Russian Airstrike Hits U.S. Allies by Mistake and 5 Other Updates

1. Russian Airstrike Hits U.S. Allies by Mistake

Russian air forces accidently bombed a site extremely close to U.S. troops while targeting the Islamic State militants in Syria on Tuesday. The incident occurred when Russian pilots began bombing at a site after gaining inputs about the presence of ISIS fighters in a “bunch of villages” in northern Syria. However, they ended up hitting the U.S.-backed forces, named Syrian Arab Coalition. U.S. troops were several miles away, and the attack stopped after U.S. officials made “quick calls”, a representative said. U.S. Lt. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend said “It’s a very complicated battlefield situation. Essentially three armies have all converged within the same grid square. It’s very difficult and complicated”.

2. India Successfully Test Fires Endo-Atmospheric Interceptor Missile

India successfully test fired the indigenously developed supersonic two-tier interceptor Air Defense missile, capable of destroying hostile ballistic missiles at low altitude. The weapon system radars can track the target and provide initial guidance to the interceptor, which could precisely spot a target and destroyed it in the endo-atmospheric layer. Advanced Air Defence (AAD), a 7.5-meter long single stage solid rocket propelled missile, was test fired from Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal. The test comes less than a month after Indian Defence successfully tested the Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) interceptor missile on February 11. The PDV is capable of destroying a hostile ballistic missile in outer space, before entering the earth’s atmosphere.

3. ‘Mentally Unstable’ Man Stabs 5 Policemen in Goa

Five policemen, including two sub-inspectors, were injured on Wednesday after a 40-year-old man, identified as Jovelle Miranda, attacked them with a knife at Guirim village, near Panaji. The incident occurred on late Wednesday night when Miranda’s wife called ‘100’ and claimed that his husband was beating her up. A five-man team reached the site and the accused stabbed them with a knife. Later on, he was overpowered and beaten up by local residents and all the five policemen and Jovelle Miranda were admitted to a nearby hospital. No, FIR has been registered as of now.

4. Protests in Meghalaya Against Killings Of RSS-BJP Workers in Kerala

Two Civil Society Forums in Meghalaya staged a sit-in protest in Shillong, condemning the attacks on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Kerala by CPM workers. Meghalaya Citizens Forum for Human Rights and Meghalaya Conscious Citizen Forum have sought the intervention of President Pranab Mukherjee to stop the attacks. S P Sharma, from MCFHR, said: “In the last 72 years almost 250 workers were killed and just recently from May 2016 till December 2016 eight RSS base BJP workers were killed in different districts in Kerala”. The groups further added that they have sought help from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan but their requests went answered.

5. Mild Earthquake Hits Himachal Pradesh

An earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale rocked Himachal Pradesh on Thursday at 1.39 a.m. The epicenter of the tremor was reported as Chamba region of Jammu and Kashmir. Authorities said that no loss of life or property has been reported from anywhere so far. Meanwhile, this was the second mild earthquake to hit the region in less than a month.

6. Sensex Regains 29000-Mark, Rupee Strengthens Against US Dollar

BSE’s Benchmark Sensex surged to 29,132.95, regaining the 29000-mark after a 148.46 pointer growth due to GDP data. NSE’s Nifty also came very close to the 9000 mark and traded at 8990.05 during the early trade on Thursday. Indian Rupee, on the other hand, gained 6 paise against the US Dollar due to the high selling of the American Currency by exporters and banks. The Green Currency was valued at Rs 66.76 during the early trade.