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5 Wounded In Rocket Attack On Iraq Base Hosting Americans: Report

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Two foreign contractors and three Iraqi soldiers were wounded, the source added. (Representational)
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Samarra, Iraq:
Five rockets targeted Sunday an Iraqi airbase hosting US soldiers and at least two projectiles hit an American maintenance firm wounding two foreigners and three Iraqi soldiers, a security source said.
The rockets targeted Balad airbase north of Baghdad, and two crashed into a dormitory and a canteen of US company Sallyport, the source told AFP.
Two foreign contractors and three Iraqi soldiers were wounded, the source added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the United States routinely blames Iran-linked Iraqi factions for such attacks on its troops and diplomats.
F-16 aircraft are stationed at the Balad airbase, and several maintenance companies are present there, employing Iraqi and foreign staff.
There have been around 20 bomb or rocket attacks against American interests, including bases hosting US soldiers, since US President Joe Biden took office in January.
Dozens of others took place from the autumn of 2019 under the administration of Donald Trump.
Two Americans and an Iraqi civilian have been killed in such attacks since late 2019.
An Iraqi civilian working for a firm maintaining US fighter jets for the Iraq airforce was also wounded in one attack.
The Balad base was also targeted earlier this month, without causing any casualties.
The attacks are sometimes claimed by shadowy Shiite armed groups aligned with Iran who are demanding the Biden administration set a pullout date for Iraq as it has for Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, an explosives-packed drone slammed into Iraq's Arbil airport in the first reported use of such a weapon against a base used by US-led coalition troops in the country, officials said.
There were no casualties in the strike on the capital of northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, although it did cause damage to a building in the military part of the airport.
In February, more than a dozen rockets targeted the military complex inside the same airport, killing an Iraqi civilian and a foreign contractor working with US-led troops.
Pro-Iran groups have been ratcheting up their rhetoric, vowing to ramp up attacks to force out the "occupying" US forces, and there have been almost daily attacks on coalition supply convoys across the mainly Shiite south.
The United States last week committed to withdraw all remaining combat forces from Iraq, although the two countries did not set a timeline for what would be a second US withdrawal since the 2003 invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.
The announcement came as the Biden administration resumed a "strategic dialogue" with the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who is seen as too close to Washington by pro-Iranian groups.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/5-wounded-in-rocket-attack-on-iraq-base-hosting-americans-report-2416624">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/5-wounded-in-rocket-attack-on-iraq-base-hosting-americans-report-2416624</a>

news world 5 Wounded In Rocket Attack On Iraq Base Hosting Americans: Report

Two foreign contractors and three Iraqi soldiers were wounded, the source added. (Representational) Samarra, Iraq: Five rockets targete...

China's Population To Enter Negative Growth After 2025: Report

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China is due to release its latest census later this month.
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Beijing:
The demographics of the world's most populous country is set to change as China will experience a negative growth after 2025, which will result in shortage of consumer demand, a well-known Chinese economist has cautioned.
China's population is set to peak in just four years' time and the milestone will be marked by a significant downturn in consumer demand, said Cai Fang, a member of the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.
"When the total population enters negative growth (after 2025), there will be a shortage of demand," Mr Cai was quoted as saying by Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on Sunday.
"We need to pay attention to the impact of demographics on future consumption," he said.
Mr Cai's comments came as China is due to release its latest census later this month.
According to a PBOC study released a few days ago, China should immediately liberalise its birth policies or face a scenario in which it has a lower share of workers and higher burden of elderly care than the United States by 2050.
In a rare frank appraisal, four researchers from the PBOC said the country should not interfere with people's ability to have children or it will be too late to reverse the economic impact of a declining population.
Since 2016, Chinese couples have been allowed to have two children.
"We should not hesitate and wait for the effects of existing birth policies," the researchers said in a working paper published early this week.
"The birth liberalisation should happen now when there are some residents who still want to have children but can't. It's useless to liberalise it when no one wants to have children," it said.
After implementing the controversial one-child policy for over three decades, China is facing a demographic crisis with a rapidly ageing population over 60 years, which according to official figures, has increased to 420 million in 2019.
The two-child policy, which was implemented from 2016 failed to make an impact on the low birth rates as the number of newborns dropped by two million in 2018.
China as a whole saw 580,000 fewer new-borns in 2019 compared to 2018, marking the third consecutive year of decline since the implementation of the universal two-child policy in the mainland, according to official data.
According to China's statistics bureau, the country had a population of 1.34 billion in 2010 with an annual growth rate of 0.57 per cent, down from 1.07 per cent a decade earlier.
Mr Cai said the number of Chinese of working age had been in decline since 2010, which had mainly affected the supply side of the economy.
He said if people of working age were faced with the additional financial burden of looking after an elderly relative while trying to raise a family it would make them more likely to save than consume.
That would be bad news for the economy as the government has sought in recent years to drive growth through domestic consumption.
"The cost of childbearing, parenting and education are the biggest constraints on young couples," Mr Cai said.
"For the elderly, we need to increase their labour participation and social security benefits so that they can contribute to and share in the economic growth, while also maintaining consumer demand," he said.
The government should also do more to stimulate consumption among low-income groups that had a higher propensity for spending than the wealthy, he said.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/chinas-population-to-enter-negative-growth-after-2025-report-2416544">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/chinas-population-to-enter-negative-growth-after-2025-report-2416544</a>

news world China's Population To Enter Negative Growth After 2025: Report

China is due to release its latest census later this month. Beijing: The demographics of the world's most populous country is set t...

2 Earthquakes Rattle Taiwan, No Reports Of Damage

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The second quake, three minutes after the first one, had a depth of 14 km. (Representational)
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Taipei:
A 5.8 magnitude earthquake quickly followed by another at 6.2 struck eastern Taiwan on Sunday, the island's weather bureau said, with no reports of damage.
The first quake, which shook buildings in the capital Taipei, had a depth of 15 km (9.3 miles) with its epicentre in Hualien county on Taiwan's sparsely populated and mountainous eastern coast, the bureau said.
The second quake, three minutes after the first one, had a depth of 14 km, also with its epicentre in Hualien, it said.
The transport ministry said operations on the island's high speed rail line, which runs on Taiwan's western coast, were unaffected.
The Taipei city government said the subway system was operating as normal after trains were briefly ordered to slow their speed.
The fire department said it had not received any reports of damage.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates in the South China Sea and is prone to earthquakes.
More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a 7.3 magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taiwan-rattled-by-earthquakes-no-immediate-reports-of-damage-2416528">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taiwan-rattled-by-earthquakes-no-immediate-reports-of-damage-2416528</a>

news world 2 Earthquakes Rattle Taiwan, No Reports Of Damage

The second quake, three minutes after the first one, had a depth of 14 km. (Representational) Taipei: A 5.8 magnitude earthquake quickl...

Deadly Clashes After Islamist Hardliners Take Police Hostage In Pakistan

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A senior cop, 2 paramilitary were among the six held by Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan supporters.
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Lahore:
Police in Pakistan said a hardline Islamist group had taken six security personnel hostage at its headquarters in Lahore on Sunday after a week of violent clashes following the arrest of the group's leader.
The Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) group had given the government an April 20 deadline to expel the French ambassador over the publication of cartoons in France depicting the Prophet Mohammad. The authorities responded by arresting its leader, prompting supporters to hold protests and sit-ins across Pakistan. At least four people were killed, hundreds injured, and thousands arrested. Pakistan banned the group after the violence.
A senior police officer and two paramilitary were among the six being held by supporters of (TLP), Lahore police spokesman Arif Rana told Reuters.
"The TLP activists have two fuel tankers containing thousands of liters of petrol. They are throwing petrol bombs and stones at security officials, and also shooting bullets as the result of which 11 officials are injured," Rana said, adding the operation was ongoing.
TLP spokesman Shafiq Amini told Reuters four supporters had been killed on Sunday by police and several others were wounded.
Pakistani news channels have been barred from providing coverage of the group since it was banned last week, and on Sunday mobile and internet services were down in the area where clashes were taking place.
Roads leading to the headquarters of the group, in Lahore's Chowk Yateemkahan, have been blocked.
Still, supporters of TLP have been sharing videos on social media of what they said were clashes on Sunday with police, and hashtags supporting the group were trending in Pakistan on Sunday.
The videos, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed thousands of protesters clashing with police in riot-gear, as clouds of tear gas hung in the air and the crackle of gunfire could be heard. Other videos showed injured protesters being carried away.
On Saturday Prime Minister Imran Khan said the group had been banned because it "challenged the writ of the state and used street violence & attacking the public & law enforcers."
Last week France advised its citizens to temporarily leave Pakistan for their safety..
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pakistan-deadly-clashes-after-islamist-group-tlp-takes-police-hostage-in-lahore-2416519">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pakistan-deadly-clashes-after-islamist-group-tlp-takes-police-hostage-in-lahore-2416519</a>

news world Deadly Clashes After Islamist Hardliners Take Police Hostage In Pakistan

A senior cop, 2 paramilitary were among the six held by Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan supporters. Lahore: Police in Pakistan said a hardline...

11 Dead, Nearly 100 Injured After Train Derails In Egypt

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Egypt's cabinet said in a statement that four carriages of the train heading came off the tracks
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Cairo, Egypt:
A train accident north of Cairo on Sunday left 11 people dead and 98 others injured, Egypt's health ministry said, in the latest rail calamity to hit the North African country.
The ministry, in an updated toll, said that "11 people were killed and 98 others injured in a train accident in Toukh", a small farming town in the fertile Nile Delta about 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside the capital.
Egypt's cabinet said in a statement that four carriages of the train heading from Cairo to Mansoura, a Delta city, came off the tracks.
Dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the site, the health ministry added, and investigators have been sent to determine the accident's cause.
President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi tasked the military's engineering authority on Sunday with investigating the latest incident, which came on the heels of a deadly train crash last month that left at least 20 people dead.
Authorities have not yet provided a reason for Sunday's derailment.
A security source told AFP the driver and other rail officials had been detained for questioning.
The ministry said 14 people who sustained minor injuries were released from a hospital close to the accident site.
Egyptian rail disasters are generally attributed to poor infrastructure and maintenance.
At least 20 people died and 199 were injured last month in a train crash in the country's south, according to the latest official toll, which authorities have revised several times.
The prosecution has alleged that the driver of one train and his assistant had both left the driver's cabin when it crashed into another train.
Transport Minister Kamel el-Wazir -- a former general named to the post after a deadly 2019 train collision -- blamed the March crash on human error.
"We have a problem with the human element," he told a TV talk show, where he pledged to put in place an automated network by 2024.
The African Development Bank announced earlier this month a $170 million loan to improve safety on Egypt's rail network.
The bank said the money would be used "to enhance operational safety and to increase network capacity on national rail lines".
"The planned upgrades are expected to benefit low-income Egyptians, about 40 percent of the population, who rely on trains as an affordable mode of transport," it said in a statement.
One of the country's deadliest train crashes came in 2002, when 373 people died as a fire ripped through a crowded train south of Cairo.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nearly-100-injured-after-train-derails-in-egypt-2416509">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nearly-100-injured-after-train-derails-in-egypt-2416509</a>

news world 11 Dead, Nearly 100 Injured After Train Derails In Egypt

Egypt's cabinet said in a statement that four carriages of the train heading came off the tracks Cairo, Egypt: A train accident nor...

Biden finally ‘admits’ to border CRISIS, says US couldn’t manage migrant surge & boost refugee flow at same time

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President Joe Biden has finally referred to the record influx of illegal immigrants at the US-Mexico border as a “crisis” and acknowledged that the situation has undermined his plans to admit more refugees from around the world.
“The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people. We couldn’t do two things at once,” Biden told reporters on Saturday after playing a round of golf in Wilmington, Delaware. “And now we’re going to increase the numbers.”
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Biden on refugee cap (and refers to the situation at the border as a “crisis”): “The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people and we couldn’t do two things at once. And now we’re going to increase the numbers.”
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1383514330658795524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Biden was assailed by immigration activists on Friday, when he issued an emergency declaration tweaking his administration’s refugee program without fulfilling a pledge to raise the historically low cap on refugee admissions set by his predecessor, Donald Trump. He left the cap for the federal government’s current fiscal year, ending on September 30, at 15,000 – about one-fifth of the level of admissions allowed before Trump took office in 2017.
Biden had pledged to boost the cap to 62,500 in the current fiscal year and to 125,000 in fiscal 2022. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) called Biden’s failure to raise the number on Friday “utterly unacceptable” and contrary to the promises that caused people to vote for him. Former labor secretary Robert Reich called the move “a shameful broken promise.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement later on Friday, following the backlash, saying that Biden would announce a higher refugee cap by May 15. Biden has been consulting with advisers on how many refugees the US can accommodate through the end of September, she said, and given the “decimated” program that he inherited from Trump and the current border “burdens” on the Office of Refugee Settlement, “his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely.”
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Biden has suffered politically on the immigration issue, with just 29% of Americans in a Quinnipiac <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us04142021_uscd43.pdf" target="_blank">poll</a> saying they approve of his handling of the border. Illegal border crossings and apprehensions of unaccompanied minors have surged to record highs after Biden’s policies encouraged families to send their children to the US with smugglers.
Owen Shroyer breaks down how Joe Biden is being sued by multiple U.S. states for the national disaster being created by his administration’s open border policies.
Prior to Saturday, Psaki and other administration officials had steadfastly refused to admit there is a “crisis” on the southern border. It’s not clear whether Biden has relented on use of that word or merely had a slip of the tongue in a candid moment with reporters, but his phrasing wasn’t lost on Republicans.
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The Biden Admin has gone to great lengths not to call the border situation a crisis.
President Biden just admitted it was a crisis. <a href="https://t.co/jjvXWQb8ca">https://t.co/jjvXWQb8ca</a>
— Abigail Marone (@abigailmarone) <a href="https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1383522729861681155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“The Biden administration has gone to great lengths not to call the border situation a crisis,” said Abigail Marone, press secretary for Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri). “President Biden just admitted it was a crisis.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-finally-admits-to-border-crisis-says-us-couldnt-manage-migrant-surge-boost-refugee-flow-at-same-time">https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-finally-admits-to-border-crisis-says-us-couldnt-manage-migrant-surge-boost-refugee-flow-at-same-time</a>

news Biden finally ‘admits’ to border CRISIS, says US couldn’t manage migrant surge & boost refugee flow at same time

President Joe Biden has finally referred to the record influx of illegal immigrants at the US-Mexico border as a “crisis” and acknowledged ...