The Evening Wrap: Three Naxalites shot dead in Jharkhand’s Latehar

Three Naxalites were shot dead by the security forces at a forest in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on Saturday morning, police said. The Naxalites belonged to Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) — a CPI (Maoist) breakaway faction, Inspector General of Police (Operations) Amol V Homkar said. The Naxalites were killed in a gunfight with the forces at a forest in Manika police station area, he said. Some Naxalites managed to escape taking advantage of the dense forest, he added. The three bodies were recovered during a search operation of the area following the gunfight, Homkar said. As international flights open, summer holidays to drive demand As international flights restart fully from Sunday, airlines are ramping up flights to cater to a high demand for a foreign holiday, which is primarily driven by short–haul destinations in South Asia, South East Asia West Asia and Europe. Until now, travel to and from India was confined to 37 countries with limited flights under “air bubble” agreements. But from Sunday, six Indian airlines will connect 27 countries and 60 international airlines could provide connectivity to 40 countries. Passengers can also take advantage of cheaper connecting flights to a third country, which was not an option under air bubbles as they allowed only direct travel though some international carriers violated this rule. Nearly 54% of passengers globally take a via flight, according to air travel data provider OAG. The IndiGo, country’s largest airline in terms of the number of planes and market share, will increase its daily international flights from 80 on Saturday to 120 and gradually climb to pre– COVID number of 170 flights daily. Its flights to Dubai will double from seven per day to 14. The airline’s only destination in Europe, Turkey, is likely to be opened for flights only in May. An airline spokesperson said it will also be opening new destinations. Vistara will be scaling up its London flights, which it launched during the pandemic along with other long and short–haul destinations, from five in a week to a flight daily by May and will restart flights to Bangkok like most Indian airlines given the mad rush for Thailand — it sees the highest number of travellers from India. The airlines started flights to Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo in the past two years and says, “The demand across the network has been encouraging, especially on long–haul routes, and we are exploring possibilities to serve our customer better by adding more flights in the coming months.” DRDO-developed corner shot weapon ready for induction A corner shot weapon designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is at an advanced stage of being inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police. The Corner Shot Weapon System (CSWS) is a special purpose weapon designed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune. It can engage targets located around the corners as the system bends and captures video feed thus saving soldiers from any surprise counter attack and is suited for urban, close quarter situations. “The development was completed in March 2019 and has since cleared user trials with various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Procurement by CRPF and J&K police is under advanced stage,” a defence official said. In July 2020, the DRDO transferred the technology to the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Pune and the Zen Technologies Limited, Hyderabad, for production, the official said. The CSWS is equipped with weapon, camera, laser, infrared illuminator and torch in front portion, while display, electronics, battery and swivelling mechanism are located at rear portion, the official said. The body is made from high–grade aluminium alloy to make it lighter and durable. Features like day night firing capability, colour display, digital zoom, zeroing facility, hot keys, high power battery along with status display and compliance with JSS 5855 makes it a very potent system for security forces engaged in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terror (CI/CT) operations, the official said. Russian forces take Chernobyl workers’ town; fighting in centre of Mariupol Russian forces have taken control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region said on Saturday, and fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol. After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and on Friday Moscow signalled it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east. However, intense fighting was reported in a number of places on Saturday, suggesting there would be no swift let-up in the conflict, which has killed thousands of people, sent some 3.7 million abroad and driven more than half of Ukraine’s children from their homes, according to the United Nations. Russian troops seized the town of Slavutych, which is close to the border with Belarus and is where workers at the Chernobyl plant live, the governor of Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said. He added that the soldiers had occupied the hospital and kidnapped the mayor. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Slavutych sits just outside the so-called exclusion zone around Chernobyl - which in 1986 was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster - where Ukrainian staff have continued to work even after the plant itself was seized by Russian forces soon after the start of the Feb. 24 invasion. On the other side of the country, in Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said the situation in the encircled city remained critical, with street fighting taking place in the centre. The city has been devastated by weeks of Russian fire. In an address on Saturday to Qatar’s Doha Forum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy compared the destruction of Mariupol to the destruction inflicted on the Syrian city of Aleppo by combined Syrian and Russian forces in the civil war. “They are destroying our ports,” Zelenskiy said, warning of dire consequence if his country - one of the world’s major grains producers - could not export its foodstuffs. “The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.” Speaking via video link, he also called on energy producing countries to increase their output so that Russia cannot use its massive oil and gas wealth to “blackmail” other nations. Follow our live updates here. In brief India is deliberating the scope of criminal records to be shared with the United Kingdom, four years after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is examining the format under which criminal records could be exchanged, a senior government official said. U.K Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will visit India this coming week, ahead of a likely visit by U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson soon. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 26 MARCH 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Three Naxalites shot dead in Jharkhand’s Latehar [Three Naxalites were shot dead by the security forces]( at a forest in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on Saturday morning, police said. The Naxalites belonged to Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) — a CPI (Maoist) breakaway faction, Inspector General of Police (Operations) Amol V Homkar said. [Security personnel during a search operation after an encounter between armed forces and extremists in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on March 26, 2022. ] The Naxalites were killed in a gunfight with the forces at a forest in Manika police station area, he said. Some Naxalites managed to escape taking advantage of the dense forest, he added. The three bodies were recovered during a search operation of the area following the gunfight, Homkar said. As international flights open, summer holidays to drive demand As international flights restart fully from Sunday, [airlines are ramping up flights to cater to a high demand for a foreign holiday]( which is primarily driven by short–haul destinations in South Asia, South East Asia West Asia and Europe. Until now, travel to and from India was confined to 37 countries with limited flights under “air bubble” agreements. But from Sunday, six Indian airlines will connect 27 countries and 60 international airlines could provide connectivity to 40 countries. Passengers can also take advantage of cheaper connecting flights to a third country, which was not an option under air bubbles as they allowed only direct travel though some international carriers violated this rule. Nearly 54% of passengers globally take a via flight, according to air travel data provider OAG. The IndiGo, country’s largest airline in terms of the number of planes and market share, will increase its daily international flights from 80 on Saturday to 120 and gradually climb to pre– COVID number of 170 flights daily. Its flights to Dubai will double from seven per day to 14. The airline’s only destination in Europe, Turkey, is likely to be opened for flights only in May. An airline spokesperson said it will also be opening new destinations. Vistara will be scaling up its London flights, which it launched during the pandemic along with other long and short–haul destinations, from five in a week to a flight daily by May and will restart flights to Bangkok like most Indian airlines given the mad rush for Thailand — it sees the highest number of travellers from India. The airlines started flights to Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo in the past two years and says, “The demand across the network has been encouraging, especially on long–haul routes, and we are exploring possibilities to serve our customer better by adding more flights in the coming months.” DRDO-developed corner shot weapon ready for induction [A corner shot weapon designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)]( is at an advanced stage of being inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police. The Corner Shot Weapon System (CSWS) is a special purpose weapon designed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune. It can engage targets located around the corners as the system bends and captures video feed thus saving soldiers from any surprise counter attack and is suited for urban, close quarter situations. “The development was completed in March 2019 and has since cleared user trials with various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Procurement by CRPF and J&K police is under advanced stage,” a defence official said. In July 2020, the DRDO transferred the technology to the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Pune and the Zen Technologies Limited, Hyderabad, for production, the official said. [Security personnel during a search operation after an encounter between armed forces and extremists in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on March 26, 2022. ] The CSWS is equipped with weapon, camera, laser, infrared illuminator and torch in front portion, while display, electronics, battery and swivelling mechanism are located at rear portion, the official said. The body is made from high–grade aluminium alloy to make it lighter and durable. Features like day night firing capability, colour display, digital zoom, zeroing facility, hot keys, high power battery along with status display and compliance with JSS 5855 makes it a very potent system for security forces engaged in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terror (CI/CT) operations, the official said. Russian forces take Chernobyl workers’ town; fighting in centre of Mariupol [Russian forces have taken control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live]( the governor of Kyiv region said on Saturday, and fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol. After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and on Friday Moscow signalled it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east. However, intense fighting was reported in a number of places on Saturday, suggesting there would be no swift let-up in the conflict, which has killed thousands of people, sent some 3.7 million abroad and driven more than half of Ukraine’s children from their homes, according to the United Nations. Russian troops seized the town of Slavutych, which is close to the border with Belarus and is where workers at the Chernobyl plant live, the governor of Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said. He added that the soldiers had occupied the hospital and kidnapped the mayor. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Slavutych sits just outside the so-called exclusion zone around Chernobyl - which in 1986 was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster - where Ukrainian staff have continued to work even after the plant itself was seized by Russian forces soon after the start of the Feb. 24 invasion. On the other side of the country, in Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said the situation in the encircled city remained critical, with street fighting taking place in the centre. The city has been devastated by weeks of Russian fire. In an address on Saturday to Qatar’s Doha Forum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy compared the destruction of Mariupol to the destruction inflicted on the Syrian city of Aleppo by combined Syrian and Russian forces in the civil war. “They are destroying our ports,” Zelenskiy said, warning of dire consequence if his country - one of the world’s major grains producers - could not export its foodstuffs. “The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.” Speaking via video link, he also called on energy producing countries to increase their output so that Russia cannot use its massive oil and gas wealth to “blackmail” other nations. [Follow our live updates here.]( In brief India is deliberating [the scope of criminal records to be shared with the United Kingdom]( four years after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is examining the format under which criminal records could be exchanged, a senior government official said. U.K Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will visit India this coming week, ahead of a likely visit by U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson soon. 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