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Kabul hotel attack ends with killing of three Taliban fighters
A Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel housing foreign contractors ended on Monday with all three Taliban fighters being killed, around seven hours after the assault began, police said.“The operation is over now. One policeman lost his life and three others were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt,” Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters.
A Taliban truck bomb blasted through the hotel early on Monday, killing at least one policeman just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years.The powerful bombing, which rattled windows several kilometres (miles) away, paved the way for armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility, close to Kabul’s international airport.
The attack on Northgate, a compound for foreign contractors which was previously attacked in July 2013, underscores the worsening security situation as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive.“A truck bomb packed with explosives struck the outer wall of the hotel,” the Kabul police chief told AFP earlier in the day.“Afghan special forces subsequently entered the compound, killing two armed attackers. One policeman also lost his life and three others were wounded,” Mr. Rahimi added.
Afghan commandos cordoned off all arterial roads leading to Northgate, with erratic grenade explosions and gunfire coming from the scene after daybreak.
The hotel was not immediately reachable by telephone.
But local TV station Tolo cited a source inside the facility as saying that all the staff and guests — including 11 foreigners — were unharmed as they hunkered down in safe rooms.It added that NATO special forces were overseeing the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs.
Tremors from the massive truck bombing, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons blasted their way into the compound after the truck bomb went off.
He claimed that more than 100 “American invaders” were killed and wounded in the assault. The Taliban are routinely known to exaggerate the toll from their attacks.The assault comes as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July.
Growing insecurity
A chillingly similar Taliban attack on the compound in July 2013 — a truck bomb followed by a gun siege — killed nine people, including four Nepalese.Monday’s attack comes after twin bombings left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital on July 23, in the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
The bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan.That attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which is less powerful than the Taliban but is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan.
Afghan forces backed by U.S. airstrikes have since intensified an offensive against IS jihadists in their eastern stronghold of Nangarhar.The latest attacks in Kabul are a grim indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan, which has resulted in large civilian casualties.
The U.N. last week said civilian casualties rose to a record high in the first half of 2016, with children in particular paying a heavy price as the conflict escalates.Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded — a four percent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.Monday’s assault illustrates the report’s finding that suicide bombings and complex attacks are now hurting more civilians than roadside bombs.
Saeed warns of nationwide protest on Rajnath’s arrival in Pakistan
I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris,” he said in a statement here.“It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh,” said the statement issued on Monday.
The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said “if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris’ killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris”.He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on August 3.
Saeed, who is carrying a $ 10 million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Mr. Singh’s presence in Islamabad may create “unrest” among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris “at the hands of Indian forces”.The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Mr. Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the PML—N government “must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis.”
Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and “suspend trade and diplomatic ties” with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing.
The Pakistani government should not have invited Mr. Singh to the SAARC conference, he said.
“Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan’s ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India,” Salahuddin said while addressing the ‘Azadi Kashmir March’ on Sunday evening.He said curfew had been clamped in Kashmir for the past 23 days and the Valley had turned into a ‘volcano for India that could explode any time’
“It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not the Indian home minister in SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris,” he said.
Xiaomi Redmi 3S India release details leaked
Chinese smartphone-maker Xiaomi is reportedly planning to launch new generation Redmi series budget smartphone in India next month.Xiaomi is expected to host an event to launch the Redmi 3S in India in the first week of August, The Indian Express reported. However, it is yet to be ascertained, which Redmi 3S variant will be made available in the country. It comes in —2GB RAM+16GB storage and 3GB RAM+32GB storage configurations.
Xiaomi has not made any official comments with regard to the Redmi 3S series launch in India. But, the company kicked off a new promotional campaign on July 28, inviting fans to share stories about their Redmi phones, hinting Xiaomi might indeed announce a new product soon in the country.
For the uninitiated, the Redmi 3S is an advanced version of the Redmi 3 series, which got launched in January 2016. The key difference between the two is that the former comes with the fingerprint sensor (on the rear panel), Qualcomm’s new 64-bit class Snapdragon 430 octa-core SoC (System-on-Chip) and Adreno 505 graphics engine, whereas the latter houses Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor, Adreno 405 GPU and it lacks biometric security feature.
Rest of the specifications remains same in both the devices. The Redmi 3S sports a full metal body with 5.0-inch HD screen and features 2GB/3GB RAM, 16GB/32GB inbuilt memory, a 13MP primary camera, 5MP snapper on the front and a 4100mAh battery.
Once released, the feature-rich Redmi 3S is certain to give a stiff fight to Moto G4 series, Lenovo K5 Plus, Samsung Galaxy On5 Pro, the Galaxy J5 (2016) and many domestic branded phones.
‘Pokemon Go’ Android and iOS update riddled with bug; AR-game players complain of trainer account wipe-out
The popular augmented reality game “Pokemon Go”, which received first major update a few hours ago, is reported to come with a nasty surprise with it.Just a few hours ago, the company (via Twitter) confirmed the release of “Pokemon Go” update for both Android (0.31.0) and iOS (v1.1.0) devices. It said the firmware comes with bug fixes during wild Pokémon encounter, minor text bug fix, memory improvement, visually appealing achievement medal images and many more value-added features and more.
However, new reports are coming in that new “Pokemon Go” update is riddled with a bug, which is wiping the Trainer’s account details.
Many players who updated “Pokemon Go” are complaining that the AR-game gets stuck in the middle of the game and after they tried to re-login to the game, they receive a message “wrong login details” and asked to create a new account.
Here are some of the complaints posted on Reddit with regard to bug-riddled “Pokemon Go” update:
“Saw one other person with this issue so far. I’m quite concerned, not only because of the hours I’ve put in but the amount of real money too. I forgot my password (google), clicked “Help”, entered the last password I remembered for the account, it logged me in and took me to the new trainer creation screen. Now even after deleting the app and all of its data and reinstalling all I can log into is this “new account” which is linked to the same Gmail address as my level 25 one, so apparently that’s been completely wiped and replaced,” said a user on Reddit who goes by the moniker, u/obviously_alex.
“I have the exact same issue. Tried changing my characters outfit and the game froze. Closed the app completely and I opened it again to see that it brought me back to the new character screen. Don’t really know what to do now,” said Royal Musician.
How to get back “Pokemon Go” trainer account back?
While some players are struggling to get in to the game, few tech savvy users have claimed to cracked log-in bug. They have suggested users to opt “forgot password” and then follow the procedure as instructed and type in new password to open the original user-ID and get back to the last saved Trainer level.
Pawan Kalyan Sets Pongal Deadline!
Pawan Kalyan is dilly-dallying to select his new movie after Sardaar Gabbar Singh’s colossal failure. He later toured the United Kingdom participated in cultural activities conducted by Telugu community. Back in Hyderabad, Pawan held plenty of discussions with director Dolly, producer Sharath Maraar and friend Trivikram Srinivas to plan his next movies.As per the latest update, director Dolly is all set to kick start ‘Veeram’ remake on August 6th without Pawan Kalyan’s involvement. Most probably Powerstar would join the schedule in August second week to see Dolly getting in full rhythm.
Pawan Kalyan is reported to have set the release deadline for this untitled project as Pongal. Truth is, Dolly still hasn’t finalized heroine, villain and other character artists. Major shooting of this movie is planned in Hyderabad suburb rural locations. To meet the release deadline, Dolly has to pack up the shooting by November or December, exactly the same time around Trivikram Srinivas movie will take off.
Veeram is a rural backdrop family, action drama. Dolly is hell bent to take up this project because Pawan Kalyan doesn’t want to waste his four months time till November when Trivikram project kicks off. Let us see, whether Dolly can make it for Pongal release or not?
Nayanthara as a Collector
Top actress Nayanthara will be seen as a collector in one of her upcoming films.Nayan’s career is progressing much better than any of her contemporaries’. With films opposite both senior and upcoming heroes, she is one of the busiest actresses who could keep senior actors like Venkatesh in waiting list for her dates.
Nayan is also acting in a couple of heroine-oriented films. As per latest reports, Nayan is currently acting in a heroine oriented film in which she is playing the role of a collector. 40 percent of shooting has already completed in Srihari Kota. Nayan hopes that the film will bring her laurels just like ‘Naan Rowdy Thaan’ did.
Nayan’s ‘Babu Bangaram’ is slated for release on August 12. Her ‘IruMugan’ and ‘Kashmora’ are also set for release. She has another 2 films on sets.
OMG!! Sai Pallavi Dared to Reject Ajith
When it comes to stardom in Tamil Nadu, Ajith Kumar comes only second to superstar Rajinikanth. No heroine would dare to reject if provided an opportunity to act alongside him but Malayalam actress Sai Pallavi did it.
Post the success of her Malayalam debut film ‘Premam’, Sai Pallavi garnered an unprecedented fan following. Many actresses would have signed a handful of films to utilize that craze but Sai Pallavi has a different strategy. She is choosing films carefully. It came as a shock to movie lovers when Sai Pallavi rejected the chance to romance Thala Ajith in his 57th film referred to as Thala 57.
Many opined it is the headstrong attitude of Sai Pallavi. Few say that she might have thought of not romancing a senior hero at the very beginning of her career. She even has rejected Mani Ratnam’s film chance citing exams.Sai Pallavi has signed Varun Tej’s film in Sekhar Kammula’s direction instead.
Akhil’s 2nd Film Launch on Nag’s Birthday
It is known that Akhil has recently announced that Hanu Raghvapudi of ‘Andala Rakshasi’ and ‘Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gadha’ fame will direct his second film. Although the script work is ready, the project will be launched only on August 29. Meanwhile, the makers are busy looking for the lead heroine and other actors.
After the disaster of his debut film ‘Akhil’, the young Akkineni scion took a long time to green signal his second film. Although Vamsi Paidipally was thought to direct his 2nd film, somehow Hanu Raghavapudi came into picture. The new film is said to be a stylish love story with sufficient action quotient. Akhil hopes to bounce back with this project.
Rajinikanth to resume 2.0 duty
Superstar Rajinikanth is missing from action for the last two months. He completed the dubbing of Kabali and flew to the United States where he underwent some medical procedures, according to the sources. He totally gave a miss to all the promotions of Kabali and came back to Chennai only after the movie release.
When Rajinikanth is away, Shankar with out wasting the time, shot the portions which do not need him in Talakona. Rajinikanth will be joining the team in the next schedule which will happen in Chennai in the second week of this month. 2.0 shooting is more than 60% complete and is looking at 2017 release.
Bollywood Star Hero Akshay Kumar was roped in to play an important role. The movie is being shot in 3D made with top technicians from all over the globe making it a complete world class film. Oscar Award Music Director AR Rahman will be composing music for the film. Rest of the crew include crew cinematographer Nirav Shah, Art Director Muthuraj, VFX Supervisor Srinvas Mohan, Editor Antony and Rasool Pookutty handling the Sound Designing. They have also roped in two Hollywood stunt coordinators to supervise the fights.
