary market. The policy, known as quantitative easing (QE), aims to flood the markets with cash to keep borrowing cheap. Banks also create money when they lend. Most money in the economy is created this way. Only about $2 trillion are in circulation as physical currency.

Countries call on drug companies to share vaccine know-how (AP) In an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s largest city lies a factory with gleaming new equipment imported from Germany, its immaculate hallways lined with hermetically sealed rooms. It is operating at just a quarter of its capacity. It is one of three factories that The Associated Press found on three continents whose owners say they could start producing hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines on short notice if only they had the blueprints and technical know-how. But that knowledge belongs to the large pharmaceutical companies who produce the first three vaccines authorized by countries including Britain, the European Union and the U.S.—Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. The factories are all still awaiting responses. Across Africa and Southeast Asia, governments and aid groups, as well as the WHO, are calling on pharmaceutical companies to share their patent information more broadly to meet a yawning global shortfall in a pandemic that already has claimed nearly 2.5 million lives. Pharmaceutical companies that took taxpayer money from the U.S. or Europe to develop inoculations at unprecedented speed say they are negotiating contracts and exclusive licensing deals with producers on a case-by-case basis because they need to protect their intellectual property and ensure safety. Critics say this piecemeal approach is just too slow at a time of urgent need to stop the virus before it mutates into even deadlier forms.

As School Closures Near First Anniversary, a Diverse Parent Movement Demands Action (NYT) Aquené Tyler, a mother and hair stylist in North Philadelphia, has been disappointed in her neighborhood’s public schools for many years. There were too few books and computers. Even before the pandemic, some schools were shuttered for asbestos removal. Now, her 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter have been learning online for nearly a year, even as masked children gather boisterously at local private schools. Ms. Tyler’s children are lonely, and Mya, who is in eighth grade, seems depressed and overwhelmed by her class work. She has begun seeing a counselor remotely. So Ms. Tyler is planning a radical change: moving her family to Florida, where the Republican-controlled state government has mandated that all districts provide in-person learning five days per week. A niece there is attending traditional public school in Sarasota, complete with sports, arts and music. A year into the pandemic, less than half of students nationwide are attending public schools that offer traditional, full-time schedules. Now many parents are beginning to rebel, frustrated with the pace of reopening and determined to take matters into their own hands. Some are making contingency plans to relocate, home-school or retreat to private education if their children’s routines continue to be disrupted this fall—a real possibility. Other parents are filing lawsuits, agitating at public meetings, creating political action committees, or running for school board seats.

Prince Philip moved to specialized London heart hospital (AP) Prince Philip was transferred Monday to a specialized London heart hospital to undergo testing and observation for a pre-existing heart condition as he continues to be treated for an unspecified infection, Buckingham Palace said. The 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II was moved from King Edward VII’s Hospital, where he has been treated since Feb. 17, to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, which specializes in cardiac care. The palace says Philip “remains comfortable and is responding to treatment but is expected to remain in hospital until at least the end of the week.” Philip married the then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

France’s Sarkozy convicted of corruption, sentenced to jail (AP) A Paris court on Monday found French former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced him to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence. The 66-year-old politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted for having tried to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a legal action in which he was involved. The court said Sarkozy is entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet. This is the first time in France’s modern history that a former president has been convicted of corruption.

China Appears to Warn India: Push Too Hard and the Lights Could Go Out (NYT) Early last summer, Chinese and Indian troops clashed in a surprise border battle in the remote Galwan Valley, bashing each other to death with rocks and clubs. Four months later and more than 1,500 miles away in Mumbai, India, trains shut down and the stock market closed as the power went out in a city of 20 million people. Hospitals had to switch to emergency generators to keep ventilators running amid a coronavirus outbreak that was among India’s worst. Now, a new study lends weight to the idea that those two events may well have been connected—as part of a broad Chinese cybercampaign against India’s power grid, timed to send a message that if India pressed its claims too hard, the lights could go out across the country. The study shows that as the standoff continued in the Himalayas, taking at least two dozen lives, Chinese malware was flowing into the control systems that manage electric supply across India, along with a high-voltage transmission substation and a coal-fired power plant. The discovery raises the question about whether an outage that struck on Oct. 13 in Mumbai, one of the country’s busiest business hubs, was meant as a message from Beijing about what might happen if India pushed its border claims too vigorously.

Rogue ATMs (Nikkei Asia) Fully 2,956 ATMs out of 5,395 machines operated by Mizuho Bank in Japan have gone rogue, with the machines unable to dispense cash and devouring cards. The bug is related to an issue that popped up when the bank was updating its data, and 55 percent of Mizuho’s branches have been forced to shut down.

Pope’s risky trip to Iraq defies sceptics (Reuters) Rockets have hit Iraqi cities and COVID-19 has flared, yet, barring last-minute changes, Pope Francis will embark on a whirlwind four-day trip starting on Friday to show solidarity with the country’s devastated Christian community. Keen to get on the road again after the pandemic put paid to several planned trips, he convinced some perplexed Vatican aides that it is worth the risk and that, in any case, his mind was made up, three Vatican sources said. The March 5-8 trip will be Francis’ first outside Italy since November 2019, when he visited Thailand and Japan. Four trips planned for 2020 were cancelled because of COVID-19. “He really feels that need to reach out to people on their home ground,” said a Vatican prelate who is familiar with Iraq and who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The pope knows where he is going. He is deliberately coming to an area marked by war and violence to bring a message of peace,” Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil told reporters on a recent conference call.

Iran insists U.S. lift sanctions first to revive nuclear deal talks (Reuters) Iran said on Monday the United States should lift sanctions first if it wants to hold talks with Tehran to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that former President Donald Trump abandoned. President Joe Biden has said Washington is ready for talks about both nations resuming compliance with the pact, under which Tehran secured an easing of sanctions by limiting its nuclear work. But each side wants the other to move first. The West fears Iran wants to build nuclear weapons, while Tehran says that has never been its goal.

Netanyahu accuses Iran of attacking Israeli-owned cargo ship (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week, a mysterious explosion that further spiked security concerns in the region. Without offering any evidence to his claim, Netanyahu told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that “it was indeed an act by Iran, that’s clear.” “Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel, I am determined to halt it. We are hitting it in the entire region,” Netanyahu said. The blast struck the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo ship, as it was sailing out of the Middle East on its way to Singapore on Friday. The crew was unharmed, but the vessel sustained two holes on its port side and two on its starboard side just above the waterline, according to American defense officials. It remains unclear what caused Friday’s blast on the Helios Ray. Iran responded to Netanyahu’s statement saying it “strongly rejected” the claim that it was behind the attack. In a press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Netanyahu was “suffering from an obsession with Iran” and described his charges as “fear-mongering.”

Thousands flee rebel violence in Central African Republic (AP) Monique Moukidje fled her home in Central African Republic’s town of Bangassou in January when rebels attacked with heavy weapons, the fighting killing more than a dozen people. “I ran away because the bullets have no eyes,” the 34-year-old said sitting in the shade while waiting for water purification tablets, a tarp, and other supplies to help her in Mbangui-Ngoro, a village where she and hundreds of other displaced people are sheltering. She is among an estimated 240,000 people displaced in the country since mid-December, according to U.N. relief workers, when rebels calling themselves the Coalition of Patriots for Change launched attacks, first to disrupt the Dec. 27 elections and then to destabilize the newly-elected government of President Faustin Archange Touadera. The rebels’ fighting has enveloped the country and caused a humanitarian crisis in the already unstable nation. Hundreds of thousands of people are also left without basic food or health care, and with the main roads between Central African Republic and Cameroon closed for almost two months, prices have skyrocketed leaving families unable to afford food.

Nigerian governor says 279 kidnapped schoolgirls are freed (AP) Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last week from a boarding school in the northwestern Zamfara state have been released, the state’s governor said Tuesday. Zamfara state governor Bello Matawalle announced that 279 girls have been freed. The government last week said 317 had been kidnapped. Gunmen abducted the girls from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town on Friday, in the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation.