Explore Business Standard
Paramilitary Forces
Sudan's warring military and paramilitary forces are escalating attacks with outside powers fuelling the fire, which is intensifying the nightmare of hunger and disease for millions, the United Nations chief said on Monday. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the UN Security Council that the 18-month war faces the serious possibility of igniting regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea. In a grim report, Guterres said the Sudanese people are living through numerous nightmares from killings and unspeakable atrocities including widespread rapes to fast-spreading diseases, mass ethnic violence, and 750,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity and famine conditions in North Darfur displacement sites. He singled out shocking reports of mass killings and sexual violence in villages in east-central Gezira province in recent days. The UN and a doctors' group said paramilitary fighters ran riot in the region in a multi-day attack that killed more
The helicopter carrying Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi caught fire soon after it crashed into a mountain and there was no sign it was attacked, state media reported, citing the military's crash investigators. The statement from the general staff of the armed forces in charge of investigating the crash was read on state television late Thursday. The first statement on the crash did not lay blame but said more details would come after further investigation. The crash Sunday killed Raisi, the country's foreign minister and six other people. The general staff's statement said the communications between the control tower and the crew of the helicopter before the crash contained nothing suspicious. It said the last communication of the crashed helicopter was between it and two helicopters accompanying it some 90 seconds before the crash. There was no sign of anything shot at the helicopter and its flight path did not change, the statement said. The aging Bell helicopter went down i
Taiwan tracked dozens of Chinese warplanes and navy vessels off its coast Friday on the second day of a large exercise China's People's Liberation Army held in response to the island's new leadership. The defence ministry said it tracked 49 warplanes and 19 navy vessels, as well as Chinese coast guard vessels, and that 35 of the planes flew across the median of the Taiwan Strait, the de facto boundary between the sides, over a 24-hour period from Thursday to Friday. Facing external challenges and threats, we will continue to maintain the values of freedom and democracy, Taiwan's new President Lai Ching-te told sailors and top security officials Thursday as he visited a marine base in Taoyuan, just south of the capital, Taipei. In his inauguration speech Monday, Lai had called on Beijing to stop its military intimidation and said Taiwan was "a sovereign independent nation in which sovereignty lies in the hands of the people. China's military said its two-day exercises around Taiwan
Cambodia and China began 15-day military exercises on Thursday as questions grow about Beijing's increasing influence in the Southeast Asian nation. About 1,315 Cambodian military personnel and 760 Chinese are participating in the regular Golden Dragon ground and sea maneuvers, including three Chinese and 11 Cambodian ships. As the first stage of the exercises got underway at a Cambodian military base with a forested and mountainous training area about 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodian army commander in chief Gen Vong Pisen thanked China for providing new equipment and helping to upgrade military facilities, including the Ream Naval Base. The United States and others have worried that China's involvement in building a new pier at the Ream base could lead to it becoming a new outpost for the Chinese navy at a strategically important location on the Gulf of Thailand. As the Golden Dragon exercises began, two Chinese warships had been docked at the pier for mo
A three-tire security has been put in place with the deployment of more than 1,000 paramilitary and police personnel for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Delhi University on Friday to attend the closing ceremony of its centenary celebration, police officials said. According to university officials, Modi will lay the foundation stone of three buildings and release a set of coffee table books. These buildings with state-of-the-art infrastructure would be for the faculty of technology, computer centre and academic block, they said. "We have deployed more than 1,000 security personnel, including from paramilitary forces. A very tight security arrangement has been in place with a three-tire checking system. No black dresses, compulsory attendance, and suspension of classes between 10 am to 12 pm are among the guidelines issued by Delhi University colleges for the live telecast of the closing ceremony of the university's centenary celebrations. Union Minister for Education Dharme
President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday conferred eight Kirti Chakras, including five posthumously, to personnel of the Army and paramilitary and police forces for displaying indomitable courage and extraordinary valour in the line of duty. Kirti Chakra is India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award. President Murmu, who is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, also presented 29 Shaurya Chakras, including five posthumously, to the personnel of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces and state/Union Territory police during a defence investiture ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the defence ministry said in a statement. Sudip Sarkar, Constable/GD, in the Border Security Force, Rohit Kumar, Sg. Constable, J&K Police, and three others -- one sub-inspector and two head constables, Chhattisgarh government, have been conferred the Kirti Chakra posthumously, it said. Three personnel, including one of a Major-rank, from the Army's Rashtriya Rifles, have been conferred ...