'ISI backing small jihadi outfits in Afghanistan to hinder Taliban'

Pakistan’s ISI is sponsoring and putting together an alliance of smaller jihadi groups in Afghanistan, distinct from the Taliban and the ISKP, according to a new report. These new jehadists are distinguished by their even more extreme ideology and apparently undermine the Taliban. A new report in Foreign Policy says the Islamic Invitation Alliance (IIA) has been funded by the ISI and was created in 2020, and has been on the radar of US intelligence for over a year.

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26 Maoists gunned down near Maha-C'garh border

At least 26 Maoists were gunned down by Gadchiroli police C60 commandos on Saturday after a 10-hour gun-battle near Mardintola village, in the Gyarapatti-Kotgul forest region of Dhanora taluka along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border. Sources said that Milind Teltumbde, a central committee (CC) member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in charge of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh zones, had also been killed in the gunfight.

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COP26 all set to conclude with accommodating India’s points in the revised Glasgow decision text

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Manipur remains last bastion of active insurgency in NE

Poll-bound Manipur remains the last bastion of active armed insurgency in the northeast and the only state of the region where no peace initiative has yet materialised into a fruitful dialogue ever since the oldest of the outfits – United National Liberation Front (UNLF) — hit the road to insurrection in 1964.

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Extended Covishield dosage gap more potent, show studies

The extended gap of at least 12 weeks between the two doses of Covishield has resulted in better immune response among majority of vaccinated Indians, subsiding any immediate requirement for booster shots, an official assessment of real-life data from sero prevalence studies has shown. Citing the findings, experts have also ruled out any possibility of reducing the gap between two shots of Covishield.

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'Manipur terror attack well-planned precision strike’

The ambush in which Colonel Viplav Tripathi, his wife and son and four soldiers were killed and six others injured in Manipur was “well-planned and executed with precision” by a heavily-armed insurgent group, Indian security establishment officials said here on Saturday. Coupled with the “increasing inflow” of illegal Chinese-made weapons the ambush set alarms bells clanging in the Indian security establishment.

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Govt concerned over crypto use for laundering, terror

The government is looking at “forward looking and progressive” regulation of cryptocurrency with government sources making it clear that an unregulated market for digital currency cannot be allowed to become avenues for money laundering and terror financing. Following a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi on Saturday, it emerged there was a strong view that attempts to mislead the youth through non-transparent advertising, that “over-promises”, needed to be stopped.

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